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<v Announcer>Live from Other Worlds has been made possible in part by NASA's mission from Planet <v Announcer>Earth Study Office and the NASA Education Division. <v Announcer>Additional support has been provided by the NASA K-through-12 and National Research and <v Announcer>Education Network Initiative V.W. <v Announcer>Virginia Quality Education and Sciences and Technology, and by the Planetary Society. <v Camille Jennings>What you're seeing is happening right now. <v Camille Jennings>It's a live television signal from one of the ends of our earth, from Antarctica. <v Camille Jennings>The icy continent surrounding the South Pole. <v Camille Jennings>We're watching NASA researchers explore the Antarctic Ocean under the thick sea ice. <v Camille Jennings>Experimenting with techniques that may someday help us explore the planet Mars and the <v Camille Jennings>other strange and fascinating worlds of our solar system. <v Carol Stoker>I can't quite hear what you're saying. We're going to switch the <v Carol Stoker>?inaudible?. Could you repeat that please?
<v Carol Stoker>Ok, here we go. <v Carol Stoker>I got it. We're live. Dale, this is your cue. <v Dale Anderson>Hi, this is Dale Anderson, and I'm talking to you from the Antarctic. <v Dale Anderson>And I'm underneath the ocean down here. <v Dale Anderson>We're about 10, 20 feet of ice, 6,000 miles from <v Dale Anderson>you. <v Dale Anderson>And we're broadcasting live. You can see my friends here. <v Dale Anderson>?Inaudible name? who is also my dive buddy. <v Dale Anderson>Looking at this large sponge and we have an ?inaudible? <v Dale Anderson>who is also my dive buddy just below me, here <v Dale Anderson>behind me. And I'll see if I can get him to come around to my side.
<v Dale Anderson>John if you'll just bring the ?inaudible? straight. Back, go <v Dale Anderson>back, ok come straight forward.And <v Dale Anderson>here is my friend, stop. <v Dale Anderson>This is a remotely operated vehicle. ?Inaudible? <v Dale Anderson>that you can see. <v Dale Anderson>And if you let us ?inaudible? <v Dale Anderson>give a camera on the front a stereo pair, it will let you nod up and down. <v Dale Anderson>Cameras <v Dale Anderson>up and down.
<v Dale Anderson>And Don if you could why don't you just say hello to everybody with the robotic arm. <v Dale Anderson>Robotic devices like this can go many places that <v Dale Anderson>human beings cannot go. I'm sitting in about 120 feet of water. <v Dale Anderson>The water temperature is about 28 degrees. <v Dale Anderson>That's pretty cool down here. <v Dale Anderson>And I get stay down on the bottom too too long. <v Dale Anderson>I'm going to swing around and take a look at my other friend ?inaudible? <v Dale Anderson>who is still looking at the sponge. And this is one of the reasons that we come to places <v Dale Anderson>like this so we can study unique organisms <v Dale Anderson>in this very special place. <v Dale Anderson>These very large sponges, protozoans and- <v Dale Anderson>and other organisms such as the ?inaudible?, because it's really tree like <v Dale Anderson>around here and nowhere else.
<v Dale Anderson>But we'll talk about this in a few minutes. <v Dale Anderson>Right now, I'd just like to welcome you because <v Dale Anderson>this is a Live from Other Worlds. <v Dale Anderson>[music] <v Camille Jennings>Welcome, kids, to Live From Other Worlds. <v Camille Jennings>I'm Camille Jennings here in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Have you ever gone on a field trip. <v Camille Jennings>You know, you pack a lunch, get on a big yellow school bus and drive off to your local <v Camille Jennings>science museum. Well, today, we're all going on a very special kind of field trip. <v Camille Jennings>But it's not like any that you've ever taken before. <v Camille Jennings>You won't be riding on buses along city streets or freeways. <v Camille Jennings>Our eyes and our ears will be traveling down the information superhighway, taking a trip
<v Camille Jennings>via satellite and television and computer to Antarctica. <v Camille Jennings>And as you'll soon see, Antarctica is a very special place. <v Camille Jennings>In fact, in the whole of human history, according to the National Science Foundation, <v Camille Jennings>which helps us run things down there, all the people who have ever visited that land <v Camille Jennings>could fit within one major sports stadium. <v Camille Jennings>Today, we're gonna multiply that number by a whole lot. <v Camille Jennings>Is all of you come along for an electronic field trip via television? <v Camille Jennings>Let's see now if we can talk to Dale in his colleagues down on the ice. <v Camille Jennings>Perhaps they'll be able to tell us why. Going to a land near the South Pole may <v Camille Jennings>eventually lead us to the planet Mars. <v Camille Jennings>Dale, can you hear us? This is Camille out at WHRO, over. <v Dale Anderson>Any questions? <v Camille Jennings>Dale, we do have a couple of questions to ask you. <v Camille Jennings>One of the things that I'm very concerned about is you said you wouldn't be able to stay <v Camille Jennings>under the surface of ice for a very long period of time. <v Camille Jennings>About how long will you be able to stay down? <v Camille Jennings>Over.
