Tag: Mars
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‘Life’ horror movie sparks reality check on procedures for studying Mars samples
Rebecca Ferguson plays Miranda North, a planetary protection officer aboard the International Space Station, in the movie “Life.” (Sony Pictures Digital Productions) Spoiler Alert! This article doesn’t reveal any major plot twists, but wait to read it if you’re trying to stay totally in the dark about the plot of the movie “Life.” Let sleeping…
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Trump signs NASA authorization act, Pence to chair National Space Council
President Trump signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 on Tuesday, surrounded by members of Congress and astronauts. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls President Donald Trump signed a new NASA authorization bill Tuesday, the first such space policy framework since early in the Obama administration, that largely continues the space agency’s efforts to foster a commercial…
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SpaceX’s Elon Musk isn’t smiling over NASA authorization for Mars missions
Elon Musk has his sights set on going to Mars. (SpaceX via YouTube) President Donald Trump may be beaming over a newly signed law that calls on NASA to look into sending astronauts to Mars by 2033, but not Elon Musk. SpaceX’s billionaire CEO is aiming to put his fortune behind a push to send up to…
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Arcadia on the map: For future Mars landing sites, SpaceX thinks ice is nice
SpaceX’s current favorite place to land on Mars is reportedly Arcadia Planitia, which combines flat terrain, potential deposits of water ice and an equatorial region well-suited for solar power. According to Space News, that’s the word from SpaceX’s Paul Wooster, who’s working with NASA to identify potential landing sites for the privately held company’s Red Dragon…
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Europe’s ExoMars spacecraft begins lowering its orbit
Artist’s concept of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a Russian-launched, European-built spacecraft that arrived at Mars in October, is starting to dip into the upper reaches of the red planet’s atmosphere in a year-long “aerobraking” campaign place the observatory in the right position to hunt for methane,…
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Trump budget blueprint focuses on deep space exploration, commercial partnerships
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission grabbing a piece of an asteroid, a project due for cancellation under President Trump’s budget proposal. Credit: NASA The Trump administration is proposing $19.1 billion for NASA in its fiscal 2018 budget blueprint, a 0.8 percent decrease from 2017 funding levels,…
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NASA spacecraft steers clear of Martian moon Phobos
ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft took this image of Phobos backdropped by the limb of Mars. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum) NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft in orbit around Mars maneuvered out of the path of Phobos earlier this week after navigators predicted the spacecraft could run into the Martian moon in the near future, highlighting the challenge…
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Scientists narrow list of landing sites for NASA’s next Mars rover
The delta inside Jezero Crater offers one of the best locations on Mars to look for the remains of ancient microbes, according to scientists. Jezero Crater received the most votes during a ranking of potential destinations for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover last week. This image combines information from two instruments on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:…
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Return engagement? NASA picks its three favorite landing spots for 2020 Mars rover
An artist’s conception shows the 2020 Mars rover with its robotic arm extended. (NASA / JPL Graphic) NASA has whittled down its choices for its next Mars landing site to three spots, including the hills where the space agency’s Spirit rover roamed a decade ago. The Columbia Hills are among the three finalists because the…
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Volunteer crew begins an eight-month mission on Hawaii’s make-believe Mars
The terrain surrounding the HI-SEAS habitat on Mauna Loa looks like Mars. (Univ. of Hawaii Photo) Six volunteers – including two with connections to Washington state – have begun eight months of being cooped up in a Hawaii habitat that’s meant to simulate life on Mars. The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation project, known as HI-SEAS, is…