The twin rovers that will launch from Cape Canaveral next summer and ramble across Mars in early 2004 are yet to be named. Right now, they’re known by the droll monikers “Mars Exploration Rovers” — or MER-A and MER-B. There’s still time to fix that, and NASA is collaborating with the Planetary Society and LEGO Co. to get schoolchildren involved in a contest to name the two robotic explorers.
October 30th, 2002
NASA deputy chief shares goals for future Florida Today
NASA will send humans beyond the International Space Station in this generation, NASA Deputy Administrator Fred Gregory said Tuesday night. “We’re leaving low-Earth orbit, and we’re going to do it as soon as we can,” Gregory said, marking a bold move for this administration. Both the space shuttle and station fly in low-Earth orbit, about 240 miles above Earth’s surface. Gregory spoke at the 7th Cape Canaveral Spaceport Symposium at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral. “We’re going to move out of the stodgy old NASA, and we’re going to move into the future,” Gregory said. “And were going to do it when all of us are still alive.”
September 11th, 2002
Space Coast could be hub of research for next launch technology: magnetic levitation Florida Today
The Space Coast holds the key to what may be the future of launch technology, as researchers collaborate to perfect magnetic levitation. Hector Gutierrez of Florida Tech sends a magnetic levitation car zooming down a laboratory track. It sounds like science fiction: Using magnetic forces, a spacecraft hovers above a miles-long track as it slams forward at astounding speeds before shooting off into space.
July 24th, 2002
Report: Map path to Mars on Alpha Florida Today
When a high-profile task force sent NASA brass its recommendations this month for prioritizing space station science, the word Mars was nowhere to be found. Yet in its ranking of broadly defined scientific disciplines, a theme emerged that bodes well for a Mars trip because the task force gave top priority to science that enhances NASA’s ability to launch ships and people farther into deep space. Mars is the deep space target most talked about since the last moon landing 30 years ago, and going there is among the reasons given for building space stations in the first place.
May 16th, 2002
Texas lawmakers want space agency to reach for Mars Florida Today
A handful of Texas lawmakers want NASA to return to the moon and build an outpost on Mars even though the nation’s civilian space agency is struggling to complete the $60 billion International Space Station. The agency is adrift and needs to set far-reaching goals, said Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, who is a senior member of the House Science Committee that has jurisdiction of National Aeronautics and Space Administration policy. Lampson’s legislation, which faces an uncertain future, would put the agency on a trajectory to build a reusable space vehicle capable of transporting astronauts to the moon and back within eight years and to Mars within 20 years.
March 27th, 2002
Scientists outlining priorities for NASA Florida Today
Right now, scientists are pounding out a plan for what could be the path to explore the solar system for the next 10 years. For the past year, scientists from across the country have been meeting, gathering data and creating a priority list for missions to other planets. They will present their findings of the Solar System Exploration Survey to NASA in May. In the past, NASA has decided its own priorities for planetary missions. However, in January 2001, NASA’s associate administrator for space science Ed Weiler requested the National Academies undertake a survey. All of the major meetings have ended. “The academy is famous for not leaking things,” Weiler said.
February 18th, 2002
Probe sees hydrogen in peek at Mars Florida Today
NASA took the Mars Odyssey spacecraft for a test run Monday for five orbits’ worth of science measurements. So far, results indicate hydrogen in the surface of the Martian southern hemisphere. Click for a larger graphic showing how a virtual shovel digs for elements on Mars. “It’s beautiful,” said William Feldman, a scientist with Los Alamos National Laboratory who operates the neutron spectrometer instrument on Odyssey. “Everything is very preliminary because we don’t have enough to make a map yet.” A full map of Mars’ surface elements will take about a week.
February 11th, 2002
NASA seeks to develop nuclear propulsion Florida Today
NASA wants to develop nuclear technology for its future spacecraft. The Viking landers on Mars, Voyager missions beyond the solar system and the lunar Apollo missions all used nuclear energy to provide electricity to their spacecraft. But using nuclear energy to propel a probe through space, that’s new. Nuclear power offers unprecedented flexibility for space travel, potentially allowing for continuous propulsion and electrical power. It also increases longevity, while making space travel faster. “For a small increase in price, we get an immense increase in science,” NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science Ed Weiler said.
November 20th, 2001
Researchers question purported evidence of life in Mars meteorite Florida Today
A group of researchers say NASA scientists have failed to prove their contention that a Mars meteorite contains evidence of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. A group led by Peter Buseck of Arizona State University said the NASA researchers have inadequate evidence showing that tiny crystalline structures in Mars meteorite ALH84001 were formed by bacteria billions of years ago as the rock was sitting on the Martian surface. A study with Buseck as the first author appears today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
November 18th, 2001
Funding shortfall will delay Mars, other missions Florida Today
NASA will delay deep-space missions and slash other program spending to offset a $500 million shortfall over five years caused by problems with a once-heralded contract to combine and privatize space operations. The contract combines all data collection and communications that support satellites, probes to other planets and human spaceflight. Written in 1998, the Consolidated Space Operations Contract was supposed to save NASA $1.4 billion over 10 years. But the projected savings were based on poor assumptions and overly ambitious plans, NASA managers now acknowledge. The savings didn’t materialize. Making matters worse, NASA leaders spent money they thought they had saved on satellites that added to the contract’s cost. As a result, all missions to Mars scheduled after 2007 may be pushed back.