1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,600 Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to coast AM on iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,160 Speaker 2: Welcome back, George nor with you, Doctor Gerard van Bell 3 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:10,879 Speaker 2: with us, Gerard, Where do people get your book? Kiss? 4 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:12,879 Speaker 2: Report on telescope arrays on the Moon. 5 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 3: So this is something that's available online at the KISS website. 6 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,440 Speaker 3: It's an interesting report of the next generation of observatories 7 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 3: which I would like to see on the surface of 8 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 3: the Moon. 9 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: Good for you. 10 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 2: Now, a lot of us would like to prefer that 11 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 2: if we're going to find anything on Mars, it's a 12 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 2: little green men. How significant is the microbial possibility? 13 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:41,560 Speaker 3: So I think that it's entirely likely. I think it's 14 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 3: a pretty interesting possibility, and it certainly has an opinion 15 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 3: that's shared by NASA, with a lot of their efforts 16 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 3: focused towards looking at at least fossilized life. 17 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 2: It's fascinating, though, isn't it. 18 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 3: It's exciting. I'm sure that you know. It's the kind 19 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 3: of thing that you know, I have it within reach 20 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 3: where we could actually potentially be bring rocks back to 21 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 3: Earth that would have an evidence of that is very exciting. 22 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 2: And NASA just announced that they've selected ten astronauts, some 23 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 2: of whom might be going on a Mars mission. 24 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: That's right. 25 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 3: In fact, we're very proud of one flag Staff native 26 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 3: from from my hometown here right now got selected as 27 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:26,319 Speaker 3: part of that class, and it's you know, the the 28 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 3: the new generations of astronauts are probably going to get 29 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 3: manifested on that mission. 30 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 2: We have had some guests on the program who will 31 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 2: swear up and down that they have spotted artifacts and 32 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,960 Speaker 2: fossils on Mars from the rovers and they've just you know, 33 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 2: they they are bones, perhaps some animals. Who knows, what 34 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 2: do you think of that possibility? 35 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 3: So I'm maybe a little skeptical of that, but it 36 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 3: is the sort of thing that you know, they're they're 37 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 3: is a line of inquiry right now of trying to 38 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 3: find fossilized life and the expectation that's probably microbial. But 39 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 3: you know, those sorts of things range from both the 40 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 3: biosignatures like this, you know, the the findings of the 41 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:20,639 Speaker 3: Perseverance rover, to things that are associated with the shapes 42 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 3: of the structures that you see that are you know, 43 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 3: maybe not like a bone you would think of like 44 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 3: a leg bone from from an animal or something, but 45 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 3: are things that at a very small scale are still 46 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 3: potentially the leftovers of previous biology, and so that's what's 47 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 3: being looked for. It's what's motivating this idea behind a 48 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 3: Mars sample return is bring stuff back where you have 49 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 3: really big laboratories, much more than you can miniaturize on 50 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 3: a rover, and look for the signs of life that 51 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 3: are either mineralogical, biological, or you know, things that just 52 00:02:57,720 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 3: look like a fossil. 53 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 2: Tell us about the observatory and Lowell and what that 54 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 2: telescope is like. 55 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,799 Speaker 3: So here in Flagstaff we have the Lowell Observatory, and 56 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 3: Lowells had interesting and long connection with Mars, where the 57 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 3: founder Perceval Loll, which we like to think is connected 58 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 3: to the name Perseverance for the Perseverance rover. The observatory 59 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:23,919 Speaker 3: has been here about one hundred and thirty years and 60 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 3: Perceval Lowell founded it because he was interested in the 61 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 3: worlds around us and specifically Mars, and he thought that 62 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 3: he had evidence for what he thought he saw when 63 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:42,240 Speaker 3: he was looking at Mars through our now historic Clark telescope, 64 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 3: and he thought he saw canals on Mars, and he 65 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 3: thought he saw evidence for life on Mars, which was 66 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 3: maybe a little speculative at the time, but really helped 67 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 3: fuel the imagination of people like H. G. Wells when 68 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 3: they wrote The War of the Worlds. You know, we 69 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 3: now have a brand new visitor center that just opened 70 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 3: that welcomes people to come and learn about that and 71 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 3: you know, look through telescopes themselves and make up their 72 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 3: minds about what they see when they look at Mars 73 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 3: or Saturn or some of the other planets out there. 