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Projects: Space InformationThe Planetary ReportVolume XXVII, Number 4, July/August 2007
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July/August 2007
Credit: NASA / JPL, reprocessed by Ted Stryk |
Europa's surface -- young, smooth, and icy -- is one of the brightest in the solar system. The dark, scribble-like lines and cracks that wrap around its exterior are evidence of an ocean below this Jovian moon's frozen shell. This view of Europa, a mosaic of Galileo images, was processed to show its natural colors. Oceans might also exist beneath the surfaces of other icy moons in our solar system, such as Ganymede, Titan, Triton, and Enceladus. We'll know for sure only by sending spacecraft back for a closer look.
From The Editor
You know me -- if you've been around The Planetary Society for a while -- and know that Europa is my world. Since 1979, when I first saw that icy little moon through Voyager's eyes, Europa has been the world above all others that I want to know. Even with Voyager's distant glimpses, people began to speculate that an ocean lay hidden beneath the uncannily smooth ice. And you know how it goes in space science: where there's liquid water, people start talking about life.
The Voyagers teased us about Europa and moved on. In the 1990s, Galileo tantalized us, dangling the near certainty of a Europan ocean just out of reach of the spacecraft's inquiring instruments. In this decade, the U.S. National Research Council set a mission to Europa as its first priority for scientific space exploration.
What is the status of the next mission to Europa? Stuck in planning. Waiting for funding. The Planetary Society still fighting for a "new start."
In this issue, we'll bring you up to date on research on Europa -- as well as the possibilities of oceans on other moons -- and demonstrate why we need to return. We'll also visit Mars, another world that sparks talk of life. Mission after mission has brought us closer and closer to understanding the Red Planet, and ever more capable spacecraft have been searching for their predecessors on Mars.
Meanwhile, the Society keeps working toward Europa . . . and other tantalizing worlds. And I appreciate -- personally -- all your help.
—Charlene M. Anderson
Features
Searching for Ourselves on Mars: Finding the Viking and Mars Pathfinder
Landing Sites from Orbit
by Timothy J. Parker
Celebrating the Past, Looking to the Future
by Susan Lendroth
Oceans in the Outer Solar System -- And Not a Drop to Drink
by Robert Pappalardo
Departments
World Watch
We Make It Happen!
Society News
Questions and Answers
Members’ Dialogue
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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