MarsDrive

          Catch All the latest Mars News in one spot!

• MarsNews.com - Latest News

  NewsWire for the New Frontier

  Scientists Revisit Mars Sample Return Plans International planning is under way to reinvigorate plans for a Mars sample return mission, with researchers assessing science priorities and strategies to maximize the scientific output from such an undertaking. Over the last several years, an armada of orbital and surface missions has revealed Mars to be surprisingly more complex than once thought, imbued with a variety of distinct environments ? each of value in terms of possible scientific payback given a sample return effort. Mars samples returned to state-of-the-art Earth laboratories are considered by many to be the only way to unravel a host of unresolved questions about the red planet....

  Private Space Station Prototype Hits Orbital Milestone A prototype module for a private space station has passed an orbital milestone after completing its 10,000th trip around the Earth. Genesis 1, an inflatable module built by the Las Vegas, Nev.-based firm Bigelow Aerospace, passed the 10,000-orbit mark as it nears the beginning of its third year of unmanned operations, its builders announced late Thursday. Bigelow Aerospace launched Genesis 1 atop a converted intercontinental ballistic missile on July 12, 2006 to test its ability to self-inflate and operate in Earth orbit. Led by businessman Robert Bigelow, owner of the Budget Suites of America hotel chain and other enterprises, Bigelow Aerospace followed...

  Demron lightweight, lead-free radiation-proof suit Radiation Shield Technologies has been granted a new patent for Demron, the protective garment that shields users from alpha and beta radiation, gamma rays, x-rays, and other nuclear emissions. The flexible, cool, and lightweight suit provides all the protection of a lead apron with a new level of comfort, and without any dermal or inhalation risks. Its malleability, thinness, and effectiveness allow it to be used for full-body nuclear, biological, and nuclear-biological chemical suits, tactical anti-nuclear vests, and high-energy suppression blankets. Several governments have ordered suits for use in emergencies that involve radiation, and scientists have even earmarked it for...

  Phoenix Lander Takes Aim at Martian Arctic NASA's Mars-bound Phoenix spacecraft is gearing up for a landmark landing near the martian north pole this month to find out whether the region could have once supported microbial life. Phoenix is on course for a planned May 25 touchdown in the martian arctic that, if successful, will mark the first powered landing on Mars since NASA's hefty Viking 2 lander set down in 1976. But first, the probe is expected to fire its thrusters several times in the next few weeks to fine-tune its flight path. "It's scary how smooth it's been," said Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager at NASA's Jet...

  Raw Politics: Candidates and the space race One issue the presidential candidates are not saying much about is space exploration. But some scientists, military experts and intelligence analysts say the next president may well determine whether America keeps an edge in space. Last year, the United States managed 16 space launches; Russia had 22; China blasted off 10. Their space program is still behind, says Robert Zubrin, one of America's strongest proponents for Mars travel, but it is rocketing.

• Space News From SpaceDaily.Com

  Space News from SpaceDaily.Com brings the space industry professional daily news from the frontier, with contract, bid, launch and on-orbit satellite news as it happens.

  NASA Awards Contract For Ares I Mobile Launcher Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) May 09, 2008 - NASA's Kennedy Space Center has awarded a contract to Hensel Phelps of Orlando, Fla., for the construction of the Ares I mobile launcher for the Constellation Program. Ares I is the rocket that will transport the Orion crew exploration vehicle, its crew and cargo to low Earth orbit. The contract includes an option for an additional Ares I mobile launcher.

  New NASA Tool Allows Amateurs To Explore The Ionosphere From The Inside Boulder CO (SPX) May 09, 2008 - Last week at the Space Weather Workshop in Boulder, Colorado, NASA released a 4D live model of the Earth's ionosphere. Without leaving home, anyone can fly through the layer of ionized gas that encircles Earth at the edge of space itself. All that is required is an Internet connection and a free copy of Google Earth. NASA calls the ionosphere the "last wisp of Earth's atmosphere that astronauts leave behind when they enter space.

  Turning 20th Century Fiction Into 21st Century Science And Technology Washington DC (SPX) May 09, 2008 - The futuristic epic 2001: A Space Odyssey influenced many to fall in love with the limitless possibilities of space exploration. The movie sparked imaginations and provided a realistic preview of what our future in space might look like.