74 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,280 Speaker 2: Do you find that little kids are excited when they 75 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 2: come to the observatory? 76 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 3: They are, And we regularly do meet in astronomer nights, 77 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 3: where you know, actual research astronomers like myself will be 78 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 3: there and answer questions from anybody. And it's the kids 79 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 3: questions which are so much fun because there's always you know, 80 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 3: I go there, say on a Saturday night for a 81 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:37,239 Speaker 3: couple hours, and there's always that one kid who's like eight, 82 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:38,600 Speaker 3: and you're like, oh, what are. 83 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:39,239 Speaker 2: You going to ask about? 84 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 3: You don't even to ask about you know, you're the 85 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 3: stuffed animal you saw in the gift shop, and like no. 86 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 3: They want to know if black holes have hair and 87 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 3: this kind of thing, and you're like, whoa what what 88 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 3: and they're like, oh, well, the you know, the event 89 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 3: horizon of a black hole is defined by its mass 90 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:55,840 Speaker 3: and the Schwartz shield radius, and this, you know, you're 91 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 3: like looking at this kid who's like eight, and he's 92 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 3: asking these questions, and these kids are so engage and 93 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 3: so excited about it. 94 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 2: There was an astronomer, an Italian astronomer named Giovanni Schapparelli. Well, 95 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 2: what can you tell us about him? 96 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 3: Chaparelli, when he was looking at Mars, he was describing 97 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 3: in his writings, and this was in kind of the 98 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 3: middle of the nineteenth century. He was describing the things 99 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 3: that he thought he saw, and he described them as 100 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 3: canali and so what he meant by that was just 101 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 3: the features he thought he saw on the surface of 102 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 3: this disc in the sky looking through his telescope. But 103 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 3: when Percival Lowell was reading about that, he felt that, 104 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 3: you know, he basically translated as canals, and that I 105 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,040 Speaker 3: think maybe sparked some of his imagination of them being 106 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 3: artificial canals built by a race of Aliens that had 107 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,719 Speaker 3: a drying out planet that needed to transfer the water 108 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 3: from polls to the equator, and you know, being you know, 109 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 3: evidence of actual intelligent life which has has not been 110 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 3: borne out by the investigations of say spacecraft we've sent there, 111 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 3: but in a strange way, you know, we're still pursuing 112 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 3: that imagination of personal lull in the idea that maybe 113 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,480 Speaker 3: there at least has in the past been life on Mars, 114 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 3: and you know, we're looking for evidence of that. 115 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:32,039 Speaker 2: I assume Mars would be the same age as Earth, 116 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 2: about four and a half billion years old, right, correct, Yeah, 117 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 2: what do you think happened to the planet and what 118 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 2: do you think it was like billions of years ago? 119 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 3: So the planet as you say it was, you know, 120 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 3: it's it's the same age as the Earth. They all 121 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,479 Speaker 3: formed at the same time with the young Sun. But 122 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 3: in the past it's thought that it was warmer and wetter. 123 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 3: And the problem is is that Mars is actually quite 124 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 3: a bit smaller than Earth. It's physically about half the diameter, 125 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 3: and that means you have less mass, you have less 126 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 3: gravity holding things on the surface, in particular holding its 127 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 3: atmosphere in place, and so over billions of years, that 128 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 3: atmosphere which keeps you know, a warm blanket, and you know, 129 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 3: makes a particular place like Earth habitable, With a place 130 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 3: like Mars, it actually leaks and over a long period 131 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 3: of time. That means you get a thinner and thinner atmosphere. 