Everyone is familiar with the rings of Saturn. But what would you highlight if it were you sending back the postcards? Every tour itinerary has one main attraction. With Saturn, you just can't miss the rings. As imaging team leader for Cassini, Carol...
With Saturn's 62 known moons, Cassini finds itself in good company without of this world photo opportunity to make even a seething professional gasp. Saturn is the most photogenic planet in all the solar system, so I just, you know, I mean, you could...
Hopes and dreams of thousands of scientists and engineers are resting on the next few moments. Weve been to Saturn twice before with the voyager I and voyager II spacecraft. But rather than these quick Kodak moments, we want to take a nice long leisu...
Saturn might be the second largest planet in the solar system, but like gas giant neighbor Jupiter, its a triumph of show over substance. Saturn, first of all is a big giant gas ball, actually its a big giant ball of fluid, and the outer parts of it...
Imagine boarding a flight to Saturn, what would you need to know before traveling? The best ringside vantage points? The must-see moons? Think of this as your personal guide to the splendor of the Saturnian system. A wandering spot of light twice as...
No planet beats Saturn for jaw-dropping beauty. Saturn is the most photogenic planet in all the solar system. Some of the pictures are to die for. But the postcards only tell part of the story. Beauty is only skin deep. It really is rolling and seeth...
So in some ways, a voyage to Mars could be a voyage home. Our ancestors have made such bold trips before when we walked out of Africa, when we sailed over the horizon. If it is technically possible, our ships will head out again. We always want to se...
There is no room to screw up on a trip like this, mental or otherwise. Once on Mars, you are likely to be stuck there for a year or more, waiting for a window of opportunity to ride home. And unlike a robot, the hopes and fears of the whole planet wi...
It is chemically impossible for methane to survive for long in the Martian atmosphere, so it must have been released recently. Now what makes methane? Cows make methane? Probably not cows. Oh, microbes, various sorts can release methane, there are a...
If we are looking for Martian bugs, we should search for life forms at least as tough and alien as this. Im looking at Mars in a point of view of a microbe. And as a microbe, I really need very, very tiny amount of water. I could probably live my ent...
If we have been wet, then we want to look for nutrients and food sources that could support microbes. The water ice is proof of a valuable resource for any life forms still clinging(附着) beneath the surface and for future travelers. We now know th...
When we reconstruct our imaginations, Mars are 3 billion years ago. We tend to make it like Earth, warm and clozzying, but it wasn't. Mars back in its wettest warmth face which probable like Earth today in its coldest regions. So I'm imagining a plac...
You can make estimates of how much water had to have been flowing that carved these things, and you get numbers like 100, 200 Amazon rivers all cut loose at once, big, big amounts of waterfalls / across its surface. The other big attraction on Mars i...
Try the red planet for sight-seeing on an enormous scale. Thanks to our sharp-eyed spacecraft, Mars is opening up like never before. These are real landscapes that humans will one day marvel at in person. You know, if youre going to Mars, youre going...
It was 119 Fahrenheit here yesterday; really, really, really hot day on Mars ever get up to about 30 Fahrenheit and at night it goes to more than 100 below. Martian deserts are both frozen and sun baked. With no Ozone layer, UV levels are so high tha...
