Let's get to Mars - only 46 years to go.

A Survival Imperative for Space Colonization
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: July 17, 2007
J. Richard Gott III has issued a wake-up call: To ensure our long-term survival, we need to get a colony up and running on Mars within 46 years.

Back to MARS!

NASA officials said Monday that they were ready to send Phoenix Mars Lander to the northern region of the Red Planet. Plans call for launching the craft from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a Delta II rocket during a three-week window that opens on Aug. 3.

After taking almost 10 months to reach Mars, the spacecraft is to make a fiery entry into the atmosphere before being slowed by a parachute and eventually landing with the help of a series of pulsing retro rockets.

“Phoenix is going to a completely new area,” Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona, the mission’s principal scientist, said during a news briefing at NASA headquarters.

Shuttle is back home

June 22 — The space shuttle Atlantis glided to a smooth landing on a dry desert lake bed here Friday, ending a two-week mission to the International Space Station that had turned somewhat dramatic after key computers broke down.

I wish I was European. I would sign up for this study at the drop of a hat.

European citizens and Canadian Citizens are given the opportunity to participate in a 520 day study. 120 euors per day. Simulates a trip to Mars. Read the details.

See also this yahoo article:

Space pioneers wanted for 520-day Mars experiment

What a great study.

The End of the Shuttle Era and The Re-Vamped Rocket Age

Will the rebirth of the rocket recreate the once great space race interest in exploration of the galaxies? I certainly hope that the goal to return to the moon and then the goal to build a station on that moon in order to reach mars rekindles the curiosity of children in science, space and space exploration. I read an essay from the New York Times and it has quite a bleak outlook on space and man’s understanding of the entire universe in the future:

The Universe, Expanding Beyond All Understanding
Our successors, whoever and wherever they are, may have no way of finding out about the Big Bang and the expanding universe.

The article lends weight and creates a sense of urgency to get farther into space and make sure that we try to decipher the secrets of our origins sooner as opposed to later.

Shuttle Atlantis is coming home.

The space shuttle Atlantis has been cleared for re-entry. A thermal blanket that was protecting the shuttle has been repiared. A space walk was performed to staple down the protective layer.

Russian cosmonauts and Russian engineers as well as the boys at NASA worked to get the International Space Station computers back online. See the time line of articles of interest in the NY times below.

June 14th 2007
Computer Flaw Could Imperil Space Station: The Russian computers that help keep the International Space Station in orbit were out of commission for the second day, a glitch that could imperil the $100 billion orbiting laboratory if it is not corrected.

June 15th 2007
NASA Optimistic on Space Station Repair: NASA officials said that they fully expected engineers to resolve an unparalleled computer failure, but cautioned that the process could take days.

June 16th 2007
Work Done on Space Station Computers: Russian cosmonauts and engineers may have corrected a problem that caused computers aboard the International Space Station to crash.

June 17th 2007
Shuttle Is Cleared for Earth Re-entry: The clearance came a day after John D. Olivas, during a spacewalk, stapled down a loose thermal blanket that covered an engine pod near the shuttle’s tail.

A 100 Billion Dollar Oh No?

The Russian computers that help keep the International Space Station in orbit were largely out of commission for a second day, a glitch that could imperil the $100 billion space laboratory.

NASA officials expressed confidence, however, that the problem could be resolved. “I fully expect us to be able to do this,” said Michael T. Suffredini , the manager of the station program.

The station depends on Russian and American computer systems to maintain the positioning of the station as it orbits the earth. The United States computer system runs the network of gyroscopes that provide stability, and the Russian system controls thrusters that correct the orientation of the station when the gyroscopes alone cannot do the job and that shift its position for operations like docking and avoiding debris.

The problem first emerged on Tuesday as astronauts were connecting a new 17.2-ton truss to the station. The three navigation computers in the Russian section crashed and could not be restarted. Thruster control was passed to the shuttle Atlantis, which has enough fuel to adjust the station’s positioning for several days. Other computers affected by the glitch control Russian environmental systems that provide oxygen to the station and remove carbon dioxide from the air.

“That’s not an urgent situation,” Mr. Suffredini said. “But clearly we need to get this resolved before the shuttle leaves.”

See full article -

The Goldilocks Planets

Possible New Earths?

• A new study suggests that the so-called Goldilocks planet is too hot to be like Earth, but astronomers have uncovered another, cooler option.
  

DENNIS OVERBYE

New York Times

I am not a science person.

I think that everyone should read about NASA, space exploration, the stars and the science that drives the cogs that turns out great innovations in the United States and around the world.