Launching a high tech website in the middle of Inner Mongolia's Gobi Desert poses some challenges. To begin with, the computers need to survive rough transport and extremely dusty conditions - not to mention the fact that there aren't really any sockets to plug a computer or phone line into.

As the team learned last year, an enclosed tent is NOT the place to be in 130 degrees. This field season, the the team plans to run the 2001 out of the back of a field vehicle. A vehicle affords shade, a cross breeze between open windows and real seats! The computers - and the phone - are powered by truck batteries. The computers will be connected to a satellite phone that can transmit information to the United States at 65 kilobites a minute - faster that most people's home systems…

The information travels 23,000 miles up over the equator and then comes back down another 23,000 miles. The trip - nearly 50,000 miles - results in a one-second delay The Inner Mongolia online expedition is kept live by a small team of people.

To see a diagram of how it works, click here

STATESIDE WEBSITE TEAM:

• Conor Irons helps lay the groundwork with research and a good eye for what will work well in classrooms
• Glenn Ostgaard is the team's tech wizard. He will trouble shoot with you anywhere - even if you are locked on the roof of a hotel room (as Gabe knows from personal experience).
• Erik Vecchione is Project Exploration's webmaster. He works with PE to design the page and program the features. While the expedition is in the field, Erik is responsible for sending the team email questions from the States and posting the team's outgoing images, updates, interviews.

FIELD WEBSITE TEAM:

Inner Mongolia's field team consists of Mike Hettwer and Gabrielle (Gabe) Lyon. In addition to their responsibilities to prospect countless miles in search of fossils, cut burlap strips and move tons of rock by hand, Mike and Gabe create the site from the field. They work to capture images, write about what's happening, and subject the rest of the team to a barrage of questions. Most of the work takes place offline and at night, when it's cool and the equipment is under less strain.