Tech
PLANET TECH: Encompassing The Harshest Environment
Planetary historically, the fields of solar and space physics were founded on ground-based observation of the Sun and the near-Earth space environment. Great advances occurred during and after the International Geophysical Year 1957-1958, when globally coordinated, ground-based observations and measurements made by balloons, sounding rockets, and orbiting spacecraft became available.
Although the ingenuity of the nation’s scientists and engineers has made it appear almost routine, solar system exploration still represents one of the most audacious undertakings in human history. Any planetary spacecraft, regardless of its specific destination, must cope with the fundamental challenges of traveling long distances from Earth and the Sun, surviving and operating over the resulting long mission duration, and operating without real-time control from Earth and with limited data streams.
During the more than four decades of the space age, the magnetic and gaseous environments of eight of the planets and several planetary satellites and comets, along with different regions of the heliosphere, have been explored to varying degrees.
Discoveries on the surface of Mars point to an early warm wet climate, and perhaps conditions under which life could have emerged.
Liquid methane rain falls on Saturn’s moon Titan, creating rivers, lakes, and geologic landscapes with uncanny resemblances to Earth’s.
Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 surveys the current state of knowledge of the solar system and recommends a suite of planetary science flagship missions for the decade 2013-2022 that could provide a steady stream of important discoveries about the solar system.
NASA’s highest priority large mission should be the Mars Astrobiology Explorer Cacher (MAX-C), a mission to Mars that could help determine whether the planet ever supported life and could also help answer questions about its geologic and climatic history.
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Other projects should include a mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and its subsurface ocean, and the Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission to investigate that planet’s interior structure, atmosphere, and composition.
Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-
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2022 recommends that NASA select two new missions to be included in its New Frontiers program, which analyzes the solar system with frequent, mid-size spacecraft missions.
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