DOCSLIB.ORG

THE PLANETARY REPORT SEPTEMBER EQUINOX 2016 VOLUME 36, NUMBER 3 Planetary.Org

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE PLANETARY REPORT SEPTEMBER EQUINOX 2016 VOLUME 36, NUMBER 3 Planetary.Org THE PLANETARY REPORT SEPTEMBER EQUINOX 2016 VOLUME 36, NUMBER 3 planetary.org TREASURE TROVE NEW HORIZONS’ DISCOVERIES AT PLUTO MERCURIAN AND LUNAR ICES C MICROPHONES ON MARS C MEMBERS SOUND OFF Photo: United Launch Alliance Launch Alliance United Photo: Congratulations to the OSIRIS-REx team for a successful launch! Seen from below, the Atlas V carrying OSIRIS-REx sits atop the mobile launch platform at Cape Canaveral on September 6, 2016, the night before launch. CONTENTS SEPTEMBER EQUINOX 2016 Flight Ready 2 An insider’s view of OSIRIS-REx pre-launch. Cold Case 8 Matt Siegler investigates Mercurian and Lunar ices. COVER STORY 13 Pluto At Last New Horizons provides answers—and questions. DEVELOPMENTS IN SPACE SCIENCE Listening to Mars 20 Bruce Betts looks at microphones on Mars, and our names fly to an asteroid. ADVOCATING FOR SPACE A Statement for the Record 22 Casey Dreier shares how the Society contributes to space policy discussions on Capitol Hill. DEPARTMENTS 4 Your Place in Space Bill Nye on the Society’s long-term efforts. 6 Members’ Dialogue Space art and discussion of partisan politics. 12 What’s Up? Venus, the Geminids, and more. 19 Volunteer Spotlight Thinking globally, acting locally. ON THE COVER: It took decades. From the time a mission was just a gleam in scientists’ eyes, to the years of battling for funding, revising spacecraft designs, and, finally, justgetting there, the pot of gold New Horizons found at Pluto has been worth the wait. On July 14, 2015, just minutes after its closest approach, New Horizons took this beautiful image of Pluto. Illuminated by the Sun, Pluto’s complex atmospheric Photo: United Launch Alliance Launch Alliance United Photo: haze layers are visible, along with the southern portions of the informally named Sputnik Planitia at top of the globe. False color has been added to this view to resemble the approximate true color blue of the popular backlit Pluto image seen at planet.ly/blueskypluto. Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute CONTACT US The Planetary Report (ISSN 0736-3680) is published quarterly at the Editor DONNA E. STEVENS The Planetary Society editorial offices of The Planetary Society, 60 South Los Robles Avenue, Art Director LOREN A. ROBERTS for HEARKEN CREATIVE 60 South Los Robles Avenue Pasadena, CA 91101-2016, 626-793-5100. It is available to members of The Copy Editors AXN ASSOCIATES & KARL STULL Pasadena, CA 91101-2016 Planetary Society. Annual dues are $50 (U.S. dollars) for members in the Technical Editor JAMES D. BURKE General Calls: 626-793-5100 United States, as well as in Canada and other countries. Printed in USA. Science Editor BRUCE BETTS E-mail: [email protected] Third-class postage at Pasadena, California, and at an additional mailing Chief Operating Officer JENNIFER VAUGHN Internet: planetary.org office. Canada Post Agreement Number 87424. Director of Communications ERIN GREESON Viewpoints expressed in articles and editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent positions of The Planetary Society, its officers, or its advisers. © 2016 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. YOUR PLACE IN SPACE COFOUNDERS CARL SAGAN BILL NYE is chief executive 1934–1996 officer of The Planetary Society. BRUCE MURRAY 1931–2013 LOUIS D. FRIEDMAN Executive Director Emeritus BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chairman of the Board DANIEL T. GERACI Founder & co-CEO Arithmos Financial Innovations President JAMES BELL Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Longterm Efforts Pay Off Arizona State University Vice President Education and Exploration Take Time—And Persistence HEIDI HAMMEL Executive Vice President, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Chief Executive Officer BILL NYE Science Educator IN 2002, The Planetary Society partnered with as a Student Astronaut when Abby was in high Secretary C. WALLACE HOOSER LEGO and NASA to hold the Red Rover Goes to school. With all this in mind, we are working Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Texas