Flight Mission Challenge: Improving Earthquake Monitoring Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Grades 5-9 Acknowledgements
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Engineering
Match the definition with the step in the design process. 
Assessment Timeline Assessment can be a tool for understanding what students are learning. Research suggests that ongoing assessment provides critical feedback about learning to students and instructors and increases learning gains. The assessments in this unit include entry level, to progress-monitoring, to summative.
The timeline below demonstrates how activities could be distributed among language arts, science, mathematics, and technology teachers.
Research-Based Instructional Strategies for Engaging and Supporting All Students Several strategies are recommended to insure that all students are engaged and supported in learning: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING: Consider the linguistic, interpersonal, and academic abilities of your students when selecting team members and create teams that maximize success for all students.
MAKE IT MULTIDISCIPLINARY: The unit was designed to be implemented by one or multiple teachers.
TECHNOLOGY ACCESS: Make the effort to provide access to technology infrastructure, hardware, software, and support.
21st CENTURY LEARNING: Use Web 2.0 tools to keep your students organized, engaged, and productive.
ACADEMIC LITERACY: Develop students’ academic literacy through daily strategies that engage students in reading, writing, and speaking academic vocabulary.
Daily Log Questions DL 1: How is NASA improving earthquake monitoring and what can you do to help? DL 2: What have you learned about earthquakes? DL 3: How do we mitigate earthquake damage? DL 4: What progress is my team making on its site selection argument? How am I contributing? DL 5: How do the G-III and UAVSAR do their jobs? DL 6: How will UAVSAR interferogram data help us mitigate earthquake damage? DL 7: What does your flight plan include? DL 8: How did the online flight planning tool help you create a flight plan that is accurate and comprehensive? DL 9: How is your multimedia proposal progressing? DL 10: What have you learned about how NASA is improving earthquake monitoring?
Totally Tubular Demonstration Directions The Totally Tubular Demonstration allows students to see the differences in how a plane flies through the “tube” of space with and without the autopilot. A video tutorial of this demonstration is found at XXX. 
Materials from the FMC: IEM Teacher Kit:
Procedures:
D  iscussion:
Follow-Up Activity Students complete the Totally Tubular Volume Worksheet to explore the relationship between the dimensions of the plane and tube.
Letter to Students L  etter to Students
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is gaining a better understanding of earthquakes in California thanks to a specially modified jet, the Gulfstream-III. NASA engineers use radar to collect data on how quakes change the Earth’s surface, which may eventually help scientists predict earthquakes. NASA hopes to collect baseline data in critical areas in order to improve our understanding of how quakes affect not only the immediate area of the quake, but also the state of stress in the surrounding faults. This will help them improve their forecast models of quake probability and magnitude. NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center is in process of identifying several new areas to collect baseline data on earthquake surface distortions. We invite teams of students in grades 5-9 to submit proposals for the site for new science missions. Proposals will be reviewed and ranked by a team of NASA scientists and engineers and the winning team will earn a visit to the Dryden Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California. Proposals will be evaluated in three areas: strength of argument for site selection, accuracy and cost efficiency of flight plan, and quality of digital and oral proposal presentation. With the goal of assembling the best team possible, each team member will be assigned an expert role. You’ll want to include at least one of each of the following experts. If your team is small, then some members may need to fulfill more than one role.
