Following up on their first collection (On to Mars), Apogee Books has published a second collection of essays and papers presented at the annual meeting of The Mars Society.
NASA has released a long report examining risks that could be faced during a manned voyage to Mars.
Continue reading "Martian Risks"
Apogee Books grinds forward and my wallet cringes!
Robert Zubrin brings us back to Mars in his second effort with Apogee.
A transcript of the comments plus the question and answer session.
A round-up of the reaction to yesterday's briefing by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. The New York Times story. The Washington Post story. A SpaceRef.com article by NASA Watch's Keith Cowing on the plan. The BBC manages to write an entire article seemingly with nothing but negatives. The Voice of America has the broadcast available. Leonard David, in a Space.com article that is republished by MSNBC.com, profiles the yea and naysayers. Another Space.com article, admittedly a piece by a space advocacy group, is more positive. Jeffrey Kluger at Time is positive on the engineering but worries about the politics (he's also looking for a lot more detail, as are we all!).
Continue reading "The VSE and the ESAS Rollout"
Still about 500 e-mails behind (new ones just keep coming in), so I have a feeling that these summary postings are going to be the mode of operations until I get caught up.
NASA will hold a one hour briefing (starting at 9:00 AM—I presume EDT but it doesn't say—on Monday, September 19, 2005) concerning the Exploration Systems Architecture Study. The White House has backed NASA's plans for the new architecture. No details on how they will address the gap between the stated retirement date for the shuttle (2010) and the first flights of the CEV (2012). If all goes well, look for a return to the Moon in 2018. Here are some shots of the proposed shuttle-derived launchers as well as proposed changes to processing, etc.
Continue reading "Another Big Update"
If engineers choose the right approach, we could be on Mars by 2020, instead of the suggested date of 2030. So says Paul Wooster and other members of MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics in a recent study.
The biggest difference achieved by using common elements, Wooster said, would be eliminating the time lag between the first lunar missions and the first Mars landing. Using many of the same components and systems would cut down on development time and costs, and the same production lines could continue to operate. This would make it easier for lunar and Martian exploration to continue in parallel, Wooster said.
A recent study urges NASA to use various common elements in designing the Crew Exploration Vehicle and other parts of the Vision for Space Exploration's plans. The advantage? Well, for one thing, the study found that we could get to Mars by 2020 instead of 2030.
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin is giving a speech to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) tomorrow (August 31, 2005). Here's an advanced look at the speech.
Continue reading "Advanced Look"
Leonard David (of Space.com) writes about the 8th International Mars Society Convention in this article. One gets the ever stronger feeling that we're at a crucial point for manned exploration of space in the United States. Will NASA be able to move out of low Earth orbit?
What to wear on Mars during an exploratory voyage? Participants at the recent convention of The Mars Society had a look at one design that has undergone some laboratory and field testing.