April 30, 2008
The Rocket City Cares More About a Mall than the Moon
Yeah, it's a filler piece of news, but I live here(Rocket City/Huntsville) and damn if the article ain't true. The city where von Braun built spaceships to the moon is more infatuated with the new mall. Space conquests are afterthoughts, if that much.
Yet NASA's mission to return astronauts to the moon - and eventually send them to Mars - has attracted little public interest here, despite the fact that Huntsville engineers are developing the next generation of rockets for the project, which could create as many as 2,900 jobs in the city within five years."In the '60s and '70s, it was exciting. Everyone had space fever," recalled Polly Morton, a longtime resident who works with the city's tourism bureau.
These days, she said, plans to explore the heavens are overshadowed by more immediate earthly concerns - like the war in Iraq and concerns. about whether the government will have the money to complete the $100 billion Constellation program that began in 2005
"Mars is the next thing," Morton said. "But right now, because of the war and the funding, it's not talked about as much."
It is things like this...
"I don't know anything about it, and I don't want to know anything about it unless they bring me back some gas," said McCall, 21.
...that reminds me I must despise people.
(via 7d, myway news)
Posted by Groonk at 10:32 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Alabama, Mars
April 21, 2008
Stephen Hawking Knows Something We Don't, Wants Humans the Hell Off Earth
Stephen Hawking called for a massive investment in establishing colonies on the Moon and Mars in a lecture in honour of NASA's 50th anniversary. He argued that the world should devote about 10 times as much as NASA's current budget – or 0.25% of the world's financial resources – to space.The renowned University of Cambridge physicist has previously spoken in favour of colonising space as an insurance policy against the possibility of humanity being wiped out by catastrophes like nuclear war and climate change. He argues that humanity should eventually expand to other solar systems.
But in a speech in Washington, DC, US, delivered in honour of NASA's 50th anniversary in 2008, Hawking focused on near-term possibilities, backing the space agency's goals of returning astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and sending humans to Mars soon after that.
The Moon is a good place to start because it is "close by and relatively easy to reach", Hawking said. "The Moon could be a base for travel to the rest of the solar system," he added. Mars would be "the obvious next target", with its abundant supplies of frozen water, and the tantalising possibility that life may have been present there in the past.
Having all your eggs in one basket *is* a bad idea.
(via new scientist)
Posted by Groonk at 10:19 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
January 12, 2008
Scientists: Oh BTW, Mars won't get Hit with Asteroid After All KTHXBAI
Tracking measurements of asteroid 2007 WD5 taken from four observatories have greatly reduced uncertainties about its Jan. 30 close approach to Mars so that the odds of impact have dropped to 1 in 10,000, the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a posting on its Web site.Scientists said the best estimate was for the asteroid to pass at a distance of more than 16,000 miles from the surface of Mars, or at worst, no closer than 2,480 miles.
The asteroid was discovered in November by a Congressionally mandated, ongoing search for potentially threatening asteroids and comets. Originally identified as a possible risk to Earth, later analysis showed that the asteroid could be on a collision course with Mars.
(earlier asteroid news, discovery news )
Posted by Groonk at 03:38 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
January 11, 2008
Earth's Geology May be What Keeps Water Wet
Hansen recently stirred the pot with a controversial hypothesis published in last month's issue of the journal Geology. Meteorite impacts early in Earth's history, she suggested, created the first rifts in the crust, jump-starting plate tectonics.[...]
Energizer Bunny Tectonics?
"It's an implicit assumption that plate tectonics never shuts down," Silver told Discovery News. "But it's nowhere stated in plate tectonics theory."Silver and his colleague Mark Behn proposed in the Jan. 4 issue of Science that all it takes to stop plate tectonics is the devouring of the crustal plate under the Pacific Ocean. And that's not as far-fetched as it sounds.
[...]
The end result would be a supercontinent, no remaining subduction zones, and virtually no plate tectonics, at least for a while.
(via disovery news)
"If Mars were to have plate tectonics, it would have to be bigger early on," said Valencia. This is because plate tectonics require a planet to have a lot of interior heat to keep things moving. Smaller planets dissipate their heat faster, and so have a very short window of time for plate tectonics.Venus, on the other hand, is about the same size as Earth, but it lacks water, said Hansen. Without water in the mantle to help melt rocks and trigger volcanic recycling of material, Venus' crust appears to have remained stiff and locked up forever. Had Venus held more water, or if it had been a super-sized rocky planet, it too would have had plate tectonics and perhaps life.
Posted by Groonk at 07:51 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Research, Science
December 22, 2007
2008: There's an Asteroid Out there with Mars' Name on It
There is a 1-in-75 chance of 2007 WD5 hitting Mars; researchers can't be more confident than that because of uncertainties in the asteroid's orbit. If this unlikely event were to occur, however, the strike would happen somewhere within a broad swath across the planet north of where the Opportunity rover is."We estimate such impacts occur on Mars every thousand years or so," said Steve Chesley, a scientist at JPL. "If 2007 WD5 were to thump Mars on Jan. 30, we calculate it would hit at about 30,000 miles per hour and might create a crater more than half-a-mile wide." The Mars Rover Opportunity is currently exploring a crater approximately this size.
Such a collision could release about three megatons of energy. Scientists believe an event of comparable magnitude occurred here on Earth in 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia, but no crater was created. The object was disintegrated by Earth's atmosphere before it hit the ground, although the air blast devastated a large area of unpopulated forest. The Martian atmosphere is much thinner than Earth's so a similar sized impactor would be more likely to reach the ground.
(via nasa@gov)
Posted by Groonk at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
August 12, 2007
Using Trees to Terraform Mars
MEXICO CITY - Scientists are using the pine-forested slopes of a Mexican volcano as a test bed to see if trees could grow on a heated-up Mars, part of a vision of making the chilly and barren red planet habitable for humans one day.Planetary scientists at NASA and Mexican universities believe if they can warm Mars using heat-trapping gases, raise the air pressure and start photosynthesis, they could create an atmosphere that would support oxygen-breathing life forms.
[...]
The scientists are studying what makes trees refuse to grow above a certain point, where temperatures drop and the air becomes thinner, to see how easily they could grow on Mars.
"Things don't really start cooking from a biological point of view until trees start growing. Trees are the engines of the biosphere," McKay said.
[...]
In the long term, Mars's low gravity could also have odd effects on would-be settlers, causing people to grow alarmingly tall, and cosmic radiation could cause cancers and mutations.
McKay ruled out anything more permanent than short-term research bases for the next century. "I don't have this vision of people moving to Mars the way people settled the New World, setting up homes and bringing their families."
(via msnbc and The Sputtering Engine)
Posted by Groonk at 07:08 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Research, Science
August 02, 2007
MIT Fall Fashion: The New Spacesuits are In
MIT folk have designed a new kind of spacesuit.
You can't tell me they didn't watch Robotech as kids.