<v Dale Anderson>Well, my staying down under water is a pretty short one. <v Dale Anderson>Because we're working kind of deep right now, we're in 120 feet <v Dale Anderson>of water or so. <v Dale Anderson>I'm actually going to have to come up slope a little bit, so I can regain <v Dale Anderson>a little time. <v Dale Anderson>My all time underwater will be about 20 <v Dale Anderson>minutes at the snap. <v Dale Anderson>But let me get up here about 85 or 90 feet and I'll get <v Dale Anderson>a little more time to stay. <v Camille Jennings>That was excellent. Dale. We're getting such a tremendous reception from you. <v Camille Jennings>I can't believe it. We do have several students, though, here at WHRO. <v Camille Jennings>They're all looking forward to ask you some questions. <v Camille Jennings>We've got one student here today. This is Nick and he happens to be our birthday boy. <v Camille Jennings>So we're going to let him go first with a question. <v Nick>Well, what I wanted to know is the, uh, rover. <v Nick>How is it controlled down there with you?
<v Camille Jennings>Over. <v Dale Anderson>ROV, the rover, which <v Dale Anderson>is down below me a little bit. <v Dale Anderson>But anyway, it through, yeah. <v Dale Anderson>OK. It's controlled by ?Don Barch? <v Dale Anderson>who is sitting on the surface. <v Dale Anderson>Let me turn around. There he is. <v Dale Anderson>He was right behind me. He was sneaking up on me. <v Dale Anderson>But you can see their's a tether coming down. <v Dale Anderson>And that line now, all the signals coming down to the ROV. <v Dale Anderson>So there's people on top of the surface giving the commands come in and they're <v Dale Anderson>essentially diving underwater with me without having to be here. <v Camille Jennings>We're receiving you loud and clear. <v Camille Jennings>Dale, we've got one more student. He's got another question to ask you. <v Camille Jennings>Go ahead. <v Student>Yes. I'd like to know that- I know there's a hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica. <v Student>Does it affect your work? <v Camille Jennings>Over Dale.
<v Dale Anderson>I think the question was about the ozone hole, is that correct? <v Camille Jennings>That's correct. Over. <v Dale Anderson>Well, the ozone hole has had some problems with some of the <v Dale Anderson>organisms under the ocean, but it's still being studied. <v Dale Anderson>That's really not know what those effects are. <v Dale Anderson>There is quite a bit of ice covering the ocean so that limits the amount of <v Dale Anderson>ultraviolet radiation that can get in. <v Dale Anderson>But is something that is the topic of great interest by many scientists right now. <v Camille Jennings>All right. Thanks for your responses, Dale. I know that many of our other students have a <v Camille Jennings>lot of other questions to ask, but right now there's a lot of other people were helping <v Camille Jennings>us bring Dales words to all of us and who are participating in this program today. <v Camille Jennings>Let's go ahead and meet some of them. Don. <v Donald James>Thanks, Camille. This is Donald James at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, <v Donald James>California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. <v Donald James>You know, NASA's been involved in some exciting missions, putting men on the moon and the
<v Donald James>space shuttle. But, you know, we've also sent spacecraft to all the planets in our solar <v Donald James>system except for Pluto. <v Donald James>Well, these spacecraft are like robots that can actually be controlled right here on <v Donald James>Earth. And these robots that are controlled on earth are very much like the work <v Donald James>that we're doing here at Ames and our robotics laboratory where we can actually control <v Donald James>the robot down in Antarctica. <v Donald James>And here in our robotics lab, we have students from some of our local schools, together <v Donald James>with Butler Hyne over here, who can control the robot, as well as Carol <v Donald James>Stoker down in Antarctica who is our project team leader. <v Donald James>Later on, our students will be able to ask questions of Butler and Dale and Carol <v Donald James>and be able to talk to them about some of their exciting work, as will many of you over <v Donald James>your own computers, even if you're not on the camera during the program. <v Donald James>And in a couple of days, students here at Ames and also students in Hawaii and <v Donald James>Virginia will actually be able to take control of the rover and drive it themselves and <v Donald James>explore the underworld.
<v Donald James>Well, let's meet some of these students now. <v Donald James>Let's go 3,000 miles to the west, to Hawaii, where Patty is. <v Donald James>Patty. <v Patty Miller>Hi, Camille. Hi, Don. And hello, kids all across America. <v Patty Miller>Yes, this is Honolulu, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. <v Patty Miller>But we've flown in kids from all the different islands. <v Patty Miller>Also, we've got kids from Molokai, Maui, Kawai and the Big Island. <v Patty Miller>And they've been busy here today working on some activities that are directly relevant <v Patty Miller>to the activities that the NASA researchers are doing down in Antarctica. <v Patty Miller>Let's take a look at what they're doing. <v Patty Miller>Kelvin, what are you up to here? <v Student>We- we built a robot arm out of chopsticks. <v Student>We're trying to see if the controller can carry out simple <v Student>tasks. <v Student>Grip stop, up stop, left stop, <v Student>down stop. <v Patty Miller>OK. Nice job here, but we need more practice on this. <v Patty Miller>Let's take a look over here at what's going on.
