Dusty Spirit Rover Seeks Shelter

The below picture shows the Mars Rover Spirit in a self portrait taken on Sol 568. In the picture, the rover is clean and in top condition.


However, dust storms hit the rover in the month of June and Spirit will now seek shelter for the winter. Below is a self-portrait of the rover on Sol 1,358.


The rover will now find shelter for the new winter and hope that it can continue exploring until the proposed end of the mission in 2009. More pictures of the rovers can be found at the following link: http://www.news.com/2300-11397_3-6222461-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg

Phoenix Lander Team Practicing in Antarctica

Members of the team set to guide the Phoenix Polar lander around Mars are headed to Antarctica this week to practice controlling the robot remotely in preparation for the upcoming mission. A total of six scientists will be going and they also plan to do work surveying the elevated landscapes to get a sense of what the Martian pole will look like. The article can be found here.

The shuttle...(replace "u" with "i")

... and that's pretty much what you get when you talk about the consistancy of the shuttle's use. After having the latest launch of the Atlantis shuttle pushed back to sunday from thursday of last week after sensors were giving "false" readings. Then the same problem occured on the pushed back launch yesterday.

Atlantis will be grounded until at least the 2nd of January, and with the shuttles being phased out in there very near future this means that it might be one of its last few flights. This just emphasizes the fact that we need to move on from this failed attempt at space travel and go back to something that works more consistantly.

I personally am very excited for the new constellation program. It looks like NASA might be getting their butts back in gear. Which is good.

Full article at: Space Shuttle Grounded Till Next Year

HiRISE Pictures

NASA's Mar's Reconaisance Orbiter has sent back some more pictures of of the Martian surface. As we keep getting more images of the surface we'll soon be able to find the places that we want to explore when we finally make the jump off the little bit of dust that we've been on... since... well... we began.

Sinuous Pits on Flank of Ascraeus Mons

Crater Partially Exhumed by Sublimation in Amphitrites Patera

Unusual Depression Near Elysium Mons

Unconformity in the South Polar Layered Deposits

Layering in Upper Walls of Valles Marineris

Martian Clouds Have Less Water Than Previously Thought

Scientists have determined that while the Martian clouds do contain water, they are forming at temperatures so low that the amount of water previously estimated must be too high. The difficulties in forming clouds with such a high supersaturation have to do with the fact that they require larger cloud droplets, which fall out of the atmosphere faster, resulting in less cloud. The whole articles can be found here.

Dark Matter

The concept of dark matter was first introduced in the 1930s to explain why spinning gallaxies dont just spin apart. The study sumarized in this page was conducted along a concept of "gravitational lensing". Gravitational lensing is a phenomena which occurs when light from distant galaxies is bent around space as it travels toward us. Using this concept the scientists conducted a study using data from the Hubble Space Telescope's Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) which grouped the observations into 3 shells in order of distance from earth. Using "redshift" measurements the scientist were able to construct a map of the dark matter which distorted the light. "Massey likens this indirect technique, called "gravitational lensing," to peering at a page of text with a magnifying glass."The first thing you notice is that the text is bigger, but also, if you look around the edges of the magnifying glass, the text is slightly distorted," he said. "You can investigate the properties of the magnifying glass by observing these distortions and actually find out what shape the glass lens is." Essentially this is what the scientists did; they were able to construct a model of the dark matter which was distorting the light. Very Excellent. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070108_mm_darkmatter_map.html

Spirit Unstuck

The Mars Rover Spirit got unstuck and continued traveling to its wintering spot after nearly two weeks of being unable to move due to loose soil. The rover was freed by essentially switchbacking its course up the steep plateau. However, there still remains very tricky terrain before the rover will be safe for the winter on the Northern side of the so-called "home plate".

Advantages of using Balloons

Balloons can fly 100 times closer than orbiters to the surface of Mars and travel 1000 times faster than rovers. Due to the daily heating and cooling conventional stratospheric have a lifetime limit of a few days. Ultra Long Duration Balloons are currently under development which will fly for more then 100 days.

How to Bring Samples back to Earth

1. Currently instruments are being developed that can determine which rock and soil samples are the most scientifically interesting. These samples will probably be selected by using some sort of electronic imaging system (to look at rock features) and spectroscopy (to analyze the rock’s chemical composition).
2. Instruments have been designed to drill that are more preserved then the ones on the surface. The rock collected must be small enough to be brought back but large enough to display texture and structure.
3. To make sure that the sampling system does not contaminate the sample with anything brought from Earth the apparatus must be thoroughly cleaned before launched.
4. Developing a way to weld metal to form clean airtight seals are needed to protect the samples. The rover will seal the sample in a capsule to prevent contamination from the Earth’s atmosphere or biosphere upon landing on Earth.
5. A Mars Ascent Vehicle will launch the capsule off Mars.

WATER PAGE

“Water is the key to the most important scientific questions dealing with Mars.” This link is to the Mars Today “Water Page” which is really interesting. It shows the current and future water vapor predictions for the Martian Atmosphere. The page also has some fancy water facts about Mars such as “Note that the total amount of water in the atmosphere is very small (measured in precipitable micrometers). If all the water in the Martian atmosphere were to rain out at any given time, it would make a puddle less than a hundredth of a centimeter deep!” The page goes on however to note that, “Approximately 10 times the total atmospheric inventory of water can be found adsorbed in the top few centimeters of the Martian soil.”http://www.mgcm.arc.nasa.gov/MarsToday/MarsWater.html

Mars as it is Today

This is a site that contains a poster which is produced daily by Howard Houben of the Mars Global Circulation Model Group for the Center for Mars Exploration at NASA's Ames Research Center. The poster depicts current conditions on Mars and its relationship to Earth in six panels. The panels show predicted wind speeds for today, temperatures for today, water vapor distribution for today, etc. The poster also shows the relative scale of Mars as compared with Earth and the orbital positions of the Earth and Mars with respect to each other and the sun for today. Furthermore it has a high res image of Mars taken on that day as it would look to us on that day. This link is excellent. http://www.marsinstitute.info/epo/marstoday.html

Finding water on Mars

Collecting information about the crust of Mars it important if we ever want to get to the subsurface. It is suspected that Mar’s desert-like surface covers aquifer of liquid water deep underground. While we have no evidence for water at the surface of Mars, there is a lot of evidence of ancient surface water. It is not unreasonable to believe there is subsurface water if we apply what is known about Earth. Even in the desert regions water can be abundant in the subsurface.

Airplanes on Mars

Rovers are great, but what better way to cover more territory then by flying around the planet? Apparently scientists and engineers hope to design an airplane to be flown on Mars that could be navigated without a human pilot. This seems to be a difficult task because the Martian atmosphere is so thin, requiring huge wings or an extremely fast takeoff. Yet, if the plane is dropped off by the entering spacecraft and the wings unfolded it could have a short but very controlled flight.

