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Volunteer NetworkThe Planetary Society's
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"Become a Force in Exploration" is a terrific motivator at the Sally Ride Science Festival. |
• Arizona
Over 500 young girls in grades 5-8 attended the Sally Ride Science Festival, held at Arizona State University. Phoenix volunteer Patrick Lonchar gave away all of his Society materials (bookmarks, stickers, Planetary Reports) and had a chance to tell these young students, their parents and teachers about the Society. We believe in exciting children about space exploration when they are young!
 Arizona SpaceFest - Naila Erwin Nai'la staffing our booth at SpaceFest |
Spacefest 2007, a three-day event, was co-sponsored by NOVASPACE and The Planetary Society. It was the first comprehensive space-oriented event held in the Phoenix area, bringing together various facets of the space program Past, Present, and Future. There were presentations by moonwalkers, astronauts, space artists, astronomers and mission scientists. Astronaut John Young was a featured speaker. Pat Lonchar organized the Society volunteers who staffed an information booth. Many thanks to Steve Dermer, Nai’la Erwin, Benjamin Honey, Stacy Sklar, Veronica Ann Zabala, and David Williams who doubled as an invited speaker. They gave away several hundred “Year in Space" calendars, which drew many people to the booth.
Veronica Ann created a powerpoint presentation about the Society. It has been adapted for use by all volunteers and can be found at http://planetary.org/participate/volunteer/handouts.html.
• Australia
Michael Paine wrote in support of the Society’s new Mission Statement, which includes an emphasis on understanding our planet Earth. He has set up a web page, Earth From Space, with as many deep space views of Earth as he could find:
• Brazil
José Roberto Costa gave a lecture to his local Astronomy club and wrote an article about the 50th anniversary of the flight of Sputnik 2 with the dog Laika. In both he spoke about The Planetary Society. He wishes to play an active part in IYA 2009 (International Year of Astronomy). If you read Portuguese or wish to practice the language, visit José’s website http://www.zenite.nu/ The English version is found at http://zenite.nu/tpsbrasil/events/
• Colorado
Dr. Dale Moser continues to represent the Society at some of the most unusual places, ranging from museums with 1,000 participants to National Parks where he has talked to five people. To read more about the work Dale is doing on behalf of the Society, visit Volunteer Profile – Dale Moser
For Astronomy Day, Marge Currie set up an information table at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Karen's Award The Innovative Vision Awards created and presented by Karen. |
• Florida
Karen Sulprizio, Florida Regional Coordinator, represented The Planetary Society at the Sarasota Regional Science, Engineering and Technology Fair Awards, where she presented The Innovative Vision award (a framed copy of the Society’s "Pale Blue Dot" poster and a copy of the award winning documentary by Al Gore: "An Inconvenient Truth") to two students. Karen was pleased to report that when she asked the audience "How many are familiar with Dr. Carl Sagan" and "How many are familiar with The Planetary Society" -- the hands that were raised were almost HALF the audience!
Karen and Thomas Prettyman continue to keep their website TPSFlorida.org up to date with the latest space and astronomy headlines. They also direct visitors to other statewide resources, including what is happening at the Kennedy Space Center. This is a wonderful resource for visitors to Florida.
• Illinois
When Lee Paul became a volunteer, he was already supporting the work of the Society. His descriptions of his activities are so vivid that we hope they will inspire others to get out, meet the public, and tell them about the important mission of the Society. You’ll find Lee’s story at Volunteer Profile – Lee Paul.
Saket Singh Kaurav Saket awarding Planetary Society materials as prizes |
• India
In July, Saket Singh Kaurav, our newest volunteer in India, organized a remarkable all- day event called Explore Space in his hometown of Jabalpur. This event is supported by The Planetary Society , and NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) (in terms of Educational Material). "I organized this program to make a contribution to international space exploration. This was a golden opportunity to enhance knowledge about space science and technology. More than 1,500 students attended the program to learn about the basics of space science and technology on a global scale." Topics included: how the space shuttle works; what is the space station; why space exploration is important; why we are going to the Moon, Mars, and beyond; why India is going to send its first mission to the Moon (Chandrayaan-1); how can you become a part of space exploration through The Planetary Society; what is the goal of Earth's biggest space exploration group, The Planetary Society; how can you be a part of space technology through ISRO. We commend Saket for his energy and enthusiasm, which made his event such a huge success.