<v Patty Miller>We have a group of students over here who are trying to figure out how a message is <v Patty Miller>transmitted by a satellite. <v Patty Miller>Um, Jason, can you explain what you're doing here? <v Jason>I'm the transmitter, and I'm sending a message to the satellite. <v Speaker>Message received. <v Speaker>One flash colors 82, if he does this right, my message <v Speaker>will look like a transmitter. <v Patty Miller>Take a look at the two message boards. Do they match? <v Patty Miller>You know, I think, guys, this is a difficult task to send these messages. <v Patty Miller>And I think we need a lot more work over here. <v Patty Miller>And then a few minutes, students out there in the audience will understand how these <v Patty Miller>activities relate to what they're doing in Antarctica. <v Patty Miller>Now, back to you, Camille. <v Camille Jennings>Thanks, Patty. Well, East Coast, West Coast, Hawaii and Antarctica, <v Camille Jennings>as you can see, we've got an awful lot of places looking and listening together. <v Camille Jennings>And soon you, too, will be seeing how each one of you can easily get involved via your <v Camille Jennings>school computer and a phone line. <v Camille Jennings>You see, this communication network spans the globe and involves satellites high in orbit
<v Camille Jennings>above Earth. We thought you might like to know how it all works and why. <v Camille Jennings>And we really have to be honest with you right up front on this, despite all our best <v Camille Jennings>efforts, sometimes it just may not work. <v Narrator>It all starts here under the ice. <v Narrator>NASA is experimenting with an underwater robot with stereo and close up <v Narrator>TV cameras. It's named Mars One for reasons you'll soon understand. <v Narrator>It can dove down to the very bottom of the ocean here in McMurdo Sound, <v Narrator>which can sometimes be as deep as eight hundred feet. <v Narrator>For safety reasons, human divers can only go down 130 feet. <v Narrator>So, though we're quite close to the main American base, McMurdo Station, this robot <v Narrator>sometimes shows us brand new sites. <v Narrator>Even closer to the surface, there are astonishing sights. <v Narrator>Not even the marine biologists who are working with us know quite what to expect from <v Narrator>moment to moment. So you guys are definitely part of the expedition of Discovery.
<v Narrator>Mars One has what is called an umbilical cord, which holds its power supply, <v Narrator>as well as fiber optic cables that take the TV pictures back up above the surface <v Narrator>through a hole in the sea ice. That hole is nearly 10 feet deep. <v Narrator>So even getting in and out of the water is a pretty big deal on the surface. <v Narrator>In a modified fish hut, the NASA research team sits and works <v Narrator>here. They monitor the signals and sometimes control the robot locally when it's <v Narrator>not being driven from Ames. <v Narrator>Close to the fish heart, they set up an infrared laser which carries their voices <v Narrator>and the TV pictures back across the ice to McMurdo Station. <v Narrator>You can think of a laser as a fancy kind of flashlight with its light concentrated <v Narrator>in a special way so that the beam carries information. <v Narrator>When it snows, the laser light gets scattered and we can lose the connection <v Narrator>completely. That's already happened a number of times during the research,
<v Narrator>but we sure hope it won't repeat itself during these broadcasts. <v Narrator>But down here near the pole, even though it's now summer in the southern hemisphere, <v Narrator>we have to tell you that snow is something that is always possible. <v Narrator>From McMurdo, the signal is sent by microwave first to a ground station, <v Narrator>then up to an Intelsat communications satellite, 22,000 miles <v Narrator>above the earth in an orbit which always keeps it in the same place. <v Narrator>Then, like a flashlight bouncing off a mirror, the signal goes down to <v Narrator>a ground station in California and then travels by another fiber optic cable <v Narrator>to NASA Ames. <v Narrator>There a skilled team of technicians, tweaks and tunes the signal and sends it into <v Narrator>Butler's lab. <v Narrator>22,000 miles up 22,000 miles back. <v Narrator>Even traveling at the speed of light, the fastest anything in the universe can go
<v Narrator>that all takes nearly three quarters of a second to get from Antarctica to Ames and <v Narrator>back. <v Camille Jennings>Now from Ames, the signal sent backup to another satellite, which then bounces it <v Camille Jennings>across the continent to our TV station here at WHRO in Hampton Roads, Virginia. <v Camille Jennings>WHRO is essentially communications central. <v Camille Jennings>Here all of the various audio and video signals are mixed and sent back <v Camille Jennings>out over satellites to schools around the country. <v Camille Jennings>Today, you're on an electronic field trip with students all across America. <v Camille Jennings>You've seen students in Hawaii and in California and here in our studios at WHRO. <v Camille Jennings>We've got students as well. <v Camille Jennings>You see, our students will be asking questions about the research that we're watching. <v Camille Jennings>And you'll be able to do that too. Later our computer expert, Brian Callahan, <v Camille Jennings>will be giving us a demonstration of how just about any kind of computer fitted with a <v Camille Jennings>phone line can keep you in touch with the Antarctic researchers. <v Camille Jennings>Now, keep in mind that we're all watching this program from very different places. <v Camille Jennings>We're watching it also from different time zones.
