 |
 |
||
 |
|
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
Projects: Red Rover Goes to MarsStudent Astronaut Abigail Fraeman
|
|||||||||||||||||
Student Astronauts Abby and Shih-Han Arrive
Abby, from the USA, and Shih-Han, a Taiwanese citizen living in the UK, arrived on 16 January (Spirit's sol 13). Shih-Han added a Taiwanese terra cotta tile to the office collection, while Abby brought a red, white, and blue quilt that she and her mother sewed by hand. Created: 16 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Shih-Han and I also toured the rest of JPL. We got to see many of the rooms where the scientists hold their meetings as well as some really cool 3D images taken by the cameras on Spirit. There weren't too many scientists around to talk to because they were all sleeping (we visited JPL at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, which is actually the middle of the night Mars time). Emily also showed a really neat movie of the sundial to Shih-Han and me. Tomas and Susini created the movie which showed the passage of time on Mars as measured by the moving shadow on the sundial.
We started our first official work shift at JPL this morning at 5:00 a.m. This time is actually a lot later than we will normally be starting work because Susini, Tomas, and I will be going to watch the filming of the Passport to Knowledge show later in the afternoon. During my time here, I went to my first science assessment meeting. Dr. Steve Squyres, the principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover missions lead the meeting. He began the meeting by calling roll, just like a teacher begins a class in school! Dr. Squyres wanted to make sure that there was a representative from each group at the meeting.
The meeting began with the scientists announcing their plans to take "a Sunday afternoon drive" with the rover (one of the scientists commented it was the "Little Old Rover from Pasadena"). The scientists plan to drive the rover over to a pyramid shaped rock they have dubbed Adirondack.
Everybody was also very excited because the very first Moessbauer data had arrived from Mars. Even though the Moessbauer had experienced some problems during cruise, the rover team was pleased to announce that it is working perfectly on the surface!
Dr. Squyres said the Moessbauer observation was a "truly historic accomplishment... truly fantastic."
The Pancam, Mini-TES, APXS, and MI team also gave reports on their instruments. Everything seems to be working perfectly!
After all the instrument teams gave their reports, the science teams gave reports on what they had found and what they wanted the rover to do in the future. Many of the science teams want to visit Sleepy Hollow because it is covered by a layer of thick dust. However, the mobility team is not sure how soon the rover will be able to visit Sleep Hollow because it is a 12-18 meter drive away.
I am so excited to be here! There is so much excitement and activity among the scientists and engineers as they look at new images and data. I can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow!
Spirit Sol 15
Sunday, January 18, 2004
After yesterday's shift ended, Shih-Han, Susini, Tomas and I went to film a short segment for the PBS television show Passport to Knowledge in the press room here at JPL. We were joined in Pasadena by several mission scientists, including Wayne Lee, Steve Squyres, Kobie Boykins, and Zoe Learner. We were also joined by Bill Nye from a science museum in Houston. Students from Houston had the opportunity to ask the Student Astronauts questions about their life in mission control. One of the students asked Shih-Han if the student astronauts had to work crazy hours. Shih-Han responded that the student astronauts have to live a double life, one life working on the mission and the other doing normal things that people usually do during the day. Kobie Boykins, one of the mission scientists, thought this comment was very funny and we all tried to imagine the secret double life of Shih-Han.
Along the lines of crazy hours, my work shift started at 2:30 am this morning and will run to 8:00 am. I certainly am feeling jet lagged from the trip from Earth to Mars! Many of the scientists here at JPL actually have special "Mars Watches" that let them keep track of the local solar time on Mars.
The first thing Shih-Han and I did this morning was to attend the Science Context meeting. During the meeting the scientists discussed whether or not to use the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) on the rock dubbed Adirondack. Steve Squyres said yesterday that the first approach to a rock should be very conservative so that the RAT will not be harmed in any way.
The scientists also discussed why they are so anxious to visit an area covered with at least 3mm of dust during the rover's stand down time (this time will occur during the landing of Opportunity and will be a period of time where Spirit will only take science data and will not move). The scientists hope to perform a complete, multi-sol Moessbauer integration on some fine dust to see if the dust is magnetic and to determine its exact composition.
