Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science - From Russia With Love: A Solar Sail Update

Episode Date: July 21, 2003

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This is Planetary Radio. This week's show is direct from Russia, with love and science. Hi everyone, I'm Matt Kaplan. We'll get an update on the Planetary Society's solar sail project from Lou Friedman, the director of that effort to build and fly the first ever light craft. Bruce Betts has the latest from Mars as we close in on the red planet, along with the new trivia contest, of course. First up, though, is Emily, who's wondering if Earth's neighbors have dishes rushing about on their surfaces.

I'll be back with Dr. Friedman in a minute. Hi, I'm Emily Lakdawalla with questions and answers. A listener asked, Are there any other planets in the solar system besides Earth that exhibit plate tectonics? If not, why is Earth unique? The tectonic evolution of planets in our solar system is a fundamental question in planetary geology. Thus far, none of the planets we have explored has a recognizable system of plate tectonics like that on Earth. A planet's size is one of the key factors that shape its tectonic evolution. The smaller a planet's size, the larger the ratio of its surface area to its volume.

Small planets, such as Mercury, Mars, and the Earth's moon, cooled very quickly because their internal heat could dissipate more quickly through their surfaces. They have cooled so much that the outer layer of the planet has thickened to the point where it cannot break into separate mobile plates. So unlike Earth, which has tectonic features like mountains and volcanoes concentrated around the edges of its plates, the Moon, Mars and Mercury have tectonic features that are distributed all over the planet, and which mostly formed as a result of impact cratering and global cooling and contraction.

But what about Venus? It's almost the same size as Earth and is apparently still tectonically active. But the Venera and Magellan spacecraft found no global system of plate tectonics there. To find out why Venus is different, stay tuned to Planetary Radio. Lou Friedman, the executive director of the Planetary Society, joins us on the phone from somewhere in Russia. I shouldn't say somewhere. You know where you are, don't you, Lou? I sure do. I'm actually in the small village of Tarusa,

which is approximately 150 kilometers southeast of Moscow. What has brought you back to Russia? Well, of course, you know we're working very much on our solar sailing project with the Russians. The spacecraft is in development here. Babikin Space Center, I've had meetings for the last two days. I've been and went to the Space Research Institute in Moscow where the electronics are being built. The test work is going on. Thrusa is a combination day of rest. It's Sunday morning here, Matt, and also the factory where some of the electronics is done is also here, so I had a chance to check out one of the developments of our transmitter while I was here as well.

As director of the project, you, I know, do as much as you can from Planetary Society headquarters in Pasadena, but you really, I guess it is essential to get over there and see things firsthand now and then. Well, the team over here is very good, and they're carrying on almost all the work. We do have American engineers working with us as well. They're preparing a lot for the ground operations, but there's obviously an interface, and that's my job to work the interfaces between both the operations planning that we're doing for the mission that's coming up, we hope yet to launch this year,

and to oversee the spacecraft development and see if there's any management or financial or technical problems that we can work on. You mentioned probably the most important point that we could cover, which is that you still hope to put the first solar sail in orbit this year. Well, we're under a philosophy that we launch when ready, and there are developments that set us back from time to time, but there are also some that speed us along. And we're right now in a very active mode. I think it's looking very good.

Spacecraft is coming together, the electronics testing, all sequences that could undergo during the mission. But there are some new developments in the computer software that have to be checked out, and if they take a little longer and we have to delay the launch, we will. I've frequently lectured on this subject that you have only three things to work with, the schedule, time, cost, that is money, and complexity. You could make the spacecraft either less complex and riskier, or you could put more money into it, or you could stretch out the time.

We don't have more money, and we're not about to give up our performance or take more risks, so we'll play with the time as necessary. I think we said once, no pioneering solar sail before it's time. That's a good way of expressing it, Matt. It is a complex project. Even though it is minuscule in budget compared to almost every other research probe that has ever left Earth's atmosphere, it is still a very complex device, isn't it? It is.