Sakat meets Bill Nye the Science Guy ®
Saket with the great science guy! |
In September, Saket attended IAC 2007 in Hyderabad where he met with Society Vice President Bill Nye the Science Guy. “He appreciated my work and scientific attitude. I have attached my photo with the great science guy."
In October, Saket organized a space exhibition in celebration of the first human-created satellite, Sputnik-1. It was attended by more than 500 people.
Saket invites you to visit his blog, where he announces his events. http://360.yahoo.com/saket_kaurav2003
Saket wishes to acknowledge the support of Mr. Shankar Vishwakarma (Photographer) and Mr. Hemraj Kanojiya, a reporter from DAINK BHASKAR NEWS.
• Ireland
In October, Kevin Nolan was invited to speak on behalf of the Society at a major astronomical event at Birr Castle, Ireland. (Birr Castle is the site of the great 72-inch reflector -- the largest telescope in the world for about fifty years during the 19th century until the construction of the Mt. Wilson 100-inch reflector.) It was an international event with dozens of speakers from across the world and several hundred space enthusiasts in attendance. Kevin wrote, “It was a fantastic event, and definitely the best publicity for the Society I have ever managed to provide."
Kevin gave three other talks -- first to the public in Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork, then to the South Dublin Astronomical Society, and finally, to 220 first-year physics and astronomy undergraduates attending University College Dublin. “At all talks, I presented a 10-minute overview of the Society. I also have the Pale Blue Dot poster and an image of Carl Sagan with the Viking lander, so Carl Sagan and the Society are always mentioned throughout my talks."
Giovanni In Italy Giovanni describes exciting Rover images. |
• Italy
Early in the year, Giovanni Leone offered to establish a new organization, TPS-Sicily, as part of our volunteer network. He has enlisted the help of a group of dedicated friends who have held several events and have signed up many new members. Several events have been held in Isola delle Femmine including the observation of a Lunar Eclipse in March and a star party in August. A major event, Targa Polaris, took place in May in the library adjacent to the Astronomical Observatory “Polaris". The Mayor of Isola delle Femmine, other local authorities, press, scientists, teachers, friends, and interested people attended.
Giovanni is now working with schools and planetariums to interest them in astronomy related events. He is hoping to set up a Mars Rover Centre at the Gemmellaro Museum in Palermo.
Enzo Cataldo, of Milan, has joined Giovanni in his efforts to spread the word about the Society to all of Italy.
• Massachusetts
Regina Schraut, her husband Mark, and daughter Jenna represented the Society at Astronomy Day at the Clay Center Observatory near Boston, which Gina described as ‘Astronomer Heaven!’ She set up the 3D Mars poster and a display that she created called ‘Perspective’ which blew everyone away. ‘Perspective’ can be viewed at Gina's website http://home.comcast.net/~sciquest/ If you would like the Perspective jpegs, just contact Gina through her website, and she will send you a copy to create your own display or a link to embed the slide show on your website. It makes a fantastic eye-opening exhibit.
 Gina's Table Astronomy Day
Gina's exhibit table includes the "Perspective" display on left. |
Over the years, Gina has developed a wonderful relationship with the Clay Center Observatory staff who are also members of The Planetary Society. When asked how her relationship with the Center developed, Gina wrote, “They're the most wonderful, exemplary people you could ever be fortunate enough to meet. They share our goals of educating the public and stimulating interest in the space sciences, freely and enthusiastically. Words can not express how grateful I am for their dedication to the advancement of science and offering to partner with us in this grand endeavor of exploration." All volunteers would be fortunate to have such support from their local science museum and we encourage you to develop such a relationship.
