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Public Survey For NASA's Planetary Research Priorities

Posted by timothy on from the find-a-planet-made-out-of-money dept.

StephenMesser writes: "At the request of NASA, the National Research Council is conducting a planetary science community assessment of the priorities for the U.S. planetary research programs for the next 10 years. The Planetary Society has been asked to assist this "decadal survey" by seeking input from the general public about planetary exploration. Data must be input by January 31, 2002 to be counted on the survey. CNN has a story on the survey."

3 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE INSTRUCTIONS!!! by Cutriss · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's very easy to miss, but if you read the instructions, you'll notice that the survey answers are ranked from 10-1, and NOT 1-10. 10 is the value of least importance, and 1 is the value of most importance. I nearly submitted my results before noticing this, and I wonder how many people have already made the same mistake. It's quite possible NASA might think that nobody wants to go to Mars because everyone voted "10" for it...

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  2. Re:Nanotech. Now. by prizzznecious · · Score: 2, Informative

    I agree with your premise, but in one instance you're quite wrong.

    he planets will still be pretty much the same 5 to 25 years from now

    The Pluto-Kuiper express mission relies on the position of Jupiter being the way it will be for only the next few years- its gravity is crucial for reaching Pluto in enough time to study Pluto's atmosphere. Because of Pluto's wide orbital ellipse, it will soon be too far away from the sun and its atmosphere will freeze. So it won't really be the same at all.

    Otherwise, I quite agree with you. Nanotechnology is really important- and it is possible that science will bring us other ways to get to Pluto quickly enough.

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  3. Re:Hm... by MikeyLikesIt! · · Score: 2, Informative
    Not just planets, but some moons too.

    Some moons are extremely interesting:

    • Europa and Callisto may have oceans, thus making them the most likely places that we will find extra-terrestrial life
    • Titan has a nitrogen-rich atmosphere that is so thick that astronomers have not yet been able to see the surface.
    • The Moon - as has been mentioned before on Slashdot, the Moon may have water at its south pole. It is important to confirm this initial observation. If water does exist there, it could be mined and used as fuel, thus acting as an inter-planetary refuelling point.
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