REM@IMSSS (Robert Elton Maas, this host known locally only) (01/30/86)
(Gee, I came up with that C-7 hack as I was typing the header to this message and the number 7 randomly triggered the Galileo-seven from Startrek and some other seven from VietNam protest. But back to subject...) It was suggested today that seven of the Uranian moons discovered this month by Voyager 2 be named after the astronauts & technicians & passenger who died on the shuttle this week. Some obvious questions/problems: First names or last names? Actual (English) names or greek translations of them? Since we haven't staked claim on these moons, what right have we to name them after citizens of our nation? All the other moons have been named after greek mythological beings affiliated in myth with the parent body. Do we want to start naming moons after real humans of the nation that discovered them? Craters on the Moon discovered by spacecraft follow the real-human naming convention in some cases, but there's a mixture of discoveries from USA and USSR craft thus we accept each other's names. Would the USSR and other nations accept our breaking from tradition on naming moons of other planets? Why not name three more after Grissom/Chaffe/White, or after Russian cosmonauts who have died? Wouldn't it be sort of a slap in somebody's face to name the seven who died in the worst attempted-human-space-travel accident to date after moons that were discovered by the most successful unmanned-space-discovery mission to date, at a time when the contrast between these two missions is used by some people to argue that manned exploration should be totally stopped and everything should be done by robotics? By the way, I saw a fairly good picture of the moon that was discovered just 4 weeks ago as Voyager 2 was approaching Uranus. I'm used to seeing good pictures of moons already known where the spececraft program can be set up to aim the high-resolution camera at just the right spot, and little dots that occupy fewer than ten pixels for moons that were just discovered on this flight. I was rather impressed that they were able to get a good picture this week of a moon that was just discovered in flight about a month ago! How did they do it? Did they figure they had time to reprogram their observation plan to get a good picture so they did it, or did they just happen to have the camera aimed in about the right direction so a trivial change in direction was able to get the hi-res picture without adversely affecting the rest of the observation plan? P.s. looks like we found a moon (Miranda) more complicated than Ganymede!! If I ever have any children and they happen to be girls, maybe I'll name the prettiest one Dione and the most complicated one Miranda if my wife (if I ever find one) will let me and if I can predict their features ahead of time. (My first choices would have been Drucilla and Linda, but my mind is changing...)
mcgeer%ji@UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU (Rick McGeer) (01/30/86)
>Date: 1986 January 30 01:38:50 PST (=GMT-8hr) >From: Robert Elton Maas <REM@imsss> (this host known locally only) >To: SPACE@mc.lcs.mit.edu >Subject: nameing Uranian moons after the Challanger-seven >Sender: REM%IMSSS@su-score.arpa (for undeliverable-mail notifications) >Reply-To: REM%IMSSS@su-score.arpa > >It was suggested today that seven of the Uranian moons discovered this >month by Voyager 2 be named after the astronauts & technicians & >passenger who died on the shuttle this week. Some obvious questions/problems: > >First names or last names? Last. > >Actual (English) names or greek translations of them? Actual. > >Since we haven't staked claim on these moons, what right have we to >name them after citizens of our nation? All the other moons have been >named after greek mythological beings affiliated in myth with the >parent body. Do we want to start naming moons after real humans of the >nation that discovered them? Craters on the Moon discovered by >spacecraft follow the real-human naming convention in some cases, but >there's a mixture of discoveries from USA and USSR craft thus we >accept each other's names. Would the USSR and other nations accept our >breaking from tradition on naming moons of other planets? By longstanding tradition, dating back to Galileo, the discoverer of celestial bodies has the right to name them. I can't imagine that anyone with any decency would either question our right to do so nor the appropriateness of the memorial. > >Why not name three more after Grissom/Chaffe/White, or after Russian >cosmonauts who have died? Internally, NASA refers to three stars by the nicknames of Grissom, Chaffe and White. The Russians may have named some of their discoveries after their lost cosmonauts; I don't know. Does anybody? > >Wouldn't it be sort of a slap in somebody's face to name the seven who >died in the worst attempted-human-space-travel accident to date after >moons that were discovered by the most successful >unmanned-space-discovery mission to date, at a time when the contrast >between these two missions is used by some people to argue that manned >exploration should be totally stopped and everything should be done by >robotics? No, I don't think so. The Challenger Seven died as pioneers crossing a new frontier; like all pioneers, they expected others to follow. I think that naming (or renaming) some Lunar craters for them would be more appropriate: that way, the time when we'll be able to erect a plaque in their memory in the object named for them is in the not-too-distant future. I'd like the schoolchidren of Moonbase to be able to take a field trip to McAuliffe Crater, and read about the woman who dreamed of teaching children to reach for the stars... Requiscet in Pacem. And may the Perpetual Light shine upon them. Rick.