Tag: Mars
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Make-believe Mars: Get a 360-degree view of the testbed for NASA’s InSight lander
Engineers test a replica of NASA’s InSight lander as it lifts a wind shield with its robotic arm, under Mars-style illumination in a testbed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (NASA / JPL via YouTube) When NASA’s InSight lander touches down on Mars in November, its handlers already will have had lots of practice operating its…
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Europe’s ExoMars orbiter nears start of methane-sniffing science mission
Artist’s concept of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter during aerobraking at Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Nearly a year-and-a-half after arriving at the red planet, Europe’s ExoMars orbiter is finally approaching a planned perch around 250 miles over the rust-colored world after repeatedly dipping into the Martian atmosphere to lower its orbit. The end of a…
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Year In Review, 2017 (Part II): Rovers, orbiters peel away Mars’ secrets & reveal new mysteries
For solar and space weather science, 2017 was a major boon to understanding how Coronal Mass Ejections form, travel through space, and affect Earth. But Earth wasn’t the only planet this year that gave scientists a front row seat to solar storms. Thanks to the fleet of orbiters and rovers at Mars, the Red Planet…
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A car for Mars: Elon Musk shows Tesla Roadster revving up for Falcon Heavy liftoff
Elon Musk’s red Tesla Roadster is nestled within the payload shroud for a Falcon Heavy rocket. (Elon Musk via Instagram) After a flurry of speculation, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is showing off his midnight cherry-red Tesla Roadster sports car as it’s being prepared for its ride atop a Falcon Heavy rocket. Liftoff from Launch Complex…
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Moon, Mars and jobs: Trump puts his spin on space policy, with details to come
Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt gives an astronaut figurine to President Donald Trump after the signing of Space Policy Directive 1. Among the onlookers at far right are Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who holds the U.S. record for cumulative time spent in space. A sample of lunar rock collected…
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Yes, Elon Musk will launch Tesla Roadster to Mars orbit on SpaceX Falcon Heavy
An artist’s conception shows the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. (SpaceX via YouTube) Update: After a bit of back and forth, SpaceX is confirming that the Roadster to Mars is a real payload, and that it intends to comply with all launch licensing regulations. Previously: Billionaire CEO Elon Musk tweeted out the idea of putting a cherry-red…
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Elon Musk says SpaceX will try to launch his Tesla Roadster on new heavy-lift rocket
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Dec. 2 with further confirmation, and details about the Roadster’s target orbit. The interstage of SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket pictured inside the company’s factory last year in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX. SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk tweeted Friday that his red Tesla Roadster will head for deep space on…
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Scientists suggest streaks on Martian hillsides are dry flows
This inner slope of a Martian crater has several of the seasonal dark streaks called “recurrent slope lineae,” or RSL, that a November 2017 report interprets as granular flows, rather than darkening due to flowing water. The image is from the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA/USGS Intermittent flows that appear on…
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Mars InSight mission passes TVAC testing ahead of 2018 launch
NASA’s “Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight)” mission has received another boost ahead of launch, as the spacecraft passed its Thermal vacuum (TVAC) milestone in Colorado. The mission remains on track for May of next year, which will involve the first interplanetary launch from the West Coast. InSight Mission: The latest battery…
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NASA confirms contribution to Japanese-led Mars mission
Artist’s concept of the MMX spacecraft at Phobos. Credit: JAXA/NASA NASA announced Thursday it will fund development of a scientific instrument that will fly on Japan’s Martian Moons Exploration mission, a robotic probe set for launch in 2024 to bring back the first samples from Mars’ largest moon Phobos. A neutron and gamma-ray spectrograph developed…