The planetary adventure continues - Mars Express and Venus Express operations extended

ESA's Mars Express and Venus Express missions, to explore our nearest neighbour planets Mars and Venus respectively, will continue to operate until early-May 2009. The decision was unanimously taken by ESA's Science Programme Committee last Friday. So far, both missions have allowed an amazing amount of scientific discoveries of the highest quality. Both spacecraft are equipped with a suite of sophisticated scientific instruments...

Mars' climate in flux: Mid-latitude glaciers

Mars' climate in flux: Mid-latitude glaciers

Conspicuous trains of debris in valleys, arcs of debris on steep slopes and other features far from the polar ice caps bear striking similarities to glacial landscapes of Earth, says Brown University's James Head III. When combined with the latest climate models and orbital calculation for Mars, the geological features make a compelling case for Mars having ongoing climate shifts that allow ice to leave the poles and accumulate at lower latitudes.

Some do show tragedies while others complain about sins

Sins and Tragedies- Dwayne Day’s interesting article titled I write sins not tragedies (The Space Review, February 5, 2007) unfortunately may create the incorrect impression that ESA and/or Arianespace tried to conceal, downplay, or sugarcoat the embarrassing failure of the first Ariane 5 rocket. They did not.

Sensor Being Developed to Check for Life on Mars

Researchers are in the process of developing a tool that will allow scientists to test if there are even the smallest traces of life on Mars. The tool will test for elements of the molecular building blocks for life as well as if those building blocks were created by something alive The instrument is called the UREY or the Mars Organic and Oxidant detector. The Urey has shown its amazing capability's in the Atacama Desert in Chile, which is one of the most hostile climates on Earth. So lets see how the Urey does on Mars!

SpaceDev's Starsys Division Awarded $1.4M Contract

Starsys to Provide Descent Brake Damper for Lander
On February 28, the Starsys division of Space Dev was awarded a $1.4 million cost reimbursable design and development subcontract with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The contract is for 18 months to develop and deliver electromechanical Descent Brake dampers for the 1,800 pound rover on the 2010 mission to Mars.

NASA-University Public Relations Competition

NASA together with the Texas Space Grant Consortium is sponsoring a competition for college students to create a communications plan for the public. The goal is to get Americans more involved and educated about space exploration. This years theme is Science, Technology, Engineering and Math or (STEM) and will be presented to middle school and high school students.

"The program provides a unique opportunity to develop the next generation of professional communicators challenged to convey the value and excitement of science and technology in a highly distributed, dynamic media environment," said Mayer, Chair of the Coalition for Space Exploration Public Affairs Team.

This is a great opportunity for college students to get involved in the future of space exploration and business opportunities by exercising their marketing and communications skills for NASA.

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Question of the week...

Question of the week: Since man landed on the moon, what has been the most exciting discovery in space?

Is it the discovery of water on Mars, are there a lot more plants and stars in space than we know...there are new things we are learning daily about Mars. These new concepts are simulating new businesses to develop in all areas of business. Take a look, there are a lot more areas to have niche markets in business.

Iran "Space Rocket"

A research satellite was launched over the weekend in Iran. Iranians claimed the rocket was for space exploration not a missile. Though they said the rocket was for space research, the research they were collecting couldn't be identified. "The rocket was built to soar to a maximum altitude of 93 miles." The problem is space is considered to start at 60 miles, whats the leftover mileage for? Often in business we deal with international issues. Sometimes they don't seem relevant to our American business but take a look inside and you'll see that all business is connected in some way. That is why the Americans had to look into this Iranian "space rocket."

Making Spaceflight Affordable

In this article, Bob Clarebrough talks about the point at which commercialized space flight will become practical for the masses (much like commercial air flight is today). It is his assertion that this will happen when the product has RAP. R = Reliable, A = Available , P = Price. In other words, he believes that until space flight is reliable and safe and available and a realistic price, it can't catch on.

Interesting read.

Mars Express and Venus Express Operations Extended

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=22018

The decision to extend the Mars/Venus Express missions was unanimously made by the European Space Agency last friday. The decision was prompted by the amazing amount of scientific discoveries of the highest quality that have so far been made by these two express missions and the extension of the Mars Express and Venus Express operations will not only allow to complete the coverage carried out during the scientific phases that took place so far, but will also sustain the synergy that is being created in the interpretation of the data sets collected from both missions.

NASA Selects Proposals for Future Mars Missions and Studies

NASA Selects Proposals for Future Mars Missions and Studies

NASA selected for concept study development two proposals for future robotic missions to Mars. These missions would increase understanding of Mars' atmosphere, climate and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before. In addition, NASA also will fund a U.S. scientist to participate in a proposed European Mars mission as well as fund instrument technology studies that could lead to further contributions to future Mars missions.

Budget Update: No Additional Money For NASA

NASA Funding- While I would have liked to have increased funding for NASA, there was simply not enough extra funding available for us to do so. Within the limits of NASA’s FY 06 operating plan, we added an extra $460 million to exploration while protecting other critical NASA programs in science and aeronautics. With only seven months left in this fiscal year, I believe NASA will be able to manage their programs in exploration with minimal impact to the overall schedule.

Analysis Group Looks into Mars Exploration

The Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) Executive Committee looked over the Mars exploration program to see if it was worthwhile. Often times in the business world, a business will bring in an outside analysis group to look over their projects and make sure that the project is running effectively and efficiently. They are able to bring in an outside perspective and cut areas that are not being beneficial to the project. That is what this MEPAG group is doing for Mars. They demanded updates and current status of Mars and be kept in the loop of what was developing.

Reliability Analysis Software in Space

The GoldSim Technology Group LLC in Issaquah, WA has been working with NASA to develop reliability analyisis software. Because missions to space are dangerous and unpredictable, GoldSim Tech Group developed new software to predict the conditions in space to better prepare for exploration. They were able to do this by obtaining a Small Business Innovation Research grant through Jet Propulsion Labratory. This is an example of how NASA can use smaller businesses to meet their objectives.

