Planetary Society - The year 2007 - A rich and rewarding one.

Received an e-mail from Louis Friedman, that he sent
to the Planetary Society members.
You probably got it didn't you?
hmmmm, maybe not a Planetary Society member, well I copied it below. :-)
- LRK -

We have been waiting for spacecraft to go back to the Moon, and now we
have some there.

We have a lot of activity at Mars on the ground and in orbit.  Watch and
see if they get visited by an asteroid.

People are still wondering about the Pioneer Anomaly.
The Voyagers are still on their way through space.

Take a look at the list of SPACE MISSIONS at the Planetary link.
http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/groups/

More news at
http://www.planetary.org/news/

Next Year Should Be Even Better, Yes.
[Make sure your representatives will be supporting your interest in space.]

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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As a member of the Planetary Society, received the e-mail below from
Louis Friedman. - LRK -
http://planetary.org/about/founders/louis_friedman.html
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Dear Planetary Society Member,

*The year 2007 has been a rich and rewarding one* for us space
explorers. It is breathtaking to consider the pace of solar system
exploration -- 20 spacecraft are now beyond Earth orbit sending back
data from all over the solar system.

*You, as a member of The Planetary Society,* are part of humanity's move
off Earth and out into the solar system. Right now, the names of
Planetary Society members are flying around the rings of Saturn on
/Cassini/, on the Red Planet with /Spirit/ and /Opportunity/, traveling
to the asteroid belt with /Dawn/, cruising around the Moon on /Kaguya/,
heading toward the north pole of Mars on /Phoenix/, and journeying to
Pluto on /New Horizons/.

*The past year we took an important new step:* We added the Earth to our
mission. Our mission statement now reads: /"To inspire the people of
Earth to explore other worlds, understand our own, and seek life
elsewhere."/

*Consider this: *Earth sits between two examples of planets gone bad --
at least, as far as life is concerned. Venus was overtaken by a runaway
greenhouse effect, which boiled away its oceans and raised the surface
temperature to the point it would melt lead. Mars lost its once thick
and protective atmosphere, and now it's a world where any liquid water
that happened to appear on its surface would immediately transform to a
gas.

*Planetary science has taught us these lessons,* but we have much more
to learn. We explore other worlds to understand this one. Only by seeing
Earth as one planet among many can we truly understand our own pale blue
dot of a world.

*Philosophically and scientifically,* we always treated Earth as a
planet, but we didn't trumpet that fact, out of concern that some people
might think The Planetary Society was weakening our stance that
exploring other worlds is a human imperative. But after more than a
quarter-century of being the world's largest and most effective space
advocacy group, surely no one can now seriously believe we're backing down.

*We've added to our mission statement,* while taking nothing away. We'll
be doing all this while continuing to campaign to keep planetary
exploration robust. While we advance the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence. While we support research into the threat posed by
near-Earth comets and asteroids. And while we lead the International
Lunar Decade to maximize the scientific return from the many missions
now targeting Earth's Moon.

*This means that, in the coming year, *we're going to need your help and
support even more. You know how active The Planetary Society is.

*You are part of everything we do.* I look forward to exploring the
future in space -- and on Earth -- with you.

With best wishes for the coming year,

Louis Friedman

Louis Friedman
Executive Director

P.S. We land on Mars this coming May 25 -- and I mean "we" literally.
The Planetary Society's "/Visions of Mars/" is riding on the /Phoenix/
spacecraft, carrying the first library to another planet. It's just one
more thing we've accomplished together.

Thank you.

Snip
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http://www.planetary.org/news/2007/1226_The_Year_in_Pictures_2007.html
The Year in Pictures: 2007
*By Emily Lakdawalla *
December 26, 2007

The year 2007 certainly has been one of the most active in planetary
exploration. Of the 20 robotic spacecraft in operation, 11 returned
images to Earth from four planets plus numerous moons, including our own
recently neglected natural satellite.
Snip
[Go to the web site to see images and links to more. - LRK -]
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http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/groups/
Space Topics
All Space Topics by Group

EXPLORE
Snip
[I won't include all the links this time, you will just have to go to
the web site. :-) - LRK -]
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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