LiveChat Roundup: Sept. 29, 2011

How many math enthusiasts do we have on the OLC?  Raise your hands!  Yes, I thought quite a few!  You would have enjoyed joining the 167 participants in last night's LiveChat with Mr. David Seal of the Jet Propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, California.  Mr. Seal is a project manager who has worked on sending probes to Mars and planning the mission for the Cassini probe to Saturn.  He brought our INSPIRE students up to speed on what it takes to plot the trajectory to accomplish all the science to be done.

Read more about this image at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090111.html

It takes several years to plan a mission, and believe it or not, some of that planning is held off until a successful launch has taken place!  There is no sense to going through the expense of planning only to have you spacecraft fail to launch.  And often time a probe will be granted extra mission time and new goals are set with ways to reach them.  Part math, part science, part management, mission planning requires a host of skills!

Now, it is not too late to get in on the fun of our LiveChat!  All charts get archived and there are many ways you can have access to them.  The first is to follow the link on the right to the LiveChat room list.  In the upper left column will be a link to the Archive.  You may find the chat available later that night, but most certainly on Friday morning when the Roundup is posted.  The archive hosts the raw Collaborate Java file that opens up just like the live event.  You can use a slider at the bottom to fast forward if needed.  On Monday morning this same file will be posted on the Home Page Archive section where it is easier to find later in the year.  The Home Page Archive also hosts two other formats, a Quicktime .MOV and an MP3 version perfect for downloading to your smartphone or MP3 player.  Several students have said they download these and watch or listen on the ride to and from school.  And don't forget to stick around to the very end to find the password needed to unlock the quiz so you can collect 25 points!  If you want to chat about the LiveChat event, or have any questions for the speaker, go to the Discussion Board forum titled LiveChats and look for the appropriate thread.

One more item before we go: We have had questions from students who had problems getting on the LiveChat, so we created a video tutorial to explain the procedure.  You'll find it by clicking the Help link on the right column of the Home Page, then the Tutorials tab, then the link to Video Tutorials.  Sign up is open now for next week's chat on scientifically studying the weather, so put your name in now!