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Scientists expanding search for evidence of life on mars

Scientists Are Looking For Possible Food and Energy
Scientists are now not only looking for life on Mars in the present, but any signs of past life on the Red Planet as well. They are also expanding their search to include possible sources of food and energy, as well as water, that could nourish microorganisms on Mars. Water is necessary, but not sufficient for life.

Autonomous Capability on Mars is Promising

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21955

Last week the Mars rover "opportunity" was driven by autonomous navigation software developed by the Carnagie Mellon University and preliminary data from the testrun indicates that it was successfull. The results indicate that the rover veered around a designted obstacle using the autonomous navigation. This type of technology will enable scientists to significantly increase the effectiveness of rovers allowing a much more vast and less difficult exploration of the martian surface.

Moon-Based Instruments Could Change How We See Earth

Space scientists are evaluating use of Moon-based instruments to study the Earth.

One early prospect is to inspect the Earth from the Moon to appraise sensitive gear and procedures helpful in spotting Earth-like planets circling other stars. The NASA Advisory Council, or NAC, members are also discussing a Moon-based Earth Observatory that is Internet accessible to the scientific community as well as the public. That Internet link would offer a continuously monitored, hyper-spectral, single frame sight of the whole Earth.

Details on Astronaut Farmer

Pretty soon a movie called the "Astronaut Farmer" will be coming into theaters. It's a movie about a once astronaut who turns farmer but never gives up the dream of flying. It says in the review of the movie that he acquires a space suit that he wears to his daughters class. First off, how much does a space suit cost? And where do you find one of those? These are just all questions I thought of when I think of the financial side of business. Also, if he is able to build a rocket in his barn, why are we struggling with NASA's budget and providing them with the things they need? The financials and business side of things start to jump out at me and bring some red flags on how things were built in the "Astronaut Farmer."

The Grocer

The Grocer


Since we are not traveling to Mars right this second then that least the Mars candy bar should be making some money. Mars is coming out with a new way to serve their customers Mars candy: in BALLS. The candy will contain three balls in Carmel, nougat and crispy chocolate flavors--tapping into this bite sized market is a great business opportunity and will help to increase their 6% increase on sales last year.

NASA Has Plan for Unstable Astronauts

NASA has a detailed set of written procedures for dealing with a suicidal or psychotic astronaut in space.
The space-station checklist is part of a 1,051-page document that contains instructions for dealing with every possible medical situation in space, including removing a tooth. Handling behavioral emergencies takes up five pages.

EPA could be Space Tourism's Next Big Hurdle

Subortital flights are expected to use the same amount of carbon emissions per passenger as a New York to London flight. The author of this article argues that these space companies will need to pay attention to these emissions numbers increase based on an exponential increase in demand for this product.

Little red lies

Hollywood Cashing In On Mars
As of right now, Hollywood is planning to do a remake of the 1978 movie Capricorn One that was about a fake Mars landing. The remake is going to be named Capricorn Two and is scheduled to start shooting later this year.

Super Robots Gear up for Space

New Super Robots or Superbots are being contructed to perform multiple tasks in space. They are made up of units that attatch to one another to create a robot that can do anything from habitat contruction in space to space exploration. The article compares them to Legos. If robots could be used for the more dangerous tasks of space habitation and exploration, it would help pave the way for human habitation of space. These Superbots could be sent to Mars to set up housing for humans, which would save money and allow construction to take place without having to launch food and water into space for astronauts.

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Property rights and space commercialization

Property rights and space commercialization

It’s time to start thinking about commercialization and colonization of the Moon and Mars. Fifty years after the Wright Brothers, we had global airlines. Fifty years after the invention of the integrated circuit we have a trillion-dollar-a-year industry. Cell phones alone account for tens of billions of dollars of government auction revenue. We need to make the regulatory environment for 50 years after Apollo now. An American private property regime and capitalist economic system can encourage space commercialization and colonization. A utopian property regime and a communitarian economic system will keep out commercialization and leave colonization and exploration in the realm of governments.

Are Human Beings The Biggest Risk Factor In Long-Term Space Missions

Scientist believe that the biggest rick factor involved with future space missions, whether it is to the moon, space stations or even Mars, that the biggest issue is going to be the humans themselves. Not only the physical stresses on the human body but also the psychological stresses as well. Givin the conditions of current space travel, being trapped in a small room for long periods of time with the same people day after day, someone is bound to go stir crazy!

BIGELOW SHOOTS FOR THE MOON

Billionaire Bigelow talks with NASA about his project

Bigelow Aerospace gears up for launching its second prototype space station into orbit, but has its sights set on something much bigger. They are preparing to assemble a space village at a work sight between Earth and the moon!

Scientists Weigh the Livability of Mars

Scientists Weigh the Livability of Mars

If you enjoy listening to stuff NPR has a great Friday Science section (2pm eastern), I think that NPR did a great job of giving an overview of Mars, where the heat will come from, why there are volcanoes on Mars-but they do not produce any heat, and why Mars doesn't heat up when it is closest to the Sun. Mars could have life on it many geologists/astronomists believe, but will it ever happen….Go listen to Dr. Hoeler!

NASA, Virgin Galactic to Explore Future cooperation

NASA officials have signed a MOU or an memorandum of understanding with Virgin Galactic, a subsidiary of Virgin group, which operates Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Galactic is in the process of creating a space tourism program, they already have tourists signed up. The memorandum allows for the two companies to collaborate on the development for space suits, heat shields, and hybrid rocket motors and even hypersonic vehicles that are capable of traveling 5 times the speed of sound! The memorandum is only an agreement to look at potential collaborations.

Making Internet on Mars a reality

A technology protocol called InterPlaNet (IPN)-short for Inter-planetary Internet - is currently in use to connect links between spacecrafts on Mars to Earth. The standardization of protocols so that spacecrafts can communicate and share information across the solarsystem is in the works.

