Audiobook coming soon!
Narrated by Emily Lakdawalla, Senior Editor and Planetary Evangelist for The Planetary Society.
Rust as radiation shielding
About that radiation… what about rust as a shield?
The research focused on shielding for electronics, but could this scale? Imagine our Mars transit ships being the same color as the planet itself, coated in a layer of rust for protection.
NC State News The perennial question: Moon or Mars?
We don’t need to go to the Moon in order to go to Mars. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go to the Moon. It’s just not a prerequisite.
I love this quote from John Grunsfeld, when asked about the radiation risk of a Mars trip: “How does that compare to the risk of blowing up on the launchpad or on ascent; getting hit by a meteor, asteroid, debris, some kind of space junk on the way there; burning up in the Mars atmosphere; burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere on the way back; or missing the Earth? You add up all those risks, and the [risk of radiation exposure] is kind of just another one.”
The Atlantic Climbing on Mars
Pacific Spaceflight is field testing ideas for Mars suits.
“We bet a lot of early Mars climbing will be like nineteenth-century mountaineering—scrambling/third class/5.0 stuff where robots can’t go, or aid climbing with some crazy rack of tools.”
Climbing Little heros
I’ve been a little concerned that the actions and responsibilities taken on by Cas and Ori in my next Generation Mars book (still a WIP) are beyond what is possible for a six and eight year old. Turns out: nope.
CNN