Through the activities and independent research, student teams will:
NASA hopes that you will consider this opportunity to investigate, evaluate, design, and present a solution for a real world problem that will not only contribute to our knowledge of how earthquakes shape the surface of the earth, but also inform our understanding of environmental hazards at the global level. Section 1: Improving Earthquake Monitoring
I Picture of G-III UAVSAR collecting data or of Newscast ntroduction to Earthquake Monitoring The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is gaining a better understanding of earthquakes in California thanks to a specially modified jet, the Gulfstream-III. NASA engineers use radar to collect data on how quakes change the Earth’s surface, which may eventually help scientists predict earthquakes. NASA hopes to collect baseline data in critical areas in order to improve our understanding of how quakes affect not only the immediate area of the quake, but also the state of stress in the surrounding faults. This will help them improve their forecast models of quake probability and magnitude. NASA’s ongoing mission to improve earthquake monitoring is summarized in Earthquake Imaging Mission Newscast. In this video clip, you will also be introduced to Tim Moes, G-III UAVSAR Project Manager. Introducing the Flight Mission Challenge As of fall 2010, baseline data on earthquake surface distortions has been collected throughout California and a few other regions, such as Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The primary challenge of the Flight Mission Challenge: Improving Earthquake Monitoring is to identify where, how, and why additional baseline data should be collected. This ongoing mission provides an opportunity for you to contribute to the challenge of improving earthquake monitoring across the United States and throughout the world. To begin, read the Letter to Students to learn more about NASA’s earthquake mission challenge. Establishing Teams To begin the challenge, you will be grouped into teams. The mission team brings together science and engineering experts responsible for flight planning. The mission director, flight engineers, technology specialists, and scientists will all play a crucial role in the adventure, providing the pilot with data crucial for developing and following his flight plan. Because you are expected to present your proposal with using multimedia, you will also need an expert multimedia technology expert. Each team member will be assigned an expert role, with the goal of assembling the best team possible. You’ll want to include at least one of each of the following experts. If your team is small, then some members may need to fulfill more than one role.
Jigsaw Challenge Brainstorm
Team Members
Careers Your first activity as a team is to develop familiarity with the Flight Mission Challenge and identify ways that each team member can contribute to the solution. You will begin this process in Activity 1.1 Jigsaw Challenge Brainstorm. Activity 1.1 Jigsaw Challenge Brainstorm In this activity, you will “jigsaw” out of your team and into your role-specific group, where you will learn more about your areas of expertise and ways you can contribute to your team’s solution to the Challenge. View the video clip on your career field with the members of your group. Take notes on the responsibilities of your job. Then study the Flight Mission Challenge and brainstorm ways you can contribute to the solution of the Challenge. Record ideas and information on the Jigsaw Challenge Brainstorm. Share your ideas with the group and add additional thoughts to your worksheet. Be ready to share your top ideas with your team. When you return to your team, the Project Manager will hold a team briefing to share what everyone has learned. Each team member should complete the list of Team Members. Save your materials in your science notebook and respond to the Daily Log:
Your first task is to develop a working knowledge of earthquakes. Where do they occur? Which areas are in most danger? Answers to these questions will help you select a site that could benefit from future earthquake monitoring.
T 
o develop your expertise in earthquakes, you explore the theory of plate tectonics. You will be able to use this theory to predict where earthquakes and volcanoes are most likely to occur. When you have completed the activity, be sure to respond to the Daily Log: DL 2: What have you learned about earthquakes? Picture of Seismometer H Day 3 ow Scientists Monitor Earthquakes Scientists use a broad array of tools to "listen" to the San Andreas and other faults, looking for clues about their past, present and future behavior. These tools include ground-based technologies such as seismometers, creepmeters, and stressmeters. They also employ complex computer models such as QuakeSim. Picture of QuakeSim I
n addition to traditional tools, scientists are now using space-based technologies which are capable of imaging minute Earth movements to within a few centimeters, measuring the slow buildup of deformation along faults and mapping ground deformation after earthquakes occur. The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) is one of their newest tools. Activity 1.3 Tectonic Plates and Earthquakes In this activity, you will use NASA’s Electronic Map of the Earth to select three regions that might benefit from earthquake monitoring. This map demonstrates the relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes and the boundaries of tectonic plates. Complete the corresponding worksheet, Tectonic Plates and Earthquakes. 
Tectonic Plates and Earthquakes NASA’s Electronic Map of the Earth demonstrates you the relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes and the boundaries of tectonic plates. Click on play to view the action, and then answer the questions below. Work in pairs or triads to complete this worksheet. Be prepared to share your answers with your team.
Why monitor earthquakes? Who wants to know?
Why do you want to know where earthquakes are most likely to occur? Picture of earthquake damage Mitigating the Impact of Earthquakes B Picture of shaky structure efore you make your final decision on site location, there are two further questions to consider. How do we mitigate earthquake damage? Who is involved in decisions regarding response to and resources for dealing with natural hazards such as earthquake damage? Earthquakes are frightening and potentially dangerous because they strike suddenly, often violently, and without warning. Depending on the severity of the earthquake, the results can be devastating in terms of damage to infrastructures and property as well as severe injury and loss of lives. Earthquake mitigation can be structural, locational, or operational.
