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NASA wants these private companies to help it get to the moon

sudshr47 November 29, 2018

NASA has big plans to go back to the moon, and it wants private companies to help them get there.

On Thursday, NASA announced partnerships with nine companies that could fly small payloads to the lunar surface through contracts with the American space agency sometime in the relatively near future.

The nine companies are:

Astrobotic Technology
Deep Space Systems
Draper
Firefly Aerospace
Intuitive Machines
Lockheed Martin Space
Masten Space Systems
Moon Express
Orbit Beyonds

NASA plans to award about $2.6 billion over the course of 10 years that these nine companies can compete for.

“The innovation of America’s aerospace companies, wedded with our big goals in science and human exploration, are going to help us achieve amazing things on the Moon and feed forward to Mars,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. Read more…

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Rolling, hopping robots explore Earthly analogs of distant planets

sudshr47 November 29, 2018

Before we send any planet-trotting robot to explore the landscape of Mars or Venus, we need to test it here on Earth. Two such robotic platforms being developed for future missions are undergoing testing at European Space Agency facilities: one that rolls, and one that hops.

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A tiny satellite says goodbye to Mars with gorgeous new photo

sudshr47 November 27, 2018

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

A farewell photo taken by a tiny satellite shows its final view of Mars as it flew by the red planet on Monday.

The satellite — called a cubesat — that took the photo is named MarCO-B and it performed quite the service for humanity before saying goodbye to Mars.

The small satellite and its twin MarCO-A beamed home data to Earth on Monday as the InSight lander made its successful touchdown on Mars.

“This image was taken at about 12:10 p.m. PST (3:10 p.m. EST) while MarCO-B was flying away from the planet after InSight landed,” NASA said in a statement, adding that the satellite was about 4,700 miles from Mars when the photo was snapped. Read more…

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Mars Lander InSight sends the first of many selfies after a successful touchdown

sudshr47 November 27, 2018

Last night’s 10 minutes of terror as the InSight Mars Lander descended to the Martian surface at 12,300 MPH were a nail-biter for sure, but now the robotic science platform is safe and sound — and has sent pics back to prove it. The first thing it sent was a couple pictures of its surroundings: […]

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NASA’s InSight snaps a clear view of Mars’ surface

sudshr47 November 27, 2018

After quite the journey, NASA’s InSight has landed on Mars. But what’s a trip without a happy snap?

While we savoured a dusty photo beamed back to Earth shortly after its landing, the spacecraft has sent another photo home, showing us a clearer glimpse of the red planet’s surface.

The lander also relayed signals back to base, indicating that it has opened its solar panels and is collecting sunlight, allowing it to recharge.

Our Mars Odyssey orbiter phoned home, relaying news from @NASAInSight indicating its solar panels are open & collecting sunlight on the Martian surface. Also in the dispatch: this snapshot from the lander’s arm showing the instruments in their new home: https://t.co/WygR5X2Px4 pic.twitter.com/UwzBsu8BNe

— NASA (@NASA) November 27, 2018 Read more…

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Watch the electrifying moment InSight lands on Mars from mission control

sudshr47 November 27, 2018

NASA’s InSight spacecraft landed on Mars on Monday, and there’s no better place to relive the nail-biting moment than from inside mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The space agency posted a 360-degree video of the process, including the electrifying moment signals returned from the InSight craft as it landed on Mars.

Around the 50-minute mark, things start getting real quiet, as the parachute deploys, the radar powers up and locates Mars’ surface, and finally, around 55 minutes, it’s time for touchdown.

Now sitting happily on the surface, the spacecraft has already beamed home photos from Mars — here’s the first one. Read more…

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InSight beams home its first photo from the surface of Mars

sudshr47 November 26, 2018

Mars looks like a dusty wasteland in the first photo from NASA’s InSight lander sent from the surface of the red planet.

The image, taken moments after landing, shows the rust-colored surface of Mars from InSight’s perspective through a fisheye lens.

