Earth as a Classroom - Team Blogs tag:www.spaceref.com,2008:/blogs/earthclassroom//17 2008-04-13T18:59:36Z Join us as we explore "Mars on Earth" from the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station on Devon Island. Movable Type 3.35 Keith Cowing: Polar Deserts and Global TV tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5902 2007-07-28T01:07:53Z 2008-04-13T18:59:36Z I am sitting in a Lincoln Towne Car limo headed home from downtown Washington, DC after spending half a day doing TV interviews at CNN and Fox. A week ago - almost to the minute - I was riding aboard... Keith Cowing I am sitting in a Lincoln Towne Car limo headed home from downtown Washington, DC after spending half a day doing TV interviews at CNN and Fox. A week ago - almost to the minute - I was riding aboard an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) toward a dusty landing strip on Devon Island, less than a thousand miles from the North Pole. More ]]> Keith Cowing: The Persistence of Memory tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5903 2007-07-23T01:09:50Z 2007-08-15T01:17:29Z Friday was a day much like all of the others we experienced here on Devon Island. We awoke to a cool, brisk morning with bright sunshine and painfully blue skies. The walk down from Tent City - the small enclave... Keith Cowing Friday was a day much like all of the others we experienced here on Devon Island. We awoke to a cool, brisk morning with bright sunshine and painfully blue skies. The walk down from Tent City - the small enclave west of base camp where everyone pitches their tents - to the main base camp was routine. Routine except for the fact that this would be the last time I make the trip (unless I return in the future). More]]> Keith Cowing: Heading Back To Civilization tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5696 2007-07-21T13:06:14Z 2007-08-15T01:26:51Z Matt, Leroy, and I left Devon Island yesterday evening around 5:30 pm. After a stay in Resolute Bay (and a shower) we're heading south to Ottawa today. Our plane departs at 10:00 am CDT.... Keith Cowing Matt, Leroy, and I left Devon Island yesterday evening around 5:30 pm. After a stay in Resolute Bay (and a shower) we're heading south to Ottawa today. Our plane departs at 10:00 am CDT.]]> Leroy Chiao: Heading Home tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5691 2007-07-20T19:39:34Z 2007-07-20T19:45:18Z We've had a very successful expedition up here on Devon! It is time to go home. I've taken down my tent and packed my gear. More... Keith Cowing We've had a very successful expedition up here on Devon! It is time to go home. I've taken down my tent and packed my gear. More]]> K10 Rovers On The Job tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5689 2007-07-20T19:32:45Z 2007-07-20T19:33:22Z "Two NASA robots are surveying a rocky, isolated polar desert within a crater in the Arctic Circle. The study will help scientists learn how robots could evaluate potential outposts on the moon or Mars. The robots, K10 Black and K10... Keith Cowing "Two NASA robots are surveying a rocky, isolated polar desert within a crater in the Arctic Circle. The study will help scientists learn how robots could evaluate potential outposts on the moon or Mars. The robots, K10 Black and K10 Red, carry 3-D laser scanners and ground-penetrating radar. The team arrived at Haughton Crater at Devon Island, Canada, on July 12 and will operate the machines until July 31."

More]]> Constructing the Challenger Memorial Inukshuk on Devon Island tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5686 2007-07-20T01:43:21Z 2007-07-20T19:35:24Z

On Wednesday, 18 July 2007, Leroy Chiao, Matt Reyes, myself and a group of Inuit students constructed a memorial inukshuk on Devon Island to honor the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger. Here is a movie of the dedication and the... Keith Cowing On Wednesday, 18 July 2007, Leroy Chiao, Matt Reyes, myself and a group of Inuit students constructed a memorial inukshuk on Devon Island to honor the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger. Here is a movie of the dedication and the materials placed at the base of the inukshuk. Keith Cowing is shown placing materials in the container and astronaut Leroy Chiao says a few words about the memorial. Below are some photos from that activity:]]>

Hauling rocks to the construction site

Jarloo Kiguktak and Leroy Chiao building the inukshuk

Keith Cowing and Leroy Chiao building the inukshuk

Matt Reyes adjusts inukshuk structure

Twin iukshuks. On the left is the new Challenger Inukshuk on thr irght is the memorial to the Columbia crew and astronaut Michael Anderson which was erected in 2003.

