Planetary science: NASA decision causes dismay

Galactic planetary science

Planetary science beyond the boundaries of our Solar System is today in its infancy. Until a couple of decades ago, the detailed investigation of the planetary properties was restricted to objects orbiting inside the Kuiper Belt. Today, we cannot ignore that the number of known planets has increased by two orders of magnitude nor that these planets resemble anything but the objects present in o...

Lunar and Planetary Science

Surface Systems R & D in NASA ’ s Planetary Exploration Program

In the last several years, since the successful 1997 deployment and operation of the Sojourner rover on the surface of Mars, NASA has entered a new era of space exploration, where the emphasis is on in-situ exploration of planetary surfaces by means of a new class of robotic systems. For example, advanced sample return rovers with demonstrated technology far beyond Sojourner are in preparation ...

Dismay with GM maize

in 1974, the physician and writer Lewis thomas published a collection of essays titled The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher. in one of those articles, ‘the technology of Medicine’, thomas divides technological progress into three categories that he describes as “nontechnology”, “halfway technology” and “high technology”. Nontechnological solutions include bedside care—delivered by ph...

Aggregation, Settlement, and Dismay