The Year of Curiosity

One year ago today, Curiosity Rover, carrying the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), landed on Mars. There were 127 landing parties in the USA and 15 other countries, and thousands of people watched breathlessly until news of the successful landing gave way to raucous celebrations all over the globe!


NASA Television had a record number of viewers. NASA.gov went DOWN. Ustream froze. Live data feeds tanked due to the onslaught of online demand. The world watched. Together. And believe it or not, the fun has just barely begun...!

Neil deGrasse Tyson predicted the risky Entry, Descent, & Landing (EDL) would fail. Many of us writers considered preparing two articles -- one for success and one for a crash. I spent days feeling sick to my stomach at the idea of what would happen to the NASA budget for Mars missions if Curiosity didn't land safely. (Humanity doesn't exactly have a stellar success rate with missions to the red planet!)

Everything that could have gone right, went right. Every expected signal arrived. Everyone who worked on this magnificent mission of space exploration can be proud, choked up, relieved and sleepless-for-days jubilant! And millions of us who had followed this mission for years could finally say that our most cutting edge technology now roves on the fourth rock from the sun.

I saw the very first images on a huge screen at the largest landing party on Earth. By the time the EDL was in progress, more than 7,000+ people had congregated at NASA Ames Research Center near Moffett Field in California. The cheer that rose from that crowd when we knew Curiosity had landed safely was utterly EPIC!  The roar upon receiving the first photograph on Martian terrain...? Well, I'm pretty sure people in Las Vegas heard us.


MSL Curiosity has since drilled rocks, fired lasers at soil target, photographed landslides, ound streambeds, and even photographed the Martian moon Phobos overhead!

From Bradbury to Glenelg,from Rocknest to Point Lake, from Shaler to Cumberland, and on to the base of Mt, Sharp, MSL is making herself at home in Gale Crater, teaching us more about Mars than we ever thought possible: radiation, what was once under water, volcanic vs. sedimentary rocks, determined temperature and humidity, nature of Martian minerals, and most importantly -- what is now almost certainly proof of ancient habitability.

This advanced rover found evidence that geochemical conditions were once suitable for microbial life.  MSL Curiosity detected water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, chloromethane, and dichloromethane.What happened to the Martian atmosphere over the last billion years? We know it was there.  And now, thanks to MSL, scientists finally know why Mars changed!

Curiosity, which may last as long as a decade on Mars, may be able to tell us so much more! So stay tuned for good science.  A toast to the first 354 sols!  May there be thousands!

NOTE: The anniversary being celebrated today and tomorrow represent one Earth year. 668 sols of the Martian year (687 equivalent Earth days) would put the Martian Anniversary on July 14, 2014 .

#WaveAtSaturn

Hashtag we've been having tons of fun with: #WaveAtSaturn! Hashtag I cannot wait for: #EuropaWavedBack!  Well, a gal can dream.

Did you wave at planet Saturn?? Okay fine, so it was 900 million miles away, but it's the cosmic thought that counts! There's @Craftlass waving due east to Saturn, as captured by @Woodtoast along the New York skyline. Definitely the best capture of the SpaceTweep frenzy!

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory held events onsite and online, encouraging everyone to wave, and people obliged, from all over the world!

If you were asleep on Friday July 19, 2013... well, Spacecraft Cassini took your picture anyway! Even if you blinked, even if you didn't look up and smile, our entire planet was photographed by the distant probe orbiting planet Saturn, as part of a series that will create a mosaic (mapped above).

Our particular portrait has been released via the Raw Images Gallery of JPL's Cassini archives, though it may be some time before all the pictures are calibrated and pulled together into panoramas.

Still, the initial glimpse of our beautiful world as a mere DOT beneath Saturn's icy-rocky rings are powerful, beautiful, and humbling.

"Man must rise above Earth to the atmosphere and beyond
for only thus will he understand the world in which he lives."
~ Socrates, 500 BC

The Americas happened to be facing Saturn at a time when a full solar eclipse made it possible for Cassini to take a central-solar-system-pointed portraits with no sun glare, so Earth was captured in the background. Europe and Africa were in line-of-sight of Saturn, though by the time the picture was taken, they were partially dark.

