I am not a STEM educator but as a history teacher this was simply too cool to ignore.
New Horizons Spacecraft & Your Message!
In summary, this is a group that wants to put a message onboard the NASA mission to Pluto, New Horizons. Once the NASA mission is complete the Pluto data will be sent back to Earth.
At that point, the satellite will continue to drift off into space headed for the center of the universe. A group of interested organizers is working with NASA to compile data to be uploaded to the satellite. The satellite would then carry the data from Earth off into space. Check out the link above for all the details! What a cool way to get students interested in STEM and astronomy. Who knows, maybe your students could contribute to the message?
QUESTION: How could you use this to get students interested in STEM?