| - DECEMBER 2007 - |
| December 24, 2007 | Mars will come in to its
Opposition with
Earth. Opposition is where the Earth is directly between the Sun and Mars. |
| December 23, 2007 |
Full Moon Meets Mars: If
skies are clear in your area, you'll be able to partake in a rather unusual sight as the full
moon appears to glide very closely above the planet Mars. |
| December 22, 2007 | The Mars Society's
MDRS - Mars Desert Research Station
continues its 7th Field Season in the Utah Desert near Capitol Reef National Park today with the
arrival of Crew 63 for a two week adventure on Analog Mars. TMS-SD
members will be part of the MDRS Mission Support team again
this season. |
December 21, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "TOM AND JERRY:
BLAST OFF TO MARS" (2005) and "POSTCARDS FROM THE FUTURE"
(2007). |
| December 19, 2007 | The feature story in the first page of the Events
section of the San Diego Reader is an article titled,
"A NIGHT ON MARS -
ENTHUSIASTS OF THE RED PLANET", which talks about TMS-SD's Mars
Movie Night as well as the human exploration of Mars. |
| December 19, 2007 | The
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replicas made a 2-hour Mars Rover Run at the
La Jolla Elementary School at 10:45am in Ms. Akiyama's
3rd Grade class. |
| December 18, 2007 | Mars Makes a Close Approach
to Earth. The red planet came into its closes distance to Earth during this apparation:
88.42 million kilometers (55 million miles, or 0.58935 AU). This is not very close, as Mars was
quite near to its aphelion at the time of this opposition. In 2003, Mars made its closest
approach in 60,000 years -- a mere 34.5 million miles distant (It won't be this close again until
2018). Mars makes a close approach to Earth every 26 months, varying from 35 million miles to
65 million miles distant. |
December 14, 2007
| The REGULAR MONTHLY
MEETING of TMS-SD was an informal holiday get-together, held at the
Acapulco Restaurant in Old Town. 11 people
attended. |
| December 8, 2007 | The Mars Society's
MDRS - Mars Desert Research Station began
its 7th Field Season in the Utah Desert near Capitol Reef National Park with the arrival of Crew
62 for a two week adventure on Analog Mars. TMS-SD members are
part of the MDRS Mission Support team again this season. |
Wednesday
December 5, 2007 | The San Diego Astronomy
Association (SDAA) hosted their
"STARS IN THE PARK"
public telescope viewing event outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. It
coincided with "THE SKY
TONIGHT" Planetarium show in the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.There was no
TMS-SD paticipation this evening due to the Park's "Holiday on the
Prado" setup.
|
| - NOVEMBER 2007 - |
| November 17, 2007 | The Southern
California Antique Radio Society (SCARS) held their Annual Meet at the Holiday Inn in
Carlsbad-by-the-Sea. They featured a Special Program by TMS-SD member
Gerry Williams on the "Invasion from Earth: The Robotic Exploration of
Mars". |
November 16, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "JEFF WAYNE'S
MUSICAL VERSION OF 'THE WAR OF THE WORLDS' - LIVE ON STAGE" (2006) |
November 15, 2007
| TMS-SD took the
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replica out for a Mars
Rover Run for a class coordinated by Ms. Zimmermann at
Red Hill School in Tustin, CA. |
| November 10, 2007 | Reach for the Stars
at the Sally Ride Science
Festival at the University of San Diego (USD) campus. TMS-SD
participates with our interactive
display table, our simulated
Mars surface excursion suit, the San
Diego Mars Rover and our new Mars Sojourner Rover replica.
TMS-SD member Maria Catalina also presented at two of the
workshops. |
November 9, 2007
| The REGULAR MONTHLY
MEETING of TMS-SD was held at Studio 106.
Meeting notes forthcoming. |
| November 7, 2007 | The San Diego Astronomy
Association (SDAA) hosted their
"STARS IN THE PARK"
public telescope viewing event outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.
