Teachable Moment: NASA Mission Gets the View on Earth’s Water Resources from Space
A pair of Earth orbiters designed to keep track of the planet's water resources and evolving water cycle is scheduled to launch this month – no earlier than May 22, 2018. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On mission, or GRACE-FO, will pick up where its predecessor, GRACE, left off when it completed its 15-year mission in 2017. By measuring changes in Earth’s gravity, the mission will track water movement around the globe, identifying risks such as droughts and floods and revealing how land ice and sea level are evolving. The GRACE-FO mission is a great way to get students asking, and answering, questions about how we know what we know about some of the major components of Earth’s water cycle: ice sheets, glaciers, sea level, and ground-water resources.
In the latest Teachable Moment from NASA/JPL Edu, education specialist Ota Lutz explains the science behind the mission, how it measures water from space, and what impact the water cycle has on our everyday lives. Click below to read more and find out how to turn this NASA Earth science mission into a teachable moment for students.
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Related Lessons and Resources for Educators
Use these standards-aligned lessons and activities to get your students engaged in the GRACE-FO mission and Earth science with NASA.
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