Tag: Mars
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Ars Live: Three space journos pick apart NASA’s Mars plans
I’m incredibly excited, as part of the Ars Live series, to host a conversation with some of the very best space reporters in the business this afternoon, May 29, at 3 pm EDT about the future of NASA and its deep space exploration ambitions. You can watch Ars Live here. Joining me in a virtual…
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The Future of the Starship Program, Block 3 and Mars
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave a talk to employees inside the Starfactory, laying out the future of the Starship Program in terms of hardware and reuse. He also revealed SpaceX’s ambitious plan to colonize Mars over the next decade. Next Generation Starship Block 3 or Next Generation Ship appears to be slated to start with…
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Blue Origin boss: Government should forget launch and focus on “exotic” missions
Eighteen months after leaving his job as a vice president at Amazon to take over as Blue Origin’s chief executive, Dave Limp has some thoughts on how commercial companies and government agencies like NASA should explore the Solar System together. Limp had no background in the space industry before taking the helm of Jeff Bezos’…
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Elon Musk: There is an 80 percent chance Starship’s engine bay issues are solved
On Tuesday afternoon, just a few hours before a launch attempt of the ninth flight test of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, Elon Musk spoke with Ars Technica Senior Space Editor Eric Berger to talk about where his space company goes from here. In recent weeks, Musk has dialed back his focus on politics and said he…
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Tuesday Telescope: Finally, some answers on those Martian streaks
Welcome to the Tuesday Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light—a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We’ll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we’ll take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is…
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Curiosity discovers carbonate mineral, provides insight into disappearance of ancient atmosphere
NASA’s Curiosity rover, which has been driving around the surface of Mars for over 12 years, recently discovered a mineral called siderite on the slopes of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater. Interestingly, siderite might be the mineral that helps planetary scientists finally solve the mystery of where Mars’ carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere went. Solving such a…
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Should we settle Mars, or is it a dumb idea for humans to live off world?
Mars is back on the agenda. During his address to a joint session of Congress in March, President Donald Trump said the United States “will pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.” What does this mean? Manifest destiny is the belief, which…
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Sex in space? Find out how science weighs the pluses and minuses on Valentine’s Day
The effects of the space environment’s reduced gravity on sexual intimacy and reproduction have been debated for decades. (Credit: Catrin1309 / Bigstock) You might think sex in space would be an out-of-this-world experience — but based on the scientific evidence so far, low-gravity intimacy isn’t likely to be as much of a high as it…
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Curiosity spies stunning clouds at twilight on Mars
In the mid- and upper-latitudes on Earth, during the early evening hours, thin and wispy clouds can sometimes be observed in the upper atmosphere. These clouds have an ethereal feel and consist of ice crystals in very high clouds at the edge of space, typically about 75 to 85 km above the surface. The clouds…
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There was a straight shot from Earth to the Moon and Mars last night
I almost missed it. Amid a bout of prime-time doomscrolling, a social media post reminded me there was something worth seeing in the sky. Mars disappeared behind the full Moon for a little more than an hour Monday night, an event visible across most of North America and parts of Africa. So I grabbed my…