Charley Kohlhase’s Solar System
The images that awed Voyager’s mission designer.
- By Paul Hoversten
- AirSpaceMag.com, January 24, 2013
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NASA
“In this Voyager 2 image of Europa, I was immediately struck by the network of cracks on its frozen surface, and again pleased to see no craters. The scientists were already talking about a vast ocean beneath this crust, with tidally-induced crustal movement leading to the long fissures. Some believed the brighter centers inside the darker adjacent crack edges may have indicated warmer water rising up to fill the cracks and then freezing. Life in this deep ocean was probably unlikely, but I realized that scientists would lobby for future missions to penetrate the thick crust and probe the Europan ocean for bio-signatures.”
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Comments (2)
Thank you for such a fascinating article. You were able to convey the passion and dedication Charley Kohlhase gave to accomplishing two of human kind's greatest discovery missions.
Having the images be selected by a man who is both artist and great navigator to the outer planets made for an insightful and beautiful aesthetic experience.
I hope there will be yet another article on his thoughts and achievements as the mission design manager for Cassini, which is flawlessly exploring Saturn. It is extraordinary that the same man is key in navigating another flawless mission. He truly deserved NASA's Distinguished Service Metal!
Posted by Linda Malm on January 27,2013 | 12:32 AM
A reminder of how wonderful the photos are from the amazing work done by NASA and their spacecraft. As a nation we need to reenergise and return to the space age.
Posted by Olaf Ohman on February 22,2013 | 02:17 PM