Think NASA’s on the right track or do you think the agency needs
a change of direction? The Planetary Society seeks public input for
the Planetary Decadal Survey being conducted by the National Research
Council.

At NASA’s request, the National Research Council is conducting a
planetary science community assessment of the priorities for U.S.
planetary research programs for the next 10 years. The Planetary
Society has been asked to assist this "decadal survey" by
seeking input from the general public about planetary exploration.

Respondents can access the survey questionnaire at the Society’s
website, http://planetary.org.
But hurry, the deadline for completing the form is January 31,
2002.

"This is an exciting and rare opportunity for the public to
provide input to NASA’s planning for the next ten years of planetary
exploration," said Bruce Betts, Director of Projects at The
Planetary Society. "We encourage everyone to take advantage of
this chance to be heard."

NASA selects its missions and scientific objectives based on many
considerations, including the anticipated scientific return, cost,
feasibility, and public interest. This is the public’s opportunity to
tell NASA what they consider the priorities should be for planetary
exploration and how they would like to be informed about the results
from missions. All individual views expressed in the survey will be
kept anonymous.

The brief survey includes sections on prioritizing the ultimate
purpose of US planetary exploration, selecting the most important
missions (i.e. Pluto, the Moon, Saturn, etc.), and whether it is
preferable to mount missions to new bodies not previously visited by
spacecraft or missions to explore previously visited objects in
greater detail.

The questionnaire also asks how people prefer to learn about the
results of exploration missions, though the internet, lectures,
magazines or some other source.

One question relates solely to educators, asking what NASA products
they prefer for classroom instruction about planetary exploration.

THE PLANETARY SOCIETY:
Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman founded The Planetary
Society in 1980 to advance the exploration of the solar system and to
continue the search for extraterrestrial life. With members in over
140 countries, the Society is the largest space interest group in the
world.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
For more information about The Planetary Society, contact Susan
Lendroth at (626) 793-5100 ext 237 or by e-mail at
susan.lendroth@planetary.org.

The Planetary Society
65 N. Catalina Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91106-2301
Tel:  (626) 793-5100
Fax:  (626) 793-5528
E-Mail:  tps@planetary.org