Centaurus High School – Lafayette, CO
They live near the Rocky Mountains, but the rocky landscape of Mars is
their specialty. Two students and one teacher from
Centaurus
High School in Lafayette, Colorado are helping the Mars Exploration
Rover science team analyze data to determine the geochemistry of martian
rocks.
Dr. Emily Haynes, Mark and Miranda are members of the
Athena Student Interns Program (ASIP) which is
giving high school students from across the nation the chance to work
with the scientists of the Mars Rover mission. Their mentor is
Dr.
William Farrand, an Athena Science Team member who is a geologist
with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
On a recent trip to the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), the Centaurus ASIP
team worked with Dr. Farrand to analyze information about the rock
outcrop at Opportunity’s landing site. “Dr. Farrand gave us
a series of images of the crater which were in ‘false color’
to put together into a larger image called a mosaic. There are a lot of
greens and purples as well as orange in these pictures because the
different types of rock show up as different colors indicating the way
they reflect light through a variety of filters on the panoramic cameras
on the rover,” says Emily. “We learned that the rocks in
the layers of the rock outcrop are not only formed at different times,
but contain different minerals. We were excited when Dr. Farrand used
our work to show the results to the rest of the science team.”
Emily, Mark and Miranda were also excited to be able to participate in
rover testing while at JPL. The scientists and engineers
“driving” Opportunity needed to test how well the rover
could dig a trench on the 12 degree slope on the inside edge of Eagle
Crater. Emily explains, “Mark shoveled dirt to build the slope,
then we all got to watch how the rover wheel went back and forth to dig
the trench. The engineers observed the slippage of the wheels on the
manmade slope, which was the same amount of wheel slippage that occurred
on Mars. Knowing how the rover behaves in the test bed helps scientists
and engineers program the rover on Mars.”
The Centaurus team attended many mission meetings, got to know several
of the Mars Rover scientists, and saw many of the images from Mars as
soon as they were transmitted from the rovers. Emily says, “One
very memorable and exciting event was when the first images of a
‘rat-hole’ on Mars that Spirit drilled on the rock
‘Adirondack’ came on the screen. We were in the science room
waiting and then cheering with the other scientists.”
To get ready for their work with the rover science team, the Centaurus
ASIP group has trained since May of 2003 via teleconferences with NASA
scientists and meetings with their mentor. Emily states, “We have
had to learn about Mars exploration, the instruments on the rovers,
martian geology, software needed to operate the rovers, and details of
the Miniature Thermal Emission
Spectrometer (Mini-TES) which is one of the rover instruments used
to analyze the rocks on the surface of Mars.”
Mark and Miranda enjoy sharing what they have learned about the Mars
Exploration Rover mission with others. They especially enjoy the
classes they meet at elementary schools and they have found that many of
the students ask challenging questions.
Mark is a sophomore at Centaurus High School where he participates in
theatre, a pre-engineering program, and the robotics team. Outside of
school, Mark is involved in many Boy Scout activities, and is a camp
counselor at a Jewish children’s camp. He enjoys reading, music,
soccer, snowboarding, and especially his dog, Nimitz.
Miranda is a senior at Centaurus where she participates in orchestra,
golf, and is a member of the National Honor Society. She is very
interested in pursuing engineering as a career and has been accepted at
the University of Colorado in the College of Engineering for the fall of
2004. She enjoys being outdoors and participating in sports. She also
finds time to watch her brothers on the Centaurus football and wrestling
teams.
