NASA Science Supports Data Literacy for K-12 Students

Data – and our ability to understand and use it – shapes nearly every aspect of our world, from decisions in our lives to the skills we need in the workplace and more. All of us, as either producers or consumers of data, will experience how it can be used to problem-solve and think critically as we navigate the world around us. For that reason, Data Science has become an increasingly essential and growing field that combines the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and sharing of data in virtually every area of life. As more data become more openly available, our Data Science skills will be of increasing importance. And yet, there is a widening gap between what students learn in school and the skills they will need to succeed in a data-driven world. The integration of Data Science into K-12 education opens doors to higher education, high-paying careers, and empowering learners to eventually participate in the creation of new knowledge and understanding of our world, and at least 29 states have reported some level of data science implementation at the K-12 level, including standard or framework adoption, course piloting, and educator professional learning.

In February 2025, the first-ever Data Science Education K-12: Research to Practice Conference (DS4E) took place in San Antonio, TX. A number of representatives from NASA’s Science Activation program and other NASA partners attended and presented along with over 250 educators, researchers, and school leaders from across the nation. Science Activation projects share a passion for helping people of all ages and backgrounds connect with NASA science experts, content, experiences, and learning resources, and the AEROKATS & ROVER Education Network (AREN); Place-Based Learning to Advance Connections, Education, and Stewardship (PLACES); Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Mission Earth; and My NASA Data teams did just that. Their presentations at the conference included:

• “BYOD – Build or Bring Your Own Data: Developing K-12 Datasets” (PLACES)
• “Using NASA Data Resources as a Tool to Support Storytelling with Data in K-12 Education” (My NASA Data)
• “Place-Based Data Literacy: Real People, Real Places, Real Data” (AREN)

Conference participants expressed interest in learning more about NASA assets, including data and subject matter experts. Stemming from their participation in this first DS4E, several Science Activation teams are collaborating to potentially host regional events next year under the umbrella of this effort (PLACES in particular), a wonderful example of how Science Activation project teams help lead the charge in the advancement of key Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, such as Data Science, to activate minds and promote a deeper understanding of our world and beyond.

Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn

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Mike Drury: A 40-Year Legacy of Precision

Deputy Integration and Testing Manager – Goddard Space Flight Center

Mike Drury began at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as a temporary technician — a contractor hired for six weeks to set up High Capacity Centrifuge tests. Six weeks then turned into three months and, eventually, over 40 years.

Now, Mike is the deputy integration and testing manager for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. In this role, Mike oversees both Roman’s assembly and the many verification processes that ensure it is ready for launch.

“It’s a privilege to work here. There’s really no regrets,” Mike says. “This is a big place, and it is what you make it. You can really spread your wings and go into a lot of different areas and do different things.”

When Mike first began at Goddard, only government-employed technicians could work on space flight hardware. However, times were changing. The “old-timers,” as Mike affectionately calls them, soon began training a small group of contractors, including Mike, for flight hardware work. Mike credits these “old-timers” for the mindset he still carries decades later.

“They taught me how to approach things and execute, and that helped me through my entire career,” Mike says. “It’s that approach — making sure things are done right, without cutting any corners — that I always liked about working here.”

Not everyone can say that they worked on space missions while in college, but Mike can. Mike took advantage of a program through his contract that paid for classes. For 10 years, Mike studied at Anne Arundel Community College while continuing full-time work at Goddard, eventually earning an associate’s degree in mathematics. 

While in community college, Mike also stocked up on several physics and calculus credits which helped prepare him to study thermal engineering at Johns Hopkins University. After seven more years of night classes, Mike completed a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. 

“Night school was really difficult between full-time work and traveling because I was working on several missions,” Mike says. “You needed that perseverance to just keep going and working away at it. So I just hung in there.”

In his 17 years of night school, Mike worked on seven missions, expanding his skill set from test set-up, to clean room tech work, to training astronauts. While working on the Hubble Space Telescope, Mike helped to train astronauts for their in-orbit tech work to install various instruments. 

“Every mission I’ve worked on I’ve learned something,” Mike says. “Every test you learn more and more about other disciplines.”

After graduating from Johns Hopkins, Mike worked for a short time as an engineer before becoming an integration supervisor. In 2006, Mike took on the position of James Webb Space Telescope ISIM (Integrated Science Instrument Module) integration and test manager. After Webb’s ISIM was integrated with the Optical Telescope Element, Mike became the OTIS (Optical Telescope Element and Integrated Science Instrument Module) integration and testing manager.

“It was a tough eight to 10 years of work,” Mike says. “Loading the OTIS into the shipping container to be sent to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for further testing was a great accomplishment.” 

To ensure that Webb’s ISIM would thrive in space, Mike was involved in more than three months of round-the-clock thermal vacuum testing. During this time, a blizzard stranded Mike and others on-site at Goddard for three days. Mike spent his nights overseeing thermal vacuum tests and his days driving test directors and operators to their nearby hotel rooms with his four-wheel-drive truck — a winter storm savior in short supply.

For Mike, the hard work behind space missions is well worth it.

“As humans, we want to discover new things and see things. That’s what keeps me coming back — the thought of discovery and space flight,” Mike says. “I get excited talking to some of the Hubble or Webb scientists about the discoveries they’ve made. They answer questions but they also find themselves asking new ones.”

Some of these new questions opened by Hubble and Webb will be addressed by Mike’s current project — Roman.

“This team I would say is the best I’ve ever worked with. I say that because it’s the Goddard family. Everyone here on Roman has the same agenda, and that’s a successful, on-time launch,” Mike says. “My ultimate goal is to be staying on the beach in Florida after watching Roman blast off. That would be all the icing on the cake.”

