Santa Rose Fires and the Science Discovery Day

The 7th annual North Bay Science Discovery Day on October 28 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa was an astounding success!

The NorCal chapter took the rover and base stations for a hands on demonstration in Santa Rosa. Our group was not sure whether the event will be held or not, whether the public will be there or not. The fires that swept through the area were some of the worst in decades if not in the century.

In the words of our own Scott Davis:

"This area suffered from the recent terrible fires and I thought they might end up cancelling the event, but they're still planning on holding it in order to instill a sense of normalcy to the community and have something for the kids to do.  So our participation in this event will be a way our chapter can help the people in this community who are rebuilding."

We did participate and it was a resounding success both for our group but also for the community and all the other exhibitors. Here's just some of the feedback from the community.

"Thank you for holding the science festival! I, along with about 3,000 others in Santa Rosa, lost our homes in the horrible fires. My son, his friends, and others in Sonoma County had a great time at the [NBSDD}! We cannot thank you enough for holding the event here." ~~ Kim

""Just wanted to congratulate you and your team on another NBSDD! Considering the circumstances of the prior weeks, it's fantastic that this event still went on and became a gathering space for kids and people interest in science." ~~ Victor

"I am so happy to be here as a volunteer today! I lost my home in the fire, and my family decided to move into my mother's abandoned farm house. For two weeks I have done nothing but clean, cry, and clean. I am so happy to have a break that involves happy faces and a change of pace. Thank you!" ~~ Marie

The kids were absolutely enthusiastic about the event, many kids spent hours in the various labs and hands on science activities. Kids consistently said that they "wanted to rebuild Santa Rosa." It was a cathartic even for many. The NBSDD makes a huge difference every year, but this year its impact went beyond just science or technology. It was a true display of community using the tools of science to further everyday lives, rebuild communities and prevents catastrophies like this in the future.

We are proud as a Mars NorCal chapter to have the privilege to be part of this event. Well done everyone.

Some fun stats from the event:

194
pounds
The amount of giant Humboldt squid dissected by kids.

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8
gallons
The amount of glue at Medtronic's booth to produce 1,000 bags of slime.

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1,700
spoons
Used by the Buck Institute for tasting instant ice cream.

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5,600
Views in one day on SnapChat through NBSDD geofilter.

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1,500
views
Watching KZST's DJ Brent Farris using FaceBook Live at NBSDD.

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0
dollars
Cost to anyone who attended.

Spring Outreach Events

We have a number of events slated for spring 2016. Here is a short list of events where chapter members and rover project staff will participate.

March 4: La Tercera Elementary - Salute to STEM (Sonoma County)

We still need a few more volunteers to help train children in operating the rover.  This will be one more in the series of STEM events at local Bay Area schools. We cover not only the Bay Area but surrounding communities as well.

April 1 - 3: Contact - Domain Hotel, Sunnyvale

    A Science and SciFi conference featuring Dr. Chris McKay, Larry Niven, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Andy Weir.  The chapter has registered us to have a presentation table. A good opportunity to present the program and interact with scientists and space enthusiasts who will be present at the conference. Perhaps we recruit a few more members as we did in past events.

April 8 - 10: Death Valley Marsfest 2016 (Celestial Centennial)

    Dr. Rosalba Bonaccorsi from NASA Ames is organizing this event and we will be setting up a table with our rover.  We are thinking of renting a vehicle (SUV or van) and carpooling there.  We will be camping out as well.  We are still deciding in the exact dates we will attend.

April 16: Mark West Elementary School Science Fair, Santa Rosa

    We were invited back to put up a display at this science fair again.  We have several chapter members already lined up for this event.

May 20 - 22: Maker Faire

    The chapter has submitted an application for our exhibit booth at the Maker Faire in San Mateo again this year.  We are asusming it will be accepted.  This is not the first time we have presence at the Maker Faire and as in years past we expect it to be an outreach success.  Volunteers will be needed to help at our exhibit in shifts.

University Rover Challenge 2013

Mike Stoltz, Mars Society's Director of Media & Public Relations posted a video of highlights from the University Rover Challenge 2013 held at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.

