The curiously looping movements of the planets relative to the stars have presented all sorts of puzzles to keen, patient observers of the night sky. In 1601, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) undertook the challenge of deciphering the orbit of Mars and developing a mathematical theory of its motion to fit observations of the planet’s changing position in the sky. In assuming that Earth itself traveled around the sun, Kepler’s immediate hurdle was to find a way to disentangle Mars’ motion from that of Earth. He then faced the daunting task of choosing an appropriate geometry for the two planetary orbits so that a line joining Mars and Earth and projected to the stars would correctly mark the position of Mars relative to the stars as seen from Earth. Remarkably, several centuries earlier in Central America, Mayan astronomers had developed their own model to describe the motion of Mars with uncanny accuracy. Anthropologists Harvey M. Bricker and Victoria R. Bricker of Tulane University in New Orleans and astronomer Anthony F. Aveni of Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., describe the evidence supporting the Mayan model in the Feb. 13 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Go To Mars At Stennishere’s Astro Camp Saturday
The next space mission at StenniSphere’s Astro Camp Saturday will be “Mission to Mars” on March 17. A few spaces still remain for children ages 9-12.
Five Indian Students Among Twelve Selected Globally as Navigators for Mission to Mars ISRO
Five Indian students are among nine students selected from all over the world as `Student Navigators’ for participation in an exploratory mission to the red planet Mars organised by Planetary Society, USA. The students are (figures in bracket indicate the age)
Case For Life On Mars Withstands Criticism, Gains Scientific Support
Researchers who stunned the world in 1996 with the announcement that a Martian meteorite contained evidence of ancient life on the red planet have released new evidence that strengthens their original hypothesis and allays many of the criticisms leveled at the first paper. In this latest paper, published in the scientific journal Precambrian Research Feb. 17, two additional Martian meteorites were examined – Nakhla and Shergotty, 1.3 billion and 165 to 175 million years old, respectively. Both younger meteorites showed the same evidence of microfossils and other remnants of early life as the original meteorite, the 4.5-billion-year-old ALH84001. “If the features observed in the two younger Martian meteorites are confirmed to have a biogenic origin, life may have existed on Mars from 3.9 billion years ago to as recently as 165 to 175 million years ago,” said Everett K. Gibson, a geochemist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston and the senior author on the paper.
School Kids Find Mars Mystery Planetary Society
Last week, the Planetary Society’s Red Rover Goes to Mars Student Scientists made planetary exploration history. They were the first members of the public to direct a camera aboard a spacecraft orbiting another world, the NASA Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). One of the pictures they targeted shows something new about the planet’s surface — a surprising cluster of dark-colored boulders smack dab in the middle of light-colored terrain. How the boulders got there and what geological history they represent on Mars are questions scientists still need to answer.
Mars exhibit awes Florida Today
Learn about Mars and you learn about Earth. So says Dr. Steven Lee, expert on the Red Planet and scientific advisor for MarsQuest, an interactive exhibition on view through May 6 at the Orlando Science Center. “We want to present ‘Mars, the National Park,’ ” Lee said. “We want to take people to a few places on the surface that are a lot like Earth – volcanoes, polar caps, clouds, dry riverbeds. People can relate to that.” The sleek exhibition – with a concept strong on scientific fact, working in concert with solid visual design – provides visitors with astute insights into our solar system’s fourth and third planets. It features 16 interactive displays, five computer stations, two videos, seven scale models and a theater with high-definition video images of Mars.
NASA Wants You … To Identify Martian Craters
If you ever dreamed of doing a little science — maybe classifying some Martian craters — but didn’t think you had the necessary skills, NASA has a program for you. And it just might save you and other U.S. taxpayers a buck or two. An interactive online project called Clickworkers lets volunteers study decades-old pictures of Mars from the Viking spacecraft and pick out some of the thousands of craters that need classifying. It’s the kind of tedium that most scientists might like to rise above. NASA bills the project as an experiment “to see if public volunteers, each working for a few minutes here and there, can do some routine science analysis.”
Volpe appointed manager of Mars subsurface technology
Richard Volpe, former manager of robotic autonomy architecture at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has been named manager of JPL’s Mars Regional Mobility and Subsurface Access Technology office. In this new role, Volpe will oversee and coordinate the technology and development for next-generation Mars surface and subsurface exploration. This will include overseeing demonstrations of future mission concepts.
Secrets of the Martian Noachian Highlands Spaceflight Now
Among the most exciting places that the Mars Global Surveyor’s Mars Orbiter Camera has photographed during its three and a half years in orbit has been this crater in central Noachis Terra.
History, pop culture and science look to Mars Orlando Sentinel
Jupiter has its enormous size, Saturn has its rings and Pluto has its distance from the sun. But when it comes to planetary popularity, perhaps no other planet than Mars has inspired human imagination for so long. As far as historians know, Babylonians were the first to mention the planet, identifying it with the god of conflict and battle. The Egyptians also made references to the planet, as did the Greeks and the Romans. Even in more-scientifically enlightened times, Mars retained a strong allure, thanks in part to humankind’s incessant desire to discover extraterrestrial life in the void of space.