Engineering Extension: Quaky-Shaky Design Challenge Mechanical and civil engineers play a major role in the reduction of damage caused by earthquakes. They design earthquake resistant structures, propose building codes, and recommend the strategic positioning of resources for quick response. I How to Build an Earthquake Resistant Building (from Worldbook at NASA) Engineers have developed a number of ways to build earthquake-resistant structures. Their techniques range from extremely simple to fairly complex. For small- to medium-sized buildings, the simpler reinforcement techniques include bolting buildings to their foundations and providing support walls called shear walls. Shear walls, made of reinforced concrete (concrete with steel rods or bars embedded in it) help strengthen the structure and help resist rocking forces. Shear walls in the center of a building, often around an elevator shaft or stairwell, form what is called a shear core. Walls may also be reinforced with diagonal steel beams in a technique called cross-bracing. Builders also protect medium-sized buildings with devices that act like shock absorbers between the building and its foundation. These devices, called base isolators, are usually bearings made of alternate layers of steel and an elastic material, such as synthetic rubber. Base isolators absorb some of the sideways motion that would otherwise damage a building. Skyscrapers need special construction to make them earthquake-resistant. They must be anchored deeply and securely into the ground. They need a reinforced framework with stronger joints than an ordinary skyscraper has. Such a framework makes the skyscraper strong enough and yet flexible enough to withstand an earthquake. McNally, Karen C. "Earthquake." World Book Online Reference Center. 2005. World Book, Inc. http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar171680. Located at Worldbook at NASA http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/earthquake_worldbook.html.
To get started, read the article, Earthquake (Worldbook at NASA). The entire article is interesting, but the most important section is called “How to Build,” which is included in the shaded box to the right. You will use the NASA Engineering Design Packet, which includes a five-step design process: Ask, Imagine, Build, Evaluate, and Share. As you plan and develop your structure, you will answer questions about each step of their design process. This open-ended packet can be applied to any design project and can be used to enhance existing curriculum. Additional ideas for creating your structure are found in the activity sheet, Quaky-Shaky Design Challenge. When you have completed the activity, be sure to respond to the Daily Log: DL 3: How do we mitigate earthquake damage? Quaky-Shaky Engineering Design Challenge Earthquakes can be exciting to study but they also can be very devastating to a community when they happen. Bridges, roads, houses, and other structures are all vulnerable to earthquakes. In many cases the disaster is the result of poor building practices. In this activity, you will participate in an engineering design experience to observe how sudden acceleration as experienced during an earthquake can lead to structural failure. You will also discover what building characteristics most affect stability. Designing Your Structure Y  ou may use whatever materials your teacher provides – Popsicle sticks and glue or spaghetti and small marshmallows work great.
Remember that the base of structure should be 35 x 35 cm2 piece of double-layer corrugated cardboard, and the structure itself must be no wider than 30 x 30 cm2. The structure should be attached to the cardboard base using only paper clips, Elmer’s glue, twisty ties, string, and/or rubber bands. During testing, your structure will be shaken at various drill speeds, beginning with the lowest setting first. The structure will not be tested at the next highest drill setting if either: (1) displacement of structure exceeds >2 corners from cardboard base or (2) structure fails (i.e. can no longer support its own weight). 
Document Your Planning Use the Secondary Design Packet (www.nasa.gov/pdf/324206main_Design_Packet_II.pdf) to document your design development through the eight-step engineering design process: Identify the Problem; Identify Criteria and Constraints; Brainstorm Possible Solutions; Select a Design; Build a Model or Prototype; Test the Model and Evaluate; Refine the Design; and Share the Solution. You will also want to take plenty of pictures of the process! Steps to Developing Your Argument Share your top three locations identified in the Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, and Volcanoes Worksheet. As a group, reach consensus on which site holds the most promise.
