John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899

NASA hosts "Explore Mars!" - a Cape Canaveral-area community and family day focusing on the upcoming Mars Exploration Rover-2003 mission, on Wednesday, Feb. 19, from 9 a.m. - 7 p.m., at the Radisson Resort at the Port Convention Center, 8701 Astronaut Blvd., Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Students and the general public will learn about Florida's key role as NASA's "Gateway to Mars," and meet with scientists, engineers, educators and others working on these and other Mars exploration missions. Children of all ages are invited to playtime with working robot rovers.

The Mars Exploration Rovers, described as two robot geologists, are being prepared for launch this spring aboard Boeing Delta II rockets from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and are due to land on and start exploring Mars in January 2004. Once on Mars, they will communicate with controllers at NASA?s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where the rovers were built.

For more information or to schedule a speaker to talk to your school or community about Mars Exploration, contact the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Resident Office at Kennedy Space Center at 321/867-3731.

View this pressrelease at the Kennedy Space Center website.