I must say that the Russians have put a lot of extra work into the spacecraft because they see it as a basis of a new spacecraft development that they'll be able to use even after our project. So there's a lot more complexity in it than when we started, and that means the testing period takes longer, and that's what we're doing now. We have a dually redundant radio system, a dually redundant computer system, Now, we have a dually redundant radio system, a dually redundant computer system, attitude control with backups. All of the extra instruments that it takes to operate those has to be checked out,

not just in their hardware but also in their software. But I've got to say that it becomes more exciting as you see the developments come together. You see the solar sail beginning to interface with the actual sail blades itself. You're working on two scales here. The sail is enormous. It's 100 feet in diameter, and the spacecraft is small at barely a meter in diameter. And so you are working with two scales here, very fine electronics and this enormous sail. And as it takes shape, you realize the excitement of being able to set out on a new course with hoisting a sail in space and trying to catch the photons and ride the light beam.

Lou, you have been part of a lot of missions similar to this, going back to your NASA JPL days. This is obviously different in a lot of ways, but I wonder if you can contrast this. Well, there's a certain similarity to all space projects because it doesn't matter if you're a $4 million project, a $400 million project, or a multi-billion dollar international space station. You have the same mix of details, the work through, systems engineering,

the complexities, the deal, and yet you have the goal that's out there driving you, which is sometimes if you step back and think about it, quite audacious what you're trying to do. What I like to say in space is it's not about the 150,000 things you have to make go right. It's about preventing the one or two things that may go wrong and, of course, ruin everything. And we're reminded of that as we worry tragically with the loss of human lives in shuttle, but also with the loss of robotic spacecraft that we've experienced over the years.

Fifty percent of the missions have something anomalous go wrong with them, and we need to deal with that. Speaking of things going wrong, there were, of course, problems that were completely outside of anything that was directly concerned with the solar sail, and that was with the converted Russian ICBM, submarine-launched ICBM, now rocket that is slated to carry the solar sail into orbit. What's the status of those problems? Well, the Volna rocket is a tried-and-true Russian rocket, as you mentioned, used in the ICBM program. The payload separation system they modified for some of their suborbital flights went wrong. I think that's now fixed.

In fact, the tests are going on that's very weak in the Mikheyev Rocket Design Bureau, in which they're taking the engineering model of our spacecraft and simulating its separation from the rocket by dropping it in a vacuum chamber, so it will be a free-fall and a vacuum, be a full test of that payload separation system. I hope within a week to have an announcement about the results of that test. We know that they're doing them this week. They've undergone the first and second stage tests already. They look very good. Everything seems to be good, but I'll have an announcement, I hope, by the end of next week.

So folks will be able to look for that, I assume, on the Planetary Society website? That's correct. We'll have an update on our website within a week, and we'll talk about either the readiness of the Vulna to take our spacecraft into orbit, or what's next. We are talking to Lou Friedman, the executive director of the Planetary Society, but with his solar sail hat on, the one that has him as the head of this project, that may, if all goes well, put the very first solar sail ever into orbit about the Earth. And there is a related story to that, Lou, which I think when we come back from a break, you may be able to reveal to a radio audience for the first time. So, Lou, if we can, we'll talk about the centennial of flight celebration in New York City when we come back.

This is Buzz Aldrin. When I walked on the moon, I knew it was just the beginning of humankind's great adventure in the solar system. That's why I'm a member of the Planetary Society, the world's largest space interest group. The Planetary Society is helping to explore Mars. We're tracking near-Earth asteroids and comets. We sponsor the search for life on other worlds, and we're building the first-ever solar sail. You can learn about these adventures and exciting new discoveries

from space exploration in The Planetary Report. The Planetary Report is the Society's full-color magazine. It's just one of many member benefits. You can learn more by calling 1-877-PLANETS. That's toll-free, 1-877-752-6387. And you can catch up on space exploration news and developments at our exciting and informative website, planetarysociety.org. The Planetary Society, exploring new worlds.

