The computer system used to register visitors to Vandenberg Air Force Base wasn’t cooperating when I stopped by to get my ID approved yesterday. That meant I had plenty of time to chat with the two military police officers on duty. I learned two surprising things from them. 1) The base, particularly the beach area, […]
At the Top of the Tower
Count it among the things I never thought I would ever do in my lifetime—get up close to a loaded rocket that will carry a satellite into space in less than two days. When your launch is on a Monday, the weekend is still busy, busy, busy. But Saturday morning two days before launch, a […]
The Landsat 8 Launch in Quotes
Editor’s note: In the coming days, we’ll update this page with the most interesting quotes we hear about Landsat 8 (The Landsat Data Continuity Mission). The newest quotes will go on the top. When we’re inspired, we’ll talk back. “I’m excited to look at the imagery because it’s going to be sharper than we dealt […]
Fingers Crossed for Landsat 8
Today is a big day. I just arrived in Los Angeles from DC this afternoon, and I’m heading to Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California, to see an Atlas 5 rocket blast Landsat 8 into space. Officially, the satellite is called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) until it reaches orbit safely, but I’m […]
SPURS Epilogue (The First)
By Eric Lindstrom “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.” — Zora Neale Hurston So, we are back in port in the Azores Islands of Portugal. Knorr 209-1 was a fabulous voyage and it did feel that we had many a man’s wish on board. Those included wishes for our data collection […]
Channel Fever
By Eric Lindstrom Channel fever: an unusual excitement or restlessness common among a ship’s crew when the ship nears port after a voyage (The term probably refers to the English Channel, between southern England and northern France.) Now that all the oceanography is done, it’s four days of steaming to the Azores. During that time […]
Ocean Motion
By Eric Lindstrom When on land, an oceanography brain usually associates the term ocean motion with the movement of seawater in the form of ocean currents. However, when actually on the ocean, the biggest signal for our oceanography brains to cope with is the role of ocean motion in the pitch and roll of the […]
How Do You Spell Physical Oceanography?
By Eric Lindstrom How do you spell physical oceanography? I know my answer for that question! It’s easy: CTD. For about the last 40 years, the mainstay of physical oceanography has been profiling the ocean with sensors for Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD). The SPURS cruise is no exception. These are key properties to derive […]
Hello, Knorr? It’s The International Space Station Calling
By Eric Lindstrom Friday, 5 October 2012 — We got a call today from the Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), Sunita “Suni” Williams. Suni, who was calling while the ISS was passing over Eastern Russia, wanted to congratulate us on our SPURS expedition. We had 30 minutes of wide-ranging conversation about life at […]