A Publication of THEPLANETA SOCIETY

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Board of Directors FROI\II THE CARL SAGAN BRUCE MURRAY EDITOR President Vice President Director. Laboratory for Planetary Professor of Planetary Studies. Cornell University Science, California Institute of Technology LO UIS FR IEDMAN Executive Director JOSEPH RYAN O'Me/veny & Myers MICHAEL COLLINS Apollo 11 astronaut STEVEN SPIELBERG . he way we explore planets is chang­ its 1994 budget a new Discovery class of director and producer THOMAS O. PAINE former Administrator, NASA; HENRY J. TANNER T ing. Gone are the days when we could missions to cost no more than $150 mil­ Chairman, National financial consultant Commission on Space build space-traveling, multipurpose vehi­ lion each and to be accomplished in three

Board of Advisors cles, load them with a profusion of years or less. Whether or not Congress instruments and send them off to answer will fund these missions remains to be DIANE ACKERMAN HANS MARK poet and author Chancellor. a multitude of scientific questions. seen. University of Texas System RICHARD BERENDZEN The Cassini mission to the saturnian Meanwhile, there are other concepts for educator and astrophysicist JAMES MICHENER author system, if it survives the congressional small spacecraft missions, many of which JACQUES BLAMONT Chief Scientist. Centre MARVIN MINSKY budget process, will probably be the last grew out of papers presented at the Soci­ National dEludes Spatia/es. France Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts "flagship" mission launched for a long ety's workshop. Rather than bring you RAY BRADBURY Institute of Technology poet and author time. The United States is burdened by a summaries of each paper, we've asked a PHI LI P MORR ISON ARTHUR C. CLARKE Institute Professor, Massachusetts monstrous deficit, the new nations of the few participants to detail their ideas for author Institute of Technology CORNELIS DE JAGER former Soviet Union are reexamining their new missions. Professor of Space Research, PAUL NEWMAN The Astronomical Institute at actor commitments to space endeavors, the Eu­ Page 4-Doing More With Less: The Utrecht, the Netherlands JUN NISHIMURA ropean Space Agency is scaling back its New Way of Exploring the Solar System FRANK DRAKE former Director Genera/, Professor of Astronomy and Institute of Space and plans and Japan is starting slowly in its - There are many forces changing plane­ Astrophysics, University of Astronautical Science, Japan California. Santa Cruz BERNARD M. OLIVER development as a spacefaring power. tary exploration and many ways to re­ LEE A. DUBRIDGE Chief, SET! Program. For those of us who are curious about spond. former presidential NASA/Ames Research Center science advisor SALLY RIDE the planets, who want to witness humans Page S-To the Moon: Faster, Cheaper JOHN GARDNER Director. California Space founder, Common Cause walking on Mars, who want to see the ex­ -and Better- Decades after humans Institute, University of California, MARC GARNEAU San Diego, and former astronaut ploration of the solar system continue, it's riding Moon buggies cruised the Moon, Canadian astronaut ROALD Z. SAGDEEV time to get creative. We must find new NASA is planning to send small robots. GEORG IY GOLI TSYN former Director, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Institute for Space Research, Academy of Sciences of the USSR ways to send our robotic surrogates to Page 10-Starting Small on the Road ~f~~e[7ts% Sciences THEODORE M. HESBURGH other worlds. to Mars-Mars has long been a target of President Emeritus, HARRISON H. SCHMITT University of Notre Dame former US Senator. New Mexico. The Planetary Society recognized the exploration. There are ways to explore it and Apollo 17 astronaut SHI RLEY M. HUFSTEDLER shifting wind a couple of years ago, so last cheaply, yet effectively. educator and jurist S. ROSS TAYLOR GARRY E. HUNT Professoria l Fellow, fall we organized a workshop on micro­ Page 12-Japan Sets Out to the Moon space scientist, Australian National University, United Kingdom Canberra spacecraft for planetary exploration. We and Mars-Japan has taken its first steps SERGEI KAPITSA LEWIS THOMAS had expected to host perhaps a handful of into the solar system. Its next destinations Institute for Physical Problems, Chancellor. Memorial Sloan Academy of Sciences of the USSR Kettering Cancer Center scientists and engineers who, like us, want­ are the Moon and Mars. JAMES VAN ALLEN ed to find new ways to explore. But when Page 14-Small Missions ,to Asteroids: Professor of Physics, University of Iowa word of the workshop spread, we had The Threat and Future Exploration­

The Planetary Report (lSSN 0736-3680) is published six times yearly at dozens of people clamoring to come. The threat of asteroid impacts has raised the editorial offices of The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106, (8 18) 793-5100. It is available to members of The They came from NASA centers, other interest in these small targets. Planetary Society. Annual dues in the US or Canada are $25 US dollars or $30 Canadian. Dues outside the US or Canada are $35 (US). space agencies, government laboratories, Page 16-Isaac Asimov-Society Presi··

Editor, CHARLENE M. ANDERSON aerospace companies and universities. dent Carl Sagan remembers an old friend. Technical Editor, JAMES D. BURKE Assistant Editor, DONNA ESCANDON STEVENS Some were students hoping that jobs Page 17-World Watch-A new NASA Copy Editor, GLORI A JOYCE would be available when they graduate; Administrator rattles the status quo. Production Editor, MITCHELL BIRD Art Director, BARBARA S. SMITH others were recent retirees who wanted to Page IS-News & Reviews-Our regular Viewpoints ex p r~sse d in columns or editorials are those of the authors and see the endeavor they began continue. columnist reviews the latest developments do not necessanly represent positions of The Planetary Society, its officers or advisors. © 1992 by The Planetary Society. They brought eagerness and energy to in planetary science. In Canada. Second Class Mail Registration Number 9567 the workshop, and the Society served as a Page 19-5ociety Notes-Your Society COVER: The next wave of planetary exploration could well catalyst for new ideas. Through such ef­ has been very busy. be conducted by small robotic spacecraft carrying two or three instruments tightly focused on a few scientific ques­ forts and those of many others around the Page 20-A Planetary Readers' Service tions, The targets for these new microspacecraft will be world, we are embarking on a new pro­ -We introduce a new benefit for Plane­ Earth 's neighbors in the solar system: the Moon, Mars, and the asteroids and comets that pass close to our planet. In the gram in planetary exploration. NASA is tary Society members. background here is the crater Copernicus, one of the more now institutionalizing the concept of small Page 21-Questions & Answers-Can spectacular features on the mostly inert lunar surface, In the center is the north polar cap of Mars, a repository of water spacecraft with phrases such as "faster, beamed energy be used to explore the on the now dry and windswept martian surface. To its left is cheaper and better. " planets? What would happen if Earth a false-color image of the asteroid Gaspra, Images: United States Geological Survey and JPL The US space agency is proposing in stopped turning? -Charlene M, Anderson NEWS BRIEFS

As administrators of a membership organization, The Planetary Society's Directors and staff care about and are influenced by our members' opinions, suggestions and ideas about the Astronauts may someday explore future of the space program and of our Society. We encourage members to write us and create Mars without leaving their base a dialogue on topics such as a space station, a lunar outpost, the exploration of Mars and the camp using "telepresence," a search for extraterrestrial life. mix of science and engineering Send your letters to: Members' Dialogue, The Planetary Society, 65 N. Catalina A venue, Pasadena, CA 91106. that NASA is now developing at Ames Research Center. "When we begin to explonj Mars, it won't be easy for the astronauts to travel far from their base to Ann Zawistowski's letter in the May/June 1992 Planetary Report suggested donating back gain access to the whole planet," issues of the magazine to area high school science departments. Please do! I have some 200 said Geoffrey Briggs, scientific astronomy students a year taking our one-semester high school course. I cut out pictures and director of the new Center for captions and save them py subject until there are enough to organize into a custom poster for Mars Exploration at Ames. lamination. This helps keep the course up to date and fleshes out the minimal imagery in texts. "Telepresence will allow humans The magazine's color and resolution beat the library's microfiche. to project themselves, by way of In response to a different issue from Members' Dialogue-false coloration of images-has at a suitably equipped robot, into a times misled me and has certainly confused the students. Enhanced images need to be labeled remote environment without en­ as such. dangering themselves. It's a very -BART WORMINGTON, Omaha, Nebraska powerful research technique." While "virtual reality," anoth­ I am the first amateur to use the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Five years ago, I started er computer science innovation, sending in proposals. One project, on post-eclipse brightening on 10, was just completed, and allows a user to see,and interact another is being done as part of a professional's study of Mars. Yet another is now under con­ with a computerized video image, sideration. telepresence lets a researcher see Using the HST was just about the biggest thrill of my life. I actually had the feeling that I what a robot sees and do actual was looking through the telescope, even though it was orbiting nearly 300 miles above Aus­ tasks in a real environment. tralia at the time. -from Ames Research Center Thank you so much for publishing The Planetary Report. As a member of many years, I have eagerly studied each issue. The Planetary Report has kept me up to date on planetary astronomy and has helped to stimulate my thinking. Keep up the good work. -JIM SECOSKY, Manchester, New York In early June, Y uri. Koptev , direc~ tor general of the Russian Space I am dismayed by the thought of NASA spending $137 million of my tax money on such Agency, urged Japanese space things as soda machines. [See News Briefs in the March/April 1992 issue.] Although I have officials to commit to coopera­ been a fan of the space program since Sputnik, and a charter member of The Planetary Soci­ tive space projects but received ety, I am also a very disgruntled taxpayer. If NASA and the space program have become pure just a promise to consider the political pork, then we need some major changes. Getting the federal budget under control is idea. more critical for the country than any or all of the NASA programs. It may be necessary to de­ Kanzo Tanigawa, minister of lay the entire space program to eliminate government waste and congressional micromanage­ the Japanese Science and Tech­ ment. This country can't afford the outrageous price we pay for big-government science. nology Agency, promised that What should The Planetary Society do? Things that need concerned people, but don't cost Japan would send a large delega­ a lot of money. The asteroid occultation project [see the July/August 1984 Planetary Report] tion of scientists and business was an outstanding example of what amateurs can do that NASA and its billion-dollar budget executives to Russia in July to can't. Let's see more low-budget, good science. study possible joint projects, said - FRANK 1. WEIGERT, Wilmington, Delaware Tsuyoshi Maruyama, director of the agency's international space I am greatly pleased with the apparent willingness and ability of The Planetary Society to affairs division. participate directly in science and exploration, in both the United States and abroad, as repre­ "We haven't decided on any­ sented by our Mars Balloon and Mars Rover activities. It is my sincere hope that the Society thing concrete," Maruyama said. will expand these efforts to include micromissions to the Moon and near-Earth asteroids. With The delegation will survey Rus­ the dramatic trend we now see toward reduction of costs of launchers, communications equip­ sia's space facilities, confer with ment and computation, there is no excuse for continued whining about inadequate government Russian scientists and seek areas funding. There should be, and I predict will be, a renaissance of small, rugged, practical ex­ where cooperation would be periments funded entirely by traditional, forward-thinking institutions such as the National possible. One of the delegation's Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution. concerns will be the structure of I'd like to see the Society circulate a preference poll, including total dollar costs and per­ the Russian space program, which member prices, for several very minimal missions, particularly lunar mapping and near-Earth has gone through many changes asteroid sampling. Is this idea ridiculous? Need I suggest that a minimal mission is preferable since the breakup of the Soviet to no mission at all? Union last year, he added. -COLIN KEIZER, Fall City, Washington -from Space News 3 Doing More With Less: The· New Way of Exploring the Solar System

