Looking at Earth/Moon projects, I settled on starting with the telescopes. Cosmology/astronomy fascinates me. Even after seeing the various Hubble builds done by my betters, I decided to start with that. I went with Ton's intermediate Hubble with (as usual) a little kit bashing to add the bump plates and grapple fixtures from his expert model. Still haven't added his latest mod, the soft capture and docking system since that would preclude setting the 'scope down on the only flat surface remaining on the model. Might end up mounting it suspended like cdavenports great build - probably build something to hold it over a base (Pillars of Creation graphic). Trick is to make it easily removeable so the kids can handle it. Lots of places to find this model - I picked it up from hubblesite.org . Most of the telescopes I've found are at the mission teams' sites, not at NASA or JPL model pages. The NASA (or ESA) pages do provide a link to the mission site.
Anyway, decided to follow that up with the next generation James Webb Space Telescope. The NASA JWST model was a bit of a disappointment. Basic structure and kit design was OK, but it lacks detail (for no good reason) and the parts are not well fitted. I did one and was unhappy enough to do a redesign. Kept the basic structure the same (so as not to have to write instructions, lazy bugger that I am) but added some needed parts, moved some around, and added graphics. Found the basic model at
The James Webb Space Telescope . Still tweaking my version.
I think my theme is now the search for extraterrestrial planets - so Kepler (just launched) was next. Kepler's an IR telescope designed to find planets. The model is basically well made and interestingly designed. However, the spacecraft bus has almost no surface detail - and no reason not to. Missing parts are the equipment boxes, star trackers, and some omni-antennae. Should get that one done tomorrow. Downloaded it from the Kepler education pages at
http://kepler.nasa.gov/ed/sim/index.html . The NASA Discovery Missions site is another good node for finding models, follow the education links.
DISCOVERY ::: MAIN HOME PAGE ::: Welcome to Unlocking the Mysteries: NASA's Discovery Program
Next on the list is Spitzer - it's out of coolant, so less sensitive, but will still be working for several more years in its "warm" observation phase. It's another IR telescope like Kepler and has several exo-planet "finds" to its credit. Found a Landbergen (E. te Groen) model at the CalTech mission site
Spitzer Space Telescope - select features from the menu.
I also found an ESA model for COROT, another IR telescope with several "finds." Looks like it has nice graphics - we'll see about detail as we go. The model is at the French Space Agency site, CNES
// COROT \\ ; or you can find it through several of the links sites like Ninfinger, Neils, or Hamanaga.
And so we come to the end of today's saga - except for a few random efforts to design something for the stomp rocket (a fat ARES I should work) or modify a design for an easy kid's build (seeing a pattern in my ADD?). Ah well, I'll post more detail on individual builds if there's interest.
More to follow - some bat-time, same bat-channel.
Yogi