<v Camille Jennings>And we thought you might like to know that when our program started, it's 2:00 p.m. <v Camille Jennings>on the East Coast, 11:00 a.m. in California, 9:00 in the morning in Hawaii. <v Camille Jennings>But it's 8:00 a.m. the next day in Antarctica. <v Camille Jennings>So while today is Wednesday here in Virginia, it's Thursday down where Dale is. <v Camille Jennings>So really we're talking to tomorrow. <v Camille Jennings>Well, let's take a look now at why NASA, the space agency, is swimming around <v Camille Jennings>with a robot in the ocean under all that Antarctic ice. <v Narrator>Antarctica is the most remote continent on earth. <v Narrator>Fascinating. Beautiful. <v Narrator>A place of world records. <v Narrator>90 percent of all of the ice on the earth is here and 70 percent <v Narrator>of all of the world's freshwater. <v Narrator>At its deepest, the ice is almost 3 miles thick, making Antarctica <v Narrator>earth's highest continent. <v Narrator>During the Antarctic summer, when it's winter for us north of the equator, <v Narrator>temperatures can rise as high as 15 degrees Celsius. <v Narrator>That's 59 degrees Fahrenheit. <v Narrator>But most of the time, it's cold, very cold.
<v Narrator>The world record low was recorded here. <v Narrator>But amazingly, some parts of the interior have even less rainfall <v Narrator>than the Gobi Desert. They're called dry valleys. <v Narrator>Around Antarctica lies an immense sheet of sea ice. <v Narrator>It's on or under all of this ice that the NASA researchers work. <v Narrator>In winter, it's as much as 15 hundred kilometers, 1,000 <v Narrator>miles wide and three meters or 10 feet thick. <v Narrator>The main American base is McMurdo Station with laboratories, warehouses, <v Narrator>stores, a home away from home for researchers. <v Narrator>Close to McMurdo is the volcano called Mount Erebus. <v Narrator>McMurdo is the port of entry for most American researchers. <v Narrator>Nearly all now come by air.
<v Narrator>Each year, some 1100 may visit, though only a couple of hundred stay on <v Narrator>for the cold, dark winter months. <v Narrator>Since nearly everything must be shipped in, America's National Science Foundation <v Narrator>carefully coordinates all arrangements. [music] Mars, <v Narrator>the red planet, is the fourth from the sun. <v Narrator>It's both like and unlike Antarctica. <v Narrator>Mars, too, has ancient volcanoes. <v Narrator>This one, Olympus monds, is nearly three times higher than Mt. <v Narrator>Everest. <v Narrator>But as the simulated trip reminds us, there are no oceans on Mars <v Narrator>nor liquid water, though Mars is smaller than Earth. <v Narrator>Its surface area is roughly equal to our planet's dry lands. <v Narrator>This huge Rift Valley would stretch from New York to Los Angeles. <v Narrator>Mars also has dry valleys.
<v Narrator>At least now they're dry. <v Narrator>But most researchers think their river like shapes must mean that once they <v Narrator>flowed with running water perhaps four billion years ago when Earth and Mars <v Narrator>were young. <v Narrator>On earth, water was essential to the origin and evolution of life. <v Narrator>Researchers want to know whether Mars also once had life. <v Narrator>They'd like to know how and why the climate changed and where the water went. <v Narrator>[music] <v Narrator>The path to exploring Mars may start out in Antarctica with <v Narrator>new discoveries, new tools and new techniques. <v Camille Jennings>To learn more about the Antarctica Mars connection, let's go ahead and ask team leader <v Camille Jennings>Carol Stoker in an arc- in Antarctica some questions.
<v Camille Jennings>Carol, are you there? Over. <v Carol Stoker>Yeah. Yes, I'm here. <v Camille Jennings>OK. Wonderful. I have a question for you, and that just simply involves at what point do <v Camille Jennings>you think we're actually going to be sending that Mars rover to Mars based on some of the <v Camille Jennings>research you've done today over. <v Carol Stoker>I'm sorry, we have some interference from the driver here. <v Carol Stoker>Could you repeat the question? <v Camille Jennings>Certainly. At what point do you think you'll actually be sending the Mars rover up to <v Camille Jennings>Mars based on the research that you're doing right now over? <v Carol Stoker>Well, that actually depends on when we. <v Carol Stoker>We have a mission to Mars where we're at a point now where we could do the control system <v Carol Stoker>for Mars rover. And the best option probably <v Carol Stoker>for getting a Mars rover is a Russian rover that's been built, <v Carol Stoker>and it's planned for a 1996 launch. <v Camille Jennings>Got one more question coming from our students down here. <v Camille Jennings>Let me go ahead, pass the microphone over to you and you go ahead, introduce yourself and
<v Camille Jennings>ask your question. <v Tamara Glover>Hi, my name is Tamara Glover. <v Tamara Glover>I was just wondering how do you keep warm underwater. <v Carol Stoker>A diver underwater has to wear a dry suit which keeps <v Carol Stoker>the cold water from coming in contact with their skin, um. <v Carol Stoker>Inside the dry suit, they wear a thick insulation, some kind of insulating <v Carol Stoker>suit. And the combination of those two things keep them pretty dry and warm. <v Carol Stoker>It's pretty similar to a space suit actually. <v Camille Jennings>OK. I'm certain that that's something that some of the kids have already had some <v Camille Jennings>familiarity with as all students, as we know, love astronauts and learning about space <v Camille Jennings>travel. I know that the students out at Ames have some questions, Don. <v Camille Jennings>Let's turn it over to you. <v Donald James>Thanks, Camille. Yes, we have some students here eager to ask some questions. <v Donald James>I'm not turned over to Devin at first, Devin. <v Devin>Hi. My question is, why did the robots snags on something
