Would you sign up to go to Mars?

Cosmic Nights is back at the Space Centre! Discover the wonders of the universe - over drinks! Join us Thursday, April 27th for Cosmic Nights: Destination Mars a party for our favourite red planet! This is a 19+ event.

6:30pm - 10:00pm - Drinks | Music | Games | Demonstrations I Lecture I Planetarium

7:30pm or 9:00pm - Planetarium Show: Journey to Mars

In this 40 minute live planetarium show we'll travel to Mars and even though it’s our planetary neighbour, getting there will be no easy task. You'll experience the journey that past robotic missions like Curiosity have taken, and shown how humans may travel there in the future. We'll fly over the beautiful scenery of the red planet and see 360 degree visuals based on real photos taken by past Mars missions.

8:00pm and 9:00pm - Mars Lecture

Speaker: Dr. Melissa Rice - Western Washington University

The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover landed on Mars almost five years ago, and the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been actively exploring Mars for 13 years. Every day both rovers continue to send stunning images of the Red Planet and exciting results back to Earth. This talk will provide an overview of the instrumentation and major results from both missions, as well as plans for NASA’s next rover, which will launch in 2020.

BIO: Dr. Melissa Rice is an Assistant Professor of Planetary Science at Western Washington University, where she has held a joint appointment in the Geology Department and the Physics & Astronomy Department since 2014. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University in 2012, and was a NASA Astrobiology Institute Postdoctoral fellow at Caltech from 2012-2014. Her research focuses on the sedimentology, stratigraphy and mineralogy of Mars. She is a collaborator on the active Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity missions, a Participating Scientist on the Mars Science Laboratory rover mission, and a Co-Investigator for the Mastcam-Z investigation in development for the Mars2020 rover mission.

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19+ Photo ID will be required upon entry

Photo credit: ESO