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Valve Jacks Up Steam Deck Prices By As Much As $300 - Engadget
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Why Google’s AI can’t spell Google (or anything else) - TechCrunch
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ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo Review: Outrageously Expensive, Totally Awesome - Engadget
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NASA - Breaking News
A Shift in What’s Shaping U.S. Landscapes
2026-05-28 04:00
The land is always changing, sometimes by human hands: cities are built, farms expanded, and forests logged. Other changes lie mostly outside people’s control: wildfires burn through communities, and hurricanes reshape coastlines. For most of the past four decades, observations from the Landsat satellite record show that humans have dominated changes to the U.S. landscape. Recent research revealed a shift in that trend, suggesting that disasters might be catching up.
In a NASA-funded study published in Nature Geoscience, scientists analyzed nearly 35 years of data from NASA/USGS Landsat satellites to better understand what has been shaping the continental U.S. landscape. The researchers, led by former Landsat science team member Zhe Zhu, found that “human-directed disturbances” like logging, agricultural expansion, and construction have declined, while “wild disturbances” like wildfires and hurricanes—disasters that can be influenced by human activity but are not controlled by people—have risen in frequency and intensity.
Robert Emberson, associate program manager for the NASA Disasters program and not affiliated with the study, said that understanding the forces transforming the U.S. landscape is critical for future planning. “If you know what’s causing them, you can begin to plan around disasters,” Emberson said. “Any understanding of causal factors impacts the adaptation strategy.”
This research is especially useful for policymakers working to prepare communities for resilience, he said. For example, a region expecting to see increased wildfires could strategically perform prescribed burns, remove brush or dry grass around homes, and construct new buildings with fire-resilient materials.
Between 1988 and 2022, 18 percent of the land area in the continental U.S. was disturbed at least once, the researchers found. Adding repeated disturbances, the cumulative area disturbed rises to almost 700,000 square miles, equivalent to nearly one-third of the continental U.S. Humans drove more than half of that change, clearing or developing over 446,000 square miles of land—that’s bigger than the size of Texas and California combined. For example, the animation above, composed of Landsat images from 1985 to 2025, shows the expansion of Reno, Nevada, into a previously undeveloped desert landscape.
Meanwhile, wild disturbances—disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, and landslides—drove much of the remaining change, transforming more than 165,000 square miles of the continental U.S. The Landsat images in the animation below show areas burned by wildfires in Eldorado National Forest west of California’s Lake Tahoe from 1985 to 2025. Major fires in 1992, 2014, and 2022 cleared large swathes of forest, leaving behind bare ground that slowly reforested.
Although human activity has disturbed a larger cumulative area than wild events, the trends over time are moving in opposite directions. That is, land disturbance caused directly by people has been decreasing, while wild disturbance has been increasing.
Specifically, human-directed land disturbances decreased by nearly 232 square miles (600 square kilometers) each year over the course of the study period. Researchers attribute this change to declines in construction, agricultural expansion, and logging, likely brought about by a combination of policy changes, technological improvements, and the 2008 financial crisis’s effect on construction.
In contrast, land affected by wild disturbances increased by more than 77 square miles (200 square kilometers) per year. Fire, drought-related stress, and wind disturbances all became more frequent, likely due to climate warming and other environmental factors, the study authors wrote.
“What this study basically tells me is that what we’ve been doing is not working,” said Ramakrisna Nemani, a retired NASA scientist and co-author on this study. “We have to go back and come up with new strategies on how to deal with these natural disturbances.”
The study’s findings drew on the deep archive of Landsat data, which has long been a key resource for detecting change on Earth’s surface. Think of it like a “spot-the-difference” game. Historically, identifying differences between images required scientists to manually identify the source of the change; for example, using ground observations combined with satellite imagery to determine whether a bare spot resulted from wildfires or logging. For this study, scientists trained a new machine-learning algorithm to do that differentiation work for them.
They fed the algorithm 40 years of land-change data acquired by satellites, manually inspecting and identifying changes at 50,000 locations. After a decade of work, they developed a product that achieves more than 75 percent accuracy across most disturbance types.
The resulting product details the causes of disturbance across the continental U.S. over the course of nearly 35 years. With this information, communities can analyze the past to better plan for the future. “The USA is entering a new era of disturbance,” the study authors wrote. “The challenge now is to transform our relationship with disturbance from one of control to one of coexistence.”
