[meteorite-list] Programs Will Share Excitement Of Mars Rovers

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue May 18 18:44:21 2004
Message-ID: <200405182244.PAA05385_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

Guy Webster (818) 354-6278

News Release: 2004-127 May 18, 2004

Programs Will Share Excitement Of Mars Rovers

Two free public programs in Pasadena this week will present the
dramatic story of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers.

Nagin Cox of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. will
show pictures and describe the adventure on Thursday evening, May 20,
at JPL and on Friday evening, May 21, at Pasadena City College. She is
deputy chief of the engineering team for the rovers and for the
spacecraft that delivered the rovers to Mars.

The twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are now exploring Mars in
extended missions after successfully completing all tasks set for them
in their primary three-month missions at sites halfway around Mars
from each other. Spirit is approaching hills where scientists hope it
will find older rocks than the rover has examined so far. Opportunity,
in its first two months after landing, found evidence of an ancient
body of water. It is now perched at the edge of a stadium-sized crater
where exposed rocks might reveal more about the region's wet past.

The rovers' landings in January, aided by parachutes and airbags,
provided breathtaking moments. The story Cox will tell begins earlier,
with design and building of the spacecraft at JPL in preparation for
launches from Florida in mid-2003.

At JPL, Cox worked on NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter before
switching to Mars missions. She holds engineering and psychology
degrees from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and a master's degree
in space operations systems engineering from the Air Force Institute
of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Prior to
joining JPL in 1993, she served as a U.S. Air Force captain at the
U.S. Space Command in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Both lectures will begin at 7 p.m. Seating is first-come,
first-served. The Thursday lecture will be in JPL's von Karman
Auditorium. JPL is at 4800 Oak Grove Dr., off the Oak Grove Drive exit
of the 210 (Foothill) Freeway. The Friday lecture will be in Pasadena
City College's Vosloh Forum, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd. For more
information, call (818) 354-0112. Thursday's lecture will be webcast
live and available afterwards at

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures/may04.cfm

-end-
Received on Tue 18 May 2004 06:44:08 PM PDT