Mars
The Mars Society: Humans to Mars in a decade
A long time ago in the Milky Way Galaxy, Chris McKay, Penelope Boston, and Carol Stoker were on Planet Earth contemplating all things Mars. These three scientists, graduate students at the University of Colorado, decided to form a group called the Mars Underground and hold annual meetings to explore the science behind putting humans on …
Inspiration Mars plans for human slingshot
Mars seems to be the hottest vacation destination for interplanetary travel right now. With many plans floating around to send rovers, orbiters, even human missions to orbit and settle, Mars is a hot topic in space travel discussions right now. Dennis Tito, the first person to travel to space as a tourist with a purchased …
Mars One betting colonizing planet will be great television
Mars One is a non-profit foundation, co-founded by Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders, to establish a human presence on Mars. The prime difference Mars One has over similar peer programs is its unique strategy; this is a one way ticket for a permanent “homesteading” community in an apolitical and international long term plan, thus removing …
Masten’s Xombie rocket tests new precision landing software
A year after NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity’s landed on Mars, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., are testing a sophisticated flight-control algorithm that could allow for even more precise, pinpoint landings of future Martian spacecraft. Flight testing of the new Fuel Optimal Large Divert Guidance (G-FOLD) algorithm for planetary pinpoint landing is being …
Curiosity discovers a habitable environment for life on Mars
As NASA’s Curiosity rover begins her eighth month exploring the Red Planet since the nail-biting touchdown inside Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, she has made the most amazing finding thus far. After analyzing the first powder ever drilled from the interior of a Martian rock, Curiosity discovered key chemical ingredients necessary for life to have thrived on early Mars billions of years ago.
The little rover that could: Opportunity still making discoveries
Today, Opportunity celebrates a truly unfathomable achievement, entering Year 10 on Mars since she rolled to a bumpy stop on January 24, 2004. Now she’s at a super sweet spot for science loaded with clays and veined minerals and making the most remarkable findings yet about the planets watery past – building upon a long string of unthinkable discoveries due to her totally unforeseen longevity.