The scientists were also very surprised by the latest images taken by the Microscopic Imager (MI). The MI took a picture of an area where the Moessbauer spectrometer had pressed into the ground with a force of 1 Newton in order to take its reading. Scientists had expected the dust to be very light and "fluffy", but the image showed no indication of an imprint left by the Moessbauer spectrometer, indicating that the soil was stronger than they thought. The scientists are very anxious to get back some images of tread marks in the soil created by the rover in order to learn more about the texture of the soil.
After the meeting, Shih-Han and I wandered around the Science Assessment room and talked with some scientists. We had the opportunity to meet the new Athena Student Interns from New Mexico. They were very friendly and were just as excited to be at JPL as we were.
During my wandering around the room, I had the opportunity to talk with Jim Rice and Peter Smith. We discussed a square hole in the rock dubbed Sushi and hypothesized ways the hole may have formed in such an odd shape. Jim Rice jokingly said that he thought the rock may have been part of a glacier, but Peter Smith was quick to point out that Jim Rice often thinks that rocks were part of glaciers because Jim Rice spent a lot of time in Iceland. We also discussed how interesting it was that the rocks at Gusev crater were so evenly spread out. In contrast to the Pathfinder site, the rocks at Gusev are not touching each other or piled up in a massive rock pile.
Abby and Shih-Han with Atmospheric Scientist Geoff Landis
Abby and Shih-Han quickly fell into the swing of things. Here they get a lesson about Mars dust from atmospheric scientist Geoff Landis. Created: 18 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Abby and Shih-Han with Morten Madsen
Abby and Shih-Han quickly fell into the swing of things. Here Morten Madsen tells them about the dust accumulating on the rover's magnets. Created: 18 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Shih-Han and I also talked with an atmospheric scientist named Geoffrey Landis. He talked about how the scientists could measure the amount of dust in the air and why the opacity of the Martian atmosphere has been decreasing since Spirit's landing. He said that the dust storm that kicked up all the dust in the first place was dying down, and even though Spirit's landing area is right on the edge of the storm, the dust there was settling down as well. We also discussed why the Martian sky appears so pink in all of the pictures, and it turns out that many of the pictures released are not exactly true color images. It is very difficult to make a completely true color image of Mars so most of the images returned are not quite true color.
Shih-Han and I then had a very long conversation with Morten Madsen, the head of the magnet team. He was very helpful to us and explained a lot about why the scientists were so surprised with the latest microscopic image. He also told us a lot about the magnets on the rover and showed us pictures of the magnets taken by the Pancam. The images are very interesting because the dust that has collected on the magnet appeared to be as dark in the image taken with the red filter as the image taken with the blue filter. The images still need to be calibrated, but the fact that dust was dark and easily seen in all the filters may indicate that the dust was a dark, even blackish color. This may mean that the dust is a dark mineral called magnitite. However, the dust must be analyzed with the instruments on the rovers, particularly the Moessbauer spectrometer, in order for scientists to really find out the true composition of the dust.
I am surprised and very pleased at how friendly all of the scientists were to Shih-Han and me. At first I felt very weird walking up to them while they were working, but all of the scientists seemed happy to take a short break from whatever they were doing and explain their work to Shih-Han and me. I loved talking to the scientists because they make everything they are studying sound so interesting, even pictures of dirt and dust in the air!
Spirit Sol 16
Monday, January 19, 2004
Since the Mars day is a little over 24 hours long, the Student Astronaut shifts start a little later every day. Instead of starting at 2:30 am like yesterday, Shih-Han and I arrived at JPL a little before 3:15 am. We are scheduled to arrive at JPL at a later and later time until Opportunity lands, and then we will start arriving at midnight again!
Right after we arrived at JPL, Shih-Han and I attended the science context meeting. The scientists are very excited about deploying the science arm to perform a Mössbauer integration on the rock dubbed Adirondack. Images of Adirondack from the right and left Hazcams have arrived, and these images have allowed the scientists to create a map showing the areas on Adirondack that are reachable with the instrument arm. The scientists have decided that they will use the RAT on the rock after collecting Mössbauer and APXS data.
