A Publication 01 THEPLANE~ SOCIETY

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Board of Directors FROIVI THE CARL SAGAN BRUC E MURRAY EDITOR President Vice President Director. Laboratory for Planetary Professor of Planetary Studies, Cornell University Science, California Institute of Technology LOUIS FRIEDMAN Executive Director JOSEPH RYAN O'Melveny & Myers MICHAEL COLLINS Apollo 11 astronaut STEVEN SPIELBERG director and producer THOMAS O. PAINE former Administrator. NASA HENRY J. TANNER ith this issue of The Planetary Re­ The Planetary Society is, first and fore­ Chairman, National financial consultant Commis$ion on Space Wport we mark the 10th anniversary most, a membership organization. Here Board of Advisors of The Planetary Society. I've heard it are some longtime members' views of DIANE ACKERMAN JOHN M. LOGSDON said that nobody cares about organiza­ The Society, its past and future. poet and author Director. Space Policy Institute, George Washington University tions' anniversaries, except their staffs Page 14-Asteroids in Your Future­ ISAAC ASIMOV author HANS MARK and boards. Still, every year, groups The three best known candidate asteroids Chancel/or, RICHARD BERENDZEN Universify of Texas System for spacecraft missions have all been dis­ educator and astrophysicist around the world celebrate their own exis­ JAMES MICHENER tences. covered by Eleanor Helin and her team. JACOUES BLAMONT author Chief Scientist, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiafes. MARVIN MINSKY We considered that opinion carefully The Planetary Society continues to sup­ France Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts and agreed that most anniversaries are port this productive project. RAY BRADBURY Institute of Technology poet and author simply glorifications of the past and can Page 16-Glimpses of a Goddess-Al­ ARTHUR C. CLARKE PHI LIP MORRISON fnstitute Professor. Massachusetts be pointless exercises in self-congratula­ though attention is now focused on Mag­ author fnstitute of Technology CORNELIS DE JAGER tion. But The Planetary Society is an or­ ellan as it begins its Venus mission, Earth­ Professor of Space Research. PAUL NEWMAN The Astronomica/ lnstitute at actor ganization that, in its very being, looks to based radar is still teaching us much about Utrecht, The Netherlands JUN NISHIMU RA the future. And that vision is one of the this neighboring world. FRANK DRAKE Direc/or-Generaf, Institute of Space Professor of Astronomy and and Astronautical Sciences. Japan grandest imaginable: We seek to make Page 19-5ister Worlds: Earth and Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz BERNARD M. OLIVER Chief, SETI Program. possible a human future among the plan­ Venus-The Society has mounted an am­ LEE A. DUBRIDGE NASA/Ames Research Center former presidential ets and to answer an age-old question: Is bitious program to show how studies of science advisor SALLY RIDE Director, California Space InstilUle. human civilization alone in the universe? Earth's sister world have taught us much JOHN GARDNER Unwersity of California. San Diego founder. Common Cause and former astronaut So to mark our first decade, we have about our home planet. MARC GARNEAU ROALD Z. SAGDEEV chosen not to parade the Society'S accom­ Page 20-Seeding the Future-It is the Canadian astronaut former Director. Institute for Space Research. plishments before you or to recount a Society'S policy to seek out small projects GEORGIY GOLITSYN Academy of Sciences of the USSR Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences of the USSR HARRISON H. SCHMITT history we share. Instead, we will look to­ where a little bit of "seed" money can former US Senator, NM THEODORE M. HESBURGH and Apollo 17 astronaut ward our next 10 years, drawing on our blossom into products and programs that President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame S. ROSS TAYLOR past experiences to set guideposts for 10 can shape the future. SH IRLEY M. HUFSTEDLER Professorial Fello w, Australian Page 22-Students: Help Send Us To­ educator and jurisl National Universify, Canberra more years of achievement. GARRY E. HUNT LEWIS THOMAS Page 3-The Next 10 Years-The Plan­ gether to Mars-The H. Dudley Wright space scientist. Chancellor; Memorial Sloan United Kingdom Kettering Cancer Center etary Society was born in 1980 from the International Student Contest, "Together SERG EI KAPITSA JAMES VAN ALLEN vision of Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and to Mars," is designed to inspire the plane­ Institute for Physical Problems, Professor of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the USSR University of Iowa Louis Friedman. Here they give us their tary scientists and engineers of tomorrow.

The Planetary Report (ISSN 0736-3680) is published six times yearly at view of our second decade. Page 23-The Volunteer Network-A the editorial offices of The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena. CA 9 11 06. (818) 793-5100. It is available to members of The Page 6-A Decade of SETI-In the crucial network of dedicated volunteers Planetary Society. Annual dues in the US or Canada are $25 US doliars or $30 Canadian. Dues outside the US or Canada are $30 (US). Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence the links Society members around the world.

Editor, CHARLENE M. ANDERSON Society has made a truly significant con­ Page 24-World Watch-Planetary ex­ Technical Editor, JAMES D. BURKE Assistant Editor, DONNA ESCANDON STEVENS tribution. We sponsor the most powerful ploration and SETI face a political crisis. Copy Editor, MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS Page 26-News & Reviews-Clark Art Director, BARBARA SMITH continuous program on Earth today.

Viewpoints expressed in columns or editorials are those of the authors and Page 8-The 1990s: A New Decade of Chapman has contributed to every issue do not necessarily represent positions 01 The Planetary Society, its officers or advisors. © 1990 by The Planetary Society. Discovery?-Throughout the 1980s our of The Planetary Report. In this column, In Canada. Second Class Mail Registration Number 9567 Boards of Directors and Advisors have he ponders the future of planetary science. Page 27-Society Notes-We announce COVER: A Voyager 1 portrait of Saturn appeared on been great sources of inspiration and help. the cover of the first Planetary Report. Ten years later, Here they share their visions of the 1990s. grants, fellowships, scholarships and a we print a recently created computer-mosaic of images Page 10-Flying Snakes on Mars-The new consultant in Washington, DC. captured by Voyager 2. These colors were generated by combining images taken through the blue, green Planetary Society is the first private orga­ Page 28-Q & A-Our most popular and ultraviolet filters on Voyager's camera, giving this nization to be an official member of a column returns with Titan's atmosphere, image a slightly purplish tint. Four satellites appear planetary mission. This is the story of our lo's volcanoes and threatening asteroids. with their parent planet; from left to right, Mimas and its shadow on Saturn, Tethys and its shadow, Dione SNAKE guide-rope for the Mars Balloon Page 31-An Invitation to All and Rhea. portion of the Soviets' Mars '94 mission. Members-Help us celebrate our an­ Image enhanced by Alfred S. McEwen and Tammy L. Becker, United States Geological Survey Page 12-0ur Members Remember- niversary.-Charlene M. Anderson The Planetary Societys Officers Look to its Future by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and louis D. Friedman

ophecy is a lost art. We cannot pretend to know anniversary year, on what the organization can the future of our society or the future of the achieve in the next 10 years-not so much to predict, world's space program. Historically, estimates but to set guideposts for our activities. We are proud of what we will achieve in technology in the next few of our first decade. When we founded the Society, we years tend to be too optimistic and, in the next few imagined neither our phenomenal growth nor the decades, too pessimistic-the latter generally because wide range of our present undertakings. we cannot foresee major new scientific discoveries or Our first hope for the next 10 years might be for technological innovations. And, it is clear from recent success in one of our fundamental reasons for being: headlines, the world is changing fast-politically, the search for extraterrestrial life. Whether it were the economically and socially. Those changes clearly will discovery of a microfossil on Mars (unlikely in the affect the human future in space. next decade), the signature of proteins or nucleic At The Planetary Society we are focusing, in this acids on Jupiter or on a comet or in interstellar space, ~ RIGHT: Perhaps never before or since have the American people felt so much pride as when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon. Indeed, al/ the peoples of Earth shared in their achievement. Such triumphs are or the detection of a radio signal from an still possible; there are other worlds where humans can alien civilization, that would surely be one walk. If the space faring nations of Earth work together, we of the most important scientific discover­ may someday see humans land on asterOids, Mars and ies in human history. perhaps other worlds. The Planetary Society would be very Photograph: /',lei! Armstrong, courtesy Johnson Space Center, NASA lucky to playa role in such a discovery, BELOW: The Soviet people have felt immense pride in but we are trying to make our own luck. their space program, often according heroic status to their For the foreseeable future, our organiza­ cosmonauts. Here a glorified cosmonaut spreads his arms over a church, representing the Russian past, and a crowd tion will be conducting the only serious of people celebrating their present and future achieve­ search for extraterrestrial life. With META ments in space. II soon to come "on-line" in Argentina Painting: Yuri Tsirkunov, from In the Stream of Stars (see pages 6-7), we will be searching for radio signals from the entire sky, from both celestial hemispheres. We will give the inhabitants of Earth, in this way at least, a view of the whole universe. Imagine our excitement and sense of ac­ complishment if the discovery of extrater­ restrial life were to come from a Planetary Society program--conducted through the individual efforts of people around the world in the spirit of peaceful cooperation and high adventure.

Mars If all goes well, in 1994 a spacecraft will land on Mars carrying equipment designed by The Planetary Society (see pages lO­ ll). We are part of the Soviet-led Mars '94 mission that will place two orbiters about Mars, two landers on its surface and fly two balloons through its atmosphere. The Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, the French space agency, is building the balloon which will carry a guide-rope, called the SNAKE, that we are now de­ signing. The SNAKE will not only enable the balloon to carry out its mission, it will also carry scientific instruments of its own to investigate the martian surface. The Mars Balloon will be the first mobile ex­ plorer of the Red Planet. This project marks the first time that a private organization has been an official member of a planetary mission team. We hope it will be the first of many occasions when private citizens can make significant contributions to the exploration of the so­ lar system. Mars '94 will follow NASA's Mars Observer, scheduled for launch in 1992. This orbiting spacecraft will study the martian atmosphere and map its surface in detail. After these two missions, the time will be ripe for robotic rovers and sample return missions, involving sophisticated robots that could dramatically improve our knowledge of worlds. While we will not again see missions with the ex­ . Mars and prepare the way for human missions. Such mis­ ploratory scope of Voyager, which examined close-up four sions have long been considered in both the United States giant planets and nearly 60 moons, we will see the begin­ and the Soviet Union. It's time for the two leading space­ ning of a new phase in solar system science with Galileo's faring nations to pool their efforts and begin these pro­ in-depth investigation of the jovian system. This spacecraft jects. will orbit among the Galilean satellites (10, Europa, We hope that the 1990s will continue to bring us the ex­ Ganymede and Callisto), making multiple passes by these 4 citement we have come to expect from exploring other intriguing bodies, and it will send a probe deep into asteroids (see pages 14-15). We look forward l I to the launches this decade of the Comet Ren­ dezvous/Asteroid Flyby and Cassini, which will send an orbiter to the satumian system and a probe into Titan, Saturn's largest moon, rich in organic matter. Ten years from now the health of the global environment that sustains life on our small world should be systematically and compre­ hensively monitored from Earth orbit-using instruments and data analysis perfected in the exploration of other worlds. Observing Earth from space as if it were an alien world should provide fundamental insights into global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, and oth­ er ways in which we humans are posing a dan­ ger to ourselves. In another decade, space sci­ ence and technology should be playing a much more central role than ever before to enable our species to plan its future wisely. By the year 2000, the United States, in con­ cert with other spacefaring nations, may well be embarked on a serious effort to build the ships to carry humans to Mars. If so, your So­ ciety'S pioneering efforts will have been spec­ tacularly rewarded. To carry out such a project, prudent and innovative steps will have to be taken on such difficult issues as heavy-lift launch vehicles, the space station and the fu­ ture of the shuttle. The Planetary Society ex­ pects to continue to playa role in the formula­ tion of national (and international) space policy. Every time that the Voyager spacecraft en­ tered the system of another giant planet, what it found exceeded the most daring guesses of the scientists working on the project. Nature is always more clever, more subtle, more beauti­ ful than our imaginings. It is possible that the most important, the most exciting develop­ ments in space, and the role The Planetary So­ ciety is destined to play in them, will also far outpace our modest collective estimates. In the next decade, The Planetary Society should grow significantly, increasing both our membership and the number of countries rep­ resented. We should broaden our range of ac­ tivities, funding new research projects and reaching out to areas we've yet to explore. We pledge to do ourselves what we urge the gov­ ernments of the spacefaring nations to do: use space exploration to educate and to inspire, as a symbol of excellence and achievement, as a spur to peaceful technological development, as a beacon of a hopeful future for everyone on Earth. Jupiter's atmosphere, sampling directly the largest planet in our solar system. Planetary Society President Carl Sagan is the David Dun­ can Professor of Planetary Science at Cornell University. More to Come Vice President Bruce Murray is Professor of Planetary Magellan is now orbiting Venus, mapping its cloud­ Science at the California Institute of Technology. Louis shrouded surface with radar. Japan and the United States Friedman is Executive Director of The Planetary Society. are both studying lunar orbiter missions. Soviet and Through their initiative, The Planetary Society came into American planners are considering missions to near-Earth existence in 1980. 5 A

