When Dr. Eric Boyd of the NAI's Montana State University Team goes searching for evidence of what extra-terrestrial life might look like, he heads to Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. On Saturday the 24th of September Dr. Boyd was joined by the Webelos of Packs 524 and 552 of Livingston, Montana, with the goal of finding out what life might look like on another planet.

Dr. Boyd began the expedition by explaining some basic background on what Yellowstone is, how the Yellowstone area was formed, and some basic safety instructions on walking through a geothermal area as well as instructions on using the laser guns and pH strips he had brought for the Webolos. It was time to go 'Alien Hunting'.

The Scouts started their hunt at Echinus Geyser by first testing the temperature of the spring with their lasers. They were surprised to find that the temperature was between 156 and 166 degrees Fahrenheit; everybody agreed that it was way too hot for most life to survive. However the Scouts noted that the deep reds, oranges and faint greens associated with the spring seemed to indicate that life is present. At the outflow of the geyser the Scouts tested a sample of the spring water, sampled by Dr. Boyd, and found that it had a pH of between 3 and 4, a very acidic and extreme environment when compared to the boys drinking water which was pH 7.

The boys took their results to Dr. Boyd, who indicated that they were correct in believing that the spring was acidic, but that we should consider how life is thriving in such high temperature and acid conditions. Then Dr. Boyd shared with the boys why NASA scientists study geysers such at this: the iron-rich habitat at Echinus can be considered to be an Earth analog for what might be present on Mars since it is known that the red planet is rich in iron and has had hot springs in its distant past.
"The Boys learned how to look at a spring and based on visual observations, predict the pH and temperature of the spring as well as how the organisms were making a living. Such imaginative thinking is truly the cornerstone of NASA's astrobiology exploration program - in essence identifying patterns and using this to predict an outcome. Through iteration, such as what the Scouts experienced today in the Norris Geyser Basin, we refine our predictions and culminate in understanding" said Boyd. "The collective ideas that this group of youngsters generated about how life survives in extreme environments and the enthusiasm that the students had for NASA-supported science was impressive. I look forward to seeing how this group of young men progress through their Scout Program and their academic education."

The boys left the park with fond memories of red iron-eating bugs, black caldrons filled with mud, and pools of life that had found a way to survive in extreme environments. "What a wonderful opportunity Yellowstone National Park provides each of us to learn about the natural world that surrounds each and every one of us." said Boyd.

Source: NAI Newsletter

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Interested in helping scientists pinpoint where to look for signs of life on Mars? Now you can, with an exciting new citizen science website called MAPPER (getmapper.com) that was launched in conjunction with the Pavilion Lake Research Project's 2011 field season.

The Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP, pavilionlake.com), which is supported by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, has been investigating the underwater environment of Pavilion and Kelly Lake in British Columbia, Canada with DeepWorker submersible vehicles (Nuytco Ltd, nuytco.com) since 2008. Now with MAPPER, you can work side-by-side with NASA scientists to explore the bottom of these lakes from the perspective of a DeepWorker pilot.

The PLRP team makes use of DeepWorker subs to explore and document freshwater carbonate formations known as microbialites that thrive in Pavilion and Kelly Lake. Many scientists believe that a better understanding of how and where these rare microbialite formations develop will lead to deeper insights into where signs of life may be found on Mars and beyond. To investigate microbialite formation in detail, terabytes of video footage and photos of the lake bottom are recorded by PLRP's DeepWorker sub pilots. This data must be analyzed to determine what types of features can be found in different parts of the lake. Ultimately, detailed maps can be generated to help answer questions like "how does microbialite texture and size vary with depth?" and "why do microbialites grow in certain parts of the lake but not in others?". But before these questions can be answered, all the data must be analyzed.

Continue reading "New Citizen Science Project: Pavilion Lake Research Project" »

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The pool of candidates for the NAI/APS 2011 competition was the largest we have ever experienced. Typically six to seven selections are made annually, however for 2011 twelve young investigators were selected for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology.

Congratulations go to:

Continue reading "NAI/American Philosophical Society Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research: 2011 Selections" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Liza Coe: Many people who have not been to Death Valley think of it as an inhospitable patch of sand in the middle of a desert. Although it is one of the driest areas on the planet, the land supports so much life.

Interdisciplinary studies are an important way to bring together many concepts. Much of education today is very segregated, especially in high school: history, math, biology, earth science, and everything else is learned separately. However, it has been demonstrated that interdisciplinary studies can grab and maintain students' interests as well as helping them retain knowledge longer.