However, even with the most powerful cameras, we won't be seeing too many details at 1.5 billion kilometres away! In the highest resolution photograph, our planet will only be 1.9 pixels across.

We had a good time, but it's not really about Earth. This series of photos is actually designed to provide data to scientists about the fainter rings encircling Saturn. With forward-scattered light, particles as fine as smoke or dust may be detectable -- and, of course, the last time Cassini took a back-lit image in 2006, 3 new moons were discovered!

So, stay tuned for more news and photographs.  And if you participated, be sure to go to the Wave At Saturn website on the Cassini Solstice Mission website and print out your certificate!

NASA Beauty Pageants 1952-1973

Perhaps you thought the NASA bedrest studies were the goofiest thing you ever saw at the space agency, but did you know NASA once held beauty pageants?!

Click to see the original 2-page spread in the archives

This is one of those anomalous things I thought "everyone knew about," and I don't get the urge to research or write about in terms of historical accuracy -- until someone argues with me. You know who you are. And I won't rub it in or anything, but these definitely are not myth or legend. While the events are not exactly well-documented in the NASA archives, proof absolutely does exist.

Beginning at their Spring Dance in 1952, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California held annual "Miss Guided Missile" pageants. There's definitely a "misguided" joke sitting right smack in the middle of all this -- but heck, it was the 1950s, what can you do?!

Miss Guided Missile 1955, Alane Hine, employee of JPL Solid Rockets section

When I first heard of this, I thought perhaps it was an unofficial lark for fun at some kind of spring picnic... but no. Incredibly, managers of various departments sponsored coronation candidates, and developed actual campaigns to draw employee votes -- which included luncheons, and parades around the campus streets in decorated convertibles.

None other than rocket scientist and longest-serving director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dr. Walter Pickering, crowned the ladies through the years, at events sponsored by the Employees Recreation Club (ERC).

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was transferred to NASA in 1958, the same year the Zsa Zsa Gabor film "Queen of Outer Space" was released.  The following year, JPL's pageant was similarly (and one imagines humorously) re-named, also reflecting JPL's transition from missiles to spacecrafts.

JPL "Queen of Outer Space" in May, 1962

These perfectly-acceptable-then-but-seeming-travesties-now continued through the 1960s, only halting in 1970.  Apparently, that was around the time it was enough for the women to perform their math magic alongside men without wondering how anyone looked in an evening gown!

While I know some fellow feminists are probably gnashing their teeth reading this, it's worthwhile to note that pageants originated at JPL because they were among the first major governmental and aeronautic facilities to employ women!  JPL hired them throughout the 1940s and 1950s to compute satellite trajectories; the first female engineer was hired in 1961 to work on the Ranger and Mariner mission tracking teams.  So, in a weird way, the road to equality was paved with marginalizing... but then, when it is ever not?

Miss NASA 1971 with Apollo 8 at Lewis Research Center

While NASA never had an agency-wide pageant comprising women from all centers, and certainly never sponsored these events as a rule across any centers, the Lewis Center in Ohio crowned a "Miss NASA" each year between 1968 and 1973.

NASA Lewis Research Center was founded in 1958, and renamed NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in 1999.  Today, we generally refer to it as "NASA Glenn". Same set of buildings.

Miss NASA 1973 Merri Fahnenbruck with Apollo Moon rock

The pictures, with precious few details, are easily found by keyword in the NASA Archives, just don't tell anyone you're searching for a tomato in a tiara, standing next to an RL-10 engine. You might get a bad reputation.

Click on any of the pictures above to see the entire collection of NASA beauty pageant photographs, or click this Pillownaut domain link.

Fry's Space Shuttle

Yet another tourist attraction hiding in a retail store, of all places! On my quest to see all the space-themed Fry's Electronics warehouses, I guess I just have Space-Shuttle-On-The-Brain right now.

The real shuttles and shuttle simulators will be heading to museums this year, but one handy mock-up has been on display for quite awhile now, and is easy to see… usually with no line!

