Tiny rock-eating microbes could mine precious extraterrestrial resources from Mars and pave the way for the first human colonists, but would take much longer to help transform the red planet via terraforming. One of the most promising planetary colonizers comes in the form of cyanobacteria. The ancient bacteria helped create a habitable Earth with oxygen at least 2.5 billion years ago, and have since colonized practically every possible environment while relying upon photosynthesis to convert sunlight into energy.
Cyanobacteria and other rock-dwelling microbes also have proven that they can survive the hard vacuum of space aboard facilities such as Europe’s BIOPAN exposure platform and the International Space Station’s EXPOSE platform. Only the harsh space radiation in low Earth-orbit presents a life-threatening problem for the hardy organisms.
How Microbes Could Help Colonize Mars Astrobiology Magazine
Arctic Greenhouse May Lead to Farms on Mars CBC
Astronauts visiting Mars in the future may be able to look forward to a fresh salad when they arrive, thanks to Canadian research.
Lettuce, radishes and beets have been planted in a remote Arctic greenhouse, where researchers are learning how to grow crops without human contact in an environment that can’t normally support edible plants.
Alain Berinstain, the Canadian Space Agency scientist in charge of the project, said no other greenhouse is designed to operate autonomously like the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse on Devon Island in Nunavut.
After tackling dead bodies, the afterlife and sex, Mary Roach looks to the cosmos Los Angeles Times
Two years in the making, “Packing for Mars” necessitated visits to aeronautic institutions in various countries, as well as the sipping of her own recycled urine. For research. Asked if it was difficult to get NASA’s American astronauts to confess about vomiting or mid-orbit existential crises, she simply says: “Why do you think I went all the way to Russia?” During her Russian trip, it should be noted, she describes touring a museum dedicated to Soviet rocketry, discusses head lice and takes shots of whiskey with retired cosmonauts. All by 11 a.m., Moscow time.
The strange case of solar flares and radioactive elements Stanford University
When researchers found an unusual linkage between solar flares and the inner life of radioactive elements on Earth, it touched off a scientific detective investigation that could end up protecting the lives of space-walking astronauts and maybe rewriting some of the assumptions of physics. It’s a mystery that presented itself unexpectedly: The radioactive decay of some elements sitting quietly in laboratories on Earth seemed to be influenced by activities inside the sun, 93 million miles away. Is this possible? Researchers from Stanford and Purdue University believe it is. But their explanation of how it happens opens the door to yet another mystery. There is even an outside chance that this unexpected effect is brought about by a previously unknown particle emitted by the sun. “That would be truly remarkable,” said Peter Sturrock, Stanford professor emeritus of applied physics and an expert on the inner workings of the sun.
Give the Wii credit if Russians make it to Mars
There are six men currently living in cramped isolation in Moscow, enjoying and suffering 520 days of isolation as the Russian Space Federation simulates the loneliness of a manned flight to Mars. Good thing these guys have a Wii.
Can they make it through 520 days? And what will happen to them in the process? The Russians are testing and you can read all about it at the fascinating Mars 500 site.
The site has lots of photos of the three Russians, the Italian, French and Chinese men who went into isolation in April and get out in October 2011.
Mars Voyage Muscles: Don’t Like Your Workout? Try it in Space CBSNews
If you thought working out on Earth was tough, try it on Mars.
Turns out astronauts on a Mars mission might lose about 40 percent of their muscle strength during the long voyage, leaving them as weak as 80-year-olds, according to a study published in the Journal of Physiology.
That could make it hard to perform even simple tasks, let alone move around on the Martian surface in bulky spacesuits, MSNBC reports.
And forget about palates or spin class.
Returning to Earth could be even more perilous, as the astronauts might be too weak to evacuate their spacecraft in the event of an emergency.
“Muscle wasting is a real concern,” study author Robert Fitts of Marquette University in Milwaukee, told USA Today. “Mars is a three-year trip.”
Astronaut Muscles Waste In Space Marquette University
Astronaut muscles waste away on long space flights and their ability to do physical work is reduced by more than 40% according to research by Marquette University professor Robert Fitts.
This is the equivalent of a 30- to 50-year-old crew member’s muscles deteriorating to that of an 80-year-old. The destructive effects of extended weightlessness to skeletal muscle – despite in-flight exercise – pose a significant safety risk for future manned missions to Mars and elsewhere in the Universe.
The study was recently published online by The Journal of Physiology and will be in the September printed issue. It comes at a time of renewed interest in Mars and increased evidence of early life on the planet. NASA currently estimates it would take a crew 10 months to reach Mars, with a 1 year stay, or a total mission of approximately 3 years.
How To Drive On Mars Jalopnik
In “Packing for Mars,” author Mary Roach details the strange science of putting humans in space. In this exclusive excerpt she details how we’re practicing for driving on Mars in a remote and barren wasteland here on Earth. — Ed.
Once upon a time, astronauts tooled around the moon in an open two-seat electric buggy. It was the sort of thing one might see on a golf course or at one of those big Miami delis whose elderly patrons appreciate a lift to and from the parking lot. It gave lunar exploration in the seventies a relaxed, retirement-community feel. That’s gone now. NASA’s new rover prototypes more resemble a futuristic camper van. The entire cab is pressurized, which is good, because that means the astronauts can take off their bulky, uncomfortable white bubble-head EVA suits. The NASA shorthand for a pressurized interior is “a shirtsleeve environment,” which makes me picture astronauts in polo shirts and no pants. If NASA ever builds an outpost on the moon,* astronauts will be undertaking rover traverses of unprecedented length and complexity. Teams of explorers will head out in two vehicles that rendezvous daily, finally returning to the base after two weeks on the roll. The new rovers sleep two and are equipped with a food warmer, a toilet with “privacy curtain,” and cup holders (two).
All the Right Stuff and the Gross Stuff The New York Times
In conducting research into the physiology of astronauts in space, Mary Roach found out that one man on a Space Shuttle flight wore a sound monitor on his belly for the duration of his voyage. It is Ms. Roach’s style to be less interested in the belly-noise findings than in the freaky-deaky part of the story. “Don’t feel bad for him,” she writes in “Packing for Mars” about that awkwardly wired astronaut. “Feel bad for the Air Force security guy assigned to listen to two weeks of bowel sounds to be sure no conversations including classified information had been inadvertently recorded.” Ms. Roach has already written zealously nosy books about corpses (“Stiff”), copulation (“Bonk”) and charlatans (“Spook”). Each time, what has interested her most is the fringe material: exotic footnotes, smart one-liners, bizarre quasi-scientific phenomena. Yet her fluffily lightweight style is at its most substantial — and most hilarious — in the zero-gravity realm that “Packing for Mars” explores. Here’s why: The topic of astronauts’ bodily functions provides as good an excuse to ask rude questions as you’ll find on this planet or any other.
Life On Mars: The space-suit that’s being tested in a most unlikely spot The Daily Mail
A manned mission to Mars may still be more science fiction than science fact, but that hasn’t stopped a team of scientists from developing the perfect space suit for the first astronauts to set for on the Red Planet’s dusty surface.
Martian temperatures can plummet to 113 degrees below freezing, so the first men (or women) on Mars will need to wrap up warm.
The Austrian Airspace Forum, who are developing the suit, luckily have a suitably frosty testing environment right on their doorstep: ice tunnels beneath the Kaunertaler Glacier.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1300516/Life-On-Mars-The-space-suit-thats-tested-unlikely-spot.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0vnW0ORkQ