The PLANETARY REPORT Volume XXX Number 4 July/August 2010 Hayabusa Returns On the Cover: From The Editor Top: On June 13, 2010, Japan’s Hayabusa spacecraft re- s you know, The Planetary Society will soon turned home from its seven-year journey to asteroid Itokawa. welcome new leadership, when Bill Nye the A team of scientists from the Japan Aerospace Exploration ScienceA Guy takes over as executive director in Agency (JAXA), NASA, and other organizations studied the September. To help you get to know him bet- spacecraft’s fiery reentry using instruments on board NASA’s ter, in this issue, Bill tells you a little about his DC-8 airborne laboratory. The small point of light at the lower multifaceted self—as a working engineer, as a right in this still video frame is the precious sample-return world-renowned performer, and as a soon-to-be capsule. Bottom: Hayabusa team members transported the executive director. sample-return capsule to Australia’s Woomera Test Range Bill is a Charter Member, so he knows about Instrumentation Building, where it was held overnight before both the Society’s accomplishments and its being returned to Japan. potential. He says, “We need to explore. That’s what you and I support at The Planetary Soci- Images from top: NASA/ARC-SST SETI Institute, Australian ety.” Science Media Center With new leadership, the Society’s commit- ment to exploration will progress with programs Background: like the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Hayabusa’s sample-return container and its parachute lie on The discovery of a technological civilization on the ground of southern Australia’s Woomera Prohibited Area another planet would resonate through the ages, on June 14, 2010. Scientists were surprised to find the out- and Society Members have supported SETI for most of our history. side of the capsule in “good-as-new” condition after surviving In 1982, we began to work with SETI innova- the atmospheric reentry that incinerated the main spacecraft. tor Paul Horowitz. When it comes to building Photo: JAXA devices to search for signals from across the gal- axy, Paul has never stopped advancing. Plus, he has challenged a generation of young scientists to push the boundaries of the possible to detect faint messages from possible alien civilizations, as you can read about in these pages. The Planetary Society makes it possible for people like you and me to play significant roles in projects like SETI that advance science and exploration. We can make the wonderful pos- sible. As Bill says, “Let’s change the world!” —Charlene M. Anderson Contact Us Mailing Address: The Planetary Society, 85 South Grand Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91105-1602 General Calls: 626-793-5100 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: planetary.org The Planetary Report (ISSN 0736-3680) is published bimonthly at the editorial offices of The Planetary Society, 85 South Grand Avenue, Pasadena CA 91105-1602, 626-793-5100. It is available to members of The Planetary Society. Annual dues in the United States are $30 (U.S. dollars); in Canada, $40 (Ca- nadian dollars). Dues in other countries are $45 (U.S. 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, A. J. SOBCZAK Associate Editor, DONNA ESCANDON STEVENS Proofreader, LOIS SMITH Managing Editor, JENNIFER VAUGHN Art Director, BARBARA S. SMITH Technical Editor, JAMES D. BURKE Science Editor, BRUCE BETTS Viewpoints expressed in columns and editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily repre- sent positions of The Planetary Society, its officers, or its advisers. © 2010 by The Planetary Society. 2 THE PLANETARY REPORT JULY/AUGUST 2010 Cofounder CARL SAGAN 1934–1996 Board of Directors Chairman of the Board DAN GERACI Chairman and CEO, Club Achilles—The Iron Age President Contents JAMES BELL Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University Vice President BILL NYE 4 Passing the Torch: science educator Executive Director LOUIS D. FRIEDMAN The Planetary Society’s HEIDI HAMMEL Senior Research Scientist and Co-Director, Research, Space Science Institute New Executive Director G. SCOTT HUBBARD professor, Stanford University WESLEY T. HUNTRESS JR. Director Emeritus, Geophysical Laboratory, 8 We Make It Happen! Looking Carnegie Institution of Washington LON LEVIN SkySevenVentures for ET Using Laser Light ALEXIS LIVANOS Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Northrop Grumman by Bruce Betts Advisory Council Chair CHRISTOPHER P. McKAY planetary scientist BRUCE MURRAY 12 Hayabusa Returns! Professor of Planetary Science and Geology, California Institute of Technology ELON MUSK Looking Back on the Little Chairman and CEO, SpaceX JOSEPH RYAN Spacecraft that Could Ryan Investments, LLP BIJAL “BEE” THAKORE Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific, by Emily Stewart Lakdawalla Space Generation Advisory