Builders in a Strange Land

Builders in a Strange Land

If you have the heart of a homesteader and can endure a seven-month journey inside a container the size of a minivan, perhaps you will be among the first settlers of one of humanity's next frontiers: Mars.
You may even find a comfy home -- made with locally produced red brick, metal and fiberglass -- waiting for you on the red planet, thanks to scientists and engineers, many of them from MIT, who are looking into the challenges of building homes on Mars.

Nowak to Plead Not Guilty

Lisa is still planning to plead not guilty to her romantic escapade. She is claiming that attempted murder was not what she was trying to do. The law and procedure always is handled in the business world and is a serious part of any business, even NASA. Nowak has been relieved of all her duties after she was arrested and it is planned that the law and judicial system take its natural action on the case.

Grand Inter-Planetary Internet System in the Making

Communication in space can be tricky, but using the internet is newer option for improvement. "Vinton G Cerf, vice president and chief Internet evangelist, Google Inc, who is commonly touted as one of the founding fathers of the Internet, has played a key role in bringing out the protocols related to this NASA-funded project." Cerf is working on allowing users in space to use the internet to communicate, pointing out that internet devices are on the rise everywhere. It only makes sense to enable this kind of technology in space.

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Returning NASA to Earth

Returning NASA to Earth


So, after having Bush cut the NASA budget $3.1 billion over the next five years the manned mission to Mars seems quite unfeasible. So, NASA has allocated their budget to cut half of their Earth-observing instruments in half which is causing quite a ruckus; it does not end their, they will be cutting grad student research as well which will in turn decrease the US leadership in science and engineering. So--has Bush made yet another fatal mistake--I guess we will see.

SIGNING UP FOR AN ARCTIC MARS

SIGNING UP FOR AN ARCTIC MARS

The Mars Society is looking for a few good men - and women - to spend four months holed up in an artificial igloo or tromping around the Canadian Arctic in bulky faux spacesuits.
This won't be an extended vacation, or a reality-TV plotline. For rocket scientist Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, next year's exercise on Devon Island will be an experiment in the exploration process - a test that could help smooth the path to Mars.

Detecting Radiation on Lunar and Mars Missions

Astronauts on lunar and Mars missions will need to continually assess their radiation risk and exposure.
Members of the US Naval Academy are working to develop a technology that will continually assess the amount of radiation and gauge the risk from the exposure, as well as alerting crews of high raditaion events. On trips to the Moon and Mars astonauts will lack the protection from radiation that we have here on Earth which is provided by our atmosphere.

Water May Still Flow on Mars

In December new photographs have revealed that there may be two new spots on Mars where water may have ran within the last seven years. " "These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, Washington. " As you know liquid water is essential to sustaining life on any planet. We want this discovery to help us understand what Mars was like and if it could/does/ or will sustain life ever again.

NASA not paying students fellowship bills

Each year NASA gives financial aid to roughly 20 qualified students within the science programs at their respective universities. In the past NASA's payment has been prompt but despite what students and faculty have been promised, the money has not yet arrived. If NASA fails to come through with this grant money, its reputation could suffer even more.

Spectrometry on Mars

Spectrometry Experts Will Aid Search for Life on Mars
A $750,000 NASA grant was won by biomedical scientists at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to design the prototype for a mini mass spectrometer that fits on a Mars Rover. This spectrometer will be able to analyze the chemicals of life as it crawls over the dust that lays on Mars' surface.

NASA Commercial Space Partners Complete Milestones

The two companies that receive NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services funds, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Rocketplane Kistler, achieved milestones today. Space X created a design review for its first orbital demonstration mission while Rocektplane Kistler completed a system requirements review for its cargo services system. These two milestones show a lot of progress toward a new way of doing business for NASA. These also pave the way for the commercial purchase of transportation services that NASA needs to maintain the International Space Station.

A Need for Fashion Even in Space

A NASA student is in the process of redesigning the spacesuit. From her location stability research out of Houston University Melissa Scott-Pandorf is making vast improvements to the spacesuit. Melissa has found that among many things one of the important features of the spacesuit is that the life support pack is too high upon the astronauts back. Melissa plans to either make the pack spread evenly from the front and back of the suit or attack it lower around the waist.

Photos show water flowed on Mars

Photos show water flowed on Mars


This goes off what Bernie was talking about on Friday. All of these fractures and channels that people said they saw--well now individuals are believe to see them again. This is not due to pictures (but that is what started it all in the first place), this evidence is rather from rocks that were found to have a chemical signature for water-associated minerals. This find is creating tons of money for both Prof McEwen and Dr. Okubo, I guess this is the field to get into to make some bucks. ???

Mars Suits

Research For new Space Suits Underway
In Cambridge, Massachusetts new research is underway to develop new space suits. These new suits maybe be covered in motion sensitive proteins that would generate power from the astronauts movements. These suits, known as power skins, may also be used to coat future human bases on Mars, where they could produce power from the Martian winds.

Orbiter Provides New Hints Of Past Groundwater Flows On Mars

Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has provided evidence that water once flowed though a canyon on Mars in the Martian rift valley. In these layered deposits are lines called Halo's which scientists believe are clear and obvious signs of the presence of fluid in the past. While this is happening NASA's Opportunity rover is exploring similar areas near the Victoria Crater. Scientists believe that these deposits exposed by the crater are similar to those that Reconnaissance Orbiter found.

CBO Warns of Higher Exploration Price Tag

If past is precedent, NASA’s plan to land astronauts on the moon by 2020 while scouting Mars for future human explorers will cost considerably more than current agency projections, according to a newly released study.
The study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), dated September 2004, suggests that carrying out the new exploration agenda on the schedule laid out by NASA could increase total agency spending through 2020 by an estimated 12 to 23 percent above the agency’s current projection of $271 billion. The NASA estimate assumes that its annual funding will remain relatively flat over the period, with adjustments for inflation.

University of Houston Student Working on Space Suit Redesign for NASA

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21878

Scientists at the Texas Space Consortium are creating a new design for a more versatile space suit that will likely be used by NASA in the not too distant future.