132 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 3: It cools down and it becomes drier, and it becomes inhospitable. 133 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 3: And so it might have been hospitable in the past, 134 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 3: it might have been capable of supporting life, but now, yeah, 135 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 3: not so much, as far as you know, the dry 136 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 3: wasteland that it is now. 137 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 2: Is there any vegetation on Mars at all? 138 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 3: None that we know of. One interesting thing about biosignatures 139 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 3: and looking for indotions of life anywhere is you can 140 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 3: actually do it pretty well from say telescopes right here 141 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 3: on Earth. And one of the things that people have 142 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 3: thought they might have detected on Mars is methane. Methane 143 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 3: is a molecule that can be built up by processes 144 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 3: that are not associated with life. So, for example, on Mars, 145 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 3: you could have volcanoes that are burping up reservoirs of methane, 146 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,839 Speaker 3: but you could possibly also have that being sourced by 147 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 3: Mars by bacteria under the surface. You could potentially still 148 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 3: have that at Mars. Is a line of reasoning that 149 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:47,080 Speaker 3: people are talking about, and so one of the things 150 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 3: that people are looking for is trying to find methane. 151 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,720 Speaker 3: There's actually a spacecraft, the Trace Gas Orbiter that's there 152 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 3: looking specifically for that and following up on some earlier 153 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 3: potential detections of methane, and it's actually not promising with 154 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 3: with finding any of that. It looks like that's that's 155 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 3: not turning up any methane detections. 156 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 2: Tard yesterday, I had Seth Shostak on the program from 157 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 2: the SETI Institute Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. What do you 158 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 2: think of that organization used to be funded by NASA. 159 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: That's right. 160 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,319 Speaker 3: And Bill Diamond, the director over there, is a good 161 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 3: friend of the observatory here at Loull. We uh, you know, 162 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 3: I think SETI is very interesting in how they are 163 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:35,359 Speaker 3: looking for signs of life elsewhere in the nearby galaxy 164 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 3: and trying to see, if you know, are their radio signals, 165 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 3: are their optical signals that are associated with intelligent life? 166 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,479 Speaker 3: And in fact I was just at a SETI workshop 167 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:50,200 Speaker 3: with some of the people from the SETI Institute and 168 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 3: this was run by Penn State University. Jason right out 169 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 3: there run that workshop and a lot of talk about how, 170 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 3: you know, how would you find something that would uniquely 171 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 3: identify intelligent life elsewhere. One of the things that you 172 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 3: want to be able to do is come up with 173 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 3: indications that uniquely are associated with intelligence rather than some 174 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:17,319 Speaker 3: kind of natural process. And so there's always this question 175 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 3: of you know, if you see something, is it interesting, 176 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 3: is it interesting enough to be associated with maybe that 177 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 3: kind of thing, you know? And is there no other 178 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 3: way you could produce that? And we've been certainly fooled 179 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 3: in the past of things that look artificial, and then 180 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 3: when you look harder, there's actually, you know, some process 181 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 3: we hadn't thought about that is producing it. 182 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,280 Speaker 2: Perseverance has been on the planet around what four or 183 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 2: five years. 184 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: That's right. 185 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:43,440 Speaker 3: Yeah, I had one of those exciting landings that the 186 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 3: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory specializes in with, you know, flying 187 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 3: in from interplanetary space at breakneck speed and then a 188 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 3: heat shield slows it down and then pops off, and 189 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 3: then you have parachutes that slow it down, and then 190 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 3: it deploys a skycrane that lowers the rover to the 191 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:04,840 Speaker 3: ground and then flies off and the rovers there to 192 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 3: be able to cruise around the planet powered by its 193 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,440 Speaker 3: nuclear battery. Pretty exciting mission. 