A Weekend Trip To Mars, Anyone?
Contributed By - AZIndia Times Deepthi
In this brilliant era of human civilization where interplanetary colonization is on the cards and Mars One Foundation is selecting volunteers for a one way trip to Mars, I realized that it was time for me to take a giant leap in this direction. Don’t gasp yet...as much as one appreciates Mr. Elon Musk’s grand visions, I am not quite ready to give up the luxuries of gravity, oxygen and Biryani. So instead I visited the Arizona Challenger Space Center located in Peoria, AZ to experience a simulated mission of a Voyage to Mars!
The first thing that catches your eye when you walk in through the doors is the huge captivating mural on the walls titled “Tour of the Universe”, by the world-renowned space artist Robert McCall. This art celebrates America’s leadership in space exploration.
Various exhibits were featured and we sought to learn more about the place with the help of a friendly tour guide who explained the delicate history of the space center and the significance of each memorabilia on display.
The Challenger space center is affiliated to the Challenger National. It’s an organization founded by the surviving families of the crew members who lost their lives on board the Space Shuttle Challenger, when it exploded 73 seconds after its takeoff and fell into the Atlantic Ocean. This accident challenged and changed the course of NASA’s space program thenceforth.
The Challenger National organization renders a living tribute to those brave pioneers, by encouraging students to learn about the wonders of our universe and the world in which we live. They have taken it up as a goal to inspire, excite and educate people of all ages and in the process have created more than 40 educational centers around the world with a team of qualified professionals and volunteers, who work to create a fun and unique learning environment.
There were multiple training rooms, an imagination playground for kids, a gift shop, and a star gazing roof, all constructed in a rotunda fashion. The astronaut ice cream in the gift shop was definitely a hit with the youngsters. With around 35000 student visits per year, we can fathom why this center serves as an ideal destination for children to explore and learn through hands-on activities like camps, field trips, simulation missions, workshops, etc.
After enjoying a tour around the place we excitedly waited for the 2 hour mission to commence. The time frame of this operation is somewhere in the not-too-distant future, when humans have established a permanent base on Mars and the participants will be part of a crew who undertake a journey to Mars and collect information about the planet for further analysis and understand the importance of air, water and food from this perspective. The first step was to attend a briefing about this mission from the flight director of the mission.
Arriving at the mission briefing room I could see that enthusiastic children with their parents and school students made up a majority of the participants. As the flight director of the mission took the stage, the noisy chatter gave way to inquisitive silence and eager attention from the kids. Explaining facts about the mission, he assigned specific tasks to each person in the group with instructions on how to perform them.
The group of around 30 members were separated into 2 major teams - Crew members who will serve as the first crew on Mars and the second team will be the relief crew en route to the planet. Both the teams had their own unique working environments. In short, it was evident that the two groups had to work together as a whole for the mission to be a success. Armed with their new tasks the crew members rendered a salutation and left the briefing room to enter the flight deck and embark on their journey.
The illustrious Challenger Space Center’s flight deck features over $1 million in technology including a Mission Control room designed after the Johnson Space Center, and a Spacecraft designed to simulate a room on-board the International Space Station (ISS) along with the ESTM (Earth Space Transit Module). Each crew member took their place in the simulator and started reading the manuals provided for them.
Over the course of the next 2 hours, the screen monitors witnessed an intense exchange of messages between the teams, brainstorming, analytical debates, and most of all fun while the children worked to get their tasks done and had a hands-on experience with the different engineering systems available on the deck. The ever helpful flight directors were available throughout the mission to help the crew members with their jobs. There was even an instance when a light whiff of smoke combined with a blaring siren was emitted from the machines to imitate potential danger (there was no real emergency of course!) and the group was required to quickly put their problem solving skills to use as a team.
During this activity, I had the opportunity to interact with a teacher/space enthusiast Jeff Herold. Mr.Herold who teaches STEM courses (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) at Hillcrest Middle school, volunteers at the Space Center and encourages his students to take part in interactive learning activities. Jeff who regularly attends these missions with his students explained how this intellectual exploration can help children realize that space science isn’t just limited to astronomy but rather includes biology, chemistry and engineering as well. He vouches that such experiences kindle the curiosity of students as they learn real world applications and become more interested in pursuing these courses later in their life. His 8th grade students – Ian and William, both of whom I met later that day were evidently eager science enthusiasts. I observed them launch their own assembled rockets outdoors as a part of their school field trip activities at the space center.
At the end of the mission, the atmosphere was ecstatic with its successful completion and the camaraderie between the participants was palpable. It is commendable to note that various missions with different themes are carried out each week. They are customized as per the attending groups with different difficulty levels. Corporate missions are also carried out for adults as a means of team building exercises.
It’s amazing how science can permanently change and magnify our thinking in a positive way, as a result of which our very existence is enlightened. This space center is definitely a fun place to introduce children to the wonders of science and create a cosmic awareness. Who knows – probably a future astronaut is in there right now on a simulated mission.
For further information on the Arizona Challenger Space center visit their website - www.azchallenger.org/