Sunday, March 24, 2013

Exploring to Inspire STEM Education

Expeditions to the extreme limits of our world push the bounds of human knowledge and capabilities. By expanding our understanding of the earth, exploration offers a unique storytelling platform that inspires people to investigate the world around them, to question and to innovate.

Most people will never visit the deep sea or summit the world’s tallest peaks, and glimpses of these places provided by expeditions allow people to appreciate and champion these environments. Most importantly, exploration provides an opportunity to expose new generations to careers that contribute to scientific advancement and environmental stewardship.

NASA’s extensive education and outreach program currently brings missions to the International Space Station closer to home with STEM on Station, a series of videos featuring ISS astronauts demonstrating the same basic STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Technology) concepts taught in middle and high school. Students from around the world can even compete in SpaceLab contests to design science experiments that astronauts will carry out on the ISS, giving them first-person experience in pushing the limits of science and technology.


The European Space Agency organizes contests to design and launch working satellites into orbit for high school and university students. Challenger Learning Centers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and South Korea immerse students in hands-on simulated space missions teaching teamwork and critical thinking skills. Using missions as teaching tools, these programs expose students to STEM, but missions can be used creatively to improve fitness and nutrition, as in Mission X’s ‘train like an astronaut’ program.


Thanks to education initiatives like these, most people are more familiar with outer space than with the deep sea, making ocean exploration an ideal platform for future education initiatives. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Ocean Explorer website offers daily logs, videos, and interactive maps to follow their data-collecting expeditions in real-time. For educators, NOAA’s Expedition Education Modules use multimedia-based lesson plans to simulate the daily discoveries and scientific techniques that scientists and explorers experience. Letting students experience first-hand the thrill of discovery, Dr. Robert Ballard’s expedition team streams discoveries live to classrooms around the world through their interactive Nautilus Live program.


New technology allows us to explore extreme environments remotely, but the human element of the intrepid explorer is key. National Geographic Explorers are a prime example of the capacity for exploration to not only push the limits of science, but also educate. Through real-time blogs, tweets, and photojournalism, we can join the expeditions of these modern-day adventurers and role models.


Unlike robots, human explorers bring back personal accounts we can relate to about their amazing experiences. Children grow up wanting to be astronauts or deep sea divers, not robots, dreaming up fantastical futures. These experiences of discovery illuminated by explorers may inspire people to become better stewards of their environment, or even spark ideas that change the way our world works.




Contributed by

Samantha Wishnak
Education and Outreach Coordinator
Blue Marble Exploration
Monterey, CA, USA

Friday, March 15, 2013

Why Extreme Environments?

Since Blue Marble Exploration focuses exclusively on "extreme environments", we are often asked "why?".

There are many answers, but the bottom line is that putting humans in environments that are hostile to our very existence forces us to solve immensely complex problems. In order to accomplish our exploration objectives for each mission, we have to push the limits of technology, science, and human endurance. This in turn promotes innovation and creativity, which help us move humanity forward.

These types of expeditions also have a unique capacity to inspire millions of people around the world. They have a special combination of powerful visuals and dramatic storylines that capture imaginations across cultures, languages, and generations. This can be used to promote education, innovation, and conservation, as well as collaboration among countries, industries, and organizations.

Within the past 12 months, we have been fortunate to witness three very different expeditions to extreme environments. Below (in chronological order) is a brief summary of each one and some of its major contributions.


OCEANS - DeepSea Challenge [March 2012]


On March 26, 2012, James Cameron broke the world solo dive record by becoming only the third person ever to see the deepest point in the ocean. Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, plunges to nearly 11,000 meters (~37,000 feet), which is much deeper than Mt. Everest is tall. Prior to Cameron's dive, the only humans to ever successfully complete this dive were Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, who made the trip in the U.S. Navy-sponsored bathyscaphe Trieste on January 23, 1960.

In order to accomplish his mission objectives, Cameron had to develop a whole slate of new technologies, including his submersible, DeepSea Challenger. Besides his core team, the project relied on a diverse international group of small industry specialists, large corporate partners, and university departments. The expedition will be the subject of a documentary and a 3D film.


ALTITUDE - Red Bull Stratos [October 2012]


On October 14, 2012, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner broke several world records, including the highest altitude jump (39 km / 24 mi) and the fastest freefall (1357 kmh / 844 mph). He also became the first human to break the sound barrier without a vehicle. Several of these records were previously held by Joe Kittinger, who made his jump on August 16, 1960, as part of experiments conducted by the U.S. Air Force. He worked as an advisor and Capsule Communicator for Red Bull Stratos, watching Baumgartner break all but one of his records (longest freefall of 4 minutes 36 seconds).

[Even though it was dubbed "Mission to the Edge of Space", Baumgartner never even came close to approaching the internationally accepted boundary of 100 km (62 mi).]

To successfully complete the mission, Baumgartner's international team had to develop multiple new technologies, including the suit, helmet, capsule, balloon, parachute, and life support systems. Because of the extreme pressures on his body, the medical team collected immensely valuable physiological data.

Perhaps the greatest impact was on mass media. The project was sponsored by Red Bull, which not only provided financing but also used its marketing muscle to make the skydive one of the most popular current events in recent history. The jump's YouTube livestream drew a record 8 million concurrent views across 56 countries, and its Facebook posts reached over 50 million users. The resulting [inaccurately named] documentary, Space Dive, was produced by the BBC in partnership with National Geographic and Red Bull Media House.


POLAR - The Coldest Journey [March 2013]


This is an ongoing expedition to make the first crossing of Antarctica during the winter. Starting in March 2013, the 3,200 km (2,000 mi) traverse will take six months and will be done mostly in complete darkness and in temperatures as low as -90C (-130F). This project has been led for the five years of planning and preparation by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, one of the world's greatest explorers. Unfortunately, he developed a severe case of frostbite during the preposition phase, and on February 25, 2013, he announced that he would be leaving the expedition team. The remaining 5 members are set to continue the expedition without him, expecting to complete their journey in September 2013.

For this expedition, the team is relying on technological advances in land transportation, fuel, clothing, and communications. In addition to accomplishing its mission objectives, the project hopes to raise US$10 million for its partner charity, Seeing is Believing.


Monday, March 11, 2013

Exploration of Extreme Environments

Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, Robert Peary & Richard Byrd.
Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay.
Don Walsh, Jacques Piccard & James Cameron.
Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin.
Joe Kittinger & Felix Baumgartner.

These explorers are well known to most of us, but what sets them apart from many others is their exploration of extreme environments: polar, high altitude, space, deep ocean. This is precisely our focus at Blue Marble Exploration.


We push the limits of technology, science, and human endurance to pursue scientific discovery and raise public awareness of Planet Earth (our "Blue Marble").