It coincided with "THE SKY
TONIGHT" Planetarium show in the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.There was no
TMS-SD paticipation this evening due to scheduling conflicts.
|
| - OCTOBER 2007 - |
| October 30, 2007 | TMS-SD took the
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replica out for a
Mars Rover Run for several classes coordinated by Ms. Crawford at
Cajon Valley Middle School in El Cajon, CA. |
| October 26-28, 2007 | This year's
X PRIZE Cup kicked off at Holloman Air Force
Base in New Mexico, is an annual two-day Air/Space Expo, which draws the attention of space
enthusiasts and private rocketeers worldwide. It featured the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander
Challenge, presented by NASA, which challenges the participants to develop a vehicle capable of
ferrying cargo or humans back and forth between the surface of the Moon and low moon orbit.
TMS-SD member Maria Catalina participated in this event along with
the San Diego Mars Rover. |
October 19, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "ROBINSON CRUSOE
ON MARS" (1964)
|
October 12, 2007
| The REGULAR MONTHLY
MEETING of TMS-SD was an informal get-together, held at the
Pizza Port in Solana Beach. 14 people showed up.
|
| October 3, 2007 | The San Diego Astronomy
Association (SDAA) hosted their
"STARS IN THE PARK"
public telescope viewing event outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.
It coincided with "THE SKY
TONIGHT" Planetarium show in the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.
TMS-SD members were there for public outreach activities with our
interactive display table and the
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replica.
|
| - SEPTEMBER 2007 - |
| September 28 to September 30, 2007 |
Conjecture 6, an annual San Diego area convention
devoted to all things science-fiction and fantasy took over the Crowne Plaza San Diego in
Mission Valley for the weekend. TMS-SD was there for public outreach
activities with our display table, and we participated in several programming
events:
TMS-SD presented "Mars in the Movies",
presented "Invasion from Earth: The Robotic Exploration of Mars",
and presented "The Mars Underground". |
September 21, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "TOTAL RECALL 2070:
MACHINE DREAMS" (1999) |
| September 19, 2007 | The
San Diego Astronomy
Association Program Meeting was held at the
Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor and
Interpretative Center. Members of TMS-SD presented
"The Mars Society: Not Your Every Day Pro-Space Advocacy
Organization": The Mars Society currently
operates two Mars Analog Research Stations on planet Earth where professional and amateur space
explorers, scientists, and engineers learn how to live, work, and survive on the surface of the
Red Planet, paving the way for a time when human beings regain the courage to boldly go where no
one has gone before. TMS-SD brought our interactive display
table and the San Diego Mars
Rover and our new Mars Sojourner Rover replica. |
September 14, 2007
| The REGULAR MONTHLY
MEETING of TMS-SD was held at the San Diego Women's
History Museum & Educational Center. The evening's program featured
TMS-SD member Kathryn Bywaters' adventures during the four-month
(100-day) simulated Long-Duration Mars mission at the
Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station
(FMARS) in the high Canadian Arctic. |
September 13, 2007
| TMS-SD passed
out 100+ complementary preview tickets for the new Apollo documentary film,
In the Shadow of the Moon directed by David
Sington at the
Landmark's
Hillcrest Cinemas. |
| September 5, 2007 | The San
Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) held their
"STARS IN THE PARK"
public telescope viewing event outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. It
coincides with "THE SKY
TONIGHT" Planetarium show in the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center at 7:00pm.
TMS-SD members were there for public outreach activities with our
interactive display table and the San
Diego Mars Rover and our new Mars Sojourner Rover replica.
|
| August 30 to September 2, 2007 |
TENTH
INTERNATIONAL MARS SOCIETY CONVENTION was held on the UCLA campus.
TMS-SD member Gerry Williams, creator of the
MarsMovieGuide.com hosted "Mars
in the Movies" presentations on both Thursday and Friday evenings.
TMS-SD participated in the conference with our interactive display
table, our simulated Mars surface excursion suit, the
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replica.
|
| - AUGUST 2007 - |
| August 30 to September 2, 2007 |
TENTH
INTERNATIONAL MARS SOCIETY CONVENTION was held on the UCLA campus.
TMS-SD member Gerry Williams, creator of the
MarsMovieGuide.com hosted "Mars
in the Movies" presentations on both Thursday and Friday evenings.