(via geekologie)
Posted by Groonk at 09:56 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Research, Science
July 20, 2007
Mars Attacks Spirit and Opportunity with Dust
Both rovers squeezed 3 years out of a 3 month mission. If they die today, they die mighty.
For nearly a month, a series of severe Martian summer dust storms has affected the rover Opportunity and, to a lesser extent, its twin, Spirit. The dust in the Martian atmosphere over Opportunity has blocked 99 percent of direct sunlight to the rover, leaving only the limited diffuse sky light to power it. Scientists fear the storms might continue for several days, if not weeks. "We're rooting for our rovers to survive these storms, but they were never designed for conditions this intense," says Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
(via science@nasa)
Posted by Groonk at 05:55 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
June 02, 2007
There's a Hole in the World... of Mars
Black spots have been discovered on Mars that are so dark that nothing inside can be seen. Quite possibly, the spots are entrances to deep underground caves capable of protecting Martian life, were it to exist.
(astronomy picture of the day)
Posted by Groonk at 04:03 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
May 02, 2007
Sex and Death on the Road to Mars
Space Sex. They are all grown-ups at NASA. You'd think they could work out the sex bits fairly easy. As for the issue of death, I suppose that could be based off of current military practices.
One topic that is evidently too hot to handle: How do you cope with sexual desire among healthy young men and women during a mission years long?Sex is not mentioned in the document and has long been almost a taboo topic at NASA. Williams said the question of sex in space is not a matter of crew health but a behavioral issue that will have to be taken up by others at NASA.
[...]
"There is a decision that is going to have to be made about mixed-sex crews, and there is going to be a lot of debate about it," he said.[...]
NASA will consider whether astronauts must undergo preventive surgery, such as an appendectomy, to head off medical emergencies during a mission, and whether astronauts should be required to sign living wills with end-of-life instructions.
The space agency also must decide whether to set age restrictions on the crew, and whether astronauts of reproductive age should be required to bank sperm or eggs because of the risk of genetic mutations from radiation exposure during long trips.
Already, NASA is considering genetic screening in choosing crews on the long-duration missions. That is now prohibited.
"Genetic screening must be approached with caution ... because of limiting employment and career opportunities based on use of genetic information," Williams said.
(via apnews)
Posted by Groonk at 12:01 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 24, 2007
Martian Spacesuits to have Biological "Power Skins"
The astronauts will be able to move and generate energy from that motion.
Astronauts' spacesuits may one day be covered in motion-sensitive proteins that could generate power from the astronauts' movement, according to futuristic research being conducted by a new lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. Such "power skins" could also be used to coat future human bases on Mars, where they could produce energy from the Martian wind.[...]
They are focusing on a protein called prestin, which is found in the outer hair cells of the human ear. In the cell membranes of these cells, prestin converts electrical voltage into motion, elongating and contracting the cell. This movement amplifies sound in the ear.
(via new scientist space)
Posted by Groonk at 09:51 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
December 06, 2006
There's Water on Mars...Maybe
Nasa says it has found "compelling" evidence that liquid water flowed recently on the surface of Mars.The finding adds further weight to the idea that Mars might harbour the right conditions for life.
The appearance of gullies, revealed in orbital images from a Nasa probe, suggests that water could have flowed on the surface in the last few years.
But some scientists think these fresh gullies could also have been cut by liquid carbon dioxide (CO2).
The latest research emerged when Nasa's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft spotted gullies and trenches that scientists believed were geologically young and carved by fast-moving water coursing down cliffs and steep crater walls.
(via warren ellis and bbc science)
Posted by Groonk at 11:54 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
December 05, 2006
NASA Makes Bold Statements About Permanent Moon Base in 2024
A continuation of the previous boast.
WASHINGTON: The National Aeronautic and Space Administration has announced plans for a permanent base on the moon, to be started soon after astronauts return there around 2020.The agency's deputy administrator, Shana Dale, said Monday that the United States would develop rockets and spacecraft to get people to the moon and establish a rudimentary base. There, other countries and commercial interests could expand the outpost to develop scientific and other interests, she said.
Dale and other NASA officials said the agency envisioned a base at one of the lunar poles, to take advantage of the near-constant sunlight for solar-power generation, and giving it an "open architecture" design to which others can add the capabilities they want.
Scott Horowitz, NASA's associate administrator for exploration, said crews of four astronauts would make weeklong missions to the moon starting around 2020. As more equipment was set up, stays would eventually grow to 180 days, and become permanent by 2024. By 2027, officials said, a pressurized roving vehicle on the surface would take people on expeditions far from the base.
Groonk + NASA = Believe It + See It
Someone check me on that. my math/formula might be wrong.
In the meantime, I will try to keep my incontinence in check when 2024 rolls around.
(via international herald tribune)
Posted by Groonk at 03:40 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Science
November 02, 2006
Mars All Up in Your Face and Shut
(via warren ellis)
Viking landers may have found Martian life after allA flawed test on NASA’s twin Viking spacecraft may have fooled scientists into overlooking signs of life during their examination of the Martian surface 30 years ago. Researchers now say that one of the landers’ experiments was not sensitive enough to find organic molecules in the soil, despite signs of life shown by another test. Other researchers say the team may also have been fooled by the strange forms that Martian life might take.
The results from Vikings’ onboard experiments are confusing because some tests suggested the presence of organisms capable of digesting organic molecules. But a gas-chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) found nothing when the soil was heated to release organic molecules, causing most scientists to doubt the results of the life-detection tests. Instead they put the soil reactivity down to the presence of peroxides or other reactive substances.
(via new scientist space)
Posted by Groonk at 01:37 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
October 12, 2006
Mars has Many Faces
On the left:
On the right, the better image.
(via Astronomy Picture of the Day 9/25/06 and 9/26/06)
Posted by Groonk at 11:51 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
October 07, 2006
Bad Astronomy = Good Geek Site.
He's a writer, astronomer and skeptic. He runs the site Bad Astronomy which I found while canning the 2006 Bloggie winners.
He has many pictures of Mars. He likes to talk science. He has a decent sense of humor.
(via bad astronomy)
Posted by Groonk at 02:33 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blogged, Mars, Science
October 02, 2006
Trip to Mars Not Exactly Like Going Down the Street for a Hunka Cheese*
Hey, Mr Scientist Guy! Can you say, "DUH!"
I knew you could.
Here's a thought. Let's figure out what the obstacles are, like you did so well in two wordy papers. Next step, overcome the bastards.
Where's the paper on that?
Get cracking, lab coat wearing man. I can't be snarky and flip about over coming scientific odds that are way above my thinking level forever.
In two new papers, Donald Rapp, formerly with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reviews the current state of our understanding of life support and radiation safety and concludes that significant additional research will be required before safe and affordable human missions to Mars can become a reality.
Rapp reviews the current state of the understanding of life support for human missions to Mars and concludes current plans for life support contain optimistic assumptions regarding the degree of recycling and reliability that can be achieved and the amount of mass that life support systems may require.
