Fundamentals of Astronautics : Our Solar System

A fundamental question of space travel is, "where do we want to go? and what shall we do when we get there?"

Slides

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  Introductory slide.

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  There are not only many places, but many kinds of places we might like to visit in this solar system of ours, and the nature of each suggests what we might do there.

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  Mercury gives every sign of being a mineralogical treasurehouse. Alas, it is too close to the Sun to be easily reached.

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  Venus, sometimes referred to as Earth's twin, is a bizarre hell-world of largely unknown potential.

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  There is one body which has been visited by humans so far. To quote Krafft Ehricke : "If God had meant Man to travel in space, He would have given the Earth an enormous moon."

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  Mars exerts a remarkable power of fascination on the mind.

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  "Inter Iovem et Martem planetam interposui" — Ceres and Pluto are the lead examples of two great classes of minor planets.

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  Jupiter outweighs everything else in the system put together, with the exception (naturally) of the Sun itself. Its four great satellites dwarf any others.

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  Saturn is best known for its ring system, but its moon Titan could be a planet in its own right.

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  Uranus is inexplicably heeled over, so that its axis of rotation lies almost in its orbital plane.

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  Neptune, like Saturn, has one giant moon, and its name sounds very similar.