Current News

December 2005

December 4 , EventScope Director, Peter Coppin returned from an expedition to Licancabur and Poquentica volcanos in Bolivia. Joining the expedition as an education and public outreach representative, Coppin documented the High Lakes 2005 expedition from Oct. 20 through Nov 24, sending journal entries, photos, and even video back from the field. View the High Lakes website here, and read the field journal here.

October 2005

October 26, Eben Myers, EventScope's Lead Designer, presented a poster at the IEEE Visualization 2005 conference in Minneapolis, MN. Titled, "The EventScope Remote Science Operations Tool: Using a Visualization of a Remote Location as an Interface for Robotic Exploration," the poster covered EventScope's development of a remote science tool for the Life in the Atacama project. Click here to learn more.

October 23, EventScope was featured at an event for the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. Eben Myers demonstrated the EventScope Remote Science Operations Tool used in the Life in the Atacama project. The event was hosted by Carnegie Mellon University.

October 11 , Life in the Atacama 2005 Science operations drew to a close as the science team wrapped up their explorations of Site F. The science team had been using the EventScope Remote Science Operations Tool to command a rover from the EventScope Lab in Pittsburgh as it explored the Atacama Desert in Chile. For more information see the project website.

July 2005

July 21, Life in the Atacama 2005 held its second Operational Readiness Test (ORT) at Carnegie Mellon University and the EventScope lab in Pittsburgh. Scientists used the EventScope Remote Science Operations interface to control Zoë as the rover explored a nearby test site. Both the interface and the rover are on track for the beginning of the field season in September.

May 2005

May 26-27, Life in the Atacama 2005 held its first Operational Readiness Test (ORT) at Carnegie Mellon University and the EventScope lab in Pittsburgh. Scientists used the EventScope Remote Science Operations interface to control Zoë as the rover explored a nearby test site. Both the interface and the rover are on track for a successful second ORT in July and the beginning of the field season in September.

April 2005

April 20, New Versions of the EventScope Software were released today. Version 5.4 of the EventScope Viewers and Authoring Tool were released. Improved interfaces and greater stability are some of the new features found in this release. In addition to the EventScope Viewer, Authoring Tool, and Wide-Angle Viewer, a Kiosk Viewer for museums is now available. All four programs are now available for both PC and Mac. Download them now!

March 2005

March 18, EventScope was well represented at the Lunar Planetary Science Conference this month. Peter Coppin, EventScope Primary Investigator, and Eben Myers, Lead Visual Designer, recently returned from the conference at which they presented a poster and demo of the education and public outreach strategy used for the Life in the Atacama project. Click here to learn more.

February 2005

February 4, An EventScope demo has been scheduled to take place at the Lunar Planetary Science Conference outside Houston, TX. Taking place in March, 2005, the LPSC includes an education and public outreach session at which EventScope will be shown.

January 2005

January 6-7, EventScope team members participated in the Life in the Atacama Workshop. Held at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA, the workshop recapped the events and lessons of last fall's field experiment. Roboticists, scientists and the EventScope team also looked ahead to this years longer field season.

December 2004

December 15, The EventScope Lab has moved into new offices. Moving 3 floors up in the same building, the lab has taken the opportunity to design a great working office space.

October 2004

October 12, Anthony Daniels, the actor who plays "C-3PO" in the Star Wars movies, visited the EventScope lab. In town for C-3PO's induction into the Robot Hall of Fame, Daniels came down to the lab where he was treated to live demos of the EventScope software, including the Life in the Atacama Science Ops Interface. Click here to see a picture.

October 11, Eben Myers, an EventScope content designer, presented a poster at the IEEE InfoVis 2004 symposium on Austin, TX. Titled, "EventScope: Bringing Remote Experience of Mars to the Public through Telepresence," the poster covered EventScope's education and public outreach pipeline for transforming data from rover and orbital missions into educational lessons for the public. Click here to learn more.

October 3-9, Week 2 of Remote Science Operations for the Life in the Atacama 2004 mission took place in the Remote Experience and Learning Lab. Scientists from NASA, the University of Arizona, the University of Tennessee, Stanford, and UCLA all gathered in Pittsburgh for a second week to study data as it was returned from the rover. EventScope served as both the remote science interface and as the public interface to the rover's view of the desert.

September 2004

September 18, EventScope Designer Eben Myers presented a recap of the recent Life in the Atacama Science Operations at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Earth Theater. The talk was simultaneously broadcast to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, where Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk was in the audience along with the 10th District Laureates, a group of gifted seventh graders. Myers used the EventScope public interface to show 3D models and 2D imagery from the desert.