TMS-SD participated in the conference with our interactive display
table, our simulated Mars surface excursion suit, the
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replica. |
Monday
August 27, 2007 | Yes, the annual
August Mars HOAX is back. It's
an e-mail chain letter claiming that Mars is about to come closer than ever in history and will
look as big and bright as the full Moon with the naked eye. Don't worry: Even when Mars
is at its every 26-month "opposition" (its closest approach to Earth, which won't be until
December 2007 and will be 55 million miles away) it looks like an orangish star, nowhere near as
big and bright as the full Moon. |
Thursday and Friday
August 23-24, 2007 | TMS-SD
member Maria Catalina took the
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replica out for Mars
Rover Monday! for Ms. Fletcher's Grade 9-11 Special Education classes at
Olympian High School in the
Sweetwater Union High School District. |
Tuesday
August 21, 2007 | TMS-SD member Maria
Catalina took the San Diego
Mars Rover and our new Mars Sojourner Rover replica out for a
Mars Rover Run for Ms. Birba's and Mr. Macalaguim's Grade 6 classes
at Myrtle S. Finney Elementary in the
Chula Vista Elementary School District. |
Monday
August 20, 2007 | The Voyager 2
Spacecraft, which was launched on 20 August 1977, is about 12.5 billion km (7.8 billion
miles) away from the Sun, celebrated its 30 year anniversary today. She is still operational.
|
Monday
August 20, 2007 | TMS-SD member Maria
Catalina took the San Diego
Mars Rover and our new Mars Sojourner Rover replica out for
Mars Rover Monday! for Ms. Hamilton's and Ms. Kerr's Grade 5 classes
at Myrtle S. Finney Elementary in the
Chula Vista Elementary School District. |
Friday
August 17, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "CONTAMINATION"
(1980)
|
Wednesday
August 15, 2007 | The
San Diego Astronomy
Association Program Meeting was held on the third Wednesday of the month at the
Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor and
Interpretative Center, beginning at 7:00 PM. Doors open at 6:30 PM. JPL Solar System
Ambassador Earl
Towson presented: "Mars the New Frontier". Earl discussed
past, current and planned programs for the exploration of Mars with particular emphasis on the
search for life. He will bring mineral and rock samples like those currently being found on
Mars. TMS-SD participated in this event with our interactive
display table and the San Diego
Mars Rover and our new Mars Sojourner Rover replica. |
Saturday
August 11, 2007 | The
Project ASTRO San Diego held their teacher
and astronomer/space science volunter training workshop at the
Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. Project
ASTRO is a national program of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, to improve science
education in grades 3-9, by creating partnerships between scientists and the schools in their
communities. Through multiple classroom visits and hands-on, inquiry-based astronomy and
space-themed activities, teacher and students get to know their own "classroom scientist" as a
resource and a mentor. TMS-SD participated in this event with
our interactive display table, the San
Diego Mars Rover and our new Mars Sojourner Rover replica. |
Friday
August 10, 2007
| The REGULAR
MONTHLY MEETING of TMS-SD was CANCELLED for this month. |
Monday
August 6, 2007 | TMS-SD member
Maria Catalina took the San
Diego Mars Rover and our new Mars Sojourner Rover replica out for a
Mars Rover Run for Mr. Pineda's Grade 8 class at
Mar Vista Middle School in the Sweetwater Union
High School District. |
Saturday
August 4, 2007 |
Sally Ride Science Educators Institute, in
partnership with Northrop Grumman, offered a one-day professional development program with a
special focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and education
activities planned for STS-118 at the San Diego Air
& Space Museum in Balboa Park. TMS-SD member Maria Catalina
participated along with the San
Diego Mars Rovers. |
Saturday
August 4, 2007 |
NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission
successfully blasted off Saturday morning, aiming for a May 25, 2008 arrival at the Red Planet
and a close-up examination of the surface of the northern polar region. |
Wednesday
August 1, 2007 | The San
Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) held their
"STARS IN THE PARK"
public telescope viewing event outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. It
coincides with "THE SKY
TONIGHT" Planetarium show in the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center at 7:00pm.
TMS-SD members were there for public outreach activities with our
interactive display table and the San
Diego Mars Rover and our new Mars Sojourner Rover replica.
|
| - JULY 2007 - |
| July 29, 2006 | TMS-SD's
San Diego Mars Rover was
featured on
KUSI-TV's "Good Morning San Diego" 8:00am Weekend Edition.
