A K-12 and public outreach media strategy for NSF's newest observation aircraft

It is not every year that an $80 million investment is made by the National Science Foundation to significantly enhance the observational capacities of the atmospheric and climate research community. In fact it has taken nearly 20 years for this dream to come true. The High Performance Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER), a significantly-modified Gulfstream V executive jet, is now carrying scientists and new instrumentation to heights of 51,000 feet (15,692 m) and flying continuously for as far as 6000 nautical miles, a feat previously not possible using the US current fleet of research aircraft. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Office of Education and Outreach and Passport to Knowledge are partners in documenting stories from HIAPER as it happens. High Definition Video is being used to record the daring engineering design changes made in HIAPER's wings and fuselage to accommodate miniaturized instruments, its first official flights already breaking records for science, and its premier role in an international research campaign studying mountain waves and atmospheric rotors. Stories from HIAPER are told through interviews with diverse scientist/role models as they are planning, working, and encountering both success and disappointment while gaining new perspectives on our planet's mysteries and complexities. This presentation will describe how the HIAPER suite of short and long-format educational film resources bring HIAPER's cutting-edge research at the frontiers of atmospheric research to K-12 students and the public through broadcast media, websites, and science museum exhibits.