As the Red Hen team moved into the afternoon of its third day in construction of the SAM Mars yard, University of Arizona professor of Planetary Geology Dr. Christopher Hamilton arrived for his first visit to SAM. Following a brief introduction to the project and tour of the initial representation of geological features on Mars, Chris dove in with the full fervor and intent of an actual geological survey and research project.
Over the course of Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning Chris spent the better part of six hours with Director of Research for SAM Kai Staats, ASU planetary geology student Tasha Coelho, and founder of Red Hen Danica Vallone to guide development of details for features already carved in foam, then formulate the juxtaposition of layers not yet sculpted in order to tell a cohesive story for the total, exposed stratigraphy. Once complete, the SAM Mars yard will tell a realistic geologically story.
Kai, Danica, Tasha, and Chris moved between the Mars yard and the SAM Operations Center to compare photographs of rock layer examples on Earth and Mars to the proposed layering of this unique facility, then print and laminate images for the Red Hen sculpting team to employ.
Chris was tenacious, generating on-the-fly a complete strata profile with which the SAM geological story can be understood. Or for those engaged in an EVA of geological discovery, investigate the layers and features presented in order to generate their own map, then compare to the intended sequence developed by Chris.
