1. Who has used the SIR-CED materials?
We have distributed over 5000 copies of the SIRCED01 CD-ROM to educators teaching at middle school, high school and college undergraduate level. We have received samples of SIR-CED projects done by students in grades as low as 5 to 7 and positive feedback from many other teachers who have used the SIR-CED materials in the classroom. From phone calls, e-mails, and faxes sent in to us by people who have used the first disk, we have compiled this list of frequently asked questions.
The first SIR-CED CD-ROM has also been used to teach college-level undergraduates, particularly those taking non-science majors, and by engineers and scientists with an interest in radar imaging, but who are not necessarily imaging radar specialists
2. When will the second SIR-CED CD-ROM be available
The second SIR-CED CD-ROM (Vol. SIRCED02) is scheduled for release in February 1995. It will be distributed by the EROS Data Center and through NASA CORE (see addresses below).
3. How do I display images on the SIR-CED disks?
The ReadmeWd.txt and ReadmeTx.txt files include simple, 1-page introductions to the main software tools you will need to use. These should be enough to get you started displaying the SIR-CED images. On the Macintosh you should be able to display files with names ending in .pic by just double-clicking on them. This brings up the application NIHImage automatically and displays the image. On PC and Unix machines the applications IMDISP and XV are provided. Start them up, then select a file with a name ending in .gif for display. Alternatively, use one of the many shareware gif display programs for the PC or Macintosh available on the Internet.
4. When I try to run the NIHImage program (e.g. by double-clicking on a .pic file) I get a message telling me my Macintosh does not have a floating-point unit. What should I do?
On SIRCED01, two versions of NIHImage are provided in the Software folder (path is Software/Mac/NIHImage): they are NIHImage 1.51 and NIHImage 1.51nonFPU. Use the NIHImage 1.51nonFPU version if your Macintosh does not have a floating-point unit. Copy the NIHImage 1.51nonFPU application over to your hard disk and open by double-clicking on it. then display the .pic files by double-clicking on them or using the Open option in the File menu under NIHImage.
SIRCED02 contains NIHImage version 1.55, which should be compatible with Macintoshes which have floating-point units and those which do not.
5. How do I learn more about the Image Display software?
User manuals are provided for the software in the Software folder. You'll find them in the same folders as the software itself. Most of these manuals can be read using Microsoft Word or a similar word processing program.
6. When using the Macintosh display programs, I often get messages telling me I'm out of memory. What should I do?
Memory management for the Macintosh programs is discussed in the Teachers Guide. This discussion can be found in the file Imgstart.txt in the path Document/Teacher/Intro.
7. How do I read the text files on the CD-ROMs?
We recommend that you use the program Microsoft Word, if available. This should be able to read most of the text files on the disk. If you don't have Microsoft Word, try another word processing program. Most of the text files on the CD-ROM were developed on the Macintosh using Microsoft Word v. 5.1 for the Mac, which can be read using Microsoft Word v. 6.0 on the PC. There is sometimes a problem in reading these files on the PC in that many of the Graphics embedded in the text will not be visible. This can be changed by resetting the View option under Preferences, so that the 'Picture Placeholders' option is not selected.
8. How do I find my way around the Teachers' Guide documents on the disks?
On SIRCED01, a Table of Contents can be found in the file Contents.txt in the directory or folder path Document/Teacher/Intro. The Teachers' guide is divided up into an Introduction (in the folder Intro) and five modules, which are further divided into sections. For example, Module 1, section B introduces the idea of viewing the Earth from space. This material can be found in the file Mod1secB.txt which is contained in the folder Module01 (path Document/Teacher/Module01).
On SIRCED02, we have included a copy of the HTML document version of the Teachers' Guide and Lesson Plans developed by our friends at AskEric at Syracuse University, which can be read using Mosaic.
9. We only have one CD drive at my school. How can I use the SIR-CED material on the CD in my classroom?
The vast majority of the files on the SIR-CED CD-ROM are less than 1.4 MBytes in size. This was deliberately done so that files (text, images, programs) could be copied off one machine using floppy disks or a local area network without too much difficulty. If you only have one CD-drive (a common situation at present), you thus have several options:
a) Use an overhead projector and a Liquid Crystal Display connected to the computer with the CD drive to display the images, etc. in class.
b) If you have a classroom where several computers are connected by a local area network using a server, place the files you want to use in a folder on the server which can be accessed by all the computers on the network.
c) Copy the files you want to use off the CD onto floppy disks and then copy those files over to each machine in the classroom.
10. We don't have a CD-ROM drive at all in my school. What should we do?
Buy one if you can. Using CD-ROM technology is the best way to get hold of large volumes of data (the Internet is still too slow for most users and will be for the foreseeable future). CD-ROM drives have been offered for as little as $100 in computer magazines so they won't blow your budget.