NASA Mars Orbiter Sees Effects of Ancient Underground Fluids

The most powerful telescopic camera ever sent to Mars examines planet
Liquid or gas flowed through cracks penetrating underground rock on Mars, according to a report based on some of the first observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These fluids may have produced conditions to support possible habitats for microbial life.

VIASPACE Leveraging 'SHINE' Technology...

VIASPACE , specializing in national security and homeland defense, has been developing it's SHINE technology. "SHINE is a real-time inference engine and software platform originally developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for space flight operations, and is used in several NASA applications including the Mars Exploration Rover and Spacecraft Health Automatic Reasoning Pilot (SHARP) program." This technology is already being used in space, and specifically for Mars missions, so how long before we move our national defense to space as well? Like we discussed in class earlier, can one country claim Mars or any planet (or moon) as their own? What happens when we move defense and weapons into space?

VIASPACE is looking for open markets for its new technology. Space business will potentially be an area for marketing and SHINE (or products very similar to it) will definitely be needed for security in space.

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great time to make some money. If we could put some shuttles together and get people to pay to go out to the country to see this I think that we would have some profit. I mean North Americans have not seen a total eclipse of the Moon since October 2004—so on March 3^rd, who is down to make some money. J

A lunar eclipse takes center stage

Rosetta Lined up for Critical Mars Swingby

On February 25th ESA's Rosetta is scheduled for a 250 Km Mars Swingby. The engineers said that this swing by will include an eclipse, a single blackout and some complex ground tracking. They hope to gain some valuable information about the planet

Rover Upgrades

Smarter is better for Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity
Today NASA improved two rovers exploring Mars by sending up four computer upgrades. These upgrades allow the rovers to independently select the best targets to explore.

Hiking on Mars

We've talked about sports games on Mars but of course we aren't there yet but that doesn't mean we can't still commercialize Mars. Now they are selling "Hiking maps" of Mars. Just kidding. The Iani Chaos region now has fully detailed "hiking maps" displaying the geographical features of the region. The maps will soon be a standard resource on the planet Mars and topographical features. The maps will give Mars a three dimensional look as well.

here is the writing for the past post

So, way back when Sputnik was happening there was a race…now the space travel/exploration has slowed quite a bit. Most human didn’t think that we could get to the moon, or even walk on it, but now that we have not done much with Space exploration and many different country are getting probes in the air (China, India) I think that the US is getting scared that people might beat us to Mars—who knows! I believe that there is going to be an increase of money towards space exploration (at least there was until the astronaNUT Lisa)!!

Forget your Astrologer-astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is here to predict the end of the world

Private Industry Developing New Parts For NASA

Private industry is alive and well in the market to develop parts of NASA's future space flights. Thales, a French company, has developed a laser dubbed "ChemCam" that has recently been certified for space flight. This innovative instrument will allow future rovers the ability to analyze the composition of rocks without having to physically inspect them.

It's interesting to me that NASA is able to source components for it's space missions from things already in the market in private industry.

New Space Suits!

A student at University of Houston has working on a better suit for astronauts. Melissa Scott-Pandorf Says that the suits the astronauts are currently wearing cause stability problems, often enough that there can be serious consequences. She is hoping that her new suit will be more streamlined and should allow the astronauts to move around any kind of terrain a lot better.

Hiker's Maps of Mars Created

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/070213_mars_maps.html

Thanks to scientists at the European Space Agency, the first humans to walk on Mars will have detailed maps of the terrain that will enable them to know exactly what kind of terrain to expect. Development and production of these maps are in their early stages but scientists plan on creating a full scale map of the Martain surface which would mean more than 10,000 maps of equal area. In order to take advantage of this creation, it would be in NASA's best interest to maintain a strong relationship with the European Space Agency.

Russia, US discuss joint exploration of Moon, Mars

Russia, US discuss joint exploration of Moon, Mars

These days Russia and the USA are on the eve of a new stage of large-scale cooperation in the development of space, the document stressed. Discussions underway on ways to expand it in the interests of exploration of the Moon and Mars and more distant prospects are basing on a long history of successful cooperation in space between the two countries.

Mentor has boy aiming for Mars

Joey Show wants to become an astronaut. Through a business mentor online program at school Joey's mentor has him aiming not only to be an astronaut, but to be the first man on Mars. This program is known as e-mentoring, by matching students with business mentors in the Florida area, and is highly encouraged by the Florida High School/ High Tech program.

JWST Launch Delayed for More Funds

JWST telescope has delayed their take off until 2013 because of insufficient funds. The cost of the mission grew by $1 million dollars so it put a damper on the crew and the launch of the telescope. The crew of the JWST will witness a compromise between what they want to do with the telescope and what they will be able to afford. They have two fiscal years to fund the money to send the telescope into space. "The mission’s estimated cost remains $4.5 billion, including spacecraft development and launch and operations." This often happens with numerous telescopes and satellites their launches are delayed because of increased costs in the process.

Business ideas shoot for the stars

Managing a business is similar to thinking like a rocket scientist. It means dreaming big and setting lofty goals and making a plan and breaking it down into simple steps, described by a from Purdue University in his latest book.

A short trip to Mars

Aquarium hosts exhibit on the Red Planet
Mars is becoming quite the popular subject these days. It has become so popular that science centers are starting to hold Mars exhibits as a way to draw in more visitors and make more money. In Gatlinburg Tennessee Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies just opened a 2,500 square-foot exhit on the Red Planet. The $500,000 exhibit which moved from Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, S.C. will be on display through 2007.

Christmas comes early for European Space Agency

Christmas comes early for European Space Agency

The European Space Agency has received 97% of the funding it requested from its member states for the next five years, following a top-level meeting in Berlin, Germany. Programmes received more funding than had been requested - including the ExoMars mission to send a rover to search for signs of life on the Red Planet in 2011. It will now receive a large portion of the €724 million ($853 million) in the space exploration budget.

Glitchs in Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in the makings of having record collections of data on Mars.