The photo looks particularly obscured because the camera still has its dust-covered protective covering on it, according to NASA.

My first picture on #Mars! My lens cover isn’t off yet, but I just had to show you a first look at my new home. More status updates:https://t.co/tYcLE3tkkS #MarsLanding pic.twitter.com/G15bJjMYxa

— NASAInSight (@NASAInSight) November 26, 2018 Read more…

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Space nerds, rejoice! NASA’s InSight spacecraft just landed on Mars

sudshr47 November 26, 2018

NASA just showed us all how to land on Mars… again.

At about 2:54 p.m. ET, mission controllers on Earth got word that the space agency’s InSight lander — designed to study the red planet’s interior — successfully landed on Mars about 8 minutes earlier. (It takes 8 minutes and 7 seconds for a signal from Mars to reach us Earthlings.)

Assuming the spacecraft’s upcoming checkouts prove it to be healthy, InSight’s successful touchdown marks the 8th time NASA has managed to softly land and operate a rover or lander on the red planet.

The American space agency remains the only organization to ever successfully land a rover or lander on Mars. Read more…

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Elon Musk dismisses claims that moving to Mars is an ‘escape hatch for rich people’

sudshr47 November 26, 2018

Elon Musk has dismissed claims that humans moving to Mars is an “escape hatch for rich people.”

During an interview with Axios on HBO Sunday night, the SpaceX founder and CEO said he was “talking about moving there,” and that it’s 70 percent likely he’ll get there personally. Even though there’s a heightened risk of death.

Musk’s big Mars plans are no secret. In Sept. 2017, the 47-year-old billionaire announced his ambitious intention to get to Mars by 2022 — before preparing for a human crew in 2024.

Musk backed up this timeline on Sunday, telling Axios that human trips to Mars would be possible in seven years time. Unsurprisingly, tickets to Mars ain’t gonna be cheap, priced at “around a couple hundred thousand dollars.” Read more…

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NASA’s latest and greatest Mars lander will touch down on the red planet Monday

sudshr47 November 25, 2018

NASA’s InSight lander has been hurtling through the solar system for over seven months. Now its time has come.

InSight is set to land on Mars.

InSight — sent to observe Martian earthquakes and study the planet’s ancient interior — is expected to land in a flat, barren plain on Mars on Monday at around 3 p.m. ET.

Plummeting down to Mars is always perilous, so NASA mission controllers — and InSight’s adoring public — will anxiously await the landing results back on Earth.

An artist's conception of the Mars' InSight lander. — An artist’s conception of the Mars’ InSight lander.

NASA’s choice of landing site, called Elysium Planitia, will give the stationary lander a flat place to deploy its seismometers and drill into the frozen ground. Read more…

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NASA chooses the landing site for its Mars 2020 rover mission

sudshr47 November 19, 2018

Five years and sixty potential locations later, NASA has chosen the Jezero Crater as the landing site for its Mars 2020 rover mission. Slated to launch in July the Mars 2020 rover mission will touch down at the Jezero Crater as NASA’s exploration of the Red Planet enters its next phase. The rover will be looking for […]

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NASA’s 2020 rover will land in an ancient, dried-up lakebed to hunt for past life on Mars

sudshr47 November 19, 2018

NASA’s next car-sized rover will plummet through the thin Martian atmosphere and softly land on the floor of a dried-up lakebed, the space agency announced Monday.

When the robot arrives on Mars about 8 months after its launch in 2020, NASA will endeavor to land the six-wheeled rover in the Jezero Crater, a 30 mile-wide bowl about 1,640 feet deep. It’s believed to have once held an 800-foot deep lake some 3.5 billion years ago.

The space agency hopes to accomplish a number of things during the at least two-year mission. But the first science directive is to “determine whether life ever arose on Mars.” Indeed, today Mars is extremely unlikely to harbor any life — on the surface, at least. It’s a heavily irradiated, dry, frigid desert, with no liquid water. Read more…

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