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, based on data from Qiu, S. et al. Animations by Ross Walter, Landsat Project Science Support. Story by Madeleine Gregory, Landsat Project Science Support.
References & Resources
- Qiu, S. et al. (2025) A shift from human-directed to undirected wild land disturbances in the USA. Nature Geoscience, (18) 989-996.
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NASA Develops Sensor to Improve Firefighter Safety
2026-05-27 21:45
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
With peak wildfire season approaching, scientists with NASA’s FireSense project have created low-cost thermal sensors to install on fire bulldozers that will alert firefighters when heat from a nearby fire reaches a dangerous level. The sensors also provide researchers with important data on what happens beneath the canopy during a fire.
In April, researchers and firefighters gathered in southern Alabama to discuss challenges and advances in firefighting, and to demonstrate the new technology. The event was part of a collaboration between NASA and the Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC). The goal: to make firefighting safer and gather critical data on fire behavior.
“As we try to develop technologies that allow us to understand and respond to wildfires with our partners, ground observations are vital to provide context for what we are seeing from space,” said Ian Brosnan, program manager for wildland fires at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
Dozers on the fire line
Firefighters nationwide use bulldozers, colloquially referred to as fire dozers, on the front line of a fire to clear vegetation and to create fire breaks, which slow or stop a wildfire’s spread. This often puts dozers and their operators within feet of the flames.
The AFC is switching its fleet to a model of bulldozer that has an enclosed cab called an “envirocab.” While envirocabs are safer for operators than open cabs, the enclosure makes it more difficult to gauge when radiant heat from the fire has reached a dangerous temperature.
“It’s not so much about what’s going to burn the tractor up as what’s going to shut the tractor down,” said Ethan Barrett, AFC fire analyst. The electrical wiring can short or even melt from high heat, stranding the operator in a dangerous environment.
That’s where NASA comes in. According to Brosnan, developing thermal sensors for the AFC was an opportunity to create technology that has immediate impact on firefighter safety, while also providing scientists with valuable information about what happens on the ground during a fire.
It’s not so much about what’s going to burn the tractor up as what’s going to shut the tractor down.
Ethan barrett
AFC Fire Analyst
How sensors work
The AFC’s requirements for a sensor were simple: it needed to be low-cost and easy to operate.
“We used commercial, off-the-shelf components to make this,” said Jennifer Fowler, science integration manager for the wildland fires program at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “The thermocouple that sits in the window to measure temperature, for example, is the same one used in an oven or a kiln.”
That thermocouple is wired to a simple LED light attached to the dashboard that’s directly in the operator’s line of sight. When the thermocouple senses an unsafe temperature, the LED starts blinking. The whole system is powered by AA batteries.
“While installing the second sensor, we realized we needed an extra piece, so we just ran out to the local hardware store to grab it,” said Ryan Wade, research scientist with the University of Alabama, Huntsville and NASA FireSense. “NASA’s expertise in this case comes not in the novelty of the instrument itself, but in figuring out how to solve the problem quickly and integrate that technology into their existing system.”
Fowler installed the first of these sensors in September 2025, and Wade installed the second in March 2026.
“Since their installation, we have run them on wildfires and prescribed burns and they’ve been effective,” Barrett said. “They work exactly as intended, and the operators have said it leads to better situational awareness. Based on the success of this pilot, we are looking at outfitting all the dozers in our fleet.”
Driving fire science forward
Co-developing these thermal sensors is the latest milestone in a relationship the two agencies have been building for more than a year. NASA scientists led training classes on weather and soil moisture with the AFC last spring and worked with AFC ground crews to test airborne instruments on active wildfires.
Moving forward, NASA FireSense and the AFC are planning to integrate the Fire Thermal InfraRed Spectrometer, or FireTIRS, which will measure temperature, spread rate, flame length, fire convection, and gas emissions.
Fowler is also evaluating anemometers and compact cameras for the dozers. Anemometers provide data on wind speed and direction, while compact cameras provide data on burn severity, rate of spread, and the type, volume, and consumption of fuels.
The data this suite of instruments can gather would fill an important gap in creating a well-rounded understanding of fire.
“This is the dataset that will get us to the next generation of fire models,” Fowler said. “It gives us the detailed understanding we need to create tools that can give firefighters more advanced notice of what a fire will do. On a wildfire, that extra time is everything.”
To view more photos from the FireSense campaign visit: nasa.gov/firesense
About the Author
Milan Loiacono
Milan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center.
