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Ballooning on Mars
| Article
# : |
17309 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1990 |
3,093 Words |
| Author
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T.F. Heinsheimer
T.F. Heinsheimer is vice president for space systems of Titan
Systems, Inc. in Gardena, California. |
If all goes according to plan, in 1995, vehicles made on Earth will lift off from another planet for the first time. The planet is Mars, and the vehicles will be descendants of the first flying machine, the balloon. Conceived and developed by a unique international team, two Mars balloons will send back to Earth a rich data stream of photographs and measurements. During their 10-day lives, the balloons will explore some thousand miles of the Martian surface and make 20 vertical probes of the atmosphere, providing scientists with the data necessary for further exploration of the planet.
The team that is designing and building the Mars balloons is almost as interesting as the mission itself. The Soviet Union has taken the project's leadership, assisted by the French and an amalgam of U.S. engineers sponsored by the Planetary Society (TPS). TPS, the world's largest non-government organization dedicated to the advancement of space flight and the exploration of the planets, recently signed agreements with both the French and the Soviet space agencies. These agreements make TPS an active participant in the conceptualization and design of the Mars balloon. Founded in 1980 by space scientists Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman, TPS now has over 125,000 members worldwide. Working together, this team plans to launch the first mobile robotic explorers to the Red Planet.
First Venus, Now Mars
Scientists have long recognized the value of planetary exploration by balloon. During the 1986 Venus/Halley Comet mission, two Soviet/French balloons were successfully injected into Venus' atmosphere, leaving no doubt as to their capability. That
... (1995 of 18859 Characters)
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