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TPS: Aim for Mars, Pluto, Cassini
TPS: Aim for Mars, Pluto, Cassini
THE PLANETARY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER ____________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE: - Take Action: Aim for Mars! - Special Member Offer: LEGO Rover Discount - Secret Martian Code Revealed - Is Pluto a Planet? Is Sedna? Vote Today! - Beagle 2: An Interview with Colin Pillinger - News! Cassini-Huygens, Rovers, Sedna - You Make it Happen! Tell a Friend ______________________________________ AIM FOR MARS! Continuing our Campaign for Human Exploration of the Red Planet For over 30 years -- since the last Apollo astronaut left the Moon -- human explorers have been restricted to circling their home world. The new U.S. space policy seeks finally to move us beyond Earth orbit with a focus on exploration and a goal of sending humans to Mars. Now is the time to direct our vision to other worlds. It is time to Aim for Mars! The Planetary Society is leading an international drive to redirect human space endeavors through a bold new vision to the Moon, Mars and Beyond. You can take action today to ensure that the vision becomes reality. Speak Out ... Take Action ... Learn More You can Aim for Mars at: http://aimformars.org ______________________________________ SPECIAL LEGO ROVER OFFER FOR U.S. AND CANADIAN PLANETARY SOCIETY MEMBERS Join The Planetary Society, and receive a discount of over 50% when you purchase a LEGO model of the Mars Exploration Rover. The regular price of this incredible model is $89.99 but Planetary Society members can purchase this model for only $39.99 through June 30, 2004. This special arrangement is just one of the many benefits You will receive as a member of The Planetary Society. To purchase the rover, you will need a special Member discount code. Once you have joined, simply email your name and the join date to . We will email you back with the code plus the instructions on purchasing the rover. Remember, this offer is only valid through June 30. Planetary Society membership is open to all, however Rover models can only be shipped to U.S. and Canadian addresses. Don't miss out on this opportunity, join now at: https://planetary.org/JoinUs.html ______________________________________ SECRET MARTIAN CODE REVEALED Want to get the answer to the secret coded message from Mars? Head straight for our code solutions pages - Spirit code: https://planetary.org/redrover-dvd/spirit_solution.html Opportunity code: https://planetary.org/redrover-dvd/o..._solution.html Still want to try to solve the mystery? It's not too late. Although the prize competition is over, you can still enter your answer in the forms on the Spirit and Opportunity code pages. In addition to the satisfaction of being one of those who solve the code, you will also be rewarded with a beautiful certificate of accomplishment. Test your code breaking skills for Spirit at: https://planetary.org/redrover-dvd/dvd_spirit.html For Opportunity at: https://planetary.org/redrover-dvd/dvd_opportunity.html Stay tuned, we will soon be announcing all of the winners for the "Crack the Secret Martian Code" contest. You could be one of them! ______________________________________ WHAT IS A PLANET? CAST YOUR VOTE! Astronomers recently announced the discovery of most distant Sun-orbiting object ever observed from Earth "Sedna," around three-quarters the size of Pluto, orbiting the Sun on the far outskirts of the solar system. These recent discoveries raise serious questions about the status of the ninth planet. Is Pluto a true planet, or is it merely one of a myriad space rocks orbiting beyond Neptune? If it is a planet, should Sedna and other large Kuiper Belt Objects be considered planets as well? And if Sedna is not a planet, should Pluto be retained as one? In other words, what is a planet? This is your chance to make your voice heard. Vote today! We will publish the results of the vote in the coming weeks. Vote today at: http://planetary.org/news/2004/planet_vote.html ____________________________________ DIALOGUE COLIN PILLINGER: On Beagle 2 and the Search for Life on Mars In a special web feature, Colin Pillinger, head of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University in the United Kingdom and the principal investigator of Beagle 2 discusses with The Planetary Society the risks involved in space missions and moving forward after a loss. "You can only learn by taking those opportunities" says Pillinger. "Staying at home is like saying, 'We're going to lead a party to climb Everest. However there's a risk.' You have to say to yourself -- 'Do I want to go?' You know the risk, but you're not going to stay home and watch it on the television." Read the entire interview at: http://planetary.org/news/2004/dialogue_pillinger.html ______________________________________ THIS MONTH'S PLANETARY HEADLINES: CASSINI-HUYGENS, MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS, SEDNA Keep up with Planetary News at The Planetary Society website. Cassini-Huygens Approach Saturn and Capture First Glimpse of Titan's Surface http://www.planetary.org/news/2004/c..._approach.html Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Makes