Colony Worlds » Exploration

Video: Mars Science Laboratory (NASA's Ultimate Rover)

darnell — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 02:52:00 +0000

Despite the fact that they already have two rovers roaming the surface of Mars, NASA is preparing to send yet another rover to scout out the red planet.

It’s mission is to determine whether or not life can exist exist upon the Martian surface. Unlike its previous “brothers,” this rover is equipped with a vast array of scientific tools, not to mention a very powerful laser.

(Video: An animation demonstrating how the new rover will enter, descend and land upon the Martian surface. Credit: JPL / NASA)

Japan's Lunar Satellite To Launch In September

darnell — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:24:00 +0000

After a brief delay, it looks as if the samurai nation’s lunar satellite will finally take its place among the heavens next month.

Scheduled for launch on September 13^th, the SELENE orbiter could enlighten our species by providing detailed images of the lunar surface.

(International Herald Tribune) The SELENE project is the largest lunar mission since the U.S. Apollo program in terms of overall scope and ambition, outpacing the former Soviet Union’s Luna program and NASA’s Clementine and Lunar Prospector projects, Oshima said.

It involves placing the main satellite in orbit at an altitude of about 100 kilometers (60 miles) and deploying the two smaller satellites in polar orbits.

Mapping the moon would give the Japanese an edge over their American, European and Chinese neighbors by allowing them to locate the best landing sites, especially those suspected of harboring helium 3.

England To Seek Out Life On Mars Via Rover

darnell — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:00:00 +0000

(Image Credit: ESA via Skymania News)

It looks as if the British are about to invade the red planet but unleashing a smart rover to roam across the surface of Mars.

(Skymania News) A UK-built robot is set dramatically to speed up the search for life on Mars, European space scientists were being told today. The roving explorer, nicknamed Bridget, will be intelligent enough to decide for itself which martian rocks are best to investigate.

It will work three times faster than previous robots such as Nasa’s rovers Spirit and Opportunity which are currently weathering the tail end of a huge dust storm on Mars.

Despite the fact that this rovers purpose is to locate microbes upon the crimson worlds surface, hopefully it will be able to analyze whether or not the Martian soil is actually hostile or fertile for future Earth life.

Hopefully this rover mission will inspire England to consider sending humans to the final frontier, lest they end up in receiving the “cosmic scraps” of what the universe has to offer them.

Video: Phoenix To See If Martian Soil Is Fertile

darnell — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:44:00 +0000

(Video: NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander will visit the north polar region of Mars in search of “habitable soil.” Credit: NASA)

Of all the rovers that have or will grace the surface of Mars, Phoenix may prove to be the most important.

While the purpose of the other three rovers is to satisfy geologists by observing Martian rocks, the Phoenix rover’s main duty is to find out whether Martian soil is fertile for life–and perhaps agriculture itself.

(NASA) “Our ‘follow the water’ strategy for exploring Mars has yielded a string of dramatic discoveries in recent years about the history of water on a planet where similarities with Earth were much greater in the past than they are today,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, Washington. “Phoenix will complement our strategic exploration of Mars by being our first attempt to actually touch and analyze Martian water — water in the form of buried ice.” [...]

“In addition, our instruments can assess whether this polar environment is a habitable zone for primitive microbes. To complete the scientific characterization of the site, Phoenix will monitor polar weather and the interaction of the atmosphere with the surface.”

While the overall purpose of Phoenix is to see if any life can survive in the barren soil, the space craft could ultimately inform us whether or not Martian soil is toxic towards life.

If proven to be safe for humans as well as plants, NASA could begin to draw out plans of harvesting crop on the red planet for future generations. Although humans may have to (create their own fertilizer (as importing it would be very expensive), growing our own food on the crimson planet could enable us to establish Mars as a second home for humanity.

