Goddard Instrument Field Team
The Goddard Instrument Field Team (GIFT) is a group of scientists and engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as well as their external collaborators. The team focuses on conducting field...
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In New Mexico, Land of Volcanoes
On June 5, 2017, a convoy of vans and SUVs drove west from El Paso, Texas, and crossed into New Mexico, headed to a location about 20 miles southwest of Las Cruces. Leaving the pavement behind, we...
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Preparing for Mars and the Moon
We came to Potrillo to conduct field excursions that simulate EVAs, or extravehicular activities, which are like the moonwalks that Apollo astronauts took on the lunar surface. Future astronauts might...
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Kilbourne and Aden: Two Flavors of Volcanism
Our first destination in Potrillo was Kilbourne Hole, a maar crater that was formed about 16,000 to 24,000 years ago. It’s an irregular hole measuring about 1-1/2 miles by 2 miles. Kilbourne is thought...
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Reporting RIS4E
Traveling with us were four journalism students from the Stony Brook University School of Journalism; their professor, Elizabeth Bass, the founding director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating...
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Staying Afloat in a Sea of Data
One aspect of our work is studying is how different types of information can be combined to help the scientists understand the site from during and after an EVA. We brought an array of instruments and...
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The Footsteps of Apollo Astronauts
On our team’s last day at Kilbourne Hole, we were joined by retired astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, the lunar module pilot for Apollo 17. He is the only professional geologist to have walked on the...
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Under the Ash: Glacier Science at a Volcano
Hello from the Goddard Instrument Field Team! Earlier this summer, we visited Katmai National Park as guest researchers. These are some of our photos and notes from the field. In June 1912, the...
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