<v Devin>in the ocean? How would you go about freeing it? <v Carol Stoker>Could I ask someone to repeat the question? <v Devin>Sure. What if the robot snags on something in the ocean? <v Devin>How would you go about freeing it? <v Carol Stoker>That's a good question. We've actually had that happen. <v Carol Stoker>We got the tether of the robot tangled up in a <v Carol Stoker>underwater line. We had just enough line to get the robot back <v Carol Stoker>to the hut. And we put a razor blades, sort of razor blades in the gripper claw <v Carol Stoker>and went back down and cut the line. <v Carol Stoker>So actually, because robot has hands, it's able to untangle itself. <v Donald James>Great. Well, Anna has a question here for you, Carol. <v Anna>How long did it take you to get everything ready? <v Carol Stoker>Um, it took us about 9 months between the time
<v Carol Stoker>that we were in an article last year, got our equipment back and rebuilt <v Carol Stoker>it, built new systems onto it and brought it back down here. <v Carol Stoker>So if you count this particular project, it took us about 9 months. <v Donald James>Great. Well, thanks a lot. Let's turn over to Patty in Hawaii. <v Patty Miller>Thanks, Don. We have some questions here from Hawaii. <v Patty Miller>Melissa, would you go ahead, please? <v Melissa>Dale, this is Melissa. I heard that there are 4 foot long jellyfish in Antarctica. <v Melissa>Is it true that they sting you? <v Carol Stoker>They want to go to Dale. Is this a question for Dale? <v Patty Miller>Dale's out of the water. <v Carol Stoker>Come on Dale, they want to ask you a question. <v Carol Stoker>OK, Dake is just- is just coming in. <v Carol Stoker>He's just gotten out of the water. <v Carol Stoker>He's out of the water. And he should- you should be seeing him in the hut camera. <v Carol Stoker>Uh-hang on, let me just pass him the telephone.
<v Patty Miller>Just a second- he needs to hear us on the telephone. <v Patty Miller>One more time, Melissa. Go ahead. Ask him a question. <v Melissa>Dale, I heard that there are 4 foot long jellyfish in Antarctica. <v Melissa>Do they sting you? <v Melissa>Over <v Dale Anderson>No, they really can't sting us, because we have these big, thick suits on and the masks <v Dale Anderson>and everything. So we're pretty safe. <v Dale Anderson>But these jellyfish that are down there are really, really beautiful. <v Dale Anderson>They're really large. And I hope that you saw some of the pictures of them that we shot <v Dale Anderson>earlier. <v Patty Miller>We have another- thanks, Dale. We have another question for you here from Randy. <v Patty Miller>Randy, go ahead. <v Randy>Hello, Dale. This is Randy. I have a question for you. <v Randy>What made you want to send this robot under the water? <v Randy>And what's the importance of it? <v Dale Anderson>Well we're practicing for some of the future missions to Mars and by learning to control <v Dale Anderson>the robots down here in the Antarctic under this ice, it's helping <v Dale Anderson>us understand how we can control robots on Mars one day. <v Dale Anderson>So that's really important to a lot of scientists within NASA and other communities.
<v Patty Miller>Thank you. Dale. Now back to you, Camille. <v Camille Jennings>Thanks, Patty. We've already met some of the people on this project, but there's another <v Camille Jennings>key player, and that's the rover, Mars One. <v Camille Jennings>And in our studios today, we have the sister rover to One in Antarctica. <v Camille Jennings>This one's a little different, though. All right. We're going to try and decide on a <v Camille Jennings>couple things that are different with our students here. <v Camille Jennings>First one is there's a very obvious one. <v Camille Jennings>The one down in Antarctica is red. <v Camille Jennings>What's different about this? <v Student>Aqua color. <v Camille Jennings>Yeah, it's sort of aquac color. OK, now there's also something different right here. <v Camille Jennings>We've got a camera. Can anybody try and tell me something about how this is different <v Camille Jennings>from the camera on the one in Antarctica? <v Student>Well, um, aren't there like two cameras instead of one. <v Camille Jennings>That's exactly right. There are two cameras on the rover down in Antarctica. <v Camille Jennings>And there's- there's also something very unique about those cameras. <v Camille Jennings>You know, when you go home and you start listening to your music, you turn on the- what's <v Camille Jennings>the- what's the thing? Starts with an S- two speakers switch that runs the- <v Student>Stereo
<v Camille Jennings>Stereo. OK, runs the stereo. <v Camille Jennings>And actually the cameras that are on the Mars rover are running in stereo. <v Camille Jennings>You're literally seeing a more of a three dimensional format than a two dimensional <v Camille Jennings>format. OK, now that's one thing. Let's see. <v Camille Jennings>There's also something very different. There's something missing right in here. <v Camille Jennings>You can tell me what that might be. I know somebody over here knows the answer. <v Camille Jennings>We're going to let him try. <v Student>The robotic arms <v Camille Jennings>The robotic arms, the manipulator arms. And what are those arms being used for down there <v Camille Jennings>right now? <v Student>Picking up stuff <v Camille Jennings>Picking up stuff, right. Much the same way that we use our arms to do. <v Camille Jennings>So there's some very different pieces to this rover compared to the one down in <v Camille Jennings>Antarctica. Good job, guys. <v Camille Jennings>Now, the researchers down there are using the rover in order to complete their research. <v Camille Jennings>Let's go ahead and go back to Ames and watch as Butler explores the ocean under the ice <v Camille Jennings>in Antarctica with the rover. <v Butler Hynes>Hi kids, what I'm doing now is I'm- I'm driving the rover from here at Ames over the <v Butler Hynes>satellite link. What you're seeing here is you're seeing a stereo display in front of us. <v Butler Hynes>There's a display of one camera view on top of that one.
