Jet Propulsion Laboratory director Charles Elachi told a crowd of students to investigate space exploration as a career, when he spoke on campus Monday.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has played a leading role in the construction and research of the Mars rovers -- Spirit and Opportunity -- which remain on the red planet.
"The whole world is interested in what is happening on Mars," he said. "More than 8 billion hits have registered on the NASA Web site since the rovers landed and each day they see the new discoveries that we at JPL and NASA are seeing."
Elachi, also a vice president at the California Institute of Technology, gave a presentation titled "Space Exploration in the Next Decade: Challenges and Opportunities." He then fielded questions from students and faculty.
"I want them [students] to know there is a very exciting future in this particular field," he said.
The success of the two rovers has brought new life to the space program after the failure of the Polar Lander in 1999 and the loss of space shuttle Columbia and its crew in 2003, Elachi added.
Elachi said that despite the heightened awareness directed toward NASA, younger generations are showing declining interest in holding an occupation in the space exploration industry.
"Hopefully our relationship with many ASU faculty will get students more interested about coming to JPL and learning about future missions," he said.
Aerospace engineering junior James Villarreal said the presentation was a valuable resource in his search for a future job.
"It's always a pleasure to get to listen to people from NASA," he said. "I had a few individual questions that were answered about career choices and where to work after graduation.
"It's important that NASA has an open source about their job offerings and hiring if they want fresh-blood coming to work for them."
Reach the reporter jason.samuels@asu.edu.
