NASA Invites Children, Families to Learn about NASA's Terra Satellite in Sunday Experiment

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Apr 08, 2015, 04:50 ET

GREENBELT, Md., April 8, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will host a Sunday Experiment on April 19, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT. The event is free and open to the public with a focus on school-aged children and their families.

This month's Sunday Experiment features activities to help people learn about the flagship Earth Observing Satellite, Terra, which just celebrated 15 years in orbit. Kurt Thome, Terra project scientist, from NASA Goddard will give a brief presentation and volunteers will provide hands-on activities that include "Launch a Satellite to Orbit" and "Resolution Bean Bag Toss," where children and adults will learn about different orbit altitudes and how satellites have instruments that image the earth in varying resolutions.

Terra's five instruments are the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT). Approximately the size of a small school bus, the Terra satellite carries five instruments that take coincident measurements of the Earth system.

For more information on Sunday Experiment, please call Amanda Harvey at 301-286-6242 or visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/events/index.html.

For more information on NASA Goddard Visitor Center and directions visit:

www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/home/index.html
www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/directions/index.html

For more information about NASA's Terra satellite, visit:

www.nasa.gov/terra

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SOURCE NASA