All of the places that we visited today can be used as an interdisciplinary site. We started off at Scotty's Castle and along the ride we noticed many significant geological formations. The history of Scotty's Castle can be tied into the time period, with a lesson about the other economic and historical events that happened in the 1930s and 1940s. Also, along the ride, the types minerals that are abundant in the desert area can be discussed, and students can learn how to identify geological features, such as alluvial fans and fault lines.

We then headed to the Ubehebe craters, which are a great analog to formations to look for on Mars. These craters are Maar craters, where magma meets groundwater. The water table boils and released pressure in a volcanic eruption. The craters are what are left over after such eruptions. Many students may believe a crater is only from an asteroid or from a mountainous volcano, so this site affords an opportunity to learn about all sorts of volcanic features.We ended our long day at Badwater Basin, which is one of the lowest places in the world, at -282 feet. This used to be a sea, and this place could be used to talk about watersheds and how desertification occurs over time. We can incorporate math into this by looking at negative numbers, and students can compare the sea levels of the lowest places in the world. This was a very long but rewarding day as we got to take in all the beauty of Death Valley.

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first day of our adventure in the Mojave took us from the plains of the desert to the highest peaks of the sand dunes to the depths of the underground volcanic caves. Driving over the day before, we were greeted by Soda Lake, a lake that instead of water has a film of bicarbonate salt covering a bed of sulfuric mud. Following the path to our home for the week, we drove by a man-made pond with a fountain in the middle inhabited by an endangered species of fish called a Chub. The backdrop of our new home was the endless plains of the Mojave Desert.

The rise of the sun over the desert heralded the first day of our five day journey to find the key to the possibility of alien life. We piled into five cars and caravanned, leaving civilization behind us in our search for biological soil crusts, referred to as BSC, in the vast plains of the desert. Though its appearance resembles that of black, squishy mold; BSCs are a complex community of cyanobacteria, moss and lichen that represent how life can survive in extreme environments. The objective was to find a large enough population that would allow us to take samples without decimating the population since they take about fifty years to resurface. The samples were retrieved and will be analyzed in a lab in order to discover the mechanisms by which life can survive in such an extreme environment. Our next task was to find a section of desert that would allow us to take a sample of barren land and compare this to the life element found in the BSC samples that we collected.

We continued our journey through the desert to the seaming oasis of Kelso, a World War II boomtown, for lunch and stumbled upon a gem in the form of an educational video. We learned a lot about our next stop, the Cima Sand Dunes. These dunes were beautiful but deceitful. Despite their seemingly serene exterior they soon proved to be our greatest challenge. Our mission was to reach the highest point of the dunes in order to survey the landscape. After about an hour of treacherous trekking, we reached the base of the highest peak. We thought the most difficult part was over, but the adventure had just begun. As we started trudging up the steep hill, soon to be nicknamed "Mt. Doom", we discovered that the sandy texture of the soil made it difficult to progress...for every step we took up, we slid down 0.75 steps. Although the environment proved to be too extreme for some, the majority persevered. After a strenuous combination of hiking and crawling, we conquered Mt. Doom and in doing so superseded our own perceived mental and physical limitations. After we recovered, we embraced the view and enjoyed our feelings of accomplishment. In surveying the land, we noticed that there was a distinct border of plants and shrubs along the base of the dunes. On our climb down, we encountered individual blades of grass-like plants growing in the middle of the sand. The roots appeared to be endless so we hope to return in order to further investigate the mechanism of their survival.

Our expedition continued through a rocky road to the Lava Tubes. We observed gaps in the Earth formed by geologically 'young' (approximately 10,000-15,000 years old) magma. We then climbed down into the caves and observed the geological formation of the caves. It is possible that life could have existed at one point but due to constant human traffic, none can be observed currently.

Upon returning, we enjoyed a hot shower and a delicious and hearty meal followed by a very stimulating presentation and discussion about microbialites. Then it was straight to bed to prepare for the next day. Thus ended the first day of our adventures in the Mojave.

