The Ames Exploration Encounter (AEE) is a unique educational program that fosters positive attitudes about science, math and technology so that students will aspire future careers as astronauts, aerospace engineers, and research scientists.
Located in a renovated supersonic wind tunnel building at NASA Ames in Mountain View, California; this classroom makes math and science curriculum come alive. Students experience science in action and realize its connection to their lives!
Exploration Encounter Stations
1. Space Science
In the Space Science area, the students participate in three physical activities that demonstrate physics concepts that are important to successful space travel.
• Orbital Chair - Shows the importance of orbital mechanics. If you were sending a space probe to Jupiter - where would you aim it? As the orbital chair rotates, the students who are sitting on it must throw a ball back and forth.
• Momentum Machine - Shows the Conservation of Angular Momentum. Why do ice skaters spin faster when they bring their arms close to their body? As they turn, the students lean in and out to change their speed.
• Gyro Chair - Demonstrates how gyroscopes work. How are gyroscopes used to orient satellites and space probes? Students use a spinning gyroscope to rotate themselves in the Gyro chair.
2. Aeronautics
In the Aeronautics area, the students learn how NASA scientists and engineers design aircraft.
• Forces on an Airplane - Students learn about the four forces on an airplane: Gravity, Lift,Thrust and Drag
• Wind Tunnels - Students learn how wind tunnels work, view a retired wind tunnel and use a tabletop wind tunnel.
• Computers - Students use computers to predict airflow and to design their own aircraft.
3. Space Station
In the Space Station area, the students are members of a crew aboard a simulated space station.
Each member of the space station crew has an assignment or experiment to perform similar to those conducted on board actual spacecraft. By working together, the students are able to have a successful mission.
4. Mission Control
In the Mission Control area, the students collect scientific data from space missions and from high altitude flights.
Vocabulary
Space Science
Gyroscope - A spinning wheel that tends to maintain its direction in space. Momentum - The tendency of a moving object to keep moving. Moon - A natural object orbiting a planet. Orbit - The path of a satellite around a planet or of a planet around its star. Planet - A large, natural object that orbits a star.
Revolve - To move in a circular orbit; such as the Earth going around the sun.
Rotate - To turn around an axis or center point; which causes day and night on the Earth.
Satellite - A natural or man-made object which orbits a larger object; such as the moon orbiting the Earth.
Solar system - A system of a stars and all the objects that orbit it; Our solar system includes the sun, 9 planets, their moons, asteroids, and comets.
Space - The area above a planet’s atmosphere.
Space probe - An unmanned spacecraft that explores the solar system and sends data back to Earth.
Stability - Resistance of an object to a change in its position.
Star - A point of light in the night sky. In the daytime only one star is visible - the sun - which, like the other stars, is a ball of gas which produces its own heat and light.
Trajectory -The curve of the path of a spacecraft in flight. Vacuum - A space containing no matter or air. Velocity - The speed and direction of an object.
Aeronautics
Ailerons -The parts of the wing that control the airplane’s roll (its left and right tilting).
Air pressure - The force of air spread over a surface; it can be caused by the weight of the atmosphere above or by moving through the atmosphere.
Airfoil - The shape of a wing’s cross-section (a slice across the wing), designed to create as much lift and as little drag as possible.
Atmosphere - The gases surrounding a planet.
Drag - The force due to air that slows down the plane as it moves forward.
Elevator - The part on the tail that controls the plane’s pitch (its up and down tilting).
Force - A push or pull on an object.
Fuselage - The part of a plane which holds people and cargo and to which the wings and tail are attached.
Gravity - The force of attraction between two objects (such as the force between you and the Earth).
Lift - The force that keeps an airplane up due to the flow of air over and under the wings.
Mach - A number that compares an airplane’s speed to the speed of sound 750 mph. (At Mach 2, a plane goes twice the speed of sound).
Rudder - The parts of the tail surfaces that control a plane’s yaw (its left and right turning).
Supersonic - A term that indicates motion faster than the speed of sound (more than Mach 1 but less than Mach 5).
Thrust - The force of the engine, which pushes a plane forward.
Wind tunnel - A long tube or tunnel in which an airplane is held still and air is blown over it. They are used to test airplane designs by simulating flight while instruments measure lift and drag.
Space Station
Astronaut - A person who trains to fly into space.
Cosmonaut - A Russian astronaut.
Dehydrate - To dry out.
Engineer - A person trained to design, construct, and operate mechanical or electrical instruments.
Environment - The air, water, minerals, organisms and all other interconnected things in a particular place.
Freefall - A condition where an object is falling without being stopped or slowed down, if its surroundings are also falling at the same rate, the object appears to float. This occurs on a spacecraft in orbit.
Observation - The act of gathering information by watching or by remote sensing.
Payload - All the cargo, including scientific equipment, carried in a spacecraft.
Pressurize - To raise the atmospheric pressure to the desired level in a closed area, such as a space suit.
Pulse - A heartbeat.
Ration - A fixed amount of food or water when the supply is limited.
Recycle - To treat material so that it can be used again.
Solar panel - A device that changes sunlight into electricity; made of solar cells.
Space shuttle - A reusable, crewed spacecraft used to place satellites in earth orbit and to conduct experiments. Space station - A manned structure that orbits the Earth and is used for a variety of purposes, especially research. Weightless - Being without weight, as an object in freefall or orbit.
Mission Control
Altitude - The height above sea level.
Communications - A means of sending and receiving messages and information.
Debriefing - The discussion of the results of a mission.
Geology - The study of the earth, including rocks and minerals.
Infrared - A type of light that can’t be seen by humans but that instruments can use to measure the heat differences between objects.
Latitude - The distance north and south from the Equator, expressed in degrees.
Longitude - The distance east and west from Greenwich, England, expressed in degrees.
Lunar - A term referring to the moon.
Mission - A particular task that a person or group is to perform.
Remote - Far away.
Scientist - An expert in science.
Sensing - Seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling or hearing;The ways people, animals, and instruments perceive the things around them.
Specialist - A person who concentrates on one subject or area of interest. Volcanic - A term meaning formed by a volcano.
