News
July 9th, 2022
Mars Mania 2022
Clark Planetarium Celebrates Mars Mania: Full-size Perseverance Rover Model Lands in Salt Lake City
Life-size replica caps a weekend of Mars celebrations
Salt Lake City – Mars Mania hits Salt Lake City’s Clark Planetarium the weekend of July 8-10, 2022. The celebration of the red planet will feature full-size models of the latest Mars robotic explorers, Perseverance and Ingenuity, the opportunity to meet NASA/JPL scientists and engineers, the new dome film Destination Mars, Mars activities, and a real piece of Mars to touch!
Clark Planetarium is one of a handful of science institutions countrywide to host NASA’s “Roving with Perseverance” road show. The travelling exhibit will open on Friday, July 8 and continue through Nov. 6, 2022. As big as a car, the exhibit features a full-scale model of the Perseverance Mars Rover, currently hard at work on Mars hundreds of millions of miles from Earth. The exhibit also includes a full-scale model of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter, the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet.
The public is invited to view the rover and participate in activities, free of charge.
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Friday, July 8 |
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10 am - 8 pm |
NASA/JPL engineers will be onsite for photo opportunities answer questions
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10 am - 12 pm & 2 pm - 7 pm |
Mars activities and demonstrations |
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Saturday, July 9 |
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10 am - 8 pm |
NASA/JPL engineers will be onsite for photo opportunities and questions
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12 pm – 4 pm |
Mars activities and demonstrations with Build Your Own Mars Rover contest judged by NASA/JPL at 3 p.m. |
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Sunday, July 10 |
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10 am - 6 pm |
NASA/JPL engineers will be onsite for photo opportunities and questions |
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12 pm - 4 pm |
Mars activities and demonstrations |
In conjunction with the Perseverance exhibit, the Hansen Dome Theatre will screen the Salt Lake City premiere of Destination Mars. The film gives audiences an up-close look at humanity’s most epic endeavor -- the dream of sending humans to Mars.
NASA/JPL scientists and engineers will be on-site to give in-person presentations and will be available for interviews and to answer questions.
A Salt Lake City local influenced by both Hansen and Clark Planetarium, Sawyer Brooks, has worked for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 2015 as a Robotics Engineer. He has focused on robotic manipulation and sampling (robotic arms, tools, grippers, and other ways robots can interact with their environments).
David Way is an aerospace engineer at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA specializing in flight dynamics and spacecraft systems design. While working on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project, he led the team of engineers that developed the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) computer simulation, which was then used to model and predict flight conditions during Curiosity’s landing. He then reprised the same role for Perseverance.
Also on hand, Sarah Marcotte has supported each Mars missions, including orbiters, landers, and rovers. Since arriving at NASA/JPL in 2008, Sarah has worked on the active missions Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Odyssey, Phoenix, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory, InSight and Mars 2020.
“We’ve been working for the last year and a half to bring this amazing full-scale rover model to the Planetarium,” said Clark Planetarium Director Duke Johnson. “Our guests will be able to get up close to the rover for photo opportunities, see a new planetarium show about Mars and even touch a piece of Mars! What an amazing opportunity for our community.”
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