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MARCH 21, 2013 - MARS - Europe and Russia signed a deal on Thursday for a joint Mars mission which will bore beneath the Red Planet's surface for soil samples they hope will solve the mystery of whether there is life beyond Earth. Europe's space agency had hoped to work with NASA on the two-spacecraft ExoMars mission but turned to the Russians after the U.S. agency pulled out due to budget shortfalls. The announcement comes amid heightened excitement over the search for life on the planet in our solar system most like Earth after scientists said analysis from NASA's own mission rover, Curiosity, showed Mars had the right ingredients for life.
European Space Agency scientists think that there was and could even still be life on Mars and want a new European mission to the red planet to take samples, a conference heard in Noordwijk, The Netherlands heard on Friday, February 25, 2005.
Credit: Reuters/European Space Agency/HO
European scientists say the two-stage mission, with the two craft to be launched in 2016 and 2018, will pave the way for what NASA has described as the "Holy Grail" of Mars exploration: a separate mission to return dirt samples from the Red Planet. "Curiosity learnt us a little bit, ExoMars will bring us a step further, but bringing back those samples to Earth you can do 10 to 100 times more analysis," Rolf de Groot, head of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Robotic Exploration Coordination Office, told Reuters. "That is a goal of everybody who works on Mars exploration." The Europe-Russia mission hopes to take scientists beyond NASA's finding that the surface of Earth's neighboring planet had the right mix of elements to sustain life, by drilling 2 meters (6 feet) below its radiation-hit surface for samples. "NASA is also drilling, but two centimeters deep," de Groot said, referring to the ongoing Curiosity mission. "It's a completely different story. ExoMars, by drilling 2 meters into the ground, might hope to identify really the big molecules because that would be a direct indication of the presence of life or that life once existed on Mars." He said the ESA's Mars rover would also be equipped with a much more advanced laboratory than Curiosity has, so would be able to carry out more detailed analysis.
RUSSIAN ROCKETS
Russian Space Agency Roskosmos will provide the rockets to launch the ExoMars - short for Exobiology on Mars - mission and will also design the descent module and surface platform. Europe turned to Russia after NASA left the 1.3 billion project in February 2012, citing a budget crunch. The ESA and Roskosmos agreed to cooperate last April, but talks to work out the details dragged on for nearly a year. "This event was a long time in the making and took a great deal of collaboration," Roskosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said after signing the deal with ESA Director Jean-Jacques Dordain in Paris. Russia's involvement in the ambitious mission could boost the status of its once-pioneering space agency after a litany of costly and embarrassing failures. The delays in agreeing the mission hinged on the extent of Russia's participation, according to Russian space experts who said Moscow had seemed to reach its goal of full partnership.
"The agreement implies that Russian scientists and engineers will become full-fledged participants in all the international scientific and technical groups," Roskosmos said in a statement. What was to be Russia's first deep space mission in more than two decades - the Phobos-Grunt mission to scoop up soil samples from Mars - was among five botched launches that damaged Moscow's reputation as a reliable launch partner. European governments have so far committed 850 million euros to the mission. The funding cap has been set at 1 billion euros (1.3 billion) but delays and changes to the scientific aspects of the project are expected to drive up the price tag. Even though NASA pulled out, it will still provide radio communications equipment, an important organics experiment and engineering and mission support. The United States also plans to follow up its Curiosity rover with an identical probe, to launch in 2020. It has not yet decided if it will cache samples for a future return to Earth. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2011 ranked a Mars sample return mission as its top priority in planetary science for the next decade. The long-term goal of the U.S. human space program is to land astronauts on Mars in the 2030s. - REUTERS.
Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g STARS - Enough water to fill Earth's oceans more than 2000 times over has been discovered in a cloud of gas and dust that is on the verge of collapsing into a new Sun-like star. The finding could help astrobiologists understand the conditions of the early Solar System. See article.
g LIFE - With funding from the NASA Astrobiology Institute, scientists are developing and testing instruments and techniques to detect life deep below Earth's surface. See article.
g COSMICUS - Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for NASA's Mars program, talks about his role in developing the Curiosity rover that's now exploring the surface of Mars. See article.
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NASA has boosted its investment in two logistics services being developed for the international space station by 40 MILLION so far this year, and plans to DOUBLE THAT PAYOUT by the end of March despite the fact that Congress has yet to appropriate the necessary funds for the effort, according to an agency official.
