The digital show NASA’s Explorers
Has a few different tag lines.
One of them is “We follow intrepid explorers into the field.”
And that is true.
And it’s sometimes to places that are remote or -um- can be hostile.
We went to one location that I would not consider remote or hostile.
But it was an adventure anyway. It was Boise, Idaho.
Narrator: This mobile laboratory has been deployed for a very specific reason.
The Shady Fire is burning nearby. And this team is gathering data that you can only get at night.
-Music-
Title: NASA Explorers
Episode Two. Follow That Plume! Behind the Scenes
Lauren: We were with a team of scientists who were tracking smoke, understanding the
Chemistry of smoke. It was really around the wild fire season.
Controlled burns. But just what smoke was doing to the air, what fires were doing to the land.
We had the opportunity to follow this team who you meet in one of the episodes.
Bruce Anderson and his team out of Langley. We thought “Aagh, you know…”
“…It was ninety-degrees that day. Like we’re just going to sleep in the car and it’ll be fine.”
Katy: Hi NASA Expeditions followers! I’m Katy, I’ve been doing
A lot of the tweeting and posting that you’ve been seeing. And here we have Lauren.
Lauren: Hi guys! Katy: And driving our car we have Ellen. Ellen: Hello!
Katy: She’s not going to talk too much because she’s driving. Umm, we’re the communications team in the field
With the FIREX-AQ mission this week. And we thought we’d give a little behind the scenes peek.
At, um, what it’s like to be in the field.
Lauren: So we’ll be warm enough - it’ll be great. And we’ll just follow them throughout the night as they take all these measurements.
Sooo…You know…Almost instantly when the sun goes down, the temperature drops from around ninety or ninety-five,
Somewhere in there, to nineteen-degrees.
Bruce Anderson: We’ll set out, drive up there. Find a place to position the - the van
Then, uh, start cranking up instruments.
Lauren: And we’re frozen. We’re absolutely frozen in the car. And the thing is that the team
Is waking up throughout the night. You know, the scientists collecting data emptying filters.
And so we’re trying to capture all these moments. It means there’s not a lot of sleep. It’s really cold, but you
have to stay somewhat awake so that you can catch the team working.
I think what that experience allowed us to have was this real relationship with the scientists.
In the field. And, especially Bruce Anderson. You know, there’s a moment when we’re talking
to Bruce in the show and he’s talking about how he, um…Why he does what he does.
And, I asked him this question that I, you know I tend to ask most people. And I think it’s a really common question among
producers. Um, but we asked him “Why do you do what you do?”
And, the response he gave was one I probably won’t ever forget, because it was so based in his life experience
and a genuine desire to make a positive impact on the world.
Narrator: For some of our scientists, understanding pollution has defined the course of their lives work.
Bruce Anderson: I’m a physical chemist. But, I’m also from what Sixty-Minutes called the most polluted city in America.
Anniston, Alabama. When the opportunity came along to do this type of work, I really resonated with it.
Lauren: He of course was interested in the actual science, but Bruce took this incredibly seriously. You know,
He decided that he was going to pursue science. He was going to understand pollution. Um, all over the United States, all over the world
And be able to produce hard data that could help communities make better decisions about the way they wanted to live.
We wouldn’t have gotten that story from Bruce had we not spent this time with him in the field.
If we hadn’t gotten to know them as people, um, and I think being able to do NASA Explorers - it presents the opportunity to be humble
About other people’s stories and other people’s motivations.
To understand that they are multi-dimensional people. Who do the things they do because they’re interested
In science, but often there’s a deeper reason and a deeper connection to the science they do.
And it’s our responsibility to tell them with dignity and respect. And um, we try to do that with our stories at NASA Explorers.
So that’s a little behind the scenes of how we got that story and how we got those shots.