"Travel, Travel, Travel!" Peter Thomas - February 16, 1997 Research Scientist Cornell University, Ithaca, New York |
February 16 -26, 1997
Most scientists working on planetary spacecraft are involved with more than one
mission, so our attention, and travel, frequently are divided many ways. This journal is
written just after returning from the latest trip.
February 16: Fly to Phoenix, Arizona for a Galileo workshop on the satellites of
Jupiter, Callisto and Europa, at the Geology Department of Arizona State University.
After arrival, review materials I am supposed to present for Paul Helfenstien, who is
unable to attend (another typical activity: sharing presentations to cut down on travel),
on whether morning frost can be detected on Callisto.
February 17: Meeting on Callisto; large photos recently sent back by Galileo are
spread around the room, and the 20 or so attendees look closely at them during and
between presentations on specific science questions, and on outlines for further study
and joint writing of articles describing the results. Callisto doesn't look the way we
thought it would from Voyager data, and much of the time is spent trying to come up with
ideas on why it doesn't. After the workshop, a dinner is held at the host's (Ronald
Greeley) house. Science decreases in talk at dinner, but doesn't go away.
February 18: Europa workshop. More people show up for this one as Europa has attracted
much attention for the possibility of an ocean under its ice cover. We don't solve the
problem, but try to outline how best to use remaining orbits of Galileo to take the most
diagnostic data.
February 19: With Galileo meetings over, and a Mars polar science workshop in Houston
several days off, I stop by friends at the University of Colorado at Boulder. It is
supposed to be vacation, but we spend sometime every day talking about Mars: my hosts,
Steve Lee and Todd Clancy, are on the Mars Surveyor Orbiter '98 camera team (as am I),
and they also are active in Space Telescope observations of Mars. Steve has long studied
the changes in surface contrasts on Mars caused by dust storms, and he has recent HST
pictures that show dust storms in unusual places (the north pole in spring time). We
also manage to see comet Hale-Bopp early the morning of the 22nd.
February 23: Fly to Houston for the Mars Polar Science workshop at the Lunar and
Planetary Institute. This is a meeting to get the planetary scientists studying Mars'
polar regions together with people who specialize in studying terrestrial glaciers,
especially Greenland and Antarctica. Mars' poles both have very distinctive layered
deposits, and seasonal deposition of carbon dioxide and water frost (1/4th the whole
atmosphere freezes out at the poles each winter). While there is the strong suspicion
that these record cycles of climate driven by changes in Mars' orbit and rotation, we
have little information on what they are made of, let alone what really controls their
formation. The hope is the terrestrial record of going in and out of ice ages in recent
geologic time might help figure out the Mars layers, or vice versa.
The workshop is very informal, and includes some specific presentations of particular
science investigations, but also a lot of discussion of how best to have Mars Global
Surveyor instruments, and future missions, address some of the key questions: What are
the polar deposits made of? Are they accumulating now or are they eroding? How does one
try to detect layers at depth on Mars as can be done in Antarctica by radar and
seismology. What are the resources available for refueling lander missions on Mars?
In getting ready for Mars Global Surveyor such meetings help focus on some of the work
to be done, and on the likelihood of changing our whole investigation strategy after we
see some of the data, which will include higher resolution pictures than ever before, and
types of data never taken at Mars: laser measured topography and mineralogic data from
infrared thermal emissions.
One of the fun aspects of this meeting, and most related ones, is the mix of people
who have been doing science for decades with those just starting out professionally, as
well as the wide range of specialties and points of view.
Feb 26: Attend first part of last day of meeting, then race to catch plane home;
flight home includes revising a manuscript on the Martian satellites. Editing papers on
airplanes is another typical travel activity. Make it home ok, then check in at office
for accumulated work. Back to the usual schedule!
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