Hello everyone,
The economy and politics have dominated the news, but there are happenings in space, too. So read on for my space news update, as well as brief entries about the economic crisis and Columbus Day… Hope you enjoy it. I welcome your replies. Before I begin the news, just a quick update on books and events:
*Max Goes to Jupiter is now available; hope you’ll check it out.
*New York City, Oct. 20, 7:30 pm: I’ll present Beyond UFOs for the Hayden Planetarium Lecture series. Hope you’ll join me if you live in the area.
*Boulder, CO: Three upcoming presentations for those of you in the Boulder/Denver area:
Oct. 23 and 24 (Thursday and Friday), 7:30 pm: Beyond UFOs at Fiske Planetarium
Oct. 25 (Saturday), 2pm: “First Reading” of Max Goes to Jupiter at Fiske Planetarium; “Max” (played in the new book our new dog Cosmo) will be there!
Best wishes,
Jeff
Contents
1. CU Going to Mars! (Will they see it snow?)
2. Hubble Servicing Mission Postponed
3. U.S. soon to be unable to send astronauts into space
4. MESSENGER visits Mercury (again)
5. The Financial Crisis Explained?
6. Columbus Day — a bit of background
7. New activities and more on my revamped web sites
1. CU Going to Mars!
The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado (my home institution) has been selected by NASA to lead a half-billion-dollar mission to Mars: the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or MAVEN, is slated for launch in 2013. MAVEN will explore the atmosphere of Mars from orbit, seeking clues about the past climate on Mars. Leaders of the project include Bruce Jakosky, who co-authored the first edition of Life in the Universe with me and played a major role in shaping its basic content and approach, and Nick Schneider, co-author with me on all editions and versions of The Cosmic Perspective. The MAVEN grant is the largest research contract ever awarded to the University of Colorado. Visit the MAVEN web site.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix mission continues its successes on Mars, most recently having detected falling snow! The snow it saw vaporized before reaching the ground — but literally a “cool” discovery, nonetheless… Phoenix’s soil studies have also turned up evidence of carbonates and clays on Mars — substances thought to form only in the presence of liquid water. Click here to read about both the snow and the new soil data.
Classroom Discussion Points:
*How is the new Phoenix discovery about the Martian soil relevant to the search for life on Mars? (Answer: It suggests the past presence of liquid water on the surface, and liquid water is thought to be crucial to life, or at least to life as we know it on Earth.)
*How will MAVEN’s studies of Mars’s climate be important to the search for life on Mars? (Answer: The only way we can really determine whether it is worth the effort and expense of a concerted search for present or past life (fossils) on Mars is by first understanding if, when, and for how long Mars may have had a climate conducive to having surface liquid water and life. MAVEN aims to provide us with this understanding, and thus is an important step in the ongoing search to learn whether Mars has ever been home to life.)
2. Hubble Servicing Mission Postponed
The Space Shuttle was all set for a launch (originally scheduled for this past week) to install new instruments — including the University of Colorado’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph — and make other repairs on the Hubble Space Telescope, when a glitch on the observatory forced postponement. Actually, it’s a bit more than a “glitch,” as Hubble is unable to send science data to scientists on Earth right now, which effectively renders it useless until the problem is fixed. Scientists are optimistic that backup systems on Hubble will enable it to resume operations, but meanwhile they are preparing to add a repair of the primary system for the postponed servicing mission. The outstanding Hubblesite is the place to go for updates on Hubble’s status, as well as to see Hubble images and a great variety of other resources for both science and education.
3. U.S. soon to be unable to send astronauts into space
The postponed Hubble servicing mission will hopefully still occur next year, but the space program’s future should be of concern to everyone in the United States: Beginning with the retirement of the Space Shuttle, now set to occur less than 2 years from now, the United States will be unable to send astronauts into space for at least 5 years — the longest “down time” in the history of NASA. The down time could easily prove to be longer, as the replacement for the Shuttle is currently behind schedule. The only good news is that American scientists and astronauts will still be able to reach the International Space Station during this period, but they’ll have to do it aboard Russian rockets. Read this article in the New York Times for more details.