by Thomas R. McDonough

hen The Planetary Society Not long afterward, the Soviet Union Observatory in Pennsylvania to help was founded, two programs hosted a SET! conference in Estonia, convert an old telescope into a modem W were viewed as the pillars of inviting scientists from around the one designed to search for planets the organization: planetary exploration world to attend. Because of the Prox­ around other stars. and the search for extraterrestrial intel­ mire amendment, American scientists The next year we enabled two scien­ ligence (SETI). During our first were forbidden to travel on NASA tists from JPL to perform SET! obser­ decade, we not only helped SET! re­ funds. The Society arranged for other vations from a NASA antenna in Aus­ searchers whenever we could, but also funding sources that enabled several tralia, important in view of the rarity of sponsored the world's most advanced American scientists to go. SET! in the southern hemisphere. And operational SET! program. While Horowitz built Suitcase SET!, we helped launch Bioastronomy News, Just a few months after the first issue with some assistance from our NASA the SETI newsletter created by of The Planetary Report appeared, at colleagues, the Senator changed his Michael Papagiannis of Boston Uni­ the start of 1981, we encountered our mind about SET!. The next year, the versity for the International Astronom­ first SET! crisis. Senator William Prox­ NASA program was back on track. ical Union. mire (D-WI) had added an amendment In 1982, Horowitz tested Suitcase Back at Harvard, Horowitz found a to the US budget, killing the new SET! at the world's largest radio tele­ 26-meter (85-foot) antenna that was NASA SETI project. The Society scope, in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. That about to be mothballed. We reached an sprang into action with a speed possi­ same year, we helped publicize the agreement with Harvard and the Smith­ ble only with a private organization. SETI Petition, conceived by Carl sonian Astrophysical Observatory to First, we funded Harvard University Sagan and signed by about 70 major take it over, and in 1983 installed Suit­ physicist Paul Horowitz's portable sys­ international researchers, including case SET! permanently at the site. We tem, called Suitcase SET!. Then, to­ seven Nobel Prize winners. This was a renamed it Project Sentinel. gether with NASA, we worked with landmark document, providing con­ At this time, Sentinel had 131,000 the Senator's staff to explain the wor­ crete proof to SET!'s critics of the pro­ radio channels, making it the most thiness of the NASA project, and we gram's scientific respectability. And powerful permanent SET! observatory arranged for Carl Sagan to meet with we were also able to provide some sup­ in the world. But we were not satisfied. the Senator personally. port to George Gatewood at Allegheny There were several scientific argu­ ments for increasing the number of channels to 8 million, but this would require $100,000. Happily, a conversa­ tion between Steven Spielberg, Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan resulted in the renowned director of E.T. giving us the money with which to search for the real E.T. In 1985, Mr. Spielberg threw the switch that turned on our eight-mil­ lion-channel system, now called META (Megachannel Extraterrestrial Assay). We also provided some assistance to Ohio State University's SET! program, to the PBS series NOVA for its SETI show (starring Lily Tomlin), to the Canadian SETI project of Robert Stephens, and to human-dolphin inter­ species research by Diana Reiss at Ma­ rine World and San Francisco State University. In 1988, we organized an interna­ One of these radio-telescope dishes at the Argentine Institute of Radio Astronomy will tional SETI conference in Ontario, soon scan the southern skies with the receivers of META II, The Planetary Society's Canada, and announced an agreement Megachannel Extraterrestrial Assay. With META II, the Society extends its Search for with Argentine scientists to build a du- 6 Extraterrestrial Intelligence to the southern hemisphere, giving us full coverage of the sky. Photo: Argentine Institute of Radio Astronomy plicate of META. Two Argentine re­ searchers then spent a year at Harvard building META II, which is at this writing being installed in Argentina with a target switch-on date of October 12, 1990. This is a major step, because there have never been long-term SET! observations from the southern hemi­ sphere. This brings us to the future. We will continue to operate META I and II, providing the world's only SET! pro­ gram that covers the entire universe. ABOVE: In 1985 The Planetary Society's Until 1992, our systems will constitute Megachannel Extraterrestrial Assay went by far the most powerful SET! appara­ "on-line" as Steven Spielberg and his tus in the world. In October of 1992, son, Max, turned on the power to the NASA hopes to begin observations META I supercomputer. with its SET! system, which, because Photograph: James J. Aulenback of NASA budget problems, will proba­ RIGHT: META I uses the radio telescope bly then have fewer channels than ours, at Harvard University's Oak Ridge Obser­ but will cover a much larger frequency vatory. From this site it scans the north­ ern skies searching for radio signals that range-the entire microwave region might be broadcast from other techno­ from 1 to 10 gigahertz. The two logical civilizations in our galaxy. META's can only listen to small seg­ Photograph: Paul Horowitz ments of this spectrum at anyone time, but Horowitz is studying the possibility of adapting NASA hardware to build a new system that would have an aston­ ishing 100 million channels, and could In the long run, as our civilization launched by the US, the USSR, the cover large parts of the microwave becomes electronically noisier with European Space Agency, Japan and realm quickly. satellites, cellular phones, TV and tele­ other nations, as well as many Earth­ The Soviets will be launching a ra­ phone microwave links creating more based telescopes. While not intended dio telescope into orbit called Radioas­ and more electromagnetic "smog," specifically to search for other beings, tron. It will primarily eavesdrop on SET! may have to be moved to the far it's possible that one of these instru­ galaxies, quasars and other astronomi­ side of the Moon. Despite that, I am ments might detect some unusual phe­ cal objects. But when a suspicious ob­ optimistic about SET! success in the nomenon that turns out to be the first ject is found by an astronomer, Ra­ next decade. There is , of course, no conclusive evidence of another civi­ dioastron will examine it carefully to guarantee that E.T. is out there, or that lization. see whether it has the characteristics of he, she or it is making a loud enough One way or another, if E.T. is phon­ a radio signal from another civilization. galactic noise to be detectable with our ing, there is a good chance we'll hear Other SET! projects are under way in equipment. But there are going to be the bell ringing sometime in the 1990s. the USSR, Canada, France, Australia more SET! programs operating around and the US. Because the cost of the the Earth than ever before, using elec­ Tom McDonough is The Planetary So­ needed electronics keeps falling, we tronic components far more powerful ciety's SET! coordinator and the au­ may expect more countries to enter the than those available just a decade ago. thor of The Search for Extraterrestrial race to make one of the greatest dis­ Furthermore, there are many astro­ Intelligence, Space: The Next 25 Years coveries in the history of humanity. nomical satellites in orbit or soon to be, and The Architects of Hyperspace.

II in Argentina. NASA is continuing to build its impres­ sive system, with a target date of October, 1992 for ob­ servations to begin, although funding problems will probably force them to start with a less powerful system ~e third IAU Commission for Bioastronomy Confer­ than originally planned. II ence was held in June, in Val Cenis, France near the The major surprise was the number of SET! projects Swiss and Italian borders. About 100 scientists from all now active or soon to be: in addition to the Society'S over Europe, the USSR, Japan, Canada and the US con­ META I at Harvard and META II in Argentina, there is the verged among the summer-idled ski lifts that glistened in Ohio State University project; a pulsar-aided search at the Alpine sunshine to discuss the state of the search for Nancay, France; Robert Stephen'S Algonquin System in extraterrestrial intelligence (SET!). The highlight of this Canada; the Soviet Aelita and Zodiac projects; Project search has been The Planetary Society's META Telescope at CSIRO in Australia, and Serendip II of the (Megachannel Extraterrestrial Assay) I project at University of California at Berkeley. Nonetheless, our Harvard University's Oak Ridge Observatory. Several two META's are still the most powerful SET! systems new SET! systems were described, including our META now operating. -TMcD 7 r A NEW DECADE OF DISCOVERY?

Whither The Planetary Society as we head towards the ration of space-both human and robotic-remaining fixed year 2000? Some of the many distinguished members of upon our ultimate goal: missions to Mars and beyond. our Board ofDirectors and Advisory Board share their -Joseph Ryan, 0' Melveny and Myers visions of what goals the Society should set its sights on during the next decade. wish The Planetary Society continued success in its next Idecade , which, at least as far as the US space program is he 1990s are presenting us with a unique set of opportu­ concerned, may be a very difficult one. A great deal of ago­ Tnities. We find ourselves in the midst of historic change nizing reappraisal, if not restructuring, may be necessary throughout the world. Any such period presents great chal­ in connection with the space shuttle, the space station and lenges, because change itself eliminates historic barriers NASA itself. and encourages new ideas and the reexamination of old In this connection, I strongly advise everyone to read assumptions. Freeman Dyson's comments on the US space program in The most prominent change in the world order today is Infinite in All Directions, particularly his remarks on the the ending of the Cold War. At the same time, the world is Hubble Space Telescope, which turned out to be highly also witnessing dynamic economic growth in Japan and prophetic. (Has anyone yet misquoted Macbeth: "Hubble, Asia, a reawakening of the industrial might of the United Hubble, toil and trouble?") States and the certainty of a new colossus in the form of the However, I'll make a prediction: In the long run, the European Economic Community led by a reunited Germany. Space Telescope will do everything we'd hoped for-and That kind of economic activity, coupled with the freedom af­ more. Its initial problems will be forgotten, except by those forded by a reduction of the threat of nuclear war, will en­ who caused them-and had to rectify them. courage a greater willingness to experiment and allow sup­ The end of the Society's next decade will see the ap­ pressed or dormant desires for discovery to resurface. proach of a date of some interest to me-January 1,2001, Every generation has thrilled to discovery. Although ev­ the dawn of the new century and the new millennium. I eryone gets excited about new developments in science and hope by then we will have set our feet firmly on the road medicine, most people are thoroughly captivated by the dis­ to Mars- where all the action is going to be for the next coveries of new lands, new peoples and new planets. The few generations. search for extraterrestrial life captures imaginations because Before we move on to the moons of Jupiter.. . it holds the promise that someday we may discover new life -Arthur C. Clarke, CBE, Chancellor, Internatioflal Space forms on these new planets. University, Chancellor, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka Always, it is reaching out to the unknown that generates the greatest excitement. That excitement has been present he Planetary Society has rendered an invaluable service throughout the ages, but, from time to time, has been de­ Tto the cause of space exploration. By focusing attention pressed because of economic concerns, cold wars, hot on the exploration of the solar system, The Planetary Society wars, or struggles within nations. We now have a special has helped build a base of public support for the initiative opportunity: We have entered a decade likely to be free of that President Bush has proposed for a return to the Moon such energy-draining diversions. That climate, nourished and putting people on the surface of Mars by the early years by tremendous economic opportunity, should encourage of the next century. I am very grateful to the Society for the a reawakening of our love of discovery. Let's seize the opportunity that I have been given to participate in this great moment! enterprise. I encourage my fellow Directors, members of the Society, -Hans Mark, Chancellor, University of Texas at Austin our staff and all people interested in discovery to focus our energies on a discreet series of worthy projects. Let's not be umankind has puzzled over the planets for centuries, distracted by any of the myriad worthwhile causes being Hbut only during the past 35 years-the era of planetary proposed by honorable groups and individuals. Instead, let's exploration-have we learned enough to begin to put to­ rededicate ourselves to two of the grandest ideas of all gether a coherent picture of the nature of the solar system. time-adventure and discovery. We must take advantage of To continue the exploration so recently begun is the reason B this opportunity to proceed with the multinational explo- for The Planetary Society'S existence. · In the next decade we can expect to understand broadly have the ability to explore our own system in ever-increas­ the evolution of planets and their smaller companions, the ing depth. The Planetary Society's mission over the next 10 satellites, comets and asteroids. Many lines of inquiry are years is to make sure that the momentum of the last 35 years l moving toward a consensus based on the planetesimal hy­ continues. pothesis, in which dust grains orbiting about the infant Sun -S. Ross Taylor, Australian National University, Canberra collided, stuck together and gradually grew into the plane­ tary system we see today. uring the remaining few years of the 20th century the We see conspicuous evidence for the planetesimal hy­ D Society should continue as an informed advocate of pothesis in the heavily cratered lunar highlands and on the space exploration. The Society has a distinguished interna­ battered face of Mercury. Another crucial clue lies in the tilt tional Board of Advisors uniquely qualified to guide the di­ of the planets relative to the ecliptic (a plane defined by rectors and officers on policy issues. Because of its private, Earth's orbit about the Sun), a fact difficult to explain with­ non-profit charter, the Society can react quickly to develop­ out giant collisions. We see this most dramatically at ing space issues and then speak frankly, unfettered by na­ Uranus, which is lying on its side, with its rings and satel­ tional or international political biases. lites orbiting perpendicular to the ecliptic. Education, used in the broadest sense, should remain the Perhaps the most evocative testimony to our origin is the Society's primary goal. The Planetary Report should contin­ presence of the Moon. Earth's seemingly eternal companion ue to feature accessible, technically proficient articles writ­ was most likely produced about 4,450 million years ago by ten by scientists and engineers who are leaders in planetary the glancing impact of a Mars-sized body on the early Earth. exploration. The Society's programs of providing education-

