REM@IMSSS (Robert Elton Maas, this host known locally only) (01/30/86)
R> Voyager 2 has discovered a 3-mile-tall mountain on a moon of
R> Uranus. ... So, what do the rest of you think, volcano as I claim?,
R> extinct as I guess?, what kind of lava do you guess?, how long since active?
E> Date: 27 Jan 86 18:33:43 GMT
E> From: hplabs!ames!eugene@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Eugene Miya)
E> Are you certain it's a volcano?
Not at all, just the visual impression I got. See more later including
partial retraction of my guess.
E> I've not seen the imagery (no TV and the print media have not had
E> detailed images).
Picture in on TV (before I sent the message, causing the sending)
repeated in Peninsula Times-Tribune Sunday (after I sent the message),
of Oberon. The cone is right on the terminator (horizon, edge), and
sticks out like a sore thumb. On TV it looked like a volcanic cone,
like Shasta or like StHelens before the explosion. In the newspape the
quality was much lower but the cone can still be seen.
E> No offense, but most lay people could not recognize a volcano
E> other than pure cinder cones. Was it a profile (how did you get
E> 3 miles?)? or face into the crater or peak (I assume)?
E> did it have obvious flows.
Profile. TV news gave height, probably computed from known distance
from Voyager camera and resolution, or from known diameter and
fraction of that. No flows apparent, just a giant cone with nothing
anywhere near that height near it, like Mt. Shasta all alone among
lesser hills (Mt. Shasta is rather impressive in the distance from
highway 97 near Klamath Falls Oregon, 70 miles away), or like the
sugar-loaves south of Eugene Oregon or East of Rio Di Janero. On the
other hand, for sheer size relative to parent body (ignoring
volcanoness), nothing compares to the giant crater half the size of
Phobos and the "evil eye" crater about a third the size of a moon of
Saturn (I forgot the name).
As promised... after I sent the message proposing the volcano theory,
another report came out whereby scientists claimed the "sore thumb"
was the rebound peak in the center of an impact crater, like the ones
you see on the moon only much higher (higher by far than the rim of
the crater itself if my eyes aren't deceiving me). I presume they are
right and I am wrong; them's the breaks of a layperson trying to guess
from preliminary evidence (but I'm not the only one; witness all the
TV newspeople trying to guess what caused Challenger to blow up, just
from the TV pictures and no telemetry info whatsoever).
R> When are we gonna get that damn ion rocket developed so we can send
R> Mariner/Viking/Galileo-class spacecraft (orbiter/lander). . .
E> I refer you to James van Allen's article in Sci. Amer. a
E> month or two back. The rocket's been developed years ago
E> the question is when are we going to get the money to
E> send it up?
Sigh, due to rainy weather I haven't been able to go to library on
bike except once in the last 2 months, and haven't even found time to
read the Lin article on SDI.
E> Planetary wish list:
(Arranged by distance from Sun, rather than priority, I see/presume)
E> International Solar polar
I think that was planned for launch this year (if I correctly recall
the launch schedule that was published on SPACE a week ago), but of
course now that is on hold.
E> Comet rendevzous
Need ion rocket tested in space, which I wish they'd do asap.
E> Stellar/solar wind sampler
ICE did that for years before being diverted&renamed to go to G/Z
E> Mercury sample mission
Let's pass on that. Mercury has lots of gravity and no moons, so this
is purely of scientific interest, except due to heat of sun it's been
greatly modified thus not likely to yield much of scientific interest
about origin of solar system, but still moderately useful for studying
composition of planets at the extreme of nearness to Sun so should be
done someday, but we want core samples not just surface samples.
E> Venus mapper, atmospheric sampler
We're already doing a fair job of that ("we" includes USSR mostly).
E> Earth --? no intelligent life there :-)
Not so sure, congressman Jake Garn seems to be fairly bright lately.
E> Moon -- polar orbiter, sampler missions
Yes!!! Find out if source of hydrogen closer than comets!
E> Mars -- polar orbiter and sampler missions, mars moon missions
Mars has too much gravity and atmosphere to make samples much useful
except to manned landed base. But robot rover and manned orbiter I
like to tighten servo loop, after we establish permanent habitat in space.
E> astroid sampler missions
Yes!! Lots of them and hardly any gravity, easy to bring large pieces
or whole asteroids back to Earth-orbit.
E> Jovian sampler missions to Europa and I/O
"Io" not "I/O"! I sort of like Ganymede and Io samples. Why did you
pick Europa instead of Ganymede?
E> Saturn -- Titan orbiter, imager, atmospheric sampler.
Dione orbiter for me!! I want to see what those beautiful patterns
really are close up. They might be even more beautiful! But yes Titan
atmosphereic sampler thrown in too with Saturn sampler. I also want
ring rendezvous so we can get a real picture of trillions of chunks of
ice extending out to infinity along a plane!!!!!!!! If we had a
deep-space propulsion system (ion rocket for example) those
ring-chunks might be an inexhaustable supply of hydrogen and other
materials which don't have to be broken off from larger
asteroids/comets, merely rendezvous and find one the right size for
your current technology of grappling.
E> Uranian -- your suggestions
(I forget; Did I propose Galileo-class craft to orbit and measure and
send probes into atmosphere of Uranus?)