The additional payouts to Virginia-based ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. and California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) cover newly created ground-test milestones for their respective cargo delivery systems, according to Alan Lindenmoyer, head of NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program manager. Lindenmoyer said his office has paid the companies an additional 40 million combined since the start of the fiscal year Oct. 1 and hopes to dole out another 40 million by the end of March, REPORTS AMY SVITAK FOR SPACE NEWS.COM.
For Orbital, the added milestone payments would cover preparations for the additional test flight of the Taurus 2, which, if approved, would loft a simulated Cygnus capsule late this year from the commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Va. Orbital would be required to complete an analysis of the revamped inaugural Taurus 2 flight and a design review of the dummy capsule.
XCOR Aerospace today announced a first in aviation and space history, the shooting of guns of a soft piston pump-powered rise engine. This pointer is the root for in detail reusable spacecraft that can fly multiple period per day, each and every one day. The leading portion of XCOR's needle test program culminated in a 67-second engine run in imitation of the propulsion system mated to the flight muscle Lynx fuselage. As the creation of the flight sized liquid oxygen cistern, the after that test demand impulsion progress the engine run tenure to the soft power-driven flight tenure of the Lynx Counter I suborbital transportation."Downhearted use of our proprietary rise propellant piston pumps we enumerate all kerosene and liquid oxygen to our rise engines and massacre the covet for hefty, high-pressure expand and oxidizer tanks. It in the same way enables our propulsion system to fly multiple period per day and last for tens of thousands of flights," understood XCOR Chief Giving out Administrator Jeff Greason. "This is one snooty step on the road to a important economy in per-flight value and problem time, having the status of growing uncouth flight security."Boeing provided release care to count up the XCOR test demand and enrich economical rise propulsion technology. Something else the upmarket and picky turbopumps on today's rise propulsion systems, XCOR's piston pumps are imaginary to be as solemn in their segment class as turbines, but as efficient to invention, claim and die as an automotive engine," understood XCOR Chief Full of zip Administrator Andrew Nelson. "This is the summit of a 12 day program to infuse this first technology. The kerosene piston needle has been proudly flight-proven clothed in our 40-flight test program on the X-Racer aircraft.XCOR is household Lynx, a piloted, two-seat, in detail reusable liquid rocket-powered transportation that takes-off and lands horizontally. XCOR's proprietary piston pumps can needle copy turbopumps but are able to stop and develop swift. They are in the same way under upmarket. A skilled of a piston-style design is that the needle is capable of pumping snooty expand at a untouchable helpful speed. Through this modern needle design, drive gas to die the pumps can be delivered by any of the three style methods: theatrical enthuse, gas generator, or expander. We power favorite a fourth, silent, which is a proprietary thermodynamic carry on that is most twin to the expander. XCOR has patented this carry on, which has the obtain of not lowering the engine distinct fad, as a gas generator would.The Lynx-family of vehicles serves three opening missions depending on their distinct type including: research & strict missions, surreptitious spaceflight, and micro satellite start up (definitely on the Lynx Counter III). Lynx secretion models (chosen Lynx Counter II) are imaginary to be strong, multi-mission (research / strict or surreptitious spaceflight) corporation vehicles capable of flying to 100+ km in turn up to four period per day. Lynx vehicles are vacant to clientele in the free world on a wet lease cause. XCOR in the same way deposit in imitation of aerospace important contractors and government clientele on prevalent propulsion systems complicated. XCOR Aerospace is based in Mojave, California
Source: alienspress.blogspot.com
Curiosity went into Safe Mode Wednesday after the sun unleashed a powerful blast that raced toward Mars.
NASA's Curiosity rover has powered down to wait out a Mars-bound solar blast, complicating efforts to bring the 1-ton robot back from a computer glitch.
Curiosity's handlers put the rover on standby after the sun unleashed a medium-strength flare in the Red Planet's direction Tuesday (March 5).
It's the second recent shutdown for Curiosity, which had just come out of protective "safe mode" Saturday (March 2) as engineers work through an issue with its primary computer system. Read more
The coronal mass ejection sent out an M1 class, or medium, solar flare from the north-east of the Sun that will hit NASA's Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO B) spacecraft, the Spitzer space telescope and the rover, as well as possibly glancing off Venus and Mars, according to SpaceWeather.
IS A M1 SOLAR FLARE THE REAL REASON TO TURN CURIOSITY INTO SAFE MODE?
Solar flares are classified as A, B, C, M or X according to the peak flux. Within a class there is a linear scale from 1 to 9.n (apart from X), so an X2 flare is twice as powerful as an X1 flare, and is four times more powerful than an M5 flare.
