We first stopped at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where we heard a lecture by Dr. Paul Wennberg (check out his website if you wish: http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~wennberg/). He is one of *the* top atmospheric chemists, and he does research pertaining to the carbon cycle and climate change, among other things. I really enjoyed his talk; he is a fantastic speaker. I also learned some things despite the fact that I took a climate class during my undergrad.
After his lecture, we drove up to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and enjoyed our lunches in the van. Guess what! There is a hunter/jumper barn RIGHT next to JPL. It's called the Flintridge Riding Club. BRB--moving to Pasadena. (It's settled; I'll work at JPL and ride at Flintridge.)
I was lucky enough to purchase a few things at the JPL gift shop, which isn't as overwhelming as the Dryden gift shop (nor did I spend as much money).
We received a tour of JPL, which included a stop at the Flight Projects Center for an intro and quick video about JPL's mission (robotic discovery). Our next stop was at the Mars Science Laboratory Project building, where they are currently housing a model of the Curiosity rover currently en route to Mars. They are simulating the Martian ground and practicing maneuvers before the real rover lands in less than 17 days (August 5th at approximately 10:30 pm PDT).
We made a quick stop at the Earth Science Center, housed in another building, where we watched a short 3-D movie and learned about some more the Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder (EOS MLS). That is an atmospheric remote sensing instrument on the EOS Aura satellite orbiting over Earth.
We continued on to the Space Flight Operations Facility (Mission Control, essentially). They are constantly monitoring the spacecraft and making sure everything is running smoothly! We were told that it's a lot like flying a plane: Takeoff and landing are the most interesting/exciting parts. The in-between is rather unexciting.
Our tour finished with another model of Curiosity and some more fun facts about science-y spaceflight robots! Here's the YouTube video about Curiosity's "Seven Minutes of Terror" as the rover lands on Mars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s&list=UUryGec9PdUCLjpJW2mgCuLw&index=3&feature=plcp
We drove back to Caltech for a couple more lectures: one from a 2011 SARPian who is currently at Caltech working on Mars research and one from Dr. Mike Brown, the astronomer who ultimately "killed" Pluto (his website: http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/). Turns out, he was just searching for the 10th planet--not trying to demote Pluto. He found a planet and named it Eris (Greek goddess of strife and discord--fitting name, no?). Eris is actually a bit bigger than Pluto and has a similar orbit. He successfully convinced us why Pluto did not deserve to be a planet. The solar system is classified four ways: terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars), the asteroid belt, gaseous planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), and the Kuiper belt, which contains the dwarf planets, including Pluto and Eris. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable to hear him talk about all of the hate mail he received from 7th and 8th graders six years ago. Now, he says, it's not so much hate mail from junior high schoolers--it's drunken calls from college kids (likely those previous 7th/8th graders) to his office! For more on his story, check out his book: How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming.
To avoid LA traffic, we stayed and ate dinner in Old Pasadena. Some decided to eat at The Cheesecake Factory where Penny (from BBT) works. Four fellow BNB girls and I ate at a local place instead; the inside of TCF looked nothing like the set (not to mention, Penny doesn't actually exist, which I don't like thinking about!).
And no, I never found Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard.
Thank you for reading, loyal blog-friends! :)
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