In his second paper, he compares and contrasts the levels of radiation shielding required for human missions to the moon and Mars and finds currently planned missions to both bodies are not without potentially serious radiation risks.
The two papers in downloadable question:
(via physorg.com)
Posted by Groonk at 04:20 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
July 25, 2006
NASA Gives Up On Earth
The time for amusement is done.
My heart, once again, fills with hate. A hate so blindling and hot, that it would fuel the world's motorized toothbrushes from now til beyond the end of time itself.
That statement was repeatedly cited last winter by NASA climate scientist James Hansen, who said he was being threatened by political appointees for speaking about the dangers posed by greenhouse gas emissions.
But NASA officials told The New York Times the elimination of the phrase that was used by Hansen was “pure coincidence.” The statement now proclaims the agency’s mission is “to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.”
A NASA spokesman said the change brings the agency into line with U.S. President George W. Bush's goal of pursuing human spaceflight to the moon and Mars.
One observer noted results from NASA's increasing involvement in monitoring the Earth's environment have sparked political disputes concerning the Bush administration's environmental policies…
(via warren ellis)
Posted by Groonk at 07:33 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Politics, Science
May 20, 2006
Somewhere a Clock is Ticking
A sizable directory of Internet Clocks, Counters, and Countdowns.
The clock that piqued my interest was the Mars24 Sunclock on the Goddard Institute of Space Studies page.
Mars24 is a Java program and browser applet which displays a Mars "sunclock", a graphical representation of the planet Mars showing its current sun- and nightsides, along with a numerical readout of the time in 24-hour format. Other displays include a plot showing the relative orbital positions of Mars and Earth and a diagram showing the solar angle for a given location on Mars.
[...]
(Alternate) Time Systems -- Doomsday -- Miscellaneous -- National Debt
Population -- Sun -- Planetary -- Current Time -- Time Lines -- Countdown
Counters/Trackers -- Clock, Counter, Countdown Code -- Meta Clock Pages -- Year 2000
(Those listed immediately above are merely section titles.)
Posted by Groonk at 05:53 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Apps, Mars, Research
May 05, 2006
Mars is full of smiles
You don't expect these things from a planet named after a war god.
Images taken by Europe's Mars Express spacecraft show a crater on the Red Planet that looks like a "happy face".
Crater Galle contains parallel gullies on its southern rim, a possible sign of liquid water running on Mars' surface.
Its interior has also been shaped by the action of wind and shows signs of "dust devil" tracks, which have removed the bright surface coating of dust.
A US space agency (Nasa) orbiter has also sent back its first colour image after arriving at Mars on 11 March.
The "face" in the European images was first pointed out in photos taken during Nasa's Viking Orbiter 1 mission.
Happy Cinco de Mayo, kids.
Posted by Groonk at 06:31 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Holiday, Mars
Antimatter engines for Mars?
(via emerging tech)
Posted by Groonk at 03:09 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
April 19, 2006
LOX-methane rocket engines could take you to Mars...bitches
NASA has test-fired a rocket engine fuelled by liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid methane for a record 103 seconds. A fully functioning engine is probably years away, but its efficiency means it could one day be used to take people to Mars.
The LOX-liquid methane combination is about 20% more efficient than traditional "hypergolic" fuels, which ignite on contact. It also leaves behind less residue than fuels such as kerosene, helping prevent blockages in engines.
No spacecraft have ever used LOX-methane engines, and only a few countries – notably Russia and the US - have tested the engines in laboratories. But now, NASA, the US Air Force and KT Engineering Corporation in Huntsville, Alabama, US, have achieved the new US record for a LOX-methane engine test firing.
UPDATE: My comment system is wonky. It won't let anybody post anything. Until I fix it, I'll post replies in the blog space proper.
Dirt has this to say about the LOX engine:
"Huntsville is the only place I have ever lived where no one takes notice of sudden, earth-shaking noises occuring in the distance.Seriously, when normal people living in other cities hear a low rumble that sounds like the earth is preparing to explode, they ask, "What is that". But not us Huntsvillians."
I have to say that is definite a weirdness local to Huntsville. I've never heard loud booms from the base and I live not to far from it. From time to time there have been news reports where people say that explosions from the base rattled their dishes and such. There's not much more than that though. Maybe folks take that as the price of living in "The Rocket City".
Of course, I slept through the earthquake a few years ago.
(via new scientist)
Posted by Groonk at 06:44 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Alabama, Mars
March 13, 2006
M-A-R-S, Google Mars, Bitches!
Posted by Groonk at 04:29 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Google-fied, Mars
December 10, 2005
Two satellites communicates via laser
like "hitting the eye of a needle placed on top of Mount Fuji from Tokyo Station"
The laser link took place on Friday between two satellites designed to test communications technologies.
One, a Japanese mission called Kirari (Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite), flies at an altitude of 610 kilometres, in low-Earth orbit. The other, a European satellite called ARTEMIS (Advanced Relay and Technology Mission), soars 36,000 kilometres above Earth in geostationary orbit.
Pointing and maintaining a laser connection between the two satellites is difficult because they can be as much as 45,000 kilometres apart and are moving at a relative speed of several kilometres per second.
Why the big whoop? Mars of course.
(via new scientists)
Posted by Groonk at 08:17 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Technology
December 02, 2005
Possible Ice Deep below Martian Surface
[...]
Intriguingly, the signal reflected from the bottom of the crater is so strong and appears so flat that it may be liquid water. "If you put water there, that's what the signal might look like," Johnson told New Scientist. But he cautions the data is based on only one pass over the region and could be caused by another material.
If they find ginormous alien machinery and Governor Auhnuld laying about the Martian surface suffering from the effects of hard-vaccuum even though Mars actually HAS a freaking atmosphere, then I'll just spit.
(via new scientist)
Posted by Groonk at 11:13 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
October 19, 2005
NASA Scientist talks about Potential Past Habitable Environments for Gusev Crater on Mars
Seriously. He did. There's an entirely boring abstract from the lecture waiting to put you to sleep and everything.
(via boingboing)
Posted by Groonk at 04:14 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
September 07, 2005
Get Your Ass to Mars
The new company, 4Frontiers, plans to mine Mars for building materials and energy sources, and export the planet's mineral wealth to forthcoming space stations on the moon and elsewhere.
The idea is to make Mars a center for needs of the solar system economy, said Bruce Mackenzie, co-founder of 4Frontiers and the company's vice president and outreach director.
"Mars happens to be a good place for these crucial minerals," said Mackenzie. "You have them all in one spot."
Just what mars needs: Strip mines.
In case you're wondering, the 4 frontiers are the "Earth, moon, Mars and the main asteroid belt".
(via myway)
Posted by Groonk at 04:35 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
July 27, 2005
Mars Colony Revealed
Rummage through their architecture pdf presentation.
