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Humans in Space: Worth the Cost?: Billions Wasted on Work That Machines Do Best
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19978 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1992 |
1,991 Words |
| Author
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Robert L. Park
Robert L. Park is professor of physics at the University of
Maryland. |
On May 29 in Houston, the crew of the Endeavour held their first press conference following the nine-day maiden flight of America's newest space shuttle. The centerpiece of their mission was the successful rescue of a communications satellite stranded in a useless low-Earth orbit. The mission was a public relations triumph.
There were no television cameras three days later, when a group of graying scientists gathered at the Air and Space Museum in Washington to celebrate the 20th birthday of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. Among the scientists were some who have spent their entire careers analyzing the precious information pioneer 10 sends back. The event went unnoticed by the public, but Daniel Goldin, the newly appointed administrator of NASA, saw the aging Pioneer 10 as the inspiration for "a new NASA--one that does things better, faster and cheaper." "We are," he told the assembled scientists, "going back to the future."
The Little Spacecraft That Could
Far beyond the orbit of Pluto, Pioneer 10 has long since completed its fantastic voyage of discovery among the outer planets. The first spacecraft to venture beyond Mars, Pioneer 10 navigated the unknown hazard of the asteroid belt to reach the giant planet Jupiter. The tiny 570-pound spacecraft went on to chart the currents of the solar wind all the way to the edge of interstellar space, while surviving on less power than it takes to operate a porch light. It is now more than five billion miles from home. To human eyes, the sun from that distance would look like just another bright star.
Build for a two-year mission, Pioneer 10 now suffers the usual infirmities of old age: Its mechanical limbs are arthritic; some of its senses have been weakened by the impacts of micrometeoroids and encounters with the intense radiation belts of Jupiter; other circuits have been shut down to conserve energy. The nuclear furnace that powers the little spacecraft is slowly growing cold; its younger sibling, Pioneer 11, is already failing. But Pioneer 10 still responds to commands from Earth, faithfully reporting back measurements for the last traces of the solar wind.
Pioneer 10's work is not done. Its new mission is to explore the nature of the heliopause, the boundary beyond which the solar wind is offset by the galactic wind. After its passage through the heliopause, Pioneer 10 will truly be in interstellar space, and Earth will get its first reports on the interstellar medium. It does not matter
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