Robert Picardo, John Rhys-Davies and Andre Bormanis will be among the dignitaries on hand from the worlds of science and science fiction to witness the first images to arrive from the surface of Mars by NASA's latest Mars Exploration Rover mission.

On January 3 and 4, the Planetary Society will host a conference entitled "Wild About Mars" at the Pasadena Convention Center (same location as the annual Grand Slam Star Trek convention) where the public will have an opportunity to view real-time feed from the Spirit lander via NASA's nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Spirit is scheduled to bounce to a landing on Saturday, the 3rd, at 8:35 p.m. local time, to begin its search for water and possibly life on the Red Planet.

The conference in Pasadena begins that evening at 6:30 pm., and will run late into the evening, depending on how the mission unfolds. Sunday events are scheduled for 3:00 to 6:30 p.m. (All scheduling and programming is subject to change.)

Picardo ("The Doctor" in Star Trek: Voyager) will be on stage Saturday with renowned science fiction author Ray Bradbury to present one of Bradbury's tributes to exploration. Also that evening, Bormanis, executive story editor of Star Trek: Enterprise, will moderate a panel of science and sci-fi writers on the topic "Mars in the Mind of Man."

Rhys-Davies — flying in from England — will be on hand both Saturday and Sunday, and will perform dramatic readings from Bradbury's collected works. Rhys-Davies played the holographic "Leonardo da Vinci' in Voyager; he is currently riding high on the huge success of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," where he plays the dwarf "Gimli."

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin — the second man on the Moon and a strong Star Trek fan — will be at the conference on Sunday with other guests to discuss the topic "Future Human Exploration of Mars."  Gene Roddenberry's son, Eugene Jr., will be introducing that panel.

Spirit is the first of two rovers to touch down on the fourth planet in January. Its twin, the Opportunity, is scheduled to land on January 24. The rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars, equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras to capture a 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day, far exceeding the range of the 1997 Pathfinder mission.

During the same weekend, conference attendees will also see images returned from the Stardust craft, which will fly through the tail of Comet Wild 2 on Jan. 2, capturing particles that it will bring back to Earth.

For more information on the "Wild About Mars" weekend, visit this page at www.planetary.org. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

In related news, the Planetary Society recently unveiled its newest "Mars Station" which allows Internet users to operate a model rover over a simulated Mars terrain. That terrain is physically located in the society's headquarters in Pasadena, and the small robotic rover has a camera mounted on it. Internet operators literally direct the model via the Web site, simulating the experience of NASA's mission control scientists. Visit this link to try it out.