(via digg)
Posted by Groonk at 08:07 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
April 22, 2005
Martian Dust Devils
What you're missing are a series of audible grunts, weezes, growls and spits emitting from a furry brown rodent-like critter looking for a tall rabbit with a Jersey accent to eat.
Note: I coulda gone for a sight gag but that was way too obvious.
(via bbcnews)
Posted by Groonk at 09:00 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
April 14, 2005
Moon Base 1
Always wondered about this.
...a plan in 2004 to build a permanent lunar base from which people can explore the moon, and then go on to Mars. But the Moon's environment is harsh. Without an appreciable atmosphere to distribute heat, most lunar regions swing from -180C to 100C as the Moon rotates in and out of sunlight every 29.5 days.But the Moon's poles are thought to be less extreme. Unlike Earth, the Moon spins nearly vertically with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun and so the poles never experience a sunset - the Sun just skims around the horizon as the Moon rotates. This constant light should provide stable temperatures of about -50C and a steady source of energy - crucial requirements for any future lunar base.
(via newscientist)
Posted by Groonk at 04:35 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
March 01, 2005
Scientists View Mars' Naugthy Bits...and want More
"This mysterious lady is slowly revealing her secrets," NASA scientist Everett Gibson said."From what we've seen Mars meets all the requirements that are needed for life to exist."
The conference revealed ice packs at the planet's poles and the likely existence of a frozen sea near its equator, as well as signs of lava flows 20 million years ago and several recent cones near its North Pole.
"You can see baby cones. I think they're still growing," said Professor Gerhard Neukum, who led the analysis of the high-resolution photographs taken by the Mars Express probe orbiting the planet for the past year.
"I cannot prove it, but the evidence is very suggestive," he said.
Is that all that's on you "scientists" minds? You get a peek at the goods and you turn into horny teenagers. Will you ever be sated?!
(via myway)
Posted by Groonk at 01:01 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 21, 2005
Somewhere Beyond the Frozen Martian Sea
A huge, frozen sea lies just below the surface of Mars, a team of European scientists has announced.The team think a catastrophic event flooded the landscape five million years ago and then froze out.
They tell a forthcoming edition of Nature magazine that sediments covered the ice, locking it in place.
(via bbcnews)
Posted by Groonk at 11:24 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 16, 2005
Mars full of (microscopic) life?
Stoker told her private audience Sunday evening that by comparing discoveries made at Rio Tinto with data collected by ground-based telescopes and orbiting spacecraft, including the European Space Agencys Mars Express, she and Lemke have made a very a strong case that life exists below Mars surface.
(via msnbc)
Posted by Groonk at 10:05 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 14, 2005
Russian Stone Age Space Science
This week, the director of Russias top space medical institute told students that only men should be allowed on the first mission to the Red Planet, because women are too weak to endure the flight's rigors. His comments once again exposed the internal contradictions of a country that put the first woman into space while having the reputation of being the last European bastion of male chauvinism.
Hey Grigoryev, know this, foo.
Mars needs women. Pioneering women. Engineering women. Scientific women. Piloting...well you get the idea.
Step off your wheelbarrow and step into a Prius, before some lady in a H2 runs you down.
Posted by Groonk at 07:01 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 07, 2005
Let's give Mars our problems
The best way to make Mars habitable would be to inject synthetic greenhouse gases into its atmosphere, researchers said Thursday.
The stuff could be shipped to Mars or manufactured there.
Scientists and science-fiction authors have long pondered terraforming Mars, melting the vast stores of ice in its polar caps to create an environment suitable for humans. The topic is highly controversial.
(via 7d)
Posted by Groonk at 09:14 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 02, 2005
Mars by Microwave
These guys need to read/watch more sci-fi. The concept of energy beam travel isn't exactly new.
Though the paint idea is new to me.
Gregory Benford of the University of California, Irvine, and his brother James, who runs aerospace research firm Microwave Sciences in Lafayette, California, envisage beaming microwave energy up from Earth to boil off volatile molecules from a specially formulated paint applied to the sail. The recoil of the molecules as they streamed off the sail would give it a significant kick that would help the craft on its way. "It's a different way of thinking about propulsion," Gregory Benford says. "We leave the engine on the ground."
(via warrenellis)
Posted by Groonk at 04:27 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
November 11, 2004
Phobos in a Death Spiral
Phobos is locked in a so-called "death spiral", which means it is in an orbit that is gradually pulling it on a collision course with the surface of the planet.
It orbits the Red Planet three times a day, and is so close to the planet's surface that in some locations on the Red Planet, it cannot always be seen.
There are competing theories of Phobos' origin. One theory proposes that the satellite is a captured asteroid. The moon appears to be composed of C-type rock, similar to blackish carbonaceous chondrite asteroids.
Never heard that second theory before.
Posted by Groonk at 08:21 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
November 08, 2004
Mystery Power Boost
LOS ANGELES - As NASA's Mars rovers keep rolling past all expectations of their useful lives, scientists have a happy mystery: For some reason one of the vehicles has actually gained power recently.
"Now we're assuming they're cleaning, but all we can really say is that overnight the solar panels produced between 2 and 5 percent additional power immediately," he said. "We're surmising that for some reason dust is being removed from the solar panel and that's increasing the efficiency of the sunlight being converted to electricity."
Posted by Groonk at 03:33 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
October 21, 2004
Mars in 90 days?
Advocates of a propulsion idea for spacecraft claim that it would enable a 90-day round trip to Mars.Using current technology, it would take astronauts about 2.5 years to travel to Mars, conduct their mission and return to Earth, US scientists estimate.
It would use a space station to fire a beam of magnetised particles at a solar sail mounted on a spacecraft.
This plasma beam would then make use of repulsive forces to propel the spacecraft along at high speeds.
The speeds possible would increase with the size of the plasma beam, say the team behind the concept - which is called Mag-Beam.
[...]
"We're trying to get to Mars and back in 90 days. Our philosophy is that, if it's going to take two-and-a-half years, the chances of a successful mission are pretty low," he said.
However, to make such high speeds practical, another plasma unit would have to be stationed on a platform at the other end of the trip to apply brakes to the spacecraft.
via dph
Posted by Groonk at 11:16 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
August 24, 2004
The Way Things Might Be
A potential design for a mars lander, in plastic model form:
I like this design, so far as conceptual designs go - it's a nice throwback to the Apollo days. Realistically, I'd think landing flat on your back would be less than ideal.
If *I* had anything to do with the design, I'd make the final lander some sort of glider-type craft that could take advantage of what little atmosphere the Red Planet has to land conventioanlly. Much easier than planting a rocket upright on the surface.
Posted by Groonk at 03:39 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
August 04, 2004
Explore Mars from home
For those who want to explore Mars but cant wait for a spacecraft to take them there, NASA scientists have reformulated a website that lets the general public search data and images from previous missions.The website called Marsoweb had been designed to help scientists select possible landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers. By making the web pages more user friendly, NASA hopes that space enthusiasts will electronically survey the red planets terrain for interesting geological features.