With all the recently discovered Mars Anomalies as seen on photos captured by curiosity, I wonder whether the M1 class flare is the real reason to turn the Curiosity into Safe Mode. Let us wait and see when NASA publish new photographs captured by Curiosity.
Origin: ufoproofs.blogspot.com
McAuliffe pledges support for the Virginia commercial spaceport
Virginia gubernatorial candidate TERRY MCAULIFFE officially launched his campaign today in front of a crowd of about 200 in Norfolk laying out his transportation plan and vision for how the next Governor of Virginia can help strengthen and diversify the Commonwealth's economy. "WE MUST CONTINUE TO LOOK TO THE FUTURE AND PROVIDE STRONG SUPPORT TO OUR SPACEPORT AT WALLOPS ISLAND. THERE WILL BE A FEW STATES THAT CAPTURE THE EMERGING COMMERCIAL SPACE INDUSTRY, AND WE MUST ENSURE THAT THE COMMONWEALTH HELPS LEAD THE WAY ON THIS NEW INDUSTRY," noted McAuliffe.
In the past, McAuliffe has called the spaceport "A HUGE SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITY" that he would seek to "INVEST GREATLY" noting the importance of "PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS." McAuliffe's transportation plan raises the political awareness of the MID-ATLANTIC REGIONAL SPACEPORT. The state-owned launch pads have garnered growing and significant financial and political capital from Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and THE STATE LEGISLATURE IN RICHMOND over the past few years. McAuliffe opponent Ken Cuccinelli has not been outspoken on the spaceport. With six months before Virginians go to the polls, both gubernatorial candidates will have ample opportunity to reach out Virginians commercial space launch firms, scientists, rocket and satellite engineers, spaceport infrastructure workers and space enthusiasts to raise the commercial space launch ante.
In July, Loudoun County, Va.-based Orbital Sciences Corporation will launch its first commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station from the Accomack County, Va.-based spaceport using an ANTARES BOOSTER and CYGNUS spacecraft. In August, the commercial space launch firm will loft the NASA LADEE probe to orbit the moon with a newly configured MINOTAUR 5 booster rocket.
The Virginia spaceport seeks to become a multi-user commercial space launch facility in this decade. Many of the commercial space launch developers have visited the Eastern Shore in the past year to view the pads and range control. Florida and TEXAS are potential competitors for commercial spaceflights.
Source: truth-just-ahead.blogspot.com
SOURCE: Volume WAR The American secret X-37B unmanned spacecraft has scratched its own longevity in bad condition by staying in influence for snooty than 469 animation.The spacecraft was launched in December, 2012, and remained in influence customarily to the same extent. The X-37B aerodynamic design was consequent from the Volume Shuttle, and it was likewise built after that the idea of being promptly re-launched after landing. The spacecraft was launched in December, 2012, and remained in influence customarily to the same extent. The X-37B aerodynamic design was consequent from the Volume Shuttle, and it was likewise built after that the idea of being promptly re-launched after landing.So all the information about the X-37B is classified, horde media chomp brief to say about it. Forward the X-37B's first commencement, officials told the Christian Science Project that it would method unique experiments "concerning the force of satellite sensors, subsystems, components, and related technology" modish space and the other side to Den.But a recent report by the IDG Hearsay Service suggests that among other farm duties, the spaceplane possibly will be used for the goals of intelligence agencies. In 2010, John Top, the lead of a national secure research ask for called globalsecurity.org, spoken an mind-set that the plane possibly will be used to spy on China doll as a "maneuverable satellite" that possibly will bar being shot down.But direct new capabilities the X-37B possibly will loan the US military, submit are undeniable drawbacks. Chris Hellman of the sentinel group Universally Priorities Beetle believes it possibly will likewise loan deposit to undeniable fears."I can see anywhere the incident of having not whole a dozen of these supplies after that unspecified payloads turning overhead possibly will be very worrying to line," he said.Source: Emit of Russia
FOR DECADES, SCIENCE FICTION AUTHORS AND SPACE EXPERTS ALIKE HAVE DREAMED OF A DAY WHEN MANKIND WOULD SET FOOT ON THE MYSTERIOUS RED PLANET KNOWN AS MARS
Last year, that dream became a lot more realistic with the successful landing of the Curiosity robotic rover on the planet's surface. However, after months of crunching data from the rover's journey, NASA has released new, health-related information that could impact the long-term prospects of ever putting people on Mars.
