As members of Science
Mission Operations for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, we have been
fortunate to witness, monitor and control the activities of two rovers that
landed on a planet more than 100 million miles from Earth. The biggest moment
in Science is not when you understand, but when you don’t: thus, most
great discoveries perhaps did not start with the word “Eureka” but
instead with the scientist saying something like: “This can’t be
true” or “We must be making a mistake”. We have experienced
moments like this many many times during our work over the past year. There has
been times when not a single scientist on our mission has an idea of what we
were observing on Mars. We are here to talk about our experiences, to transport
you beyond our Earth to a planet 10,000 times the distance from New Delhi to
New York, where the sky is a different hue, where the atmosphere is thinner,
and the sun shines a lot dimmer in the sky than in does on Earth. And, yet
there are stunning similarities: Mars it seemed had water in the past, and an
atmosphere to boot: making real a possibility that indeed it may have harbored
an environment hospitable to life.
We are also here to gauge interest in furthering Space Science
Research in India. If you are a company, an individual or a foundation
interested in bringing the best of Science to India by funding high profile
research projects (in part of in its entirety), we’d like to hear from
you. Email us at amitabh@tharsisindia.com and
one of the team members of Tharsis India Initiative will get back to you.
Happy Web Surfing!
“It
is possible to believe that all the past is but the beginning of a beginning,
and that all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. It is
possible to believe that all the human mind has ever accomplished is but the
dream before the awakening… A day will come, one day in the unending
succession of days, when beings, beings who are now latent in our thoughts and
hidden in our loins, shall stand upon the Earth as one stands upon a footstool
and shall laugh and reach out their hands amidst the stars.”
H. G. Wells, The
Discovery of the Future (1902)
All men dream; but not
equally. Those that dream at night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in
the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous
men; for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible"
Lawrence of Arabia
Disclaimers: The views
presented in this website do not necessarily reflect the views of the goverment
of India or U.S.A. or any of their respective government agencies.
