Tag: Mars
-
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.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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,…
-
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.…
-
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,”…
-
Red planet vs. blue planet: Lori Garver looks ahead to Mars and the future of space
Former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver chats with Alan Boyle on stage during the 2015 GeekWire Summit. If we want to send astronauts to Mars, we better find a way to do it within 10 years. And if we want to discover a blue planet around an alien sun, there’s a good chance it could happen within five…
-
Looking for ET in the waters of Mars and Europa
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION India’s Mars Orbiter Mission captured this view of the red planet shortly after it arrived in 2014. Credit: ISRO The discovery of intermittent flows of liquid water on Mars, announced with great fanfare Monday, makes the red planet the leading candidate for the near-term discovery of extraterrestrial life…