NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver was joined by Bobak Ferdowsi, flight engineer for NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover mission, at a White House science news conference conducted by 10-18 year-old students. The event was hosted by John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to promote education in the STEM fields, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Garver discussed many of NASA’s noteworthy missions in space, including human and robotic exploration of our solar system. Ferdowsi, whose unique hairstyle earned him the moniker, “Mohawk Guy,” spoke about his experiences on the Curiosity team and, while growing up, his passion for STEM subjects and robotics.

TRT:00:46
HQ Contact: Lauren Worley, 202-358-1600, lauren.b.worley@nasa.gov
For more info: www.nasa.gov

Cut #1 - Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator

TRT-  00:15 - “Being able to make discoveries is what exploration is all about, being able to learn things that we have not learned before that benefit humanity and society and advance our civilization and NASA is a place from the vantage point of space where we can do that.”
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Cut #2 - Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator

TRT- 00:14 - “NASA has driven technologies across the board in all areas represented most recently of course by Curiosity and we explore with robots that have certainly artificial intelligence, in the sense that we are not physically with.”
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Bobak Ferdowsi, Mars Curiosity Rover Flight Engineer

TRT- 00:17 - “We just did a first drill on Mars within the last week, and that’s actually kind of the real cool part of this mission, we are actually going to get into the history of Mars, not just the surface of Mars, this has been, you know that has radiation and weathering and everything else.  We are actually going to see that preserved Martian history and I think that’s when the really cool stuff is going to start showing up.”
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