Photo of 2007 Mars High School graduate Katie Beckwithwith a full-scale model of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, at the NASAJet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Beckwith, who is amaterials and processes engineer at the J.P.L., will travel back toher hometown in May to participate in the second Mars New Year as aNASA representative.

It may be truly out of this world.

The Mars Robotics Association Speaker Series is launching a special broadcast Friday night to focus on the red planet.

Guest speaker Kathryn Beckwith, a 2007 Mars High School graduate, will discuss her work as a materials and processes engineer at NASA's jet propulsion laboratory and on her work with the Mars planetary rover, Perseverance.

The speaker series began in August, established by association coach Jeff Beckstead and the robotics students.

“Our whole speaker series was aimed at getting the students introduced to different careers,” Beckstead said.

Students learn not just from the speakers, but from the broadcast process.

Beckwith's presentation will be streamed on YouTube, with students working behind the scenes the entire time.

For students, the process includes being involved with setting up equipment, interviewing and presenting.

“It gives them something different,” Beckstead said. “It's a more interactive feel to the presentation.”

The fact that the series needed to be conducted virtually, because of the pandemic, at first seemed like a hindrance, according to Beckstead.

Now Beckstead sees how technology has let the students connect through the series with people all over the world.

It's also teaching the group technology skills aside from those learned in robotics.

Beckstead said that having a speaker such as Beckwith, who worked on the Mars rover Perseverance, can show the association's 40 students which types of opportunities lay ahead.

“It shows our kids, 'Hey, I can do that,'” Beckstead said. “There's just a wealth of speakers out there.”

Perseverance was launched on July 30, 2020 and is scheduled to land on Mars on Feb. 18.

The public is invited to access Beckwith's presentation on the Mars Robotics Association's YouTube channel or by using the link, www.youtube.com/watch?v=D84C6Pbap_A.

The event begins at 8 p.m. on Jan. 22 and includes a live question-and-answer session.

The association asks for questions to be submitted prior to the broadcast via the association website, www.marsroboticsassociation.org.