Space Explorers’ virtual missions, experiments, and data analysis tools were founded upon the idea that students involved in the excitement of NASA missions could be highly motivated to pursue careers in math, science, and technology fields. Along with providing Internet based science curricula, Space Explorers also provides teachers with professional development opportunities and workshops to further enhance their science teaching abilities. |
NASA scientists have concluded that at least one of the large lakes observed on Saturn's moon Titan contains liquid hydrocarbons, and have positively identified the presence of ethane. This makes Titan the only body in our solar system beyond Earth known to have liquid on its surface. Scientists made the discovery using data from an instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft. The instrument identified chemically different materials based on the way they absorb and reflect infrared light. "Detection of liquid ethane confirms a long-held idea that lakes and seas filled with methane and ethane exist on Titan," said Larry Soderblom, a Cassini interdisciplinary scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona.
