Following are updates (compiled transcript) received from Marilou Bebak while at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with two brilliant Nardin Academy students, who collaborated with mission control scientists for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. (Our class was never this smart!) In the students' best interest, I have deleted their names (often shown by a blue elipsis) and many photos of them—not to diminish their glory but to protect them from cybernuts. I apologize for any choppiness. Miss Bebak, on the other hand, I do not suggest messing with; she can take you.

January 6, 2004, 11:17

• Just came out of the MER conference room where the scientists got a congratulatory phone call from President Bush. We were in the room.
• Thanks for your words of encouragement. We are off to a 9 a.m. press conference.
• More pix coming when I have time.

January 6, 2004, 1:27

• Myself in the Science Operations Working Group area (SOWG), waiting with science team for landing.

• Tension in the SOWG area as the scientists wait for the rover to land.

January 7, 2004, 3:07

• If you would like to download and play around with Mars images, using a version of the same software the scientists use, go to this site: http://www.mars/telascience.org. Download the program called MAESTRO. There have been so many hits that the server is often down, so keep trying. The science team here is posting the images from the rover as fast as they come. [It] works on PC and Mac with newer operating system. I am currently working on a set of user instructions for "dummies."

January 7, 2004, 3:35

• These were taken yesterday and the day before...I think...I have no idea of what day it is anymore.
• Channel One team...
• ...working with doctor Squyres in his office on the Collaberative Information Protocol (CIP) which keeps the schedule for the entire mission.

• Dr. Squyers giving...instructions for [the] work day.
• Yes, I am here too, at the enterance to JPL taken during our night time—what sun?

• more scientists watching the first images arrive from the surface

• left screen mission control, right screen Mars surface
• This is it! The first full picture (before it was processed...)

• scientists reaction while looking at the first surface image

January 7, 2004, 15:02

• ...watching the first pictures arrive with some of the science team.
• This was so cool. Scientists are overlaying images taken by MER as it's descending through the Martian atmosphere (called DIMES = distant images)...are smaller images. They placed these over the large image of Gu...taken by Mars Orbiter to match up the craters. This is how they got a sense of where the Spirit landed.

• Well, it is 1 p.m. and [I] am going to sleep. We start work at 10 p.m. tonight.
• This is a lousy pix (since we are at the bottom of the food chain here, we always stand in back), but I took it during the congratulatory phone call from President Bush. Everyone was thrilled, many were in tears.
• This is just before the daily 9 a.m. press conference, preparing the first image from Mars' surface for unveiling to the press. Needless to say, it was held up with duct tape.

• Press folks checking out the 3-D image from the surface. It really does look like you are standing next to the rover.

January 8, 2004, 14:17

• Thought you would enjoy seeing these pictures of...me in goofy glasses looking at images of Mars in 3-D. Where my hand is shows where the Rover seems to be from my perspective.

• There is going to be a special on Dr. Squyres on ABC tonight (Thursday). I'm not certain if it will be on the news or a whole program. ...was instigative in setting it up.

January 9, 2004, 5:15

• Here is my most embarassing moment ever! Yesterday I did not get much sleep during the day, so around midnight our time I crashed on the cot in our cubicle at JPL. The next thing I know, the girls were putting Post-it[s] on my forehead (which of course woke me up). They told me that Dr. Squyres had stopped by to tell them to go to the hypothesis meeting on the 4th floor. He said (and I quote), "If you stay here, the only thing you will hear is snoring." I am humiliated.
• Here are 2 nice pix of the girls with Dr. Squyres during the daily conference. I probably will not have a chance to [write] again before Saturday, so see you all soon!

January 16, 2004, 12:55

• CNN is doing a special on Mars in 3-D on Friday Jan. 23. Listed below are places for your friends and family to get 3-D glasses.

Mars in 3-D on 'NewsNight'

On Friday, January 23, Miles O'Brian will take "NewsNight" viewers on an exclusive 3-D tour of Mars. The rover there has three-dimensional cameras, with which we will present the first ever 3-D TV transmission of the Martian lander.

Make sure to get your 3-D glasses in time to experience this television event. When using 3-D glasses, remember that the left eye should be red, and the right eye should be blue.

Make your own 3-D glasses. The following site has information about making your own glasses. http://terraweb.wr.usgs.gov/TRS/kids/glasses.html

Purchase 3-D glasses. The following links have information about obtaining 3-D glasses: Rainbow Symphony, (818) 708-8400; Free 3D glasses with SASE, eyetricks.com; Deep Vision 3D, (323) 465-5319 American Paper Optics.

