Last Friday we took advantage of the FreeFilmFridays event at the Boston Museum of Science and saw the new Omni film Roving Mars. It was an amazing film and we urge all of our readers to see it if they can. For readers who are in the New England area, all MOS films on Fridays in January (Jan 9, 16, 23) are free to the public on a "first come, first served" basis. The shows are sponsored by MathWorks. If you are interested, you need to go to the museum and get your tickets EARLY as there are NO RESERVATIONS for any of the shows. There is a limit of 2 shows per guest.
The crowd last Friday was large, and with good reason. MathWorks and the Museum of Science brought in the lead scientist of the Mars Rover project, Cornell astronomer Steve Squyres, to introduce the film.
There was also a special, junior rover which visitors could "control" remotely (through a computer) to get a feel for how the scientists at JPL control the rover on Mars. We wanted to give it a try, but there was a hugh line of kids ahead of us (for some reason, we were the only grownups in line).
Instead, we went and took a look at the life size version of the rover on the display floor. The rover was a lot bigger than we would have guessed, considering it had to be sent all the way to Mars! However, if it had to survive the trip and work in the harsh Mars environment, it had better be well built. Considering the actual rovers have lasted five years longer than the three-month life expectancy, the build-quality was pretty high :-)
If you don't have time to go today, you will have one more chance. The last week for FreeFilmFridays is 1/23. If you are hungry after the show,
check out the Science Stree Cafe. We did. Had a great time! [Permalink]- Free Film Fridays
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