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The Planetary Report Page 23 -Help Design a Mars Rover­ Planetary Society A Publication of THEPLANE~ SOCIETY o o • o -e ¢ 0 0 Board of Directors FROIVI THE CARL SAGAN BRUCE MURRAY EDITOR President Vice President Director. Laboratory for Planetary Professor of Planetary Studies, Cornell University Science, California InsUtute of Technology LOUIS FRIEDMAN Executive Director HENRY TANNER California Institute THOMAS O. PAINE of Technology s we go to press, the Phobos 2 space­ proach to Earth provided opportunities to Former Administrator; NASA Chairman, National JOSEPH RYAN A craft is orbiting Mars, preparing to ren­ re-examine its familiar face, and to recall Commission on Space O'Mefveny & Myers dezvous with the moon Phobos. This com­ the work of earlier observers. Board of Advisors plex craft will send two landers to Phobos' Page 13 -The Concept of Extraterres­ DIANE ACKERMAN JOHN M. LOGSDON surface, irradiate it with a laser to measure trial Intelligence: An Emerging Cosmol­ poet and author Director. Space Policy Institute George Washington University its composition and conduct many other ogy?-Is the search for extraterrestrial in­ ISAAC ASIMOV author HANS MARK experiments that should greatly expand our telligence a truly scientifIc endeavor or an Chancellor. RICHARD BERENDZEN University of Texas System understanding of this strange, asteroid-like exercise in metaphysics? A new cosmology, President, American University JAMES MICHENER satellite. JACQUES BLAMONT aurhor based on centuries of thinking about the Scientific Consultant, Centre National dEludes Spa/isles, MARVIN MINSKY As our readers know, Phobos is the fIrst universe, may be unfolding as we search for France Donner Professor of Science. Massachusetts Institute mission in an ambitious Soviet program to signs of other civilizations. RAY BRADBURY of Technology poet and author explore the Red Planet. Mission planners Page IS-World Watch-Should human­ PHILIP MORRISON ARTHUR C. CLARKE Institute Professor, Massachusetts are hard at work on a Mars '94 mission that ity set its sights on Mars? For the past few author Institute of Technology may carry balloon probes partly designed years The Planetary Society has worked CORNELIS DE JAGER PAUL NEWMAN Professor of Space Research, actor by The Planetary Society (see the Septem­ hard to convince sometimes skeptical gov­ The Astronomical Institute at Utrecht, The Netherlands BERNARD M. OLIVER ber/October 1988 Planetary Report). A ernment agencies that setting the goal of Chief. SETI Program. FRANK DRAKE NASA/Ames Research Center rover/sample return mission may follow lat­ a human landing on the Red Planet could Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UniverSIty of SALLY RIDE er in the decade. Soviet space leaders make lend direction and purpose to our endeav­ California al Santa Cruz former astronaut no secret of their desire to send humans to ors in space. The effort is beginning to LEE A. DUBRIDGE ROALD Z. SAGOEEV former presidential Institute for Space Research. Mars, preferably in a joint mission, early in payoff. science advisor Academy of Sciences of the USSR the next century. This has been the goal of Page 20-Lunar Polar Explorers-If JOHN GARDNER founder, Common Cause HARRISON H. SCHMITI Soviet dreamers since the early decades of there is water ice hidden among the nooks former US Senator. NM THEODORE M. HESBURGH and former astronaut this century, when rocket pioneer Kon­ and crannies of craters near the Moon's President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame LEWIS THOMAS stantin Tsiolkovsky fIrst visualized travel poles, then lunar settlement may be easier Chancellor. Memorial Sloan SHIRLEY M. HUFSTEDLER Kettering Cancer Center between our planet and Mars. and more profItable that we now think it educator and jurist JAMES VAN ALLEN The Phobos mission is bringing Tsiol­ could be. The Planetary Society has studied GARRY E. HUNT Professor of Physics, space scientist, . United Kingdom University of lowa kovsky's dream one step closer to reality. the possibilities of "cheap, quick" missions We will keep you up-to-date as the mission to search for that water. progresses, and when the science results Page 22-Society Notes-We bring you have been analyzed, you can look forward more news of Planetary Society activities. t~~~~:6ffi~~ ~~~:ftr~~if.