NASA Flying Saucer test for Mars

Script From Fox News

NASA launched a "flying saucer" on the weekend that will enable the U.S. space agency to test technologies that one day will be key in transporting humans to Mars, and the initial flight of the disk-shaped craft was a dubbed a success when it landed in the expected spot in the Pacific Ocean.

The Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator, or LDSD - better known, even at NASA, as the "flying saucer" - was carried aloft into the upper reaches of the atmosphere attached to a gigantic balloon on Saturday morning from the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Despite the fact that the craft's parachute did not fully deploy upon the conclusion of the mission, NASA was able to recover the saucer at the planned time on Saturday afternoon when the disk detached from the balloon and landed in the ocean.

The $150 million mission was aimed at creating an alternative to the technologies developed decades ago that the U.S. space agency continues to use for its Mars exploration missions with the objective of one day sending humans to the Red Planet.

The helium-filled balloon lifted the LDSD to about 36,000 meters (118,000 feet, or more than 22 miles) above the earth, where it then detached from the saucer just as an attached rocket ignited, carrying the craft up to 54,000 meters (177,000 feet, or about 34 miles) at four times the speed of sound.

The flight allowed NASA experts to test the vehicle's performance in an atmosphere similar to that of Mars. The Red Planet's atmosphere is very thin, similar to that found at the altitude of 54,000 meters (34 miles) above the earth's surface.

Once it had completed its ascent, the disk deployed a specially-designed parachute to slow its descent back to Earth, and three hours later it landed in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA is planning to conduct more saucer flights soon to continue testing the craft's capabilities, but it declared the maiden flight a success.

Swedish Scientists of Gothenburg University Identify that Water Once Flowed on Mars

New research has suggested that water was flowing across the surface of Mars some 200,000 years ago. The nature of rock formations in a Mars crater suggests the sediment deposits and channels it contained were formed by ‘recent’ flowing water.

Swedish scientists from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Gothenburg identified“Very young …and well-preserved deposits of water bearing debris flows in a mid-latitude crater on Mars,”according to the study published in the journal Icarus. 

It was previously estimated that liquid water flowed across the Red Planet during its last ‘ice-age’, some 400,000 years ago. However, the young age of the crater means the features signifying water must have appeared since. 

The scientists drew comparisons between the geomorphological land formations and the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. The crater had features of areas on earth where debris flow had caused material to be deposited by fast-flowing water. 

“Our fieldwork on Svalbard confirmed our interpretation of the Martian deposits,” stated Andreas Johnsson, a spokesperson for the research team. 

“Our study crater on Mars is far too young to have been influenced by the conditions that were prevalent then. This suggests that the meltwater-related processes that formed these deposits have been exceptionally effective also in more recent times,” said Johnsson. 

“If we find on Mars evidence for a second genesis, that changes everything,” Johnsson added. 

A debris flow takes place when liquid water soaks through debris lying on an incline to the point that it becomes saturated and heavy, causing it to descend down the incline. 

On earth, debris flow can result in material destruction and sometimes casualties, depending upon their severity. 

When the flow stops, new landforms are made, including lobate deposits and paired levees. It is these that Johnsson has identified on the planet. 

“Gullies are common on Mars, but the ones which have been studied previously are older, and the sediments where they have formed are associated with the most recent ice age. Our study crater on Mars is far too young to have been influenced by the conditions that were prevalent then,” Johnson said.

Nasa Shocked as Mars JPL Rover Comes Upon a Mystery Rock.

 

 

Strange Rock Appeared from Nowhere.

 

 

 

 

From Independent Newspaper

 

A mysterious rock which appeared in front of the Opportunity rover is “like nothing we’ve ever seen before”, according to Mars exploration scientists at Nasa.

Experts said they were “completely confused” by both the origins and makeup of the object, which is currently being investigated by Opportunity’s various measuring instruments.

Astronomers noticed the new rock had “appeared” without any explanation on an outcrop which had been empty just days earlier. The rover has been stuck photographing the same region of Mars for more than a month due to bad weather, with scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California monitoring the images it sends.

Nasa issued a Mars status report entitled “encountering a surprise”, and lead Mars Exploration rover scientist Steve Squyres told a JPL event it seems the planet literally “keeps throwing new things at us”.

