Projects: Space Information
The Planetary Report
Volume XXII, Number 1, January/February 2002
Credit: JPL /
NASA. Reprocessed by Mark S. Robinson, Northwestern University. |
On the Cover
This mosaic of Mercury is compiled from images taken
by Mariner 10 as it approached the planet on March 29, 1974. Mercury's ancient
cratered surface can tell us much about the formation of the inner solar
system. In the next decade, two new spacecraft will visit Mercury, the least-explored
terrestrial planet, to continue the exploration Mariner 10 began almost
30 years ago.
From The Editor
We welcome some pretty amazing
people through the doors of
The Planetary Society. Recently, we've
been seeing a bit of Pascal Lee, a former
student of our cofounder Carl Sagan.
For the past five years, Lee has been
organizing the fascinating field research
project on Devon Island in the Canadian
High Arctic.
The overall effort is called the NASA
Haughton-Mars Project (HMP), after
Haughton Crater, which serves as the
focus for the scientific research. The
Mars Society has built its Flashline Mars
Analog Research Station on Devon
Island and cooperates with Pascal’s
research program.
Last summer, Society Executive Director Lou Friedman visited Devon Island
to further develop a new initiative called Mars Outposts. Under the leadership
of Bruce Betts, our new director of projects, we are investigating technology
for Mars exploration that might include remote-controlled airplanes, smart
rovers, instrumented balloons, or other novel means to study difficult terrains.
All this leads, of course, to what we hope will be a human presence on Mars.
Since 1985, human missions to Mars have been an avowed goal of The Planetary
Society. With the help of friends like Pascal, as well as our members, we are
making progress toward that goal.
— Charlene M. Anderson
Features
Opinion: Whither, O Splendid Ship?
This issue's opinion essay takes its title
from a Robert Bridges poem evoking the bold, adventurous spirit that drove
mariners in an earlier age of exploration. Here, two modern explorers lay
out the course they urge us to set among the planets; they are Jim
Burke,
who led the United States' first attempt to reach the
Moon, and John Young, the first man to have flown six times in space:
in the Gemini, Apollo, and space shuttle programs. Their experience is unparalleled
and their advice not to be ignored.
The Little Planet With the Big Iron
Heart
Only one spacecraft has ever visited Mercury, the planet closest
to the Sun. But improved technology and increased scientific attention
are fueling new interest in this little world. Distinguished science writer
Robert Burnham explores this revived interest in Mercury and details plans
to send spacecraft to study the planet.
From the Earth to Mars
Part One:
A Crater, Ice, and Life
Devon Island in the Canadian High Arctic is the
world's
largest uninhabited island for most of the year. But now, every summer,
a crowd of scientists and aspiring explorers descend on Devon to study
the island as an Earthly analog for Mars. Pascal Lee, who leads the
annual expeditions to this remote corner of Earth, begins here a two-part
feature on the work that may one day lead humans to Mars.
The 2002 Shoemaker
NEO Grants: It's
Time to Propose!
The Planetary Society awards substantial grants to advance
the discovery and characterization of comets and asteroids passing close
by Earth. Do you have an observation program that might qualify? If so,
it's
time to get that proposal in!
DEPARTMENTS
Members’ Dialogue
World Watch
Questions and Answers
Society News
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