Date:   May 22, 2008 (Thursday)
Time:   1:30 pm EDT (refreshments at 1:20 pm)
Place:  Green Bank Auditorium
         (Video: CV-230/AOC-280)

Speaker:  Peter Ilott, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Title:  "Listening to Mars"

Abstract:

The Green Bank Radio Telescope will be used this May 25th to listen 
into the transmissions from the Phoenix spacecraft as it enters the
Martian atmosphere and lands on the surface near the Martian North
Pole.  This presentation will summarize recent (and past) Mars missions,
and the techniques used to communicate with the spacecraft involved.
The use of Mars Orbiters to relay data from the surface to/from the
Earth will be described.  The Phoenix mission and its unique exclusive
use of relay communications are described.  

Future Colloquia:

http://www.gb.nrao.edu/colloquia/colloquia.html