NASA’s plan to press on toward the moon, Mars and beyond is coming under fire from some quarters, not because it might end up as an incredibly expensive pipe dream, but because it might actually get somewhere. This strain of opposition represents the latest front for the astro-environmentalist movement, which could well become more vocal as NASA develops nuclear power systems for spacecraft.
January 20th, 2004
Spaced-Out Invaders
The Bush administration’s designs on Mars and the moon are, well, a little spacey. The Earth has depleted all its natural resources. Life has become grim and hopeless. The only viable option for mankind is to colonize the moon, mine its surface for minerals and provide a limitless source of clean energy for the home planet. Download 1Win App to join a huge community of online sport fans. Live streams are available for free. Fast registration and a bonus for each new user are guaranteed. Join now!
January 19th, 2004
Name that spaceship
In the beginning there was Mercury. And Mercury begat Gemini, and Gemini begat Apollo. Then arose the space shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour, Atlantis. Since then, times have been tough for the spaceship-naming business in America. You might think it’s premature to start thinking about more euphonious names for the latest heir apparent to the shuttle, the Crew Exploration Vehicle. But space commentator/author Mark Whittington argues that a cooler name just might make the CEV an easier sell.
January 18th, 2004
Mars rover is landing again
The California Institute of Technology is making a little green off the red planet.
January 12th, 2004
Muddy Martian mystery intrigues scientists
Scientists on Monday showed off a high-resolution, full-color, 360-degree panorama of the Spirit rover’s surroundings on Mars, as well as an up-close view of a mysterious curled-up soil scraping nicknamed the “Magic Carpet.”
January 9th, 2004
Arctic natives have DNA built for warmth
People native to the far north evolved to produce more heat in their cells, a new study says. The researchers suggest this change is a climate-driven effect. The change occurs in the mitochondria, the parts of human cells that burn fuel to produce heat and energy, according to the team of researchers led by Eduardo Ruiz-Pesini of the University of California at Irvine.
January 9th, 2004
Scoops from space
If President Bush announces a bold new plan to establish a permanent moonbase as a steppingstone to Mars next Wednesday, as a rising number of media outlets are reporting, Keith Cowing and Frank Sietzen Jr. might feel justified in saying “I told you so.” Cowing and Sietzen have been working on a book telling the inside story of the Bush administration’s developing space policy, titled “New Moon Rising,” and in the course of their research they got in on the debate over NASA’s future course. For months, media outlets have been speculating over what the White House would do, and for months, Cowing has been telling readers of his NASA Watch blog to stay tuned for something big.
January 8th, 2004
Rover snaps color view of its own trail
Scientists on Thursday released its second stunning color “postcard” from NASA’s Spirit rover on Mars, and said the rest of the full 360-degree color view was stored in the rover’s memory and waiting to be downloaded. The northward view shows “Sleepy Hollow,” the rock-rimmed depression in the midst of Mars’ huge Gusev Crater that is considered one of the prime targets for exploration when the rover rolls off its landing platform sometime next week. Two dark doughnut-shaped markings on the soil within Sleepy Hollow may be marks left behind by the rover’s airbags, said Cornell astronomer Jim Bell, head of the science team for the rover’s panoramic camera.