Day 4 G-III UAVSAR in Hawaii or Haiti Activity 1.4: Selecting the Site for the Flight Mission Challenge Read the article, Digging into Earthquakes: Radar Track Changes in Earth’s Surface. This article explains how the G-III UAVSAR has been used for earthquake monitoring missions. In your team, discuss these two questions:
The Flight Mission Challenge: Improving Earthquake Monitoring requires that you propose a site location that future earthquake monitoring and present an argument that justifies your selection. The persuasiveness of your argument for site location comprises 50% of your score on the evaluation rubric. Review the rubric and highlight the criteria related to this part of the Challenge. Your team’s argument should include multiple reasons that are backed up with evidence. Evidence can include data, logic, and opinions and might be in the form of quotes, graphics, images, or audio/video clips. The argument should address the following issues:
When you have completed the activity, be sure to respond to the Daily Log: DL 4: What progress is my team making on its site selection argument? How am I contributing? Digging Into Earthquakes: Radar Tracks Changes in Earth’s Surface Cruising along at more than 400 mph and 40,000 feet above the ground may seem an unlikely position for studying earthquakes, but that is exactly what scientists with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are doing, with the aviation assistance of NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. Using radar originally designed for unmanned aerial vehicles but being flown aboard a NASA business jet, scientists are able to take extremely detailed images of the Earth below. The radar, known as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), allows scientists to track minute changes in the Earth’s surface—as small as one millimeter—such as those created along a fault line following an earthquake. Data collected by the radar system, which is housed in a pod attached beneath the business jet’s fuselage, may be used to create predictive models by giving scientists a greater understanding of the processes occurring beneath the earth. “What we’re most interested in is what happens to that stress,” said Jay Parker, acting principal investigator for the project at JPL. “But it’s deep within the Earth. We can’t see it.” In repeated passes over an area, the radar is able to measure surface deformities by comparing one pass with another. The data are processed to create high-definition photography of how things move, Parker said.
“The resolution is extra-ordinarily high,” he said. “It’s a very detailed picture.” The picture is overlaid onto maps to see how it corresponds with known faults. The platform that makes this study possible is a business jet equipped with a precision navigation system that enables the aircraft to fly an exact path repeatedly. The Platform Precision Autopilot, developed by Dryden Flight Research Center, ties into the autopilot system on the Gulfstream III jet. “It lies to the airplane that is’ on an approach (for landing)” said NASA pilot Dick Ewers. This keeps the aircraft aligned on a precise path for the required data gathering. The system uses GPS for the highly accurate navigation necessary to repeat the same passes over and over again. Using the PPA, the aircraft flies inside a virtual tube 30 feet in diameter, maintaining that position over 200 miles while flying over 400 mph. A recent data-gathering mission took off from the Dryden Aircraft Operation Facility in Palmdale, where the Gulfstream is based, and spent about six hours crisscrossing a section of Southern California stretching from the Antelope Valley south to roughly Riverside. Each leg of the mission ran east and west, from the eastern deserts roughly in line with Twenty-nine Palms to the Pacific Ocean, making tight turns over the Channel Islands for the eastbound legs. Each of the nine legs of the mission was about 180 to 200 miles long and averaged about 30 minutes of flight time. The area is one that includes the San Andreas Fault, a major area of interest in earthquake study. The flights precisely retrace the lines flown on earlier missions, allowing researchers to compare the measurements of the same exact areas from one flight to the next. Where passenger seats would normally be aligned along the jet’s interior, NASA’s Gulfstream has mental racks of equipment, controlling, monitoring, and recording the navigation and sensor systems. The pilot and co-pilot are in control of the aircraft during takeoff and landing, while positioning the aircraft for the start of a line and while turning from the end of one line to the start of the next. Once in position, however, control switches to the PPA. A Dryden mission manager engages and disengages the system from a station behind the cockpit, where he also monitors it during the line to ensure the aircraft remains within the “tube.” He also monitors the airspeed, as the radar system must maintain airspeed of at least 350 knots in order to function properly. Another station in the rear of the jet is for monitoring the radar system. At the end of each line, the PPA is disengaged and the pilots take control once more. The disengagement is noticeable only from the movement of the aircraft, as it begins to turn; otherwise the transition is seamless. The co-pilot’s seat has a small computer tablet attached to the center of the control yoke, which is tied into the PPA. This allows him to guide the aircraft to the correct starting point before handing off control.
