He continues to write and edit TES News, a quarterly newsletter designed to update progress and share new information about the project. The TES team hosted three separate day-long workshops during the past two years. Attended by hundreds of teachers, the workshops included guided tours of the space flight facility and educational packets brimming with photos and information about Mars and space science. But most importantly, the sessions were imbued with the addictive passion for planetary exploration that Christensen, Edgett, Wenrich, and their ASU colleagues radiate. But that is how I feel.
Some people say that planetary exploration is a luxury.
Not anymore, I say. Ken Edgett answers with a phrase borrowed from Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the Russian visionary and rocket pioneer who wrote about sending probes to Mars in the late 19th century. Edgett uses the phrase as a closing on all his correspondence with Arizona science teachers. Tours of the ASU Mars Global Surveyor Space Flight Facility can be arranged.