<v Butler Hynes>Over here you see a navigation grid showing where we are in the scene. <v Butler Hynes>These are the controls to the rover. And then over here you see a virtual reality view. <v Butler Hynes>And it's as I drive the rover around. <v Butler Hynes>I'm using the space ball. <v Butler Hynes>Baseball is sensitive to all degrees of freedom. <v Butler Hynes>So as I push it and pull it, the rover does what I want. <v Butler Hynes>For instance, I just twisted the ball a little bit and you see the rover twisted its <v Butler Hynes>view. Now I'm pushing down on the ball, on the rover sinking down towards the ground. <v Butler Hynes>If I want to look up. I can look up now and see the ice above us. <v Butler Hynes>See, that's the ice above us. See the dive hole? <v Butler Hynes>And if I looked down, I see the bottom of the ocean again. <v Butler Hynes>One thing you should notice over the satellite link is that as I give a command, it <v Butler Hynes>takes a second or so before the rover actually does what I'm telling it to do. <v Butler Hynes>That's because of the delay in the satellite transmission time.
<v Butler Hynes>Now I'm pushing down and the rover's sinking towards the bottom. <v Butler Hynes>I can control the manipulator arm. <v Butler Hynes>Also, I can move it into the point of view. We lost control. <v Donald James>OK, well, we're going to ask a question to Dale, and I think there's a student here that <v Donald James>would like to talk to him about some of the things that he's doing. <v Donald James>Jordan, did you have a question for Dale? <v Jordan>Yeah. What kind of computer systems do you use in- in Antarctica? <v Dale Anderson>Well, we have a number of computers that we're using here in the Antarctic. <v Dale Anderson>We're using an Amiga. And we're also using a Macintosh and an IBM. <v Dale Anderson>So we're using quite a number. <v Dale Anderson>And they're all very, very helpful and have special jobs. <v Camille Jennings>Great. Well, thanks a lot, Jordan. Now we're going to turn it over to Patty in Hawaii.
<v Patty Miller>OK, thank you, Don. And we've got a question here from Joe. <v Patty Miller>Joe, go ahead. <v Joe>Oh, hi, this is Joe. I was yeah, I was wondering where you put all the trash <v Joe>that is in Antarctica, over, over. <v Dale Anderson>Where we put the trash? Well, all of the trash <v Dale Anderson>in the Antarctic in the U.S. program is really taken back out and removed <v Dale Anderson>from the Antarctic. It's all taken back to the United States and disposed <v Dale Anderson>of properly there. But we take very, very good care of sorting all of the trash. <v Dale Anderson>So we have many different piles. <v Dale Anderson>There's aluminum piles and scrap metal piles of the waste paper. <v Dale Anderson>So it's all sorted very carefully and then returned to the United States for proper <v Dale Anderson>disposal. <v Patty Miller>Thank you, and we have one more question here from Melani, you have a question, please. <v Patty Miller>Microphone, talk into the microphone. <v Melani>Dale, this is Melani. <v Melani>I want to know does the wildlife act differently when your staying down there? <v Melani>Like penguins and seals? Over.
<v Dale Anderson>What was the question do we see the penguins and seals? <v Melani>Oh, um, Does <v Melani>it disturb the wildlife or does it act differently? <v Dale Anderson>I'm sorry. You'll have to ask one more time so I can hear. <v Patty Miller>The question here, Dale, is that she wants to know if the wildlife is <v Patty Miller>affected by you guys being there. Do they act differently or are they intimidated by <v Patty Miller>you? Are you intimidated by them? <v Dale Anderson>Right. That's actually a very, very good question. <v Dale Anderson>And in general, we try to stay away from most of the animals. <v Dale Anderson>We don't disturb them. We try to let them stay in their natural environment without <v Dale Anderson>bothering them very much. And only the researchers that are directly involved with <v Dale Anderson>research on a particular animal really go over and work with them. <v Dale Anderson>So everybody here tries to stay a certain distance away from the wildlife <v Dale Anderson>just to take pictures. And if they're at all upset, then we leave and leave <v Dale Anderson>them alone.