Tracks to Columbia Hills; Opportunity Cruises into Extended Mission http://planetary.org/news/2004/mer-update_04-04-30.html Sedna: A New Mystery http://planetary.org/news/2004/sedna_mystery.html Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Gets 'Kicks' on Route 66; Opportunity Solves Another Martian Mystery http://planetary.org/news/2004/mer-update_04-04-17.html ____________________________________ YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN! TELL A FRIEND Forward this newsletter on to your friends who share our belief in exploration. Tell them about The Planetary Society. Tell them we are aiming for Mars - and beyond. Ask them to join The Planetary Society and join in our mission to explore new worlds and seek other life. Help us continue to build the strongest, most influential space-advocacy organization on Earth. Thank you. Check in regularly at our website, http://planetary.org _________________________ If you are interested in the future of planetary exploration, please contact us at with your thoughts, questions, and concerns. forwarded by TPS member Bruno Moretti IK2WQA Cicognola Astronomical Observatory & IK2WQA Ham Radio Station 45°43'28"N 8°36'35"E QTH Locator: JN45HR http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/ap...y.php?teamid=8 http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/s...team_7422.html http://gwtradate.tread.it/tradate/gat/index.html |
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Aim for Mars: Not a good idea
"SETI ITALIA Bruno IK2WQA" a écrit dans le message de m... TPS: Aim for Mars, Pluto, Cassini THE PLANETARY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER ____________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE: - Take Action: Aim for Mars! [snip] ______________________________________ AIM FOR MARS! Continuing our Campaign for Human Exploration of the Red Planet For over 30 years -- since the last Apollo astronaut left the Moon -- human explorers have been restricted to circling their home world. The new U.S. space policy seeks finally to move us beyond Earth orbit with a focus on exploration and a goal of sending humans to Mars. Now is the time to direct our vision to other worlds. It is time to Aim for Mars! No. Humans should not go to Mars since we have discovered methane in the atmosphere. This could mean that there is something breathing in there. Since humans can't go to Mars without irremediably contaminating everything, (humans can't be sterilized) we should avoid any direct biological contact until the origin of the methane is established. A full two way biological contact is foolish at this stage of our knowledge of Mars. Humans can't be just left over there after they have exhausted the supplies. They will have to be taken back here, carrying any Marsian germs here. Contamination would be two-way. This is a stupid behavior. The human way of exploring means preserving other ecologies and learning about the diversity of life. The discovery of an extra-terrestial ecology, be it so primitive like sulfur loving bacteria adapted to cold temperatures, would give us an irreplaceable knowledge. And this is the objective of human exploration: knowledge. We are homo sapiens. The ones who know. Let's explore with machines, in a neutral fashion. We send sterilized machines to avoid rediscovering earth life, and the machines never come back here. This is not risky for them (if they exist) and not risky for us. Mars exploration means pursuing knowledge, the only real value of exploration. Happily for us (and the marsians) it is completely beyond the current human technology to put a human in Mars. It is a trip of several years, and there is no artificial ecology that can survive in outer space for 2.5 years without any earth contact. The space station (our only testbed so far) needs regular supplies and cargo ships. Before a module is certified for 2.5 years reliability it should have been tested in the space station for at least 5 years in full simulation conditions. To develop the technology necessary to build an artificial ecology (spaceship) that lasts 2.5 years without failure, recycling 100% of everything is absolutely beyond our space technology and this will take at least 20-30 years. Automated exploration of the planet is what we can do NOW and we should pursue THAT avenue with all the craft we can. Solar powered robots are demonstrating NOW that we can explore the planet collectively, with millions of humans involved. Not a big view for the astronauts only, but a big view for everyone. This is scientifcally more rewarding, since we can start immediately to explore the right questions without wasting time and energy to ensure the survival of the humans. The soil is moist with a 100% solution of water and sulfuric acid? Our robots didn't care. They go on marching. The air is full of deadly quartz powder that will go into the lungs provoking cancer? Our robots have no lungs. The robots do not eat any other thing besides solar rays. No need for combustible supply lines, food, waste disposal, etc. Teperature is a freezing -50 or even -90 C? Electronics doesn't care. Looking at the evolution of the american Mars Rover program, rovers are now able to do more than 100 meters a day. They have very few moving parts (solar/electrical power is very reliable) and they will surely evolve in the next trips. The time lag is a problem, but that can be ovecome with software. Eventually of course, humans could put another space station around the planet, to coordinate the work of the machines below. But is there any reason to go personally to a cold and deadly desert full of dangerous dust, carcinogenic substances in quantities, etc? We are not going to go to the surface of every planet ! Venus, for instance with its 450 C, is off limits too. Not for electronics. The extensions of man. |
