From: ken.edgett@asu.edu (Ken Edgett)
Subject: MGS Lego model
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 10:02:02 -0700 (MST)
Dear Mars Educators, How would you like a kit for making a model of the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft out of Legos? MGS Thermal Emission Spectrometer Principal Investigator, Phil Christensen, made one such model several years ago-- it has actually come in handy at MGS science team meetings to clear up issues about how data are obtained from each instrument without interfering with each other, etc. When Phil made this model, he had to buy about $100 worth of various Lego kits in order to put it together. It has all of the instruments on it! It is about 5 to 6 inches high, wide, long (the highgain antenna and solar panels extend out past this 6 inches). A process is currently in motion with the educational division of Lego to get them to produce about 2000 special Mars Global Surveyor kits for education purposes. We hope these could be sold mainly to teachers and interested members of the MGS team... right now there is no anticipation that this would be available in mass-produced quantities. Would any Live From Mars folks be interested in purchasing one of these kits, so you can have your own 3-d, solid (not paper) model of MGS for the classroom? Would any of your students/parents want one? I am trying to get a feel for the numbers-- can we really distribute 2000+ kits over the next few months? They would probably sell for about $25, and we'd include some information from the Arizona Mars K-12 Education Program with each. If you think you'd be interested in getting one of these, please send me an email ASAP-- how many would you want? The decision to produce them would be based in part on your level of interest. All I need is a number- how many would you want to get? Please check with students, parents, and colleagues, as well. A quick response would be best (i.e., in the next few days after July 17). A response right now would not commit you to buy anything, we just need some idea as to the level of interest. Ken Edgett Arizona Mars K-12 Education Program ken.edgett@asu.edu