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THE PLANETARY REPORT DECEMBER SOLSTICE 2013 VOLUME 33, NUMBER 4 planetary.org 10 YEARS ON MARS THE MAGIC BEHIND THE MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS CONTACT US The Planetary Society 85 South Grand Avenue Pasadena, CA 91105-1602 General Calls: 626-793-5100 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: planetary.org MURRAY RIDGE FOLD-OUT C THE YEAR IN PICTURES C A PLANETVAC MILESTONE CORRECTED FOLD FOR SPECIAL COVER CONTENTS DECEMBER SOLSTICE 2013 Murray Ridge Panorama 2 A special fold-out cover showcasing Mars’ Murray Ridge. COVER STORY 7 The Year in Pictures Emily Lakdawalla serves up some of 2013’s most significant. The Magic of MER 13 A.J.S. Rayl looks inside the MER missions’ success. Planetary Dirt Sampling Success 20 Bruce Betts reports on the Society-sponsored PlanetVac. ADVOCATING FOR SPACE 22 A Shift in the Wind Casey Dreier gives us an update. DEPARTMENTS 4 Your Place in Space Bill Nye looks back at a busy year. 6 Planetary Radio Online radio + exciting topics. 6 On Planetary.org A feast of space news coverage. 21 What’s Up? Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. 23 MySky From Orange County, California. ON THE COVER: In this sunset view from sol 2847 (January 27, 2012), Opportunity gazed backward toward the distant peaks of Endeavour crater’s far rim. The setting Sun casts very long shadows from the low-standing ridge on which the rover stands. In fact, Opportunity’s own shadow is visible as a blurry speck atop the ridge’s shadow. To read more about how this image was processed, go to bit.ly/1i3qgl5. Image: NASA/JPL/Cornell University/Arizona State University/Don Davis CONTACT US The Planetary Report (ISSN 0736-3680) is published quarterly at the editorial Editor JENNIFER VAUGHN The Planetary Society offices of The Planetary Society, 85 South Grand Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91105-1602, Senior Editor DONNA ESCANDON STEVENS 85 South Grand Avenue 626-793-5100. It is available to members of The Planetary Society. Annual dues in Art Director LOREN A. ROBERTS for HEARKEN CREATIVE Pasadena, CA 91105-1602 the United States are $37 (U.S. dollars); in Canada, $40 (Canadian dollars). Dues Copy Editor AXN ASSOCIATES General Calls: 626-793-5100 in other countries are $57 (U.S. dollars). Printed in USA. Third-class postage at Technical Editor JAMES D. BURKE E-mail: [email protected] Pasadena, California, and at an additional mailing office. Canada Post Agreement Science Editor BRUCE BETTS Internet: planetary.org Number 87424. Viewpoints expressed in columns and editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent positions of The Planetary Society, its officers, or its advisers. © 2014 by The Planetary Society. All Rights Reserved. The Planetary Society and The Planetary Report: Registered Trademarks ® The Planetary Society. Planetary Radio and Planetfest™ The Planetary Society. CORRECTED TRIM FOR SPECIAL COVER Murray Ridge In October 2013, Opportunity paused Caltech, where he ushered hundreds “experiment” for which he lobbied at the base of Solander Point and of students into the fields of planetary hard. Now Opportunity is in large part focused its stereo panoramic camera science and geology. using imaging to help us understand eyes. Murray Ridge filled the frame He drew much of his exploration in- the geologic history of this part of the and seemed to touch the sky. The ridge spiration from Captain James Cook, the Red Planet, enabling scientists to make (shown here in false color) rises ma- British explorer who sailed the seas of the first true comparisons of ancient jestically, and is named for Planetary Earth in search of new lands in the mid- Martian and Earth environments. Society Cofounder Bruce Murray, who 1700s. The MER team named Endeav- It is a tribute as endearing as it is will always be affectionately known our Crater after HMS Endeavour, the fitting, for here, on and around Murray by many as the Admiral of the Solar British Navy research vessel that Cook Ridge, Opportunity will write the next System. There’s a beautiful nuance or helmed on his first voyage of discovery chapter in the legendary book of the two in the christening. in the Pacific Ocean.HMS Endeavour MERs. Before the Martian winter takes Murray was among the first genera- took Cook to parts then unknown; hold, the rover will follow Murray Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU tion of cosmic explorers and a pioneer likewise, Endeavour Crater is the MERs’ Ridge to the south, where orbital data in planetary imaging and comparative “ship,” carrying the mission back in indicate there is a pot of scientific gold planetology. He later served as director geologic time to environs unknown. waiting to be found: clay minerals and of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL) Murray worked out the geologic more evidence of past flowing water— during the golden age of planetary history of Mars using photographs more of what the MERs came to Mars exploration, and as a professor at taken by Mariner 4 in 1965, an to find a decade ago. —A.J.S. Rayl CORRECTED FOLD FOR SPECIAL COVER Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU Murray Image Library THE PLANETARY SOCIETY’s Bruce has helped us understand our own Murray Space Image Library is an planet as one of many. outstanding memorial to Bruce and These spectacular images of other a tribute to his legacy. Perhaps more worlds—ancient rivers on Mars; storms than anyone, he was responsible on Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune; ice for the development of imaging as cracks on Europa; lakes on Titan; vol- a key part of planetary exploration. canoes on Io; and much more—have The spacecraft images we now have— captured the hearts and imaginations close looks at all the planets, scores of the public, and created a yearning of moons, as well as asteroids and for further planetary adventures. comets—have profoundly altered the Bruce said he wanted “to be remem- way we view our own world. bered as an explorer and as a teacher.” Bruce literally wrote the textbook The Space Image Library will honor on terrestrial planets (Earthlike that