Council NEIL deGRASSE TYSON Astrophysicist and Director, Hayden Planetarium, 18 Solar Sail Update: American Museum of Natural History GEORGE YANCOPOULOS President and Chief Scientific Officer, IKAROS Deploys and Regeneron Research Laborabories LightSail Moves forward International Council ROGER-MAURICE BONNET Executive Director, by Louis D. Friedman International Space Science Institute YASUNORI MATOGAWA Associate Executive Director, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency MAMORU MOHRI 17 World Watch Director, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation RISTO PELLINEN Director of Science in Space Research, 20 Questions and Answers Finnish Meteorological Institute 22 Members’ Dialogue Advisory Council BUZZ ALDRIN 23 Society News RICHARD BERENDZEN JACQUES BLAMONT RAY BRADBURY ROBERT. D. BRAUN DAVID BRIN JAMES CANTRELL FRANKLIN CHANG-DIAZ FRANK DRAKE OWEN GARRIOTT GARRY E. HUNT BRUCE JAKOSKY THOMAS D. JONES SERGEI KAPITSA CHARLES E. KOHLHASE JR. LAURIE LESHIN JOHN M. LOGSDON JON LOMBERG ROSALY LOPES HANS MARK JOHN MINOGUE ROBERT PICARDO JOHN RHYS-DAVIES KIM STANLEY ROBINSON DONNA L. SHIRLEY KEVIN STUBE A PUBLICATION 3 OF THE PLANETARY REPORT JULY/AUGUST 2010 Passing the Torch: The Planetary Society’s New Executive Director n the few weeks since I announced my transition from the position of executive director of The Planetary Society, I have been inundated—and deeply moved—by encouragement and good wishes from Members and colleaguesI around the world. That excitement about the future of The Planetary Society—our Planetary Society— reflects the confidence that I, too, have in the Society in this 30th anniversary year and in the decades ahead. I am excited to share with you my pride in passing the torch of executive director to Bill Nye, internationally recognized science educator and vice president of The Planetary Society. From his education at Cornell University as a student of Planetary Society cofounder Carl Sagan, to his engineering work on Boeing 747s, to his success as Bill Nye the Science Guy, to his decade-plus service on our Board of Directors and as a Charter Member of the Society, Bill brings the acumen, leadership, and passion crucial to guiding The Planetary Society to an even greater future. I am delighted to turn the leadership of The Planetary Society over to Bill, and I am eager to work with him when he takes on his new position in September. That we have such an active and involved Board helps both me and Bill (we will both remain on the Board) approach this transition with confidence. Thank you for your strong support. I know that with you, he and our Society will thrive. —Louis D. Friedman, Executive Director May I Introduce Myself? I’m Bill Nye the Propulsion Lab. He’d show us pictures of Mars from Space Science Guy the newly landed Viking spacecraft. He’d show us reetings, Planetary Society Members and friends. meteorites and craters. He’d have us look not only Every moment I spent in Professor Carl Sagan’s with our eyes but also with our disciplined reason- classG had a profound influence on me. As many of ing—and intuition. We learned how extraordinary our you know, he was one of The Planetary Society’s world is and how one might go about discovering life founders. As I sat in his classes and symposia, he’d elsewhere. By studying the planets, one senses how show us pictures from space, fresh from the Jet remarkable it is that we can understand our place in 4 THE PLANETARY REPORT JULY/AUGUST 2010 At left: On September 7, 2010, Bill Nye will take over the reins as executive director of The Planetary Society. Photo: Loren Roberts space. Since then, I’ve been hooked on the message plastic drafting templates, and a motor-driven electric and purpose of The Planetary Society. We seek to eraser. This old-fashioned skill carried me, until the know worlds—those near and far as well as our own. host of the comedy show I was writing for suggested Now, I find myself closer to this quest than ever that I could be “Bill Nye the Science Guy.” As you before in my life. I am to become the executive direc- might infer, that suggestion changed my life. I often tor of The Planetary Society. write my sobriquet with the familiar circle R symbol: You and I help explore planets. We help research- “The Science Guy®.” ers study other worlds. We help people map and study My first bit was “Household Uses of Liquid Nitro- near-Earth objects like asteroids, comets, and odd bits gen.” The premise was that you have liquid nitrogen of boulders and bolides hurtling nearby at 11 kilo- around anyway . hey, who doesn’t? So, here are a meters (7 miles) per second. We help space agencies few tips . No really, it was funny. I still can chew understand what you, as a Planetary Society Member, “cold-roasted” marshmallows and have steam come want them to do. We work to answer those two ques- out my nose.