Dean chats with Kay Ferrari, NASA's Solar System Ambassadors Coordinator, a program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Listen in to and learn about what it takes to earn this coveted title and how you can participate!
Dean wants to hear from you! Send us your thoughts at lookingup@wvxu.org or post them on social media using #lookinguppod
Additional resources referenced in this episode:
- Apply to become a Solar System Ambassador
- You've Never Seen The Moon Like This Before
- NASA's Cassini Spacecraft: A Journey's End
- Mars Orbiter Helps Scientists "Follow the Water"
- How We Are Going to the Moon
- NASA's Psyche Mission to an Asteroid
- Why Does NASA Want to Explore Jupiter’s Ocean Moon?
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Looking Up is transcribed using a combination of AI speech recognition and human editors. It may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
Dean Regas: So I've been a solar system ambassador since 2001. It's a pretty cool title, isn't it? In fact, it's one of my proudest achievements. And I often just, you know, let it slip out at parties. You know, this badge from NASA that says NASA on it? Yeah, I'm a solar system ambassador. And if you're thinking, wait what, what is what does Yes, that is exactly what we do at the Solar System Ambassadors.
We represent the Earth. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. From the studios of Cincinnati Public Radio, I'm your host, Dean Regas, and this is Looking Up, a show that takes you into the cosmos or just to the telescope in your backyard to learn more about what makes this amazing universe of ours so great. My guest today is Kay Ferrari, NASA's Solar System Ambassadors Coordinator, a program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Okay, so reality check here, Dean.
Yes, you are a Solar System Ambassador, but no, you don't. do tend to exaggerate its jurisdiction at parties. Yeah, you are not who NASA or the president calls when aliens land on Earth. You are not fluent in any alien language. And yes, you sometimes do have trouble with English. What I have been doing as a solar system ambassador is to deliver free programs to audiences around the country on the topic of space missions, And exploration of the solar system.
So basically there's this group of ambassadors all around the country, pretty much every single state, and you can contact them and say, Hey can you talk to my group about what's going on in space? Like not only like humans in space, but robotic space missions. Like if you want to know more about the Mars rovers and orbiters.
You know, you can call a Solar System Ambassador and they can come talk to your group. Or if you want to know more about the Cassini mission to Saturn that explored the rings and the moons of Saturn, and show some amazing pictures, well, we got some connections at NASA, and the Solar System Ambassadors program provides us with these really cool pictures, videos, and in some cases, handouts and stickers. Oh Mmm, yep. We got him.
[Archival Audio]: Then, in Cassini's final orbit, plunging into Saturn, measuring the composition of Saturn's atmosphere, sending back science till the very last second.
Dean Regas: And then there's missions like the Juno mission at Jupiter that's still there, probing that like giant world and looking at the Great Red Spot and its moons.
And then for folks that are really interested in, Pluto, whether it's a planet or not a planet, it's not a planet, we can talk about the New Horizons mission that went all the way out to Pluto and beyond. But I think the missions that are really getting people's attention lately that the solar system ambassadors can talk a little bit about are the moon missions, not only the, you know, we're sending people back to the moon in the next couple of years.
But man, there is a mission that I think you should look up.
[Archival Audio]: The LRO, or the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, has been scanning the surface of the moon since 2009, taking super high resolution shots of its surface from various angles, giving us a view of the entire moon like never before.
Dean Regas: This is just my act as a Solar System ambassador.
This is what I think you should do to waste some time at work. Look up the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. LRO that's been in orbit around the moon for a while. And it can image pretty much like boulder sized things on the surface of the moon. And it is even imaged places where people have been. So the Apollo missions and the landing sites.
LRO has gotten pictures of it. I'm telling you, you will be satisfied. This is just me talking, your solar system ambassador.
Well, Kay, thanks so much for joining me today.
Kay Ferrari: Well, it's a pleasure, Dean. Also, I had you in the program for quite some time.
Dean Regas: I know. And so when I tell people I'm a solar system ambassador, you know, with my chest held out and my head held high and they want to know what it is, what should I be telling them it is?
Kay Ferrari: It is a volunteer public engagement program. And it is run by JPL for NASA. And our goal is to go out into the public and help broaden the agency's reach.
Dean Regas: And so how did the solar system ambassadors get started?
Kay Ferrari: It actually got started by a teacher from New Hampshire, whose name was Tom Eskell. And I was to find more and keep it growing.
I started thinking about things and figuring out what we would need in order to keep it going. I consulted with people at JPL, our legal office, contracts management, all of that to make sure that we were doing the right thing. One very interesting fact of all the ambassadors that were selected before it became solar system ambassadors.
Before 2000, there still are 40, 4 0, who are still active in the program.
Dean Regas: Wow. That's incredible. And, and how many total solar system ambassadors are there now?
Kay Ferrari: We have 1, 203 at the moment. And our application period annually begins in September. So this September, September 1st, we are going to be looking for more solar system ambassadors.
The application period will be open from September 1st through the 30th. And we welcome. Anyone who is active in their communities, self starters, space enthusiasts who want to learn more about NASA as Tom did, and want to share with their communities.
Dean Regas: Any walks of life? Anybody can apply for this? And are there any certain projects you're looking for?
Things that they can put in their application to help?
Kay Ferrari: Actually, what we're looking for is to have people tell us their situations. Where, what they're in, what they do, what they are doing, the connections they have within their communities. That will be useful to their audience.
Dean Regas: They are volunteering their time and services and, but there are support materials that you can provide too.
Correct? Like from different missions.
Kay Ferrari: Oh, my goodness. I will say the. Largest single day event that we had in Solar System Ambassadors happened this year on April 8th. It was this total solar eclipse.
[Archival Audio]: So this is a really great view of totality. Oh my gosh, it's amazing! Here we go! Here we go!
Kay Ferrari: And there were 455 events, I believe.
And almost that many ambassadors that ran events for the Eclipse.
Dean Regas: It is incredible. You know, so are there any ambassador events, additional ones that you've seen in person or, you know, what's the feedback you get from the presentations ambassadors give?
Kay Ferrari: One of our ambassadors is now temporary at the Christmas Islands.
Dean Regas: Oh, that's some outreach out there. That's awesome. And if people want to get in contact with ambassadors or request a program, how do they do that?
Kay Ferrari: They can contact their ambassador directly on our website. We do have bio pages of all of the ambassadors in the program, and you can contact the ambassador through that.
We also have an event calendar for those ambassadors who want to advertise public events that they're doing in their areas.
Dean Regas: I got to say one of the things I most appreciate is that each year you let me keep using the same picture from 2001. So I look young on these badges. I mean, eventually the picture is not going to match my face.
But some of these astronomers, like you said, have been doing this for more than 20 years. And, you know, I guess astronomers are ageless, right?
Kay Ferrari: They can be at times. Yeah. Yeah. Anytime you want to update. Great. Your photo will have a new badge made for
Dean Regas: you. Oh, no, I, I want the old one. I want to keep that as long as, as long as I'm recognizable.
So you're kind of really up to date on these, the space missions. Are there some that are coming up that are can't miss really exciting space missions that, that you're watching?
Kay Ferrari: Oh, yes. One is Europa Clipper is going to be launching this fall. So that's one of our milestones that we're all going to be talking about.
Clipper has been very popular.
[Archival Audio]: The Europa Clipper mission will be the first in depth exploration of an ocean world.
Kay Ferrari: And we have the Psyche mission underway now, too, that is going to study a metal asteroid.
[Archival Audio]: Psyche gives us the opportunity to visit a core the only way that humankind can ever do, and it will be the first metal object that humankind has ever visited.
Kay Ferrari: And one of the other missions that everybody has been watching is Artemis.
[Archival Audio]: NASA's next chapter of lunar exploration, called Artemis, has the task of not just going to the moon to create a long term human presence on and around it, but also to prepare for ever more complex human missions to Mars.
Kay Ferrari: The next mission that will go to the moon with astronauts.
Dean Regas: Okay. This has been so great talking to you about this.
You can tell from afar, I've known this has been a labor of love of yours. And so thanks so much for sharing your info about the Solar System Ambassadors.
Kay Ferrari: It is an amazing program, and I am amazed at what volunteers can do. So you all have just been marvelous going out within your communities and sharing NASA with a whole new group of people.
Dean Regas: Well, now, you know, a little more about the solar system ambassadors program. And I was reminded of things that I can't do as the solar system ambassador. Yeah. So I'm, I'm, I'm not. Talking to the aliens that come down, but it does make me think a little bit more about the search for life in the solar system.
We've explored a lot of it with robotic crafts and crewed missions to the moon. If life exists in our solar system, you know, where is the place that we want to look for life? NASA had this mission statement that basically said we're going to follow the water.
[Archival Audio]: Five years ago, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, launched in search of evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars over a prolonged period of time.
NASA's Mars Exploration Program of Following the Water. As a multi mission strategy for learning about Mars changing climate, geologic history, and potential ability to sustain life.
Dean Regas: Now, those turned out to be more than we thought. Like, when I think they started that slogan, follow the water, I was like, alright, Mars.
Cool. Let's go to Mars. But no, there's more. There's more worlds that could have water on it, including a moon of Jupiter called Europa. And this is one that's going to be in the news quite a bit. And as a solar system ambassador, I'm going to be touting this thing. This is called the Europa Clipper mission.
It's a robotic mission going out to this moon. It's going to circle around and map the moon of Jupiter called Europa. And hopefully look and see how thick the ice is. There's an icy covering of this moon. That below the ice could be more water in liquid form than all of the oceans on earth combined. And where are we find water on earth?
What do we find? Life. Could there be life on Europa? Doubtful, but it's still a place to go. There's another moon called Enceladus. That is a moon of Saturn. That's a little farther out, much smaller, but it has these geysers of water that shoot out from the cracks in the surface. That's another water world.
So you add that to Mars. Then you add it to Mercury, which also has frozen water. And then you have the moon, which also has frozen water. Then another moon of Jupiter called Ganymede, Callisto. There's lots of water worlds out there. And when we find them, you know who to call. Looking up with Dean Regas is a production of Cincinnati Public Radio.
Kevin Reynolds and I created the podcast in 2017. Ella Rowen and Marshall Verbsky are our editors and producers, and have lobbied with me to be the ambassadors to Pluto. Even though I tell them they should pick a real planet. Jenell Walton is our vice president of content, and Ronny Salerno is our digital platforms manager.
Our theme song is Possible Light by Ziv Moran, and our cover art is by Nicole Tiffany. I'm Dean Regas. Keep looking up.
