Leading the Search: Bill Diamond of the SETI Institute

The SETI Institute is about much more than the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. President and CEO Bill Diamond of the Institute explains. Bill Nye reviews two more stories that illustrate how hard it is to go to Mars. Join the Rocket Road Trip with our special audio preview of this new Planetary Society video series. And you might win “Xtronaut: The Game of Solar System Exploration,” in this week’s What’s Up space trivia contest. Emily Lakdawalla has the week off.

Related Links:

• The Planetary Society’s Rocket Road Trip Video Series and Horizon Goal Articles
• The SETI Institute
• SETI Institute President and CEO Bill Diamond
• The SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array
• What is the Allen Telescope Array doing right now?
• Los Angeles Times November 28, 2016 Op-Ed: “Humans may dream of traveling to Mars, but our bodies aren’t built for it”

This week's prizes are “Xtronaut—The Game of Solar System Exploration,” designed by OSIRIS REx Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta, and named by Good Housekeeping as one of the best board games of 2016, and a 200-point iTelescope.net astronomy account.

This week's question:

How many Soviet Venera spacecraft successfully landed on Venus? We’ll accept a fairly loose definition of success. (Within one or two.)

To submit your answer:

Complete the contest entry form at http://planetary.org/radiocontest or write to us at [email protected] no later than Tuesday, December 6th at 8am Pacific Time. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Last week's question:

What type of geologic features surround the residual north polar cap of Mars?

Answer:

The answer will be revealed next week.

Question from the week before:

On what date will be the next full moon that is closer to Earth than the one we just experienced on November 14, 2016?

Answer:

The next full moon that is closer than the one we saw on November 14, 2016 will be on November 25, 2034.