~FIN~

Cal Poly Pomona
Andrea Gonzalez
Alexandra Olano
Amina Razzak
Kara Rotunno
Sarah Saleemi

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I was able to spend time with Jane Curnutt and Ernesto Gomez and Keith Schubert from the Computer Science and Engineering program at San Bernardino working on the Cellular Automata. We started talking about the radius and the neighborhoods that surrounding each cell, which is represented by a square. Each square has a radius of either 1, 2 or 3, each having a different neighborhood size. A radius one has a length of a side of a neighborhood square of 3 squares surrounding it, counting itself and diagonals. A radius of 2 has a length of a side of a square of 5, and a radius of 3 has a length of a side of the neighborhood of 7. The cell looks around in the neighborhood and if they find a square within their radius neighborhood, then they follow the rules set. For example we set the rules for the neighborhood of 0 to be unchanging. The rule for the neighborhood of 1 for life and the neighborhood of 2 for death. There are more neighborhoods to be set, but for the sake of the example we just set those different. We put one center square in the sea of brown, and clicked the button for an iteration, and watched the square grow. The space around the square grew, all the surrounding squares filled in with green, including the diagonals, creating a 3x3 square. We continued pushing the iteration button to see what would happen and the patterns that were created were symmetrical. Jane pointed out that the square started out with a 1, would create the same pattern as a 3x3 starting square as long as the rules for the neighborhoods were the same.

In order to understand the working of the program, we talked about how to bring the program into a classroom. We created an activity involving chairs and people acting like the cells. We talked about how to teach a student to think about the radius and the neighborhoods. The activity would have a set of chairs set up like a square and have a person sit in the middle or somewhere in the square of chairs, acting like a cell. They would sit down and reach around to figure out how big the length of the neighborhood side is based on the rule of radius. We set it like a radius 1 and had one person sit in the square and look to see if they can reach out to the chairs that is 1 away. Since all of the chairs can be reached, they count themselves and say that has 1 which means that cell grew. We put in people where the squares that were empty. And continued the activity according to the rules we set up.

I really enjoyed working with these people. I learned a lot about working in a classroom and trying to make the program that was designed to mimic patterns of bacteria or any form of growth pattern, can be taught to first graders in relation to patterns and counting. The activity we created for the classroom helped me understand how the program works. I was able to continue playing with the program itself and figure out some more patterns just by playing around with the neighborhood rules.

Cassandra Guido, California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From July 21-August 1, 2010, five K-12 and informal educators joined scientists from the Arizona State University (ASU) and Montana State University (MSU) teams of the NASA Astrobiology Institute for a two week field experience as part of the ASU Astrobiology Virtual Field Trip (VFT) initiative. To address the need for better teacher preparation in STEM education, these teachers worked directly with scientists studying the thermal environments at Yellowstone National Park. They experienced the thrill of doing authentic field research in a breathtaking setting! These educators are an integral part of the VFT project and will provide valuable input on the design of the Web interface, its functionality in a classroom setting and related K-12 curriculum materials. Their collaboration with the ASU Astrobiology team will continue through Spring 2011 as the virtual field trip takes shape. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NAI and the American Philosophical Society (APS) jointly sponsor graduate students, postdocs, and junior scientists for field studies through the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology. For more information see http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/funding/lewis-and-clark

We are very pleased to present the young investigators selected for 2009:

Continue reading "2009 Selections Announced for the NAI/APS Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Application Deadline - February 15, 2008

The Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology, a partnership between NAI and the American Philosophical Society (APS), is now accepting applications for astrobiological field studies for 2008. Graduate students, postdoctoral students, and junior scientists and scholars are eligible to apply for travel and related expenses, up to $5000. For more information, please see http://www.amphilsoc.org/grants/astrobiology.htm

[Source: NAI newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Continuing the Spaceward Bound series of field expeditions, in March a team of 40 teachers will be traveling to the Mojave Desert and working side-by-side with NASA scientists who search for life in extreme environments that closely approximate what they expect to find on other planets. Why the Mojave -- an inhospitable, sun-drenched spot in the California Desert? This natural setting presents scientists with opportunities to study environments that are analogous to what explorers will find on the Moon and Mars.

Continue reading "Spaceward Bound Phase III - Expedition: Mojave 2007" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Exploration, Science, and Art: A Book Review of Terra Antarctica and Driving to Mars, SpaceRef

"When it comes to exploration, there's nothing like being there. Yet at some point, all explorers need to tell others what they have seen - as well as find a way to understand and recall the experience themselves. Exploration is pointless if it is not shared.

It is the process whereby explorers put new vistas and experiences into a context they can internalize - and then how these impressions are shared with others that fascinates author William Fox. In his two most recent books "Terra Antarctica" and "Driving to Mars" Fox recounts his own experiences - and those of others - at Earth's two poles."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NAI investigators, led by Jake Maule of the CIW Team, are exploring the Kamchatka Peninsula in Eastern Russia. Kamchatka is a vast land of 'fire and ice', being home to 10% of the most active volcanoes on Earth with many surrounded by glaciers.

