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Lesson context: To participate well in KaAMS students need to understand what airborne mission scientists are, how they explore the world, and how these scientists work together. The goal of this lesson is for students to develop an understanding of airborne mission scientists while completing a NASA Airborne Sciences Flight Request Form for a given aeronautics remote sensing mission. To do this, students role play different types of airborne mission scientists and collaborate to develop a mission plan. Each student gathers information on his/her role and shares it with teammates to complete the flight request form. This activity will establish the students work as airborne mission scientists throughout the remainder of KaAMS.

Key science concepts:

• Types of airborne remote mission scientists: aeronautics, remote sensing, and science expert 

• Process for conducting scientific investigations: explore problem, research background information, design research mission, collect and analyze data, go public with results

Links to teacher resources:

• Background on each case with links to mission websites
  • Exploration of ozone in Earth's atmosphere
    • SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment
  • Exploration of the effects of smoke and aerosols on climate
    • Smoke, Clouds, and Radiation Investigation
    • Smoke/Sulfate Clouds and Radiation Experiment
  • Exploration of the effect of snow and ice on climate
    • Snow/Ice Global Mapping Project
  • Exploration of moisture levels in hurricanes
    • Convection and Moisture Experiment
    • Hurricane science
• Fundamentals of remote sensing
• Information on the remote sensing instruments

Problems addressed in this lesson:

• How do aeronautics, remote sensing, and earth scientists work together to investigate environmental problems?

Activity bursts:

• Review characteristics of NASA aircraft
• Role play scientists investigating different aspects of a airborne remote sensing mission
• Collaborate, share information from different perspectives to plan an airborne remote sensing mission
• Complete a NASA Airborne Sciences Flight Request Form

Links to other resources: