Sagan helped lay the groundwork for two new scientific disciplines: planetary science and exobiology, or the study of potential life on other planets. He also helped brief astronauts prior to their trips to the moon. Later, he suggested that dust storms on Mars caused the seasonal changes observed on that planet, and he also wrote a series of papers on the organic chemistry of Jupiter's atmosphere.Īs an advisor to NASA, Sagan helped design and manage the Mariner 2 mission to Venus, the Mariner 9 and Viking trips to Mars, the Voyager system to the outer solar system, and the Galileo mission to Jupiter. As part of his doctorate research, Sagan computed the first greenhouse model for Venus' atmosphere, which revealed a higher temperature than previously suspected. When Sagan was in graduate school, many scientists thought the planet Venus was similar to Earth.
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