Lou Friedman is the Executive Director of the Planetary Society. He is with us on the phone from Russia. Lou, what is happening in New York City in just a few short weeks? There's a huge exhibition, Matt, in rockville center in new york city and you'll want white uh... is going to be celebrated with uh... three blocks in new york city being taken over by historic aircraft and spacecraft

all the way from the right flyer to apollo thirteen capsule and the mercury redstone rocket right and rockefeller center in new york but the best of all is going to be even bigger than that. It's going to be our solar sail hanging in the lobby of the main NBC Studios building in Rockefeller. We're quite excited about that because it's truly a recognition of the fact that we hope in some small way that the solar sail will be a pioneer of flight into not only another century, as we're celebrating this centennial of flight,

but maybe pioneering a flight into even another star system someday. The solar sail is the only technology that can lead to interstellar travel that we know of today, and celebrating as part of the centennial of flight is a great honor for us and a great opportunity as well. We'll get the message out to millions more people. How did this opportunity come about? Well, the centennial flight people put their exhibit together, had all these wonderful artifacts and plans for the celebration, and it was only through a chance contact in discussing some other aspects of the centennial flight

that we brought up the solar sail. And when we first heard about it, we said, oh, it's kind of ridiculous to hang a solar sail in the middle of New York City and expected not to be torn apart by winds and outdoor elements. But then they announced they had this, they told us they had this lobby that would be perfectly suited. It was floor-to-ceiling height, just about the same size as a solar sail blade.

And we said, let's hang it there. And it looks like now it's going to be a major part of the celebration. And when will this actually be taking place again? Well, the Centennial Flight Exhibit opens up on July 29th. We'll be there for those of our listeners who can be in New York City. They should come see it. It'll be there for three weeks until August 18th. And our solar sail blade, just one blade now, I should say, not the whole solar sail,

just one of the eight blades will be hanging there. It's 50 feet in height almost. It'll be just about 20 yards away from the right flyer. Which, of course, is why this is the centennial flight. I suppose we should explain this being, or coming up anyway, the 100th anniversary of heavier-than-air flight, pioneered, of course, by the Wright brothers. Pretty special anniversary to be a part of. It is. December 17, 2003 is the 100th anniversary of the Kitty Hawk flight. The whole year has been proclaimed as the Centennial of Flight. there have been celebrations around the United States.

Obviously, one in the center of New York is a very big one. It's remarkable to think that the Wright brothers flew 12 seconds and went nowhere and had an objective of just proving themselves and what it has led to in the last century, from the military use of aircraft to the civilian use of aircraft, part of our daily lives, to the many different types of private aircraft, and, of course, to the ultimate ones, the jets that go up to the edge of space, and, of course, finally the space age itself that we're a part of. If we look ahead to what the next century might bring,

we can let our minds go to, of course, the spacecraft that wander the solar system, and maybe we'll have humans going to other worlds. Maybe we'll be taking those first steps that leave the solar system altogether. So do you see the solar sail as very much a part of that continuum? Very much so. It is the only technology. Sailing on a light beam is the only technology we know that could lead to practical interstellar flight because you don't have to carry your fuel along with you.

And anything else just doesn't work out when you try to carry that much fuel over the enormous distances of interstellar flight. So solar sailing, in some ways, is that presage of being able to go out to the stars. Hanging a sail or a blade like this in Rockefeller Center during this huge celebration is, of course, the Society hoping we'll get a good deal of public attention. But I wonder if that will pale compared to the attention that the actual mission might get, particularly if this pioneering flight is successful. Are there positive elements that are part of that as well,

of the public excitement that we hope to see if the sale is successful. Well, for the Planetary Society, a citizens group, a public membership organization, to try an actual space mission is very audacious. To try it in partnership with a sponsor, Cosmos Studios, which has been a wonderful sponsor, put up the money for almost all of this mission. They are a fledgling business, a very small company that is trying a whole new concept to have real science be entertainment as well, trying to carry on the traditions of Carl Sagan. So we owe an enormous amount of gratitude to Cosmos Studios, to Andrea, who is the widow of Carl Sagan and who has started this venture for sponsoring this activity. So we hope in some way that the solar sail flight will not just be a technological breakthrough,

but in some way will be a new paradigm for human accomplishment, that people can make a difference small organizations that individuals that uh... uh... ideas of uh... substantive entertainment that not just mindless entertainment can can somehow pervade the popular culture we can set a tone that this very small effort could lead to great things

in some way were motivated by the same ideas that the Wright brothers did, that they started out in a bicycle shop and led to a century of flight. If we can somehow make a difference in our venture like that, that will be the greatest accomplishment of all. Who knows where the technology will lead, but if you can make a difference in the way people approach great accomplishments and making great efforts. That, we hope, is a great inspiration.

