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The Planetary Report The Volume XVII 01) the Cover: "Fantastically weird" slipped out as geologist Jim Head Table of Number 2 described the latest Galileo images of Euro~a. Thi ~ is one March/April1997 of the most enigmatic worlds yet seen by spacecraft, and Contents the closer we look, the stranger it gets. It may possess an ocean beneath a water-ice crust, perhaps hiding a potential habitat for life. Here we show the moon as it appeared from 677,000 ki lometers (420,000 miles) away last September during Galileo's flyby of Gany mede. At left is a false-color Features image, with contrasts enhanced to bring out compositional Waltzing by Mathilde: differences in the primarily ice crust. At right is a natural­ 4 NEAR's First Asteroid Encounter color image, showing Europa as it might appear to an Asteroids aren't the most glamorous objects in the solar system, but they contain crucial observer riding the spacecraft. Images: JPUNASA clues to the origin and evolution of our planetary family. Plus, those that pass through Earth 's neighborhood pose a distinct threat to the future evolution of some life-forms on this planet. On its way to explore the tiny world Eros, the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft is preparing to encounter another small object with great potential, Mathilde. Froln 9 Farevvell, Pioneer The The Voyagers' flights through the outer solar system may have been more thrilling, and the CaWeo mission to the Jupiter system will produce more data, but both these missions Editor depended for their success on the first spacecraft to blaze a trail to the outer solar system: Pioneer 10. That hardy little craft, still operating after 25 years, will soon fall silent­ a victim of budget cuts, not the rigors of space. he theme has pervaded the space Tprogram since its birth, some­ 10 Weird and Wonderful: times playing softly in the background, Europa Keeps Her Secrets other times forcefully dominating So far we have conclusive evidence of a global ocean on only one world-Earth. But missions and programs. That theme is, Jupiter's moon Europa has tantalized scientists with hints that it, too, may possess large of course, life in the universe. With bodies of liquid water, even if they are hidden beneath an icy shroud. Calileo has sent us CaWeo circling closer and closer to the best images yet of this weird little world, but as yet there is no way to know for certain Europa, spll,cecraft flying to Mars, and if there is a Europan ocean. powerful telescopes finding more and Sagan's Fire: more planets around other stars, the 14 A Nevv Challenge theme is once again g~ining power. The Planetary Society faces a future filled with challenge and opportunity. Bruce Murray, NASA has committed to extending Acting President, and Louis D. Friedman, Executive Director, ask your help in guiding the CaWeo's funding to cover the Europa Society to the best of all possible futures. Extended Mission, in the hopes of determining if an ocean lies beneath its icy surface. Both NASA and the Departlnents National Science Foundation are encouraging research to determine if 3 Men1lbers' Dialogue the meteorite ALH84001 does hold traces of ancient Martian life. Returning 15 World Watch a sample of Mars to Earth has gained priority in NASA's plans for the next 16 Basics of Spaceflight century. And questions concerning 18 Nevvs and Revievvs extrasolar planets have shifted from "Do they exist?" to "Which ones 1 9 Society Nevvs might support life?" This is a time of fantastic opportu­ 20 Questions and Ansvvers nity for the Planetary Society to reach an increasingly receptive audience with our message. The only way to find life on other worlds is to explore Contact Us them. It's our job to make that happen. --Charlene M. Anderson Mailing Addres s: The Plan etary SOC iety, 65 North Catalina Aven ue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301 General Calls: 818-793-5100 Sales Calls Only: 818-793-1675 E-mail: tps @mars .planetary.org World Wide Web Home Page : http ://p lanetary.org /tps/ The Planetary Report (ISSN 0736-3680) is published bimonthly al the editorial oHices of the Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301,818-793-5100. II is available to members of the Planetary Society. Annual dues in the US are $25 (US dollars); in Canada, $35 (Canadian dollars). Dues in other countries are $45 (US dollars). Printed in USA. Third-class postage at Pasadena, California, and at an additional mailing office. Canada Post Agreement Number 87424 A ..... ... '" , Editor, CHARLENE M. ANDERSON Technical Editor, JAMES D. BURKE ~ Assistant Editor, DONNA ESCANDON STEVENS Copy Editor, KARL STULL THE-PL.A~TfRV SOCIETY Production Editor, WILLIAM MCGOVERN Art Director, BARBARA S. SMITH Editorial Assistant, JENNIFER VAUGHN o .~ -e- ¢ -e- 0 ViewPoints expre ssed in columns or editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent pOSitions of the Planetary Society, • its officers, or advisors. © 1997 by the Planetary Society. o .