Mars comes to Johnson Museum; Squyres to speak at opening reception April 9

NASA's Mars rover mission, which, under Cornell leadership, has dominated many headlines since early 2004, is now occupying another center of interest on campus. Now through April 24, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is presenting the exhibit "Rover Landings: Cornell on Mars."

Until now the breathtaking panoramic views of Martian landscapes, many of them calibrated and processed by a Cornell team in the MarsLab in the Space Sciences Building, have been available only on the Web. Now it is possible to appreciate the full scope of the images in a gallery setting.

The mission science team for the twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, is led by Steve Squyres, Cornell's Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy. And the Pancam team responsible for the color pictures taken by the panoramic cameras aboard the two rovers is led by associate professor of astronomy Jim Bell. Since January 2004 the rovers' cameras have been sending to Earth the clearest, most detailed images of Martian landscapes ever seen.

"In addition to being scientifically significant, the photographs are also remarkably beautiful," said Diane Bollen, a coordinator for the rovers' suite of instruments, known as the Athena science payload, in the Department of Astronomy. At noon today, March 31, Bollen will lead a tour of the exhibition as part of the Johnson Museum's "Art for Lunch" series. The tour is free and is open to the public.

Squyres himself will speak at the gallery Saturday, April 9, at 4 p.m. The talk will be followed by a public reception celebrating the opening of the spring exhibitions, at 5 p.m. Both the talk and the reception are free.

Charles Trautmann, director of Ithaca's Sciencenter, will speak on science and art at a Sunday Artbreak on April 10 at 2 p.m., followed by a concert of planet-themed music by members of the Cornell orchestras at 3 p.m. These events also are free.

Spirit and Opportunity are still creeping over rocky and dusty terrain on opposite sides of Mars more than 400 days after their landings, capturing a pictorial record of their journeys, resulting in thousands of images of a ruddy planet.

Each rover is about the size of a golf cart and is equipped with a suite of scientific instruments to collect evidence about the past environmental history of Mars, especially the history of liquid water. The Athena instruments on each rover include the Pancam's two multispectral, high-resolution stereo cameras to view the Martian surface in unprecedented detail, the Microscopic Imager to produce close-up views of target rocks and soils, engineering cameras called Navcams (for navigation) and Hazcams (for hazard avoidance).

"As long as Spirit and Opportunity remain in good health, they will provide a window to another world that offers fresh data for scientists and, for the public, stunning views of an alien landscape," said Bollen.

The Johnson Museum has a permanent collection of more than 30,000 works of art from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. The museum building was designed by I. M. Pei. Funds for the building were donated by Cornell alumnus Herbert F. Johnson, chairman of S.C. Johnson & Sons, makers of Johnson Wax. The building opened in 1973.