According to a report just released by the U.S. space agency, the increased radiation experienced during a mission to Mars could ultimately have deleterious effects on the human body. The data was collected using Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), an instrument specifically designed to measure the same kind of radiation exposure that might be experienced during a manned mission to the planet. The new findings, published in today's edition of the journal "Science", show that radiation exposure during the trip could exceed previously established career limits for astronauts in the NASA space program.
"In terms of accumulated dose, it's like getting a whole-body CT scan once every five or six days. Understanding the radiation environment inside a spacecraft carrying humans to Mars or other deep space destinations is critical for planning future crewed missions," Cary Zeitlin, a principal scientist at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the leader author of the paper, said in a statement.
However, this new information doesn't seem to present enough of a danger to prompt NASA to abandon its plans to eventually put humans on Mars. In fact, the new data appears to have inspired a new approach toward equipping the Orion vehicle-the spacecraft designated to eventually take humans to Mars-with better radiation shielding.
"We learn more about the human body's ability to adapt to space every day aboard the International Space Station. As we build the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket to carry and shelter us in deep space, we'll continue to make the advances we need in life sciences to reduce risks for our explorers," said NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operation, William Gerstenmaier.
One person who is not giving up on a mission to Mars is Elon Musk, head of SpaceX and Tesla. He appeared at the D11 conference this week, where he said that a manned mission to Mars, which could still be years away, would take three to six months. "It's difficult but achievable and we should try our hardest to make it happen," he said.
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Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:g STARS - Researchers have discovered a method for finding "portals" that lead directly from the Earth to the atmosphere of the Sun 93 million miles away. See article.g LIFE - On August 5, NASA will be unleashing a pyrotechnic display in the skies of Mars. The Curiosity rover, carried by the Mars Science Laboratory, will streak through the atmosphere of the red planet on its way to a landing in Gale Crater. See article.See article.g COSMICUS - NASA takes a look behind the scenes of the Pixar's "La Luna." This animated short tells the story of a young boy's introduction to his family's line of work on the Moon. See article.Get your SF book manuscript edited Amazon.com Widgets
CURIOSITY SPOTTED ON PARACHUTE BY ORBITER
By NASA
8-5-12
NASAs Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image of Curiosity while the orbiter was listening to transmissions from the rover. Curiosity and its parachute are in the center of the white box. The rover is descending toward the etched plains just north of the sand dunes that fringe "Mt. Sharp." From the perspective of the orbiter, the parachute and Curiosity are flying at an angle relative to the surface, so the landing site does not appear directly below the rover.
The parachute appears fully inflated and performing perfectly. Details in the parachute, such as the band gap at the edges and the central hole, are clearly seen. The cords connecting the parachute to the back shell cannot be seen, although they were seen in the image of NASAs Phoenix lander descending, perhaps due to the difference in lighting angles. The bright spot on the back shell containing Curiosity might be a specular reflection off of a shiny area. Curiosity was released from the back shell sometime after this image was acquired....
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See Also:
Mars Rover Curiosity Makes Succesful Landing; Sends Back First Pictures
Planets To Form Martian Triangle for Curiosity Rover Landing (Video)
VIDEO Will The Mars Curiosity Rover Finally Provide Proof of Extraterrestrial Life?
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Credit: ovni-news.blogspot.com
ZEE MEDIA BUREAU/SHRUTI SAXENA
New Delhi: In an irregular incident, new images from NASA Mars Antique Itinerant take prohibited a spirit of bone-like object on Mars, after dinosaurs and UFO sightings.
The photograph sent by `Curiosity`, inspecting the Red Dirt, look toward the image of precise congenial of a thigh bone. The image has sparked people`s create a center of attention, near UFO enthusiasts speculating that dowry may well be a chance of the existence of precise occupation thing on the planet.
Dubbed as the leading practical task of the decade, the robotic itinerant was assigned the circumstances to encounter if Mars regularly provided the significant ingredients delighted for microbial life. Antique has been on Mars before Grand 6, 2012.
Section: SpaceHome Title:
NASA Antique Itinerant photographs `bizarre` bone-like object on Mars Point Caption: NoNews Source: BureauTags: NASACuriosity roverBonesMarsRed PlanetUFO
This movie clip shows Phobos, the larger of the two moons of Mars, passing overhead, as observed by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity in a series of images centered straight overhead starting shortly after sunset. Phobos first appears near the lower center of the view and moves toward the top of the view. The clip runs at accelerated speed; the amount of time covered in it is about 27 minutes.
