Sunday Afternoon Tour and Presentation

On Sunday from 12:30 to 16:30 we have arranged a special trip to the NASA Ames Exploration Center, located at Moffet Field in Mountain View. Visitors can experience NASA technology and missions first hand, recently added a number of fresh and exciting exhibits open to the public at no charge.

AMSAT is very pleased to announced that Dr. Scott Sandford, NASA Principle Investigator and co-director of the NASA Ames Astrochemistry Laboratory, has accepted our invitation to provide a key presentation during our tour of the Ames Exploration Center. Dr. Sandford will speak on about sample return from comets and asteroids in general and specifically about the Stardust Sample and Return Mission to Comet Wild 2.

Dr. Sandford was one of the original team members to propose capturing dust from a comet and bringing it back to Earth. Stardust was launched in February 1999, and in January 2004 approached Wild 2 within 150 miles of the nucleus, collecting samples and capturing detailed imagery of the comet's surface. On January 15th 2006 Stardust re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and successfully completed it's mission after landing in the salt flats of northwestern Utah.

For Dr. Sandford, the investigation is just beginning as he and a team of 180 other scientists are hard at work to analyze the Stardust samples. This team will likely spend years unlocking secrets from the samples. Their efforts will lead to a better understanding about the formation of our solar system and perhaps even the origin of life on Earth and elsewhere in the Solar System.

In addition to Dr. Sandford's exciting presentation, AMSAT Symposium attendees are welcome to tour the Exploration center and enjoy it's interesting exhibits. The facility boasts the largest Immersive Theater on the West Coast. The theater presents panoramic views of Mars and Saturn's rings as well as other eye-popping movies and special effects on a curved 40 foot wide screen. Content includes a true-color panorama taken by the rover Spirit of the "Cahokia" site on the Columbia Hills and images taken by the Cassini mission of Saturn can be viewed on the large screen. Some of the alien images are seen at twice the resolution of high definition television.

There is a gift shop outside the NASA Exploration Center that sells NASA and space related clothing, patches, posters, videos and more. All purchases at the gift shop, operated by the nonprofit Ames employee association, are tax-exempt.

The NASA Exploration Center is FREE and open to the public and there is no charge to attend Dr. Sandford's persentation. There is a $14 charge for round trip transportation from the Symposium venue to Ames.

So be sure to join us Sunday afternoon for what promises to be a very exciting and evocative event! You can sign up for the tour at the AMSAT Store during your registration process.

Group (Spouse and Children) Tour Information

Currently there are no formal group tours planned for spouses and children, however we have several options if there is enough interest. One option is a tour of San Francisco with stops at Union Square, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, the Presidio, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Golden Gate Park. Optionally this tour could be extended to include a visit to Muir Woods.

Another option would be a trip to Monterey, where you can see see the beauty of the 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Cannery Row and the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.

In order to facilitate a pickup at the hotel we will need to guarantee a minimum of 20 people. If you would like to sign up for a group tour please register at the AMSAT store.

Cost will be approximately $40 for a San Francisco tour, $45 for the San Francisco Plus Muir Woods tour or $60 for a trip to Monterey (Aquarium admission extra.)