And getting young people involved. That's the Planetary Society goal. We get a lot of young people involved in our programs. That will make a difference. Lou, to finish off here, we only have a couple of minutes left. Bring it quite literally back down to Earth. It's a little after 10 a.m. Sunday morning as we speak to you. You mentioned that at the outset of our conversation. 10 a.m. Sunday morning. What are you going to be doing with yourself the rest of the day today

and on your trip there in Russia? Matt, one thing that always impresses me about being in Russia in the summertime is the very long days. The sun starts to rise around 4 in the morning, and it doesn't set until nearly 11 at night. So the days are very long, which means you get quite a lot done. And we will be visiting, as I mentioned, this Tarusa factory where the electronics are made. But I think most of the day is going to be spent relaxing. Tomorrow I have a rather long day. We'll be having additional meetings at the Space Research Institute.

We'll be looking at the electronics testing. And then I get on an airplane to come home. And so I think my day tomorrow is something like about 30 hours or 35 hours long. But it's really beautiful over here right now. The sun is shining. It's a very cool summer day in Russia.

They tell me the way summer is used to baby for the hot spells of the last couple of years came through. So it was really quite enjoyable. Well, we'll hope the weather stays beautiful and that you come back with a great report on the progress of Cosmos 1, the solar sail from there where it's being built in Russia. Well, let me encourage everybody to watch our website over the next couple of weeks. We have this fantastic exhibition in Rockefeller Center.

We expect it to get national and international media attention. We'll have the test results reported on from the rocket payload separation system, and I'll have an update on the development of the spacecraft as it's finishing up in the engineering days in Moscow. Lou, thanks very much, and do svidaniya. Thank you, and nice to talk to you, Matt. Lou Friedman is the executive director of the Planetary Society and heads the Planetary Society's effort with some excellent partners

to build the very first solar sail. I'm Emily Lakdawalla, back with Q&A. Why doesn't Venus have plate tectonics like Earth does? Earth's plate tectonics results in fairly narrow bands of mountains and volcanoes concentrated at the edges of its plates. Venus, on the other hand, has monstrous, thick, continent-sized belts of tectonized crust called tessera, and volcanoes pop up all over its surface. The answer to this puzzle may be linked to a missing asthenosphere. Below the Earth's rigid outer layer, called the lithosphere, is a weak region of rock

where minerals appear to be near their melting points. This weak layer, called the asthenosphere, separates the upper lithosphere from the lower mantle so that the lithosphere is free to move about. On Venus, there is evidence that the upper lithosphere is strongly coupled to the mantle with no weak asthenosphere in between. Scientists believe that the weak asthenosphere on Earth may be a result of abundant water, which lowers the melting temperatures of rocks. Venus, with its runaway greenhouse and scorching heat, is believed to have lost its primordial water and therefore its ability to produce plate tectonics.

Got a question about the universe? Send it to us at planetaryradio at planetary.org. And now, here's Matt with more Planetary Radio. Time for What's Up, and Bruce Fetz, the Director of Projects at the Planetary Society, is back with us live at the Planetary Society headquarters. Welcome back. Why, thank you very much. I'm quivering with excitement to be here. How did the microgravity research go?

Excellent. Excellent. We learned a lot. And if you don't know what we're talking about, listen to last week's show. What's up this week? Well, I'm just going to keep saying it for the next few weeks. Mars, Mars, Mars, go look at Mars. It's out there in the morning sky, brightest thing up there. It comes up at, oh, sometime in the late evening, and you can see it rising in the southeast. And it's red, and it's pretty, and it's getting brighter. You can learn more about seeing Mars, as well as some events you can attend in the coming months, by checking out our Mars Watch website at planetary.org slash marswatch2003. And that will include some events that might be local to your area. I went out a few days ago, took out the telescope,

came out at about 1 a.m. because that got the red planet up a little bit higher in the sky, and it was spectacular, but it looked a little funny to me, and then the next day there was an article in the paper about a dust storm. Yes, yes, indeed. There was a dust storm, a local dust storm, by which we mean thousands of kilometers, that caused a brightening that could be seen from good amateur telescopes on the Earth. I thought that something was going on.

