CU students at JPL on the mission team are elated -- and exhausted

Two Cornell students on the rover science team, Stephanie Gil '06, left, and Chase Million '05, pose in front of JPL, Jan. 8. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Linda Grace-Kobas and David Brand

PASADENA, Calif. -- Elation -- and exhaustion -- showed on the faces of Cornell students on the rover science team in the mission control building at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) here shortly after the landing of the Spirit rover was confirmed late on the night of Jan. 3.

Astronomy graduate student Zoe Learner, who has served as the science team's documentarian, said she felt "ecstatic" and "elated." Even so, she added, "I just keep thinking how I feel and trying to magnify it. I've been working on the mission for a year and a half, while others have been involved for years and years."

"This is one of the most incredible moments of my life," the rover diarist said.

Cornell astronomy Professor Steven Squyres, leader of the rover science team, and his colleagues will be relying on the expertise of many graduate and undergraduate students during the Martian exploration by the rovers Spirit and Opportunity in the months ahead.

The rover's landing "was the longest 12 minutes of my entire life," said Cornell junior Chase Million, a physics major who has been working on Pancam calibration. "It was really hot in the room during those 12 minutes, but the moments were punctuated with giddiness." There was nothing he could compare it to, he added.

There was almost a sense of unreality as the rover entered the Martian atmosphere, the students agreed. They had prepared for their mission with many practices, Learner said. "In comes up on you so quick and you're there," Million added. "It silences you."

Stephanie Gil, a sophomore in mechanical and aerospace engineering, who is being trained to work on Pancam calibration when she returns to campus for the spring semester, said the landing and the first pictures returned were "very amazing." It was, she said, "inspirational."

Heather Arneson, who graduated in mechanical engineering in 2002 and is a member of the Pancam operations team, said she was "really excited" to be part of the Mars mission. So also is Emily Dean, who has been working with the rover science team since she was a sophomore at Lansing High School. She has taken an entire semester off from Ithaca College, where she is a senior, to work for Squyres. She noted that until now "work has been something I do every day. But now I am able to step back and realize what an amazing thing I am doing."

She added, "This team is so together, the atmosphere is so good and we communicate so well."

Cornell astronomy department staff member Diane Bollen has been working with Squyres since the early days of mission planning. "I can't even begin to tell you what it feels like," she said, smiling. "There's just a rush of emotion. It feels incredibly good -- and to have it (the landing) be so perfect, too."

The Cornell students nodded in agreement. There was nothing more to say as they savored the victorious moment and gathered their strength for the days and weeks to come when they will be living on Mars time (daytime at the Spirit's landing site in the Gusev crater is night in Pasadena) and helping to calibrate and analyze data that will make scientific -- and human -- history.