THE PLANETARY REPORT JUNE SOLSTICE 2016 VOLUME 36, NUMBER 2 Planetary.Org
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THE PLANETARY REPORT JUNE SOLSTICE 2016 VOLUME 36, NUMBER 2 planetary.org ILLUMINATING CERES DAWN SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON AN ENIGMATIC WORLD BREAKTHROUGH STARSHOT C LIGHTSAIL 2 TEST C MEMBERSHIP UPGRADES SNAPSHOTS FROM SPACE EMILY STEWART LAKDAWALLA blogs at planetary.org/blog. Black Sands of Mars ON SOL 1192 (December 13, 2015), Curiosity approached the side of Namib, a Faccin and Marco Bonora Image: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Elisabetta massive barchan sand dune. Namib belongs to a field of currently active dark basaltic sand dunes that form a long barrier between the rover and the tantalizing rocks of Mount Sharp. This view, processed by Elisabetta Bonora and Marco Faccin, features wind-carved yardangs (crests or ridges ) of Mount Sharp in the background. After taking this set of photos, Curiosity went on to sample sand from the dune, and it is now working its way through a gap in the dune field on the way to the mountain. —Emily Stewart Lakdawalla SEE MORE AMATEUR-PROCESSED SPACE IMAGES planetary.org/amateur SEE MORE EVERY DAY! planetary.org/blogs 2 THE PLANETARY REPORT C JUNE SOLSTICE 2016 CONTENTS JUNE SOLSTICE 2016 COVER STORY Unveiling Ceres 6 Simone Marchi on why Ceres is a scientific treasure chest for Dawn. Pathway to the Stars Looking back at years of Society-led solar sail 10 development as Breakthrough Starshot is announced. Life, the Universe, and Everything 13 Planetary Radio in Death Valley. ADVOCATING FOR SPACE Partisan Peril 18 Casey Dreier looks at the U.S. President’s impact on space policy and legislation. DEVELOPMENTS IN SPACE SCIENCE Update on LightSail 2 20 Bruce Betts details the progress we’ve made in the year since LightSail 1 launched. We’re Building a Movement! 22 Richard Chute announces our new membership levels. DEPARTMENTS 2 Snapshots From Space Mars’ dark basaltic Namib sand dunes. Bill Nye on 4 Your Place in Space Image: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Elisabetta Bonora and Marco Faccin and Marco Bonora Image: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Elisabetta how the Society leads the way. 15 What’s Up? The Perseid meteor shower and more. 16 Happening on Planetary Radio 16 On Planetary.org 17 Volunteer Spotlight Kate Howells applauds the Society’s amazing volunteers in Washington, D.C. ON THE COVER: Ceres—the largest body between Mars and Jupiter—once defied categorization regarding its true nature. Is it a star, a planet, an asteroid, or a comet? Although scientists would eventually settle on “dwarf planet,” Dawn’s arrival will help us begin to understand Ceres. This enhanced-color close-up of Haulani crater shows smooth material and a central ridge on its floor, as well as evidence of landslides from its rim. The rays of bluish ejecta surrounding the crater indicate freshly exposed material. Haulani is 34 kilometers (21 miles) in diameter. Dawn captured this image from 1,470 kilometers (915 miles) above the surface. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Emily Lakdawalla 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 Editor AXN ASSOCIATES 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 Future Forward Arithmos Financial Innovations President Society Policy and Technology Efforts Lead the Way JAMES BELL Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University Vice President HEIDI HAMMEL Executive Vice President, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy AMONG THE MANY THINGS that have always our policy analysts. Chief Executive Officer fascinated me about the Society, and about Presuming that our robotic spacecraft can BILL NYE Science Educator my job especially, is to sit in a lecture hall, a accomplish the reconnaissance we will need Secretary C. WALLACE HOOSER conference room, or a restaurant with a group to support such a mission, there are many Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Texas of people who talk about going to Mars—I mean people in the Mars exploration community Southwestern Medical School Treasurer for real. These are the scientists, engineers, who very much want to send astronauts to LON LEVIN President and CEO and scholars who work on the real costs and the surface of Mars. So the next day, a few of GEOshare LLC G. SCOTT HUBBARD schedules for sending spacecraft and people us attended the Humans to Mars Summit at