A.V. students invited to view next rover landing
By Emily Berg, Staff Writer
APPLE VALLEY Last summer, 14-year-old Sarah Underwood and her fellow students rose early in the morning and headed off to the Academy for Academic Excellence to do a few high-tech chores for NASA.
Five months later, the students' work has paid off in a big way it's part of the Mars Spirit probe that is now capturing attention around the world.
"It was pretty exciting to see that I had a part in something that happens only once in a lifetime," Underwood said.
Students at the Academy for Academic Excellence, the charter school associated with the Lewis Center for Educational Research, collected data from the Red Planet that aided JPL scientists in determining the right landing site for the rover Spirit.
The rover Spirit landed successfully on Mars on Jan. 3. The second robotic explorer, Opportunity, is set to land on Jan. 24.
Lewis Center students positioned the 34-meter telescope at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Fort Irwin on Mars using a computer in the Lewis Center's Mission Control.
Students in Moreno Valley, Pennsylvania, Washington and Iowa also worked on the project that gave scientists pictures of the chosen landing site to ensure it wasn't too rocky or too sandy for the landing, MacLaren said.
Emilie Rizzo, 12, helped collect the data for the Mars landing. She would gladly volunteer to explore the Red Planet some day, if given the opportunity.
"Mars is my favorite planet," Rizzo said. "I think there is so much we can learn about Mars that we don't know about."
A handful of Apple Valley students and teachers have a coveted invitation to watch the NASA rover Opportunity land on Mars with scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena on Jan. 24.
"This is a pretty exclusive invitation," said David MacLaren, the director of educational research and development for the Lewis Center.
Three students will be able to attend the landing ceremony at JPL, MacLaren said.
Only NASA scientists and their families got to view the Spirit landing. They're feeling more confident after that first success, and have invited the young scientists from Apple Valley and a school in Moreno Valley to join them, MacLaren said.
Used with permission by Daily Press, Freedom Communication, 2004