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More environmental and global awareness of the extreme fragility of the earth's atmosphere and ecosystem is also a goal of KidSat. Perhaps if kids could see just how thin our atmosphere is and how much damage has already been done, they would take more care of the earth when their time comes, said Ride, who has already written a children's book, The Third Planet, which discusses these global issues.

KidSat, though quite a novelty, is not the first attempt at bringing students into the area of remote sensing. JPL initiated a project about two years ago names "My Backyard". In this project, high school kids in Pasadena were shown high resolution photographs of their communities, taken from an airplane, and asked to point out their own backyards. This predecessor of KidSat suggested that a movement from a local to a global perspective was possible.

Education is definitely moving rapidly into the twenty-first century. The technology reaching the children in primary, secondary and high schools is increasing with the mass migration of computers into the classroom. Now there is a new technological prospect on the education horizon. Its name is KidSat.

The CalSpace Institute is presently recruiting new undergraduate members for the KidSat team, and welcomes all applicants of any discipline. Call Mike Wiskerchen at 534-5869 (email:mwiskerchen@ucsd.edu) or his assistant Terry McEntee-Allred at 534-5827 or simply drop by the third floor of the Chemistry Research Building.

Thanks goes to Sally Ride and her book, The Third Planet.