Getting to this point has not been easy. Mission teams have had to prep the rover and rocket for liftoff while the coronavirus pandemic swirled around them, forcing the closure of many NASA facilities. But the space agency prioritized getting Perseverance to the pad on time (while protecting workers' safety as well), given that Mars-mission launch windows open just once every 26 months.
"If we have to take Perseverance and put it back into storage for a period of two years, it could cost half a billion dollars," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said during a news conference last Wednesday (June 17).
Quite a lot has been going on:
Elon Musk says Mars is his soul dog
Seoul, June 21 (IANS) Multi-billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk on Sunday took to the Twitter to describe his relationship with Mars by calling the red planet his souldog.
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Responding to Musk, a user tweeted, "Elon is from Mars. The Galactic Federation has no say. They agree with his awakening tactics."
Another user posted to him, "YOU are my souldog I don''t even care how many other people have said this already."
Mars exploration already decades long | Robesonian
Editor’s note: This is the first part of a planned three-part series on the exploration of Mars.
Mars has fascinated us for millennia. Its orange-like red glow was interpreted by most civilizations as an embodiment of their gods of war. Mars from the Romans, Aries from the Greeks, and Marduk from the Babylonians are three examples of these war gods. Some of the finest Science Fiction is written about invaders from Mars. Mars was the target of almost every telescope from Galileo forward. The Lowell observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, was built to explore Mars.
NASA needs your help teaching its Curiosity rover how to drive on Mars | Space
NASA is asking for your help to guide its Curiosity rover around sand traps, sharp rocks and other obstacles on the Red Planet.
A new online tool called AI4Mars , hosted on Zooniverse, allows anyone to label parts of the terrain in the landscape surrounding Curiosity, which has been roving on Mars since 2012.
The tool is a form of "machine learning" that allows rover planners assisting with Curiosity's movements to train the rover's intelligence for safe route planning. Picking an appropriate pathway is a pressing problem for Martian rovers. Curiosity's wheels wore down in the early years of its mission from driving over sharp rocks, while another Mars rover called Spirit got permanently stuck in a sand trap in 2010.
Check out this next:
NASA Curiosity Rover Pictures: See Earth and Venus From the Mars Sky - Thrillist
The Curiosity rover is a busy robot. It doesn't generally have time for brunch or late-night games of Fortnite. But every now and then it snaps a photo that allows us here on Earth to go beyond the important scientific work it's doing to appreciate how amazing it is to have research taking place on the surface of Mars.
About 75 minutes after local sunset on June 5, Curiosity aimed its Mastcam up into the Martian sky to snap a picture of Earth and Venus looking like stars over the red planet. It snapped a "two-image twilight panorama [that] reveals Earth in one frame and Venus in the other," NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. "Both planets appear as mere pinpoints of light, owing to a combination of distance and dust in the air; they would normally look like very bright stars."
Mars in Aries this week brings an anger-fuled call to action | Well+Good
Since then, society has begun to confront the enduring perils of white supremacy and the atrocious impact systemic racism has on Black communities. Anti-racism and activism are an integral part of the quest for cosmic health, so as Venus wraps up her retrograde journey, review what you recently learned.
Mars, the planet of action, is moving into Aries, a place he’ll stay through the end of the year. Mars typically doesn’t stay in a sign this long, so this is a very rare transit.
Cosmic 'Lighthouses' to Help Space Travellers Find Ways to Moon, Mars | The Weather
Just as lighthouses have helped sailors navigate safely into harbour for centuries, future space travellers may receive similar guidance from the steady signals created by pulsars.
Scientists and engineers are using the International Space Station to develop pulsar-based navigation using these cosmic lighthouses to assist with wayfinding on trips to the Moon under NASA's Artemis programme and on future human missions to Mars, the US space agency said on Wednesday.
Mars rebranding Uncle Ben's rice as company seeks end to racial bias | Fox Business
Mars Inc. said it will change its “Uncle Ben” rice mascot in response to criticism from consumers who said it’s based on racist stereotypes.
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“As a global brand, we know we have a responsibility to take a stand in helping to put an end to racial bias and injustices,” Mars said in a statement. “As we listen to the voices of consumers, especially in the black community, and to the voices of our associates worldwide, we recognize that now is the right time to evolve the Uncle Ben’s brand, including its visual brand identity, which we will do.”
Happening on Twitter
NASA's next Mars rover is just one month away from launch https://t.co/tpE0EENQIN https://t.co/4YjEH71vgl SPACEdotcom (from NYC) Sat Jun 20 15:01:05 +0000 2020
NASA's Perseverance rover will launch to Mars next month with a global tribute to health care workers… https://t.co/aNwqixNBVJ CNN Sat Jun 20 15:22:03 +0000 2020
On track for launch in just over a month. The road has been long, but we're persevering, inspired by the global med… https://t.co/Okkl64J9eO NASAPersevere (from Cape Canaveral, Florida) Wed Jun 17 19:27:16 +0000 2020
"Perseverance is the most sophisticated mission we've ever sent to the Red Planet's surface. It's the next step in… https://t.co/QfRfPKHRzP NASA Wed Jun 17 18:33:31 +0000 2020
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