PR # 136                 February 12, 2007

RVCC ASTRONOMY CENTER PARTNERING WITH NASA, AREA SCIENTIST ON PROJECT ABOUT GRAVITY, THE MOON

The New Jersey Astronomy Center for Education (NJACE) at Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) is partnering with NASA and a local scientist to better educate area students and the public about gravity and the moon.

The three-year project, “Going Back to the Moon,” is funded by NASA. It will focus on improving student and public understanding of gravity, orbits and NASA’s goal of establishing a lunar base in the next two decades. The project’s Principal Investigator is Dr. Edward A. Belbruno, president of the Princeton-based Innovative Orbital Design, Inc. Based on a recommendation from NASA, Dr. Belbruno partnered with RVCC because of NJACE’s experience in training hundreds of teachers throughout the state to teach all areas of astronomy.

Dr. Belbruno’s work has included applying chaos dynamics to space travel to more efficiently transport unmanned spacecrafts and equipment from the Earth to the moon and beyond. He has worked on NASA’s Galileo, Ulysses, Cassini, Magellan and Mars Observer missions. He also helped to rescue Hiten, a failed Japanese spacecraft, and helped place it in orbit around the moon. In addition to his work with Orbital Design, Dr. Belbruno is a research collaborator in Princeton University’s Department of Astrophysical Sciences. His book, Fly Me to the Moon: An Insider’s Guide to the New Science of Space Travel, is scheduled to be published in March by Princeton University Press.

As part of the “Going Back to the Moon” project, Dr. Belbruno, in conjunction with NJACE, will develop public lectures—designed for different age levels—about his experiences with the Hiten Spacecraft, as well as more generally about gravity, orbits and motion. In addition, NJACE will offer workshops to area educators (grades 5-12), training them how to teach their students about gravity and orbits. The project’s final component is a design challenge. High school students will determine suitable lunar base locations, as well as explore various ways to efficiently transport materials to the moon as a base is created.

Although astronomy education has been mandated in NJ since 1998, the NJ Science Content Standards have included astronomy even more prominently for the past four years with multiple performance expectations in astronomy at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

The New Jersey Astronomy Center for Education at RVCC is a leader in astronomy education in New Jersey. Its Teaching Institute hosts the successful state Project ASTRO and Family ASTRO programs and develops and offers more than two dozen astronomy workshops and several summer institutes for teachers of grades K-12 each year. Project ASTRO is a science education program that partners professional and amateur astronomers with teachers and youth-group leaders. Family ASTRO trains teachers and youth leaders to present after-school, evening and weekend astronomy-related activities to families. Because NJACE is located at RVCC, the Center has access to all of the College’s facilities.

Area educators interested in learning more about the “Going Back to the Moon” project should contact Dr. Wil van der Veen, 908-526-1200, ext. 8566.

RVCC, located on Route 28 and Lamington Road in North Branch, NJ, and serving Somerset and Hunterdon County residents for 30 years, offers more than 80 associate degrees and certificates. In addition, customized training programs and non-credit courses are available for those seeking personal and professional development.

The College is committed to offering a quality and affordable education through effective teaching, liaisons with the community’s businesses and state-of-the-art technology. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.

ATTENTION WRITERS/EDITORS: If you’re interested in doing a feature story about the “Going Back to the Moon” project, please contact Dr. Wil van der Veen, 908-526-1200, ext. 8566, or email wvanderv@raritanval.edu.