Continue reading "NAI Explores Most Active Volcanic Region on Earth & Brings the Public Along" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kirsten Fristad's NASA Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition Field Reports

"I stand at the window looking out over Sassenfjord. Our trip has come to an end. The sky is cool and the mountains around Longyearbyen are dark in comparison to the white glaciers in the distance. I am exhausted from the late nights and early mornings of the expedition, but am completely overcome by the beauty of this place."

Recent Reports:

Continue reading "AMASE 2006 Updates" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kirsten Fristad's NASA Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition Field Reports

"The last two days have been very busy with instrument testing, gathering last minute supplies and attending an arctic training course. The cold temperatures here pose a serious challenge to our instruments here as it can greatly affect our power consumption, pressure readings and pumping capabilities."

NASA Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition Field Reports:

Continue reading "AMASE 2006 Updates" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition (AMASE) 2006, NASA

"In August, members of the Sample Analysis of Mars (SAM) Lab team will spend two and a half weeks in Svalbard. The objective of the Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition (AMASE) is to characterize the geology, geophysical features, biosignatures, and possible life forms of volcanic centers, warm springs, and perennial rivers, settings thought to be analogous to sites on ancient Mars. AMASE targets the Bockfjorden area of the Norwegian island of Svalbard, in hot-spring-deposited carbonate terraces."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

EVA Med Evac Sim experiment preparations

EVA Med Evac Simulation Objectives

Preparations are still underway for the EVA med evac sim, which will take place on Monday. The following is a breakdown of the objectives of the experiment, provided by Dr. Rick Scheuring, DO, MS, Advanced Projects/Flight Surgeon (NASA-JSC).

EVA Med Evac Simulation Update

"Progress continued today on the med evac simulation, and things are shaping up well for tomorrow's test."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Automated Drilling Field Demonstrations Exceed Goals, Go "Naked" in Haughton Crater 2006 DAME Tests

To look for ice or especially organics on Mars, we will need to drill below the oxidized and irradiated surface, probably at least 1-2m. Hardened subsurface ice layers aren't going to be addressed with lightweight scoops on manipulator arms, drills will be needed. But drilling is an art form on Earth, even "automated" offshore oil drilling platforms have control rooms full of people watching and adjusting the drilling.

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Mars Institute's Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse on Devon Island now has two webcams available for public viewing. One camera shows a view of the greenhouse and surroundings from the outside and the other shows some of the internal plant growth trays. Images are updated once a day. Click on image to enlarge

Greenhouse Webcam 1

Greenhouse Webcam 2

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Aerial Photo of the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station (HMP RS) on Devon Island, High Arctic, taken from a helicopter on July 20, 2006.

[Larger panorama]

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Towards the end of our summer expedition while flying back to Eureka from our camp on Axel Heiberg, I spotted a lake with what appeared to be green ice on it.

Continue reading "Green ice, Ravens, Ice Caves and the Movie ‘Contact’" »

Posted by Dale Andersen at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Haughton-Mars Project Expedition 2005: Interplanetary Supply Chain Management & Logistics Architectures: Final NASA/MIT Report

"From an exploration perspective we found that HMP– despite the identified differences with a Lunar or Martian base – is an ideal research environment for interplanetary logistics, because it: ..."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mars Institute HMP Research Station Astrobiology Update 21 July 2006

Dr. Richard Léveillé, Visiting Fellow in astrobiology at the Canadian Space Agency: "The first question I am investigating is did impact-induced hydrothermal systems (i.e. hot springs created by the force of the impact) at Haughton support chemosynthetic microbial ecosystems? The second question I am trying to answer is what is the nature and origin of Mars-like minerals in ancient lake sediments found in the Haughton Crater?"

Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mars Institute HMP Research Station Update for July 19, 2006

Another busy day at the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station (HMP RS). As we approach the mid-point in the field season, researchers are making significant strides on a number of fronts for their respective projects. Traverses were led to the Trinity Lake region and into the Haughton Impact structure to study geology and biochemistry, while the DAME autonomous drilling team continued to refine their operations and attain new milestones. As reported yesterday, the CSA team working in the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse continued with their ambitious schedule and are continuing to report successes. Construction and upgrades to the HMP RS facility are also proceeding very well.

Posted by Keith Cowing at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Research Activities in the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse - July 2006 Update

"Our autonomous greenhouse in the Arctic produces and manages its own power, has its own communications system for command and telemetry, and a robust data acquisition and control system for making measurements and maintaining the environment in the greenhouse. This project began in 2002 and every year we improve the systems and make them more reliable and more robust."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

During our trip north in April, we installed another Campbell Scientific met station (automated weather station) to replace the one that has been at the McGill Arctic Research Station (M.A.R.S.) since 1992.

