2001:exhibit.org spacer
2001:exhibit The Odyssey Exhibits The World Tonight Science | Technology Arts Gifts
spacer spacer-corner
spacer
spacer 2001: Exhibit 2001: Exhibit 2001: Exhibit 2001: Exhibit 2001: Exhibit 2001: Exhibit 2001: Exhibit

2001:Exhibit:
Introduction
My Space Odyssey ™
32 Years Later
Other Stories:

Ames Mars Visitor Center: December 29, 2003
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/exploration.html
By Dennis Gonzales

Dennis Gonzales at the Visitor Center Days before the Rover landing on December 29, I had an opportunity to attend an evening of hors díoeuves reception at the NASA Ames Research Centerís new Mars Center in Mountain View Calif. 300 VIPs attended the event during a raging & windy storm but you wouldnít have known that chaos was going on outside the large white spacious tent. The weather reminded me of the scene from the movie "MAROONED". The mood was set with 2001 soundtrack music in the background as my co-worker and graphic designer, Cheyrse Triano [She contributed her artistic flare around the Mars Center] helped ourselves to the food and wine. After introductions from the podium we visited all the interactive exhibits and spoke to many of the volunteers and scientists, many our customers, about their experiments. Mars Exploration Rover scientist David Des Marais explained the entire mission to us in detail using large 3-wide screen viewing room as a visual source.
The Mars Center features interactive exhibits featuring the Mars Exploration Rover missions, miniature Mars rovers (which you can send on simulated missions), samples of a Mars-rock meteorite that fell to Earth in 1962, NASA computer planning & research equipment and NASA Amesí scientific and engineering support roles in missions to the red planet.We were later introduced to the Ames Research Center Director, G. Scott Hubbard who served on the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB). I mention about my book and the 2001exhibit.Org and I come to find out from him that he is an Arthur C. Clarke fan. He said that during the Mars Odyssey mission, he and Gentry Lee, the chief engineer on the Project Galileo was planning to visit Clarke in 2001. Lee is co-author of RAMA II and The Garden of RAMA which I hope to bring him to the 3rd Astrobiology Conference in March on Science Fiction night [more about that later]. The visit to Sri Lanka never materialized for them but the conversation that evening was every bit of synchronicity.While NASAís current mission to Mars is being controlled from NASAís Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Ames researchers did much of the research and testing that allowed the rover to get off the ground. So the goal of the Mars Center is to familiarize adults and children with current information about Mars, provide live coverage transmitted from NASAís Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., about the Mars Exploration Rovers missions, and share ongoing research about future Mars missions.

Its estimated by Ames Research Center that 12,000 people have visited the new Mars Center and according to Ames spokesman David Morse, he couldnít imagine the Mountain View education center getting much busier, "Itís been remarkably successful, almost scarily successful," he said. Being an advocate of using exhibits to teach and showcase wonderful stuff, this is truly a great example how one can be close to the Mars mission as it happens.
You can find a lot of places all over the country presenting Mars Events like the Mars Center by going to, http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/events/


Vistor our gallery of the Mars Visitor Center and the old visitor center.

Next page

Ames Mars Visitor Center:
Current ARC, Part 1
ARC, Part 2
ARC, Part 3
(Old Visitor Center)
ARC, Part 4
(Space Trailer)
spacer
Credits spacer Mailing List spacer Links spacer Contact spacer Site Map spacer Site Donation
copyright spacer
spacer-corner spacer spacer-corner