About ‘MARS: The Next Step’

The ASCR and the U.S. Embassy, Prague, co-sponsored a public lectures in Prague featuring Dr. James Rice, an American space expert. Dr. Rice discussed the unexpected discoveries on Mars thanks to the robotic vehicles Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity. Mars: The Next Step follows the popular program ‘To Space with a Little Mole,’ which came to the Czech Republic in 2011. Astronaut Andrew Feustel took the well-known mole cartoon character, Krtek, on a journey into space in the Endeavour space shuttle. Space exploration is a very popular subject in the Czech Republic and Dr. Rice shared his knowledge to inspire a future generations of Czech scientists. A press conference September 17, 2013 at the ASCR headquarters included Dr. Rice, U.S. Ambassador Norman L. Eisen and Dr. Jan Šafanda, Vice-President of the ASCR. “Through this event,” Dr. Šafanda told the press, “the ASCR attempted to show the public that space research, involving a number of academic institutes and is costly, brings bounteous returns to society – both through expanding our knowledge of the solar system and also a number of practical applications and technological innovations.”