The PLANETARYPLANETARY REPORT REPORT Volume XXI Number 3 May/June 2001 To Mars—Step By Step On the Cover: Volume XXI In the afternoons of Mars’ northern summer, it’s not Table of Number 3 uncommon to see clouds over the planet’s Tharsis volcanoes, visible just below center in this image. Contents May/June 2001 The bright white cloud at left hovers over Olympus Mons. This portrait, completed on April 10, 1999, is a computer-enhanced color composite of red and blue image strips taken by Mars Global Surveyor in Features March 1999. Image: MSSS/NASA We Can All Go to Mars 4 An observer from Mars, carefully following Earth’s various programs designed to reach the Red Planet, might be profoundly confused about schedules, goals, and objectives. From Each terrestrial revolution around the Sun brings a new suite of plans and projects. No wonder the Earthlings can’t reach Mars! The officers of The Planetary Society, who have also noticed The these constantly shifting targets, have developed an overarching theme that might provide a Editor focus for exploring Mars and so get us there a little faster. To Fly a Solar Sail: A Story of Friendship his year, Planetary Society activities 6 Flying a mission to space is one of the most difficult tasks that groups of humans have Twill be dominated by Cosmos 1, our ever attempted. Accomplishment of the task requires that team members be dedicated not only project to launch the first solar sail. So far to the project but also to one another. The leaders of Cosmos 1, The Planetary Society’s solar the press has focused on either the technical sail mission, have long since proved their dedication to one another and their goals. Even a aspects of the story or the possibility that a recent accident, which set back the test flight about a month, has not derailed the mission. membership group, and not a space agency, may be the first entity to launch such a A NEAR Perfect Landing craft. But there is another aspect of the sto- 12 NEAR Shoemaker has landed on Eros! We first reported in the November/December ry, a personal one, that we will be telling in 1999 issue of The Planetary Report the possibility that this orbiter might attempt to touch this issue. down on that small world. Since then, the NEAR team overcame their share of adversity and In my 20 years at the Society, I’ve been a missed orbital insertion to perform their mission and even go beyond what some thought privileged to meet and become friends with possible. Here are some of the results of their skill and daring. fascinating people from around the world, and this has been one of the greatest benefits 16 Red Rover Goes to Mars: of working here. Also, I’ve watched extra- Student Scientists Make History The first round of our Red Rover Goes to Mars contest is over, and the winners had a ordinary relationships develop, and none has wonderful time this past winter exploring Southern California and investigating Mars. been more fruitful than that between Lou They also made an extraordinary discovery using the Mars Global Surveyor camera: some Friedman and Slava Linkin. I want to tell mysterious boulders whose appearance even professional scientists cannot yet explain. the story of their friendship because, without it, there would be no Cosmos 1. This story Mars Odyssey: A Good Day to Launch teaches us that, whatever the forces of histo- 18 Glenn Cunningham, former head of Mars Global Surveyor and now Project Manager of ry, human relationships are what really our Red Rover Goes to Mars project, offers a first-hand report on the launch of the Mars Odyssey. move the world forward. So in this issue we’ll depart slightly from our accustomed technical and scientific Departments subject matter and examine a spaceflight 3 Members’ Dialogue project from a more personal angle. Also, watch for us to continue our in-depth cover- 19 World Watch age of Cosmos 1, which we will feature in every issue at least to the end of the year. 20 Questions and Answers Cosmos 1 is an extraordinary effort, in- volving not only spacecraft scientists and 22 Society News engineers and our sponsor, Cosmos Stu- dios, but also each and every member of The Planetary Society. Ours is truly a team Contact Us with 100,000 members. We are all involved in every step, each dependent on the others. Mailing Address: The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301 And together we will see Cosmos 1 fly. General Calls: 626-793-5100 Sales Calls Only: 626-793-1675 —Charlene M. Anderson E-mail: [email protected] World Wide Web: http://planetary.org The Planetary Report (ISSN 0736-3680) is published bimonthly at the editorial offices of The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301, 626-793-5100. It is available to members of The Planetary Society. Annual dues in the US are $25 (US dollars); in Canada, $35 (Canadian dollars). Dues