Professor, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, to our nearby planetary neighbor. George Washington University. There were Stanford University ALEXIS LIVANOS From the start, the Society has supported several presentations and panels of experts Research Professor, Faculty Associate the robotic exploration of the solar system. on human spaceflight and Mars. Some, such Engineering & Applied Science, California Institute of Technology Our complex robots enable us to know about as Buzz Aldrin, were very ambitious, sug- JOHN LOGSDON Professor Emeritus, Space Policy Institute, Earth’s neighbors and to compare our world gesting that we need an enormous increase The George Washington University to all the others out there. I have yet to not be in the U.S. federal budget to enable NASA ROBERT PICARDO Actor astonished at how far away even our closest to produce the vehicles and deep-space BRITNEY SCHMIDT Assistant Professor planetary neighbors are. As space explorers, habitats that will be required. Others sug- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology we do not have the means to send humans to gested that costs can be managed best with BIJAL “BEE” THAKORE Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific, distant worlds; at least, not yet. Instead, we a coordinated international consortium of Space Generation Advisory Council NEIL deGRASSE TYSON send our best robots, such as rovers to Mars or space agencies and contractors. Fundamen- Astrophysicist and Director, Hayden Planetarium, a sample-capturing system to asteroid Bennu. tally, everyone there wanted to send people American Museum of Natural History By the time you are reading this, Juno will have to Mars. Everyone there agreed that sooner FILLMORE WOOD Vice President and Regional Counsel, BP, retired arrived at Jupiter to study its core and weather. is better than later in this regard. INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL You can follow Juno’s progress at planetary.org. And we’re continuing the conversation, ROGER-MAURICE BONNET Executive Director, International Space Science Institute bringing more groups in, with more credible YASUNORI MATOGAWA LEADING THE WAY IN WASHINGTON possibilities. Our Humans Orbiting Mars Associate Executive Director, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Recently, several members of the staff and I report (published last year) inspired some MAMORU MOHRI Director, National Museum went to Washington, D.C. For a full day, we met of the best minds at Lockheed Martin. This of Emerging Science and Innovation RISTO PELLINEN with people from Congress. We showed them year the Lockheed Martin team presented a Director of Science in Space Research, Finnish Meteorological Institute the value of planetary science and exploration. scheme to put humans in orbit around Mars ADVISORY COUNCIL We expounded upon the remarkable discoveries in 2028. It would be three Earth–Mars orbital BUZZ ALDRIN RICHARD BERENDZEN JACQUES BLAMONT that no doubt await us on Mars and Europa. The opportunities sooner than the JPL study team’s ROBERT. D. BRAUN DAVID BRIN discovery of life out there would affect the way plan (which we featured at our workshop). JAMES CANTRELL FRANKLIN CHANG-DIAZ everyone on Earth feels about our place in space. But—here’s the inspirational aspect of the FRANK DRAKE OWEN GARRIOTT We explained the big idea: send robotic space- presentation—we are like-minded, and we GARRY E. HUNT BRUCE JAKOSKY THOMAS D. JONES craft first, then humans can follow. That evening, are reaching a consensus. The Mars explo- CHARLES E. KOHLHASE JR. LAURIE LESHIN the Society held a gathering of members and ration community is starting to home in on JON LOMBERG Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech ROSALY LOPES supporters at the Mott House, only a block from a feasible, executable exploration architec- HANS MARK BOB MCDONALD the Capitol. We celebrated getting the budget for ture. People are agreeing with and seeing the JOHN MINOGUE JOHN RHYS-DAVIES KIM STANLEY ROBINSON Planetary Science to its highest level in decades. wisdom in orbiting Mars before attempting DONNA L. SHIRLEY PETE SLOSBERG Overall we are more effective than ever, thanks to land the many tons of equipment needed KEVIN STUBE LORNE TROTTIER to your strong support and the good work of to support astronauts on its surface. We can 4 THE PLANETARY REPORT C JUNE SOLSTICE 2016 evaluate hardware, astronauts, vehicles, and methods to avoid contaminating the place, without trying to do it all in one trip.