Visitors to ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center this Saturday, July 21, will be able to control some of NASA’s latest rovers designed for an ultimate goal, detecting other world resources for Earth.
The Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES), NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and scientists with the European Space Agency will host viewing of these robots from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Center’s rear parking lot.
Free special presentations by NASA researchers Anthony Colaprete and Richard C. Elphic, scheduled at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., will shed light on the capabilities of the lunar rovers. Also, a free presentation of MoonWalk provided by the PISCES team will be at 11 a.m. ‘
Imiloa’s planetarium will complement with space-exploration themed shows for the entire day, starting with Fragile Planet at 9 a.m., the kids show Tycho to the Moon at 10 a.m., Origins of Life at noon, Sesame Street at 1 p.m., Dawn of the Space Age in 3D at 2 p.m., and Two Small Pieces of Glass at 3 p.m.
“Hawai’i’s legacy of oceanic wayfaring has many of the same elements as pursuing the next other world habitat.” says Chad Kalepa Baybayan, Navigator and Associate Director of the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. “We are excited to host this kind of outreach event at ‘Imiloa, hoping to inspire our keiki to go into careers in S.T.E.M. fields (science, technology, engineering and math).”
Robotic demonstrations, NASA presentations and the MoonWalk presentation are free to the public. Regular admission fees will apply for entry into the exhibit hall and the daily planetarium shows.