by Rex Ridenoure

he solar system exploration community worldwide is facing a near-term future of constrained budgets T and shifting priorities. Everyone is being forced to think hard about how to· work with less than was once expected. The community is challenged to devise creative concepts for using limited resources efficiently. In the long run, responding to this challenge should reinvigorate and diversify the community. The world has changed drastically since we fust began to explore the solar system in the early 1960s. Once­ powerful nations have evaporated, and government's "discretionary funds" have shrunk inexorably. Hopes for approval-in any spacefaring nation-to start new major planetary missions in the next several years are generally unrealistic. Indeed, the United States' recent cancellation of the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) mission indicates how vulnerable the existing major missions have become. If we are to continue exploring the planets, and adapt to the trend to smaller missions, we must address several factors. Cost If a prime mover exists for the trend toward small mis­ sions, this is probably it. Adjectives such as affordable, cost-effective and cheap are often used for these new mission concepts. A planetary mission qualifies for the low-cost label if it has an estimated total cost of a few hundred million dollars or less (but few ideas for meaningful planetary missions have surfaced with estimated price tags of less than $100 million). This contrasts with major or flagship missions, which typically cost $1 billion or more. development costs of approximately $400 million. Inter­ NASA now assigns the low-cost mission concepts to mediate-class missions are generally moderate-size, one­ one of two classes-"Discovery" and "Intermediate." of-a-kind projects. (There are various caveats that must A Discovery-class mission would require no more accompany these classifications, such as which y~ar's than $150 million for development through launch plus dollar is assumed, what's included in the costs and what 30 days. (Discovery-class missions would further be lim­ reserves are assumed.) ited to a development cycle of no more than three years.) . NASA's Discovery program provides stable funding Schedule each year to enable the parallel development of several It is not uncommon for major planetary missions to take small missions. a decade or so to develop and another decade or more to 4 In contrast, an Intermediate-class mission is one with execute. Pathfinding missions such as Viking, Voyager through end-of-mission. Realistically, there are limits on where such missions can go. Our launch vehicle and propulsion sys­ tems operate within a certain perfor­ mance envelope and no more, which in tum limits trajectory op­ tions to the planets. The Moon can be reached from Earth in a matter of days. Venus and some near-Earth asteroids and comets require a few months of travel; Mars, about a year; Jupiter and perhaps Mercury, a few years of trip time. These­ Small spacecraft can serve as scouts plus, of course, Mission to Planet for eventual human expeditions to the Earth--comprise the set of missions Moon and Mars. One early goal for a in the three-to-five-year category. small lunar orbiter will be to map the abundances of useful minerals on the Moon's surface. Using Earth-based Science telescopes, scientists can produce Small missions do not necessarily useful charts of mineral locations, such as this map of the distribution of produce "big" science, but they cer­ ilmenite. (Since it is made of iron, tita­ tainly can if they are conceived and nium and oxygen, this mineral could implemented correctly. Indeed, be particularly useful to explorers.) But to settle on a landing site, we will want much of the enthusiasm for the more detailed information. small- and moderate-class planetary Researchers have been using Viking missions is coming directly from the orbiter images to search for landing sites on Mars that offer "the most bang scientific community. A compelling for the buck." This site in the east scientific rationale for a mission can Mangala region offers channels possi­ often be articulated if the mission is bly cut by running water (bottom), old degraded craters (middle and upper tailored to a specific scientific objec­ left), a young crater surrounded by tive or wrapped around the synergis- "splosh" (center right) and a scarp tic potential of a few, state-of-the-art marking the boundary between the southern and northern hemispheres of instruments. Good examples of such Mars. Small spacecraft could provide missions include the Near-Earth more detailed Information on potential Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) con­ landing sites. cept (see page 15) and the small Mars image: United States Geological Survey Moon map: J.R. Johnson, S.M. Larson and R.B. Singer Mars lander concept (see page 10). Past experience with small scien­ tific missions, such as the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) and the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), tells us a few things about how the science will probably be and Galileo are good examples. Such missions pay major done in this new environment. Only a few, multitalented scientific dividends and make careers, but tax the stamina scientists are required to support small missions with fo­ and patience of those involved in the process. cused objectives and a limited number of instruments. But tolerance for such long, drawn-out projects is wan­ Much of the effort required to articulate, direct, administer ing; times have changed. There is growing support for and interpret the science can be provided by one principal missions taking much less time to complete. The recent investigator and a small, coordinated body of supporting Japanese Hiten mission to the Moon (see the May/June scientists and technical staff. The same team may even 1992 Planetary Report) is a good example of such a mis­ design, build, test and operate the instruments, coordinat­ sion. Other mission concepts, particularly for NASA's ing its work with engineers from a company or govern­ proposed return to the Moon (see page 8), would take ment laboratof)Ltasked with supplying and operating-the three to five years or so from initial concept development spacecraft. 5 Technology Superficially, it might appear that the trend toward smaller spacecraft and missions is a step backward-a re­ gression to the early days of space exploration when nearly everything was small. The difference is the tech­ nology involved. Today, electronics and instruments of small physical size have capabilities that exceed comparable 1960s packages by sev­ eral orders of magnitude. Propulsion and navigation performance have also improved dramatically. Advances in the electronics indus­ try and spin-offs from the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) technology IMAGING CAMERA research programs have provided THRUSTERS much of the recent impetus for this change. Another important factor is that smaller, cheaper, quicker mis­ In the past decade we've gotten used to sions tend to increase the rate at interplanetary spacecraft like Voyager which new or better technology can and Galileo, crowned with large, parabolic antennas and festooned with instrument· be introduced into the quite conser­ laden booms stretching out from the vative space arena. In fact, the SDI spacecraft's body. These complex con­ and commercial space segments are figurations carried arrays of instruments supporting many different experiments. three to five years ahead of the space The new generation of microspacecraft exploration field in developing and will be less sophisticated. applying new small-satellite technol­ This is a concept for a microspacecraft designed to investigate near·Earth aster­ ogy; these groups were preceded by oids. It resembles a hexagonal cookie tin the academic and amateur-radio more than it resembles Voyager, yet it communities. would be able to obtain useful scientific data. In this design, three spacecraft can be packed Into the small Pegasus payload Politics shroud, tripling the cost-effectiveness of Signs and symptoms of national the launch. economic malaise appear daily in Illustrations: JPLlNASA headlines around the world. Spirited public debates addressing a variety of economic ills are under way in the US, European countries, the Com- monwealth of Independent States and Japan-all leading spacefaring nations. There are no clear indications that any of these large economies will significantly improve soon. Consequently, space mission plan- ners and scientists see the writing on the wall: Big-ticket ect, managed by Langley Research Center, US planetary space programs will not be easy to sell in coming years; exploration has been conducted by the Jet Propulsion small missions stand a better chance. Recent, well-publi­ Laboratory. But should the Space Exploration Initiative cized problems with major projects such as the Hubble (SEI)-the Mission From Planet Earth- achieve its Space Telescope, Galileo and space station Freedom stated goals, this may change, and other organizations have cast a cloud over any new concept perceived as may join in leading the way. "big." Even if the problems on these large projects are NASA's Office of Exploration, tasked with planning eventually rectified, the public, media and government and implementing SEI, is studying, as precursors to a officials will probably harbor lingering doubts and biases human return, small missions to the Moon that will em­ about larger missions. ploy an organizational arrangement differing from that used by previous US lunar automated missions, which Competition were led by JPL. With the exception of the Pioneer program, administered In 1990, the Japanese became the third country to de­ 6 by NASA's Ames Research Center, and the Viking proj- liver a probe to the vicinity of the Moon. Organizations l Planetary spacecraft all begin their journeys propelled by rockets. To cut costs, it helps to begin with the launch vehicle. One of the first new rockets de­ signed to carry small payloads is the Pegasus, 15 meters (50 feet) long, seen doing it and countries are doing here (left) during its second flight. The it. Several relatively small orga­ Pegasus, built by Orbital Sciences Cor­ poration, follows the trail blazed by nizations can thus combine tal­ rocket planes like the X-15. The small ents and resources and form a rocket is carried aloft by a large jet and critical mass of capability to en­ released; its engine then ignites to car­ ry it into space. able a new mission to proceed. Planetary mission designers are For the time being, such mis­ planning to use the Pegasus or a slight­ sions will probably be relatively ly larger cousin to launch spacecraft to the Moon, Mars and near-Earth objects. simple and low in cost. These spacecraft will have to be small enough to fit into the little rocket's pay­ Diversification load compartment (a little over a meter in diameter) and light enough (a few Many aerospace and technical hundred kilograms) for it to lift. But companies worldwide, but par­ with cleverness and thrift, it will be ticularly in the US, are looking possible to send a microspacecraft on to sell their products and talents a mission of scientific discovery. in markets besides the shrink­ Photographs courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation ing defense markets. Many companies that have jumped on the commercial or SDI small­ satellite technology bandwagon also see potential in the space exploration arena. Training As a practical matter, technical and scientific people acquire some of their best training by getting hands-on experience­ by working with real hardware on real missions. For this rea­ son alone, the small, rapid­ turnaround missions are a good idea, particularly for younger people entering the field from school. More experienced peo­ ple often express nostalgic de­ light at the thought of picking up a quick refresher course by serving on a small-mission team. Redirected Efforts It's clear that the end of the epic space mission era does not have to mean the end of planetary exploration. Everywhere in the space community people are in the US such as Johns Hopkins University's Applied busily regrouping and redirecting their efforts. Luckily, the Physics Laboratory (APL), the Los Alamos National Lab­ technology is there to let us do what we've been forced into oratory and the SDI organization have expressed interest doing, and the political climate is ripe for cooperative ef­ in sending missions- all small- to places beyond Earth forts. Charles Elachi, Assistant Laboratory Director for the orbit. Selected US aerospace companies and perhaps Office of Space Science and Instruments at JPL, engaged other organizations in Europe and Japan may follow suit in a grass-roots search for new planetary mission concepts in coming years. The common denominator: small, afford­ having low cost and short schedules, summed it up: "We able, achievable missions. can't look at the past," he said. "The past got us where we are today. We have to think of new ways of doing business." Collaboration Planetary space missions, no matter how small, are expen­ Rex Ridenoure is a mission engineer at the Jet Propulsion sive. Their required infrastructure is formidable. One way Laboratory. He was a mission planner for the Voyager for new participants to enter this field is to collaborate. Neptune encounter and has contributed to several JPL Companies are doing it, universities and laboratories are conceptual planetary mission studies. 7 To the Moon: Faster, Cheaper­ and BeHer

