When we see the Earth’s only Moon up in the sky, we often think about how small it is. It’s only about 1/4 the diameter of the Earth, and at a distance of 384,000 Km, it looks small in the sky. But often size is entirely a matter of perspective. What we compare something to, that’s what determines it’s size. When the Moon is high in the sky we easily compare it to the size of the window we are looking through, or to a nearby tree, or our outstretched hand. All of this can make the Moon seem pretty tiny....
The Past: Mars has water, and it used to have a lot more. If modern Mars had the ocean it once had, it would evaporate off into space quickly because there is no heavy atmosphere to help keep it pressurized and in liquid form. Mars would have had a thicker atmosphere in addition to it’s magnetic field in order to keep all that water in one place. So where did the atmosphere go? And if there was such a thick atmosphere, how does it account for the fingerprint of excess Carbon-13 and a lack of Carbon-12 found on the red planet...
The moons of Mars, aptly named for the sons of the god of war, Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Panic) are more like asteroids than the larger moons we generally associate with planets. The moons are only 22 Km (phobos) and 12 Km (deimos) in diameter, and orbit their planet is 7 hours and 30 hours respectively. The larger moon Phobos is moving toward its planet by almost 7 feet every year, due to the massive gravitational forces it feels from Mars. As it moves closer than its current distance of 6,000 Km, tidal forces from Mars will slowly increase,...
Not one person’s mom, but specifically an entire nation’s. India’s Mars Orbiter Mission is lovingly known as MOM and has been sending back science data that has put India on the Space Exploration Map, if there ever was one. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the ambitious but cost-effective MOM Orbiter on November 5th, 2013. With a bill of only 73 Million dollars, its the most cost-effective Mars mission ever, yet its sending back lovely images and science data that is worth every penny, at least to a biased spaceflight enthusiast such as myself. Whatever you feel about the...
Its no secret that Elon Musk wants to go to Mars, and if he keeps steering the ship of amazing work done by SpaceX, he will have full support. He has been candid about mistakes, honest about goals, and modest about successes. So with Mars on the horizon in the future, here are some tourism posters made by SpaceX. All images courtesy of SpaceX. They have such a retro 50s sci-fi feel, which I love. It’s making fun of all those old campy posters, but there is a decidedly romantic feel to them, especially for anyone who has dreamed of...
