Mars drama takes new turns

Posted: Sunday, May 27, 2007 11:15 PM by Alan Boyle

More than three years into its mission on Mars, NASA's Opportunity rover is gearing up for what could be the journey's climax: a descent into 230-foot-deep Victoria Crater to read the pages of what the mission's top scientist calls "a geologic history book." The update from Cornell University astronomer Steven Squyres, principal investigator for NASA's Mars rover missions, was just one of several new turns in the saga of Red Planet exploration.

NASA / JPL

A photo from NASA's Opportunity rover looks back
at its tracks on the rim of Victoria Crater.

During Saturday's awards banquet at the International Space Development Conference in Dallas, the National Space Society recognized Squyres' work with one of its highest honors, the Von Braun Award. The award takes its name from Wernher von Braun, the German rocket scientist who helped lead NASA's effort to land humans on the moon in the 1960s. As he accepted the trophy, Squyres evoked the legacy of those earlier days, saying that the Mars rover project would rank along with Apollo as "one of NASA's finest hours."

"I take some comfort in the fact that the same agency that put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon almost 40 years ago put Spirit and Opportunity on Mars less than four years ago," he told the audience. "That gives me a lot of hope for the future."

Squyres has a lot of hope for Opportunity's future as well. Not that long ago, he was saying that Opportunity was likely to end its mission by surveying the quarter-mile-wide Victoria Crater, then rolling down into the crater for a closer look at its bedrock cliffs. But on Saturday, he hinted that there might yet be life after Victoria.

He noted that the probe, which has spent the last couple of months making a clockwise trip around the crater's rim, has now reversed course and is heading back to the place where it started its survey: a breach in the rim called Duck Bay.

"Our adventure continues," he said. "We hope to travel to Duck Bay. If a careful safety review indicates that it's safe to go in, we're going to go in. We're going to do a lot of good science, and then we're going to come out again and keep going forward."

In the crater-pocked plains where Opportunity has been operating, much of the science has focused on the layers in the rock exposed by ancient impacts. Back in January 2004, the rover happened to land in a small crater within sight of layered bedrock - the first ever seen from the ground on Mars. A close analysis of the layers in that crater provided evidence that the planet once had enough liquid water to sustain life. Later, layered rock in a larger crater, dubbed Endurance, told a more complex story about Mars' past.

Victoria Crater is an even bigger geological laboratory, measuring a half-mile (800 meters) wide. The layered rocks lining the walls of the crater are likely to yield deep insights about Mars' geologic ages, just as layered rocks on Earth reveal the epochs of our own planet's development.

JPL / NASA / Cornell

NASA's Opportunity rover gets a good look at the
layered rock of Victoria Crater's Cape St. Mary.

During his talk, Squyres flashed a picture that was sent down just a day earlier, showing a promontory known as Cape St. Mary. Previous images have picked up fine layers in the cliff face, but the latest view shows the details in sharp relief.

"Absolutely spectacular geology," Squyres said. "If I told you this was the Navajo sandstone in Zion National Park, you'd probably believe me."

Fortunately, the Opportunity rover seems to be benefiting from solid spacecraft engineering - and a bit of luck as well. Just recently, a strong Martian wind swept the dust off the rover's solar panels, boosting its power-generating capability back to levels not seen for more than three years.

Opportunity isn't the only game in town, of course. On the other side of the planet, the Spirit rover is plugging away as well, more than 1,200 Martian days into a mission that was built with a 90-day duration in mind. Squyres touched upon last week's revelation that Spirit's dragging wheel turned up a patch of almost pure silica - one more line of evidence that Mars once had liquid water. Squyres joked that the area where Spirit found the paydirt has been nicknamed "Silica Valley."

He also pointed out that the rover readings are increasingly being supplemented by views from above, courtesy of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. MRO provided the overhead view of Victoria Crater that the rover team is using to map Opportunity's progress, and it's also watching Spirit's home base in Gusev Crater for coordinated observations of Martian dust devils.

"We're using these vehicles in tandem now," Squyres said.

With that in mind, here are a few additional nuggets from the International Space Development Conference, mostly playing off the twists and turns of Martian exploration:

NASA / JPL / Univ. of Ariz.

