Volunteer Network
The Planetary Society's
Global Volunteer Network Newsletter
Winter '05
January - March
Dear Planetary Society Volunteers,
When I began this Newsletter, the launch of Cosmos 1 was just days away
and excitement was building as we anticipated a successful mission. As
I complete this letter, I know you share my disappointment that the Volna
rocket did not deliver the Solar Sail to orbit. However, the response
from Society members and the media world-wide has been exceptionally
enthusiastic and supportive for the challenges we met. If you read
Dr. Louis Friedman's letter of June 28 ,
you know that the spirit that conceived
and built this innovative spacecraft is still alive. I must share the
following quote which emphasizes the wonderful attitude of Dr. Friedman
and the entire Society staff: "We deeply appreciate and are buoyed
by the determination and spirit of Planetary Society members and by the
public who wish us well, congratulate us for our efforts, and are telling
us even now, “Keep
going.” We will keep going. Although right now, I don’t know
exactly how, I do know that we are committed to trying again, for The
Planetary Society exists to make space exploration happen."
In this Newsletter, we celebrate all the wonderful events our volunteers
have participated in during the first three months of 2005. So much has
happened and once again, Vilia Zmuidzinas, Volunteer Manager, the entire
staff of the Society, and I thank you for all your enthusiastic support
during our 25th Anniversary year!
- Lonny Baker, Global Volunteer Leader
Volunteer Activities
• Argentina
• Arizona
• Florida
• New Jersey
• Portugal
• Southern California
• United Kingdom
• Washington State
Interesting Web Links
Volunteer Opportunities and Ideas
Volunteer Activities
• Argentina - Sergio
Stinco, of Neuquen, Patagonia, and his wife, Susana Gimenez, travel many
miles and many hours to reach students throughout Patagonia. Whether
10 or 600 students, it's "all the same to us.
. . showing those students the wonders of the cosmos for the first
time, and admiring their open eyes is all that matters to us." Sergio
and Susana "do not have slides or VCR or CD . . . just our sore throats,
some posters and magazines" and a lot of enthusiasm for astronomy
and a desire to share their knowledge.
• Arizona - The Sally Ride Science Festival came to Arizona State University
in March for a full day of science workshops and activities for 5th - 8th
grade girls. Janice Masterson, her husband, and son set up a Planetary Society
table with the Mars 3-D Panorama poster and 3-D glasses. This exhibit always
attracts students to the table where they receive bookmarks and solar sail
stickers.
• Florida - Because of her many school presentations on behalf of the Society,
Karen Sulprizio was asked to judge the Sarasota County Science Fair in January
and February and to present an award to the winner in April. During
the Science Awards ceremony she spoke about the Society, including its history,
and some of our current projects, including Cosmos 1.
• New Jersey - Ken Kremer spoke to students and their families at Lawrence
Elementary School Science and Discovery Night. That talk was followed by
his presentation "Looking for Life on Mars and Saturn" to the
Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP). Ken always promotes
membership in the Society whenever he speaks.
• Portugal - Francisco Miguel de Sousa Goncalves, Regional Coordinator for
Portugal, organized a huge event in Espinho, a city 250 kilometers north
of Lisbon. The event was attended by more than 500 people who "witnessed" Huygens'
plunge into the atmosphere of Titan. Working with the European Space Agency
(ESA), Miguel was able to establish a link to ESA TV and watch as the data
streamed back to Earth. The Society co-sponsored the event and helped publicize
it. All major newspapers, radios and TVs in Portugal promoted the event.
Miguel gave two live TV interviews and one newspaper interview. Miguel arranged
a live telephone interview with Drs. Adriana Ocampo and Rosaly Lopes from
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and for him, those interviews were
the highlight of the event.
• Southern
California -Pasadena volunteers Anna May Tomaszewski, Joe Oliver,
Sara Mori, Zena Brown, Tom Kemp, and Robert Kelly staffed an information
table at the Sally Ride Science Festival held at the California Institute
of Technology. Despite the rainy weather, and last minute venue changes,
they spoke to a lot of the teenaged girls who attended this year’s
festival.
