February is a planet-watcher’s special. Four of the five planets visible to the naked eye are on display, and even Mercury may be spotted if the sky is clear this week. Mars rises after midnight. The red planet appears to be moving eastward from the stars of Libra toward those of Scorpius, which it joins at the end of February. The Earth actually is overtaking Mars in their race around the sun. By summer the distance between the two will shrink from the present 112 million miles to 42 million. Little detail on Mars is visible now, but that will change as the planet nears opposition.
February 4th, 2001
Sand dunes appear as sharks’ teeth in Mars crater Spaceflight Now
Sometimes, pictures received from Mars Global Surveyor’s Mars Orbiter Camera are “just plain pretty.” This image, taken in early September 2000, shows a group of sand dunes at the edge of a much larger field of dark-toned dunes in Proctor Crater.
February 3rd, 2001
Mars expert speaks in Orlando; exhibit opens at Science Center Florida Today
Learn about water on Mars and other aspects of our celestial neighbor’s hostile environment when Dr. Steven Lee speaks today at the Orlando Science Center. Lee is an expert on the planet. He monitors Mars with the Hubble Space Telescope and helped develop the camera system aboard the Mars Climate Orbiter, a spacecraft that was lost before it reached Mars in 1999. He is science adviser for the traveling exhibition, “Mars-Quest,” which opens today at the science center and runs through May 6.
February 3rd, 2001
Take a peek at the Red Planet’s fretted terrain Spaceflight Now
Martian “fretted terrain” occurs in regions of buttes and mesas that stand at the erosional margin where northern low-lying plains meet the higher-standing cratered uplands. Found mostly in the mid-northern latitudes, some of the best examples of fretted terrain occur in Deuteronilus Mensae.
February 2nd, 2001
Loophole lets firm sell real estate on Mars Independent News
A British company that sells plots on the Moon began selling land on Mars and Venus yesterday. MoonEstates Ltd, based in St Austell, Cornwall, has sold more than 75,000 acres of the Moon since September. Sue Williams of MoonEstates Ltd said: “The Moon has been so successful and we had a lot of people say, ‘We have got a bit of Moon and it would be nice to own a bit of somewhere else’.”
February 1st, 2001
A Mars Never Dreamed of National Geographic
As the Mars Global Surveyor beams home unprecedented images, our assumptions about the red planet explode.
January 26th, 2001
Greening of the Red Planet
Although Mars may once have been warm and wet, the Red Planet today is a frozen wasteland. Most scientists agree, it’s highly unlikely that any living creature –even a microbe– could survive for long on the surface of Mars. When the first humans travel there to explore the Red Planet up close, they will have to grow their food in airtight, heated greenhouses. The Martian atmosphere is far too cold and dry for edible plants to grow in the open air. But if humans ever hope to establish long-term colonies on their planetary neighbor, they will no doubt want to find a way to farm outdoors. Imre Friedmann has an idea of how they might take the first step.
January 24th, 2001
High School Students To Plan Community On Mars
While living at Johnson Space Center the weekend of Feb. 2-4, Houston area high school students will use their imagination and knowledge to design complete details of a human settlement on Mars in the year 2045. About 140 students from Houston and Southeast Texas will participate in the Third Annual JSC Mars Settlement Design Competition, a program designed to introduce students to the technical, communication and teamwork skills they will need when they join industry. The Mars Settlement Design Competition is one of the key events of NASA
January 9th, 2001
Nasa seeks crater raters
Nasa is looking for space enthusiasts to help it find and classify craters on Mars. Scientists at the American space agency’s Ames Research Center want to recruit “clickworkers” who are happy to spend time looking through a series of images of the Martian surface and rating the craters they find. Nasa is turning to people to do the job because they tend to be more discriminating than computer software designed for the same task. If the pilot project proves successful, the clickworkers could be asked to help the agency process the huge amounts of data from Nasa’s present and future Martian probes.
January 5th, 2001
Choosing Martian Landing Sites The Planetary Society
In late 2003 and early 2004, the surface of Mars will be invaded by not just one but three mechanical ambassadors from Earth. The Beagle 2 lander, the United Kingdom’s contribution to the European Mars Express mission, is set to land on Mars in December, 2003. NASA’s two spacecraft will follow close behind. Mars Exploration Rover One (MER 1) is scheduled to arrive at the red planet on January 4, 2004. Its twin, MER 2, is scheduled for landing on February 8, 2004. Deciding exactly where these spacecraft will land has provided some interesting challenges.