The LaSPACE informal education and public outreach program was developed for the purpose of providing supplemental learning experiences about NASA projects and science results for the general public, as well as to augment STEM learning in the formal environment. The Mobile Astronomy Resource System (MARS), operated in partnership with the Cain Center, the Highland Road Park Observatory (HRPO), and the LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, is a light commercial box truck containing computer controlled telescopes, a digital portable planetarium, and other science activities / demonstrations to provide an astronomy / space science learning experience to audiences at remote sites who normally do not attend a fixed site science center. The MARS vehicle, staffed by LSU / LaSPACE faculty, staff, and students can travel to sites such as parks, shopping malls, and schools around the state to support public outreach events. Many MARS events support family science night activities at local K through 12 schools, providing a link between informal and formal science education. Our proposal goal was to support up to 3 MARS events each year. For FY18, we supported 13 events, more than quadrupling our goal.
The LaSPACE informal education and public outreach program was developed to provide supplemental learning experiences about NASA projects and science results for the general public, as well as to augment STEM learning in the formal environment. For the last few years, we have been successful in bringing the MARS Truck, or Mobile Astronomy Resource System, to a variety of school-based and general public events. Between August 1, 2017 and July 31, 2018, we supported 8 school-based events at 6 different schools in 4 different towns in Louisiana, reaching more than 500 elementary and middle school students, dozens of educators, and hundreds of family members. We also supported 4 public outreach STEAM events in Louisiana with an estimated total attendance of over 2000 people. These events were the LA Earth Day Festival at LSU, two public library events (a Mini Maker Faire & a One Book One Community Event), and a public STREAM event organized by the local Recreation Department in partnership with the EBR school system at a city park. Finally, as part of our higher education program participation in the National Solar Eclipse Ballooning Project, the MARS Truck traveled to SIU in Carbondale, Illinois to participate in a major 3-day event at the Crossroads of the Great American Eclipse. Officials estimate about 50,000 attendees were at SIU for the Eclipse and associated events and based on our high-traffic location, we conservatively estimate we interacted with at least half the crowd. The MARS team provided planetarium shows every 30 minutes each day, offered solar viewing with our telescopes, several tables of physics demos, as well as NISE activity kits that focused on eclipse education. We also distributed about 500 solar eclipse glasses.