NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first successful planetary mission, Mariner 2 sent to Venus, the NASA History Program Office is hosting this two-day symposium on the history of planetary exploration. On Oct. 25-26, 2012, the NASA History Program Office, NASA's Science Mission Directorate, the National Air and Space Museum, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will host a symposium to mark the 50th anniversary planetary exploration. The event will be held at the Lockheed Martin Global Vision Center, 2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA (in the Crystal City complex). Participation is free and open to the public, although registration will be required. A registration website will be available soon.

REGISTER NOW

Planned Program
Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012

Keynote Speech: Peter Westwick (University of Southern California): Exploring the Solar System: Who has done it, how, and why?

Panel 1: Politics and Policy in the Conduct of Solar System Exploration
Panel Chair: Marcia Smith (Space and Technology Policy Group)
Dwayne Day (National Research Council): The National Research Council’s Role in the American Planetary Exploration Program.
Roger Handberg (University of Central Florida): The Politics of Pure Space Science, the Essential Tension, Human Spaceflight’s Impact on Scientific Exploration
Jason W. Callahan (The Tauri Group): Funding Planetary Science: History and Political Economy
John M. Logsdon (George Washington University) and Andre Bormanis (Independent Writer/Producer): The Survival Crisis of The Planetary Program
Lunch Keynote Speaker - James L. Green (NASA): NASA’s Solar System Exploration Paradigm: The First Fifty Years and a Look at the Next Fifty

Panel 2: The Lure of the Red Planet
Panel Chair: Janet Vertesi (Princeton University)
Richard W. Zurek (JPL): Mars After 50 Years Of Space Exploration: Then, Now, and Beyond
David Grinspoon (Denver Museum of Nature & Science): Evolving Concepts Of Planetary Habitability In The Age Of Planetary Exploration
Erik M. Conway (JPL): Dreaming Of Mars Sample Return, From Viking To The Mars Science Laboratory
W. Henry Lambright (Syracuse University): NASA, Big Science, And Mars Exploration: Critical Decisions From Goldin To Bolden

Panel 3: Public Perceptions, Priorities, and Solar System Exploration
Panel Chair: Heidi Hammel (Space Science Institute)
Linda Billings (George Washington University): Survivor(?): The Story Of s. Mitis On The Moon
William R. Macauley (Freie Universität Berlin): ‘Instant Science’: Space Probes, Planetary Exploration And Televisual Media
Laura Delgado López (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies): Killer Asteroids: Popular Depictions and Public Policy Influence
Giny Cheong (George Mason University): Voyager: Exploring Through the Public Eye

Friday, Oct. 26, 2012

Keynote Speech: Wesley T. Huntress, Jr. (NASA Advisory Committee) and Mikhail Marov (Keldysh Institute): First On The Moon, Venus And Mars: The Soviet Planetary Exploration Enterprise

Panel 4: Exploring the Outer Solar System
Panel Chair: Ralph McNutt (Applied Physics Laboratory)
Torrence V. Johnson (JPL): Outer Solar System Exploration: An Archetype Of The Scientific Method
Arturo Russo (University of Palermo): Europe’s Rendezvous With Titan” The European Space Agency’s Contribution in The Cassini-Huygens Mission To The Saturnian System
Robert Pappalardo (JPL): Revealing Europa’s Ocean

Panel 5: Institutional Arrangements in Solar System Exploration
Panel Chair: Joan Johnson-Freese (U.S. Naval War College)
J.D. Burke (JPL): Foundations Of Solar System Exploration At JPL: How The First Mariners And Rangers Built Them
John Sarkissian (CSIRO): Mariner 2 And The CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope: Fifty Years Of International Collaboration
Michael Neufeld (National Air and Space Museum): Transforming Solar System Exploration: The Applied Physics Laboratory and the Origins of the Discovery Program, 1989-1993
Petar Markovski (University of Oklahoma): International Cooperation In Solar System Exploration: The Cases Of Ulysses And Giotto

Panel 6: Roundtable – From the Past to the Future
Moderator: Andrew Chaikin (Independent Space Historian)
Glenn E. Bugos (Ames Research Center): Precursor Missions: The Science Of What Comes Next
Amy Paige Kaminski (NASA): Faster, Better, Cheaper: A Sociotechnical Perspective On The Meanings Of Success And Failure In NASA’s Solar System Exploration Program
G. Scott Hubbard (Stanford University): Exploring Mars: Following the Water
Chas Beichman (Caltech): The search for and study of extra-solar planets: Extending planetary science into the realm of classical astronomy

REGISTER NOW