Planetary Society
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The Planetary Society is a large, publicly supported, not-for-profit organization that has many research projects related to astronomy. It is based in Pasadena, California (the same city as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory) but has an international membership. It was founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman. The Society is dedicated to the exploration of Mars and the rest of the Solar System, the search for Near Earth Objects, and the search for extraterrestrial life. Its mission is "To inspire the people of Earth through education, research, and public participation to explore other worlds and seek other life."
The Society launched the Cosmos 1 craft in June 2005 to test the feasibility of Solar sailing, but the satellite's launch rocket failed shortly after liftoff. It is now raising seed funding for the next solar sail spacecraft.
Its current Board of Directors includes the following:
- Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chairman of the Board
- Wesley Huntress, President
- Bill Nye, Vice President
- Louis Friedman, Executive Director
- Ann Druyan
- Daniel Geraci
- Heidi Hammel
- John Logsdon
- Christopher McKay, Advisory Council Chair
- Bruce C. Murray
- Elon Musk
- Joseph Ryan
- Steven Spielberg
- George Yancopoulos
Notable members of its Advisory Council include:
- Buzz Aldrin
- Ray Bradbury
- David Brin
- Franklin Chang-Diaz
- Arthur C. Clarke
- Frank Drake
- Owen Garriott
- Tom Jones
- Jon Lomberg
- Hans Mark
- Robert Picardo
- John Rhys-Davies
- Kim Stanley Robinson
- Donna Shirley
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[edit] Projects
The Planetary Society sponsors projects to seed further exploration. Members privately fund these projects:
- Earthdials
- Mars Stations
- Near-Earth Objects Research and Missions
- Planetrek
- Political Action
- Red Rover Goes to Mars
- Red Rover, Red Rover
- Scholarships
- Search for Extraterrestrial Life
- Solar sailing with Cosmos 1
[edit] The Planetary Report
The Planetary Report is the bimonthly flagship magazine of the Society. As one of the membership benefits, it reaches over 100,000 members six times a year (as of 2005). Over 90 percent of Society members view it as their first source of news about space exploration.
[edit] Planetary Radio
Members of The Planetary Society also host a weekly 30 minute radio programme and podcast.
[edit] External links
- The Planetary Society official site
- Planetary Society Antarctic Expedition - Elonka Dunin's website about the 1999 expedition aboard the Akademik Sergey Vavilov to Antarctica, organized by Dr. Louis Friedman.
- MarsDrive Consortium
- The Planetary Society Astronomy Summer Camp
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