Abstract: 

At the dawn of the Space Age, no one was a more articulate and enthusiastically, convincing advocate for a manned trip to Mars than Dr. Wernher von Braun.  Dr. von Braun composed articles that were accompanied with lavishly, scientifically correct illustrations that captured the grandeur of space travel before even the first satellite was launched into orbit. He also made several appearances on regularly scheduled popular television shows in the late fifties and early sixties, long before President Kennedy committed the United States to a manned lunar landing. Aspects of Dr. von Braun's Mars proposal will be outlined.  Today, Dr. von Braun's armada of spacecraft would not be politically acceptable -- it would be far too expensive.

Ms. Nicole Gugliucci, Lycoming College junior majoring in astronomy and physics, will present a Mars proposal that would take far less effort, far less money, and could be accomplished in the near future rather than decades from now.  In deference to Dr. von Braun, she calls this proposal "Mars Projekt!"

Just what would a traveler to Mars find when they get to the Red Planet?  Dr. Richard R. Erickson, Lycoming College associate professor of astronomy and physics, will review our state of knowledge about our solar system's fourth planet, and discuss why it has fascinated people for so long.

Following the talks we'll have some Mars Viewing outside by telescope, hosted by SPS (weather permitting).

For those who strongly believe in the urgent need for humans to travel to Mars, consider the appropriateness of the following poem by Stephen Vincent Benet, Western Star  (1943).

"Here it is
The ragged coast -- the coast that no one knows.
How far the lands march inland?
No one knows.

Is there a Northwest Passage to the East?
Is there Cathay beyond?  Can Englishmen
Live there and plant there and breed there?
No one knows.

And yet, I know this much.  It must be tried.
My one man's life hath seen this England grow
Into a giant from a tripling boy
Who fenced about him with a wooden sword
And prattled of his grandsire's wars...
--The long, the ruinous wars that sucked us dry,
...nightmare, endless wars,
...Then we turned seaward.  Then the trumpets blew.
And suddenly, after the bloodshot night
...and the gropings in the dark,
There were new men, new ships and a new world.
And yet, how did we dare, how did we dare!
How did we dare to send our sailors out
Beyond all maps?"

Some notes from David Fisher's 1997 Scholars seminar syllabus on
 "Space in the 21st Century"

According to Navajo mythology, space travel is a kind of religious mythical experience. The Navajo believe that they came down from the stars and it is their destiny to return to the stars. Ironically in the desert of a Navajo Indian reservation (Arizona), rovers are being tested for upcoming missions to Mars. Navajo students are participating as volunteers in the program steering these rovers by computer control over a simulated Mars-like terrain.

Shortly after actor Christopher Reeves had his accident that paralyzed him from the neck down, current NASA space shuttle astronauts signed a group photograph and sent it to him with a note stating, "We've found that nothing is impossible." That could almost be the central theme of this seminar as well. A lot is possible, even with today's limited rocket technology. All that is necessary is the need and will to make the attempt.

"Confronting us is a test of our maturity as a civilization," says John Pike, director of space policy for the Federation of American Scientists. "Are we prepared to do what is necessary in order to obtain a better understanding of our place in the universe?"
"If one finds convincing evidence there was once life on Mars or there is currently life on Mars, that would say life is probably abundant in the solar system and maybe there is vastly more intelligent life in the galaxy."

During the month of August, 2003, Mars will be the closest to Earth that it has been in about 60,000 years.  A "close" approach of Mars and the earth occurs every 26 months, when the earth (3rd planet from the sun and moving at about 30 km/s = 67,000 miles/hr) overtakes and passes Mars (4th planet from the sun and moving at about 24 km/s = 54,000 miles/hr).

If both planets had perfectly circular orbits around the sun, the distance between earth and Mars at each close approach would be the same, about 48,000,000 miles. However, both planets have slightly elliptical orbits around the sun, with the orbit of Mars more elliptical than earth's. The "closest" close approach would occur if the earth passed Mars when the earth is at aphelion (the farthest point from the sun on its orbit) and Mars is at perihelion (the closest point to the sun on its orbit). And that's nearly what's happening this year. The earth was farthest from the sun in early July. (Yes, that's right. Our orbit is close enough to circular that the varying distance between the earth and the sun has only a minor effect on our weather and climate. The tilt of the earth's axis is the dominant cause of our changing seasons. The earth's northern hemisphere is tilted most toward the sun in the latter part of June at the summer solstice. But I digress...) Mars will be closest to the sun on August 30. Thus our close approach to Mars on August 27 will be unusually close, at 34,600,000 miles.

The gravitational effects of the planets on each other constantly change the orbits slightly. Computer programs can calculate these effects into the future or back into the past. The result of these computations (several hours on a Pentium 800-MHz machine) indicate that Mars has not passed this close since 57,617 B.C., when it was about 25,000 miles closer than it will be this August. An even closer approach is calculated to occur on August 28, 2287 A.D., when Mars will be about 40,000 miles closer than this August.

So, what can you see? Mars already is very bright, and it will continue to get brighter till August 27, when it will reach apparent magnitude -2.9. That means it will appear much brighter than anything else you can see in the night sky except the moon. With its characteristic orange/red color, you can't miss it. At the end of July/beginning of August, Mars rises about 10 p.m. a little bit south of east. By August 27, Mars will rise in the east-south-east at sunset, and be visible in the sky all night long, setting in the west-south-west at sunrise.