Prior to the American primaries, Garry Haas and members of the National Space Society met with the staff of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to discuss space policy. The staff was interested in the future of the space shuttle and President Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration. Such volunteer activism is always welcomed and can make an important contribution when discussing future space programs at the local congressional level all the way to the presidency. Volunteers throughout the world might consider contacting their government officials who help set space policy.
• The Netherlands
On behalf of The Planetary Society, Arno Wielders organized in July, in collaboration with the Dutch Spaceflight Association (NVR) and Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), an evening symposium on the Darwin mission, which will search for the first signs of life on another Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star. The event was held at TNO, Delft, The Netherlands.
Speakers were Dr. Malcolm Fridlund, Study Scientist of the Darwin mission at the European Space Agency, who discussed the prospect of finding other “Earths" around stars like our Sun; Teun van den Dool, senior system engineer at TNO involved in developing the Darwin Delay Line, the first hardware for the mission; and Jan Doornink, thermal engineer at Dutch Space who talked about space cooling systems.
In November, Arno organized, in collaboration with NVR, a symposium on the BepiColombo Mission, Europe’s next planetary mission to Mercury. The speakers were Jan van Casteren, Project Manager at ESA/ESTEC for the BepiColombo Mission, who spoke about the mission and how difficult it is to build a spacecraft that needs to survive the hostile environment around Mercury; Dr. Anamarija Stankov, ESA Scientist, spoke about the scientific research of the mission and the onboard instrumentation; and Ron van der Ven from Dutch Space spoke about solar cell development for the “hot" Mercury environment. This event was held at Dutch Space in Leiden.
• New Jersey
Ken Kremer was invited to speak at the prestigious Explorers Club in New York City on "Exploring Mars, the Search for Life, and a Journey in 3-D." He reviewed the ongoing NASA Rover Mission to Mars - covering the explorations and adventures of Spirit and Opportunity from launch to the present. He presented two similar lectures in Florida and at the Stella Della Star Party in Pennsylvania. Ken is a very popular speaker and always draws large crowds.
NEAF Booth Todd distributes Planetary Reports and hand-outs at our NEAF booth |
• New York
For the third year, Todd and Caterina Sullivan of Connecticut set up a table at NEAF (NorthEast Astronomy Forum), a huge amateur astronomy star party in Suffern, New York. This year, Larry Imperiale (New York) drove several hundred miles to join them. Todd had prepared numerous handouts, downloaded from The Planetary Society website. These handouts are so useful, Todd graciously consented to share them with other volunteers.
They can now be found on the Volunteer Network website at http://planetary.org/participate/volunteer/handouts.htmll Volunteers are welcome to print them and use them at their next event.
The weekend was a great success. In addition to interacting with numerous amateurs, attending lectures and visiting with other exhibitors, Todd, Caterina, and Larry sold 31 memberships!
TPS Bay Area Volunteer Network Large homemade banner promoting Stardust@Home |
• Northern California
In February, the Society co-sponsored with the Morrison Planetarium a lecture by Dr. Andrew Westphal, project director of Stardust@home. Bay Area Regional Coordinator Matt Lucking set up an information table and gave each audience member a Planetary Report and a Stardust@home flyer, encouraging them to participate. The Bay Area Volunteer Network has long had an excellent relationship with the Morrison Planetarium, and until the planetarium closed for renovations, all TPSBAVN events were held there. We encourage volunteers to develop a relationship with their local museum and/or planetarium. For more information on Stardust@home visit http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/innovative_technologies/stardustathome/
The Bay Area Network also organized a lecture presented by Dr. Chris McKay, Planetary Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center and Society Board member. He spoke about the upcoming Phoenix mission to the north polar region of Mars and discussed the future of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. Chris is always a popular speaker, and, following his talk, he answered many questions. Prior to the event, 14 Bay Area volunteers met for dinner. This is a close-knit group that has organized events for more than 20 years.
