Conference - Day One
Today my main job has been to unpack the numerous boxes containing artwork for the ‘Destination: Mars’ Exhibition we have received, catalogue it and set it up in the conference centre. I have been ably assisted by Camille Desportes and Julie Jones. Camilee is an intern with the Mars Institute and also a graduate student in Space Management at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. Julie is an artist based in Nevada who is representing the International Association of Astronomical Artists, who are presenting the exhibition. Her website is here - she does some truly amazing astronomical and space related art. You can check it out here.
I’ve also assisted NASA’s Chief Historian, Steven Dick, with preparation of a display of historical documents related to Phobos and Deimos and in particular their discovery by astronomer Asaph Hall at the US Naval Observatory in 1877. There are some really interesting documents in the collection including a facsimile of the Presidential Commission, signed by Abraham Lincoln, that Hall received upon taking up the Professorship of Mathematics at the UNO.
Following the welcome reception, Pascal, Camille and I took Dr Alexander Zakharov out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Palo Alto. Dr Zakharov is the head of the Russian Academy of Planetary Sciences and is Russia’s leading planetary scientist. He has been involved with several Russian robotic spacecraft including Phobos 1 & Phobos 2 and is currently the lead scientist on the Phobos-Soil mission, which is a Phobos sample return mission that is planned for a 2009 launch but is likely to be held over until 2011. Talking with him was fantastic and he freely shared many of his experiences which was great. The food at the restaurant was pretty good too. The servings were enormous. Apparently a small pizza is designed to feed 4 people! A large pizza is best for 6 people!
