Forget About Buzz Lightyear, Jr. Wants A Rover!

With all the recent excitement of the Spirit's landing and exploration on the Martian surface, it seems the next logical step for NASA was to licence its image for commercial purposes. However, the spacecraft's likeness has gone beyond the traditional exposure at NASA's gift shops, filled with mugs and t-shirts and posters.  The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) which runs the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA, patented and licensed images of the golf-cart sized rover for a somewhat younger crowd.

Before anyone realized it, toy-versions of the rover were already popping up on retail shelves. Danish toy maker Lego Co. was one of the first companies to sign an agreement and is already selling a build-it-yourself toy version of Spirit. The 858-piece out-of-this-world toy, which was based on drawings supplied by Caltech, retails for about $89.99. Lego expects to sell a few million dollars' worth of its Mars toys, including a smaller, less complicated set that has 417 pieces. Another company is producing a collectible, 1/10th scale model rover that sells for $150. A third is making larger models destined for museums.

But wait, the commercialization doesn't stop there. NASA also signed its own Space Act agreement with CKE Restaurants Inc., the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's.The fast-food restaurants are selling children's meals that come with a NASA-approved toy spacecraft, including the Mars rovers, Debbie Rivera, head of strategic alliances for NASA's office of public affairs told the Associated Press. CKE expects to distribute as many as 3.5 million.

While some may wonder how the space program got into the world of retail toy sales, Caltech officials pledged to donate half of their earnings to educational outreach programs with the rest slated for Caltech research. However, lips are sealed at Caltech, as researchers at the private university would not disclose how much money they hope to make.

"We did it more for publicity than as a commercial hit," said Frederic Farina, assistant director of Caltech's office of technology transfer.

This isn't NASA's first attmept to enter the retail toy market. In 1999, Mattel Inc. produced a Hot Wheels "Action Pack" featuring models of NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter, Polar Lander and twin Deep Space 2 microprobe spacecraft. However, just weeks after Mattel's $5 set went on sale, all four spacecraft were lost and so did the market.

FMI: www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html