"The spacecraft carries six instruments for probing Mars’ atmosphere, surface and subsurface to characterize the red planet and how it changed over time." As the distance between Earth and Mars shrinks and the planets get closer the informational data is expected to come in at an even higher rate. The glitch in the technological systems could slow down the process though. "MRO observations are an essential element of on-going studies of potential exploration sites for future missions to that time-weathered world—such as the Phoenix Mars lander to launch this coming August." Like technology in the business world the MRO needs top notch equipment for us to get an accurate estimate of Mars and its belongings.

Stress Comes Standard Issue in Space Program

Stress Comes Standard Issue in Space Program

Do you think that driving 900 miles to attempt to murder someone would really happen? Well, after finding out that Nowak who is a mother of three who had been divorced for only two weeks after being married for 19 years I am still blown away. Nowak’s actions are very similar to a movie—after going into space and returning and then a murder mystery….maybe Hollywood will come out with a film.

NASA psych screening scrutinized

NASA will review its psychological screening process in light of astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak’s arrest on charges she tried to murder a woman she believed was her rival for a space shuttle pilot’s affections.

Mission to Mars: Risky Business

Mission to Mars: Risky Business- The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission has sent back groundbreaking information about the history of Mars. The most important result is the discovery of salt deposits that indicate that some regions of the planet were once "drenched" in water. These findings bolster the notion that, at least in its distant past, Mars was a habitable world.

Hurd Goes To Mars

Hurd Goes To Mars

Producer Gale Ann Hurd (Hulk, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) has signed a deal with the SCI FI Channel to produce the six-hour miniseries, Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. Based on Robinson's best-selling novel of the same name, Red Mars chronicles the epic adventure of the first hundred colonists on Mars and their perilous mission to create a new world. Author Robinson, a member of NASA's Mars Committee, will consult on the project, which will be written by Gregory Widen (Highlander, Backdraft). Currently in development, the project is slated to air in late 2004.

NASA Fears Worst for Spacecraft

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6170778.stm
The Mars Global Surveyor used to study the surface of Mars dropped of the grid in early November and scientists fear the probe has been rendered irretrievable. The Mars Surveyor was launched in 1996 at an estimated cost of $247 million and has been well worth the investment providing a plethora of valuable information about the red planet during its 11 year tenure. If lost, the MGS will be sorely missed by the Mars community.

Mars Needs Turbines

Mars Needs Turbines

Scientists look at powering a Mars space station with on-site wind. Mars wind turbines could generate electricity during months-long global dust storms that can make days on the red planet as dark as night.

Technology In Sapce

NASA testing RFID chips for trip to Mars
Starting this summer NASA is planning to begin testing to determine whether or not RFID chips can survive in outer space. Both paper and plasric chips will be on board the the US space shuttle Endeavor which is scheduled for a July takeoff. The chips will be stored in a case attached to the outside of the international space station for about a year to see how they hold up agains atmosphere conditions. Whether or not they survive, they will create business here on Earth. If they do survive the company that made them is probably going to profit. If they don't survive, then the company that can create ones that do will be making lucrative amounts of money.

NASA seeks private investor backing for mission to Mars

Red Planet Capital-not where I would invest my money

When you can not find money, than why not look for venture capitalists who have money to share and that is the exact spot of NASA. Individuals have set up a not for profit organization called the Red Planet Capital where VCs can invest. This LLC is looking for new innovative ideas for areas where they are stuck and need help to get humans to Mars!

NASA's New Bummer of a Budget

President Bush's new Fiscal budget only provides a 3.1 % increase in funding for NASA projects while at the same time, the President has laid out new plans for Lunar and Mars exploration, to develop a new spaceship, and to fix the Hubble telescope. NASA is trying to determine if it will be able to accomplish all it's goals with a budget that's actually .1% less than annual inflation.

ATK Realigns Operations to Position Businesses More Closely Along Market Areas and Enhance Efficiencies

Alliant Techsystems Inc. announced today a realignment of its operations as part of a continuing strategy to more closely position its businesses along market areas and enhance operating efficiencies.

Life on Mars???

Early NASA probes may have overlooked, even killed, Martian microbes
In a paper released on Sunday, a scientist theorized that thirty years ago when the Viking Space probes first visited the Red Planet, they may have stumbled upon alien microbes and inadvertantly killed them. During the 1970's when these missions took place, scientists found no signs of life, because they were looking for the wrong type. They were looking for Earth-like life. One Viking experiment seeking life on Mars poured water on soil. That would have essentially drowned hydrogen peroxide-based life, Schulze-Makuch said. A different experiment heated the soil to see if something would happen, but that would have baked Martian microbes, he said.

NASA Grant Will Fund New Research on Mars with the Spirit and Opportunity Rovers

NASA Grant Will Fund New Research on Mars with the Spirit and Opportunity Rovers

With no end to the rover missions in sight, NASA has selected a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology to see if he and his team can learn new things about the ground the rovers are currently rolling on. With any luck, the researchers will uncover further evidence about water or water vapor once present on the planet's surface.

Interview with Niolai Sevostianov, President, RSC Energia

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18482

This article focuses on the Russian bread Rocket and Space organization. More specifically it looks at the potential of the state taking a majority stake of ownership in the company which would benefit both entities. However in order for this purchase to take place the state needs a more exact estimate of the value per share which could be ascertained were the company to go public. According to the president of the company, the public offering will occur after the company has become more attractive to investors which he estimates to happen within the next five years.

Microbial Martians

As we learn more and more about Mars the likelihood that we will find some form of life is getting higher, especially because scientists have found evidence that water ran along the surface of the planet only a few years ago. But it may be the ESA or the European Space Agency that will be the first to discover life on Mars. They are planning on delivering the "first comprehensive life-detection science package" which is scheduled to launch in 2013. watch this space.

Interns for space

For those of us looking for internships have you ever considered one with space? Forget the day after day sun filled summers or backpacking through the mountains, wouldn't it be way more fun to play with space?

That is what Chris del Guercio did over the summer. A handful of other students and Chris got to be a part of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Instead of pretend playing with ships they were actually plotting travel lines for real life space ships. Chris and his crew spent the summer gathering and organizing data from terrestrial areas. Now does that sound like a summer job or what?