The University Rover Challenge challenges teams of science and engineering students to build a rover for a theoretical Mars mission. Each rover must meet a weight requirement and be remotely controlled by the students.

From May 30 to June 1, teams from the United States, Canada, Poland, and India competed on several courses meant to test their rover’s designs and technology in a quest for bragging rights and a winner-takes-all $5,000 cash prize. The challenges included navigating through gates over varied terrain, dropping science packages at designated sites, and excavating material that could be analyzed for signs of life.

Some teams were funded by large corporations like Boeing and Microsoft while others, like the SRM University team from India, had a total budget of $4,000. This included the cost of building the rover and travel for the more than half dozen of its members. While other teams’ rovers had state-of-the-art suspension and power systems, SRM showed up with a batch of radio controlled car batteries and electrical tape.

But overcoming these challenges was the point to the competition. If rovers are going to assist humans in the exploration of Mars, communication system and structural reliability will be critical. That, and probably a healthy dose of electrical tape.

This robot competition happened the week after Judd, Eric, Forest, and Scott finished their closing Mars NorCal engineering crew rotation and prepared our research rover Sandstorm for transport back to the Bay Area.

Maker Faire 2012

The NorCal Mars Society chapter attended the 2012 Maker Faire in San Mateo and set up an exhibit booth for the rover project. The faire was bustling with activity this year and there were lots of people stopping by our booth to discuss our rovers and our chapter.

Our Phoenix rover, despite some technical difficulties due to WiFi interference, was operational and we gave visitors to our booth the opportunity to drive it around the nearby walkway. We had a nearly constant line of kids waiting for their chance to drive the rover.

We had a great time at the Maker Faire this year and look forward to coming back next year with another rover exhibit booth.

Mars, Rovers, The NorCal Chapter

Members of the NorCal Chapter attended for the second time in a row the Maker Faire event in San Mateo, California. Its an event which always brings together a large number of technology and tinkering enthusiasts and seasoned professionals who share a passion for making things. We had a presence together with our NASA Ames colleagues. The rover display attracted many visitors, and initiated a number of conversations revolving around rover hardware and software and the exploration of Mars, future missions on it, and the prospects of one day landing a human mission and building a settlement. For now, we fill our time in exploring different scenarios, mission configurations and software revision on Earth based Mars analogs.

Our chapter member Jon Cox gives a brief overview of the chapter and our current work in the video shot at the Maker Faire.

Meyerholz Elementary School Presentation

NorCal Mars Society members Jon Cox and Scott Davis presented the Sandstorm rover at Meyerholz Elementary School in San Jose on October 5th, 2011. Scott gave a presentation to an audience of third and fifth-grade students about the planet Mars and how astronauts may someday use robot rovers to assist them in exploring it. The students had been studying the solar system and were very excited about Mars. Sandstorm then drove out and greeted the students. The rover's camera view was projected on the screen for the students to see. Miss Peng's third-grade class was able to stay after the presentation and each student got a chance to operate the rover. Special thanks to Sylvia Leong for inviting us and helping organize the presentation.

Science Alliance Showcase

Members of the NorCal MS Chapter (Jon Cox, Scott Davis, Boris Debic) took part in the Science Alliance Showcase event at the Warm Springs elementary School in Freemont. It was a full day event with several in-class presentations and rover demonstrations finishing off with a "Why go to Mars?" (And why study engineering and science) lecture for students at the end of the day. After getting the rovers back with fresh data from the MDRS deployment in the Utah desert it was a fitting followup in our outreach activites program. Here's in Clyde Mann's own words:

"Our students had the opportunity to hear about and see the Norcal Mars Rover Project present throughout the day. The presentation was to over 800 students, cluminating in a big school assembly at the end of the day. I was fortunate to see parts of the final presentation. It was hot and sweaty in our multi-purpose room, yet Boris Debic singlehandedly kept the students illuminated and attentive by his fantastic sense of humor, and the idea that we are explorers and will always look for new frontiers. Celebrities, politicians (not statesmen), fortune 500 CEO’s, and Venture Capitalists don’t move me. What you brought to the students was truly inspiring. All I can say is that the next day, students with their eyes bulging out in excitement, could not stop talking about the presentation and loved the rovers."