ADAMS TWP — Although he spends most of his days trying to get exploration rovers to planet Mars, Jim Green has been most inspired by his first trip to the Pennsylvania borough bearing the same name.

Green, chief scientist for NASA's planetary science division, first came to the borough in 2015 as part of the inaugural Mars New Year celebration.

Green said throughout the day, a young boy followed him around and asked questions. The two shared a cup of cocoa, drove miniature rovers and chatted some more, and Green left his card with the boy.

Nine months later, he received an email from the boy's father, who said his son had become obsessed with all things NASA and space. He even built a Lego version of Juno, the Jupiter rover Green had helped build and guide.

“And then he said, 'Jim, thank you for the gravity assist,'” an emotional Green recalled Thursday during the third Mars New Year event at Twelve Oaks Mansion.

He explained the concept of gravity assist as an extra boost for a spacecraft — something that propels it forward. He said that concept applied to his interaction with the boy and others like him.

“We as scientists and engineers weren't born thinking we were going to be that,” he said. “Something happened along the way — an event, a person, a teacher, a book, an activity, landing on the moon. Something happened that accelerates you forward and changes your direction, so that you can meet that object, and in space we call that a gravity assist.”

This story is an excerpt. To read more about Green's visit to Mars to celebrate the borough's Mars New Year celebration, pick up a Sunday Butler Eagle or subscribe online.