mars

Mars is passing within 88 million kilometers tonight. It is a really nice view. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071218-mars-closest.html So go find a spot to contemplate the heavens and remember just how small you are. It will do you good. It did me.

Why is it so difficult? CBS News says it's only 422 miles away! Pack a lunch and let's go, I'll drive!

Do you folks have any ideas about a possible human colony on mars? Would all of the clothing and food and toilet paper come from earth? How could wastes be properly be disposed of? I realise that vegetables could be grown hydroponically but how about cloth for clothing? Grow cotton maybe...

I've heard the Chinese have a project for the moon before 2020, then mars by 2030. I've heard that the European Space Agency wishes to beat everyone there, by at least 2025. And Bush promised (!) a trip to Mars before 2030. I have been fascinated by space since a very young kid, but I am sure...

Basically, why are there no plans to create near future spacecraft with some sort of artificial gravity? No -- not the Star Trek / Hollywood type, but the simple rotational 2001: A Space Odyssey type.

Serious and ridiculous ideas welcome.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

Through recent news it looks like there are signs of water on Mars. There may be, but I suspect no organic life forms on mars. In theory life could start on Mars through a natural process as per our Planet. If we wanted to fast track the process on Mars by sending basic organisms to the...

Physicist John Cramer is planning a new experiment intended to test retrocausality: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/292378_timeguy15.html Could someone please help me understand what he is actually trying to do here? How does it differ from say delayed choice experiments? And unless the...

Oh dear, It seems that NASA really have lost contact with this orbiter. How sad. The only bright spot is that it lasted eight years past it's "sell by date", and that's excellence by any standard! When you consider the long lives of those two buggies on the surface, NASA must be doing...

My goodness... if this new effort finds flowing water on Mars today (instead of dry gullies created by other factors), it would certainly add emphasis to a manned mission to Mars!

http://xenotechresearch.com/SpSol913.htm I'm convinced.

Europe space probe reframes Mars 'face' . The Mars Express probe has photographed the classic surface feature on the Red Planet's surface known as "The Face".

I've always wondered about this little oddity in the way we refer to the planets in our solar system. Why is it acceptable to say, "the Earth" but not "the Mars" or "the Jupiter"? I've heard the Earth refered to as both "the Earth" and simply "Earth" but it is not the same with any of the...

This spacecraft has sent its first pic back today. This is the first Martian orbiter capable of high-res pics, the first (and so far only) pic is here. (56k warning - 19 MB!) If you want the uncompressed TIFF image, it's here but it's 190 MB! Very interesting pic, what strikes me the most...

Since the Google home page had a link to this page, I guess it is a good time to mention the trilogy I am in the middle of reading right now. Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, in that order. When I say I am in the middle of this trilogy, I mean I am in the middle. Halfway through Green...

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/ Live coverage of orbital insertion starts at 12:30 Pacific time. They say it has a ~ 50% probability of success...

A carbon-rich substance found filling tiny cracks within a Martian meteorite could boost the idea that life once existed on the Red Planet. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4688938.stm Part 1 Part 2

Who here beleives in the chessboard on mars? If not, why not? If so, why? I am not intending to get into any arguments here. This is just a slightly comical response to the thread, "Are you a..." Specifically, I wonder what the difference is between belief in god and belief in said...

The guy who was lead scientist for the Beagle 2 mission figures he sees the wreckage in this picture. (BBC story) I dunno. I see a face.

This has bugged me for a while. Way back when that Martian rock was in the news, you know, the one with the possible evidence of life – a well known physicist wrote in an Australian newspaper that it may well have originated from Earth. The idea was that if we have Martian rocks on Earth there...

I have just been told by a colleague that he recently heard a radio item saying that due to long period fluctuations in the orbit of Mars caused by the gravity of Jupiter, Mars will pass so close to the Earth this month (Aug 27th), that it will appear as "big as the moon". I was distinctly...

Looks like it.

I have a question for the scientists out there, but please keep in mind I have a degree in the arts, not math or any of the sciences. From what I understand, time is relative to speed. For example: the faster you go the slower time is for you. Now if I remember right (according to that song...

I wonder, what would happen to religion, in general, and to ID in particular, if evidence of life is to be found on Mars? That will end, forever, the strange idea about the Earth being "a special place" which god selected to create life... Or believers will just say that it is another...

I have Randi to thank for a sleepless night. After reading his commentary item that points to www.marsanomalyresearch.com I visited the site. I spurned sleep and read page after page of the most fascinating insight into mental illness, delusion, paranoia, outright stupidity and ignorance that I...

Does anybody know far Saturn's Moon Titan is from the Earth right now or a website that would tell me how far it is right now in miles?

According to Australian TV (ABC catalyst) Professor Vittorio Formisano, is about to announce that life on Mars is a real possibility since his discovery of huge quantities of methane and formaldehyde in the atmosphere (both are short lived, and thus must be being produced as we speak). He...

Here is one link (of probably many) that contains the story. What is amazing is that it is near the equator, not the poles. BA, any comments?

WASHINGTON -- A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water. The scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA’s Ames...