You know I'm about to be all over it.
Posted by Groonk at 08:06 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
July 30, 2004
Titius-Bode Law: Mars
Posted by Groonk at 04:31 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
May 05, 2004
New Mars images
See the image or chat about the findings.
The Mars rover Opportunity has arrived at "Endurance Crater" revealing a variety of strata and rock formations and intriguing sand/salt formations at the bottom. At issue now is not whether Opportunity can roll in but whether she can climb back out for further investigations.
Posted by Groonk at 01:15 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
March 29, 2004
Methane on Mars could signal life
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor
Methane is not a stable molecule in the Martian atmosphere. If it was not replenished in some way, it would only last a few hundred years before it vanished.
It is possible that the methane is being produced by volcanic activity. Lava deposited on to the surface, or released underground, could produce the gas.
This explanation has some difficulties, however. So far, no active volcanic hotspots have been detected on the planet by the many spacecraft currently in orbit.
If active volcanism were responsible then it would be a major discovery with important implications. The heat released by any volcanism would melt the vast quantities of sub-surface ice discovered on the planet, producing an environment suitable for life.
(via dph)
Posted by Groonk at 03:41 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
March 26, 2004
The dangers of Mars
Come on folks.. the danger's half the fun.
NASA's robot rovers have proved that machines can make it on Mars, but the risks that will face the first humans to set foot on the planet are still largely unknown, scientists warned Thursday.Intense radiation, a "galactic drizzle" of cosmic particles, toxic dust, unstable soils, 100 mph winds and the chance of an encounter with alien microbes all pose potential risks to manned exploration of the Red Planet, scientists told the President's Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond, which met on the Georgia Tech campus.
Posted by Groonk at 11:26 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
March 25, 2004
The salty sea
Just how did that sea get so salty?
WASHINGTON (dpa) - A body of salty water once existed on Mars' surface, and the sea may have supported life at one point, scientists from the US space agency said Tuesday.The Mars rover Opportunity found rocks with a layering pattern, signs that they were formed in standing water. The rocks, found near the rover's landing site, also contained chlorine and bromine, further evidence that water covered the surface when the rocks were formed, scientists with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.
"We think Opportunity is now parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars," said Steve Squyres, the principal investigator for the science payload on Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit.
Posted by Groonk at 11:08 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
March 03, 2004
Scientists excited that Mars was once wet
So does that mean we still have a chance of reaching third base?
WASHINGTON _ Exuberant NASA scientists announced Tuesday that their little Mars rover Opportunity has struck pay dirt: the first solid evidence that at least one place on Mars once was soaking wet and therefore could have supported microscopic life.
Posted by Groonk at 11:20 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
March 02, 2004
Relay
Slightly boring but highly interesting:
How do you get giant amounts of data from a spacecraft sitting on the surface of Mars? For NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers, the indirect way is the best way -- using relay satellites that orbit Mars.
Posted by Groonk at 09:18 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 12, 2004
Alt energy proposed for Mars trip
By Joseph Roberts
Cox News Service
"The long pole in the tent going to Mars is that nuclear thermal rocket," Tom Stafford, a retired air force general and commander of the 1969 Apollo 10 lunar orbit mission, told the Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond.
President Bush has charged the commission with the goal of returning Americans to the moon and sending them on to Mars.
Using the alternative fuel could cut the trip between Earth and Mars from 240 days to less than a hundred, and would drastically reduce the weight of a spacecraft, Stafford said.
Nuclear propulsion would be an unused, though not new, innovation in space travel. Stafford said the United States developed the capability to build a nuclear-powered rocket during the Apollo era the late 1960s and early 1970s "but there was not a mission for it." He said he did not know how long it would take to resurrect that program and build a nuclear-powered spacecraft.
Posted by Groonk at 02:03 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 11, 2004
Mars not for the lowest bidder
By Deborah Zabarenko
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush's ambitious plan to send Americans back to the moon and eventually to Mars must not be undertaken on the cheap, an expert on space policy told a White House-appointed panel on Wednesday.
Norman Augustine, a businessman and engineer who headed an earlier examination of NASA after the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster, warned members of Bush's new space exploration commission not to set firm schedule targets or budget limits for the project.
"It would be a grave mistake to undertake the major new space objective on the cheap," Augustine told the panel's first hearing. "To do so, in my opinion, would be an indication for disaster."
Posted by Groonk at 05:20 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 09, 2004
Angry Martians
Funny little boingboing find:
We managed to capture a photograph of what are now perhaps the tiniest Martians on Mars. Appearing as an opposed duet of helmeted gladiators, these angry silicon soldiers were discovered on the surface of an image sensor used by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers sent to probe the Red planet. Maybe these are the ONLY Martians on Mars? Probably not. In any event, the chip was loaned to us by designer Mark Wadsworth who is a fan of the Silicon Zoo. Mark informs us that he decided to try his hand at silicon artwork after visiting the Zoo on several occasions. The title of his artwork is the "Dueling Marvin the Martians". Mark designed the image sensor for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory along with Tom Elliot, who actually did the testing of the flight candidate imagers to select the 20 or so that actually made it on the two missions. Tom and Mark tended to butt heads quite a bit, which was the inspiration for the doodle.
Posted by Groonk at 07:51 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Mars
February 06, 2004
Spirit is 'healed'
Posted by Groonk at 04:18 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
February 03, 2004
Martian Waterworld
An imagining of a wet Mars by Kees Veenenbos:
Posted by Groonk at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
January 24, 2004
Mars!
Volcano caldera
This picture, taken on 19 January 2004, shows the summit caldera (collapsed magma chamber) of the volcano Albor Tholus. It is of particular interest as the 3 km depth of the caldera approaches the height of the volcano, which is unusual on Earth. A bright "dust fall" seems to flow from the plateau into the caldera.
Posted by Groonk at 12:11 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
January 15, 2004
Spirit on the move
Posted by Groonk at 05:20 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Photos
January 14, 2004
Mars, Unaltered
An unaltered, panoramic view of Mars.
My bags are packed...let's go!
Posted by Groonk at 03:01 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Photos
January 11, 2004
Moon a test for Mars
Ok, I'm not even a scientist and I'm saying, "DUH!"
By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush wants to make the moon a testing ground and jumping-off point for future missions to Mars and perhaps even to asteroids, administration officials said Sunday.To make way for the next generation of space exploration, the president will call for the retirement of space shuttle program by the end of this decade, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The shuttles are the only way to haul much of the equipment to the International Space Station , but by then, the United States would have completed its commitment to the orbiting facility, the officials said.
Bush's new space initiative, to be made public in Washington on Wednesday, aims to pave the way for manned missions to other, more remote destinations such as Mars and asteroids. It also would make the costs of such explorations lower than they would be from Earth, administration officials said.
