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MarsFest '04
Saturday, January 10, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The Museum of Flight in Seattle
On Christmas Day 2003, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express with went into orbit, Britain's Beagle 2 lander hopefully touched down on the Martian plains of Isidis Planitia, marking the first extraplanetary visit of an ESA probe. A few thousand kilometers away and two weeks later, on January 3rd of this year, NASA/JPL's lands its golf-cart-sized robotic explorer 'Spirit' in Mars' Gusev Crater. And on January 24th, Spirit's twin, 'Opportunity', will touch down at Meridiani Planum on the other side of the red planet. Never before has such an international armada of spacecraft converged on another planet, and the National Space Society Seattle Chapter, Mars Society Puget Sound and the Planetary Society join the Museum in celebrating this historic "Earthling invasion" with a full day of Mars-related programs, exhibits, video screenings and live feeds from NASA TV.
Leading off the formal programs is an 11:00 a.m. multimedia presentation by JPL Solar System Ambassador Dr. Ron Hobbs. His talk entitled "Return to Mars" places the current ESA and NASA missions in the context of almost forty years of Martian exploration that began in 1965 when Mariner 4 captured twenty-one photographs of the planet as it flew by. At 1:00 p.m., Dr. Hobbs moderates a panel discussion among local Mars experts, including: Prof. Adam Bruckner, chair of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Washington; Conway Leovy, who worked on the Mariner 6 and 7 and Viking Lander science teams; Jeff Slostad, who worked on the robotic arm of the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander; and James Tillman who was a co-investigator on the Viking Lander weather sensors. These men know their Mars science and hardware! Don't miss their wide-ranging discussion.
Delivering the MarsFest keynote address at 3:00 p.m. is special guest Dr. Robert Zubrin. Founder and current president of the Mars Society, Dr. Zubrin is a tireless promoter of human exploration of Mars, as well as a respected engineer and scientist and a best-selling author. Following the discussion, he will sign copies of his most recent book, "Mars on Earth: The Adventures of Space Pioneers in the High Arctic" (J. P. Tarcher, 2003), which details the dramatic story of the Mars Society's scientific expeditions to build and test simulated habitats for Martian exploration in the terrestrial Arctic and the U.S. desert Southwest.
MarsFest is free with regular museum admission:
Adults (18-64) $11.00; Seniors $10.00; Youth 5-17 $6.50; Kids under 4 free, Adult groups of 10 or more $10 each; Part of "City Pass" Program
The Museum of Flight
9404 E Marginal Way South
Seattle, WA 98108
206-764-5700
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