LEFT: Erupting volcanoes on 10 were among the earliest sur­ prises of the Voyager missions. This tiny moon of Jupiter seems to be the most volcanically active world in our solar system. In this newly enhanced Voyager image, the volcano named Pele shoots a sulfuric plume above the moon 's limb. Image enhancement: Alfred McEwen, United States Geological Survey

ABOVE: No painters have yet planted an easel on the surface of 10, but they can still travel there with the help of imagina­ tion. Leading Soviet space artist Andrei Sokolov renders his vision of an 10 landscape, complete with erupting volcano. Painting: Andrei Sokolov, (rom In the Stream of Stars

We thus possess the beautiful and poetically inspiring Moon al materials on the space sciences to teachers and students as the result of a chance event. should be augmented. Clearly without a scientifically literate Since the time of Newton, humankind's thinking about public, there can be no informed system of checks and bal­ our planetary system has been dominated by the concept of ances when budgeting scarce resources. clockwork solar systems proceeding through an orderly evo­ The Society is not and should not become a politically ac­ lution. What we've learned during the age of planetary ex­ tive organization. The laws of science are immune to inter­ ploration has changed this type of thinking. national borders. Most scientists share a global perspective The philosophical implications are profound: Our solar dedicated to the good of humankind. Encouraging coopera­ system has been shaped by chance events. Other planetary tive space ventures which may lead to closer harmony systems are probably common around small, single stars. among nations is a worthy objective for the Society. Also, Even so, our chances of finding a replica of our own system pooling resources is only common sense. As an example, the seem remote. Society's leadership with Soviet (and other) colleagues in But in this age of ever-more-capable space technology, we planning cooperative ventures to Mars may expedite future now have the means to look for other planetary systems. We (continued on page 30) 9 ------~

-, The Planetary Society Mars Balloon Project

by Harris (Bud) Schurmeier

ince the Montgolfier Brothers would be designed to fly during the day Through the Universities Space Re­ figured out in 1782 how to har­ and land at night, when their captured search Association, NASA did, howev­ ness hot air to fly across Earth, gases cooled, lowering them to the er, provide some funding for student balloons have been a handy means of ground. help. scientific research, as well as a way to This idea captured the interest of Fearing that a very promising and in­ have fun. At The Planetary Society, James D. Burke of the Jet Propulsion novative idea was about to wither on with our Mars Balloon Project, we've Laboratory (and Technical Editor of the vine, The Planetary Society stepped found a way to do both. The Planetary Report). In 1986 he or­ in and increased its financial support Jacques Biamont, Planetary Society ganized a small group at JPL to exam­ for the balloon studies. With close con­ advisor and visionary scientist, is ine J acq ues' proposal. They determined nections to the Soviet/French Mars '94 renowned for his imaginative and high­ that ballooning on Mars was eminently team and a commitment to internation­ ly practical ideas for exploring the possible, and excitement about the al cooperation in planetary exploration, planets. His most successful idea--so enormous potential and novel opportu­ The Planetary Society became coordi­ far--is to use balloons to carry scientif­ nity spread rapidly to JPL's parent in­ nator of the US Mars Balloon develop­ ic instruments across alien worlds. In stitution, the California Institute of ment by the end of the summer of 1986, the Vega mission to Venus and Technology (Caltech), and to The Plan­ 1987. etary Society. That summer also saw the beginning Through engineering analyses and of desert testing of balloon and guide­ field tests, the growing Mars Balloon rope concepts. At two sites chosen for team determined that a balloon flying their resemblance to martian terrain-­ through the martian atmosphere and Lavic Lake and the Pisgah lava flows landing on the surface would need to --hot air balloons dragged strange de­ carry a guide-rope for stability. The re­ vices representing guide-rope payloads sourceful team members quickly real­ across the dry lake bed and lava cre­ ized that this guide-rope could serve a vasses. (Close inspection of the varied dual purpose: It could carry scientific experimental devices would have re­ instruments to study the martian sur­ vealed them to be a palm log, a rubber face as well as providing stabilizing roller, a plastic box and a heavy rope ballast. Such a device could become threaded through a polyvinyl-chloride the first mobile explorer on Mars. irrigation pipe.) The team soon discovered that, if the Assembling a Team guide-rope snagged, even a slight wind At Caltech, Professor Bruce Murray, would blow the balloon to the ground A portion of the Mars Balloon team, 1990 vintage, poses for The Planetary Society'S Vice President, and most likely destroy it. The rope­ their portrait with the SNAKE guide-rope. This is the fourth year that our team of students, professionals and enthusiasts assembled an enthusiastic team of stu­ and-pipe configuration proved the most braved the heat of the California desert to test equipment de- dents to analyze and test the physics of snag-resistant. Work immediately be­ signs intended for Mars. Photograph: George Powell montgolfiere balloons on Mars. Tom gan to discover the best possible de­ Heinsheimer of Titan Systems, an ex­ sign. Halley's Comet launched two balloons perienced balloon system designer and into Venus' infernal atmosphere (see pilot, began developing a computer A Snake is Born the January/February 1987 Planetary model for the design and operation of Jim Burke developed a structural con­ Report). balloons in the martian atmosphere. cept that could work on Mars. To make Following that triumph, it was natu­ With the success of the Vega bal­ it slippery yet hardy, it would need a ral to consider using balloons on anoth­ loons on Venus, Soviet and French metal skin. To cross depressions with­ er Earth-like planet--Mars. Jacques mission planners began to think about out snagging and pass over obstacles proposed using montgolfiere balloons including balloon probes on the Mars without wrapping around them, a (containing gases that could be heated '94 mission. Unfortunately, NASA dis­ guide-rope must not be too flexible, yet by the Sun so they became lighter than continued funding for the balloon work it must yield gently as a balloon sets it the surrounding air) to carry instrument by JPL employees, who nevertheless down. It must also be able to coil up m­ 10 packages across Mars. The balloons continued on in their spare time. side a Mars descent module. · Burke made his first model out of in­ dex cards rolled into truncated cones that were nested together and taped to a one-half-millimeter steel cable. The first field test model, made of alu­ minum cones attached to. a light chain, performed excellently in tests on the Pisgah lava. A Planetary Society-Sovi­ et Space Research Institute team suc­ cessfully flew this model from hot-air balloons in Lithuania. Anyone who watched these models slither along as the balloon dragged them across the California desert knew there was only one possible name for this design: Snake. The team members, ABOVE: The SNAKE successfully traverses a lava crevasse with their technical backgrounds, in this 1987 drag-test. The balloon team sought out the couldn't resist trying to construct an harshest and most Mars-like sites to test the SNAKE's ability acronym for the name. Tom Hein­ to avoid snagging on obstacles. Photograph: Ed Hauptmann sheimer suggested "Surface Navigation RIGHT: Over soft sands, cracked lavas, parched lake beds and Kontact Experiment." and whatever forbidding terrain they can find, the balloon team tows their obliging SNAKE. It has so far passed all of its In 1988, stainless steel models, car­ drag tests with flying colors. Photograph: James Willett rying instruments to measure forces and accelerations on the guide-rope, took over. They passed their test flights with flying colors at the Pisgah and fulfill its purposes. who joined the team as a graduate stu­ Amboy lava fields. We knew we had a A group from Utah State University dent and is now working for CNES in concept that would work on Mars. became integral members of the Mars Toulouse, France, is responsible for this By late 1988, The Planetary Society Balloon team. Students from USU, the task. He is also helping the Aerostat proposed something that had never University of Arizona, Harvard and Martien team integrate the scientific been done before: A citizen-sponsored Cal tech worked with the volunteers payload. organization would have a formal role from JPL. Tom Heinsheimer refined 2. To analyze and test elements of the on a flight project. The Soviet and his balloon-system performance model. SNAKE design, including alternative French space agencies recognized that [And Harris "Bud" Schurmeier became materials for the various components. the Mars Balloon Team had gained Project Manager and coordinated Plan­ 3. To study the behavior of the SNAKE great expertise in the design, develop­ etary Society design and testing with in drag tests across different types of ment and testing of our SNAKE guide­ the CNES Aerostat Martien project.] terrain, and to determine the effects of rope. The Centre National d'Etudes The 1989 test model was a major the terrains on the SNAKE. Spatiales (CNES) accepted the Soci­ change in configuration. The SNAKE 4. To support and assist the CNES tests ety's proposal. The Mars Balloon team became shorter but sprouted a cable tail of the balloon system. became an official entity in the world to help it lie down on landing. The tail The team from CNES is arriving in of space exploration. also prevented the SNAKE's hind end September, bringing their test balloon from lashing about as the balloon and gondola. So as you read this, the To Preserve and Study dragged it along. Tests at the Amboy Mars Balloon team could be out in the The guide-rope's primary purpose is to lava fields in the Mojave Desert sweltering Mojave Desert, chasing the ensure the safety of the balloon and showed that, as long as the SNAKE's French balloon as it drags our SNAKE gondola that will fly on the Mars '94 head is kept off the ground, it is very across sand dunes and lava beds. mission. The gondola will carry a vari­ unlikely to snag. We have a lot of work to do, but the ety of scientific instruments, including We developed a design that eliminat­ fun and our sense of accomplishment a high-resolution camera system. As ed the internal cable that had been used make every small setback or discomfort the balloon descends to the surface at in previous test models. This freed up worthwhile. Planetary Society members night, the guide-rope must slowly and more room for scientific instruments. have steadfastly and generously sup­ gently "unload" to stabilize the balloon We proved that our design could pro­ ported our work, and we won't let them in such a fashion that neither the bal­ vide the needed ballast for the Mars down. We have every confidence that loon nor the gondola touches the Balloon as well as carry a scientific when the Mars '94 mission is launched, ground. payload. it will be carrying our SNAKE to Mars. Its secondary purpose is to carry out scientific investigations of the martian Meeting Our Goals Bud Schurmeier is one of the most dis­ surface. This year the Planetary Society Mars tinguished project managers in the his­ In 1989, The Planetary Society Mars Balloon team is working under an offi­ tory of the space program. In the 1960s Balloon team continued design, devel­ cial contract from CNES. Despite the he ran the Ranger project that sent the opment and testing of SNAKE con­ heat of a long, dry summer, our enthusi­ first us spacecraft to the Moon. In the cepts. In tests and analyses we watched astic team is continuing desert tests. We 1970s, he served as Voyager'sfirst Pro­ it perform under different conditions. have four goals for this year: ject Manager. And in 1989, he agreed We sought out its weaknesses. We had 1. To complete the design of the flight to manage The Planetary Society's to discover ways the guide-rope could model SNAKE. Jim Cantrell ofUSU, Mars Balloon project. 11 TEN YEARS WITH THE PLANETARY SOCIETY (AND ON TO THE NEXT TEN)

support. Just look at the Ranger mis­ sions that crash-landed on the Moon. How much enthusiasm did they gener­ ate, as opposed to the Apollo missions? -Kenneth Goodwin, Acton, MA

A s a member of a local astronomical ~roup , I've been proud and happy about the The Planetary Society's en­ couragement of planetary exploration. I think the Society is well-advised to do whatever it can monetarily in that re­ gard. Admittedly, in the billion-dollar arena of space travel, that sort of partici­ pation has to be small, but any effort should be applauded. an impossi­ ble sight until Membership has its privileges, and one has enthralled me ever since I was a kid. As for the Society'S interest in SET!, humanity of them is being asked your opinion. We I was 11 years old when Sputnik went I have qualms about how much of our dreamed it asked a few of our members, including up, 23 when Neil Armstrong set foot on resources we should devote to it, al­ possible and made the some charter members who joined us the Moon, so the idea of humans on though I'd love to see it succeed. I think journey to way back in 1980 and 1981, to tell us Mars has great appeal for me. But I have the contributions we've made so far see it. With their impressions of The Planetary Soci­ some misgivings. If the spacefaring na­ were well-advised, but I don't think our the Space Age just over ety's last decade, and what they would tions had a limitless budget for space ex­ participation ought to be expanded. three de­ like to see happen during the next one. ploration, then perhaps they should do -R. Shirriff, Birmingham, AL cades old, it. But the US, for instance, hasn't had a and The Plan­ government that's been willing to make ack in 1980 when I joined, I was etary Society only 10 years 'd like to see more about a prospective that kind of a commitment-and I don't Bworking with McDonnell Douglas. old, our mem­ Imission to Mars. I would also like to think that's going to change anytime I was a project leader, and we had just bers already see speculation about ordinary citizens soon. finished working on the Galileo Jupiter foresee a fu­ ture that will taking trips into space. How far into the The Society might do best to retrench probe [the contract was awarded to take us far future will it be before we will be able a bit and promote something that would Hughes]. I'm retired now, and I don't beyond Earth. to take Concorde-like regular flights to look better to the budget-cutters in think about those things a whole lot Photograph: the Moon and Mars? I would someday Congress-robotic exploration of the anymore, although I do enjoy reading Johnson Space Center, NASA like to go to Mars. . solar system, including orbiters around The Planetary Report. In the political arena, I would like to all the planets and their major satellites, The Mars goal seems a little far­ see more attention paid to possible co­ particularly the jovian and saturnian reaching to me. We need to make sure operation between the US and the moons. Non-human exploration brings the groundwork is properly done before USSR, linking their space programs and in a lot more knowledge per dollar. we attempt anything like a Mars mis­ sharing non-military knowledge to - Dr. Sam Karayusef, St. Paul, MN sion. A good, solid base beginning with avoid duplication of effort. an Earth-orbital station and later, Moon -Betty Kahn, Topeka, KS 'd like the Society to continue to pro­ colonization seems better, in the near­ Imote human spaceflight. I don't object term, than focusing on a human mis­ 'm completely against SETI (the to international cooperation in space, sion to Mars. I think we have a tendency ISearch for Extraterrestrial Life). I but I think this will prove to be too dif­ to reach out too far, too soon. I am in think the possibility of a productive re­ ficult to coordinate. If the point of a favor of more international cooperation sult is so negligible that it is a waste of mission to Mars is to deploy instru­ in space, but I also realize the political resources-the Society would be in a ments, collect samples and make obser­ realities involved. I'd like to see a bit much better position to fund projects vations, then you could design a very more emphasis on robotic missions. I that are much less speculative, like more elaborate robotic mission to accomplish support SET!, but at its current funding scholarships. that. But I agree that a human mission level-we shouldn't increase it. 12 The idea of a human mission to Mars would generate more enthusiasm and -Hans Vetter, Creve Coeur, MO in space to anyone besides engineers and scientists, then Mars is it. -Hans Starlije, Stockholm, Sweden