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Aim for Mars: Not a good idea
"SETI ITALIA Bruno IK2WQA" a écrit dans le message de m... TPS: Aim for Mars, Pluto, Cassini THE PLANETARY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER ____________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE: - Take Action: Aim for Mars! [snip] ______________________________________ AIM FOR MARS! Continuing our Campaign for Human Exploration of the Red Planet For over 30 years -- since the last Apollo astronaut left the Moon -- human explorers have been restricted to circling their home world. The new U.S. space policy seeks finally to move us beyond Earth orbit with a focus on exploration and a goal of sending humans to Mars. Now is the time to direct our vision to other worlds. It is time to Aim for Mars! No. Humans should not go to Mars since we have discovered methane in the atmosphere. This could mean that there is something breathing in there. Since humans can't go to Mars without irremediably contaminating everything, (humans can't be sterilized) we should avoid any direct biological contact until the origin of the methane is established. A full two way biological contact is foolish at this stage of our knowledge of Mars. Humans can't be just left over there after they have exhausted the supplies. They will have to be taken back here, carrying any Marsian germs here. Contamination would be two-way. This is a stupid behavior. The human way of exploring means preserving other ecologies and learning about the diversity of life. The discovery of an extra-terrestial ecology, be it so primitive like sulfur loving bacteria adapted to cold temperatures, would give us an irreplaceable knowledge. And this is the objective of human exploration: knowledge. We are homo sapiens. The ones who know. Let's explore with machines, in a neutral fashion. We send sterilized machines to avoid rediscovering earth life, and the machines never come back here. This is not risky for them (if they exist) and not risky for us. Mars exploration means pursuing knowledge, the only real value of exploration. Happily for us (and the marsians) it is completely beyond the current human technology to put a human in Mars. It is a trip of several years, and there is no artificial ecology that can survive in outer space for 2.5 years without any earth contact. The space station (our only testbed so far) needs regular supplies and cargo ships. Before a module is certified for 2.5 years reliability it should have been tested in the space station for at least 5 years in full simulation conditions. To develop the technology necessary to build an artificial ecology (spaceship) that lasts 2.5 years without failure, recycling 100% of everything is absolutely beyond our space technology and this will take at least 20-30 years. Automated exploration of the planet is what we can do NOW and we should pursue THAT avenue with all the craft we can. Solar powered robots are demonstrating NOW that we can explore the planet collectively, with millions of humans involved. Not a big view for the astronauts only, but a big view for everyone. This is scientifcally more rewarding, since we can start immediately to explore the right questions without wasting time and energy to ensure the survival of the humans. The soil is moist with a 100% solution of water and sulfuric acid? Our robots didn't care. They go on marching. The air is full of deadly quartz powder that will go into the lungs provoking cancer? Our robots have no lungs. The robots do not eat any other thing besides solar rays. No need for combustible supply lines, food, waste disposal, etc. Teperature is a freezing -50 or even -90 C? Electronics doesn't care. Looking at the evolution of the american Mars Rover program, rovers are now able to do more than 100 meters a day. They have very few moving parts (solar/electrical power is very reliable) and they will surely evolve in the next trips. The time lag is a problem, but that can be ovecome with software. Eventually of course, humans could put another space station around the planet, to coordinate the work of the machines below. But is there any reason to go personally to a cold and deadly desert full of dangerous dust, carcinogenic substances in quantities, etc? We are not going to go to the surface of every planet ! Venus, for instance with its 450 C, is off limits too. Not for electronics. The extensions of man. |
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