The documentary Triumph of the Dream explores the human story behind NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission that landed two rovers on Mars in 2004. Award-winning photographer Norman Seeff was invited to document the mission and developed a narrative structure based on the seven stages of the creative process. The film reveals how scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory worked to advance our understanding of Mars as a potentially habitable planet in the past through the rovers' analysis of rocks and soil. Seeff believes it is important to share the experience of the mission with the public who funded it and to spark interest in space exploration, environmentalism, and discovery.
1. How can you change& inspire the world today?
How can you creatively make an impact with the entire world watching.
The pure hope of success, with the complete possibility of failure & scrutiny.
“ALL CREATION BEGINS IN THE MIND AS A DREAM” ~Norman Seeff~
Please accept this special invitation to go behind the scenes of one of the most formidable milestones in human history, space,
technology, and the future of OUR Planet.
Triumph of the Dream is a documentary that explores the human face of the Mars Explorations Rover mission that landed two
rovers on Mars in 2004. It will also reveal a third rover, Curiosity, which will be launched Sunday, August 5th2012 at 1030am. The
Curiosity, a modified, improved rover will be the first of its kind and will expand our knowledge of Mars as a habitable planet.
Award winning photographer Norman Seeff, spoke of intensity and determination, a quality Seeff says he saw when he
photographed musical greats Ray Charles and Tina Turner, and film directors Billy Wilder and Martin Scorsese. “Those people
have what I call ‘far vision.’ They look out to the future.” commented Seeff. He continued, “The dreamer always has a vision of the
possibilities in the future.”Beginning with Ike & Tina Turner in 1975, Seeff began filming his photo sessions, using them as a
launching point to explore the energy and inspiration of the creative process at work.
Seeff returned to photography and the documentation of his sessions in 2000 working with the stars of Paramount Television, a
documentary exploration of the artist's journey for Paul Allen's Experience Music Project and Caltech's many Nobel Science
Laureates.It was the latter assignment that led to Seeff being invited to work with the NASA space explorers at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory(JPL) and to the production of his documentary film Triumph of the Dream.
2. Triumph of the Dream reveals the human face of the Mars Exploration mission that landed two rovers on Mars in 2004. In the
film, Seeff uses the Seven Stage Dynamic of the Creative Process he developed in his photo sessions as the underlying narrative
structure.
During an interview with Discover Magazine, he was asked the goal of this project: “The objective is to learn whether Mars ever
had conditions at its surface that would have been favorable to life. Mars is a cold, dry, miserable place now, but we have
tantalizing clues, mostly from data taken from orbit, that suggest that in the past it may have been very different—warmer and
wetter and more Earth-like. So we’ve landed in two places that might have been warmer and wetter in the past”.
According to Seeff, the most exciting results so far have been Opportunity’s findings at MeridianiPlanum. “We have compelling
evidence that the rocks are made of sulfate salts, to the tune of 30 to 40 percent by weight—an enormous amount—including
one mineral that requires water for its formation and actually contains water itself. What is even more intriguing about this stuff
is that because the minerals precipitated from liquid water, they may preserve what was once in that water. If there was some
biochemistry, if there were microorganisms present, those minerals could trap evidence of that for a long time. The best way to
definitively detect that would be to bring the rocks back to a lab on Earth and take them apart.”
During the next two decades, NASA will conduct several missions to address whether life ever existed on Mars. The search
begins with determining whether the Martian environment was ever suitable for life. Life, as humans understand it, requires
water, hence the history of water on Mars is critical to finding out if the Martian environment was ever conducive to life.
Although the Mars Exploration Rovers do not have the ability to detect life directly, they offer important information on the
habitability of the environment in the planet's history.
Seeff is most certainly playing his active part in preservation, environmentalism and awareness. “This is something I feel
passionate about. The American public has spent $800 million to enable this mission. I believe very firmly that those of us who
have the enormous privilege to actually participate in this have an obligation to share this experience, to the greatest extent
that we can, with the people who have made it possible—and to do so in a way that is not heavily laden with scientific jargon
and not obscure and difficult to comprehend. We are not doing anything that is so esoteric and so complex that you can’t
explain it to people in a very straightforward fashion. I think we are conducting a fantastic, fabulous, and exciting voyage of
exploration and discovery, and we have all the tools that we need, via the Internet and via the media, to take the entire world
along with us.”