Robotic Arm Injury

In a recent experiment to brush and grind a rock on Mars's surface, Opportunity's robotic arm stalled due to a failure in one of its joint. The joint, which controls left-right motion, stopped working while taking microscopic images of the surface. However, the rover has continued to perform its other tasks without failure and operators of the rover will adapt to the new restriction on movement.

Lyot

Planet hunters have been trying for years to find and classify other solar systems, specifically those which might contain Earth-like planets. Many planets have actually been found using various techniques, but these are Jupiter-size planets. One technique is to measure the change in a star's position as a massive body orbits around it. The star will orbit around its center of mass at a radius dependent on the planet's mass, which translates to a few arcseconds on our telescopes. Another technique is to measure the decrease in flux from the star's light as a planet passes in front of it.
Obviously these methods are limited and provide only somewhat accurate data on very large planets on rare occasions.
A new instrument, Lyot, which is to be installed on the Palomar 200" telescope near LA and San Diego will use a different technique. Using a breadboard of variable mirrors and a lot of other fancy toys, Lyot will be able to block out a star's light down to about 1.5%. This significant decrease in flux will allow astronomers to measure the light from planets down to Earth-sized planets from Palomar by blocking out other light, similar to shielding your eyes when looking at something near the sun.

Russians Testing for Mars Mission

Russian scientists have set up a series of tests to be performed in order to test the human capacity for a manned mission to Mars. The first test lasted for two weeks and allowed crew members to live in isolation for two weeks and perform experiments and test equipment. The next test, scheduled to begin in 2008, will involve a crew of 5 living as if they were on Mars for anywhere from 520 to 700 days in a controlled lab environment.
For the tests, all aspects of Martian lifestyle will be taken into account including food, supplies, communication, etc. A preliminary 105-day test will precede the full test in early 2008.

Spirit Stuck

The Mars rover Spirit has recently become stuck during its move to "home plate" where the rover is supposed to winter. The rover apparently snagged a wheel on a buried rock which put the rover into a compromising position. Attempts to get the rover moving have been mostly unsuccessful as it has been experiencing 90% slip rates as it attempts to move up the dusty hill. Operators are currently working on ways to get the rover moving again. The article can be found here.

Pushups on Mars

According to the website Your Weight on Other Worlds, I would weigh 49 pounds on Mars. Do you have any idea how many pushups I would do? I mean real pushups (the ones with no knees on the ground or breaks during a set). I would do a lot (more then 10) and it would be impressive.

Sunny slopes needed for Mar's "Spirit"

The Mars rover "Spirit" needs to find relocate to a sunny slope to survive the martian winter. The rover needs to get a on a slope 20-25 degrees so it can aim its solar panels at the sun. The rovers mission to the slope is being made difficult as one of it's six wheels has been disabled and it needs to travel in reverse while dragging the immobilized wheel. Although the martian winter isn't expected to start until April 2008, the rover team wants to get the rover into position by January so that they don't have to worry about difficulties getting to the slope.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/mars-rover-spir.html

NASA Releases Plan for Manned Mission

NASA released details for sending humans to Mars within the next 10 years. The plan is to send the crew on a 30-month round trip to the Red Planet. In January 2004, President George W Bush unveiled his space travel plan of sending humans back to the Moon by 2020 and to Mars in the relatively near future. The mission is now planned to begin in February 2031 as the spacecraft takes the six to seven month trip to Mars. The cost is enormous for the project and has been estimated at $20 billion to $450 billion. The specifics have not been established and the current plan is just the "best strategy" for landing humans on the surface. The cargo lander and the surface habitat will be launched separately landing before the crew does in 2028 and 2029. Astronauts will be able to grow their own fruit and vegetables on the way and they could spend up to 16 months on the Martian surface. They could use nuclear energy to power their habitat. The crew members would need to be incredibly self-sufficient because it would be near impossible to resupply them with food or equipment. The spacecraft will also be equipped with a life support system that would provide a medium for recycling air and water. The biggest risk lies in the ability to protect the astronauts from the high levels of cosmic radiation they will be exposed to in deep space and on the surface of Mars. NASA will most likely use the lunar mission as a means of testing some effects on the astronauts.

Article

Termination Shock

At a fluctuating distance of about 7 -8.5 billion miles from the sun, the solar wind is decreased to speeds less than the speed of sound as it reaches a barrier of plasma and dust. The solar wind is the stream of charged particles ejected by the sun and travels at supersonic speeds until it reaches this barrier. However, the intensity of the solar wind fluctuates due to the changing solar surface, and so the termination shock distance changes dramatically.
Voyager 2 will be reaching the shock (the position of which is terribly difficult to calculate and predict) sometime at the end of 2007 or beginning of 2008, and its experience will be widely observed and studied. Because of the changing distance, Voyager 2 will actually cross the shock multiple times. Voyager 1 reached the shock in 2004.
Eventually, both craft will reach another milestone, the heliopause, at which the solar wind is stopped completely and the spacecraft will be in galactic space.

This spectra demostrates that a rock (represented as McKittrick) sampled near Opportunity's landing site at Meridiani Planum has higher salt concentrations then a nearby soil patch (Tarmac). This spectra was taken with an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer which was able to assess the elemental composition of these two samples. What is important about this spectra is that it demonstrates "element fractionation" which usually occurs when watery brine slowly evaporates and the salt compounds fall out at different rates.

How are rovers used to detect life on Mars?

The Mars exploration Rovers do not have the ability to detect life directly, yet they are able to provide information about the planet's history. Life, as we understand it, requires water, so the history of water on Mars is critical when trying to determine Mars could ever support life. The task of the rovers will be to collect surface samples and reaveal the mineralogy to see if water was involved. The rovers will be used to determine the location and time frame at which water may have been present.

Former Astronaut Says NASA Needs New Direction, Goals

Former Astronaut Robert Stewart spoke out Friday about NASA's lack of goals and vision that is taking it in the wrong direction. He mentions that NASA is spending too much time and money and years just "shuttling" astronauts back and forth from the International Space Station when there is so much out there that the agency should be focused on. The first step is to develop new spacecrafts, saying that "The shuttle needs to go away. It's an old and dangerous aircraft." He continued by saying that "NASA's real job is space exploration and that's what we should be focusing on again," which is a very good point. Stewart thinks it is a good idea to go to the moon first and build a base there where NASA can test equipment that will eventually get used on a mission to Mars. This is a pretty good idea because as he points out, if something goes wrong it only takes 3 days to get astronauts home. I think Stewart is on to something. NASA makes trips to the space station all the time, and shuttle lift-offs and landings do get a lot of press coverage. But most people really know nothing about what actually goes on in the ISS, and probably could care less anyway. To get the public behind bolder funding for NASA, they need to see some tangible results and a reachable goal that will actually get realized (hopefully without an absurd timetable). In my second paper for class, I wrote about space-based solar power (and I have written 2 blog posts about it). I think NASA needs to aggressively pursue SBSP, which is feasible within the decade, will give the country excellent returns for the investment, and ultimately lead to sustainable, renewable energy security.

