Our Mission Control staff works at e-Mission Headquarters located at the Challenger Learning Center. When nature's forces threaten people around the world, they come to us for advice. Using our scientific knowledge and tools, we try to prepare them for the potential damage nature can cause. Mission Control needs Emergency Response Teams, or ERTs, to help. ERT members work together. They investigate what might happen to the Earth's many systems during a crisis. ERT investigators must stay calm and cooperate with other ERTs in order to succeed during an e-Mission.

Mission Control uses special scientific equipment installed aboard a Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite. We also receive critical information from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This information helps us measure the forces released by natural events. Our ERT partners study these measurements (also called "data"). With this data they try to predict the effects natural events will have on people and the environment. The valuable advice our ERTs offer helps people in danger.

Three of the most important missions we have completed were e-Mission: Yellowstone; e-Mission: Mt. Pinatubo; and e-Mission: Hurricane Georges. During each of these natural events, the science, math, and map-reading skills of Emergency Response Teams were very helpful in saving lives and protecting ecosystems. To prepare for e-Mission: Operation Montserrat, you will study our success on these previous missions.