On the Cover: Volume XIV This infrared image of Jupiter was captured on Table of Number 6 July 18, 1994, with the 1O -meter Keck telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea on the island of November/Dece mber 1994 Hawai i. At lower left, the bright plume from the Contents impact of comet Sh oemake r- Levy 9's fragment G rises above the planet's eastern limb. Thjs picture was taken abou t 10 minu tes after the predicted time of the impact. In this false -color image, yellow represen ts the hottes t areas, and blue, the coo lest. In subse quent shots, this plume bright­ ened to outshine the planet and render it invisi ble Features Departments next to the extreme glare of the plume. Imag e: W.M. Keck Obse rva tory/lmke de Pater, NASA Today, and a Members' James Graham and Garrett Jemigan; 4 3 University of California, Berkeley Vision for Tomorro1N Dialogue In recent years NASA has been repeatedly We 're still hearing from members reacting attacked for lacking an overarching goal to to our recent special issue on planetary direct its activities. Administrator Dan protection. Plus, our article on the proposed Goldin has proposed a new purpose for the Pluto Fast Flyby has provoked a variety of From space agency: the search for planets like responses. our Earth. The 16 Ne~sand The Crash at Last: Revle1Ns Editor 8 Cornet Shoemaker­ Scientific American has put together a Levy 9 Collides provocative and comprehensive special With .Jupiter issue on a topic of interest to Planetary t is the purpose of The Planetary . As chunk after chunk of the fractured comet Society members: life in the universe. I Society to bring the excitement of slammed into Jupiter, observatories on Some of the big guns of science contributed exploring and investigating our solar Earth and in space gathered enough data to articles, and our faithful columnist gives system to as many people as possible overwhelm the scientists who had prepared his views of the contents. around the world. One of the prob­ for months for the events. The saga of lems we face in carrying out our pur­ Shoemaker-Levy 9 is not over yet; we only World pose is the indifference many people begin our coverage in this issue. 17 Watch claim the public has toward happen­ We depart from our usual format in this ings off our own planet. Who cares, 14 Live From Other issue to bring you a close look at the growing they ask, what happens on a planet Worlds: A Pilot Japanese planetary program. like, say, Jupiter? Electronic Field Trip Well , the events on Jupiter in July At The Planetary Society, we 've been 18 Readers' should prove to even the dourest searching for the past few years for new Service skeptic that the public's imagination ways to bring the excitement of exploration In this computer age, we have more choices can still be captured by planetary into the classroom. This is the story of one than just the printed page when searching happenings, both by the sheer specta­ project that melds computers, classrooms for good material for children to read. In cle of interplanetary collisions and and space technology. this year-end issue, we offer members a by their lessons for us on Earth. chance to sample the solar system through Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 focused 15 Watching .Jupiter a CD-ROM as well as through books. the public's attention on the planets, World1Nide and it is now our job to make the The comet collision was all we could have 19 Society most of that interest. Our Jupiter wished for and more- what a spectacular Ne1Ns Watch program will continue beginning for our Jupiter Watch! Here we Here again is your chance to keep up with through Galileo's exploration of the share some of the highlights of this program the latest Society projects and events. jovian system and, with our mem­ so far, and look forward to continuing our bers' help and support, we can keep watch as Galileo approaches the giant 20 Questions and the public interest high. Watch these planet. Ans1Ners pages for coming events and ways Flight time to the closest star system, the you can participate in the planetary effects of gravity in space, and seasonal excitement. changes-you've asked us about many -Charlene M. Anderson disparate topics this time. ~;:C:~~~t,a2'ARif1o~~~~3S0~ ,o(~~~?~gg~~~ ggbll!~~~~~ \~~I~t~y ~~~~;~i~t~~~f~~:~e~~;: ~:~T~~~al~~~~li~te~~nNt~!h u~ab~l i2:::~~ u e, are $25 US dollars or $30. Canadian. Dues outside the US or Canada are $35 (US). Printed in USA. Third--class postage at Pasadena, California, and at an additional mailing office. Canada Post Agreement Number 87424. A Publication of Editor, CHARLENE M. ANDERSON Technical Editor, JAMES D. BURKE Assistant Editor, DONNA ESCANDON STEVENS Copy Editor. GLORIA JOYCE THE-PL.A~T1RV SOCIETV Production Editor, MICHAEL HAGGERTY Art Direc tor, BARBARA S. SMITH Viewpoin ts expressed in columns or ed itorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent positions of The Planetary Society, o .