Calibration

The Martian Ionosphere, a layer of electrically charged particles, lies about 110 to 130 km above the planet. The particles occur in the upper atmosphere where they are exposed to higher levels of solar radiation, splitting the molecules and releasing free electrons. Knowledge about the ionosphere is important because it modifies the radio waves which pass through it. Determining the total electron content of the ionosphere will allow for future instruments which use radio waves to be calibrated.

Orion Launch Abort System

The new Orion capsule (on top of the Ares rocket) which will replace the shuttle as the main US crew carrier will have a built in launch abort system in case an emergency occurs during launch. The "rocket-powered escape tower" will pull the crew free of the boosters if something goes from anywhere up to a very high altitude.
A launch site in near Las Cruces is being built and will play host to the tests of the escape system.
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Ground_Broken_For_New_Test_Launch_Pad_999.html

Russian Rockets in French Guiana

A rocket launch site in French Guiana has been scheduled to launch a Russian Soyuz rocket in 2009, a major project for the cooperation of France and Russia. The site is better than most of Russia's launch sites because of its proximity to the equator, which will allow rockets to carry heavier payloads into orbit. The plan is to use it as a launch site for geostationary satellites.
Russia has worked more closely with France than any other space-exploring country, and this cooperation shows that it is still a strong relationship.
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/First_Soyuz_Launch_From_Kourou_Set_For_2009_999.html

Opportunity Showing Signs of Age

It is amazing that the Mars landers that were expected to only last for 90 days on the Red Planet are still trekking along for nearly 4 years. This does not mean that Spirit and Opportunity haven't had a few bumps and bruises along the way, but they have weathered the Martian winters, dust storms, and the occasional equipment breakdown that has occurred. Recently a encoder on Opportunity broke and an attempt to override it resulted in a few bent bristles on a brush. Also dust has started to build up on Opportunity causing temporary blindness. After 4 years the rovers are expected to show some signs of wear and tear, but they are still doing remarkably well and scientists hope that they will continue working and providing data on the Maritain surface for years to come.

European Space Agency Considers Mars Landing Sites

The ESA is planning to launch a mission in 2013 which will have as its main goal the search for current or previous life on Mars. The mission, called ExoMars, plans to land rovers near the oldest rocks on Mars, in the hope that they were around when Mars had running water and thus life. The site chosen for ExoMars may depend somewhat on the NASA mission for the Mars Science Laboratory, which will launch in 2009 and take one of the sites.

The european rover would weigh 200kg, of which 16.5kg would be scientific equipment. The total cost is said to be in the neighborhood of 1 Billion Euros, which at today's prices is 1.5 Billion Dollars. This is exactly the type of project NASA has been afraid of recently because of the huge cost of failure.
There is a bit of a political struggle between the European ECA and the Russian Proton rocket. Right now it sounds like the European ( French Built ) rocket will be chosen. However, launching using the ECA would cost 60 million more euros than the Proton rocket.

Source: BBC

CO2 vs. H20

CO2 crystals have largely different light scattering properties then cirrus ice crystals. CO2 crystals of the same size of a hollow hexagonal ice crystal lets much more light through. I beleive this is because the CO2 crystal does not have a hollowing which results in more back and side scattering. If a photon strikes the surface of an octahedral CO2 crystal it will reflect backwards or be deflected forward. If a photon enters the hollowing of a cirrus ice crystal it will scatter several times, even if it may have originally been deflected in a forward path, it will travel out the same way it came in, backwards.

Asymmetry parameter

The optical property of a particle present in the atmosphere that most largely affects a planets climate is the asymmetry parameter, g. The asymmetry parameter represents a particles light scattering properties. One way scientists have been able to determine the value of g for CO2 crystals in Mar’s atmosphere is by growing the CO2 crystals in a cold chamber and shooting radiation at them to determine their scattering and absorption properties. This is a pretty cool technique because this information can be used when determining the depth of the polar ice caps.

Next Manned Mission May be to Mars' Moons

The Earth's Moon is only a three-day flight, however scientists would rather send astronauts to the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. A primary reason for this choice is the fact that Moon's gravity is one-sixth of Earth's. It's a strong enough difference that a landing craft has to fire retrorockets to slow its descent to the surface and again when it leaves the Moon. This wastes tons of expensive fuel and adds millions of dollars to the cost of the mission. The two moons of Mars are much smaller. Phobos is the size of Manhattan and Deimos is about a third as large. Their size causes their gravitational pull to be only one-thousandth that of Earth, making the moons as easy to land on as docking with another spaceship. Going to the Martian moons will also be much cheaper than sending a crewed mission to the Martian surface. Putting someone on Mars could cost $200-300 billion dollars, including the cost of decades of research. The bill for a mission to Deimos could be as low as $30 billion. Currently, the only planned missions to the moons are robotic. Russia will launch the Phobos-Grunt mission in 2009 that will attempt to land on Phobos to collect the first samples from the moon's surface and return them to scientists back on Earth. The mission will help determine whether there is hydrogen or water present, which astronauts could use on a later crewed mission. Scientists say that a crewed mission should first go to Phobos because it is closer to Mars and bigger than Deimos. Because of how close Phobos is to Mars, it is more likely to harbor ancient meteorites blasted up from Mars. However, these missions would not be without its hare of perils. Dust could be a huge problem in Phobos' weak gravity field. There could be a layer of dust four or five meters thick that would be stirred easily. Scientists have theorized that the moons may be asteroids captured by Mars' gravitational pull or they could be the remnants of a single moon that was blasted apart by a massive impact. Until further research is conducted, scientists will continue to dream of a mission like this.

An article by Thaindian News on this topic can be found at this link:
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/mans-next-planetary-foray-maybe-on-the-moons-of-mars_1004406.html

Harmony

Besides the well-reported problems on the ISS during Discovery's mission, Discovery's actual mission ended successfully (they landed Nov. 7th) with the transfer of the ISS module Harmony. Harmony's main purpose is to provide a docking point for two labs which will be sent on the next shuttle missions.
The European Columbus science lab will be connected in December during an Atlantis mission, and the Japanese Kibo lab will be sent up in two parts in early 2008.
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/ISS_astronauts_prepare_Harmony_module_for_permanent_docking_999.html

How NEOs could change (end) your life!

A small wave of fear made its way through congress recently, specifically the fear of large Near Earth Objects hitting the earth and killing us all. The public and congress have increased the pressure on NASA to track NEOs, especially those of "extinction class" and have a plan to save the earth from catastrophe.
NASA currently does about 98% of the work in tracking NEOs and has a nice long list of every object that they know is out there. Multiple telescopes are dedicated to the task, and more may be given the same task. NASA currently tracks anything over 1 km in diameter, size which could cause rapid climate change among other things. Anything bigger than 10 km is considered extinction class and has the potential to wipe out most species on Earth.
Some methods be considered to divert these large objects are nuclear missiles for the big ones and conventional rockets for the small ones.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_pressed_to_avert_catastrophic_Deep_Impact_999.html

Crazy Sports On Mars

Here is a link from a blog I found that ponders what kind of sports aliens might play on Mars. On the extreme sports end of the spectrum debate shifted to Base Jumping. Base Jumping on Mars would be quite different from what it is on Earth. For a link to a multiplayer online game that simulates this excellent past time taking place on Mars click here. http://www.basejumpingfrommars.com/

Wi-Fi at NASA Headquarters: Coming 2017

This is a great article in The Onion that touts NASA's plan to have mission control a wireless hotspot by 2017. I would almost believe it, considering how slow it sometimes seems that NASA advances on projects compared to the 1960s and 1970s. Below is an excerpt.

