Tag: Mars
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Boeing outlines technology for crewed Mars missions
With a focus on building the archetypal missions for NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket, the U.S.-based Boeing Corporation has outlined their view of what technologies can be used to accomplish humankind’s goal of visiting crews to the Martian system – missions Boeing believes are possible through the combination of the SLS rocket’s lift capability,…
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Year in Review (Part I) – Mars exploration dominates a year of redefinition
The year 2012 was a year like none other for NASA, one dominated not by human spaceflight activities but by redefinition. That redefinition saw the prominent rise of unmanned planetary exploration both for NASA and the general public. And nothing was as meaningful or as widely watched in 2012 for NASA as what happened on…
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NASA announce another Mars Rover mission to the Red Planet in 2020
NASA’s associate administrator for science, John Grunsfeld, has announced NASA’s forward path for robotic exploration of Mars, including the confirmation of a new Rover, to be launched in 2020. With human exploration still 20+ years away, the interim program of robotic pathfinders will aim to build on the successes already achieved by Curiosity. The Path…
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NASA interest in 2024 Mars Sample Return Mission using SLS and Orion
The Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) have added meat to the bones of a proposal that would result in the Space Launch System (SLS), Orion and a Mars spacecraft making up the key elements of a Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. With large support already communicated to lawmakers, the notional mission aims to utilize a secondary…
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Dear Curiosity – In the event of Martian contact, please call the President
President Obama phoned the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team on Monday, congratulating them on their amazing Entry, Landing and Descent (EDL) efforts that resulted in NASA’s Curiosity rover landing safely on the surface of Mars. He also joked that if Curiosity makes contact with Martians, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team should inform him right…
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Curiosity makes HISTORIC landing at Gale Crater on Mars
History was made at 1:31am EDT (05:31 UTC) Monday on the fourth planet in this solar system as NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity descended to a picture-perfect rocket-guided and -slowed descent to a gentle, wheels-first, sky crane touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet. NASA is 14 for 20 in their attempted missions…
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NASA ESD set key Orion requirement based on Lunar missions
NASA’s new spaceship, the Orion crew capsule, will be able to actively host a crew for 21 days, a requirement designed to cover all exploration missions, but mainly those outlined in the Lunar sorties Design Reference Missions (DRM) – missions that will see the crew spend more time in Orion, compared to long duration missions…
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SpaceX Dragon advancing the Launch Abort System to new heights
SpaceX are continuing to make progress with their NASA commercial crew contract, with the latest milestone involving the firing of their SuperDraco thruster engine, an integrated element of the Dragon which will be used as its Launch Abort System (LAS). However, these engines are hoping to gain additional roles, including the ability to land Dragon…
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Opportunity’s eight years on Mars: A story of science and endurance
Eight years ago today (January 25, 2004), the Mars Exploration Rover -B (MER -B) slammed into the Martian atmosphere and executed a successful Entry, Descent, and Landing on the Red Planet – beginning what was supposed to be 90 days of science operations on the surface of Mars. Eight years and 2,922 Earth-days later, Opportunity…
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SLS Exploration Roadmap evaluations provide clues for human Mars missions
As NASA managers continue to work through the evaluations into an exploration roadmap for the agency, the end goal of sending humans to Mars is starting to show a level of consistency. Per documentation, the key Design Reference Mission (DRM) evaluations are pointing to the “Flexible Path” approach of visiting a Martian moon, prior to…