~-e- ¢ -& 0 its officers or advisors. © 1994 by The Planetary Society. o j j Board of Directors CARL SAGAN President Director, Laboratory for Planetary Studies, Members' Cornell University BRUCE MURRAY Vice President Professor of Planetary Science, Dialogue California Institute of Technology n LOUIS FRIEOMAN ExecutiveOirector NORMAN R. AUGUSTINE Chairman and CEO, Martin Marietta Corporation JOHN E. BRYSON Chairman and CEO, Southern California Edison JOSEPH RYAN Earthly but asking someone "how you feel" earlier than 2001 and arrive at O'Melveny & Myers Microorganisms about a particular issue is asking Pluto around 2010. STEVEN SPIELBERG Two items in recent issues of The for a lot of information-more It appears that the scientific director and producer LAUREL L. WILKENING Planetary Report (H. Jay Melosh's than can be provided by just one of goals of the Pluto Fast Flyby mis­ ChanceJJor, University of california, Irvine article in July/August and WF. three choices on a questionnaire. sion could be achieved at lower Board of Advisors Mellberg's letter in Members' -STEPHEN PERRIER, cost and with greater effectiveness DIANE ACKERMAN poet and author Dialogue, September/October) Fort Worth, Texas by using a JGA maneuver. The pri­ BUZZ ALDRIN state that viable terrestrial micro­ mary motivation for employing the Apollo 11 astronaut RICHARD BERENDZEN organisms were recovered from Which Way to Pluto? direct-trajectory concept seems to educator and astrophysicist parts of the Surveyor 3 camera Rob Staehle and his coauthors be a justification for using a high­ JACQUES BLAMONT Chief Scientist, Centre National after three years' exposure to the have written an excellent summary tech, microspacecraft design even d'Etudes Spatiales, France RAY BRADBURY lunar environment. It is true that of the proposed Pluto Fast Flyby when it is not required. poet and author the camera parts had been exposed mission. However, they have failed - ROBERT W FARQUHAR, ARTHUR C. CLARKE to the lunar environment for three to address the rationale for avoid­ Columbia, Maryland author CORNELIS DE JAGER years, but it is less clear that the ing the use of a Jupiter gravity­ Professor of Space Research, The AstronomiCdllnstitute at Utrecht, microorganisms had been. assist (JGA) to reach Pluto. (This I must applaud everyone who is the Netherlands FRANK DRAKE I was Surveyor project scientist . subject was hotly debated by a involved in the Pluto Fast Flyby Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and custodian of the Surveyor 3 panel of space scientists and engi­ mission: the engineers and stu­ University of CalifornIa, Santa Cruz JOHN GARDNER parts returned from the Moon. A neers at the International Academy dents who are creating the tiny, founder, Common Cause person on my staff witnessed the of Astronautics Conference on advanced science components, MARC GARNEAU Canadian astronaut biological test that led to the find­ Low-Cost Planetary Missions last the team that is putting the mis­ GEORGIY GOLITSYN Institute of Atmospheric Physics, ing of terrestrial microorganisms April.) The advantages of the JGA sion together and making sure it Russian Academy of Sciences on the camera. He reported that a technique are readily apparent­ fits within weight and price restric­ THEODORE M. HESBURGH President Emeritus, breach of sterile procedure had either a much larger payload mass tions, the Society for its detailed University of Notre Dame occurred: an implement used in the capability or a smaller launch vehi­ account of the mission and even SHIRLEY M. HUFSTEDLER educator and jurist test was put down on a nonsterile cle requirement could be achieved the bureaucratic pressures that GARRY E. HUNT laboratory bench and then, without with flight times under 10 years. have resulted in the restrictions space scientist, United Kingdom SERGEI KAPI TSA re-sterilization, touched to the For example, an Atlas launch on today's spacecraft. Institute for Physical Problems, camera. It is, therefore, quite pos­ vehicle could deliver a 380-kilo­ Microspacecraft like the Pluto Russian Academy of Sciences GEN. DONALD J. KUTYNA (RET.) sible that the microorganisms were gram (835-pound) spacecraft to mission will bring humanity clos­ former Commander, US Space Command transferred to the camera after its Pluto in 9.5 years, or a Proton er to space than ever before, as JOHN M. LOGSDON Director, Space Policy Institute, return to Earth, and that they had launch vehicle could transfer a politicians become more willing George Washington University HANS MARK never been to the Moon. 500-kilogram (l,lOO-pound) pay­ to fund more missions in the face The University of Texas at Austin -LEONARD D.