5 Essential Things To Do In Space ~~ Newest Discussion Idea for IONS Community Groups
To a child of the space age, books about the solar system from before 1957 (Sputnik) are vaguely horrifying. How little people knew. All in all, the planets seemed like pretty small places back then, little more than smudges of light. Earth seemed a lot larger than it does now. No one had ever seen our planet as a planet: a blue marble on black velvet, coated with a fragile veneer of water and air. In this article science writer George Musser describes how today planetary scientists are articulating the following goals for exploring the solar system.
1. Monitor Earth's Climate
2. Prepare an Asteroid Defense
3. Seek Out New Life
4. Explain the Genesis of the Planets
5. Break Out of the Solar System
Discussion questions for this article can be accessed at http://www.shiftinaction.com/node/3444
