mars2004

Mars Rover Webcasts and Website at the Exploratorium

Website

The Exploratorium has a great Mars website on which we will show images from JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to the web audience as they are received from Mars. I will help interpret these images. There are also activities on the website.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/mars

Webcasts

During January 2004 I will be doing 7 webcasts about Mars at the Exploratorium.

I've been following the exploration of Mars for decades, and even did some Mars research myself. I am the discoverer of the shape of Martian snowflakes, dry ice crystals form as cuboctahedrons, cubes with their corners cut off. Knowing the shapes of the ice crystals allowed me to predict the size of halos around the sun on Mars. The missions to Mars will photograph the Martian sky and I hope catch an image of a halo.

The first mission to land will be the european Beagle2 lander on the 25'th of December 2003, followed by two U.S. Rovers on January 3, and January 24, 2004.

Here are the webcasts

January 6, The View from Mars,

What makes the red planet red, the sky salmon-colored and sunsets cyan on Mars?

January 8, Tales of a Martian Rock Climber

Considerations of a rock climber on Mars, is the rock any good?

January 10, Camping on Mars

What does it take to survive on Mars? How warm a sleeping bag do you need?

January 13, Martian Snowflakes

What shape is a Martian snowflake? How big are halos around the sun on Mars?

January 15, Mission updates and Surprises

What have we discovered so far?

January 17, Playing Around on Mars

Games and toys on Mars.

January 24, Being Human on Mars

Seeing, hearing, smelling and touching Mars.

Here is a collection of Mars data.