Giant ice towers that formed next to steaming volcanic vents in the freezing atmosphere of Mars may be the best place to look for life on the red planet, an Australian geologist said on Monday. Nick Hoffman of the University of Melbourne said the latest images taken by the Mars Odyssey orbiter had revealed curious hotspots in the Hellas Basin that could be similar to ice towers in Antarctica, where microbial life forms live on chemical energy.
June 6th, 2003
Martian Jetlag? NASA Set for Next Mars Mission
No human has yet set foot on Mars, but at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, dozens of NASA’s top planetary scientists are bracing for their first case of “Martian jetlag.” One problem for the scientists back on Earth is that a Martian day is 24 hours and 39.5 minutes long. Since the rovers run on solar power, they will wake up each day with the sunrise. The humans will work on the rover schedule.
April 16th, 2003
Terrestrial ‘Astronauts’ Have Wobbly Landing
The idea of a manned mission to Mars took a wobbly step forward in Berlin this week with the completion of a study into how muscle and bone wastage can be avoided during long periods of immobility. Four men in their late 20s and early 30s who spent eight weeks in bed — with strict instructions not to get up even for a moment — were finally allowed to stand up.
December 5th, 2002
Mars May Not Have Been Warm Or Wet
Mars might not have been a warm, wet, and hospitable planet that somehow lost its atmosphere, scientists said yesterday, instead suggesting it was occasionally bombarded by melting meteorites that carved out its distinctive craters and valleys.
November 28th, 2002
Damien Hirst spot painting destined for Mars
Briton Damien Hirst, famed for pickling dead animals in formaldehyde, is hoping to boldly go where no artist has gone before after unveiling a tiny painting to be carried to Mars. The spot painting, which doubles as an instrument calibration chart, will be carried on the Beagle 2 spacecraft, which is scheduled to fly to Mars by December 2003.
November 13th, 2002
New fabric touted as radiation-proof
Scientists have created what is claimed to be the world’s first radiation-proof fabric which provides as much protection as a lead vest but at a fraction of the weight. Instead of heavy metals to block radiation and X-rays, the new fabric called Demron is non toxic, lead-free and fused between two layers of woven fabric.
September 18th, 2002
Heat-To-Electricity Device Could Help Third World
Scientists looking for a way to provide cheap electricity for people in some of the poorest parts of the world have found a way of running a light bulb off a wood-burning stove. Working with Rida Nuwayhid at the American University in Beirut, Mike Rowe and Gao Min at Cardiff University in Wales have developed a thermocouple device that converts some of the otherwise wasted heat from the stove into a weak electric current.
August 15th, 2002
Sad in Space: Doctors Tackle Astronaut Depression
German doctors are working on ways to help astronauts avoid the dangers of depression and boredom, which they say will be a key issue for long space missions like the one planned to Mars. Depression can demotivate astronauts and affect their ability to concentrate. Although astronauts are carefully screened for psychological well-being, the extreme pressures of space travel means depression can take hold, according to Dr. Klaus Legner, from the European Space Agency (ESA) Medical Support Office. The psychological pressure on crews, including long periods of isolation, could manifest themselves as anything from loneliness to arguments caused by enforced habitation of a small space with others, he said.
May 31st, 2002
UK Scientists Recreate Martian Environment
British researchers have recreated the hostile Martian atmosphere in a box the size of a desktop computer, in order to help test equipment for an upcoming mission to the red planet. Scientists from Leicester University have reproduced the low temperature, pressure, and unbreathable atmosphere found on the planet to put the Beagle 2 landing craft through its paces before it leaves to search for signs of life on Mars next May. “We are emulating the environmental conditions on Mars,” Derek Pullan, Instrument Manager for the Beagle 2 project, told Reuters on Thursday. “It is important to test the instruments and see if they can accurately function on the surface.”
May 30th, 2002
Mars Ice Report Does Not Mean Human Mission Near
This week’s report of buried oceans of ice on Mars may spur dreams of human missions to the Red Planet, but nobody is likely to go for 20 years or more, and one expert thinks it would be a bad idea even then. However, such opposition — and the lack of any U.S. commitment to conduct a human mission to Mars — has not stopped NASA from developing a detailed scenario. The scenario, available online at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mars/marslaun.html, is based on the most optimistic guesses about how such a mission could take place and foresees the launch of the first crew in November 2009. The astronomer who oversees the site, David Williams, said the scenario is based on a 1997 report that presumed work toward a Mars mission would start that year. It did not, so any estimates would have to be pushed back by five years at least.