Background detail about the real-life S.E.T.I. project.
Pictures from [Future's End] unless otherwise stated.
Astronomer Rain Robinson works at Griffith Observatory. She "does" the Planetarium show on Tuesday evenings, but her main job is done from the S.E.T.I. (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) laboratory in the Observatory which has been funded by wealthy computer mogul Henry Starling. Unbeknown to anyone except him (and his henchman, his Security Chief, named Dunbar), he is actually searching for indications that visitors from the 29th century have travelled back in time to reclaim the 29th century Federation timeship Aeon. He salvaged the Aeon in 1967 and he reverse-engineered its future technology so as to produce computer breakthroughs in the 20th century and thereby enrich himself. Rain met Starling at the Observatory restoration party. He has given her a particular gamma emissions profile to search for, which cannot be detected using the standard search parameters. Rain's life gets turned upside down one day in late 1996 when she detects the specified gamma emissions frequency profile - she is thrilled as she thinks it means she has detected extra-terrestrial visitors in orbit above Earth!
The following present pictures and text about Rain's laboratory at Griffith Observatory. See also Rain Robinson. None of the pages in this article form a synopsis of [Future's End]; beam to Episode Synopsis.
Below: Orgy of the Walking Dead and its sequel Bride of the Corpse are low-budget horror motion pictures. A poster for the former is on Rain's wall. Rain and Tom Paris are both fans of these classic films. Tuvok describes their shared interest to Janeway thus: "She and Lieutenant Paris appear to be bonding on a cross-cultural level."
poster for Orgy of the Walking Dead, composite by me; there is no way all the elements can line up as the individual frames form part of a camera pan
The framed photograph overlapped by the "Life on Mars?" newspaper clipping (for which, see below), is from the Apollo 11 space exploration expedition launched from Earth by the NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) space agency in July 1969, the first mission to send humans to Earth's moon. The spacecraft was launched by a huge chemically-fuelled rocket vehicle known as a Saturn V (one of these later launched the Phoenix in 2063 on the historic first warp flight, in [#Star Trek VIII: First Contact]). Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and 'Buzz' Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on another world, describing the achievement as 'one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.' as noted from a radio broadcast heard in [TOS: Tomorrow is Yesterday] about the impending launch of the first moon-landing mission. The great event of the moon landing itself was watched live by millions on Earth (including me). Apollo 11 was not directly mentioned in the episode, but the radio broadcast picked up by the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 refers to the impending launch of the first moon landing mission. A model of the Apollo 11 command/service module is seen in Wesley Crusher's quarters at Starfleet Academy in [TNG: The First Duty], an episode which guest-stars Robert Duncan McNeill as Nick Locarno (he plays Tom Paris in [Voyager]). Harry Kim's San Francisco apartment in [#22 Non Sequitur] has a framed certificate on the wall, thanking Kim for his contribution to Starfleet's Apollo 11 quadricentennial celebration, although that certificate is impossible to see clearly let alone read it. In [#117 11:59], Janeway's ancestor, Shannon O'Donnel, has a model of the moon module as a mobile hanging in her car, and she dreams about the historic moon-landing event too. Neil Armstrong is mentioned as being the first inhabitant of planet Earth to walk on Earth's Moon in [#31 Threshold]. Various Starfleet starships are named for people or events related to the first lunar landing, including USS Armstrong in [DS9: Apocolypse Rising], and USS Hornet (Renaissance class, Starfleet registry number NCC-45231) named for an American aircraft carrier which fought at the Battle of Midway in World War II, and years later, another ship with that name was the recovery vessel for the Apollo 11 moon landing mission. In the 24th century, 50 million people lived on the moon that was home to Tycho City, the New Berlin colony, and Lake Armstrong, as mentioned in [Star Trek VIII: First Contact]. It is not surprising that Rain keeps a memento from such an historic event in her laboratory.
'Life on Mars?' newspaper cutting on Rain's laboratory wall, complete with microfossil picture and "take me to your leader" caption, [Future's End]
On the wall is a newspaper cutting about the very recent 1996 discovery of water on Mars which led to speculation that there may be, or at least may have been, life on Mars. This indicates that the events of [Future's End] occur no earlier than NASA's discovery of possible microfossils in a Martian meteorite. [Future's End] was filmed in August 1996, a few days after NASA's press conference announcing that discovery. To commemorate this, and thereby set the date of [Future's End] in late 1996, the [Voyager] art department put a large photo of the microfossil, with the caption 'take me to your leader', as well as a newspaper clipping describing the finding into Rain Robinson's laboratory. (This information also appears elsewhere in this article.) [Future's End] aired in the USA for the first time as a two-part story on 6th and 13th November 1996.