Shuttle Flight Deck

In 2010, I featured the Fry's Space Station store near Johnson Space Center in Houston, which has full-sized models of the ISS modules; then in 2011 I visited Fry's Space Ship in Burbank, where the local store displays 1950s science fiction movies... mostly space ships, as constructed on a huge scale both inside and out.

I'll go to any Fry's branch and blow a few hours at a time looking at gadgets and hardware, but of course, I think the space stores are the most fun. This one also has various astronaut tributes, and a space-themed "Café Canaveral" where you can get a typically unhealthy American meal. Pass. I'll be in the DVD section for a few weeks, instead.

Playing inside the cockpit

As ever, I'm not promoting or endorsing anything in particular in Fry's Electronics, but I am glad to see them honoring space artifacts and themes; it is fun to see a store chain have a good time in the pop-culture or scientific landscape!

Perhaps someday I'll visit one of the other 30-some-odd sites with international, cartoon or even under-water themes… but I sure wish they would do up one whole store as planet Mars!

I wonder what this button does?

It was my great pleasure to visit this particular outlet with NASA mascot Camilla SDO, dressed for action in her spiffy flight suit! We particularly enjoyed the mission clock details, surrounding shuttle launch films, and the autographed picture of Neil Armstrong.

Click to see the entire gallery over in my collection of Picasa albums!

Asteroid Watch

While creating my post yesterday for all the official NASA twitter feeds, I was surprised to note that the Near Earth Objects Program, colloquially known as "Asteroid Watch" or "Spaceguard", is approaching a million followers!

Are folks really that worked up about asteroids hitting Earth? Well, in answer to my question, the man tasked with teaching us about the NEO Program had the Arizona Meteor Crater on his introduction slide, LOL! So there you are. Things can and do hit the Earth from time to time, and will continue to do so.


Want to see one? It so happens that this coming Monday, June 27, 2011... a school-bus-sized asteroid NASA has named "2011 MD" will come within 12,000 kilometers (or 7,500 miles) of Earth. Not the closest or largest that has skittered near our atmosphere, but visible by amateur telescope from many areas – and a fine chance for NASA to examine the properties of the asteroid in infrared, radar and visual observations.

The asteroid will pass so close, that Earth's gravity will quite sharply alter the asteroid's trajectory, whereupon it will move through our zone of man-made orbiting satellites; however, astronomers say there is only a very remote chance of anything colliding.

KNOWN: 500,00 minor planets
7,750 Near Earth Objects (NEO)
1,200 Potentually Hazardous Asteroids (PHA)

You wouldn't think anyone could make killer asteroids so blasted hilarious, would you?! The speaker above, NEO Project Manager Don Yeomans, started by highlighting the architecture of the solar system, as such: we have rocky planets in the inner region, gaseous giants further out, various "belts" of leftover small bodies and a distant comet cloud. Simple enough, right?

Yes, well perhaps in 1900, when we shrugged about it because we simply didn't have the technology to spot much of anything. He zoomed through slides showing discoveries in 1950, 1990, 1999 and finally 2011. And. Wow. It suddenly starts to seem rather amazing that we don't have more craters.


While conventional wisdom of past eras of science suggests the main "asteroid belt" lies roughly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, but in more recent days, stargazers are learning that asteroids can make very close approaches to Earth with far greater frequency than previously assumed.

So, if you happen to be short of things to worry about currently, definitely check out the NEO web site for all the amazing tools used to spot near-Earth objects, and you can also keep up with potential disaster movie plots on their Sentry Risk Table.

Red Planet Rap Video

Just one of the many amazing outreach programs run by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is "Imagine Mars", and it was my great pleasure to get to shake hands with Mars Public Engagement Team member David Delgado when I was at the JPL last week. In all of my photography and coverage of the media events, I'd have to say this was the special one that truly hit home for me!


Perhaps it was because I suspect many people are unaware of the extent of educational outreach performed by NASA centers, and how important it to work with children of all ages, across all regions, to inspire them in scientific endeavours. These are very likely the least known, but most important space agency missions!

