NASA’s $300 million plan to send 6 probes hunting Martians by 2018

By Matthew Jackson, Source: Blastr.com

A few months ago, we heard that NASA’s determined to launch some kind of new Mars mission by 2018 regardless of budget cuts. Now a proposed plan for just such a mission has been revealed, and it’s one of the most ambitious searches for Martian life yet.

The Biological Oxidant and Life Detection (BOLD) Mission calls for six 130-pound pyramid-shaped “penetrator” probes to impact the surface of Mars at six different points, embedding themselves at least four inches into the Martian soil to search for life beneath the Red Planet’s irradiated surface. If approved, BOLD will be the first Mars mission dedicated to solely to a life search since NASA’s Viking landers in 1975, and proponents argue that this time there’s a much greater chance of conclusive results.

Private space mogul wants to skip the moon and go right to Mars

By Matthew Jackson, Source: Blastr.com

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is an ambitious guy. He’s the one who said he can get commercial flights to Mars up and running a decade or so from now, but what about humanity’s return to the moon? Well, if you ask Musk, the moon’s little more than old news.

Musk has been making the rounds to talk up his company a lot these days as part of the lead-up to a (hopefully) historic SpaceX launch next week. On April 30 the company will launch an unmanned Dragon capsule to dock with the International Space Station.

Despite budget cuts, here’s how NASA plans to reach Mars by 2018

By Matthew Jackson, Source: Blastr.com

Two weeks ago, NASA’s woes got deeper when they took a 20 percent cut to their space exploration money. That money might mean we never make it to Mars, but NASA’s not giving up on the Red Planet just yet.

On Monday, the space agency announced the foundation of the Mars Program Planning Group, which will attempt to work within existing budget constraints to find a way to keep America rolling on a mission to Mars. Orlando Figueroa, the agency’s former program manager, has been appointed to lead the group.

PETA wants a meat-free Martian space colony

By Krystal Clark, Source: Bastr.com

PETA is at it again. The animal rights group, which recently gave a glowing endorsement to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is taking their fight from film to space. Pull up a chair and sit back—because PETA’s going to Mars.

PETA wants to stomp out all unfair treatment of animals. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the United States, Europe, Antarctica or even space. Mars has been on the government’s radar for years, and scientists have plans to make it a “laboratory of democracy” for human colonies.

So, when we finally set up shop on the Red Planet, PETA wants a piece of the animal-friendly pie. They’ve sent a letter to SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp) CEO Elon Musk to request a vegan colony.

Total Recall remake gains Bryan Cranston, but loses Mars

Emmy-winning actor Bryan Cranston is negotiating to play the villain in the upcoming remake of Total Recall. That’s the good news.

The other news? According to Heat Vision, the new version of the story will not take place on Mars like Philip K. Dick’s original story (“We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”) or the 1990 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Instead, the script for the new film involves a battle between the nation-states Euromerica and New Shanghai.

Cranston will play Vilos Cohaagen (same name as the villain in the 1990 film), who in this version is the leader of Euromerica and is planning to invade New Shanghai.

Thoughts?

New NASA photos reveal surprising avalanches at Martian north pole

Scientists used to think that the huge sea of sand dunes at the Martian north pole—a sea the size of Texas—was fairly unchanging. But new NASA photos reveal avalanches caused by the Martian spring thaw.

Photos taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the basalt sand dunes near the north pole show that the dunes have been altered just like those of Earth … and scientists are blown away by the evidence.

“I was hoping for tiny little changes to be detectable,” said planetary scientist Candice Hansen-Koharcheck of the Planetary Science Institute to Discovery News. “This was more like knock-your-socks-off kind of stuff. It’s a very active part of the Mars landscape in today’s climate.”

The images even capture an instance in which hundreds of cubic yards of sand had avalanched down the face of a dune as a result of carbon dioxide gas escaping from the warming ground.

See the images here