Master and the Grasshopper

My name is Andrea Balbas.  I am a geology student at Queens College.  During my summer here at Goddard Space Flight Center, I am a team lead working on the Lunar Water and Helium-3 detection project.

As a geologist, there are many reasons why I am excited about our upcoming trip to Sudbury.  However, I am by far most excited about experiencing the Sudbury Basin while under the guidance of Paul Lowman.  I could certainly rattle off a list of Paul Lowman’ s unbelievable experiences and accomplishments.  The list might begin with teaching the Apollo astronauts about geology or being good friends with my geologic hero Gene Shoemaker, or even helping to pioneer geodesy science.  These are things that would certainly impress the world.  However, as a struggling geologist and scientist I am more moved by his scientific virtue.  Paul Lowman could have easily hung his hat on the accomplishments and research stemming from the Apollo program.  Instead, he has maintained his hunt for geologic truth.  He does not defy others hypotheses for the simple pleasure of defying or perhaps garnering attention.  He does it because he is a keen observer and believes that every anomaly deserves further investigation.  In short, he is a good scientist.  Throughout his years full of proposal writing, budget juggling, and administration changes, he has maintained a tight grip on his scientific and personal integrity.  His unyielding scientific integrity is ever present in his book, “Exploring Space Exploring Earth.”  In his book he challenges the “all-encompassing theory” of plate tectonics and he does so with data, observation, and valid questions.  Lowman has the courage to ask bold scientific questions and the tenacity to seek out the answers through meticulous data gathering.  His work is evidence that the power of science lies more in asking powerful questions than nailing down declarative nicely packaged answers.  Paul Lowman is the acme of examples illustrating that great scientists are not followers and keepers of fact but explorers cutting a new path with carefully crafted questions.  I intend on sitting next to him on the bus, with a few questions of my own.

Astronauts Charlie Duke (left) and John Young (right) during a geology field trip at Sudbury, Canada. 7-9 July 1971.  (From historical photos of Apollo 16 Image Library.)

Read about the MPP - an instrument we'll use to measure magnetic field at Sudbury.

Hi from DC,

My name is Maggie. I am going into my senior year at Mount Holyoke College. I study Astronomy and Physics.

This summer I was accepted to the Lunar and Planetary Science Academy. I’m working on a project with three other super awesome people. We’re looking at water and helium-3 in the permanently dark craters on the moon. It’s a really interesting project that is proving challenging for all the members. My task is to design mirrors that will vaporize the water, forming a cloud, then, using a special mirror I want to try and detect the Extreme Ultra Violet light emitted from Helium-4. If there is Helium-4 in these shadowed areas, there may also be Helium-3. Helium-3 is like a normal helium atom, but missing a neutron. If we find Helium-3 we could bring it back to Earth to use in controlled fusion reactions as well as fusion propulsion. I like this project because I get to learn about Quantum Mechanics, Optics and Atomic Physics. I also get a chance to work with and learn from some experts in fields including Solar Physics, Solar wind and robotics. In addition, there is a real, pertinent goal if this mission were successful. I look forward to continuing my research over this summer.

When I was a senior in high school I took a class from Doc Gordon—he was my Honors Physics teacher and my astronomy teacher. I took astronomy as an elective during the chilly New Hampshire winter. This astronomy class was the first class that I was genuinely excited about. I enjoyed every section we did from the moon’s effect on earth to dark matter. I especially loved the section on the sun. A few times a week we would go out with two little four-inch telescopes and look stars and interesting objects that were visible. We’d stand on top of the hill in the snow shivering and looking at the stars. My favorite was the Horse-head nebula and Orion’s nebula. Doc Gordon really inspired me to study astronomy. He was a dorm parent in the dorm I lived in my senior year so I would come down to the common room and he would sit and talk to me and talk me through issues facing me—like what I want to do with my life, what I wanted to study and where I wanted to go to school. He was the first person to tell me about planetary science which helped me choose Mount Holyoke College. Since my senior year, I’ve been all over the place learning about everything I can get my hands but I’ve always come back to Astronomy and Planetary science.

I am really thrilled about our trip to Canada. When I heard that we were taking a trip to the place where the astronauts learned how identify rocks and take samples, I got really excited. Beyond that, the place we’re going is an impact crater—which in my opinion is really cool. We’re going to learn from the geologist, Dr. Lowman, who taught the astronauts about geology. I feel pretty lucky to get this opportunity to take this trip.

My goals for the trip include: getting some field experience in geology; some star gazing (if we’re sufficiently far away from major cities); getting heaps of pictures of the crater and also to commemorate our trip.

I’ll be posting more in the following weeks and while we’re in Canada.

Sincerely,

Maggie