Into a volcano to test suitcase-sized science lab
Monday, March 8, 2010 - 00:35
in Astronomy & Space
Some scientists will go anywhere for a proper test, including the mouth of a (sleeping) Hawaiian volcano. Dr. Inge Ten Kate, a University of Maryland Baltimore County research assistant, led an expedition into a cinder cone atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to test the prototype for an instrument that will be a miniature laboratory to discover the composition of rocks and atmospheres on moons, asteroids, and planets across the solar system.