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Welcome to Ms. Jasztal's Space Expedition Site!
What is the JASON project? In 1989, after receiving thousands of letters from students, Dr. Robert Ballard had a plan. He had discovered remains of and artifacts from the RMS Titanic, which had drowned in 1912. Students wondered if he would go on another expedition and whether they could get involved. That's where Dr. Ballard had the idea for the JASON expedition project, and he chooses a different topic annually to focus on. The 2005-2006 theme, Mysteries of Earth of Mars, is a highly anticipated, interesting, and exciting expedition. He has also explored the Louisiana wetlands, trekked through the rainforests in Panama, and discovered secrets of "frozen worlds" in Alaska, the Arctic, and the Antarctic. Both teachers and students become involved with his expeditions annually, and even a fourth grade teacher from Oregon named Mrs. Renz was an argonaut with his expedition in Panama.

Students in fourth and fifth grade are invited to join in the JASON project, and four Moton teachers are involved- Mrs. Hunt, Mrs. Neuman, Mrs. Guenkel, and myself. I was invited to join the team in March 2005, so this is my first full year participating in the JASON project!


Ms. Jasztal visiting Kennedy Space Center when she was in fourth grade.

Neat Sites To Start Your Expedition

  • Astronomy for Kids
  • Astronomy- Our Place in Space- Very Highly Recommended
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  • Explore Mars Now!
  • Florida- NASA and Kennedy Space Center Photo Gallery
  • Mars Exploration from NASA
  • The Space Place- NASA's Site For Kids- Probably in my opinion one of the greatest sites on the internet, brought to you by NASA. You can try out awesome projects or see animations such as how we communicate with far-away spacecraft, putting cannonballs into orbit, and some interviews that have been done with NASA scientists and engineers.
  • Space Kids- Space Science For Kids- Send your name out to Mars, learn about astronomy, and read about Starshine 2 and 3, satellites built by students that are orbiting around space.
  • Windows to the Galaxy- This site is INCREDIBLE and can teach you a lot about space.

    Featured Sites-

  • Explore the Solar System as You Search For Space Sounds!
  • EDSpace- A really neat, interactive space-related website. You can even step into astronaut school!
    • UNIT ONE- SPACE- Physical Science
    Before Going to Mars...

    Remember like how astronauts prepare, you must also get familiar with space. Before your mission to Mars, you can learn some vital information about the Solar System.

  • First, check out some words on the solar system. During your JASON mission this year, you will learn the words atmosphere, crater, gravity, mass, volume, and several other words. Get a head start and learn the words before we study them!
  • Second, you can learn that if you were an athlete on Mars, you would win every Olympic gold medal. However, Discovery School tells you that if you continued putting on your own Olympics on Mars, you would come back to Earth VERY, VERY sore.
  • Last, try to see how you would fare on a Mission to Mars by packing specific items. You may have an outstanding four-star launch. Sadly, Ms. Jasztal cannot get higher than three stars for a score!

    Introduction to Mars

    Mars has an incredibly thin atmosphere, which makes it very cold and dusty. A planet saturated with carbon dioxide gas, Mars can get so extremely cold that the carbon dioxide condenses onto the surface of the planet. Yet things weren't always this way... Mars was once a planet vry much like Earth. The geographical features of Mars reveal that it was once a "water planet". Life may have existed there once and could still exist there today!

  • Read A Time For Kids Article About Mars!
  • Read About The Mars Exploration Rover Mission!

    Factoids about Mars (Reference- Cornell University)

  • Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the last of the planets before entering the five outer planets ("Gas Giants").
  • From the Sun, it is 227.7 million kilometers.
  • From Earth, Mars is between 39,900,000 and 249,000,000 miles away.
  • The length of a Martian day is 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds- not too different from a day on Earth!
  • Mars revolves around the Sun once every 687 Earth days.
  • Gravity, however, is only 38 percent as strong as Earth's!
  • There are two moons, Phobos and Deimos.
  • Mars is about half the size of Earth yet twice the size of Earth's moon.

  • Challenging The Space Frontier- from Scholastic
  • Do you think it's easy to launch a rocket from a spinning planet? Hmm, think again!
  • Energy for Kids
  • Gravity- The Universe's Main Attraction
  • Mars Pictures of the Day
  • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory- Learn about spacecraft that has orbited space such as Deep Impact, Cassini, Mars Odyssey, and Voyager.
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    UNIT TWO- Earth and Space
    Solar System-
  • Earth and Moon Viewer
  • Explore the Solar System- from the World Almanac for Kids
  • Explore the Universe from PBS
  • Mars Quest Online
  • NASA Photo Album of the Planets
  • Science Monster- Solar System
  • Solar System Simulator
  • Understanding The Universe
  • Virtual Solar System from National Geographic
  • Views of the Solar System
  • Welcome To The Planets
  • World Almanac Article/Planetary Dictionary about Space

    Volcanoes-

  • Can We Predict Volcanic Eruptions...? All About Volcanoes
  • Learn About The Types of Volcanoes... and More
  • Major Sites of Volcanic Activity in Mars
  • National Geographic- Volcanoes
  • Volcanoes Online- Your Ultimate Guide to Volcanoes on the Net

    Climate Systems-

  • Investigating The Climate Systems- Clouds (.pdf)
  • Space Weather Research Explorer

    Geology-

  • Comparing Earth and Mars- A Geology Lesson
  • How Much Rock Is In An Icy Moon of Another Planet?
  • Learn About Density!
  • Learn About The Geology of Mars
  • Look at Images of Mars!
  • NASA's Gallery of Mars Photos
  • Neill's Geology for Kids (lots of information, but also has several pop-up ads because it is a Geocities site)
  • Searching For Evidence of Water on Mars (.pdf)

    Infrared-

  • NASA Kids- View An Infrared Photo Album

    Soil Science-

  • "The Dirt on Soil"- Discovery School presents information on the many layers of soil, and you also get to take a "soil safari" underground at this website.
  • Soil Science Education for Kids- How much soil is there? See how soil relates to basically everything at this site.
    • UNIT THREE- SPACE- Life Science
  • Astro-Venture- Design a habitable planet!
  • Life Beyond Earth from NOVA
  • Life on Mars Videos (NASA)
  • NASA's Robotics Lab for Kids
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    Sites for Projects/Teachers
    Classroom Projects
    Click on the question or assignment to bring you to a page.

    In Class:

  • UNIT ONE: INTRODUCTION: Blast Off For Mars!- Choose ten items to see how many stars out of four you can earn for your mission to Mars. See the positive and negative points of bringing each object offered on the list of items.
  • UNIT TWO: GEOLOGY: As a class, we are sending a rock around the world!
  • DURING OUR REGULAR SOLAR SYSTEM UNIT: We create SPACE TRAVEL GUIDES.

    Writing Prompts:

  • If you could choose any career working with NASA, which would you choose and why? What would a "day in the life" of this person be like?

    On Your Own:

  • Through the Childrensmuseum.org website, build your own space station!
  • Interested enough to be a contestant on an online game show called The Space Place? Though you cannot become a millionaire, you can still have fun and see how much you know about your own home planet.

    Specifically For Teachers:

  • Exploratorium.edu Mars Website
    • Copyright 2005 Ms. Jasztal and class. All rights reserved.

    Images- Syruss Free Space Animations-Kids Domain Space Icons