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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NASAWatch
- Space Program Management For Dummies January 24, 2022NASA Needs a Lead Program Office for Artemis, Op Ed, Kevin Chilton, Space News "It's time to take the best lessons from our past and meld them with the promises of today's technologies and innovative industrial base. It's time to stand up an Artemis Program Office, modeled after the Apollo Program Office, with the long-term strategic visi […]
- Bobby Braun Leaving JPL for APL January 20, 2022NASA JPL Memo: Bobby Braun Departing JPL "Bobby Braun, Director for Planetary Science and Bren Professor of Aerospace at Caltech, has accepted the position of Space Exploration Sector Head of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and will be leaving JPL at the end of March 2022. Even as I am sad that the Lab is losing a great leader, I would lik […]
- NAC Vs PAO On Transparency January 19, 2022NAC notes: Wayne Hale, closing today's NASA Advisory Council meeting, suggested the agency would be better served by increased transparency, citing public affairs "happy words" vs more frequent briefings/discussion of technical challenges, problems and solutions— William Harwood (@cbs_spacenews) January 19, 2022
- Risk And Exploration At NASA January 19, 2022#NASA #HEO #NAC - Every time there is a launch it IS dangerous, its not easy stuff citing an event Keith Cowling of @NASAWatch did back in 2005 with Sean O'Keefe ( something O'Keefe is still proud of) on risk in spaceflight. pic.twitter.com/cJbBlggm72— Gene J. Mikulka (@genejm29) January 19, 2022 Both Mr. McDaniel and Mr. Hale were saying that was […]
- Space Team Biden Report Card At Mission Day 365 January 19, 2022One Year into the Biden Administration, NASA Looks to Future "Since President Biden and Vice President Harris were sworn in one year ago, their administration has made generational progress for Americans - and made NASA a priority. This spring, as Artemis I lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, the world will once again witness America's unrivaled i […]
- John Charles January 18, 2022Keith's note: John Charles has died. I'll post more information when I get it. I first met John in 1987 during what was the first week or two working for NASA when I made a trip to JSC. He was such a nice man. No one believed more in NASA than John did. According to a note circulating around NASA: "The life sciences directorate at JSC is coord […]
- Wayne Hale Speaks Truth To Power January 18, 2022Keith's note: At this morning's NASA Advisory Council Human Exploration and Operations Committee meeting,, the committee chair, Wayne Hale, offered these observations: .@waynehale: NASA's apparent lack of transparency in public statements "bothers me a lot.""There is a real thirst out there for a better understanding of what (NA […]
- The Only 2 Powerpoint Charts You Need To See Today January 18, 2022Keith's note: The NASA Advisory Council Human Exploration and Operations Committee is meeting today and tomorrow. Here's my summary/preview. I have seen this movie before. @NASA splits this function. Then #NASA put sit back together. Then they split it again. Etc. Nothing is ever more efficient. Duplication is always the end result @SenBillNelson w […]
- SpaceRef/NASAWatch Interview on Asteroid 7482 Flyby January 18, 2022Keith's note: Asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1), 1 kilometer in diameter will fly by Earth today 4.51 p.m. ET. It is moving at 47,344 miles per hour and will get no closer than 1.2 million miles. I was on CNN this morning to talk about this fly by and NASA's DART mission to impact another asteroid, (65803) Didymos this Fall. Keith Cowing · SpaceRef on CNN: […]
- Always Look Toward The Stars January 17, 2022"Only in the darkness can you see the stars" - Martin Luther King Jr. #MLKDay2022 #MLK pic.twitter.com/t8uMGDS7LV— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) January 17, 2022
LiveScience.com – Top Stories
- Eta Carinae's epic supernova explosion comes to life in new visualization January 26, 2022Data from three space telescopes help tell the story of Eta Carinae's supernova explosion.
- Last Roman gladiator arena ever built unearthed in Switzerland January 26, 2022Archaeologists discovered a Roman-era amphitheater from late antiquity on the banks of the Rhine River in Switzerland.
- 'X particle' from the dawn of time detected inside the Large Hadron Collider January 25, 2022The particle was found by smashing billions of lead atoms into each other at extreme speeds.
- Crystal healing: Stone-cold facts about gemstone treatments January 25, 2022Crystal healing is an alternative medicine technique that employs crystals and other stones as conduits for natural healing energy.
- Can CBD really prevent COVID-19 infection? Scientists hope to find out. January 25, 2022Cannabidiol (CBD), an active ingredient in cannabis, might help block infection with the virus that causes COVID-19.