Interns for space

For those of us looking for internships have you ever considered one with space? Forget the day after day sun filled summers or backpacking through the mountains, wouldn't it be way more fun to play with space?

That is what Chris del Guercio did over the summer. A handful of other students and Chris got to be a part of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Instead of pretend playing with ships they were actually plotting travel lines for real life space ships. Chris and his crew spent the summer gathering and organizing data from terrestrial areas. Now does that sound like a summer job or what?

Scientists busy engineering the future with nanotech

Scientists busy engineering the future with nanotech



Bernie has talked in depth about how much the spacecraft weights is essential in figuring out if there is some way to get our astronauts to Mars. As you can see in this article, it takes $10,000 for one pound to get into space orbit-for three and a half pounds you could go to UPS for a year; it goes further though to get a spacecraft to Mars or the moon will take $100,000, so most of us could get a college degree from UPS with that. It is amazing what our government is willing to pay for with much of our tax money, but I think it is interesting to look at the costs for actually pursing this idea!

There Are No Free Rides to Outer Space

A childhood dream of Brian Emmett is shot down due to taxes. A trip to outerspace would cost Emmett about $25,000 in taxes, so he gave up his seat and his chance to fulfill a childhood fantasy.

Payload Systems Inc. Awarded SBIR Phase Two Contract for NASA's Mars Sample Return Project

Payload Systems Inc. Awarded SBIR Phase Two Contract for NASA's Mars Sample Return Project

This article is about Payload Systems Inc., a Company to Develop SPHERES-derived Mars Orbiting Sample Retrieval Testbed for Use Aboard the International Space Station.

Assignment 1 Website Review

After a review of both the Enterprise Mission and Mars Society Websites it became clear that although Mars experts may know something about interplanetary space travel, they know much less about the design and layout of a website. I found both websites overwhelming and unattractive especially that of the Enterprise Mission which presented an ascetically loud center belt of information overlapping a black backdrop sprinkled with stars. The Mars society site was more pleasing to the eye however I continued to feel bombarded by information and found myself unable to quickly focus on anything specific.

Once settled, I took a more extended look at the first page of each website. I began with the Enterprise Mission which proved as inadequate as I had originally expected. My first thought was how can Mr. Lowel expect anyone to take him seriously when he is representing his cause with a space ship from Star Trek. I also couldn't believe how tough this website was to navigate. The first page was far to long, taking me minutes to scroll to the bottom and the links proved uninteresting.

A step up from the convoluted and childish Enterprise Mission website was that of Mars Society. At first glance this site proved to be as overwhelming as its competitor but once settle, I found a much greater wealth of interesting and comprehensible information. I was pleasantly surprised to find a clearly stated purpose complete with goals. I also found links to be more accessible and interesting and the overall website seemed to be tailored to a more intelligent and mature demographic than that of the Enterprise Mission.

All in all the Mars Society site proved to be far superior but could use some work on comprehensibility and organization of information.

NASA Loses Legal Battle Over Small Business Data

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has lost an 18-month legal battle with California-based American Small Business League, forcing NASA to provide detailed information that proved the agency had exaggerated its small business contracting statistics for 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Ads in Space

People will pay huge amounts for their advertisements to be placed on the top half of the page as opposed to the bottome half. It's more appealing to the eye and more likely to read and noticed on the top half. Getting the top half doesn't come without paying a price though. So now the question is how much would you pay to advertise in space?

"JP Aerospace has the technology" and can put your ad in space. The catch, your advertisement would only be the size of a business card but would look like the size of sign for people on their way out to space. But hey that is ok if the sign is smaller because then it will take less time to clutter up space with paper... Advertising in space who would have thought it?

Precursor Measurements for Manned Mission to Mars

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=16934

This article outlines the key precursor measurements that must be taken in order to lower the risk of a manned mission to Mars. Among these measurements are the broader topics such as atmospheric dynamics and potential sources of water as well as more specified topics such as the toxic effect of Martian Dust on Humans and traction in Martian soil. Also included in this assessment were some of the inherent costs associated with the expedition.

Put Your Name On Mars

The Planetary Society is putting the finishing touches on a DVD that will be included on NASA's first scout mission, "Phoenix". This will be the first "library" to touch down on the Red Planet. It currently contains upwards of 200,000 names from more than 70 countries.

Assignment 1

From both a business perspective as well as that of a web designer, The Mars Society (http://www.marssociety.com) and The Enterprise Mission (http://www.enterprisemission.com/) are quite fascinating to look at. Private space exploration has been historically unavailable to citizens. That has changed recently with the advent of companies like Virgin Galactic. It is my opinion that both these sites fail to properly convey their message of space exploration to their visitors. These organizations obviously have missions they’re trying to accomplish, and in today’s day and age, their website is the best method to transmit that message. I will analyze these websites using the perspective of a citizen interested in Mars Exploration. I want to know what makes each organization unique, and how I could become involved with them.
The Enterprise Mission website is the bigger “joke” of the two. The physical appearance of the website reminds me of a play on a kids website. The design is circa 1997, and while that can be acceptable for a hobby website, for an actual organization that may potentially have the desire of accepting funding, it’s unacceptable. The website is convoluted, hard to read, graphically busy and ridiculous in content matter. As a visitor, I have no idea what the organization stands for. Much of the news is terribly dated and noticeably incorrect from present information. Not only is it graphically difficult to use, the information is tragically out of date. “The Mission” talks about the Mars moon, an artifact that we now know is proven to be a simple rock formation. On the plus side, the news page does seem to be updated on a regular basis.
The Mars Society site at least is more visually appealing. However, it is still rather hard to determine the overall purpose of the organization. I found a few goals, such as to establish political traction for the support of a mission to mars, but it was unclear if that’s the main goal of the organization. I believe the political approach is unique and has a better possibility of being successful than the Enterprise Mission’s.