If you can't get a CD-ROM drive but you have an Internet connection, you can try using NCSA's Mosaic program (available for most machines at their FTP site ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu or 141.142.20.50). Try using Mosaic to access a World Wide Web address called AskEric (HTTP://eryx.syr.edu/) maintained by the good folks at Syracuse University, which has the Teachers' Guide and Lesson Plans from the SIR-CED CD-ROM available on-line.
11. We use PC's at my school. How do I display the images on the SIR-CED CD-ROM?
Displaying most of the images is easy. The .pic (really PICT) files placed on the CD-ROM for Macintosh users all have .gif versions (GIF format) in the folder gifs (path Data/gifs). We provide a program called IMDISP (under Software/PC) which can display GIF images quite easily on your PC (just follow the instructions in the file Imgstart.txt or the User manual for setting up your PC to run IMDISP). IMDISP has a histogram function which allows some simple analysis of the data in the .gif files.
Many other programs are available for handling GIF files, either as Shareware or in the Public Domain. A good starting point to search for GIF-handling programs on the Internet is the FTP site bongo.cc.utexas.edu under the /gifstuff directory or the JPL FTP site jplinfo.jpl.nasa.gov, which has freeware and shareware for both PCs and Macintoshes.
12. We use PC's (or Unix systems) and I can't get the files ending in .stk to open at all. What do I do?
Currently, you will not be able to analyze files ending in .stk using software on the SIR-CED CD-ROMs on the PC (or Unix systems). The .stk files are data files in a coded JPL format. The MacSigma0 program can display these files on Macintosh computers and JPL are distributing a program called RAVEN under license, which can display the .stk files on Unix workstations. Check our World Wide Web site at URL:
http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/
for information on how to get a copy of the RAVEN software. We are working on a PC and Unix version of the Macsigma0 program which handles this format, which may be made available to educators sometime during Spring 1995. Again, please check our World Wide Web site (the URL is http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov) for an update on this. Commercially available software to handle the JPL-formatted data is being developed by a number of companies. If you have a fairly large budget (c. $10,000) a company called PCI market a software package for UNIX and MS-DOS systems called Radarsoft (ask for the version with support for polarimetric radar data):
PCI Remote Sensing Corp. Tel: (703) 243 3700
1925 N. Lynn Street, Suite 803 Fax: (703) 243 3705
Arlington, VA 22209
This information is provided for your convenience: the software products listed above are not endorsed or supported by NASA or JPL in any way.
13. There's a lot of stuff on the CD-ROM. Am I expected to go through all of it?
No. Pick and choose the things you want to use and tailor the materials to the capabilities of your class. The Teacher's Guide is meant as a reference book, not a text book, and should be used by the teacher to get up to speed on imaging radar and SIR-C and as a source book to answer students' questions. Only the images in the folder Mods1to4 are meant to be seen by all students; the images in other folders are provided for the project phase of the program in Module 5.
14. How do I find out more?
We have set up a World Wide Web server site at URL:
http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov
which you can access using NCSA's Mosaic browse program. You will find more information about NASA/JPL's imaging radar program there, as well as the latest images, sample data, information on software availability and updates on the SIR-CED program. You should also find an updated version of this FAQ. JPL also maintain a directory at the JPL FTP site (jplinfo.jpl.nasa.gov or 137.78.104.2) containing information about the SIR-C program. In the directory SIRC/XSAR you will find many examples of images from the first SIR-C mission, details of the shuttle orbit and the data-takes, plus further information about the SIR-CED program.
15. Were there any educational activities during the SIR-C flights?
Yes. Some schools took part in ground data collection activities at the SIR-C supersites in the USA. Unfortunately, only a very few students can benefit from this experience. To reach a wider audience, during each SIR-C flight and after, examples of the latest greatest results, including images, were posted to the JPL FTP site (jplinfo.jpl.nasa.gov or 137.78.104.2). NASA Select television broadcast live coverage of both flights and some of these broadcasts are occasionally repeated. For schools that have satellite dishes, satellite transmission will be on Spacenet 2, transponder 5, located at 69 degrees West with horizontal polarization. Broadcast frequency will be 3880.0 Megahertz, audio on 6.8 Megahertz. Some cable companies also carry NASA Select as part of their educational programming.
16. Do you plan to produce any more CD's?
No, SIRCED02 is the last SIR-CED CD-ROM for now, though JPL will certainly produce more educational CDs in the future, based around different projects and subjects.
17. Where can I get hold of more CD's?
The CD-ROMs, together with a hard copy of the Teachers' Guide and Lesson Plans, and a collection of videos concerning SIR-C, are also being distributed for a minimal fee (currently $38) by:
NASA Central Operation of Resources for Educators (CORE)
Lorain County JVS
15181 Route 58 South
Oberlin, Ohio 44074
Tel: (216) 774 1051 (ext. 293/294)
Fax: (216) 774 2144