NASAさんのインスタグラム写真 - (NASAInstagram)「My name is Lauren Ward and I’m an Earth 🌏 Science Producer at Goddard. Two other NASA communicators and I were on assignment in Boise, Idaho covering NASA’s campaign to study fires and smoke from the ground, air and space. . One of my favorite moments from the week was my adventure in the DC-8, the largest of the planes ✈️ tasked with flying through plumes of smoke 5,000 feet in the air.The plane carried 32 experiments on board, each a humming, blinking apparatus with tubes and filters sticking out at all angles encased in a metal structure to keep it firmly bolted to the floor. Collectively, the instruments were testing for over 500 types of chemicals — things like black carbon, ozone and even formaldehyde. . “Thirty seconds until we enter the plume,” the science mission director announced from the cockpit. Directly ahead, an orangey, dirty cloud of smoke from a wildfire ferociously burning downwind was about to consume the plane. For several moments, the pilots flew with zero visibility before rocketing out of the other end of the plume. Teams of scientists immediately crowded around their instruments, attentively checking for new readings. Did I mention this was all happening with serious turbulence? . These flights are not for the faint of heart — or stomach. Notorious for making people sick, the DC-8 must execute stomach-churning maneuvers in order to capture distinct data about how smoke behaves in the atmosphere. More than failing to successfully document the mission, I was afraid of throwing up in front of 30+ distinguished scientists. Mercifully, the flight ended up being one of the smoothest yet. And the scientists were ecstatically buzzing over the data they collected over the course of the six-hour flight. So, we were all pretty happy in the end. #nasa #earth #fire #nasaexpeditions」8月8日 1時35分