The PLANETARY REPORT Volume XXXI Number 2 March/April 2011 Lava Lakes On the Cover: From The Editor Lava lakes are beautiful, fascinating, and formidable expres- his spring, we on Earth are celebrating two 50-year sions of active volcanism. They, and the volcanoes they top, anniversaries in space exploration. In April 1961, are portals to Earth’s hot, roiling depths. Nyiragongo volcano, YuriT Gagarin’s flight made him the first human in in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is one of less than space; in May, John F. Kennedy’s speech set the a handful of volcanoes on Earth with an active, long-lived United States on its path to the Moon. lava lake. In January 2006, Tom Pfeiffer took this photo from Around our planet, people are celebrating both only 600 meters above Nyiragongo’s lava lake. milestones, but the partying is tinged with a bit of sad- Photo: Tom Pfeiffer, volcanodiscovery.com ness and disappointment. If you’re like I am, you once Background: confidently believed that Gagarin’s flight and Arm- The crew of Apollo 11 awaits pickup by a helicopter from strong and Aldrin’s steps onto the Moon were only the the USS Hornet, the prime recovery ship for the first lunar beginning of humanity’s breakout into space. Since landing. The fourth person in the life raft is a swimmer from the Apollo program ended, however, human explor- a U.S. Navy underwater demolition team. All four men are ers have been restricted to low Earth orbit, flying little wearing biological isolation garments. Neil Armstrong, Buzz higher than Gagarin did 50 years ago. Aldrin, and Michael Collins splashed down in command Look how far we haven’t come. module Columbia on July 24, 1969, about 812 nautical This spring, as I watch the budget process in miles southwest of Hawaii. Photo: NASA Washington, D.C. and see space exploration reduced to a political football game, it’s hard to feel like cele- brating. Honest politicians admit it: the space program has become a jobs program. Senators are designing rockets, based on how many jobs the parts will provide in their states. When you read about lava lakes that are known in only two places in our solar system—on Earth and on Io—can you help but ask if our spacecraft will ever return to the outer solar system? If the current political situation in the United States holds, the answer must be “Not in our lifetimes.” Can you and I do anything to put humanity back on course to space? I believe we can, if we work together and apply pressure where it’s most effective: directly on the politicians who control space agencies’ budgets. Tell them what you want to see in space. Help your Planetary Society amplify the voices of thousands like you to demand that the journey begun by Gagarin and Kennedy must not end. – 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 $37 (U.S. dollars); in Canada, $40 (Canadian dollars). Dues in other countries are $57 (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, LOREN A. ROBERTS/HEARKEN CREATIVE Technical Editor, JAMES D. BURKE Science Editor, BRUCE BETTS Viewpoints expressed in columns and editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent positions of the Planetary Society, its officers, or its advisers. © 2011 by the Planetary Society. 2 2 THE PLANETARY REPORT MARCH/APRIL 2011 Cofounder CARL SAGAN 1934–1996 Board of Directors Chairman of the Board DAN GERACI CEO, IronAge Consulting Corp. President Contents JAMES BELL Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University Vice President HEIDI HAMMEL 4 Your Place In Space: Senior Research Scientist and Co-Director, Research, Space Science Institute Oh, To Be Young and Executive Director BILL NYE science educator Spacefaring ANN DRUYAN by Bill Nye Chief Executive Officer, Cosmos Studios LOUIS D. FRIEDMAN cofounder G. SCOTT HUBBARD 5 Snapshots from Space: professor, Stanford University WESLEY T. HUNTRESS JR. Director Emeritus, Geophysical Laboratory, Comet Crash Carnegie Institution of Washington LON LEVIN by Emily Stewart Lakdawalla SkySevenVentures ALEXIS LIVANOS Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Northrop Grumman 6 Once, We Went to the Moon JOHN LOGSDON Professor Emeritus, Space Policy Institute, The George by John M. Logsdon Washington University Advisory Council Chair CHRISTOPHER P. McKAY planetary scientist 10 Lava Lakes on Earth and Io BRUCE MURRAY cofounder by Ashley Gerard Davies ELON MUSK Chairman and CEO, SpaceX JOSEPH RYAN 16 We Make It Happen! Ryan Investments, LLP