IMAGINE MARS NEWS

Blast Off to Mars
Forget the Moonwalk - Join us for the Mars Boot, Scoot'n Boogie

Get students up out of their chairs, literally, and challenge them to imagine what movement might be like on Mars. Be part of a national standards-based, interactive event with Emmy Award-winning Bill Nye, The Science Guy as host and renowned choreographer, Debbie Allen, who will lead students through a few Martian movements.

Artists, scientists, students and educators who are part of the Imagine Mars exploration team will all participate in this hour-long interactive workshop. The event will air live on the Imagine Mars Web site and NASA television December 13th, from 11:00 a.m. until noon PST, tune-in and view the Imagine Mars project in action and learn more about how to get involved.

To get students prepared for this fun and educational event, log on to http://ImagineMars.jpl.nasa.gov/ to download an activity guide for the Web cast and to explore links to materials for advance study.

Imagine Driving the Mars Rover
Ever wonder what it might be like to navigate a Mars Rover?

A group of high school students had the opportunity as part of the FIDO field test and now you and your students can try your hand at navigating the red planet using the new 3D Mars Rover Game. From the Imagine Mars Web site http://ImagineMars.jpl.nasa.gov/ click on Mars Info Central and then link to the Mars Fun Zone. There you will find the 3D Mars Rover Game that provides information on the Mars landscape and allows you and your students to navigate the Martian surface and incorporate your experiences into your Imagine Mars project.

Since humans cannot go to Mars yet, the Mars Exploration Rovers, which are set to launch in early 2003, will act as robotic scientists. Several groups of high school students had the opportunity to conduct remote science using NASA's prototype Mars rover, known as FIDO or the Field Integrated Design and Operations rover, recently as part of ongoing field tests designed to simulate robotic exploration on Mars.

Imagine Mars project groups can conduct their own field tests using the online game and imagine what transportation might be like on a future Mars community. For their part, NASA scientists designed FIDO to be about the size of a St. Bernard, weighing in at 150 pounds. Learn more about the rovers and the FIDO field-test at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/fido/

Take a Trip to Mars
Perhaps you and your project team have spent some time imaging what a future Mars community might look like. Now, how about a chance to actually go to Mars? It may be in name only, but you don't want to miss the November 15 entry deadline to send your name to Mars along with the twin Mars Rovers that will be launched towards the red planet in early 2003. Once on the surface, the Rovers will be able to travel significant distances and use several instruments to help scientists determine the climate and water history in Mars' present and past. You can send your name to Mars by completing the online form that can be found at http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/2003/

Once you complete the online form, you will receive a "Success" page where you will be able to print a commemorative certificate and bookmark it for later viewing. All the names collected will be recorded onto a small DVD disk that will be attached to the lander that will travel to the surface of Mars. Each rover will photograph and return to Earth a picture of each DVD disk of names as they rest on the Martian surface.

Fun Zone: Your Weight On Mars
The things that we take for granted here on Earth will be a little different on Mars. Have fun while learning some of the differences.

Because Mars is less dense than Earth, it has much less gravity. In fact, Mars has about 1/3 the gravity of Earth. This means that things weigh less on Mars. Visit the "Mars Fun Zone" on the Imagine Mars project site and use the planetary scale to weigh yourself on Mars and other planets in the solar system.

Using this knowledge, participants in the Imagine Mars project may want to consider what dance might be like in their Mars community.

While in the Mars Fun Zone you will also be able to?

• Explore the hostile conditions on Mars and compare them to Earth
• Be a detective and learn how scientists are looking for signs of water on Mars
• Read about how rocks can tell stories about a planet's history
• Be a planetary mapmaker by creating a topography map of the Martian surface
• Peer through a "solar telescope" to get a view of any planet in the solar system

Learn facts about Mars while having fun! Keep checking back for new additions to the Fun Zone.

Become a Cooperating Organization
Cooperating organization commitment forms are now online on the Imagine Mars Web site. We are seeking the help of education, arts, technology and science-focused organizations to help spread the word about the Imagine Mars project.

Cooperating organizations will receive special advance notification of new site features, special invitations to Web casts and have the opportunity to submit their education-related news for the Imagine Mars email newsletter. The Imagine Mars Project will also recognize cooperating organizations on the project site and link to their Web sites.

In turn, cooperating organizations will be asked to post an official link from their sites to the Imagine Mars project Web site and print periodic project-related news in email and print newsletters about upcoming Imagine Mars events. Log on now to http://ImagineMars.jpl.nasa.gov/about/become.html and download your copy of the cooperating organization commitment form and help us on our mission to bring the Imagine Mars project to students everywhere.