Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 7:00 pm MST – “Exploring Mars with Curiosity and Perseverance.”

Be sure to mark your calendar for this one -- Nationally known planetary scientist Roger Wiens will give us a video talk on the latest happenings with rovers on Mars!  Roger leads the SuperCam instrument team on the Perseverance rover and enjoys sharing his passion for space exploration with all types of audiences.  We will meet on the CCU campus in Leprino Hall Room 106 to watch Roger’s video talk and discuss together.  We will also have a zoom link for those unable to attend.

Video Talk Summary: NASA is currently operating two nuclear-powered one-ton rovers on the surface of Mars. The goal of the Curiosity rover, which landed in 2012, was to understand the past habitability of Mars. She has been exploring the remains of an ancient lake in Gale crater near the equator. The Perseverance rover followed in 2021 and has the added task of collecting samples that are planned to be returned to Earth in about ten years. Roger has developed and led exploration with laser-based instruments on both of these rovers. In the talk Roger will describe the processes of building instruments for NASA missions and of discovery using these instruments and rovers. Roger will also mention his own spiritual growth through various defining moments along the way.

Bio:  Roger Wiens holds Physics degrees from Wheaton College and the University of Minnesota. He wrote the first thesis on the composition of the Mars atmosphere measured in the laboratory, sourced from Martian meteorites. He was a developer and Flight Payload Lead of NASA’s Genesis cosmochemistry mission. Subsequently, he developed and led exploration with the ChemCam laser remote sensing instrument for the Curiosity rover (landed 2012). He now leads the SuperCam instrument team on the Perseverance rover (landed 2021). With its international team, SuperCam uses three spectroscopy techniques, a microphone, and high-resolution imaging to study remote targets. Dr. Wiens is a Senior Fellow of Los Alamos National Laboratory where he developed these instruments. Roger captivated his audience as the banquet speaker at ASA 2016.  As of 2022 he is a professor of planetary science at Purdue University. He has been knighted by the government of France for “forging strong ties between the French and American scientific communities” and for “inspiring many young, ambitious earthlings.” He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Toulouse and is the namesake of Asteroid 41795 WIENS. His book, Red Rover: Inside the Story of "Robotic Space Exploration from Genesis to the Mars Rover Curiosity (Basic Books, 2013), describes his space adventures.