Left to Right - the Challenger inukshuk construction crew: Matt Reyes, Keith Cowing, Star Amarualik, Leroy Chiao, Joseph Atchealak, Jesse Weaver, Ben Audaluk, Jarloo Kiguktak

Memorial inukshuk to the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger

Joseph Atchealak holding a Challenger Center banner in front of the Challenger inukshuk ]]> Keith Cowing: Sheer Audacity tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5904 2007-07-20T01:10:49Z 2007-08-15T01:17:54Z

You cannot take a bad picture on Devon Island. This place is one stunning photo opportunity after another. Mostly it has to do with the landscape. Every once in a while, it has to do with humans juxtaposed against the... Keith Cowing You cannot take a bad picture on Devon Island. This place is one stunning photo opportunity after another. Mostly it has to do with the landscape. Every once in a while, it has to do with humans juxtaposed against the landscape. And then in some special instances, the landscape is so evocative it simply jumps into your camera and takes the picture for you. More]]> Leroy Chiao: Photos of Devon tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5692 2007-07-19T19:40:09Z 2007-07-20T19:43:14Z We inspected several special areas on Devon Island today by helicopter. They are inside of Inuit owned land and special permission is required. Our stops included Saphire Lake, Stoker Falls and Astronaut Canyon. The scenery is quite spectacular. More... Keith Cowing We inspected several special areas on Devon Island today by helicopter. They are inside of Inuit owned land and special permission is required. Our stops included Saphire Lake, Stoker Falls and Astronaut Canyon. The scenery is quite spectacular. More ]]> Keith Cowing: Ancient Memorials for Modern Space Explorers tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5905 2007-07-19T01:11:52Z 2007-08-15T01:18:16Z Today was supposed to have been our third live webcast to Challenger Learning Centers across the U.S. However, just as we were testing the satellite link, it died. After some hours of trying to figure out what went wrong, I... Keith Cowing Today was supposed to have been our third live webcast to Challenger Learning Centers across the U.S. However, just as we were testing the satellite link, it died. After some hours of trying to figure out what went wrong, I decided to switch my team's attention to our other main task while on Devon Island. In addition to doing our webcasts, the other main task we had was the building of a memorial inukshuk to the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger. More]]> Leroy Chiao: Memorial To The Space Shuttle Challenger Crew tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5693 2007-07-18T19:40:46Z 2007-07-20T19:43:45Z Inukshuks are a part of Inuit culture. They are used to mark trails and also points of significance. Two years ago, Keith and others built an Inukshuk to honor the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia. On this expedition, we created... Keith Cowing Inukshuks are a part of Inuit culture. They are used to mark trails and also points of significance. Two years ago, Keith and others built an Inukshuk to honor the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia. On this expedition, we created an Inukshuk near the Columbia memorial with the help of some of the Inuit who are currently at the HMP. More]]> Keith Cowing: Webcasts, Robots, Astronauts, and Dogs tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5906 2007-07-18T01:12:56Z 2007-08-15T01:18:37Z Today we set out to do what we came here for: to conduct a series of webcasts that describe Devon Island, The Haughton-Mars Project, and the sorts of research and exploration that goes on here every summer. Our audience was... Keith Cowing Today we set out to do what we came here for: to conduct a series of webcasts that describe Devon Island, The Haughton-Mars Project, and the sorts of research and exploration that goes on here every summer. Our audience was to be composed of several hundred students who were watching live at a dozen Challenger Learning Centers across the U.S. More]]> Leroy Chiao: Resupply tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5694 2007-07-17T19:41:13Z 2007-07-20T19:44:06Z Resupply is critical, whether on Earth, in space or on another planet! During my mission onboard the International Space Station, we were resupplied at three month intervals by unmanned Progress resupply vehicles. They brought us food, water, oxygen, fuel, repair... Keith Cowing Resupply is critical, whether on Earth, in space or on another planet! During my mission onboard the International Space Station, we were resupplied at three month intervals by unmanned Progress resupply vehicles. They brought us food, water, oxygen, fuel, repair equipment, tools, research experiments and supplies. More]]> Time lapse Movie tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5679 2007-07-17T16:08:31Z 2007-07-17T16:09:05Z Time lapse image of the sun marching across the morning sky on Devon Island (Windows Media)... Keith Cowing Time lapse image of the sun marching across the morning sky on Devon Island (Windows Media)

]]> Leroy Chiao: First Webcast tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5673 2007-07-17T13:03:34Z 2007-07-20T19:44:32Z

