A long but interesting article on the questionable future of the NASA Space Launch System.
SLS
Buzz on Mars vs the Moon
Just as appropriate today, with NASA turning its attention back to the Moon, as it was eight years ago.
“The agency’s current Vision for Space Exploration will waste decades and hundreds of billions of dollars trying to reach the Moon by 2020—a glorified rehash of what we did 40 years ago. Instead of a steppingstone to Mars, NASA’s current lunar plan is a detour. It will derail our Mars effort, siphoning off money and engineering talent for the next two decades. If we aspire to a long-term human presence on Mars—and I believe that should be our overarching goal for the foreseeable future—we must drastically change our focus.”
-Buzz Aldrin (Popular Mechanics interview, January 5, 2010)
Promo Video
Gearing up to shoot the promo video later this month.
Solar Wind (Slight Return)
Circling back to my note on solar wind and the Martian atmosphere.
In the note, I described how the solar wind interacts with the ionosphere of Mars to create an induced magnetosphere. Recent data from ESA’s Mars Express mission suggests that this induced magnetosphere actually protects the Martian atmosphere from the ion loss expected to be caused by that same solar wind. Thus, the long held idea that the solar wind blew away Mars’ atmosphere is now in question.
The article below outlines an alternative hypothesis. Rather than losing atmosphere to the solar wind, maybe Mars can’t hold onto one because its gravity is just too weak.
Starman Update
“According to the revised data, Rivkin says, it will take the Tesla about 18.8 months to complete one trip around the sun. This means that the car will reach its farthest distance from Earth in about half that time. The Tesla will cross the orbit of Mars twice per orbit, so Musk is still fulfilling his wish to send his Tesla “to” Mars—it’ll just take a little longer between visits.”
The Atlantic Falcon Heavy Image
I can’t stop looking at this shot of the Falcon Heavy. Is that weird?
Mars Society President Robert Zubrin Applauds SpaceX
“Today SpaceX achieved a spectacular and historic success.”
https://www.facebook.com/TheMarsSociety/photos/a.287980761218291.90535.152489854767383/2053366658013017/?type=3&theater
Liftoff!
Congratulations SpaceX!
X (formerly Twitter) Falcon Heavy Animation
Here’s what’s on tap for this afternoon, if all goes well.
Launch window opens at 1:30ET.
Gale Crater Panorama
JPL posted a nifty panorama from Curiosity today.
There’s also a video description at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5nrrnAukwI.
(Regarding the color of the sky, note the comment at the end of the video: “To aid geologists, colors in the image are white balanced so rocks appear the same color as the same rocks would on Earth.”)