Volunteers who planned events and worked at them include Tracy Avent, Walt Bodley, Barbara Bowman, Nancy Freitas, Marty Gregory, Todd Hansen, Adrian Jordan, Matt Lucking, David Mark, Cindy Pavlinac, Ron Peterson, Barb Raskin, Tammy Ross, and Mark Siegel.
Pasadena Volunteers Sara Mori, Anna May Tomaszewski, Steve Adam, Robert Kelly, Tom Kemp and Mary Brown |
• Southern California
Where would we be without our Pasadena volunteers? Not only do they help get various mailings out to members, but they also represent the Society at a variety of events around the Pasadena – Los Angeles area. They promoted the Society at the Sally Ride Science Festivals in March and October, at Yuri’s Night at the Griffith Observatory in April, and the four-day Mars Society Conference in August.
Regarding the Sally Ride Festivals, Regional Coordinator Anna May Tomaszewski wrote, “we set up two tables to display the nine planets, which the students were encouraged to name. A set of planet photos, with pertinent information on the back of each, was given to each new member. Planetary Reports were also handed out along with our very popular bookmarks."
Many thanks to Pasadena volunteers Steve Adams, Gina Brown, Mary Brown, Zena Brown, Mark Dispenza, Robert Kelly, Tom Kemp, Sara Mori, Joe Oliver and Regional Coordinator Anna May Tomaszewski for all their work.
And thanks to Charlie Shawl for setting up a Planetary Society table at the San Diego Air & Space Museum when they celebrated their 4th annual Space Day in May.
• United Kingdom
Andrew Lound began making presentations in school when he was twelve years old, giving astronomy talks to fellow students who wanted to know more about the subject. From that point, his presentations have developed into major events. His aim was to develop a dramatic form of lecture that includes music and visual effects. In response to the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the space age, Andy gave several talks titled “Sputnik Around The World In 90 Minutes." To read about this and other presentations and to get ideas about what you might do in your next talk, visit Andy’s website http://www.odyssey.dial.pipex.com
Volunteer Profile – Dale Moser (Colorado)
Working hand in hand with other science organizations, Dale Moser has gotten his foot in the door at many events. As Dale travels around the United States to various National Parks and astronomical events, he hands out packets of Society materials. This past year, while at Devils Tower in Wyoming to photograph the total lunar eclipse, he passed out Planetary Reports and bookmarks to tourists from Georgia, Wisconsin, Canada, and a few locals. In Casper, Wyoming, he left 30 sets with the museum director to be handed out at the next astronomy club meeting. At a small paleontology museum in Glen Rock, Wyoming, he dropped off 10 sets for the volunteers who were cleaning up some bones. “They were quite excited to get something on space."
While working with the US Geological Survey to staff their booth at the Gem and Mineral show in Denver, Dale made sure that everyone who received a USGS teachers’ package also received a Planetary Report and instructions on how to use the Planetary Society website for space related activities.
At an Autumnal Equinox event at Crack Cave (where sunlight shines through a crack in the rocks at this time only), Dale handed out packets to those who were lucky enough to attend and see this amazing phenomenon.
Dale gave out many bookmarks during Girl Scout Days. He wrote, “The story line there was, if you have any school projects with space related activities, go to the Planetary Society website on this book mark."
In March, Dale represented the Society at ICE FEST, which celebrated the launch of the International Polar Year (March 2007 – March 2009), with a wide variety of activities around the theme of ice and snow, polar research, and climate studies. Wrote Dale, “There had to be 1,000 people there, so I had Society stuff in a back-pack and struck up conversations with those who seemed interested in global warming, and if that proved to be true, they received a packet of information, and no one who was offered one refused to take it."
