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Projects: Red Rover Goes to MarsStudent Astronaut Courtney Dressing
Spirit Sol 0Friday, January 2, 2003 I’m writing this entry at The Planetary Society, which is actually a brown house on Catalina Avenue. I hadn’t pictured The Planetary Society building like this at all, but the building is fitting. Inside, the house is covered with pictures of space, and less than two feet from where I’m sitting is one of the Mars Stations with a small rover inside! I’m very glad to be here! Today was exciting. Rafael and I met KJ Walsh and Joe Oliver, the two Los Angeles School District teachers who will be working with us at JPL. KJ and Joe are both very nice. I’m going to enjoy getting to know them. We toured JPL on Wednesday and revisited some of the rooms in our buildings again today. On our way, we met several scientists, including Steve Squyres, the head of the Spirit science team. We saw the Science Operations Working Group meeting room. The room was empty today, but once Spirit lands it will be very full. Rafael and I also saw several non-work related items on our tour—including a Star Wars screensaver and a Lord of the Rings poster. The screensaver and poster are proof that scientists have fun too. And no, none of them were wearing glasses with tape on them! Rafael and I each brought something for the Student Astronaut office that represents our own country. Rafael brought a very nice, dignified wooden toucan to represent Brazil, and I brought a rather undignified American bear dressed in a red, white, and blue hat and vest that sings “America the Beautiful” when you press its hand. This afternoon we had our first interviews with the press. Both CNN and a Japanese news station came to The Planetary Society headquarters to interview us in person. I had talked to a reporter over the phone, but I’d never been interviewed in person. The bright spotlights and microphones were kind of intimidating, but Rafael and I did well. CNN even clipped personal microphones to us! The reporters asked us about ourselves, the Red Rover Goes to Mars Student Astronaut Program, and how we were selected. I’m glad that the Japanese network and CNN took the time to interview us. Tomorrow is the start of Wild About Mars and the scheduled landing of Spirit. I hope that Spirit lands successfully, and I’m fairly sure that it will. Good luck Spirit! Spirit Sol 1Sunday, January 4, 2003 Wow! Today was definitely the best day of my life! Spirit landed on Mars! At the time of landing, we were in one of the main meeting rooms along with 100 other people involved in the mission at the time of the landing. That room, other than mission control itself, was probably one of the best places to be during the entry, descent, and landing phase. We arrived in the room at about 7:00 Pacific time, and at that time it was relatively empty. We sat down, met a few more scientists, and watched NASA TV on the large projection screens in the room. An hour later, the room was packed and the noise level had doubled. All of the scientists were excited about the landing and everyone wanted to talk to everyone else. Around 8:10, the room suddenly got very quiet. There were less than three minutes until cruise stage jettison, and no one wanted to miss anything. I was incredibly excited about the landing, and awed by the fact that I was watching the proceedings inside JPL with actual mission scientists! The Student Astronaut program is truly an amazing opportunity! Entry and descent went as expected, much to the relief of the mission scientists. At times when we received confirmation of critical events (parachute deployment, heat shield jettison, etc.) everyone cheered. None of the cheering compared to the celebration that occurred when mission control announced that they had signs that the spacecraft was bouncing on the surface. The celebration was premature, because shortly after mission control announced that the signal indicating that the rover was bouncing had stopped. The room immediately quieted, and everyone held their breath waiting for further confirmation of landing. Ten long, silent minutes passed before that confirmation was received. One of the mission scientists announced that he had “data that might be indicative of landing.” However, we would have to wait another four minutes for that data to be confirmed. There was no cheering after that announcement, because there was still no absolute evidence of a successful landing. Finally, four minutes and a lot of nervous thoughts later, we saw the scientists in mission control stand up and cheer. It was obvious—even without audio—that Spirit had landed successfully on Mars. Instantly, everyone in the room stood up and cheered. There was an audible sigh of relief as everyone realized that the hardest part was over. Spirit was on Mars! Everyone in the room congratulated each other and exchanged hugs. The fourteen minutes spent waiting seemed like an eternity, and I was more nervous and excited than I had ever been. After the landing, Rafael and I went upstairs to our office to call into The Planetary Society’s Wild About Mars celebration. We answered a few questions about where we were when Spirit landed and how we felt—of course, we were ecstatic! Wild About Mars was a huge success today—over a thousand people attended. I’m looking forward to going to Wild About Mars tomorrow afternoon. Once the call was completed, we returned to the meeting room to continue congratulating scientists and watch NASA TV to learn more about Spirit’s condition. To everyone’s surprise and delight, Spirit landed base-petal down! That means that the unfolding process will be shorter and we might even receive images from the Mars Odyssey flyover tonight! We’re on duty until 1:00 AM, so we’ll be able to find out! Earlier in the day we attended a light-hearted pep rally meeting run by Steve Squyres and enjoyed dinner with the magnet team. I could write in detail about the meeting and lunch, but this entry is already very long. Instead, I’ll just say that today was a wonderful day that just kept getting better! In a few minutes we’re going to go back downstairs to the meeting room to learn about what occurred in the Mars Odyssey flyover. Hopefully, the day will continue to get better and we’ll have pictures from Mars! Postscript:
