NUST students urged to attend Science Festival 0 Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Goabeb Research and Training Centre (GRTC), is taking part in the National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival this week. The event is being hosted by the National Commission for Research, Science and Technology (NCRST) as part of Science month that kicked off on the first of September. From the 12th to the 16th of September students will be exposed to a plethora of career paths in the science field. Along with easy-to-understand videos, interactive talks, games and workshops, the NUST, NASA and GRTC team are hoping to captivate the imaginations and interest of young school learners.
As part of their presentation, NASA will also be talking about one of their collaboration projects with NUST and the GRTC, the NASA Observations of Aerosols above Clouds and their IntEractionS (ORACLES) currently taking place in Walvis Bay for the duration of September.
The delegation is accompanied by eight students from NUST, the University of Namibia and South Africa’s North-West University. The project will observe and measure the way African Bio-Burning Mass aerosols – smoke caused by central African fires and blown west ward during the spring season, interacts with the permanent subtropical stratocumulus cloud deck (one of three in the world), based off the coast of Walvis Bay. The data will enable scientists to analyse whether the cloud contributes to the cooling or heating of the atmosphere within the Southern African region.
The data will be collected with the use of two planes: the ER-2 aircraft that will be flying above 99% of the earth’s atmosphere and the P-3 aircraft that will be collecting data in and around the cloud deck. Highlighting the importance of exposing as many students to this and future projects, Professor Nnenesi Kgabi from the NUST Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering said “We want the schools in the North to know that such projects are not limited to [selected] schools, in this case [the schools] in Walvis Bay, this is a project for everyone.”
A projected lecture on day one by the NASA team members may take place at NUST for students and learners in the Khomas region at the end of September.
Kumbi Chitenderu