NASA's Imagine Mars Project (co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts) is a nationwide arts, sciences and technology education initiative, bringing together scientists, civic leaders and school-children to design a sustainable Mars community for 100 people. Understanding "green efforts" and the health of their own community becomes the students primary research goal.


While presenting all the "Green Tech on the Red Planet" projects in the Imagine Mars program, David introduced an amazing music video called "Bye Bye Earth," created by students in Chicago who had been learning about how we would keep people alive in a Mars colony. Numerous other organizations joined their efforts to help production, and the results were incredible! This video is now available on the NASA.gov website, and on the NASA Youtube Channel:

"It's the greatest example of someone learning something, retaining the information, and expressing it in a way that's meaningful to them. We didn't ask them to go and write a song [or produce music], but they were so excited bout the information that they went and did it anyway!" ~ David Delgado

By the end of the video, and when Solar System Planet Ambassador Pamela Greyer joined David onstage during a standing ovation for their portion of the speakers program that day, there wasn't a dry eye in the house!

These are some of Pam's kids, and she was able to tell us all great stories about her work as K-12 STEM consultant; and the challenges and joys she sees in her everyday efforts as an educator who does her best to inspire children to embrace Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematical education.


You can also see Pam & David in action during classroom projects on the same channel, in the Imagine Mars Overview clips. There you will also recognize some of the same teens who composed and performed in the "Bye Bye Earth" music video, where they narrate their field trips and school projects, and even software development. What an inspiration!

Pam can be found on Twitter @TheNASALady if you want to follow all her activities at local STEM events, science museums and schools. For all of us who were present, I know we will never forget this inspiring story, and it was an stunning finale to an incredible day! You can see why they saved this for last! :)

The Clean Room

Today's post is especially for longtime reader and encourager, Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife! She wanted to see inside the "clean room" of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), otherwise known as "Curiosity Rover" is being prepared for her trip to Mars!

I took a fair amount of photographs from the viewing gallery on my first trip to the SAF, capturing the Curiosity and her Sky Crane. To review more about this interesting new (but possibly risky?) Entry Descent & Landing (EDL), also see my previous post about how the MSL will land on Mars.


See where that arrow is pointing? I've now stood right beneath the Live Curiosity Cam twice and watched the many mummy-wrapped technicians skittering meaningfully about, tinkering with all the fascinating hardware which will launch toward the red planet this November!

Did you Send Your Name To Mars on the MSL? When all was said and done for the etching all our names on the deck microship, precisely 1,246,445 names were entered from all over the world. Curiosity will take them all into space!

The rover you see in this video, and in my photo galleries is about the size of a car, and about the same weight, at 1,982 imperial pounds. That's just under a TON.

How does that stack up against previous critters send to ROVE all about Mars? Well the first, the Sojourner, was 23 pounds (10.6 kilograms). Around the size of your average microwave oven.

The Spirit and Opportunity Rovers were each 408 pounds (185 kilograms). Curiosity dwarfs them at 900 kilograms, and will also yield the most advanced science and photography, provided she lands safely in 2012.

Today, is the very last day you will be able to watch the Live Curiosity Cam! After that, we'll only have amateur video, like my shaky stuff above! So watch for her final huzzah today, and join the last Thursday Chat at 9am PT (1600 UT) for your last glimpse of development and testing!

That's The Spirit!

During my Tweetup frenzy at the NASA JPL, I actually managed to capture some mediocre video this time around. On my first visit to see Scott Maxwell, I tried to capture some of his tour, but hadn't quite gotten the hang of the new camera's video feature. This time, however, I was far more practiced!

Two of the videos turned out quite well -- and quite funny! Normally, I'd spread them out over two posts, but they fit together so well in the spirit of... SPIRIT!

Of course, we all know the Spirit Rover on Mars was retired... 6 years into her 3 month mission, as the joke goes. It's not to say we didn't get awesome science out of the lovely lady on the Red Planet, but realizing that she was unreachable was sad for employees and fans alike. Watching Spirit has been an honor -- working on her looks like it was a blast!

Here, @marsroverdriver shares a story about the Spirit Rover, having been one of the three folks on his team to speak; the other two featured in the video are Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Program Manager John Callas and Robotics Engineer Ashley Stroupe.