e need to focus on our scholar­ W ship program. While we've done a good job encouraging young people to go into the sciences, we should do more, because it's projected that the shortage of personnel is going to become critical if we don't encour­ age people in science education. We should also educate people on the mission of The Planetary Society, telling people why we think planetary exploration is a good idea, especially now that there is so much weeping and gnashing about the problems in the US space program. We need to maintain our focus on why it's important to go into space. We should be saying to peo­ ple "Space is not a friendly place. It is, Earthrise from lunar orblt-if we could send humans to the Moon, why can't we • .. ? The Apollo and will be, a difficult place, and there Moon landings are seen by some as the apex of human achievement. Planetary Society mem­ bers believe that we are capable of much more, and that if we work together, we can look back will be problems-but it's still worth on our home world from Mars or the asteroids, and maybe even detect extraterrestrial life. going to." There are wonderful things Photograph: Johnson Space Center, NASA to be learned out there, and the techno­ logical spinoffs, not the least of which are medical, directly affect the quality 'm all in favor of the space station USSR have in space. As we read, we of all of our lives here on Earth. Iand a joint mission to Mars. If hu­ think, "that's fine for the US, that's fine We cannot afford to let up on the mans are going to go to Mars, we've for the Soviet Union-but what about goal of planetary exploration. We got to get there that way. On our way to Britain? What's our role in this?" Un­ should continue to support SET!, espe­ Mars, I think we've got to take small fortunately, the United Kingdom cially in the light of all the US govern­ steps. I'd also like to see more explo­ doesn't have a space policy. That ment cutbacks. ration of the Moon, leading to a possi­ makes an organization like The Plane­ -David Brown, Houston, TX ble settlement there- if it wouldn't tary Society all the more important, be­ take too much money away from a cause it's the only way those of us who Mars mission. A lot of the technology live in a non-spacefaring nation can we use every day now came about as a participate. I contributed money for result of trying to go to the Moon. SET!. This project is going to become -Michael Taylor, Peoria, IL more and more important. Apart from the benefits of radio telescopes con­ 'm not a fan of the Mars mission, the stantly monitoring the skies, side bene­ Ishuttle or the space station, and would fits will be new discoveries. You can't much prefer to see more robotic mis­ really lose with that sort of a project. sions as opposed to human ones. They ---Andrew Lound, Birmingham, have historically been the most scientif­ England ically successful missions. I am in fa­ vor of building a lunar observatory, not he Society has done an excellent necessarily human-operated. Tjob so far. The Mars adventure is I enjoy The Planetary Report a great long overdue. In the 1960s, I expected deal, and read it from cover to cover, it in the 1980s. In the 1970s, they although I'm not sure that I agree with promised it for the 1990s. I get very an­ all of the Society's stances on certain noyed when Society members like issues. Bruce Woollatt (in the March-April is­ I like the SET! program because it sue's Members' Dialog) describe a shows imagination and flair. Innovative Mars mission and caring for the Earth research of the kind that often can't be as mutually exclusive goals. We have funded by national funding agencies, got to accomplish both. What if our an­ NASA ill particular, should fall right cestors decided to solve all their inter­ into the lap of The Planetary Society. nal problems before inventing the It's excellent that we're promoting that wheel or crossing the oceans? with gusto. The Moon is a nice place to go if From what other worlds might we someday -Edward Bowell, Flagstaff, AZ you want to mine, but Mars has much watch a dawn or dusk? If we listen to Plane­ more emotional appeal, since it is the tary SOCiety members, then humanity is t does get frustrating to constantly planet in our solar system that is most bound only by the laws of physics, the limi­ tations of biology and our own imagination Iread about plans the US and the Earthlike. If you want to spread interest and will. 13 Painting: Pokhadayev, from In the Stream of Stars .. The Next Decade of The Asteroid Project

by Eleanor Francis Helin

o foretell what will be done with near-Earth With all this potential, why aren't asteroids given more asteroids over the next 10 years, you have to have attention? They should be! faith that humans are interested in exploring space. We began the Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey some They should be very interested! We occupy an extremely 20 years ago with the goal of increasing our knowledge of small piece of space. There is so much waiting for us to the bodies that populate near-Earth space and might even­ discover, if only we want to. tually collide with terrestrial planets. The cratered surface The Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey (PCAS) is a con­ of the nearby Moon records a history of bombardment that tinuing program to search for the small solar system ob­ has been mostly erased from the changing surface of jects that pass near Earth. Our program is funded primarily Earth. by NASA, but over the years we've received much-need­ ed support from private individuals as well as Planetary Are They Important? Ask a Dinosaur Society members. With the help of the World Space Foun­ It is through the study of meteorites (asteroids that survive dation, which administers our Planetary Society grant, my the trip through Earth's atmosphere) that scientists may team and I have been able to discover new worlds just have discovered what happened to the dinosaurs. (See the waiting to be explored. January/February 1985 Planetary Report.) Most scientists To date (August 1990), we have documented 144 near­ now believe that an asteroid or comet crashed into Earth Earth asteroids, ranging from a few hundred meters across some 65 million years ago, causing the extinction of the to a few exceeding 15 to 20 kilometers. Most are in the dinosaurs. It seems only prudent to patrol our skies for ob­ one- to three- kilometer range. In terms of orbits and com­ jects on a collision course with us. positions, these objects make up a very diverse population. The great promise as well as peril offered by the aster­ About a dozen are easier to reach, in terms of energy, than oids should motivate us to do constructive things with the Moon. We could prospect these asteroids robotically. them. The first step is to find them. It is doubtful that we They are perhaps the best candidates for missions using have located to date more than about 10 percent of the to­ solar sails powered by the most efficient energy source tal population larger than a kilometer in diameter. known-sunlight. And, if humans are serious about ex­ As we have become more effective, more efficient and ploring the solar system themselves, missions to asteroids worked still harder, the PCAS discovery rate has in­ would be excellent tests for more ambitious voyages to­ creased. Since January 1989, our program has found 15 Mars and perhaps beyond. near-Earth asteroids and 5 comets. The Schmidt telescopes that are used on Palomar Mountain have been responsible for the greatest number found in the world. This record is the result of the systematic searches, hard work and the diligence of the asteroid teams. Even with these excellent results, we still strive to do an even better job, although we work with 19th-century tech­ niques using old equipment looking at a tiny part of the sky on a very thinly stretched budget. If we can find the funds, we can make improvements and step up our pro­ gram to increase our discovery rate and get significantly better results. We are also ever vigilant for technical breakthroughs. One possibility would be to mate charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to the focal plane of a wide-field Schmidt tele­ scope. This combination would provide large sky cover­ age and allow us to detect fainter objects deeper in space. With this type of improvement we could begin discover­ ing perhaps 10 times as many near-Earth asteroids as we now do. The Planetary Society agreed to fund Eleanor Helin's asteroid project in the hope of finding good candidates for spacecraft missions. Our invest­ Our present equipment has so far limited our discover­ ment paid off almost immediately with the discovery of 1982DB, which is ies; we know virtually nothing about the population 10 to still one of the easiest known asteroids to reach from Earth. 50 meters in diameter. If one of these should collide with 14 Photograph: Eleanor F. Helin our planet, it could cause devastation out of proportion with its small size. Meteor Crater in Arizona, over 200 meters deep and one kilometer wide, is an example of what a 50- meter object can do. The present level of NASA funding, along with help from adventuresome individuals, including Planetary Soci­ ety members, will allow us to continue our critical work and improve our techniques. But upgrading our instruments to enable us to pick up smaller objects would require much more money than is now available.

Too Close for Comfort Perhaps if a modestly sized asteroid were to pass extremely close to Earth, the unsettling experience would raise the level of interest in asteroid searches. Over the last year, a few asteroids (that we know of) made very close approach­ es to Earth. The closest, 1989FC came within 750,000 kilo­ meters of our planet. Our team discovered three others that came uncomfortably close by astronomical standards: 1989PB came within 4 million kilometers, 1990MF came less than 5 million kilometers, and just last.month, on Au­ gust 9, 19900C passed within 6 million kilometers. I hope that it takes something less than an asteroid impact to jolt us out of our complacency! Our search program has found some of the most accessi­ ble of near-Earth asteroids. These bodies travel in orbits that bring them close to Earth's orbit, so a spacecraft could reach one with a minimal amount of fuel. The three most accessible known are 1989ML (according to recent analysis by Alan Friedlander), 1982DB (described in the May/June Orbit of 1989 PB 1982 Planetary Report) and 1982XB (described in the Jan­ uary!February 1982 Planetary Report). Our PCAS team re­ cently discovered two more likely candidates for missions, 1990MF and 19900S. The United States and the Soviet Union both have plans to visit asteroids in the Main Belt that circles the Sun be­ A large population of asteroids tween the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This is where most of orbits the Sun in the vicinity of our solar system's asteroids are found, and the Main Belt is a Earth-and occasionally they major source of near-Earth asteroids. The Calileo spacecraft cross our path. Shortly after Helin and her team discovered will pass by asteroids Ida and Gaspra on its way to Jupiter. 1989PB last year, the asteroid The Comet Rendezvous/Asteroid Flyby mission now passed within only 4 million planned by NASA would take a close-up look at another of kilometers (2.5 million miles) of these small bodies. The Soviets are considering sending a Earth. By astronomical stan­ dards, that was a close call. spacecraft to Vesta, one of the largest known asteroids. Photograph: Eleanor F. Helin -----·_-00-_--.-::::--.. Many people have proposed that hardware left over from earlier space probes could be used for a cost-effective fIrst positions on discovery date 08-10-89 look at a near-Earth asteroid. We might even accomplish a sample-return mission before the end of the century. When I consider the progress I've witnessed over the 30 vicinity of Uranus and Neptune. Or perhaps we'll even de­ plus years since Sputnik, I'm pleased to have been around tect a denizen of the inner Oort Cloud. These refugees from during this fantastic time. Since the basic work has been that hypothetical reservoir of comets surrounding our solar done, there are no reasons other than mandate and money system will probably only be seen after they have broken that we can't now produce similar seemingly amazing ac­ loose from the outer cloud and begun their journey toward complishments. We need only to springboard into space, us­ our neighborhood. There are many surprises still left for us ing many of the resources we can find there to meet the as we explore our solar system with renewed vigor. challenges of the 21 st century. Discoveries are waiting for the diligent and daring! This next decade will witness discoveries of more unusu­ al bodies in our solar system. Perhaps we'll fInd the theoret­ Eleanor Francis Helin, known to her friends as "Clo," is ically predicted Earth Trojan asteroids, traveling along our one of Earth's premier asteroid hunters. As the Principal planet's orbit 60 degrees ahead of and behind us. We may Investigator for the Asteroid Project supported by The catch an object in the act of changing from an active comet Planetary Sociely, she leads an industrious team, including to an inactive asteroid. There may be distant small bodies Brian Roman, Ken Lawrence and others, that has substan­ orbiting beyond Pluto and Charon. Maybe we'll fmd mem­ tially added to our knowledge of objects that travel through bers of the now-theoretical Kuiper Disk of comets in the Earth's neighborhood in space. 15 Captions by Donald B. Campbell

