First Regular Session

Sixty-first General Assembly

LLS NO. R97@0762.01MKD

STATE OF COLORADO

BY SENATORS Rupert, Reeves, Alexander, Ament, Arnold, Blickensderfer, Chlouber, Coffman, Congrove, Dennis, Duke, Feeley, Hernandez, Hopper, Johnson, Lacy, Linkhart, Martinez, Matsunaka, Pascoe, Perlmutter, Phillips, Powers, Rizzuto, Schroeder, Tanner, Tebedo, Thiebaut, Wattenberg, Weddig, Wells, and Wham;

also REPRESENTATIVES Tupa, Allen, Arrington, Bacon, Dean, Gotlieb, Keller, Saliman, Schauer, Sinclair, and S. Williams.

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 97-19

CONCERNING THE COLORADO SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM.

WHEREAS, The need for improving science education in the United States has been widely acknowledged in a variety of recent education studies; and

WHEREAS, An effective and creative science curriculum is necessary to prepare adequately students to live adaptive and productive lives in an increasingly complex and technological society; and

WHEREAS, The Colorado Space Grant Consortium, led by the University of Colorado at Boulder, is striving to develop a program that will team elementary, secondary, and postsecondary students with teachers throughout the state for the purpose of developing an earth­orbiting satellite mission called the "Citizen Explorer"; and

WHEREAS, Students in Colorado colleges and universities are currently designing and prototyping the first citizen explorer satellite; and

WHEREAS, The Colorado Space Grant Consortium involves students from the following fourteen Colorado Colleges and Universities across the state; University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado State University, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College, University of Southern Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, University of Northern Colorado, Western State College of Colorado, U.S. Air Force Academy, Pikes Peak Community College, Adams State College, Colorado Northwestern Community College, and Metropolitan State College of Denver;

WHEREAS, The proposed "Citizen Explorer" mission will consist of an earth­orbiting spacecraft that will make scientific measurements of the earth, the earth's atmosphere, and the sun; and

WHEREAS, This spacecraft will broadcast these measurements continuously in a manner that students in schools participating in the program will be able to receive and display for use in various scientific studies; and

WHEREAS, The goal of the "Citizen Explorer" mission is to integrate space science with elementary, secondary, and postsecondary courses in order to increase students' awareness of the earth's environment and to give students the opportunity to engage in hands­on space research, thus stimulating their interest in science; and

WHEREAS, Programs such as the "Citizen Explorer" mission are essential to improve the quality of science education in Colorado; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty­first General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:

That we, the members of the General Assembly, commend the efforts of the members of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium in developing the "Citizen Explorer" mission and encourage the Consortium to make the mission a reality.