MRO's Martian black hole.

This week MRO sent back a high-resolution look at one of the Martian black holes previously spotted by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. The latest view, like the earlier ones, hints that such holes were created when ground collapsed into underground caverns. "This is quite exciting," said the University of Arizona's Peter Smith, the principal investigator for NASA's upcoming Mars Phoenix mission. He speculated that the holes might even be venting water vapor from subsurface reservoirs. A future orbiter could check out that hypothesis, using a "smart" spectroscopic imager that was programmed to recognize and observe such holes, he said.
Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, laid out his case for going to Mars directly rather than following NASA's vision of creating an outpost on the moon first. He said his updated Mars Direct concept could put people on the Red Planet by 2019 - assuming that the next president gave the go-ahead in 2009. Zubrin argued that using the moon as a staging ground for Mars missions would use up far more energy than the direct route - creating a "lunar tollbooth" to other destinations. But doesn't NASA need to prepare for Martian exploration by sending folks to live and work on the moon? "We can do that in the Arctic at one-thousandth of the cost," Zubrin said. Even now, the Mars Society is in the midst of a four-month-long Mars mission simulation in the Canadian Arctic.
Former senator-astronaut Harrison Schmitt received the National Space Society's first-ever Gerard K. O'Neill Space Settlement Award at a Sunday night banquet, and took the opportunity to detail his own vision for developing the moon and bringing back lunar helium-3 as a future fuel for fusion reactors. Helium-3 is a big issue for Schmitt, a trained geologist who became the first scientist to walk on the moon during 1972's Apollo 17 mission. For more on helium-3, check out these archived articles or Schmitt's book, "Return to the Moon." He speculated that one day we'll "have another free society develop on the moon," and perhaps Mars as well - and that they eventually might declare independence from Mother Earth, a la Jefferson or Heinlein.
Closer to home, a gaggle of space bloggers (including yours truly) assembled in Dallas for what was billed as a Saturday "summit." It was actually more of an informal sitdown with colleagues, topped off by a panel discussion. Some of our colleagues - including HobbySpace's Clark Lindsey and NASA Watch's Keith Cowing - were sorely missed. But to get a glimpse of the scene, check out Glenn Reynolds' report on Instapundit. Want to join the club? Check out SpaceBloggers.com.

Earlier posts from the ISDC: Space diving and other coming attractions in space ... Space tourism gets down-to-earth ... Dude, where's my spaceship?

Update for 2:30 a.m. ET May 30: I neglected to mention the gratitude that Squyres heaped on the team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for saving the rover missions at multiple do-or-die moments. Thanks to Roger Crowe for reminding me of JPL's contribution. It's worth noting that in the appendix of his book, "Roving Mars," Squyres lists the names of more than 4,000 people who contributed to the rover missions' success. Squyres is a class act, and the failure to recognize JPL in the original version of this item is my fault, not his.

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Comments

While I am a long time supporter of manned space flight, I cannot help but admire the work of those two robot explorers on the Martian surface. The work that those two vehicles are doing is a testament to the hard work of the teams that designed and built them. Congratulations to Steven Squyres and his team, past and present, for the fine work that they have done.

Patrick Coyle, Seale, AL (Sent Sunday, May 27, 2007 9:04 PM)

Remember...we went to the moon, before ever building a space station. Kennedy, knew there would be risks in his goal and Grissom's, White's, and Chaffee's lives paved the way for our ongoing quests into the unknown.I agree with Mr.Zubrin that using the moon as a 'tollbooth' doesn't accomplish anything other than create another whole level of opportunities for error, complications and cost. If we as a people can't make it to Mars on a direct flight, then we shouldn't go at all. I would love to see one of the rovers returned from Mars someday. Maybe hang it next to the Spirit of St. Louis in the Smithsonian, as a symbol of what CAN be done.

Vern P. Hampton, CT (Sent Sunday, May 27, 2007 9:15 PM)

Hi, Alan - I have taken your advice and joined spacebloggers even though I'm not anywhere close to being a genuine spaceman, aside from being a stf fan from way before the genre became reality.

