It was quite thrilling to witness the preparation of one of NASA’s high altitude flights to test measuring devices that are likely to be deployed in 2014 when NASA launches a new satellite that will orbit the North and South Poles to measure the thickness of the ice of both caps. The research will be critical to an understanding of the effects of global climate change. The NASA team told me that cooperation from the Icelandic ground team was superb and that there is even talk about returning to Iceland to do additional research. A couple of days later, Reykjavik University hosted the NASA team prior to a presentation to a group of students. The rector of the University, Ari Jonsson, who is a former NASA employee introduced and welcomed the NASA team. Considering that we are very close to the end of the year, when everyone is busy with final exams, it was impressive to see a room full of students eager to listen to the NASA team.