---------------------------IF-===========~~~--~~~---=========······==~----·------·---- Co-f'ounder CARL SAGAN Members' 1934· 1996 Board of Directors BRUCE MURRAY Dialogue Vice Presi dent Professor of Planetary Science, california Institute of Technology LOUIS D. FRIEOMAN Executive Director NORMAN R. AUGUSTI NE PreSident, Lockheed Martin Corporation JOSEPH RYAN Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Marriott International STEVEN SPIELBERG director and producer LAUREL L WILKENING Chancelfor, University of California, Irvine Another option? a desire to be rid of the endless tion award to Project BETA (see Board of Advisors Soon after hearing about the government bureaucracies the November/December 1996 DIANE ACKERMAN demise ofthe Mars '96 mission involved in space exploration. Members' Dialogue) is a remind­ poet and author BUZZ AL DR IN I realized that the microdot But I believe that privatization er to us all of the best humanity Apu lia 11 astronaut RICHARD BERENOZEN with Planetary Society members' will replace the endless govern­ has to offer and why, eventually, educator and astrophysicist names was lost too, and I was ment problems with endless we may be worthy representatives JACQUES BLAMONT Chief Scientist, Centre National saddened even further. I urge business problems. of our planet in whatever commu­ d'Etudes Spatia/es, France the Society to approach NASA I think government involve­ nity the universe has to offer. RAY BRADBURY poet and author with a proposal to refly the lost ment at this time is good. This --EVAN MALONE, ARTH UR C. CLARKE microdot and the Visions of allows the motives to be set Philadelphia, Pennsylvania author CORNELIS DE JAGER Mars CD-ROM on the 1998 more by people than by profit. Professor of Space Research, The Aslronomicallnstitute at Utrecht, Mars Surveyor lander mission. A private company is under no Praise the Netherlands The opportunity to have one's obligation to listen to voters. It Thank you for existing-for FRANK DRAKE Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, name fly to the Red Planet on a would pay more heed to markets remaining a strong voice, always University of California, Santa Cruz JOHN GARDNER robotic explorer is a very roman­ and backers. A government-sup­ informing and enlightening the founder, Common Cause tic notion indeed. I hope that you ported J1rivate company could public about the many wonders MARC GARN EAU will soon be approaching NASA turn its attention from survival of our solar system and beyond. Canadian astronaut GEORG IY GDLlTSYN to suggest the inclusion of these and business to what people in I appreciate the fact that the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences important "payloads." general are interested in doing. Society has spoken to those in THEODORE M, HESBURGH President Emeritus, --JOEL W POWELL, But such a company is no longer our government to ensure that University of Notre Dame Calgary, Alberta, Canada free from government or private they are made aware of the great SHIRLEY M. HUFSTEDLER bureaucracies. importance of such experiments educator and jurist GARRY E. HUNT It is too late and probably tech­ Things should stay as they as the Mars Balloon. I thank your space SCientist, United Kingdom nically impossible to put Visions are until it's more reasonable for organization, Louis Friedman, SERG EI KAPITSA fnstitute for Physical Problems, of Mars on the 1998 Mars private citizens to undertake and Carl Sagan for your contin­ Russian Academy of Sciences GEN. DONALD J. KUTYN A (RET.) Surveyor lander. That mission businesses involved with being ued hard work and for sharing it former Commander, US Space Command has very tight weight and volume m space. with those who are interested. JOHN M, LOGSDON Director, Space Policy Institute, constraints. The CD also con­ -PAUL RICHMAN, - SHAWNA MERLIN George Washington University tains material particular to Mars Vancouver, British Columbia, BURCH, Boise, Idaho HANS MARK The University of Texas at Austin '96 and should be changed to fly Canada JAMES MICHENER on another mission. The small NASA's Budget author MARVIN MI NSKY stations, on which were mounted Inspiration Regarding the issue of spending Toshiba Professor of Media Ans and SCiences, the CD and the special Society Although I am frequently struck NASA's money on social pro­ Massachusetts Institute of Technology label with the radiation recorder with awe by the photographs jects rather than on space explo­ PHILIP MORRISON Institute Professor, and our members' names, is being presented in your magazine and ration, consider this: if Queen Massachusetts Insti(ute of Technology PAUL NEWMAN considered for flight in 2001 as often moved by the wonderful Isabella had taken the money actor part of "Mars Together." We will example of cooperative effort she gave Christopher Columbus JUN NISHI MURA former Director General, certainly discuss this with NASA between the public and profes­ and invested it in social projects Institute of Space and Astronautical SCience, Japan sionals (and even policy-makers) and the Russian Space Agency instead, just imagine the utopia SALLY RIOE Professor of Physics, as an idea for Mars landers in that the Planetary Society repre­ Spain would be today.
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