by Paul D. Spudis

ince the last Apollo astronaut left called new paradigm of the Moon 20 years ago, the agenda "faster, cheaper, better" Sfor its scientific exploration has is actually a return to not changed. Despite its closeness, the operational and there is still much we have to leam managerial philosophy about Earth's satellite. We have yet to of an earlier, more complete a global reconnaissance and successful NASA. to map its surface composition, topog­ So, can we do mean­ raphy and morphology. ingful science with To accomplish these tasks, we need such a program? Most to map the entire Moon from orbit and emphatic all y, yes! deploy a global network of geophysical stations equipped with instruments such Mapping as seismometers and heat-flow probes. Resources Then we will select particularly inter­ The first mission in the esting sites for in-depth study, taking current plan is a polar­ measurements on site and collecting orbiting satellite to map samples for return to Earth. Finally, surface chemistry and mineralogy. increase our understanding of the varia­ human scientists, assisted by robotic This spacecraft will carry a gamma­ tions in crustal composition. By adding helpers, will conduct lunar fieldwork ray spectrometer, which measures natu­ this new information to the superb data to understand more completely lunar ral radioactivity and secondary radia­ base provided by the Apollo lunar sam­ processes and history. tion induced when cosmic rays strike ples, we can more confidently address This plan has been triggered by the surface. It will also be equipped the geologic processes that shaped our NASA's drive to implement President with an X-ray spectrometer, which Moon. Bush's proposed Space Exploration measures surface fluorescence induced Initiative, which would send humans by X rays from the Sun hitting the sur­ Tugging at Gravity back to the Moon to pick up where face. The gamma-ray experiment will The second mission will deploy an or­ Apollo left off, and then on to Mars. As give us a global map of thorium, urani­ biter to map the Moon's gravity field a beginning, the Office of Exploration um and most of the major elements, and terrain, We already know that the is planning to launch a series of small while the X-ray instrument will tell us Moon has a very complex gravity field, robotic probes to the Moon within the about the distribution of aluminum, shaped by mascons (mass concentra­ next few years. [However, Congress magnesium and some other significant tions) that perturb orbiting spacecraft is reluctant to fund SEI, and recently rock-forming elements. and cause their orbits to decay. By us­ "zeroed out" two proposed lunar mis­ The orbiter'will also carry an imag­ ing radio to track the orbiter carefully sions. See World Watch, page 17.] ing spectrometer designed to diagnose as the Moon tugs at it, we can map the This series of three missions will in­ the minerals present, especially the lunar gravity. clude both orbiters and landers, targeted important rock-forming ones such as Although the Moon was the first ex­ to answer a variety of scientific ques­ plagioclase (a calcium-aluminum sili­ traterrestrial object explored during the tions. But of equal importance to their cate) and olivine and pyroxene (mag­ Space Age, we actually know its terrain scientific merit will be the proof that' nesium- and iron-rich silicates). very poorly. To understand its shape, such missions can be executed much Using the information gathered by topography and surface morphology, more inexpensively and more quickly these instruments, we can construct a we will use two instruments, an altime­ 8 thiill has become the norm. This so- global map of surface mineralogy, and ter and a camera for digital imaging. Above: The back side of the Moon is still largely unexplored territory. Until the Space Age, no human had ever seen it. The Soviets first photographed it in 1959 with their Luna 3 spacecraft. The US followed with the Lunar Orbiter in 1966. Finally, the Apollo astronauts orbiting the Moon took photographs like this one of its heavily cratered surface. Despite these cursory looks, this hemisphere of the Moon is still largely terra incognita. We must send many more spacecraft before we know it well. Photograph: NASA

Left: A small robotic rover, about 1 meter long, is a candidate for a payload to' be carried to the Moon by an Artemis lander. The rover would survey a landing site for humans to use on their return to the Moon. NASA scientists and engineers feel they can carry out such a mission expeditiously and inexpensively by using an expendable launch vehicle and small, cleverly designed spacecraft. Painting: Pat Rawlings, Science Appllcatlons Internatlonal Corporatlon

on several types of mis­ in these properties and so determine sions, but here I will how we can best extract resources consider a resource­ needed to support human operations prospecting mission. and eventually habitation on the Many people have Moon. speculated on how we might use lunar re­ Time!,y Missions, With the altimeter, which can use sources, and among the most plausible Well Conceived either a radar or laser beam as a rang­ ideas is to extract oxygen and hydro­ The three missions I have described ing source, we can measure the height gen from the soil to make rocket pro­ here can all be accomplished within of the spacecraft from the lunar sur­ pellant and water to supply a human the next three years. Each will cost be­ face, and use these data to derive a outpost on the Moon. tween $100 million and $150 million map of the surface topography. The fIrst Artemis can land about 65 -including the launch vehicle. They The camera allows us to distinguish kilograms (140 pounds) on the Moon, will not only provide high-quality data, surface features as small as 50 meters enough to accommodate two mini­ they will also give us a much-needed (165 feet). Moreover, it will provide rovers. The rovers would carry high­ capability-to fly small, focused mis­ the fIrst image set that covers the en­ defmition, stereo cameras to map the sions on a rapid but technically prudent tire Moon uniformly, from the same site and locate small craters, blocks schedule. perspective. and major landforms. When we can conceive and conduct Together these experiments will A set of remote sensing instruments missions in a timely manner, we will give us global maps of the terrain of will measure the chemical and miner­ be able to follow up discoveries quick­ the Moon, creating a cartographic data alogical properties of the site. For ly or undertake new exploration with base that will serve the needs of both prospecting, we will need to measure advanced techniques. Such a program science and exploration. the chemistry (particularly the iron and of robotic space exploration is not only ' titanium content) and the maturity of faster and cheaper, it is also better. On the Surface the soil (a measure of the duration of The third mission will begin the on-site its exposure to solar radiation), as well Paul D. Spudis is a staff scientist at the investigations necessary before we can as the amounts of gases (mostly hydro­ Lunar and Planetary Institute in Hous­ understand the details of lunar process­ gen) implanted in the lunar dust by the ton. He was a member of the Synthesis es and history. One current concept is solar wind (a stream of charged parti­ Group, a White House panel that exam­ to deploy a robotic rover, to be deliv­ cles blowing out from the Sun). ined SEI architecture, and he currently ered by a landing vehicle we are call­ Using detailed maps, on scales of a serves on NASA's Lunar Exploration ing Artemis. This rover could be sent few meters, we can see the variations Science Working Group. 9 Starting Small on the Road to Mars

by Robert P. Hanel, G. Scott Hubbard, Lorry G. Lemke, Ruben Ramos, George L. Sarver and Paul F. Wercinski

nnovative ideas, seasoned with tried and true methods of the past, are now Ifermenting in the world's space pro­ grams. With hard work, creativity, adapt- ability-and luck-we may see a resur­ gence of exploratory energy directed toward that most Earth-like of planets, Mars. In the 1960s and 1970s, Mars was the focus of an ambitious campaign in both the United States and Soviet space pro­ grams. The US sent four Mariners to Mars, and with Viking , the most ambitious planetary mission yet launched, orbited two spacecraft and landed two stations equipped to search for life. The Soviet Union sent seven spacecraft to the Red Planet, including two Phobos craft in 1988, although none of those missions was completely successful. NASA's Mars Observer, set for launch in September of this year, will reach its destination in 1993. In 1994, the Russians will send Mars '94, which will be fol­ lowed two years later by Mars '96. These missions were planned before the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union, and before the US federal deficit came home to roost. There is now no approved Mars explo­ ration program in the US or Russia. Japan will launch Planet-B in 1996 (see page 12), but has no concrete plans to return The Mars Exp'lorer Mission low to mid-latitudes, to regions near the to Mars thereafter. President Bush has The Mars Explorer mission concept is di­ equator that are potential human landing made Mars the ultimate goal of his Space rected to preparing for human exploration sites. Using parachutes, the landers will Exploration Initiative, but, despite the of the Red Planet. The strategy of this approach the martian surface, imaging administration's efforts, SEI has found mission is analogous to that of the series the surface as they descend. About 100 little support. of Surveyors that were launched to the meters (300 feet) above the surface, the So, what can we do to continue the Moon as precursors to the Apollo land­ parachutes will be jettisoned and propul­ exploration of the Red Planet after Mars ings. The mission theme is human land­ sion stages will be activated. Thrusters Observer, Mars '94 and '96, and Planet-B? ing site reconnaissance, exploration and will fire, and about 1 meter (3 feet) above From the ferment of exploratory ideas characterization. the surface the vertical and horizontal has come a flurry of proposals for small, Our goals are to return high-quality velocities will be "nulled," allowing the inexpensive, but impressively "doable" images of likely human landing sites, spacecraft to make soft landings. missions. Billion-dollar missions like characterize the geology and mineralogy In this design, we plan to use a pro­ Viking are just not in the cards-for the of the sites, and prospect for subsurface pulsion stage, under development by the foreseeable future-but missions costing water. A key element of our design work Strategic Defense Initiative Office, that about $100 million are still possible. is to develop a low-cost approach to meet uses high-performance propellants and Many people and institutions have pro­ these goals. lightweight thrusters. posed small Mars missions, and we don't The baseline design assumes that four Upon command from Earth, the landers have room to cover them all. Here we spacecraft will be launched on a single will activate their science instruments. present two ideas from NASA's Ames Delta II launch vehicle in late November The scientific payload might consist of a Research Center. or early December of 1996. The solar­ multispectral panoramic camera, a neu­ 10 --Charlene M. Anderson powered landers will be targeted to the tron/gamma ray spectrometer and a UV- Far left: The presence of water on Mars is one reason for this planet's at­ traction for humans. From evidence such as the scars of extensive chan­ nels cut in its surface, we suspect that abundant liquid water once flowed across the Red Planet. Left: Frozen water is still abundant in the polar regions; at the north pole, it has formed a layered terrain that holds clues to the past climate of Mars. Images: JPUNASA

