The Planetary Society May8,2020

The Downlink: Weekly resources to fuel your love of space

NASA

Venus, the 2nd planet from our Sun, may have had oceans and been habitable to life before being transformed into an inhospitable wasteland.

This weekly newsletter is your toolkit to learn more about space, share information with your friends and family, and take direct action to support exploration. Anyone can subscribe at planetary.org/connect to receive it as a weekly email.

In the early days of the solar system, Venus appears to have had liquid water on its surface for 2 billion yearsfar longer than Mars, which may have had liquid water for 300 million years.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

Scientists have reprocessed images of Jupiters moon Europa (pictured) taken by NASAs Galileo spacecraft in 1998. The stunning enhanced-color pictures will be used to prepare for the agencys upcoming Europa Clipper mission. Europa has one of the youngest surfaces in the solar systembetween 40 to 90 million years, on averagedue to Jupiters gravity, which constantly stretches, compresses, and resurfaces the moons icy crust.

Correction: Last weeks Downlink mentioned a launch date of May 2020 for the European Space Agencys JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft. The launch is in fact planned for May 2022, and JUICE will arrive at the Jupiter system in 2029.

The planet Mercury is finally getting its own NASA advisory group. MExAG, the Mercury Exploration Assessment Group, will consist of planetary scientists who will advise NASA on the future Mercury exploration missions. NASA has similar advisory groups for Venus, the Moon, Mars, the outer planets, and small bodies like asteroids and comets. Learn more about why we explore Mercury at planetary.org/mercury.

Tom Cruise will film a movie aboard the International Space Station. NASA has yet to provide more details, but its likely Cruise plans to hitch a ride to the station via SpaceXs Crew Dragon spacecraft. NASA is working to make the station more available for commercial opportunities, as part of a larger plan to rely on private companies for human spaceflight in low-Earth orbit, allowing the agency to focus on sending astronauts back to deep space.

China completed a critical test of the rocket that will launch its future space station modules and next-generation crew spacecraft. The rocket, the Long March 5B, blasted a prototype version of the crew capsule to Earth orbit. It is expected to perform a high-speed reentry on 8 May to test the vehicles heat shielding, similar to NASAs Orion crew module test in 2014.

Robin Weiner, Associated Press

What would your voice sound like on Mars? In the 1990s The Planetary Society built a Mars Microphone (pictured) to find out. Today, were looking for a volunteer to help us build a web interface where visitors can either record their voice or upload an audio file and have it Marsified by lowering the pitch by 7 semitones. If you have the web programming or audio manipulation skills to help us build something like this, please get in touch by emailing Planetary Society volunteer Andy de Fonseca.

Contemplate Venus storied history as you look up and see our neighboring planet shining brightly in the evening sky. Before dawn, you can still spot Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Ruby Adyson Kowall

This weeks contribution comes from Planetary Society supporter Sydney Kowall, whose 13-year-old granddaughter Ruby Adyson Kowall created this piece of space artwork while self-isolating with her parents. Ruby, who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, named the painting Time and Space.

Do you have a suggestion for the Wow of the Week? Were looking for space-related art, music, gadgets, quotes, fashion, burning questions, brief sci-fi passages, or anything else that will make our readers go Wow! Send us your idea by replying to this email, and please let us know if youre a Planetary Society member.

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Venus' Watery Past, and Listening to Mars - The Planetary Society