But they said the president doesn't foresee a settlement on the moon for 10 to 15 years, and on Mars for 25 to 30 years.
The architects of Bush's long-range space plan cite several advantages to setting up camp on the moon. Its gravitational field is about one-sixth that of Earth's, meaning it would take less energy and money to launch spacecraft from there.
Looks like somebody's making a Kennedy play. If it gets us back on the moon, I have little to bitch about.
Posted by Groonk at 07:22 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
January 09, 2004
Post card from Mars
Beautiful and barren. Have a look around the neighborhood.
Posted by Groonk at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
December 22, 2003
MER
This little gem of a video was found in the craiglist forums by ponzoo. It's animation following the Mars Exploration Rover.
Posted by Groonk at 02:41 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
December 09, 2003
We would survive
That's good to know:
Scientists say that experiments on board Nasa's Mars Odyssey craft prove that humans could survive a mission to the Martian surface.The results show that radiation around Mars might cause some health problems, but scientists say they are survivable.
Odyssey has been orbiting the Red Planet for two years, sending back information to scientists on Earth....
...Nasa scientists have been measuring radiation around Mars with an instrument on board the Mars Odyssey orbiting probe.
According to Cary Zeitlin from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, it has found that astronauts on Mars would be exposed to roughly double the radiation dose which they experience on the International Space Station.
"The dose that astronaut would receive on a Mars mission is large enough to be beyond what they've experienced in Earth orbit.
"Therefore it opens some questions about the biological effects of this radiation that we haven't really fully addressed yet."
...This radiation could perhaps lead to more cancers, more cataracts and nervous system damage.
But overall, Dr Zeitlin says, it is manageable - humans could go on Mars missions relatively safely.
They would need to use the planet itself to shield them, building their shelters in hollows, and perhaps taking materials which would reduce radiation further.
What is somewhat ironic about this is that the instrument, named Marie, has itself been damaged, apparently beyond repair, by excessive radiation from the Sun.
It stopped functioning following a massive solar flare in October.
But Nasa says it sent back enough data before its demise to reassure us about the feasibility of human missions to Mars.
Posted by Groonk at 02:44 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
December 04, 2003
Mars Express, has taken its first image of the Red Planet
Mars Express is nearing its destination after a six-month voyage from Earth and is due to go into orbit around the fourth planet on Christmas Day.
By then, it will have released the tiny British lander, Beagle 2, which will drop down on to the surface of Mars to look for signs of past or present life.
Posted by Groonk at 03:54 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
October 30, 2003
Astounding Mars
Like a celebrity under constant photographic scrutiny, Mars continues to show fresh and surprising faces. And as with an enigmatic Hollywood star, more than 10,000 new images of the red planet reveal more puzzles than answers.
Posted by Groonk at 09:36 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Photos
August 28, 2003
Hubble Mars
I like Mars.
Posted by Groonk at 05:18 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
August 25, 2003
More on Mars
And this month it has been making its approach, moving closer to its neighbor Earth, third rock from the Sun. This week the two will be side by side, closer than they've been in 60,000 years.
Just a stone's throw away in planetary terms, Mars and Earth will be a mere 34.65 million miles apart when they juxtapose each other.
Six months ago Mars was significantly farther - five times the distance it will be during its near-Earth approach. Astronomers estimate the best time to view the encounter is from 9 p.m. onward on Thursday, even though they've timed the exact moment of the celestial dance at 5:51 a.m. Wednesday. Night gazers, astronomers say, will have an incomparable view when the glowing red sphere is cast against a black velvet sky.
"It will rise in the east after sunset on a southward path," said astronomer and Mars expert Myles Standish of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Actually, you can see it at almost any time at night.
"It effectively follows the path of the Sun and will set in the west. You'll be able to see it as long as it's above the horizon."
And it's best to do your Mars-gazing now, Standish added, because there will not be another near-Earth approach until Aug. 28, 2287.
Mars' orbit will be so close to Earth's, it will appear as the rare ruby shining in a sky otherwise sprinkled with diamonds. The waning moon will come nowhere near the brilliance of Mars.
"If you just look up in the sky about 9 o'clock, there'll be this beautiful red disk. It's bright - as bright as any star - but it's a planet and planets are disks. So like all planets, Mars is non-twinkling. But it will be the brightest thing out there," O'Brien said. "And you can see the color. You can see the redness."
Astronomers call close planetary encounters a perihelic opposition, O'Brien said.
"Perihelion is the general term for when a planet in orbit comes closest to the Sun," O'Brien explained. "At this point of perihelion, astronomers have calculated that Earth and Mars will be in alignment with the Sun."
O'Brien said that even amateur skywatchers should have no trouble pinpointing Mars. "It's easy to find. It's about 1/75 the size of a full moon, a gorgeous red object in the southeastern sky. A lot of people have been mistaking it for a plane. But I tell them it's Mars - and it's getting closer."
Posted by Groonk at 05:42 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
August 24, 2003
Red star at night
"It is amazingly bright," said David Hudgins, a lecturer in astronomy at Rockhurst University. "You cannot possibly miss it."
The fourth planet's lopsided orbit around the sun has been bringing our neighbor ever closer to us until early Wednesday, when it will be less than 34.65 million miles away -- barely a ringtoss in celestial terms.
According to a computer model, the last time Mars was closer to Earth was 57,617 B.C.
Posted by Groonk at 05:35 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Science
August 08, 2003
a Mere 186 Light-Seconds Away
Communicating with spacecraft at Mars always involves a wait. Depending on how far apart the planets are, it can take up to 21 minutes to get a signal from Earth to the red planet, resulting in a round-trip time of more than 40 minutes.
The lag can be agonizing for an engineer trying to steer a surface probe or debug a software problem.
On Aug. 27, when Mars is closer to Earth than ever in human history, the one-way travel time of light and radio signals will be just 3 minutes and 6 seconds. Astronomers love to measure cosmic distances in light-years. In this case, you can think of the distance between the two planets as being 186 light-seconds.
Meanwhile, earthlings have an historic chance to see Mars at its brightest, and to see the red planet at any given instant as it existed just 186 seconds earlier in time.
Posted by Groonk at 12:38 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
August 06, 2003
Prime time for the Red Planet
FOR MONTHS VISIBLE only during morning hours, the Red Planet began August rising around 9:45 or 10 p.m. local daylight time and peeks above the horizon about four minutes earlier each night. Mars is now the third-brightest object in the nighttime sky, after the moon and Venus. To the unaided eye, Mars is by far the brightest star in the late-evening sky. Venus is currently too near the sun to be visible.
Astronomers measure brightness of stars and planets on a scale in which smaller numbers represent brighter objects. Already dazzling, Mars attains unusual brilliance this month, reaching magnitude -2.9 on Aug. 22 and staying that bright through Sept. 3. Venus can reach magnitude -4.0 or brighter.
Anyone who has a telescope, no matter how modest it is, will probably want to find out what it can do with Mars.
