Far from discovering life on Mars, Nasa may have put it there. The American space agency believes the two rover spacecraft scuttling across the red planet are carrying bacteria from Earth, writes John Harlow. The bacteria, bacillus safensis, were found in a chamber in California that had been used to test the rovers. Officials believe it is likely some of the microbes, possibly from scientists
November 25th, 2001
Space suit will protect elderly from injuries The Sunday Times
Scientists are developing a lightweight
May 27th, 2001
Wells’s Martians start legal war The Sunday Times
The War of the Worlds, HG Wells’s epic tale of monstrous invaders from the red planet Mars, is to be restaged in a project that has triggered a parallel conflict in the equally hostile environment of an American courtroom. Lawyers are lining up to protect their clients’ share of a
October 15th, 2000
Stand by for e-mails from men on Mars The Sunday Times
MARS could soon be buzzing with its own internet. Nasa, the American space agency, wants to girdle the silent red planet with powerful satellites to help astronauts communicate with each other and with Earth. Starting next year the agency aims to launch a series of spacecraft that will form the building blocks of the new system. If Nasa succeeds in establishing a network of manned bases on Mars – perhaps as early as 2014 – the inhabitants should be able to send and receive e-mails. Plans are due to be announced in the next few months.
July 9th, 2000
Briton prepares for life on Mars The Sunday Times
Eight years ago Charles Cockell won just 91 votes when he stood for parliament on a platform that promoted the colonisation of Mars. The British biologist hopes to gain more solid support for his dream later this month when he joins the first simulation of a human mission to the red planet. Cockell, 33, and scientists from Nasa, the American space agency, are among a team of explorers who will spend a fortnight living in near-Martian conditions during an expedition to Devon Island, a frozen wasteland of the Canadian Arctic.