The Backstory

               

NOTE: So this first post is a little dry, but I’m sure many people are wondering why I’m leaving my husband for six weeks to go to one of the most remote places on Earth. Here’s the backstory.

The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) is one of only a handful of Science and Technology Centers (STCs) funded by the National Science Foundation, and it’s mission “is to measure and predict the response of sea level change to the mass balance of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.” In a nut shell that means we take depth measurements of ice sheets to see how much they are changing in depth and mass over a period of time. We can then use this information to predict how much sea level will rise.

So you might be wondering how a person with an aerospace engineering degree might fit into this picture. Most of our sensors that we use to take measurements of the ice sheets are flown on aircraft. Except for the Meridian Unmanned Aerial Vehical (UAV), all of the aircraft we use are manned aircraft. A UAV is essentially a large remote controlled aircraft for which you don’t need a pilot. You often hear the news refer to military UAVs as “drones”. The University of Kansas’s Aerospace Engineering department developed the Meridian specifically for the purpose of remote sensing of ice sheets. I’m often asked why we developed our own expensive UAV when we can just used manned aircraft. UAV’s are prime candidates for missions that fit in the three D’s category--dull, dangerous, and dirty. As you can imagine, flying in remote areas such as Antarctica and Greenland definitely fits in this category. Also the Meridian will allow us to survey areas that we can’t easily reach with manned planes.

I have been working as a research assistant at CReSIS since the summer of 2007.  When I first started I was just a lab rat in my advisor’s composites manufacturing lab. During that time I got the opportunity to build aircraft parts for the Meridian. Since I graduated with my B.S. in 2009 I moved on to work on other major CReSIS projects and have had very little connection with the Meridian project.

I never thought I would get the opportunity to go to the field since my skill set isn’t really needed there. But this last spring when my advisor asked me whether I would want to go to Antarctica for this year’s field season, you better believe I jumped at the chance. Since we are still in the developmental stage of the Meridian, the reason for our trip is to flight test the Meridian. The purpose of flight testing is to come up with a mathematical model of how the aircraft flies and to verify the plane’s performance. A mathematical model of the aircraft is required in order for the auto-pilot to accurately control the plane.

For this mission I am serving in the role of pilot’s assistant, and my duties include being the liaison between the pilot and the rest of the flight test team. I will filter the flight data that is being relayed to the pilot, and I’ll be the one to radio back to the team when the pilot has a question. All in all, serving on a flight test team is something radically different that what I normally do at CReSIS. Regardless, I’m so excited about the opportunity to travel to Antarctica and to take part in this milestone mission of not only the Meridian, but CReSIS as well.