Classroom Discussion Points:
*Should the coming inability of the U.S. to launch astronauts into space be of concern? Why or why not?
*Given recent events, such as in the nation of Georgia, that have put the U.S. and Russia at odds, do you think we can rely on Russia as a partner in space? Could our reliance on Russian rockets actually have positive effects for relations between our nations? Defend your opinions.
*Research the Presidential candidates plans and statements concerning NASA and the space program. Though both have expressed strong support for the space program, do you think either will be stronger in this support? Cite specific policy statements or speeches in support of your opinion.
*China recently joined the U.S. and Russia in being able to send astronauts into space, and most analysts believe that China will attempt to send astronauts to the Moon before the U.S. is able to return to the Moon. Do you think this should affect our own efforts in space? If so, how?
4. MESSENGER visits Mercury (again)
Last Monday (Oct. 6), the MESSENGER spacecraft made its second of three flybys of Mercury. It successfully photographed significant portions (about 30%) of Mercury’s surface that had never previously been seen close-up; good sources for further information are this article at Space.com and this BBC article. The third flyby will occur next year on Sept. 29, and then MESSENGER will enter orbit of Mercury on March 18, 2011.
5. The Financial Crisis Explained(?)
OK, I admit it — I’m as mystified as anyone else about the current financial crisis and how best to solve it. But as someone who earns a living attempting to explain math and science concepts to nontechnical folks, I always try to look for fundamental principles that might help us elucidate the “Big Picture” as we examine more subtle and sophisticated problems. And here’s the one that jumps out at me: The graph below shows the nationwide ratio of median home prices to household income over the past three decades. Note that the ratio stayed fairly steady, below 3.5, until just the past few years, when it shot up to about 4.7. In percentage terms, this means that a home was about 35% more expensive relative to income at the peak of the recent housing boom than it has been historically. Since incomes have been essentially stagnant (adjusted for inflation) during the same period, only one conclusion seems reasonable: Until home prices fall back to their historical levels relative to income, many people will be unable to afford the homes they live in. And since mortgage defaults lie at the root of the global financial crisis, the crisis can’t be fully solved until this historical equilibrium is restored. My personal conclusions:
*Housing prices have so far fallen about 10-15% since their peak, so if my above analysis is correct, they must fall considerably more before economic equilibrium can be restored.
*Government bailouts that help relax the credit crisis and restore confidence are probably necessary… but if the government ends up taking steps that prevent housing prices from falling further, then they are only postponing the inevitable.
I welcome comments on this, especially from any economists out there!
Source: This graphic from the Wall Street Journal, 12/07/07.
6.Columbus Day — a bit of background
Today is Columbus Day, so it’s worth countering the widespread myth that he proved that Earth is round. In fact, scholars of his time were not only well aware that Earth is round, but they even knew how big around it is — the circumference of Earth had first been measured way back in 240 B.C. by Eratosthenes. Columbus actually tried to argue that the commonly accepted value for the circumference of Earth was wrong, and that western Europe and eastern Asia were therefore much closer than the scholars thought. This disagreement with other scholars may well be why he was famously rejected by so many before receiving financing from Spain for his trip. Indeed, it’s likely that the Spanish funded him only because they were rich enough to gamble on the possibility that he’d either make it to Asia anyway or that, as rumors carried down from the Vikings had it, there might be another land mass in between. As it turned out, Columbus left on his voyages with nowhere near enough provisions to have made it to Asia, so in that sense the existence of the Americas was all that saved him from utter failure and the dustbin of history.
7. New activities and more on my revamped web sites
Thanks to Courtney Faust (Saffron Design), my web sites below all have a new look. Please check them out. Teachers — be sure to check out the new interactive tutorials on Seasons and Phases of the Moon posted in the Activities section of the Big Kid Science web site. These tutorials are taken from the Mastering Astronomy web site that goes with my college-level astronomy textbooks; Addison Wesley was gracious enough to let me post these two tutorial freely here. You’ll find another 20 tutorials on the Mastering site, if you are interested…