Astronaut for Hire

Multibeam Time Warp

9/01/2010 04:39:00 AM

"Hello, Houston. This is Odyssey. It's good to see you again." --Tom Hanks as Astronaut Jim Lovell in Apollo 13

After a 6-day communications blackout, the Okeanos Explorer has emerged from the satellite coverage hole in the central Pacific.  Just past the halfway point of our cruise, we’ve traveled more than 2400 miles through two time zones.

Nobody likes Mondays, but we had the distinct privilege of repeating Monday this week as we crossed the International Date Line. The crew had a fun ceremony yesterday to mark the occasion and admit new inductees into the Order of the Golden Dragon.  We had to answer a series of trivia questions about the Okeanos Explorer.  For each one we got correct, we advanced a pace forward towards the symbolic International Date Line. The first to cross won a special prize.   Although I answered the most questions, a last-minute upset by the ship’s Chief Medical Officer denied me of the prize.  This is my second time standing on the International Date Line, but it is my first time doing so at sea.

My Golden Dragon certificate for crossing the International Date Line

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Getting my Sea Legs

8/25/2010 05:34:00 AM

Ahoy! I've had a very enjoyable first three days getting used to life at sea aboard the Okeanos Explorer.  I've gained a new appreciation for what it means to lead the life of a mariner and be a seafloor mapper.

As we sailed out of Guam's Apra Harbor, we spent the first half of day 1 conducting safety drills, which included fire, man overboard, abandon ship, and security. Man overboard was an interesting drill because everyone has to go outside and point to the victim no matter what direction the ship turned. A smaller boat was launched to go get the person, and that boat's driver uses everyone's pointing hands on the main ship to show him where to go. For the abandon ship drill, you have to don your life jacket, grab your survival suit, and meet at your designated life boat. We also tried on our survival suits to make sure they fit. Here's a photo of me wearing mine. You can see why people often call these "Gumby" suits. The purpose of the security drill was to prepare us for the event of a physical security breach like a pirate attack. I can't tell you what we did because that would reveal our secrets to the bad guys.

The other big thing that happened on the first day was the change of command ceremony. Commander Pica, who had captained the Okeanos since its commissioning in 2008, was succeeded by Commander Kamphaus, another highly competent NOAA Corps Commander. They had a brief ceremony on the ship's bow with Guam still in the background. Then, two crewmembers ferried Pica ashore in a small boat.  Typically, commands last about 2 years in the NOAA Corps.

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Okeanos Bound!

8/20/2010 03:11:00 PM

Bon voyage!  I'm off to go explore the seafloor!

Tomorrow I'll get on a plane bound for Guam where I'll rendezvous with the NOAA Okeanos Explorer and catch a ride back to Hawaii on the ship.  The trans-Pacific journey will last 14 days, during which time my job will be to help map the seafloor.  We will travel a 6100 km (3800 mi) great circle path from Guam to Oahu, crossing the Mariana Trench, the abyssal plain, seamounts and ridge systems.  In the process, I'll experience life on the vessel firsthand and report on it here on my blog.

Click for a wider view.  You can follow the actual position of the ship in real time here or  here.

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Lunar Science Forum

7/24/2010 09:40:00 PM

Last week I attended the 3rd annual Lunar Science Forum (LSF) held at the NASA Ames Conference Center.  The 3-day meeting sponsored by the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) dealt with topics "of the Moon, on the Moon, and from the Moon."  The LSF was one of several lunar- and space-focused meetings during the week that also included the LunarGradCon, Next Generation Lunar Scientists and Engineers Workshop (NGLSE), Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), and NewSpace2010.  I want to thank the NLSI for providing the travel grant that made it possible for me to attend the meeting.

After introductory speeches from Ames Director Pete Worden (whom I know from ISU), Jen Heldmann (whom I know from the PSSS), and others, science journalist Andrew Chaikin delivered a very engaging an opening talk titled "Luna 2.0." One of his slides showed the LROC mission patch, which says in Latin "Science enables Exploration. Exploration enables Science." That sentiment really set the stage for the conference by giving a broad overview of how the new suite of missions studying the moon are producing some great science and paving the way for future human and robotic exploration.

In collaboration with Carol Stoker, I presented a poster titled "Iterative Science Strategy on Analog Geophysical EVAs." The abstract is available online here, and you can view the entire poster below. The LSF poster expands upon some of the work I previously presented at LPSC a few months ago. The main purpose of this new poster was to showcase the fluid nature of conducting field science and how crews on future planetary missions will need to bootstrap their way along as they learn new things on each EVA. Such a strategy lends itself well to permanent bases where you have the luxury of being able to continually return to sites of interest to conduct followup field measurements. Sortie style mission scenarios may not allow for this kind of iterative strategy and therefore may not yield as much science return.

Lunar Science Poster 2010

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Teachers in Space, part deux

7/09/2010 01:32:00 PM

Teachers, if you've ever wanted to be an astronaut, now is your chance to apply. The Teachers in Space (TIS) project is seeking applicants for its second class of teacher astronauts. The goal of the TIS program is to create a pool of qualified teacher astronauts to fly on commercial spacecraft and then bring the experience back to students. There will be an information session on July 12 in Washington, DC. More details are in the latest TIS press release.

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