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The Planetary Society is an American-based non-government, nonprofit organization that anyone may join. It is involved in research and engineering projects related to astronomy, planetary science, exploration, public outreach, and political advocacy. It was founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman,〔.〕 and has over 40,000 members from more than one hundred countries around the world. The Society is dedicated to the exploration of the solar system, the search for Near Earth Objects, and the search for extraterrestrial life.〔.〕 The society's mission is stated as: "To empower the world's citizens to advance space science and exploration".〔(About Us (planetary.org) )〕 The Planetary Society is also a strong advocate for space funding and missions of exploration within NASA. They actively lobby Congress and engage their membership in the United States to write and call their representatives in support of NASA funding. In addition to public outreach, The Planetary Society also sponsors novel and innovative projects that will "seed" further exploration. Two of the highest profile programs are Lightsail and LIFE (Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment). Lightsail is a series of three solar sail experiments.〔("LightSail: A Multi-Mission Project" ), The Planetary Society website. Retrieved 2011-05-05.〕 LightSail-1 is expected to piggyback on a future NASA mission.〔("LightSail-1" ), The Planetary Society website. Retrieved 2011-05-05.〕 In June 2005, the Society launched the ''Cosmos 1'' craft to test the feasibility of solar sailing, but the rocket failed shortly after liftoff.〔.〕〔.〕 LIFE was a two-part program designed to test the ability of microorganisms to survive in space.〔("LIFE Experiment: Shuttle & Phobos: FAQ" ), The Planetary Society website. Retrieved 2011-05-05.〕 The first phase flew on shuttle Endeavor's final flight in 2011.〔("Planetary Society Welcomes Home Shuttle LIFE Passengers" ), press release, The Planetary Society website, June 1, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-15.〕 The second phase rode on Russia's Fobos-Grunt mission, which attempted to go to Mars' moon Phobos and back but failed to escape earth orbit. ==History== The Planetary Society was founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman as a champion of public support of space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. Until his death in 1996, the Society was actively led by Sagan, who used his celebrity and political clout to influence the political climate of the time, including protecting SETI in 1981 from congressional cancellation. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Society pushed its scientific and technologic agenda, which led to an increased interest in rover-based planetary exploration and NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. In addition to its political affairs, the Society has created a number of space related projects and programs. The SETI program began with Paul Horowitz's Suitcase SETI and has grown to encompass searches in radio and optical wavelengths from the northern and southern hemispheres of the Earth. SETI@home, the largest distributed computing experiment on Earth, is perhaps the Society's best-known SETI project. Other projects include the development of the Mars Microphone instrument which flew on the failed Mars Polar Lander project, as well as the LightSail-1 project, a solar sail project to determine if space travel is possible by using only sunlight. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Planetary Society」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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