(NOTE: requires QuickTime Player,
and is 8.5-MB in size). |
| July 26, 2007 | Middle School teacher and
TMS-SD member Maria Catalina took the
San Diego Mars Rover to
Sweetwater Union High School District at Bonita Vista Middle School for a Rover Run with Ms.
Trejo's 8th grade classes. |
| July 25, 2007 | Middle School teacher and
TMS-SD member Maria Catalina took the
San Diego Mars Rover to
Sweetwater Union High School District at Bonita Vista Middle School for a Rover Run with Mr.
Dougherty's 7th and 8th grade classes. |
| July 21, 2007 |
"MEET THE REAL SPACE
COWBOYS", astronauts Scott Carpenter,
Eugene Cernan and Thomas Stafford at
the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa
Park. TMS-SD participated in this event with our interactive
display table, our simulated Mars surface excursion suit, the
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replica. |
July 20, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "VOYAGE TO THE
PLANETS AND BEYOND" (2004) |
July 13, 2007
| The REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
of TMS-SD was our annual Summer Barbecue Event.
|
| July 11, 2007 | The San Diego Astronomy
Association (SDAA) hosted their
"STARS IN THE PARK"
public telescope viewing event outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.
TMS-SD members were there for public outreach activities with the
San Diego Mars Rover.
|
| - JUNE 2007 - |
| June 20, 2007 | The
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replicas did a 2-hour
Mars Rover Run classroom event at Walter J. Porter Elementary
School. |
June 15, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "LIFEFORM"
(1996) |
| June 8, 2007 | The REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
of TMS-SD was cancelled for this month.
|
| - MAY 2007 - |
May 11, 2007
 | The REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING of TMS-SD was
held at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center lecture hall in
Balboa Park. We screened the film, "THE MARS UNDERGROUND" (2005),
a landmark documentary about renowned aerospace scientist and visionary,
Dr. Robert Zubrin, and his struggle to get the first human mission
to Mars off the ground. |
| May 9, 2007 | The
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replicas did three
Mars Rover Run classroom events at
Steele Canyon High School in Spring Valley. |
May 18, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "MARTIAN SUCCESSOR
NADESICO: CHRONICLE 1 and MISSION TO MARS" (1996).
|
| - APRIL 2007 - |
| April 25, 2007 | TMS-SD presented the
lecture, "Mars Exploration Rovers - Year 3" as a class of the
San Diego OASIS, a unique educational program for
mature adults who want to continue to learn and be productive during the best years of their
lives. This class was presented at the
Point Loma Branch
Library and was fully underwritten by the Friends of the Point Loma Library. |
April 20, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "WAR OF THE WORLDS:
THE SECOND INVASION" (1988). |
| April 13, 2007 | The REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
of TMS-SD was cancelled for this month.
|
| - MARCH 2007 - |
| March 23, 2007 | The
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replicas will do a Mars Rover Run at the
St. Columba School in conjunction with
four Project ASTRO classroom events. |
| March 17, 2007 | The San Diego Science Alliance
"5th Expanding Your Horizons Conference" continued the
tradition of having an incredible group of workshops to inspire 600 6th-10th grade
girls at the University of San Diego (USD). The
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replicas were there. |
March 16, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "FRANKENSTEIN
MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER" (1965) |
| March 9, 2007 | The REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING of
TMS-SD featured a Mars exploration documentary film, "Mars
Rocks!" |
| March 9, 2007 | The
San Diego Mars Rover and
our new Mars Sojourner Rover replicas made a Mars Rover Run at the
La Jolla Elementary School in conjunction with a
Project ASTRO classroom event. |
| March 5, 2007 | TMS-SD presented an
encore free public lecture at the
Rancho Bernardo Branch
Library, showing the film, "THE MARS UNDERGROUND" (2005). |
| March 2-4, 2007 | TMS-SD participated in
the ConDor XIV Sci-Fi Convention. We had an
interactive display table, as well as hosted several presentations:
Friday at 8:00pm, we screened the film, "THE MARS UNDERGROUND"
(2005);
Saturday at 10:00am, TMS-SD members presented a multimedia lecture,
"Invasion From Earth -- The Robotic Exploration of Mars "; and
Sunday at 11:00am, TMS-SD members hosted a multimedia presentation
on the "Mars Exploration Rovers - Year 3", a look at what "Spirit"
and "Opportunity" have been doing the past year on the surface of the Red Planet.