SLIM: Surface stroys organic compounds. Thus SLIM Lander Investi­ will address this and other scientific gation of Mars questions we need to answer before At Ames Research humans walk on Mars. Center we are study­ ing a modest mission The authors are aerospace engineers called Surface Lander at NASA's Ames Research Center in Investigation of Mountain View, California. Mars, or SLIM. This would be a single- ' probe mission to land, a simple scientific payload on Mars. It would be launched MESUR Pathfinder: in 1996. A Mission of Discovery SLIM will use many of the concepts ecognizing the budgetary constraints developed during Rnow placed on its ambitions, NASA studies for the Mars is developing a new program of robotic Left: At the Viking 1 Environmental Sur­ planetary exploration called Discovery. landing site, the space­ vey (MESUR) mis­ Missions in this program will cost no more craft even imaged water sion previously stud­ than $150 million and are to proceed from frost sprinkled across a landscape eerily similar ied at Ames. The approval to launch in three years. The first to that of Earth. To find spacecraft will be Mars mission to be proposed for the Dis­ water on Mars, perhaps launched piggyback covery program is the MESUR Pathfinder, hidden in permafrost, with another payload will be a prime objective an offshoot of the original Mars Environ­ of spacecraft scouting on a Delta II, a refur­ mental Survey (MESUR) mission. the planet for human bished Titan II or an MESUR would land 16 spacecraft at explorers. Ariane, Image: JPUNASA widely spaced locations around the Red In late June or Planet. This array of stations would mea­ early July of 1997, sure the atmosphere, analyze soils and the vehicle will enter rocks, track weather and seismic activity fluoresc~nce spectrometer. The landers Mars' atmosphere, targeted at a mid­ and conduct other experiments. The cur­ will not need a communications relay latitude site. At an altitude of about 8 rent hope is to launch the first group of on a Mars orbiter but will be able to to 10 kilometers (5 to 6 miles), the MESUR spacecraft in 1999. ' transmit their data directly to Earth. probe will deploy a parachute that will But MESUR will be expensive, perhaps Each lander will be equipped with separate the lander from the heat shield costing hundreds of millions of dollars be­ spring-deployable legs. During the and reduce the lander's descent rate to fore it completes its task. So mission plan­ cruise phase of the mission, these legs about 30 meters (100 feet) per second. ners have proposed the MESUR Pathfind­ will be folded to fit within a I.S-meter­ During descent, a camera will take a er, a single-spacecraft mission that should diameter cylindrical envelope. When series of nested images of its landing fit into the Discovery-class constraints. the legs are deployed, the landers will site, which it will later transmit to Earth. The MESUR Pathfinder would deposit sit about 0.75 meter above the ground. The probe will also take measurements a small lander on the martian surface, per­ After scientists have interpreted the of the upper atmosphere. The probe's haps carrying a microrover. The micro­ data from the landing sites, the landers impact will be softened by an inflatable rover could carry a small camera and one will be commanded to perform ballistic or crushable cushion. or two other scientific instruments. The hops of about 100 meters to nearby Once on Mars, it will image the sur­ lander itself might carry instruments to sites. That is, they will briefly fire their face, take meteorology measurements search for water ice beneath the martian propulsion stages to move from place and investigate the soil chemistry. It is surface and to measure the soil's toxicity. to place. They will gather more data at particularly important that we under­ NASA is planning to seek funding for each of the new sites. stand the martian soil chemistry before the MESUR Pathfinder in its 1994 budget. All the primary mission objectives attempting a human landing. The We will then see how Congress will react will be completed about four months Viking lander experiments indicated to the new Discovery program for plane- after the initial landing. that an oxidizing agent in the soil de- tary exploration. -CMA 11 Japan Sets Out to the Moon and Mars.

by Hitoshi Mizutani

he 1990s are shaping up to be eventful years.for the Japanese Tspace program. Building on the successful Hiten mission launched in 1990, in which a daughter satellite be­ came the fIrst terrestrial visitor to the Moon in 14 years, we are preparing for two major planetary missions-Lunar­ A, which will send penetrators to the j lunar surface, and Planet-B, which will go to Mars. First, a bit of background. We have two space agencies in Japan-the Insti­ In 1996 the Japanese plan to launch Lunar-A, which will carry three penetrators to the Moon. tute of Space and Astronautical Science Penetrators are particularly useful devices for examining a planetary body. They can take measurements beneath the sutfac;e, which is not possible with remote sensing instruments (lSAS), which is part of the Ministry of on orbiting spacecraft. The Lunar·A penetrators should help us better understand the nature Education, Science and Culture, and the and structure of the lunar interior. National Space Development Agency Paintings courtesy of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (NASDA), a division of the Science and Technology Agency. IS AS oversees the research and development of scientifIc satellites and their launch vehicles, and NASDA focuses on Earth-orbiting satel­ 1990, we succeeded in fIrst putting a capable of putting a 2-ton satellite into lites, such as weather and communica­ daughter satellite into lunar orbit from low Earth orbit, sending a 550-kilogram tion satellites, and their launch vehicles. the Hiten mother satellite, and then, us­ (I,200-pound) spacecraft to the Moon, Both agencies are coordinated by the ing a new gravity-assist technique called or a 350-kilogram (770-pound) package Space Activities Commission (SAC) of ballistic capture, inserting the Hiten itself to Venus or Mars. The M-V will really the Prime Minister's Office. into lunar orbit on February 15, 1992. give Japanese scientists a leg up in plan­ Since IS AS ' first launch of a satellite (See Edward Belbruno's "Through the etary research. into low Earth orbit in 1970, our space Fuzzy Boundary: A New Route to the The first M -V will launch in 1995, capabilities have steadily expanded. In Moon," in the May/June 1992 Planetary carrying Muses-B and its radio telescope 1985, our first two interplanetary space­ Report.) into space. This radio telescope will co­ craft joined Giotto from the European The next milestone for us is the de­ ordinate with Earth-based radio tele­ Space Agency (ESA) and the two Vega velopment of a new solid-fuel rocket, scopes, producing a dish with an effective spacecraft from Intercosmos on a mis­ the M-V. More powerful than its prede­ diameter of 20,000 kilometers (about 12 sion to study Halley's Comet. Then, in cessors, but modest in cost, the M-V is 12,400 miles). To the Lunar Surface in 1996 Our understand­ ing of the origin and evolution of the Moon is in­ complete; to flesh it out, we need more information. We need global geochemical and geophysical data, and we need to Both the United States and the Soviet Union have sent several missions to Mars, but none has been targeted to explore Its upper atmosphere. This will be the objective ofPlanet-B, to launch In 1996. Soviet craft detected what might be a know more about very weak magnetic field on Mars, aithough US craft found no such evidence. Planet-B could resolve this contradiction. the Moon's inter­ Even" Mars does have a weak magnetosphere, it is probably not extensive enough to protect the upper atmosphere nal constitution. from the effects of the solar wind, as Earth's powerful magnetosphere protects our atmosphere. Planet-B will let us In order to know what Is happening in the upper reaches of the martian atmosphere. achieve this goal, we plan to launch Lunar-A in early 1996. Its purpose is to place three penetrators at three the size of the lunar core and its prop­ it will relay its findings to Earth, giving different sites on the lunar surface. erties. us data on Mars' magnetic field, the With the Lunar-A spacecraft in orbit, composition and motion of the upper the penetrators, each carrying a seis­ Onward to Mars atmosphere, the surface temperature m6meter, a heat-flow probe, an ac­ The objective of the Planet-B mission and the interaction with the solar wind, celerometer and a tiltmeter, will be de­ to Mars, scheduled to launch in 1996 alQng with images of the martian sur­ ployed. Striking the Moon at 250 to following Lunar-A, is to study how the face and dust storms. 300 meters (about 800 to 1,000 feet) solar wind interacts with the thin mar­ per second, they will penetrate to a tian atmosphere. Because Mars has a Anticipating Future depth of 1 to 3 meters (about 3 to 10 very weak magnetic field, if any, there Enterprises , feet). Here, their seismometers will is no substantial magnetosphere to The missions that will follow Planet-B have good contact with the lunar soil, shield the martian atmosphere from the have not yet been officially approved. and the penetrator temperature will re­ "wind" of charged particles streaming We are studying several, and a Venus main constant. Heat-flow measure­ out from the Sun. Thus, the solar wind balloon, a comet coma sample return, ments-which the Apollo astronauts directly encounters Mars' atmosphere. an asteroid rendezvous, a Mars pene­ made by painstakingly drilling into the By sending a probe to study the upper trator and a Mars minirover are all surface-will also be possible at this atmosphere of Mars, we will be able possibilities. We are also interested in depth. to learn about the mechanism of this participating in international projects, The seismometers are extremely atmosphere-solar wind interaction, such as the Mars Environmental Sur­ sensitive and will record vibrations which in turn will help us understand vey Mission (MESUR) proposed by from meteorite impacts, shallow the dynamics and structure of its ter­ NASA. Since all these missions could moonquakes and repetitive deep restrial counterpart. significantly advance science, we hope moonquakes triggered by tidal stress. Planet-B's orbit will bring it as close that they will be undertaken during They have been designed to pick up as 150 kilometers (about 90 miles) this decade and the next. and identify waves from moonquakes from the surface, an ideal position for deep within the mantle, such as those its mission. Its onboard camera will Hitoshi Mizutani is a professor of picked up in Apollo seismic data. Ob­ provide information on global meteo­ planetary science at the Institute of servations of these deep quakes on rological conditions near the surface. Space and Astronautical Science. both the near side and far side of the Designed to operate for at least one He is the project scientist for the Moon will give us important data on martian year (about two Earth years), Lunar-A mission. 13 Small Missions to Asteroids: The

