Using a method never applied to rock from ancient Earth, researchers have found possible signs of biological activity dating back nearly 3.5 billion years, earlier than any other agreed-upon discovery of life on this planet. The primordial life appears to have eaten rocks to survive.
April 15th, 2004
Scientists Hope Bush Space Plan Restores Mars Greenhouse Funds
A couple of leafy, green lettuce plants poke up from the bottom of the coffee-table-size dome. They are just for show, a second sprouting of heads that first grew in this mini-Mars. “Back when we started this, there was no manned mission to Mars at all,” systems engineer Philip Fowler said at the Space Life Sciences Lab. “It didn’t exist. So we had somewhat of a problem in justifying why we were doing this.” He and plant scientist Vadim Rygalov, on loan to KSC from the University of Florida, have worked to discover how plants grow in a low-pressure atmosphere.
April 14th, 2004
Wireless Watchdogs: Intelligent Software for Astronauts and their Robots
Computer software developed in California’s Silicon Valley may prove indispensable to future astronauts tasked with the monumental job of exploring an entire planet. Embedded in a backpack-worn laptop, the smart software responds to voice commands, links astronauts to mission control and their planet-side habitat. It even communicates with any robotic assistants that might be roving nearby. The complete system — autonomous rover included — has already passed an initial shakedown test and is headed out to the Utah desert for another run under research conditions.
April 8th, 2004
Private Spaceship Completes Second Rocket-Powered Test Flight
The privately-backed SpaceShipOne suborbital rocket plane made its second powered flight today.
Built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, California, the piloted vehicle was powered by a hybrid rocket motor to over 105,000 feet. The engine burned for 40 seconds, zipping to Mach 2, or two times the speed of sound, according to a source that witnessed the test flight high above Mojave, California skies.
April 7th, 2004
Modern Mars: Latest Spacecraft Findings Redefine Future Missions
Mars is a wanted world — dead or alive. Scientists find themselves awash in a range of intriguing findings regarding the distinctive landscapes of the red planet. The onslaught of sensor data from trailblazing Mars orbiters — along with the ongoing Spirit and Opportunity rover missions — are setting the stage for more refined inquiries into the planet’s past and its present status.
March 29th, 2004
Scientists Unsure if Methane at Mars Points to Biology or Geology
A trio of research teams independently probing the Martian atmosphere for signs of methane have found it, a combined discovery that opens the door for a host of theories as to how the colorless, odorless gas got there. Among the most tantalizing, if not very likely, of scenarios, scientists say, is the possibility that the Mars methane could be the byproduct of some form of microbial life. But a safer bet, they say, centers on the geology of Mars, including anything from volcanic activity to long-ago impacts of methane-carrying comets.
March 26th, 2004
NASA’s Mars Rovers Perched on Crater Rims, Extended Mission Ahead
NASA’s twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are currently studying the rims of their respective craters in preparation for what mission planners expect to be an extended science run on the red planet.
March 25th, 2004
NASA Needs to Know More About Mars’ Potential Dangers
If humans are to walk across Mars safely, far more data is needed about the hazardous environments of the red planet, aerospace engineers and analysts told a presidential commission Thursday.
For one, toxic materials may exist in the soil. Airborne dust, too, may plague the day-to-day tasks undertaken by an expeditionary crew. Furthermore, little is known about the degree of radiation cascading through the thin martian atmosphere.
March 24th, 2004
Space Entrepreneurs Believe NASA Needs Their Help in Reaching Moon, Mars
NASA must look to private space enterprises for support in future exploration missions, a panel of aerospace professionals and researchers told the President’s Commission for the Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy on Wednesday. In a hearing before the commission tasked with shaping NASA’s exploration aims, space entrepreneurs encouraged commissioners to embrace private access-to-space efforts and contests, such as the $10 million X Prize competition to spur interest in space travel.
March 24th, 2004
Politics of Water: Ancient Sea on Mars Begs Human Exploration
The discovery that a salty sea once covered part of the surface of Mars will have lasting effects on the future exploration of the red planet, according to scientists and policy experts inside and outside NASA. Space agency officials said the briney find by the Opportunity rover has singled out its Meridiani Planum landing site for future robotic exploration and given a timely boost to President George W. Bush’s recently stated vision of eventually sending humans to take a more personal look around.