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CNN Live Today

Interview With Jack Horkheimer

Aired August 27, 2003 - 10:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: From Tahiti to Tuscon, stargazers around the world have their eyes on the sky trained on the skies this is morning. Just about four hours ago, Earth and Mars had their closest encounter in some 60,000 years. The planet's orbit swept within a mere 34.6 million miles of each other. Pretty close. Same neighborhood, huh?
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, sure.

HARRIS: Well if you missed it, it's going to loom large for weeks but you will need a little bit patience for better view because it won't come any closer for another 284 years. I have no idea how that works out.

But Mars's proximity may be a mere curiosity to amateur astronomers out there but what about the pros? Well let's talk to one. Our next guest, he just gets starry eyed talking about this kind of stuff. Jack Horkheimer is the executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium. He's also the creator, writer and host of "Star Gazer," the nationally-syndicated PBS show. And he's once again a guest on our show.

Good to see you again, Jack. How have you been?

JACK HORKHEIMER, HOST, "STAR GAZER": I'm still here. I've been up for 24 hours now. I happen to be there at the magic moment, 5:51 this morning, when Mars was at its closest. Are you ready for this? At its closest since September 12, 570,617 B.C. How that for precision?

HARRIS: That's pretty good. That puts it smack dab in the middle of the Stone Age, I believe. That's incredible.

So what do you think of this? Now I know for most of us we've been building this up in the news as this being a big event. But for an astronomer, like you, a professional, what's it like being out there? You were there for 24 hours watching all this?

HORKHEIMER: Right. Well you know the big event, as we've been preparing for this for two or three years because amateur astronomers all over the world have been photographing the planet night after night after night after night. We've been watching the Polar ice cap in the southern hemisphere shrink night after night. And it's still going to be very good for the next six weeks.

But you know although there is some science in this whole thing -- as a matter of fact, amateur astronomers are contributing to NASA to help them choose landing sites when four spacecraft finally reach Mars, two of which will touch down in January.

Although this isn't a great scientific value, it's human value, it's really monumental. I call it "the Dance of the Planets." It's kind of poetry in time and space.

Because you know, it's only been in our generation that we have understood what this planet is. Fifty years ago, when I was in high school, no one in the world had any idea what the surface of Mars looked like. We all talked about invaders to Mars, like science fiction.

Today, we now not only know what the planet's like, we have several landers on it. We are routinely going to it with spacecraft. And in effect, the Martians also never invade Earth. We have become the Martians and we are invading Mars with our spacecraft.

Because I sincerely believe as I look up at Mars, as I looked it up this morning and as I'll look tonight and the next few weeks, I sincerely believe in my heart of hearts that 500 years from now we'll be living there. This is our second home.

HARRIS: Well I tell you one thing that, whole concept is really starting to take root in the minds of children right now because of this event, and because of the talk about it and parents like me taking their kids outside to look at this thing, the kind of things we would never do ordinarily.

But let me ask you something -- I guess getting back to the point here about getting there, and looking at Mars up close with these landers and all. The whole idea behind that is to get there and see whether or not there has ever been life there. Is there anything special about this particular moment in time that can actually clarify that or make it easier to find that out?

HORKHEIMER: Yes, because our landers are going. And they're going to land in -- one particular in ancient -- what looks like a lake bed. When we dig down into the Martian soil and scoop up that soil, we may be able to find traces of water. Or better yet, we may find fossilized evidence of microorganisms, meaning that life may have started once on Mars.

We know that Mars was once very, very warm, and very wet. Had a lot of rivers, had lakes. We now know it's extremely cold, extremely dry, and very inhospitable.

But you know many scientists believe and are debating whether or not we can terraform Mars. I mean it might take only 100 years to take Mars and actually give it an atmosphere through very exotic technology, which means that we can make this a second home.

Of course, I strongly believe that government won't be doing this. I believe that Mars will be explored commercially for its commercial value. You know, 500 years ago, people came to the new world to exploit its resources. I mean exploit not in a bad term. I think commercial industry will try to exploit Mars in 500 years for the resource it is has to make life better perhaps for us here on Earth.

HARRIS: Let me ask you something else on a technical note here. Most of us who did pay attention in astronomy class understand that Mars and Earth are probably the closest alike of all of the planets. But right now as I understand it because of the way the orbits are right now, Mars is right now actually closer to the sun than it's ever been as well in a long, long time. If we were on Mars right now, what would it feel like?

HORKHEIMER: Well if you were standing on Mars right now in the southern hemisphere, where summer is coming, your feet would be a toasty 70 degrees Fahrenheit. But because the atmosphere's so thin, the temperature at the tip of your nose, we'd have icicles up there, wear icicles on Mars hanging on from your nose. The temperature would be 100 degrees below zero at your nose.

HARRIS: You're kidding.

HORKHEIMER: Oh, no.

HARRIS: You are kidding. There'd be that much of a difference in temperature from what four, five, six feet?

HORKHEIMER: That's right because Mars has a very thin, thin carbon dioxide atmosphere. This is what sometimes is believed that we will be able to change, that they will actually be able to give Mars an atmosphere that some scientists believe once had a much better atmosphere that liquid water once ran on its surface.

We know now, it's very exciting, we know that underneath the frozen carbon dioxide ice caps are hidden water ice caps. And wherever there seems to be water, we seem to think that's how life gets its start. So the exciting part is, when we go to Mars in January and start digging down in the soil in ancient lake beds, maybe we'll find evidence that life once existed.

HARRIS: Well, all of this talk has made life down here pretty interesting. So have you. Jack Horkheimer, appreciate it. Take care. Hope to talk to you sometime soon. Hope we don't have to wait for Mars to come back to talk to you again.

HORKHEIMER: Keep looking up.

