China, the UAE and the U.S. all have spacecraft visiting Mars in February to study the Red Planet. WSJ explains how out-of-this-world technology is being used by NASA’s Perseverance and China’s Tianwen-1 in the search for evidence of life beyond our planet. Photo: NASA
Tag Archives: Mars
TOP JOURNALS: RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM SCIENCE MAGAZINE (NOV 13, 2020)
Skywatching With NASA: Oct 2020 Has 2 Full Moons, Mars At Opposition (Video)
What are some skywatching highlights in October 2020? Not one, but two, full moons; Mars at opposition; and finding the Andromeda galaxy.
Future Housing: “Mars Habitat” By Hassell Studio
“We set out to design the perfect habitat for space explorers on the red planet as part of NASA’s international 3D Printed Habitat Challenge.“
Our team, in collaboration with structural engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan (EOC), was shortlisted to design the world’s first human home on Mars. In our design, an external shell made from local Martian regolith would be built in advance by autonomous robots before exploration teams arrived to construct the interior – a series of inflatable ‘pods’ containing everything for work and life on Mars.
Our aim was to bring a more human element to space design, typically all about maximum efficiency and performance. Our habitat goes far beyond just ticking the boxes for safety and survival. It’s a home away from home where astronauts can carry out the most important work in the history of space exploration.
Space: UAE, China And USA Launch Missions To Mars – How Long Will It Take?
Why are there so many attempts to get to Mars at the moment? The United Arab Emirate’s Hope satellite was despatched last week and now China has launched its first rover mission to the red planet. Nasa’s Perseverance Rover is scheduled to take off on 30th July. Well, summer 2020 is a popular time for missions to the red planet because of the way the planets align – but how long does it take to get there? Landing on Mars is known as the “seven minutes of terror”, and there are lots of reasons why. Here BBC Science Correspondent Laura Foster explains how long it takes to get there and why it’s so difficult. Video by Megan Fisher, Terry Saunders and Laura Foster
Top New Science Podcast: UAE’s New Mars Mission, ‘Enhanced Weathering’ & Mexico’s Deep Caverns
On this week’s podcast, an ambitious Mars mission from a young space agency, and how crumbling up rocks could help fight climate change.
In this episode:
00:46 Mars hopes
In a few weeks the UAE’s first mission to Mars is due to launch. We speak to the mission leads to learn about the aims of the project, and how they developed the mission in under six years. News Feature: How a small Arab nation built a Mars mission from scratch in six years; News Feature: Countdown to Mars: three daring missions take aim at the red planet
09:53 Research Highlights
Pluto appears to be losing its atmosphere, and solving the mystery of a pitch-black prehistoric mine. Research Highlight: Goodbye, Pluto’s atmosphere; Research Highlight: Why ancient people pushed deep into Mexico’s pitch-black caverns
12:12 Climate rocks
Researchers have assessed whether Enhanced Weathering – a technique to pull carbon dioxide out of the air – has the potential to help battle climate change. Research Article: Beerling et al.
18:41 Briefing Chat
We take a look at some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time we talk about an outbreak of flesh-eating bacteria in Australia, and how flatworms can regrow their nervous systems. The Atlantic: Australia Has a Flesh-Eating-Bacteria Problem; The New York Times: A Worm’s Hidden Map for Growing New Eyes
Top New Science Podcasts: Poker’s Life Lessons, Peer Reviews & Mars’ Greenness
On this week’s podcast, life lessons from poker, keeping things civil during peer review, a sweaty synthetic skin that can exude useful compounds, and Mars’s green atmosphere.
In this episode:
00:44 Deciding to play poker
When writer Maria Konnikova wanted to better understand the human decision making process, she took a rather unusual step: becoming a professional poker player. We delve into her journey and find out how poker could help people make better decisions. Books and Arts: What the world needs now: lessons from a poker player
09:12 Research Highlights
A sweaty synthetic skin that can exude useful compounds, and Mars’s green atmosphere. Research Highlight: An artificial skin oozes ‘sweat’ through tiny pores; Research Highlight: The red planet has a green glow
11:21 Developing dialogues
The peer-review process is an integral part of scientific discourse, however, sometimes interactions between authors and reviews can be less than civil. How do we tread the fine line between critique and rudeness? Editorial: Peer review should be an honest, but collegial, conversation
18:47 Briefing Chat
We take a look at some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time we talk about research into racism, and a possible hint of dark matter. Nature News: What the data say about police brutality and racial bias — and which reforms might work; Nature News: Mathematicians urge colleagues to boycott police work in wake of killings; Quanta: Dark Matter Experiment Finds Unexplained Signal
Top New Science Podcasts: Multiple Missions To Mars, Electric Cars & Dengue Fever Prevention (Nature)
In this episode of the podcast, Nature reporter Davide Castelvecchi joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2020. We’ll hear about multiple missions to Mars, a prototype electric car, efforts to prevent dengue, and more.
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