Word: planetful
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...whole, NASA has always treated Mars with respect. American spacecraft have flown by, orbited and even landed on the Red Planet. What they've never done is wound it. If scientists ever hope to understand Mars fully, however, they are going to have to puncture the dry Martian rind to sample the planetary pulp below. Next week NASA will launch a ship that will begin that process...
...upcoming mission is a two-spacecraft extravaganza. The first ship--set to fly Dec. 10--is the workmanlike Mars Climate Orbiter. Arriving in September 1999, the spacecraft will enter an orbit of the planet that traces a path over the Martian poles, allowing it to study the local atmosphere. Its orbit will position it perfectly to act as a relay satellite for any later ship that may land on the surface. That's a good thing, since three weeks or so after the orbiter leaves Earth, NASA will launch another spacecraft, the more ambitious Mars Polar Lander...
...spindly machine standing 3.5 ft. tall, the lander is set to arrive in December 1999, aiming to touch down near Mars' south pole, one of the few spots on the freeze-dried planet that is likely to contain some water. Just before reaching the Martian atmosphere, the lander will release a pair of tapered pods, each about the size of a basketball, made of brittle silica. Plunging ahead of the ship, the projectiles will free-fall to the surface and strike the ground at 400 m.p.h...
That night in camp, Mittermeier laments the general ignorance of this terrain. The marine biologist Sylvia Earle made the same point to me some months ago about life in the oceans; we yearn for Mars, a planet as good as dead, and know so little of life on Earth. To date we have identified between 1.5 million and 1.7 million species, but the best guesses put the total number of the planet's species at between 5 million and 15 million, and it could be as high as 100 million. "How can we talk about extinction rates," Mittermeier asks, "unless...
Once upon a time the forests were the land. Covering the planet like an elegant drape, they nourished and protected most terrestrial life. Now the fabric is in tatters--slashed by timber interests, agriculture, suburban sprawl and plain human carelessness. In this second installment of our Heroes for the Planet series, we tell the stories of those working to preserve the great swatches of green that still survive...