Skype chat with Tanya Harrison

skype chat

Last week our class had a Skype chat with anĀ astroscientist named Tanya Harrison. Her line of work includes studying space but more specifically, Mars and the rovers sent there. She used to be an employee at NASA and is a professional photographer, as well as that she has a Ph.D. in geology.

During the Skype chat we talked to Tanya and asked her questions about her line of work. She was extremely knowledgeable about space and what she does and taught us a lot of things a textbook couldn’t. During the interview, each group in our class got the chance to ask Tanya a question about space, her line of work, schooling, or any general questions she’s willing to answer. Some of the questions we asked her were:

Which rover sent to Mars was she the most involved in? She worked with multiple rovers over the years but she’s been the most involved with the rover “Curiosity”.

What’s the longest time a rover has lasted in Mars? Tanya said the longest a rover has every lasted on Mars was a whopping 12 years, even though it was only supposed to last about 90 days. That record is held by the rover “Opportunity”.

How long does it takeĀ to build a rover that can be sent to Mars? Her answer was that it takes NASA about 8-10 years to design and create a rover that could be sent to Mars one day.

How much money does it cost to build a rover? Rovers are extremely expensive and it costs about 2.3 million dollars just to build one.

I thought it was a really cool experience to have Tanya Skype into our classroom. She answered pretty much all of the questions we asked her and knew something about all of them. It was a really great way to kick off our space unit in Science, and I felt like I learned a great deal from chatting with her.

 

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