Do You Want to Go to Mars?
Well part of you anyway.
Click here to send your name on a chip to Mars aboard NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover!
Also, check out my new short read about actually going to Mars.
Bill Housley
Space Exploration, Science, Opinion and Current Events
Twilight Tales
Into the Dark:Escape of the Nomad — Kindle Edition
In a world hostile to space travel, a former Astronaut has a dream to travel the stars--so he steal's NASA's forbidden starship designs and starts building the ship himself, only to get caught up in a perilous game of interstellar cloak-and-dagger between two alien superpowers fighting over Earth.
One Way
So you want to go to Mars? One Way? Are you sure?
Another Man’s Terrorist — Kindle Edition
In a war far into the future, two young refugees, orphaned by insurgent violence on their home planet, flee behind the lines to make a new life for themselves. But when the turmoil they sought to escape beats them to their new home, thirteen year old Jessica Ratcliff must find peace for her small family while learning the true difference between friend and enemy.
Where’s the Cat? — Kindle Edition
On a long cargo flight to the outer solar system, Pauline gets a visitor she didn't expect and learns of a marvelous friend she never knew she had.
Into the Dark–Escape of the Nomad — Original Paperback
In a world where space travel is forbidden, former astronaut Stan McPherson wants to return to space but finds himself caught up in a dangerous game of interstellar cloak-and-dagger.
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Space.com Top Stories
- SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts gear up for Feb. 26 launch to space station February 5, 2023Crew-6 will head to the International Space Station after its Feb. 26 launch, but three of its four crewmembers are preparing for the next generation of missions to the moon.
- The Full Snow Moon of 2023: Smallest 'micromoon' of the year rises tonight February 5, 2023February's Full Snow Moon rises on Sunday (Feb. 5) and will be the smallest full moon of the year due to the current position of the moon in its orbit.
- How astronaut diversity changed for the better in a single NASA class recounted in new book 'The Thirty-Five New Guys' February 5, 2023Thirty-five new astronauts joined the corps in 1978, among them women and people of color who reshaped the agency forever, a new book shows.
- US military shoots down Chinese surveillance balloon February 5, 2023An F-22 fighter jet destroyed a Chinese balloon with a Sidewinder missile on Saturday (Feb. 4) when the airship was over the Atlantic Ocean off the South Carolina coast.
- Watch SpaceX launch big communications satellite on Sunday February 5, 2023SpaceX plans to launch Hispasat's Amazonas Nexus communications satellite to orbit Sunday (Feb. 5), and you can watch the action live.
- Release of 'Star Wars Jedi: Survivor' video game delayed to April 28 February 4, 2023"Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's" design team announced a six-week delay for the game's release, to April 28.
- Tonga's massive volcanic eruption wiped out unique, never-before-seen life-forms February 4, 2023The island was destroyed by the same volcano that formed it seven years before.
- Watch the green comet pass the bright star Capella on Sunday (Feb. 5) February 4, 2023It's a meeting of the GOATs this weekend when superstar green comet C/2022 E3 meets up with Capella, the Goat Star. Capella should help skywatchers spot C/2022 E3 as it races away from Earth.
- Space Foundation to award US Postal Service for 75 years of space stamps February 4, 2023The Space Foundation is recognizing the United States Postal Service (USPS) and its 75 years of space-themed postage with the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award.
- Hubble Space Telescope captures chaotic globular cluster near Milky Way's core February 4, 2023A Hubble Space Telescope image shows the scattered and chaotic population of stars in a globular cluster located 31,000 light-years from Earth.
NASAWatch
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LiveScience.com – Top Stories
- What did the ancient Egyptian pyramids look like when they were built? February 5, 2023The ancient Egyptian pyramids have stood for thousands of years and are among the world's most enduring monuments. But what did the pyramids look like when they were first built?
- '1-in-10-billion' star system is doomed to explode in a fiery kilonova February 4, 2023Scientists have discovered an extremely rare star system that is doomed to explode in a 'kilonova' caused by the merger of two neutron stars.
- Do bees have knees? February 4, 2023Bees do have a femur and a tibia, but do they have a kneecap like ours?
