These pages chronicle the work and ruminations of Carolyn Collins Petersen, also known as TheSpacewriter.

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I am CEO of Loch Ness Productions. I am also a producer for Astrocast.TV, an online magazine about astronomy and space science.

For the past few years, I've also been a voice actor, appearing in a variety of productions. You can see and hear samples of my work by clicking on the "Voice-Overs, Videos and 'Casts tab.

My blog, TheSpacewriter's Ramblings, is about astronomy, space science, and other sciences.

Ideas and opinions expressed here do not represent those of my employer or of any other organization to which I am affiliated. They're mine.

Visit my main site at: TheSpacewriter.com.

**Comments are welcome; I do moderate them to weed out spam.

Contact me for writing and voice-over projects at: cc(dot)petersen(at)gmail(dot)com

I Twitter as Spacewriter

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Like space music?

Check out my favorite space music artist: Geodesium at Geodesium.com

Tanks for the Memories

May 12, 2009 at 14:05 pm | 1 Comment

This Speaks for Itself

Slip-slidin’ on Mars

May 12, 2009 at 13:58 pm | Leave a Comment

Spirit Digs in its Wheels

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20090511a/SolA1899_hazcam_2F294958090EFFB1DNP1254L0M1_br.jpg

The view of soft, thick soil underneath the Spirit Rover on Mars -- taken with the front haz-cam on Sol 1899. Courtesy NASA/JPL-CalTech. Click to embiggen.

The Spirit Rover on Mars is really digging itself into the surface these days. And I mean in a worrisome way. It’s five working wheels are slipping severely in the very soft soil it now finds itself on and the wheels are dug in about halfway. Or, think of it as being stuck up to the mudflaps. The situation is bad enough that the handlers and scientists have stopped trying to drive the rover around until they can figure out a safe way to keep things moving.

However, that doesn’t mean the science has stopped. The soft plushy soil that is dragging Spirit down gives scientists a great opportunity to learn more about the physical characteristics of that soil. They’ll focus the attention of some of the instruments onboard the Rover to the task. Luckily, the Martian winds have been scouring Spirit’s solar panels clean, so it can generate more power for the instruments.

While Spirit is doing soil testing and analysis, the scientists and engineers will do some testing of their own at JPL. Simulation tests with the Earth-bound rover counterpart will show them how and when they will be able extricate Spirit from its Martian sandbox to resume its journey across Gusev Crater.

This blog a wholly pwnd subsidiary of Carolyn Collins Petersen, a.k.a. TheSpacewriter.
Copyright 2008, Carolyn Collins Petersen
Inama Nushif!
Image of Horsehead Nebula: T.A.Rector (NOAO/AURA/NSF) and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA)

“It is by Coffee alone I set my day in motion. It is by the juice of bean that coffee acquires depth, the tongue acquires taste, the taste awakens the body. It is by Coffee alone I set my day in motion.”

TheSpacewriter