Mars, Upclose and Personal

The beauty and uniqueness of the Martian landscape is the focus of a new and exciting exhibit which opened Sunday, May 25th coinciding with the Phoenix Mars Mission landing. Mars, Up Close and Personal will be a permanent exhibit at the science center.

“We believe the Mars, Up Close and Personal exhibit is the world’s largest known three dimensional, scaled reproduction of the Martian surface,” said Alexis R. Faust, Executive Director for Flandrau: The UA Science Center. “The exhibit represents the collaboration by many UA entities and governmental organizations. We’re excited to be able to provide the public with a dynamic and unique educational experience.”

Visually exciting, the Mars, Up Close and Personal exhibit is approximately 26.5 by 9.5 feet in dimension and represents a portion of the Martian surface nearly 1,645 miles, or roughly the distance from Los Angeles to New Orleans. Within the display of the Martian geography is extensive educational interpretations and an actual geologic specimen from the planet Mars.

The Mars, Up Close and Personal exhibit was developed using actual data relayed back to Earth from previous space missions to Mars. The mission of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), a spacecraft that was launched on November 7, 1996, was to orbit Mars and map it over the course of approximately 3 years, which it did successfully, completing 4 1/2 years of mapping. The MGS carried a laser altimeter on board called the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, or MOLA, that was used to determine the height of surface features on Mars.

The altitude determination process used by MOLA works by measuring the time that a pulse of light takes to leave the spacecraft, reflect off of the surface of Mars, and return to MOLA’s collecting mirror. By multiplying the reflection time by the speed of light, scientists can calculate Surveyor’s altitude above the local terrain to within 30 meters (98 feet) or better.

Starting in March, 1998, MGS started making pole-to-pole observations of the planet. Its goal was to map the entire Martian globe, laying the foundation for 10 more years of NASA missions. For the exhibit, the data collected by MOLA was processed by the science center staff using sophisticated mapping software and translated into two-foot square panels for use by a hi-tech routing machine. These panels were then assembled by the science center into the overall display.

“We’re pleased to participate in the landing event, even in a small manner, on such a historic space mission as the Phoenix Mars Mission explores the Martian soil and buried ice,” said Alexis R. Faust, Executive Director for Flandrau: The UA Science Center. “And with the Mars, Up Close and Personal exhibit, visitors will literally have the Mars surface at their fingertips.”

Click here for more information and videos on the development of Mars, Upclose and Personal.