Back to School

This week was the first week of school and here're some of my classes:

Physics: Electricity and Magnetism
Math: Multivariable Calculus
Computer Science: Into to Object Oriented Programming
Biology: Intro
Freshmen English
Intermediate Weight Training

It's nice being back in the fray. Along with schooling, I'm taking a position in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society as VP of Scholarship and helping out there. I have to begin the scholarship process over again and I'm setting my sights on the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship this year. Applications to universities are going to be started as well. CalTech Astronomy... I have my sights on you.

The San Mateo Community Colleges Foundation

An important supporter of the SMART Project this summer was the San Mateo Community Colleges Foundation. I personally thank them for all of their support; it was tremendous and instrumental in the success of our budget this field season. Their mission statement includes promoting student success and program innovation, both of which they actively did for SMART, and because of their support, I and the SMART Project were successful this summer at the Haughton-Mars Project on Devon Island, High Arctic.

http://www.smcccfoundation.org/

This information is directly from their site:

About San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation

The mission of San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation is to promote student success and program innovation by providing special financial support for Cañada College in Redwood City, College of San Mateo and Skyline College in San Bruno.

It is due to the ongoing generosity of donors since the Foundation’s inception in 1966 as a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, that thousands of students have attended college and realized a better life than they ever imagined.

A Great Ending

Sea Ice south of Resolute

The white structures at the background are CSM buildings

Thanks to everyone who supported me during this trip! Again, it was a superlative experience.


I wanted to spread the word about the SMART project and how it's essentially funded through donor support, so if you want to make a donation, please go to this website:


Donate to SMART here

Images from throughout the HMP 2011 Field Season

Taken by Sean Dougherty, these are some images worth posting from the HMP 2011 Field Season.

First day in Edmonton, AB, Canada

Walking into camp after arriving on Devon Island

 The enormity of the crater from View Hill

Ben (Left) and Me (Right)

During a traverse

Sean and Me after a hard day's work

Telescopic Pursuits

College of San Mateo student, San Mateo County Astronomical Society member, and Mars Institute intern Luis Alvarez (right) with Dr. Pascal Lee, planetary scientist at the Mars Institute and the SETI Institute, and director of the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) holding the SMART (San Mateo Arctic Research Telescope) Project's banner in front of the HMP's Moon-1 Humvee Rover on Devon Island, High Arctic. The Moon-1 recently completed the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition, and reached the HMP Research Station via Resolute Bay, Cornwallis Island, where the SMART will be established. (Photo MarsInstitute/Haughton-Mars Project/H. Bortman)

Placing the Banner in the Mess Hall

SMART Project Info and Update on Previous Post: Below

Forward Unto Dawn, Pt. 2

It's been several days since an update but there have been many changes. First off, we left the HMP Camp. Things to note: the ability to access the internet on Devon Island came to a close on the Fourth, we left Devon Island on the Fifth for Resolute Bay, overnighted in Resolute Bay and left the Sixth for Yellowknife, NT. I'm currently in Yellowknife and am awaiting a flight to Edmonton in the evening and will have a flight from Edmonton to San Francisco tomorrow morning. 

It's been amazing, and no amount of words can truly describe the tremendous experience. It's been fantastic overall and though there were struggles, they were not without their rewards. I experienced life in the Arctic Circle on Devon Island with the Haughton-Mars Project in the attempt to mirror life on Mars, experienced what it means to work side by side and learn from top engineers and scientists in their respective fields, and experienced personal development that has allowed me set a greater focus on my academic and career goals; all in the attempt to establish something that will further Astronomy and her interests around the world: The SMART Project.

The SMART project goals of this field season consisted primarily of observational site evaluations. I scouted five sights of interest, though to be brief; Resolute Bay seems to be the ideal site for a remote telescope considering the necessity of human intervention if functional issues arise during its’ operation, its’ relative isolation for light pollution purposes, an intact power grid for operational purposes, and community interactions that will foster a great relationship with the partners and the Resolute Bay Inuit community. Ongoing discussions with the community will be needed before we make the absolute claim, but a visit to leaders of the Resolute Bay community endowed us with a sense of success and allowed us to leave Resolute Bay the next morning with quite a feeling of accomplishment. We still have much work to do!

Here are some last day pictures.

Inukshuk overlooking the Haughton Impact Crater

The Haughton Impact Crater behind me

Just before we head off

Robotic Pursuits

Throughout my stay here at the Haughton-Mars Project, I've been helping out with Robotic Arm Testing and Sampling. Sean Dougherty of MDA Information Systems took me under his wing, allowed me to assist him in his efforts, and I've learned a great deal of information because of it. Sean and Pascal Lee ,Director of the Haughton-Mars Project and Chairman of The Mars Institute, have given me advice, instructed me on how to approach data and have guided me through the entire process; I am immensely grateful.

