Targeted Audience: students in grades 5 – 12.
Visit with former astronaut Dr. Rick Chappell as he discusses the possibility of “A FUTURE MISSION TO MARS.”
Mars is just a stone's throw across the solar system from earth, but a manned mission to Mars is still just a dream. The people chosen to go to Mars will be out of reach of the Earth, completely on their own. While all the people will be astronauts, should they have various fields of specialty, like botany, engineering, or geology, or should each person be a jack-of-all-trades? If we send people with different professional backgrounds, which professions are most desirable?
Just like you have to wait for Earth and Mars to be in the proper position before you head to Mars, you also have to make sure that they are in the proper position before you head home. That means you will have to spend 3-4 months at Mars before you can begin your return trip. With our current rocket technology, your trip to Mars would take about 21 months: 9 months to get there, 3 months there, and 9 months to get back.
Because of the fact that Mars may have once supported primitive life forms like bacteria, it's easy to imagine more advanced beings living there. What if you were one of the first explorers from Earth to arrive on Mars? Assuming you could communicate with any Martians you encountered, how would you explain why you had ventured to their planet to conduct experiments? Consider the encounters throughout history between explorers and the people they "discovered" as students discuss their answers.
Time: 9:00 and 10:00 AM (CENTRAL time zone)
Format: 45-minutes formatted into 30-minute presentation, and then 15-20 minute Q & A
Cost: $75 per site
Questions: Chandra Allison, at (615) 322-6511 or email chandra.allison@vanderbilt.edu
REGISTER: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool/registration.htm