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Carter
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Observatory
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Wellington
KiwiSpace is incredibly grateful to Carter Observatory who will be a key partner for this expedition, providing facilities and staff to support the outreach programme and acting as Mission Control during the expedition.
Venue
Carter’s stunning library will be transformed into a high-tech mission control for the duration of the crew’s stay in Utah. A suite of laptops along with Mars themed exhibits will set the scene and allow students, teachers and the public to interact with KiwiMars Crew, find out about the mission, and learn more from expert astronomers.
Carter will provide a dedicated member of staff to look after Mission Control and interact with visitors. This will include short presentations about the project and the mission progress at least twice a day, incorporating the latest updates from the base.
All planetarium shows during this time will also include Mars content and updates from the crew and will inspire visitors to go out and look for the planet for themselves in the night-time sky.
Carter will also provide a venue for meetings in the build-up to the mission and for a public event once the crew return from Utah.
Education and Outreach
Carter will produce at least two information resources explaining the project and providing background information on the planet Mars. These will be available for Mission Control visitors to take away with them, but will also be available as downloadable pdf documents on a dedicated section of the Carter website. The observatory will also provide a conduit for students and teachers to develop and submit research projects for the crew to undertake during their stay. Through their education newsletter, the Carter team will report back on the crews findings after the mission.
Marketing and Communication
A page on the Carter website will highlight the KiwiMars mission and provide access to educational resources and links to other KiwiMars webpages. The Carter Facebook page and twitter updates will be devoted to the project for the duration of the crew’s stay at the MDRS base. Carter’s social media and education networks will be used to spread the word both before, during and after the mission.
Carter’s marketing manager will aid the crew with joint press releases, and Carter will provide a media contact to coordinate and address press enquiries and interest during the mission.