10th
Now at the outset of the next 50 years of space exploration, I contemplate the extraordinary imagery beaming down from the Hubble Space Telescope: distant nebulas and galaxies (and the confirmation of the existence of an organic compound in the atmosphere of a planet in a near-by star system), Cassini’s exploration of Saturn’s moons Titan and Enceladus for water, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s discovery of water deposited clay in a dry lake bed, and Messenger’s first flyby of Mercury since Mariner 10.
As a result, I am drawn to the visual possibilities that will originate from both robotic spacecraft and human spaceflight. So it is reasonable for me to postulate what still photographic images may be reasonable candidates for “iconic” during the next 50 year cycle, among them:
• first discernable image of a water planet—with evidence of oceans, clouds, continents—in another solar system
• first image of alien life forms either alive or in fossil form
• first image capturing the earliest light of the universe just after the “Big Bang”
• Jupiter and some of its moons as seen from the surface of Europa
• first panoramic image from the surface of Europa illuminated by the reflected light of Jupiter, not the Sun
•Saturn and its rings as (possibly) seen from the surface of Titan