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Released: NASA Goddard Issues Draft Request for Proposal for the Landsat 10 Spacecraft
2026-05-27 20:40
The Landsat 10 Spacecraft Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP) is available for review via SAM.gov as of May 18, 2026. This solicitation marks a major milestone in continuing the decades-long partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to acquire, archive, and distribute multispectral imagery of Earth’s global landmasses and coastal regions.
Potential offerors may comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation by June 2, 2026. The final Request for Proposal (RFP) is currently expected to be released at the end of June 2026, with proposals due roughly 30 days thereafter.
The scope of work includes the end-to-end design and fabrication of the satellite bus, comprehensive observatory-level performance testing, development of high-fidelity simulators, launch vehicle integration support, and post-launch on-orbit commissioning. Beyond building the bus, the contractor will lead the mechanical and electrical integration of the government-furnished Landsat Instrument Suite (LandIS).
Recently re-architected as a single-observatory, Landsat 10 will fly in a 653-kilometer sun-synchronous, near-polar orbit with a repeating ground track every 18 days. Key technical specifications of this Class C mission require the spacecraft to support a maximum launch mass of 4,000 kilograms, feature advanced onboard autonomy and fault management, and ensure a minimum 5-year design life plus commissioning. Landsat 10 operations will ultimately transition to the USGS following its on-orbit checkout.
Landsat 10 provides improvements in both spectral and spatial capabilities compared to its predecessor missions, Landsats 8 and 9, all while guaranteeing critical data continuity with the legacy archive at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. The mission will ensure that researchers, resource managers, and policymakers worldwide continue to receive consistent, freely available data to monitor natural and human-induced environmental changes for years to come.
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The Landsat 10 Spacecraft Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP) is available for review via SAM.gov.
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La NASA ofrece información actualizada sobre rovers, módulos de alunizaje y misiones de Base Lunar
2026-05-27 19:17
Durante una sesión informativa sobre el programa Base Lunar, celebrada en la sede de la NASA en Washington, la agencia anunció nuevos contratos para el desarrollo de vehículos lunares con capacidad para transportar tripulación y módulos de aterrizaje de carga no tripulados con destino a la Luna. Directivos de la NASA también dieron a conocer los plazos de lanzamiento previstos y los próximos hitos para las primeras misiones de infraestructura de Base Lunar y de exploración a la región del Polo Sur de la Luna, como paso previo a la llegada de los astronautas del programa Artemis.
“La Base Lunar será el primer puesto de avanzada de Estados Unidos y de la humanidad en otro mundo celeste”, dijo el administrador de la NASA, Jared Isaacman. “Cada misión, tripulada o no, será una oportunidad de aprendizaje a medida que regresemos a la superficie lunar, construyamos la infraestructura necesaria para permanecer allí y dominemos las destrezas necesarias para vivir y trabajar en uno de los entornos más exigentes y peligrosos que se pueda imaginar. Iremos en busca de la ciencia, por todo lo que tenemos que ganar desde una perspectiva económica y tecnológica, por las innovaciones que mejorarán la vida aquí en la Tierra y para prepararnos para el próximo destino al que inevitablemente nos dirigiremos a continuación. Agradecemos el liderazgo del presidente Trump, el compromiso bipartidista del Congreso, a nuestros socios de la industria e internacionales, y a la dedicada fuerza laboral de la NASA, cuya pericia nos permite lograr lo casi imposible”.
La NASA anunció las tres primeras misiones de Base Lunar para comenzar a establecer operaciones sostenidas.
- Base Lunar I: Su lanzamiento está previsto para no antes del otoño [boreal] de 2026; para ello, se utilizará el módulo de aterrizaje Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance de Blue Origin con el fin de transportar cargas útiles de la NASA. El equipamiento incluirá el instrumento Cámaras estéreo para el estudio de los penachos y la superficie lunar, diseñado para estudiar la interacción de los propulsores con la superficie de la Luna, y el Conjunto retroreflectivo láser, el cual ayuda a las naves espaciales en órbita a determinar su ubicación con mayor precisión utilizando luz láser reflejada. La misión alunizará en la cresta de conexión de Shackleton para demostrar capacidades que permitan reducir riesgos en anticipación a las futuras misiones tripuladas de aterrizaje del programa Artemis, previstas para el año 2028.
