Welcome to Cheshire Starwatch
a weekly column by Keene, NH amateur astronomer James Maynard.
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Welcome to Cheshire Starwatch a weekly column by Keene, NH amateur astronomer James Maynard. |
Stardate: 8:17:97
Mars brightened our spring and
early summer skies this year, and now it is time to bid it farewell, as
it sinks lower and lower into the evening twilight. However, it will never
quite disappear this year, and will instead hover just above the dimming
evening twilight. It's ruddy rust color will be able to be seen low in the
western sky just after sunset, but it's proximity to the sun will likely
make any serious Mars observation near impossible for the rest of the year.
The most Earth-like of the planets in our solar system has surprised
scientists at least twice this year, first with the discovery of possible
ancient Martian fossils last summer, and then, later, with the exciting
new findings from NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission. Mars has fascinated the
human race ever since our ancestors walked the Savannah plains of Africa.
and stared up with wonder. As the human race progressed, and our tools for
the observation of Mars became more and more advanced, the wonder only grew
greater and greater.
Surely, everyone has heard the story of Orson Wells reading the science fiction classic "War of the Worlds", and the public panicking at the thought of Martians invading New Jersey. Seemingly impervious to all the weapons of man (this was in the pre-nuclear age), the fierce aliens were finally done in by the humble bacterium, the common cold.
NASA officials, in a flurry of discovery, are debating
now what is to be the future of Martian exploration. The most ambitious
plans call for a permanent human presence on Mars as early as 201 1. The
space agency has decided to put off a final decision on this project until
2004, after much more data on the red planet has been collected, and weather
stations are set up around the planet. NASA is now enjoying the greatest
amount of public support seen for the space program since the Apollo missions,
as all recent missions have come in ahead of expectations, ahead of schedule,
and below budget- This is due, in no -small part, to the massive restructuring
of the agency undertaken by NASA administrator Dan Goldin.
One major obstacles of humans going to Mars will
be the enormous weight of the fuel needed to return to Earth. One way out
of this is not to carry the fuel with you when you go, but rather, to make
it out of the materials found on Mars, This may sound like science fiction,
flying to a planet without the fuel to got back, and constructing fuel out
of the crust and air of another world, but it can be done. In fact, the
process to make it happen is 19th century chemistry. A lander scheduled
for 2001 will be our first automated chemist emissary to, another world.
This lander (part of the Surveyor series) will land on Mars, sample it's
soil and air, and try to make fuel. The first actual Martian soil return
mission is scheduled for 2004.
Other stumbling blocks on the path to human habitation
of Mars include a great deal of radiation on the planet (Mars has no ozone
layer or magnetic field, both of which protect those of us on Earth from
different forms of radiation), and preliminary findings that the dust on
Mars reacts violently with water. The 2001 Surveyor will measure radiation
levels, and may also expose Martian dust to a warm, wet, oxygen rich atmosphere
such as would be found in a human habitat, and carefully measure what happens.
So as you go out the rest of the year, and spot the rusty red color of Mars sinking in the evening twilight, just think that we are well on our way to making Mars our home away from home.
Clear skies, and good viewing.
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