In related news, everyone's favorite comedian, Doug Ellison, presented his smashing idea for a unique group photograph. Terribly entertaining! He truly tickled the collective nerd funnybone with his explanation as to how we would pull off the panoramic mosaic of pictures on Mars taken by the Spirit Rover.

Each of the posters, which we all got to keep, are one of a kind! I ended up getting one the hearts he speaks about in the video, and cannot wait to have mine framed. :) You can see the mad scramble to put all the pieces together in my JPL Picasa Gallery... what a madhouse! But the final photograph turned out quite nicely in the end -- whereupon we also took a regular photograph where one might see all our smiling faces!


The only thing we Tweeps couldn't figure out was why NASA TV hasn't given Scott and Doug their own television show yet?!

JPL Tweetup-Tastic!

I am so exhausted right now, I'm actually a bit surprised I am able to sit upright and type, LOL... what a ride! In so many different ways. I drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles to revisit the amazing Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this time for a media event with a good chunk of the SpaceTweep society -- and a few innocent bystanders who wanted to know what all the fuss is about.


The drive through a 400-mile-long rainstorm was no easy feat, but I made it in one piece; lucky for all of us, the next day gifted us with beautiful blue skies, tours of awesome NASA relics and novelties... and enough mission updates to keep nerd brains buzzing for days!

We had space enthusiasts from all over the US and Canada, who got their fill of all the great NASA hardware at the JPL, and heard all the hot news about the Dawn mission, the upcoming launches of Aquarius and GRAIL, long term plans for Juno, the ongoing process of the ever-famous Voyager probes, and of course, the "Asteroid Watch" activities of the Near-Earth Objects Program.


The many walking tours throughout the day included trips to the Mars 3D green-screen, the Earth Sciences Centre, Mars rovers labs and the Deep Space Network mission control in the historic Space Flight Operations Facility. All the geekery goodness can be found in my NASA JPL Picasa galleries.

A major highlight of the day was meeting @Doug_Ellison, whom I've followed on Twitter for some time. I cannot get enough of his new project, Eyes on the Solar System, a 3-D environment of continually updated NASA mission data, which he demonstrated in luscious big-screen detail.

Doug and few other creative cohorts arranged for perhaps the most stunning group photo ever, whereby they created a giant panorama portrait of Mars, taken by the now-retired Spirit Rover. Broken up into separate printouts to give a "mosaic" effect, we each held a small poster above our heads, and the final product spelled out: Farewell to Spirit 2004 - 2010.

The full-sized original can be found on the JPL Flickr Stream.


He also paused to pose with me and my particular puzzle-piece, a lovely heart -- which in itself was a mosaic of pictures taken by Spirit over the years. I cannot wait to have this framed! @Camilla_SDO joined us, waving to everyone like the true space enthusiast she is.

All in all, a truly amazing day at the JPL, one that none of us will forget soon! Interestingly, I still haven't seen anything relating to JET propulsion... but hey, there's still hope. Tomorrow, onto NASA Dryden!

#NASATweetup 3

Third time is a charm! Actually, that idiom is meaningless, because the first two were pretty darned charmed, too. In 2010, I attended my first Tweetup at NASA Johnson, then a year later made more new friends among the hoopy frood space crowd at the NASA Ames Tweetup!

Today's Tweetup is at the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory @NASAJPL in La Canada Flintridge. Thanks to the kindness of the Mars Rover Drivers, I've already seen many wonderful things at the JPL, which is technically NASA's smallest sister in terms of acres, but certainly one of the most interesting in terms of projects!


The playlist is awesome, and I mean spine-tingling awesome. Our crowd of geeky guests will be treated to updates by scientists on all of the JPL projects listed below. Follow their Twitter accounts today, beginning at 8:30am PT:

Dawn - Solar System Discovery
Currently approaching Vesta and Ceres
Follow: @NASA_Dawn

Voyager I and II
Currently in the Heliosheath, set to enter Interstellar space
Follow: @NASAVoyager

Aquarius Ocean Study Satellite
Launches June 9, 2011... hey, that's this week, from Vandenberg!

