Mars Global Surveyor Update at Caltech

PASADENA, Calif. – "Mars Global Surveyor: A Success by Any Measure,"
will be the topic of a presentation by Arden L. Albee, project
scientist for Mars Global Surveyor and professor of geology and
planetary science at the California Institute of Technology, on
October 10 at 8 p.m. in Beckman Auditorium. The lecture is free and
open to the public.

Mars Global Surveyor, launched in 1996, has collected more
information about the red planet than all previous missions combined
and continues to return data today.

We know Mars to be a very different planet from what we believed it
to be when Surveyor arrived. The mission has been an incredible
success by any measure – whether measured by dollars, by the
demonstration of new technology, by the number of laser shots, by the
accomplishment of goals, by the numbers of published papers, by
number of covers on the journal Science, or by the validation of
future landing sites.

Albee will present images of Mars and will discuss what has been
learned from the mission.

The presentation is part of the annual Watson Lecture Series. The
series is named for the late Earnest C. Watson, who founded the
series in 1922. He presented one of his most popular lectures,
"Liquid Air," as one of the first programs in the then new Beckman
Auditorium, a gift of Arnold O. and Mabel Beckman, in October 1964.

Additional Watson Lectures this academic year will include "The
Quantum-Classical Transition on Trial: Is the Whole More Than the Sum
of the Parts?", with Hideo Mabuchi, associate professor of physics at
Caltech, November 14; "Cosmic Background Imager: Reading the
Universe’s Early History," with Anthony C. S. Readhead, Barbara and
Stanley R. Rawn, Jr., Professor of Astronomy at Caltech, January 9,
2002; and "Robotics: Moving Beyond the Factory Floor," with Joel W.
Burdick, professor of mechanical engineering at Caltech, January 23,
2002.

Beckman Auditorium is located near Michigan Avenue, south of Del Mar
Boulevard. A minimum of 700 seats is available on a free,
no-ticket-required, first-come, first-served basis beginning at 7:30
p.m. each lecture evening. Free parking is available in the parking
structures on Wilson and Holliston avenues.

For more information, call toll-free 1 (888) 222-5832.

CONTACT: Jill Perry, Media Relations Director
(626) 395-3226