Tag: Mars
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SpaceX’s Elon Musk announces vision for colonizing Mars
Elon Musk presents his Mars colonization vision at the International Astronautical Congress on Tuesday in Guadalajara, Mexico. Credit: Tim Dodd/Spaceflight Now/www.timdoddphotography.com SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk on Tuesday outlined an ambition to send humans to Mars with methane-fueled reusable spaceships and the largest rocket ever built, an effort he said will likely require government support…
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SpaceX’s Elon Musk tweets sneak peeks at interplanetary transport system for Mars
SpaceX’s Raptor rocket engine undergoes its first test firing. (Credit: Elon Musk via Twitter) GUADALAJARA, Mexico – In advance of this week’s big reveal, SpaceX’s billionaire founder, Elon Musk, is dropping hints about the scale of his plans to send colonists to Mars. Musk is scheduled to talk about what used to be known as the…
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NASA to have limited role in SpaceX’s planned Mars campaign
Artist’s concept of a Dragon spacecraft at Mars. Credit: SpaceX Expertise, input and advice from seasoned NASA engineers will improve SpaceX’s chances of nailing the first commercial landing on Mars as soon as late 2018, a senior space agency official said Wednesday, but Elon Musk’s space transport company will likely seek more independence from U.S.…
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NASA to have limited role in SpaceX’s planned Mars campaign
Artist’s concept of a Dragon spacecraft at Mars. Credit: SpaceX Expertise, input and advice from seasoned NASA engineers will improve SpaceX’s chances of nailing the first commercial landing on Mars as soon as late 2018, a senior space agency official said Wednesday, but Elon Musk’s space transport company will likely seek more independence from U.S.…
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NASA official says new mission selections on track despite InSight woes
Artist’s concept of the InSight lander on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A $150 million cost overrun and two-year launch delay for NASA’s InSight Mars mission could mean fewer opportunities for new planetary science missions in the next few years, but the head of the agency’s science division said this week NASA will still approve development of…
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NASA gives go-ahead to fix Mars InSight lander’s flaw and launch it in 2018
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s InSight lander on Mars. The SEIS instrument is in the chamber shown to the left of the lander platform. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech) NASA has approved plans to fix a flaw on its InSight lander in time for a launch to Mars in 2018. The flaw involves a leak in a…
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365-day isolation crew in Hawaii says a trip to Mars is doable – but bring the ukulele
Andrzej Stewart, chief engineering officer for the HI-SEAS simulation, looks around after emerging from a habitat in Hawaii. Other crew members celebrate in the background. (Credit: Univ. of Hawaii) After spending 365 days cooped up in a habitat and mock spacesuits in Hawaii, six volunteers say astronauts can cope with an even longer, real-life mission to…
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Carbon fiber report whips up interest in SpaceX’s plans for a colony on Mars
An artist’s conception shows a Falcon Heavy rocket lifting off for Mars. (Credit: SpaceX) Is SpaceX planning to buy billions of dollars’ worth of carbon fiber for future Mars-bound spaceships? The answer’s up in the air, but a report to that effect from Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review has set SpaceX’s fans abuzz. The report claims…
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NASA spells out support for SpaceX’s Red Dragon Mars mission
Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s Red Dragon spacecraft entering the Martian atmosphere. Credit: SpaceX If SpaceX is able to dispatch a robotic Dragon capsule to land on the red planet in 2018 on time and successfully, engineers stand to get a lesson on what it will take to eventually send humans there, capturing key data on…
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‘Mars’ trailer features Elon Musk, Neil Tyson and Red Planet explorers from 2033
An astronaut surveys a Martian landscape in a scene from “Mars,” a National Geographic Channel miniseries due to air in November. (Credit: National Geographic / Imagine / RadicalMedia) National Geographic Channel’s “Mars” miniseries blends a fictional tale about Mars colonists in 2033 with modern-day musings about Red Planet missions – and so does today’s trailer for the…