Juno Mission to Jupiter
Launches to the Jovian system in August 2011
Follow: @NASAJuno

GRAIL - Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory
Launches to the moon in September 2011

SOFIA - Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
Partnered with the German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Follow: @SOFIAtelescope

NEO - Near-Earth Objects Program
Better known as "Asteroid Watch"
Follow: @AsteroidWatch

Eyes on the Solar System
3-D environment of real NASA mission data
Follow: @NASA_Eyes

Imagine Mars
Education initiative to design a futuristic Mars community.


Throughout the day, all our Twittery goodness will be live on http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2, and some portions will be broadcast on NASA Television from 8:15 - 10:30am PT and 1:30 - 3:30pm PT.

If you watch any of the live feeds, keep your eye out for NASA mascot, @Camilla_SDO. She will be in attendance, catching up on all the missions!

Fry's Space Ship

Wow, I cannot believe I almost forgot this! This collection of pictures was on a different memory card, which I've just found again in my shockingly small accessory bag. (Seems you can lose anything in purses, however, no matter the size.)

On my visit to the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, I went all around the area of the Rose Bowl, which is La Cañada Flintridge. There are many other attention-grabbers nearby, including Studio City, where we had a trendy meal; Griffith Park, where we deliberately skipped the Hollywood Sign and hoofed around the hills for a few hours anyway; and Fry's Electronics in Burbank.

Tech Mecca

I'm quite likely to waste half a day in any Fry's store, regardless of theme... but it takes space ships for me to pull out my camera before I shop the miles of aisles of computer fluff and DVDs.

Last year, I featured the Fry's Space Station store near Johnson Space Center in Houston, and ended the post by inviting anyone who's seen the Burbank or Anaheim stores to send me photos. Little did I know I would be in California myself so soon...!

The Burbank branch displays 1950s science fiction movies... mostly space ships, as constructed on a huge scale both inside and out...

I Want To Believe

...but they also feature characters such as Robby The Robot from Forbidden Planet (1956), GORT from The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and scattered giant Ants from Them! (1954). Quite the classic Sci-Fi theme park!

What, no Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952) ? Leonard Nimoy must be so bummed. About that and the prices in California stores. Good grief. I can't exactly give the in-house cafe a good review either. However, if you're playing tourist in the area (pretty funny, since I lived in Los Angeles for 2 years long ago, and never did a lick of sight-seeing back then!), the spaceships are worth a look-see.

See my JPL Picasa gallery for the entire set of pictures in the Burbank Fry's. Next up, the Anaheim store's Shuttle Flight Deck!

From The Dust Returned

The Martian Rover Chronicles, continued... but before I resume all the delightful rovery wonderfulness, I'd like to let any would-be road-trippers know that if you are enjoying this weeks’ series on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, they will be holding an Open House Event on May 14-15. Yes, only a couple weeks from now!

JPL scientists and engineers will be on hand among the many exhibits, giving live demonstrations and answering questions about their projects on other planets. So, head for Pasadena if you are closeby!

Our intrepid host, Rover Driver Scott Maxwell, guided us through the Instrument Laboratory for the MSL, pointing out all things mechanic, all things robotic, and waving to other engineers and drivers along the way.

Scott's major programming project for JPL is the Automated Command Tracker software; over the years, ACT has also been used by the Mars Climate Orbiter, Mars Polar Lander, Mars Global Surveyor, Deep Space 1 and Stardust space craft teams. The guidance software tells the hardware what to do and where to go without flipping over, becoming trapped or tangling up in its own arms and instruments.

Now, imagine trying to do that across martian soil! In one particular lab, we saw the test rovers used for experimentation in maneuvers across varying slopes and rocks, across their mock terrain of diatomaceous earth and Lincoln 60 Fire Clay. Imagine mixing pumice with Bisquick. I wouldn’t recommend the diet, but appreciate that we have a good analog on Earth for similar clumping properties of dirt on Mars.


