Abstract:
SPACE UPDATE is an interactive, real-time display system of Earth and 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 earth and space science research, documented, with web references of how to find out more. Roughly 5% of the material represents "today's data" - current as of the time when ... the CD-ROM was burned. 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; or we can update your modules remotely each day (for a monthly charge) to keep your software up-to-date, even if it is in use! (Weather data can be downloaded hourly if desired). Each of the submodules can be run separately, resulting in 7 separate kiosks if desired. After extensive testing in museum and school settings, this software is now ready for release in both Mac and Windows versions!
SPACE UPDATE currently includes 5 modules:
ASTRONOMY Hot new images from the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories around the globe.
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 30N, 90W, GMT -6 (Houston), but 8 different views are available for the following latitudes
The 40N and 30S sky movies are availlable on our FTP site. The others can be obtained by purchasing the SKY TONIGHT CD. The SKY TONIGHT CD comes FREE with a paid copy of SPACE UPDATE ($20 plus shipping and tax), or can be ordered separately for $10 plus shipping and tax. Contact us for more information.
SOLAR SYSTEM Recent results from planetary missions, plus planetary images from Hubble!
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 EVENTS Information about new discoveries like Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and solar and lunar eclipses.
If you run our software suite on a computer attached to the Web, you can browse or download today's images free from the internet; or we can update your modules remotely automatically each day (for a monthly charge) to keep your software up-to-date!
Description:
(Adapted from Public Connection home page)
We have created the "Public Connection" in collaboration with the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS), by developing interactive real-time displays of real-time earth and space science data. The "Space Update" software has now been fully field-tested by over 800,000 visitors and is available for purchase for display at museums and schools! The all-new "Earth Update" software is also ready for sale. This project was initially funded by NASA/Goddard's Digital Library Technology Project and is now part of the Learning Technologies Program. "Earth Update" is funded by NASA's Office of Earth Science. Our logo, a 6-pointed star, is created from interlocking triangles. The silver triangle symbolizes observing space from the Earth (the bottom point is man with two upward arms reaching to the solar system on the left and the galaxy and beyond on the right). The blue triangle symbolizes observing Earth from space (the top point is a spacecraft viewing down to observe the curved Earth below). The former symbolizes our "Space Update" software - the second, our "Earth Update" software.
Description:
Earth Update is an interactive, real-time display system of Earth images and data designed for Museums and Schools and now available to the general public as a "realtime museum on a disk"! Running from the CD-ROM, the program displays hundreds of images and movies of the best of earth images and data, documented, with live web links of how to find out more.
We do all our primary programming on Macs, and we strongly recommend using Macs for your display computers. At a minimum, you need a Mac Power PC with 64 MB free RAM, CD player, System 8.1 or higher with Quicktime 4 or higher installed. The software runs much faster and allows one-click updating of today's latest ... images if you copy the software suite to your hard drive. In that case, please note the total hard disk requirements below for installing all the software on your computer instead of running it from the CD.
SPACE UPDATE
You need 450 MB of free hard disk space for all of SPACE UPDATE, or 50-140 MB free if you only wish to show one of the modules (Sky Tonight is the largest because of the skyview movies included). Monitor requirements are 640x480 pixels, with 16-bit color (thousands of colors). No keyboard is necessary for the display - only a trackball or trackpad and clicker.
Windows users:
Our system will run on Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, and ME, with at least 64 MB of RAM. Sound cards are necessary to hear the effects (but are not necessary for module operation). You need 400 MB free hard disk space for all of SPACE UPDATE; or 50-140 MB if you only wish to show one of the modules. The Windows versions requires Quicktime 4, and a display set to High Color (16 bit). The Windows version is not available in two-screen format.
2 Screen version:
Our two-screen version is only available for Mac's. The first monitor is the typical "Space Update" screen. The second monitor displays the chosen image in highest resolution, without menu buttons or text shown - perfect for putting on a projector for a live lecture. The second screen has a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels for Astronomy, Space Weather, and Solar System. It is also possible to display the second screen on an RGB projection system, or TV monitor depending on your setup and video cpabilities. The two-screen version CD contains both the individual two-screen modules and the 16-bit color version of the single-screen Space Update program - basically everything which is presently on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science!
Name:
PATRICIA
REIFF
Phone:
(713)348-4634
Fax:
(713)348-5143
Email:
reiff at rice.edu
Email:
connect at space.rice.edu
Contact Address:
Rice Space Institute
6100 Main Street
MS - 108 City:
Houston
Province or State:
Texas
Postal Code:
77005-1892
Country:
USA
Distribution Media
Distribution_Media:
CD-ROM
Fees:
$15 USD
Personnel
TYLER
B.
STEVENS Role:
SERF AUTHOR
Phone:
(301) 614-6898
Fax:
301-614-5268
Email:
Tyler.B.Stevens at nasa.gov
Contact Address:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Global Change Master Directory City:
Greenbelt
Province or State:
MD
Postal Code:
20771
Country:
USA
Links