- The moon has a hidden tide that pulls on Earth's magnetosphere, new study reveals February 3, 2023Researchers have detected fluctuations in Earth's magnetosphere created by the same tidal forces that the moon exerts on the oceans.
- Eye drops recalled after CDC links them to vision loss, 1 death February 3, 2023An eye drop product linked to a cluster of serious bacterial infections has been voluntarily recalled by its manufacturer.
- What is cadence in running and why is it important? February 3, 2023From step rates to stride lengths, here’s everything you need to know about cadence in running.
- This MacBook Air M1 deal is the cheapest way to get a new MacBook right now February 3, 2023Grab a student laptop bargain as Best Buy slashes the price of the MacBook Air M1.
- 8 possible alien 'technosignatures' detected around distant stars in new AI study February 3, 2023Eight signals from far-off stars probably aren't aliens, but the machine learning method that found them holds promise in the search for real extraterrestrials.
- When did Rome fall? February 3, 2023Many historians consider the fall of the Western Roman Empire to have been when the emperor Romulus Augustulus abdicated, but not all historians agree.tcm2020@gmail.com (Tom Metcalfe)
- Rat brain injuries 'plugged' with lab-grown human minibrains in world-first experiment February 2, 2023Scientists transplanted human brain organoids into rats to repair injuries to their visual processing systems.
Discovery Space News
- Huge Tsunamis May Have Ravaged Ancient Mars May 25, 2016When Mars was a wet world, did its oceans experience powerful tsunamis spawned by meteorite impacts?
- Collapsing Cosmic Clouds Birth Black Hole Monsters May 24, 2016Supermassive black holes occupy all known galaxies, but astronomers have little idea how they formed. Now space telescopes have found a clue.
- Mystery Plumes: Did the Sun Bruise Mars? May 24, 2016Strange plumes have been spotted high in the Martian atmosphere that have, so far, defied explanation. Now scientists think space weather is to blame.
- NASA Probe Tracks Object in Solar System's Badlands May 23, 2016While coasting through the outer solar system, NASA's New Horizons is busying itself with astronomical observations of a distant Kuiper Belt Object.
- Solar Superflares Set Stage for Life on Earth May 23, 2016Earth could have grown warm enough for liquid water as far back as 4 billion years ago thanks to massive and frequent solar flares.
- See the Red Planet with Your Own Eyes This Weekend May 21, 2016Mars reaches opposition this weekend, making Saturday and Sunday (May 21 and 22) an opportune time to see the Red Planet with your own eyes.
- Extreme Exoplanets Reveal Migration Mystery May 20, 2016A star hosting 4 massive gas giant exoplanets has been spotted -- is this how our solar system looked in its ancient past?
- How to Form Io's Mountains? Just Squeeze! May 20, 2016On Earth, mountains form along tectonic boundaries, but Io, Jupiter's volcanic moon, is awash with molten rock and dotted with solitary mountains -- how did they form?
- DNews: Meet a Black Hole 17 Billion Times the Sun's Mass May 20, 2016DNews sits down with U.C. Berkeley astronomy professor Chung-Pei Ma to learn all about supermassive black holes, including one nearby that's just honking huge.
- LHC Opens the Quantum Physics Floodgates May 20, 2016As it restarts its mission to discover weird and exotic things about our universe, the Large Hadron Collider is about to become a firehose of quantum data.
