Mapex

Archive for March, 2010

A new UK Space Agency will take over responsibility for UK government policy and the key budgets for space, and bring together all UK civil space activities under one single management.

NASA has contracted with ERC Inc., of Huntsville, Ala., for space technology research and development activities at the agency’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this image in preparation for the first autonomous selection of an observation target by a spacecraft on Mars. Opportunity used its navigation camera to take this image after a drive during the 2,172nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission on Mars (March 4, 2010). Using newly developed and uploaded software named Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS, the rover analyzed the image to identify the feature that best matched criteria given for selecting a target. The top target that Opportunity selected with AEGIS is shown by the yellow marker. AEGIS was directed to look for rocks that were larger and darker in color. The rover then used the software to take more detailed observations of the selected target using its panoramic camera. The more-than-50 rocks in this image are near a young crater called ‘Concepcion’ and might have been thrown outward by the impact that excavated the crater. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA managers will hold a news conference on Friday, March 26, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to discuss the status of the next space shuttle launch.

Spring has sprung on Mars, bringing with it the disappearance of carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) that covers the north polar sand dunes. In spring, the sublimation of the ice (going directly from ice to gas) causes a host of uniquely Martian phenomena. In this image streaks of dark basaltic sand have been carried from below the ice layer to form fan-shaped deposits on top of the seasonal ice. The similarity in the directions of the fans suggests that they formed at the same time, when the wind direction and speed was the same. They often form along the boundary between the dune and the surface below. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

A crew of six, including two Europeans, will soon begin a simulated mission to Mars in a mockup that includes an interplanetary spaceship, Mars lander and martian landscape. The Mars500 experiment, as long as a real journey to Mars, is the ultimate test of human endurance.

The new esa-p Supplier Portal will open to suppliers on Monday March 22nd at 14:00.

NASA astronauts Scott Altman and Mike Massimino of the STS-125 mission visit the New York Stock Exchange to support the release of Hubble 3D, the newest IMAX film, which documents the mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and features never-before-seen 3D flights through Hubble imagery such as the Orion Nebula. In honor of the occasion, Altman and Massimino ring ‘The Closing Bell’ ending the day’s trading at the Exchange on Thursday, March 18, 2010. Image Credit: NYSE (Used by permission)

Flying saucers, aliens and UFOs are just science fiction to most
people, but to some they are real. What’s the scientific explanation
of these unexplained sightings in the sky? Is there life in space?
Euronews Space magazine looks at both sides of the debate.

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NASA’s Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown of Earth’s polar ice, kicks off its second year of study when NASA aircraft arrive in Greenland March 22.