In January I had two students who needed to do some lab work with a collaborator
of mine in California and we wanted to
go see the Mars 2020 Rover before it was
packed up and shipped to Florida for
launch. So Western Washington University
was able to support our full lab group
to take a trip to California.
One of the instrument team that I am a
part of, that instrument is on the rover
getting ready to go and it's just
amazing to see this charismatic little
robot that's gonna go off to another
planet.
All of the instruments for the Mars 2020 Rover are being assembled
independently all over the world and
then all of those components come here
to JPL where they get assembled into the
robot that we have now that then will
get shipped off to be put in a box and go on a rocket to Mars.
I'm working with
a lot of different people from a lot of
different places in the world and everyone is very friendly and welcoming. It's just a great spot.
It's kind of surreal just like what we do on a day-to-day basis.
You drop in in the morning and you're on another planet.
Pursuit of the unknown and understanding the universe around us and our place in
the cosmos that is what gets me stoked.
I'm definitely doing science but there's a lot of different ways to do science,
and I found one that works for me.
(speaking in background)
(robot noises)