'Opportunity and Spirit' have been unqualified success stories for the Space Program to make good news. I expect their inventors have analyzed their respective exploits already, especially their extra-long lives, and have realized that more of them dispatched to Mars will return that much more information. At present, we can use their longevity rather than develop more sophisticated rovers for the next trip, and concentrate on getting the footprint of a human being on the Martian sands (even if the winds erase them early).

Des Emery, St. Tmomas, ON, Canada (Sent Sunday, May 27, 2007 11:14 PM)

You state victoria crator is a quater mile wide (800 meters) I believe a quarter mile is much closer to 400 meters. Just curious as to the true size of the crater?

[AB: Phew, thanks for pointing that out. I've corrected the conversion. Good thing I'm not in charge of a Mars probe. But in case you're wondering, the reference to the 230-foot depth (70 meters) is correct.]

Michael Miller (Sent Sunday, May 27, 2007 11:32 PM)

All the kudos as deserved. Still can not help but think what we would have accomplished if not built by the lowest bidder.

Douglas Grace (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 2:43 AM)

With the oppertunity to go to mars occuring in my lifetime it is a true testament to the capabilities of man. Oh how I would love to be on that trip.

Jim , Level Plains , AL (in Iraq) (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 4:21 AM)

What if it wasn't the wind that cleaned the solar panels?

Sam McKerall, Gulf Shores, Alabama (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 7:43 AM)

With respect to Zubrin, the Arctic bases don't have reduced gravity, vacuum, ionizing radiation, electrostatic charging, violent changes in temperature or the physical, chemical and biological hazards of regolith. Any or all of these are potentially lethal to explorers. The Arctic bases can be useful experience, but at some level they're just play-acting for space exploration.

If you train for Mars, you get Mars. If you train for the Moon, you get every airless rocky body in the system (and there are a LOT of them).

Stellvia, UK (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 7:44 AM)

NASA keeps the spirit of exploration alive and the hope that tomorrow will bring a better life for all humanity. Curiosity and ingenuity keep alive the opportunity of finding solutions to the terrible self-inflicted miasma of war. With out women and men of science the earth has no future. Thank you NASA for continuing the quest for life.

Herb R. Wells, Canyon Lake, Texas. (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 10:35 AM)

I have a much different vision of how to get to Mars, and beyond.

Magnetic Levitation (MagLev) Launch from earth can be used to send payloads into earth orbit or to the moon with much smaller rockets. This would used Magnetic Levitation to keep the payload off the launch rail, eliminating friction; and linear inductive or synchronous propulsion to accelerate the payload.

Ideally, you would want a "hockey-stick" profile to the launch site, such that when going from West to East, you have slowly rising land followed by a "ski jump" of rapidly rising land. A fellow named Mike Moore (not to be confused with Michael Moore) has identified a suitable location in New Mexico. I countered with an even grander idea for Old Mexico, going across three states and up the Sierra Madre Orientale, with any aborted missions winding up in Gulf of Mexico, not on land.

Once we settle on the moon, we can build a MagLev Launch system to send payloads at fantastic speeds to other planets in the solar system, and to nearby stars and solar systems. Such a system might circle the moon, be powered by solar panels, and use both repulsive magnetism (for the first part of payload acceleration), followed by attractive magnetism (for the second part). Launch would simply be turning off the MagLev, and letting the payload tangentially zoom into space.

My guess is that such a system could probably propel manned missions to Mars in one-third the time that rockets would, cutting one-way travel to Mars to only two months, but not affecting the time of the return trip. Can anybody work out the math?

Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 11:34 AM)

Finally, something real...and it comes from NASA...they didn't call it North American Space Adminstration for nuthin', Kids. Space Entrepeneurs can spend all they want...it's good for the economy, and gives Folks something to talk about...not very many Folks, mind you...but, those who care have a forum...that's all, Folks! Do not kid yourselfs...unless we step way beyond their capabilities, so that there's no choice but to deal with us...Space is Closed...NASA is Administering it for us...their stamp is on the whole shebang...and SpaceShipOne ain't gonna change nuthin'.

steve smyth lynn ma (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 12:49 PM)

Thanks for covering this Alan. I'm still waiting for calcium carbonate formations. My bet is they don't exist there. If Mars was ever a water planet you would think that maybe at some point CaCO3 would accumulate. On earth calcium is eroded from rocks and carried to the sea where HCO3- is present and reacts.

