Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research the clouds and winds of Venus. Microwave instruments determine the composition of atmospheres while infrared spectrometers examine surface rocks. A novel laser altimeter on board BepiColumbo will survey the topography of Mercury to within a meter. Further MPS instruments identify the atoms, electrons, and dust that move around the planets and impact their moons. Here the influence of the solar wind on the atmospheric gases is of particular interest. Theoretical studies and intensive computer simulations help to understand the processes both inside and surrounding the planets and to interpret the measured data. Models developed at MPS can describe, for example,
Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter of Eternity". Consequently, there are small inconsistencies between the various novels. In the first, Ganymede is mentioned as a settled world of the Solar System, although in later novels Ganymede has no permanent settlement, and has even served as the location of a secret Sirian base. The first man on Mars is named Wingrad in "David Starr, Space Ranger", but is named Ching in "Moons of Jupiter". The name of the state that rules the Solar System also changes from novel to novel. In "Pirates of the Asteroids", it is the Terrestrial Empire; in "Oceans of Venus", it is the