Women Working on Mars

Imagine being able to respond to the eternal question of "what do you want to do when you grow up?" with a firm answer that you want to design or build a rover or spacecraft to send to another planet. NASA hopes to spread that kind of enthusiasm to young men and women through an interactive webcast in support of National Engineer's Week.

On Wednesday, February 19, at 6 p.m. Pacific Time (9 p.m. Eastern Time), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., in conjunction with NASA's Mars Exploration Program and NASA's Robotics Education Project, will present "Women Working on Mars: Engineering on the Red Planet."

This 40-minute presentation will highlight JPL engineers who design, build and test robots destined for Mars. It will include videos of the engineers in their work environment and a live discussion led by audience questions. The engineers will share the excitement of Mars exploration and illustrate that an engineering career is possible for any creative young man or woman with the interest and ability in science and math.

The webcast can be accessed at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/video/webcast20030219.html. The event will also air live on NASA Television.

For the second consecutive year, nearly 100 middle school and high school-aged students from local schools will participate in the discussion from JPL's von Karman auditorium. Over 200 young women in the Techbridge program and their families will watch and participate remotely from the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, Calif. The Techbridge program goal is to increase the girls' confidence in using technology and to spark creative problem solving.

Schools, museums and the general public are invited to participate by submitting questions in real-time or in advance via the provided link on the webcast homepage.

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.