March 5th, 2008
Solar System Development Area - Planetary Romance
First the rhapsody, then the grumble.
We live in a fantastic age of astronomical discovery. No one is a greater fan of space-probe epics than I. As Voyager 2 passed no less than four giant worlds and their satellite families in 1979, 1981, 1986 and 1989, I was hooked on the news as I avidly imbibed the experience, which will not come again at any time in history, of seeing these worlds imaged in detail from close-up for the first time. (All right, Pioneers 10 and 11 preceded the Voyagers, but were relatively primitive efforts.) And the views from the Martian surface, in 1976 and 1997 and then in 2004, the latter ongoing…. the mind boggles with delight. In a sense.