Cornell in space: A soaring 40-year history

By Susan Lang

When the CONTOUR spacecraft lifted into space in the early morning hours of July 3, it was the latest in a long line of achievements for Cornell's space sciences community. Within five years of the Soviets launching Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, on Oct. 4, 1957, Cornell was forging ties with NASA on space missions. Since then, the list of collaborations has covered the exploration of the moon, the planets, asteroids and now comets. Here is a sampling of contributions to space exploration by Cornell astronomy faculty, past and present:

1962-1971, Mariner missions (Mars and Venus flybys):
The late Carl Sagan and Peter Gierasch were Cornell pioneers on NASA missions. The two are credited with discovering a new category of super hurricane-force winds on Mars. In 1971 Joseph Veverka, who today is the principal investigator on the CONTOUR mission, joined the Cornell-NASA team for the first time on Mariner 9 in 1971.

1967, Lunar planning:
Thomas Gold was one of 18 scientists named to the Planetary and Missions Board to advise NASA on tactics and strategy for lunar and planetary exploration.

1969, Apollo 11 (manned lunar landing):
Gold headed the Cornell team that examined moon samples from six Apollo missions: Apollo 11 (1969) to Apollo 17 (1975). Gold also headed the team that developed the special stereo lunar surface close-up camera that the astronauts took to the moon.

1972-73, Pioneer 10 and 11 (Jupiter flyby):
Pioneer 10 carried an engraved message, prepared by Sagan and Frank Drake, now at the University of California-Santa Cruz, on gold-anodized aluminum plates mounted on the exterior of the spacecraft. Pioneer is expected to travel 18,000 trillion miles over 100 million years.

1975, Viking 1 and 2 (Mars orbiter and lander):
Sagan and Veverka served as members of the Viking Mars lander imaging team.

1977, Voyager 1 and 2 (Jupiter/Saturn/Uranus/Neptune flyby):
Gierasch was a member of the infrared spectrometry team and part of the group that in 1989 identified Uranus's bizarre weather and composition of the atmosphere, as well as the heat and cold patterns and geology of the planet's moon, Miranda. In addition, Peter Thomas, Veverka, Sagan and Steven Squyres worked with the imaging team to analyze pictures from the two Voyagers' cameras, and Philip Nicholson used Voyager data to study the ring systems of outer planets.

1984, Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF):
James Houck submitted the first designs for an infrared spectrograph (IRS) for SIRTF, which will become one of NASA's four Great Observatories. In 1993 his team built a prototype of the instrument, and in 2003 SIRTF will be launched. Terry Herter also was on the IRS team.

1989, Galileo (Jupiter orbiter/probe):
A Cornell team was selected to develop new software to analyze detailed images and data from Jupiter and its moons. Veverka and Gierasch were on the imaging team, Sagan was an interdisciplinary scientist, and Joseph Burns was an associate.

1996, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous:
Veverka was the leader of the imaging team, whose members included Thomas and James Bell, for this voyage to asteroid 433 Eros. Squyres was a member of the X-ray/gamma-ray spectrometer science team. In February 2001, the spacecraft landed on the asteroid.

1996, Mars Global Surveyor (Mars orbiter):
Veverka and Thomas served on the imaging team that analyzed the surface of Mars in unprecedented detail.

1997, Mars Pathfinder (Sojourner rover):
Bell served on the Sojourner rover imaging team, interpreting geologic formations on the Martian surface.

1997, Cassini (Saturn orbiter):
Burns, Squyres, Thomas and Veverka were members of the imaging team, Gierasch was a member of the infrared spectrometer science team, and Nicholson was a member of the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer science team.

1998, Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite:
Paul Goldsmith and Martin Harwit were science-team members for this radio astronomy observatory.

2001, Mars Odyssey (Mars orbiter):
Squyres was a team member for the gamma ray spectrometer.

2002, CONTOUR:
Veverka is leading the mission's international science team.

2003, Mars exploration rovers:
Squyres is heading the team developing the Athena science cargo to be carried by the two rover vehicles that will explore the planet. Bell heads the development of the rovers' panoramic camera system.