Challenger Colorado was happy to host local families for a Second Saturday Family Science event on Saturday, December 13th. Approximately 140 guests participated in IMAP outreach activities focused on the "how" of communications between the IMAP probe and Earth, and vice versa. Families tried their hand at "doodles" by attempting to draw a picture with a singular marker and 4 "operators", each with a string to help guide the marker to complete a simple drawing. Some families tried multiple times, improving on each attempt. Other families felt the frustration and moved on to alternate activities quickly.
An ENA collection activity gave teams the chance to see about the randomization of collecting a variety of particles and mimicking the IMAP HI and LO sensors during its mission. Families enjoyed tossing bean bags and graphing the results throughout the day. The green bean bag was, unexplainably, the winner and was collected the most often thoughout the event.
The families also spent time using a mini LiteBrite, colored pegs, and a chart outlining the number particles collected over several areas in the sky. Participants were fixated by the resulting LiteBrite configuration and really enjoyed translating the number of particles collected to a color and then placing it in the correct spot on the LiteBrite.
Groups were also treated to a planetarium show, overviewing the Colorado sky tonight, adding homework on to their Saturday events!