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Projects: Space InformationThe Planetary ReportVolume XXIX, Number 1, January/February 2009
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January/February 2009
Credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center / Background: ESA |
The United States has the opportunity to unify and inspire the world's spacefaring nations to create a future brightened by new goals, such as the human exploration of Mars and near-Earth asteroids. Inset: American astronaut Peggy A. Whitson and Russian cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko try out training versions of Russian Orlan spacesuits. Background: The High Resolution Camera on Mars Express took this snapshot of Candor Chasma, a valley in the northern part of Valles Marineris, on July 6, 2006.
From The Editor
The Internet has transformed the way science is done--even in the realm of "rocket science"--and now anyone can make a real contribution, as long as you have the will to give your best.
In this issue, you'll read about a group of amateurs who are helping professional researchers explore Mars online, encouraged by Mars Exploration Rovers Project Scientist Steve Squyres and Planetary Society President Jim Bell (who is also head of the rovers' Pancam team.)
This new Internet-enabled fun is not the first, nor will it be the only, way people can participate in planetary exploration. The Planetary Society has been encouraging our members to contribute their minds and energy to science since 1984, when the Pallas Project helped to determine the shape of a main-belt asteroid.
In 1999, your founding sponsorship of SETI@home helped launch the field of distributed computing; its descendants now enlist people around the world searching for a cure for cancer, modeling climate change, tracking earthquakes, and engaging in other scientific projects.
And let's not overlook your contribution to the new Roadmap for Space Exploration that The Planetary Society has already presented in Washington, D.C. to the presidential transition team, the U.S. Congress, and the National Research Council. Through the town halls we held in the United States and the United Kingdom, your support of our advocacy campaign with your letters to Congress, your signatures on petitions, and your donations to the cause, you are helping to determine humanity's future in the cosmos.
There is so much we have accomplished together--and so much more to do before we see human footprints on Mars or peer beneath the ice of Europa. Let's get to work!
—Charlene M. Anderson
Features
Bootleg Postcards: Amateurs Participating in Space Missions
by Doug Ellison
Beyond the Moon: A New Roadmap for Human Space Exploration in the 21st Century
by The Roadmap Team
Looking Forward to a New Year of Exploration!
by Louis D. Friedman
Departments
We Make It Happen!
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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