Preview: Another ASTEP expedition prepares to take off
On July 1, 2007, a team of scientists will begin a 40-day Arctic Ocean expedition
to test two new autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) developed for the NASA
Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) program.
On this expedition, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
(WHOI) will use these two new AUVs, named JAGUAR and PUMA, to explore hydrothermal
vent systems believed to exist along Gakkel Ridge, a deep mid-ocean ridge
located north of Greenland on the Arctic Ocean floor. The National Science
Foundation is cosponsoring the expedition as an official International
Polar Year project.
Armchair explorers and others can follow the Gakkel Ridge expedition in
real time through WHOIs "Dive and Discover" and "Polar
Discovery" programs. For more information on the Gakkel Ridge expedition,
see:
n    Overview
of June 21 WHOI press conference on the expedition: audio and video files, animations,
photos, and more)
n    University
of Maryland Space Systems Laboratory, developer of a manipulator arm
for sampling by the Gakkel Ridge robots
n    NSF
press release on WHOIs 2001 expedition to Gakkel Ridge
ASTEP is a science-driven exploration program that is expected to result
in new science and operational/technological capabilities that could be used
by the next generation of planetary exploration missions. A unique
and central feature of the ASTEP program is the use of terrestrial field
campaigns to further science and technology.Â