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993GBioC...7..927M

Marine organisms are another source for deposition. The recent discovery of silica is interesting in that diatoms (silica encased unicellular organisms)may have had something to do with it's presence. Maybe not. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatom

Did Mars ever have an oxygen atmosphere?

Thomas Ashby, Calgary (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 1:11 PM)

If one looks at the big picture. Human expeditions to other solar bodies consists of two main endeavors. Of course the intellectual and technological aspect of such "trip", but we must also consider the precursor to such an event. Just as difficult, if not harder, is aligning the political and social parties which will always be a part of the equation. There must be a want and need by said groups. There must be a backing by the public as well as those we elect. For now, this is a world and governmental event. But one day it will be privatized. That's when, I believe, we as mankind will make leaps and bounds in our primal need. To Explore The Unknown!

Jesse Martinez,San Antonio, Tx (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 1:26 PM)

I applaud Vern Hamilton's message, that if and when we mount a manned space flight to Mars, the Rovers are retrieved and returned to Earth to be displayed at the Smithsonian Institute. It certainly trumps a bag of "moon rocks". What a spectacular display of our record of Exploration! I also must agree with Mr. Stelvia from the UK, that a manned flight to Mars is the esential next step rather than going back to the Moon to construct a "way station" in preparation for the major mission. If it is determined that we should go to Mars, lets not build in unnecessary barriers to the trip. Just the problem of shielding the astronauts from the potentiallly lethal effcts of two or more years of exposure to cosmic rays is daunting enough. Don't get me wrong, because I have been a "Gyro Gear Loose" kid since well before the first Explorer satelite was launched from the Redstone Arsenal in 1958. Yes, go to Mars, but also remember the health of the crew that we are sending.

Mike Sampere, Palm Bay, FL (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 8:04 PM)

My instinct is to avoid the rush and showboating of a single direct flight to Mars. The logical next step after such a stunt, assuming it works, would be never to go again--as happened with the moon. The point is not that we have to use the moon as a stepping stone. The point is that we should carefully construct a safety net between here and Mars, and maybe the stepping stones are nothing more than prepositioned lifeboats. It would be inhumane to send people out to die for lack of a few puffs of air. Actually, it would be fairly typical of how human affairs are run, so we should avoid going the wrong route.

John T. Cullen, San Diego, California (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 11:53 PM)

send compost...it'll be ready about the same time we are...actually, at this speed, it'll probably have taken over the Martian landscape, rotted, and turned to oil by then...hmmm!

steve smyth lynn ma (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:42 AM)

Now that we know how well these machines work in the Martian environment, why don't we pop one up there every year? Well worth the money.

Steve Haack, Lincoln, NE (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:53 AM)

I would really like to know more on the black hole

jimmie brewer pensacola fl. (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:05 AM)

Um, doesn't NASA stand for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, not North American Space Administration as one previous comment stated?

Michael (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 11:16 AM)

The Moon first makes very good sense in establishing a longterm commitment to inhabiting the high frontier. Mr. Zubrin's cavalier approach is not much more than an engineering stunt, which can be accomplished, but not sustained. Sustaining a colony will require a very long training/learning curve that CANNOT be accomplished in "The Arctic". Conditions on The Moon and on Mars are far more severe than any Earthly environment. As Mr. Stellvia tells us, there is a lot to accomplish in technology and experience before we can successfully establish habitation on any of the outer planets. (just consider the common HVAC requirement!) First crawl, then walk...isn't that the way to go?Mr. Cullen has it right in that stepping stones are essential for securing safety. And,not so incidentally, The Moon is far more than "a pile of rocks"! It is a vast mineral resource containing all manner of materials for us to make use of in our attemps to colonize. Not only H3 but repositories of magnesium, titanium, aluminun, silicon, as well as oxygen bound up in a variety of mineral compounds.

H. C. PETLEY (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:25 PM)

People starving all over the world. Is it God's will for us to spend all this money on this type of exploration. Show me. We are destroying the world we live in, scientists trying to re-create life ?

where is the sanity in this ?

