Tag: Mars
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NASA’s Curiosity rover fleshes out geological picture of Mars’ past habitability
This schematic illustrates how the creation and disappearance of a Martian lake created different layers of rock in the region being explored by NASA’s Curiosity rover. (NASA / JPL Graphic) Scientists say they’re putting together the puzzle pieces provided by NASA’s Curiosity rover to get a better picture of how the outlook for habitability on…
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Mars One says its first crew won’t land on Red Planet until 2032 – but will they ever?
Mars One envisions creating a permanent settlement on Mars, as shown in this artist’s conception. (Mars One Illustration) Remember Mars One? Four years ago, a Dutch-based venture said it would take advantage of reality-show revenue to send crews on the Red Planet in 2023. Now the date is 2032 – but it remains to be seen…
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Europe’s new Mars orbiter gives first taste of science data
The first ExoMars stereo reconstruction of a small area in a region called Noctis Labyrinthus. The image gives an altitude map of the region with a resolution of less than 20 meters (66 feet). The images used to make the 3D profile were taken on Nov. 22, 2016, and are among the first to be…
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How to get water on Mars? UW researchers are working on a way to cook it out of soil
This vertically exaggerated view shows scalloped depressions in a part of Mars where such textures prompted researchers to check for buried ice, using ground-penetrating radar. They found about as much frozen water as the volume of Lake Superior. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / Univ. of Arizona Photo) Scientists say there’s enough water in just one region of…
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ESA says doomed Mars lander succumbed to bad altitude reading
Artist’s concept of the Schiaparelli lander inside its scorched heat shield. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab One second of faulty data led to the destruction of a European spacecraft on final descent to Mars last month, officials said Wednesday. An unexplained error in the Schiaparelli lander’s Inertial Measurement Unit, or IMU, fed incorrect data into the craft’s…
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You’ll get a howl out of this: Supermoon turns Buzz Aldrin into American Werewolf
This week’s supermoon has been pretty much clouded out in Seattle, but it appears to have had an effect on Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin. In a Twitter update, the 86-year-old space icon mugged for the camera, werewolf-style, and said it took all his willpower to stop from howling. Took all my will power yesterday…
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NASA keeping human spaceflight options open as Trump presidency looms
Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft during a lunar flyby maneuver on its planned unpiloted test flight in 2018. Credit: NASA NASA is taking steps to rein in costs, emphasizing bonds with private sector companies, and signaling it might be open to a future where the agency’s flagship Orion deep space capsule and Space Launch…
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Here’s what Donald Trump, NASA and SpaceX need to do to get us to Mars
The crew of the fictional Daedalus spaceship touches down on the Red Planet in “Mars,” a miniseries making its debut on the National Geographic Channel. (Credit: National Geographic Channels) The “Mars” miniseries premiering on the National Geographic Channel is only the latest in a decades-long string of media projects laying out a vision for settling…
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Mars orbital image shows Schiaparelli lander’s crash site in inglorious color
Blackened streaks and bright bits of debris can be seen in this image of the crash zone for the European Space Agency’s Schiaparelli lander. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona) High-resolution color images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show the spot where the European Space Agency’s Schiaparelli lander crashed – in black and white and…
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Museum of Flight lets you walk on Mars in virtual reality for SpaceFest
Aerospace and science editor Alan Boyle, explores NASA’s Curiosity rover and its surroundings on Mars in virtual reality at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. (GeekWire photo by Kevin Lisota) I’ve been to Mars to kick the tires on NASA’s Curiosity rover – and you can take that trip as well. Not in reality, of course, but in…