Looking for new landing site

Scientists look for new landing site for Mars mission
Scientists are urgently looking for an alternative landing site for a long-armed robot set to launch this summer. The original landing spot was nixed after the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter beemed back images showing lots of bus-sized boulders littered over old crater rims on flat plains. If a new landing site cannot be found soon, the mission will have to be delayed two years and two months until Earth and Mars are in the correct positions in their respective orbits. If this happens it will delay our attempt to find life on Mars.

Mars Express

"The German HRSC onboard Mars Express now in its third year."


Now finally after 3800 orbits of Mars the camera has captured tons of great data and pictues on Mars. The Mars Express rover is still working perfectly even after 3+ years of use. The combination of work team between the Germans and the United States has allowed for a great exploration of Mars. The images that the rover has picked up from DLR and FUB will be put together on an ever spectacular 3D global map. "The objective of this camera experiment is to record images of half of the planet in a resolution of 10-20 metres per pixel in 3D and in colour by the provisional end of the Mars Express mission on 31 October 2007. " Now see.... the connection with business is that business always involves technology. And, with this really cool technology we can make great partnerships and friends (for example teaming with the Germans) to continue to success of Mars Express.

Mars Muddle

Mars Muddle

Mars exploration is obviously going global. The way that I see it is that if we do not collaborate and work together with other countries because there is no way that anyone will get to Mars before my lifetime is over. I believe that we should partner with ESA (European Space Agency) since it will help our costs, and since they have funds, and have a stricter schedule they are trying to meet, and they have already discussed with the Russians to increase their knowledge base—I just don’t want to see us get behind.

Website Review

Betsy Wanless
Monday, February 05, 2007

The Mars Society Website:

After reviewing this website I stumbled upon information that seemed a little bizarre. The Mars Society has been having conventions in LA since 1997, and do have many other meetings throughout the year. The thought of individuals contributing monetary gifts to this incredibly far out idea of actually settling on Mars is amazing, as well as supporting or attending a weekend long activity to further their exploration of the Red Planet.

I really did gain from how the website had updated information of what is going on in the exploration of Mars. The webpage also had competitions posted where people have put in their ideas of a Pressurized Rover or a University Rover Challenge (‘explore more than a textbook’). I think this does a great job of targeting the younger generations to participate in the Exploration of Mars, because we are young and not so narrow-minded and may be willing to find a way to get there (without all clouded thoughts).

In the Political Action section of this website I really was keen on how the site had: ask an expert. There are many questions that are running though my head about what my paper may consist of and I might have to take advantage of this portion of the site since they have individuals who are experts in different areas that deal with exploration of Mars. Also, in this area, I think they do a great job of making it easy to get around and not confusing or frustrating. If you want to get involved or donate money to this organization it is EASY which will increase involvement for the society.

The last area that really caught my eye is the area that has: Astronomy Pictures. Pictures are posted each day from all over the world and a professional astronomer actually writes a little caption about the photo. I think this site has done a great job of balancing writing, photos and interactive areas to increase individuals to stay, play, learn and donate

Website Review Assignment

The Mars Society website's main objective is to further the exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. The home page of the website consists of posts related to Mars from people who must be members of the Mars Society. There are several tabs available to open on the website including political action, marspapers, mars society news, and content. The political action tab included information on how to ask congress to support the mission and objective of the Mars Society. This also included resources that one must have to support their efforts in a campaign.
The Mars Society attempts to extend information about why it is important to gain an understanding of the planet Mars. One of its goals is to reach out to the public and inform them of the vision of pioneering Mars. They also encourage the private exploration of Mars as well.
The Enterprise Mission website is an interesting website. The quote that is on every page of the website caught my eye, "To Boldly Go Where Someone Has Gone Before...." This is an interesting quote to me becuase it shows that the exploration of Mars has only begun. Yes, we have been to Mars, but this quote makes it clear that the scientists beleive that we have more opportunity on Mars.
This website, similar to the first one, has many objectives revolving around the exploration of Mars. A similar objective is to involve the public in the effort to further explore the planet Mars. Many people today do not realize the advances in space exploration over the past 30 years and should understand the possibilities that are in space.
Both websites were very interesting, however, I thought the Enterprise Mission website had more information and was more detailed on what it wanted to accomplish and how they wanted to accomplish it.

Website Review Assignment

National Geographic Series: "Is It Real?" Episode: "Life on Mars?"

Chris Owens
Assignment #1
February 4, 2007

The first website we were supposed to review is about The Mars Society. The purpose of this society is to further the goal of the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet. This will be done by 1) Broad public outreach to instill the vision of pioneering Mars. 2) Support of ever more aggressive government funded Mars exploration programs around the world. 3) Conducting Mars exploration on a private basis.
The Mars Society website contained a lot of articles that all were related to Mars. An article that caught my eye was the one written by Robert Zubrin. He believes that we should be less worried about the moon and future space stations and more focused on finding ways colonize Mars. He discusses in his article why Mars is better for colonizing than the moon. We have everything we need to create air and water on the red planet.
The second website is about a non-profit research project supported by open community involvement and donations called The Enterprise Mission. It is an expanding research program seeking the facts behind the discovery in the last 4 years of "intelligently-designed, ancient artificial structures" on additional NASA and Soviet photos, not only of Mars... but of the Moon...
The "launching" of the Enterprise phase of this 13-year investigation took place on March 21, 1996 - with the announcement at the Washington D.C.'s National Press Club, by Richard Hoagland and a team of multi-disciplinary engineers and scientists, of a significantly expanded and broadened Mars Mission/Enterprise Mission escalation of the search. I read an article by Richard Hoagland, which talked about life on Mars. Hoagland has made some bold statements which are controversial. He claims that the formation of the land on Mars that looks like a face is not a nature made product. He also believes that there are pyramids built by martians that have artifacts and information inside them. In the article Hoagland says that we have found fossil like features on Mars.

