Not so long ago it was unthinkable for respectable scientists to talk about life on Mars. Such talk was best left to X-Files fans. But no longer. Evidence is building to suggest biological processes might be operating on the red planet, and life on Mars, many scientists believe, is now more a likelihood than merely a possibility. “The life on Mars issue has recently undergone a paradigm shift,” said Ian Wright, an astrobiologist at the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at the Open University in Britain, “to the extent now that one can talk about the possibility of present life on Mars without risking scientific suicide.” Much of the excitement is due to the work of Vittorio Formisano, head of research at Italy’s Institute of Physics and Interplanetary Space.
Games Join Space Race Wired
If NASA is ever able to put a man on the moon again, or on Mars, it’s very likely that the agency will owe a bit of thanks to a small Maryland video-game developer. In recent months, Vision Videogames has been putting the finishing touches on SpaceStationSim, a game timed for publication when the next space shuttle launches, supposedly this spring. As its title suggests, the game lets players pretend they’re astronauts on the International Space Station in a 3-D, simulated environment. But pure fantasy this is not. In fact, Vision Videogames designed the game using technical specifications from NASA as part of a Space Act agreement. And now the company is under contract to play a crucial role in the development of the crew exploration vehicles, or CEVs, that could someday prowl around the moon or Mars.
Let a Thousand Reactors Bloom Wired
Explosive growth has made the People’s Republic of China the most power-hungry nation on earth. Get ready for the mass-produced, meltdown-proof future of nuclear energy.
Builders in a Strange Land Wired
If you have the heart of a homesteader and can endure a seven-month journey inside a container the size of a minivan, perhaps you will be among the first settlers of one of humanity’s next frontiers: Mars. You may even find a comfy home — made with locally produced red brick, metal and fiberglass — waiting for you on the red planet, thanks to scientists and engineers, many of them from MIT, who are looking into the challenges of building homes on Mars. But Martian settlers will not want to live stuffed inside small, sterile-looking modular outposts for very long periods, said Mark Homnick, co-founder of the recently formed group at MIT, the Mars Homestead Project.
Mars Theory Not Just Hot Air Wired
Astronomers have detected hydrogen peroxide, or H2O2, in the atmosphere of Mars, proving a 30-year-old theory about the planet’s atmospheric chemistry. It’s the first time a chemical catalyst of this sort has been found in a planetary atmosphere other than the Earth’s, said Douglas Pierce-Price at the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hawaii, where the observation was made.
Mars on Earth Wired
A saddleback ridge and two gentle peaks the color of rust rise from a rough, rock-strewn plain. The soil is a powder dotted with gray and salmon pebbles. Every footfall raises tiny puffs of dust and leaves a sharp-edged track. The piercing blue sky extends in an unbroken arc; the wind howls and tastes of salt. Everywhere I look is utter desolation, without a trace of any living thing – just stone, sand, and sky. It could be a picture from Spirit, Pathfinder, or Viking. It could be Mars. Indeed, that’s why a couple dozen scientists are now scattered across the hillside.