"NASA has suffered from a public credibility crisis in recent years due to perceived incompetence, a failed mission to Mars, the damaged and dormant Hubble telescope, and its inability to procure a long enough USB cable to reach all the way over to engineer William Chen's cubicle. But NASA officials argue that a secure high-speed line could prevent disasters such as a 2005 incident in which an employee attempting to download the movie trailer for Cheaper by the Dozen 2 crashed the Mission Control Center mainframe computer for two weeks."

Ice on Mars?

The MARSIS revealed the electrical properties of the MFF layers are consistent with water ice layers. If there is water present in the MFF layers it must be several meters below the surface because the water vapor pressure on Mars is so low that ice near the surface would evaporate.

MARSIS

The Medusae Fossae Formation, located near the Martian equator, is one of the youngest deposits on the planet. Over the last year the Mars Express has been orbiting this region to collect data using its Mars Advance Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding, revealing the depth of the MFF layers. The amount of time it took for the radar beam to pass through the MFF layers and strike solid rock revealed that they are mass deposits that are over 2.5 km thick. These regions have been difficult to study because of their ability to absorb Earth-based radar, therefore the MARSIS sends out wavelengths of a different size, resulting in surface echoing. Hopefully the new information obtained from MARSIS will provide information about the origins and composition of these deposits.

Dr. Robot

Scientists are working toward getting robots in the field to serve as doctors. The Pentagon is excited to get a version of this called the Trauma Pod out into combat situations by 2009 for treating soldiers immediately in the field. NASA on the other hand hopes to use this technology to treat astronauts headed out to Mars who will not have medical facilities immediately at hand. They have been testing the robots in zero gravity and sustained acceleration situation against real doctors and while official results have not yet been disclosed, it was reported that "the robot seemed to hold its own—until its compensation software was turned off." Scientists are hoping that the robots can make improvements and potentially do a better job than doctors.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/robotics/4230099.html

Opportunity Going Strong

The Mars rover Opportunity just celebrated its two-year Martian birthday on Oct. 29 or sol 1338. This marks the fourth Earth year that the rover has been exploring the surface of Mars. For its birthday, Opportunity took a stroll into Victoria Crater. The picture seen below is an image that Opportunity took of Cape Verde which juts out of the Victoria Crater.http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Opportunity_Second_Martian_Birthday_At_Cape_Verde_999.html

A Chart Detailing the Martian Mileages

This is a chart which details the various mileages between certain objects on the Martian surface. It is rounded off to the nearest 5 kilometers. It is pretty cool because it actually shows the difference in conversions between miles and kilometers and you can better understand how much larger of a distance unit the mile is compared to the kilometer. Just amazing really. For example Viking 2 is 4205 miles from Viking 1 but in kilometers it is a whopping 6725 kilometers! Enjoy…
You must follow the link to view the chart.

Site locations Viking 1: 22.54̊N, 48.23̊W Viking 2: 44̊N, 226̊W Mars Pathfinder: 19.33̊N, 33.55̊W "Face": 40.9̊N, 9.45̊W Olympus Mons: 18.4̊N, 133.1̊W "Inca City": 81.8̊S, 59.1̊W Mars 2: 45̊S, 302̊W Mars 3: 45̊S, 158̊W Mars 6: 24̊S, 25̊W Mars Polar Lander: 76̊S, 195̊W Deep Space 2 probes: 73̊S, 210̊W
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mars_mileage_guide.html

Mars to reverse it course; not really

Mars is out too leave its phase of good apparition until 2016. Its current trajectory has made Mars appear to be slowing in it path, and on November 15th it is going to stop and turn around as if it has decided that it no longer wants to travel with the Earth. This movement is known as retrograde motion and it has taken astronomers a long time to figure out what makes a star "wander". Mars will stay in this retrograde motion for about 11 weeks, when the illusion of its course change will end and it will continue its normal path around the sky.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/071109-ns-marsreverse.html

Bringing some heat into a cold debate

Anyone worth their Sci-fi salt has heard of the idea of cryostasis (the freezing of the body to slow down all the bodily functions), and knows that it would be extremely helpful when transferring people in space simply because... they wouldn't have to breath (as much) or eat or go to the restroom, or move around. Simply put this would solve a ton of issues.

A bunch of Cryonics enthusiasts are meeting at an Alcor life extension conference in Scottsdale Arizona to talk about preserving human bodies under extreme cold. Though the group has frozen many of it's "enthusiasts" in hopes of reviving them at some point, they have yet to perfect the technology to do so. Still there may be hope in nanotechnology.

The whole process isn't, on the whole, received that well by the medical community as of yet due to the debate about what it means to be "dead" (the medical definition is when the heart stops beating) . However, because of the possibilities that the freezing method might hold for preserving of organs, Alcor is hoping that they will receive a boost in support.

Full article: A Conversation About Cryonics

Possible Missions to Phobos/Deimos?

There is apparently some discussion among scientists about the idea of sending manned missions to the two moons of Mars - Phobos and Deimos. According to one scientist cited in the article, the cost to send people to one of the moons would be as little as $30 billion compared to $200-$300 billion for a mission to Mars itself.

One reason for the interest is that the two moons are so small - the larger one is about the size of Manhattan and the other is about a third of that size. The article cites that their gravitational pull is about 1/1000th that of Earth, so it would be "more like docking with another spaceship". Landing on Mars or a our Moon is much more difficult because of their size and gravitational pull - to be able to land slow and safely, ships would have to fire rockets that burn up a lot of expensive fuel that is also heavy to cart around. This adds a lot to the cost, although I'm not sure how much.

The article says that a manned mission to one of the moons could be in as few as 10 years. Right now it doesn't look like there are any plans to go however, although Russia does have a robotic mission planned that will collect rocks and then return them to Earth.

Spirit Looking for Wintering Location

The Mars rover Spirit, still covered in dust from the recent storms needs a spot where it can get the most sunlight in order to survive the Martian winter. The rover has recently been exploring a raised plateau, 90 meters wide, called homeplate and scientists think that if Spirit moves to the northern edge of the slope, it should produce enough power to get the rover through the winter. Other sites had been considered which offered a 20 degree tilt, allowing the rover to catch more of the light straight on, yet a site was found with a 25 degree slope, giving the rover 10 extra watt-hours each Martian day. Scientists know that they can't count on wind to clean the rover's solar panels so the extra power is necessary.

