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Bringing Saturn Home

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Late in the summer of '77, the "Star Wars" summer, Voyager 1 and 2 were launched by NASA to explore the outer solar system: Jupiter, Saturn and beyond.

Early this year, after more than two years in space, Voyager 1 began transmitting back to Earth breathtaking motion pictures of the planet Jupiter. They revealed swirling hurricane-like storms that could swallow a hundred Earths on a planet large enough to contain 70% of the non-stellar material in the solar system.

In April, Voyager 2 took over on Jupiter and Voyager 1 swung off on a trajectory for Saturn, a planet so distant that radio signals leaving there traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) take an hour and twenty minutes to reach the Earth.

Voyager is now closing in on its second target through the silent dead of interplanetary space. Interlinked with the tiny probe by an increasingly sophisticated communication system, we wait, eager to see and remember.

It is not the first time we have reached out to touch other worlds. In 1969, Neil Armstrong stood on a cratered surface, felt the gentle tug of one-sixth gravity and saw the razor-edge of a lunar horizon. He watched across chalk-colored mountains as the blue-green marble Earth rose against a black void.

Since then, we have established temporary outposts in Earth-orbit, and have sent many scout probes out into the solar system. Through these surrogate sensors we have seen the pock-marked, moon-like surface of Mercury and have descended through Venus' heavy atmosphere to its constantly roasting surface.

Mars with its huge canyons, gigantic volcanoes and mysterious river beds was completely mapped by Mariner 9 in 1979. Vikings 1 and 2 soft-landed there, tested the cold rocky soil for signs of life, and sent back thought provoking pictures of a coarse, red landscape set against a pink Martian sky.

Exploration of the outer reaches (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) began in the early '70s with the launch of pioneers 10 and 11.

Pioneer 10 led with its chin and encountered a circuit-searing radioactive magnetic field surrounding Jupiter before continuing on a course that would take it out of the solar system toward the constellation Taurus.

The following year, Pioneer 11 plunged into Jupiter's "hot" system, quickly recorded that planet's polar regions, and, electronics intact, whipped around it in the direction of Saturn.

After four more years in space it approached the ringed planet, snapping spectacular, if low quality, pictures as it flew. The little probe zipped through the rings from the north, dipped below them for particle counts and temperature readings, and then, turning, swung back through the rings from the south.

Liberty Cable TV and NASA present Saturn on The Cable Channel 33, Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., and Thursday, Nov. 13, at 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.

The results of Pioneer's encounter with Saturn pose some interesting questions that perhaps the upcoming Voyager encounters can answer. Saturn's magnetic field (the only one known to coincide with the axis of planetary rotation) is much weaker than expected. Why? And how does Saturn radiate 2 1/2 times as much energy as it absorbs from the Sun?

Early photographs show Saturn as a huge scoop of creamy-mocha-colored gasses (hydrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia) with a broad translucent halo of ice. As Voyager draws nearer to Saturn, the planet and its rings will come into crisper focus, and we should get a close look at some of its moons.

Saturn's moon Titan is slightly smaller than the planet Mars and is the only one in the solar system with an atmosphere. What kind of atmosphere is it? Could it support life?

The moon Iapetus was the final destination in the book 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark. It is intriguing in that it seems to throb as it orbits Saturn. Apparently, one side is bright, the other, dull. With each generation our space probes become more efficient, more accurate, and more sensitive. Voyager's TV cameras, for instance, are 50 times better than Pioneer's "Imaging Photo-Polarimeter."

Even more important, our earthbound communications network is expanding rapidly. When Voyager 1 was launched, September 5, 1977, Portland had no way of receiving and distributing satellite transmissions from space. When it approaches Saturn, November 11, fifteen thousand Liberty Cable TV subscribers will have to decide whether to go home at lunchtime for the show. By the time Voyager 2 reaches Saturn next year, over 40 thousand may face that choice.

Dr. Bruce Murray, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, described Voyager 1 on the occasion as an actual extension of ourselves. He went on to call our link with a robot 500 million miles away (now twice that) a new phase in human development. "For better or for worse, man the tool maker is evolving to a concept that none of us have fully contemplated," he said.

Contemplate Saturn with us on November 11, 12, and 13 on The Cable Channel, 33, beginning at 11:00a.m. on Tuesday, 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday and 11:00 a.m. on Thursday.

Voyager 1 will use ten instruments to study Saturn, the magnetosphere surrounding it , its moons and the rings. On November 11, 12 and 13, Voyager 1, will send back high quality television pictures which will be transmitted via satellite to Liberty Cable TV subscribers.