For two days the Polish capital has become a hub of discussion on NATO's new Strategic Concept - a document that, once agreed by all Allies, will shape the organisation's future direction.

The Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, began his first official visit to Poland on 12 March by taking part in the international conference "NATO's New Strategic Concept - Global, Transatlantic and Regional Challenges and Tasks".

The seminar - organised by the Warsaw Centre for International Relations and the Polish Ministry of Defence, with the support of NATO's Public Diplomacy Division - brought together at the Royal Castle in Warsaw the Polish Foreign and Defence Ministers, members of the Group of Experts on the new Strategic Concept, as well as numerous local and international practitioners, academics and media representatives. Participants discussed the new security environment, security perceptions in Central and Eastern Europe and NATO's partnerships.

In his keynote speech, the Secretary General outlined his vision of territorial defence for the Alliance. He stressed that while NATO's core task was, is, and will remain, the defence of our territory and our populations, the meaning of territorial defence is changing.

"If we want to keep NATO's territorial defence effective, affordable and credible, we must push ahead with the Alliance's transformation," he told the audience in Warsaw. "We need more flexible, mobile and deployable armed forces. If our military is stationary, if our armed forces can't be moved beyond the borders of each individual member state, the defence of Allied territory will not be effective."

Earlier the same day, Mr. Rasmussen met briefly with staff and young academics from the University of Warsaw's Institute of International Relations and the Institute of Strategic Studies from Krakow. He was presented with a paper developed by the two analytical centres outlining comprehensive proposals for the new Strategic Concept.

On 11 March, hundreds of students attended the Warsaw Transatlantic Forum 2010 at the University of Warsaw, organised by the Polish Euro-Atlantic Association with support from, among others, NATO's Public Diplomacy Division. The event was opened by Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich.

Members of the Group of Experts, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and other high-level guests contributed to a wide-ranging debate on NATO's new Strategic Concept, operation in Afghanistan and relations with Russia.

Source: NATO News

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WASHINGTON - More than 100 student teams from around the globe will drive their specially crafted lunar rovers through a challenging course of rugged, moon-like terrain at NASA's 17th annual Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Ala., April 9-10.

Some 1,088 high school, college and university students from 20 states and Puerto Rico, Canada, Germany, Bangladesh, Serbia, India and Romania are expected to participate in the race at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

Students begin to prepare for the event each year during the fall semester. They must design, build and test a sturdy, collapsible, lightweight vehicle that addresses engineering problems similar to those overcome by the original Apollo-era lunar rover development team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville in the late 1960s.

The buggies are based on the design of those classic rovers, which American astronauts drove across the moon's surface during the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions in the early 1970s. Teams of students build their vehicles using trail bike tires, aluminum or composite-metal struts and parts. The best teams drive trains, gears, suspension, steering and braking systems they find or construct.

Top prizes are awarded to the three teams in both the high school and college/university divisions that post the fastest race times, which include assembly and penalty times. A variety of other prizes are given by race corporate sponsors. These include "rookie of the year" and the "featherweight" award, presented to the team with the lightest, fastest buggy.

NASA's Great Moonbuggy Race is one of many educational projects and initiatives the agency conducts each year to attract and engage America's next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers. They will carry on the nation's mission of exploration to unchartered destinations in our solar system.

"NASA is committed to inspiring young people in science, technology, engineering and math, and the Great Moonbuggy Race is an excellent way for us to reach out to young people and get them excited and involved in technical opportunities available to them," said Mike Selby, an avionics technical assistant in the Marshall Center's Engineering Directorate. While completing his engineering degree at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Selby was a member of the school's moonbuggy teams, helping them to a second-place finish in 1995 and to first place in 1996. Since 2001, he has served each year as a volunteer scorekeeper.

The race is hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, and is sponsored by Lockheed Martin Corporation, The Boeing Company, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Jacobs Engineering ESTS Group, all of Huntsville.

For a list of this year's competitors, visit: http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov/email.html

For more information about the competition, visit: http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov

For information about other NASA education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education

Source: NASA

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WASHINGTON - U.S. university faculty and students are invited to a weeklong workshop to learn how to build and launch a scientific experiment into space. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is hosting the RockOn! 2010 workshop June 19-24 in partnership with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia. Registrations for the 2010 workshop are being accepted through March 22.

The hands-on workshop teaches participants to build experiments that fly on sounding rockets. During the week, participants will work together in teams of three to construct and integrate a sounding rocket payload from a kit in four days. On the fifth day of the workshop, June 24, their experiments will fly on a NASA Terrier-Orion sounding rocket expected to reach an altitude of 73 miles.

Each experiment will provide valuable scientific data, analyzed as part of the student led science and engineering research. The program engages faculty and students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills critical to NASA's future engineering, scientific, and technical missions.

Approximately 100 faculty and students participated each year in the 2008 and 2009 workshops. All experiments have been successful, completed on time, launched and recovered.

NASA initiated the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program in 1989. The Space Grant national network includes more than 850 affiliates from universities, colleges, industry, museums, science centers, and state and local agencies. The goal is to support and enhance science and engineering education, and research and public outreach efforts for NASA's aeronautics and space projects. These affiliates belong to one of 52 consortia in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

For more information about RockOn! and to register online, visit: http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/rockon

For more information about NASA education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education

The Sounding Rockets Program Office at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility will be providing the rocket and launch operations during the workshop. For more information about NASA's sounding rocket program, visit: http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810

Source: NASA

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