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MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov 

Charli Schuler 818/354-3965      
Jet Propulsion Laboratory                                             
January 27, 2003

News Release: 2003-010

2003: A JPL Space Odyssey - Join the Journey with Free Lectures

>From the oceans that govern Earth's environment to the stars that
illuminate outer space, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will share a
wide range of discoveries in science and space exploration with the
public in a series of free lectures this year. The von K�rm�n Lecture
Series, now in its seventh year, features monthly presentations that
originate on a Thursday night from JPL and on a Friday night from
Pasadena City College.  The JPL lectures are also Webcast live and
archived for later viewing.   The JPL lectures are held at the lab's
von K�rm�n Auditorium, 4800 Oak Grove Dr. in Pasadena.  Friday
lectures are held at Pasadena City College's Vosloh Forum, 1570 E.
Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena.

All lectures begin at 7 p.m., with first-come, first-served seating.
For more information, see http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures.cfm
or call (818) 354-0112 or email lecture@www.jpl.nasa.gov
mailto:lecture@www.jpl.nasa.gov .  Here is the schedule:

* Feb. 20, 21-New Weather and Climate Tools for the 21st Century
Dr. Moustafa Chahine, JPL senior research scientist and science team
leader for the Aqua spacecraft sounding system: The benefits of NASA's
Aqua mission, which is observing Earth's weather and water cycle with
unprecedented detail.

* Mar. 20, 21-The Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn
Dr. Robert Mitchell, Cassini program manager: The birth and evolution
of the Cassini-Huygens four-year mission to Saturn.  Cassini will
arrive at Saturn in 2004.

* Apr. 17, 18-Mars Global Surveyor Across the Centuries
Dr. Terry Martin, JPL research scientist, Earth and planetary
atmospheres: How the Mars Global Surveyor mission contributes to
future Mars exploration.

* May 8, 9-Challenges in Mobility and Robotics for In Situ Science
Brian Wilcox, manager, Solar System Exploration Mobility Technology
Program:  The challenges of exploring extreme planetary surfaces with
mobile robots.

* Jun. 12, 13-SIRTF: The Last of the Great Observatories
Dr. Dave Gallagher, project manager, and Dr. Michael Werner, project
scientist: The developmental history of the Space Infrared Telescope
Facility, a mission scheduled for launch in April that will study the
early universe and look for planet-forming discs around other stars. 

* Jul. 17, 18-Searching and Crawling: A Few JPL Research Robots
Robert Hogg, robotics engineer, JPL Autonomy and Control Section: All
about "Urbie," a bathmat-sized robot designed to investigate potential
human hazards, help search-and-rescue efforts and survey enemy
territory.

* Aug. 21, 22-The Mars Exploration Rovers - Robotic Geologists
Peter Theisinger, JPL Mars Exploration Rover program manager:
Post-landing mission plans for the Mars Exploration Rovers, twin
spacecraft scheduled to launch this year and arrive at Mars in 2004.

* Sep. 18, 19-Galileo's Odyssey - The Worlds of Jupiter
Dr. Rosaly Lopes, JPL research scientist: A guide to the Galileo
spacecraft's journey around Jupiter and its moons, just days before
the spacecraft plunges into Jupiter.

* Oct. 16, 17-Cosmic Jets: New Building Blocks of the Universe
Dr. David Meier, JPL astrophysicist: How the mysterious, spectacular
phenomenon of cosmic jets are integral to our origin and the
universe's structure and evolution.

* Nov. 20, 21-Deep Space Network Challenge for 2003-2004: Tracking
Dozens of Mission Critical Spacecraft Events
Speaker TBA: How the Deep Space Network plans to get through its
approaching challenge to support more concurrent events of crucial
magnitude than ever in its history.

* Dec. 11, 12-Pointing the Way to Exoplanetary Systems: New
Initiatives in Space Astronomy and the Legacy of the Hubble Space
Telescope Dr. John Trauger, JPL senior research scientist: How soon 
will we see planetary systems orbiting the stars in our nearby galactic
neighborhood?

JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena.

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