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More than 100 Maryland middle school students will discover how weather in space affects life on Earth and what creates brilliant light shows in the sky (auroras) when they meet with scientists at The ÃØÃÜÖ±²¥ University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) during Space Academy: Space Weather on Friday, March 5, starting at 9:30 a.m.

The "Space Academy" series takes students behind the scenes of actual space missions and introduces them to engineers and scientists who carry out some of NASA's coolest projects. Space Weather focuses on two NASA missions: TIMED and Polar. TIMED (Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics and Dynamics) is studying the influences of the sun and humans on the least explored and understood region of Earth's atmosphere — the mesosphere and lower thermosphere/ionosphere — considered the gateway between Earth's environment and space. Polar is gathering images of the aurora and studying Earth's interaction with the solar wind, as well as the physical processes that transfer particles and energy into and through Earth's magnetosphere.

Media are invited to attend the event, which includes a student press conference with space scientists and a tour of the Applied Physics Lab's spacecraft design and testing facilities. APL, a division of the ÃØÃÜÖ±²¥ University, manages several NASA missions and has built and launched 61 spacecraft over the past four decades. The Space Academy series is sponsored by APL, Comcast Cable and the Discovery Networks.