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American Morning
Scenes from Mars
Aired January 13, 2004 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: This week -- in fact, tomorrow -- President Bush is set to unveil plans for an eventual manned trip to Mars. It may take a few decades, but that's the plan anyway. NASA's current Mars mission is the next best thing to being there -- so far.
NASA scientists yesterday releasing the first 360 degree color view from the Mars rover, a sweeping panorama assembled from 225 images.
And Jack Horkheimer loves this stuff. He's the director of the Miami planetarium and host of the PBS show "Stargazer," back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Nice to see you, Jack. Good to talk with you, too. Good morning.
JACK HORKHEIMER, HOST, "STARGAZER": Good morning again to you.
HEMMER: Well, I haven't seen you yet because we're watching this picture. What do you see in this picture Jack?
HORKHEIMER: Well, it's really spectacular because of its high resolution. These are the most detailed pictures we've ever seen from the surface of another planet. And if you really want to get a good feel for this -- because the picture is much more detailed than most TVs can display -- I would suggest you Google your way to jplmarsrovers, and you'll be able to see these pictures in incredible detail and pick various resolutions.
And, if you have a pair of glasses like this -- you can get glasses like this, 3D glasses in a comic book store if you buy a 3D comic. The 3D glasses they have are red and blue filter. If you look at JPL's Web site at the 3D pictures, you'll truly be blown away, especially the high-res (ph) pictures.
I was looking at them yesterday, and I actually felt by moving the computer, the arrows around, moving the pictures up and down and zooming in and out, I felt like I was actually there. It's really -- these pictures are really something that nobody has ever seen before.
HEMMER: Jack, the detail is one thing, but what you learn as a scientist is another matter. Have you learned anything or seen anything that's raised your curiosity?
HORKHEIMER: Well, yes. We're trying to find out what the soil conditions are. There is a part of -- one of the pictures where when one of the air bags was retracted, it pulled away soil, but in a way that looked like somebody had pulled a carpet up. They're calling it the magic carpet. They want to examine that soil very closely, what's underneath the part of the soil they pulled up. Who knows? Maybe that's one of the first spots we'll be able to determine whether or not there was ever any water on Mars, which is really essential if we want to eventually approach the other question: Was there any kind of life?
HEMMER: Hey, Jack, quickly here, the president is going to unveil his bold plan tomorrow. What do you think about this? Is it worth it to spend this money, the billions it will cost to get to Mars?
HORKHEIMER: All I can say is this: Our previous space program -- everything we've have done with the space program has paid us back hundreds of times. I personally believe that the space program is the most cost-effective government program that's ever been devised by any government. It creates tons of jobs. It creates technology.
In fact, we wouldn't be talking here today if it hadn't been for the space program, because all of our telephone communications, our video communications, what we're doing right now, all came out of the work of the space program. It will create tons of jobs, tons of technology. And who knows where it will take us?
HEMMER: And we wouldn't have Velcro, would we, Jack?
HORKHEIMER: We wouldn't have Velcro, for sure.
HEMMER: It's a fact, right? Thanks, Jack. Jack Horkheimer down in Miami, thanks for talking. We'll follow it again throughout the day and tomorrow.
The next step for the Spirit rover will be to drive off its landing platform onto the surface of Mars. NASA officials expect that to happen tomorrow, possibly. Problems deflating an air bag forced NASA to postpone the scheduled attempt. We'll see how they do tomorrow or possibly Thursday and what they get from it. So, thanks to Jack Horkheimer.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired January 13, 2004 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: This week -- in fact, tomorrow -- President Bush is set to unveil plans for an eventual manned trip to Mars. It may take a few decades, but that's the plan anyway. NASA's current Mars mission is the next best thing to being there -- so far.
NASA scientists yesterday releasing the first 360 degree color view from the Mars rover, a sweeping panorama assembled from 225 images.
And Jack Horkheimer loves this stuff. He's the director of the Miami planetarium and host of the PBS show "Stargazer," back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Nice to see you, Jack. Good to talk with you, too. Good morning.
JACK HORKHEIMER, HOST, "STARGAZER": Good morning again to you.
HEMMER: Well, I haven't seen you yet because we're watching this picture. What do you see in this picture Jack?
HORKHEIMER: Well, it's really spectacular because of its high resolution. These are the most detailed pictures we've ever seen from the surface of another planet. And if you really want to get a good feel for this -- because the picture is much more detailed than most TVs can display -- I would suggest you Google your way to jplmarsrovers, and you'll be able to see these pictures in incredible detail and pick various resolutions.
And, if you have a pair of glasses like this -- you can get glasses like this, 3D glasses in a comic book store if you buy a 3D comic. The 3D glasses they have are red and blue filter. If you look at JPL's Web site at the 3D pictures, you'll truly be blown away, especially the high-res (ph) pictures.
I was looking at them yesterday, and I actually felt by moving the computer, the arrows around, moving the pictures up and down and zooming in and out, I felt like I was actually there. It's really -- these pictures are really something that nobody has ever seen before.
HEMMER: Jack, the detail is one thing, but what you learn as a scientist is another matter. Have you learned anything or seen anything that's raised your curiosity?
HORKHEIMER: Well, yes. We're trying to find out what the soil conditions are. There is a part of -- one of the pictures where when one of the air bags was retracted, it pulled away soil, but in a way that looked like somebody had pulled a carpet up. They're calling it the magic carpet. They want to examine that soil very closely, what's underneath the part of the soil they pulled up. Who knows? Maybe that's one of the first spots we'll be able to determine whether or not there was ever any water on Mars, which is really essential if we want to eventually approach the other question: Was there any kind of life?
HEMMER: Hey, Jack, quickly here, the president is going to unveil his bold plan tomorrow. What do you think about this? Is it worth it to spend this money, the billions it will cost to get to Mars?
HORKHEIMER: All I can say is this: Our previous space program -- everything we've have done with the space program has paid us back hundreds of times. I personally believe that the space program is the most cost-effective government program that's ever been devised by any government. It creates tons of jobs. It creates technology.
In fact, we wouldn't be talking here today if it hadn't been for the space program, because all of our telephone communications, our video communications, what we're doing right now, all came out of the work of the space program. It will create tons of jobs, tons of technology. And who knows where it will take us?
HEMMER: And we wouldn't have Velcro, would we, Jack?
HORKHEIMER: We wouldn't have Velcro, for sure.
HEMMER: It's a fact, right? Thanks, Jack. Jack Horkheimer down in Miami, thanks for talking. We'll follow it again throughout the day and tomorrow.
The next step for the Spirit rover will be to drive off its landing platform onto the surface of Mars. NASA officials expect that to happen tomorrow, possibly. Problems deflating an air bag forced NASA to postpone the scheduled attempt. We'll see how they do tomorrow or possibly Thursday and what they get from it. So, thanks to Jack Horkheimer.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
