Hello everyone,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to those of you celebrating this week and next! I'm taking a bit of a break this week so you'll notice the newsletter is rather short. We'll be back to the normal format in the next edition.

Have a great week!

- Evan

#01 A NEW YEAR

+ In 1971, a day before Mariner 9 would enter orbit around Mars, sci-fi/fantasy author Ray Bradbury took part in a symposium with his contemporary Arthur C. Clarke, journalist Walter Sullivan, and scientists Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray. During the event, Bradbury shared a poem he wrote called If Only We Had Taller Been that, in his own words, "sums up some of my feelings on why I love space travel, why I write science fiction, why I'm intrigued about Mars, and ... my philosophy about space travel." Bradbury's recitation, which you can view here, expertly captures my own hopes for exploration and is well worth a watch as we close out 2020 and look forward to a new year that will feature two Mars landings, the long awaited launch of the James Webb telescope, the beginning of the International Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, and undoubtedly other exciting developments in the exploration of Earth and space.

#02 A GOOD BOOK

+ Bradbury is one of the best-known fantasy writers of the 20th century. If you don't know where to start with his impressive bibliography I'd recommend the short story collection The Illustrated Man. The short story format is well suited to Bradbury's lyrical style and his penchant for exploring singular "what if" scenarios. Much like the poem above, the stories are not "hard" sci-fi and won't tell you anything about the inner workings of a spacecraft, but they do capture the emotion and motivation behind science and exploration better than just about anything else I can think of.

That's all for this week! You can respond to this email to tell me about anything you liked or didn't like, tell me about a project you're working on, or suggest a story. You might also forward this email to a friend so they can subscribe too!

- Evan Hilgemann

This newsletter was produced as a private venture and not in the author's capacity as an employee of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology or of Griffith Observatory. Any views and opinions expressed herein or on exploreandobserve.com are his own and not those of his employers.

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