Is colonizing Mars even a good idea? You can't breathe, after all
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Elton John might have said it best in his iconic song "Rocket Man" – "Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids."
More than 50 years after we sent humans to the moon – the closest celestial body to Earth – the plan is still to head to Mars , something many astronauts who have flown in space thought we would have already accomplished.
But despite the fact humankind has been unable to send anyone to another place in the universe besides the moon, there are still many with the hopes and expectation that we will become a multi-planetary species in the near future, starting with our red next-door neighbor.
In case you are keeping track:
Bad Astronomy | Methane on Mars? New observations show no indication of it.
It was first seen by ground-based observations of Mars back in the 2000s, then subsequently by spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet . But these observations barely detected it, and have been called into question time and again. There's been much debate, and some of the claims have been contradictory. No truly convincing observation of it has been made.
So the European Space Agency sent a probe to Mars called the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, equipped with a device on it called the Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery , or NOMAD * . It can look for many different gases, including methane, in the Martian atmosphere in a variety of ways.
Trib HSSN Top 20 Stories of 2020: Mars soccer dominates the state | Trib HSSN | Trib HSSN
The Mars boys soccer team celebrates with the PIAA Class 3A soccer championship trophy after defeating Northern, 2-1, in the state final Nov. 20.
UNLV professors part of NASA Mars rover mission - Las Vegas Sun News
Arya Udry, shown here, is one of two UNLV professors taking part in NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission. UNLV professor Elisabeth "Libby" Hausrath is also among 13 scientists chosen to participate.
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So when NASA selected the UNLV professor to be part of its Mars 2020 rover mission, Udry was over the moon.
NASA chose Udry and 12 other scientists, including fellow UNLV professor Elisabeth "Libby" Hausrath, out of more than 100 applicants for the mission.
In case you are keeping track:
From JPL's Mailroom to Mars and Beyond – NASA's Mars Exploration Program
Bill Allen has thrived as the mechanical systems design lead for three Mars rover missions, but he got his start as a teenager sorting letters for the NASA center.
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Allen was just 17 years old when he first set foot on the grounds of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to join the mailroom in the summer of 1981. Voyager had recently encountered Saturn, and the Lab was crawling with members of the media.
"It was like walking into a football stadium in the middle of the touchdown. It was electric," he says. "This is something that doesn't go on anywhere else in the world, and to be immersed in it with your first footsteps was crazy. That alone was awe-inspiring."
NASA moves Mars Sample Return program into next phase of development - SpaceNews
WASHINGTON — NASA is moving ahead with work on a pair of Mars sample return missions, although some in the planetary science community worry how the cost of that effort will affect other projects.
NASA announced Dec. 17 that it approved moving the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program into Phase A of development, working on initial designs of the missions and key technologies. Those missions include a sample return lander, whose development will be led by NASA with a rover provided by the European Space Agency, and an ESA-led orbiter with a sample collection system provided by NASA.
Year in Review: Mars missions, Lunar Samples, Crew launched from the US, and Starlink -
The final flight of Japan’s H-IIB rocket also occurred this year, launching the final flight of the HTV cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. Another ISS cargo spacecraft, SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon 1 , was also retired in 2020, in favor of Cargo Dragon 2 which debuted later in the year .
Other flagship missions launched by SpaceX this year included the company’s first two crewed missions, Demo-2 and Crew-1 , as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. These were the first crewed missions to orbit launched from the United States since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011. SpaceX also debuted the Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft on the CRS-21 mission, following the Cargo Dragon 1 retirement flight on CRS-20.
MSU receives NASA Grant, creates virtual reality curriculum about Mars
MSU professor Stacey Fox, 'Wizard of Digital Programs' and 'Wizard in Residence,' is an award-winning international composer and musician. She is not only bringing her expertise to this NASA project with her songs about Mars but also her experience in creating virtual reality.
"The album is in [the curriculum] as one of the supplemental teaching tools," said Fox. "So students can learn all these amazing science facts about mars, the rovers, [the] geography of Mars."
Happening on Twitter
Billionaires talk about colonizing Mars because they want to be trillionaires via owning the mineral wealth of an e… https://t.co/5qLjCXuKtX bclevinger (from Active Threshold; RVA) Wed Dec 23 22:11:46 +0000 2020
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