SCHOOL OF ROCKETS NASA SHOWS KIDS WAY TO MARS.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

UNIVERSAL CITY - Mars rocks!

That's the slogan hip NASA engineers used Monday to stir the interest of would-be rocket scientists from area schools in next month's mission to Mars.

``Mars rocks!'' repeated Giovani Apolinar, 11, a sixth-grader from San Fernando Middle School. ``There may be life there.''

Giovani joined hundreds of Los Angeles students at ``Marsapalooza'' - a nationwide tour of six engineers with the Mars Exploration Rover Mission that ended at Universal Studios' IMAX theater.

``I can't believe it,'' said Wendy Wooten, a physics teacher at High Tech High-Los Angeles, looking at hands that had just stroked a Martian meteorite. ``I touched Mars - it's just unreal. The kids are so turned on.''

Next month, the NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity are scheduled to barrel into the Mars atmosphere at speeds of more than 12,000 mph. Each rover - a half-ton, six-wheel remote-controlled vehicle with mechanical arms - is specifically designed to conduct experiments over difficult terrain.

To spur interest in science, the M-Team wowed the student crowd with a stunning video on the super-size IMAX screen showing how each rover would tackle the stark Martian landscape.

They also held up Mars mission equipment such as a life-size parachute designed to slow down the golf cart-size spacecraft as it approaches the Red Planet. Just before it lands, it will deploy cocoons of air bags, forming a huge ball that will protect the equipment as it bounces several dozen times before coming to rest on the rocky surface.

If they land intact, each rover will conduct experiments looking for evidence of water - and maybe even life on the planet.

``What we're doing is describing this mission, using it as a vehicle to inspire a whole generation of scientists,'' said 28-year-old engineer Kobie Boykins, a Vin Diesel look-alike from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who designed the rover's solar panels.

``You don't have to be 90 years old with thick glasses and a monotone voice to be a scientist,'' he said.

Students from San Fernando, Patrick Henry and Fulton middle schools said they were impressed with the technology - and spirit - of the space mission. To coincide with each landing, students are designing rovers of their own, fixed with cameras to map Mars models at competing schools by remote control. The school that comes closest to matching the model being examined wins.

Each night, Patrick Henry Middle School student Lucia Strojnik says she goes outside and gazes at the orbs of Orion's belt before consulting the oracle of astronomy.com.

``I want to be a rocket scientist,'' said Lucia, 13, of Porter Ranch. ``I want to be the first woman on Mars.''

Of the scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, she added, ``They are very good role models, because they teach kids that dreams can come true.''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Scientist Jim Rice of NASA's M-Team gives a presentation on the rovers on Monday.

(2) Middle school students wearing special glasses learn about NASA's Mars mission at a Universal Studios theater.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer