Emily Lakawalla's DPS Report

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: This episode centers on the Planetary Society’s coverage of the DPS meeting, highlighting how planetary science continues through incremental progress despite political disruption. Emily Lakdawalla reports on agency-night advocacy, Titan topography, amateur occultation campaigns, and the evolving outlook for comet ISON. Bill Nye also discusses Juno’s Earth flyby, while Bruce Betts covers current skywatching, Mercury’s eccentric orbit, and a trivia question about Scott Carpenter’s spacecraft.

Main Topics: Juno’s Earth slingshot and mission status: Bill Nye explains Juno’s Earth gravity assist as a budget-saving maneuver that steals a tiny amount of Earth’s orbital energy to send the spacecraft toward Jupiter. He notes the spacecraft was in safe mode but on the correct trajectory. DPS meeting and advocacy during government shutdown: Emily Lakdawalla describes agency night at DPS, which was nearly canceled because of Washington shutdown-related disruptions. She used the platform to rally planetary scientists around continued support for exploration. Titan topography and crater distribution: A major science theme from DPS was using Titan’s global topography to explain where lakes and craters appear. The discussion emphasized that wet, high-latitude terrain may cause impact craters to collapse and vanish. Amateur astronomers and occultation networks: Researchers are increasingly recruiting amateurs and school-based observers to time occultations of asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects. These observations can precisely determine object sizes and engage students in real science. Comet ISON’s uncertain but scientifically valuable passage: The week’s comet coverage shifted as new observations altered expectations for ISON. Even if it did not become a spectacular naked-eye comet, scientists expected important compositional data from a likely first-time visitor to the inner solar system. Night sky update and Mercury eccentricity: Bruce Betts gives the weekly skywatching forecast, emphasizing bright Venus, Jupiter, and Mars, then discusses Mercury’s highly eccentric orbit and its implications for extreme solar distances and weird surface sunrise behavior.

Key Arguments: Juno’s Earth flyby demonstrates efficient use of gravity assists, conserving energy while enabling a Jupiter mission on a budget. The government shutdown disrupted science communication and even basic mission-facing web access, making advocacy for planetary science especially important. Titan’s lack of craters at high latitudes may be explained by wet, collapsing sediments rather than crater-destroying resurfacing. Amateur observers can meaningfully contribute to planetary science because occultation timing requires coverage more than large telescopes. Even if comet ISON failed to become visually dramatic, it remained scientifically important as an apparently primitive object entering the solar system for the first time. Science advances mainly through incremental refinement, not constant revolution, and DPS reflected that normal scientific process.

Data Points: Juno Earth flyby energy gain: tiny fraction of Earth’s orbital energy; Earth slowed by about 10^-23 in some units - Bill Nye describes the gravity assist used to send Juno toward Jupiter Juno power at Earth: 12,000 watts - Bill Nye cites Juno’s solar output near Earth Juno power at Jupiter: 400 watts - Bill Nye explains why huge solar arrays are needed far from the Sun DPS meeting: 45th annual meeting - Emily Lakdawalla reports from the Division for Planetary Sciences conference in Denver Upcoming Mars launches: 2 launches in November - Emily references MAVEN and India’s Mars Orbiter mission as part of a busy future Titan map result: global topography map published by Ralph Lorenz and co-workers - Used to relate elevation, lakes, and crater distribution on Titan Occultation station cost: about $3,000 - Mark Buey’s proposed school-based occultation stations Occultation limiting magnitude: magnitude 13 - Brightness goal for telescopes used in the amateur network Comet ISON nucleus size: about 2 kilometers - Emily summarizes the comet’s estimated nucleus size Mercury orbit eccentricity: 0.2056 - Bruce Betts reviews the trivia answer about Mercury’s orbit Mercury distance from Sun: 46 million to 70 million kilometers - Illustrates the effect of Mercury’s eccentric orbit Shenzhou 5 launch: 10 years ago - Bruce cites the anniversary of China’s first astronaut flight Mariner 5 Venus flyby: 1967 - Bruce notes the historical space event from the week Scott Carpenter landing offset: about 250 miles / 400 kilometers off target - Bruce mentions Carpenter’s Mercury mission recovery

Pivotal Quotes: "“We need to acknowledge the challenges that we face, we also need to recognize how exciting a time it is in planetary exploration.”" — Emily Locktawala: Her remarks at DPS agency night, balancing shutdown frustration with optimism about active and upcoming missions "“Science doesn't usually proceed by revolution after revolution. It's usually just little baby steps, little modifications of existing ideas.”" — Emily Locktawala: Her reflection on DPS results and how science advances "“This is the most exciting thing that people do. And together, we can advocate for planetary science and dare I say it, change the world.”" — Bill Nye: PlanetFest 2012 promo tied to public support for planetary exploration

Implications: Listeners come away with a sense that planetary exploration is active, collaborative, and vulnerable to policy instability. The episode encourages public advocacy, amateur participation, and patience with incremental scientific progress while major missions continue.