Events

The Silicon Valley Lecture Series returns to in person talks and will be available post event for viewing at your convenience.

On Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 at 7 pm (PST), Dr. Darlene Lim (NASA Ames Research Center) will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled:

"NASA's VIPER Mission: Real-time Collaborative Science Operations at the South Pole of the Moon" in the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos
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This virtual talk is part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series (through Foothill College), now in its 25th year.

NASA’s VIPER lunar-rover is being planned as humanity’s first resource mapping mission on another celestial body. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will go to the South Pole of the Moon to get a close-up view of the locations that can sustain water ice – ice that could eventually be harvested to suport human exploration on the Moon, on Mars — and beyond. Dim-to-dark lighting at the South Pole and variable communication links to the Earth will require the VIPER team to steer the solar-powered rover away from advancing shadows while maintaining critical communications with Earth so that the team can optimize science return from the Moon. For the first time in NASA’s history, the science team will be fully integrated into the mission operations team and will provide near real-time input on where to explore on the Moon. As the Deputy Project Scientist and Science Operations Lead for VIPER, Dr. Lim will share the first-of-its-kind design of the mission’s Science Center and the plans for lunar exploration. VIPER science operations will set a foundation for NASA that will affect future missions to the Moon and Mars.

Dr. Darlene Lim is a research scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center. She has conducted field research around the world, on land and underwater, and has served as the Principal Investigator of the SUBSEA, BASALT and Pavilion Lake research programs, the Deputy PI for the FINESSE program, and as a Co-I on numerous other NASA research and analog programs. She was the Co-Chair from 2009-2016 of a key group analyzing our country’s Mars Exploration Program Goals, and a member of the NOAA Ocean Exploration Advisory Board from 2014-2021.

With this lecture we return in person to the Smithwick Theater! Link to directions below.

This presentation will also be available on the SVLS YouTube site. Link below.

The lecture is co-sponsored by:

* Foothill College Science, Tech, Engineering & Math Division
* SETI Institute
* Astronomical Society of the Pacific

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Foothill College is just off the El Monte Road exit from Freeway 280 in Los Altos, California

For directions and parking information as well as a campus map to find the Smithwick theater, see ilnks below.

NOTE: Parking lot 1 is closest, with access to the theater by stairs. Parking lot 5 provides access from the same elevation as the theater.