Sunday, January 11, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

UNR scientist enjoying mission

Geophysics professor analyzing data from NASA's Mars rover

University of Nevada, Reno scientist Wendy Calvin sits at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where she is studying data sent back from the Spirit rover on Mars. SPECIAL TO THE REVIEW-JOURNAL

CARSON CITY -- University of Nevada, Reno scientist Wendy Calvin is having the time of her life analyzing data retrieved by the Spirit rover on the rocky surface of Mars.

"I have worked with planetary data for 15 years, but this is the first time I have been here when the data comes in," Calvin said last week from Pasadena, Calif. "We get new data every night. We get to have it all to ourselves for about two minutes, and then we release it to the public. But it is still fun."

Calvin, 42, was one of 28 scientists from across the country selected last year by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to work on its $820 million Mars Exploration Rover Mission. She works a 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. shift at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

She is an expert in infrared spectroscopy. Calvin tries to determine the effects of water on planets, an area of study vital to the Mars mission since the rover landed in the Gusev Crater, a dry lake bed filled with rocks. Signs of water suggest life might have once existed on the Red Planet.

"The mission is not so much to find information about life on Mars, but the effects of water on the planet," Calvin said. "To find out how water affected the Mars environment."

Finding out whether life existed on Mars will come later, Calvin said. She hopes the success of the mission and the public enthusiasm over the Mars photographs will lead to further exploration.

"We might have astronauts on Mars in 100 years. If we are successful, it bodes really well for Mars exploration. People were nervous about it working and it has worked remarkably well."

Since 2000, Calvin has been a research associate professor in geophysics for the Arthur Brant Laboratory for Exploration Geophysics at UNR. The lab is part of the Mackey School of Earth Science and Engineering.

"She is a superstar here among our faculty members," said James Taranik, dean of her school.

Taranik, former president of the Desert Research Institute, hired Calvin because she was considered one of the national experts in measuring the effects of solar energy on Earth materials. UNR has a special interest in that field because of Nevada's potential for generating solar energy.

Calvin came to UNR with several hundred thousand dollars worth of grants that have paid her salary and expenses. NASA pays her salary and expenses while she works in Pasadena.

Her presence at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has received some unexpected attention. Comedian David Letterman made Calvin the target of one of his jokes on "The Late Show" Tuesday evening.

In a tongue-in-cheek conversation, Letterman announcer Alan Kalter made a proposition to Calvin: "Why don't the two of us celebrate your accomplishment with an expedition right here on Earth? You'll unlock the secrets of a strange new world of pleasure as you explore the red planet known as `Kalter.' Who knows what else you'll discover as my hands rove across the hills and valleys of your once-forbidden terrain?"

Calvin was working during the program and heard about the spoof later.

"Obviously his comments were made in a less than scientific context," she said. "I don't know what to think."

She did not immediately get any ribbing from her colleagues but expects some. Her husband, Brian Bahouth, a former news director at UNR's radio station, also missed the broadcast.

Calvin expects to be in Pasadena at least through April. The Spirit rover will roam hundreds of yards from its landing spot over the next 90 days. It should be joined Jan. 25 by the Opportunity rover.

Calvin said she would not be surprised if both rovers remain active for as long as 180 days and her efforts for NASA continued into summer.

Data received last week shows rocks in the crater are no larger than 10 inches in diameter, Calvin said. The rovers easily can maneuver over rocks of that size. Previous Mars missions found far larger boulders.

Calvin didn't start out being a research scientist. As a child, she watched the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" and dreamed of being a career woman with her own apartment.

Bahouth, a graduate student at UNR, drove Calvin to Pasadena for her Mars work and then returned to Reno. Because of the Mars exploration, the couple missed Pasadena's famed Rose Parade on Jan. 1 and the Rose Bowl football game.

Calvin was hardly disappointed.

"This is a chance in a lifetime opportunity," she said. "I'm really having fun."