[DS9] scenic artist Anthony Fredrickson also commemorated the discovery by putting the code number ALH84001 on the mines laid by the USS Defiant in [DS9: Call To Arms], as ALH84001 was the code number of the meteorite in which the possible microfossils were found. Mars is of particular interest to actor Robert Picardo (plays the Doctor), who is on the Advisory Board of the Planetary Society and as such heavily involved in their Mars projects including 'Red Rover Goes To Mars' - see Robert Picardo and the Planetary Society part of 'Behind-the-scenes [#128 One Small Step]'.
Mars continues to be of interest to Earth, inevitably since it it only the fourth planet in the Sol System, orbiting the Sun with a mean distance of only 228 million kilometres. Mars is colonised by people from Earth in 2103, as noted in [#20 The 37's]. Starfleet's Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards are located on Mars, as noted in [TNG: Booby Trap], with both a planetside facility and one in space, and USS Voyager was constructed there as seen in flashback scenes in [#118 Relativity] (which episode also features Captain Braxton who is seen in [Future's End]).
Rain has a laid-back approach to work, and sits with the computer keyboard on her lap - note the Chronowerx label
the post-it note stuck to the computer screen reminds Rain to go to the movies at 7 p.m., though it is not known if this is for the same evening because, if so, she probably missed it after meeting Paris and Tuvok unless she and Paris went to the movie and it is not mentioned in the episode; Paris probably would love to go but the mission means he cannot; the computer screen has the Chronowerx logo on it, and the operating system is the Chronowerx one (seen also on Starling's computer in his office)
a card on the wall is a historical representation of Britain; maps of Britain remained rather inaccurate until the government conducted the Ordnance Survey (still kept up-to-date; nowadays technically the O.S. is a private agency)
Rain has posters of deep space and a rocket launch
The framed photograph overlapped by the "Life on Mars?" newspaper clipping (for which, see below), is from the Apollo 11 space exploration expedition launched from Earth by the NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) space agency in July 1969, the first mission to send humans to Earth's moon. The spacecraft was launched by a huge chemically-fuelled rocket vehicle known as a Saturn V (one of these later launched the Phoenix in 2063 on the historic first warp flight, in [#Star Trek VIII: First Contact]). Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and 'Buzz' Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on another world, describing the achievement as 'one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.' as noted from a radio broadcast heard in [TOS: Tomorrow is Yesterday] about the impending launch of the first moon-landing mission. The great event of the moon landing itself was watched live by millions on Earth (including me). Apollo 11 was not directly mentioned in the episode, but the radio broadcast picked up by the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 refers to the impending launch of the first moon landing mission. A model of the Apollo 11 command/service module is seen in Wesley Crusher's quarters at Starfleet Academy in [TNG: The First Duty], an episode which guest-stars Robert Duncan McNeill as Nick Locarno (he plays Tom Paris in [Voyager]). Harry Kim's San Francisco apartment in [#22 Non Sequitur] has a framed certificate on the wall, thanking Kim for his contribution to Starfleet's Apollo 11 quadricentennial celebration, although that certificate is impossible to see clearly let alone read it. 
In [#117 11:59], Janeway's ancestor, Shannon O'Donnel, has a model of the moon module as a mobile hanging in her car, and she dreams about the historic moon-landing event too. Neil Armstrong is mentioned as being the first inhabitant of planet Earth to walk on Earth's Moon in [#31 Threshold]. Various Starfleet starships are named for people or events related to the first lunar landing, including USS Armstrong in [DS9: Apocolypse Rising], and USS Hornet (Renaissance class, Starfleet registry number NCC-45231) named for an American aircraft carrier which fought at the Battle of Midway in World War II, and years later, another ship with that name was the recovery vessel for the Apollo 11 moon landing mission. In the 24th century, 50 million people lived on the moon that was home to Tycho City, the New Berlin colony, and Lake Armstrong, as mentioned in [Star Trek VIII: First Contact]. It is not surprising that Rain keeps a memento from such an historic event in her laboratory.
