About 35 volunteers in NASA’s Solar System Ambassadors Program are
planning an assortment of public activities across the country for
Space Day, being observed this year on May 1. The events run through
May 17.

Established in 1997, Space Day celebrates the advancement of science,
technology, engineering and math by inspiring young people to realize
the vision of our space pioneers. The 2003 Space Day theme,
"Celebrating the Future of Flight," commemorates advancements in
aviation and aerospace spanning 100 years.

"Space Day is a vehicle to be used to educate the scientists,
engineers and astronauts of the future. There is a good chance that
the first person to step foot on Mars will have celebrated this year’s
event," said Timothy Robertson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. He will discuss Stardust, a mission to return
samples of a comet to Earth, with students at Mesa Union Elementary
School in Somis, Calif. He will show students the "dirty snowball"
model of a comet nucleus by making "comets" from dry ice, dirt and
other materials. In addition, students will see a real piece of
aerogel, the world’s lightest solid, used on the Stardust mission to
collect dust from comets and space.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory coordinates the Solar System Ambassadors
Program, consisting of more than 270 volunteer ambassadors who have
committed to organizing and carrying out at least four public outreach
activities a year. JPL provides them with educational materials and
training sessions, including contacts with mission scientists.

"I think it’s important to get elementary students excited about space
and astronomy because it’s more challenging to grab students’ interest
when they reach high school," said ambassador Bonnie Walters. She
invited Robertson and 14 other speakers from JPL, Johnson Space Center
and several space-related organizations to speak to Mesa Union
students on May 9. The volunteers will discuss various NASA missions
and astrobiology, among other topics, and offer demonstrations on what
telescopes do and what the universe looks like through
three-dimensional eyeglasses.

Ambassador Jim Zebrowski will present a slideshow about the solar
system, focused on the Sun and planets, to students at Joseph L.
Mulready Elementary School in Hudson, Mass. With help from the Aldrich
Astronomical Society of Worcester, Mass., Zebrowski will also show
students meteorites, small telescopes and binoculars, and offer free
handouts on beginning astronomy provided by Sky and Telescope
magazine.

Ambassadors Susan Batson and Ginny Mauldin-Kinney will showcase
presentations on the Mars Exploration Rovers May 2 at North Hills High
School Planetarium, Pittsburgh, Pa., and May 5 at Brockett Elementary
School, Tucker, Ga., respectively.

JPL ambassadors are based throughout the United States and Puerto
Rico, serving widespread public interest about robotic missions
throughout the solar system. Each year, the program is among more than
75 Space Day partner organizations sponsoring local events across
North America.

More information about the Solar System Ambassadors Program is
available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador .

For more information about Space Day, including a comprehensive list
of scheduled events, see http://spaceday.com/ .

JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.