Together, To Mars

July 08, 2009

Forty years after Neil Armstrong's giant leap for mankind, the United States and Europe took a small step toward a permanent partnership for Mars exploration. 

In a joint statement issued today, NASA's space science chief Ed Weiler and the European Space Agency's director of science and robotic exploration David Southwood, said they had agreed to create a Mars Exploration Joint Initiative, (known, of course, by the acronym MEJI) that "will provide a framework for the two agencies to define and implement their scientific, programmatic and technological goals at Mars."

Would you make a one-way journey to Mars?

May 31, 2009

Paul Davies, director of  an Arizona State University think tank/ science research center, raises the question in an article in Astrobiology Magazine, claiming it’d be a real price-chopper.

“It would be the first step to establishing a permanent human presence on another world,” writes Davies. And no, it’s not a suicide mission.

He envisions a foursome making the move, with the expectation that eventually they would be joined by others.

“This Mars base would grow and eventually become a permanent Mars colony that might take hundreds of years to establish,” Davies said.

7-year-old offers help for NASA's stuck rover

May 29, 2009

NASA is mining ideas from a new generation  -- our kids.  A 7-year-old named Julian posted on Twitter this idea about how to get the Mars rover Spirit unstuck from a sand pit. 

The lead rover driver Paolo Bellutta apparently is  impressed with the idea -- and grateful for the suggestion. The team wants to send their young advisor a present. 

Thanks for the tip, Boing-Boing

Update: Paolo writes "Unfortunately his suggestion (suggested also by other engineers) cannot implemented for several technical reasons, but felt it was important to encourage kids like Julian in using their imagination to solve tough problems." 

A curious name for NASA's new rover

May 27, 2009

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but NASA, for one, is hoping for a more alluring outcome. The results of a national contest to name the agency's next Mars rover are in, and the winning moniker is Curiosity.

In a press release NASA says it received more than 9,000 proposals from students. The selection committee also weighed suggestions from people involved in the  Mars Science Laboratory program and from a public poll (non-binding, particularly after the brouhaha stirred up by comedian Stephen Colbert, who made a pitch to have the space station's last connecting hub named after him.)

Sixth-grader Clara Ma of Kansas won the honors, thanks in part to an essay that reads:

"Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It  makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life  will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder." 

NASA says that Curiosity will be larger and more capable than any craft previously  sent to land on Mars and that it will check to see whether the environment in a selected landing region ever has been favorable for  supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of life.

Curiously missing from the Curiosity release is that the rover won't be launched this year, as originally planned, due to technical complexities and budget overruns. Let's just hope Curiosity doesn't kill off the rest of NASA's Mars science program getting back on track. 

Tally-Ho! Mars Rover Spies Crater Destination

March 18, 2009

After trudging across the Martian desert for six months, Opportunity, one of NASA's two roving robotic geology stations on Mars, has spied its destination -- a 14-mile diameter wide crater named Endeavour. 

The target is seven miles away and even farther for Opportunity, which has to take a circuitous route to avoid getting stuck. The rover has traveled about two miles since climbing out of Victoria Crater, its last target. 

"It's exciting to see our destination, even if we can't be certain whether we'll ever get all the way there," John Callas, NASA's manager for its Mars rovers, said in a statement.  "At the pace we've made since leaving Victoria,  the rest of the trek will take more than a Martian year."

One year on Mars is 23 months on Earth -- and probably feels a lot longer with nothing to break up the scenery.

(Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

NASA Delays Mars Probe

December 04, 2008

NASA is dumping plans for next year’s launch an ambitious science probe to the surface of Mars to search for signs of life.

The new plan, outlined during a press conference on Thursday, is to fly in 2011, the next time Earth and Mars are favorably positioned.

“If we could delay the launch for a few months we would, but launch opportunities don’t allow that,” said NASA chief Michael Griffin.

The problem revolves around motors in a system being designed to lower the Mars Science Laboratory onto the planet’s surface.

The delays will add another $400 million or more to the probe’s already-ballooned $1.9 billion price tag. Managers expect to delay other Mars probes, and if necessary, other projects in NASA’s space science portfolio, to cover the costs. Those folks weren't at the press conference.

Doomed Moon

October 20, 2008

Talk about a full moon.

NASA's sharp-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snared this shot of the moon Phobos, one of two natural satellites in orbit around Mars. Phobos, which is believed to be a captured asteroid, will not stay pinned to Mars forever. The planet's gravity is tugging on Phobos, causing its orbit to buckle a little bit each year. Another 100 million years or so and it'll be gone.

