May. 15 & 16
"Phoenix is Landing
on Mars!"
Rising our out of the ashes of the lost Mars Polar Lander
mission of 1998 and the Mars Surveyor 2001 Program, the Phoenix
Mars lander mission will, for the first time in history, dig
beneath Mars' northern polar arctic in search of signs of
ancient habitats of possible organisms that may have flourished
on Mars billions of years ago. Deborah Bass, the Phoenix project's
Deputy Project Scientist will explain what Phoenix will do
and what it hopes to discover after it lands on Mars later
this month, May 25, 2008.
The Phoenix lander's entry, descent and landing system harkens back to the Mars landing system design used by the Viking landers of the 1970's. How does it work and why does it land so differently than the Mars rovers still exploring Mars? What happened to the airbags? Are we showing signs of engineering dementia or is there a method to our madness? Will humans land on Mars using these systems? Joining Deborah, JPL's Rob Manning will attempt to clear the Mars dust off this story.
Speaker: |
Robert Manning |
Location: |
Thursday, May 15, 2008, 7p.m. The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL |
Webcast: |
Webcast with caption |
JPL & The Beginnings of the Space Age
Jan. 24 & 25
The premier of a new historical video produced by JPL Office of Communications and Education Division Manager, Blaine Baggett.
Where in the World Will Our Energy Come From?
Feb. 28 & 29
What would it take to get the world to rely on renewable energy sources and get away from the damaging effects of fossil fuels?
Enceladus: The Newest Wrinkle from Saturn's Tiger-Striped Moon
Mar. 20 & 21
The Cassini spacecraft reveals a dynamic world of icy jets and towering plumes on Saturn's Moon Enceladus.
The Importance of Sample Return
Apr. 24 & 25
The Genesis Mission collected solar-wind samples outside of the Earth's Magnetosphere and returned them to Earth for Analysis.
Landing a Backhoe on Mars
May. 15 & 16
The Phoenix Lander will study the history of water and search for complex organic molecules in the ice-rich soil of the martian arctic.
The Heliospheric Magnetic Field, the Solar Wind & the Interstellar Medium
Jun. 19 & 20
The interaction of the heliospheric magnetic field, the solar wind and the interstellar medium are vitally important.
Cassini Mission to Saturn Highlights
Jul. 24 & 25
Near the completion of its four-year primary mission, the Cassini Spacecraft has revealed Saturn and its dynamic moons in unprecedented ways.
Keeping an Eye on Earth's Changing Climate: The Ocean Surface Topography Mission
Aug. 21 & 22
Measuring global sea level changes continually chronicles how Earth's climate fluctuates and changes over time.
The Great Southern California Shake Out
Sep. 25 & 26
California's future includes preparation for a great earthquake that could hit southern California on the southern San Andreas Fault.
New Wheels on Mars: The Mars Science Laboratory
Oct. 16 & 17
NASA's next rover mission to Mars will be twice as long and five times as heavy as the Mars Exploration Rovers.
New Worlds: Exoplanet Discoveries from the Spitzer Space Telescope
Nov. 13 & 14
Infrared Astronomy is responsible for some of the most revealing and interesting views of the Universe to date.
The Mystery of Dark Energy
Dec. 11 & 12
Evidence that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating points to "Dark Energy" as the cause of this rapid expansion.
