St. Louis Astronomical Society Meeting: Far Encounters - Robot Spacecraft Visits to Planets, Moons, Asteroids and Comets
Richard Heuermann will be featured at the January meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will be held via Zoom.
While plans are being developed for humans to return to the Moon this decade and to land on Mars someday, robot emissaries are exploring our solar system now or in the near future. Mr. Heuermann will provide an overview of several of these robotic spacecraft missions. Included: new orbiters around Mercury and Venus, close fly-bys of Jupiter’s satellite Europa with its subsurface liquid water ocean, a helicopter to study the surface chemistry of Saturn’s satellite Titan, fly-bys of several of Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, and a trip to Psyche, the “metal asteroid.”
Mr. Heuermann is a member of the St. Louis Astronomical Society and a NASA Solar System Ambassador. The Ambassadors are a nationwide network of individuals who present programs about NASA missions, astronomy and planetary sciences to school groups, civic groups, and the general public. Before retirement, he was the Administrative Officer of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Outreach Program Coordinator for the NASA Missouri Space Grant Consortium at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to his university position, he was the Assistant Director of the McDonnell Planetarium, before its merger to form the Saint Louis Science Center.
The St. Louis Astronomical Society is an organization for individuals interested in astronomy and telescopes. The public is invited to attend its meetings, telescope observing sessions, and special events. For more information about St. Louis Astronomical Society events, please visit www.slasonline.org or call 314-962-9231. The event, cosponsored by NASA's Missouri Space Grant Consortium at Washington University, is open to the public free of charge. Request the Zoom link here:
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech - Ingenuity right after a spin on Mars