wish. Together with Carl Sagan, Planets: Surfaces of Mercury, Venus, Bruce recognized the importance Earth, Moon, Mars with Michael and significance of planetary explora- C. Malin and Ronald Greeley, 1981). tion. As they joined together to create His analysis of images from these The Planetary Society, they set us on bodies, coupled with his work as a a course to explore new worlds. And, terrestrial geologist, gave us the field for all who use it, we hope his Image of comparative planetology, which Library will do the same. —Louis D. Friedman, Cofounder and Executive Director Emeritus, The Planetary Society YOUR PLACE IN SPACE COFOUNDERS BILL NYE CARL SAGAN is chief executive 1934–1996 officer of The Planetary Society. BRUCE MURRAY 1931–2013 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chairman of the Board DAN GERACI Chief Executive Officer, IronAge Consulting Corporation A Sharpened Focus President JAMES BELL Your Society is Moving Forward Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University Vice President HEIDI HAMMEL Executive Vice President, Association of THE WINTER SOLSTICE in the Northern Bruce is credited as the man who insisted Universities for Research in Astronomy Hemisphere has come, giving us a chance to that a camera be carried onboard spacecraft, Chief Executive Officer BILL NYE reflect on our progress these last few months. starting with Mariner 4 in 1964. Science Educator Thanks to you, our Society is growing in Because of Bruce’s insight and vision with LOUIS D. FRIEDMAN Cofounder numbers and in influence. We have a great regard to images, we have created the Bruce Secretary C. WALLACE HOOSER many new members: welcome and thanks Murray Space Image Library (see page 3). I Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School for your support. think of Bruce every day. It was an honor to G. SCOTT HUBBARD In the last few months we’ve refined our work with him. He changed the world. Professor, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, vision and our mission and crafted new state- Stanford University ments to express them. Our vision is that one CARL SAGAN’S LEGACY Treasurer LON LEVIN day we want everyone everywhere to “know November was also the month when Carl SkySevenVentures ALEXIS LIVANOS the cosmos and our place within it.” Sagan and his widow Ann Druyan had their Research Professor, Viterbi School of Engineering, Although I’ve been a Member of our writings and notes archived in the United University of Southern California Society for 33 years (tempus fugit), I would States Library of Congress. There was a won- JOHN LOGSDON Professor Emeritus, Space Policy Institute, be the first to admit that our mission has derful ceremony held in the library’s vener- The George Washington University always been broad and, well, a mouthful. I able main building in Washington, D.C. The BIJAL “BEE” THAKORE Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific, often explained that we “seek other worlds event was hosted by Seth MacFarlane, who Space Generation Advisory Council and other life.” For me, our mission has hosted the Oscars and came to fame through NEIL deGRASSE TYSON Astrophysicist and Director, always been to explore and see where the his animated television series Family Guy. He Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History journey leads. has become close with the Sagan family, as FILLMORE WOOD Vice President and Regional Counsel, Over the last few months, we honed this he is a science enthusiast and an executive BP, retired feeling into a mission statement that I feel producer of the twenty-first century version INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ROGER-MAURICE BONNET really expresses what we’re all driving at: of the television series Cosmos, which will Executive Director, International Space Science Institute “Empowering citizens of Earth to advance have a great many references to Carl and will YASUNORI MATOGAWA space science and exploration.” These be hosted by our own Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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  • Mars Rover Opportunity Trekking Toward More Layers 7 June 2013, by Guy Webster

    Mars Rover Opportunity Trekking Toward More Layers 7 June 2013, by Guy Webster

    Mars rover Opportunity trekking toward more layers 7 June 2013, by Guy Webster for the mission. Solander Point also offers plenty of ground that is tilted toward the north, which is favorable for the solar-powered rover to stay active and mobile through the coming Martian southern-hemisphere winter. "We're heading to a 15-degree north-facing slope with a goal of getting there well before winter," said John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., project manager for the Mars Exploration Rover Project. The minimum-sunshine days of this sixth Martian winter for Opportunity will come in February 2014. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project launched twin rovers in 2003: Spirit on June 10 and Opportunity on July 7. Both rovers landed in NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its January 2004, completed three-month prime panoramic camera (Pancam) to acquire this view of missions and began years of bonus, extended "Solander Point" during the mission's 3,325th Martian day, or sol (June 1, 2013). Credit: NASA/JPL- missions. Both found evidence of wet environments Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ on ancient Mars. Spirit ceased operations during its fourth Martian winter, in 2010. Opportunity shows symptoms of aging, such as loss of motion in some joints, but continues to accomplish groundbreaking (Phys.org) —Approaching its 10th anniversary of exploration and science. leaving Earth, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is on the move again, trekking to a new study area still many weeks away. The destination, called "Solander Point," offers Opportunity access to a much taller stack of geological layering than the area where the rover has worked for the past 20 months, called "Cape York." Both areas are raised segments of the western rim of Endeavour Crater, which is about 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.