Posted by Groonk at 02:32 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
Hot spots on Mars give hunt for life new target
Giant hollow towers of ice formed by steaming volcanic vents on Ross Island, Antarctica are providing clues about where to hunt for life on Mars.
University of Melbourne geologist, Dr Nick Hoffman has found evidence from recent infra-red images of Mars that similar structures may exist on Mars and, if life is to be found, such towers may be best place to start looking.
Hoffman has drawn attention to strange temperature anomalies in these latest Mars images taken with an infra-red heat-sensing camera on the Mars Odyssey orbiter. These anomalies, he says, fit the signature you might expect from structures formed in similar ways to the Antarctica ice towers.
"If these thermal anomalies don't prove to be another of Mars' 'red herrings', the search for water and life on Mars now has a clear focus. While I believe Mars is actually lifeless, ice towers rather than the current acclaimed river channels are the most likely place to find signs of water activity, and hence life, on an otherwise frozen planet," says Hoffman.
Hoffman and colleague, Professor Phil Kyle, Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico, presented their research into the similarities between Antarctica and Mars at NASA's recent 6th International Mars Conference in Pasadena, California.
Mt Erebus is a 3800 metre active volcano on Antarctica's Ross Island. Here, steaming volcanic vents transform steam directly into ice, missing the normal in-between step of liquid water. Instead, all of the water is transported as vapour directly from snow and ice in the ground (permafrost) to build tall hollow chimneys of ice, that loom over the landscape up to 10m tall.
It is possible to climb down the inside the chimneys where the filtered sunlight creates an eerie blue dimness. In this cave-like grotto, away from the howling wind, there exists a local microclimate gently warmed by the volcanic heat beneath.
The internal temperatures of the towers hover around freezing, but are often tens of degrees warmer than the outside air. Delicate curtains of snowflakes and icicles hang from the roof. The floor is dry crunchy gravel, dried out by volcanic warmth, but occasionally a warm spell leads to drips melting from the roof.
"Earth Bacteria can thrive in this sheltered spot, despite the traces of volcanic gas," says Hoffman.
"On Mars, similar structures would be doubly valuable for potential Mars microbes. The icy structure of the chimney would filter out harmful Ultra-Violet radiation, and provide warmth and shelter. Meanwhile, the volcanic gases could provide chemical energy for primitive forms of life like those that live in hot springs on earth," he says.
The strange temperature anomalies picked up by the orbiter are in an area of Hellas Basin, a massive impact basin about the size of Australia in the southern Hemisphere of Mars.
"Debate continues about the anomalies which might only be odd rock formations, but they are definitely 8 to 12 degrees warmer than the surrounding materials both day and night, so warmth from the sun cannot be responsible for their anomalous temperature," says Hoffman.
"Some special combination of sunshine, reflectivity, and cementation is required to explain these temperatures in any other way, and this combination, whilst possible, is unlikely," he says.
"We anticipate that such towers, if they exist on Mars, could grow up to 30 metres tall under the lower gravity. The geothermal hotspots over which a tower might exist are unlikely to produce liquid water, unless they are exceptionally active or newly formed where the extensive permafrost of Mars might melt for the first and only time. Instead the hotspot would drive the water vapour upwards forming a similar grotto-chimney type of ice tower as found on Mt Erebus.
Water on Mars
Until now, NASA scientists have thought deep gullies discovered in 2001 to be the most promising candidates for liquid water flows on modern Mars. Many NASA researchers have suggested ways in which they might be formed by liquid water.
"The problem is nobody has seen water flowing in the gullies," says Hoffman.
Rather than water, Hoffman's recent research shows the gullies are more likely to be formed by avalanches of frozen carbon dioxide and other debris.
NASA is desperate to find signs of liquid water on Mars so they have a target for the next generation of Mars landers and rovers to go and search for life, but their search could prove fruitless if Hoffman's research and analysis is correct.
"The ice towers are the best bet for life, so far," he says.
Posted by Groonk at 09:46 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
"Phoenix" rising
NASA today selected Phoenix, an innovative and relatively low cost mission, to study the red planet, as the first Mars Scout mission. The Phoenix lander mission is scheduled for launch in 2007. The 2007 Scout mission joins a growing list of spacecraft aimed at exploring Mars. It also represents NASA's first fully competed opportunity for a dedicated science-driven mission."
Posted by Groonk at 09:44 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
July 09, 2003
Mars Dust
July 9, 2003: Something is happening on Mars and it's so big you can see it through an ordinary backyard telescope.
On July 1st a bright dust cloud spilled out of Hellas Basin, a giant impact crater on Mars' southern hemisphere. The cloud quickly spread and by the Fourth of July was 1100 miles wide--about one-fourth the diameter of Mars itself.
Above: These pictures of Mars spanning July 2nd through 6th were captured by Donald Parker of Coral Gables, FL, using a 16-inch telescope. The stubby black arrows indicate the growing cloud.
"The cloud can be seen now through a telescope as small as 6 inches," says Donald Parker, executive director of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO). "Its core is quite bright."
Parker has been tracking the cloud through his own 16-inch telescope. "A red filter helps," he notes. "Even a piece of red or orange gelatin held between the eye and ocular will improve the visibility of the dust."
Two years ago, a similar cloud from Hellas Basin grew until it circled the entire planet. Features on Mars long familiar to amateur astronomers--the dark volcanic terrain of Syrtis Major, for example--were hidden for months. "The planet looked like an orange billiard ball," recalls Parker.
Will it happen again?
"No one knows," says astronomer James Bell of Cornell University who studied the dust storm of 2001 using the Hubble telescope. "We don't yet understand the mechanism that causes regional clouds to self-assemble into giant dust storms."
Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, two NASA spacecraft circling Mars, have seen many "regional storms" like the cloud near Hellas Basin now. They persist for a few days or weeks, then dissipate. Rarely do they become a planet-wide event.
"Only 10 global or planet-encircling dust storms have been reported since 1877," notes Parker.
Left: An orange billiard ball: a world-wide dust storm on Mars in 2001 blurred the planet's normally sharp features. [more]
All dust storms on Mars, no matter what size, are powered by sunshine. Solar heating warms the martian atmosphere and causes the air to move, lifting dust off the ground.
Because the martian atmosphere is thin--about 1% as dense as Earth's at sea level--only the smallest dust grains hang in the air. "Airborne dust on Mars is about as fine as cigarette smoke," says Bell. These fine grains reflect 20% to 25% of the sunlight that hits them; that's why the clouds look bright. (For comparison, the reflectivity of typical martian terrain is 10% to 15%.)
Sunlight on Mars is about to become unusually intense. The planet goes around the sun in a 9%-elliptical orbit with one end 40 million km closer to the sun than the other. Mars reaches perihelion--its closest approach to the sun--on August 30th. During the weeks around perihelion, sunlight striking Mars will be 20% more intense than the annual average.
"This means the season for dust storms is just beginning," says Bell.