194 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 2: How long will that battery last. 195 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 3: Those batteries last actually a very long time. The similar 196 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 3: batteries are on board the Voyager one and Voyager two 197 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 3: spacecraft and now more recently the new Horizon spacecraft which 198 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 3: are on their way to interstellar space. And it's basically 199 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:38,439 Speaker 3: just a lump of plutonium. It's the kind of plutonium 200 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 3: you can't use to make bombs, by the way, But 201 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:46,319 Speaker 3: the plutonium, just as it's decaying, because it's a radioactive material, 202 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:50,720 Speaker 3: gives off heat and then that heat gets converted into electricity, 203 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 3: and it's about as much electricity to run your desktop computer. 204 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 3: In fact, your desktop computer probably uses a bit more. Yeah, 205 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 3: and they last for decades. 206 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:07,080 Speaker 2: How many workable rovers are on Mars right now? Just 207 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:07,680 Speaker 2: the one? 208 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 3: So we have perseverance, there's curiosity. The previous ones, say 209 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 3: which ones where they opportunity and spirit are no longer working? 210 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:27,319 Speaker 3: And the very earliest one from the Mars Pathfinder mission 211 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 3: in ninety six, the Sojourner, that's also gone quiet as well. 212 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:38,040 Speaker 3: But yeah, the Mars is a planet inhabited entirely by robots. 213 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 2: If the batteries last so long, why aren't they running. 214 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 3: So the most recent two with curiosity and perseverance they're 215 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 3: the only they're the ones that actually have those batteries. 216 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 3: The previous ones have solar panels and eventually succumbed to 217 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 3: the degradation there. I think spirit got stuck in a 218 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 3: dust bog somewhere. So yeah, the you know, the the 219 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 3: conditions are very harsh. I think with say curiosity there. 220 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 3: You know, they found early on that the wheels were 221 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:14,520 Speaker 3: getting holes in them, and so you know, there's you know, 222 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:16,560 Speaker 3: it's just think of you know, being able to drive 223 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 3: your car around and have you know, no service for 224 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 3: you know, for many many years, and it just keeps 225 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:21,680 Speaker 3: on going. 226 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 2: We're going to take calls next hour with our special guest, 227 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,719 Speaker 2: jurre Ad van Bell. His website is linked up at 228 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 2: coast tocoastdam dot com. So jump aboard and share a 229 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,840 Speaker 2: story or a question about Mars and we will be 230 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 2: back in a moment a coast to coast. This is 231 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 2: exciting stuff, isn't it. When you were a kid, you 232 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 2: loved it, didn't you when you were a little boy. 233 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:48,080 Speaker 3: So I remember as a grad student driving across you know, 234 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 3: the I was going to grad school in Wyoming and 235 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 3: going down to Arizona. We would drive late at night 236 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:55,560 Speaker 3: and I would be listening to Coast to Coast with 237 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:59,679 Speaker 3: that time Art Bell and so this is this is great. 238 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 2: What a great feeling for you were You're doing a 239 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 2: great job for us, first time on the program, right. 240 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: Yes, that's right. 241 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think a real pinnacle of my public outreach career. 242 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 2: Somebody wants to take up a career as an astronomer 243 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:18,360 Speaker 2: or some kind of scientist, what do you recommend? 244 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 3: Yes, it's you know, it's challenging times right now. It's 245 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,880 Speaker 3: support for science. But we do have a lot of 246 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 3: people at the Low Observatory that benefit from the donors 247 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,200 Speaker 3: that we have and the people that come and visit us. 248 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 3: We get about one hundred and eighty thousand visitors a 249 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 3: year up on Mars Hill and they always come away 250 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,880 Speaker 3: from a visit up at the Observatory with an extra 251 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 3: little stars in their eyes. And so it's great to 252 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 3: have people come and learn about that, and some of them, 253 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 3: we would like to think, get excited enough as kids 254 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 3: when they visit to go on to be scientists and 255 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 3: engineers and you know, build the things that you know, 256 00:14:58,000 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 3: make our society great. 257 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,080 Speaker 1: Listen to more Coast to Coast am every weeknight at 258 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 1: one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to coastam 259 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: dot com for more