This month's meeting was well attended by Israel Lidsky, new member
Melinda Capes, Shannon Rupert Robles, Gerry Williams, James Roth, Jeff Berkwits, John Stone,
Patrick Purcell, Tim Sommer, Dave Rankin, and two guests, Marc and Andrea.
LAST MONTH'S ACTIVITIES
January was a busy month for our chapter what with several appearances at the Reuben H. Fleet,
Science Center, several media appearances on TV and in newsprint of the
San Diego Mars Rover
(built by Patrick), Gerry's radio interview in San Diego, Dave's radio interview in Washington
State, Shannon's TV interview about MDRS, our chapter's role as Mission Support, Shannon and
Melinda's tour of duty at MDRS, and of course, our chapter's trademark activity, another showing
of a Mars-themed science fiction movie. Last month's movie was
"Destination: Mars" a fine classic sci-fi movie, which was preceded by a
Duck Dodger's cartoon and an episode of the Buck Rogers serial,
"The Deadly Ray from Mars".
And of course, although it didn't occur during January but in early February, our chapter's
celebration of our third anniversary. This year's celebration took place at
Killer Pizza From Mars way up north in
Oceanside. Original member Groff Bittner made an appearance after a long much-missed absence.
It was great fun for all of us to have dinner together and celebrate another year together.
LAST MONTH'S ACTIVITY REPORTS
Chapters Challenge: San Diego took a big lead with our
latest report due in large part to our chapter's month long duty as Mission Support. The lead
is large but may be deceptive because neither NorCal nor Los Angeles seems to be reporting their
activities.
Mars Suit Taskforce: Tim reported his intention to have the
suit completed by next month.
Mars Rover Task Force: Patrick completed the rover and it
looks great. It's a great hit with the public and with kids, of course. Since its completion
we have used it for multiple media and outreach events. We've been receiving requests to have
us bring it to educational and community gatherings. Building this rover was an inspired public
relations decision and it, along with our PR campaign linked to the NASA rover landings, has
increased our public profile in San Diego.
Public Relations Task Force: Jeff is still basking in last
month's success but is developing our next campaign. Once the Mars Suit is completed we will
try and leverage that the same way we leveraged the rover.
In addition, we intend to get Patrick profiled for his construction of the rover.
Remote Science Team and MDRS Task Force: Shannon and Melinda
were back from their 2 week mission at MDRS. Shannon gave us a debriefing on the Crew 21's
mission and her experiences as Mission Commander. Melinda promised to tell us about her
experiences next month.
Website and Display Board: Gerry is working on updates to
both the website and a second photo display board.
ACTIONS TAKEN
We had a long discussion on the propriety of certain events for the rover. In other words,
whether we would take it only to public events or take it to private events and whether we
would try and get reimbursement for costs associated with the 20 batteries it takes to power
the vehicle. We came to an agreement acceptable to all.
We decided to investigate the possibility of seeking grants for all the science education we
do. We are looking into sponsorships also.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Our next significant activity is the lecture series we are sponsoring at the Reuben Fleet
Science Center. The series will consist of three afternoon lectures, one each on March 20th,
April 17h and May 15th. The first speaker is Michael Caplinger from Malin Space Science
Systems, who will talk about "What's Up On Mars." The second speaker is Jeff Bada from UCSD,
who will talk about "Exploring for Evidence of Life on Mars." The third speaker is our own
Shannon Rupert Robles, who will talk about her participation in NASA's Mobile Agents project
and MDRS.
Other upcoming events include the usual appearances at the Reuben Fleet, more appearances at
the Aerospace Museum, an appearance at UCSD along with Bill Hartmann, the San Diego Science
Educators Conference, more rover outreaches with kids, a talk to a senior citizen group, and
of course, more Mars movies.
Keep coming back to this website for updates on these and all our chapter's activities. And
come out and join us.
Next year on Mars!
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