Above: Mars lies in the constellation Aquarius, which is best seen this month during the hours before local sunrise. Northern-hemisphere sky watchers should look south; southern-hemisphere sky watchers should look northeast to find the bright red planet.
A total of four spacecraft from NASA, the European Space Agency and Japan are en route to Mars now. They include three landers and two orbiters. Will dust storms cause problems for those missions?
Probably not. NASA spacecraft have encountered Mars dust before. The Viking landers of 1976, for instance, weathered two big dust storms without being damaged. As far as researchers were concerned, it was a good opportunity to study such storms from the inside--something Mars colonists may do again one day for themselves. Viking data will give them a head start.
Five years earlier, in 1971, the Mariner 9 spacecraft reached Mars during the biggest dust storm ever recorded. The planet was completely obscured; not even the polar caps were visible. Mission controllers simply waited a few weeks for the storm to subside. Then they carried on with Mariner 9's mission: to photograph the entire surface of the planet. It was a complete success.
As 2003 unfolds, Earth and Mars are drawing together for their closest approach in some 60,000 years on August 27th. Already in July Mars is a pleasing sight. Step outside before dawn anytime this month. Mars will be there in the southern sky, a remarkably bright red star. (If you live in the southern hemisphere, look northeast instead.)
Right: John Nemy and Carol Legate took this recent picture of bright Mars and a meteor above their campsite on Blackcomb Mountain, Whistler, British Columbia.
Even a small telescope will reveal the planet's orange disk and its icy south polar cap. And if "seeing is good" you might catch a glimpse of some dust clouds. Swirling, surging, merging with others ... building the next global dust storm? "They're fun to watch," says Parker. Now is a great time to see for yourself.
Posted by Groonk at 03:27 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
Mars: Spacecraft Graveyard
The first of two NASA rovers is safely on its way to Mars, but the most risky part of its seven-month journey to the Red Planet lies ahead, as some humiliating failures have shown all too well.
"Mars tends to eat spacecraft. It's a graveyard," Edward Weiler, NASA associate administrator for space science, said on Wednesday.
Embarrassed by the back-to-back losses of two Mars spacecraft in 1999, NASA has added more backup systems to its new rovers, along with more testing and reviews.
"We have done all we can to correct the errors on the two missions that failed," Weiler said.
NASA launched the robotic explorer Spirit on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The spacecraft still must cross 500 million kilometres of space and safely land on the planet - an endeavour that ended in failure for six of the nine Mars landing missions mounted by the United States and the Russians over the past three decades.
"It looks perfect, seems to be perfect, appears to be perfect, but you don't want to get complacent," said project manager Peter Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. A second rover called Opportunity is scheduled for launch from Florida no earlier than June 25.
The cruise to Mars is expected to be relatively straightforward. The real risks come upon arrival.
The spacecraft carrying the first new rover is expected to enter the Martian atmosphere on January 4 at 12,000 mph (19,310 kph), using atmospheric friction, a parachute, rockets and an airbag to slow down and cushion its landing.
"This is among the most unforgiving endeavors you can take up, because you can do 10,000 things right and just one wrong and that's enough. So I'm never going to say there's no risk," rover flight systems manager Richard Cook said recently.
Software errors doomed the last lander NASA sent to Mars, 1999's Polar Lander; it smashed into the planet. And a mix-up between English and metric units caused the destruction in 1999 of another Mars spacecraft, the Climate Orbiter. It burned up in the Martian atmosphere.
After those two failures, the space agency took a closer look at itself, and found mismanagement, unrealistic expectations and anemic funding underlying the failures. Then-NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, whose mantra was "faster, better, cheaper," took responsibility, saying he had "stretched the system too thin" and may have made some failure inevitable.
This time, the space agency extensively tested both rovers before launch to catch any problems that could jeopardize the missions; several were found, slightly delaying launch. And during the trip to Mars, an independent team will review all navigation-related data. The two rovers, worth a combined $800 million, will drill into the Martian rocks and soil for indirect evidence that the planet was once hospitable to life. Each rover is targeted to land on opposite sides of the planet, in locations that may once have been rich in water.
On the Net: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer
Posted by Groonk at 08:56 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
Nanotechnology may create new organs
Scientists have built a minute, functioning vascular system - the branching network of blood vessels which supply nutrients and oxygen to tissues - in a significant step towards building whole organs.
Conventional tissue engineering methods have successfully grown structural tissues such as skin and cartilage in the lab. But not being able to create the supporting vascular system has proved a major stumbling block preventing scientists from creating large functioning organs such as liver or kidneys.
Now, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School have used computers to design branching networks of venous and arterial capillaries, which start at three millimetres wide and reach a fineness of just 10 microns.
"We used living vessels as a guide to model factors such as the angle and size ratio between branching vessels. But we optimised our design to improve it," said lead researcher Mohammad Kaazempur-Mofrad, from MITs department of mechanical engineering and division of biological engineering.
Pig or rabbit
The networks were etched on to 15 centimetre-wide silicon wafers and the paths were then used as a mould to set a layer of biodegradable polymer. Two of these were then sealed together with a microporous membrane sandwiched between them, producing a mini artificial vascular system.
Endothelial cells - which are flat cells lining the walls of blood vessels in a single layer - were injected into the network on one side of the membrane and either liver or kidney cells were injected on the other side. The endothelial cells coated the inside of the polymer nanotubes. These nanotubes biodegraded to leave a living shell of vessels similar to a natural vascular network. This method would provide an efficient means of supplying the liver or kidney cells with enough oxygen and nutrients to survive.
The one-layer systems of kidney and liver cells were successfully implanted into rats for two weeks 95 per cent of the cells survived.
"The next step is to work on bigger animals, such as a pig or rabbit, using more layers," Kaazempur-Mofrad told New Scientist. "Eventually, we want to be able to replace whole organs with several layers of these constructs. The critical mass for liver is one-third, probably 30 to 50 stacked layers."
"So in the next 10-15 years, we will hopefully have reached a point where we can do this procedure clinically in human patients," Kaazempur-Mofrad added.
The research was presented at the American Society for Microbiology Conference on Bio-, Micro-, and Nanosystems, in New York City on Tuesday.
Gaia Vince
Posted by Groonk at 08:49 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Science, Technology
June 22, 2003
Rover on track
NASA officials said Friday the trajectory correction maneuver worked perfectly. Mission controllers adjusted the spacecraft's velocity relative to the Sun by 51 kilometers per hour, putting it on schedule to land on Mars on January 3, 2004.
The capsule is carrying the Mars rover called "Spirit," which launched on June 10. A second rover, called "Opportunity," is scheduled to launch on June 25 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The twin robots are due to land on opposite sides of the planet in January, and begin sending data back to Earth.
The rovers are on a mission to determine if water remained long enough on Mars to sustain life. Earlier probes have shown water was once present on the planet.
Each Mars rover is about one meter tall, equipped with cameras,