Another Martian Rover On The Way?

darnell — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:21:00 +0000

(Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/J.-L. Lacour, CEA)

It looks as if NASA is scheduled to send yet another rover to explore the Martian surface. But unlike its previous cousins, Spirit and Opportunity this robot will be armed with a fairly powerful “weapon.”

(Space Spin) When the JPL-NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover launches in 2009, it will carry this combination laser-telescope unit and enable the gadget-packed rover to know a great deal about rocks in its general vicinity. The ChemCam package includes a mast unit, projecting above the rover with a laser and telescope, and a body unit, the brains of the beast, with three spectrographs and the instrument controls. [...]

The ChemCam laser emits very short pulses of 7 nanoseconds, through a small telescope that focuses the beam to a spot where the power density exceeds 10 megawatts per square millimeter, producing a plasma of vaporized material from the target rock. The unit operates on targets at distances between 4 and 30 feet. The unit also contains a camera to take extreme close-up pictures of the targets to show geologic context for each sample. The telescope and electronics were built by CESR, a research institute in Toulouse, France. The mast unit was funded by CNES, the French Space Agency. The full ChemCam flight model will be delivered to JPL in Spring of 2008.

Although the rover’s main job will be simply analyzing the geologic activity of Martian rocks, hopefully it can inform scientists whether or not Mars holds any valuable resources upon its rusty soil.

Thus far, Mars is a barren world waiting to be conquered, but until any valuable resources can be located upon the red planet, then humanity may not be able to justify sending people there–at least financially.

Space, It's Not For Cowards

darnell — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:31:00 +0000

(Image: From Aliens the movie, Credit: MovieVillians.com)

When one often thinks of space, images of lunar and Martian colonies come to mind, often with people (and children) floating around in micro gravity, glimpsing the heavens in a new light that would make even Galileo envious.

But when it comes to realities of living in the cosmos, we must realize that space, like any frontier, has its blessings as well as its dangers.

(NJ.com) “Solar soil is extremely complex. There is nothing like it on Earth,” said Logan, citing suspicious “hay fever” reactions by two Apollo astronauts.

Moonwalking astronauts, meanwhile, would face especially high radiation risks if solar flares erupted — underscoring an urgent need for accurate forecasts of “space weather,” Logan said. [...]

The biggest threat may be the moon’s gravity, one-sixth that of Earth. Despite nearly a half-century of human space travel, Logan said, nobody really knows how much gravity is needed to maintain health over time. Bone density decreases with weightlessness and does not always fully rebound when astronauts return home, he said. The heart gets lazy, too. Low gravity is likely to affect neural development of babies conceived on the moon, he added.

While most of humanity may settle for visiting the heavens above us, very few (perhaps ten million at most) would be willing to forsake their home world in order to colonize others.

It is inevitable that in our quest to inhabit other moons, planets and asteroids that casualties will occur along the way, with people suffering unimaginable pains from simply living in dangerous environments.

Space is not for cowards, and was never meant to be and if one ever desires to conquer the final frontier, they will have to choose to make it their final destination.

Carnival Of The Space Geeks (The Gathering)

darnell — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:31:00 +0000

Editor’s note: Whether they post a few paragraphs or a few pages these space geeks are bound to make you laugh or cry (depends on you view of NASA with the latter).

There were several amazing posts (amazing was the theme of the carnival) ranging from Clark Lindsey new way to fund space tourism to Louie Riofrio’s take on Benson’s Dreamchaser space craft to Ed’s sharp rebuke towards NASA and space whiners.

But the best post thus far has to go to Dave Rankin of Tales of the Heliosphere who discussed every one’s favorite subject–unless you work for NASA of course.

(Tales of the Heliosphere) In any event, the truly uncomfortable reality of sex in space is not about relationships, morale, techniques, alternative sexual lifestyles, and the whole gamut of things that first come to mind when sex in space is discussed. The truly uncomfortable reality of sex in space is that the biological purpose of sex is reproduction and artificial birth control sometimes fails. What do we do if an astronaut becomes pregnant? [...]

