PART 1: Weather Worlds Form Due This Friday
PART 2: They're Baaaacccckkkk!
PART 3: Miss the Mars Press Briefings? Look Here...
PART 4: Spread the Word
PART 5: Your Chance to Shine
PART 6: Join Satellite Town Meeting About Internet
PART 7: Mars Pathfinder Mission Status
PART 8: Subscribing & Unsubscribing: How to do it!

WEATHER WORLDS FORM DUE THIS FRIDAY!

Interested in getting your kids involved in a weather-measurement
challenge? Check out the new Weather Worlds project at: 
http://passporttoknowledge.com/lfm/events/weatherworlds.html
Please note, the Weather Worlds form to submit your class plan is due THIS
FRIDAY, October 10!

Weather Worlds offers two, new, exciting activities that are suitable for
a wide range of classrooms at varying levels of sophistication and with
varying amounts of time available for participation. The challenge is for
students to figure out what key weather measurements they think are most
important to gather on Earth, and how to obtain them by designing,
building or acquiring instruments to collect these data.

The Weather Worlds form is available at:
http://passporttoknowledge.com/lfm/events/ptkwwone.html

THEY'RE BAAACCCKKK!

Challenge Questions and brain teasers are back by popular demand! Not only
have teachers have found them be fun and exciting, they also say that the
questions get their students thinking!

This is how it works. Challenge Questions are now an in-class activity
only, which means that you won't be submitting your answers. Questions
will be posted here, in the LFM Updates, once a week for the next five
weeks. (This will take us right up to the next live broadcast on November
13, "LFM #5: Today on Mars.") The answer to each Challenge Question will
appear the following week in LFM Updates, along with a new question.

CQ#1: Where and what was the lowest Martian temperature ever recorded?

Hint #1: It wasn't recorded by either of the Viking spacecraft.
Hint #2: It came during a less than four-minute period.
Hint #3: You could say that Sojourner was still asleep while Pathfinder
was at work recording these data.

Look here for the answer next week. Have fun! 

MISS THE MARS PRESS BRIEFINGS? LOOK HERE...

If you missed the Mars Global Surveyor press briefing on October 2, go to:
http://passporttoknowledge.com/lfm/video/gs/
where you will find a RealAudio archive and supporting visuals of the
event.

The Pathfinder science team participated in a news briefing on October 8.
To listen and view the RealAudio/Video file go to:
http://passporttoknowledge.com/lfm/video/news/

SPREAD THE WORD

NASA management demands that our projects reach large audiences. "Why
should we fund you next fiscal year if you're only reaching a handful of
people" is the notion. So Quest needs to find more ways to grow our
audience. If we were Coca-Cola, we would spend billions to saturate media
markets. But we are the United States government, by the people for the
people.

We're hoping that our grassroots fans will help us spread the word about
Quest. Suggested activities are available to those who can take a little
time to pitch in.

Public Service Announcement
Quest made a 30-second commercial about what we do. As commercials go, it
is very cool. We need for people to contact their local TV stations to see
about placing the Quest ad on air. In just one hour of work, you could
help get Quest's name out to thousands. Please see:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/common/psa

Photo Cards and one-page handouts
We produced 12 different photo cards, each with a colorful NASA picture,
cutesy poem and the Quest URL. People like getting them. Also, we have a
one-page handout on the Sharing NASA series. We'd be happy to send oodles
of these to you if you can faithfully distribute them to other teachers.
If you are speaking at a teacher conference or will otherwise be in a
position to distribute the material, please send a note with the specifics
to Marc Siegel at: marc@quest.arc.nasa.gov

Don't limit yourself to just these ideas. Besides teachers, we also want
to inform the general public about Quest. Consider writing a letter to the
editor of your local town paper. Is a card table in front of the grocery
store for you? Or maybe you can think of other ways to help spread the
word.

If you do help, we'll be very grateful. And you can sleep knowing you've
contributed to a real NASA mission. Also we'll want to reward your efforts
with a NASA party pack. This is a fat envelope stuffed with pictures,
posters, cards and other NASA doodads. You'll want to have one. So get
busy spreading the word and then let us know. 

YOUR CHANCE TO SHINE

Over the next few months, NASA's Quest team will be rolling out a series
of online courses, workshops and events. These live activities will
demonstrate the Internet's capabilities while disseminating content in two
broad areas: NASA-related (space/aero) and education technology. This
so-called "Learning Technologies Channel" (LTC) will be making news in the
upcoming months (see http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc). Coming this
autumn...on Quest.

An early LTC series is about how teachers have really used Sharing NASA
projects (like Live From Mars) with students. These on-the-ground lessons
learned will help newcomers best take advantage while avoiding dead ends.

NASA is looking for volunteers to tell their story. You'll have 20 minutes
to tell your tale. The sound of your voice, graphics and transcriptions
will blast your wisdom around the world. Quest will handle all of the
technical issues, leaving you to focus on sharing your experience.

The following topics are under consideration. Consider if you have 20
solid minutes on:
* chats with NASA experts
* student-student chats
* email Q&A
* teacher-to teacher lists like discuss-lfm
* collaborative activity
* publishing student work online
* student stumpers: kids make up questions for other kids
* background section
* using updates list (email only), with no Web in classroom
* activities for photo section
* accessing the teacher's guide
* reading bios and field journals
* acting as a smart filter
* use of the material by college students 
* other categories we plum forgot

Though we can't pay for this, we can let you shine in a visible
environment. Please write me (marc@quest.arc.nasa.gov) if you have an
interest in being part of this new Learning Technologies Channel
adventure. Be sure to specify which session you would like to develop from
your own real experience.

Thanks,
Marc Siegel

JOIN SATELLITE TOWN MEETING ABOUT INTERNET

"Preparing Classrooms for the Future: Ensuring Access to the Internet" is
the title of a Satellite Town Meeting on October 21, from 8-9 p.m., EST.
Secretary Riley and Linda Roberts, special advisor on Technology, will
host a panel discussion on how schools and libraries can gain access to
the Internet and use it as a tool for learning. The discussion will focus
on the recent Federal Communications Commission ruling that will make
available up to $2.25 billion in discounts to schools and libraries for
telecommunications services (E-rate), beginning in January 1998. Panelists
will also discuss how schools and libraries can develop technology plans &
prepare to apply for the E-rate.

This Satellite Town Meeting is available at no cost. For further
information and to register:
send email to: Satellite_Town_Meeting@ed.gov
Fax to: 202-401-0689
call: 1-800-USA-LEARN

MARS PATHFINDER MISSION STATUS

[Editor's note: This status report was prepared by the Public Information
Office, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.]

October 7, 1997

The Mars Pathfinder operations team reestablished communications with the
lander today, on Sol 92 of the mission, after four days of silence from
the spacecraft. The team received a transmission from the spacecraft's
main transmitter. The signal was detected using the Madrid, Spain 34-meter
antenna.

No data were received, but receipt of a spacecraft signal indicates that
the lander is operational and the battery is off-line. Meanwhile, the
rover, which is programmed to begin a contingency sequence when it has not
heard from the lander for five days, started that activity on Sol 90. In
this mode of operation, the rover is instructed to return to the lander
and begin circling it.

The Mars Pathfinder operations team will repeat commands tomorrow night,
on Sol 93, to verify two-way communications with the lander's main
transmitter and attempt to return engineering data on the health of the
lander and rover. If successful, that information would be returned the
following day, on Sol 94 of the mission.

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