- Base Lunar II: Con un lanzamiento programado para más adelante este año, transportará más de 500 kilogramos (1.100 libras) de carga a bordo del módulo de aterrizaje Griffin de Astrobotic, incluyendo el rover FLIP de Astrolab, con el fin de madurar los sistemas de movilidad que servirán para orientar las futuras operaciones de vehículos para terreno lunar (LTV, por sus siglas en inglés).
- Base Lunar III: También programada para este año, esta misión transportará la primera carga útil seleccionada con la iniciativa Cargas Útiles e Investigaciones de Exploración en la Superficie de la Luna de la NASA. Su investigación central, Lunar Vertex (Vértice Lunar), viajará a bordo del módulo de alunizaje Nova-C Trinity de Intuitive Machines y estudiará los remolinos lunares —las manchas claras en la superficie— con el fin de mejorar nuestra comprensión sobre la evolución de la superficie y el comportamiento de los materiales en condiciones extremas. La misión incluirá cargas útiles de la ESA (Agencia Espacial Europea) y del Instituto Coreano de Astronomía y Ciencias Espaciales, lo que refleja la participación comercial e internacional en las actividades de la Base Lunar.
Estas misiones son las primeras de más de una docena de misiones que serán anunciadas este año; cada una está diseñada para producir datos operativos y reducir riesgos en anticipación a las actividades en la superficie de las misiones tripuladas de Artemis.
La NASA ha adjudicado contratos a Astrolab por 219 millones de dólares y a Lunar Outpost 220 millones de dólares para la construcción y entrega de la primera fase de los LTV. Adjudicados en el marco de las órdenes de trabajo de la Fase 1 de la Misión de Alta Viabilidad del contrato de Servicios de Vehículos de Terreno Lunar, estos hitos de costo fijo y basados en el desempeño permitirán a la NASA desplegar sistemas de movilidad, tanto tripulados como no tripulados, en la superficie lunar para 2028, mediante la iniciativa de Servicios Comerciales de Carga Útil Lunar (CLPS, por sus siglas en inglés) de la agencia. La movilidad inicial en la superficie es un componente fundamental en las prioridades de la política espacial nacional de establecer una presencia lunar duradera.
El Vehículo Lunar Tripulado (CLV 1) de Astrolab, adaptado a partir de la arquitectura FLEX de esa compañía, es un rover diseñado para transportar astronautas, trasladar suministros y dar apoyo en operaciones remotas; cuenta con una configuración compacta en estiba (en estado replegado), tiene una masa de aproximadamente 907 kilogramos (2.000 libras) y la capacidad de alcanzar más de 9,6 kilómetros por hora (6 mi/h) en terreno llano.
Como complemento a esta capacidad, el Pegasus de Lunar Outpost es una evolución de su rover Eagle más ligera y lista para la misión, y está diseñado explícitamente para cumplir con los requisitos actualizados para LTV de la NASA. Con una autonomía operativa de hasta un año y capaz de conducir de forma manual, autónoma o teleoperada a velocidades superiores a los 14 km/h (9 mph), Pegasus incorpora tecnologías heredadas del programa Apolo y se basa en una amplia experiencia en prototipos y vuelos para ofrecer una movilidad confiable y centrada en el ser humano, esencial para el establecimiento de una base lunar sostenida.
El despliegue de múltiples LTV en las etapas iniciales del desarrollo de Base Lunar acelerará las demostraciones tecnológicas, orientará la planificación de los emplazamientos y reducirá los riesgos operativos en anticipación de las misiones tripuladas de Artemis, lo que permitirá a la NASA caracterizar los peligros del terreno, transportar materiales, posicionar de antemano los recursos y madurar los sistemas necesarios para la exploración lunar de larga duración.
Durante los próximos dieciocho meses, los proveedores seleccionados finalizarán el diseño de los rovers, llevarán a cabo evaluaciones con tripulación y certificarán las unidades de vuelo para su operatividad. Los LTV resultantes darán apoyo a desplazamientos autónomos, la preparación del terreno, investigaciones científicas, demostraciones de tecnología y el transporte de astronautas.
A medida que avancen los esfuerzos para el establecimiento de la Base Lunar, la NASA ampliará las oportunidades para proveedores adicionales mediante concursos de acceso por etapas, fomentando un enfoque sólido y sostenible para la movilidad lunar y fortaleciendo las prioridades nacionales en materia de capacidades espaciales.
Para la entrega de estos rovers en la región del Polo Sur de la Luna, la NASA adjudicó a Blue Origin un contrato de 188 millones de dólares, con una opción de prórroga por un valor de 280,4 millones de dólares para dos órdenes de trabajo, lo que incluye una opción de prórroga en función del desempeño en la fase inicial. La NASA puede optar por extender la orden de trabajo para la entrega de la carga útil.
Esta contratación competitiva, ejecutada en el marco de la fase de entrega indefinida y cantidad indefinida de CLPS 1.0 con la orden de trabajo CX-2, representa una inversión estratégica en la exploración lunar y desempeñará un papel fundamental para posibilitar la movilidad y el desarrollo de infraestructuras para operaciones lunares sostenidas, marcando un paso significativo hacia el establecimiento de una presencia humana permanente en la Luna.
Sobre la base de los éxitos y las lecciones aprendidas en CLPS 1.0, la agencia también detalló cómo la próxima generación de módulos de aterrizaje de carga en el marco de CLPS 2.0 continuará con la entrega de cargas útiles tanto en la superficie lunar como en la órbita de la Luna, respaldando de esta manera los ambiciosos objetivos de la NASA para sus operaciones lunares sostenidas. Esta nueva fase introduce una mayor flexibilidad, permitiendo a la NASA contratar servicios de entrega “llave en mano” —completamente construidos, integrados, probados y listos para usar de inmediato— o comenzar a recibir el hardware de CLPS para integrarlo en sus propias misiones. La solicitud de propuestas definitivas para CLPS 2.0 fue publicada el 15 de mayo de 2026, y el plazo para la presentación de las respuestas se vence el martes 30 de junio de 2026.
Actualización sobre la misión MoonFall
La agencia también compartió nuevas actualizaciones sobre MoonFall, una misión que enviará cuatro drones para hacer vuelos cortos sobre la superficie lunar mientras inspeccionan posibles lugares de aterrizaje para los astronautas de Artemis. El Laboratorio de Propulsión a Chorro (JPL, por sus siglas en inglés) de la NASA, con sede en el sur de California, ha estado desarrollando el diseño y haciendo pruebas con prototipos de hardware, y ha seleccionado a Firefly Aerospace para construir la nave espacial que transportará los drones desde la órbita terrestre hasta la Luna. El lanzamiento de esta misión está programado para 2028.
Los drones aterrizarán de forma autónoma en la superficie lunar y, a lo largo de un único día lunar, recopilarán imágenes de alta resolución de terrenos de difícil acceso. Tras el último vuelo de cada dron, su carga útil para la supervivencia nocturna seguirá funcionando durante varios meses, lo que supondrá una presencia estadounidense continuada en el Polo Sur lunar.
Otras misiones robóticas en camino
Por último, la NASA anunció que en las próximas semanas dará a conocer una selección de adjudicaciones de trabajos adicionales de CLPS 1.0 —otorgadas durante el evento “Ignition” (Encendido) de la agencia— para cargas útiles y demostraciones de tecnología de Base Lunar. Asimismo, en los próximos meses también habrá nuevas oportunidades para licitar por las órdenes de trabajo de CLPS 1.0 y 2.0, a medida que se definan y planifiquen las demostraciones tecnológicas de la Fase 1 para las misiones de la Base Lunar.
Durante su sesión informativa, el liderazgo de la NASA reiteró que el establecimiento de una presencia lunar sostenida está alineado con la estrategia de exploración más amplia de la agencia, la cual se sustenta en una mayor frecuencia de lanzamientos, la ampliación de sus asociaciones con la industria y una coordinación a nivel de toda la agencia.
Como parte de una edad de oro de innovación y exploración, la NASA enviará astronautas de Artemis en misiones cada vez más difíciles para explorar más de la Luna con fines de descubrimiento científico y beneficios económicos, y para continuar sentando las bases para las primeras misiones tripuladas a Marte.
Para obtener más información sobre la Base Lunar, visita el sitio web (en inglés):
https://www.nasa.gov/moonbase
-fin-
George Alderman / James Gannon / María José Viñas
Sede central de la NASA, Washington
+1 202-358-1600
george.a.alderman@nasa.gov/ james.h.gannon@nasa.gov / maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov
Girl Scouts Event Brings Space Science to the Next Generation
2026-05-27 18:27
In early May 2026, NASA employees, contractors, and volunteers helped to bring Heliophysics to girls of all ages in a fun-filled weekend of hands-on science activities and experiments. The event took place from May 1-3 at Camp Conowingo, a Girl Scouts of Central Maryland camping property on the Susquehanna River north of Baltimore, and brought together participants from across the region.