by Michael J.S. Belton

Asteroids are extremely hard to ob­ serve from Earth. In fact, we can only discover their existence when theyap­ nder a banner headline that pear as streaks against a background of pinpoint-like stars. This is the dis­ screams "Killer Asteroid Dooms covery photograph of asteroid 1992KD, UEarth," the journalist reports on a found by Eleanor "Glo" Helin and Ken deep split in the scientific community Lawrence on May 27,1992. It is only on what to do about asteroids that might one of the most recent in a string of discoveries in the Planet-Crossing one day strike Earth. The Stargazers Asteroid Survey supported by The want to step up efforts to find and study Planetary Society. the asteroids that pass through Earth's Photograph of 1992KD courtesy of Eleanor Helin neighborhood, whereas the Star War­ riors want to intercept and prepare to divert asteroids from dangerous orbits. With scientists unable to reach consen­ sus, what can be done? Not to worry. The world has finally discovered that the solar system harbors objects that directly affect people's lives and security. Unpredictable objects, perhaps 100 meters (about 300 feet) in diameter, capable of disrupting a na­ tion's fragile infrastructure, interrupting the productivity of agricultural lands, raising a tsunami or even wiping out a community- this is serious stuff. Why, it could affect me, my family, my The Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous space­ granddaughter! The Threat has finally craN will be a small but capable vehicle. It will been defined. Now, what can be done be powered by a solar array that can deliver about it? How do I buy insurance? 300 watts of power at twice Earth's distance Should the NEAR mission proposed by from the Sun. It will carry a camera to provide NASA be funded by Congress, it could take The answers to these questions are, detailed images of an asteroid and other in­ this path to rendezvous with the asteroid like the problem, enormously complex. struments to determine the composition of Nereus. With a little luck, aNer completing its To characterize the potential impactors, surface materials. Drawings: Applied Physics primary mission the spacecraN might also be an in-depth reconnaissance from space Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University able to fly by the asteroid van Albada. is essential. When a possible impactor is identified, we need to make an intelli­ gent response. In some cases we may vations with measurements taken in projects these would be exceptionally choose to do nothing, whereas in others space. A well-conceived program of low cost missions, and their implemen­ we may want to fragment the impactor. small space missions can provide the tation would present an enormous chal­ In still others, our only option may be basis for rational choices when The lenge to today's NASA and the to deflect the object toward a less sig­ Threat materializes. aerospace industry. nificant impact zone. The objects in question, which we What Kind of Program Why Small Missions call near-Earth objects (NEOs), follow Do We Need? Are Workable orbits about the Sun that periodically Small missions that are low in cost are One key to the feasibility of low-cost bring them close to our planet. Such an the logical choice, since we need lots of small missions is an inexpensive launch object might have the strength and them. Of the hundreds of NEOs, there vehicle that has just enough performance density of a metallic asteroid at one are a dozen or so classes we need to and accuracy to deliver a lO-kilogram extreme, and the friability and porosity characterize. A hundred missions would (22-pound) payload to the target. The of a dormant comet at the other. From be fine, one would be ridiculous, ten to Pegasus, recently flown by NASA and the ground it is hard to tell, for at pre­ twenty could suffice. It is affordable the Air Force, provides this. With an sent there is no easy telescopic way to and prudent to mount a program that off-the-shelf solid rocket upper stage, be sure of the bulk composition, struc­ consists of a launch once every one or Pegasus can deliver a 50-kilogram (110- tural integrity or mass of an object that two years and a total cost per mission pound) spacecraft to a wide selection of appears only as a point of light in the between $50 million and $100 million, NEOs in less than a year of flight time most powerful telescopes. We urgently including the launch vehicle and flight for about $10 million to $20 million. 14 need to calibrate our Earth-based obser- operations. By comparison with current The other essential ingredient for a ·;«,~~ ...,. .. .. ",.""~":'"!'«:;'~''' .. ',. '- . .,',r:r"f4" ::'~:"'-~":'" :, '.. ' -+.". " '::. ;'.:~'~': '.~ ,~:" ":, :.;.,;:.,~,~.,. ·~·t·'·· . -~~,. -.. ' r ,;' '. ~ "~'.~.. ~ . . - .'. Threat and Future Exploration l I

low-cost mission is organizational: It possible in the $30 million to $40 mil­ ble leams how to do what it may be called must have highly focused objectives and lion range. on to do when Earth is threatened by an be managed, developed and flown by a impact: It intercepts, and hits, Oljato. small principal investigator team with Two Possible Mission Formats A cloud of gas and dust from several the authority for the entire mission bud­ Let's speculate on what a mission to an hundred kilograms of material is vapor­ get committed up front. (This differs NEO would look like. On January 12, ized (Oljato itself barely notices the im­ from the current way of doing business, 1999, a Pegasus with a small spacecraft pact) and moves out into the surrounding with mission management spread out is dropped from the wing of an L-l 0 11 space. Some 30 minutes later it is sam­ among NASA centers and funding pro­ and launched toward the object 2201 pled and analyzed by the instruments vided on a year-to-year basis.) Oljato. on the companion NASA spacecraft. Alan Delamere of Ball Aerospace Six months later, the spacecraft ar­ Images of the object's surface taken by and I have found that there are people rives at its target. The payload, a com­ the camera on the Brilliant Pebble as it in the aerospace industry who already pact, high-resolution near-infrared and descended are transmitted back to the have wide experience with small space­ visible light camera, locks onto the tar­ NASA spacecraft. craft and instrument designs that make get. The onboard microprocessors se­ 50-kilogram systems feasible. Several quence the encounter, and the data are What We Stand to Gain spacecraft configurations are currently compressed and stored in a massive sol- There are many other benefits to society id-state memory. that would come with such a reconnais­ A few months lat­ sance program. Frequent launches will er, when condi­ obviously provide frequent access to Visit to a Nearby Asteroid tions are optimal, space, speeding up solar system explora­ the data are tion and promoting technical innovation he first asteroid mission to be considered under dumped through and creativity. The short mission times TNASA's new Discovery program, the Near-Earth NASA's Deep and the principal investigator team man­ Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), has just been awarded Space Network, a agement concept will provide a structure to the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins system of sensitive within which a flow of young scientists University. If Congress approves the plans for this mis­ receiving stations. and engineers can gain experience. sion, a spacecraft could reach the asteroid Nereus by Oljato has be­ Moreover, the knowledge returned January 2000. come a known will provide the basis for using NEOs NEAR is one of two missions being proposed for the object. Its surface as space resources in the human explo­ Discovery program, a new approach to planetary explo­ topography and ration of the solar system. If 2201 Oljato ration that would cap mission costs at $150 million each. chemistry are is a dead comet, as some have proposed, The other proposed mission is the MESUR Pathfmder to mapped and the it becomes an accessible, and almost in­ Mars. (See box, page 11.) evidence for the exhaustible, reservoir of water and other NEAR's target, Nereus, follows an orbit that closely processes that volatile materials. Tony Zuppero and approaches that of Earth, making it an easy target for a shaped its evolu­ others have pointed out that such a gold spacecraft. Mission plarmers are considering two possi­ tion becomes mine in near-Earth space would be an ble scenarios for NEAR: In one, the spacecraft would available for inexpensive source of rocket propellant spend a year flying alongside the asteroid; in the other, analysis. (steam rockets!) and, possibly, food and it would orbit it. Perhaps the construction materials for humans to use This asteroid is an old friend of Planetary Society mission would in space. members. It was discovered in February 1982 by Eleanor take another form. Why haven't we flown such small "Glo" Helin during the Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey. .on launch day, missions before? Part of the answer is As the first asteroid found after the Society began sup­ two spacecraft that the technology simply was not there porting this program, 1982DB (to use its discovery desig­ streak toward before the microelectronics revolution nation) held a special place in our hearts. When it was re­ Oljato. One is a of the last decade or the demonstration covered in September 1990 by Malcolm Hartley of the derivative of the of the Pegasus launch concept. The oth­ Anglo-Australian Observatory and Rob McNaught of the SDI "Brilliant er part of the answer is less flattering. University of Adelaide, the asteroid became eligible for a Pebble" concept Until now, small missions were simply name. (See the January/February 1991 Planetary Report.) of tiny but "smart" unthinkable. It is time to change the way To thank our members for their support, Glo asked spacecraft. The we've been operating for the past two them to help her name 1982DB. We received hundreds other carries a decades. Small can be beautiful. And of suggestions, and from them Glo chose "Nereus," after miniaturized mass­ extremely worthwhile. a benevolent sea god with the power of prophecy. spectrometer pay­ NASA will propose the NEAR mission to Congress load designed to Michael J.S. Belton is team leader of in its budget for 1994. How Congress reacts to the Dis­ identify the chemi­ the imaging experiment on the Galileo covery program of low-cost missions may determine the cal components of project to Jupiter and an astronomer path of planetary exploration for the next decade and a comet. At Oljato, at the National Optical Astronomy possibly beyond. -Charlene M. Anderson the Brilliant Peb- Observatories. 15 saac Asimov, one of the great explainers from the rings of Saturn to the arid wastelands of the age, died in New York City on of Mars. He wrote many science books for I April 6, 1992, at age 72. young people, and as editor of his own sci­ He was a member of The Planetary Soci­ ence fIction magazine he made efforts to en­ ety's Board of Advisors from the beginning. courage young writers. He lectured to our members, participated in His output was prodigious, approaching our functions and sent out membership solic­ 500 volumes, always in his characteristic itations on our behalf. Through his writings straightforward, plainspoken syntax. The he helped generate an intellectual climate that Science Fiction Writers of America voted his permitted the exploration of the solar system "Nightfall" the best science fIction short story and did much to communicate the wonders of "all time." He was a recipient of prizes of the planets. He was a true friend of The from the American Chemical Society and the Planetary Society, and we shall miss him. American Association for the Advancement He was born in Russia, just after the Revo­ of Science, and of more than a dozen hon­ lution, of Jewish parents (although he specu­ orary degrees from American colleges and lated that the name might be Islamic, mean­ universities. His interests were not restricted ing "son of Hassim," and have Uzbek roots). to science, and his books ranged broadly­ Emigrating to Brooklyn, New York, at age including two-volume guides to Shakespeare BY three, his early life revolved around his fa­ and the Bible, and a thick commentary on ther's candy store, where from the magazines Byron's Don Juan. Part of the reason his CARL on the shelves he taught himself to read and Foundation series on the decline of a galactic fIrst encountered science fIction. He received empire worked so well is that it was based on SAGAN a PhD in chemistry at Columbia University, a close reading of Gibbon's Decline and Fall became professor of biochemistry at Boston of the Roman Empire: A principal theme was University School of Medicine, and was co­ the effort to keep science alive as the Dark author of the text Biochemistry and Human Ages rolled in. Metabolism. But he became world famous for Asimov spoke out in favor of science and his work in science fiction and the popular­ reason and against pseudoscience and super­ ization of science. stition. He was a Founding Fellow of the Like T.H. Huxley, Asimov was motivated Committee for ScientifIc Investigation of by profoundly democratic impulses to com­ Claims of the Paranormal, and President of municate science to the public. "Science is the American Humanist Association. He too important," he said, paraphrasing was not afraid to criticize the United States Clemenceau, "to be left to the scientists." It government and was deeply committed to will never be known how many practicing stabilizing world population growth. scientists today, in how many countries, owe The microscopic probe he described in his their initial inspiration to a book, article, or novel Fantastic Voyage-which could enter short story by Isaac Asimov-nor how many the human bloodstream and repair tissue ordinary citizens are sympathetic to the scien­ damage-was unfortunately not yet available tifIc enterprise from the same cause. For ex­ at the time of his death. As someone born in ample, Marvin Minsky of the Massachusetts grinding poverty, and with a lifelong passion Institute of Technology, one of the pioneers to write and explain, Asimov by his own stan­ of artifIcial intelligence (and a Society advi­ dards led a successful and happy life. In one sor), was brought to his subject by Asimov's of his last books he wrote that "my life has robot stories (initially conceived to illustrate just about run its course and I don't really human/robot partnerships and to counter the expect to live much longer." However, he prevailing notion, going back to Franken­ went on, his love for his wife, psychiatrist stein, of robots as necessarily malign). At a Janet Jeppson, and hers for him, sustained time when science fIction was mainly devot­ him. "It's been a good life, and I am satisfIed ed to action and adventure, Asimov intro­ with it. So please don't worry about me." duced puzzle-solving schemes that taught I don't. Instead, I worry about the rest of science and thinking along the way. us, with no Isaac Asimov around to inspire A number of his phrases and ideas have the young to leaming and to science. insinuated themselves into the culture of sci­ ence-for example, his spare description of Carl Sagan is Professor ofAstronomy and the solar system as "four planets plus debris," Space Sciences and Director of the Laborato­ 16 or his notion of one day carrying icebergs ry for Planetary Studies at Cornell University. by Louis D. Friedman