The article can be found here: http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn12884-mars-rover-spirit-to-head-north-for-the-winter.html

NASA Releases List of Six Potential Landing Sites

In an article posted on Nature News, staff writer Oliver Morton discussed the recent release of six potential landing sites for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (see above picture). The MSL is a large rover that will assess the past habitability of sites on the Martian surface when it lands in October 2010. The list has been shortened in recent months and includes craters partially filled with sediment, a flood channel and regions which are rich in clay minerals that may date from a time when the Martian surface was much wetter than it is today. The mission has established a buffer zone of 20 kilometers across to account for the many uncertainties associated with landing on Mars. The terrain in that area needs to be flat and smooth.

"If you ask an engineer, they'd like to land in a Walmart parking lot,"

said Jack Mustard, a Brown University planetary geologist. Once landed, the rover will need to travel well outside the ellipse to places that feature the type of terrain scientists are looking for. That is where some of the changes to the list of landing sites has changed dramatically. Participants in last month's workshop to choose the candidate sites found that sites where the rover would need to travel more than 10 kilometers to obtain samples would most likely be problematic.

Changes in the way the rover's moving parts will be lubricated raise issues for sites in the southern highlands of Mars, as they reduce the rover's abilities in winter conditions. Nevertheless, scientists shortlisted two southern sites as worthy selections. Holden Crater is one of these sites and it contains what seems to be lake sediments and a delta. The six sites will now be further scrutinized by instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that is currently circling the Red Planet. While this is going on, computer models will assess the risk of winds at the sites to ensure a easy landing. The final decision does not need to be made until the middle of 2009, to make the October 2009 launch.

Mars Rovers Still Going

In an article on Space.com, Leonard David discussed the amazing twin Mars rovers that continue to thrive after three and a half years of operation. The rovers are showing no signs of stopping as they continue to relay a wealth of data back to scientists on Earth. NASA announced on October 15 that for the fifth time, it would extend the activities of Spirit and Opportunity, perhaps through 2009. The golf-cart sized dual rovers landed in January 2004 as part of the Mars Exploration Rover project. NASA officials say that they continue to function well, despite the fact that each of the rovers had only an engineering warranty of 90 days. Even though the rovers move at an excruciatingly slow speed (5 cm/sec. on hard flat ground), they continue to reach milestones that NASA scientists could have never expected. The longevity of the rovers is due to several factors. The first is that NASA built really good hardware. The components were selected very carefully and were tested incredibly rigorously. Mars rover operators have also received lucky breaks, like the gusts of wind that have swept away sheens of dusts that collect on rover solar panels. Another reason for the survivability of the rovers has been the ability to drive and park the vehicles on steep terrain, thereby tilting the solar panels significantly toward the Sun. The rovers will continue to return valuable data to Earth and scientists will hopefully continue to receive "lucky breaks".

Opportunity Still Going Despite Dust

Opportunity's solar arrays are dustier than before the most recent dust storm but they are still providing about 600 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, 200 watt-hours less than before the storm. Nevertheless, the rover is planned to make more studies of a layer of rock noted in the surrounding features, utilizing its Moessbauer spectrometer which measures composition for iron-containing minerals, as they are numerous on the Martian surface. The spectrometer however is powered primarily by a radioactive source which is fast decaying, causing collection of spectrometer data to take up to three martian days. The rover will also soon be measuring argon levels in the atmosphere which, since argon is unreactive and remains in its native state, can be used as a barometer for atmospheric pressure. The article contains more in depth discussion of the near-future plans for opportunity and can be found here: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Opportunity_Studies_Rock_Composition_And_Changes_In_Atmosphere_999.html

Space FOOD

Ask anyone, they will tell you that eating is important. We can only assume that it will continue to be as we go further and further out into space. It really looks like our digestive system is here to stay. So, it's good to look at the history of space food:

1. John Glen, first american astronaut, and other Murcury mission astronauts ate stuff from aluminum tubes and little freeze dried cubes.

2. During Gemini missions, food chunks are cased in gelatin to keep from crumbling and freeze dried stuff is rehydrated by injecting watter then mashing it into a puree.

3. Apollo missions, introduced a more varied menu and the amazing heated water factor. Also they invent the "spoon bowl" which used water tension to hold food to a spoon like surface.

4. In the sky lab expeditions, they actually installed a table that locked trays of food into place and even heated the food up to a toast 150 degrees if so desired. Also, the menu increases to 72 food items.

Full article at: History of Food in Space

New Spectrometer Helps to Choose Landing Sites

Nasa has recently narrowed down the possible landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), set to launch in 2009. The data used to make these choices came primarily from an advanced spectrometer on the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter. The spectrometer is able to measure the reflected radiation from the planet ranging from the ultraviolet region into the near-IR, recording on 544 individual channels, giving scientists detailed high-resolution images of the planets surface and giving insight into the chemical and geologic makeup of the surface. In its high resolution mode, the spectrometer can image a six mile wide area with a spatial resolution of 20 meters per pixel. Additionally, the spectrometer can switch to a low-resolution mode, allowing scientists to quicken the aquisition of data and get closer to having a complete map of the martian surface.

The article can be found here: http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19628/

Uh-oh... Part 2!

As Clayton recently posted about, the ISS recently had an "oh crud" moment when debris was found in a joint on one of the arms holding a solar panel. Unfortunately, the crew of the ISS and everyone on the ground just had another one of those moments when they were installing a solar array in its new and final position on the main truss of the station.
When one of the "wings" was unfolding, a wire snagged the mesh that makes up the solar collector, ripping the panel. The procedure was halted before too much damage could be done, but the task of fixing the problem was beyond what anyone would expect.
The astronaut performing the repairs was strapped by his feet to the hull of the station, far away from the airlock. For seven hours he repaired the solar panel with makeshift tools, receiving directions from the ground (conceived of almost on the spot), all the while avoiding touching the solar cell which could have electrified and killed him.
The recent problems on the ISS aren't necessarily connected to human incompetence or lack of attention, but they illustrate the problems with space travel and habitation. If a tiny problem like metal shavings or a snag in your solar panel can cause so much trouble in such a short time, do you still want to travel to Mars? Heck, do you even want to live on the moon? Maybe so, but it's going to take some serious care to get there and back safely.

Polar Geysers

Images from Themis (Thermal Emission Imaging System) have shown for a number of years that there are active geysers on the surface of Mars. Fans of material spreading from the surface from single points all in the same direction indicate that great jets of carbon dioxide are being ejected from the surface on a scale unseen on Earth.
It is believed that the sun warming the ice on the polar caps turned the frozen carbon dioxide underground into high pressure gas, sending it through the surface. The article was published in nature I have not read the technical papers on the subject, so you can decide on the credibility of the details.

