By Tiffany Kelly
Pasadena Sun

While Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers bring the rover Curiosity to the surface of Mars next week, many of the leading authorities on the Red Planet will be celebrating with the public six miles away.

The Planetary Society, a Pasadena-based nonprofit, is hosting Planetfest at the Pasadena Convention Center, bringing stars of screen and science together to celebrate with an estimated 3,000 visitors Aug. 4 and 5.

NASA officials say the rover, due to land at 10:31 p.m. Aug. 5, may be the first step in determining whether Mars was ever hospitable to life. Bill Nye, the chief executive of the Planetary Society and former host of the television show “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” said such a discovery would be akin to Nicolaus Copernicus’ revelation that the Earth rotates around the sun.

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By Tiffany Kelly
Pasadena Sun

While Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers bring the rover Curiosity to the surface of Mars next week, many of the leading authorities on the Red Planet will be celebrating with the public six miles away.

The Planetary Society, a Pasadena-based nonprofit, is hosting Planetfest at the Pasadena Convention Center, bringing stars of screen and science together to celebrate with an estimated 3,000 visitors Aug. 4 and 5.

NASA officials say the rover, due to land at 10:31 p.m. Aug. 5, may be the first step in determining whether Mars was ever hospitable to life. Bill Nye, the chief executive of the Planetary Society and former host of the television show “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” said such a discovery would be akin to Nicolaus Copernicus’ revelation that the Earth rotates around the sun.