This schedule is subject to revision and was last updated on April 11, 2001. See also the Rice University Colloquia page for other space science talks in the Houston area. Every significant wave of technology which sweeps society - the jet aircraft, the atomic age, the PC, the internet, is preceded by a long period of development which is largely invisible to all but a few technologists who often themselves cannot foresee where their creations might lead. Nearly 50 years into the space age, space remains a ponderously slow, expensive activity which is at most marginally relevant to the great majority of people. To date this search for utility has produced much less than we like to admit.
Utility is only a recent mandate for space.
I will examine the other directions people have pursued in space to date. I'll conclude with discussion of new technologies and applications which might deliver on the promise of utility and how microspacecraft are contributing to these attempts. Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Jupiter's Galilean Satellites One of the premier areas of scientific return from Hubble Space Telescope observations of the solar system has been studies of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter. This talk will present highlights of those studies, which include discoveries of the molecular oxygen atmospheres of Europa and Ganymede, the discovery of auroral emissions at the poles of Ganymede, the quantitative characterization of Io's atmosphere, volcanic plumes and electrodynamic interaction with magnetospheric plasma, and the detections of ozone and sulfur dioxide in the surfaces of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Evidence for Liquid Water on Earth at 4.4 Ga Zircons preserve the best record of U-Pb age and oxygen isotope composition of magmatic events.