- '0 the Babylonians she was Ishtar, queen of sl:lpernat­ sion should teach us much. ural beings. To the Greeks she was Aphrodite, the di­ Yet there is still much we have learned from instru­ 1 vine manifestation of love. The Romans appropriated ments based on Earth. The great radar dish at Arecibo, the Greek ideas about the brightest pOint of light in the sky, Puerto Rico, over 300 meters across, can beam a power­ and called her Venus after the local love goddess. ful signal at Venus and catch its refleotion. By processing We denizens of the Space Age retain the Roman name for the radar data, scientists produce pictures like the ones the second planet from the Sun, and value her now for what you see on these pages. she can tell us about the history of our solar system and Each new fact seems to raise another question. Is about our own home planet. To this end, we've sent three Venus' surface shaped by tectonic forces, as Earth's Mariners, sixteen Veneras, a Pioneer orbiter and probe mis­ face changes as continents drift across crustal plates? sion, two Vegas and now Magel/an to investigate our closest Do volcanoes erupt from its surface, creating craters and planetary neighbor. Even now, 28 years after our first space­ spewing toxic gases into an already noxious atmosphere? craft reached her, Venus continues to hold our attention. Is Venus pocked by impacts with asteroids and comets, Venus is permanently shrouded in thick, yellow clouds, as are all the other terrestrial planets? her face forever hidden from eyes that see in the visible Scientists using the detailed Magel/an data will soon portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Yet instruments be answering these questions for us. But the more Venus that use radio waves, such as radar, can see through the teaches us, the more our fascination for her increases. clouds. Veneras 15 and 16 mapped the planet and picked One thing is certain: We will never tire of learning about out features as small as one kilometer across. Magel/an's her hidden charms, and through her, the secrets of our radar will reveal details as small as a football field. This own planet, her sister, Earth. will be our most detailed look yet at Venus, and this mis- -Charlene M. Anderson ~======~======~~~~~======~~~~~-=~---

- The

Figure 1-AlPha Reglo and Environs Figure 2 - Alpha Regio In the early 1960s, scientists probing with radar beneath Two Soviet radar-mapping spacecraft, Veneras 15 and 16, in­ Venus' clouds discov.ered a spot that strongly reflected their vestigated Venus in the 1980s. They discovered a type of ter­ radio beams. They named this first-identified surface feature rain marked by cross-cutting systems of ridges and valleys. Alpha Regio. In this picture it is the bright region to the right of The appearance of the terrain suggested tiling, so it was center: The ridged and grooved face of Alpha Regio is similar called '1essera" after the Greek word for tiles. Scientists are to a type of terrain called "tessera." On the far left side of the still debating the nature of fhe processes that deformed the picture there are three large shield volcanoes, lJshas, Innini surface in this fashion. Tesserae cover about 14 percent of and Hathor Montes. Near Ushas Mons, radar has detected the planet imaged by the Veneras at high northern latitudes. numerous small, probably volcanic, domes. Many possible The Arecibo radar has examined 56 million square kilometers impact craters can also been seen in the radar data. Just to of Venus, and found only one large area of tesserae-the the left of center are three prominent craters, whose highlands of Alpha Regio. This picture is a close-up of the origin---either volcanic or impact-is as yet unknown. bright region in Figure 1. 17 the craters are of vol­ canic or impact origin, but the question should be settled by results from the Magellan mis­ sion.

Figure 4- Helen Planitia and Lada Terra This Arecibo image is the first look we've had at the high southern lat­ itudes of Venus. (Ven­ eras 15 and 16 imaged northern latitudes only.) We see here an upland area named Lada Ter­ ra, which was identified in the Pioneer Venus altimetry data at the southern edge of its coverage. Lada Terra fills most of the right side of this image, with its northern boundary outlined by three ovoid features 300 to 400 Figure 3- ' kilometers in diameter. West of Alpha Regio craters in the center of this picture (a de­ Similar features called coronae appear tail from Figure 1) have interior diame­ in the Venera data. Scientists believe Just to the west of Alpha Regio is an ters of 50, 40 and 30 kilometers. Around these features are surface expressions area informally referred to as the "Crater them are several other smaller craters of convective processes, where molten Farm" because of the high density-for and numerous, possibly volcanic, material from the planet's interior wells Venus-of craters. The three large domes. Scientists are debating whether up to the surface. The giant corona in the lower right is al­ most 1,000 kilometers across and is one of the largest so far dis­ covered on Venus. The smooth plains of Helen Planitia fills most of the left side of this picture. The circu­ lar structure at top center is probably a double-ringed impact basin; it is named after the great physicist, Lise Meitner.

Donald B. Campbell is a Professor of Astron­ omy at Cornell Univer­ sity. From 1981 to 1987 he served as Di­ rector of Operations at the Arecibo Observa­ tory in Puerto Rico: Sister Worlds: .Earth and Venus

by Susan Lendroth

OU can't pick up a newspa­ guidelines for planning events and per today without reading a request form for borrowing a Yabout threats to Earth's custom-made slide set. Teachers environment- ozone depletion, should also request the set of ac­ deforestation, global warming. companying lesson plans. Despite extensive press coverage, The "Sister Worlds" slide set few people know the role plane­ will be available in October, in tary exploration plays in helping time for organizations to coordi­ to provide a better understanding nate events around new data that of these problems. will be coming in from Magellan'S The Planetary Society's new mapping mission of Venus, the program, "Sister Worlds: Earth CaWeo flyby of Earth in Decem­ and Venus," explores this field of ber and the beginning of the school comparative planetology, exam­ year. Our collection of 40 slides ining how planetary research has with narration on cassette tape, given us insights into the work­ "Sister Worlds" will take viewers ings of Earth's environment. And on a journey from the blistering we still have much to learn. "Sis­ surface of Venus to the cool blue ter Worlds" is part of the Soci­ atmosphere of Earth. ety's broader "Earth as a Planet" A series of special events is be­ program. ing planned for fall and on into "Earth as a Planet" involves 1992 as part of both the "Sister The Planetary Society working Worlds" and the broader "Earth as cooperatively with individuals, a Planet" program. These include a organizations and institutions lecture by Carl Sagan on October around the world to help find so­ 22 in Charlottesville, Virginia, en­ I utions to theenv iron mental titled "A Pale Blue Dot: Exploring problems facing Earth today. Other Worlds and Protecting This Funding for "Sister Worlds" One;" a January, 1991, "Sister comes from member donations Worlds" presentation at the Smith­ to the "Earth as a Planet" pro­ sonian Air and Space Museum in gram and from a grant by the Washington, D.C. in conjunction Norris Foundation, which also with the opening of the new provided funding for such Plane­ IMAX film The Blue Planet .and tary Society programs as Mars special programs for the 1992 In­ Watch and Voyager Watch. ternational Space Year. Additional Venus has often been called Earth, above, and Venus, below, are often called activities will be scheduled Earth's twin or "sister world." sister worlds. They are nearly the same size, orbit t,hroughout the coming months in It's our closest planetary neigh- in the same solar system neighborhood and are partnership wjth science museums, made of nearly identical materials. But they have bor, and is roughly equal to Earth evolved into very different places. Images: Earth, astronomy groups and other insti­ in size and mass, yet the two Johnson Space Center; Venus, Ames Research Center, NASA tutions worldwide. planets have evolved along wide- The Planetary Society hopes that ly divergent paths. ing that, what can Venus teach us about these programs will illuminate how For millennia, humanity devised our own world? These are some of the studying the other worlds of our solar countless tales about this mysterious, questions "Sister Worlds: Earth and system helps us better understand and cloud-shrouded planet, including the Venus" helps answer. appreciate our own fragile piece of the idea that Venus was a steaming jungle As we have with all Society pro­ universe. world of swamps warmed by its prox­ grams, we are offering free "Sister For a copy of the "Sister Worlds" imity to the Sun. The truth IS even Worlds" material to both the general packet, write to "Sister Worlds," c/o more bizarre-we now know Venus to public and educators. Available on re­ The Planetary Society. be a scorched wasteland with a surface quest is a special information packet temperature hot enough to melt lead. that includes fact sheets on Venus and Susan Lendroth is Manager of Events How did two planets that are so sim­ the Magellan mission, a reprint of a and Communications for The Plane­ ilar end up so differently? And, know- Planetary Report article by Carl Sagan, tary Society. 19 Ten Years of Planetary Society Support for Small but Significant Projects

by Charlene M . Anderson

Ow can an organization like The life. Whenever a big space story where a small amount of "seed" money H Planetary Society measure its breaks, our telephones start ringing off may enable a program to grow that will success? the hook with press calling for thought­ have great impact on the future. In just our first few years we grew to ful comments and good quotes. In 10 Such small programs often slip be the largest space-interest group in short years, The Planetary Society's through the cracks of foundations and the world. In the US Congress and ad­ voice has been heard around the world. governments. We can tide over a valu­ ministration, and with Soviet space In these many ways we might mea­ able research program until it finds a leaders, we've built a reputation as ef­ sure our success. continuous source of funding. When fective advocates of planetary explo­ But as an organization that by its governments and their agencies aren't ration and the search for extraterrestrial very nature seeks to shape the future, talking to each other, we can bring to­ The Planetary Society gether people who can significantly may prove to have contribute to each other's programs. been most effective in We can tackle questions that official the way we've sup­ agencies are not yet ready to ask. ported small projects In our first 10 years, The Planetary with great poten­ Society has taken on many programs tial-potential far out like these, programs that have made a of proportion to their difference. Here we have room only to costs. META I and II, mention a few, but their breadth, diver­ the Asteroid Project sity and even ambition will stand for and the SNAKE for what we feel are some of our greatest the Mars Balloon are successes. In the next 10 years, we our largest and most hope to see some of these seeds bear visible projects, but fruit of their own. We will keep look­ over the years we ing for fertile projects to nurture. And have undertaken or we may then measure our success by sponsored many achievements we have not yet even smaller projects that imagined. may someday bear ex­ tremely valuable fruit. Mars Oxygen Production Our philosophy for System Design choosing what projects The scope of human Mars exploration to fund was laid down can be limited by many things, but one early in our history: As of the most important handicaps is the a medium-sized mem­ mass to be launched from Earth, landed bership organization on Mars and launched back to Earth. (as compared to a For missions using propulsion systems group like the National available in the near future, most of Geographic Society that mass will have to be propellant. If with 10,500,000 mem­ we can decrease the necessary amount bers), The Planetary of propellant, we can increase the mis­ Society can't fund ex­ sion's scope. tremely expensive re­ A solution to this problem is to manu­ search, nor can we af­ facture propellant on Mars. This project ford to support at Old Dominion University in Virginia As commissioned by The Planetary SOCiety, Science Ap­ plications International Corporation envisioned the type numerous small pro­ built a test system that manufactured liq­ of spacecraft that might someday take humans to Mars. grams. But we can uid oxygen for propellant from a simu· 2 0 Painting: Michael Carroll seek out projects lated martian atmosphere. The Planetary Linked by satellite I with their Soviet l colleagues, Amer­ ican planetary sci­ entists discussed the possibilities Society provided a grant to buy for exploring Mars the needed equipment. during the Space­ bridge sponsored The Very Cheap, Quick by The Planetary Society. This Mission Study landmark meeting In 1987 The Planetary Society formed the basis began a study of what we called for a television show broadcast the "Very Cheap, Quick Mis­ by the Public sion" to the Moon. The goal was Broadcasting Ser­ to find a way-using inexpen­ vice, and in the USSR and Japan. sive technology-to find water Photograph: ice that may be trapped in per­ Rhoda Pollack manently shaded areas of the lu- nar poles. The question of whether or not the Moon holds water is crucial to planning fu- formation and materials about planetary Columbia. They can precisely measure ture exploration. Despite intensive ef­ science. The Planetary Society believes velocity shifts in stars that may indi­ fort, the study participants could not that the excitement children feel about cate the presence of unseen planetary find a quick and cheap way to make un­ exploring the planets can be harnessed companions. ambiguous measurements that can an­ to foster their interest in science in gen­ The Planetary Society contributed a swer that question. eral. During this 1987 workshop, plane­ small amount of seed money to this tary scientists shared their knowledge project, enabling it to continue until it The Graz Meeting with teachers and others involved with successfully found other sponsors. In 1984, when relations among nations curriculum development. The lectures discouraged official cooperation in re­ were videotaped and will eventually be Planetfests '81 and '89 search and on missions, The Planetary made into teaching aids for Spanish­ The two grandest parties ever thrown Society brought together in Graz, Aus­ speaking audiences worldwide. for planetary exploration were the tria some of the leaders in space sci­ We are considering trying to repeat Planetfests organized by The Planetary ence and engineering. Soviets, Euro­ the success of this workshop with an­ Society to celebrate the triumphs of the peans and Americans exchanged data other to be held in Argentina. Voyager project. For Voyager 2's 1981 gathered from missions to and research encounter with Saturn, over 15,000 on Mars and Venus. The Soviets an­ A Search for Substellar people came to watch images transmit­ nounced their Phobos mission to Mars and Planetary Mass Objects ted live from the spacecraft as it passed and its largest satellite. Soviet scien­ Orbiting Nearby Stars the planet. In 1989, for the Neptune tists invited American scientists to We do not yet possess the technology encounter, we again held symposia, set work on the mission with them. to actually "see" planets around other up displays and showed live images, American scientists were on the stars (that may change when the Hub­ but this time we topped it all off with a Phobos team when the mission ble Space Telescope is fixed), but by party at JPL featuring entertainment by launched on schedule in 1988. being clever it may be possible to de­ Chuck Berry. The bash was broadcast tect them. One of the most intriguing live on the Turner Broadcasting Sys­ Together to Mars Spacebridge projects is this search by astronomers tem, and, in Japan, over the Asahi The Planetary Society used the tech­ at the University of Victoria, British Broadcasting System. D nology of communications satellites to hold a "spacebridge" conference be­ tween scientists and engineers in the Soviet Union and the United States. Through the satellite link, they freely Television exchanged ideas about the robotic and audiences in human exploration of Mars-and the US and Japan shared whether the two spacefaring nations in our huge .could undertake it together. closing party The Public Broadcasting Service for Planetfest '89, celebrat­ (PBS) used our spacebridge as the ba­ ing thepeo­ sis for a·one-hour special on Mars ex­ pie who ploration; other programs were shown helpedVoy­ ager 2 on its in the USSR and Japan. grand tour of the outer so­ Mexico City larsystem. Photograph: Educators' Workshop Ken Wong Educators outside of the spacefaring na­ tions do not always have access to in- 21 'TOGETHER TO MARS" Contest As of this writing, 27 nations are offi­ cially participating in the "Together to Mars" competition. Representatives of the H. Dudley Wright International Student Contest can be found in the following countries: Argentina Australia by Barbara Bruning-La Belle Belgium Canada Colombia Costa Rica Denmark Finland Great Britain ~~ll1 ere were you when humans To accomplish this goal, a daunting Hungary first landed on the Moon?" number of physiological, technical India That question has been and environmental problems must first Iran as e countless times since July 20, be resolved. But the scientists who Ireland 1969. On that day, people around the gathered that day may not be the ones Israel globe joined together to witness the to solve them. Who will be called up­ Italy unimaginable: humans stepping on to on to answer these challenges? The Japan the lunar surface. For those too young citizens of the 21st century, today's Malaysia to remember, it may be hard to imag­ high-school students. Mexico ine the thrill that surged throughout The discussions at the Colloquium Norway the entire human community, regard­ inspired an exciting new science com­ Pakistan less of nationality, religious or cultural petition, the H. Dudley Wright Inter­ Portugal differences. national Student Contest, entitled Spain Many years later Geneva, Switzer­ "Together to Mars." This contest is Switzerland land was the site of the 1988 Wright administered and promoted by The Thailand Planetary Society with support from The Netherlands the H. Dudley Wright Foundation. TheUS H. Dudley Wright International Student Co ntest The contest was established to encour­ The USSR age young people's creativity and achievement in international peaceful Opportunities still exist for institutions space exploration, with exploration of and qualified individuals to coordinate Mars as the next objective. the contest in countries not yet repre­ sented. Where the contest is already Who Is Eligible? established, there is still a need for All students born during or after 1973 student mentors. If you would like to are invited to submit 3,000- to 10,000- participate in the "Together to Mars" word essays on topics related to life­ competition, either as a coordinator or Together To Mars support for a Mars mission. All who as an entrant, write to: enter will receive recognition. THE PLANETARV SOCIETY Three national finalists will be cho­ The Planetary Society sen from each participating country to "Together to Mars," enter the international competition to 65 No. Catalina Avenue, Colloquium, "Voyage to Mars." In at­ be held in the summer of 1991. Final Pasadena, CA 91106. tendance were several prominent sci­ selection of the 20 international win­ entists: Among those meeting with the ners (no more than three from anyone Be sure to include your complete Colloquium's sponsor, H. Dudley nation) will be made by a distin­ name and address, including your Zip Wright, were Bruce Murray and Tom guished international panel of scien­ or postal code and your country. State Paine of the United States, Roald tists and educators. that you would like information on Sagdeev and Sergei Kapitsa of the So­ A maximum of 20 prizes of $2,500 the H. Dudley Wright International viet Union, and Jacques Blamont of (US) will be awarded to each interna­ Student Contest and give the name of France. All could attest to the enor­ tional winner. In addition, the winners your local coordinator. mous effect the lunar landing had up­ and their teacher/mentors will be flown on their lives. Now, they gathered to to Washington, D.C. to attend the Space Barbara Bruning-La Belle is Program envision the next step: the exploration Congress that will be held during the Coordinator for the H. Dudley Wright 22 of Mars. International Space Year 1992. International Student Contest. ,...------_.. -

