New Alternatives for Children, 05/09/16

Next stop Alpha Centauri!  Our Science Ninja, Nathan Schreiber and his TEDx co-pilot, Lisa LaBracio helped the NAC kids engineer their very own spaceships today!

The kids were all cast as engineers, recreating “Breakthrough Starshot,”a Russian billionaire’s plan to build a tiny spaceship with a reflective sail, propelled by earthbound lasers.  After “stretching our brains” by comparing the distances between places near (like New Jersey) and far (like Pluto), we built foil sails and calculated how to power the ships with lasers that would move our ships at one-quarter the speed of light so that we could safely reach the next star, 4.3 light years away!  Congrats on completing your mission, cadets!

Thank you to our Ink Wellers for volunteering: Sangjun Chon, Lisa LaBracio, Barbara Garrison, Pedro Delgado, Ray Alma, Nathan Schreiber, Julia Sarcone-Roach, and Todd Broder.