|
| - FEBRUARY 2007 - |
| February 27-28, 2007 | The
San Diego Mars Rover and our
new Mars Sojourner Rover replicas paid a two-day classroom visit to Miss Catalina's science room
at Granger Junior High School in National City. |
| February 26, 2007 |
ESA's Rosetta spacecraft
achieved a major mission milestone: the swing-by of planet Mars. |
| February 26, 2007 | TMS-SD presented a
free public lecture, "Mars in the Movies" at the
Rancho Bernardo Branch
Library from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. |
February 16, 2007
| TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT
-- "The Invader" (1996) turned out to not be the movie we thought it was. We'll be
rescheduling the correct movie soon. |
| February 12, 2007 | TMS-SD presented a
free public lecture, "Humans to Mars - How we'll Get There" at the
Rancho Bernardo Branch
Library from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. |
| February 9, 2007 | The REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
of TMS-SD was cancelled for this month. |
| February 5, 2007 | TMS-SD presented a
free public lecture, "Mars on Earth - The Adventures of Space Pioneers in
the Utah Desert" at the
Rancho Bernardo Branch
Library from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.. |
| February 4, 2007 | Reach for the Stars
at the Sally Ride Science
Festival at University of California Irvine (UCI). TMS-SD
participated in this event with our interactive display table, our simulated Mars surface
suit, and the San Diego Mars
Rover. |
| February 1, 2007 | TMS-SD participated in
the School-wide K-8 Science Fair Night at the
Chabad Hebrew Academy in Scripps Ranch
with the San Diego Mars Rover.
|
| - JANUARY 2007 - |
| January 29, 2007 | TMS-SD presented a
free public lecture, "Mars Exploration Rovers - Year 3" at the
Rancho Bernardo Branch
Library. The San Diego Mars
Rover was there! |
| January 24, 2007 | The second Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
"Opportunity" landed on the surface of
Mars three (Earth) years ago, at 9:05pm PST, and she's still operational on the Red Planet! As
of Sol 1068 (Jan. 25, 2007), Opportunity's total odometry was 9,918 meters (6.2 miles).
|
| January 22, 2007 | TMS-SD presented a
free public lecture, "Invasion From Earth -- The Robotic Exploration of
Mars " at the
Rancho Bernardo Branch
Library. |
| January 20, 2007 | TMS-SD presented a
free public lecture, "Mars Exploration Rovers - Year 3" at the
Serra
Mesa-Kearny Mesa Branch Library. The
San Diego Mars Rover was
there! |
January 19, 2007
 | TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- "QUATERMASS
AND THE PIT" (1967) aka: "Five Million Years to Earth". |
January 12, 2007
| The REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING of TMS-SD
featured a screening of the film, "THE MARS UNDERGROUND" (2005),
a landmark documentary about renowned aerospace scientist and visionary,
Dr. Robert Zubrin, and his struggle to get the first human mission
to Mars off the ground. |
| January 9, 2007 | The
Cornell Club of San Diego invited Cornell
astronomy professor Jim Bell
("Postcards
From Mars") to give an illustrated talk on the latest pictures from the surface of the
planet Mars at the Qualcomm auditorium. |
| January 8, 2007 | TMS-SD presented a
free public lecture, "Invasion From Earth -- The Robotic Exploration of
Mars" at the
Serra
Mesa-Kearny Mesa Branch Library. |
| January 3, 2007 | The first Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
"Spirit" landed on the surface of Mars
three (Earth) years ago, at 8:35pm PST, and she's still operational on the Red Planet! As of
ol 1087 (Jan. 23, 2006), Spirit's total odometry was 6,896 meters (4.28 miles).
|
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| HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2008
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| HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2007
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| HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2006
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| HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2005
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| HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2004
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| HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2003
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|
| HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2002
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|
| HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2001
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|
CALENDAR /
UPCOMING EVENTS: 2008
|