I A Vital

by Carlos J. Populus

rom the very beginning of The tions and so forth) all over the globe, tions as diverse as Brisbane, Australia; Planetary Society, our members due almost entirely to the efforts of our Willowdale, Ontario, Canada; Berke­ Fhave asked about ways they could volunteers. ley, California; Birmingham, England; become even more involved in sup­ Some of these projects were espe­ Isfahan, Iran; Kepong, Malaysia; porting the Society and the future of cially exciting and fun-such as Plan­ Boston, Massachusetts; Nordhorn, Ger­ space exploration. As our membership etfest '89, held in August 1989 in many; and many other locations. Vol­ increased all over the world, these in­ unteers are also serving as support staff quiries also shot up dramatically. It be­ for an additional 29 Planetary Society came clear that a large percentage of HOW YOU CAN HELP events. That's a total of 68 events our membership is not content with scheduled so far, and we will probably If you would like to join this simply sitting back and watching add an additional 20 to 30 events be­ events unfold. Our members want to be group of enthusiastic volunteers fore year's end. and help support the goals of directly involved in making things In celebrating our tenth anniversary, The Planetary Society, please happen. The Planetary Society would like to write to Carlos J. Populus, Here at our Pasadena headquarters, thank all who contributed to our Volunteer Network Coordinator, we have had from the beginning a growth as Volunteer Network mem­ 65 No. Catalina Avenue, small but very dedicated group of peo­ bers. In addition, we would like to sin­ Pasadena, CA 91106. ple-Lu Coffing, Carol Buck and gle out the following individuals for a David Hagie, to name three who are special thank you for their outstanding still with us-who generously donated contributions on behalf of The Society. much time and effort in helping the So­ Pasadena. (See the November/Decem­ Alphabetically, they are: Barbara Bow­ ciety through its infancy. Because of ber 1989 Planetary Report.) Volunteers man in Berkeley, California; Carol this help, The Society'S management gave up both time and sleep to sell T­ Buck in Rancho Palos Verdes, Califor­ felt that a volunteer effort on a world­ shirts, run projectors and even work as nia; Regina Forbes in Holbrook, Mas­ wide scale might prove even more suc­ security guards. We couldn't have sachusetts; David Hagie in Pasadena cessful. pulled it off without them. California; Tom Hanna in Milwaukie, Thus, in September of 1986, the Vol­ And then there was the "Big Dublin Oregon; Kerry Johnson in Santa Paula, unteer Network was born, making pos­ Star Party." This event, orchestrated by California; K.K. Kooi in Petaling Jaya, sible our members' 'greater participa­ Irish Volunteer Coordinator Paul Malaysia; Andrew Lound in Birming­ tion in furthering The Planetary Bracken, was held as the big finish to ham, England; Hema Murty in Toronto, Society'S goals. Volunteers were en­ the Voyager exhibition, presented in Canada; and Michael Siage in Fountain couraged to take the initiative in setting conjunction with the Irish Astronomi­ Valley, California. These individuals up displays, collecting signatures on cal Society. have distinguished themselves by their the Mars Declaration, passing out bro­ Bracken expected that the bash, held unusual initiative and hard work on be­ chures, recruiting new members, and in Dublin's Phoenix Park, would draw half of The Society. organizing lectures in their local areas. a few hundred people. Instead, over As to the future, we hope that the Just four months after the announce­ 2,000 people waited patiently in line Volunteer Network will grow to have ment of its formation in the Septem­ (some of them even holding infants!) in one active regional coordinator in ev­ ber/October 1986 issue of The Plane­ order to take a peek at Neptune and ery state in the US and in each country tary Report, the Volunteer Network Saturn through one of six borrowed in the world. Through the initiative of could boast 337 members. Today, four telescopes. Society volunteers circulat­ our coordinators we hope to be able to years later, the number of dedicated ed through the crowd to explain what hold events in every corner of the plan­ volunteers on our roster has grown to was happening in the skies. Many of et. We are counting on the Network to more than 1,500 worldwide. Of these, those who attended were not Planetary be instrumental in the success of our 109 seD-Ie as regional coordinators. Society members-not yet, anyway. "Sister Worlds" program, in circulating With the Volunteer Network's assis­ These are just two examples of the ded­ the Mars Declaration, and in continu­ tance, The Planetary Society has been ication shown by Volunteer Network ing to spread our message of peaceful, able to conduct some very successful members allover the world. cooperative space exploration to all the programs. Mars Watch in 1988 and Scheduled for this year are 39 events inhabitants of Earth. Voyager Watch in 1989 each engen­ (lectures and displays) conceived, orga­ dered many co-sponsored events (lec­ nized and carried out entirely by mem­ Carlos 1. Populus is Volunteer Network tures, demonstrations, visual presenta- bers of the Volunteer Network, in loca- Coordinator o/The Planetary Society. 23 by Louis D. Friedman

WASHINGTON, DC-NASA's trou­ Washington are questioning the agen­ their responses, the politicians fre­ bles with the Hubble Space Telescope cy's ability to carry out large scientific quently stated that while they support­ and the grounding of the space shuttle and technical projects. ed space exploration, such new pro­ fleet have provided rich grist for the Pressure from the huge and growing grams would have to wait. Continuing Washington political mills. Coming federal deficit is also squeezing the programs, such as the shuttle and space right in the midst of debate over the agency. Facing fierce competition for station, needed their funding increased federal budget, these problems led to shrinking federal funds, NASA pro­ and would receive priority. debate and discussion in the White grams already underway are being The political and budgetary ramifi­ House and Congress about what NASA pinched and future programs have be­ cations of the Hubble and shuttle prob­ should have done and should do in the come questionable. lems are severe. When a shuttle launch future. Before the Hubble and shuttle prob­ is delayed, it can cost millions of dol­ As we go to press, it appears that the lems surfaced, the Appropriations lars per month just to store the payload. fault in Hubble's primary mirror could Committee in the House of Representa­ To fix the space telescope will require have been detected by testing on the tives had already emphatically refused NASA scientists and engineers to im­ ground. The hydrogen leaks in two to appropriate money to study the plement new and costly procedures, separate shuttles' fuel systems were un­ Moon and Mars missions President and ultimately new instruments must related to each other, and we hope the Bush has proposed. Planetary Society be launched and installed. shuttle will soon be flying again. members sent thousands of letters to Many of these problems are results Even if NASA can fix all the techni­ their Representatives and Senators urg­ of NASA's dependence on the shuttle cal problems, it still faces a crisis of ing that they support the initial studies to launch almost all scientific payloads. confidence. Critics within and without for human exploratory missions. In The shuttle fleet was supposed to be

The NASA Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence crafty critters can be found at checkout counters program is designed only to "listen" for radio sig­ from coast to coast. [Mr. Conte then entered into nals that another civilization might be broadcasting the Congressional Record five articles on UFOs to other advanced civilizations. It is not a program from tabloid publications.] If we continue to fund that actively attempts to contact other possible life this dog [NASA's SET! program]-a Golden Fleece forms. In his fiscal year 1991 budget, President award winner in 1978- then we should seriously Bush had asked $12 million for NASA's SET! pro­ consider funding an even more ambitious program­ gram. The House Committee on Appropriations cut SCI: Search for Congressional Intelligence." that to $6.1 million. When the committee's proposal reached the floor of the House, Representative Ronald K. Machtley (D-RI): "We cannot spend Ronald K Machtley [D-RI] introduced an amend­ money on curiosity today when we have a deficit. ment to eliminate SET! funding from the federal I might suggest that, in fact, if there is such a super­ budget. We excerpt here portions of the discussion intelligence [sic] form of life out there, might it be on the House floor. easier just to listen and let them call us?"

Silvio Conte (R-MA): "We don't need to spend $6 Bob Traxler (D-MI): "The logic of the distin­ million this year to find evidence of these rascally guished gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Conte] creatures. We only need 75 cents to buy a tabloid at and the maker of the amendment [Mr. Machtley] the local supermarket. Conclusive evidence of these is irrefutable."