Mars Student Astronaut contest. This program hard to engage science teachers and students Southwestern Medical School Treasurer gave young people an exciting opportunity so that the Society can help produce more LON LEVIN President and CEO to directly participate in the upcoming Mars GEOshare LLC G. SCOTT HUBBARD Exploration Rover mission—Spirit and Opportu- Professor, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, nity—which would launch in 2004. Today, I am Stanford University ALEXIS LIVANOS extremely proud to write that Abigail (Abby) Research Professor, Faculty Associate Fraeman, one of the sixteen winning Student Engineering & Applied Science, California Institute of Technology Astronauts, has been appointed deputy chief JOHN LOGSDON Professor Emeritus, Space Policy Institute, scientist on that very same mission! The invest- The George Washington University ment that our members made in young people ROBERT PICARDO Actor over a decade ago is now paying off in remark- BRITNEY SCHMIDT Assistant Professor able fashion. School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology In 1992, when my colleagues and I were BIJAL “BEE” THAKORE Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific, developing the Bill Nye the Science Guy show, Space Generation Advisory Council NEIL deGRASSE TYSON we met with some teachers and professional Astrophysicist and Director, Hayden Planetarium, educators who convinced us that your ele- space scientists and engineers. American Museum of Natural History mentary school years influence you forever. The OSIRIS-REx (Origins-Spectral-Identity- OSIRIS-REx FILLMORE WOOD Vice President and Regional Counsel, BP, retired It’s when you develop your lifelong passion Security-Regolith-Explorer) mission has suc- INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL for science. As the years have gone by, I’m cessfully launched from Cape Canaveral and is Society Planetary The Puzio photo: & Mike Nye Bill Terry; and Tim Joseph NASA/Sandy launch photo: ROGER-MAURICE BONNET Executive Director, International Space Science Institute convinced that this is true for just about any on its way to asteroid Bennu. Bruce Betts, our YASUNORI MATOGAWA profession, science especially. director of science and technology, has been Associate Executive Director, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The idea of an education program goes back involved with this mission since its inception. MAMORU MOHRI Director, National Museum to our founders, Bruce Murray and Carl Sagan. And Planetary Society member Mike Puzio of Emerging Science and Innovation RISTO PELLINEN As a board member, I heard Bruce describe the was only 8 years old when he came up with Director of Science in Space Research, Finnish Meteorological Institute work that he and his colleagues did to develop “Bennu,” his winning entry for our Name That ADVISORY COUNCIL curriculum materials that would be useful for Asteroid! contest. Mike’s choice of the winning BUZZ ALDRIN RICHARD BERENDZEN JACQUES BLAMONT teachers all over the world. And, of course, name was inspired by Bennu, the ancient ROBERT. D. BRAUN DAVID BRIN Carl insisted on teaching Astronomy 101 and Egyptian god known as the “bringer of life.” JAMES CANTRELL FRANKLIN CHANG-DIAZ 102 at Cornell University. He wanted to get to In his contest submission, Mike pointed out FRANK DRAKE OWEN GARRIOTT college-level students as soon as he could for that Bennu was the manifestation of the god GARRY E. HUNT BRUCE JAKOSKY Abigail Fraeman of Courtesy Photo: THOMAS D. JONES the same reason—to imbue them with a passion Osiris when he came back to Earth as a gray CHARLES E. KOHLHASE JR. LAURIE LESHIN for the cosmos during their college experi- heron. He said that the Touch-and-Go Sample JON LOMBERG ROSALY LOPES ence. My predecessor, Lou Friedman, worked Mechanism (TAGSAM) arm and solar panels HANS MARK BOB MCDONALD with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Los Angeles to on OSIRIS-REx look like the neck and wings JOHN MINOGUE JOHN RHYS-DAVIES KIM STANLEY ROBINSON inspire those kids to pursue a career in science. in drawings of Bennu. Several of us, including DONNA L. SHIRLEY PETE SLOSBERG And more recently, Emily Lakdawalla, our Michael, were present at the picture-perfect KEVIN STUBE LORNE TROTTIER award-winning journalist, worked with Abby launch on September 7. 