in other countries are $40 (US dollars). Printed in USA. Third-class postage at Pasadena, California, and at an additional mailing office. Canada Post Agreement Number 87424. Editor, CHARLENE M. ANDERSON Copy Editor, AMY SPITALNICK Associate Editor, DONNA ESCANDON STEVENS Proofreader, LOIS SMITH Managing Editor, JENNIFER VAUGHN Art Director, BARBARA S. SMITH Technical Editor, JAMES D. BURKE Viewpoints expressed in columns or editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent positions of The Planetary Society, its officers, or advisers. ©2001 by The Planetary Society. Co-founder CARL SAGAN Members’ 1934–1996 Dialogue Board of Directors President BRUCE MURRAY Professor of Planetary Science and Geology, California Institute of Technology Solar Sail tious satellite, Phase 3D, renamed collect Pluto data only during the Vice President WESLEY T. HUNTRESS, JR. Director, Geophysical Laboratory, I would like to thank you for starting Oscar 40 upon reaching orbit. This flyby. Alternate propulsion technolo- Carnegie Institution of Washington the solar sail project. That endeavor 600-kilogram (1,323-pound) space- gies should permit a more complete Executive Director probably saved you a member—I craft cost over $2 million, paid most- mission, such as an orbiter that could LOUIS D. FRIEDMAN ANN DRUYAN was seriously considering quitting ly by contributions from Amsat obtain data for long durations at author and producer DONALD J. KUTYNA the Society, mostly due to your all members around the world. close range to Pluto. former Commander, US Space Command too deep involvement in SETI at the My hope is that The Planetary —TRAVIS S. TAYLOR, Advisory Council Chair JOHN M. LOGSDON expense of other, more active mea- Society and Amsat might work to- Huntsville, Alabama Director, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University sures toward space exploration. gether to build space missions mak- CHRISTOPHER P. McKAY planetary scientist, At our current stage of technical ing use of Amsat’s four decades of Although an exploratory probe of NASA Ames Research Center development, SETI is very unlikely experience building low-cost mem- Pluto would be of some interest, BILL NYE educator to succeed, and even if some suspi- ber-supported spacecraft. I do not see it as cost-effective at JOSEPH RYAN Executive Vice President and cious signal were detected, it would —DANIEL SCHULTZ, this time—especially compared with General Counsel, Marriott International ROALD Z. SAGDEEV have little, if any, impact on our Greenbelt, Maryland other opportunities that beckon. former Director, Space Research Institute, ability to live in space—which, I Because of the great distance and Russian Academy of Sciences STEVEN SPIELBERG presume, is a goal shared by all true We apologize to Amsat and all of its lack of a massive object in the vicin- director and producer KATHRYN D. SULLIVAN space enthusiasts. dedicated members. In making the ity to help capture a spacecraft into President and CEO, Ohio’s Center of Science and Industry Therefore, more serious involve- statement we were thinking only of orbit, a Pluto probe would have to and former astronaut NEIL DE GRASSE TYSON ment in practical space exploration is space-advocacy organizations. Of make a very brief visit. And the Director, Hayden Planetarium, a welcome change and a step in the course, Amsat qualifies broadly that planet is likely not all that interesting American Museum of Natural History right direction. I hope it will become way, although its main interest is to begin with. the dominant field of activity for the communications. Amsat deserves full There will be time to visit Pluto Advisory Council JIHEI AKITA Society, in addition to pro-space lob- credit for being the first membership after the development of fusion- Executive Director, The Planetary Society, Japan BUZZ ALDRIN bying and promotion, and sponsor- organization to carry out a privately powered rockets. The timing of the Apollo 11 astronaut RICHARD BERENDZEN ing other useful activities like NEO funded space mission. I hope we will launch will then be less critical, the educator and astrophysicist research programs worldwide. be cooperating in the future. trip will be faster, there will be spare JACQUES BLAMONT Chief Scientist, Instead of searching for alien ex- —Louis D. Friedman, power for settling into orbit around Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, France RAY BRADBURY traterrestrial civilizations, we should Executive Director the planet, and the whole venture poet and author rather work hard toward building will probably cost a lot less. DAVID BRIN author Pluto Practicalities our own extraterrestrial civilization, —DAVE FAFARMAN, FRANKLIN CHANG-DIAZ which I hope will become the main The March/April 2001 issue of The Richmond, California NASA, Astronaut Office ARTHUR C.