Exploring Mars: The Journey of the Mars Exploration Rovers
Speaker: Dr Mark Adler, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
When: 2007-10-17 17:30:00
Venue: 50-N202 (Hawken Engineering Building)
Host: A.Prof Michael Smart
Abstract:The Mars Exploration Rovers left Earth in mid 2003 and landed on the
planet Mars in January 2004. Since then they have been examining
evidence of an ancient Mars that had liquid water at the surface
billions of years ago, and that may have had the necessary
conditions to support life. The talk will cover why Mars is such an
interesting place to explore scientifically and culturally, a short
history of Mars exploration by spacecraft, what the Mars Exploration
Rovers look like and how they work, how they were designed, built,
and tested, how they are operated on Mars, what scientific
discoveries they have made, and the current status and prospects for
their future. The talk will end with an overview of our future
planned and imagined missions to Mars.
Biography:Dr Mark Adler was the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit Mission Manager
at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Starting in 2000, he was
responsible for the Mission System of the Rover project and the
operations of the Spirit rover en route to Mars through the primary
and first extended surface mission in 2004. Prior to the Rover
project, Mark worked on the Mars Sample Return project as chief
engineer and as the program architect for the Mars Exploration
Program. Mark began his work at JPL as the Cassini Lead Mission
Engineer from 1992-1996 and is currently the Chief Mission Concept
Architect at JPL.
Mark received his B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Florida
in 1981 as well as his M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1985. In
1990 he earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the California Institute of
Technology. Mark also spent time at Hughes Aircraft Company working
as a Staff Physicist and the Advanced Technology Section Head, both
as part of the Space and Communications Group.
Type: AIAA seminar
Contact:A.Prof Michael Smart, seminar host (m.smart@uq.edu.au)
or Guido Governatori (ITEE seminar co-ordinator)
(guido@itee.uq.edu.au)