4 THE PLANETARY REPORT C SEPTEMBER EQUINOX 2016 OPPOSITE PAGE Four of our 16 Student Astronauts: Wei Lin Tan, Abigail Fraeman, Shih- Han Chen, and One of the many major scientific discoveries Vignan Pattamatta, celebrate made in my lifetime is that an impactor—an Opportunity’s 2004 asteroid or comet, or group of such objects— Mars landing from finished off the ancient dinosaurs.OSIRIS-REx The Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ABOVE The Atlas V carrying NASA’s Osiris- REx spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral on September 7, 2016. Its target, asteroid Bennu, may hold clues to the origin of the solar system. BELOW LEFT On the day of OSIRIS- is part of the long-term effort to characterize tor a decade later, co-wrote the first article REx’s launch, Bill OSIRIS-REx and understand these celestial objects that are on a mission to Pluto that would appear in and Mike Puzio, leftovers from our solar system’s beginnings. this magazine. It was called “Pushing Back whose suggestion launch photo: NASA/Sandy Joseph and Tim Terry; Bill Nye & Mike Puzio photo: The Planetary Society Planetary The Puzio photo: & Mike Nye Bill Terry; and Tim Joseph NASA/Sandy launch photo: And it is another step in the ongoing work of the Frontier: A Mission to the Pluto-Charon of “Bennu” made readying us inhabitants of Earth to, one day, System.” Alan and The Planetary Society him winner of our deflect an incoming object. As a member, you championed, and fought for, a mission to Name That Asteroid! contest, meet the are helping us to support this mission, which Pluto for a long, long time.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Telling Time on Mars 41
    Telling Time on Mars 41 The InSight Lander will arrive at Mars on September 20, 2016 according to Earth Time, but when will it arrive according to Mars Time? One Earth Day is exactly 24 hours long, so that the time between two High Noons is exactly 24 hours. But Mars rotates a bit more slowly and by Earth units, one Mars Day (called a Sol) is 24 hours and 40 minutes long. This photo was taken by the NASA Phoenix Lander on Sol 90, which is Earth date August 25, 2008 The Curiosity Rover can only safely move during the Martian daytime. This is when scientists on Earth can use TV cameras to watch where the rover is traveling. The Martian day is 40 minutes longer then the Earth day. That means scientists have to move their work schedule forward by 40 minutes each Earth day to keep up with sunrise and sunset on Mars. The rover landed on August 5, 2012 at about 10:30 pm Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), which was defined as Sol 0 for this mission. All of the navigation is performed by Navigation Engineers working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Problem 1 - What time and date will it be on Earth on Sol 5? Problem 2 - Suppose that sunrise at the Curiosity lander happened on February 16, 2013 at 5:20 pm Pacific Standard Time (Sol 190 at 6:00 am Local Mars Time). A Navigation Engineer begins his work shift exactly at that moment. When will his shift have to start after 5 Sols have passed on Mars? Problem 3 – How many Sols have to elapse before his work shift once again starts at the same Earth time of 5:20 pm PST? Space Math http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov Answer Key 41 Mars Sunrise and Sunset Tables http://www.curiosityrover.com/sundata/ Problem 1 - What time and date will it be on Earth on Sol 5? Answer: This will be 5 x (1 day and 40 minutes) added to August 5 at 10:30 pm PDT.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Mars Architecture