<v Patty Miller>Thank you. Sounds like what we try to do here in Hawaii. <v Patty Miller>Now back to you, Camille. <v Camille Jennings>Thanks, Patty. Still got some more questions coming in from WHRO. <v Camille Jennings>Go ahead, introduce yourself and ask your question. <v Tracy>I'm Tracy and I have a question. <v Tracy>Even with all that protection on from the cold, do you still get affected by it <v Tracy>at all? Over. <v Dale Anderson>Well, sometimes we do. In that last dove I made, I was pretty warm. <v Dale Anderson>This- this dry suit that I'm wearing keeps me dry inside. <v Dale Anderson>I'm wearing clothing on underneath it. You can see the gloves on my hand, which are <v Dale Anderson>made of wool. But in general, if we don't stay down to too long, it's quite comfortable. <v Dale Anderson>On some days, though, our hands get real cold. <v Dale Anderson>So it just depends on what kind of work we're doing. <v Camille Jennings>OK. Thanks, Dale. I've got another question for you. <v Sarah Meadows>Yes. I'm Sarah Meadows. I was wondering, what kind of training did <v Sarah Meadows>you have to go through before you actually went down for the dive? <v Dale Anderson>Well, I've been diving for quite some time, and I do have some basic certification
<v Dale Anderson>through some of the diving agencies. <v Dale Anderson>And we also dive through a university program that's that's really run through <v Dale Anderson>Scripps Institute and they're diving officers there certify us for diving in the <v Dale Anderson>Antarctic because it does take some special training, and you have to be aware <v Dale Anderson>of certain- certain rules to dive safely <v Dale Anderson>down here. <v Camille Jennings>OK. Dale, just got one more question for you. <v Camille Jennings>Go ahead. <v Speaker>Yeah. What do you do during your free time when you're not under the water in the hut? <v Dale Anderson>Well, a lot of time is spent, of course, preparing for the next day's work and making <v Dale Anderson>sure that everything is operational. <v Dale Anderson>And I also spend some time working with some of the other ecologists here trying to <v Dale Anderson>understand some of the problems that they're working with. <v Dale Anderson>But we also have time just to sit around and talk. <v Dale Anderson>We have a coffeehouse here in town. So it's it's nice to sit over there and drink some <v Dale Anderson>tea and and interest stories around from time to time. <v Dale Anderson>And now they even have television down here.
<v Dale Anderson>So every once in a while, we get together and watch a video on the TV. <v Camille Jennings>OK. Thanks. Now, you heard some great questions coming from our students here at WHRO. <v Camille Jennings>Let's go ahead and go back to Don at NASA Ames. <v Donald James>Yes, Camille. In our next program, the students here at Ames will actually push <v Donald James>Butler out of his seat in order to drive the rover. <v Donald James>And students in Hawaiian and Virginia will be able to drive the rover as well. <v Donald James>But what you see here in our lab is some pretty fancy computer equipment. <v Donald James>But you know what? Our other sites, you don't have to have all the fancy computers in <v Donald James>order to drive the rover. In fact, the computers are just like the ones you probably have <v Donald James>in your schools and your home, too. It's pretty neat stuff. <v Donald James>Also, our next program, Butler is going to teach us a little bit about the amazing <v Donald James>technology of virtual reality. <v Donald James>Also, tell us about why it's important to have stereo vision to help drive <v Donald James>the robot. And to see in stereo you'll need these special electronic <v Donald James>glasses called Crystal Eyes.
<v Donald James>So we hope to see you then. <v Donald James>Goodbye from Ames. <v Camille Jennings>You look very space-age in that helmet. I rather like it. <v Camille Jennings>Well, you have seen and heard the questions coming from our live participants in the <v Camille Jennings>television studios around the country that every one of you, if you, your teacher or <v Camille Jennings>your school, has access to a computer and a simple gadget called a modem to connect it to <v Camille Jennings>the phone network can ask questions of the researchers that you've been watching during <v Camille Jennings>the program. And some of their colleagues who volunteered to respond to you. <v Camille Jennings>It's called e-mail or electronic correspondence. <v Camille Jennings>And here with more is Brian Callahan, who's in charge of helping folks get used to <v Camille Jennings>computers here at WHRO. Brian. <v Brian Callahan> Thanks very much, Camille. <v Brian Callahan>As you can see, all you really need is to have a microcomputer and a thing called a <v Brian Callahan>modem, as Camille said, that hooks you up to the phone line, hook your computer up to the <v Brian Callahan>phone line, and then you need to get a log in code and a password. <v Brian Callahan>And you get your log in code and your password to get into the system by contacting your <v Brian Callahan>local public television station.
<v Brian Callahan>Once you do that, they'll tell you how to dial in. <v Brian Callahan>As you can see, I've already dialed in here on this computer and you'll get to a main <v Brian Callahan>menu eventually, which will say something like Live From Other Worlds. <v Brian Callahan>Ours say choice Y down in the lower right hand corner. <v Brian Callahan>So I simply choose Y. <v Brian Callahan>And I'm presented then with a whole other menu of choices, including Dales <v Brian Callahan>Dive Diary. Let's see what Dale is doing back in October. <v Brian Callahan>We just go on there and let's see back in October. <v Brian Callahan>In addition to Dale having to get his diver's license, he also had to get his driver's <v Brian Callahan>license. So you can see he's gives all sorts of things on there this way. <v Brian Callahan>In addition to that, you'll be able to ask questions from each of the researchers. <v Brian Callahan>You simply do that by choosing item- Here it comes -item <v Brian Callahan>C and that'll be the researcher Q&A. <v Brian Callahan>So any of you who have not been in the program today can still participate using <v Brian Callahan>electronic mail by getting online and choosing items C, which is the researchers Q&A. <v Brian Callahan>So as you can see, everybody can be involved, not just the people in the studio.