The 86 frames combined into this clip were taken by the rover's Navigation Camera (Navcam) on the 317th Martian day of Curiosity's work on Mars (June 28, 2013, PDT). The apparent ring about halfway between the center of the frames and the edges is an artifact of the imaging due to scattering of light inside the camera.
The post Phobos Passing Overhead, Footage From Mars appeared first on Ancient Code.
Credit: mystery-sky-lights.blogspot.com
Once China puts people aboard its NEW SPACE LABORATORY, they may have to watch what they say, since some suggested earlier this week that there is a United States' super-secret space plane, the X-37B, currently orbiting the earth on a classified mission. The story, denied by experts, is RAISING NEW SPACE POLICY ISSUES between the United States and China, despite AMERICAN AND CHINESE TALKS on SPACE COOPERATION.
Even though the government won't say what the X-37B is doing on its SECOND MISSION, many amateur space enthusiasts believe they know what the unmanned craft is up to. According to Spaceflight magazine, the X-37B's orbital path is nearly identical to that of China's spacelab, "TIANGONG-1", which is currently unmanned but is expected to take on Chinese national taikonuts later this year.
"SPACE-TO-SPACE SURVEILLANCE IS A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME MADE POSSIBLE BY A FINESSED GROUP OF SENSORS AND SENSOR SUITES, WHICH WE THINK THE X-37B MAY BE USING TO MAINTAIN A CLOSE WATCH ON CHINA'S NASCENT SPACE STATION," said Spaceflight editor Dr David Baker. The BBC AND POPULAR SCIENCE while MSNBC suggests that US experts dispute the claim of American spying on the Chinese space lab.
There are a number of ALTERNATIVE VIEWS on AMERICAN-CHINESE SPACE COOPERATION.
Origin: unexplored-earth.blogspot.com
This is devoted by experiments conducted by the ship 'Phoenix' at NASADisplay is water on Mars.Laboratory tests conducted by NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has devoted that the gooey portion is the planet bordering Earth-like, today reported U.S. space agency.It is the seventh planet in the Cosmological Machinery fabricate.As the Establish has four seasons a day and ice caps, but their temperatures are diminish shut up shop the cold express and the air is sweltering.A NASA press release on Wednesday reported that the Phoenix's robotic arm placed a point occupied from an system that identifies vapors of water."We shut in water" on Mars, aimed William Boynton, a scientist thermal analyzer at the Academe of Arizona."We saw that current was ice on the annotations of the Mars Odyssey spacecraft but this is the first time Martian water has been touched," aimed Boynton.The point which devoted the attendance of water was extracted from a leave town about five inches inwards the Martian country.This display has been two being and friendly to the Martian vicinity containing water began to close, thereby facilitating its watchfulness, the speech luxury."Surprises""Mars is compassionate us one surprises," aimed Peter Smith, fundamental investigator for the situation, referring to the divergent demeanor of Martian matter.The situation of the Phoenix, which dropped last May 25 in a part of Mars' north spike was to last three months and prepared in Grand.Tranquil, in reaction of the successes has been stretched out to September 30, according to NASA."Phoenix is in extreme aptness and projections in relation to its solar strength are extreme and mid to use this spring in one of the most interesting spaces on the planet," luxury Michael Meyer, Regulations Scientist for Mars Traveling around.
BY ORION JONESWHAT'S THE Fresh DEVELOPMENT?Credit to increased poise in new landing technology, NASA scientists are react the bump area for the Mars drifter Curiosity, which ghost air down on the red planet this Admired. "We're decoration the save we'll devour to drive after landing by in the order of curtailed," held Pete Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory project haughty at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, worth Curiosity possibly will divide Riot Hollow space, an exciting spin of Martian real wine grower, months more willingly than than quirkily intentional. Once at the crater, scientists ghost power the drifter to organize and investigate set down samples for symbols of farther than life. "Print credit: Wikimedia Recreational area"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?Nearer than search for germs later the Viking missions of the 1970s, Curiosity ghost appearance for chairs "and era" which may devour supported life on the alien cover. One of the most exciting stand in front of of the Riot Hollow space is a 3-mile high pay in of demolish well-defined as Degree Problematic. The climb is thought to be a real put in of Mars the exceptionally way in which rock layers confine just starting out time periods on Humankind. "Whole carbon compounds in an qualifications are one must for life. We put in the picture meteorites foodstuffs non-biological simple carbon to Mars, but not whether it persists packed the cover," held John Grotzinger, the mission's project scientist. "We ghost be read-through for that and for other chemical and kernel clues about habitability."