He said the images, from 12 Martian days apart, were from no more than a couple of weeks ago. “We saw this rock just sitting here. It looks white around the edge in the middle and there’s a low spot in the centre that’s dark red – it looks like a jelly doughnut.

“And it appeared, just plain appeared at that spot – and we haven’t ever driven over that spot.”

Squyres said his team had two theories on how the rock got there – that there’s “a smoking hole in the ground somewhere nearby” and it was caused by a meteor, or that it was “somehow flicked out of the ground by a wheel” as the rover went by.

“We had driven a metre or two away from here, and I think the idea that somehow we mysteriously flicked it with a wheel is the best explanation,” Squyres said.

Yet the story got even stranger when Opportunity investigated further. Squyres explained: “We are as we speak situated with the rover’s instruments deployed making measurements of this rock.

“We’ve taken pictures of both the doughnut and jelly parts, and the got the first data on the composition of the jelly yesterday.

“It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” he said. “It’s very high in sulphur, it’s very high in magnesium, it’s got twice as much manganese as we’ve ever seen in anything on Mars.

“I don’t know what any of this means. We’re completely confused, and everyone in the team is arguing and fighting (over what it means).

“That’s the beauty of this mission… what I’ve realised is that we will never be finished. There will always be something tantalising, something wonderful just beyond our reach that we didn’t quite get to – and that’s the nature of exploration.”

Squyres was speaking at an event marking the 10th anniversary of the arrival of Opportunity and Spirit on the surface of Mars.

While Spirit lost contact with Earth and was later declared “dead” in 2010, Opportunity has now roamed the planet far in excess of what was originally planned as a three-month mission. Nasa said that with its maximum speed of just 0.05mph, as of “Sol 3547” (15 January 2014) Opportunity had covered just over 24 miles (38km). NASA: Space in pictures

Humans Colonising Mars

 

There seems to be a growing desire throughout the scientific world to venture forth with Mars. The dream of colonisation is very real and now in the foreseeable future according to some scientists. The above is an impression of what may come to pass.

 

Below is a very real obstacle that we will face when or if we do colonise Mars. How might the human body change within the Martian environment. There will be all sorts of problems to overcome and anatomical development in biology will need to be looked at too.

 

 

 

 

 

Human Travel To Mars

More and more, people are looking at the notion of a manned expedition to Mars. Different scientific teams from all over the world are looking to Mars in the hope of finding evidence of past alien life. The concept of ship design to make the journey and the ideas of return continue to be thought about. It will not be long before someone take on the quest.

 

 

Mars and the Hellas Basin Theory Jumps the Gun

Scientists and Theorists will not give up on the Martian question. Many cling to the notion that Mars might be a dead planet that once sustained life. Gradually, ideas are eliminated only to be replaced by new ones. The optimism that Mars once sustained life remains. Many explorations and experiments are waiting to be conducted. Unmanned space craft have been sent and more will follow to scratch the surface and find evidence that might support the notion that our Red Planet once harboured, carbon based, organic cells. We have the robot jeep Discovery project carrying out surface tests and soon ExoMars will launch two missions. One via satellite and another robotic jeep like the Discovery will land on the surface. This will be done by the ESA (European Space Agency) with help and support from the Russian Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)

Observersof the Red Planet are continuously puzzled by many of the rock formations. Geologists often question the possibility that once water might have been there. Why did it all end if the planet was once on the journey to evolve carbon based life forms? 

Perhaps a violent ecological disaster might be the reason for the sterile landscape that teases the observers. Some theorists have tried to peddle the idea that Mars was hit by a huge asteroid over a thousand miles in width and this created the Hellas Basin. Before the planet could recover more asteroids hit the surface denying Mars any chance of the healing process being able to kick in. Somehow, the magnetic field stopped working and water could no longer be contained and left the planet. This all sounds far-fetched and fanciful. Many scientists understandably laugh at the notion.

If Mars did once have life, the reason for it becoming extinct would be a new undertaking of discovery. Then new ideas will need to be looked at, but wild speculation like the Hellas Basin concept is often like running before we can learn to walk and looked down upon by most geologists. After all, we are not sure still, if Mars has ever had life in the first place. Inventing ideas as to why it is no longer present, is jumping the gun. 

The Hunt for Past Life on Mars

The news of past life on Mars seems to come and go. One moment it is all in the news and we are hopeful and then it seems to fade away. These latest finds seem to keep the pot simmering for past life on Mars and the hunt for water. Let us hope so.