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 Lego ISS
Now I know what I want for my birthday.
The Brick Fan Abort test delayed
SpaceX abort test delayed until tomorrow (1/19) due to weather at recovery area.
www.spaceflightinsider.com Crew Dragon abort test tomorrow
SpaceX will conduct an inflight abort test of Crew Dragon tomorrow morning. As the Falcon 9 reaches max-Q, it will shut off its engines to simulate a worst case failure. This should trigger the Crew Dragon to separate from the rocket and fire its own Super Draco engines to get away from the failing rocket. Once clear, Crew Dragon will pop its parachutes and land gently in the Atlantic. This should be quite a show and is the last major milestone before an actual crewed launch.
www.spaceflightinsider.com Curiosity’s path
Generation Mars on Planetary Radio
In this week’s episode of Planetary Radio, Emily Lakdawalla talks about and reads an excerpt from Generation Mars: Scratching the Surface. Check it out! (at 11:05)
The Planetary Society