By Phillip Toledo
EBC Florida Bureau
ATLANTA (Eagle News) – Residents of Atlanta, Georgia caught a rare glimpse of space travel to the Red Planet this summer at The Battery at Sun Trust Park as the Kennedy Space Center kicked off the east coast summer tour of its Mars Rover concept vehicle.
Curious children and adults were able to see a prototype or concept of what an actual Mars Rover would look like.
The exhibit was funded by Kennedy Space Center visitors and gave participants a chance to get hands on through different activities such as a 3D virtual reality tour of Mars. Volunteers from all over the country were on hand to answer questions about the vehicle and its mission to explore in outer space.
The vehicle itself actually functions.
It is powered by a Nissan Leaf engine and goes at a top speed of 6 miles per hour.
While it may not win a race by speed, it provides a great scientific learning space as the back portion may detach and be used as a lab.
This particular vehicle combines various engineering designs, but is still just a concept of a future vehicle that would be built for actual manned exploration of Mars.
The purpose of this exhibit was not just for an interesting selfie opportunity.
NASA also hopes that as this exhibit visits various parts of the eastern seaboard this summer it will inspire the next generation of scientists.
Various giveaways were aimed and increasing young people’s interest in science and engineering to combat expected shortages of these skills in the coming decades.
(Eagle News Service)