What really is necessary but Food, water, and to love one another, help one another. or are we lost in greed and recognition of our deeds ?

Personally I would like to see my tax dollars feed and help someone.

Tom (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:34 PM)

I have with great interest kept up with Spirit and Opportunity on their great journeys. I feel that they have their own little personalities with such tenacity and desire to do a job well done. This is, I am sure from the many human interactions that went to make up their resolve. Many thanks to them both along with their human counterparts. You all continue to amaze me!

Bedford, Texas (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 1:11 PM)

michael...I guess you are right about the name...it's been ages since the words meant anything but SPACE ADMINISTRATION to me...it never set well...the whole idea of administering space...contract it, manage it, make it within the grasp of administrative types...Space is still The High Ground...administered, managed, et al by NASA.

steve smyth lynn ma (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 1:35 PM)

Mike "Gyro Gear Loose" Sampere - - While it is nice that someone remembers Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama where Dr. Von Braun developed the Saturn V booster, I do not believe any satellites were ever launched from there. The static testing shook the ground but nothing ever (intentionally) left the surface. Those were the days!

John, Murray KY (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 2:45 PM)

The black holes are most fascinating! What possibly could lurk within? Are they geographically positioned such that timing and the orbiter's position might allow more illumination down the hole from our sun? I REALLY want to know!

BJ - Ilion, NY (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 4:00 PM)

Tom

"Personally I would like to see my tax dollars feed and help someone. "

Well then rest easy son, because the tax dollars we've spent on space have done exactly that. GPS and more accurate weather forcasting using satelites have allowed farmers to drastically increase crop yields, feeding more people using less land. The same sats have also improved storm warning systems across the globe, saving lives.

The money we spent on space has also lead to cell phones, personal computers (like the one you used to rant about how your money is wasted) and advanced imaging technology used in medicine, again saving lives.

So try educating yourself next time before solidly placing your foot in your trachea.

Patrick (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 4:48 PM)

Tom,

To respond to your comment, NASA's funding eats up a fraction of 1% of the national budget. Cutting congressional pork would contribute more towards feeding the hungry, and congressional pork contributes significantly less to advancement of our technology and our general knowledge of the universe.

If the United States continues its current anti-intellectual mood and cedes space, we also cede our future to nations like the Peoples' Republic of China. In such a situation with a dominant China, as the world's biggest debtor nation, when the debts come due here in the ole' God-fearing U S of A we'll no longer be wearing cutesy little bracelets that say WWJD, What Would Jesus Do, they'll read WWBD, What Would Beijing Do?

It's your future too.

Joe G. (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 5:23 PM)

With respect to Vern in Connecticut, NASA tested all the technologies and techniques used in the Lunar landings in Earth orbit during the Gemini and early Apollo missions. If something like a docking radar didn’t work, you wanted to know about that in Earth orbit, not on the dark side of the moon. Likewise the advantage of testing Martian habitats on the moon first is that if anything goes wrong you have a 3 day trip home and are not 9 months away from rescue.

A permanent outpost on the moon fulfills the promise of Apollo and gives us the testing grounds we need if we plan to go further into the solar system.

Lyndon, Dallas (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 5:49 PM)

NASA and such, spend millions of dollars to study uninhabitable planets ! Where is the common sense to spend money on the research of a habitual planet that is "dying" and trying to save it from an infestation of Humans .....Earth. OK, so the argument goes, that "we must explore outer space"..then we should develop propulsion systems and long term earthlike habitat space vehicles that can reach yonder solar systems witch might have "earth like habitat" planets. Then we can begin the migration of humans from earth to other planets that Humans can adapt to.

BadFrog, North Oalkland County Michigan (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 5:59 PM)

All your base are belong to us.

Actually it's truly amazing that a Mars landing could possibly be achieved in my father's lifetime. I would say that the goal is to get to Mars but only if they can get back. With that said, I don't think the first ones there could survive. There's just too much that calculations won't take into consideration, however it doesn't negate the need and the resolve to conquer this goal. Whoever fulfills the crew roster for such a mission has my deepest support and respect. We must make this a reality and soon.