In planning these flights, the scientists select which areas they want mapped and select the flight lines, providing the start and end coordinates for each. The flight crew then maps out the mission, adding the turns form one line to the next, calculating the amount of fuel required and arranging for any airspace clearances necessary for the flight paths. Dryden flies the California earthquake missions, studying the San Andreas and Hayward faults, every six months to monitor the changes, said Tim Moes, Dryden’s project manager for the Gulfstream III. This fall’s series of earthquake flights began in October and included some 43hours of flight time, wrapping up with a six-hour flight on December 6. This series was a little longer than the normal biannual missions, which tend to run about 30 hours, Moes said. However, project scientists booked additional flight time to study the continuing changes in the vicinity of the April earthquake in Baja California. Those extra observations have shown the earthquake activated other faults “in ways we’re just learning about,” Parker said. The California earthquake missions began in 2009, and scientists now have four sets of flight data for comparison, said Paul Lundgren, project scientist at JPL. The UAVSAR uses radar technology developed for scientists, which have advantages over aircraft for this kind of study, Lundgren said.
Satellites offer regular overflights of the area and can cover a wider swath of territory with each pass. Additionally, satellites provide an image undisturbed by airflow, such as is created by flying the system on an airplane. These disturbances must be compensated for in processing the images, he said. Mounting the system aboard an aircraft, however, carries its own advantages, Lundgren said. It may be sent to cover any area at virtually any time and repeat the passes as desired, instead of the predetermined orbits of a satellite. Most satellites are in orbits that collect information along a north-south route; an aircraft can instead travel east to west and collect a different image. In addition, the United States does not have any satellites with the radar system; scientists here have had to rely on data gathered by foreign satellites. “UAVSAR represents our initial foray into this by NASA,” Lundgren said. The system has also been used to study volcanoes, measuring changes in magma domes and other factors at sites such as Mount St. Helens in Washington and Kilauea in Hawaii. The system was used in June (2010) to map the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico to provide baseline data for a study of the effects of the PB oil spill on the coastal area. The radar system has also been used in studies of the levy system used in the Sacramento Delta region, soil moisture and vegetation studies, all around the world. Although it is being used to collect scientific data, the UAVSAR system is still in the engineering phase. “We have a very good foundation for getting the data, but it’s complicated to produce pictures,” Parker said. “It’s well along in the sense that we’re getting very high-quality data, but the process is still undergoing changes. This story was originally reported in the Antelope Valley Press, 12-11-10. Argument Construction Worksheet Use the table below to construct your argument for site selection. Be sure to save your documentation in digital form so it can be used in your multimedia presentation.
Multimedia Proposal Flow Chart – Site Selection Use the flow chart below to organize the presentation for your argument for site selection. Use additional pages as needed. (Technology Tip: Construct your storyboard digitally using Microsoft Word® and Smart Art Flowchart Design.) 
Section 2: Elements of Flight Planning T Day 5 he Mathematics of Flight Planning Significant mathematics is required to plan a flight for earthquake monitoring. This includes calculating distance, cost, and time of the flight itself; determining the best altitude for data collection, and even comparing the two images for differential interferometry. Totally Tubular! T  he G-III and the UAVSAR make repeated passes over an area in order to get exact images to compare. The pilot has an invisible “tube” of airspace that the G-III must line up to. Once lined up, the Flight Operations Specialist will activate the UAVSAR’s autopilot and monitoring system that will take over control of the plane.
 
This system precisely guides the plane through the tube of airspace, so exact data can be recorded. When the pass is complete, the aircraft control is switched back to the pilot to make a turn. This process is repeated many times. In the picture to the right, Engineering Operations Specialist Haupt activates the UAVSAR autopilot on the G-III. View the 55-second video clip on Gulfstream-III that includes footage of a G-III checkout flight with the UAVSAR pod and radar imagery over the Mojave Desert. Activity 2.1 Totally Tubular Volume Problem Set View the demonstration, Totally Tubular! which demonstrates the importance of the automatic pilot in collecting data with the UAVSAR. When you have viewed the demonstration, complete the Totally Tubular Volume Problem Set. This set of problems will help you understand the importance of the volume of the virtual tube. What might happen if the tube is too narrow? Too wide? To answer these questions, you will use one of your favorite geometry formulas: v = h ·  · r²
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arthquakes are the Earth's natural means of releasing 
