“The Rover has landed!”. These were the words ten very lucky students had the opportunity to hear first hand on the evening of January 24, 2004. As the events of the evening unfolded, the students sat captivated in their chairs as they waited for the second Mars Rover, ‘Opportunity,’ to make its landing in Meridiani Planum. Adding to their excitement was the knowledge that they had contributed some very useful data to the Mars Rover team, which, in turn, helped the scientists determine the best place to land the Rover.

As participants in the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) project, these students and teachers, along with many others, worked alongside the GAVRT operators and the NASA/JPL scientists involved with the Mars Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) Project in their investigation of the planet Mars in the summers of 2001 and 2003. Using the GAVRT radio telescope, the students helped collect powerful radar signals transmitted from the 70-meter antenna at Goldstone. These signals were directed to investigate the surface properties of Mars, which then gave scientists an idea of where they could safely land each of the Rovers.