My Moon Campaign – competition for school students
4 November 2009
My Moon Campaign is engaging students all around the world in the study of the Moon, using whatever means they have available to them, be it naked-eye observations, robotic telescopes, imagination or creativity. To enter the competition classes of school students can submit their entries as a report, an essay, present a project or anything that makes our natural satellite worthy of being called 'My Moon' by the students. The competition is open until 10 November 2009, so there is still time to submit your entry. If you are in need of some inspiration why not take a look at ESA's lunar mission, SMART-1.
The competition
Classes of school students must work as a team to study one or more aspects of the Moon in order to produce a competition entry in a format of their choice. A number of great prizes for teachers, schools and students are up for grabs and all entries will receive a certificate of participation as well as global recognition via an online gallery. Full details about the competition can be found on the Galileo Teacher Training Programme website.
Ideas and resources for competition entries
The dedicated competition pages on the Galileo Teacher Training programme website list ideas and resources to help and stimulate projects. Students can use any means they have available to complete their class entry, such as; small telescopes, binoculars, astrophotography, webcams, image databases etc.
SMART-1 resources available for projects
To view SMART-1 images of craters on the Moon go here.
To find out what it takes to form a SMART team to explore the Moon go here.
For an overview of the SMART-1 mission go here.
About SMART-1
SMART-1- a Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology - was launched in 2003 to test solar electric propulsion and other deep-space technologies, as well as making a survey of the key chemical elements in the lunar surface. SMART-1 also investigated the theory that the Moon was formed following the violent collision of a smaller planet with Earth, four and a half billion years ago. The mission ended in September 2006 when the spacecraft, in a planned manoeuvre, impacted the lunar surface.