Amazingly, the day did continue to get better. We received enough images to create a relatively good resolution panorama of the area surrounding the rover! Everyone is thrilled about the status of the mission, and I can’t wait to come back tomorrow to see more data! Spirit Sol 2Monday, January 5, 2003 This afternoon, Rafael and I attended The Planetary Society's Wild About Mars convention. As soon as we arrived, we were interviewed by a Canadian news service about Mars and the space program. Our answers will be used in two episodes of a Canadian science show geared towards 8-14 year olds. It's strange to think that Rafael and I will be on a TV show! After the interview, Rafael, Jim Bell, Mark Adler, and I were invited to the stage to share our experiences at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) last night and participate in a question and answer session with the audience. Speaking to several hundred people was a little scary, but I found that the audience worked more as an inspiration than an intimidation. Immediately after the Q&A session, Rafael and I were interviewed by NBC. Each interview gets easier, but I don't think I'll ever get used to them! We spent another hour at Wild About Mars and then left for JPL. At JPL, we learned how to use some brand-new image processing software. The process is actually pretty simple, but it should be a fun way for us to be involved in the mission. Afterwards, we went downstairs to the Science Assessment room to find out what the scientists were thinking. It is so exciting to see new data from Mars! I also spent some time wearing 3D glasses and staring at a 3D image of Gusev crater developed from pictures taken by Spirit. About an hour after we entered the room, one of the scientists called an ad hoc science meeting to discuss with everyone what had already been discussed in smaller groups. The meeting lasted for about an hour and was a nice way for me to review everything that I had heard. Right now it's 9:50 PM. I'm a little tired, but I'm very glad to be here! I mentioned earlier today at Wild About Mars that my sixteenth birthday is in two days and that I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present. It's true; I don't think I'll ever forget this experience! Postscript:
After we finished our journals, we returned to the Science Assessment room to see the raw images from the Mars Odyssey downlink. The new images are just as impressive as the earlier ones, and provide the scientists with a lot to think about. Spirit's location was certainly an interesting place to land! Later in the night we attended the Sol 2 Strategic Assessment Meeting. Good news-Spirit's instruments are doing well! So far everything has been in good shape. In addition to reporting on the status of the rover's instruments, the scientists also named the depression "Sleepy Hollow." The name is appropriate given the general lack of sleep among the scientists! Personally, I'm looking forward to going back to the hotel and sleeping. I can't wait to get back to work tomorrow! I hope tomorrow goes as well as today! Spirit Sol 3Tuesday, January 6, 2004 Today we were filmed by the Passport to Knowledge news crew for a television program about Mars that will air on PBS on January 17. As well as interviewing us, they also filmed us working on images. I was surprised at how easy it was to forget that we were being filmed. After an hour or two I almost forgot they were there! Around midnight, we attended the Strategic Science Assessment Meeting. I learned a lot during the meeting about what the scientists thought of the geology of the landing site. It's really great to hear all of their opinions! During the meeting, we also discussed naming conventions for the craters and rises in the distance. The scientists are putting a lot of consideration and thought into their naming suggestions. Throughout the mission, scientists will use these terms to refer to specific features in Gusev Crater, so they should have some meaning. I'm slowly adjusting to our working hours. Rafael and I started working at 9:15 PM today and it's 2:20 in the morning now. I guess that means I'm sixteen! I never imagined that I would spend my sixteenth birthday at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory working with images from Mars! I'm thrilled to be here, and I'm looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow night-maybe we'll have new images! Spirit Sol 4Wednesday, January 7, 2004 We spent a lot of time with the scientists today. I watched part of a presentation on various hypotheses to explain several observations of the landing site. I enjoyed the presentation and was very glad that I stopped to listen. In addition to discovering what the scientists thought of the landing site, I learned some basic geology. Rafael and I also learned how to use the imaging software to compare the spectra of various rocks and soils. [A spectrum is a graph that shows how strongly an object reflects or emits different wavelengths of light. -Ed.] One of the scientists noticed us looking over his shoulder and took the time to explain what he was doing. Knowing the spectra of a sample is important because it can help you determine the composition of the rock or soil as well as make comparisons between different samples that you wouldn't necessarily be able to make with just the naked eye. In addition to wandering around and listening to conversations between scientists, Rafael and I also attended the Sol 4 Strategic Science Assessment Meeting. All of the instruments on the rover are doing well, and we should receive more data soon. I'm looking forward to looking at new images, but I could spend hours staring at the ones we already have! There's an amazing amount of information in the images, especially the high-resolution color Pancam pictures. I can't wait until Spirit is able to explore those features up close! Spirit Sol 5Wednesday, January 7, 2004 This afternoon, Rafael and I went to The Planetary Society Headquarters to record an interview for Planetary Radio, which is the Societys radio show. In addition to hearing Planetary Radio in Pasadena, you can also listen to it online. The broadcast with our interview should be online by Monday evening. Recording the segment was fun, and we even got to say hi to our friends and families back home! Rafael and I started work two hours early today so we would have some time to sleep before returning to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a