A Lesson for 21st Century Students

A JPG of the flights and WRS2 is available from <here>

HyspIRI Mission Study

Activities relating to the HyspIRI airborne 


In 2013 and 2014 NASA will conduct airborne campaigns for the HyspIRI mission.  For these campaigns, NASA will fly the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instruments on a NASA ER-2 aircraft  to collect precursor datasets in advance of the Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) mission. The primary goal of this activity is to demonstrate important science and applications research that is uniquely enabled by HyspIRI like data, taking advantage of the contiguous spectroscopic measurements of the AVIRIS, the full suite of MASTER TIR bands, or combinations of measurements from both instruments.

NASA solicited proposals for investigators to participate in these campaigns. NASA received 49 proposal and selected 14.Data will be acquired over large blocks of California as part of these campaigns shown in the figure below.



1. What time of day will the data be acquired? Typically between 10 am and 4 pm but this will depend on the season since we want to maximize the signal to noise.

2. Have the locations of these lines been finalized? Almost, the science team is currently finalizing the lines, typically extending a few of the lines to make sure key locations are covered.

3. Can anyone get the data? Yes, Level 1 (radiance at sensor) and Level 2 (reflectance, temperature, emissivity)  data will be made freely available over the web.

4. Where do I get the data? The data will be available through the AVIRIS and MASTER websites.

5. Will there be any night flights? Yes a small number of hours are reserved for night flights.

6. Will there be any flights over fires (prescribed or natural)? Yes a small number of hours are reserved to acquire data over fires.

7. What pixel sizes will the data have? AVIRIS will have 20 m pixels and MASTER will have 50 m pixels.

8. What swath widths will the data have? AVIRIS will have an 11 km swath and MASTER will have a 35 km swath.

9. What plane will the instruments be mounted on? Both instruments will be on the ER2 which will acquire data from 20 km.

10. Which investigators were selected from the ROSES call?

11. Which order will the boxes (regions) be flown. The order will depend on the weather but the default order is:
1) Southern California; 2) Santa Barbara ;3) San Francisco Bay; 4) Yosemite ; 5) Lake Tahoe

12. How can I find out the current weather for planning purposes? Try these sites:


Current Forecast - US

Geostationary satellite images - US

Model and Analysis Data for Current Forecast
NOAA/ National Weather Service
Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer. AVIRIS

Thermal Emission Spectrometer Project

TES Discoveries

The Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP) is a nationally recognized award winning authentic inquiry-based learning and student-centered education project. Students learn how science works by engaging in science research using data from a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars. Students understand how science really works by actually being a scientist.

Camilla Space Weather Project

Space Weather Forecast - Part A

How to Think Like a NASA Scientist
Observe and Infer.

Observation and Inference. Scientists must make observations, or collect unbiased data before making conclusions about their hypothesis. Often scientists never actually get confirmation that their answer is the “right” one, rather a “good” answer is one that is based on evidence. During the mystery box activity there will be many teachable moments to discuss this idea.



 observations are what you see/hear/feel/etc… and

inferences are more like opinions – what they think based on what they observed; 

inferences – what do they think happened in 

that scene? Encourage thinking outside the box, for example, the bird may have flown 

away, or is sitting in a tree, or the fox may have given it a ride rather than eaten it. 

When students ask if their inferences are correct, if they “got it right,” ask them if 
scientists doing research have a teacher that they can ask for the answer. This usually 
drives them nuts, but it’s a good teachable moment to show them that there isn’t always a 
right answer, and if there is there isn’t always immediate confirmation.



National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S):
• 3.a. Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote
creativity.
• 5.a. Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of
sources.
• 5.b. Students use technology tools to process data and report results.
• 6.a. Students use technology resources for solving problems and making informed
decisions


Researching past solar missions 

Space Weather Forecast - Main Lesson

How is the global earth system changing?

How will the Earth system change in the future?

What are the sources of change in the Earth system and their magnitudes and trends?

How can Earth system science improve mitigation of and adaptation to global change?

Freedom of Information Act

Poverty fuels protests in the Middle East

In countries such as Egypt and Jordan, the poor are locked out and frustrated because a corrupt elite hogs opportunities and assets.

how the wealthy in countries like Egypt and Jordan have laid claim to virtually all the power and opportunity.

Here in Jordan, as in Egypt and many other countries in the Middle East, there is a large gap between rich and poor. Here, families living below the poverty line, like Taher's, make up more than 13 percent of the population. And there's not much chance for them to escape.He  [Hani Hourani is director of the New Jordan Research Center, which is a think tank in Amman. He says there used to be more mobility in Jordan.]says the disadvantages start early: There's a big difference in the quality of education in public and private schools. And the curricula need to be revamped completely, so that students get the kinds of skills they need to work in a global economy -- whether its training on computers or learning foreign languages.




This system is enabling the elites only and ignoring or isolating the majority of the people. In the long run, it will be a disaster for the country and for the stability.


...families in his community know the importance of education. And some even manage to graduate from high school and go on to the university. But many others end up dropping out of secondary or even primary school. And many children born into poor families grow up to be poor themselves, because it's hard to break the cycle of poverty. It's nearly impossible for kids who start life in a poor family without connections to be accepted into the monied elite.

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Jordan: The Fire Next Door Hani Hourani

At the economic level, Jordan's ties with Iraq are very close. Nearly all of our oil comes from Iraq at highly subsidized rates. Replacing this oil at market prices could cost more than $600 million a year.


Former Minister of Trade and Industry Mohammad al-Samadi estimates that Iraqis buy more than $500 million of Jordanian goods annually. Our trucking industry - 5000 mostly family-owned trucks - is largely dependent on this trade. How much of it will be lost, particularly if a new regime in Baghdad punishes Jordan for its close ties with the Iraqi government, is a worrying question. Fahed al-Fanek, a leading Jordanian economist, estimates that the war could cost Jordan as much as 25% of its GDP, about $2 billion.

Most New York Students Are Not College-Ready

By SHARON OTTERMAN

Published: February 7, 2011

Most New York Students Are Not College-Ready
New York State education officials released a new set of graduation statistics on Monday that show less than half of students in the state are leaving high school prepared for college and well-paying careers.

 Related
community colleges
charter schools
standardized tests for third through eighth graders


The Board of Regents, which sets the state’s education policies, met on Monday to begin discussing what to do with this data, and will most likely issue a decision in March. One option is to make schools and districts place an asterisk next to the current graduation rate, or have them report both the current graduation rate and the college ready rate, said Merryl H. Tisch, the chancellor of the Board of Regents.


But New York City is still doing better than the state’s other large urban districts. In Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers, less than 17 percent of students met the proposed standards, including just 5 percent in Rochester.

The data also cast new doubt on the ability of charter schools to outperform their traditional school peers. Statewide, only 10 percent of students at charters graduated in 2009 at college-ready standards, though 49 percent received diplomas. The state has not yet calculated results for every district and school.


But the political will to acknowledge openly the chasm between graduation requirements and college or job needs is new, Dr. Tisch; David M. Steiner, the state education commissioner; and John King, the deputy state education commissioner, said in interviews last week.


While it has not gone so far as to calculate an alternative to graduation rates, the city has already begun tracking how each high school’s students fare in college, and in 2012 it will begin holding principals accountable for it. “Last year, well before the state announced this plan, we told schools we would begin including robust college readiness metrics in school progress reports,” said Shael Polakow-Suransky, the chief academic officer.