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration Human Mars Architecture Tara Polsgrove NASA Human Mars Study Team 15th International Planetary Probe Workshop June 11, 2018 Space Policy Directive-1 “Lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities. Beginning with missions beyond low-Earth orbit, the United States will lead the return of humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations.” 2 EXPLORATION CAMPAIGN Gateway Initial ConfigurationLunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (Notional) Orion 4 5 A Brief History of Human Exploration Beyond LEO America at DPT / NEXT NASA Case the Threshold Constellation National Studies Program Lunar Review of Commission First Lunar Architecture U.S. Human on Space Outpost Team Spaceflight Plans Committee Pathways to Exploration Columbia Challenger 1980 1990 2000 2010 Bush 41 Bush 43 7kObama HAT/EMC MSC Speech Speech Speech Report of the 90-Day Study on Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars NASA’s Journey to National Aeronautics and November 1989 Global Leadership Space Administration Mars Exploration and 90-Day Study Mars Design Mars Design Roadmap America’s Reference Mars Design Reference Future in Reference Mission 1.0 Exploration Architecture Space Mission 3.0 System 5.0 Exploration Architecture Blueprint Study 6 Exploring the Mars Mission Design Tradespace • A myriad of choices define
    [Show full text]
  • Planetary Report Report
    The PLANETARYPLANETARY REPORT REPORT Volume XXIX Number 1 January/February 2009 Beyond The Moon From The Editor he Internet has transformed the way science is On the Cover: Tdone—even in the realm of “rocket science”— The United States has the opportunity to unify and inspire the and now anyone can make a real contribution, as world’s spacefaring nations to create a future brightened by long as you have the will to give your best. new goals, such as the human exploration of Mars and near- In this issue, you’ll read about a group of amateurs Earth asteroids. Inset: American astronaut Peggy A. Whitson who are helping professional researchers explore and Russian cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko try out training Mars online, encouraged by Mars Exploration versions of Russian Orlan spacesuits. Background: The High Rovers Project Scientist Steve Squyres and Plane- Resolution Camera on Mars Express took this snapshot of tary Society President Jim Bell (who is also head Candor Chasma, a valley in the northern part of Valles of the rovers’ Pancam team.) Marineris, on July 6, 2006. Images: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training This new Internet-enabled fun is not the first, Center. Background: ESA nor will it be the only, way people can participate in planetary exploration. The Planetary Society has been encouraging our members to contribute Background: their minds and energy to science since 1984, A dust storm blurs the sky above a volcanic caldera in this image when the Pallas Project helped to determine the taken by the Mars Color Imager on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shape of a main-belt asteroid.
    [Show full text]
  • The Water Traces on the Martian Moons and Structural Lineaments
    Flow folds of viscous ice-rock mixture in Phobos and Deimos(Martian moons) Pedram Aftabi * Introduction: Mars has two very small satellites called soil change to dry soils after few Phobos and Deimos( Hall 1887 reviewed in[7]) with minutes(subscribed).Therefore the ice rock mixture 22.2 and 12.6 km across respectively[15]which decreased in the volume and contracted in two type of surfaced by deposits[5]as a thick regolith or dust and the external shape as ellipsoid and the spherical(Fig4). with a significant interior ice or ice and rock mixture[8,4&6]. The small rocky moons of Mars, Deimos and Phobos, are irregular in shape and comparable in size to the asteroid Gaspra (Fig1[7]). Fig4-Shrinkage of the moon by evaporation of the ice matrix. Fig1-Martian moons Phobos,Deimos and the asteroid Gaspra(see b)spherical shrinkage c)ellipsoid shrinkage d)shrinkage folds in www.NASA.Gov). section2 of b e)shrinkage folds in the section3 of c compare to All Martian moons have irregular shapes(to ellipsoid), the primary phobos. F)The folds from top to the bottom in the upper most part of phobos. testament to their violent histories(Figs2&4). Their surfaces are distinctly different, most likely because of The PDMS 36[10] suggested for modeling viscous materials very different impact histories(Fig3 from like salt or ice [9, 1, 2&3]. Sand and PDMS mixture is good www.NASA.Gov).but the lines in this fig seen both in material for the simulations of the Ice and basalt articles in the phobos and Deimos[12,13]but presented sharp on the Martian moons[15].