The evening before Huygens’ descent through the atmosphere of Titan,
the Society celebrated with an event which included an exciting panel of
speakers. Working side-by-side with Society staff, local volunteers helped
with many aspects of the event - from collecting tickets at the door to
assisting the Membership Department with membership and t-shirt sales. Together,
they helped make this an enjoyable and memorable evening for the 500 people
who attended.
• United
Kingdom - Andy Lound, Regional Coordinator, was invited by the British
Council to give two presentations on astronomy to professional scientists
at the Libyan Center for Remote Sensing, and to high school students near
Tripoli, Libya. In his lecture, "Saturn Lord of the Rings," Andy
showed the latest data from Huygens’ plunge through Titan’s
atmosphere and played the sounds recorded by Huygens’ Atmospheric
Structure Instrument. The group of professionals at the Libyan Center for
Remote Sensing were particularly interested in the sounds. Neither audience
had had any exposure to this kind of public lecture before. Andy handed
out issues of The Planetary Report and bookmarks with our web address and
told them how they could download pictures, sounds and get links to missions.
Said Andy: "You should have seen the faces of the students when the
images of Saturn and Titan were shown, and then the sounds! The Planetary
Society is the first space advocacy group to have done anything in Libya.
Number 1 again - We made it happen!"
Ron Daigle
Planetary Society volunteer Ron Daigle.
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• Washington
State - Ron Daigle, Regional Coordinator of our Seattle Volunteer
Network, was asked, for the second year, to set up a display table at
the annual Emily Dickinson Science Fair. He engaged the interest of
the students with a LEGO model of the Mars Rover, which he had built.
Ron and other volunteers find that having posters and spacecraft models
on the table always draws a crowd.
Interesting Web Links
More
Power with Power Point - Several volunteers have developed their own
PowerPoint presentations which have made their talks not only informative,
but colorful as well. All volunteers are welcome to develop their own
presentations but must have them approved by the Society. You may use
material found on our web site www.planetary.org to
create posters, Power Point presentations and handout materials. You
are encouraged to use any and all materials, but you must credit the
source, be it The Planetary Society, NASA, JPL, ESA, etc. All such products
must be sent to Rita Szeto for
review and approval before being distributed. If you would like to share
your Power Point presentations or other materials that you develop with
other volunteers, please let us know so that we can set up an exchange.
Volunteer Opportunities
and Ideas
MARS MILLlENNIUM project - When Charley
Kohlhase, one of the Society's Advisors, requested a team of volunteers
to check the numerous links on the Mars
Millennium web site, Ed Ludka
(Colorado), Steve Milhiser (Maryland), Karen Sulprizio (Florida), and
Lee Vallance (Japan) offered their researching skills to do the job.
Not only have they checked each link, but in many cases have suggested
a link to more current sources of information.
Summer Star Parties - What can be better than a night out under
the stars? If you will be attending a star party this summer and can
represent the Society, please contact either Lonny or
Rita. We'll supply you with beautiful materials to distribute.
The Great Comet Crater Contest - If you slam a chunk of metal into a comet
at extremely high speed, will it sink like a stone in snow or blast a
sizeable crater out of the surface? The Planetary Society invites
you to make your best guess on how big the hole will be when NASA's Deep
Impact mission releases an impactor projectile in the path of Comet Tempel
1 for a planned collision on July 4, 2005. The "Great
Comet Crater Contest". Deep
Impact mission facts and figures will help entrants come up with their
best educated guess for the diameter of the crater that Deep Impact will
create on the surface of Comet Tempel 1.
We Make Our Membership Grow - The launch of Cosmos 1 and the Deep
Impact mission are both wonderful opportunities to invite the public to
share your enthusiasm for astronomy and space exploration. If you'd like
to plan an event around either topic, let us know. Contact Rita
Szeto, and she will help publicize your event with a notice
on the Society's web-based Events Calendar and provide all the materials
(Planetary Reports, bookmarks, membership forms, etc.) you need.
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