ESA - Mars Express - Water ice in crater at Martian north pole

These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show a patch of water ice sitting on the floor of an unnamed crater near the Martian north pole.

This white patch is present all year round, as the temperature and pressure are not high enough to allow sublimation of water ice.

It cannot be frozen carbon dioxide since carbon dioxide ice had already disappeared from the north polar cap at the time the image was taken (late summer in the Martian northern hemisphere).

How does the presence of water ice on Mars change the strategy and/or timeline for Martian exploration?
Can we extrapolate about the presence of water ice in other shadowed areas?
Why go to Mars?

Behind Chunks of Foam, a Failure to Confront Hazard

NASA was never forced to attack shuttle debris peril, and apparently rejected wider solutions.

Is this an accurate assessment?
Considering the future plans for the shuttle, do you feel that a complete redesign was warranted?
Is spaceflight safe?

Celestia: Home

Stop looking longingly at Jupiter, Fly there with Celestia!! Explore the galaxy in 3d and hi-resolution textures based on current scientific data. Your planetarium was never like this!!

Need more? Add ships, animations, nebula and the monolith from 2001!! Check out:

The Celestia Motherlode Add-on Archive

IMAX: Magnificent Desolation

Only 12 men have walked on the Moon... This Fall, You're Next!!!

collectSPACE - Astronaut Artifacts and Experiences Silent Auction

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and collectSPACE are proud to announce their third annual silent auction of astronaut-donated memorabilia, artifacts and experiences.

2050 - and immortality is within our grasp

"If you draw the timelines, realistically by 2050 we would expect to be able to download your mind into a machine, so when you die it's not a major career problem..."

Who wants to live forever??

How do you think this might impact perceptions of long term space voyages?

NASA - Return to Flight

Almost nine minutes after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Space Shuttle Discovery successfully reached orbit, marking the Shuttle fleet’s return to space. STS-114 is the first mission to fly since the loss of Shuttle Columbia and the STS-107 crew on Feb. 1, 2003.

Congratulations to the team of folks that made it happen!!

Do you feel that the cost of the shuttle is outweighed by its usefulness?
What social and political factors have (and perhaps still do) influenced the shuttle program?
If you were working on a replacement, what features would you change?
What should become of the shuttle fleet once it is retired?

New Antarctic Research Station

The winning design is modular and mobile. While the translation to a lunar / Martian base is loose, the experience of building and implementing this station in the Antarctic might prove invaluable to nations gearing up to construct lunar facilities.

To consider:

What challenges might you face building a base on the Moon?
What would you build your base out of? Why?
What facilities / functionality would you want? (ie. greenhouse, exercise, geology lab, astronomy, etc)

Mars Exploration and Science Conference

The Association of Mars Explorers is sponsoring a workshop to define a 500-day Design Reference Surface Expedition Campaign for a Human Base constructed in the vicinity of Meridiani Planum in the year 2019.

Program Committee:

* Oliver Angerer, European Space Agency (ESTEC)
* Penny Boston, New Mexico Tech
* Bill Clancey, NASA Ames Research Center
* Charles Cockell, CEPSAR, Open University
* Graham Mann, Murdoch University
* Gordon Osinski, Canadian Space Agency
* Rocky Persaud, University of Toronto (Program Chair)
* Andrew Schuerger, University of Florida


The objective of the Workshop is to describe how those 500 days will be spent in science-directed exploration, geological mapping, and site-specific investigations.

To Consider:

How would you spend your time on Mars?
What is the most important thing you would want to accomplish?
Would you want to spend 500 days on Mars?
Would you want to return?

Gardens and flying things

Just a quick note to say hello and show ya'll what's goin on in the Not So Great White North.

My brother Rick, Hilde, Christopher and Nicholas recently came to visit - here's my best leprechaun imitation with the guys...

The garden has gone out of control - we have already picked several pounds of spinich and lettuce - the vines are full of tomatoes and the melons are going to come alive at any moment and take over the city....

Below is some of Dill and Marjoram that we just picked. I don't know about anyone else, but I've never seen dill like this before.... wow!

Mosquitoes

have

started

to

get

OUT
of
CONTROL

On a side note - I wrecked on my bike this week - riding too fast, late for a meeting with no helmet or pads... Amazingly, that gravity thing works... the laws of motion apply and I cannot yet fly... The cement and my head had a brief conversation that ended with me fighting to not pass out and some nicely bruised body parts... - Life is short and you just never know when things can happen... Hopefully your reminder / kick in the pants won't hurt as much...