Tag: Mars
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For the first time in 27 years, U.S. produces plutonium-238 to power space missions
By producing 50 grams of plutonium-238, Oak Ridge researchers have demonstrated the ability to resume providing an energy source for deep-space missions. (Credit: ORNL) After a 27-year gap, the U.S. Department of Energy has resumed producing plutonium-238, the radioactive fuel that powers NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars and the New Horizons mission to Pluto and…
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Curiosity rover reaches Martian sand dunes
The rippled surface of the first Martian sand dune ever studied up close fills this Nov. 27, 2015, view of “High Dune” from the Mast Camera on NASA’s Curiosity rover. This site is part of the “Bagnold Dunes” field of active dark dunes along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Curiosity rover…
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ExoMars orbiter and lander on display
The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander were recently presented to the media as they prepare for a tandem launch to the red planet in March. The two spacecraft combined will weigh 4.3 metric tons, or about 9,480 pounds, when fully fueled for liftoff in a 12-day window opening March 14.…
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ExoMars nears launch, thanks to nonstop work in factory
Artist’s concept of Europe’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter at Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Working around the clock to meet a 12-day launch window in March, European engineers are putting the final touches on a Mars orbiter that could shed light on whether tiny microbes or geologic activity still linger on the barren planet. A stationary…
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Mars rover steers toward active sand dunes
The dark band near the top of this Nov. 18 image from Curiosity’s navigation camera is part of the Bagnold Dunes. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The Curiosity rover’s next destination is a moving mound of wind-blown dark sand blanketing the base of Mount Sharp, the focal point of the Mars mission’s research, scientists said this week. It…
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Solar wind blasting away Martian atmosphere
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The solar wind, the million-mile-per-hour stream of charged particles blasted away from the sun, is slowly but surely stripping away Mars’ atmosphere and likely played a major role in turning the red planet from a habitable world in the distant past into the dry, frozen wasteland seen today,…
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Want to be an astronaut? Here’s your chance – NASA says it’s recruiting
NASA says it will take astronaut applications starting next month. (NASA photo) NASA is opening its doors to recruit a fresh batch of astronauts – and by the time the candidates finish training, they just might be able to ride shiny new space taxis into orbit. Today the space agency said it would start taking applications on…
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Oxia Planum tops list of landing sites for ExoMars rover
Artist’s concept of the ExoMars rover. Credit: ESA Scientists have selected Oxia Planum, a shallow basin connected to dried up channels carved by ancient water flows, as the prime landing site for Europe’s first Mars rover set for launch in 2018. Balancing engineering constraints on altitude and slopes with each candidate landing site’s scientific promise,…
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Robotic missions aid in-situ resource identification for human Mars missions
The draw of mounting a human mission to Mars has held the public’s attention since telescopic observations of the red planet began centuries ago. With the recent discovery of current-day saltwater flows on Mars, the notion of usable, in-situ resources for Martian human missions now places greater emphasis on robotic precursor missions in the next decade.…
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Mars orbiter shows why ‘The Martian’ movie trek would be even riskier
A picture from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the area of Acidalia Planitia where the fictional Ares 3 mission landed in “The Martian.” (Credit: NASA / JPL / Univ. of Arizona) Marooned astronaut Mark Watney takes a harrowing trek from Mars’ Acidalia Planitia to Schiaparelli Crater in “The Martian,”…