We can’t be certain how weightlessness or even reduced gravity would affect a developing human in the womb or an infant, and we don’t know what should be done to protect its health in space. A pregnancy on a long, three-year mission to Mars, for example, would certainly help us learn. But that knowledge would come at the cost of unplanned experimentation on a human being that never consented and couldn’t.

A pregnancy in space would probably be a nightmare for any space agency, not to mention NASA. After all, a deformed child born in microgravity could be more than enough to convince the public that space is too dangerous for humans, ensuring domination by our robotic ~~slaves~~ friends.

It would probably be wiser to raise a kid on the Moon or Mars, than try experimenting with microgravity where a child brought into the world of stars may have to spend the rest of their days living among them.

Note: Do not forget to check out the other various articles about space on Henry’s Carnival of Space.

Carnival Of The Space Geeks (Extra Helpings)

darnell — Fri, 25 May 2007 01:22:00 +0000

Editor’s note: The fourth Carnival of the Space Geeks is up, and this time there were a lot more interesting posts from a lot more interesting minds.

Interesting highlights include Brian Dunbar’s brief analysis of solar powered satellites, Amanda Bauer creepy post about robot beetles, and Deborah Byrd commenting on scientists searching for life in Spock’s region of space.

But the best post (in my opinion) goes to James of Surfin’ English who discusses one of the largest hurdles towards becoming a space faring citizen: micro-gravity.

Our bones get brittle, blood moves up in the body because gravity stops pulling it downwards, and our hearts suffer because they don’t have to work as hard in space to move blood. When we get home, our bodies are wrecks.

We also suffer from spacesickness ( like seasickness but worse), dizziness, and overly active farting. Seriously, going into space may look like fun, but it’s like drunkenly stumbling onto the last train after running a double marathon and discovering that every passenger on the train has been eating beans for two weeks. Not pretty.

James notes a possible solution to this dilemma is artificial gravity, which would help curb most (if not all) of these nasty effects of living amongst the heavens.

Although it is doubtful that a space ship could simulate gravity (as no one knows yet how to create gravitons), Orbital space stations and space elevator stations could enable our species to actually not only function in space, but on low gravity worlds.

Note: Those interested in joining next week’s Carnival of the Space Geeks can visit this page for details on how to enter.

Video: NASA Wants Another Giant Leap

darnell — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:26:00 +0000

(Hat Tip: NASA Watch)

It looks like NASA’s marketing department is get slightly better at creating video’s in order to communicate its message. Instead of attempting to rationalize the nation on the reasons why we need to go back (whether it be because of potential resources, science, or an “insurance policy” against extinction) they simply sum it up in one word–exploration.

Note: For those interested in seeing a higher quality version of this video, click here. (requires Quick Time)

India Seeks Military Free Space Exploration

darnell — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:06:00 +0000

It looks like India is reversing an earlier decision regarding weaponizing the heavens above us and is instead pursuing an exploration of the cosmos free from military influence.

(ZeeNews.com) Implying that Chinese anti-satellite missile tests had no influence on India’s space programme, President A P J Abdul Kalam has made it clear that New Delhi’s space ambitions had no military interest.

“Indian space programme has no military interest,” he said during a question-answer session at the International Space University here last night.

“It has been built to be locally relevant when globally challenging and its foundation is the quest of India and other space faring nations to use the collective wisdom of the humanity to solve the socio-economic problems of our society,” he said.

Although this is a noble stance, India may have to reverse course on this decision once the moon begins to buzz with human activity. Despite our best wishes, humanity has never been known to ever visit a land without military escorts (during or after) and the Moon will probably be no exception.

India is currently seeking to expand its influence as an upcoming space power, as evidenced by its first successful rocket launch not too long ago. If any nation were to lead the way towards peaceful exploration, India would be the one to do it as it has yet to commit the cosmic sin of shattering a satellite in ones atmosphere.