Mars Day at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Susan Roberts
On January 31, 1995 the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mall was full of excited "Martians" who volunteered their lunch time to lecture, answer questions, and give demonstrations of what they are doing to support JPL's Mars Exploration Program. Mike Ebersole, Assistant Project Manager and Al Sacks, Ground Data System Manager, represented Mars Pathfinder. Glenn Cunningham was there to speak of the project he manages, Mars Global Surveyor. Secretaries, system administrators, programmers, scientists, an attorney, public information specialists, engineers, hardware and software personnel staffed the Mall booths. There was even one tall, green, friendly Martian posing for pictures!
The purpose of this grand event with more than 20 exhibits was to provide an introduction to JPL's Martian activities hosted by the Mars Exploration Office and the related Mars Projects. On view was an 8-foot model of the Delta II rocket, the launch vehicle for both Pathfinder and Global Surveyor, and a live demo of the innovative airbag landing apparatus of Pathfinder. Also present were The Planetary Society and McDonnell Douglas Corp., handing out information and posters. Project personnel gave away thousands of Mars souvenirs, Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor Fact Sheets, and Martian Chronicle newsletters. They answered questions and demonstrated Internet access to the Martian Chronicle and the JPL Home Page.
Donna Shirley, Mars Exploration Program Manager, told the assembled lunchtime crowd that Mars Day was held to celebrate all of JPL's Martian activities and to let employees not involved with the project take a peek at the plans. Besides correspondents from local publications such as the LA Daily News and Los Angeles Times, there were representatives from a Spanish language television station and the Science Fiction channel.
Roger Bourke, leader of the Mars International Programs Integration Office at JPL, hosted the International display booth that contained exhibits of the Japanese Planet B mission, a video of the Russian rover and balloon tests, and international publicity on the Russian Mars rover. The Russian Rover, Marsokhod, a large all-terrain vehicle about the size of a riding lawn mower, was guided through the displays by remote control and dipped into the courtyard gully on occasion.
There was also a display of Mars meteorites named after their respective landing sites/ Zagamii, Africa; Nakhla, Egypt and Chassigny, France. The Chassigny meteorite was an extremely rare find--Ron Baalke, a JPL software engineer and owner of all the meteorites on display, was only able to obtain a small fragment of it.
Matt Golombek, Pathfinder project scientist, hosted the landing site booth, where he discussed the mission's intent to investigate the composition of the planet's surface and its similarities to the Earth. The scientific results will help explain the history of the formation of Mars as well as the probability of former life on the planet or the possibility of it supporting life in the future. His displays included an enlarged Viking image of the Pathfinder landing site, Ares Valles.
A friendly Martian poses with a friendly Earthling.
Randy Taylor, procurement officer for the Pathfinder project, discussed the "new way of doing business" at JPL with visitors from McDonnell-Douglas and Hughes Aerospace. As the author of the Project's Technology Transfer Plan, he was also able to respond to inquiries regarding the technologies used and slated for transfer to commercial use.
The 3/8 scale mockup of the inflatable airbags used to cushion Pathfinder's landing on Mars was a popular live demonstration. The airbags are a faster, cheaper way to safely land a spacecraft on a planet surface. An innovation borrowed from the Russians, this method has not been used for U.S. spacecraft before. There were also videos of the most recent drop tests of the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) subsystem of the Pathfinder lander.
The Pathfinder Rover was represented by Rocky II, a remote-controlled microrover. Its small size but sophisticated agility and capabilities surprised those who had a chance to see the mighty mite in action. Previous versions of rovers were also available for inspection, along with a brief explanation of how the final Pathfinder Rover was chosen.
Pathfinder's Science and Instruments booth displayed a working model of the Atmospheric Science Instrument/Meteorology (ASI/MET) instrument that, while connected to a PC, took current readings of the wind speed and direction and measured the air temperature, just as it will during the descent and the entire landed mission on the surface of Mars. The Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and its deployment mechanism demonstrated its ability to position the instrument in order for it to take samples of rocks and soil. As the photo shows, the instrument and deployment mechanism are attached at the rear of the vehicle.
Mars Day on the Mall ended with an all-hands meeting of the workers and promoters, who posed on the steps of the main administration building for a (large) group picture.
All Martians endorse the Martian Chronicle.
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A friendly Martian poses with a friendly Earthling.
All Martians endorse the Martian Chronicle.