    [Show full text]
  • The Planetary Report
    On the Cover: Volume XV Seen thro ugh eyes other than our own, the planet Earth Table of Number 3 appears as a stran ge but beautiful place. The Galilea spacecraft on its way to Jupiter took thi s image of West ' Contents 'May/June 1995 Africa and the Mediterranean Sea from about 600 ,000 kilometers (400,000 miles) away. The spacecraft's camera was looking through infrared filters sensitive to light wave­ lengths unfamiliar to the human eye. Images ta ken th is way provide information about things such as the location an d health of vegetati on an d the water conte nt of clouds. Features Basics of Galilea's portrai ts of the planet cou ld be valuabl e referen ce 14 Spaceflight: poi nts for future Earth-monitoring spacecraft. Phoenix Rises: (See page 10 for a complete caption.) Gravity Assist 4 NASA SETI Project Image: Pau l Geissler, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Over the years the term "gravity assist" Un ivers ity of Arizona Is Reborn has appeared time and again in our pages. Two years ago the congressional budget This ingenious technique has made many cutters took an ax to NASA's ambitious of our pioneering spacecraft missions pos­ program in the Search for Extraterrestrial sible. For example, the Galileo encounter Froln Intelligence. But dedicated researchers with Earth was part of a gravity-assist refused to give up, and they found a way to maneuver. It's a hard technique to explain, The save part of the program. Project Phoenix but here we lay it out for our readers.
    [Show full text]
  • An Artist's Collaboration with Astronomer Carl Sagan at UCSD, Jan
    Visualizing Science: An artist's collaboration with astronomer Carl Sagan at UCSD, Jan. 22 January 15, 1997 MEDIA ADVISORY EVENT: Visualizing Science: An Artist's Collaboration with Astronomer Carl Sagan DATE/TIME: 4:15 p.m.--5:30 p.m., Jan. 22, 1997 LOCATION: Peterson Hall, Rm. 108 University of California, San Diego BACKGROUND: Jon Lomberg, principal artistic collaborator to the late Carl Sagan for about a quarter century, will present some of his illustrations and artwork during a public lecture at UCSD honoring Sagan, who died last month. Lomberg will deliver the talk as a UC Regents' Lecturer sponsored by UCSD's Department of Psychology and The Laboratory for Applied Cognitive Research. Since the publication of "The Cosmic Connection" in 1972, Lomberg worked on virtually all of Sagan's projects to popularize science including most of his books, many of his magazine articles, the "nuclear winter" work, and the TV series "Cosmos," for which Lomberg won an Emmy Award for his work as chief artist. At the time of Sagan's death in December, Lomberg and Sagan were collaborating on the film version of Sagan's novel "Contact." In his talk, the artist will describe his work with Sagan, showing many examples of their work together and sharing personal recollections of the world-famous astronomer. Lomberg will deliver a second Regents lecture, "Messages Across Space and Time," from 4:15 p.m.--5:30 p.m., Jan. 29, Peterson Hall, Rm. 108. At this time, Lomberg will describe his role in the creation of four of the most unusual and long-lasting artifacts ever created by human beings, including NASA's Voyager Interstellar Record (for extraterrestrial beings far off the Milky Way).
    [Show full text]
  • Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment—RIMFAX
    Space Sci Rev (2020) 216:128 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00740-4 Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment—RIMFAX Svein-Erik Hamran1 · David A. Paige2 · Hans E.F. Amundsen3 · Tor Berger 4 · Sverre Brovoll4 · Lynn Carter5 · Leif Damsgård4 · Henning Dypvik1 · Jo Eide6 · Sigurd Eide1 · Rebecca Ghent7 · Øystein Helleren4 · Jack Kohler8 · Mike Mellon9 · Daniel C. Nunes10 · Dirk Plettemeier11 · Kathryn Rowe2 · Patrick Russell2 · Mats Jørgen Øyan4 Received: 15 May 2020 / Accepted: 25 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020 Abstract The Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) is a Ground Pen- etrating Radar on the Mars 2020 mission’s Perseverance rover, which is planned to land near a deltaic landform in Jezero crater. RIMFAX will add a new dimension to rover investiga- tions of Mars by providing the capability to image the shallow subsurface beneath the rover. The principal goals of the RIMFAX investigation are to image subsurface structure, and to provide information regarding subsurface composition. Data provided by RIMFAX will aid Perseverance’s mission to explore the ancient habitability of its field area and to select a set of promising geologic samples for analysis, caching, and eventual return to Earth. RIM- FAX is a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar, which transmits a signal swept through a range of frequencies, rather than a single wide-band pulse. The operating frequency range of 150–1200 MHz covers the typical frequencies of GPR used in geology. In general, the full bandwidth (with effective center frequency of 675 MHz) will be used for The Mars 2020 Mission Edited by Kenneth A.
