1st results back from Argonautica
1st March 2006
High-school pupils who tracked the expeditions of the German icebreaker Polarstern* and French yachtswoman Isabelle Autissier as part of the Argonautica project have reached their 1st milestone. Unfortunately, some of the buoys they fitted with Argos transmitters stopped functioning very early on. They are now attempting to understand why.
Expeditions and 1st data back
The expeditions of the Polastern and Isabelle Autissier are now over and the crews have returned.
Crdits: CNES
While the Argonautica project is very much ongoing and still gathering a wealth of data, some of the youngsters taking part are nevertheless disappointed that the Lila and Magellan buoys they built, released from Isabelle Autissier’s boat Ada and from the Polastern, only operated for a very short time.
However, the high-school pupils were able to retrieve data and analysis of signals transmitted by the buoys. They hope that once processed, the data will reveal why the buoys malfunctioned.
Meet the crews
The youngsters will now be able to relieve some of their doubts and get answers to their questions by talking to the crews.
To this end, CNES has organized 2 meetings next month:
Other buoys released are still sending back animals’ positions and data.
To this end, CNES has organized 2 meetings next month:
- A telephone link-up with Isabelle Autissier, on 10 March, will give them the opportunity to find out what conditions were like when the buoys were released.
- A meeting between pupils from Poitiers and the crew of the Polarstern, now back in France, on 29 March. A film of the expedition made by the team from CNRS Image will be shown and the protagonists will answer youngsters’ questions.
Other buoys released are still sending back animals’ positions and data.
The latest information is posted every Thursday on CNES’s Education & Youth website: www.cnes.fr
* Mission to calibrate data from the satellite Jason-1 in the Drake Passage between the southernmost tip of South America and Antarctica.
* Mission to calibrate data from the satellite Jason-1 in the Drake Passage between the southernmost tip of South America and Antarctica.
