Star science reporter Dan Sorenson and I journeyed up to Arizona State University in Tempe last week to meet with some of their top scientists, including Mars gurus Phil Christensen and Ron Greely and hands-down the most appropriately named astronomer I’ve ever heard of, Sumner Starrfield.
We talked with Christensen about why Mars research is one of the most exciting areas of science now. In his view, it’s simple: people can go to Mars and one day, people will.
Geologist Steve Ruff is in charge of the day-to-day science operations of the mini Thermal Emission Spectrometer instruments on each of the two active rovers on Mars, Spirit and Opportunity.
The twin rovers long ago exceeded their expecations – they were designed to operate for six months and cover 600 meters, but have been going for more than three years and have each covered nearly 10 kilometers.
“If they were fixed landers stuck in one place, we would have exhausted the potential a long time ago,” Ruff said. “But there are new discoveries available every time we move.”
Starrfield works with high-performance supercomputers to create complex models of star evolution and star explosions. His computational astrophysics group at ASU is devising models that use one method to study the long-term evolution of a star over billions of years and another method to study changes within hundredths of a second.
All in all it was a fascinating day as I crammed my notebook and brain full of science.