When the Curiosity Mars Rover blasts off from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas Rocket Saturday, two area science teachers will know they had a small part in its success.
Jeff Karlin, astronomy, marine biology and zoology teacher at Idaho's Lewiston High School, and Jim Gustin, science teacher at Orofino Junior/Senior High School, accompanied the man behind Mission Curiosity -- NASA astrobiologist Chris McKay -- this summer on the NASA-sponsored Idaho Spaceward Bound study. The five-day expedition took 10 teachers from Idaho, California, Massachusetts and Nevada, three University of Idaho delegates and seven NASA Ames Research Center teachers across Idaho to explore sites such as Hells Half Acre, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Shoshone Ice Caves and bring their discoveries back to the classroom. The trip also had a second focus, according to Karlin.
"Our role was looking at Mars analog sites," he said -- that is, terrains on Earth that match those on Mars. "We can expect to find the most alien terrains here first."
The Spaceward Bound team was nicknamed "Blue Dragon Group" after a mysterious rock formation in Craters of the Moon National Monument that oxidized in a blue tint more than 2,000 years ago. Team members crawled through ice caves and explored hot springs and sand dunes on the expedition.
"One thing NASA does very well: It prepares for any and every eventuality," Karlin said.
Although NASA's McKay was the expedition director, Karlin said he was not directly involved with Mission Curiosity other than as an educational researcher through the Idaho Space Consortium work with Martian analogs.
Gustin, who has studied aquatic invertebrates since 1980, said he is most interested in exploring the organisms that colonize igneous rock formations in Idaho. The expedition allowed him to study these in a new light.
"This project focuses Martian exploration on substrates that possibly formed in aquatic conditions," he said. "These conditions could have been conducive to life."
One of the objectives of the Curiosity Rover is to determine if life could have ever existed on Mars, according to NASA. Once it lands inside the Gale Crater on Mars -- likely by next August -- the SUV-sized rover will begin investigating the red planet for evidence of perchlorate, a substance found in rocket fuel, antifreeze and as a by-product of certain oxidating bacteria, Karlin said. "If it finds that, then we can start to ask questions about where it comes from," he said.
The rover's other goals are to characterize the climate of Mars, characterize the geology of the planet and prepare for human exploration.
Gustin characterized the experience with NASA this summer as "exhilarating."
"It was a real broth of science inquiry coupled with a friendly group of lifelong learners," he said. "The sites that we visited were selected to represent similar geological landscapes on Mars. ... I was particularly interested in expanding my knowledge of biology to include more environmental microbiology."
As a teacher, Gustin said he is planning to include more microbiology in his classes after the NASA expedition.
I can do a lot of research without taking up a lot of space and budget," he said. "The NASA network provides many materials to liven up the curriculum."
Karlin said the most motivating part of the experience was a true sense of scientific collaboration that he doesn't get as a teacher. This, in turn, changed his entire focus of education.
"It made me more excited to be a part of the educational process -- not just to teach, but to learn with the kids," he said. "I wake up excited every day. ... The effect for me was a doctrinal shift in how I'm going to educate the next generation of scientists."
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