“The article’s basic mistake is in thinking Mars is a closed system. But no planet is a closed system.”
X (formerly Twitter) Whither terraforming?
Humans love the idea of a rebel. But only the idea. Take action too far outside the box of current experience and you begin to hear the Greek Chorus of naysayers heckling you, gleefully glomming onto anything that might pull you back within accepted norms.
Such has been the case recently regarding a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy, which reported that there does not appear to be enough CO2 on Mars to allow for terraforming. I can’t count the number of articles that have floated through my various feeds starting with the mocking phrase “Sorry Elon…” Google it yourself and see what I mean.
We have an illustrator!
I’m thrilled to announce that Generation Mars has an illustrator! Luis Peres, master illustrator of science fiction and fantasy, will bring his vivid style to Book One: Scratching the Surface. The image above is from his existing portfolio and serves as an example of his work. The actual illustrations are currently under development. You can see more of his work by clicking the link below, and I encourage you to take a look. It’s wonderful stuff!
Martian dust
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
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.