The von Kármán Lecture Series

Earth and moon

Exploring the Moon

July 16 & 17

Several international space agencies are actively engaged in robotic as well as human exploration of the moon, including projects from China, Japan, India, Russia, Europe, Germany and the United Kingdom. NASA has also embarked on an active science and exploration program which includes three robotic missions planned for launch in 2009, 2011 and 2012, as well as human exploration starting in 2020. This presentation will discuss NASA’s current plans for returning to the moon for both science and exploration, as well as efforts to collaborate with international partners.

Speaker:

Dr. Leon Alkalai
Manager, Lunar Robotic Exploration Office
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Location:

Thursday, July 16, 2009, 7p.m.
The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA
› Directions

Friday, July 17, 2009, 7p.m.
The Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College
1570 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
› Directions

Webcast:

For the webcast on Thursday at 7 p.m. Pacific time, click here Video Icon

If you don't have RealPlayer, you can download the free RealPlayer.

Rovers

Spirit and Opportunity: The Corps of Discovery for Mars Rolls On
January 15 & 16
For five Earth years, the intrepid robotic explorers Spirit and Opportunity have been successfully conducting field geology at two different locations on the surface of Mars.

Lecture/webcast information

drawing of people looking at sky

Galileo's Dream: The International Year of Astronomy 2009
February 19 & 20
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has chosen 2009 as the Internatonal Year of Astronomy. What makes this year special?

Lecture/webcast information

artist concept of Dawn

Advanced Propulsion for JPL Deep Space Missions
March 19 & 20
JPL's Dawn mission is en route to rendezvous with the main-belt asteroids Vesta and Ceres, and is using ion propulsion to get there.

Lecture/webcast information

dust plume over Eastern Mediterranean

Rainbows, Red Sunsets and Rocket Science Revisited
April 16 & 17
What do patterns of light from the sky reveal about particles in the air?

Lecture/webcast information

artist concept of Kepler

Kepler, a Planet-Hunting Mission
May 14 & 15
Kepler, a NASA mission launching in the spring of 2009, is a spaceborne telescope designed to survey distant stars to see how common Earth-like planets are.

Lecture/webcast information

region showing active star formation

The Really Big Picture: Things We Know About the Universe, and How We Know Them
June 11 & 12
The structure and nature of the universe has puzzled and fascinated people for thousands of years.

Lecture/webcast information

Earth and moon

Exploring the Moon
July 16 & 17
Several international space agencies are actively engaged in robotic as well as human exploration of the moon, including projects from China, Japan, India, Russia, Europe, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Lecture/webcast information

artist concept of Mars Science Laboratory

From Legs to Wheels
August 20 & 21
NASA’s next mission to Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory, will be landing with an extremely unusual landing system – a skycrane invented by the mission team specifically to land a large rover in scientifically exciting locations on Mars.

Lecture/webcast information

artist concept of Orbiting Carbon Observatory

Measuring Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide From Space: The NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory Mission
September 17 & 18
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is the first NASA mission designed to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide with the precision, resolution and coverage needed to quantify the processes controlling the buildup of this important greenhouse gas.

Lecture/webcast information

graphic showing Mars Exploration Rover navigation technique

How to Drive a Robot
October 15 & 16
The last few years have witnessed some great strides in the field of autonomous mobile robotics.

Lecture/webcast information

map of exoplanet

Taking a Closer Look at Exoplanet Atmospheres
November 12 & 13
The last two years have seen extraordinary progress in the field of detecting and characterizing the atmospheres of planets circling stars other than the sun.

Lecture/webcast information

Mount St.Helen's eruption

Monitoring Earth's Changing Land Surface
December 3 & 4
The U.S./Japan ASTER instrument has been taking pictures of Earth's surface since 2000. Dramatic changes are evidence of processes re-shaping our planet.

Lecture/webcast information