Descriptions of the facilities of each of the participating institutions that will be available to the investigators involved with the project are described below. In addition to these resources, the purchase of some additional computing equipment will be required to complete the proposed effort (see Additional Detailed Budget Information). Full signed letters of support are provided in the Appendix. Essential paragraphs are repeated here in italics for completeness.
The University of Michigan
The Space Physics Research Laboratory (SPRL), within the College of Engineering Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences Department, has played a significant role in the U.S. Space Program since its founding in 1946. In the past 2 decades, SPRL faculty and engineers have designed and fabricated instrumentation for over 100 rocket and balloon experiments and has developed and successfully flown over 30 major space instruments for US and international missions. The SPRL computing network includes 180 Macintosh and PC computers, 40 VMS and UNIX workstations, a data center comprising VAX 6420 and 8600 computers and supporting hardware, and is a gateway to the Internet and to extensive College of Engineering Computer Aided Engineering Network (CAEN) and University computing resources (including 2,000 Apollo, Sun, Apple, IBM, HP, and DEC workstations, connections to a variety of local and remote supercomputers, file and print servers, implementation servers, and national networks). SPRL administers over $14 Million in sponsored research, with interests spanning interdisciplinary studies of the earth, planets, and other objects and plasma regions within and beyond the solar system.
The School of Information and Library Studies (SILS)
The laboratory at SILS includes multiple computer platforms for the use of the faculty and students, including UNIX, Mac, and Windows platforms. In addition, SILS has access to all the network support and resources provided through CAEN.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Facilities available within the Earth and Space Sciences Division (ESSD) at JPL include the JPL ESSD Computing Network. The Network is comprised of a VAXstation 4000-90, a VAXstation 3200, and a MicroVax 3400, which form a VAX cluster, as well as assorted Macintosh personal computers connected via an ethernet.
Turn of the Century Software
Turn of the Century Software is a software consulting partnership operated by Dr. Weymouth and Dr. Rasmussen. They specialize in networked and graphics applications on Macintosh, PC/Windows, and Unix/Motif platforms, with combined expertise spanning ten years of project oriented programming. In addition, they have expertise in C and C++ programming and experience with COLLAGE and MOSAIC. Currently, TCS does software development on two MacIntosh IIs and one PC.
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum
The AAHOM serves over 125,000 visitors annually (approximately one-third in school or youth groups and 65% students and children) with 250 interactive science exhibits which invite visitors to learn about mathematics, science, technology, art, and cultures. The Museum also offers an assortment of special programs for the public. The Museum is governed by a Board of Trustees of community leaders and has recently undergone a significant expansion. The Museum has received national recognition as the site of the first Institute for New Science Centers, as a model for establishing a high-quality, low cost science museum, and as a recipient of five IMS General Operating Support Grants. The Museum has recently been awarded grants from the NSF Informal Science Education Program and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Space Science Data Operations Office, Goddard Space Flight Center
The SSDOO contains three branches: the Astrophysics and the Space Physics Data Facilities, as well as the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), and is headed by our Co-I, Dr. James Green. The NSSDC is NASA's only long term archive and manages approximately 8 terabytes of data obtained from over 30 years of space exploration in addition to several 10's of million feet of film (all negative formats, slide, microfilm, etc.) from over 100 NASA missions. SSDOO manages the "home pages" on the World Wide Web for SSDOO, the Space Science Directorate, GSFC, and NASA and supports a number of interactive interfaces to over a dozen data and information systems including the Master Directory. The SSDOO has T1 and high Internet connectivity and T1 NASA Science Internet connectivity to its computer facilities. The SSDOO computer facilities contain 7 VAX, 15 UNIX, and 3 SGI workstations, 5 on-line optical disk juke boxes with the capability of storing 600 to 800 gigabytes of data each. Other facilities include numerous tape (9-track, 8 mm, 4mm) drives, stand alone optical (WORM, WO, CD-ROM) drives, a CD-ROM pre-mastering system and over 50 microcomputers (PCs and Macintoshs).