WASHINGTON, DC-During their jump start in its planning for the Space week than they usually receive about all June 1992 summit meeting, George Exploration Initiative (SEI) and could space matters in a year. Our campaign Bush and Boris Yeltsin reached an boost its Mars exploration program­ was effective, so let's keep on demon­ agreement for their nations to cooperate specifically, the planned Mars Environ­ strating that there is popular support for in exploring space. In 1993, cosmonauts mental Survey (MESUR) mission. The planetary exploration. will fly on the space shuttle and astro­ ultimate goal of SEI is to land humans nauts will fly on Mir, according to the on the martian surface. WASHINGTON, DC-While Cassini new plan. Then, in 1994 or 1995, a shut­ The director general of the newly survived the congressional budget pro­ tle will dock with Mir and the nations formed Russian Space Agency, Yuri cess, two small, innovative missions to will together conduct medical experi­ Koptev, and Goldin also signed a $1 the Moon proposed by NASA's Office ments to prepare for human spaceflight. million contract covering the study of of Exploration were "zeroed out" of the As exciting as these prospects are, an­ the Soyuz spacecraft as a crew-return ve­ budget. The office had proposed a small other agreement of special interest to hicle for the US space station, an auto­ lunar orbiter and a lander as precursors Planetary Society members was made: mated rendezvous and docking system, to a human landin·g. The United States is considering the and life science experiments aboard Mir. purchase of one of the small stations that This summit marks a turning point in Louis D. Friedman is the Executive will land on Mars during the Russian Russian-American cooperation in Director o/The Planetary Society. Mars '94 mission. space. There is now a formal frame­ This purchase, for hard currency, will work for the joint ventures The Plane­ help stabilize the financial status of the tary Society has been advocating for so Mars '94 and '96 missions. The Mars long. Every one of us in the Society can Balloon and Mars Rover, in which the take pride in our efforts to move our vi­ Society is closely involved, are set for sion of the international exploration of launch on Mars '96. The US involve­ Mars closer to reality. ment will help ensure that this mission stays on schedule. WASHINGTON, DC-NASA's bud­ The Society played an active role in get for fiscal year 1993 is still tangled in fostering this opportunity for the two the congressional budget process. As I spacefaring nations to work together. write this, the authorization committees Each of the Society's officers met with in both the House of Representatives Daniel Goldin, the new NASA Adminis­ and the Senate have acted, as has the trator. In early May, our President, Carl House Appropriations Committee. The Sagan, urged cooperation with the Rus­ mission of greatest concern to Planetary sians in space. Society members, Cassini to Saturn and In late May, at the conclusion of our Titan, has survived. We are hopeful that Mars Rover tests, Goldin visited us in the full Congress, when it finally acts, Pasadena and was impressed with the will support the project. capability of the Russian team. He asked In a bold move, NASA and JPL took Society Vice President Bruce Murray the initiative and reduced the cost and about the possibility of working with the complexity of the Cassini mission be­ Russians on their Mars missions. Murray fore Congress acted on the budget. This suggested that the Russians were well action saved over $200 million and was along in the development of the small well received by the legislators. The cut­ .lander stations and might be willing to backs reduced the spacecraft's opera­ include NASA experiments on one dur­ tional flexibility and affected some ing the Mars '94 mission. planned science operations, but the Goldin then directed NASA engineers number and scope of the experiments and planners to consider the idea. The were not affected. timing fit well with the scheduled sum­ The grass-roots support demonstrated mit, and now a small NASA station on by Planetary Society members also the Mars '94 mission may be equipped helped Cassini through Congress. One to fly with US instruments. congressional staffer told us that they re­ . This small lander could give NASA a ceived more mail about Cassini in a ~T Q Human Explorers or Robots? What of the future? Individual scientists like Levy are be­ coming rare, as large scientific teams increasingly com­ l~ewS Ce .. mand expensive technological facilities. More and more tasks are being done by automated, computer-aided tech­ niques. The robotic exploration of the solar system is one of the most technologically sophisticated endeavors ever. Can Reviews there be a role for human beings? Assumptions underlying NASA's planetary exploration program are now being reex­ amined, including the long-standing controversy about whether space exploration should be conducted by human by Clark R.Chapman or robotic explorers. One might expect, in the face of declining planetary ex­ ploration budgets and recent successes in robotics and artifi­ cial intelligence, that the ever-Cheaper machines would be the way to go in the 21st century. Not so, according to plan­ etary geologist Paul Spudis, writing in the May/June issue of Sigma Xi's magazine, American Scientist. Although he finally calls for a rational mix of both robotic and human explorers, he maintains that human beings are necessary to conduct research on planetary surfaces, to install and repair equipment and to engage in the intelligent, interactive inter­ pretation of landscapes that has traditionally been the forte of the field geologist. His context is President Bush's Space ' ven as society faces global wanning, gene splicing Exploration Initiative (SEI). Despite a ho-hum reaction and computerized appliances, the public is increas­ from much of the public and Congress, SEI remains E ingly illiterate when it comes to science. Blame it on NASA's official goal. Spudis believes that returning astro­ the mass media or the educational crisis. It need not be that nauts to the Moon and then sending them on to Mars within way, for science is truly a human activity shaped by the as­ three decades would not only be high adventUre but would pirations of real people, capitalizing on personal strengths be good-indeed essential-for science as well. like creativity and passion to excel, and affected by all-too­ Spudis' case is one well worth reading. He recounts some human foibles. well-known successes of astronauts and recent disappoint­ ments in getting robots to duplicate some human capabili­ Comet Hunting ties. But his argument fails. It will always cost vastly more Comet hunter David Levy adeptly describes the human dra­ to keep human beings alive while they are on an interplane­ ma of science in the June issue of Smithsonian. He shares tary expedition, even more so as our society becomes ever the joys of both amateur and professional research and re­ . more averse to subjecting astronauts to high risks. minds us of the historical context of modem astronomy. Spudis mentions a difference in cost of a factor of 10 or Levy is a leading comet discoverer of our time, indeed of 20. One could make up for many past instrument failures by all time. Both at home in Arizona and on Palomar Mountain using the savings to build them so they don't need to be ad­ with Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker, comet discovery is justed or fixed, or to send a second if the first should fail. Levy's passion. He is gifted at sharing his enthusiasm for And lots of human intelligence can be employed while peo­ astronomy with laypersons, both in "public night" lectures ple sit comfortably back on Earth in Mission Control. at the local observatory and in articles in magazines like Apollo astronauts had few precious minutes to use their Smithsonian. brains for the creative interactive thinking that Spudis touts. According to Levy, one comet hunter valued these In any cost-constrained future program, time will continue denizens of the outer reaches of the solar system more than to be precious. Certainly, in the early decades of the next he valued his wife. Others sought comets in order to pay the century, robotics and artificial intelligence-assisted by hu­ rent. For· Levy, comet-hunting is a sporting event, a race man beings back on Earth-could be much more cost-effec­ against competitors in Massachusetts and Japan to sweep tive than astronauts in the scientific exploration of the planets. the skies as the Moon with its comet-hiding glare moves, In the end, however, Spudis is right. It won't be done that night by night, out of the way. Levy's most poignant story way .. Indeed, it shouldn't. The involvement of human be· about his pastime involves its role in prolonging his ings has always been central to science and exploration, and parental connections while his father, who had Alzheimer's it will continue to be that way. Perhaps it requires high ad­ disease, was dying. venture to get our creative juices really flowing. Space ex­ David Levy's discoveries occasionally benefit science, as ploration has been and will remain a human drama. when he and the Shoemakers independently discovered Robotics will increasingly aid us as we move out into space, two different-but physically related-comets, defining an just as personal computers invented only 15 years ago now event some 13,000 years ago when a parent comet split in dominate our offices and, increasingly, our homes. But two. More often than not, sOmeone else would have discov­ Mars will be visited by human explorers, sooner or later. ered Levy's comets had he chosen to watch television in­ stead of searching the skies for hundreds of hours between Clark R. Chapman, as a member of the Galileo imaging successes. Exceptional rewards emerging from the tedium team, has been studying the latest pictures of the asteroid 18 of hard work mark the lives of scientists, and of us all. Gaspra. event that will take place in Angeles. With his passing, The little Russian-built DOUBLE YOUR MONEY Washington, DC , on August The Planetary Society lost an rover performed wonderfully, You can double your dona­ 28, during the annual ASE inspirational director. The satisfying scientists and engi­ tions to The Planetary Society convention. space exploration community neers from Russia, France, if you work for a company The event will honor the lost one of its most effective Hungary and the US. On the that offers a matching gift 20 winners in the Society's leaders. And our world lost a rover's return from the desert, program. In such a program, H. Dudley Wright Interna­ visionary who worked tire­ NASA Administrator Daniel the company matches an em­ tional Student Contest. Soci­ lessly for a human future Goldin stopped by for a ployee's gift to a nonprofit ety President Carl Sagan and among the planets. demonstration of its capa­ organization, in effect dou­ Vice President Bruce Mur­ Tom joined the Society's bilities. bling its value. ray will be there to congratu­ Board of Directors in 1986 These field tests of a proto­ We thank the following late the winners personally, after decades of distinguished type spacecraft would not companies and their employ­ and Dr. Sagan will talk on leadership in high technolo­ have been possible without ees for matching donations in "Together to Mars." gy. His career was capped by the help of the Planetary So­ fiscal year 1991: American For information on tickets, service as administrator of ciety volunteers who donated Express, Arco, Avon, Black write to: ASE Event, c/o The NASA, which he headed in time and equipment to the & Decker, Boatmen's Trust, Planetary Society. -Susan 1969 during the Apollo 11 mis­ project. Boeing, CBIC (Contractors Lendroth, Manager of Events sion, when the first humans The Mars Team was joined Bonding and Insurance Com­ and Communications set foot on another world. in the field by 100 hardy pany), Citicorp, Cray Re­ In 1985, Tom was appoint­ members, who traveled to search, Digital Equipment, PLANETARY SOCIETY ed chairman of the National Death Valley to share the ex­ the Equitable Foundation, RECEIVES BEQUEST Commission on Space (the citement of preparing for Exxon, General Dynamics, Recently, The Planetary Soci­ Paine commission), a panel Mars. Illinois Tool Works, John ety received the final distri­ created by Congress to chart With the fieldwork com­ Hancock Financial Services, bution from the estate of Ver­ the United States' future pleted, the task of analyzing Johnson & Johnson, the John non Lynn. A lawyer from Las course in space. In 1990, he the collected data will now D. and Catherine T. Mac­ Vegas, Nevada, Mr. Lynn served on the Advisory begin. We will report the test Arthur Foundation, Micro­ joined The Planetary Society Committee on the Future of results in detail in the Novem­ soft, Monsanto, Morton Inter­ in 1988. Before his death in the US Space Program (the ber/December issue of The national, Olin, Pfizer, Pitney 1990, Mr. Lynn expressed Augustine committee), and Planetary Report. - CMA Bowes, PNC Financial Corp., his support for the Society in 1991, on the US Space Power Technologies, South­ by bequeathing to us the Policy Advisory Board. ern California Gas Company, bulk of his estate, which to­ Tom's achievements, in­ TRW, US West, the Wash­ taled around $120,000. fluence and vision are too ington Post and Westing­ As a nonprofit organiza­ broad to address properly in a KEEP IN TOUCH house. tion, The Planetary Society short obituary note. We will If you work for a company depends on the contributions devote the next issue of The Our mailing address: that offers a matching gift of our members; it's your Planetary Report to his life The Planetary Society program, make sure your do­ generosity that enables us to and the future he envisioned 65 N. Catalina Avenue nations are included in their continue our promotion of for the human species. Pasadena, CA 91106 program. -Lu Coffing, planetary exploration. We are --Charlene M. Anderson, Financial Manager grateful for Mr. Lynn's gen­ Director of Publications Call for an events calendar erous bequest and support of and Cassini update: JOIN THE SOCIETY The Planetary Society and MARS ROVER (818) 793-4294 AND SPACE EXPLORERS our goals. -Mitchell Bird, PROVES ITS METTLE IN WASHINGTON Production Editor The Planetary Society Mars General calls: There's still time to make Team has just returned from (818) 793-5100 plans to join The Planetary THE PLANETARY SOCIETY Death Valley, where for five Society and the world astro­ MOURNS THOMAS O. PAINE days we tested the capabili­ Sales calls ONLY: naut organization, the Associ­ On May 4, 1992, Planetary ties of the Mars Rover in (818) 793-1675 ation of Space Explorers Society Director Thomas O. some of the most forbidding (AS E) at an exciting public Paine died at his home in Los terrain on Earth. 19 saac Asimov is gone now, leaving a computers. Simple logic works, Asimov A I legacy of close to 500 books about reminds us, but it works better when it science fact as well as science fiction. In has better tools. this Guide to Earth and Space, Asimov As Asimov spins exotic theories using demonstrates that science begins by mundane facts, he drops such nuggets as asking the right questions. the derivation of familiar words. From Asimov's Guide consists of answers the Greek comes the word magnet, from to III of these especially well focused the city of Magnesia where Thales, in questions, such as, What makes the wind 550 BC, noted the attractive powers of blow? Is there life on the Moon? What lodestone toward iron. And spectrum, is SETI? Asimov's replies reveal an en­ Newton's reference to the way white cyclopedic familiarity with the history, light passing through a prism has a language and logic of science. In a tone ghostly look, comes from the Latin for: READERS' equally appropriate for a wise child or a "ghost." weary scientist, he moves from everyday The spectrum leads Asimov to the observations to scientific theory. spectral analysis of the elements, their He.uses Columbus' voyages, for ex­ "fingerprints" in light, and to the obser~ ample, to explain the wind. It seems that vation made early in this century that the SERVICE as Columbus set out, he picked up winds spectral "fingerprints" of carbon dioxide blowing steadily from the east that car­ were detectable on Venus and Mars. ried him swiftly across the Atlantic. This put to rest Aristotle's contention And when he was ready to return, he that Earth is fundamentally different sailed north where he found comple­ from the rest of the universe. mentary winds blowing from the west. On the contrary, Asimov reminds us, Vou have already demonstrated, as a Asimov tells us that the winds from the all of Earth and space is made up of the .1 member of The Planetary Society, east were later named the trade winds, same fundamental particles. With a nod your special interest in the exploration because they helped merchants move to SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial of the solar system and the search for ex­ their goods to distant markets. So far, so Intelligence (and perhaps an aside to traterrestriallife. By reading The Plane­ good. These winds seemed predictable. Aristotle), Asimov dismisses the possi­ tary Report, you've shown that you want The deployment of weather satellites in bility of there being anything more than to learn more about the science and ad­ our own time once held the promise that bacterial life on Mars and holds out lit­ venture of our voyages to other worlds. all weather could be foretold. But that's tle hope for finding life elsewhere in the So, to serve you better, we are instituting not what happened. At this point, Asi­ solar system. Human intelligence may a new feature in this magazine: A Plane­ mov transforms this simple narrative of be unique. But if another intelligence tary Readers' Service. early transatlantic travel into a short should pay us a call, it could do worse With this service, we will alert our message about chaos theory. The com­ than familiarize itself with Earth's readers to new and notable books about plexity of the weather characterizes a history and place in space by reading the planets and the people who study "deficiency in science and a limitation the words of Isaac Asimov. them, and we will make these books of human knowledge," which, Asimov -Reviewed by Bettyann Kevles available at the lowest possible prices. suggests, we may be better off simply Each title will be offeredfor six months, acknowledging. or three issues of The Planetary Report. As he moves from question to answer, To place your order, We will keep rotating our stock so that Asimov often traces the historical devel­ please send a check or the titles we offer are always fresh. opment of an idea, and sometimes he money order, made out When other publications are decreasing walks his reader through a practical so­ To to The Planetary Society, their column inches devoted to science lution. Take the question of the size and for the price of the book while their editorials decry scientific illit­ shape of Earth. We learn that in about plus $2.50 shipping and eracy, The Planetary Society has decided 240 BC the Greeks, who traded by sea, PLACE handling charge for the to buck the trend. We will offer our mem­ watched the sails on their ships disap­ US, Canada and Mexico, bers even more to read, and give you the pear beyond the horizon and suspected $5.00 for other coun­ chance to learn more about the worlds that Earth was a sphere. To measure its YOUR tries. Address your en­ around us. curvature then, the philosopher Eratos­ velope to: Planetary thenes (who was familiar with the newly ORDER: Readers' Service, 65 invented branch of mathematics known North Catalina Avenue, '- as trigonometry) erected two rods miles Pasadena, CA 91106. apart, one in the city of Syene, and one For faster service, in Alexandria on the 21st of June, the order by telephone with your Visa, Mas­ spring solstice. He then compared the terCard or American Express card. Call By Isaac Asimov; Random House, New slight differences in the angles of the 818-793-1675 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. York, 1991,285 pages. shadows they cast, and from this he Pacific time. Price for Planetary Society members: estimated that Earth at the equator is All books sent postpaid. Please aliow $17.95, plus $2.50 shipping and handling 8,000 miles in diameter. 4 to 6 weeks for delivny in the US, Cana­ charge for the United States, Canada and Eratosthenes reached this correct an­ da and Mexico, 12 weeks for delivery to 20 Mexico, $5.00 for other countries. swer without elaborate instruments or other countries. 0 l

