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More than 20,000 people have toured the Phoenix Mission's Science Operations Center so far.

By University Communications
August 8, 2008

Carla Bitter bubbles with energy and enthusiasm as she welcomes the Arizona Hydrological Society and its members for a tour of the Phoenix Mars Mission Science Operations Center.

Bitter is the education and public outreach manager for The University of Arizona-led Phoenix Mars Mission. The mission is the first in NASA’s Scout Program, with the Phoenix designed to study the history of water and the habilitability potential in the Martian arctic's ice-rich soil.

Bitter and the education and public outreach team, together with Mars education partners, have developed and offer a variety of educational talks, activities, workshops and programs to help the public understand the mission’s science and engineering objectives and to promote space exploration.

Encouraging students to pursue careers in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) is one of the main goals of the nationwide EPO effort managed by Bitter. 

Included in the overall mission’s plans is the public outreach effort, which locally includes tours to the UA's Science Operations Center.

The tours are open to the public, with the mission hosting groups of interested individuals, schools or organizations such as the Arizona Hydrological Society. “In the past two years 20,000 people have toured the facility in addition to our regional and national outreach programs,” Bitter said.

The tour consists of a 30-minute mission overview with time for questions and answers. The presentation contains up-to-date photos of the images the Phoenix sends back daily, which are displayed on three large screens with some images shown in 3-D.

Representatives from the mission field questions about the science operations and findings of the day as well as inquiries about the technology used to build and land the Phoenix on Mars.

Time also is given to explore the interactive exhibits and activities in the Payload Interoperability Testbed, known as the PIT. The PIT features a full-scale engineering model of the Phoenix Mars Lander.

The model and the PIT bed are used to test the commands and movements the actual Phoenix Mars Lander carries out over a hundred million of miles away.

Activities include painting with robotic arms, making dirty ice icy dirt martian snow cones, and making your own scale model of the lander.

In response to the public’s interest, Bitter and her team have added a Saturday tour to the facility on Aug. 23 with tours available at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m.

“We have one more tour left in August during our Summer Wednesdays. The last Wednesday tour that people can sign up for is on Wednesday, Aug. 20, with tours at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m.,” Bitter said.

In addition to tours of the Science Operations Center, the team delivers presentations to classrooms throughout the state, has collaborated with the state’s museums for Mars-themed exhibits and has taken the show to the Navajo Reservation.