The scientists also discussed the soil in the microscopic image. Because there appears to be no indentation in the soil left by the Mössbauer, many of the scientists think that the soil is hard and crusty, rather than light and flaky. They started discussing possible theories of why the soil is crusty, and were so excited by these theories that they continued to discuss the crusty soil after the meeting ended. The person leading the meeting suggested that everyone in the room should submit their ideas about the soil, regardless of how crazy the ideas were!
After the meeting, Shih-Han and I went back upstairs to our cubicle to work on some image processing. We didn't get much work done yesterday because we were so busy running around, so we decided to work extra hard today. I worked on finishing up a project for Jim Bell, the lead of the Pancam team. I worked with an imaging processing software called ImageJ and the sundial images to determine how the dust in the Martian atmosphere is influencing the calibration target. Shih-Han worked on adding entries to the image database. After adding 145 entries, he began to comment how he felt a little bit like a college graduate student entering data into the computer!
I also worked with our teacher mentor KJ Walsh on creating a sign for Morton Madsen's office. Previously, Morten's cubicle had simply been adorned by a piece of paper with "Magnetic Properties Group" scribbled on it in pen, but now the office is labeled with a colorful new sign, complete with a picture of the magnet inside the Mars DVD.
After posting the new sign, Shih-Han and I went back to the Science Assessment room to talk with scientists. We talked some more to Geoffrey Landis about the image processing he was working on with the calibration target. He was using an image processing software that is mainly used by the Mini-TES team. We also talked to Douglas Ming about the ripples the scientists may want to visit during stand-down.
Timothy Glotch told us all about the Mini-TES. He was currently working on placing Mini-TES data on top of data from the Navcam and Pancam images in order to show the temperatures of the rocks and soils. Shih-Han and I also talked with Lutzo Richter about a picture of the rover's tread marks in the ground. He showed us how these images seemed to support the theory that the soil is crusty.
The debate about the texture of the Martian soil is a very good example of all of the new science the mission is discovering. The scientists originally postulated that the soil was light and fluffy, but now they have decided perhaps the soil is different than originally thought. I am really enjoying watching the scientists formulate new hypothesis as they gather new information from Spirit.
After finishing our journal entries, Shih-Han and I continued to work on some image processing. We used the newer software to create several more Marsdial images. We also attended the end of the Science Assessment meeting where we learned that the scientists are still discussing where they want the rover to go during stand-down.
After the science assessment meeting, Shih-Han and I were able to attend our first press conference. The press conference was lead by Dr. Mark Adler, Dr. Eddie Tunstel, and Dr. Dave Des Marais. The press conference was a little strange because Shih-Han and I had already learned everything the scientists released during our time in science operations.
We were also able to attend the Science Operations Working Group (SOWG) meeting for the first time. The meeting went very well because the scientists and engineers were able to balance all of the tasks they wanted to complete and didn't use too much of the rover's memory. One of my favorite aspects of the meeting was observing that a couple of students in front of us were communicating with each other using instant messaging programs.
Spirit Sol 17
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
The science context meeting today was exceptionally long (but still very interesting) because several of the scientists gave PowerPoint presentations before the end of the meeting. Usually there are only one or two additional presentations, but today there were four! There was a presentation on hypotheses about Adirondack, a presentation about what to expect from using the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) on Adirondack, a presentation about the wheel track analysis, and a presentation showing images of rock fragments.
A geologist named Larry Crumpler created the presentation explaining hypotheses about Adirondack. He presented various hypotheses about the lithology (type), composition, origin, morphology (shape), and relation to the surroundings of Adirondack. After the presentation, I talked to Dr. Crumpler about the presentation, as well as his background in planetary science. Dr. Crumpler is actually both a field geologist and a planetary geologist. He spends half of his time in New Mexico studying volcanic fields, where he sees dozens of basaltic rock which are very similar to rocks found on Mars. Dr. Crumpler said that studying the rocks on Mars can be frustrating sometimes because he has seen the "same rock" dozens of times in the lava fields of New Mexico. It is so fascinating that the rocks on Mars and the rocks on Earth look so similar even though they were formed on two completely different planets!
