A public symposium titled "Mars, Science, and Society" will be held at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Thursday, Dec. 2, the evening before NASA聮s unmanned Mars Polar Lander is slated to land near the southern pole of the Red Planet.
The symposium will feature six prominent Mars experts from around the nation to discuss topics ranging from the mission's science and the geology and life in cold environments to the philosophical, evolutionary and religious implications of Mars exploration. The Mars Polar Lander spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics of Denver under contract to NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The event, at 7 p.m. in the Math 100 lecture hall, is free and open to the public. Seating in the 425-seat auditorium, located south of the intersection of Folsom Street and Colorado Avenue, will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Parking is available in Lot 436 at the corner of Colorado Avenue and Regent Drive.
The symposium is being sponsored by CU-Boulder聮s Center for Astrobiology, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, the Denver Museum of Natural History and NASA聮s Astrobiology Program. Additional support is being provided by CU聮s Fiske Planetarium and the Planetary Society.
"The symposium will address the science of the mission, the broader aspects of Mars exploration and their relevance to society as a whole," said conference organizer Bruce Jakosky, a planetary scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, director of CU-Boulder聮s Astrobiology Center and a professor of geological sciences.
Jakosky also is an interdisciplinary scientist for the Mars Global Surveyor Mission, now orbiting Mars, and is a member of a national space task force group to ensure the prevention of biological contamination between Earth and Jupiter聮s satellite, Europa.
Other panelists include Lockheed Martin聮s Benton Clark, chief scientist of Flight Systems for the Mars Polar Lander, who will talk about the science of the mission. Pascal Lee of the NASA-Ames Research Center in Moffat, Calif., will speak on the cold-weather geology of Earth and Mars.
The panel also will include CU-Boulder biology Professor Steve Schmidt, who will speak on life in cold environments, and Steven Dick of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., who will talk about the public view of Mars over the last century.
In addition, Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education in Newton, Mass., will discuss the evolutionary and religious implications of life on Mars. Jakosky will address the philosophical implications of life on Mars.
The event will conclude with a question-and-answer session moderated by Jakosky.
The Mars Polar Lander spacecraft is slated to land on the edge of the south polar cap on Mars. Onboard instruments will dig beneath the surface, analyze soil and surface samples and take daily measurements of surface temperatures, wind, air pressure and the amount of dust in the atmosphere.
In addition, a small microphone will record sounds on another planet for the first time, including wind gusts and mechanical operations from the spacecraft. After the 90-day mission, the spacecraft is expected to slowly freeze in the harsh environment as the sun dips below the horizon for an extended period.
The spacecraft will carry three scientific payloads. One is the Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor, a package of instruments to study the surface environment, weather and geology of the planet. The second is a descent imager that will take photographs as the lander approaches the surface.
In addition, a light detection instrument on the craft will send light pulses from a laser into the atmosphere and measure the time of their return, revealing the location and make-up of ice and dust in the lower part of Mars聮 atmosphere.
The Mars Polar Lander also will carry two volleyball-sized probes that will be released as the lander hits the surface of Mars and which are are expected to penetrate the soil as deep as one meter to search for traces of water ice.