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NASA is planning the next mission to Mars, and they’ll be sending along a tiny helicopter! The 4-pound drone will need to be able to work autonomously, meaning it can make some decisions on its own. It will also have to spin its blades 10 times faster since Mars has almost no atmosphere. Awesome!
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NASA just launched an interplanetary rocket from California. If all goes as planned, the Mars InSight lander will arrive on Mars in less than 7 months, on November 26th. The lander’s mission is to drill down to check the planet’s soil temperature, place a seismometer to measure marsquakes, and install antennas to measure the planet’s movements.
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May and June will be great months to look at the planet Jupiter. It’ll be bright throughout the night, in the constellation Libra. While you’re planet-gazing, look for reddish Mars, and bright sparkling Venus. The mornings of May 4th and 5th, Saturn will be near the moon. Eta Aquariid meteors should peak that night! Watch those skies!
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Across Eastern Europe, it looks like Mars. In Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Russia, the snow is orange! It turns out there was a big sandstorm in the Sahara Desert. Fine particles of orange sand were lifted into the atmosphere, traveled over 2000 miles, and came back down mixed with snow!
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Yesterday’s launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket was a success! Two rocket boosters landed on Earth while the Falcon Heavy continued on to pass Mars and go into perpetual orbit around the sun. Inside the rocket is a space-suited mannequin in a Tesla Roadster with a Hot Wheels Roadster and “DON’T PANIC!” sign on the dashboard!
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If people colonize Mars, how would they get power? NASA is working on that. They are testing a compact nuclear power plant that would work in the harsh Martian environment. Five mini reactors called Kilopowers would provide energy to power a small habitat, produce oxygen and rocket fuel, and purify water!
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Astrogeologists are excited about scarps on Mars. The scarps are high slopes of dirt covering sheets of ice 300 feet thick, and planetary scientists have located eight of them. The cliffs of ice were likely formed by snow thousands of years ago and may contain records of Martian climate for robot explorers to gather.
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Scientists believe Mars used to have water billions of years ago and thought the solar winds dried out its atmosphere. New data shows Martian rocks can hold much more water than Earth rocks. It’s possible Mars could just be a big sponge that soaked up all the water and is still holding it underground!
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Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’Apai is Earth’s youngest island, formed by an erupting volcano in the Pacific Ocean in 2014. Scientists thought waves would erode it away in a few months, but now think it may last 30 years. NASA is studying its life cycle to understand volcanic eruptions and oceans of the past on Mars!
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Relativity Space has developed Stargate, the largest 3D printer in the world that uses metal. The company will use it to print launch vehicles. Yes, they will 3D print rockets! The printed rockets will look different because they’ll need fewer parts. Their ultimate goal is to print rockets on Mars.
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