Another year will have come and gone on the red planet come June 19. To celebrate the New Year in Mars, NASA plans to celebrate this Friday, June 19 in a town called Mars, Pennsylvania. Apparently, it pays to have a town name with such a namesake.
The Martian Festivities
Celebrating the New Year in Mars will be beneficial to the Mars, Pennsylvania community. NASA and Red Planet enthusiasts will be traveling to the town of Mars for three days of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM!) activities. Mar’s New Year festivities lasts from June 18-20, starting with a “blast-off dinner” the night of June 18th.
NASA plans to bring on the exhibitions, booths and fun outreach activities prepared for the celebration. Their keynote speaker will be Jim Green, NASA’s director of Planetary Science at the NASA headquarter’s in Washington. He will be speaking on what else but NASA’s journey to Mars. Other notable guests will be: Gregg Hartung, mayor of Mars and Mike Harvey, honorary chairman and meteorologist for WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh.
Mars, Pennsylvania and NASA are very excited for this upcoming New Year in Mars. There’s even a countdown on the webpage. Not to mention, this is a town with a flying saucer sculpture. This event occurs every two Earth-years at the Northern Hemisphere’s Spring Equinox on Mars (this equinox occurs this month on Earth). There are roughly 684 Earth days to one Mars year and there aren’t months on Mars at all. For more information on how the Martian calendar works, click here.
NASA’s Latest Mission In Honor of the Red Planet
The New Year in Mars festival will have a mission not unlike NASA’s other missions: to encourage and inspire young people to pursue careers in the STEAM fields of study. Cultivating this enthusiasm and passion in future generations will be what makes further journeys to Mars possible for NASA.
How will you be celebrating the new year in Mars? For an idea and full listing of the schedules New Year in Mars events, please visit here: http://www.marsnewyear.com.
For every future space cadet who can’t make the Mars New Year festivities:
