A Redwood City man will participate in a NASA mission in which he will go on a high-altitude flight with the world’s largest airborne telescope.
David Marasco, a physics professor at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills in Santa Clara County, will go on one of two flights of NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy later this year—the exact dates are still undetermined—along with 27 other educators. The flights will take place on a modified Boeing 747, which will leave from Palmdale with scientists using a 100-inch infrared telescope aboard to find targets throughout the atmosphere. In all, 28 educators from across the nation will go on two separate voyages during their time in the unique space program, which began in 2010 to allow teachers an opportunity to work alongside teams of astronomers conducting research.
“I’m very excited,” Marasco said. “It takes me back to when an astronaut came to my classroom as a kid and got me all revved up about science, engineering and math.” Marasco has a background in working with infrared technology.
Although Marasco admits he doesn’t exactly know what to expect, he said the flights will reportedly take place at night and the telescope will be focused on specific targets. A NASA report indicated that information collected on the flights will allow scientists to examine the formation of stars and planets; the chemistry of interstellar gasses; composition of comets, asteroids and planets, and black holes in the center of galaxies.
Marasco will undergo intensive scientific training to prepare him for the mission. “They aren’t throwing us on an airplane and saying go,” he remarked.
The jet will fly as high as 45,000 feet which is above more than 99 percent of the atmospheric water vapor and other infrared-absorbing gasses to make it possible to see what would otherwise not be visible from the ground.
After the mission, Marasco said he hopes to incorporate his experience into lesson plans, as well as community education programs such as the Foothill Physics Show, which teaches science to residents through creative performances.
“When people hear that I get to work with NASA, and get to do this exciting mission, they say ‘this is what I wanted to do,’” he said. “People are very excited for me, and I’m very excited too.”