Holmes

The Holmes comet reached its peak visibility to Earth in these past two weeks, appearing similar in brightness to a star. From late October through early November the comet could be seen in the constellation Perseus, reaching a peak magnitude of 2.8 (really flippin bright) from its previous magnitude over a few hours.
It was first discovered by Edwin Holmes in 1892 when it made a similar pass near the Earth. It follows an inclined elliptical orbit between Mars and Jupiter, which puts it right in the region of the asteroid belt. It's nuclear diameter is estimated at several km. In late october the diameter of its cone increased to about 3.3 arcminutes; during this outburst the diameter of the cone was greater than the diameter of the moon's orbit around Earth.

Phoenix

The Phoenix Mars Lander is on track and headed for Mars. After making a slight course adjustment on October 24, during which the vessel fired its correction thrusters for 45.9sec, the Phoenix is en route to land on Mars on May 25, 2008. The lander will need four more minor adjustment during its trip before entering the Martian atmosphere. The Phoenix is going to set down in the arctics of Mars to dig and search for clues of microbial life. Weather patterns will also be investigated with this solar-powered craft.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Phoenix_Tasks_En_Route_To_Mars_Include_Course_Tweak_And_Gear_Checks_999.html

Unmanned Airplanes on Mars

Sure, we have a few crawlers combing the landscape, as well as a few satellites in orbit. And since Mars doesn't have any oceans, the next place to conquer would be the air. That's the thinking behind a new DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) project aiming to bring unmanned aircraft to survey Mars. The idea is essentially a rocket propelled craft that is capable of deploying into plane mode when it re-enters atmosphere. The current plan calls first for the craft to be developed for reconnaissance of natural disasters and military hotspots here on Earth, with a NASA based mission to Mars to follow. The planes would fly relatively low, between 5,000 and 10,000 feet, which means our maps of Mars could become an order of magnitude more detailed. The airplane could also follow weather patterns and gain further understanding of weather on Mars. Unfortunately, this airplane would not be able to explore the underground areas of Mars which hold the current fascination of explorers. What if, in the future, we developed an airplane that was able to land and explore the globe in crawler mode. Then we could have rapid movement between areas of interest on the Martian surface.

Source: Space.com.

Solar Flares TV Special

Tomorrow night the National Geographic Channel will have a special on solar flares. While the show will focus on how these storms affect power and communications grids (and northern lights), the research being presented has much importance for scientists looking into interplanetary travel and the effects of solar radiation. The link is here:

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/10_29-17/TOP

A lighter stronger alloy?

One thing that is essential to making an effective space structure is that it is light and that it is strong. So whenever there's a way of making some thing lighter and stronger space spaced science recieves a well needed boost and everything gets just a little bit easier.

"The U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa, materials-technology company GTM Advanced Structures and scientists at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have patented a fiber metal laminate (FML) called CentrAl reinforced aluminum, or CentrAl, for use in aircraft manufacture."

CentrAl is 25 percent stronger than current aluminum alloys (which I'm not certain that they use in space craft, but I'm pretty sure it's a good bet. A REALLY good bet.) Which means that less of it can be used which in turn makes what ever is constructed out of it much lighter (not necicarly 25 percent lighter, but much more so). Central is made out of a combination of Glass and alluminum arranged in layers of glass fiber/epoxy sandwiched between layers of aluminum. Which not only decreases weight but makes it much more damage resistat than current carbon-fiber equivalents.

Full article at: New Material Could Revolutionize Aircraft Maintenance

Uh-Oh... space-station!

The International Space Station (ISS) is deffinitely the closest thing we have resembling an inter planetary craft. It's in space constantly and people are living aboard it. The only thing it doesn't have is the whole travel-away-from-earth aspect. But then again, that is without a doubt the most difficult part of the whole procedure. We're able to bring up supplies to ISS at any time (money provided) and specialists (ie. space walking repair men) can be brought up nearly as easy. You'd think this would make it relatively easy to deal with right?

Wrong. U.S. astronaut Daniel Tani discovered debris in a esential joint of the solar panel array, which allows the panels to rotate to face the sun. They don't know how the metal like shavings got into the joint; by all acounts it doesn't make sense for them to be there. But the issue still stands that it has happened and this means that they are probably going to have to work on diminished power and that they're probably going to have to bring up the specialists (talked about above) up to fix it.

Now this seems like a relatively small problem, but it high-lights an issue that a space craft travelling to Mars whill undoubtedly encounter: unforseen engineering issues/failures. And since we can't send back to Earth for parts and we certainly aren't going to be able to go back and get another person half way through the trip. We'll have to deal with these issue enroute. Uh-oh.

Full ariticle at: NASA Eyes Worrisome Debris in Space Station Joint

Martian Caves Created by "Lava tubes"

Researchers have discovered that, unlike many caves on Earth, the caves on Mars are not developed from slow processes of erosion from rivers. Instead, these caves were created very quickly by meteors or volcanoes. These lava tubes have been "recently identified from Mars orbiting spacecraft". Melted ice from meteors are also considered possible candidates for causes of caves. This is relevant to the discussion of life on Mars. Consider the experiments we discussed on Friday, and their ambiguous results for life on Mars. These caves offer protection for the harsh radiation found on the surface of Mars. Researcher Penelope Boston argues that these caves "could be the ideal places to search for Martian life". These caves have been compared to caves on the islands of Hawaii which show an "abundance of microbial growth as biofilms and mats on cave surfaces". Clearly, the rover's recent trip into a crater is the first step in this search. Future martian robots should become proficient spelunkers if we are to find Martian life.

Source: Discovery News.

Latitude-dependent climate

High resolution photos have demonstrated a range of ice-made features that show a strong preference to certain latitudes and latitude-dependent features can mean only one thing: latitude-dependent climate. It was known before that ice had influence the poles of the planet but now there is evidence that water and ice have impacted the rest of the planet.

Mars' Time to Shine

In an article on Courant.com, staff writer David Wakefield discusses Mars' position in the night sky for the month of November. Mars will steadily brighten and rise throughout November. The Red Planet rises around 9:20 and will be up around 6:15 by the end of the month. The Earth has an inside track and will catch up to Mars in late December. This not only brings the two planets to one of their closest proximities, but it also means that Mars will appear "full" as the entire disk will be illuminated by the Sun. The planets' relative motion will also put Mars into retrograde, meaning it will stop its apparent eastward movement against the background stars and it will appear to move to the West. This eastward motion will cease November 15th.

For an animation of the retrograde motion visit: mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/nightsky04-2003animation.html

China to the Moon

Following Japan's launch of its lunar orbiter about a month ago, China launched its first lunar orbiter Wednesday in the midst of a 3-way space race to the moon between China, Japan, and India (which will launch next year). All three plan to send orbiters and eventually manned flights to the surface. Although China downplayed the rivalry with Japan, the timescales for each country's trip to the moon are similar. Hopefully the attention paid to technology in this endeavor will make for a better moon base when we make one, instead of rivalry.