January 24, 2004, 12:58

• The news from the folk at JPL in the know is that the rover is experiencing a software program tranmitting the data that has been collected, but all else appears normal (functioning O.K.)
• The good news is that they had planned to "shut down" Spirit during [landing] of [Opportunity] anyway, so they have plenty of time to work on fixing the [problem]. Spirit is not dead yet.
• No barbeque last night, we ended up watching a movie with some of the team instead. Their comments about Spirit ranged from, "She's having a fit," to "She's been working too hard and needs a nap." They assumed...that the engineers will find out what the problem is and figure out how to solve it.
• Just watched CNN and saw all the snow south of Buffalo and Niagara Falls....We are having bad weather in Pasadena too...rain and only up to ?? degrees today...tee hee.

January 25, 2004, 14:50

• Landing night was even more exciting than last time. We knew ahead of time Spirit was going to be O.K. The engineers know she has a memory problem and they know how to reprogram the rover to fix it. It may mean that we go a bit slower, but Spirit will be transmitting information within weeks.
• The Opportunity landing felt less tense and more jubilant, because we knew what to expect this time around. The media attention was an even larger CRUSH of cameras.
• The awe inspiring moments came as the first images arrived from the site. Bizarro world! Truly and alien landscape unlike anything anyone seen before. The science team was dumbstruck with comments such as..."Look at THAT!" and "This is GREAT!" and "What can THIS be?" They were amazed at how different the site is from the Viking, Pathfinder and other sites. Everyone can't wait to get to work analyzing the data, and we wait expectantly for the first PANCAM color images to arrive.
• We finally got to sleep around 3:30 a.m. pacific time. We are heading back now for a 1 p.m. press conference. The Mars bars were a big hit and...the story of the international intrigue and smuggling across the border.
• Will send pix soon as I can process them. Be ready for some celebrities.

January 25, 2004, 21:33

• Science Gal and Science guy (Bill Nye and me)

• Head of NASA, Sean O'Keefe

• This is poor quality, but Governor Arnold is second from the left and Dr. Squyres is far right.

January 25, 2004, 22:18

• Hole In One! We landed inside a crater! The science team is thrilled. Our shift starts at midnight tonight and we are eagerly awaiting the PANCAM images.
• science team members seeing the first images arrive from Opportunity site

• ...with Justin ick who is Corning...and computer whiz.
• ...with science team applauding as MER opens.
• Me next to EDL status board (entry/descent/landing) just as MERE entered the atmosphere.

January 26, 2004, 22:30

• We worked a 12 hour shift from midnight to noon and we do it again...of science thinking happening. Current working hypothesis about Opportunity landing site is that it either has:
• [a] two types of soils, gray on top and a fine red underneath. When the[lander hit] the surface it smushed the gray stuff under the red or [b] only one type of soil which for some as yet unknown reason changes color when smushed by airbags.
• Landing site has three distinct types of surfaces. Albedo (brightness) has a mottled surface on a flat plain surrounding craters, very bright areas...rims, and the darkest areas ever found on Mars at bottom of craters. Opportunity is in the bottom of the crater, this means when it climbs up the crater, things could be very different.
• The crater we landed in is only about 18 meters across and about 2 meters deep.
• Here are latest pix (none of us, just cool science).
• This is what work is like at 2 a.m. pacific time, which is 5 a.m. eastern time and 5 p.m. Mars time. Scientist on left is processing first images of calibrated target on the rover. Images are taken of target with many color filters then [these images are what] is used to get true colors for images of Mars surface. Scientist (with head in hands) says it all...

• This is a pix of the landing site taken as the rover was descending. The two craters stacked next to each other in the bottom center of the...landed in the smaller one (just above the very bottom of the crater).

• This is what happens when a bunch of sleep-deprived scientists are supplied with refridgerator magnets in the science staff break room.

January 30, 2004, 8:22

• Big news today is that things are going so well with Opportunity, they...to drive off the platform one day earlier. They have also confirmed [the presence] of hematite in the soil. This is important because hermatite forms un....
• Yesterday we took a side trip to the La Brea Tar Pits in downtown LA [to see the] sticky tar and ice age bones. We also went to my friend's condo for... (in January!)
• Here are some professional pix of us. The two with the model rover are where all the TV news interviews take place and is called the sandbox for obvious reasons.

• The other two are inside the science team operations areas.
• We head back to Buffalo in 26 hours. See you all soon!

January 31, 2004, 8:38

• This is the end. Back to real life. ;-(
• Thank you all for your encouragement, enthusiasm and support! See you all soon.

May 7, 2004, 11:00

• There is more awesome news from the rovers on Mars! Check out the crater picture I have attached...notice the layers and channels (made by water?) and check out the stuff on the Rover website. http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html