Lecture on Space Exploration by World Expert

Charles Elachi (right) with Dean George Najjar

He has an asteroid named after him, received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the American Aeronautical Space Award, and was elected in 1992 to the National Academy of Engineering. He is no other than the renowned space expert, Charles Elachi, who lectured to the AUB community on May 24 in West Hall. His talk was entitled "Excitement and Challenges of Space Exploration."

Born and raised in Lebanon's Beqa'a Valley, Elachi is the holder of various degrees in physics, engineering, and geology, with a PhD in electrical sciences from the California Institute of Technology. During the past thirty years as director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech, he played the lead role in developing the field of spaceborne imaging radar. He has produced more than 230 publications in the field of space and planetary exploration.

According to Elachi, advances in space exploration today are mind-boggling; right now there are 18 space crafts and five instruments floating across the solar system. What is also mind-boggling, he said, is that there is life only on planet Earth. Displaying images of Mars and Earth, he showed that they are dramatically different, but share many similar features. Some of the similarities: they both have polar caps; Mars also has a Grand Canyon, twice as deep as the one in Colorado; volcanic activity is also prevalent on Mars, with a volcano twice the size of Everest. There are also drainage channels on Mars, which means that water might have once existed in liquid form. This raises the question: did life once exist on Mars?

Elachi also showed a video, titled "Mars Exploration Rovers Landing," which exhibited simulations of Rovers that had been released onto the surface of Mars in 2003. (Rovers are machines/robots programmed and operated from Earth to examine and analyze rock composition). A second video, "Tribulations of Testing," featured testing the Rover landing system, in which Rover landings were simulated in vacuum chambers.

According to Dr. Elachi, signals sent by the Rovers from Mars take ten minutes to reach Earth. Some of the information received gave evidence of sedimentary rock formation, and chemical analysis showed that most of the rocks had water crystals embedded in them. Scientists concluded that water must have existed on Mars three to four billion years ago.

Elachi also reported on NASA's plans to launch two future Mars spacecraft missions: the Phoenix Polar Lander in 2007 and the Mars Science Laboratory Rover in 2009.

Another exciting feature of the lecture dealt with Titan, the moon of Saturn, which Elachi explained is the only satellite in the solar system with an atmosphere of the same density as that of Earth. But it is very cold, he said, with a temperature of absolute zero. Interestingly, evidence shows that it rains on Titan and that there are rivers and geysers under the surface, but the liquid is not water; instead, it is oil.

Asked whether he believed in God, Dr. Elachi replied that science and God are separate, adding that he tries to separate science fiction from science fact. Until there is proof, he remains skeptical about flying saucers.