"Okay I’m going out on a biased limb here…but anyone who thinks we are alone in the universe is crazy..."

Reno's Mars Connection:

Reno has a direct connection to Mars. Hear first-hand what it was like to land the rover on mars… and what it means for the future of the space program. We’ll also take a look at inspiring the scientists of the future… and we’ll take you inside Reno’s own window on the Universe… the Fleishmann Planetarium.

Our Guests:

Dr. Wendy Calvin is a research Associate Professor at UNR in Geophysics. Specializing in infrared spectroscopy, her research focuses on water, ices and minerals throughout the solar system. Her work includes meteorites, asteroids, icy satellites and both Mars and Earth. And, she helped discover oxygen in the surface of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede and ammonia ices on Pluto’s satellite Charon. She has worked extensively with NASA with a number of projects dealing specifically with Mars. In 2003 she worked on the NASA Team working on the Mars Exploration Rovers on the Red Plant in 2004. She has also worked as an investigator with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Team which just saw that craft enter Mars orbit earlier this month. When Dr. Calvin isn’t at the Jet Propulsion Lab she is in the classrooms of UNR and supervising graduate students.

Mike Bryant is coordinator for Marsopolis, a project that involves some 450 students in the Washoe County School District. Tammy Stockton teaches at Catherine Dunn Elementary and has had an ongoing interest in science and in keeping kids interested any way she can. Brian Crosby teaches at Agnes Risley Elementary and uses digital video projects to keep kids into science.