Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 18:33:18 -0800 (PST)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Budding young scientists set their sights on Martian soil
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MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: JPL/Gia Scafidi (818) 354-0372
Planetary Society/Susan Lendroth (626) 793-5100
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2001
BUDDING YOUNG SCIENTISTS SET THEIR SIGHTS ON MARTIAN SOIL
For the first-time ever, student scientists will direct a
camera on board NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, currently
orbiting the red planet, and image interesting sites on the
Martian terrain.
Nine students, ranging in age from 10 to 15, were
selected from more than 10,000 entrants worldwide to serve on
the Planetary Society's weeklong Red Rover Goes to Mars
Training Mission. As mission members, the group works with
imaging data from the Global Surveyor spacecraft, managed by
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., to choose
a candidate landing site for a possible future Martian sample
return mission. (The chosen site will be imaged once the
spacecraft reaches that particular region of the planet.) In
addition, under the supervision of Drs. Michael Malin and Ken
Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, Calif.,
the students will image three interesting Martian sites with
Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera.
The students' achievements and findings will be announced
at a student press conference at LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, Calif.
on Feb. 16.
"We're really beginning to expand opportunities for the
public -- and for students in particular -- to participate
directly in Mars exploration," said Michelle Viotti, lead for
the Mars Public Engagement Program at JPL. "It's all about
sharing the adventure, and it's exciting, because some of
these students might even end up playing major roles in NASA
missions one day."
The students, representing Brazil, Hungary, India,
Poland, Taiwan and the United States, were chosen through an
essay contest from a group of 80 semi-finalists. Information
about the students and their training mission is available at
http://planetary.org .
The Planetary Society's Red Rover Goes to Mars project is
conducted in cooperation with NASA and JPL. JPL manages
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, D.C., and Malin Space Science Systems
built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. JPL is a division
of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
#
2/14/01 GNS
2001-034
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