Kids Want to Know: What is Life Really Like on Mars?

Kids often wonder what life would really be like on another planet. Mars is our next door neighbor, so it really can’t be all that different, can it?

Actually, if you were to travel to Mars by car (kind of like how you travel to your grandparents’ house) it would take nine months! That’s a long car ride! Also, the gravitational pull on Mars is much different than it is here on Earth – about 38% different. That means you would be much lighter on Mars.

Still, Mars does seem like a fun place to visit. After all, you’d have to wear a spacesuit because you can’t breathe the air on Mars. It’s made up of mostly carbon dioxide, which is the gas you breathe out here on Earth. A spacesuit with oxygen would be necessary for you to even be on Mars for any period of time because you would also need to be protected from the harmful rays of the sun.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s any way for life as we know it to exist on Mars. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t keep learning about it, and it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t keep exploring it. Scientists have learned a great deal of information about not only Mars, but also about the entire solar system just by having robots explore the rocky terrain of the red planet.

If you’d like to learn more about Mars, you’ll want to ask your parents to bring you to the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center on October 11, 2014. There are going to be plenty of activities for you to do, including flying in a flight simulator, a scavenger hunt, and meeting real Martians. If space is something you’d like to learn more about, this is a great time to do it. You can get so many of your questions answered, and you can find out more information about possibly exploring the solar system yourself one day.

We’ll see you in October!

3 Reasons to Attend the Mission to Mars Gala Event on October 11, 2014

In case you haven’t heard, the Wings of Eagles Discover Center in Big Flats, NY is hosting a Gala event on October 11, 2014, and we’re so excited about it! The theme of our full day of fun is Mission to Mars, and the evening is sure to spectacular.

Perhaps you’ve been considering attending the Gala, but you’re just not sure. In that case, we thought we’d come up with three good reasons why you should definitely plan to attend.

Reason #1: You deserve a night out without the kids!

Our Family Fun Day is centered on the kids and encouraging them to learn more about Mars and the space program, but the evening Gala is just for you, the grownups! How often do you get a chance to get out for an evening of fun? This is an excellent opportunity to do just that, and you’ll be supporting STEM educational programs for the Wings of Eagles Discover Center as well. Speaking of that…

Reason #2: You’ll participate in an important fundraising event!

The proceeds from ticket sales for our Gala event will go to help fund STEM based youth educational programs right here at the Wings of Eagles. It’s important to preserve our nation’s history, and especially when it comes to space travel and discovery. We want to ignite a passion for adventure and science within our youth, and that’s what our educational programs are all about. Your support is essential in ensuring that they have an opportunity to keep learning and growing in their love for everything that lies beyond our planet.

Reason #3: The meal, provided by Sweet-n-Saucy is sure to be wonderful!

Have you visited the website and taken a peek at the menu Sweet-n-Saucy has in mind for the event? If not, we suggest you do that right now by clicking here. It will be delicious from beginning to end, which is nothing short of what you would expect from Sweet-n-Saucy.

Of course, there are many more reasons you should attend, such as the beer and wine tasting from local vendors and the music, which will be provided by Joe Cavallaro and his Dixieland Jazz Band. We’ll receive some valuable information from Mars Research Scientist, Shoshanna Cole from Cornell University as well.

If you haven’t made your reservations yet, there’s still time! Contact us to get registered, and plan on attending the Mission to Mars Gala on October 11, 2014. You won’t want to miss it!

3 Things Most Families Do on a Saturday Instead of Visiting Mars

What do most families do on Saturdays? While every family is different, you can pretty much guarantee that you probably have these three things to get accomplished:

Grocery Shopping – There’s nothing like spending a Saturday looking for food for your family for the remainder of the week, right? It’s time-consuming, but it has to be done.

Laundry – Ah, the never-ending pile of laundry. It can really take over a Saturday if you let it. Again, it’s time-consuming, but it has to be done.

Cleaning the House – Saturday is probably the day you find everything your kids lost during the week, right? Even though you’d rather be doing just about anything else, sometimes you just have to clean so you can maintain your sanity during the rest of the week.

Wouldn’t it be great to do something different on a Saturday? We have the best idea!

On October 11, 2014, Wings of Eagles Discovery Center is having an awesome event for kids during the day. It’s called Mission to Mars, and it features plenty of great activities for your kids. They can meet some real Martians, take part in a costume contest, get their faces painted, and even try out the flight simulator. This all takes place from 10-2. When it comes time to stop and grab a bite to eat, you can head right over to Sweet-N-Saucy for a delicious lunch, which is perfect because you won’t be far from the fun.

In the evening, the adults can come back for our Gala event at 6pm. We’ll learn about 10 Years on Mars, with a fascinating presentation of how far space exploration has come in the last decade. The menu has been planned, and you’ll enjoy a wonderful dinner while you take part in beer and wine tasting with some of the area’s best music from Joe Cavallaro and his Dixieland Band.

Have you made your reservations yet? If not, click here to make them right now!

Why spend another boring Saturday at home? Sprinkle in some fun and join us on October 11, 2014!

Top 10 Things You Probably Never Knew About Mars

With our Mission to Mars event quickly approaching, we’ve got Mars and basically everything about space on our minds! We thought it would be fun to share some facts about Mars you probably never knew before. Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments!

10. Mars is two-faced – the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere of Mars look completely different from each other. In fact, if you saw them in person, you would probably think they were two separate planets!

9. Mars is a cold…desert! – Who says a desert can’t be cold? It snows on Mars, just like it does on Earth. However, the snow vaporizes before it hits the ground because it’s just so chilly.

8. Mars is rusty – You’ve probably seen plenty of pictures of Mars that make it look rusty. That’s because it is! The surface of the planet contains minerals that are rich in iron, and they rust, making the planet have a reddish color.

7. Mars is covered in craters – – Scientists believe that many of the craters that cover Mars were formed when the Universe was still being formed. One crater covers more than 40% of the planet’s face.

6. You have to wear protective gear on the surface of Mars – However, it’s not for the reason you probably think. The low pressure in the atmosphere can actually boil liquid. That means it can make your blood bubble!

5. Mars has water – However it’s not the same water you drink from a glass on a hot day. Ice has even been found at Mars’ north pole.

4. Mars once had rivers and other bodies of water – Mars might be more similar to Earth than we once thought. A look at the planet’s surface reveals evidence of rivers, lakes and other bodies of water.

3. On Mars, it snows…carbon dioxide – It’s easy for you to understand snow on another planet, but what if that snow is made of…carbon dioxide? If you were to see it, you might think it was just fog, but since most of the particles in the atmosphere are carbon dioxide on Mars, what else could the snow be made of?

2. A trip to Mars is a great way to lose weight – – Mars has much less gravitational pull than Earth does. In fact, it’s 37% less. That means you will instantly lose 37% of your body weight. You can jump higher too!

1. No human has ever been to Mars – – We send plenty of machines and robots to Mars to gather data, but no human has ever been there.

Are you interested in going to Mars? We can help you get an idea of what it’s like at our Mission to Mars event on October 10, 2014. Contact us, or click here to make your reservations for our Gala event!