With support from the Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) and the outreach program from NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, NASA heliophysicist Nicholeen Viall led a camping trip on which 165 Girl Scouts earned their Space Science badge and Ancient and Modern Sun-Watching patch.
The badge and patch were earned over the course of the weekend through a series of activity stations that included hands-on examples of how scientists study the Sun, Heliosphere, Moon, planets, and stars. In particular, these creative experiments allowed attendees to learn about space weather and see firsthand how the Sun impacts our lives, which is a cornerstone of HEAT education goals.
The activities were set up in seven stations. Girl Scout troops were split into 7 groups, plus an 8th group of high school seniors who ran the stations. Each group was named after a constellation (Ursa Major, Leo, Orion, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, Cygnus, Lyra, and Canis Major).
On the morning and afternoon of Saturday May 2, each group spent about 45 minutes per station doing activities to earn a space science badge.
- Station 1 helped Girl Scouts learn about the different career possibilities available in Space Sciences and at NASA
- Station 2 gave Girl Scouts the opportunity to play with polarized sun glasses and try out the ultraviolet beads activity
- Station 3 involved learning more about the Sun and the PUNCH mission through key vocabulary terms and role-playing activities
- Station 4, the Solar System Walk, was a path with planet markers spaced out to scale to help campers identify all the planets in our solar system
- Station 5 demonstrated the phases of the Moon and why different constellations appear in the night sky during the year
- Station 6 taught the Girl Scouts about NASA missions; and
- Station 7 gave Girl Scouts the opportunity to practice shooting a bow and arrow, which is a tradition at Camp Conowingo.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, the groups participated in a star and Moon gazing nighttime astronomy activity and were able to find Jupiter.
These activities were made possible in part thanks to time contributed by members of NASA Solar System Ambassadors and the National Capitol Astronomers. Station 3 from the daytime events also had Sunspotter telescopes for the Girl Scouts to try out, which were provided by HEAT with help from team member Carolyn Ng.
Fellow HEAT team member Laura-Ashley Alegbeleye was also onsite leading activities, where her expertise in classroom education really shined. Laura-Ashley attended as a representative of HEAT, which allowed her to share HEAT resources and educational content with the Girl Scout attendees at several stations, including Station 1.
Viall describes the Space Science Career station by pointing out that the event coordinators leveraged HEAT educational materials, as well as activities designed for the Ancient and Modern Sun Watching patch by the PUNCH team, to show that even a NASA mission requires many different skill sets. “It’s not just scientists and the engineers,” says Viall. “It is financial analysts, it’s communications people, it’s good writers, it’s good artists. All of these different people have to be a part of the team.”
One of the standout moments of the weekend was the campfire at the end of Saturday, which is a tradition for Girl Scout camping events, according to Viall. “One of the traditions of the campfire is that we all sing songs and the Girl Scouts put on skits,” explains Viall. “I want to say about half of the skits that the Girl Scouts made were about space, the Sun, astronauts, or about exploring Mars.”
Viall also pointed out that the event offered a chance for older girl scouts to gain mentoring experience by leading five of the seven activity stations. “I went to those troops over a month ahead of the event,” says Viall. “I met with them and taught them the activities, sent them all the materials, and brainstormed with them about the best way to teach the younger Girl Scouts.” The event taught these older Girl Scouts how to be great leaders themselves by sharing the knowledge with the younger Girl Scouts which Viall helped to impart on them. “That part was really cool, to see the older girls teaching the younger girls the [science] concepts.”
As a final note, Viall points out that after the 165 Girl Scouts signed up, which was the maximum capacity of the campground, there were still three more troops who had wanted to participate. “We had so much interest that I visited an additional 30 girls at their troop meetings to do a quick Space Science/PUNCH lesson event,” says Viall.
Girl Scouts of the USA have offered the Space Science badge series for kindergarten through twelfth grade students since 2019. The Ancient and Modern Sun-Watching patch leverages the PUNCH Public Outreach products, curated for the Girl Scout experience.Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas convened a prototype patch-earning event in 2024. Now, two years later, the Girl Scouts who participated in the Camp Conowingo event officially earned the Ancient and Modern Sun-Watching patch. Viall is the PUNCH Mission Scientist, which helped establish the connection that made the whole event possible. Together with collaborators from NASA HEAT, this event certainly helped to activate a love for science in a new generation of learners.
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