Website Review

Website Review Assignment

Shelby Ramirez
February 4, 2007
Mars Exploration

Trying to figure out things about Mars can be tricky. We have to use our imaginations and explore the seemingly impossible boundaries. Though imagination is important I think that sometimes it can be taken too far. For example Hoagland and his fossil theory is a stretch of the imagination.
Looking over the pictures on the Enterprise Mission website I can see how the picture Hoagland believed to be a fossil could have been, but I still remain a skeptic. The fact that there wouldn’t have been more research done adds to my skepticism. The microscope obliterated the fossil so it makes it hard to be able to go back and debate the reality of a fossil or not. As for all the responses Hoagland got to the Calhoun pictures, I think it’s more about people just want to be believers. Like it said on the video we watched in class there was a rash of alien and UFO sightings after the Mars fad.
Now that the world has heard of Mars and taken a serious interest they want to be more educated. From the Mars Society website it seems that Zubrin has become a popular author or information source when dealing with Mars. Zubrin was invited to go lecture in China. The two leaders China and the United States finally meet eye to eye on Mars Exploration. Educating China about Mars will help breed healthy competition and funding for Mars Exploration.

Website review (assignment)

Both of these websites, the Mars Society and The Enterprise Mission, have a lot of information about Mars and the most current news about Mars. By specifically looking at the interviews by Robert Zubrin on the Mars Society website and Richard Hoagland on The Enterprise Mission the difference between the websites becomes clear.

The main focus in Zubrin’s interview is the fact that NASA shouldn’t be looking at the Moon or the space station for the future of space travel, but that they should be bolder and aim to get people on Mars. The idea of this is to not only to see if it can be done but also to see if there was any life on Mars. Zubrin believes that NASA hasn’t done anything really big in the last decade or so and that going to Mars would create a goal and mission for the organization that has been missing for a very long time.

The main focus of Hoagland’s interview is the life on Mars debate. Hoagland believes that there is life on Mars and it is just the matter of when we find it. Obviously the biggest problem that he has with the US Mars programs are the politics that are involved in getting people into space not to mention getting humans into space.

The Enterprise Mission website mostly deals with the issue and debate of life on Mars and how we on earth are supposed to find it. While the Mars Society focuses mainly on the issues of getting humans and maybe a society to Mars, although life on Mars is discussed it is not the main focus of the website. The Mars Society website seems to be more professionally organized and well put together than The Enterprise Mission site. It was very interesting that Mars Society had its mission statement on the home page right where everyone can see. Unlike the Enterprise Mission website the Mars Society website did not have distracting advertisements that brought the focus of the website away from the actual information on the page. All in all both websites are a wealth of information but I believe that Mars Society is a much more interesting and well done website.

Mars life

Mars life may be too deep to find
If there is life on Mars, it won't be found very close to the surface. It won't be close enough to be easily discovered by robotic probes. That's because any bacteria that may once have lived on the surface have long since been exterminated by cosmic radiation sleeting through the thin martian atmosphere.

NASA gets a budget increase

NASA gets a budget increase

The Bush administration's 2007 budget calls for $16.8 billion for NASA, a 3.2 percent increase over this year's allocation. But the space agency still finds itself having to make tough funding choices in order to accomplish all the tasks on its "to-do list."

Space Commercialization

NASA and PlanetSpace Inc. of Chicago and the Transformational Space Corp. of Reston, Va have signed a space commercialization contract.
This contract is meant to facilitate the expansion of low earth orbit commercialization, especially as it gets easier to transport goods and people into space. I believe this is one of the first steps to bring tourism to space. Basically this allows PlanetSpace and TSC to have access to and explanations of NASA project requirements for space stations and space travel. I think this will eventually be really profitable for these companies.

Money and Mars

Money and Mars- Officials at the Kennedy Space Center announced Tuesday that they have set Aug. 6 as the date for launching $700 million from the Denarius IV spacecraft, the largest and most expensive mission to date in NASA's unmanned monetary-ejection program.

NASA extends Spacehab contract

NASA extends Spacehab contract

NASA has exercised an approximately $1 million option with Spacehab Inc. to extend a contract that calls for the Houston company to support human lunar exploration.
The space agency's contract with Spacehab (NASDAQ: SPAB) also might apply to support of Mars missions and other destinations.

Dig Deeper to find Martian Life

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21775


The probes that have been designed for Mars exploration do not drill deep enough to find living cells on the planet. The drills reach a certain point where the radiation levels are still to high for cellular life to survive. These levels of radiation are a result of solar energy in conjunction with the planets thin atmosphere. In order to dig deep enough to reach cellular life, new probes will have to be created which will be a costly but worthwhile endeavor.

Lockheed Martin Building Next Spacecraft To Mars

NASA's next mission to Mars this summer has roots in Colorado. The Phoenix Mars Mission spacecraft is being built by Lockheed Martin in Jefferson County.

Is it real? Life on Mars

I found there to be some interesting facts presented in the National Geographic video Is it real? Life on Mars. Such as: there is no liquid H2O on the surface, it's a cold world -135 F, home to the largest volcano in the solar system, and rock 84001 came from mars.

However, this video also introduced me to a couple of crazy dudes. Zubrin and Hoagland were both coming off as being from another planet when I heard them speak. I reviewed their respective websites The Mars Society and The Enterprise Mission after being introduced to their theories in the video. I found Zubrin's website to be informative, he seems like a mad scientist; however, he is clearly very intelligent. His theories don't seem as far fetched as Hoagland's to me.

Hoagland on the other hand is ridiculous. This idea of ancient ruins/ monument part of which appears to be a face is lunacy. I think Hoagland is not all there, but sometimes people like that are very entertaining. National Geographic did a good job getting Hoagland into the video because it definitly sparked my interest to listen to this guy.

NASA's Mars budget now stable but tight, official say

NASA's Mars budget now stable but tight, official say


Since I worked at Boeing this past summer, I have seen how predicted values of a 'project' are never quite accurate. They underestimate the cost of any project, along with underestimating the about of time it will take (much like Airbus with their A380). So, this article discusses how NASA believes that they will not spend a penny more for their Mars Exploration (but I guess you do have to take into account that they have requested $700 million)!!