ALL NEW 2008 EDITIONS

SPACE UPDATE is an interactive, real-time display system of Space Science images and data designed for Museums and Schools. Running from the CD-ROM, the program displays hundreds of images and movies of the best of space science research, documented, with web references of how to find out more. By installing the software on a hard drive, you can update the software to truly show "today's data" by downloading today's images free from the internet to keep your software up-to-date, even if it is in use! Each of the submodules, plus the special TicTacToe knowledge game can be run separately, resulting in 5 separate kiosks if desired. After extensive testing in museum and school settings, this software is available in all new multiplatform (Mac OSX and Windows 2000/XP) version!



System Requirements
Frequently Asked Questions

SPACE UPDATE currently includes 5 modules:
ASTRONOMY
Hot new images from the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories around the globe, plus an "allsky" section to see the invisible galaxy!

SKY TONIGHT
Daily skyviews (including the planets and Moon!), for morning and evening skies, looking N, S, E, W, and UP. The CD ships with one preset viewing latitude of 30°N or 40°N, 90°W, GMT -6, but 8 different views are available for the following latitudes

60°N, 90°W, GMT -6
50°N, 90°W, GMT -6
40°N, 90°W, GMT -6
30°N, 90°W, GMT -6 (Houston)
20°N, 90°W, GMT -6 (Mexico City)
10°N, 60°W, GMT -4 (Venezuela)
20°S, 45°W, GMT -3 (Rio)
30°S, 150°E, GMT+11 (Sydney)
 
These sky movies are downloadable free from our website, by using the SETUP function

SOLAR SYSTEM
Recent results from planetary missions, plus planetary images from Hubble! Data on the planets and moons, and the latest missions!

SPACE WEATHER
A description of what space weather is and what it does - including the latest images of the Sun and the latest auroral images from POLAR and IMAGE. Realtime space weather conditions from the WIND and ACE spacecraft - see our award-winning Space Weather hotlist for our source sites!

SPACE TicTacToe
a fun game to test your knowledge about space weather (other game sets downloadable from our web site)
SPACE UPDATE is written in Macromedia Director and is NOT directly accessible from the Web. The complete program is ~600 MB, with many movies and sound. Both real-time images and instructive sample images are provided. Web references are always available, so that a visitor can learn more on his or her own. The system is all "point and click", with no technical ability required. Reading level is middle-school, although even non-readers enjoy the simple navigation and gorgeous imagery. The software is easy to use - each image can update on demand with a single click, like a browser, but since it is a captive program, it is safe for unsupervised use (the visitors are not allowed unlimited access to the often inappropriate material on the web). Included on the CD-ROM are stand-alone versions of each of the modules, plus a linked version of the total SPACE UPDATE program. The architecture is simple and open - users can easily find the images or movies on the CD and use them in creating curricula or student reports. Museums can order special full-screen versions that blank out the menu bars, keeping the users from accessing the desktop.		  


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The "Public Connection": is an outreach arm of the Rice Space Institute at Rice University in collaboration with the Houston Museum of Natural Science [ Project Director: Patricia Reiff ]. This project is funded by NASA as part of the Earth Science Information Partners.
The project was originally part of NASA/Goddard's Digital Library Technology Project, and now is part of the Learning Technologies Program.
ACCESSED BY connect@space.rice.edu UPDATED: 11-20-07