Sky at Night on tour II
The first day turned out to be unusually easy; just one interview, with the project manager for the Phoenix mission. Phoenix is due for launch next year, and is designed to land further north than any successful mission to Mars has managed. The incentive is to dig down below the surface to reach the ice that Mars Global Surveyor results indicate is there. I did feel slightly overwhelmed at time by NASAspeak, a language dominated by TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms), but was glad to hear that Phoenix is supposed to refer to the mythical bird, rather than being a contribed acronym.
JPL itself is very different from what I expected. It’s set right up in the foothills of the mountains - all the better for testing rockets which, after all, was the primary purpose of the lab during the first couple of decades of its 70 year history - and blends into them remarkably well given the size of the buildings. The buildings are otherwise extremely unassuming; just about the only clue as to the real purpose of the lab is the large satellite dishes further up the hill…
