UMSF Pluto Encounter Meet-up In or Around APL? Options

[Tom Tamlyn]

Is there any interest in an UMSF get-together in or around APL (suburban Baltimore) in connection with the New Horizons Pluto flyby?

Due the the limited nature of the encounter downlinks, there isn’t an obvious best day to choose, although the July 18 Plutopalooza at APL mentioned by scalbers in another thread is a possible anchor date.

In my ideal world, we would treat Emily and Doug to dinner or drinks -- although I realize that they will be very busy throughout their time on the east coast.

[Michael Capobian...]

I'd be interested.

[ollopa]

In my ideal world, we would treat Emily and Doug to dinner or drinks.

I think those two owe *me* a beer! But hey, who's counting? Great idea, count me in.

[Tom Tamlyn]

This proposal never achieved critical mass, but anyone who might be going to APL today (I'm in the "might" category myself) is welcome to send me a PM.

This post has been edited by Tom Tamlyn: Jul 18 2015, 06:05 AM

[Tom Tamlyn]

I went to today’s Pluto Palooza with disciplined expectations, thinking that the mission team was surely taking a well-deserved weekend off from outreach duties. I resigned myself to admiring some giant graphics, looking at miscellaneous video replays, and smiling at a host of volunteers handing out stickers and activity sheets to little kids. All of these things were there (a very impressive turnout of of kids and teenagers) but my pessimism was misplaced.

We arrived shortly after Alan Stern, Alice Bowman, and other team members had started an hour-long presentation to a standing room audience in the Kossiakoff Center auditorium. My indulgent hosts settled down to watch the presentation on giant monitors in one of the overflow areas, while I circulated, chatting with some of the dozens of science team members in the rooms. The highlight for me was an eloquent young APL scientist, standing in front of a giant poster of Europa, who is on the LORRI team but has (I gather) a bigger job as a member of Elizabeth Turtle's Europa Imaging System team.

Despite the brutal workloads of the past weeks, all of the scientists I met were relaxed, affable, full of enthusiasm for discussing the mission and their work, and particularly happy to see the hundreds of children present. One scientist patiently schooled me on the reasons for their confidence in the estimates of Kuiper Belt cratering rates.

In every case, name-dropping UMSF elicited warm smiles and admiration for the work of the image magicians here. One scientist mentioned his particular admiration for the work of Ted Stryk, who had been on lab for a week or so but unfortunately had already left for home.

We poked into the auditorium when the presentation was finished, with Alice Bowman and other team members each surrounded by a knot of questioners. I spotted Alan Stern leaving. In a fit of star-struck hysteria, I dashed up and asked him to pose for a picture with me. He complied, shook my hand, and responded graciously to my stammered thanks for his participation in this forum.

One of the scientists mentioned that this kind of public outreach is something of a new thing for APL, whose heritage of defense projects made its staff reluctant to say anything about their work, let alone invite the public onto the lab. They’re obviously learning fast. It was a delightful afternoon.

Edit: fixed a couple of spelling mistakes.

This post has been edited by Tom Tamlyn: Jul 19 2015, 07:27 PM

[nprev]

Glad you had a good time, Tom!