Michele is back!  Michele Cross, a Corning East High School Teacher, took a journey few people have taken.  She was selected through a nationwide search to participate in PolarTREC, a research experience in which K-12 teachers participate in polar research, working closely with scientists as a pathway to improving science education and allowing teachers to experience first-hand what it is like to conduct scientific research in some of the most remote locations on earth.  While on field expeditions, the teachers and researchers shared their experiences with scientists, educators, communities, and students of all ages through the use of Internet tools and resources such as online teacher and researcher journals, message boards, photo albums, podcasts, “Live from the International Polar Year” calls and presentations from the field. Here's what Michele wrote about her experience and it's relevance to space exploration:

I experienced the saddest flight of my life on December 16^th, 2009. That was the date on which Team SCINI redeployed back from Antarctica.  SCINI is an ROV—remotely operated vehicle—and has now gone boldly where no other ROV has gone before! Our submersible capable of under ice navigation and imaging performed spectacularly under the ice and even ran on solar energy for a couple of ocean floor transects! (We believe that SCINI is the first ROV to ever run on solar energy.) “She” had her deepest dive at 1,100 feet and was even deployed at the sea ice edge on our last workday in the field--all firsts for this torpedo-like ROV that stands just shy of four feet. SCINI also took approximately 10 million images of the ocean floor around Ross Island and off the coast of the continent, including images of an unidentified species of sea anemone!              NASA has a strong presence in Antarctica for many reasons. When one looks around and sees the vast expanse that Antarctica offers, it becomes quickly evident that this truly is Earth’s last frontier and is likewise the harshest, most remote location on the planet. And, that is exactly why Antarctica is so important to NASA.  Because its environment is similar to environments believed to exist on other planets, NASA often tests theories and even equipment such as lunar habitats and ROVs in the hopes that one day these designs will be able to be successfully utilized in space and inter-planetary exploration.              While in Antarctica, we were able to attend a science lecture about a “rival” AUV--Autonomous Underwater Vehicle--Endurance. Endurance, or “Fatty” as we like to call her, was tested in Lake Bonnie in Taylor Valley. Taylor Valley is part of the Antarctic Dry Valleys. The hope is that with further testing and exploration,  Endurance will one day be used to explore Europa, one of Jupiter’s “watery moons”, in the hopes of discovering life forms deep beneath it’s frozen surface.               At the end of the lecture, we were treated to a video animation of what NASA one day hopes to accomplish on Europa with Endurance or a similar AUV. Who knows what exists under her frozen surface, but I know that I sat there and let my imagination run wild! I only hope that I will live to see the success of this program and others like it, and I can say, “I was there when…”   

Star Fish Below Ice Surface	Project SCINI Open House	SCINI Submerses

Sea Star Devouring Sponge	SCINI's Solar Panels

    As a 2009 PolarTREC teacher, Michele was able to support the SCINI team and document the research of the SCINI team with photos, journal entries, podcasts and video footage. PolarTREC is an educational research experience, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and managed by the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S.