Mac (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 7:07 PM)

We need to improve efficiency in both administration and launching mass. The shuttle is the rolls royce of space vehicles, when a mack truck is needed. We need heavy lift capability lost since the saturn 5

Jim, Brisbane Australia (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 8:55 PM)

A few points --

1) Apologies to Steve Smyth for not crediting him for the term "MagLev Launch". I have been using the broader term "Space MagLev" for a while.

2) Thanks to "H. C. PETLEY", "Lyndon, Dallas" and others for pointing out the vital role the moon can play is preparing for a Mars Mission. Let's get bases on the moon so that we can, at last, have a permanent presence in space. Then, let's use the moon to its full potential for manufacturing, mining, scientific research, astronomical observation, and, of course, using MagLev to launch vehicles to Mars and beyond, as described in my last missive, above.

3) Finally, I thought about the extra-high speed that can be achieved from the moon to launch space vehicles, and how to deal with on a manned Mars mission. Note that we do not have to implement the full 6000-mile-long circumferential MagLev Launch system to go to Mars, just a few hundred miles would do.

After being launched by a MagLev Launch Accelerator on the moon, the Mars Vehicle will still need rockets to manage Mars-orbit injection, the landing sequence, and the return trip home. With the advantages of MagLev Launch, these rockets can be much bigger than otherwise, providing a faster way to get home after the mission. It is, after all, very desirable not to keep our brave astronauts in space longer than we have to.

Also, after the fuel is expended, the dead weight of the rockets could be propelled away from the manned ship using an electric inductive-rail system, providing more thrust. Perhaps some of the rockets could be parked in Mars orbit, similar to the Apollo Command Module, while manned exploration goes on below. This is all speculation, but such speculation can be fun, right?

Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:14 PM)

Doctor Levin,

How do you propose keeping the high-G acceleration of an electromagnetic rail-launch system from turning any potential astronauuts to jelly? 17,000 miles per hour for escape velocity, achieved in a few seconds of acceleration, is not very kind on living payloads.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?
url=/iel5/20/26497/01179826.pdf?arnumber=1179826

It's a great idea, but until we learn how to ruggedize humans to sustain 1,000+ G accelerations, I'd probably book the human crew a slower flight on a chemical rocket.

If you're talking about launching components, that's another story. Some of the more sturdy components we can heft into orbit using a rail gun. En route to Mars the interplanetary stage might even "catch" em-launched payloads and use the kinetic energy transfer as a speed boost.

As you point out, a rail gun firing projectiles from the space craft could be used to accelerate the craft towards Mars. Unfortunately such a system could also be viewed as a very dangerous space-based kinetic weapon. The politics of getting such a system deployed could be as tricky as trying to get a 1960's-proposed Orion (nuclear weapon powered) space craft into orbit.

There are pros and cons to every approach.

For an energy-efficient pie-in-the-sky approach I personally favor a space elevator. Once the first one is woven making a copy is relatively trivial. A copy deployed by robots could easily be placed at Mars, and ascent and descent would become trivial.

A series of Aldrin Cyclers spaced six months apart could provide a slow but efficient transit system between the two worlds' elevator stations.

http://www.gaerospace.com/projects/
AstroTels/pdfs_docs/Astrotel_2003_ICES.pdf

Your mileage may vary. I just want to see humans on Mars in my lifetime. If we make it by 2035 or so, I might just live to see it. :)

Oh, and as an aside to all of the "save this planet first" people, I understand where you're coming from, but the environmental technologies necessary to keep a crew alive and fed in a self-contained environment for twenty-four months have tremendous potential to make our own world much more habitable and fruitful for our six-billion plus inhabitants. It's a bargain.

-Joe G.

Joe G. (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:00 AM)

Astronauts train in water to 'simulate' weightlessness they will experience in space. Likewise, they train in the Arctic to 'simulate' living on Mars. because the Arctic environment can be programmed to see how well the Astronauts cope with living in extreme conditions in which they are crowded together, have no privacy, must wear a full gear-up to visit the potty, eat the same food over and over, endure isolation, etc., etc. And the applicants can't wait to get to Canada's arctic islands to take their turn.