Space-Based Solar Power

The Pentagon recently urged the United States to take a lead role in developing space-based solar arrays to "beam" power to the surface. The initiative is directed mainly at producing alternate energy to help the US fight climate change, but the technology and implementation can be applied to Mars, and likely will be in the future.
Solar arrays orbiting the planet will be able to collect and store energy to be transmitted to the surface. For Earth, it is expensive to get something into space, but with Mars it is cheaper to get something into orbit around Mars than onto the surface. Orbiting solar arrays, even at Mars's distance from the sun, would be a cheaper way to power anything on the surface of Mars along with solar panels and nuclear reactors already being used. In the case of the southern summer dust storms, this would be a good way to collect and store energy for the long periods when the sun is blocked out. The article can be found here:
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/071012-pentagon-space-solarpower.html

Discovery Takes off for Complex Mission to ISS

An article posted today discussed the recent news in US space travel. Despite safety concerns voiced by a team of NASA engineers, the US space shuttle Discovery took off for the International Space Station. The shuttle is led by Commander Pam Melroy, who is only the second woman to head a shuttle team since the program began in 1981. The shuttle reached Earth's orbit within 8.5 minutes and set course for the ISS where it is due to dock on Thursday for its 10-day mission. There were fears that the mission would be delayed because a small chunk of ice measuring about 10 centimeters long was found outside the craft on a liquid oxygen supply cable. However, officials agreed that the ice posed no danger to the craft or the crew.

The Discovery's main mission is to deliver the Harmony module. This module is key to installing the future European lab Columbus and Japan's Kibo lab on the ISS. Harmony will connect the two labs to the output and give it its almost final shape. The ISS is a $100 billion project in which 16 countries are taking part to ready the way for manned Mars missions in the future. Discovery's crew of seven includes five men and one other woman. This mission is key to the future of manned flights to Mars and will take us even closer to the Red Planet.

They keep going and going...

NASA has once again extended the operations of Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. This makes it the 5th time their retirement has been cut short. It is possible that they could continue exploring to 2009. Both rovers have found evidence to support the existence of water at one time on Mars. At this point Opportunity has traveled 11.57 miles and Spirit 4.51 miles. They have take thousands of photos and collected much information to add to the research of Mars. They have been at it for over three and a half years and while they show some signs of wear, they are still trekking along.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Extends_Operations_For_Its_Long_Lived_Mars_Rovers_999.html

Plasma Propulsion

Standard rocket propulsion is gradually becoming a major limitation in our ability to travel within the solar system. For example the ~8 month trip to Mars, or 3 year trip to Pluto, is something that NASA and the general population is becoming less patient with and it greatly limits the amount of science we can do as the length of a mission means more money.
That's why plasma is currently being studied as a new form of propulsion. Technically called Variable Specific Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), it uses hydrogen heated to extremely hot temperatures by radio waves, which burns more efficiently than regular rocket fuel. A trip to Mars could last 3 months instead of 7 or 8, and the cost and efficiency would be greatly improved.
Plasma is electrically charged gas made up of atoms which have been stripped of their electrons. It is called the 4th state of matter, and it is only found in conditions of extremely high pressure and temperature (like a star). It can be created in the lab and plans for testing this method in space are already underway.
One major problem of working with plasma is that no known solid can contain it. It must be contained (except for where it leaves the rocket) by a strong magnetic field generated by superconductors - thus a completely new design for a rocket. Take a look at http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/plasma_propulsion_000616.html

Climate model?

Particles present in the Martian atmosphere may have a profound effect on the climate system. Determining the optical properties of these particles is important because the scattering and absorption properties are fundamental to the study of the energy budget in the Martian-atmosphere system. If the Martian atmosphere could be accuartly represented, it reasonable to believe that a solid climate model could be made.

Spirit and Opportunity Missions Extended

The twin Mars rovers, Opportunity and Spirit are still going strong after 45 months on Mars, 42 months past their initial mission lengths. To date, Spirit has traveled 4.51 miles and Opportunity has traveled 7.19 miles. Combined, the two rovers have returned nearly 200,000 images. While the continued success of the rovers depends on their continued operability and productivity, NASA expects that each rover will remain in service well into 2009.

The article is available here.

HiRISE

Just recently color has being incorporated into images of Mars. The HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been taking black-and-white images of Mars since November 2006 and employs multiple filter detectors that record different colors. The colors that Mars will be imaged in are not the colors that the human eye would register. Instead, the images are processed to maximize color differences, helping to analyze the landscape. Color data is the new tool used to interpret geological processes on Mars.

True and False... Color

Now here's something that you don't normally think of: Are the images you're seeing actually the color that you would see them? If you're talking about stuff on earth you can be pretty sure that more often than not it is. However when you're dealing with images from Hubble or the Mars rovers you run into other things all together. That's where "True" and "False" colors come in.

As it turns out because of the process used to record these images. The pictures that we see aren't necessarily in the colors our eyes would perceive. They don't take the picture all colors at once. They take a series of pictures through different color filters (some in the infrared and some in the ultraviolet even) and then attribute the most useful colors to those different grey scale slides in ways that make what you're seeing most effective.

As it turns out the Hubble telescope, since it uses such a broad range of spectra and since it is often dealing with things that are outside the visible light range uses color combinations that are "False" colors. While the Mars rovers are actually trying to use calibration systems which turn out very close approximations of what the average human eye would receive.

Full article at: True or False (Color): The Art of Extraterrestrial Photography

Opportunity

Opportunity, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover is just beginning a multi-week investigation of the Victoria Crater. The Victoria Crater is of interest because it exposes a larger amount of ancient rock layer than any of the other craters previously visited. The Rover just finished its first test run, checking wheel slippage, and all seemed well.

Life Marker Chip

About a month ago a “Life Marker Chip” was launched on a 12 day low-Earth orbit to determine that survivability for future journeys to mars. The LMC will hopefully be able to detect trace levels of biomarkers in the Martian environment. A biomarker will indicate if life is or ever was present on Mars. The LMD experiment has is being considered for the European Space AgencyOS ExoMars rover mission, which will launch in 2013. This test run is important because it will tell us if the key molecular components that the LMC uses will survive the harsh environment of space.
For more information visit http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Life_on_Mars_Pregnancy_Test_Launched_999.html

Lakes

Cassini, the spacecraft currently observing Saturn, its rings and moons, has been mapping the polar regions of Titan, a large moon with a dense methane-rich atmosphere. Large hydrocarbon lakes make up about 14% of the polar surface, some larger than the midwest Great Lakes. The lakes are theorized to have formed similarly to Earth's lakes, and indeed much of Titan's structure is similar to Earth's, as can be seen in pictures taken by Cassini and its probe which transmitted data from the surface of titan for a short time a couple years ago.
This article caught my attention since it talks specifically about liquid on another planet, something not altogether unheard of. Theories of underground oceans on Europa and frozen oceans and rivers on Mars are common and well-supported. But it is worth noting that the search for liquid water is an essential early step in the search for life, but it is not as easy as looking for places where liquid has been. Many elements form a liquid in the range of temperatures between the Earth and the outer solar system, which is why we need methods like spectroscopy and sample analysis to determine the nature of the liquid.

