By Lora Koenig March 31, 2013 — We just finished our last dinner, Easter dinner, in Kulusuk. We spoke with the helicopter pilots today and expect to have an 8:15 am flight to our location on the ice sheet about 100 km to the Northwest of Kulusuk, where the aquifer was drilled into last year […]
By Lora Koenig (as told to María José Viñas) All the members of our team are now in Kulusuk, Greenland. We’re quite isolated in this tiny village but we have a whole team behind us, making sure we get our stuff on time. The people in town are helping us a lot, too (hence the […]
By Lora Koenig As I write this post, on Tuesday, March 26, our team is spread across the globe. I am at Dulles airport near Washington, D.C. waiting to get on a plane that will fly through the night to Iceland, and then onto Kulusuk, Greenland, tomorrow. My gear includes a thick parka, boots, cloths, […]
By Lora Koenig Hello and welcome (or hopefully, welcome back) to yet another of my field blogs! It’s a chilly day here in Greenbelt, Maryland, and I am packing away my warmest parka and sleeping bags – yes, I said bags, in plural, since I will need two to keep me warm enough during my […]
Look over this infographic if you want to understand the science various Landsat satellites have been producing for 40+ years.
I’m standing in an isolated clearing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on February 11, 2013, holding an enormous weather balloon. Just as I’m about to let it go, it’s tugging on my arm with four pounds of force. “Ten seconds. Five. Release Lima 5.” As the balloon shoots up, I crane my head […]
Wondering how the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is doing after its launch last week? The mission’s project office posted an update yesterday and the news is good. The LDCM Mission Operations Team successfully completed the first phase of spacecraft activation. All spacecraft subsystems have been turned on, including propulsion, and power has been supplied […]
Thurs. Feb. 7, 2013. Four Days Before Launch, Embassy Suites, Lompoc, Calif. After arriving at my hotel for my first rocket launch, I started loading up my plate at Sonny’s complimentary breakfast. Not knowing anyone, I walked up to a nearby group of strangers and asked if I could sit down. As it turns out, […]
It felt a bit like I had wandered into an exclusive Silicon Valley pool party. There were palm trees, deck chairs, even a heated pool that was steaming in the morning chill. Bobak Ferdowsi (a.k.a. the “NASA Mohawk guy”) of Mars Curiosity fame was milling around. Camilla, the ever-adventurous SDO-obsessed rubber chicken, was posing for […]