Des Emery, St, Thomas, ON,Canada (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:26 AM)

Your article describing current status of the Spirt and Opportunity probes currently on Mars was most enlightening. As a current employee of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) I was most interested in the news about the Martian holes, the revival of the Opportunity Probe, and the spectacular picture of the Victoria Crater which clearly invites closer scrutiny.

Your article, however, failed to mention the critical role of JPL in the design, creation, testing, orbit insertion, landing and operation of the twin rovers and orbiter that are currently at Mars. Indeed, JPL is a world center of excellence in robotic design and orbit determination which ultimately led to those robust probes and safe Martian operations. Although Steven Squyres and his collegues at Cornell should be congratulated for their leadership and direction of the probes and orbiter, nothing would have been possible without the contributions of JPL engineers who worked on the Mars Excursion Rover landers and the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Spacecraft.

Roger A Crowe (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:57 AM)

Roger, the fault is mine. Steve was very forthright in recognizing the contribution of the good folks of JPL, including Mark Adler, Rob Manning and other folks I myself am in debt to. Steve made very clear that without the people of JPL, there would be no mission. Not just at one juncture in the mission, but at multiple junctures. I will amend the item to recognize that, and I'm only sorry I didn't do it from the get-go.

Alan Boyle (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 2:33 AM)

Josh Levin...sorry...I didn't realize I could yell at people via email...go for it. The outburst stems from pre-planned full moon fever...once in a blue moon kinda stuff. http://smythspace.blogspot.com Ironically, the plan has always been to give it all away. I just want it to happen...for the Folks coming along...there's gonna be a lot of 'em. It would be great if it started happening now, but I come from the time when Space Exploration/Expansion was acknowledged by those in the Space Exploration/Expansion Biz as a 'not in our lifetime' deal...but, they went ahead...unselfishly. Check it out...you'll feel better...guaranteed! Might even make it happen...Yipes! Forge ahead...through these interesting times...Double Yipes! Steve Smyth

steve smyth lynn ma (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 9:08 AM)

Woohoo first the Moon now it's Mars. Believe me I realy like everything about space and I truely think that this is going to be very interesting, can't wait to see what happens... Keep up the good work.

Gert van Niekerk, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 11:28 AM)

the information learn so far from these two rovers is so important.that we can and one day soon will be working and living on mars.the only problem is who as the guts to get it started.before we go there tho we need to send a few more explorer ,just to me sure we can live and work there.bigger and better explorer could give us more view and information about mars and all it many wonders.

Richard campbell,Nassau,np,Bahamas. (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 11:58 AM)

Dr. zev Levin -- I like the idea of a magnetic rail launcher, but fear that it will only be truly useful on the Moon. On Earth, atmospheric friction will be a problem.

Joe G. -- Actually, you can keep G forces quite low by making the launch track long. You don't have to get to orbital velocity in 100 feet, or even 100 miles. Some plans I've seen for a lunar-based launcher have the track going all the way around the equator, which would launch incredible amounts of mass at sub-1G accelerations. And there would be plenty of sunlight and radiation to power the thing (although finding enough magnetic and dimagnetic materials on the Moon might be a problem).

BadFrog -- the reason we spend "millions" exploring outer space is because it isn't nearly as much fun, politically, as spending the same amount of money exploring the Earth from space. GOES weather and LandSat Earth resource satellites are failing left and right, and there is no impetus to replace them. If you don't like that, complain to your congressman.

Alan Sheets, Loveland CO (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 11:59 AM)

Hi! I'm an ((AVID))--and I mean U T T E R A L L Y AVID--PRO NASA SPACE SCIENCE (AND) SPACE EXPLORATION ENTHUSIAST!!! I'm an Amateur Astronomer, and I litterally A D O R E SPACE SCIENCE (of ALL KINDS)!!--and ALL MISIONS!!!--(especially the UNmanned missions, that do bring back a FAR, FAR, GREATER SHARE of SCIENTIFIC RETURN, than,say, the Space Shuttle/and/or International Space station Programs do (COMBINED)!!! And I just want to say that I'M "SO THRILLED" that (both) "Spirit" and "Opportunity" are (still!!)!! bring back extremely GREAT DATA (OVER) three YEARS after they both plummetted to the Martian surface!!!!--I'm "tickelled silly" with UTTER JOY!! And I Litterally "CAN'T WAIT" for the NEXT NASA MARS (LANDER)--named the "PHOENIX MARS POLAR LANDER", that is scheduled to be launched (this) August 3rd--and arrive at MARS next year (2008) in MAY!! I certainly HOPE that that mission can last LONGER (ALSO!!)!!--than its three-month projected life-time (for its nominal mission)!!! Thank You for reading this!

