2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
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gas samples in a chemistry lab and multi-spectral<br />
imagery in a computer lab. The sixth week – also<br />
at UC Irvine – focused on data interpretation and<br />
the program ended with each student presenting<br />
their research results. These presentations, as well<br />
as introductory faculty and <strong>NASA</strong> program manager<br />
presentations, can be viewed on the NSERC-SARP<br />
website (http://www.nserc.und.edu/learning/<br />
SARP.html) under the SARP Multimedia button.<br />
Three SARP students were selected based on their<br />
outstanding projects and presentations to share their<br />
results at the <strong>NASA</strong> exhibit December <strong>2009</strong> during<br />
the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.<br />
Several media outlets covered the SARP mission<br />
including numerous local newspapers and a<br />
feature story on National Public Radio (See NPR.<br />
com “Earth <strong>Science</strong> From the Sky: The Next<br />
Generation”). A video of the mission was produced<br />
by NSERC and will be available for viewing through<br />
the NSERC website and NSERCTV on YouTube.<br />
Operation ICEBridge Education and Outreach<br />
Another ASP contribution to education activities<br />
was conducted during the most recent DC-8 mission<br />
Operation ICEBridge. For previous flights, data<br />
systems onboard the DC-8 have been configured<br />
so that people on the ground could chat with<br />
those on board the DC-8 during a flight as well as<br />
track the science flights in Google Earth. These<br />
applications were used as a classroom activity so that<br />
Earth science educators around the country could<br />
watch the science flights and interact with mission<br />
scientists. An announcement of this activity was<br />
emailed to the National <strong>Science</strong> Teachers Association<br />
Earth science educator list. Upon announcement<br />
of the activity, approximately 100 5th-12th grade<br />
teachers expressed interest in participating. A<br />
Google Earth KML file was created that included a<br />
DC-8 flight track feature as well as various landmarks<br />
throughout Antarctica. This file was emailed to all<br />
the participating educators so that they could track<br />
the DC-8 in real-time during OIB. Educators also<br />
had access to an internet-based chat application<br />
that allowed them to ask questions directly to<br />
scientists on board the DC-8. Plans are to include<br />
this classroom activity in all future airborne science<br />
missions when possible.<br />
In addition to the education activity, NSERC<br />
promoted OIB to the general public through a<br />
blog, video and photography. Video clips from<br />
science flights were posted to YouTube through<br />
the NSERCTV channel and photos were added to<br />
blog postings to give updates about flight schedules,<br />
objectives and outcomes. NSERC is currently<br />
producing an OIB mission video to highlight the<br />
mission science topics and the airborne instruments<br />
used for collecting data.<br />
Informational Booths at International Conferences<br />
NSERC maintained a booth at the 2008 AGU<br />
Fall Meeting showcasing a video of the ARCTAS<br />
mission and recruiting students for the first Student<br />
<strong>Airborne</strong> Research <strong>Program</strong> as well as promoting<br />
airborne science activities to the Earth science<br />
community. NSERC also supported ASP presence<br />
at the <strong>2009</strong> International Symposium of Remote<br />
Sensing of the Environment in Stresa, Italy. This<br />
was done in collaboration with the ASP group at<br />
UC Santa Cruz/<strong>NASA</strong> Ames. An exhibit displaying<br />
past and future ASP missions as well as airborne<br />
instruments was promoted to the international<br />
community of scientists present. Information on<br />
education and public outreach efforts were also<br />
shared with conference attendees. NSERC will also<br />
be supporting this same exhibit at the <strong>2009</strong> AGU<br />
Fall Meeting in conjunction with the <strong>NASA</strong> exhibit.<br />
Social Networking<br />
NSERC maintains a presence on YouTube<br />
(NSERCTV) and Facebook with an NSERC<br />
Facebook page. Mission news and updates are<br />
shared with Facebook fans and mission video<br />
clips are uploaded to NSERCTV and advertised<br />
through the Facebook page. The Facebook page<br />
has been very convenient for staying in touch with<br />
the airborne science community, especially the<br />
student demographic. Facebook users can connect<br />
to this page by doing a Facebook (www.facebook.<br />
com) search for “National Suborbital Education<br />
and Research Center” and becoming a fan. Recent<br />
updates sent to fans of the NSERC Facebook<br />
page include links to NPR audio stories covering<br />
Operation ICEBridge as well as links to the NSERC<br />
OIB blog.<br />
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