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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #555

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 555

Today's Topics:
        NASA Select Cassini Investigators (Forwarded)
             Re: A philosophical question

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Date: 13 Nov 90 22:38:26 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
Subject: NASA Select Cassini Investigators (Forwarded)
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NASA SELECTS INVESTIGATIONS FOR CASSINI SATURN ORBITER MISSION

     NASA has selected the principal investigators and science
teams for the Saturn Orbiter portion of the Cassini mission,
scheduled for launch in 1996.  The investigators come from 11
U.S. universities, 3 NASA centers and 3 other U.S. laboratories
as well as 13 foreign countries.

     The Saturn Orbiter will include 62 investigations
encompassing analysis of the structure and composition of
Saturn's atmosphere, the physical properties of ring particles, a
survey of moonlets within the rings and a close look at several
moons.  The Cassini Saturn Orbiter also will deploy the Huygens
Probe, supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA), which will
descend through the atmosphere to the surface of Saturn's moon
Titan.

     The Cassini mission is named after the 17th century
astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini who discovered several of
Saturn's moons and the major divisions of its rings.  The first
spacecraft to visit Saturn since the 1981 flyby by Voyager 2,
Cassini will stay within the Saturnian system for 4 years and
pass within a few hundred kilometers of several of Saturn's
moons.  Cassini's onboard cameras will take detailed pictures of
the intensely cratered surfaces of the icy moons, map their
topography with high-resolution radar and determine the surface
composition with spectroscopic instruments.

     Onboard radar also will map a large portion of Titan's
cloud-shrouded surface, much like the Magellan mission at
Venus.  Instruments on both the Orbiter and the Probe will
investigate the chemical processes that produce the large moon's
unique atmosphere.  These processes may resemble the
prebiological chemical evolution which took place on the
primitive Earth.

     The Probe, named for the 17th century scientist Christian
Huygens who discovered the true shape of Saturn's rings, will
examine the atmosphere and clouds and takes pictures of the
surface during its 3-hour descent.  If it survives the landing,
the Huygens Probe will continue to make measurements and relay
data to the Saturn Orbiter until it loses radio contact.  One
intriguing question that scientists hope Cassini will answer is
whether there are oceans of liquid hydrocarbons on the moon's
surface resulting from photochemical processes in Titan's upper
atmosphere.  ESA recently announced the selection of
investigations to be conducted by the Cassini Huygens Probe.

     The investigators also will examine the interactions of
Saturn's magnetosphere with dust and moonlets in the rings and
with Titan's atmosphere.  This study will enable scientists to
gain an understanding of the processes involving interaction of
plasma, dust and radiation which were important during the
formation of planets in the early solar system.

     Cassini's trajectory to Saturn takes it through the asteroid
belt and close to Jupiter for a gravity-assist flyby.  This
trajectory will allow investigators to study an asteroid and make
observations of the Jovian system in addition to its planned
study of the Saturnian system, complementing the missions of
combined into a sing NASA to enhance their ability to
pursue common scientific objectives and reduce the overall
development cost.  Both spacecraft are based on the Mariner Mark
II design with much of the flight hardware identical except for
minor modifications for unique science investigations.

     Cassini is a joint project of NASA and ESA.  Cassini mission
development and operations will be conducted by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.  John Casani is the
Project Manager and Dr. Dennis Matson is the Project Scientist.
The CRAF/Cassini Program is managed by the Office of Space
Science and Applications, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

------------------------------

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Date: 13 Nov 90 01:36:38 GMT
From: usc!samsung!emory!wa4mei!ke4zv![e-mail]  (Gary Coffman)
Organization: Gannett Technologies Group
Subject: Re: A philosophical question
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Rusty Wiginton) writes:
>
>     I'm interested in your thoughts about the importance of space
>     exploration and other NASA activities -- Not so much from a
>     scientific or technological standpoint, but from a personal/
>     philosophical one. Why, for example, do you feel it is important
>     to pursue long-term programs, such as Space Station Freedom or
>     say, a manned mission to Mars? Why should  billions of dollars
>     be spent on projects that cannot promise success? I know this
>     question has been asked before but with current issues leaning
>     toward budget constraints and NASA's reliablilty, I'd like to
>     see a different point of view.

I consider space exploration important for two non-rational reasons.

1. I'm intensely curious about what's out there. This need to know is
   a personal hunger that drives me in many facets of my life.

2. I believe that exploration and basic research almost always pay off.
   Often the payoff is in a totally unexpected direction. I don't know
   what will be discovered. If I did, we wouldn't need to go look. But,
   I believe that a prolonged open minded presence in space will discover
   things that will profoundly change the way we think about some aspect
   of our everyday lives.

Programs that can guarrantee success probably won't discover anything worth
while. "Safe" programs seldom deliver anything new. Therefore we must be
risk takers in space. I don't mean that we should take foolish risks like
space stations made of balloons, but instead take the risks of bold steps
outside our cozy LEO. The interesting things are usually in the far corners.

I consider manned exploration essential because machines only look for what
they're told to look for. A machine won't casually look around and say,
"Hmm that looks interesting. I think I'll stop and take a closer look".
No matter how good the pictures, a person on the scene has better perception
of his enviornment than anyone viewing a TV screen.

Gary

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End of SPACE Digest V12 #555
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