Mars is a dusty place. Researchers now think much of this dust comes from a single feature on the surface. Overview below. Original article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05291-5
Martian dust
Open source rover
Want to build your own rover? NASA/JPL will show you how. This could be a very fun project, if you happen to have $2500 available.
Build-It-Yourself Rover
36.9 million miles
I really like this picture. Not only does it show surprising detail despite the dust storm, but look at those moons!
NASA Defining a new generation
Yeah! That’s what I keep saying! Well, any boots, really, as long as humans are in them.
“Let me be clear. Mars is today the focal point of our national space program. And if American boots are to be the first to set foot on its surface it will define a new generation. Generation Mars.”
https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/senators-insist-mars-not-the-moon-is-the-goal-of-u-s-human-exploration
Evidence of liquid water
CNN One small step
The Eagle landed 49 years ago today, and two humans walked on a celestial body for the first time.
I have a fleeting, four-year-old’s memory of my dad waking me up (I must have been napping, as we were in CDT) to watch the moon landing. I don’t remember anything about the landing itself, just my dad waking me to see it. But that’s special enough, I think.
Here’s a nifty 360 of the interior of the Command Module that carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon that day.
https://www.facebook.com/Smithsonian/photos/a.57737704573.63791.6193904573/10156728357319574/?type=3&theater
Blue Origin Mission 9
Lest it seem Generation Mars is mired in nostalgia, with all the recent Apollo posts, here’s Blue Origin pushing to new heights earlier today.
Apollo source code
This article is actually a couple years old. But if you haven’t seen it, it’s a fun read.
Keep in mind that this software was literally woven into the Apollo Guidance Computer’s (ACG’s) memory by hand. Wire by wire, the 0’s and 1’s were stitched together to get us to the Moon.
Programmers, at least the ones I like to hang out with, have always had a sense of humor in the commenting of their code. It’s nice to see the programming team for Apollo was no exception.
Quartz Too long
49 years ago today, Apollo 11 lifted off. It’s been too long.
Mariner 4
Mariner 4 was the first successful flyby of Mars. On this day in 1965, it made its closest approach and sent the first closeup images of the surface. These were also the first closeup images ever returned of another planet.
