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Volunteer NetworkThe Planetary Society's
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ASU Earth Science Day
The Planetary Society celebrates ASU's Earth Science Day. |
• Arizona
Patrick Lonchar wrote : “The Planetary Society was well represented
at the 8th annual Earth Science Day at Arizona State University. Our biggest
attraction was a Mars 3-D poster of The Twin Peaks taken by Mars Pathfinder. Adults
and children really enjoyed it, responding with comments like "cool", "awesome",
and "neat." Several hundred visitors stopped by our booth. The majority
picked up literature about the Society. I spoke with about 50 adults/students
at length and some children about the goals and aspirations of The Planetary
Society. Many people with whom I spoke had heard about our Solar Sail in the
news. I mentioned that we were drumming up support for building a new one
and that by joining The Planetary Society their membership would help support
initiatives like this one as well as many others. I also mentioned that
The Planetary Society played a big role in the early development of Mars Rover
proto-types, the SETI program, as well as promoting education programs for children. The
event was very successful at getting the Society out in the public's eye.”
• Brazil
José Roberto de Vasconcelos Costa attended the 8th annual ENAST
(Encontro Nacional de Astronomia) held in Curitiba, Brazil, in November.
He had a poster on the history of Cosmos 1 and gave an oral presentation
on the first 25 years of the Society. In December, he give a lecture
about the Solar Sail project at the invitation of the Brazilian Association
of Astronautics (AAB). The title of his talk was "Para Chegar às
Estrelas" (To Reach the Stars). The staff of Brazilian Space Agency,
who sponsored this event, were very receptive. They showed him the
facilities of the National Space Research Institute and the museum
of aeronautics and space in an exclusive visit. Wrote José: “they
were very attentive to my explanations on Cosmos 1 project. They want
me to continue the contact with them for future educational projects!”
• Florida
Karen Sulprizio represented the Society at the Bay Haven School
Science Fair Night in December. Along with her numerous preparations
she bought a new Bushnell “talking” telescope that can
recognize the area of the sky it is pointed to -- and play a descriptive
narrative. This is a wonderful teaching tool, but unfortunately,
the sky was overcast so she remained inside with the interactive "Space
Lab" (with the solar system info), which was a hit with kids
and adults alike. A lot of adults picked up copies of The Planetary
Report, magnets (which Karen makes and presents to school children),
the "how to make a volcano" worksheet, and bookmarks. She
engaged everyone in lengthy discussions about The Planetary Society.
• Ireland
Kevin Nolan presented two public lectures during Space Week Ireland
(November), first at Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork, and then
at the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Dublin. The lecture, titled "Mars
and the search for our origins," examined what recent and upcoming
Mars exploration can tell us about the origin of life on Earth and
a cosmic context for life. The lecture included details and images
of the latest findings from Mars.
• Netherlands
Arno Wielders organized, in cooperation with the Dutch Aerospace
Society (the NVR), a symposium called: "Europe's mission to
Venus: Venus Express". This December event was hosted by the
largest space company in the Netherlands, Dutch Space, in Leiden,
and featured two speakers: Con McCarthy, the systems engineer of
Venus Express and Erik Laan, a technical specialist of Dutch Space,
who discussed the science behind the mission and the secrets Venus
still holds. After the symposium, Arno wrote: “Our event on
Venus Express in December was very successful. Between 35-40 people
attended, even some high place officials from ESA! This does not
happen often. One of the project managers of the project I am working
on at ESTEC was there too.”
• New Jersey
Ken Kremer participated in "World Space Week" at the Franklin
Institute Science Museum in October with a Mars/Saturn display that
included a full scale model of the Mars Rover drill, which helped provide
proof for the past existence of liquid water on the surface of Mars.
• Northern California
Matt Lucking and his team of Bay Area Volunteers (TPSBAVN) organized
a lecture in September featuring Society Board member Chris McKay,
Planetary Scientist and astrobiologist at NASA/Ames Research Center,
who spoke on "Titan Through the Eyes of Huygens: A Quiet Little
Place With a Nice Atmosphere”. Nearly 100 people attended,
filling the auditorium of the Randall Museum. In November, TPSBAVN
staffed the Society information table at WonderFest, a two-day symposium
featuring scientists debating important issues of the day. Many new
memberships were sold that day. Thanks to Matt, Tracy Avent, Lonny
Baker, Barbara Bowman, Noelle Edwards, Martin Gregory, Todd Hansen,
Adil Khan, David Mark, John Nolan, Cindy Pavlinac, Ron Peterson,
Barbara Raskin, and Mark Siegel for planning, publicizing, moderating,
and staffing one or more event.
Seattle Sci-Fi Museum Lecture
CoCo's display attracted a lot of people before and after the lectures. |
• Washington
CoCo Podawiltz, her husband Bill, and son Kris, represented the
Society in October at the Seattle Sci-Fi Museum lectures on The Future
of Space Travel. Wrote CoCo: The lectures themselves and our TPS
display went quite well, and we enjoyed ourselves very much. We had
a nice table set up outside the theater, and we were able to put
up all our posters and materials with a good vantage point towards
the incoming people. There was only a brief 30 minute timeframe before
and after the lectures for attendees to wander around, but we did
have a nice crowd. People mainly stopped to look at our materials
and ask some questions -- many took membership application forms
with them. Overall, it was a good evening and the talks were fascinating!
Interesting Web Links
Visit The Planetary Society website at http://planetary.org/radio for a complete listing of all stations that carry Planetary Radio -- and the timeslots when it airs. The program now airs on XM Satellite Radio at http://xmradio.com You can also hear past programs, all of which are archived on the Planetary Society's website, http://planetary.org
If you are not a yet a member of The Planetary Society, you can join by going to http://planetary.org/join.
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