The new station sports all new sensors and the latest datalogger from Campbell, the CR1000 as well as their enclosed digital camera (CC640).

Continue reading "Arctic Met Station, Expedition Fiord, Axel Heiberg Island" »

Posted by Dale Andersen at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"We drove a half hour out of town to the first transect site. The teachers separated and went with different scientist to collect samples of the rocks and soil. Our sampling tools consisted of sterile spoons, plastic gloves and zip-lock baggies. The scientists are all passionate about their work here and the teachers are excited to be doing real science along side the scientists. We were still working out the kinks of cooperation and communication. We kept hearing the term "herding cats", which was a good description of the progress of our group."

Daily field reports are listed below:

Continue reading "NASA Quest Spacewardbound Field Reports" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Mars Institute Core Team Arrives in Resolute Bay, Nunavut

"The first charter plane arrived in Resolute Bay yesterday on schedule with the initial Mars Institute core team and cargo. Another charter with personnel and cargo is scheduled to arrive in Resolute on Wednesday, July 5th."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"A four-person team departs today for an expedition to the top of the world, where mineral-rich waters seep from the top of a 200-meter-thick glacier. Sulfur-bearing compounds precipitate from the waters and stain the glacial ice of Borup Fiord Pass, marking the locations of the springs with bright yellow splotches that are easily visible from the air. The place calls to mind the ruddy, sulfur-rich stains on the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa, and one of the expedition members is traveling there to gather samples and data that will help with the planning of future Europa missions."

News story
Backgrounder
[Source: Planetary Society]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Keith: We are going to give it a try this morning, the weather looking a bit better. The conditions at Expedition appear somewhat wet so we will take the twin to a gravel strip at Strand Fiord and will then ferry our gear to our camp at Expedition Fiord by helicopter. If we cannot make it in, we will head to Eureka for a few days. I'll try to give you a ring via sat phone later if possible for an update. Our studies of the perennial springs, massive ground ice and pingos will begin shortly.

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Keith: We arrived in Resolute Friday evening but we are still in here awaiting better weather. Its been cloudy with periods of light snow and rain along with low cloud and fog so getting north has been a bit problematic. But that is life in the fast lanes... We may try to get up to Eureka later today but I am not betting the farm.

Hard to believe that we started blogging from the McMurdo Dry Valleys in the Antarctic nearly ten years ago. I know that "blog" along with the images have been available online at your astrobiology website since.

Continue reading "Field Report from Dale Andersen 19 June 2006" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HMP Research Station Field Update August 5, 2005

"After an initial run of bad weather at the beginning of the field season the last two weeks have provided us with good to great conditions at times to conduct our research. Communications by Internet are now offline for the rest of the field season."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HMP Research Station Field Update - July 29, 2005

"Today's activities centered around a major traverse into the Haughton Crater so that Dr. Jeff Jones could complete his sampling of unvisited locations looking to see if the human associated microbes have altered the local microflora for a planetary protection study. As well on the same traverse Dr. Brian Glass also needed to completed his sampling gravity measurements for his research."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HMP Research Station Geology and Geochemistry Report Provided by Dr. John Parnell and Paula Lindgren, University of Aberdeen, July 29, 2005

"Research has continued on the response of organic matter in the crater target rocks to the impact event. Our previous studies have shown that organic matter increases in thermal maturity (more heated) towards the crater centre, but that in most of the crater the heating was not so intense as to destroy fossil biomolecular evidence of life, or even extant life."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kevin Hand's Antarctic Journal 1 March 2005

"Ok, well, this is it folks, one last email and then I'm on a plane back to LA. I've been in New Zealand for a bit and I've finally had a chance to type up my notes for this final update about our work in Antarctica. Here we go... So the last update gave you a sense of the research we're doing. Now let me give you a sense of life in the field and what it's like to live, work, and eat in the middle of nowhere in Antarctica."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kevin Hand's Antarctic Journal 8 February 2005

"Hello again from Antarctica. Ok, well, I'm back at McMurdo Station. All went very well in the field - our instruments worked great, we collected lots of data, and had an amazing time exploring a phenomenally interesting and unique little nook on planet Earth. Now for the background on what exactly we're doing."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kevin Hand's Antarctic Journal 20 January 2005

"Tonight, however, was different. The magic fax came. Like Santa down the chimney, the bell hop came and delivered the present I had been eagerly anticipating. For nearly half my life I've been dreaming of reaching the polar environments, and now a plane had a seat for me. Finally we got confirmation that - if the weather holds - we'll fly out early tomorrow morning."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)