Word: spurr
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...misstep, not a rock, that toppled Dante, and only after the robot had completed its main mission: a detailed study of the crater floor 300 ft. below the rim of Alaska's active Mount Spurr volcano that included a 3-D survey of the hellish terrain and an analysis of gases issuing from belching vents. Among the significant results: the first maps of the crater's surface, normally hidden by outcroppings and haze. Dante also discovered scant sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide in the noxious air, implying that the volcano, which erupted in 1992, will probably stay quiet...
...important as this news was to volcano experts and the people of Anchorage, just 80 miles from Mount Spurr, the volcano study was perhaps the least noteworthy part of the robot's mission. Despite the final slipup, which toppled Dante and left it stranded on the steep mountain slope, the 10-day trek went a long way toward proving the potential of a technology that could let humans explore a wide range of sites too hazardous to visit in person -- other volcanoes, deep caves, the barren wastes of Antarctica, the ocean floor and even the surfaces of the moon...
Giving scientists only half an hour of warning, Mount Spurr, 130 km (80 miles) west of Anchorage, erupted violently on Tuesday afternoon, sending a plume of ash 16 km (10 miles) into the air. It descended on Alaska's largest city a few hours later, blackening the sky and filling the air with a choking fall of what looked like gray snow. Cars and planes were stopped to protect engines from the abrasive grit, and people -- especially those with respiratory ailments -- were advised to stay indoors until the next morning...