Many people have seen the trailers about “The Martian” movie with a release in
early October. First, what an opportunity to get people talking about and
interested in a human mission to Mars! In fact, a good opportunity to talk
about Mars exploration in general.
Currently, I’m planning a Mars exploration event with Temecula Valley
Astronomers and an astronomy club at the local middle school for November 9th
at the Temecula Public Library. We haven’t picked a name for the event yet.
In October, I’ll be setting up a display in the Children’s display case to
advertise, and here’s where this subject takes a little turn; I would like to
have a Mars Lander model rocket included in the display. Does anyone have one
of these in good shape that they would be willing to loan until ROCstock in
November?
Another part of this subject is the landing/ascent vehicle shown in the movie.
There are hints of what it looks like in the trailer, and perhaps the best is a
schematic shown on the screen in the mission control room briefly during one of
the trailers. Hopefully, there are plans by at least one model rocket
manufacturer to produce a kit. And, how cool it would be to make a large
version of “The Martian” lander. I imagine that ground launch of something
like this would be a possibility - I would like to see that! Maybe for
November ROCstock? I’ve seen ideas for group projects being mentioned
occasionally. What do you think; would this be a good one?
Also, the Mars exploration subject might be the basis for the November ROCstock
t-shirt.
Richard Dierking
