missiontoMars
Latest
ICYMI: UAV for land and sea, Boeing's super rocket and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-501148{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-501148, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-501148{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-501148").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The Drones For Good competition turned out a dual-purpose drone submission for use in search and rescue operations. The Loon Copter can both fly through the air and dive underwater -- a useful trait for evading other bad guy drones in any upcoming spy movies, we're certain.
The road to Mars: NASA's next 30 years
What will NASA be up to by 2030? The space agency (and even President Barack Obama) hopes it will be close to launching a manned mission to the surface of Mars. But, before that's possible, there's a whole lot of puzzle pieces to fit together. In fact, some of those pieces haven't even been invented yet. But NASA is already laying the groundwork. Dig through the agency's roadmap (a dense collection of science-heavy documents) and you can put together an outline of where its research and technology are headed. And, of course, the hope is that any invention or technological evolution will also find applications at home on Earth. Still, the focus remains on getting us to the red planet. Mars is certainly far, but it's going to seem much closer in a decade or two.
NASA's Curiosity rover receives long-distance OTA update, 'brain transplant' on Mars
Think it's nifty when your carrier deigns to provide your smartphone with that long awaited OTA update? That's nothing. Over the weekend, NASA's Curiosity rover will be receiving its first long-distance OTA update -- all the way out there on Mars. The goal is to transition both redundant main computers from software suited for landing the vehicle to software optimized for surface exploration -- such as driving, obstacle avoidance and using the robotic arm. NASA calls it a "brain transplant" and points out that the software was actually uploaded during the flight from Earth. Now can someone please enable OTA downloads for the human brain? We'd really like to know kung fu. PR after the break.
NASA's Curiosity Mars landing successful, first pictures trickling in (video)
After "seven minutes of terror" involving guided entry, parachute and powered descent, and even a sky crane, NASA's Curiosity rover has successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. Better yet, the 2,000lbs (900kg) science lab has established communications with Earth and is sending back telemetry along with the first pictures of Gale crater. These initial grayscale images are only 256 x 256 pixels in size but show Curiosity's shadow on the Martian soil. Peek at our galley below and stay tuned for updates. Update: Hit the break to check out a video of all the "seven minutes of terror" highlights. %Gallery-161818%
Watch NASA's Curiosity rover touch down on Mars, live at 1:30AM EDT
You watched the launch, bit your nails over computer simulations and even played the game, and it all comes down to today: NASA's Curiosity rover is about to land on Mars. The $2.5 billion vehicle has been en route to the red planet for eight months, and in a few short hours will spend seven terrifying minutes blindly making its way to the Martian surface -- only to make NASA scientists wait another full seven before reporting on its success or failure. The rover is flying solo. That doesn't mean we can't be there in spirit, however: NASA TV will be broadcasting the event on Ustream, offering commentary from the minds behind the rover, as well as audio from mission control. The Curiosity Cam, which runs from 11:30PM until 2:00AM EDT and 3:30AM to 4:30AM EDT, will offer commentary from the scientists and engineers behind Curiosity, while a second feed (at NASA JPL Live, which runs from 11:30PM onward) will play audio from mission control. If all goes to plan, NASA will be able to share an image from Curiosity's navigation cameras, confirming its safe arrival on the Martian surface. Sounds like a hell of a show to us. Read on to view the Curiosity Cam right here or check out the source links below to prep your evening (or early morning) viewing for yourself. Let us know your own thoughts on Curiosity's landing in the comments. Update: Touchdown confirmed! The entire sequence went perfectly to plan, and rover Curiosity is now on the surface of Mars and sending telemetry data. Update: NASA's press conference is now happening live.
NASA's Seven Minutes of Terror: Curiosity's precarious Mars landing explained (video)
Edited and scored with the dramatic tension of a summer blockbuster trailer, NASA's put together a gripping short clip that dresses down Curiosity's mission to Mars for the layman. The "car-sized" rover, set to touchdown on August 5th of this year at 10:31PM PDT, is currently journeying towards the Red Planet on a suicide mission of sorts, with the success of its make it or break it EDL (enter, descent, landing) wracking the nerves of our Space Agency's greatest minds in advance. Their cause for concern? A period of radio silence, dubbed the "seven minutes of terror" for the amount of time it takes a signal to reach Earth, during which the craft will have already either smashed disastrously into the Martian landscape or nestled perfectly down from the ascend phase on a 21ft long tether. The logistics involved are so numerous and prone to error -- slowing the craft from 13,000 mph to 0 mph and then deploying, detaching and avoiding collision with the supersonic parachute for starters -- that it's a wonder the government ever signed off on the project. If it all does come off without a hitch, however, the ladies and gents down at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory certainly deserve several thousand bottles of the finest bubbly taxpayers' money can buy. Click on past the break to gape at the sequence of engineering feats required to make this landing on terra incognita.
520-day simulated mission to Mars underway in Russia
Last Thursday, a six person mission to Mars began in Russia -- except that the crew isn't going anywhere. The would-be astronauts (including Russian, French, Italian and Chinese members) have agreed to undergo a 520-day long simulation trip to Mars, which includes a 250-day flight to the planet, a 30-day exploration, and a 230-day return trip, all in the name of preparation and research. This is not the first time that Russia's undertaken long-term simulations -- last year six hopefuls participated in a 105-day long experiment -- hoping to gain insight into the long-term effects such isolation can be expected to produce. They won't be weightless, but many of the other conditions will be as realistic as possible -- including communications time delays, wonky internet, and one shower every ten days. Sounds a lot like blogging to us. We wish them luck -- check out the video below.
