Rocky Mountain Section Aerospace Education Outreach

 

During the past twenty years, The Rocky Mountain Section of the American Astronautical Society (AAS) has conducted an aggressive outreach program to promote the advancement of aerospace education in the public and private sector. The program focus is on initiating or enhancing aerospace education programs in school systems throughout the Rocky Mountain Section (a nine-state area). To date over $80,000 has been given to various programs that are outlined below.

 

Aerospace Education Grants to Public Schools ($24,000)

At the beginning of the school year, a mini Request for Proposal (RFP) is sent to interested schools throughout the Rocky Mountain Section.   The solicitation is for the school administrators to respond with a plan for how they would spend a $1000 grant associated with an aerospace program in their schools. Grants are awarded based upon mathematical, engineering and aerospace merit of the project or program proposed, the total number of students involved, and to some extent, the location of the school. Preference is sometimes given to the poorer rural area schools.

"Seed Money" for State Aerospace Education Implementation ($3000)

One thousand dollars have been given to each of the states of Wyoming, Nevada, and New Mexico to serve as "seed money" for corporate match funds to implement the MoonLink, and more recently, the NEARLink programs in selected schools throughout these states. Each one thousand dollars has generated $10,000 of corporate matching funds.

Space Explorers, Inc Programs ($42,000)

Space Explorers, Inc. is committed to bringing the excitement and challenges of space exploration into classrooms worldwide. Space Explorers promotes discovery, inquiry, and analysis by offering standards-based curricula, mission simulations, and experiments that incorporate actual NASA data.  Educational programs include Mars Explorer, Moonlink®, Marslink®, NEARlink®, Space Library®, Orbital Laboratory®, Interactive Applets, and K-3 Space®.  These programs have been used by more than 10,000 kindergarten through twelfth grade educators and their students throughout the United States and in 20 foreign countries.  Through these Internet-based programs, the company strives to inspire a new generation of explorers to pursue careers in science, math, and technology.

Mars City Alpha ($2800)

Mars City Alpha is an annual four-day workshop for aerospace education teachers or instructors who are trying to implement aerospace education courses in their schools. The Rocky Mountain Section provides funding as well as volunteer instructors who conduct various workshops for the teachers.

University of Colorado Student Projects ($2400)

A team of University of Colorado aerospace education students are conducting as part of their course requirement a project that involves a high altitude balloon experiment, a rocket that launches through the balloon once the balloon has reached a designated height, and a payload that will make high altitude measurements and return the information back to earth. The Rocky Mountain Section is paying for some of the hardware required for the experiment.