NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is counting down to the launch of yet another ground breaking (in this case, literally) spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral. Flying aboard the ever-reliable ULA Atlas-V in its 411 configuration, the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer, or Osiris-REx, will journey to the Near Earth asteroid Bennu, where it will collect and […]
When SpaceX first introduced a version of its Dragon capsule with propulsive capability, one early image released by the company depicted the spacecraft landing on a dusty red surface which looked suspiciously like Mars. That image, and more than a few comments regarding Dragon’s capabilities by company founder and CEO Elon Musk served as a […]
For those who remember, the discovery of possible signs of ancient microbial life on Martian meteorite ALH 84001 sparked enormous debate in 1996, temporarily convincing a great many people that we had at last found conclusive evidence of life on Mars. As the years rolled on, alternate explanations appeared to answer the questions raised by […]
Having concluded that the Mars Science Laboratory has already answered the key question it was sent to explore, i.e. that Mars did once host conditions which were suitable for life, even as it only now embarking on its trek to Mt. Sharp, NASA hosted a Telecon today to discuss its Science Definition Team report for […]
NASA’s Mars Program Planning Group delivered its summary report today, a copy of which is here. The 66 page document firmly establishes a Mars Sample Return as the next logical goal for Mars exploration, but examines a number of different architectures for achieving that goal, some of which involve multiple pre-cursor missions. Certain to be debated and offering […]
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