College of San Mateo student and Mars Institute intern Luis Alvarez (left) with MDA Information Systems, Inc. lead engineer Sean Dougherty with the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP)'s Moon-1 and Mars-1 Humvee Rovers and the MDA robotic arm mounted on the Moon-1. Luis participated in a field experiment led by planetary scientist Dr. Pascal Lee, Director of HMP, to investigate the future use of robotic arms by astronauts for sampling asteroids, the Moon, and Mars frompressurized exploration vehicles. (Photo Mars Institute/NASA/Haughton-Mars Project/P. Lee).

Haughton Crater Images

Here are some images from yesterday's ATV Traverse:

Me and Ben

Sapphire Lake

After Dinner Talk

I spoke this evening regarding Jovian Satellites. Io, Europa, Ganymede and Titan were my principal subjects, and it went well. I find those moons immensely fascinating considering the prospect for research. The talk timed at about thirty minutes when I should have taken only fifteen to twenty but hey, it was worth it.

Before the talk

Io on Display

Ganymede on Display

Cold, Cold Day

Toward a Northeastern Direction

Tent City with ominous clouds

Due to the crappy weather, I've gotten too much computer related work done, but now that it's finished, I can rest. Later tonight, I'm going to speak on the Galilean Moons and Saturn's Moon: Titan. I'll probably post about the moons here too after I've done the talk. Today still wasn't 0 Celsius, just around 2 C, but the winds are upwards of 25-30 km per hr, it's brutal.

Sunset... Almost

                       
                        Here's the Sun at about 2:46 AM Today, with a Northward Orientation... Amazing

Another Traverse

Entrance to Valley of the Planet of the Apes

I think I'm biased on my blog. I tend to blog about the absolutely and unending fun things like ATV traverses. The work is important but I think the exploration that comes with the ATV traverses is tremendously spirit-lifting. I love what I do on Devon Island but ATV traverses really top the list, but top the list in a different way. Coming here with a mindset to work is the proper way of interpreting the situation here, but gosh, these ATV traverses are absolutely superlative. To be more succinct, the work here is instructional and is the main reason I'm here, and secondly, to have a really good time. With that said, I've loved working with Sean Dougherty (Robotics), Chris Zacny (Geotechnics) and Pascal Lee (Director of the HMP and Geologist extraordinaire). I've become friends with everyone here and have learned so much from their respective fields. Three of the younger guys, Mark, Jesse, and Ben are real cool guys. Kira, the logistics manager, is too funny, and Julie, the chef for the season likens me to a vulture because I hover around for each of the meal times. It's all in good fun though, and she's got some of the most hilarious stories I've ever heard.


The traverse today was intended to scout for weather stations and attempt to use them, essentially. The other parts included traversing throughout different areas. Here're some pics:

Haughton Crater

Planet of The Apes Valley behind me

ATV Haughton Crater Crew

Massive Ejecta block from the Impact

Beautiful Trinity Lake (Pond rather)

8 More Days

Today is a break day. Basically, everyone's been working hard since we've arrived that its almost counterproductive to keep working this way, so a break is good. What this means for me is that I get a day to finish some computer related tasks, and I get to pretty much relax. Sunday night, I'm going to speak about some interesting Jovian Moons, their characteristics, and why sending terrestrial and aquatic rovers and the like is a good idea. The weather here has been really really really unexpected. It's been sunny and hovering around 50 Fahrenheit plus or minus 10 degrees, but wind varies day to day and that chill can make temperatures closer to feeling like freezing. This is not the usual form of weather here, and it's interesting being able to be here and experiencing that. There were several days in which it was cold and at 32 F, but I don't mind the sunny weather, not at all. Today gives me a chance read up on some Physics and watch some Hubble Telescope videos so I'm excited about that.


The view when I awoke today was quite amazing, take a gander:

Copyright 2011 Mars Institute
All Rights Reserved

Visible Contrails. You don't usually think of other planes riding over Devon Island but here's one that went straight over camp. Quite amazing actually.

GeoTechnical Pursuits

Dr. Kris Zacny of Honeybee Robotics with College of San Mateo
student and Mars Institute intern Luis Alvarez during the geotechnical
survey of terrain types at and around the Haughton impact structure,
Devon Island, High Arctic. Kris is seen holding the dynamic cone
penetrometer used for the study. The survey is part of the "Robotic Follow-up
Experiment" led by Principal Investigator Dr Maria Bualat of NASA
Ames Research Center and funded by NASA's Moon and Mars Analog
Missions Activities (MMAMA) Program. (Photo Haughton-Mars Project-
2011/Pascal Lee).

Yesterday, I was allowed the opportunity to help Dr. Kris Zacny in a Geotechnical study. I learned a lot, and had to do a bit of math, and one hour before leaving for the field work, I had to learn how to use and coordinate a route on a GPS System I had never used before. Needless to say, I excelled with flying colors. But enough about me. Dr. Zacny took me out, showed me how to go about conducting the survey and answered all questions I had about the survey. What can I say? Only that it's amazing learning new things, especially from individuals like Zacny that care about what they teach and who they're teaching it to.