Dr. Crumpler's interest in planetary science actually began as an interest in astronomy. He described himself as being Steve Squyres amateur astronomy buddy as they were growing up. When he got to college, Dr. Crumpler began taking courses in astronomy and physics. When he realized that he wasn't as interested in stars as he was in planets, Dr. Crumpler began taking planetary geology courses and eventually decided to become a full-fledged geologist. His story reminds me a little bit of myself because I am also mostly interested in astronomy. However, now that I have experienced planetary exploration first hand, I think I am just as interested in studying planetary science! Dr. Crumpler gave me the advice that I should do what I want to do and not be bound by a set path.
I also talked to a student named Emily Dean who gave a short presentation about rock fragments. Emily used Photoshop to show how a rock fragment nearby Sushi may have broken off from Sushi. When I asked her if she enjoyed working on the project as a graduate student, Emily told me that she was actually an undergraduate student attending Ithaca College. I was shocked and extremely thrilled that undergraduate students are making contributions to the Mars Exploration missions! I was even more surprised when Emily told me she was majoring in architectural history and not in astronomy or engineering like I had assumed. She told me that she had actually become involved with the mission as a sophomore in high school as a part of an outreach program. She observed the prototype testing of the rovers and was offered a job to work at Cornell University. I am so excited that Emily became involved with the rovers as part of an outreach program, just like me! It is so amazing that she got to stay with the program and continue to work on it for five years!
Emily said she is having an amazing time in Pasadena and loves working with the rovers. She mainly works the scientists' and engineers' schedules for the mission (I saw one of the schedules she was working on, it was very complex!). She has also volunteered to do any job that pops up. Even though she is majoring in architectural history, Emily said that she might want to pursue a graduate degree in engineering. She hasn't done any engineering work in college, but she is inspired by the fact that many of the leading scientists on the mission were non-science or engineering majors in college. Emily told me she loves not knowing exactly what she wants to do with her life. I think she has lead a pretty amazing life so far!
Spirit Sol 18
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
One of the best things about being a Student Astronaut is that I get to spend a majority of my time in the Science Assessment room. The Science Assessment room is a wonderful place that is specially built to encourage interaction and collaboration between scientists. It is a very large room that tends to get very crowded during certain meetings. Usually there are so many people in the room that the scientists need to use microphones in order to be clearly heard by everyone!
There are several clumps of tables placed throughout the room. There is a sign above each table that labels the science group that occupies the space. The signs say things like Atmosphere, Geology and Soil Composition. Even though the scientists each have their own area of expertise, they rarely stay at their own table, and are constantly wandering around the room and talking with scientists from other groups. I love the interaction that occurs among the scientists! Everybody gains something by working with scientists from different areas of interest.
Several computers sit on each of the tables. Many of the computers are set up with two computer screens. This allows the scientists to look at large images over a bigger area than one computer screen would normally allow. When I wander around the room, I love to look at all the fascinating images that are displayed on the computer screens. I have seen groups of scientists discussing a new image on one computer, while another scientist works on a 3D projection of Adirondack, while another scientist works on placing mini-TES data on top of Pancam images. The amount of activity that goes on in the Science Assessment room is absolutely amazing!
In addition to all of the computer screens, there are also twelve projection screens set up along the edge of the room. There is always wide collection of all sorts of images and data sets displayed on the screens. The screens are used to show interesting images to everyone in the room during meetings and presentations. One of my favorite uses of the presentation screens happened yesterday during the science assessment meeting when one of the scientists displayed the new microscopic image of Adirondack. The Microscopic Imager team had been discussing these newest images when Steve Squyres asked if everyone could see the images. The highest resolution images ever of a Martian rock were soon displayed, and the room had a to take a two minute break while everyone stared at the screens in amazement. It took several scientists reminding us we had to get back to work before the meeting resumed!
There is also a large table in the middle of the room that is littered with giant color printouts of some of Spirits best images of Mars. Some of these printouts are covered with sticky notes or pen markings. I love to sometimes take a break from the excitement of the rest of the room and just stare at the images and pretend I am with Spirit on the surface of Mars.
Shih-Han says the atmosphere of the room is, Like British weather. You can't predict it. Sometimes, especially at around 3 or 4 oclock in the morning Earth time, there are only eight or nine scientists scattered around, working quietly on their projects. Usually though, the room is quite crowded and filled with groups of people crowded around, excitedly discussing new hypothesis and ideas.
