We are living in an extraordinary era of Mars exploration.
Several missions have already profoundly changed our perceptions
of the Red Planet. In this decade, NASA, Japan, and the European Space Agency
will continue to send spacecraft armed with a variety of instruments
to explore Mars. The 5,000 sq. ft. MarsQuest exhibition brings this new age
of exploration to the public by taking visitors to several important
destinations on Mars. Like sightseers in a national park on Earth,
they see some of the wonders of Mars, such as the solar system’s
largest volcano and a canyon as long as the continental United States. Along the way, interactive
exhibit components introduce visitors to the methods that scientists
use to explore Mars and provide an engaging context for the many
discoveries that are being made. MarsQuest was
funded by NSF, NASA, and corporations including Mitsubishi.
MarsQuest was originally developed in conjunction
with scientists involved in NASA’s Mars missions, science
educators, and museum professionals. It is one of the largest public
outreach projects ever developed by the planetary science community. MarsQuest currently includes a 40-minute
planetarium show narrated by Patrick Stewart and a comprehensive
education program comprised of workshops for museum staff and teachers.
For its second three-year tour (managed by the Association of Science-Technology
Centers), the Institute has refurbished the exhibition and added
the latest Mars research results and new imagery. The enhanced, 5,000
square-foot exhibition includes a full size model of a Mars Exploration
Rover, an interactive component that allows visitors to examine a
slice of a meteorite that scientists believe came from Mars, several
Mars weather interactives, and updateable components that will bring
ongoing Mars research and discoveries to visitors. The Institute,
TERC, and JPL are partners on MarsQuest
Online (www.marsquestonline.org), a
project funded by NSF that has developed a Web site that incorporates MarsQuest exhibit content and creates new
online interactives that delve deeper into the exhibit’s
science content.
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