NASA Meteor Crater Expedition

[Anton Ninno <anton@ERICIR.SYR.EDU>]

FYI...  Looks like fun!  Want to go?  I'm packed.  ;-)  - Anton

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From: IFG <<ifg@rl.af.mil>
Subject: AFRL-Rome Release 98-106
=20
AFRL Information Directorate Technology to Link NASA Expedition with
Nation's Classrooms
=20
ROME, N.Y., Oct. 15, 1998 --

A NASA expedition to confirm the existence of a massive meteor crater in
remote Amazon jungle of northern Bolivia will be broadcast live to
thousands of U.S. school children through the use of AFRL Information
Directorate technology.

Scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Md., departed
yesterday (Oct. 14) for a scientific expedition to a possible impact
crater in northern Bolivia. Hidden in the dense jungle, the circular
feature seen in a satellite photo could represent one of the youngest,
large-scale hyper-velocity impact craters ever found on Earth.

Scientists discovered this five-mile-wide feature, known as the Iturralde
Structure, 10 years ago by using Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite images
of this portion of the Bolivian rain forest.  The Goddard science team
will be trying to determine if the Iturralde feature is the surface
expression of a 20,000-year-old meteorite impact crater in the
water-sogged soils of the remote jungle.

It would take a 10,000-megaton explosion to make a crater the size of the
Iturralde Structure, according to James Garvin, a Goddard geologist and
impact expert.  Such a large meteor impact could change climate by
reducing temperatures in the same way as large volcanic eruptions.
Students will be able to follow the expedition in South America live via
the Internet as the result of portable satellite communications technology
developed for the Information Directorate.

"Our 'suitcase SATCOM' is the size of a medium suitcase and can be carried
by one person," said Peter K. Leong of the Information Grid Division. =20
"The 68-pound system can be set up anywhere in the world in 15 minutes to
provide transmission and reception of communications at a rate capable of
supporting full-motion video teleconferencing."

Tom Albert, a Howard County, Md., science teacher on assignment to
Goddard, will join the team of biologists and botanists from NASA and the
Bolivian University on the anticipated 10-day journey.  He will bring
thousands of students along on the exploratory impact crater
reconnaissance mission live via the Internet.

Albert will conduct 30-minute interactive educational sessions and answer
questions posed by Maryland junior high and high school students.
Participating schools have been selected based on the NASA Goddard
Ambassadors Program, which allows teachers from Maryland schools to train
at Goddard in the use of computer technology to enhance their instruction
of Earth science in the classroom.

Albert's lessons will be transmitted via satellite to the AFRL Rome
Research Site and then, using the laboratory's UNITY Network and the
Defense Research Engineering Network (DREN), sent to the Ames Research
Center, Calif., where the NASA Internet site is hosted, according to Mark
E. Duck of the Information Directorate's Site Operations Division.

"This expedition to the Amazon is just the tip of the educational
iceberg," said Albert. "The potential to provide teachers with more 'wow
factor' for their students is tremendous. To think that we are working
with NASA to bring this discovery live to students truly brings new
meaning to the concept of hands-on education."

Making the "virtual field trip" possible for students is somewhat d=C8ja vu
for Rome engineers.  In August 1960, using NASA's Echo I balloon
satellite, sent the world's first intercontinental radio signal from
Trinidad in the British West Indies to a receiving site in Floyd, N.Y.,
about three miles southeast of today's Griffiss Business & Technology
Park.

Although only the NASA Goddard Ambassador schools will be able to
participate live via the Internet, other schools and home-schooled
students -- as well as the general public -- are encouraged to watch and
follow the activities as they happen. The science plan for this expedition
was written by NASA Teacher Ambassadors and can be found at:

http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/bolivia/bolivia.htm

-- 30 --

CONTACT:  Francis L. Crumb, (315) 330-3053; E-Mail:  crumbf@rl.af.mil

NOTE: Interested schools will be able to see live visual and audio feed
from the site and participate in daily education interaction with the team
Oct. 19-22.  The quest to uncover the story of the Iturralde Structure can
be followed at url:

http://hpcc-k12.gsfc.nasa.gov/gessep/serverhome/gessep98/boliviacrater/
bolivia-webpage/boliviapage.html

DANIEL J. MC AULIFFE
Chief, Information
Grid Division
Air Force Research Laboratory
IFG
525 Brooks Road
Rome, NY 13441-4505
315-330-2165 (Voice)
315-330-1894 (FAX)
Email: mcauliffed@rl.af.mil</color></bold>

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Anton Ninno, Educ. Resource Evaluator   anton@ericir.syr.edu
4-194 Center for Science & Technology   315.443.3640
Information Institute of Syracuse       315.443.4100 fax
Syracuse Univ., Syracuse, NY 13244-4100 800.464.9107 toll-free
IIS-SU http://iis.syr.edu/              AskERIC http://askeric.org/
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