NY
USA
Photo Credit: B. Sherer
Program Presenter: Paul Stengel, NASA Solar System Ambassador and award-winning science teacher
Cosponsored by the South Fork Natural History Museum (SoFo) and the Montauk Observatory (MO)
Hardly a day goes by without Mars making news. But NASA’s directive to explore space has largely fallen to robotic spacecraft, while manned missions beyond Low Earth Orbit have languished, as evidenced by the fact that it has been nearly 50 years since U.S. boots walked on the Moon. Surprisingly, the U.S. was less prepared to go to the Moon in 1961 than it is to get to Mars today. So, after all this time, what would be the catalyst to propel us to Mars? China? Climate change? Overpopulation? The threat of impact by an extinction-level asteroid? Or perhaps the kind of boundless curiosity that leads to discovery. NASA, Space X, Blue Origin, and legacy aerospace giants like Boeing and Lockheed are determined to design and build the ships that will get us there, and competing mission architectures offered by Mars Direct, Mars One, and NASA will tell us how to do it and survive three years away from home. This time the goal is not just to get there, but to stay. But many questions remain: Why do we want to go to Mars? Do we have the technology to get there? Who will get to Mars first: NASA, Space X, or someone else? What are the dangers of space travel and what does long-duration space flight do to the human body? What do we do when we get to Mars, and how do we get home? Whatever the motive or whatever the means, make no mistake: The first Martians are in our classrooms today! Paul Stengel will discuss these issues and more.
This talk is an encore presentation. If you missed it at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton, be certain not to miss this at SoFo.
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.