I absolutely love spending time in the Science Assessment room! I really enjoy interacting the scientists and I find it very interesting to watch them interact with each other. There is another Science Assessment room on the floor above that is set up for work on Opportunity. Right now, the room is very neat and orderly. All of the computers are dark and all none of the project screens are turned on. I can only imagine the room will be like when Opportunity lands on Mars!
Spirit Sol 19
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Spirit's Anomaly Explained
This was Sol 19, and Spirit had just suffered a serious anomaly and was not talking to Earth. University of Arizona geologist Ron Greeley helped put the event into perspective for Shih-Han, Vignan, Abby, and Wei Lin. The four students had an unusual viewpoint on the mission and got to see how the scientists coped with the temporary loss of the spacecraft. Created: 22 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Celebrating Scientist Ray Arvidson's Birthday
It was scientist Ray Arvidson's birthday, and the Student Astronauts helped deliver the birthday cake to the people assembled for the Science Assessment Meeting. Created: 22 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Today was an unusual day here at JPL because the scientists and engineers are having some problems communicating with the rovers. The communication problems began "yestersol" -- a day on Mars is called a "sol", so instead of saying "yesterday", the people working on the mission say "yestersol" -- when scientists and engineers were unable to establish a stable Deep Space Network link with the rover through a station in Australia. Since then, scientists and engineers have been unable to send any commands to the rover. They haven't lost complete contact with the rover however, which Emily Lakdawalla says is very good. As long as people don't completely lose contact with the rover, there is still a lot of hope that the communication problem can be resolved.
I had the opportunity to speak to Ron Greeley, a scientist who has been working with the space program since Apollo and who has worked on Viking and Pathfinder. He seemed very calm when he talked with us and told us, "There's always bumps along the way. You can only hope for the best." He was concerned about the problem, as is everyone else working on the mission, but he said that problems are to be expected with any mission. I am quite impressed that everything has gone so perfectly so far!
Emily said that in this kind of a situation you must "Use lemons to make lemonade." I think everyone here at JPL certainly did try to use today to their advantage. Scientists I talked to seemed glad that they would be able to use this day to catch up on their work. Even though no new data were received today, there were several new, and very interesting presentations during the Science Assessment Meeting. One scientist presented some new information about mini-TES data and another presented support for the hypothesis that the soil in the landing area is crusty. The Science Assessment meeting ended a very happy note today because it was Ray Arvidson's birthday. The Athena Student Interns brought out a cake and everyone in the Science Assessment room sang "Happy Birthday". Who would have thought that scientists could carry a tune? One of the scientists made a crack that the fire marshal wouldn't allow seventy candles on the birthday cake, to which another responded, "Aren't we firing seventy pyros off on Mars this weekend?" I think he had a very good, and amusing, point.
Like the scientists, the Student Astronauts were also able to use today to get a lot of work done. Shih-Han and I were able to work with Vignan and Wei-Lin for the first time today. We showed them how to use the sundial software and told them about all of the projects we are working on. All four of us then spent a long time calibrating images of the Pancam calibration target for Jim Bell, the head of the Pancam team.
Shih-Han and I actually got to meet Vignan and Wei-Lin yesterday at a press conference at the Planetary Society. The State Department invited a lot of foreign journalists to come out to JPL, and they spent the day touring JPL and the Planetary Society. The press conference was very exciting! All four of us stood at the front of a room and gave a little introduction about ourselves to the journalists. We then answered a lot of questions from everyone in the room. I felt a little like a television star with all of the microphones, video cameras, and camera flashes going off in the room!
After the formal press session, the press people were able to talk to all of us one on one. I spoke with a reporter from German public radio, Taiwanese television, and a Swiss and German magazine. I also talked to a reporter from Hungary who lives very close to me, and I found out that his son fences at the same place I do. I guess it's a small world after all! The four of us also go to meet with Robert Picardo, an actor from an American television show called Star Trek Voyager and a good friend of the Planetary Society. He was very nice and friendly with us.
