Well, make that a month, a week, and a weekend, thanks to a plasma rocket developed by this MIT physicist and former astronaut:
A journey from Earth to Mars could soon take just 39 days, cutting current travel time nearly six times, a rocket scientist who has the ear of the US space agency NASA has said.
via Scientist eyes 39-day voyage to Mars.
There’s a definite synchromystical, Moon “thing” going on, at the moment…
President Obama might not let us go to the Moon, but in Düsseldorf, you can see the largest sculpture of Earth’s sole satellite, as part of a new solar system exhibit (from a pres release I received today):
Düsseldorf, Germany – The inside of a 380-foot tall obsolete gas holder, the Gasometer in Oberhausen, is the space for a new exhibit called “Out Of This World – Wonders of The Solar System.” It includes the largest moon sculpture in the world — an 82-foot wide replica of the moon hanging in a cathedral-like space under the holder’s 328-foot roof, as well as replicas of the sun and its planets in a space 223 feet wide. The exhibit explores scientific, cultural and artistic perspectives on the creation and death of our solar system in the vast dimensions of the cosmos.
I’d be the first to say, of the Moon, “been there, done that.” But that was before a team led by Brown University professor Carle Pieters confirmed the presence of H20 up there.
And then there is Richard C. Hoagland’s idea of combing the Moon for ancient ruins.
Source: Sternstunden: RUHR.2010.
Photo: CC/Toni Lucatorto
Japan is talking-up yet another bipedal robot (at least officials are not describing this one as a potential sexual partner, yet), to help humans settle-in on the moon, in about ten years.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan hopes to have a two-legged robot walk on the moon by around 2020, with a joint mission involving astronauts and robots to follow, according to a plan laid out Friday by a government group.
Specifics of the plan, including what new technologies will be required and the size of the project’s budget, are to be decided within the next two years, according to Japan’s Strategic Headquarters for Space Development, a Cabinet-level working group.
via The Associated Press: Japan aims for walking robot on the moon by 2020.
Space blogger to moon landing skeptics: Trust “scientists, engineers (and) the government.”
(Looks to good to be true. Photo: NASA)
Universe Today hopes this NASA image from the Apollo 11 mission (above) is so undeniably realistic-looking, few people will again dare to insist the U.S.’s moon landings were hoaxed. (Link, excerpt, below.)
Many conspiracists would be happy to see the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter prove them wrong. They just doubt it will.
Still Mythbusting | Universe Today
After last night’s “Mythbusters” show about the Apollo Moon Landing Hoax Myth, I’m cautiously hopeful that at least some people who believe(d) in this myth had their eyes opened and minds changed. Alas, there will always be folks out there who for some reason are set on not believing scientists, engineers or the government and won’t subscribe to any type of proof, be it scientific or television-ific. Perhaps the upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission will be able to take hi-resolution images of one of the Apollo sites.
A reluctant U.S. Congress might change its mind about sending humans to Mars, if Phoenix discovers organic matter, Planetary Society and Mars Society members hope (see believe).
In its NASA funding legislation, the Democrat-controlled body is seeking to bar any funds that might be spent on manned Mars missions. The Mars Society, meanwhile (which I joined for a year, because I had to have that membership card), is acknowledging this week its failure to capture the imaginations of many Americans. The organization plans to lobby Congress to support manned missions.
Will the Mars Phoenix Mission Clear the Way for Manned Missions? If organic compounds are present on Mars, they’re more likely to have been preserved in ice, which is why NASA targeted the Phoenix mission for the planet’s high northern plains, where they predicted about six inches of soft red soil should cover the ice so the digger shouldn’t have to probe too deeply.
A bumpy ride ahead for sats and power grids. (Image: NASA)
NASA today published a forecast for a “big and intense” new solar cycle in 2011 or 2012, which its suggests will wreak havoc on satellite GPS and telecommunications, power grids and air traffic.
NASA says the next solar cycle, Solar Cycle 24, “could make itself felt as never before.”
We are now at the end of Solar Cycle 23 (see graphic, and excerpts, below), according to the U.S. space agency.
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