The Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) program serves as a pipeline of activities to inspire and educate a broad audience about Heliophysics and the Sun-Earth system, specifically the Van Allen Radiation Belts. The program is comprised of a variety of formal, informal and public outreach activities that all align with the NASA Education Portfolio Strategic Framework outcomes. These include lesson plans and curriculum for use in the classroom, teacher workshops, internship opportunities, activities that target underserved populations, collaboration with science centers and NASA visitors’ centers and partnerships with experts in the Heliophysics and education disciplines. This paper will detail the activities that make up the RBSP E/PO program, their intended audiences, and an explanation as to how they align with the NASA education outcomes. Additionally, discussions on why these activities are necessary as part of a NASA mission are included. Finally, examples of how the RBSP E/PO team has carried out some of these activities will be discussed throughout.

1 B. Grigsby 2 , D. Turney 3 , J. R. Zimbelman 4 and J. W. Rice, Jr, 1 MONS, Saint Anne’s-Belfield School, 2132 Ivy Road Charlottesville, VA 22903, andrew.annex@gmail.com, 2 Arizona State University, Mars Space Flight Facility, Tempe, AZ, 3 Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD. 4 CEPS/NASM MRC 315, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0315, jrz@ceps.nasm.edu. 5 Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, 1629 E. University Blvd.,University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092, jrice@lpl.arizona.edu

EXPLORATION STUDENT DATA TEAMS PROJECT. B. Grigsby 1 , C. Capages 1 , P. R. Christensen 1 , S. Murchie 2 , D. Turney 2 , K. Beisser 2 , F. Seelos 2 , K. Seelos 2 , C. Harvel 2 , O. Barnouin-Jha 2 , W. Patterson 2 , A. McGovern 2 , D. Buczkowski 2 , E. Malaret 3 , C. Hash 3 , B. Ehlmann 4 , L. Roach 4 , 1 Arizona State University, Mars Space Flight Facility, Tempe, AZ, 2 Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD; 3 Applied Coherent Technology, Herndon VA; 4 Brown University; bgrigsby@suhsd.net.

Introduction: In the last decade, spectroscopic studies of Mars have provided much information regarding the composition of the Red Planet. It is increasingly evident that the primordial mafic character of the Martian crust has been modified by the actions of liquid water. Perhaps the most exciting evidence of a water-rich past is the presence of hydrated phyllosilicates (clays) on the surface of Mars. First definitively identified by the OMEGA spectrometer [1] and confirmed by CRISM data, these clays may represent a time approximately 4 billion years ago when surface waters may have flowed freely on Mars [2]. Using these spectral data sets and by integrating analyses of images acquired by the THEMIS, HRSC and HiRISE cameras, detailed studies of areas where these clay minerals occur are underway [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. MESDT (Mars Exploration Student Data Teams), an outreach project created by the Mars Education Program at Arizona State University, offers high school students a unique chance to do similar studies in an area of Terra Tyrrhena, where the occurrence of clay minerals have been documented. Guided by MESDT coordinator Brian Grigsby and CRISM team members, MESDT teams from four high schools located across the United States have begun to analyze the geology, composition and stratigraphy of a portion of Terra Tyrrhena. Methodology: During the fall of 2007, the first components of a global spectral map being assembled from CRISM multispectral data were released to the MESDT teams. Each team received one and one half “tiles” of 256 pixel/deg (~230 m/pixel) 72-channel data. Each tile represents an area of about 90,000 km of the Martian surface. Spectral data on each tile are shown as 10 km wide strips that are actually thousands of kilometers long. This data has been processed to remove atmospheric interference. Spectra for each pixel are then converted to sets of “summary parameters” [7]. Each summary parameter is defined by a spectral absorption characteristic of certain minerals. Through the use of ACT/REACT software provided to the MESDT teams, summary parameters can be manipulated by assigning colors to different mineral indicators. The MESDT team members then use the summary parameter composite maps to target specific areas of geological and compositional interest. Such targeted areas have been submitted to the CRISM team along with scientific justification. During the next phase of the project, MESDT targets will be observed at the highest resolution of the CRISM instrument (18 meters per pixel in 544 colors) so that the geologic context of targets can be studied in detail. Effectively, MESDT students have been allowed to proceed much like any member of the CRISM science team. In fact, feedback provided by MESDT students drove recent changes in ACT/REACT software that allows for the reloading of previous sessions together with all data layers and map viewing parameters, allowing for more effective data interpretation.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES UTILIZING DISTANCE LEARNING STRATEGIES B. Grigsby, S. L. Klug, P. Valderrama Graff, W. L. Taylor, C. Capages, P. R. Christensen, B. Jones, S. Murchie, D. Turney, K. Beisser, F. Seelos, K. Seelos, C. Harvel, D. Buczkowski, E. Malaret, C. Hash, B. Ehlmann, L. Roach, Arizona State University, Mars Space Flight Facility, Tempe, AZ, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD; Applied Coherent Technology, Herndon VA; Brown University; Brian.Grigsby@asu.edu.