Alan Stern Quotes

You stop planetary exploration, those people who do that extraordinary work are going to have to go do something else.

Being able to have a laboratory on Mars, being able to have some sort of sustained human presence on Mars in the future, I think, is critically important for science.

We do have, and will continue to have an unquenchable curiosity to understand our Solar System.

You cannot study other planets without referring to Earth and without applying the techniques and the insights of Earth science. And you cannot really do a good job understanding the Earth without the insights from planetary exploration.

The need for a detailed, comprehensive examination of the Saturn system became clear during the early 1980s, after the two Voyager spacecraft made flybys of the planet. These celebrated events were the opening acts in the story of humanity's exploration of Saturn.

Cassini was so profoundly, scientifically successful. It's amazing to me, even, what we were able to do right up until the end.

I think when people see Pluto revealed by New Horizons, its satellite system, its complex surface, its atmosphere, I think they'll have a hard time saying 'That's not a planet' because it obviously will be, and I think most people are already coming to that opinion anyway, but I think that's really going to drive it home viscerally.

The first real Cassini image that brought tears to my eyes was an image of Jupiter. I didn't expect it to look so detailed.

No one predicted Mercury would be a planetary core with the mantle stripped off. No one predicted volcanoes on the Jovian moons, or oceans on the inside of them. I can tell you, for every single planet, huge 'we never guessed that' things.

Exploration of space is worth it because humans need to explore. Knowledge is always good, and it's a really cool thing to see.

We used to joke about canned men, putting people in a can and seeing how far you can send them and bring them back. That's not the purpose of this program... Space is a laboratory, and we go into it to work and learn the new.

I think that it's good for us to be able to travel in space and do research in space, and I emphasize the research, because space travel to me is far more than just seeing how far we can go.

This is in a real sense the capstone of the initial missions to explore the planets. Pluto, its moons and this part of the solar system are such mysteries that New Horizons will rewrite all of the textbooks.

There are countless space activities that would be no less exciting than the moon missions were, I have no doubt. The search for life on Mars, for example.

The exploration of the planets is now closer to us in time than the exploration of Africa by Stanley and Livingstone.

NASA has made a difference.

India is proud of the achievements of ISRO.

Hubble isn't just a satellite; it's about humanity's quest for knowledge.

Our field is very focused on finding Earth 2.0, and anything we can do to narrow the search is helpful.

I'm a strong advocate of new missions to Venus.

There are amateurs who have seen that one of Uranus' poles is brighter than the other, or who have seen cloud formations on the planet. For all we know, interesting things are happening there all the time.

Saturn is such an alluring photographic target.

I've always been fascinated with science and exploring our world, from microbes to the solar system.

In the mind of the public, the word 'planet' carries a significance lacking in other words used to describe planetary bodies... many members of the public assume that alleged 'non-planets' cease to be interesting enough to warrant scientific exploration.

Our journey in going beyond our home planet is a human endeavor, and in the greatest tradition of exploration, past, present, and future spacefarers will continue to be enduring catalysts for inspiration in our quest to unravel the mysteries of the universe.