12 NASA Apps for Students to Learn about Space

April 16, 2014
Last night while I was watching the total lunar eclipse " Blood Moon",  it dawned on me to compile a list of iPad apps that students can use to learn more about space. Of course there are no better apps to recommend  than NASA's. I have gone through all the apps NASA offers and picked out for you the ones below. Have a look and share with your colleages.


1- Spacecraft 3D

NASA's Spacecraft 3D is an augmented reality (AR) application that lets you learn about and interact with a variety of spacecraft that are used to explore our solar system, study Earth, and observe the universe. Using a printed AR Target and the camera on your mobile device, you can get up close with these robotic explorers, see how they move, and learn about the engineering feats used to expand our knowledge and understanding of space.

2- Moon Tours

Moon Tours is the mobile version of the NASA's Lunar Mapping and Modeling Portal (LMMP). LMMP is the repository for over 600+ geospatial lunar data products and imagery focusing primarily on the 50 "sites of interest" that were selected as possible landing sites for future lunar missions. These data products include scientifically referenced digital elevation maps (DEMs), slope maps, rock and hazard maps, mineralogy maps, and imagery from the Apollo missions to the latest data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

3- 3D Sun

"3D Sun" lets you carry a virtual window onto today's sun, right in your pocket. Open this app anytime to see what's happening today on the sun's ever-changing surface. See when major solar flares erupt on the sun's surface. Track sunspots that reveal the churning activity inside the sun's fiery inferno.

4- NASA Lunar Electric Rover Simulation

Welcome to the NASA Lunar Electric Rover (LER) Simulator. You don’t need a driver’s license, but you still need to buckle up as the LER Simulator gives you a glimpse of what it might be like to support the activities of a functioning Lunar Outpost.

5- Images of Change

Natural disasters, a warming climate, and human activities are rapidly altering the face of our planet. NASA’s Images of Change app lets you take a close-up view of many of these changes in an exciting and hands-on format. The app presents a curated collection of the best image pairs from NASA’s Global Climate Change website. These image pairs show areas that have been subject to natural disasters or seen significant change over time.

6- NASA App

Come explore with NASA and discover the latest images, videos, mission information, news, feature stories, tweets, NASA TV and featured content with the NASA App for iOS.

7- Cassini

NASA’s Cassini mission launched in 1997 and has been exploring the Saturnian system from orbit since July 2004. Currently in its second extended mission, Cassini continues to unravel mysteries about Saturn and its atmosphere, rings and magnetosphere, and its moons, particularly Titan and the icy satellites.

8- Space Junk Spammy

Space Junk Sammy is a fun and educational new app from NASA! Space junk is becoming a big problem for many of NASA’s space missions. We need your help to clean up the junk in orbit! In this game, you clean up space and learn about NASA at the same time.

9- Space Place Prime

Space Place Prime is a content presentation app that gathers some of the best and most recent offerings from NASA. A spinoff of NASA’s popular kids’ Space Place website (spaceplace.nasa.gov or science.nasa.gov/kids), Space Place Prime has intergenerational appeal. It taps timely educational and easy-to-read articles from the website, as well as daily updates of NASA space and Earth-from-space images and the latest informative videos.

10- NASA Television

Watch the latest NASA events unfold in real-time or select from a list of recently uploaded videos. Plan your viewing up to a week in advance with the NASA TV schedule, and check out a list of NASA-related programming on other networks.

11- NASA Science: A Journey of Discovery

NASA leads the nation on a great journey of discovery, seeking new knowledge and understanding of our planet Earth, our Sun and solar system, and the universe out to its farthest reaches and back to its earliest moments of existence. This NASA Science application brings you the latest information from NASA’s Science Missions, including the spacecraft, their instruments, the data, and what we are learning about the questions we seek to answer.

12- NASA Visualization Explorer

This is the NASA Visualization Explorer, the coolest way to get stories about advanced space-based research delivered right to your iOS device. A direct connection to NASA’s extraordinary fleet of research spacecraft, this app presents cutting edge research stories in an engaging and exciting format. See the Earth as you’ve never seen it before; travel to places otherwise unavailable to even the most intrepid explorers!

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