DailyDirt: Mars Missions
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The successful landing of NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars will hopefully be followed by several years of fascinating data collection about our planetary neighbor. The mission has already gathered tons of useful radiation measurements on its journey that will give scientists a better idea of what kind of radiation levels a future manned mission would face on a similar trip to Mars. Here are just a few other interesting Mars-related missions to peruse while Curiosity performs its self-diagnostics before roaming around the surface of Mars.- Last year, Opportunity found some "slam dunk" evidence of water having existed on Mars. There may have been an ancient "wet" Martian surface that was hospitable to our own biology, and Curiosity may find additional geological evidence to support a watery history on Mars. [url]
- NASA also recently tested an inflatable heat shield, capable of withstanding hypersonic speeds of up to Mach 10. The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment 3 (IRVE-3) could help designers create spacecraft that can land on Mars without the use of fancy rocket cranes. [url]
- India is planning its own mission to mars in 2013 at an estimated cost of $70-90 million. But India's Department of Science hasn't fully approved a Mars mission with full funding, so these plans could be delayed. [url]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: curiosity, heat shield, india, mars, opportunity, rover
Companies: nasa
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Let me see what spring is like on jupiter and mars
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
upper limit of life on Mars..?
There are all sorts of "artists depictions" of ecosystems that look like rainforests on Mars, but how unrealistic or realistic are those concepts?
But maybe if we drill for oil on Mars... we'll find some fossil fuels... Drill, baby, drill!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: upper limit of life on Mars..?
You worked really hard for that one.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: upper limit of life on Mars..?
But apart from that, the question is still pretty much open.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: upper limit of life on Mars..?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Memories
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Memories
You're a little confused on names:
• The 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission had the Sojourner rover.
• The 2007 Phoenix Mars mission was a stationary lander near the polar regions.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Memories
Xbox 360 owners had fun with it. Their "game" from NASA was quite cool from what I heard.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
These people know no shame.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Thanks for defending these DailyDirt posts.... yes, they're meant to be a break from the usual political outrage around here.
But sometimes there's no stopping the political debates....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
I might add that some of your posts bring back a lot of fond memories.
Pertaining to Mars, my 8th birthday, Central Ohio's infamous Science Museum, COSCI, had a Mars exhibit where you got tickets and had the opportunity to perform geological surveys of the surface of Mars. Average age of my group was 7. We got in and much to my mother's chagrin and in spite of the fact they over-booked our flight to mars, we had a good time.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I send you my deepest appologies. Initially my comment was a bit directed at you and I lashed out to everyone.
As for your comment, it would have been slightly more appropriate (at least in my opinion) in the article pertaining to Cripps Company's takedown request of the footage. Your statement was not political and I do admit that. I just feared it would have attracted the attention of AC trolls.
Michael Ho's articles are a break from debate.
Michael, did you ever teach or have any relatives that taught 7th grade science?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Uh, nope, I've never taught at the 7th grade level... undergrads, sure.
And I don't know of any relatives who teach 7th grade....
My surname is fairly common, though, so I'm sure there are plenty of teachers out there with my last name.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: They've always made their works public domain and open for use.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Waste of money
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
My connection to Curiosity
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Job done for us
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
OMG, there may have once been water on Mars!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Landing
http://chzb.gr/Nl91eo
[ link to this | view in chronology ]