We made our first live webcast to a series of Challenger Learning Centers today! All went well. Today's webcast was about the HMP in general and the kind of work that is done up here. Matt and I hosted the... Keith Cowing We made our first live webcast to a series of Challenger Learning Centers today! All went well. Today's webcast was about the HMP in general and the kind of work that is done up here. Matt and I hosted the show, while Keith asked the questions and ran the video equipment. More]]> Keith Cowing's Devon Island Journal: 15 July 2007: Surreal Landscapes and Late Evening Thoughts tag:www.spaceref.com,2007:/blogs/earthclassroom//17.5669 2007-07-17T05:35:49Z 2007-08-08T20:25:50Z Leroy Chiao, Matt Reyes and I went out for a traverse today. Our traveling companions were Pascal Lee, the PI of the Haughton-Mars Project (who led the traverse), Jarloo Kiguktak an advisor and field officer for the HMP 2007 field... Keith Cowing Leroy Chiao, Matt Reyes and I went out for a traverse today. Our traveling companions were Pascal Lee, the PI of the Haughton-Mars Project (who led the traverse), Jarloo Kiguktak an advisor and field officer for the HMP 2007 field campaign, and his son, Joseph Atchealak. We were making both a survey and a tour of the various research points of interest in and around Haughton Crater. Our mode of transport: ATVs, the workhorse vehicle of the arctic.]]> built an inukshuk to honor astronaut Michael Anderson. Over the course of several months inukshuks were established across Devon Island for all of Columbia's crew. Inukshuks are human-like figures made out of free stone. Some are rough pillars; others have a definite human shape to them. The Inuit use such structures as markers on their landscape. Properly constructed, as was this one, they can last for centuries. As part of our visit to Devon Island this year, Leroy, Matt and I, local Inuit boys, and members of the Haughton Mars Project Research Station family will build an inukshuk to honor the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger. The site we chose is an obvious one. When viewed from Base camp you can just make out the inukshuk on the horizon atop one of two small rises. When you look at these two rises on the horizon you cannot but help being reminded of the "Twin Peaks" which are prominent features at the Mars Pathfinder landing site. It was odd to return to this place. When I was last here - almost 4 years to the day - the weather was cold and it was blowing snow. Today, while it was cool, the sky was bright and filled with immense, dramatic clouds that had been dragged into vast sweeping shapes by high altitude winds. This time I was also returning with someone who actually knew Michael Anderson as a living, breathing co-worker. For those of us who were here to build the inukshuk in 2003, he was only someone we knew from post-accident stories about his life. After pausing at the Anderson inukshuk we walked over to the adjoining rise where we were thinking of building the Challenger inukshuk. A check showed that there was already a nice base made from remnants of an ancient coral reef. Plenty of rocks are to be found nearby. We'll be back in a few days to do the actual construction. We then headed off toward Haughton Crater. We quickly passed through an alien landscape that was created when the remnants of a coral reef were eroded by the action of water and ice. The rocks are from the Silurian - hundreds of millions of years old. You could film a science fiction movie here; indeed, I was reminded of some of the landscapes I saw as Kid on "Lost in Space". We soon stopped at the Inukshuk for Kalpana Chawla, which overlooks Trinity Lake on one side and the vast expanse of Haughton Crater on the other. Leroy and I hiked up the several hundred feet of rough terrain to the small summit. The inukshuk had lost a few key stones over the past few seasons, so we replaced them. Next stop was a large ejecta block that had been thrown out from the original impact itself. Upon close examination you can see that it was excavated from deep underground. The rock structure contains a cross section of fossil bearing rock that was already incredibly ancient when the impact event occurred. As we headed further into the crater we crossed a variety of terrains. Muddy flat streams, dry dusty plains, vast expanses strewn with rocks several feet in diameter - and often larger. When riding an ATV, the trick is to keep a steady speed, shift gears appropriately and stay in formation. Soon, we entered regions that I had never seen before. The valleys were caused by the action of ice scraping across the landscape. The valleys that were left behind were stunning and some were just plain magnificent. With the exception of a few artic willows and poppies, the landscape seemed to be devoid of all life. This just served to enhance the otherworldly aspects of the places we visited. We passed through Shoemaker Valley and ended up atop a ridge where you could see quite a distance across the crater floor. Some regions were grayish-white. This was a breccias deposit - shattered, pulverized rocks from the impact event. When you pass over such a breccias field you can find pieces of granite that were excavated from deep within this island - to a depth of up to a mile - by the impact event. There are also small whitish gray stones with fan-like radiating patterns. These are called "shatter cones" and capture the shock of the impact event itself as it traveled through and shocked the underlying rock layers. After a snack of smoked oysters and anchovies (always a highlight of a traverse) we began the trek home. I am now sitting here writing this entry just before 11:00 pm. I am sitting outside facing due west. The sun is to my right, heading north - and low - on the horizon. My face is tight and slightly tingly - the combined after effect of incredibly strong sunlight (lots of UV), wind, dryness, and cold - all accentuated by 4 hours of driving around on ATVs amidst clouds of fine, swirling dust. Inside the mess tent some folks are watching a movie ("Red Planet"). The K10 rover team from NASA Ames just finished an evening meeting after a productive day. Meanwhile, a bunch of geologists are in the Hub sifting and analyzing samples they brought in from the field. Out in the greenhouse, as the twin wind generators whoosh away, systems are being upgraded and checked for another season of autonomous operation. Elsewhere, the communications folks are checking the performance of various systems, Jesse the mechanic is making sure the ATV fleet is working, and Base Camp management is planning the next days' events. For me, Leroy and Matt, we have our first live webcast with a dozen Challenger Learning Centers tomorrow. We did several full up tests today to make certain that all the components of a life webcast from the arctic will go as planned tomorrow. As I sit here in this stark yet stunning place, I decided to inject another world by playing a nature soundtrack on my iPhone. As such I am sitting here surrounded by a forest full of life - virtual life, that is. I have to wonder what the first people to visit Mars will do on a similar late night session of reflection. Will they wander into greenhouses and smell the plants, play nature sounds, and watch movies from back home? Or will new ways of relaxing emerge - ones that are wholly human - yet also, part Martian? ]]>