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4 December 2008
MSL Press Conference Notes I
Mike Griffin started the press conference, and got right down to business announcing the launch delay and indicating that the actuators as well as other technical problems are responsible. He said that aiming for 2009 would involve too much risk, and so the launch had to be slipped two years. Ideally, it would only slip a few months, but the way that travel between Earth and Mars works means that …
MSL Launch Delayed by Two Years
As I post this, NASA is holding a press conference in which they are announcing that the Mars Science Laboratory’s launch date will be slipped by two years, a delay which will cost about $200 million. MSL has been getting a lot of unpleasant attention lately due to some very bad cost overruns, and a few months ago, NASA made the decision to press on and attempt a launch in …
MSL Press Conference Tomorrow
At 12 noon EST. I know what the announcement is, but I’m not allowed to tell you! How frustrating is that?! I can, however, draft a post and put it up the moment the news is released… stay tuned tomorrow, I’ll have a lot to say.
1 December 2008
Hubble Advent Calendar
I am back from Thanksgiving-related travels but am going to be quite busy this month, preparing for a conference, finishing the semester, and getting caught up now that National Novel Writing Month is over, so posting may be a little light. For now, take a look over at The Big Picture. They are doing an advent calendar of Hubble images, unveiling a new image every day from now until Christmas.
23 November 2008
Sample Return Cache on MSL Canceled!
I just heard, via this article at Universe Today, that the sample cache on MSL has been canceled. First, some background. The cache was supposed to be a way to collect samples which would be retrieved in a future sample return mission. Problem is, the cache was sort of slapped on the rover as an afterthought. From what I understand, it was poorly designed, could not hold many samples, and …
More About Mars Glaciers
I posted previously about the announcement that buried glaciers had been discovered on Mars, but now I’ve had time to actually take a look at the article in Science. The important point of the article is not that these formations were discovered (we’ve actually known about them for some time) but that, using radar on the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter, scientists were able to penetrate the surface of these mysterious glacier-looking …
21 November 2008
Buried Glaciers on Mars!
Gosh, why are there so many news articles about Mars when I’m busy? Here’s the press release, and Bad Astronomy and Universe Today have both weighed in, so I’ll let you read them. Here’s a picture of a Martian glacier:
20 November 2008
MSL Landing Sites Narrowed to Four
I’ve known about this for a little while but it was finally made public: the list of MSL landing sites had now been trimmed to four. You can read the full press release here. The finalist sites are: Gale Crater – The rover would land on an ancient alluvial fan and then work its way up a mound of sediments many kilometers high. Eberswalde Delta – The rover would land …
13 November 2008
Beyond the Moon
Today the Planetary Society released a “roadmap” for space exploration, detailing what the Society thinks NASA’s priorities and programs should look like in the near future. It is the product of input from the public as well as closed-door meetings of space exploration experts. I encourage you to take a look at the pdf. The plan outlined in the “Beyond the Moon” document is well thought out and feasible, and …
11 November 2008
Spirit Hit by Dust Storm
Just when things were looking up for Spirit and we had begun driving, over the weekend we got news from the MARCI team that there was a dust storm headed toward Gusev crater. Sure enough, Spirit is being hit hard and power levels are at an all-time low. Here’s the NASA press release. But after five years the rover team knows what it’s doing. There was an emergency set of …