William Wise, West Hartford, Connecticut (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:32 PM)

I am looking at the picture of the rocks and I do not know if this is an ilusion but it looks to me like a face of some kind of creature and further up looks like somebody is doing something can you check that?

Ralphy Abreu Lawrence Ma (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:42 PM)

In response to Joe G. A very long MagLev rail could provide very high speeds with human-compatible acceleration. There is a long stretch of relatively flat land in northern Mexico extending from near Durango, eastward to the Sierra Madre Oriental range. This provides a "hockey stick" profile of gently rising land, followed by a rapidly rising mountain. A launch rail 300 miles long should be more than sufficient to provide fantastic speeds at minimal Gs. I see ground-based MagLev and the Space Elevator as two competing launch methods. Both offer great advantages over the way we do things today. Both have advantages and problems, and both should be fully explored.

Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 2:14 PM)

Thanks Doctor Levin and Alan for your helpful clarifications. A lunar equatorial launch system: with a ring that long an astonishing velocity could be reached simply by adding energy to the vehicle with each circuit. Eventually a limit would be reached, but potential speed could far exceed anything we could achieve using chemical means.

A receiving station on the other end could recapture a significant portion of the energy by carefully snaring the incoming vessel and braking it electromagnetically. Capture/launch stations on Phobos, Europa, and Rhea (Titan's atmosphere is too thick) could open up the rest of the solar system to us.

The only downfall I see besides potential supply sources of raw materials would be the infrastructure required to sustain such an enormous amount of extraterrestrial construction. As for what we could do here on Earth, as they say the sky is indeed the limit. :)

Hmmm, something new to dream about. :)

Thank you!
-Joe G.

Joe G. (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 3:56 PM)

The most in-space science for the buck? Robots. Always has been, always will be. Why? They can be built to work in space. We can't. Sending people into space is dangerous, wasteful and stupid.

Phil, Houston, Texas (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 4:53 PM)

Should a circumferential MagLev Launcher on the moon be equatorial, polar, or somewhere in between?

With an equatorial launcher, you can only send things to near the moon's equatorial plane, unless you use additional thrusters or gravity-assist.

With a polar ring, you can take advantage of the moon's 27.3-day sidereal rotation to aim the payload anywhere. You may have to wait a couple of weeks, though.

Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 5:22 PM)

Dr. Levin -- regarding your question about placement... I would think that a near equatorial placement would be best to take advantage of the rotational velocity boost from the Moon's rotation. That'll also get you almost anywhere in the solar system that is interesting, and you'll get a few more grams of payload for the same energy cost.

Maybe you'll want to offset the placement by a few degrees, so if you need to get your out of the plane of the solar system you can aim at one of Earth's poles and do a gravity slingshot.

Alan Sheets, Loveland CO (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 5:41 PM)

Correct me if I'm wrong. The equatorial boost for the earth is about 1000 miles per hour. The equatorial boost for the moon is about 10 miles per hour.

Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 7:12 PM)

It is amazing these rovers, which were originally built for short-term use, have become so useful to us even beyond their original expectations.

Tammy, Portland, OR (Sent Wednesday, May 30, 2007 11:07 PM)

A 'space gun' on Earth has a major problem, whether magnetically 'levitated' or not: until you get some tens of km up in our atmosphere, speeds anything like those needed to reach orbit would result in turning your space ship into SLAG, and there's already enough of THAT in orbit. So most of such a device would have to be built several Everests high, just to launch into orbit. Forget about escape velocity. This idea would make much more sense for the Moon or Mars.

JC, Fairbanks, AK (Sent Thursday, May 31, 2007 5:03 AM)

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