CELEBRATING 40 YEARS THE PLANETARY REPORT JUNE SOLSTICE 2020 VOLUME 40, NUMBER 2 planetary.org IN SPACE TOGETHER FINDING COMFORT IN THE COSMIC PERSPECTIVE EARTH FROM SPACE C SAMPLE RETURN ROUNDUP C SAGAN’S CASE FOR MARS BILL NYE Chief Executive Officer JENNIFER VAUGHN Chief Operating Officer COFOUNDERS CARL SAGAN 1934–1996 BRUCE MURRAY 1931–2013 LOUIS D. FRIEDMAN Executive Director Emeritus BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chairman of the Board DANIEL T. GERACI Managing Partner & Director, Cygnus Investment Partners, Inc. President JAMES BELL Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University Vice President HEIDI HAMMEL Executive Vice President, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Secretary C. WALLACE HOOSER Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School Treasurer LON LEVIN President and CEO, Perseverance GEOshare LLC BETHANY EHLMANN Professor, California Institute of Technology; Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory JOHN LOGSDON Through Professor Emeritus, Space Policy Institute, The George Washington University ROBERT PICARDO Actor BRITNEY SCHMIDT Assistant Professor, It All School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, PLANETARY UNITY IN A TIME OF CRISIS Georgia Institute of Technology BIJAL “BEE” THAKORE Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific, Space Generation Advisory Council FILLMORE WOOD Vice President and Regional Counsel, BP, retired ADVISORY COUNCIL BUZZ ALDRIN ROBERT D. BRAUN DAVID BRIN G. SCOTT HUBBARD GARRY E. HUNT BRUCE JAKOSKY RYAN JOHNSON BEN LAMM ROSALY LOPES BOB MCDONALD PETE SLOSBERG TIM SPAHR DIPAK SRINIVASAN KEVIN STUBE LORNE TROTTIER NEIL DeGRASSE TYSON Fellow planetary explorers, IN EARLY MARCH, I was working on my column I am inspired by the technicians, for the June edition. It was going to be about engineers, and scientists who are sticking the 4 new missions to Mars to be launched with it despite the upheaval. As I write, the this summer (or southern hemisphere winter). Perseverance Mars rover is still scheduled Naturally, we all were expecting fabrication, to make its mid-July launch period. shipment, assembly, and testing to progress Perseverance—an apt name indeed. steadily along their respective Gantt charts. Compared to the health and safety of our- Well, my friends, within a few weeks, this selves and our loved ones, space ranks lower world—our world—had been turned on its head. on one’s immediate priority chart. Still, even in The spread of the novel COVID-19 the midst of a crisis, space explorers like you coronavirus has changed life as we know it. and I share a deep optimism for the future. The pandemic has kept many of us at home, We know that as a global society, we achieve away from loved ones and unable to work. It extraordinary things when we work together has pushed others who work in health care, with cooperation and science—everything from food production, and delivery along with successfully addressing this pandemic to seeing utility workers and other essential-service the first humans land on Mars. We will perse- providers into extraordinarily stressful and vere and keep that big picture in mind. We will hazardous working conditions. No one on look up and out into space with the confidence Earth has been unaffected by this crisis. that scientific understanding can bring. We will While we work together by staying endeavor to empower the world’s citizens to apart, space exploration inherently gives us create a limitless and hopeful future for human- perspective. Exploring our solar system and kind. Together, we will change the world. beyond drives home the uniqueness and loneliness of our place in space. As Carl Sagan Thank you for being with us, pointed out, everyone you’ve ever known or known of is from here; Earth is our cosmic home. From this point of view, we humans are much more alike than we are different. Our planetary kinship drives us to work together. We will move past this stronger than ever. Contents SPACE ON EARTH JUNE SOLSTICE 2020 12 Pictures of Earth A cosmic view of our home planet as we endure a crisis together. 18 18 Sample Return Roundup Multiple missions and multiple steps are necessary to retrieve samples from other planetary bodies. We take a look at what’s being planned. DEPARTMENTS 2 Your Place in Space Racing to Space Bill Nye puts our current Mars Launches Are Time Dependent crisis in perspective. AS THE PLANETARY REPORT goes to press, Perseverance will search for signs of 4 Space on Earth China, the United Arab Emirates, and the past and present life while collecting The Perseverance rover is United States all plan to launch missions to soil and rock samples for future return ready to go to Mars! Mars during a brief window from late July to Earth. The missions that will return through early August when Earth and Mars those samples to Earth, however, have 5 Your Impact are optimally aligned. Because the next not been formally approved. Our Day of Action, opportunity isn’t until 2022, all 3 countries In order to respond to any late-breaking SETI@home, and more. made these missions a top priority even as changes to this summer’s Mars launches, most in-person space industry work ground we moved our coverage online. To learn 9 Get Involved Society Planetary The for Peronace member Antonio Society Planetary We help you connect with to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. how these missions work, why they matter, the cosmos from home. This image shows NASA’s Perseverance and how you can help support future rover at the Kennedy Space Center Mars exploration, including bringing Per- 10 What’s Up? Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility severance’s samples back to Earth, visit The best meteor shower of the in Florida on 10 March 2020. On Mars, planetary.org/mars2020. year is around the corner! CONTACT US: The Planetary ON THE COVER: Apollo 13 astronauts captured this photo of Earth in April 1970. Fifty-six hours into Society, 60 South Los Robles Avenue, the mission, an explosion forced the crew to abort their landing and take shelter in the Lunar Module. The 10 Where We Are Pasadena, CA 91101-2016; General crew ultimately returned to Earth safely, and the mission became known as NASA’s “successful failure.” Our quarterly roundup of the robots calls: 626-793-5100; Email: tps@ Credit: NASA/processed by Emily Lakdawalla; ON P. 2/3: NASA astronaut Scott Kelly snapped this image planetary.org; Internet: planetary. of Earth during his 1-year mission aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Scott Kelly C exploring beyond Earth orbit. org; Editors DANIELLE GUNN, The Planetary Report (ISSN 0736-3680) is published quarterly at the editorial offices of The Planetary JASON DAVIS, KATE HOWELLS; Society, 60 South Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101-2016, 626-793-5100. It is available to Creative DirectorANDREW PAULY; members of The Planetary Society. Annual dues are $50 (U.S. dollars) for members in the United States Art Director LOREN A. ROBERTS as well as in Canada and other countries. Printed in USA. Third-class postage at Pasadena, California 23 Snapshots From Space for HEARKEN CREATIVE; Copy and at an additional mailing office. Canada Post Agreement Number 87424. C Viewpoints expressed NASA A postcard from the lunar farside. Editor NICOLE YUGOVICH; in articles and editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent positions of The Technical Editor JAMES D. BURKE; Planetary Society, its officers, or its advisers. ©2020 by The Planetary Society. All Rights Reserved. The Science Editor BRUCE BETTS Planetary Society and The Planetary Report: Registered Trademarks ® The Planetary Society. Planetfest™ The Planetary Society. YOUR IMPACT The 2020 Day of Action IN EARLY FEBRUARY, 115 Planetary Society resources, learning how NASA’s budget is ABOVE On 10 February 2020, Planetary Society members from 28 different states came decided, familiarizing themselves with the members from 28 states together in Washington, D.C. for our annual rationales for our advocacy priorities, and came to Washington, D.C. Day of Action. Backed by tens of thousands learning how to be effective when advocating for our 2020 Day of Action. of members worldwide, these advocates met for space. When they arrived in Washington, with their representatives in Congress to speak they dove deeper into their preparation in a in support of space science and exploration. day-long training session where they got com- Over the course of one busy day, Planetary fortable with their messaging and practiced Planetary Society member Antonio Peronace for The Planetary Society Planetary The for Peronace member Antonio Society Planetary Society members had 161 meetings with con- their arguments. gressional offices. They asked their elected For the first time, this year’s Day of Action leaders to embrace the search for life as a core also included a remote component. Informed motivation for exploration, to extend human by the same educational resources, hundreds presence into deep space, and to defend Earth of Planetary Society members took action from asteroid impacts. They knew these key from home by emailing and phoning their messages well, having trained hard in the representatives in government and by sharing lead-up to their meetings. key advocacy messages on social media. Educating our members is an important The Planetary Society is able to train and part of our effort to empower the world’s equip our members to take action like this citizens as space advocates. Day of Action because of the support of members like you. NASA participants took full advantage of The This was our biggest Day of Action ever, and Planetary Society’s free, online educational we’ll only keep growing it from here. THE PLANETARY REPORT C JUNE SOLSTICE 2020 5 YOUR IMPACT SETI@home THE UNIVERSITY OF California at Berkeley beginning, and public involvement in science has announced the end of SETI@home, one was at the core of our mission.