By DOREE ARMSTRONG
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

A lot of people seem to have Mars on the brain these days, since NASA successfully landed the explorer Spirit on the red planet's surface last week. In honor of that achievement, The Museum of Flight presents Mars Fest tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's included in general admission.

COMING UP   MARS FEST WHERE: The Museum of Flight, 9404 E. Marginal Way S. WHEN: Tomorrow, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. ADMISSION: $11 adults, $10 seniors 65 and older, $6.50 youth 5-17, free for children under 5 INFORMATION: 206-764-5720; www.museumofflight.org

Held in conjunction with the National Space Society-Seattle Chapter, Mars Society Puget Sound and the Planetary Society, it's a full day of Mars-related programs, exhibits, video screenings and live feeds from NASA TV.

Dr. Ron Hobbs of Shoreline will be there. No, he's not a rocket scientist, but he's more enthusiastic about the space program than most anybody you'll ever meet.

Hobbs is actually a naturopathic physician who teaches at Bastyr and Antioch universities. But he's now in his fourth year as a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassador. There are about 300 such ambassadors around the country, from all walks of life and careers. Their mission? To make the space program come alive for adults and children.

"The mission of the program is to share the excitement of space exploration," Hobbs says. "Our commitment is to do four presentations a year in various venues. I've done a number of schools; I love working with the kids. And I'm a member of the Museum of Flight, so I did several presentations on Galileo and comets there."

Tomorrow, Hobbs will make a multimedia presentation at 11 a.m., titled "Return to Mars." Hobbs will speak about current European Space Agency and NASA missions in the context of almost 40 years of Martian exploration, which began in 1965 when Mariner 4 captured 21 photographs of the planet as it flew by.

"It will be an overview of our history and our exploration of Mars, how it got its name and why it stimulates so much imagination of everyone who loves space, and we'll probably talk about why it's so difficult to get spacecraft on the surface of Mars."

Hobbs wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up, and he especially wanted to go to Mars. Life sent him in another direction, "but I never lost my interest and my curiosity about space."

The golf-cart-size robotic explorer Spirit is currently exploring the planet's surface and sending back amazing 3-D color pictures. On Jan. 24, its twin, Opportunity, is supposed to land on the other side of Mars. They're looking for clues about whether Mars was ever suitable to sustain life.

If that sounds a little sci-fi, so be it.

"For kids, and I include myself in that, there's no distinction between reality and science fiction. Science fiction is just reality before it happens," he explains. "This is family entertainment as it really should be. That's the great thing about the Solar Systems Ambassador program. It's people from the community sharing with their neighbors what our tax dollars get spent on."

Following his talk tomorrow, at 1 p.m. Hobbs will moderate a panel discussion among local Mars experts, including Professor Adam Bruckner, chair of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Washington; Conway Leovy, who worked on the Mariner 6 and 7 and Viking Lander science teams; Jeff Slostad, who worked on the robotic arm of the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander; and James Tillman, who was a co-investigator on the Viking Lander weather sensors.

Delivering the Mars Fest keynote address at 3 p.m. is Dr. Robert Zubrin, the founder and current president of the Mars Society, and a tireless promoter of human exploration of Mars.

To contact Hobbs about the Space Ambassador Program: hronhobbs@aol.com.

Doree Armstrong is a Seattle-based free-lance writer. She can be reached at doreearmstrong@yahoo.com.