HARRIS: Take care. All right, we'll see you soon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired August 27, 2003 - 10:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: From Tahiti to Tuscon, stargazers around the world have their eyes on the sky trained on the skies this is morning. Just about four hours ago, Earth and Mars had their closest encounter in some 60,000 years. The planet's orbit swept within a mere 34.6 million miles of each other. Pretty close. Same neighborhood, huh?
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, sure.

HARRIS: Well if you missed it, it's going to loom large for weeks but you will need a little bit patience for better view because it won't come any closer for another 284 years. I have no idea how that works out.

But Mars's proximity may be a mere curiosity to amateur astronomers out there but what about the pros? Well let's talk to one. Our next guest, he just gets starry eyed talking about this kind of stuff. Jack Horkheimer is the executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium. He's also the creator, writer and host of "Star Gazer," the nationally-syndicated PBS show. And he's once again a guest on our show.

Good to see you again, Jack. How have you been?

JACK HORKHEIMER, HOST, "STAR GAZER": I'm still here. I've been up for 24 hours now. I happen to be there at the magic moment, 5:51 this morning, when Mars was at its closest. Are you ready for this? At its closest since September 12, 570,617 B.C. How that for precision?

HARRIS: That's pretty good. That puts it smack dab in the middle of the Stone Age, I believe. That's incredible.

So what do you think of this? Now I know for most of us we've been building this up in the news as this being a big event. But for an astronomer, like you, a professional, what's it like being out there? You were there for 24 hours watching all this?

HORKHEIMER: Right. Well you know the big event, as we've been preparing for this for two or three years because amateur astronomers all over the world have been photographing the planet night after night after night after night. We've been watching the Polar ice cap in the southern hemisphere shrink night after night. And it's still going to be very good for the next six weeks.

But you know although there is some science in this whole thing -- as a matter of fact, amateur astronomers are contributing to NASA to help them choose landing sites when four spacecraft finally reach Mars, two of which will touch down in January.

Although this isn't a great scientific value, it's human value, it's really monumental. I call it "the Dance of the Planets." It's kind of poetry in time and space.

Because you know, it's only been in our generation that we have understood what this planet is. Fifty years ago, when I was in high school, no one in the world had any idea what the surface of Mars looked like. We all talked about invaders to Mars, like science fiction.

Today, we now not only know what the planet's like, we have several landers on it. We are routinely going to it with spacecraft. And in effect, the Martians also never invade Earth. We have become the Martians and we are invading Mars with our spacecraft.

Because I sincerely believe as I look up at Mars, as I looked it up this morning and as I'll look tonight and the next few weeks, I sincerely believe in my heart of hearts that 500 years from now we'll be living there. This is our second home.

HARRIS: Well I tell you one thing that, whole concept is really starting to take root in the minds of children right now because of this event, and because of the talk about it and parents like me taking their kids outside to look at this thing, the kind of things we would never do ordinarily.

But let me ask you something -- I guess getting back to the point here about getting there, and looking at Mars up close with these landers and all. The whole idea behind that is to get there and see whether or not there has ever been life there. Is there anything special about this particular moment in time that can actually clarify that or make it easier to find that out?

HORKHEIMER: Yes, because our landers are going. And they're going to land in -- one particular in ancient -- what looks like a lake bed. When we dig down into the Martian soil and scoop up that soil, we may be able to find traces of water. Or better yet, we may find fossilized evidence of microorganisms, meaning that life may have started once on Mars.

We know that Mars was once very, very warm, and very wet. Had a lot of rivers, had lakes. We now know it's extremely cold, extremely dry, and very inhospitable.

But you know many scientists believe and are debating whether or not we can terraform Mars. I mean it might take only 100 years to take Mars and actually give it an atmosphere through very exotic technology, which means that we can make this a second home.

Of course, I strongly believe that government won't be doing this. I believe that Mars will be explored commercially for its commercial value. You know, 500 years ago, people came to the new world to exploit its resources. I mean exploit not in a bad term. I think commercial industry will try to exploit Mars in 500 years for the resource it is has to make life better perhaps for us here on Earth.

HARRIS: Let me ask you something else on a technical note here. Most of us who did pay attention in astronomy class understand that Mars and Earth are probably the closest alike of all of the planets. But right now as I understand it because of the way the orbits are right now, Mars is right now actually closer to the sun than it's ever been as well in a long, long time. If we were on Mars right now, what would it feel like?

HORKHEIMER: Well if you were standing on Mars right now in the southern hemisphere, where summer is coming, your feet would be a toasty 70 degrees Fahrenheit. But because the atmosphere's so thin, the temperature at the tip of your nose, we'd have icicles up there, wear icicles on Mars hanging on from your nose. The temperature would be 100 degrees below zero at your nose.

HARRIS: You're kidding.

HORKHEIMER: Oh, no.

HARRIS: You are kidding. There'd be that much of a difference in temperature from what four, five, six feet?

HORKHEIMER: That's right because Mars has a very thin, thin carbon dioxide atmosphere. This is what sometimes is believed that we will be able to change, that they will actually be able to give Mars an atmosphere that some scientists believe once had a much better atmosphere that liquid water once ran on its surface.

We know now, it's very exciting, we know that underneath the frozen carbon dioxide ice caps are hidden water ice caps. And wherever there seems to be water, we seem to think that's how life gets its start. So the exciting part is, when we go to Mars in January and start digging down in the soil in ancient lake beds, maybe we'll find evidence that life once existed.

HARRIS: Well, all of this talk has made life down here pretty interesting. So have you. Jack Horkheimer, appreciate it. Take care. Hope to talk to you sometime soon. Hope we don't have to wait for Mars to come back to talk to you again.

HORKHEIMER: Keep looking up.

HARRIS: Take care. All right, we'll see you soon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com