Teaching Kids News - Philae

Read the news article and complete the activities provided in the post.

Philae has woken up.

That is very, very good news. It’s news that scientists around the world were hoping for, and waiting for. And for good reason.

Philae is a spacecraft that was sent on an important mission by scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) about 10 years ago. It took a decade to reach its destination, an icy comet known as 67P (short for 67P/Churymov-Gerasimenko).

The scientists wanted the Philae to land on the comet and send back information about it. They hoped it might even give them some clues about how our solar system was formed.

But when the Philae landed, it ended up in a shadow on the comet. That’s unfortunate, because it powers itself through a solar panel—which needs sunlight to energize.

Scientists hoped that this summer, when the comet moved closer to the sun, Philae’s solar-powered battery would pick up a bit of energy and it would “wake up.” And on Saturday, June 13 Philae woke up and started sending signals back to Earth for the first time in seven months.

The next day, Sunday, scientists received three, 10-second bursts of communication from Philae.

Now, scientists are working to keep Philae’s battery charging so they can give it enough power to resume its mission—collecting data on the P67 comet.

Some “fast facts” about the mission
10-year journey
Sent from French Guiana on March 2, 2004
European Space Agency (EPA)
Travelling at 84,000 mph
300 million miles away from Earth
Comet: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Philae spacecraft, Rosetta “orbiting mothership”
Landed on 67P on November 12, 2014
Battery died November 15, 2014
Woke up June 13, 2015 (seven months)
ESA’s operation centre in Darmstadt, Germany received an 85-second transmission from Philae
Cost of mission: About 1.4 billion Euros

 Related links

Previous TKN article on Philae:
http://teachingkidsnews.com/2014/11/18/1-scientists-hope-philae-will-wake-next-spring/

An excellent article in The Guardian about Philae’s wake-up:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/14/rosetta-mission-hibernating-philae-lander-spacecraft-wakes-up

The Wikipedia page on Philae has detailed information about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philae_(spacecraft)

FAQs (ESA website):
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Frequently_asked_questions

Choose two of the following activities to complete...

Writing PromptPhilae is named after an obelisk (a monument) in Egypt that helped archaeologists uncover the meaning of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. With this in mind, why might have this name been chosen for the space lander?

Reading Prompt: Extending UnderstandingRead one of the linked articles cited below the article. How does reading from two different sources extend your overall understanding of today’s article?

Language Feature: PersonificationPersonification is a literary device used by giving animals, plants, objects, or, even, ideas human characteristics.

Pretend for a moment that Philae were a person.

What type of person might he be? How does the personification of Philae change your response to his mission?

How does personification manipulate the reader?

Music Club - Yabu Band I Am Australian

Music Club - Tihei Mauri Ora

Tanka poem

In the deep clear spring

were water lillies do cling

everyone is always there

cause there's flowers everywhere

I love Spring its beautiful

by lily

Wolf Tanka Poem

Wolf

 

The wolf stalks his prey

A howl means that it is close

It finds a lone deer

Then attacks with a fast speed

And brings it back to his lair.

 

By Scott

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

On the windy holidays there was a new park that was being built and we got to play on it with my friends. After a while I went on this spinning wheel and i felt sick.After one hour we had to go and that was sad, I wanted to stay but we had to go.

Once we had got home we had some dinner and we had this spicey chicken. After dinner we watched some WWE with my dad. WWE went for about a hour and a half.

Before we went to bed I asked dad if we could go to the park the next day and he said, ''yes''. We woke up the next day at 9:am. We went to ask dad if we could go to the playground but he was asleep so we waited.

Later on that day mum rang us and said we could go to the park. So we went to the park so wen went fot about an hour and a half. Then we had to go back home.

Next time i know not to go on the spinning wheel. I named it the wheel of DEATH. Every day on the school holidays we went to the park.


By Tristan

Dragons

Dragons

Hiding in shadows

Fire, scales, wings of night

The dragons are near

Not always in our plain sight

The dragons are all coming

volcanoes

in science we read info about volcanoes there is so much info like volcanoes are created by earthquakes then we planned quietly after that we constructed it out of paper mache

Homework Challenge - Week Two

This week I am bringing Museum Victoria to you at home!

Enjoy the Think Ahead Virtual Tour and Images.

Think Ahead is an exhibition about advances in science and technology across ten themes - communication; medicine and health; music and sound; food; natural systems; transport; space; cities; daily life; and money. With more than 200 museum objects from the past, the present and the speculative future, Think Ahead blends innovative technology with hands-on experiences to inspire you to research, think creatively and share your ideas.

Ask yourself the following questions before you watch the video.

What will our future be like?

What will our cities look like in the future? 

How will new materials change our houses, cities and clothes? 

What will we eat? 

How will we use the space around Earth?

Fantastic Images highlights some past visions of the future featured in the Think Ahead exhibition.

Futuristic Images...

Now answer the following questions...

1.  What problems do you think these forward-thinking futurists were trying to solve?

2.  Which problems have been solved today?

3.  What are the differences between the real solution and the imagined one?

Use these images to stimulate your imagination and think about how we solve problems.

4.  List 5 things you think we do to solve problems?

To leave your Challenge answers post a comment, remember to use the Quality Blog Comment check list!

Holiday Challenge - Week One

As promised here is your Week One holiday challenge...

Watch the following Kid President video...

Now answer the following questions...

1.  What is your FAVOURITE holiday memory and why?

2.  List 5 NO COST activities you could do these  
     holidays?

3.  What do you really want from a vacation?

4.  List 5 things you would do during a 'Whole Vacation'
     using Kid Presidents idea of a 'Whole Vacation'.

To leave your Challenge answers post a comment, remember to use the Quality Blog Comment check list!

http://www.gigaglitters.com/ - Glitter Graphics