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Projects: Space InformationThe Planetary ReportVolume XXVIII, Number 1, January/February 2008
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Credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute |
This view of the tumultuous region just left of Jupiter’s Great Red
Spot is a cropped and enlarged portion of the most detailed global color portrait
ever produced of the giant planet. Cassini took the images that constitute
the global mosaic on December 29, 2000, during its closest approach -- a
distance of about 10 million kilometers (6.2 million miles). Although Cassini’s
camera can see more colors than humans can, the colors in this view are very
similar to what our own eyes would see.
Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
From The Editor
It’s a presidential election year in the United States and, as politics engulf us, it’s hard to ignore one prickly fact about space exploration: it’s inherently political. No matter how much we talk about the great adventure and inspiration of space, as space science is done in the United States, it’s a political endeavor.
As I write, the governments that fund the European Space Agency are uncertain if they want to commit to a human space program, and an ESA committee is deciding which robotic missions the agency can afford to start.
The Chinese, Indian, and Japanese governments have targeted the Moon to demonstrate their technical and scientific prowess. The Russian government is ramping up its space program, and nations from Brazil to Iran are building space capability.
The new commercial rocket companies are barely off the ground, and even for them, governments are the biggest customers. The first space tourists have yet to fly, and when they do, the flights will be government regulated.
There’s no escaping it: we can’t avoid dealing with governments and politics.
That brings us to influencing the political process. The Planetary Society exists in part to make the public’s voice heard by politicians. The Save Our Science! campaign succeeded in swaying the U.S. Congress to support planetary exploration, and judging from the administration’s 2009 budget, that government branch also listened.
But budget season has just started. In an election year, things can get wacky.
We have to be vigilant; we have to keep pushing. We have to work together in
The Planetary Society.
—Charlene M. Anderson
Features
Global Upheaval on Jupiter: Change Is Good!
by Amy Simon-Miller
Titan’s North Polar Seas
by Emily Stewart Lakdawalla
Cassini at Iapetus: A Bumpy but Successful Flyby
by Tilmann Denk
Departments
World Watch
We Make It Happen!
Members’ Dialogue
Questions and Answers
Society News
The Planetary Report is available only to Members of The Planetary Society. If you'd like to read these and other exciting features, JOIN THE PLANETARY SOCIETY TODAY!
MEMBERS: Download this and other back issues of The Planetary Report in PDF format from the For Members section of the website.
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