NASA is sending humans back to the Moon. That’s a plan that’s been in the works for some time now, but when the current presidential administration put a deadline of 2024 on a manned return to the Moon, it sped up NASA’s timeline a bit. Now, as NASA is working overtime to get its technological ducks in a row to meet its new deadline, one of the most crucial pieces to the puzzle is coming into focus: the human element.
In a new post on NASA’s website , the agency celebrates the upcoming graduation of the latest class as astronaut candidates. The graduating class, which includes 13 would-be space explorers, will be celebrated on January 10th. It’s already exciting, but it’s even more exciting when you consider what some of these astronauts might have the chance to do.
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First active fault zone found on Mars
Several deep fractures cut across Mars's cratered surface in this image taken in January 2018 by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. These gashes are part of the Cerberus Fossae system near the Martian equator.
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While most of these signals have been indistinct murmurs, two have stood out loud and clear, allowing scientists to trace them back to their source: the first active fault zone yet found on the red planet .
Space History Is Made in This NASA Robot Factory – NASA's Mars Exploration Program
High Bay 1 in JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility: The High Bay 1 clean room within the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at JPL is seen in this image taken on Nov. 12, 2019. The Mars 2020 rover is visible just above center. Full image and caption ›
Built in 1961, the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is the cradle of robotic space exploration.
Mars Has Auroras of Its Own Which Could Explain Why the Planet Lost Its Water | Digital Trends
Here on Earth, you can see the aurora of the Northern Lights, when solar winds interact with the planet’s magnetosphere. It turns out that Mars has its own auroras too, called proton auroras, but they give off ultraviolet light which makes them invisible to the naked eye.
NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft, however, currently in orbit around Mars, is able to detect these auroras using its Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument. Using data from this instrument, scientists have been investigating the relationship between the proton auroras and the fact that Mars lost its water over time . The Martian aurora is indirectly created by hydrogen in the atmosphere, which comes from water being lost into space.
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DJI Patented a Camera 'Vehicle' that Looks like a Mini Mars Rover
Chinese drone company (and Hasselblad owner) DJI may be bring their ambitions back down to Earth, literally. A newly discovered patent granted to the company shows a land-based vehicle with a camera and gimbal mounted on top—sort of like a pared down version of one of the Mars rovers.
According to DroneDJ , the so-called DJI “Vehicle” is an RC car with wheels that can rotate a full 360° for maneuverability and a very involved suspension system to keep the camera steady as the rover moves across uneven terrain. The camera on top looks like the DJI Zenmuse style you’ll find on the DJI Inspire 2.
Meet Frank Rubio, the first Latino who could set foot on Mars in 2033 | AL DÍA News
See ExoMars's Parachutes Deploy at 125 Mph Ahead of Landing on Mars | Digital Trends
One major challenge of sending exploratory missions to Mars is landing heavy items like rovers safely on the planet’s surface. The European Space Agency’s upcoming ExoMars mission will need a descent module containing a rover to slow from 13,000 miles per hour as it enters to planet’s atmosphere to a gentle landing pace in just six minutes.
To do this, the module is equipped with a dual parachute system, in which two parachutes each have their own pilot chute and are deployed separately. The main parachute is 15 meters wide and is deployed while the module is traveling faster than the speed of sound. Once it has slowed the module, the first stage main parachute is jettisoned and the second main parachute is deployed. With a diameter of 35 meters (115 feet), the second parachute will be the largest ever deployed on Mars.
Happening on Twitter
"Climate change is a clear and present threat to the survival of our people and their culture." https://t.co/tZUFL0VhPO ClimateReality (from Washington, DC) Tue Dec 24 04:56:00 +0000 2019
During the Apollo 8 mission, humans entered lunar orbit and saw the far side of the Moon for the first time. Just b… https://t.co/T605cnC3mr airandspace (from Washington, DC) Tue Dec 24 00:32:01 +0000 2019
#OnThisDay 1968: Astronauts on NASA's Apollo 8 mission became the first humans to orbit the Moon. They took the fam… https://t.co/Jcsmhqg99r imperialcollege (from London) Tue Dec 24 08:01:24 +0000 2019
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