Happy World Space Week 2016!

Did you know that October 4-10 is World Space Week? World Space Week is a week set aside each year for people to get together and celebrate space! This year's theme is: "Remote Sensing - Enabling Our Future." There are over 1,000 events being held in 79 countries around the world, making this the biggest public space event on Earth!

Are you wondering what this Remote Sensing thing is? It has to do with observing the Earth from space. The images and data gathered through Remote Sensing are useful for many things, including environmental monitoring, agricultural monitoring, land use mapping, and location-based services.

If you are interested in learning more about Remote Sensing, check out this brief PDF publication, "Tracking Change Over Time: Understanding Remote Sensing," from the USGS that explains Remote Sensing and even includes a few activities, too. Click on this link to download the PDF file:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/133/pdf/RemSens-Student_web.pdf

If you want more in-depth information on Remote Sensing, a great detailed tutorial ("Fundamentals of Remote Sensing") can be found at the website of the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation--just click on this link below:
http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/geomatics/satellite-imagery-air-photos/satellite-imagery-products/educational-resources/9309

Lots of great space-related events are held each year during World Space Week! Are you wondering what kind of events are happening for WSW 2016? Here are just a few examples: talks by astronauts, space-themed documentary film showings, essay competitions, and public astronomy sessions. There is even a space fashion show! Check out the full list of events around the world at this website:
http://www.worldspaceweek.org/events/event-list/

You can learn lots more about World Space Week by visiting the website at:
http://www.worldspaceweek.org/


Stay informed, get updates, and join the conversations by following World Space Week on social media!

Twitter: @WorldSpaceWeek
Facebook: World Space Week
hashtags: #WSW2016   #WorldSpaceWeek

Anthropologist's Note: It is impressive that for a week each year, people from almost 80 countries around the world join together and celebrate space. It is a great illustration of how space can unite people across geographical boundaries and despite any cultural barriers. The World Space Week celebration has been expanding over time, with not only more countries getting involved, but more events going on within many of the countries as well. In addition, children are taking more of an active role, and many events are being held in the school setting, such as writing contests, art contests, educational presentations, and many other activities. Involving children as much as possible is very important, since they will be our future leaders, engineers, scientists, and more. Participating in international space-related events such as World Space Week is not only an interesting STEM/STEAM learning activity, but could be an important stepping stone in forming their future career choices as well!

Make sure you mark your calendar for World Space Week 2017--be sure to take part in some events next year--and even better--get together with others and also plan an activity of your own!


(Image Credit: World Space Week)