Why can't we use an antenna on a cannot take a leading role, but for this What would our climate be like if spaceship to receive maser or laser kind of catalysis to occur, there must be Earth were not rotating? waves beamed from Earth or the a ground swell of grass-roots support to -Mario Labrecque, Saint Gervais, Moon, and convert these to electric stimulate the government. Quebec power for spacecraft propulsion? For monumental space technology Our climate would be very different! If -T.M. Morse, Mooresville, North projects like power beaming from Earth were not rotating at all, we would Carolina space to become feasible, the entire have six-month days and six-month Beamed power using Earth-based space program must be expanded by nights! If Earth rotated once per revolu­ lasers may be an innovative, cost-effec­ many orders of magnitude. Space tion (that is, once a year) as does the tive way to provide large amounts of transportation costs must be greatly Moon around Earth, we would have electrical energy to reduce space trans­ reduced. This would require funda­ eternal day in one hemisphere and eter­ portation costs, power large satellites mental changes in national and inter­ nal night in the other. The nights ide and develop a lunar base. national attitudes toward the use of might be one big glacier, and huge Current minimum transportation space. The potential for such changes winds might circulate between the day­ costs are at least $30,000 to lift 1 pound is driven by economic, environmen­ side and the nightside, as they do on from Earth to geosynchronous orbit and tal, political and social factors much slowly rotating Venus. $39,000 per pound from Earth to the more than by questions of technical What the weather would be like un­ Moon. Not only might beamed power feasibility. der those conditions is hard to imagine, for high-thrust electric propulsion -JOHN D.G. RATHER, NASA Head­ but it surely would not be pleasant. greatly reduce these costs, it could low­ quarters -JAMES D. BURKE, Technical Editor er the amount of mass (in the form of fuel) that must be transported to the Moon for a lunar base. Power beamed to the Moon could also pro­ vide a lower-cost source of electricity for initial One space power-beaming lunar base development. project envi· Because of these pos­ sionedby sibilities, NASA has NASA is called SELENE (for been pursuing research Space Laser on new lasers and optics Energy). In this with the objective of ma­ artist's concep· tion, a laser turing efficient and reli­ transmits 10 able new technologies and megawatts of lowering their costs for power into space via a future NASA missions. 10-meter te/e­ If large-scale space scope, which power beaming is ever to could correct . happen, it must beat the for atmospheric disturbances. competing energy op­ tions. It must be so eco­ nomically and environ­ mentally attractive that the key users and aero­ space technology pro­ ducers will support it and lobby for it. This is not to 21 say that the government ---- Note: All items ---- listed in our 1991 ---- catalogue or in ---- previous issues --- ofThe Planetary ---- Report are still Starsailing: Solar Sails and ---- available. To Interstellar Travel By Louis Friedman. The Executive ---- order, simply Director of The Planetary Society ---- refer to previous gives you an insider's report on the ---- listings to obtain imagination-stretching technology ---- order numbers, of solar sailing. 146 pages (soft ---- and include on cover) 1 lb. #157 $9,00 - --- the order form. The Starflight Handbook: A Pioneer's Guide to Interstellar Travel Mission to the Planets By Eugene Mallove and Gregory By Patrick Moore. The well·known Matloff. Leading space scientists astronomer and BBC commentator and engineers explore the relates what we've learned so far problems of interstellar travel. A from humankind's exploration of fascinating book, to be acquired if the solar system. 128 pages (soft only for the beautiful illustrations cover). 3 lb. #136 $22.50 of imagined future starships. 274 pages. 2 lb. #186 $18,00 Pathways to the Universe By Sir Francis Graham-Smith and Mission to Mars Sir Bernard Lovell. Learn how to By Apollo 11 astronaut and find your way around the sky using member of The Planetary Society binoculars, telescopes or the Board of Directors Michael Collins. Ow that you're dressed for action and ready to hit naked eye. Explore the frontiers of A concise and timely survey of the Nthe beach, you'll need a way to carry your supplies . modern astronomical research and United States space program and What better way than in a Planetary Society tote bag? Our durable canvas tote celebrates Earth with a photograph of the read a fascinating account of the a daring vision of our future in planet from low orbit. contrasting our atmosphere against a origin of life. 238 pages. space. 307 pages. black sky. Once you've arrived, stretch out and catch some 3 lb. #143 $22.50 2 lb. #135 $20,00 rays while you relax with a copy of Beyond the Blue Horizon, by E.C. Krupp. This is an extraordinary collection of folktales and myths relating to the cosmos, tracing humankind's fascination with the sky from ancient sacrifices up to today's spaceflights. 387 pages. Planetary Society Tote Bag 1 lb. #507 $14.00 Beyond the Blue Horizon 41b. #107 $31.50

