NEWS TIP SHEET
CU-Boulder will hold two free open houses for the public at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics facility in the CU Research Park in conjunction with NASA's two Mars Rover landings slated for the evenings of Jan. 3 and Jan. 24.
The evening open houses at LASP's Space Technology Building will be held from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. MST. Live NASA feeds will broadcast the landings. Landing time for the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is expected at 9:25 p.m. MST on Jan 3. The Opportunity spacecraft is expected to arrive on Mars at 9:54 MST on Jan 24.
Although both landings will include play-by-play analysis by NASA officials, it is unclear if there will be any video of the Mars landings in real time, said LASP Education and Outreach Coordinator Emily CoBabe-Ammann.
The Jan. 3 event is expected to include footage of Beagle, a Great Britain rover slated to arrive at the Red Planet Dec. 25. The Jan. 24 event at CU-Boulder is expected to include footage from NASA's Spirit Rover.
Both LASP programs will feature Mars talks by LASP experts. The Jan. 3 event will feature Research Associate Brian Hynek, a specialist on the rover landing sites, and astrobiologist expert Tom McCollum. The Jan. 24 event will feature talks by Professor Bruce Jakosky, director of the CU-Boulder Center for Astrobiology, and Hynek. Both events also will include tours of the LASP engineering and mission operations facilities.
The LASP Space Technology building is located on the north side of Colorado Avenue between 30th Street and Foothills Parkway. The facility is a large brick and glass building set back from the road with a LASP sign and a large white satellite dish on top.
Parking is free. For more information, please contact Emily CoBabe-Ammann at (303) 735-5814 or at ecobabe@lasp.colorado.edu or Jim Scott in the CU-Boulder News Office at (303) 492-3114 or jim.scott@colorado.edu.