Thar She Blows!

October 18, 2008

Warning: Serious geek alert

It takes a special kind of person to get worked up about what you’ll see if you click on this link.

But you have to realize that that’s not just any doodad blowing in the wind. That’s part of the Phoenix science station and the wind is blowing on MARS.

I know this isn’t going to solve the financial crisis or help determine who should be the next president, but it’s pretty cool, IMHO, that humans can sit around in their homes and offices on planet Earth and see a picture of Mother Nature doing her thing on another world.

A bit of background: Last week, Phoenix, which is parked near the north pole of Mars, encountered its first dust storm. The pictures were taken with the probe’s Surface Stereo Imager. The bit flapping in the breeze is part of the Canadian Space Agency’s meteorological package.

Thanks to a sister spacecraft in orbit, scientists were able to get a bird’s-eye-view of the storm, which spanned nearly 14,300 square miles. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbit took this shot as the storm blew over the Phoenix landing site.

NASA Mars Probe Wins Reprieve

October 10, 2008

NASA is gambling more money will resolve problems with its next Mars mission and keep it on track for launch next year.

But exactly where the extra cash to keep the Mars Science Laboratory on schedule -- and how much will be needed -- officials with the U.S. space agency would not say.

“If we’re going to launch in 2009 or 2011 additional budget resources are going to be necessary. The sources of that we cannot release until we get approval from the Office of Management and Budget and Congress,” Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA headquarters, said during a conference call with reporters.

Costs for the roving chemistry station, which is designed to assess Mars' suitability for life, already have swelled from $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion. The probe, which is about the size of a SUV, is slated for launch between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, 2009, when Earth and Mars are favorably aligned. The planets sweep into optimal position every two years.

NASA has been launching probes at every opportunity in an attempt to learn if life ever took hold beyond Earth.

Mars Science Lab is an ambitious follow-on program to the two small rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, currently exploring the equatorial regions of Mars for signs of past water.

“This is a really important scientific mission,” McCuistion said. “This is truly the push into the next decade for the Mars program and for the discovery for the potential for life on other planets.

“I fully believe that Congress will support us as we go forward on this because they recognize the importance of the mission as well,” he added.

In an attempt to make up time lost due to a host of technical challenges, including actuators, materials and parachutes, Mars Science Lab contractors are working multiple shifts to deliver components so that testing can begin in late November or early December.

NASA plans to reassess the mission’s progress in January. If the probe has to miss its 2009 launch date, keeping the contractor and science teams employed for another two years is estimated to cost $300 million.

In addition to seeking additional funding from Congress, NASA will assess other science programs to see if any money can reallocated for Mars Science Lab, said NASA’s lead scientist Ed Weiler.

NASA Mars Probe Needs a Bailout

Anyone got a spare billion or so? NASA's next Mars probe is a bit, well, this is embarrassing, but it has sorta busted the bank. (Very trendy!)

Agency managers held a come-to-Jesus meeting this week in D.C. and will be ramping up full spin control late this afternoon to put their best face forward for the media.
The facts are pretty clear: Too much mission, too little money. You can fudge around all you want but, like we're all starting to appreciate, you can only stretch time so far. For the troubled Mars probe, the deadline is the short window of opportunity to launch in the fall of 2009 when Earth and Mars are favorably aligned. Things aren't looking promising. So what will NASA do?

It seems pretty unpopular these days to actually do what you SAY you're going to do, which in NASA's case means canceling the mission because it is running more than 30 percent over budget. No, the fashion of the day seems to be to continue to pour good money after bad and hope a fairy godmother (aka U.S. taxpayers) bails you out in the end.

For Mars Science Lab, that would be akin to spending double, triple, quadruple the alloted cost and then having the good fortune to land in the midst of a thriving bacterial community on Mars, settling the age-old question about whether Earth alone supports life, winning a Nobel Prize, and reconciling with colleagues on all the other space science missions that had to be cast aside to feed Science Lab's bloat.

Not that's not going to help you in your retirement, but it may inspire your kids to at least THINK about careers in science and engineering, which is probably the only way out of the financial quagmire in which our country (and increasingly the world) is plodding through (unsuccessfully, apparently.) It is science, engineering and technology that created the digital age and I personally believe it is science, engineering and technology, in the hands of enterprising entrepreneurs, that is America's only hope of recreating prosperity.

Don't get me wrong. I think Mars exploration is cool, cool, cool. But I think INTEGRITY is even cooler.

(Caption: Not ready for prime time. Credit: NASA)