Mike is also focusing on laying the groundwork for the next era at Goddard. He works hard to instill a sense of import, intention, and precision in his successors, just as the “old-timers” instilled in him 40 years ago.

“I talk to a lot of my colleagues that I’ve worked with for years, and we’re all excited to hand it off to the next generation,” Mike says. “It’s so exciting to see. I’m the old guy now.”

By Laine Havens
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

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NASA’s Planetary Defenders Documentary Premieres April 16

NASA is bringing the world of planetary defense to the public with its new documentary, “Planetary Defenders.”

What would humanity do if an asteroid were headed for Earth? The documentary takes viewers inside the real-life efforts of scientists and engineers working to detect, track, and mitigate potential asteroid threats. Featuring firsthand accounts from experts on the front lines, the film reveals the science, technology, and personal dedication behind planetary defense. The film also showcases the teamwork that drives this critical global effort.

Debuting on NASA+ Wednesday, April 16, NASA is inviting the public to participate in a special YouTube Premiere event at 4:30 p.m. EDT. During this interactive screening, viewers can watch the first public showing of the film together and ask questions to NASA planetary defense experts.

To engage audiences further, NASA is providing digital creators with a toolkit that includes resources, activities, and ways to join the mission of planetary defense.

Established in 2016, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office leads the agency’s mission to find, track, and understand asteroids and comets that could pose a risk to Earth.

Stay up to date on NASA’s planetary defense efforts: https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense

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Sols 4505-4506: Up, up and onto the Devil’s Gate 

Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick

Earth planning date: Monday, April 7, 2025

Over the weekend, we completed our drive up the steep side of a canyon, up onto “Devil’s Gate,” a small butte which forms part of the ridge along the top of the canyon and now we can see down into the next canyon. It is always true that we are going somewhere no one has been before – that’s the idea of an exploratory mission after all, and everyone kind of gets used to it, we don’t stop to think about it. But today, coming over the top of a hill like this and fully looking for the first time into an area that we have only had glimpses of before, it really brings it home that the mission is doing something extraordinary, something out of this world …. and brings that feeling of awe back into focus. 

We did not pass SRAP (Slip Risk Assessment Process) a couple of times as we climbed up the side of this canyon, meaning that the contact science instruments (APXS and MAHLI) had to stand down for that day’s planning. However, this morning, in addition to a brand new vista, we saw that all six wheels are firmly on the ground and we passed SRAP quickly this morning, which must have been a relief to the rover planner in charge of assessing it today! (no one wants to be the bearer of bad news, day after day!) 

Bedrock here has both flat bedrock and amazing large nodular features, which appear to have “wind tails” caused by winds consistently blowing in the same direction. This is a Touch and Go plan, so APXS and MAHLI are focusing on a single target, the brushed “Coronado” target on the flat bedrock in front of us. ChemCam will use LIBS to investigate the nodular features at “La Cumbre Peak.”  

Near the rover, Mastcam will image some small diagenetic features at “Boulder Oaks” and the LIBS target. The 3×2 (2 rows of 3 images) “La Jolla Valley” mosaic focuses on a very nodular patch, just outside of the workspace reachable by the arm. Further from the rover, the 6×2 mosaic (2 rows of 6 images) “Los Penasquitos” looks at an amazing almost vertical vein. This discontinuous vein stretches for about 6 meters (about 18 feet), with vein fins sticking above the surface at various points, like a series of shark fins breaking the bedrock surface. Much further afield, ChemCam will acquire a long distance image on “Condor Peak,” which appears to have large scale vein networks, known as “boxwork structures” and may be an early example of the boxworks we are hoping to reach in Fall 2025.  

The ENV (Environmental and Atmospheric group) planned a Mastcam “tau” measurement, to look at dust in the atmosphere. There is a paired Navcam activity, looking at dust devils towards the north of the crater on the first sol and towards the south on the second sol. A suprahorizon movie and our usual DAN and REMS measurements round out this plan.  

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Welcome to the Mission Support Directorate (MSD)

David Mitchell, the Associate Administrator for MSD.   

Have you ever wondered how NASA manages to achieve all the incredible missions it does, like probing the Sun and studying the history of our Universe? We do it through teamwork, one of our core values. And an essential part of NASA’s team is what we call Mission Support. Mission Support makes sure NASA’s missions, centers, and programs have the capabilities and services they need to explore the unknown, innovate for the future, and inspire the world.  

To illustrate Mission Support at NASA, look at the example of the Roman Space Telescope. It’s not just scientists and engineers who are making the telescope happen. The program works with NASA’s financial office to plan the budget for the telescope. Engineers design the telescope with tools developed in coordination with NASA’s shared services and information technology offices. NASA’s engineering authority checks the design, and international relations manages NASA’s collaborations with other countries on the telescope. All of this is Mission Support. 

Of course, there is much more to Mission Support, but I think you get the picture. MSD enables Mission Support by:  

• Planning and executing the Mission Support budgets for safety, security, and mission services as well as construction and environmental management.  

• Executing strategy and governance to ensure Mission Support is financially sound, aligned with the agency’s goals, and serving NASA’s missions. 

• Addressing Mission Support’s financial, operational, legal, and reputational risks to ensure resilience and mission success. 

• Working with mission directorates and centers to ensure NASA is prioritizing the Mission Support services they need most urgently to be successful. 

• Integrating Mission Support services across the agency to maximize efficiency and effectiveness. 

Current and future missions require significant support to be successful. MSD is working today to ensure Mission Support is there for NASA to explore the unknown, innovate for the future, and inspire the world.  

To learn more, visit MSD Organization.  

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Margeline Thomas