Since today is Chinese New Year, the scientists are planning to have the End of Sol science discussion at a Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown. All four of us are planning to take the new subway system down to Chinatown (Shih-Han has already taken the subway, so he can guide us). Even though there was no new science data today, I am sure that the scientists will still be able to have some very good discussion over the Peking Duck.
Spirit Sol 20
Friday, January 23, 2004
Even though we got a lot of work done yesterday, the Student Astronauts still had a lot to work on today. Vignan and I spent our time working on creating movies with the Marsdial images. These movies will show the shadow cast by the post moving across the face of the Marsdial over time. We are working very hard to complete these movies by Opportunity's landing to show to people associated with the Planetary Society.
Between all of our image calibration work, we also had the chance to attend the Science Context meeting. Even though Spirit is only working on engineering tasks right now, the scientists still have interesting things to talk about. Everyone at the meeting got to see new images taken by Mars Global Surveyor of Spirit's and Opportunity's landing site. The images were absolutely incredible! The Spirit image was so detailed that we could see the heat shield, parachute, lander, and bounce marks from the lander. It was absolutely amazing! Everyone in the room spent a long time gathered around the table in the middle just staring at the images.
We also attended two separate press conferences about Opportunity and the problems with Spirit. I was very amused to see that even Pete Theisinger, the project manager of the Mars Exploration Rover missions, had to put a little powder on before the conference.
The atmosphere around JPL is tense, but not incredibly stressed. Even though engineers are still having problems with Spirit, they are in contact with the rover and are receiving engineering data from the rover, which is very good. Everyone is also very anxious about Opportunity landing tomorrow. Given the information we heard in the first press conference, Meridiani Planum (the landing site for Opportunity) should prove to be spectacular!
Spirit Sol 21 / Opportunity Sol 1
Sam Zingales Explaining Opportunity's Radio Tones to Shih-Han, Abby, Wei Lin, and Vignan
In Opportunity's Science Assessment Room, the students waited for the landing to happen. Sam Zingales, Deputy Manager for Opportunity's telecommunications, took some time to explain to Shih-Han, Abby, Wei Lin, and Vignan the meaning of the radio tones that Opportunity would be singing back to Earth as she approached Mars. Created: 24 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Science Team Celebrates Opportunity's Successful Landing
Back in Spirit's Science Assessment Room, the science team celebrates the successful landing. In the picture are Jason Soderblom (Cornell), Larry Soderblom (USGS), and Jim Bell (Cornell). Created: 24 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Shih-Han, Vignan, Wei Lin and Abby get a Marsdial Lesson from Bill Nye
After the landing, Vignan, Wei Lin, Shih-Han, and Abby went down to the "VIP" room to meet some distinguished visitors, including Bill Nye, The Science Guy (who is also a member of The Planetary Society's Advisory Council). Bill explained to the kids how he came up with the idea of using the rovers' calibration target as a Sundial, while Student Astronaut mentor KJ Walsh looked on. Created: 24 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Waiting for Opportunity's First Pictures
A young scientist sits ready at one of the main computers in the Science Assessment Room, with NASA TV on the screen in the background. He will be feeding the first images from Opportunity onto other giant screens in the room. Created: 25 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Celebrating Opportunity's First Images
Wei Lin, Abby, Shih-Han, and Vignan celebrate as the stunning images from Opportunity show up, one after another. Created: 25 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Wei Lin, Shih-Han, Abby and Vignan at JPL's Front Entrance
Conquerors? Wei Lin, Shih-Han, Abby, and Vignan pose at the front entrance of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during their nighttime shift. Created: 27 January 2004. Credit: The Planetary Society |
Saturday, January 24, 2004
What an absolutely AMAZING night! The evening was even more incredibly awesome than I thought it could ever be! Even now I can hear cheers coming from the hallway. Everyone around here (including myself) is so excited!
We started the night by playing a game to predict the actual landing site of Opportunity. Someone had posted a giant poster of Opportunity's landing ellipse and everyone in Mission Operations had the chance to mark a guess where Opportunity would land. Emily gave us a tip that the navigation guys had told us to "go long" with our guesses. I picked an area east of the center of the landing ellipse, closed my eyes, and pointed my finger on a spot. I don't think I was close to the rover's actual landing spot, but I still had a lot of fun!
