With each passing day, those peppy robots on Mars
February 11th, 2005
Earth To Mars in a Month With Painted Solar Sail
Gregory Benford, professor of physics at UC Irvine (and noted science fiction author) believes that a spacecraft powered by a special kind of solar sail could reach Mars in just one month. Dr. Benford and his brother James were testing a very thin carbon-mesh sail, using microwaves as the energy source for propulsion. Unexpectedly, the sail experienced a force considerably greater than predicted. They theorized that the heat from the microwave beam was causing carbon monoxide gas to escape from the sail’s surface; the recoil from the escaping molecules provided what could be a useful adjunct to the propulsive force experienced by light sails.
February 9th, 2005
Director James Cameron Works with NASA on Future Mars Mission
The maker of legendary movies “Titanic,” “Aliens” and “The Terminator” is no longer limiting his zest for extracurricular exploration to the depths of the ocean. Nowadays, James Cameron is spending more of his “spare” time involved in NASA’s bid to send human explorers deeper into the solar system.
February 9th, 2005
A Spiral Stairway to the Moon and Beyond
Replanting boot prints on the Moon. Hurling expeditionary crews to distant and dusty Mars and other destinations. Executing a 21st century outreach campaign to faraway worlds demands a safe, sustainable, and affordable transport vehicle system. In January 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush set NASA in motion to begin developing a new spaceship to carry humans into Earth orbit and beyond. Tagged the Crew Exploration Vehicle, CEV for short, it would be the first piloted vehicle to explore beyond Earth orbit since the space agency
February 8th, 2005
NASA Haughton-Mars Project — Summertime on a ‘Planet’ Close to Home
The NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) is an international field research project centered on the scientific study of a very special island in the Canadian High Arctic, Nunavut Territory. Devon Island is the world
February 7th, 2005
NASA 2006 Budget Presented: Hubble, Nuclear Initiative Suffer
While NASA fared better than many federal agencies in U.S. President George W. Bush’s 2006 budget request, the White House is not seeking as much money for the U.S. space agency as previously planned. The White House is seeking $16.45 billion for NASA in the 2006 budget. That’s an increase of 2.4 percent over what the U.S. space agency has in its 2005 budget, but still about $500 million less than what the agency had been expecting.
February 3rd, 2005
Best Way to Make Mars Habitable: Inject Greenhouse Gas
The best way to make Mars habitable would be to inject synthetic greenhouse gases into its atmosphere, researchers said Thursday. The stuff could be shipped to Mars or manufactured there. Scientists and science-fiction authors have long pondered terraforming Mars, melting the vast stores of ice in its polar caps to create an environment suitable for humans. The topic is highly controversial.
January 31st, 2005
Night-side Glow Detected at Mars
Like Earth and Venus, the night side of Mars emits a subtle glow, scientists reported last week in the journal Science. The night-side air glow at the red planet, elusive until now, was detected by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter. In an interview with Astrobiology Magazine, Jean-Loup Bertaux, principal investigator for the Mars Express SPICAM instrument, explains what lights up the martian evening sky, and why our understanding of that process could aid future missions to Mars.
January 26th, 2005
High-Tech Spacesuits Eyed for
Future explorers on the Moon and Mars could be outfitted in lightweight, high-tech spacesuits that offer far more flexibility than the bulky suits that have been used for spacewalks in the 1960s. Research is under way at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a Bio-Suit System that incorporates a suit designed to augment a person