Senor Parrot's Perch

 AstroPuppies in Space is an entertaining and very educational kid’s video about space exploration. After watching it, we watched it again. In fact, I wouldn’t mind popping it into the dvd player one more time if I still had it at home. I got the copy we watched from our local library. You can go here to see some trailers of the video and you’ll see what I mean.

The AstroPuppies are two intrepid sock puppets (sock puppies?) who lead you and your kids on a great journey aboard their space shuttle, beginning at Cape Canaveral and traveling on to the Moon. After that, the next stop is the Sun and then on through our solar system. Along the way the puppies ask questions and provide answers to lots of interesting questions. Actual footage of the dramatic 1969 moon landing is included, as well as NASA footage of life and work aboard a space station. 

The makers of the dvd have a nice website over at AstroPuppiesinSpace.com. They have video clips, fun activities and space links so kids can have fun learning more about space and space travel. I highly recommend heading over to AstroPuppiesinSpace.com to give your kid a head start in making fun and exciting associations with science. 

I love valuable resources like this. They stimulate our kids’ minds and make them receptive to new ideas and the wonders of our natural world. They are great ways to have conversations about what it’s like to be a scientist or an engineer, or to travel in space.  

Space Scientists have located what they believe are tunnels beneath the surface of Mars. Probably formed by volcanic activity, these tunnels may harbor existing or former microbial life. This story is reported on LiveScience.com and titled Mars Caves Might Protect Microbes (or Astronauts). They may also prove suitable to protect astronauts from manned Mars missions from some of the harsher martian environmental extremes, such as radiation or dust storms.

If you’re interested in an good introduction to the science of astrobiology, or life in outer space, check out Life on Earth — and Beyond: An Astrobiologist’s Quest by Pamela S. Turner. My review of this book from a few months ago is titled Searching for Life on Other Planets.

Courtesy of NASA

Space never ceases to provide us wonders. You’ve heard that there is water on Mars. Did you know about the water on the Moon? Live Science has an interesting article, Controversial New Idea Surfaces on Origin of Moon’s Water By Clara Moskowitz, Staff Writer about the source of the water recently found all over on the moon’s surface.

Some astronomers think that hydrogen ions from solar wind are reacting with oxygen in the lunar soils to produce water. Other astronomers think that the water came from meteors crashing into the Moons surface. One of the astronomers discussed in the article highlighted by Live Science believes that the water in the lunar core is slowly seeping out to the surface. Some scientists think that more than one theory explains why water is on the moon.

Photo courtesy of NASA

How did scientists discover that there was water in the lunar core? They found it trapped inside volcanic rock which reached the surface by flowing from the Moon’s core and down the side of a volcano, or maybe shooting through the air to some distant location. These rocks were brought back to earth by astronauts in the Apollo Space Program.

Friday, October 9, NASA is crashing some rockets into the Moon just to stir things up and break through the surface, hoping to generate a lot more data about what the moon is made of. I’m taking bets they find green cheese. That’s also the source of the water. I’m from Wisconsin. We believe in cheese.

All of the discussion about the source of water on the moon made me think of all the scientific knowledge that is used for learning about space and places like the Moon. There is chemistry, geology, physics and engineering. These are the tools of discovery and invention in our modern times.

Many students are scared off by the complicated appearance of science, but science and math need to be learned like a language. Once the language of science is learned a doorway into a universe of wonders is opened. And it isn’t too early to begin. In fact, the earlier our children are exposed to science, the better.