I thought it was just our hazy Southern California skies. But it still was spectacular. And it was, as you've been saying, no question other than the moon, the brightest thing up there. So apparently that was an hallucination that you had. Not this time. How have those been going?

We can talk about that later. Much better. The medication's helping a lot. Excellent. All right. You can also, if you're really missing the other planets, you can start to pick up a couple other planets this coming week,

but they're very low on the horizon. Jupiter and Mercury are actually fun if you can see them, but extremely low on the horizon after sunset in the west-northwest, and they will be almost practically touching in the sky during the middle of this week. Let's go to this week in space history. July 25, 2000, not that long ago, the Zvezda service module docked with the International Space Station. Going farther back, July 26, 2000, not that long ago, the Zvesta service module docked with the International Space Station. Going farther back, July 26th, 1971, Apollo 15 launched.

Something else happened this week that we'll come back to in our trivia contest. Oh, good. Let's move on to random space fact. Jupiter's core is thought to consist primarily of metallic hydrogen. So hydrogen that you squish so much that it stops being a gas, it actually becomes metallic, its little electrons get free and run around, and it's funky stuff. That's Jupiter's core.

You couldn't build a Quonset hut out of that, though. I don't think so. Darn it, you've stumped me again. All right, we'll check into that and get back to you next week. Quonset huts out of metallic hydrogen. Maybe at the core of Jupiter. Yeah, yeah, where they really need those. Where they really need those.

Could get a little squished, though. I don't think it's really Quonset hut-shaped. Last I knew, it's roughly spherical or an ellipsoid. Trivia time. Trivia time. Let's save ourselves the trivia. Last week, where in the solar system can you find the Valhalla Basin? The answer being Jupiter's moon Callisto, a giant impact structure on Callisto.

We have a winner. We had, again, a lot of great entries. I think we have to start either making this tougher or do some of those where you have to be creative again because almost everybody gets the answer right. This was not the winner, but I have to mention him. This is Michael Skinner. He did have the correct answer, but he added to it, Matt, make sure it's my name that gets drawn.

There's a five spot in it for you. Does Matt get like a buck fifty for mentioning your name? Yeah, I would hope. I had to write back. like a buck fifty for mentioning your name? Yeah, I would hope. I had to write back. I said, you think that I would violate the sacred honor of the Planetary Society

and this service we provide our listeners for five bucks, not less than seven. Exactly. But we did have a winner, he said, as he bumped the microphone. And here she is. And she says that this is how you pronounce the name. I usually say Michelle, but she says it's Michelle.

Michelle. Michelle Heppel of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, had the correct answer, Jupiter's Large Moon Callisto. And Michelle, congratulations. You are our winner this week, and you will be getting that Mars 3D poster in the mail. Congratulations. And those of you who would also like to obtain that Mars 3D poster and don't want to just buy it, you can submit an answer to this trivia question. Before you give it, I just want to mention, here's the winner from last week.

And this was, do I have his name? Michael. No, it was Michael from Australia who said, wow, thanks guys, I'm totally chuffed. Can you say that on the air? I said chuffed. I said this is one of the reasons all Americans love Australians. Chuffed, you know? They've added so much to the language.

Thank you, you guys. Okay, now this week's question. This week, something happened. I'll give you a hint. It was this week, many years This week, something happened. I'll give you a hint. It was this week, many years ago. Tell me what. No, that's not actually it. I'll give you more.

What mission had the last U.S. splashdown? Oh. And when did it occur? Okay, I think I know. I'm not going to say, but I think I know. That would kind of ruin the trivia. Yes, it think I know. I'm not going to say, but I think I know. That would kind of ruin the trivia. Yes, it would. Okay.

So go to planetary.org, follow the links to Planetary Radio, and you'll find out how to enter our contest telling us what mission at the last U.S. was splashed down, so spacecraft landing in the ocean. And we're out of time. Well, thank you all for listening, and look up in the night sky, and think about new nifty radio equipment. I like that one. Thank you. Good night.

Bruce Betts is the Director of Projects for the Planetary Society. He joins us each week on Planetary Radio with What's Up. That's it for this week's show. You can hear it again along with all of our past editions at planetary.org. Planetary Radio is a copyrighted production of the Planetary Society, which is solely responsible for its content. See you next week.