Hangin' With Captain Kent

October 19, 2009

I'm at the Quantum 2 Cosmos festival in Waterloo, Canada (near Toronto), in celebration of the Perimeter Institute's 10th anniversary. It's quite the celebration, with two weeks of public lectures, special events, and exhibits open to the public. The public, in turn, has turned out in full force: every event thus far has been sold out, with Waterloo residents packing Perimeter's main auditorium night after night to hear world-class scientists talk about the universe, space exploration, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, technological innovation, and the intersection of science and art.

It's impossible to see everything, and I'm only in town for a few days, but I did take a moment to explore the exhibit tent in downtown Waterloo, chock-full of family friendly demonstrations. I also had the chance to meet the star of a local children's show on TVOKids, "Captain Kent" (played by Mark Sykes), whose show is called Space Trek. (I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Captain Kent's delivery has many of the signature inflections immortalized by William Shatner. And I was relieved to see Captain Kent sporting a yellow shirt, not the more ominous Red Shirt.) Plus, there's a nifty online video game associated with the series.

Anyway, Captain Kent was all agog about the full-scale model on display of "Curiosity" (formerly known as the Mars Science Laboratory), slated for launch in the fall of 2011. He wasn't alone. Sean and I had just been admiring it, and observing it looked for all the world like a dune buggy. We could just see ourselves whooping with glee as we tumbled over the Martian rocks on a fine red-hued day.

Since he was toying with the idea of purchasing said space buggy, Captain Kent had a few questions about Curiosity, some of which I was able to answer, like where could he sit on it? Alas, there is no seat, so one would have to perch precariously on top and try not to interfere with all the bits ad bobs on top, crucial for communication. He also wouldn't be able to steer the craft on his own (bummer!); that's done with computers back down on earth, and the instructions are then sent hurtling through space and downloaded onto Curiosity. It takes a few minutes to cover that distance, and you just hope the instructions arrive before the craft takes a nosedive into a crater.

Any joyrider would also have to be careful not to interfere with Curiosity's scientific missions: taking soil and rock samples with its robotic arms, collecting data on the atmosphere and climate of Mars, and determining whether life could ever have evolved there -- all with an eye towards eventual human exploration of the Red Planet.

Curiosity isn't really for sale, which didn't seem to dampen Captain Kent's enthusiasm -- probably because, whether we get to ride it or not, it's a very cool machine. You can read more about it at the official Website.