| 9 | | Hotter than an exploding star, colder than pluto, dirtier than a smokestack, emptier than any vacuum on Earth. It's outer space! In this lecture we will take you on a tour of outer space itself, the most of the universe where black holes, stars, planets, moons, comets, and spaceships aren't. Outer space is not as empty as some might have you believe. It harbors soot, gas clouds, molecules and huge amounts of matter and energy. It determines when and how stars form, and it provides the building blocks for planets and life. It is full of hundreds of kinds of chemicals, from water to complex organic molecules. Come discover the place where most of the atoms in our universe live: outer space! |
| | 9 | Since the 1960's, NASA has sent nearly two dozen missions to Mars, completely revolutionizing our understanding of the Red Planet. Despite the expense and high failure rate, we have continued to send rockets to Mars. But, our persistence has paid off, allowing us to understand the geological history of the planet and, in particular, the potential for life to persist on Mars, even today. These robots are built at the forefront of available technologies and are paving the way for our ultimate future of a manned mission to Mars. |
