The 32nd Annual Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference — held in Houston from March 12 through 16 — like all the LPSCs before it, was a major scientific powwow at which scientists from the world over presented hundreds of papers and posters on the geology, meteorology and chemistry of the other worlds and objects in our Solar System, from giant planets down to meteorites. As to be expected a major theme of this year’s LPSC was the ongoing debate as to just how much liquid water Mars had on or near its surface during its earliest days, and how much it has now.
Mars and Mercury dominate May skies
Mercury and Mars dominate the evening sky this month, with Mercury putting on its best display of the year while Mars warms up for its best appearance in a decade. Earth is overtaking Mars in the race around the sun. Mars will appear to move to the east, or retrograde, against the stars, reaching the constellation of Sagittarius on May 11. Mars then resumes its normal, westerly course, ending the month in Scorpius. As the two planets draw closer together, Mars appears bigger and brighter. Mars also is slowly nearing the sun which increases the planet’s brightness.
Book Excerpt — Mars: The Lure of the Red Planet Mercury E-zine
In the early days Mars was a “wandering star,” one of five mystical bodies that followed an invisible path through the heavens in a most puzzling way. About every two years the ruddy “star” would flare into angry brilliance, change direction as it did so, then return on course before fading into safe and distant obscurity.
New Acting Director Appointed for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program
NASA announced today that Mars Program Director, G. Scott Hubbard, has decided to leave that position following a successful year leading the agency’s robotic exploration program. Orlando Figueroa, currently the Deputy Chief Engineer for Systems Engineering at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, was appointed to replace Hubbard as Acting Director, starting May 6. “Scott Hubbard was given ‘mission impossible’ and turned it into ‘mission accomplished,'” said Dr. Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator for Space Science at NASA Headquarters. “When we were hit with the back-to-back loss of two Mars missions, I knew we had to get the best person on the job. Scott did a top-to-bottom reorganization of the program, and earlier this month we had the first launch in the new program, the 2001 Mars Odyssey.”
Runners-up in the space race The Economist
The global space club grows by the day. How do the aims and achievements of the world
Martian chronicles The Economist
The more scientists know about the place, the less they understand it. Will this weekend
Sounds of an alien planet iafrica
In 2007 the French space agency will be launching their Netlander mission, which will take four small spacecraft to Mars, as well as a super-sensitive microphone. For the first time, we will be able to hear the sounds of an alien planet.
Group To Send Microphone to Mars
An international group of space enthusiasts announced Monday a microphone will be sent to Mars in 2007 aboard a French spacecraft, easing the disappointment of a previous U.S. attempt that ended in failure. The Planetary Society said the microphone will be included in the French space agency’s NetLander mission, which will land four small spacecraft on Mars. The nonprofit group had funded a similar attempt once before, but it ended in failure when the microphone and the NASA spacecraft carrying it were lost.
Mars Microphone Has New Ticket To Ride on NetLander Mission Planetary Society
The Planetary Society’s Mars Microphone will hitch a new ride to the Red Planet on board the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) NetLander mission in 2007. CNES is the national space agency of France. NetLander will deploy four landers on the surface of Mars and network them together to study the deep interior, geology and atmosphere of Mars. “We have seen other worlds and even touched them via robotic senses,” said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society, “but the Mars Microphone will offer humanity the first opportunity to listen to the sounds on the surface of an alien world.”
Forgotten Moons: Phobos and Deimos Eat Mars’ Celebrity Dust
With the recent surprise landing of a robotic probe on Asteroid 433 Eros and missions scheduled regularly to focus on Mars, some say it’s time to dust off plans to send a spacecraft to the Red Planet’s two mysterious moons. Phobos and Deimos, shadowed by the Red Planet’s celebrity status, have a spotty history of exploration.