Spacecraft

LA CAÑADA — NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada remains closed as the Station fire continues to ravage nearby hillsides. The fire had burned 85,000 acres as of Monday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The site was closed through the weekend with minimum staffing and would remain so until further notice, a spokeswoman said. Until it reopened, nonessential personnel were prohibited from entering the campus, according to an announcement released Saturday.

Two JPL managed missions are preparing for launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. One, the Phoenix Mars Lander, is on schedule; the other, the Dawn Mission, has been delayed. Phoenix has a three-week launch schedule beginning on August 3 at 2:35 a.m. PST. The launch is dependent upon the Florida weather, which has been fraught with thunderstorms in the past weeks, however the early morning launch time should be a benefit. The Phoenix will arrive on Mars in the spring of 2008.

It's hard to believe that one can have an out-of-this-world experience in suburban La Cañada Flintridge. But that is exactly what happened to the thousands of people who attended this weekend's open house event at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The free event, which featured 26 exhibits ranging from video presentations, visits to mission control and interactive exhibits of past, current and future space missions hosted by the scientists themselves, drew about 14,500 space fans on Saturday and about 10,000 on Sunday, said Kimberly Lievense, JPL's manager of public services.

Ryan Carter The Mars Polar Lander, which sent JPL scientists into orbit when it failed to communicate with earth after entering the Martian atmosphere, was part of a decade-long project to explore our celestial neighbor. The following is a brief synposis of the program through which the Mars Polar Lander was built. WHAT: The Mars Polar Lander is part of NASA's Mars Surveyor Program. WHEN: The program was created in 1994, with the goal to send a spacecraft to Mars every 26 months for 10 years.

NASA announced yesterday that the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) would be delayed for two years due to technical problems. The timing of a Martian launch is crucial, said Charles Elachi, director of Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. MSL is managed by JPL. The mission was pushed back from fall of 2009 to 2011. The delay will add two years to the back end of the mission, for a scheduled completion in 2014. ?The team is disappointed, but what I admire about [them]

LA CA—ADA FLINTRIDGE ? Most people are familiar with the life-saving capabilities of a smoke detector but scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratory have taken this a step further by helping to develop a fully commercialized anthrax detector. The device, known as a bacterial spore monitor, is the size of a microwave and fits into a building's heating and ventilation system where, like a smoke detector, it monitors the air and sounds an alarm if spore counts become dangerously high.

Outside the Verdugo Woodlands Elementary cafeteria, an underwater robot swam around in a large portable pool Wednesday, providing proof of what students can do and perhaps pointing them toward future careers. Clark Magnet High School students were using the machine to show off the virtues of reading and robotics. "This is not just for nerds," said 15-year-old Emily Burke, 10th-grade robotics student at Clark Magnet High, referring to building robots. "Anyone could do it. We have C students that do it, A students that do it. This is really universal."

O nce a year, Diana Sund gets out in the sunshine toting a couple of boxes of rainbow-colored chalk and creates a sidewalk mural for all to see. She and 600 fellow Southern California artists will be coloring the sidewalks this weekend during the 18th annual Pasadena Chalk Festival on Paseo Colorado. The event is presented by the Light Bringer Project, a Pasadena nonprofit organization that supports community arts programs. Sund, of Glendale, calls her style "whimsical."

Boat course offered in Pasadena May 8 Pasadena Power Squadron is offering a four week Boat Smart Safety Course starting on Tuesday, May 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. The class is being held on four consecutive Tuesday evenings at the Pasadena Assistance League building at 820 E. California. The class offers training on boat handling for both sail and power boats. There is a nominal fee. For more information and to register, call (818) 957-6357 or e-mail AJGero@sbcglobal.net.   JPL’s Open House is this weekend Jet Propulsion Laboratory opens its doors this weekend to the public with its annual Open House.

I graduated from the Glendale College Aviation Program in 1963. I credit that program for my current success as the Systems Safety Program Office Manger at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The aviation program in the 1960s included a "Jets and Rockets" class that included a strong physics foundation - far beyond just engine and airframe mechanics training - that prepared me for the highly technical career in which I've been employed for more than 46 years. As a teenager and Hoover High School graduate in 1960, I had no clue what to do next until my parents spotted a small announcement in the Glendale News Press about the aviation mechanics program.