New Spaceship design a little bit different

Ram Tripathi of NASA's Langley Research Center is proposing that rockets are not the best way to send a man to Mars. In the alternative design the spaceship would look like "a grapefruit spiked with cherries on sticks." The spaceship would be designed this way to protect from galactic cosmic rays which can cause cancer. The idea is that the spherical shape that the ship is made into would help deflect cosmic rays away from the central habit of the astronauts.

http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19626256.500-forget-rockets--go-to-mars-in-a-cosmic-fruit-bowl.html

Earth vs. Mars

Diameter	EARTH About 7,926 miles (12,756 kilometers) but growing, at least at the equator.	MARS Roughly 4,222 miles (6,794 kilometers), or 53 percent that of Earth.
Distance from Sun	1 astronomical unit (AU), or about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers), on average.	Ranges from 1.381 AU to 1.666 AU, due to non-circular orbit.
Temperature	Way too hot in summer or way too cold in winter, depending on locale, or both. Planetwide: 47.3 degrees Fahrenheit (8.5 Celsius) over land areas. Warmer if surface air above oceans is figured in.	Ridiculously cold most of the time. Freezing in most places. Planetwide: -67 degrees Fahrenheit (-55 Celsius). Can be shirtsleeve during fleeting moments of daytime summer.
Cosmic radiation	Manageable, protection courtesy a strong magnetic field.	Problematic, due to a weak magnetic field.
Weather	Hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes a real problem. Disgustingly interminable fog in coastal California. Utter lack of rain in parts of Africa. Way too wet in many other places.	Dust storms abound. Sometimes whole planet is obscured. Dust devils that soar higher into the atmosphere than terrestrial tornadoes and hurricane-like storms as big as Texas.
Heft	1 Earth mass. In kilograms, it's about 6 with twenty-four zeros after it.	About 10.7 percent that of Earth.
Day	23 hours, 56 minutes.	24 hours, 37 minutes.
Year	365 days (the time needed to go around the Sun once).	687 Earth-days, or about 670 Mars days.
Gravity	Normal.	38 percent of that found on Earth at sea level.
Tilt of rotation axis	23.5 degrees.	25 degrees.
Satellites	The Moon, plus several that communicate, and tons of junk as small as paint chips.	Two natural ones, Phobos and Deimos, plus two sent by NASA and more on the way.
Air	Quite a bit. About 76 percent of it is nitrogen, with about 21 percent oxygen. Next most common, in order but in very small amounts: Argon, carbon dioxide, neon.	Not much. Less than 1 percent the density of Earth's air at the surface, and mostly carbon dioxide (95.3 percent). Trace of oxygen (0.15%).
Caves	Many, and they're great places for microbial life to hide.	Maybe, and they're possible places for humans to hide.
Snow	Tons. Like 1,140 inches at Washington's Mt. Baker during the 1998-99 season, a world record. That's 95 feet (29 meters).	Yes, surprisingly, but you wouldn't want to ski on it. And it's melting, perhaps due to global warming.
Water ice	Yes, often invisible and under moving car tires.	Yes, much of it invisible and under the surface or beneath another kind of ice at the south pole.
Dry ice	Sure. 4,200 pounds of it is used weekly in just one Vegas show.	Tons, covering the water ice at the south pole.
Water	Inundates the place, especially in basements and during picnics.	Not a drop that we know of for sure -- yet. But possibly a lot long ago and maybe some today, under the surface.

Scientists design self-sufficient space habitat

Australian scientists have designed a system that can support 12 astronauts for up to 3 years on the moon. Although it isnt expected to be developed for at least 20 years, it does look like it will be up to 95 percent self-sufficient.

The "Closed Equilibrated Biological Aquatic System" would allow growing "small-scale farming of fast-growing fish", while the "Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative" would use "microbes to purify water, recycle carbon dioxide via photosynthesis, and derive edible material from waste products." Algae is a key part of this system as well, because it would allow the creation of oxygen without pollination.

The article says that 20 square meters of crops per astronaut will be necessary - which is something they are going to have to work on. They emphasize a reliance on peanuts, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and wheat. Again, algae will be used for minerals and vitamins. But, some crops require pollination, which also needs to be figured out before they can actually put this together.

NASA Explores "Hibernation" Spots for Rovers

An article on Space.com reported today that the Mars Rovers have weathered two terrible winters on the surface of the Red Planet and a third one is coming soon. This poses a dilemma because these rovers were only supposed to be on a 90 day mission. The Martian winter will last from March 2008 to October 2008. Although Mars has a similar tilt to Earth, the seasons are longer because it takes the planet twice as long to orbit the Sun (687 Earth days). Steve Squyres, principal scientist of the Mars Exploration Rover team at Cornell University said,

"When you're talking about the rovers surviving winter on Mars, planning many months in the future is really important, but it's too soon to tell where we might situate them."

When the conditions are dim, the solar-powered robots take a real energy hit. Squyres added, "The sun gets very low in the sky, giving us a lot less solar power to work with." Fewer gusts of wind are around to clean the dust from the solar panels on the rovers which makes the problem even worse. Squyres also explained what they have done the past few winters,

"We try and park them on a broad, north-facing slope that helps them gather more sunlight. During the winter, it's essentially science on a hill. If we're stuck on a small slope, we're much more limited in what we can investigate."

However, this is not always a bad thing. Squyres added that when the rover is stuck in one place, it allows them to intensively study a single small area. During the last winter, Spirit studied a palm-sized area of soil for months. This is now probably the best-studied patch of dirt in the solar system outside of Earth. Even though the rovers have done far-and-above their call of duty, it is still impossible to predict the survival of these robots. The rovers have both lasted more than 1,324 Earth days beyond their warranty. Squyres added to the uncertainty by saying,

"Their long lives are experiments in progress. They could die three years from now, or in the next hour. There's simply no way for us to know, so we're trying to do as much as we can with what time we might have left."

Scientists Pick New Mars Landing Site Based on Pictures

An article on Space.com talked about scientists getting new color images and a color movie of the Martian landscape. The movie was created by combining images taken through color filters. The images were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). HiRISE is on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and has been helping scientists to decide the best place for a future Martian explorer should land on 2010. The HiRISE camera has 10 red filter detectors, two blue-green and 10 for infrared wavelengths. The HiRISE team developed software that automatically pieced the pictures together to make a color image. HiRISE operations manager, Eric Eliason of the University of Arizona describes how difficult of a task this is: "The technical hurdle has been that the sets of different color detectors are staggered within the camera focal plane array, and the spacecraft isn't perfectly steady as it operates in space." What came from all this work is 143 full-color images and a 41 second movie clip showing Mars' Nili Fossae region. Eliason also commented: "Color data are proving very useful in interpreting geologic processes and history on Mars. The images we're releasing today include views of some of the most exciting and compositionally diverse areas on the planet. They are really interesting." One of the color images can be seen below.