    [Show full text]
  • Seeing Titan Mapping Saturn’S Moon with Infrared Technology Jason W
    the art + science of seeing volume 2 issue 4 Cosmos Gl mpse vol 2.4 Cosmos 4 2 issue volume Glimpse is an interdisciplinary journal that examines the functions, processes, and effects of vision and the art vision’s implications for being, knowing and constructing our world(s). Each theme-focused journal issue + features articles, visual spreads, interviews and seeing of science reviews spanning the physical sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. TM TM CONTENTS The Cosmos Issue 11 UNBERÜHRTES MUSTER 24 MAYA ETHNOASTRONOMY Arto Vaun Susan Milbrath EXPLORING MARS AND THE MOON DIMMING THE LIGHTS 38 12 USING GOOGLE EARTH Astronomy and light pollution Ross A. Beyer Scott Kardel 52 THE USE OF COLOR 18 WHAT THE WISE MEN SAW IN INTERSTELLAR MESSAGE DESIGN IN THE SKY Kimberly A. Jameson & Jon Lomberg Michael R. Molnar 61 SEEING TITAN Mapping Saturn’s moon with infrared technology Jason W. Barnes 68 RETROSPECT: 1880-1911 Carolyn Arcabascio 70 RETROSPECT: 1757 Gl mpse 71 SEEING THE UNIVERSE online THE COSMOS THROUGH A STRAW ISSUE PLAYLIST The Hubble Space Telescope Christie Marie Bielmeier 81 $25 MILLION A RIDE A real view of space tourism C.J. Wallington 84 (RE)VIEWS A Trip to the Moon & Moon Ivy Moylan TM JASON W. BARNES ORS Jason W. Barnes is an assistant professor of physics at the University of Idaho. After T growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, he received a BS degree in Astronomy from Caltech in BU I 1998 and a Ph.D. in Planetary Science from R the University of Arizona in 2004. Prior to T starting at the University of Idaho he worked as a postdoc for the Kepler mission at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
    [Show full text]
  • Remixing the Voyager Interstellar Record Or, As Extraterrestrials Might Listen
    Journal of Sonic Studies 8 (2014) Sounds of Space: http://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/109536/109537 Remixing the Voyager Interstellar Record Or, As Extraterrestrials Might Listen Stefan Helmreich Contextualizing the Context In 2010, scientists claiming to belong to a dissenting faction of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) contacted Seeland Records. Calling themselves the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in Exile, or SETI-X, the group claimed to have received an alien transmission of rearranged sound from the Voyager Golden Record, a phonograph album famously sent into outer space in 1977 on each of NASA’s two Voyager spacecraft (Figure 1). The Golden Record had been put together in the mid-1970s by a panel convened by astronomer Carl Sagan, and it held a program of sounds and music of Earth, representing to imagined aliens our planet’s soundscapes, voices, and musical traditions. [1] Figure 1: The Voyager Golden Record. Side 1, on left, is the analog audio program. Side 2, on right, instructions to extraterrestrials on how to play the record. [2] 1 Because the scientists of SETI-X wished to remain anonymous, Seeland sought a public voice or commentator from other quarters. Because the label had in 2003 released a CD I had created, Xerophonics: Copying Machine Music, a science- and-technology themed mix of sounds of indefinite ownership (Helmreich 2003), and because I had also written about scientific notions of extraterrestrial life (Helmreich 2006), Seeland reasoned that I might be appropriately positioned to offer thoughts on the SETI-X document. They asked me to comment, which I did in a few venues (including, among other sites, the Los Angeles Daily News [Mills 2010].