September 12-18, Remote Science Operations for the Life in the Atacama 2004 mission took place in the Remote Experience and Learning Lab. Scientists from NASA, the University of Arizona, the University of Tennessee, Stanford, and UCLA all gathered in Pittsburgh to study data as it was returned from the rover. Though "unambiguous" proof of life has yet to be confirmed, the team is looking forward to another week of remote science from October 3rd through the 9th. EventScope is serving as both the remote science interface and as the public interface to the rover's view of the desert.

July 2004

July 31, A poster featuring EventScope has been accepted to the Tenth Annual IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization (InfoVis 2004). The poster will be presented on August 11th at InfoVis in Austin, TX.

July 14-16, The Limits of Life in the Atacama 2004 Astrobiology Mission Science Workshop was hosted by the EventScope Lab and the CMU Field Robotics Center. The participating scientists and investigators came together at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA to prepare for the upcoming robotic astrobiology mission to the Atacama Desert in Chile. Sessions covered topics ranging from a rundown of the rover and instrument capabilities to a demo of the science operations interface (a modified version of EventScope). The mission is scheduled to begin in September 2004.

June 2004

June 20-23, Peter Coppin presented at the 25th National Educational Computing Conference. In a talk given with Glen Schuster of the U.S. Satellite Laboratory/NASA, Coppin, Director and Principal Investigator of the EventScope Project, covered EventScope along with the upcoming Earth Portal product. During the presentation, Coppin shared evidence of the positive impact of the progam and invited educators to participate in future efforts.

June 3, Human-Robot Interaction researcher Geb Thomas visited the EventScope lab and Field Robotics Center in preparation for his study of Science Operations. With CMU hosting the Remote Operations for the Limits of Life in the Atacama ASTEP mission, Thomas, the Director of the University of Iowa's GROK Lab, is studying how scientists interact with the remote robot and its science tools. His results will help guide further development of science rovers and command interfaces.

February 2004

February 20, NASA Classroom of the Future (COTF) hosted a presentation of EventScope Software for COTF staff. Shelley Canright's COTF weekly report stated, "...The presentation included recent data from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, including Spirits bouncing to the surface of Mars and the trench tracks of Opportunity moving across Mars surface. The tool can be used for data visualization and has great potential for educational activities..."

February 10, Version 5.3 of the Viewer and Authoring Tool for Mac and PC. This latest version takes advantage of our new higher speed and capacity server for remote downloads and collaboration, has enhanced model loading capabilities and RDL interface.

February 3, Wide-angle Viewer available for download. This wide-angle version (120 degree angle of view) of the Viewer has a simplified, circular GUI. It is currently being used for public museum displays in VisionStations by Elumens.

January 2004

January 24th, Opportunity, the second of the two Mars Exploration Rovers, landed safely on Mars in Meridiani Planum!

January 24th, Adler Planetarium and Science Museum in Chicago has installed a special wide-angle version of the EventScope viewer in immersive public interactive displays. The EventScope interface receives data updates from the Mars Rovers. This installation is part of EventScope's work for the Mars Public Engagement Program's Museum Visualization Alliance.

January 24th, New versions of the Eventscope Viewer and Authoring Tool for Mac and PC (v.5 Beta 2)are available for download. The new versions have a redesigned interface, enhanced collaboration tools and immediate access to new remote experience files and data.

January 9th, Dana and Ron presented EventScope's next generation 3D collaboration tool to the Amateur Astronomers of Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Science Center. The talk covered basic EventScope content authoring and how raw NASA data is transformed into compelling and accessible presentations for education and science.

January 9th, Peter presented the planned science operations interface and public outreach plans for the October 2004 rover mission to the Chilean Atacama Desert to Search for Life. The presentation was part of the rover expedition design review at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute.

January 9th, Meridiani Planum landing site (MER-B, Opportunity) remote experience PSEs now available for download.

January 9th, Gusev Crater landing site (MER-A, Spirit) remote experience PSEs and lessons now available for download.

January 9th, Collaboration with the Alder Planetarium and Science Museum in Chicago is underway to create exhibits using EventScope to provide access to data when Opportunity lands on Mars in late January.

January 9th, In response to many requests for a Mac version of EventScope, a Beta version of Eventscope for Mac (Panther) OS is completed. Public release anticipated for early January.

January 9th, Custom version of EventScope viewer for MER in beta testing. Automatic updating of newest data available for internet download, enhanced annotation tools and GUI. Public release planned for early January.

January 9th, Washington Co, Pennsylvania Middle School students and teachers help user test Gusev lessons and revised EventScope viewer and Authoring Tool interfaces. They are also preparing to experience the excitement of MER though use of EventScope in their science classes.

January 4th, Spirit, the first of the two Mars Exploration Rovers, landed safely on Mars in Gusev Crater! It is expected that Spirit will be ready to move away from its landing site and start exploring in about a week.

January 4th, Kiski School students have now come on board as a collaborative team to help examine and learn more about the MER missions and explore Mars along with the MER Rovers.