24 ~------~~------

Fix Tile Planning First Editorial by Louis D. Friedman capable of more than 30 launches per build public support for it. year. Then the frequency lowered to We planned a series of four con­ S pace is (l difficult place. The false 15, then 10 and now may be even ferences to study and discuss why claims of cbeap, easy and routme less. Routine and regular American humans should explore the solar sys­ operations in space (lIe now haUNt­ access to space has proved an illusion. tem. The Planetary Society asked the ing Us. In the past two years we've Since plans for space station Free­ National Space Society to organize dom depend on routine and frequent public sessions for these conferences. seen failures in the Soviet Phl!Joos shuttle launches, this program now al­ We hoped to bring space profession­ mission to Mars, the Europeatl Hip­ so faces serious questions. als, influential thinkers and the public parcos astr-onoJUicai satellite, the To simply assemble the space sta­ together to build a rationale that can Japanese Hagomoro lunar mission tion will require some 30 shuttle carry the American space program and the United States' Hubble launches over 4 years. The Congres­ forward. However, the lack of funds Space Telescope. They remind us sional Office of Technology Assess­ for the Space Exploration Initiative that space is indifferent to numan­ ment (OT A) estimates that, even with have put this plan on hold. built devices, diffictilt to deal with, 98 percent reliability in the shuttle and even dangerous. program (a figure not yet achieved), WASlllNGTON, DC-NASA's Search Fixing the problems will be the there is an 8-in-9 chance that a shuttle for Extraterrestrial Intelligence will fail while building the space sta­ (SET!) again encountered opposition easier job. For example, redJmdant tion. Even a single shuttle failure in the United States Congress. From systems that can take over when would be catastrophic to the space the floor of the House, Representative one system fails will be built into station program. after Representative took turns com­ the next Phobos spacecraft. New Another problem was addressed in menting on the program. An amend­ and well-tested instruments can "re­ an internal NASA study, which esti­ ment to the federal budget offered by pair" Hubble. But, it will be harder mated that astronauts will have to per­ Representative Silvio Conte (R-MA) ~and more impoFtant__..-to leam form over 3,000 hours per year of ex­ deleted all 1991 funding for NASA's from O\:lt mors and to fix the man­ travehicular activity (EVA) to build SET! program. As I write this, the agement and planning systems that and then service the space station. A Senate still has to act upon this failed in all these missions. normal, full-time work year is 2,080 amendment. In the Soviet program, we have person-hours. This excessive need for By NASA standards, SETI is a EV A would be a threat to the astro­ small program, requiring only a few already noted the deficiencies in the nauts'safety. million dollars a year; the House Ap­ system design. (See the May/June Both NASA and the White House propriations Committee had voted it and July/August 1989 Planetary National Space Council (chaired by $6 million for 1991. Although it has Reports.) In the American program, Vice President Quayle) are consider­ widespread scientific support and is we must learn that we can't base ing these problems and their possible popular with the general public, for our plans on frequent shuttle solutions while debate continues in those unfamiliar with the strategy of launches. Congress. listening for extraterrestrial radio sig­ Perhaps, before NASA proceeds These problems came at possibly nals, SET! is an easy target for those with space station construction, the the worst moment for the American looking for programs to attack. (See agency should build a heavy-lift space program. For the first time box for excerpts of congressional since the Kennedy/Johnson adminis­ statements on SETI.) launch vehicle tnat.would be more tration, the White House has shown With the future of NASA's SETI powerful and (because it would not an active and positive interest in space program uncertain, The Planetary So­ carry humans) simpler to operate. In exploration. Under White House pres­ ciety 's MET A (Megachannel Extra­ the lang run, this approach might sure, NASA appointed an external terrestrial Assay) project becomes even speed up the space station commission to consider the agency's more crucial to humanity's efforts to building process. organization and ability to carry out determine if there are other advanced Allother option to consider is future programs. Congress held hear­ lifeforms in the universe. Our pro­ moving micro gravity processing to ings on the shuttle and Hubble prob­ gram remains the only continuous a robotic platform removed from lems, and on NASA itself. search for extraterrestrial radio signals the hubbub of hUman activities. The current troubles, coupled with in the world. (See pages 6-7.) This would simplify the require­ Congress' lack of enthusiasm for The Society'S Board of Directors is Bush's human exploration initiative, now deliberating how we should react ments NASA is now forcing on the focus our attention on the need to de­ to this unfortunate development. We station design. fine and disseminate the rationale for are considering both the US govern­ These and other alternatives need the human exploration of space. To ad­ ment's program and our own. We to be considered now. We hope that dress this, The Planetary Society con­ welcome your letters on this subject. the new commission appointed by sidered- for the first time- accepting NASA will do just that. Q government money to examine the rea­ Louis D. Friedman is the Executive sons for space exploration and ways to Director a/The Planetary Society. 25 they claim that many of Hubble's observations can still be made. Its optical defects can be largely removed from data by computer massaging. Eventually, instrument replace­ ments can achieve nearly all of HST's original goals. Despite Congress' intent to zero-out SEI, President Bush still supported it. Although budget cuts have taken their toll (NASA abandoned a vital instrument for the international Mars' 94 mission and is offloading instruments from CRAF), at least work is still proceeding on CRAF/Cassini. The same budget cuts have stopped all advanced planning work by engineers on such projects as the Discovery series of small missions to objects like near-Earth asteroids and Pluto, but hopes are that planning can be restarted in the new fiscal year. But just as the post-Cold War euphoria was undercut by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait (and the attendant US military re­ sponse and skyrocketing costs of oil), so it now looks by Clark R. Chapman gloomy for NASA and even for international space pro­ grams. While Magellan might map Venus, contact with that spacecraft was periodically lost just as it began sending back pictures of our sister planet. (As you read this, you will know if Magellan went on to glorious achievements as Voyager did after its shaky start.) And the Senate mark-up of NASA's appropriations bill would cancel CRAF and threaten Cassini. Worst of all, from my perspective as a planetary scientist, is the ever-lowering morale of my colleagues. Let's not or the past 10 years I have been writing this column, mince words: Hubble truly is crippled, and years of plan­ reporting on current events that are of interest to The ning for HST operations had to be thrown out. In late Au­ F Planetary Society. Now, the time has come to reflect gust, planetary astronomers were shocked to learn that 40 on where we've been, where we are, and where we're going percent of the research groups with programs up for renew­ in planetary exploration. al by NASA will be telminated. They will get 50 percent The singular accomplishment of the 1980s was Voyager. funding for one final year, then go out of business. Many of This final mission of the "Golden Age of Planetary Explo­ those not terminated were also cut up to 50 percent because ration" showed us the marvels of the outer solar system. In of budget shortages. a decade of mounting woes for NASA, Voyager was the shining example of how to do it right: On cost, on schedule, Simple Sixties Lessons and with results far beyond expectations. I'll conclude my list of woes. I hope things will be looking Throughout the 1980s, NASA had chiefly the planetary better by the time you read this. Still, I think the last 10 program to point to with pride. Yet, these planetary suc­ years held some simple lessons for us. The higher funding cesses were the fruits of ideas born in the 1970s. The 1980s levels of the 1960s and 1970s contributed to the successful became a time of retrenchment. Missions intended for the approaches to science and project management seen during early 1980s, Galileo and Magellan, were not even those two decades. More recent attempts to run full plane­ launched until 1989. tary programs with ever-eroding budgets have not worked. The year 1990 opened with an air of optimism missing The world is wealthy enough and united enough to afford since long before the Challenger disaster. The Hubble the long-term commitments to education, research and ad­ Space Telescope (HST) was sent into orbit, promising to vanced planning that make state-of-the-art technological en­ unlock the mysteries of the universe. Galileo encountered deavors like spacecraft missions possible. Yet the future of Venus. Ulysses was being prepared for launch. President space exploration, at least by the US, is threatened by con­ Bush set a goal for NASA: the Space Exploration Initiative tinuing budgetary instability, the ascendancy of financial (SEI) that would send people to the Moon and Mars. The speculation and the worship of short-term goals in the Unit­ long-delayed Lunar Observer mission was finally on track. ed States' psyche-and by the paralysis of politicians who The end of the Cold War seemed to be nurturing interna­ can't take decisive and committed action. tional cooperation in space. For the first time in years, We live in an age of compromise. So often, the budget­ Congress approved two major new planetary missions: the cutters think you can live with a 10 percent cut, and after Comet Rendezvous/Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) and Cassini that, a 15 percent cut. But some things need to be done to study the Saturn system. right, or not at all. It is a worse thing to waste money build­ ing half a bridge than to not build one at all. We need to Hubble-Through a Glass Half Full? build bridges to other worlds. So, we must await farsighted Many of the promises I've just listed could still come true. political leaders who, like John F. Kennedy, can proclaim a As I write, Magellan'S first pictures of Venus' surface have goal, gamer the necessary resources and persevere. been released, and engineers are hoping that its mapping ac­ tivities can begin soon. Galileo is doing fine, as it nears its Clark R. Chapman has reviewed books and articles, and December encounter with Earth. Astronomers who see occasionally commented on the space exploration scene glasses "half full" rather than "half empty" are sincere when since Volume 1, Number 1 of The Planetary Report. academic achievement, com­ tributions to planetary explo­ cial Consultant to The Society. mitment to a career in plane­ ration. This year our winner Mr. Kraemer retired in tary-related science or engi­ is Jennifer L. Hoffman who is March 1990 from his position The Planetary Society has neering, and a 2,500-word attending Stanford University as Assistant Director of Engi­ awarded a grant to David essay on a relevant topic. The where she plans to major in neering at Goddard. His long Balam and Jeremy B. Tatum 1990 winners include: astronomy. and distinguished career in at the University of Victoria, Shawn M. Diamond from the space engineering includes a British Columbia, Canada for University of Wisconsin, stint as Director of Lunar and their studies of Comet Levy Robert Andrew Morgan from Planetary Exploration at and 1990MF, an Earth-ap­ Purdue University, David Members of The Society'S NASA during the 1970s-the proaching asteroid. (For de­ Holmes Reilly from Prince­ Portland, Oregon Volunteer "Golden Age of Planetary tails of this project, see the ton University, Stefan A. Ser­ Network (Tom Hanna, Coor­ Exploration," as Mr. Kraemer May/June 1988 Planetary bicki from Florida Atlantic dinator) have been producing puts it. Report.) University, and Adam Peter "Space, the Future Frontier," He will be based in Wash­ The pair have been able to Showman from Stanford Uni­ a half-hour cable television ington, DC, and will report to track the fast-moving 1990MF versity. news program on current is­ us on meetings, hearings or as it came very close to the sues in space exploration. other political events that are celestial pole, and have gath­ New Millenium Committee A representative of a local of interest to The Planetary ered enough information on High School Scholarships: cable network met Tom and Society, its mission or its pro­ Comet Levy to enable the Every year the New Millenni­ other Planetary Society vol­ grams. Mr. Kraemer is not a Minor Planet Center at the um Committee of The Plane­ unteers at an event and was lobbyist-rather, he is a Harvard/ Smithsonian Astro­ tary Society gives scholar­ so impressed with our organi­ knowledgeable reporter who physical Observatory to com­ ships to high school students zation that he got his station will be The Society.'s eyes pute a preliminary orbit for it. who show promise in fields to provide all the production and ears in the United States' related to planetary explo­ costs and training in ex­ capitol. ration. This year's applicants change for 13 months' worth The Planetary Society's were asked to consider how of programs. Scholarship program has en­ studies of other planets have A new program is featured tered its fifth year of award­ helped us better understand every month, each airing six ing fellowships and scholar­ our own world. This year we times on the Paragon Cable ships to students planning to divided the award among: Network on three different enter the fields of planetary Douglas Acton of Burke, Vir­ channels: 11, 27 and 33. science or engineering. The ginia; Christine Hopper of (Times vary, so check your Society strives to encourage Austin, Texas; Andrew Jordan cable guide.) So far, guests on the engineers and scientists of of Austin, Texas; Kevin the program have included tomorrow who will someday Siedentopf of Polson, Montana; Stan Seeberg, an authority on take us to Mars and beyond Robert Uglesich of Mayaguez, meteorites, and a group of or will help us rediscover our Puerto Rico; and Cory Welt of school children discussing home planet. Las Vegas, Nevada. their "space seed" experi­ ments. College Fellowship Awards: National Merit Scholarship These are awarded to under­ The Planetary Society spon­ graduates majoring in science sors a scholarship in this pres­ or engineering. Applicants tigious program. Each year, The Planetary Society is must be members of The from the several thousand pleased to announce that Planetary Society or be nomi­ National Merit Finalists, we Robert S. Kraemer, formerly nated by a member. Fellow­ select one student who we of the Goddard Space Flight ships are awarded based upon feel can make significant con- Center, has joined us as a Spe- 27 What is the cause of the volcanic pears to have been fixed over the activity on lo? last 50 years. This, in tum, implies -Tony E. Yaghamaie, Seattle, a stable internal heat source consis­ Washington tent with the periodic tidal interac­ tions among Jupiter, Europa and 10. The active volcanoes on 10, -DAVID PIERI, Jet Propulsion Jupiter's innermost satellite, came Laboratory as a complete surprise to most of the planetary science community, How can Saturn's moon, Titan, although a few investigators had with less than half the diameter of speculated on their possibility be­ Earth, hold an atmosphere about fore they were discovered by Linda one and a half times the pressure Morabito of the Voyager Naviga­ of our own? tion Team. -Charley Levinson, Smyrna, The original speculations on po­ Georgia tential causes of lo's volcanism are still the most plausible 10 years lat­ The ability of a planet or satellite to er. The basic idea is that 10 is generate an atmosphere and then to slightly deformed due to strong maintain it for 4.5 billion years de­ tidal interaction primarily with pends on several factors. Other Jupiter and Europa, the next satel­ things being equal, the basic pa­ lite out. Such tidal pulling makes 10 rameters are the mass of the object more oblate, but then allows it to and the temperature of its exo­ relax as its position relative to Eu­ sphere: a massive, cold planet is ropa changes. This repeated flexing the best candidate. of lo's outer shell has generated A large mass means a strong considerable internal heat that, over gravitational field, which holds the time, has mobilized most volatile atmospheric gases around the ob­ materials near the surface including ject. The lower the temperature, water, with sulfur and its com­ the more slowly the 'atmospheric pounds remaining behind. molecules move, and the more dif­ Today this strong tidal heating is ficult it is for them to escape into probably generating various kinds space. Thus a cold satellite like Ti­ of volcanism simultaneously on 10: tan can maintain an atmosphere al­ surface flows and ponds of quickly most as effectively as a warm cooling liquid sulfur; surface flows planet like Earth despite Titan's of much hotter silicates, such as smaller mass. basalt; and the spectacular, primari­ If a planet or satellite is too cold, ly sulfur dioxide driven umbrella­ most of the gases will freeze out on shaped plumes so familiar from the its surface, which is why Neptune's Voyager flyby pictures. moon, Triton, and Pluto have such Between the two Voyager flybys, tenuous atmospheres. If it is too the shapes of some of the active hot, it will have no atmosphere at features changed, implying that lo's all. For example, inner solar system What makes lo's volcanoes erupt? Scientists believe surface is highly dynamic. Never­ bodies, such as Mercury and our that tidal tugs from Jupiter and Europa heat the small theless, the placement of the sur­ Moon, are simply surrounded by moon's interior. This heat provides the energy to shoot out plumes of sulfur and its compounds in frequent face markings as seen from Earth, ultra-thin halos of atoms. 28 eruptions. Painting: Bob Eggleton and the pattern of volcanism, ap- Two major processes work to re- move atmospheric gases: escape pending asteroid or comet im­ and deposition. Gas molecules are pact, what sized body could be always in motion, the more mas­ deflected to a new trajectory with sive ones moving more slowly today's resources? How could it than the lighter ones. Atoms, be done? What sized body would molecules and rockets can leave a be life threatening? planet or satellite and fly off into -J. W. Wright, San Clemente, space if their velocities are large California enough. This so-called "escape velocity" depends on the body's The object responsible for Meteor mass and radius: it will be larger Crater in Arizona was approxi­ for more massive bodies. If the mately 50 meters (about 160 feet) velocities imparted by the gas across. Such an asteroid could be molecules' temperatures at the deadly if it struck near a populat­ outer fringes of the atmosphere ed place. Unfortunately, ground­ exceed the escape velocity, they based telescopic patrols cannot will fly off into space. detect objects that small until they A small body like Titan has a are bearing down on us. (Futuris­ lower escape velocity than Earth. tic Moon-based patrol systems Thus to retain an atmosphere, its have been suggested, however.) exosphere must be colder than The most threatening asteroids Earth so the molecules move more are those larger than about a mile. slowly, as indeed it is. At the aver­ Civilization as we know it could age temperature of Titan's upper be destroyed by such an object; atmosphere, molecules like meth­ we've discovered only a few