  NASA Successfully Completes First Series Of Ares Engine Tests Stennis MS (SPX) May 09, 2008 - NASA engineers Thursday successfully completed the first series of tests in the early development of the J-2X engine that will power the upper stages of the Ares I and Ares V rockets, key components of NASA's Constellation Program. Ares I will launch the Orion spacecraft that will take astronauts to the International Space Station and then to the moon by 2020.

• NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features

  JPL's RSS feed brings you the latest press releases, feature stories and slide shows from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. JPL has explored every planet in the solar system with robotic spacecraft.

  Phoenix Flying True Enough to Skip One Scheduled Adjustment NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander continues on course for its May 25 arrival at Mars.

  Intense Testing Paved Phoenix Road to Mars When NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander descends to the surface of the Red Planet on May 25, few will be watching as closely as those who have spent years planning, analyzing and conducting tests to prepare for the dramatic and nerve-wracking event.

  Saturn Does the Wave in Upper Atmosphere Two decades of scrutinizing Saturn are finally paying off, as scientists have discovered a wave pattern, or oscillation, in Saturn's atmosphere only visible from Earth every 15 years.

  NASA Kepler Mission Offers Opportunity to Send Names Into Space Here's your chance to have your name on board the spacecraft that could discover the first known Earth-like planet beyond our solar system.

  Titan's Smoggy Sand Grains NASA scientist Jason Barnes says Titan and Earth have much in common, but not when it comes to sand.

• ESA Top News

  ESA Top News

  Scientists endure Arctic for last campaign prior to CryoSat-2 launch An international group of scientists has swapped their comfortable offices for one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet to carry out a challenging field campaign that is seen as the key to ensuring the data delivered by ESA's ice mission CryoSat will be as accurate as possible.

  Joint ESA/NASA team wins international award The Ulysses mission operations team has won an international award in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the success and scientific productivity of the joint ESA/NASA observatory mission, now orbiting the poles of the Sun.

  Chilean volcano captured blasting ash Chile?s Chaiten Volcano is shown spewing ash and smoke (centre left of image) into the air for hundreds of km over Argentina?s Patagonia Plateau in this Envisat image acquired on 5 May 2008.

  GIOVE-B transmitting its first signals PR 26-2008  Following a successful launch on 27 April, GIOVE-B began transmitting navigation signals today. This is a truly historic step for satellite navigation since GIOVE-B is now, for the first time, transmitting the GPS-Galileo common signal using a specific optimised waveform, MBOC (multiplexed binary offset carrier), in accordance with the agreement drawn up in July 2007 by the EU and the US for their respective systems, Galileo and the future GPS III.

  Cyclone Nargis and Myanmar floods seen from space Envisat captured Cyclone Nargis making its way across the Bay of Bengal just south of Myanmar on 1 May 2008. The cyclone hit the coastal region and ripped through the heart of Myanmar on Saturday, devastating the country.

• The Space Review

  Articles, essays, and commentary about all facets of space exploration

  The Vision for Space Exploration and the retirement of the Baby Boomers (part 2) With budgets likely to be constrained in the years and decades to come, how can NASA carry out the Vision for Space Exploration and other efforts? Charles Miller and Jeff Foust argue that the key is the development of cheap, reliable access to space.

  Dead trees and the final frontier In an era of online publications (like this one), are magazines an anachronism? Dwayne Day examines the strengths and weaknesses of space magazines as an introduction to a review of a number of these publications.

  A quick guide to space news publications in print Dwayne Day provides brief reviews of major space-related magazines currently published in the United States and elsewhere.

  Point-to-point suborbital transportation: sounds good on paper, but... Suborbital point-to-point spaceflight would seem to be a logical step between the current generation of suborbital vehicles under development and orbital RLVs. David Hoerr cautions that such vehicles face considerable technological obstacles to their development.

  British perspectives on human spaceflight The UK is considering a revision to a national space policy that currently doesn't support human spaceflight. Jeff Foust reports on comments made by two prominent British scientists on opposite sides of the issue.

• CNN.com - Science & Space

  CNN.com delivers up-to-the-minute news and information on the latest top stories, weather, entertainment, politics and more.

  Hubble mission delayed to fix shuttle tanks Read full story for latest details.

  Astronaut calls landing 'one big hit and a roll' NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, along with two cosmonauts, rode in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that made a gut-wrenching, off-target landing last month.

  Russia probes Soyuz capsule's re-entry Read full story for latest details.

  NASA extends Saturn mission Read full story for latest details.

  NASA goes low tech for high-tech problem Read full story for latest details.

Martian Soil