March 1st, 2017
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Deciding on where best to plunk down NASA’s Mars 2020 on the Red Planet rover is not an easy choice, and is spot-on with controversy. On one hand, the scientific bonus of having a souped-up mega rover meet Martian real estate is one thing. But it turns out that the Mars 2020 stands as a […]
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is performing a range of Sol 1623 tasks, with a two-sol plan scoped out that’s devoted to remote sensing and Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) diagnostics. The plan is to kick off with arm activities to better understand the fault that MAHLI experienced last week, reports Lauren Edgar, a research geologist […]
Transforming Mars to make it more livable for humankind could involve creating an artificial magnetosphere for the Red Planet. This idea has been suggested by a team of researchers, presenting the concept at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop 2017 being held this week in Washington, D.C. Arid and cold Their paper – A […]
The Museum of Contemporary Art on the Moon (MOCAM for short) was conceived in 2016 by visual artist Julio Orta. The concept is seen as a response to the inevitable creation of human communities on the moon in the near future. According to a MOCAM mission statement: “Although governments and private entities are working on […]
The NASA Curiosity rover is now departing Sol 1617 activities. Stuck in the middle on Mars – Curiosity’s right wheel. That’s the word from Ken Herkenhoff of USGS’s Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. “The drive planned for Sol 1616 halted early, apparently because the right rear wheel got stuck between two rocks,” Herkenhoff reports. […]
U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) released the following statement today on NASA’s discovery of the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star, three of which are in the habitable zone. Public imagination Chairman Smith: “Space discoveries have long captured the public’s imagination, and NASA’s discoveries […]
A novel approach to creating a reusable solar electric space (SEP) “tug” for toting payloads to the Moon, Mars or elsewhere is dubbed “Sunflower” – a Modular, Hexagonally Symmetric, SEP Cargo Transport Spacecraft. Sunflower was the winner in NASA’s 2017 BIG Idea Challenge, a concept forged by students from Tulane University. The Sunflower’s structure, […]
The United Kingdom has put in motion a draft Spaceflight Bill, promoting the construction and operation of spaceports across the UK for the first time, as well as giving the go for spacecraft to be rocketed spaceward from British soil. Tariq Ahmad, aviation minister, said: “We have never launched a spaceflight before from this […]
Mars attacks…this time in a new movie called Life. To be released in the U.S. on March 24, the going-in theme as advertised for Life is that an international space crew discovers life on Mars. That’s the good news. But the delivery package of samples to their spacecraft from the Red Planet has an edgy […]
The United Arab Emirates has the Red Planet in its sights, not only moving forward on a Mars orbiter but also establishing the first inhabitable human settlement on the planet by 2117. Space visionary, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. He recently unveiled, along with […]