Attending the dedication of the National Center for Atmospheric Research's (NCAR) Global Projection system and Astronomy Day at Fisk Planetarium on the Campus of Colorado University, Dale gave away a whole box of Planetary Reports. He wrote, “I had the Planetary Society web page up and most of the parents were interested in sources for their children's space projects that they are encountering in the school system. Planetary.org is the ideal starting point, as it has an extensive number of hyperlinks to all of the space related activities. See how many new members you get out of this area, after these events, as there was a strong interest in what we had on the website. The Moon picture on the cover of the January 2007 Planetary Report drew them like flies to sugar. Everyone is interested in the Moon as they can relate to it."
While Dale travels for his own enjoyment, we know he makes a big contribution to the Society as we often see several new members sign up after his travels. Many thanks to him for introducing the Society to so many new members!
Volunteer Profile - Lee Paul (Illinois)
Lee Paul – Epoch 2007
Lee's set up at the star party, ready to represent the Society. |
When Lee Paul applied to become a volunteer, he was already an active member of the Society, participating in the Stardust@home project.
Lee wrote, “I plan to go to as many Star Parties as I can. I like what The Planetary Society does and the events and activities it sponsors. For these reasons I would like you to consider me as a Volunteer candidate and contact me if there is a need for volunteers to spread the word about the Society and its activities and recruit new members as well as increase its exposure at the Star Parties that I attend."
As Lee had already signed up for two star parties, we immediately welcomed him as a volunteer and shipped him Planetary Reports, bookmarks, a Mars 3-D poster, and membership forms. We hope his report that follows will inspire many of you to get out and meet other people interested in our common goal of promoting planetary exploration.
“I just wanted to report that my most recent astronomical event, "The Prairie Skies Star Party 2007", was my most productive and satisfying promotional effort to date. Perhaps I'm getting the hang of it.
Lee Paul's Prowler
The Planetary Society banner is prominent wherever Lee travels. |
“I went up to the PSSP Site near Kankakee, Illinois, for four days. I set up my Planetary Society information table with all of the goodies you sent me. I was able to have the table close to my Camper/Observing Site, and that enabled me to spend much more time talking to the passers-by. It's actually quite a lot of fun. People began to ask me questions. I always confess that I'm not an expert on The Planetary Society, but the more I talk about it the more my confidence in my knowledge grows.
“I have found when talking to many people that a few relate that they are already Members and all seem to feel gratified that they are. This, of course, invites me to share experiences and off-handedly ask for them to consider doing what I'm doing - volunteer.
“Some folks have heard of the Society but didn't know anything about it. This gives me the opportunity to gently relate some of the factual information I’ve learned about the founding and purpose of the organization and often get into the mission and direction of the Society.
“Another little gimmick I use is to have a loose-leaf binder on the table that contains a print-out of almost all of the Society's Programs/Projects' main pages, downloaded directly from the website, www.planetary.org. This gives me something to point to and allows me to mention the TPS internet site, the Planetary Radio program, and The Planetary Report. If I'm not too busy, I'll talk about the programs, about SETI, Stardust, the Pioneer Anomaly, the Solar Sail, etc.
“So there are plenty of possible avenues to proceed for anyone out there with an interest in doing this kind of public relations activity. I have gotten some ideas off the Volunteer Page of the website that are helpful. I'm still not an expert, I'm not even a great public speaker, but one-on-one I do fine. As with all skills acquired in life, the better you get at anything, the more fun and satisfying it becomes!"
Lee had The Planetary Society logo for the camper door and the table banner (6 ft. x 2 ft. on heavy plastic) made by a local sign maker. He finds they attract people to his table and he’d be happy to answer any questions, so write him at lpaul31ld@yahoo.com for more information.
New On-Line Resources
Several volunteers have created excellent materials and have generously offered to share them with other volunteers. Please visit http://planetary.org/participate/volunteer/handouts.html to see the wonderful PowerPoint presentation about The Planetary Society created by Arizona Regional Coordinator Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto and complementary handouts created by Todd Sullivan. These resources will be an excellent addition to your own presentations. We will add additional materials as they become available.
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