Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the orbiting Sputnik 1. (thegravitywell.org/)
On this day in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, humanity’s first artificial satellite, setting of a space race that continues to this day. The U.S. National Archives has a copy of minutes from an October 9 meeting between President Eisenhower and his advisors to discuss Sputnik I. The text accompanying the minutes demonstrates the shock this event caused:
At first, some in the Eisenhower administration downplayed the satellite as a “useless hunk of iron.” As David Halberstam wrote in The Fifties, “The success of Sputnik seemed to herald a kind of technological Pearl Harbor, which was exactly what Edward Teller said it was.” Others in America and around the world saw Sputnik as an ominous leap ahead in prestige and military ability, whether or not the new missiles could actually hit a target with nuclear weapons. President Eisenhower and some of his advisors, when they realized the significance of the Soviet achievement, met to discuss the alarming developments.
Of course, Russia is more of a wounded bear at the moment while China tries to take the lead in the latest space race. This is not to diminish what the Soviet Union accomplished in the last century, nor what Russia can accomplish tomorrow if it put its energy into science rather than war.
Image (Credit): Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock from Star Trek. (Paramount Pictures)
On this day in 1966, NBC television broadcast the first episode of Star Trek. The new series lasted for three seasons. It was the beginning of a “cultural phenomena,” to quote Leonard Nimoy from the 1991 television special, Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special.
While it may not technically meet the definition of astronomy, it definitely impacted many astronomers and other scientists. In 2016, NASA wrote about the technology and ideas in the Star Trek series that later matched up with reality or might exist someday. Here are two examples:
Communicators: Like Star Trek communicators, cell phones are ubiquitous now, to an annoying extent, and images and videos made with them are now collected and exchanged obsessively. Landing parties in past Star Trek shows only gave verbal reports, and did not send back images and videos, as today’s people would.
Impulse Engines: These are rocket engines based on the fusion reaction. We don’t have the technology for them yet – they are far ahead of our present chemical-fueled rockets – but they are within the bounds of real, possible future engineering.
Some Star Trek episodes also mentioned ion drive. In recent decades, Russian, U.S., European, and Japanese spacecraft have used ion drive engines, known as Hall thrusters. They are much more efficient than the usual chemical rockets and have been capable of propelling probes to asteroids and comets in our solar system.
Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss, writer of The Physics of Star Trek, also shared his insights on the influence of Star Trek in this video, Trek Talks: Lawrence Krauss on Star Trek and Science. He is among many who have seen the beneficial role of science fiction.
Fortunately, the Star Trek television and movie universe is going strong and can continue influencing young minds ready to explore this universe of ours.
Image (Credit): In 1976, NASA’s space shuttle Enterprise rolled out of the Palmdale manufacturing facilities and was greeted by NASA officials and cast members from the Star Trek television series. From left to right they are: NASA Administrator Dr. James D. Fletcher; DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. “Bones” McCoy on the series; George Takei (Mr. Sulu); James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott); Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura); Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock); series creator Gene Roddenberry; U.S. Rep. Don Fuqua (D.-Fla.); and, Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov). (NASA)
Extra: The pilot episode of Star Trek was named “The Man Trap.” It was not really the pilot but instead an episode in the wrong order, and the original pilot was dropped, but that is beside the point. The point is that it was bad. Really bad. You can read all about it in this article from Entertainment Weekly, “Star Trek Turns 50: A Look Back at the Desperately Sad First Episode.”
Image (Credit): Spock and Nancy in Star Trek’s “The Man Cage.” (Paramount Pictures)
Image (Credit): Pluto as captured by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. (NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
On this day in 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved a new definition of “planet” that excluded Pluto. The vote at the IAU approved the following definition of a planet:
is in orbit around the Sun,
has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and
has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.
Pluto fails this last test. In fact, many other objects, including at least one that may be larger (Eris), lie in the same orbit as Pluto around the Sun. However, Pluto does meet the definition of a “dwarf” planet:
is in orbit around the Sun,
has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape,
has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and
is not a satellite.
Hence, Pluto meets this definition whereas Europa, which is larger than Pluto, does not because it fails the last two tests – it has not cleared the neighborhood and it is a satellite.
The IAU vote was not popular. As one editorial argued, the third criteria about clearing the neighborhood makes little sense:
That last criterion states that a planet must be the gravitationally dominant object in the area of space in which it orbits. This rule makes sense for somewhere like, say, Earth, which is far more massive that the Moon and anything else along its orbital path. But out in the Kuiper Belt, where neighbouring bodies are far, far more distant than in the inner Solar System, Earth would not necessarily be able to clear its neighbourhood.
He continues:
This argument predates the flyby of Pluto in July 2015 of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, but the images returned by that spacecraft really help make the case: Pluto is an enigmatic world with towering ice mountains, vast glaciers of nitrogen ice, a tenuous atmosphere, a thick, outer icy carapace and a probably liquid water ocean below, all atop a huge rocky interior. By any geological measure – including the fact that there are surface processes acting on Pluto today – Pluto is a planet.
This will get more interesting once we throw in the exoplanets. Stay tuned.
Image (Credit): Some of the known dwarf planets. (Socratic.org)
Image (Credit): Artist’s illustration of the Curiosity rover using its drill to core a rock sample on Mars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
On this day in 2012, the Mars rover Curiosity landed on Mars (using Eastern Time). The rover was sent to the Red Planet to to explore the Gale crater and look for evidence that Mars had the conditions needed to support microscopic life in its past. A video from NASA walks you through the rover’s exploration to date and also highlights Maggie, Curiosity’s duplicate here on Earth.
An anniversary posting from NASA explains more about the mission, including issues with the rover’s drilling arm, wheels, and power supply. Life on Mars can be tough.
That said, the rover has already learned a lot after 10 years and it is expected to continue exploring in the years to come. NASA noted:
…most important, Curiosity has determined that liquid water as well as the chemical building blocks and nutrients needed for supporting life were present for at least tens of millions of years in Gale Crater. The crater once held a lake, the size of which waxed and waned over time. Each layer higher up on Mount Sharp serves as a record of a more recent era of Mars’ environment.
You can track the progress of the Curiosity rover using this website.
Image (Credit): NASA’s duplicate Mars rover called Maggie. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/JHU-APL)
Image (Credit): Neil Armstrong outside the Eagle lunar module on the surface of the Moon. (NASA)
On this day in 1969, two Apollo 11 crew members – commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin – became the first men to walk on the Moon. The two landed in NASA’s Eagle lunar module in the Sea of Tranquility and remained on the Moon’s surface for about 21 hours and 36 minutes collecting samples, placing scientific equipment, and photographing/filming the terrain. The astronauts also spoke with President Nixon while on the Moon.
You can rewatch the ABC News video feed here showing Neil Armstrong as he steps on the surface of the Moon and famously states, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
You can read more about the Apollo 11 mission here.
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