<v Camille Jennings>Well, thanks, Brian. I think it's time we do a fire at my computer back home. <v Camille Jennings>Let's go ahead and go now to Patty Miller in Hawaii. <v Camille Jennings>Patty? <v Patty Miller>Thanks, Camille. You know, we use computers all the time in Hawaii to communicate. <v Patty Miller>With so many islands here. <v Patty Miller>It's a lot easier usually to telecommute. <v Patty Miller>That's to work and to talk by satellite and computer rather <v Patty Miller>than always getting on an airplane. <v Patty Miller>Our students have found some interesting things here in this system. <v Patty Miller>And let's take a minute and look at it. Melani, what can you tell us? <v Patty Miller>What have you found here? <v Melani>Well, we asked a couple of questions to Dale and ?we found? Dale's Dive Diary where he tells us about all of his experiences. <v Student>Yesterday, I drove to a small island to dive through the tide cracks in order to <v Student>observe the bottom of the ocean. The view underwater was absolutely breathtaking. <v Student>Several seals were underwater with us, but in general kept their distance. <v Student>After Dan and I had been down for about 33 minutes, we headed back <v Student>to our downline and noticed a Weddell seal in a breathing
<v Student>hole nearby. We could hear a ?chill?several octaves <v Student>and a powerful, guttural thump, a low frequency burst <v Student>that penetrated your very being. <v Student>But we were getting a bit cold, our hands in particular. <v Student>So after nearly an hour underwater, we made our way back up the hole <v Student>to the surface. Another grand adventure underwater. <v Patty Miller>Thank you. Now I know we'll be- I'm sure we'll be sending some messages here to Dale and <v Patty Miller>hope to hear back from you people before the next program. <v Patty Miller>So from all of us here in Hawaii, aloha and farewell. <v Camille Jennings>Don. Carol and Butler and kids all across America. <v Camille Jennings>Thanks for joining us. We hope to see you again next time and hear from you via e-mail. <v Camille Jennings>Dale in Antarctica. Are you still with us? <v Dale Anderson>Yes, I'm still right here. <v Camille Jennings>OK. Well, thanks, Dale, and thanks to the entire NASCA team. <v Camille Jennings>So for all of us farewell.
<v Camille Jennings>See you next time for student drivers and robot divers. <v Camille Jennings>Keep your fingers crossed for good weather in the Antarctic. <v Camille Jennings>Keep those e-mails coming for the Live From Other Worlds project. <v Camille Jennings>Thanks and goodbye. <v Speaker>Live From Other Worlds has been made possible in part by NASA's mission from Planet
<v Speaker>Earth Study Office and the NASA Education Division. <v Speaker>Additional support has been provided by the NASA K-through-12 and National Research and <v Speaker>Education Network Initiative, V-Quest west Virginia Quality Education and Sciences <v Speaker>and Technology, and by the Planetary Society.
Series
Live-- From Other Worlds
Episode Number
No. 1
Producing Organization
WHRO (Television station : Norfolk, Va.)
Contributing Organization
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip-526-9s1kh0g093
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Description
Episode Description
This program is a live broadcast to NASA scientists in Antarctica who are studying the environment. In particular, students ask questions of scientists Carole Stoker and Dale Anderson. Dale also answers questions live while diving underwater. The broadcast includes students in Virginia, California, and Hawaii who are participating live in the WHRO studio. Interviewers include Camille Jennings in Virginia, Patty Miller in Hawaii, and Donal James in California.
Series Description
"Our entry in Category 7 illustrates a body of work achieved in 1994 which we feel exemplifies meritorious service to the community. Building on our 33 year history of education and public service, we are utilizing the latest technologies to provide community-wide outreach and access to education, information and culture. In addition to the 230,000 households that watch our TV stations, the 140,000 radio listeners and the more than 200,000 students and the 17,000 teachers who use our educational TV services weekly, WHRO helps geographically disadvantaged nurses on the eastern shore earn college degrees, brings daily newspapers via audio to the print handicapped, operates a higher educational channel by [microwave] links, allows students and educators daily access to the internet via our Learning Link, and sends staff members for personal appearances in classrooms, civic meetings and concert appearances. Colleagues and Community leaders view WHRO as a model public telecommunications center for the 21st century. Please find enclosed notebooks on (1) a General WHRO Overview (2) Educational achievements (3) Informational achievements and (4) Cultural achievements. Marked videotapes and audiotapes accompany the printed materials."--1994 Peabody Awards entry form.
Broadcast Date
1994
Created Date
1994
Asset type
Episode
Topics
Education
Science
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:42:17.321
Embed Code
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Credits
Host: Jennings, Camille
Producing Organization: WHRO (Television station : Norfolk, Va.)
AAPB Contributor Holdings
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia
Identifier: cpb-aacip-b9919ade557 (Filename)
Format: U-matic
Duration: 0:40:59
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Citations
Chicago: “Live-- From Other Worlds; No. 1,” 1994, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 28, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-9s1kh0g093.
MLA: “Live-- From Other Worlds; No. 1.” 1994. The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 28, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-9s1kh0g093>.
APA: Live-- From Other Worlds; No. 1. Boston, MA: The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-9s1kh0g093