Adler After Dark

Location: Adler Planetarium

Date: Thursday, September 18, 2014; 5:30-10:00 pm

It was time for another ‘After Dark’ and the theme for this month was ‘Hops & Bots’, meaning there would be beer and robotics, though whether there would be beer serving robots was unclear to me!  I was delayed in getting to Adler and it was almost 5:30 pm by the time I arrived.  As I went over to collect my pizza, I saw Tiffany from ‘One Brick’ was here tonight as a ‘Registration Volunteer’.  I chatted with her till Michael gathered the ‘Education Hosts’ together for assignments.  He said that there were 8 brewers in the house tonight and all the guests would be getting a fixed number of tickets which they could exchange for sample pours at different stations throughout the museum.  We were to tell them not to lose the tickets since there was no way for us to replace those.  One thing I have learned is that people keep track of their drink tickets more stringently than they do their kids.  After all, there is a greater likelihood of reporting a lost child and finding someone to help you than a lost drink ticket, where you are truly out of luck!

Michael said that most of the demonstrations this evening would be done by the robotics folks and our main focus was on “Pocket Science”.  Plus, they needed help at registration, which was where I was to be stationed for the initial couple of hours.  This would be followed by an hour of “Pocket Science” and finally closing out the evening is ‘SVL’.  Michael wanted us to focus on the “Shoot for the moon” gallery for engaging visitors, especially in order to keep them moving and not causing a bottleneck.  I said that maybe we should use “Space food” as means to move people from that gallery to the ‘Gemini’ capsule, where we could show them the space constraints that the ‘Astronauts’ had to deal with.  Since robotics was the main theme, Michael showed us one of the things that we would be helping with, a tiny robot ball that could be programmed to follow a certain path using an ‘iPad’.  There was to be an obstacle course where the guests were encouraged to move the ball through it and it looked like a fun thing for everyone, especially after a few beers.

I went for my registration duty just as people started coming in, taking a seat next to Tiffany.  As people came over, I would start by asking them if they had been here before.  If they said yes, I would welcome them back and tell them that this evening was a bit different than what they might have seen before.  I would then hand them the beer tickets and ask them to protect those with their life!  Finally I would remind them to be at the shows at least 20-30 minutes beforehand to guarantee seating.  If there were newcomers, I would welcome them by saying that they had picked an excellent evening to attend.  After all we had beer and robots.  What could possibly be better than that!  I would tell them that the shows were one of our signature things and so they should definitely plan on attending at least one.  When asked if it was free, I would say that it was included in the price of admission, but since the demand was high, entry would only be subject to availability.  As usual, I had trouble with the wristbands and couple of them even asked me to do them again.  Many folks were excited about the theme and a girl even said that this was what she had been dreaming of.  A bit dramatic, but I liked her enthusiasm.  I met all sorts of people over the 2 hours that I was there, though I was getting tired due to the non-stop chatter. 

"Pocket Science" with 'Meteorites'

Just before 8 pm I was relieved of my duties at registration and so went over to collect the 'Meteorites' which would be my “Pocket Science” assignment.  I saw that there was a big group waiting for entry to one of the shows and so decided to start with that line.  I asked some folks what was the oldest thing they had touched and this always gets people thinking.  One person said “Great Wall of China” while another said “Earth”, which pretty much covered everything that others could have said.  I said that I could get them something to touch that was older than Earth itself – about 4.5 Billion years old – and then pull out the 'Meteorites'.  After “thrilling” that group I moved to another location and ran the same routine.  Michael said that there was a big line outside waiting for telescope viewing and so I moved there.  It really was a beautiful night and I approached a group at the back of the line.  I asked them, “How would you like to touch a shooting star instead of just watching the stars”.  This got them excited and so I went through the routine with them.  One couple asked me when the last time was that we had gone to the moon and why haven’t we been back.  This was an excellent question and I discussed one of my favorite topics with them - the ‘Apollo’ program.  I told them how the program had been structured and how every step had been planned meticulously and then executed.  I said that the reason we hadn’t been back was because people felt that there was nothing new left to learn…but that was more than 40 years ago.  Today it may be worth another visit.  They said that they would love to go to Mars.  I said that in absence of them being selected for the mission, if they came to ‘SVL’, I could “take” them to Mars through the ‘NUIverse’ program. 

I arrived at ‘SVL’ and saw that Dave was in fact showing people that program.  I was about to relieve him when Michael came over and asked me to continue with “pocket science”, this time with “Space Food”.  He handed me a pouch of “Dehydrated Orange/Mango Juice”, a pouch of “Dehydrated Mexican Scrambled Eggs” and “Ice Tea”.  My tactic was to ask people to hold the bottle of ice tea and ask them how much it weighed.  They would say that it was approximately a pound.  Then I would ask them its cost – about $1.25 in the vending machine.  Then I would say that in space its worth would be about $10,000, because that’s how much it costs to send a pound of material into space.  Then I would show them the two dehydrated pouches and say that this was the food that was available to the space travelers.  Now the question was how they would rehydrate it, since carrying water bottles would defeat the purpose.  This would get people thinking and I would tell them that the astronauts made their own water through condensation of breath and sweat…think about that. 

I enjoy these conversations immensely and people do have a genuine interest in learning.  I had a great conversation with a lady, who had a ‘Doctorate in Nursing’ degree, and her husband; as I showed them the ‘Gemini’ capsule and linked it to the items I was carrying.  It was getting late and just after 10 pm I came downstairs to the volunteer area to return the props.  I told Michael that I had enjoyed myself, though I would not be able to come for the October session.  He asked if I wanted to come for a lunar eclipse program next month which started at 3 am.  Well, I have done my share of volunteering, but 3 am!  That would be a first.