July 6, 2005
Exhibit out of this world
Children's Museum interactive display showcases Mars
By
Herald staff writer
Five-year-old Ryan Mondalek of Dearborn, who frequently visits his aunt in Northport, always includes a visit to the Great Lakes Children's Museum in his local itinerary. This time he was thrilled to find the Museum's latest exhibit - Destination Mars.
"This is really cool," said Mondalek, as he created a dust devil with one of the hands-on displays.
Destination Mars, on exhibit throughout the summer, has hands-on components that provide visitors with an opportunity to discover the science behind planetary exploration through a variety of interactive exhibits and displays. Visitors can lift two identical soda cans that have different weights, demonstrating the differences in gravity on the two planets. Photos of Mars and Earth are on display, and not that easy to tell apart.
A one-third scale model of the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, currently exploring Mars surface, on loan from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, includes a computer station where visitors can try their skill in driving a virtual rover and witness a detailed animation of a Mars mission from lift-off to the rover's exploration of the surface.
An actual rock from Mars - a thin slice of the Zagami meteorite - is on display under a microscope with a polarizing light source that reveals its crystalline structure. An audio presentation tells the story of the rock's extraordinary journey from Mars to Earth.
"He loves to come here," said Mondalek's grandmother Pat Aldgrand, "we don't have anything like this in Dearborn. There is the Henry Ford Museum but this is different. It's just for kids."
Destination Mars was created by the Space Science Institute in Bolder, Colo. and funded primarily by the National Science Foundation and NASA. It's main purpose is to integrate scientific research with education and public outreach. Research programs include Earth science, space physics, planetary science and astrophysics.
Support for the exhibit's display at the Great Lakes Children's Museum was funded, in large part, by a leadership gift from the DTE Energy Foundation. The museum is located at 336 W. Front St., at the corner of Front and Hall, two blocks west of downtown Traverse City. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m., Sunday and Monday.