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Sometime It Is Rocket Science weather balloons, the Internet, and streaming video for NASA

November 1999 ­ Slightly over a year ago, I changed job positions at NASA. I'd been in the same organization in the Electrical Power group, with minor reorganization Al changes, for over 12 years, and was truly ready for a change. I updated my resumé and government application, filled out one of the arcane inside-NASA job applications, and failed to get the job I applied for. But one of the people I'd called to ask about the job I applied for offered me a chance to come work with her group, with the bonus of getting to write my own job description. Left: Linda Porter in the Spirit of Science. Credit: Bob Moder? I'm really enjoying work again! I'd gotten myself into a corner doing research no one cared about in my previous area, basically all by myself. Now I'm working with a team of people, and enjoying the work. Sign up for our EXPRESS bwalls news delivery I'm part of what we call the Science Communication effort at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Scientists at MSFC are mostly working in three areas: Science from Space (studying Earth from satellites, looking at the ozone hole, weather research, etc.), Science in Space (mostly materials processing on the Shuttle or Space Station), and Science About Space (Astronomy and Astrophysics, studying stars, black holes, gamma-ray bursts, and such). The Science Communications job is to make the research accessible to the public, or at least to what we call the science-attentive public. Explanations have to be at a level that someone with a basic scientific education can understand, rather than in the arcane terminology of a given field. Left: Ed Myszka working on the balloon payload. Credit: Bob Moder? We have two to three science writers on staff who interview scientists about their research. The writer turns what they learn into an article, adding graphics and background material as needed. They submit their article for review to the scientists, and make any corrections needed. Then the article is reviewed by the Science Roundtable, which includes scientists from various areas, and representatives from the Education Office, Media Relations, Scientific Outreach, Headquarters Media Relations, and pretty much anyone who wants to join in. Right: The logo for the Space Science News, or Science.NASA.gov, web site. Check it out! Once the story passes muster, we do final editing, modifying, linking, and massaging it to post it on our web site (check it out at http://science.nasa.gov/). We send a message out to our mailing list (about 100,000 people have signed up) with a brief description and web-link to the article. We do about five stories a week, more or less. Posting stories (ie., this process) is a good part of my day to day job.

Web Links Science.NASA.gov -- The site I primarily support. Well worth signing up for! Space Science Laboratory -- The new place I work. Leonids Live - A site about the meteor show, with links to our balloon flight stories. Peep No-show - A sad story of lost, brave, marshmallow candies. Just Born Candy Company -- Maker of Marshmallow Peeps© I also do special projects associated with Science Communications. I've become the specialist for streaming video. We sometimes include short interviews, clips from NASA TV, or other video footage with stories. I usually convert them into the right form so readers can see the video in their web browser. The most fun project I've been involved with has been streaming live video footage from our balloon launches. Right: A balloon, almost ready to launch. The payload is the white boxes sitting on a ladder in front of the image. Click on the image for a larger version. Left: A top view of the payload, with six capsules of Xerogel, and 5 JustBorn Peeps Credit: Bryan Walls We've done four balloon launches now. A helium-filled weather balloon is launched carrying a payload consisting of a video camera, a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiver, a ham radio set, some Xerogel sample capture media, and a box of Peeps©. The idea is to observe, and perhaps capture particles from, meteorites. Two of the launches have been during the Leonids meteor shower, one during the Perseids, and one at a time when there was very little chance of there being any meteors as a scientific control. I'm involved with capturing the video and audio downlink and streaming it out to all the loonies who will stay up all night to watch something like that. There are thousands! We build up a whole control room, with a commentator, launch, and tracking. I get to stay up all night playing with computers, and get paid for it!

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