All four of the Student Astronauts viewed the landing with the Entry Descent and Landing Team (EDL team) in the Science Assessment room for Opportunity (the room had a sign on the door that read "EDL War Room"). It was the perfect place to watch the landing! The people on the EDL team are the people who were in charge of designing everything for the landing, like the parachute and airbag system. The room got very quiet right before the spacecraft hit the atmosphere, and then erupted in cheers after every milestone was achieved. There was enormous applause after Mission Control received the signal that the rover was bouncing. It was just an absolutely incredible atmosphere! Everyone was screaming and hugging each other. Many people in the room even laughed with enjoyment when we saw images of Arnold Schwarznegger and Al Gore talking to the people in Mission Control.
After the amazing experience of the landing, we were treated to another incredible experience. Dr. Louis Friedman, the executive director of the Planetary Society, and Jim Bell, the head of the Pancam team, took all of the Student Astronauts down to the Cafeteria to meet Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill Nye is a good friend to the Planetary Society and one of the innovators of the Marsdial. He showed us some images of the Marsdial he plans to post on his website and explained a lot to us about how Sundials, and Marsdials, work. It was really cool getting a personal science lesson from Bill Nye! Even though he was talking to four people on the spur of the moment, Bill Nye's talk still came across like a lesson from his television show.
Next, we all went to the press conference. This was another incredible experience! The pressroom was so packed that we had to watch the press conference from the lobby of the auditorium! We stood right next to members of the EDL team as they cheered their way into the pressroom. They made a spectacular entrance.
The press conference was very amusing. In the middle of the conference, Dr. Elachi presented NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe with the LEGO model of the rover as a birthday present. Now Mr. O'Keefe can have the same fun the Student Astronauts had assembling the rover! We also got to see Al Gore leaving the pressroom!
The night didn't end there. At around one in the morning, all the Student Astronauts watched in the Science Assessment room on the fourth floor as the first images from Opportunity came in. WHOA!!!!!! The images are completely astounding! They look nothing like the Mars we have come to know through Viking, Pathfinder, and Spirit. Matt Golembek came running into the room exclaiming, "Have I found a site for you or what!" Seeing the first images was just as exciting as the landing!
I can't wait to see more images from Opportunity! This night has been one of the most exciting nights of my life! I got to witness a successful landing, meet several important people, and see a side of Mars that has never been seen by anyone before! How will I ever go to sleep tonight?
Spirit Sol 22 / Opportunity Sol 2
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Earlier this evening, someone on the Pancam team told us that "Sleep is for wimps." This seems to be the motto with all of the scientists and engineers here at JPL. Everyone is so excited about the new images and data from Meridiani Planum that they don't want to go home and sleep!
Dr. Jim Bell, the head of the Pancam team, showed us some of these exciting data and images from Meridiani Planum. After looking over the pictures with him, I can definitely understand why these pictures are responsible for depriving everyone of sleep. Dr. Bell showed us the stunning Pancam postcard from Opportunity and explained some of the features in the image to us. One of the coolest aspects of the picture is the exposed white colored rocks in the distance. Dr. Bell said the scientists thought that the rocks were exposed bedrock. No lander or rover has ever had the opportunity to study bedrock on Mars up close!
Vignan and I spent a lot of time tonight working on finishing up some the Marsdial movies from Spirit. The movies look pretty cool, but there are still some problems with calibrations between sundial frames. We'll be done with those soon!
The first Science Assessment meeting for Opportunity was held at 1:00 this morning. The meeting began when Steve Squyres walked into the room and said, "In a few minutes we are about to start what should be the coolest science assessment meeting since the start of this mission." Many of the scientists around the room discussed their hypotheses about Meridiani Planum. All of them had some pretty neat hypotheses, and the Science Assessment meeting was a really good time for them to share their hypotheses. It was neat seeing all of the scientists interact with each other sharing and brainstorming ideas. The atmosphere was very relaxed and everyone was open to all sorts of crazy ideas. It was great!
All of the scientists are very interested in Meridiani Planum. Before Opportunity landed, some of the scientists were a bit concerned that Meridiani would be boring because it was so flat. However, everyone can now say that this is definitely not the case. People are so excited about the landing site and are very anxious to discover more about Opportunity's new home!