press conference tomorrow morning. When we arrived, we went to the Science Assessment Room to talk to the scientists. Two of the scientists in the Atmosphere Group, Peter and Mark, showed us how you could change the appearance of an image to make it easier to tell the differences among rocks and soils. They also showed us that in this view, the Martian sky is much more similar in color to the rocks than the soil, meaning that the dust in the Martian atmosphere is from the rocks, not the soil. While in the Science Assessment Room, we also attended a meeting about different ways to approach exploring Gusev Crater and searching for water. During the meeting, scientists proposed various hypotheses to explain the conditions in Gusev Crater and ways to test their hypotheses. Rafael and I enjoyed hearing their ideas. One thing that I noticed was that the scientists were all very open minded and willing to change their own ideas or even throw them out completely to fit the most recent information. We had to leave the meeting early to work on MarsDial images in our office. Rafael and I will be talking about the MarsDial at the NASA press conference tomorrow, so we needed several examples of completed images to display. The MarsDial software is working fine, and we created several sample images including one color image. While we created the images, Rafael and I were filmed by a Jet Propulsion Laboratory employee. That footage will be reduced to a short, ninety-second segment and shown at the press conference tomorrow. Spirit Sol 6Friday, January 9, 2004 Rafael and I had a busy morning! We got home at around 3:00 AM, and woke up a few hours later to speak at the NASA press conference at 9:00 AM. It was exciting and a little scary to be on live television. After the press conference we had several interviews both at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Planetary Society. The interviews went well, but by the time they were over we were both pretty tired. We were very happy when we were told that we could go back to the hotel and sleep! We returned to JPL at 11:15 PM to work on the mission. When we arrived, Rafael and I used images from the Pancam on Spirit to create a color image of the Planetary Society's DVD on the lander. The DVD has the names of millions of space enthusiasts, a picture of the astrobot Biff Starling, and a secret code around the edge, which you can try to decode. Contrary to popular belief, Rafael and I don't know the secret code or the message. I'm going to try to decode the message, and I think I'll have a lot of fun with it! Once we finished the image, Rafael and I went downstairs to the Science Assessment Room where the daily Strategic Science Assessment Meeting was in session. During the meeting, Dr. Squyres led a discussion about what we should do with the rover after egress. Overall, the scientists seemed to agree that we should use the spectrometers as soon as the rover is off the lander to ensure we have data from all of the instruments as soon as possible. I have to agree, but I'm looking forward to exploring other parts of Gusev Crater as well. After we completed our journals yesterday, we had the privilege of visiting the Pancam room as well as Mission Control! In the Pancam room, Dr. Bell showed us all of the engineering screens displaying the temperatures of the cameras and data transmission. Rafael and I had seen the images from Spirit arrive on the screens in the Science Assessment Room, but we hadn't seen what goes on behind the scenes. We also got to wear polarizing 3D glasses to see a color image in 3D! Mission Control is actually much smaller than it appears on television, but it's still an impressive room. Everyone we saw there was working hard, but they were also smiling and glad to be there. So were we! Rafael and I really enjoyed getting to see both rooms. Spirit Sol 7Saturday, January 10, 2004 This morning, we went to the Planetary Society headquarters to meet Susini and Tomas, both of whom are very nice. I'm sure they'll do a great job working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). I hope they enjoy their time at JPL as much as I enjoyed mine! I wish I could meet all of the Student Astronauts in person, but at least we can communicate through email. Rafael and I were invited to attend rover wake-up today because the wake-up song was Brazilian. Each day the engineers select a song to play as a sort of alarm clock for the rover. The rover isn't actually woken up by the song, but it's a nice tradition. I couldn't understand the lyrics at all, but I liked the song. Afterwards, Rafael told us that the song was about how different people can look at the same image and see different things. The song was a good choice because the scientists and engineers interpret images in multiple ways each day. I enjoyed seeing mission control again! Around midnight, all four of us returned to JPL for work. We attended a meeting about the geology of Gusev Crater and how the scientists should use that information to plot the best course for Spirit. One possible idea is to head for the hills in the east. I would love to see a Pancam panorama taken from such a high vantage point! The rover hasn't even begun to explore the landscape yet, so there are many possible courses of action. Sadly, this is my last day working at the JPL. I've had a great time, and I wish I could stay longer! I'm just beginning to know the scientists' names, and in a week I might actually remember all of them! I'd also love to be here when the rover begins driving to various rock and soil targets. However, I also know that if I don't go home now I'll accumulate a year's worth of make-up work from school! I'm looking forward to finishing school, getting my doctorate, and working on the space program. At this point in time I don't know exactly what I want to do, but after this experience I'm sure that I want to work on the space program in some way. Hopefully, twenty years from now I'll be an actual scientist working on another Mars mission-maybe even from this same building! Whatever I decide to do with my life, I know that being a Student Astronaut is an experience that I'll never forget! Thanks to everyone at the Planetary Society, JPL, and LEGO for making this wonderful experience possible! It's one I'll remember for the rest of my life! |
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