“Notre voyageur connaissait merveilleusement les lois de la gravitation, et toutes les forces attractives et répulsives. Il s’en servait si à propos, que tantôt à l’aide d’un rayon de soleil, tantôt par la commodité d’une comète, il allait de globe en globe, lui et les siens, comme un oiseau voltige de branche en branche.”
“Our voyager knew marvelously the laws of gravitation, and all attractive and repulsive forces. He used them in such a timely way that, once with the help of a ray of sunshine, another time thanks to a cooperative comet, he went from globe to globe, he and his kin, as a bird flutters from branch to branch.”
VOLTAIRE—Micromégas, Histoire Philosophique, 1752.
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Jet Propulsion LaboratoryCalifornia Institute of TechnologyPasadena, California
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
JPL 400-100 12/80