[meteorite-list] NASA Enlists Volunteers to be Solar System Ambassadors

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:08:23 2004
Message-ID: <200209100438.VAA04681_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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: Guy Webster (818) 354-6278

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 9, 2002

NASA ENLISTS VOLUNTEERS TO BE SOLAR SYSTEM AMBASSADORS
 
        Judging from this year's group of Solar System
Ambassadors, the volunteers being recruited by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory for next year will be a diverse
group using many approaches to spread excitement about
space exploration in their communities.

        James McLean, a software engineer in York, Maine,
set up a telescope outside York High School on a spring
night to offer adults and teen-agers views of Saturn and
Jupiter.

        Eileen Poling, a teacher in Parsons, W.Va., told
young children a story and led them in fun activities about
the planets at a Five Rivers Public Library story hour in
July.

        Dr. Darrell Hoskins, a veterinarian in Birmingham,
Ala., presented visual programs to church groups about
exploring Mars and the possibility of life on Jupiter's
moon Europa.

        "The people who make good ambassadors are
enthusiastic self-starters who are already active in their
communities," said Kay Ferrari, national coordinator for
the Solar System Ambassador program based at JPL in Pasadena,
Calif. "They're in all different types of careers: We have a
retired nun in California, a TV weatherman in Michigan, a
budget analyst for the Air National Guard in Washington."

        The program is accepting applications through
Sept. 30 for volunteers to serve as Solar System Ambassadors
in 2003. Selections will be announced in December. Each of
the 50 states plus Puerto Rico has at least one of the
current 278 ambassadors. Up to 300 volunteers will be
selected for 2003, Ferrari said.

        JPL helps the ambassadors keep informed about NASA
missions such as Genesis, to collect samples of material
ejected by the Sun; Cassini, to examine Saturn; Stardust, to
bring home samples of dust from a comet; and Mars Odyssey,
mapping the extent of water ice and other interesting
deposits on Mars. In teleconferences, ambassadors learn
directly from scientists and engineers working on the
missions. JPL also supplies the volunteers with
presentation materials and ideas to help them share exciting
news about solar-system exploration with other people in
their communities.

        Each ambassador, in return, commits to arranging and
carrying out at least four public outreach projects during the
year. Part of NASA's mission is to inspire the next generation
of explorers.

Craig Molstad, a community-development planner in Onamia, Minn.,
usually combines outdoor sky-viewing and indoor picture-viewing
for his Solar System Ambassador programs at schools and summer
camps. He has emphasized both the local heritage of Ojibway
Indian traditions about the stars and planets and the benefit
of having a dark sky far from big-city lights. "I think it's
important to actually take people out and look at the sky.
It's one of the blessings of living in a rural area," he said.

        Monte Pescador, a Colorado college student, writes a
column called "Four Corners, One Sky" for his local Cortez
Sentinel newspaper as an outreach project, but also sees the
rewards from presenting programs in person to fifth graders.
"When you see the kids' eyes light up about something like
what a comet is made of, that's the payback," he said. "Their
imaginations get going and they're thinking about something
that's out beyond the farmland and mesas that surround Cortez."

        Maine's McLean said, "Part of why I got involved with
JPL is that I've got two boys in junior high and high school.
I want to help them be excited about space the way I was as a
boy back in the time of the buildup toward astronauts going to
the Moon."

        Poling said she appreciates the networking with other
ambassadors, as well as the handout materials and other support
from JPL. When she visited Puerto Rico this year to strengthen
her Spanish-language teaching skills, she arranged to meet a
Solar System Ambassador there, Angel Sanabria. "Who'd have
thought somebody from West Virginia and somebody from Puerto
Rico would be helping each other plan programs about space
exploration?" Poling said.

For more information about the Solar System Ambassadors program,
see the Web site at

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador

or contact the coordinator, Kay Ferrari, at
ambassadors_at_jpl.nasa.gov or (818) 354-7581. JPL is managed for
NASA by the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.

# # # # #

NOTE TO EDITORS: Current Solar System Ambassadors are listed at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/usstates.html . Guy
Webster, at (818) 354-6278, can help you contact them.
Received on Tue 10 Sep 2002 12:38:46 AM PDT