BIJAL “BEE” THAKORE Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific, FINDS: One Step Closer to Space Generation Advisory Council NEIL deGRASSE TYSON Astrophysicist and Director, Faraway Earths Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History by Amir Alexander International Council ROGER-MAURICE BONNET 20 Questions and Answers Executive Director, International Space Science Institute YASUNORI MATOGAWA 22 Members’ Dialogue Associate Executive Director, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency MAMORU MOHRI 23 Society News Director, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation RISTO PELLINEN Director of Science in Space Research, Finnish Meteorological Institute Advisory Council BUZZ ALDRIN 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 JON LOMBERG Dear Members, Readers, and Friends: ROSALY LOPES Unexpected production issues resulted in the delay of this edition of our HANS MARK magazine, and, for that, we sincerely apologize. We are working diligently JOHN MINOGUE ROBERT PICARDO to get on schedule as we give The Planetary Report a fresh new look—and JOHN RHYS-DAVIES introduce a “Bill Nye” section especially for children. We thank you for your KIM STANLEY ROBINSON patience, understanding, and membership in the Planetary Society. DONNA L. SHIRLEY KEVIN STUBE A PUBLICATION 3 OF 3 THE PLANETARY REPORT MARCH/APRIL 2011 your place in space Oh, To Be Young and Spacefaring hen a meteor or a rocket or a runner is really moving, electrical generator could generate barely enough power to sometimes we say it or she is “just streaking.” To run a conventional plug-in hair dryer. It takes a lot of coal, Wstudy the flow of air over a wing at speeds near the gas, gasoline, wind, photons, and neutrons to generate the natural speed of molecules, which is the speed of sound, power to run our world. Again, a smaller and smaller frac- the Douglas Aircraft Company built a plane called the tion of citizens understand how it all works. Skystreak back in 1949. The Skystreak—what a fabulous name. As a kid, and now as an old kid, I flew and fly a Energy Is Misunderstood balsa rendering of the Skystreak. It changed my life. I To give yourself an idea of how much we use technology became fascinated with flight and science when I was very and how few of us comprehend it, compare the number young. Most of us do. of people who presented ideas to clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 with the number of people who presented ideas to cool or shut down the Fukushima nuclear reactors on the Pacific Ocean in 2011. Oil spills are commonplace. Those of us who are around automobiles experience small oil spills daily. Thinking that such a common occurrence as an oil spill should be easy to fix, people had plenty of criticism for the authorities who had responsibility for the oil gusher. Almost none of us, on the other hand, has any experience whatsoever with radioactive material and how to produce energy from nuclear fission. Our technology has outstripped our general knowl- edge of it. This is a formula for disaster. We need better science education worldwide, and we need more scien- That’s even more true for Planetary tifically literate citizens everywhere. It is to this end that Society Members. We’re generally The Planetary Report will begin including material for fascinated by flight and space explora- kids, to help them on their voyage of scientific discovery tion, and most of us got that first jolt of and knowledge. Starting with the next issue, we will be excitement about space when we were adding four pages of family-related content, including a The kids. To those who became excited about outer space home demo of a science project that even adult kids will Douglas later, I submit that you were still young at heart. enjoy. These additional pages are thanks to the generous Aircraft Science education, and especially planetary science support of the Foundation For The Carolinas’ Clarence Skystreak education, is best started when children are in elementary Foster Stanback Donor Fund, which is helping us jump- lands on the Dryden school, before they’re 10 years old. I came to this conclu- start our program for kids. Flight sion both from personal experience and from extensive This venture is very much in the spirit of our founders: Research discussions with various consultants back when the Bruce Murray worked on school curricula, and Carl Sagan Center’s Science Guy® show was being created.