Spirit Sol 23 / Opportunity Sol 3
Monday, January 26, 2004
Today was Shih-Han's and my last day here at JPL. The new images coming down from Opportunity are absolutely stunning and I am saddened that I have to leave just as Opportunity’s journey is beginning. However, as I reflect on my time here, I am stunned by the incredible amount of interesting things I have seen in the past couple days. I was able to witness Spirit’s first Sunday afternoon drive, saw how scientists and engineers deal with major problems in a mission, watched a spectacular landing, and saw new images come back from the surface of Mars that were unlike anything I had ever imagined. I have had such a marvelous experience!
Everybody here is so excited about the new images of Meridiani Planum. Today, Wei-Lin, Vignan, Shih-Han, and I saw several presentations on hypotheses about the landing site. We saw presentations from Ray Arvidson, the deputy PI, and from Phil Christiansen, the head of the mini-TES team, that were focused on hypotheses about the area around the landing site and hematite. They talked about how the hematite may have been formed and what Opportunity should look for during its exploration on the Martian surface. They talked a lot about the different terrains in Meridiani, including the hematite rich areas and areas dubbed “etched areas” that were dramatically different from the hematite rich areas.
In one of the images of Opportunity’s lander, I can see the Planetary Society DVD and I can almost make out the outline of the Astrobot Sandy Moondust. I have been reading her e-mails with Biff Starling, and I think that the picture can confirm that Sandy has safely landed in Meridiani Planum. Hooray for Sandy!
An engineer named David Lavery also treated all four of us to a special tour of the mission control area. We saw the areas where engineers monitor the health of the rover, communicate with the rover, and drive the rover. Contrary to popular belief, there is not a giant joystick that the engineers use the drive the rover. Instead, the mobility team has set up several computers that are used to send pre-programmed instructions to move the rovers. Before I left, several of my classmates asked if I could ask the scientists to pop a wheelie with the rover. When I asked David Lavery if this would actually be possible, he was quick to respond with a smile that it would definitely never happen.
I cannot begin to describe my past few days here at JPL. I have had such a great time getting to know the Mars Exploration Rover team and working with them during periods of joy, stress, and discovery. I really hope to continue to work with planetary science and astronomy in the future as a career. I wish everyone on the rover team the best of luck in the sols to come, and I hope the rest of the Student Astronauts have as much fun as I did!
Below is a list I complied of the top ten perks of being a Student Astronaut.
10. You get to stay up way past your bedtime.
9. It never snows in Pasadena, even in the middle of January.
8. You become very familiar the sundial after calibrating over 150 images.
7. You can ask the engineers to do wheelies with the rover
6. Three words – free ice cream.
5. Have you ever seen distinguished scientists run around screaming with
joy?
4. You can tell everyone you really are from Mars.
3. There are articles written about you in languages that you can’t
read.
2. You get to receive personal science lessons from Bill Nye the Science
Guy.
1. You have the chance to work with extraordinary people from all over
the world and have a blast!
Working here at JPL has been the experience of a lifetime. I would like to give an enormous thank you to everyone at LEGO and the Planetary Society for providing me with such an incredible opportunity! I would especially like to thank Louis Friedman, Bruce Betts, Glenn Cunningham, Vilia Zmuidzinas and Susan Lendroth from the Planetary Society for helping the Student Astronaut program to succeed. I would also like to congratulate and thank everyone from the Mars Exploration Rover team for taking the time to speak with the Student Astronauts whenever we had any questions. I also want to thank my teachers, friends, and family for being so supportive of me. I want to give a special thank you to Joe Oliver and KJ Walsh, the Student Astronaut mentors, for helping me out so much with all of my work at JPL. I would also like to thank Tomas and Susini for showing me the ropes, Wei-Lin and Vignan for being so helpful, and Shih-Han for being the coolest partner ever and for putting up with my “dodgy” American accent. Finally, I would like to give a huge thank you to Emily Lakdawalla for all of the time and hard work she put into the Student Astronaut program. She has been so helpful and she has taught me so much about planetary science and exploration!
My time working with the rover team really has been out of this world.
[ what is this? ]