~I~ ~1~~:X::~~e~1 Pasadena. CA 91106, (818) 793-5100. II is available 10 members of The to a special issue of The Planetary Report Page 23 -Help Design a Mars Rover­ Planetary Society. Annual dues are $20 in the US, $25 in Canada, and $30 outside the US Of Canada. with all the discoveries. The Soviet Union and its spacefaring part­ Editor. CHARLENE M. ANDERSON; In this issue you'll read about: ners are planning a Mars mission with a Technical Editor. JAMES D. BURKE; Assistant Editor. DONNA STEVENS; Page 3 -Members' Dialogue-The surface-roving lander. You may be able to Copy Editor. SUSAN JUNDANIAN; Moon, the space station, Mars, the Search help design it. Art Director. BARBARA SMITH for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)­ Page 24-News & Reviews-In this era of Viewpoints expressed in columns or editorials are those of the authors and ~ ~~i~~S~S:~~8~b~e~~I~i~~~ ~::'Ianetary Society, its officers where should we be directing our advanced tight budgets an easy place to cut spending In Canada. Second Class Mail Registration Number 9567 technologies? And what should be the moti­ is scientifIc research and analysis. The plan­ vation behind our exploration-profIt, sci­ etary science community has been particu­ ence, adventure, safeguarding earth? larly hard hit. C;OVER: Comets are frequent visitors to the Page 4-Comets: Mementos of Crea­ Page 26 -Funding Planetary Science: skies of Earth. Since we reside in the Inner tion-These small, frozen bodies may be A National Perspective-Planetary explo­ solar system, as these small bodies of ice remnants of the birth of our solar system. ration is a national program, just one of a and dust pass us by they are heated by the Sun and pummeled by the solar wind, By studying comets we seek a window into kaleidoscope of endeavors supported by sometimes forming spectacular tails that our own past and a greater understanding of the United States government. can stretch out millions of miles behind the universe around us. Page 28-Q & A-Life and lunar tides, them. Comets may be clumps of maner left Page IO-Changing Views of Mars­ planetesimals and protoplanets, atmospheric over from the creation of the solar system, Telescopic observers have been watching pressure and winds are dealt with in this so by studying them we learn about our own origins. Seen here Is Comet Ikeya-Seki, the variable face of Mars for the last few edition of "Q & A." which graced our skies in 1965. centuries. The planet's recent close ap- -Charlene M. Anderson Photograph: Science Graphics ------------- ------ NEWS BRIEFS NASA and the National As leaders of a membership organization, The Planetary Society's Directors and staff care Oceanic and Atmospheric about and are influenced by our members' opinions, suggestions and ideas about the future Administration launched an of the space program and of The Planetary Society. We encourage members to write us and airborne expedition to study create a dialogue with us on topics relating to the planetary program, such as the space sta­ ozone loss in the Arctic. Last tion, the lunar base and the exploration ofMars. Send your letters to: Members' Dialogue, The Planetary Society, 65 N. Catalina Avenue, year scientists were disturbed Pasadena, CA 91106. to fmd that the Arctic also has elevated levels of the same chlorine compounds that are responsible for the ozone hole In spite of all the stirring words and fervent appeals to our sense of adventure, I'm not very over Antarctica. inspired by the prospect of further exploration of the Moon or Mars. It seems irresponsible The project sent aircraft to even think of extending our attitudes and actions to other worlds when we are so thought­ into the stratosphere over the lessly in the process of destroying our own, not to mention the enormous expense and un­ Arctic polar vortex, a region certain return. around the North pole that On the other hand, a greatly increased commitment to SET! would be inspiring. If suc­ becomes isolated from the rest cessful, it would be far more than a giant leap for mankind; it would be a new existence of Earth's atmosphere during with our horizons instantly extended to the limits of the galaxy. We need to analyze and a two-month period each win­ overcome our doubts, even fears, of success and failure and understand that contact and ter. Ozone depletion is not communication is the very essence of development for all forms of life. How much expected to be as bad in the progress could there have been in the history oflife on Earth, particularly intelligent life, Arctic, partially because without it? The stakes are high and the results could be traumatic, but now that we have Antarctica's vortex lasts for the technical capability, SET! is the only reasonable way forward for the human race. five months instead of two. SUSAN SALAMAN, Cambridge, England -from Breck W. Henderson in Aviation Week & Space May I express my thanks, and, I am sure, that of millions of others in the United Kingdom Technology and throughout the world for the way the American people have not only paid for the ex­ ploration of space but have also shared with the rest of us so much of the excitement and Dr. John V. Atanasoff, father the breathtaking pictures of the planets and their satellites. of the modem electronic Those of us in nations who cannot contribute to this enterprise really do appreciate the computer, has been honored way the American people have shared with us the results of this endeavor whilst taking by Bulgarian astronomers the cost entirely to themselves.
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