The Surface System Test Bed (SSTB) Rover (picture on left in first picture at top, and here to the right of my mother), is the closest hardware to the real rovers that are deployed off-planet in terms of weight and instruments, though this particular model lacks solar panels.

I took video in this room, but sadly it was not built for acoustics, and most of the action is unintelligible. However, being a writer himself and an accomplished speaker, there are copious materials where you can see Scott cover the finer points of rovering with Spirit and Opportunity, “Four years into their 90 day mission!” -- not the least of which was an excellent presentation where he got one of only two standing ovations ever in the 10-year history of the Gnomodex Technology Conference. (Quite worth the time; I love around the 29-minute mark where he mentions both of his world records… just on another world ;)

For more up-to-date weekly adventures. Also see his Mars And Me blog, the "unofficial diary of a Mars rover driver, five years delayed". He, with other engineers, navigates both tough and subtle problems on the red planet through various Martian seasons, in and around craters, sequence by sequence, hoping to hit their science targests.

My favorite new Martian coordinate: "Fort Scott".

The Martian Rover Chronicles

It's not even a remote understatement that Roverman Scott Maxwell has the most colorful profile I've ever seen on any NASA website, anywhere. And until I met him, I was pretty sure *I* had the coolest job...

Wouldn't you love to have his business card? "Computer Programmer & Mars Rover Driver". Awesome. When one has the opportunity to explore a famous campus like the JPL with a passionate host who loves showing all the minutiae of NASA hardware, right down to the legends of how they were designed and named -- you've just as good as had a tour of the moon by Buzz Aldrin.

There is nothing quite so compelling as someone who rushes happily work each day, and honestly cannot think of anything he'd rather be doing.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

A major highlight of the day was when Scott took us to the Spacecraft Assembly Facility. Also featured is Laksen Sirimanne, a two-time crew member of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), who I'll be blogging about next week in another series about Martian analogs.

Together, we all peeked down into the SAF's massive clean room at Curiosity, the new Mars Science Laboratory, and I've uploaded almost everything to my JPL Picasa Gallery if you wish to see the room interior.

To see technicians working their daily magic, you can also watch the LIVE Curiosity CAM! Just video, no audio… but the best we can hope for until someone at NASA TV clevers up and gives Scott his own television show!

Office Humor

We got our fill of Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Project Office art, and saw the Rovers' Mission Control Center. Scott gave us the rundown on all their adventures on the surface of Mars, with articulate introspection and meaning beyond the hard science. What does it mean to explore another planet? Truly, we are lucky to be alive at such a special time in history, where we can witness amazing views of our solar system in a way humanity never has before, and Scott is one of those people whose innate sensitivity and appreciation has never been dulled by mechanics, software code or red tape.

The Road to Endeavour blog has some wonderful detail about what it's like to explore Mars from "behind the wheel" of a rover, and some of the journeys taken by Scott's twin girls, Spirit and Opportunity! I had planned to speak about "Oppy" myself, but I know when I've been "out-written" and definitely recommend this blog for anyone who would like to see every move a Mars rover makes!

That would be Laksen with a rover wheel on his head.
And why not.

I also feel like maybe I've been unknowingly following Scott around cyberspace; we've both been interviewed by the Planetary Society, we've both been spot-lighted by Universe Today, we've both been featured in the Pars3c High Five… so I'm thinking about trying to talk him into doing a NASA Micro-Gravity Study, just so we can both say we set FOX News New York straight about myth vs. science ;)

If you do nothing else this week in the blogosphere, take a humpday break and check out some of his growing lexicon, because you will be able to say you read his early work before his many books are published.

On his first blog, he has a moving personal tale about how Ray Bradbury visited his team's project office, and drove a rover on Mars, in essence "connecting to him to that world he has imagined for so long". And if you like that, you'll love hearing about his first one-on-one meeting with Bradbury where he got the famous author to sign perhaps the most interesting celebrity autograph I've ever seen, and with pretty unapologetic flamboyance, I might add.

Definitely need to remember this trick if I ever get to meet Neil deGrasse Tyson at a book-signing. Stay tuned tomorrow for Rover testing goodness in mock martian soil, and Scott's current projects!