NASA and JAXA Announce Anime Drawing Contest
NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are conducting an artistic challenge for people around the world to develop an anime character to represent the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. GPM is an international satellite mission that will provide next-generation observations of rain and snow worldwide every three hours.
Through the contest, entrants will learn about the GPM mission and its science themes, including the water cycle, weather and climate, technology, and societal applications, and incorporate this information into the design of an anime character. Designs can be submitted online through April 30, 2013.
A panel of judges comprised of NASA scientists and outreach personnel will review the submissions and choose winners. Characters will be judged on how well they demonstrate the GPM and precipitation science themes, their originality, and the quality of the artwork and character. The character selected will be featured in a comic series that will teach students about GPM and precipitation science.
There will be three age groups to which people can submit their designs: ages 13-15 (middle school); 16-18 (secondary/high school); and 19 years and older (above high school). Children under 13 years of age are not eligible for this contest.
There will be one grand prize winner, whose character will be used in future GPM educational and outreach materials. There will also be two runners-up in each of the three age categories. The runners-up and winners will receive GPM stickers, a pin, poster and lithograph.
In early 2014, NASA and JAXA will launch the GPM Core Observatory carrying advanced instruments that will set a new standard for precipitation measurements from space. The data they provide will be used to unify precipitation measurements made by an international network of partner satellites to quantify when, where, and how much it rains or snows around the world. The GPM mission will help advance our understanding of Earth's water and energy cycles, improve the forecasting of extreme events that cause natural disasters.
The GPM Core Observatory will be launched from Tanegashima Island in Japan.
To learn more about the contest and how to submit your artwork, visit:
To learn more about GPM, visit:
NASA Goddard Press Release No. 13-15
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.