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)

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)

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)

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)

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.

However, prestin can also work in reverse, producing electrical charges in response to mechanical stresses, such as tiny vibrations. Each protein is only capable of making nanowatts of electricity, but Matthew Silver and Kranthi Vistakula, both of IntAct Labs, believe that many proteins used together may be able to power small devices or help charge a battery.

(via new scientist space)

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)

Gullies in Sirenum Terra, Mars
(image credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona

(via warren ellis)

Viking landers may have found Martian life after all

A 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)