Today's morning lecturer was Kobie Boykins, a NASA engineer who is in part responsible for the creation of the Mars Expedition Rovers. Specifically, he worked on the solar panel arrays that power the two Rovers currently exploring Mars, named Spirit and Opportunity. These robot geologists scour the planet's surface, collecting data about mineralogy and hopefully giving us the information we'll need to unlock the Red Planet's secrets. What secrets? Well, primarily: What kind of water activity was there on Mars in the past? As Boykins noted, if Mars once had a flourishing water supply and it has since disappeared, the same thing could potentially happen here on Earth. A disturbing thought.
On the lighter side, I couldn't help be delighted when I designed the front page of today's paper. NASA was gracious enough to give us a beautiful high quality image for publication. I think the little Rover bears a striking resemblance to WALL-E. :)
Check out these amazing videos of how the Rovers enter Mars' atmosphere, descend, and land on the surface (aka the "Six Minutes of Terror"). And of course, how it gets around.
LOO! The page looks awesome! I'm so excited for you : )
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