    [Show full text]
  • Mars Pathfinder
    NASA Facts National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 91109 Mars Pathfinder Mars Pathfinder was the first completed mission events, ending in a touchdown which left all systems in NASAs Discovery Program of low-cost, rapidly intact. developed planetary missions with highly focused sci- The landing site, an ancient flood plain in Mars ence goals. With a development time of only three northern hemisphere known as Ares Vallis, is among years and a total cost of $265 million, Pathfinder was the rockiest parts of Mars. It was chosen because sci- originally designed entists believed it to as a technology be a relatively safe demonstration of a surface to land on way to deliver an and one which con- instrumented lander tained a wide vari- and a free-ranging ety of rocks robotic rover to the deposited during a surface of the red catastrophic flood. planet. Pathfinder In the event early in not only accom- Mars history, sci- plished this goal but entists believe that also returned an the flood plain was unprecedented cut by a volume of amount of data and water the size of outlived its primary North Americas design life. Great Lakes in Pathfinder used about two weeks. an innovative The lander, for- method of directly mally named the entering the Carl Sagan Martian atmos- Memorial Station phere, assisted by a following its suc- parachute to slow cessful touchdown, its descent through and the rover, the thin Martian atmosphere and a giant system of named Sojourner after American civil rights crusader airbags to cushion the impact.
    [Show full text]
  • Ann Druyan from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Ann Druyan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ann Druyan (/ˈdri.æn/ DREE-an;[1] born June 13, 1949) is an Emmy Award-winning American writer and Peabody Ann Druyan Award-winning producer specializing in the communication of science. She co-wrote the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos, hosted by Carl Sagan, whom she married in 1981. She is the creator, producer, and writer of the 2014 sequel, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. She was the Creative Director of NASA's Voyager Interstellar Message Project, the golden discs affixed to both the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft.[2] Contents 1 Early life 2 Career as an author 3 Work in science 4 Work in film and television Ann Druyan, executive producer and writer of 5 Activism COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey, accepts the 6 Honors Peabody with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Mitchell 7 Religious and philosophical views Cannold and Brannon Braga. 8 Awards 9 See also Born June 13, 1949 10 References Queens, New York, U.S. 11 External links Known for Author, activist, producer Spouse(s) Carl Sagan (1981–1996; his death) Early life Children Alexandra Rachel "Sasha" Druyan Sagan (1982) Samuel Democritus Druyan Sagan Druyan was born in Queens, New York, the daughter of Pearl A. (née Goldsmith) and Harry Druyan, who co-owned a (1991) knitware firm.[3][4][5] Career as an author Druyan's first novel, A Famous Broken Heart, was published in 1977. Druyan co-wrote six New York Times best-sellers with Carl Sagan, including: Comet,[6] Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors,[7] and The Demon-Haunted World.[8][9] She is co-author, along with Carl Sagan, F.
    [Show full text]
  • Mars Rover Opportunity Working at 'Matijevic Hill' Site 30 September 2012
    Mars rover Opportunity working at 'Matijevic Hill' site 30 September 2012 reminiscent of, but different from, the iron-rich spheres nicknamed "blueberries" at the rover's landing site nearly 22 driving miles ago (35 kilometers). The small spheres at Matijevic Hill have different composition and internal structure. Opportunity's science team is evaluating a range of possibilities for how they formed. The spheres are up to about an eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) in diameter. The "blueberries" found earlier are concretions formed by the action of mineral-laden water inside rocks, but that is only one of the ways nature can make small, rounded particles. One working hypothesis, out of several, is that the new-found spherules are also concretions but with a different Rock fins up to about 1 foot (30 centimeters) tall composition. Others include that they may be dominate this scene from the panoramic camera accretionary lapilli formed in volcanic ash eruptions, (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The component images were taken during impact spherules formed in impact events, or the 3,058th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on devitrification spherules resulting from formation of Mars (Aug. 23, 2012). The view spans an area of terrain crystals from formerly melted material. There are about 30 feet (9 meters) wide. Orbital investigation of the other possibilities, too. area has identified a possibility of clay minerals in this area of the Cape York segment of the western rim of "Right now we have multiple working hypotheses, Endeavour Crater. The view combines exposures taken and each hypothesis makes certain predictions through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 about things like what the spherules are made of nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and and how they are distributed," said Opportunity's 432 nanometers (violet).
    [Show full text]