Telescopes in Education, SSDOO and NSSDC

By Lou Mayo

The Telescopes in Education (TIE) project will team with Goddard’s Space Science Data Operations Office (SSDOO), the University of Maryland/Baltimore Campus (UMBC) and the Goddard Education Office to develop a world-wide network of over 20 research grade observatories for use by K-12 students using virtual data system concepts. This effort will be made possible through a recently funded two-year NSF grant which seeks to link current TIE observatories together through the Web and gives teachers and students unprecedented access to astronomical research facilities, which can be remotely accessed and controlled in the classroom. Co-I Lou Mayo of Raytheon and SSDOO will work with Susan Hoban of UMBC (Principal Investigator for the NSF grant), Gil Clark (TIE Foundation) and other education, technology and research partners. NSSDC will play an important role as the central archive site for all TIE observations and data products. Other capabilities to be developed will include a smart user interface to assist with selection and operation of the observatories, an on-line peer-reviewed professional journal for students to publish their research results, new astronomy curriculum modules, and student projects, as well as new analysis tools.

Howard University, through its Physics and Astronomy Department, has provided the latest entry into the TIE program with a 30-inch Cassegrain reflector located in Beltsville, Maryland, near Goddard. Dr. Demetrius Venable (Department Chair), along with telescope technician and researcher Dr. Fred Marsh and telescope automation guru Tom Melsheimer (Meridian Controls), have been working with Lou and the TIE project over the past six months to refurbish the telescope and add internet based command, control, and imaging capabilities. First light festivities for the remodeled telescope are expected to occur around the end of the year.

Another exciting element of the program is TIE’s partnership with the Astronomical League (AL). AL, in cooperation with Boeing, is planning to put a 14-inch Cassegrain and H-alpha solar telescope aboard the International Space Station (called ISS-AT) for use by amateur astronomers and K-12 education. Once in place, ISS-AT along with its ground based operational prototype system will become members of the TIE global network.

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