Earth observations for the space radar laboratory mission: Report on the student challenge awards project

The Challenge Awards are designed to provide a unique perspective to students gifted in the arts and humanities from which to understand scientific endeavor by giving students an opportunity to participate in an ongoing research project. In the graduate program, seven students who had participated in previous Challenge Awards programs were selected to help develop the tools for Earth observations for the astronauts on the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL) missions. The goal of the Challenge Awards program was to prepare a training manual for the astronauts on the SRL missions. This paper describes the observations to be made by the astronauts on the SRL missions. The emphasis is on the dynamic seasonal features of the Earth's surface and atmosphere which justify the need for more than one flight of the SRL. Complete notebooks of the sites, global seasonal patterns, examples of radar and the Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites data, and shuttle photographs have been given to each of the SRL crews.