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Undergraduate On Her Way To JPL As Mars Mission Collaborator
Status: OR
UNDERGRADUATE ON HER WAY TO JPL AS MARS MISSION COLLABORATOR From Lori Stiles, UA News Services, 520-621-1877 December 16, 2003 ------------------------------------------ Contact Information Peter H. Smith 520-621-2725 (office) Nicole Spanovich 520-626-8360 (office) 520-247-5787 (cell phone) VIDEO: For NASA/JPL animation of the rover mission, contact Vern Lamplot 520-621-1877 Related Web sites Mars Exploration Rovers - http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.htm/ MER science payload - http://athena.cornell, edu ------------------------------------------------------------------ University of Arizona astronomy senior Nicole Spanovich will be working on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission to Mars for the next four months because she went to a lecture given by Peter H. Smith and asked him for a job. Approaching a senior faculty member of Smith's reputation can be intimidating for an undergraduate. He's world-famous as the UA Lunar and Planetary scientist whose Mars Pathfinder camera sent back stunning photos of the martian surface in 1997. But Spanovich wanted to get hands-on experience by working on a real space mission, and here was a chance to talk with someone directly involved. When Smith said he was looking for students to help on Mars missions, it was just too good a chance to pass up. She took the direct approach and asked Smith if she could work for him. Now she's on her way to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., where she will work as a collaborator on the rover mission with Smith and other scientists. On Jan. 3 (Pacific Time), NASA will land a first golf-cart-sized rover on Mars. Then on Jan. 24 (Pacific Time), NASA will land a second, duplicate rover on the opposite side of the planet. The rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, will hunt for clues about past environments that might have supported life. Each vehicle is equipped with a color stereo camera and a robotic arm that carries a microscope, a grinding tool with brushes to expose fresh rock surfaces, and devices that will tell what the rocks are made of. "When I told my family last summer that I might be going to JPL to work on the mission, they said, 'What? and miss classes? We don't think so,'" Spanovich said. "But when it became clear in July that I would be going, my parents and grandparents got very excited. They're interested in every little detail now." In October, Spanovich went to JPL, where she trained with other rover mission scientists in operations readiness tests. Researchers used engineering models of rovers to practice for the real mission. JPL, a division of California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the rover mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington. Spanovich will earn independent study and directed research credit from UA for her work on the rover mission, and she plans to attend UA as a graduate student in planetary sciences. "I feel overwhelmed, but it's going to be a really great experience," she said. Although working on a high-profile space mission is unusual for UA undergraduates, being involved in research is not. Spanovich is one of many undergraduates at UA who are broadening their educations with hands-on research experience. In fact, encouraging students who show promise for graduate school is part of what makes a major research university work, and UA scientists often have funding to help support bright, hardworking undergraduates. |
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