Theater at Noon
“Bach-Frica” contemporary ballet by Ballet Danzay company, first showing for students on vacation at 10:30 p.m., regular performance at 12:10 p.m., National Theater.

Crafts workshop
Ages 8 and up, Feb. 2 and 4, 2-4 p.m., José Figueres Ferrer Cultural Center.

Mundoloco concerts
Pierre Money, tribute to the band Sublime, 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

NASA has launched a mission in Central America to use three-dimensional imagery to document the isthmus' lands and topography and gauge transformations that may have occurred as a result of phenomena such as climate change.

The Gulfstream III, an 83-foot jet equipped with a high-tech sensor, has been flying over Central America since Jan. 25, measuring three aspects of the area's seven countries. During the flight's six hour missions, the 14-person team has shot imagery of the extent of forests and other types of habitat that could help estimate the populations of wildlife that live within them, monitored land structure and deformations due to volcanic activity and examined archeological sites such as ancient Mayan cities.

Much of this data is “baseline information,” team members said, which means it is the first of its kind and will be used as a foundation for future comparisons.

The images will be downloaded to create 3D maps that university and government researchers can use in future studies. In Costa Rica, Gulfstream III will fly over La Selva Biological Station, near the Caribbean slope region of Sarapiquí; Corcovado National Park, in the Southern Zone; and La Amistad, a park on the border with Costa Rica and Panama. The aircraft will also visit the Golfo de Fonseca – which hosts a mangrove forest that extends from Honduras into El Salvador – and indigenous ruins in Guatemala.

Officials announced on Monday that the data collected during the flights will be available to all agencies in Costa Rica. NASA is already sharing the new information with Costa Rica's National System of Conservation Areas and public universities such as the University of Costa Rica and the National University.

The program uses NASA's Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), which is key for studying earthquakes, volcanoes and other changing phenomena, according to the UAVSAR Web site.

The plane flew over Haiti shortly after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the country on Jan. 12 to collect images of the damage. The jet will return to the Caribbean nation on Wednesday to gather more information.

This particular mission ends on Feb. 14. Pilots said they will return in one year to Costa Rica and Central America to take more images of the region's land and further document its changes.

Ottón Solís appears to be trying to pluck a feather from President Oscar Arias' legacy hat. In a written message to Arias, Solís, the presidential hopeful of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), urged Arias to push back the signing of the bill that opens the cellular phone market to private competition.

The bill signing is scheduled for May 5, three days before Arias leaves office.

Written in a direct, curt tone, addressing Arias as “Mr. President,” Solís opened the letter with the following statement:

“Your administration has hurried the licensing process for awarding cellular telephone frequencies and the executive branch is trying to sign the contracts of the concession on May 5, just before the transfer of powers.”

Solís then asked: “Why rush the awarding and final signing of the cellular telephone contracts?”

Solís concluded the letter – dated Jan. 29 – by encouraging Arias to delay the signing of the bill by a month so that one of the first acts of the incoming president would be to sign the law opening the telecom market. The letter said that delaying the signing would provide the country greater “transparency” in the process of opening the cellular market frequencies.

On Monday, Jan. 18, the Telecommunications Superintendency (SUTEL) announced a timeline for the opening of the mobile phone market, which will allow four cellular providers, including the state-run Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), to compete for coverage among Tico cell phone users.

In the next three months, SUTEL will hold a “hybrid auction” to determine the three companies best qualified to provide cellular phone service in Costa Rica. Of the many companies looking to enter the Tico market, the three that demonstrate the most comprehensive financial and technical plans for market entry will be selected. Once admitted in May, the new entrants will begin to compete for coverage with ICE, which held a monopoly over the national telecom market for decades prior to the signing of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the U.S. (CAFTA).

Costa Rican public transportation representatives announced Monday that bus companies throughout the country will waive bus fare for voters heading to the polls on Feb. 7.

The “free ride” will only be in selected locations, including San José-Alajuela, San José-Puntarenas, San José-Turrialba, San José-Santa Cruz, Nicoya-Liberia and other specific areas throughout metropolitan San José. The full list will be published online Wednesday on the Web site of the Supreme Elections Tribunal: http://www.tse.go.cr.

“We want to tell the people of Costa Rica that transportation will not be an obstacle,” said Maritza Hernández, who represents the Chamber of Transportation, at a press conference on Monday. Turning to cameras, she told voters, “For the future of our kids, go out and vote.”

Voters need only their national identification card and proof of legal age to ride the participating buses free of charge.

In addition to free bus rides, many political parties are offering complimentary transportation to party members needing to get to the polls. In an effort to get every possible supporter, they've organized an ad-hoc taxi service, which can be accessed by contacting the parties directly.

More information about free bus rides can be obtained by calling 2283-1820 or 2283-1712.

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