ane (CH4) and nitrogen (N2) have dozen so far. But it is estimated great difficulty escaping into that several hundred such potential space. But these molecules are impactors are there to be found. constantly being broken apart by An expanded search program, us­ bombarding electrons from Sat­ ing telescopes like the Schmidts urn's magnetosphere and by cos­ currently employed on Mt. Palo­ mic rays and solar ultraviolet pho­ mar or the proposed Spacewatch tons. Most of the fragments of Telescope, could catalog most of these collisions recombine to form these objects. If one were found on more complex molecules that cre­ a path that could strike Earth in the ate the ubiquitous smog layer in next few years or decades, a space Titan's atmosphere and rain down mission could be launched to de­ on the surface. flect it. We would need some lead This deposition process has time, and the mission would be greatly depleted the atmospheric expensive, but the future of civi­ methane. Some nitrogen atoms lization might be hanging in the escape directly when the molecu­ balance. (See article on page 14.) lar nitrogen is broken apart with It is entirely within our techno­ sufficient energy to allow one or logical capacity to rendezvous both of the constituent atoms to with the intruder, plant a modest achieve escape velocity. The hy­ bomb-it has been calculated that drogen atoms produced by the a few kilograms of chemical ex­ breakup of methane will also es­ plosive might do-and nudge the cape. We expect to find evidence object onto a slightly different of both of these loss processes- path. Recent radar observations of .. deposition on the surface and es­ the double nature of 1989PB cau­ cape into space-with the Cassi- tion us that asteroids may be rub­ . ni-Huygens instruments when we ble piles rather than solid rock, study the composition of Titan's and we would not wish to frag­ surface and measure the relative ment the object. A blizzard of abundances of the nitrogen and dozens of 300-meter "mountains" hydrogen isotopes in 2002 AD. might be even more deadly than -TOBIAS OWEN, University of the impact.of a single mile-wide Hawaii asteroid. -CLARK R. CHAPMAN, Plan­ If Earth were faced with an im- etary Science Institute The 1990s/continuedjrom page 9 missions while reducing international tensions. surface in relation to seasons and geography. The planet is With financial support from its members and friends, the in the process of changing very quickly and we must moni­ Society should continue to provide seed funding for exciting tor it. adventures such as the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence In our age, science is over-organized with many reports, (SETI). While large-scale SET! research is the province of papers, proposals and documents to be written and consid­ governments, the Society has shown leadership now, while ered and accepted before one gets any funds. The Planetary governments debate the issue. Success in the SET! searches Society has proven its usefulness to science with such pro­ sponsored by the Society would be the ultimate achievement jects as working for the continuation of planetary missions of the foreseeable future. in the 1980s, or testing balloons of new design for the USSR - Henry 1. Tanner, Financial Consultant Mars '94 mission. Such activities should continue. There is another kind of activity the Society could orga­ he us civil space program has, after thirty years of expe­ nize which would be inexpensive and useful. Much of the Trience, reached a level of maturity that cries out for a material obtained by previous planetary missions is still not critical appraisal of the merits of its various components. analyzed in full depth simply because investigators have no Robotic commandable spacecraft in both Earth orbit and time to do it. Most of this work would only require the use deep space have made immense and pervasive contributions of personal computers and some guidance from the investi­ to scientific understanding of the Sun, the Earth, and the oth­ gators. I am sure that many Planetary Society members er planets with their systems of satellites and rings, comets, would be able and very willing to do such potentially fruit­ and the distant astronomical universe. The planetary pro­ ful work. The Society could be an organizing link between gram, in particular, has yielded results far transcending its its members and the scientists. initial promises. Robotic spacecraft have also provided many I can give examples of such potential work from my per­ utilitarian applications of space technology for the direct sonal experience. In 1968, after being involved in the treat­ benefit of the Earth's population. ment of Venera 4 data, I thought it would be useful to ana­ On the other hand, the flight of human crews in space has, lyze Mariner 4 radio signal data. Over the course of seven despite its use of the dominant part of our national resources years I talked to several US scientists and NASA officials in space exploration, defaulted repeatedly on its promises and wrote many letters. The result: one slide, from Dr. Ichti­ and, since Apollo, has yielded very meager results, either sci­ aque Rasool [now with NASA]. Using this slide, Dr. A.S. entific or utilitarian. Gurvich and I wrote a note published in 1971 by the Jour­ These facts demand a drastic revision of our national pri­ nal ofAtmosph eric Sciences on turbulence in the Venus at­ orities in space in order to emphasize and enhance support mosphere. Another attempt, not so insistent and with no re­ for the things that work and to diminish support for things sult whatsoever, was in relation to Pioneer Venus descent that do not. My hope for the next decade is that such a revi­ data on pressure and temperature which could be used to test sion of priorities will occur. the internal consistency ofthe measured values and to esti­ -James Van Allen, Professor of Physics, University of Iowa mate atmospheric vertical velocities. Both subjects remain of considerable interest. I believe most planetary scientists A s a newcomer to The Planetary Society, I am stillieam­ could name many subjects from their own experience that I"'\ing about the Society's objectives and how those objec­ are worthwhile to pursue. tives are implemented. So far, I've become familiar with -G. S. Golitsyn, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy The Planetary Report (which is excellent) and I was very of Sciences of the USSR impressed with the events organized during the Voyager 2 fly-by of Neptune last summer. However, I'm stillieaming! ongratulations to The Planetary Society on its 10th My hopes for the Society are therefore fairly general at this Canniversary. We can now truly say: "What is past is point. They are: prelude." a) That you will continue to advocate international dialogue Prelude to what? At the very least, a continuation of our and cooperation in space exploration (despite the political hopes and dreams as we look out into space. All the physical climate) and that you will point out the humanistic, scientific frontiers of Earth have been reached, from the heights of and financial reasons for doing so; Everest to the depths of the oceans. b) That you will stir the imagination of young people by con­ But humans are, deep within their essence, explorers. veying the excitement of exploration and discovery and that Space is humankind's last frontier, and it contains so much you will offer a vision which is too compelling to ignore; and territory we may never run out of new areas to investigate. I c) That you not give human spaceflight the cold shoulder de­ expect that Mars will be the next immediate object of ex­ spite the competition between human and robotic missions ploration because it is the one planet in our solar system for limited financial resources (I guess I'm biased a little on that is most like Earth. The moons of Jupiter may well be this point, but I think it is part of the total picture and will next after Mars. I suspect we will begin by sending auto­ continue to be). mated machines, but inevitably, humans will not be far be­ -Marc Garneau, Canadian astronaut hind. I hope our visits to these worlds will be part of an in­ ternational effort that will highlight the unity of humanity cannot say very much about what I would like to see in the on our planet Earth. I space program for the next 10 years because that has been We will inevitably be drawn as well to the search for ex­ predetermined already in the USSR and by NASA, especial­ traterrestrial intelligence. I see this as a further search for ly the exploration of other planets. There is, however, some God, since all creation mirrors Him and nothing mirrors room for the study of Earth toward the end of the decade. Him more than Intelligence. This time should be spent monitoring our planet, its atmo­ -Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., President Emeritus, spheric composition, radiation budget, clouds, oceans and University ofNotre Dame l HELP Us CELEBRATE THE PLANETARY SOCIETY'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY

ome and celebrate with us! We are marking The Planetary Society's 10th anniversary with an exciting C series of events this December. Saturday, December 8th, Galileo will encounter Earth, marking the first time a spacecraft traveling from interplane­ tary space will visit our world. We've chosen to celebrate our anniversary during encounter week. After all, the Society exists to insure that, with missions such as Galileo, the ex­ ploration of the solar system continues. The festivities will commence on Wednesday, December 5, with a black-tie dinner hosted by Society President Carl Sagan at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. The theme will be "One Earth, Many Worlds." Our members will mingle with the Society's celebrity friends and the scientists work­ ing on Galileo and other planetary missions. On Saturday we will move the festivities to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (and close by The Plane­ tary Society's headquarters). There we will hold three sepa­ rate panel discussions. On this encounter day, Galileo will aim at its home planet instruments developed to study the jovian system. En route to Jupiter, Galileo flew once by Venus and will fly twice by Earth. The spacecraft team will describe for us not only what they learned at Venus and hope to learn at Earth, but also Galileo's ultimate mission at Jupiter. By December, Magellan should be well into its mission to map Venus by radar. A panel of mission members will report on the spacecraft's condition, show us their exciting new data and tell us what they've learned so far about Earth's sister 10TH ANNIVERSARY world. To top off our celebration, Society President Carl Sagan will moderate a panel of special guests who will speculate on why humanity journeys into space. We expect to have a lively discussion. We hope you'll be able to join us. If you'd like more infor­ mation, please return the RSVP form below. r------, Anniversary Celebration RSVP Form Mail to "10th Anniversary," The Planetary Society, 65 N. Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106 U.S.A.

Name______

. Address______

City______---' State or Province ______Postal Code ____Country ______

I would like additional information on the Anniversary Dinner, "One Earth, Many Worlds" 0

I would like additional information on "Exploring Our Sister Worlds" 0

L ______~ INHABITANTS OF MARS Sweet-faced Martians gaze out upon their high­ ly civilized world in this illustration done for an article by H. G. Wells about the possibilities of life on Mars, published in Cosmopolitan in 1908.

William R. Leigh was pri­ marily known as an illus­ trator of western scenes. This is one of his rare forays into the world of fantasy. Illustration from the collection of Ron Miller

This illustration, and most of the artwork in this issue ofThe Plan­ etary Report, is drawn from the soon-to-be­ published book, In the Stream of Stars, by William K. Hartmann, Andrei Sokolov, Ron Miller and Vitaly Myagkov. The book grew out of a series of artists' exchanges sponsored by The Planetary Society.

THE PLANETARY SOCIETY NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE 65 North Catalina Avenue PAID THE PLANETARY Pasadena, CA 91106 SOCIETY