Follow along as one West Seattle reporter heads to Colorado to cover the MAVEN spacecraft as it enters the atmosphere of Mars

By Tim Clifford

On Sept.21 the Maven (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) space craft will enter the atmosphere of Mars and begin sending data back to Earth about the Martian climate. This data could explain how Mars transformed from a lush warm planet to the red desolate orb we see today.

What does all of this have to do with Seattle?

After a selection process held by NASA for what is coined as a NASA Social event 25 journalists and social media representatives were selected from around the U.S. to report live from the command center in Colorado as the MAVEN spacecraft reaches its orbiting destination. I was lucky enough to have been selected and will be providing coverage of the event all day this Sunday on Sept. 21 from Colorado at the Lockheed Martin Facilities and the University of Colorado.

During the event the selected writers and social media reps will have the opportunity to meet with NASA scientists and engineers in the Denver and Boulder areas of Colorado. I would like to invite readers to not only follow along but to send in any questions that they might have of NASA. Any questions sent in before Sunday either here or on one of my social media pages will be compiled and asked. The answers will be posted to either my twitter or Instagram page depending on the length of the answer.

Speaking of which this event is intended as a “social media” event so anyone interested in following along or asking questions can follow me on twitter at @42_Clifford or on Instagram at TCLIFF86. This event will also be featured on the Museum of Flight’s web page at www.museumofflight.org, where you can also follow along for many more NASA, space, and aviation related events and news.

You can also follow along with the following hash tags: #journeytomars, #NASAsocial and #MAVEN2mars.
What questions have you ever wanted to ask a NASA scientist or engineer? Has Mars or any other planet ever piqued your interest?

Send in your questions and follow along this Sunday.