“If going to Mars sounds fun, apply within.” (Applications accepted December 2015 through February 2016.)
NASA’s announcement in late September that it found evidence of flowing water on Mars was only the beginning of the revelations that will be the result of its current Mars mission. The organization’s exploratory mission carried out by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft began with the intention of examining Mars’ atmosphere to an extent that had never before been possible, and now NASA is about to reveal what it is calling key science findings on the “fate Mars’ atmosphere.”
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NASA is being very tight-lipped about its upcoming announcements, which are scheduled to be made beginning at 2:00 p.m. EST / 11:00 a.m. PST on Thursday, November 5th. If you’re interested in NASA’s current mission though — and you certainly should be — you’ll be able to find out what NASA has in store for us the very same moment that the rest of the world does, because NASA will broadcast its special news conference live on the web.
The SpiderFab manufacturing system would build huge structures in space using arachnid-like robots.
The idea of an international “Moon village” promoted by the head of ESA has support from a U.S. government official who sees a commercial opportunity.
NASA is a fan of making announcements about its forthcoming announcements, but so far it hasn’t failed to live up to its hype. First there was the discovery of the most Earth-like exoplanet to date, and just last month researchers shared evidence of salty, flowing water (!!) on the Red Planet.
So suffice it to say that when the US space agency says it’s got something big to share with the world, we’re going to pay attention, and this Thursday at 2pm EST it’s promising to announce “key science findings” about what happened to Mars’ now-thin atmosphere. We’ll be live reporting the announcement as it happens, and you can watch along with us from the comfort of your home or office below via NASA TV.
The question we’re all asking, naturally, is what the hell NASA might have in store for us. So far, we don’t have a whole lot to go on, but what we do know is that the research comes fom the MAVEN (Mars, Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft, which has been orbiting Mars since 2014 and studying its upper atmosphere. These will be the first findings announced from the mission.
This is the best news you will read all day: Star Trek is coming back. The franchise will get a brand new series in January 2017, one year after it turns 50.
CBS made an announcement today, stating that Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote the two latest Star Trek films will be the executive producer for the new series, which will be streamed over CBS’ on-demand online service, CBS All Access. You can watch the premiere on TV, but after that you’ll have to subscribe to the $5.99/month service in order to see more episodes. It’s a clever ploy to bring in subscribers, because, really, who doesn’t want to see the next Star Trek series?
A Star Trek television show hasn’t graced the airwaves since Enterprise ended its four season run in 2005. This news is likely utterly thrilling to fans of the series that have contented themselves with movies and binge-watching episodes from the original Star Trek series, The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, and Voyager.
The U.S. government is getting more serious about dealing with the dangers posed by powerful sun storms.
On Thursday (Oct. 29), the White House released two documents that together lay out the nation’s official plan for mitigating the negative impacts of solar flares and other types of “space weather,” which have the potential to wreak havoc on power grids and other key infrastructure here on Earth.
The new “National Space Weather Strategy” outlines the basic framework the federal government will pursue to better understand, predict and recover from space-weather events, while the “National Space Weather Action Plan” details specific activities intended to help achieve this broad goal. [The Sun’s Wrath: Worst Solar Storms in History].
“Should astronomers be allowed to build the TMT on Mauna Kea? This question raises concerns that we, as practising astronomers, see as a reoccurring issue within the scientific community.”
