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EPA’S FLYING CHEMICAL DETECTION SYSTEM OPEN TO NEWS MEDIA TOURS THURSDAY, MAY 12

Release Date: 05/11/2005
Contact Information:

Environmental News
Dale Armstrong
(913) 551-7316
armstrong.dale@epa.gov

NEWS MEDIA ADVISORY

May 11, 2005

EPA’S FLYING CHEMICAL DETECTION SYSTEM OPEN TO NEWS MEDIA TOURS THURSDAY, MAY 12

EPA’s flying chemical detection system will be available for news media tours and photos from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday, May 12, at the downtown airport as part of National Science Month activities.

The airborne chemical detection system, called ASPECT for “Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology,” is mounted in a twin-engine airplane. It can detect chemicals and several different radiological materials.

ASPECT can also collect high-resolution digital photography and video and can take thermal and night images by using instruments that track differences in heat below the airplane. EPA Region 7 scientists who staff ASPECT will be available to the news media during a stopover en route from imaging work in Ohio to the plane’s storage facility in Dallas.

The ASPECT tour will begin in the lobby of Executive Beechcraft at the downtown airport just off the Broadway bridge.

Read more about ASPECT at
http://pearl1.lanl.gov/external/Research/ASPECT2.html