The Case for Mars III, Strategies for Exploration Volume 1: General Interest and Overview From the political realities that might affect a Mars mission to preparations for medical emergencies on Mars. 750 pages (soft cover). 4 lb. #161 $20,00

The Case for Mars III, Strategies for Exploration Volume 2: Technical ntertain your friends and family with messages that are truly out of this All the numbers, and details on such diverse topics as a free-fall Eworld! Our set of 16 whimsical postcards lets you send vacation greetings from every planet in the solar system. Cartoon graphics present planetary facts in a recreation facility for an Earth/Mars crew shuttle, and the psychological humorpus fashion. problems long-term living in space might create. 650 pages (soft cover). You can compose your cosmic correspondence with one of our Planetary Society 3 lb. #162 $20.00 pencils. These bright, metallic-finish pencils are imprinted with the name of The Special Offer! Order Both Volumes (6 lb.) for Only $35.00! Planetary Society and come 10 to a package. And beat the heat while you're working on that warm afternoon with a glass of summer refreshment served in a Planetary Society mug. Our midnight-blue ceramic mug is adorned with an illustration in gold Astropilot of our logo's caravel silhouetted against a ringed planet This clear acrylic globe lets you locate the stars, planets or other Solar System Postcards 1 lb. #547 $8.00 celestial bodies at any time, from anywhere on Earth. Batteries not Planetary Society Pencils 1 lb. #675 $4.00 included. Planetary Society Mug 2 lb. #580 $7.00 Three Mugs (6Ib,) for $19.00 2 lb. #501 $28.00 hether you're heading to the beach or simply taking a stroll in the noonday sun, Wwhy not show your support for planetary science-and your good taste-with one of our exclusive T-shirts? Proudly display your membership by wearing our Planetary On Robot Wings- Society T-shirt, with its dramatic depiction of our logo's caravel sailing against an alien sky. Or express your support for the Mars Team. Our distinctive design shows the Mars A Flight Through the Solar System Balloon flying above the planet's surface, with The Planetary Society-designed SNAKE Take a trip to the outer reaches of the solar guide-rope attached. You can show how far you'll go to catch that perfect wave with our system-without leaving your living room. long-sleeve Surf Titan T-shirt. Is scuba your sport? Let your friends know you're ready to "Oive Europa." And if you tend to think of summer as simply a time between ski seasons, Produced by the Jet Propu lsion Laboratory to our Ski Mars T-shirt lets you show what's on your mind with a touch of humor. All shirts assist in the study of terrains, this collection of are 100% cotton and are available in sizes S, M, L, XL. six short video clips uses computer-generated Planetary Society T-Shirt 1 lb. #663 $14.00 graphics to simu late low-altitude flight through Mars Team T-Shirt 1 lb. #630 $14,00 Surf Titan T-Shirt 1 lb. #650 $18,00 three-dimensional landscapes. Approx. 35 min. Dive Europa T-Shirt rib. #568 $14,00 videocassette. 2 lb. Ski Mars T-Shirt 1 lb. #553 $14.00 VHS IUS) #420, PAL IVHS-Europe) #422 $25.00

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Planetary Report Binder Protect your copies of The Planetary Report while keeping them handy for future reference. his spring, The Planetary Our handsome blue-and-gold binder will hold Society's Mars Team of T two years' worth of issues. 2 lb. #545 scientists, engineers and volunteers from Russia, France, Hungary and $12.00 the United States tested the Special Offer! Order Two Binders capabilities of the Russian-built Mars Rover. which will be an integral part of the Mars '96 14 lb.) for Only $20.00! mission. Now you can show your support for this important project with the Society's newest T-shirt. Our 100% cotton T-shirt depicts the rover on a Mars-like terrain and lists The Planetary Society's name in English, French and Russian. Available in sizes S, M, L. XL. Purchase merchandise worth If T-shirts aren't quite your style, we also offer a smaller version of the design on a brightly $50.00 or more and receive a colored button or sticker. FREE Planetary Society pin!!! Mars Rover T-Shirt 1 lb. #532 $14.00 Mars Rover Button 1 lb. #533 $ 1.00 (Offer expires 9/30/92.) Mars Rover Sticker 1 lb. #534 $ 1.00

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Marilynn Flynn lives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and is pro­ ducing watercolors of the local desert landscapes that she'll then translate into paintings of Mars. Her work will be on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History this fall.

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