Welcome to Mars Month at GeekMom!
We are gearing up for the planned launch of the Perseverance rover on July 20th with a month full of Mars-themed content. Look out for book reviews covering everything from picture books to in-depth non-fiction, reviews of science kits that will allow you to control your very own Mars rover in the comfort of your living room, craft projects, and – of course – all the information you’ll need to watch the launch itself.
As the month progresses, be sure to follow our Mars Month tag where you’ll find all ours Mars content in one place. Today, I’d love to share a list of resources where you can learn more about this latest mission to Mars, why we are going, and what we hope to learn.
You can start by checking out the Mars 2020 official website from NASA. Here you can check out all the key facts about the mission, read the latest news, and view your boarding pass if you were one of the nearly 11 million people who submitted their name – don’t forget to download your mission patch too. Did you know that the country with the highest number of boarding passes is Turkey with over 2.5 million names submitted?
Next, you and your family can create your own #CountdownToMars. Submit it to NASA and it might even show up as part of their social media coverage of the launch!
On YouTube, make sure to subscribe to NASA’s official channel which is nearly always live streaming from various ongoing missions. The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory channel is more specifically focused on the Perseverance rover and has a dedicated playlist of videos about the rover and the launch.
For some entertainment, check out the sci-fi show Mars, 2017 documentary The Mars Generation, and 2012 PBS show Ultimate Mars Challenge on Netflix while Disney+ has several Mars related documentaries to watch including Expedition Mars and Mars: Inside SpaceX.
Finally, over on Twitter, there are many accounts you can follow to keep up-to-date with news as it happens and gain insights from the team themselves. Here are just a few:
- @NASAPersevere: A first-person account written from the perspective of the rover itself
- @NASAJPL: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Team HQ for the mission
- @NASAJPL_Edu: An educational account seeking “to inspire the next generation of space explorers through engaging, STEM education content and programs linked to NASA missions and science”
- @NASAMars: NASA’s official account for everything Mars
- @moogega: Moogega Stricker, a Planetary Protection Engineer at JPL and host of Because Space
- @FromCaliToMars: Diana Trujillo, a Robotic Arm Scientist
- @JHazelrig: James Hazelrig, Tactical Commander for Perseverance
- @Martian_Mara: Katherine Mara, Martian geologist
- @corrinerojas: Corrine Rojas, Mars Rover Camera Ops Engineer
- @milkysa: Dr. Sarah Milkovich, Assistant Science Manager for Perseverance