SpaceRef
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Space Flight Now
- Space station astronauts finish preps for next pair of new solar arrays February 2, 2023Continuing work left over from a spacewalk last month, astronauts Nicole Mann and Koichi Wakata headed outside the International Space Station Thursday to finish installing a mounting bracket for new solar arrays due to arrive at the complex on a SpaceX resupply mission in June.Stephen Clark
- SpaceX launches 53 more Starlink internet satellites February 2, 2023A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Thursday with 53 more Starlink satellites for SpaceX's global internet network.Stephen Clark
- 20 years after Columbia disaster, lessons learned still in sharp focus at NASA February 1, 2023Twenty years ago, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart high over Texas on the way to landing in Florida, killing a crew of seven astronauts in a tragedy with long-lasting consequences that still reverberate across the space program.William Harwood
- Starlink satellites, Italian space tug launched by SpaceX rocket January 31, 2023SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday from California's Central Coast with 49 Starlink internet satellites and a rideshare space tug for the Italian company D-Orbit, itself carrying tech demo experiments and cremated human remains for customers in the United States, Germany, New Zealand, and Switzerland.Stephen Clark
- Live coverage: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from California January 31, 2023SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday with 49 Starlink internet satellites and a rideshare payload for the Italian company D-Orbit. Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California occurred at 8:15 a.m. PST (11:15 a.m. EST; 1615 GMT) after delays over the last two days to allow SpaceX to complete pre-launch preparations on the vehicle.Stephen Clark
- SpaceX launches heaviest payload on Falcon 9 rocket January 26, 2023A Falcon 9 rocket thundered off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral before dawn Thursday with another batch of 56 Starlink satellites, setting a record for the heaviest payload ever launched on a SpaceX rocket at more than 38,000 pounds.Stephen Clark
- Rocket Lab primed for busy year after first launch from Virginia January 24, 2023Rocket Lab’s first mission from a launch pad in Virginia delivered three small commercial satellites into orbit Tuesday night, starting what the company hopes will be a banner year with at least 15 flights from the new U.S. launch site and a spaceport in New Zealand.Stephen Clark
- Live coverage: Rocket Lab launches first mission from Virginia January 24, 2023Rocket Lab launched its first mission from a new launch site in Virginia Tuesday. The company's small satellite launcher took off from Virginia's Eastern Shore at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT), carrying three small commercial satellites into orbit for HawkEye 360.Stephen Clark
- Another countdown begins for Rocket Lab’s first launch from Virginia January 23, 2023Rocket Lab is set to fill up its small Electron launcher with propellant fire it into space from Virginia Tuesday evening with three commercial satellites, the company's second try to launch its first mission from U.S. soil after bad weather thwarted attempts last month.Stephen Clark
- Astronauts complete spacewalk to prep for new ISS solar arrays January 20, 2023Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and NASA astronaut Nicole Mann suited up and floated outside the International Space Station Friday for a spacewalk to prepare the lab for arrival of another pair of new solar arrays later this year.Stephen Clark
SpaceRef — Mars News
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SpaceX
- Starlink Mission February 2, 2023
- Starlink Mission January 31, 2023
- Hispasat Amazonas Nexus Mission January 27, 2023
- Starlink Mission January 26, 2023
- Starlink Mission January 19, 2023
- GPS III Space Vehicle 06 Mission January 18, 2023
- USSF-67 Mission January 15, 2023
- OneWeb Launch 16 Mission January 10, 2023
- Transporter-6 Mission January 3, 2023
- ISI EROS C-3 Mission December 30, 2022
Spacewire
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NASA Image of the Day
- Spiral Galaxy Spans Space February 3, 2023This Jan. 10, 2013, composite image of the giant barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 combines visible light images from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope with far-ultraviolet data from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and infrared data acquired by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
- Astronauts' View of the Moon February 2, 2023The waxing gibbous Moon stands out in this Jan. 2, 2023, image from the International Space Station as it orbited 269 miles above the southern Indian Ocean.
- Flora, Fauna at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center January 31, 2023In this photo from Oct. 14, 2008, a great blue heron stands watch among a pond of water lilies on NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
- Volcanic Plumes in Chile January 30, 2023Chile’s Villarrica volcano emits steam and other volcanic gases in this photo taken from the International Space Station on Jan. 17, 2023. The gases come from a series of minor explosions—called Strombolian eruptions—that have been ongoing at Villarrica since October 2022.
- Hubble Views a Stellar Duo in Orion Nebula January 27, 2023The bright variable star V 372 Orionis takes center stage in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
- Day of Remembrance January 26, 2023NASA Administrator Bill Nelson lays a wreath at the Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial.
- President Reagan Calls for Space Station January 25, 2023On January 25, 1984, President Ronald Reagan used his State of the Union address to call for NASA to build a permanent manned space station.
Astronomy Picture of the Day
- UntitledThis moon is
- NGC 2626 along the Vela Molecular RidgeNGC 2626 along the Vela Molecular Ridge
- Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTFPolaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF
- Reflections on the 1970sReflections on the 1970s
- UntitledSeven worlds orbit the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1.
- UntitledComet ZTF has a distinctive shape.
- Untitled
Bill Housley 