Leaving for the Desert

Tomorrow morning I will be visiting the Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert RATS) field activity taking place in Cinder Lake, Arizona. This NASA team goes into the desert for two weeks every September to test robots, space suits, communication technologies and other equipment somewhere that's more like space. Our visit is on media day this year, so there will be some neat tests going on for the reporters that come out to visit.

The Desert RATS team is also doing a webcast tomorrow on the NASA Digital Learning Network for students across the country. I won't be on camera since I'm just there to watch too, but if you can tune in definitely check it out.

Here are some pictures from when I got to visit in 2005. The dirt everywhere is orange because we were pretending to be on Mars that year. It's the closest I think I'll ever get to that planet.


I am very excited to see the things this group is working on for our return to the Moon and to spend a day bouncing around in the grey dirt with them. It's going to be awesome!