Curiosity and the Red Planet

Curiosity is a great thing! It pushes boundaries, it expands knowledge, it allows us to ponder new truths.

Watching Curiosity landing on Mars today was stellar in so many ways.

Two years ago Open Dream Ensemble performed Peril on the Red Planet to a packed audience at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. Peril on the Red Planet takes place in 2618 and features a spirited girl, Diana, using her brains, wits, imagination, and courage to save Earth’s first community on Mars.

We wanted to make sure the facts we presented about Mars were as accurate and current as possible, so through our status as a cooperating organization to JPL’s Imagine Mars program, we enjoyed tapping some of the great minds at JPL during the scripting process. Needless to say, we learned A LOT!

As part of our time at JPL, we were given an amazing tour. We got to watch the fabrication of parts used to make the intricate and unique innards of the rover, glance at a Mars simulation field, see Curiosity being built and sign a guest book (the contents of which are preserved on a microchip recently landed on Mars.) The enduring impact of the show and tour was evident in our first Big Shoes rehearsal this morning; our returning cast members had stayed up late last night to watch the landing live.

So thank you and congratulations to the dreamers at JPL! Your years of hard work on Curiosity are now paying off for all of us.