September 27th, 2016
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In a major address today, SpaceX chief rocketeer, Elon Musk, blueprinted his vision for colonizing Mars. In his talk, SpaceX founder, CEO, and Lead Designer, Elon Musk unveiled his humans to Mars plan at the 67th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), now underway in Guadalajara, Mexico. The reviews of Musk’s presentation are coming in. Modifications needed […]
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Today the U.S. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Space held a hearing titled: “Are We Losing the Space Race to China?” The hearing purpose was to examine the achievements, capabilities, and future direction of China’s space program, as well as the impact to U.S. leadership in space. To view the video […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has rolled into Sol 1473 – in search mode for a contact science locale. Over last weekend, Curiosity drove over 140 feet (43 meters) to the south, in search of a good place for contact science. “Unfortunately, our present location is in a small valley, and we don’t have many […]
Elon Musk, chief rocketeer at SpaceX, has tweeted a new technological success update – the firm just achieved the first firing of the Raptor interplanetary transport engine. A key SpaceX propulsion development for Mars is the Raptor, a liquid oxygen/methane engine. Mars plans revealed SpaceX founder, CEO, and Lead Designer Elon Musk […]
Construction of China’s “big ear” is formally completed – the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, or FAST in short-speak. The colossal FAST lies at a karst valley in Pingtang County of southwest China’s Guizhou Province. FAST is made up of more than 4,000 individual panels. SETI listening Scientists have described it as a super-sensitive “ear,” […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 1470 as researchers set in place a change of plans. A recent drive of the robot “went nicely,” reports Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. “We are already about halfway to our next drill site!” Exposed stratigraphy An […]
Elon Musk and his SpaceX rocketeers are blueprinting a plan to land humans on Mars in 2025 and to land payloads onto the Red Planet’s surface at each 26 month opportunity starting in 2018. A similar timeline may be pursued by other players. That as a given, a specially convened “ePanel” of Mars experts recently […]
Now in Sol 1466, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover accomplished a successful second attempt to drill into Quela – but there was a timing issue during sample manipulation with the Collection and Handling for Interior Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA). That timing issue resulted in premature halting of the Sol 1465 sequence. Sieve new sample […]
Humans to Mars: Why, How, and When? That’s the front-and-center issue to be addressed today in a Congressional Briefing Panel, sponsored by Explore Mars, Inc. This webcast is set for today, Tuesday, September 20, 2016 starting at 10:00 am Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00). Panelists John Grunsfeld- Moderator (Former NASA […]
The upcoming International Astronautical Congress (IAC) — to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico September 26-30 — has announced that, for the first time in IAC history, all Plenary Events are to be live broadcasted. For those eagerly awaiting the talk by SpaceX’s Elon Musk, his one-hour talk “Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species” will air on […]