- Massive 'pristine' reef of giant rose-shaped corals discovered lurking unusually deep off the coast of Tahiti January 25, 2022Divers with UNESCO have discovered and mapped out a massive and unusually pristine reef of rose-shaped corals in Tahiti.
- The lymphatic system: Facts, functions & diseases January 25, 2022The lymphatic system helps rid the body of toxins. Diseases of this system include lymphadenopathy, lymphoma and other disorders.
- 30 mummies discovered inside an ancient fire-scorched sacrificial structure January 25, 2022Hidden within a fire-scorched structure near the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt, archaeologists discovered the entrance to a 2,000-year-old family tomb.
- 190-year-old Jonathan is the oldest tortoise ever January 25, 2022Jonathan the tortoise has become the oldest tortoise ever by reaching 190 years old. He was already the oldest living land animal.
- Powerful, nearby black holes could help to explain universe's origins January 25, 2022Nearby galaxies and their black holes could hold the answers to the existential questions that remain unanswered about the beginning of the universe.
- 'Exquisite' wooden figurine dating to early Roman Britain found in a ditch in England January 25, 2022A rare carved wooden figurine thought to date from early Roman Britain has been unearthed in a waterlogged ditch north of London.
- Tonga eruption equivalent to 'hundreds of Hiroshima bombs,' NASA says January 25, 2022The violent eruption of an underwater volcano near the Kingdom of Tonga on Jan 15 was more powerful than 100 Hiroshima atomic bombs, NASA researchers estimate.
- Webb Telescope is now orbiting 1 million miles from Earth January 24, 2022After a month in space, the Webb Telescope — the most powerful space telescope ever launched — has reached its permanent cosmic address, 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth.
- 2 giant sphinxes depicting King Tut's grandfather found at ancient Egyptian temple January 24, 2022Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered two gigantic sphinxes depicting King Amenhotep III, the grandfather of King Tut.
- Hippos unleash poop tornado in response to stranger danger January 24, 2022Hippos respond differently to the calls of familiar and unfamiliar hippos.
- The Higgs boson could have kept our universe from collapsing January 24, 2022The Higgs boson particle could have kept our universe from collapsing within a larger multiverse, physicists say.
- Cucumbers: Nutrition facts and health
benefits January 24, 2022Cucumbers have many nutritional benefits, are low in calories and high in valuable nutrients.
- Tonga eruption was so intense, it caused the atmosphere to ring like a bell January 24, 2022The volcanic eruption in Tonga generated pressure waves in the atmosphere that quickly spread around the world.
- Here's why a new penguin colony in Antarctica is cause for concern January 24, 2022Scientists in Antarctica have unexpectedly spotted a sub-Antarctic penguin breeding on the southernmost continent.
- James Webb Space Telescope will glide to its deep-space parking spot today January 24, 2022Here's how to watch the events related to the James Webb Space Telescope's arrival.
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
- Sunset/Sunrise As Seen From Orbit January 26, 2022Images of a sunset/sunrise seen from the International Space Station. ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer captured and posted these images to his social channels on 23 January 2022 with the caption:Keith Cowing
- The City Lights Of Northern Europe January 26, 2022A faint aurora and the Earth's atmospheric glow crown this night time photograph of Northern Europe, as the International Space Station orbited 262 miles above.Keith Cowing
- Artemis III Orion Crew Module January 26, 2022A close-up view of the Orion crew module for NASA's Artemis III mission enclosed on a work stand.Keith Cowing
- Solar Orbiter Catches A Second Comet By The Tail January 26, 2022For the second time in its mission so far, the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft has flown through the tail of a comet.Keith Cowing
- Perseverance's Sample Tube Is Cleared Of Pebbles January 26, 2022The team has made good progress implementing the initial recovery steps outlined in last week's blog.Keith Cowing
- Mega Iceberg Released 152 Billion Tonnes Of Fresh Water Into Ocean As It Scraped Past South Georgia January 26, 2022152 billion tonnes of fresh water - equivalent to 20 x Loch Ness or 61 million Olympic sized swimming pools, entered the seas around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia when the megaberg A68A melted over 3 months in 2020/2021, according to a new study.Keith Cowing
- NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status Report 24 January, 2022 - Dragon Splashdown January 25, 2022SpaceX's upgraded Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down at 4:05 p.m. EST off the Florida coast, marking the return of the company's 24th contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASAMarc Boucher
- Cargo Dragon Departs The International Space Station January 25, 2022SpaceX Dragon 24 departing the International Space Station on Sunday 23 January 2022.Keith Cowing
- James Webb Space Telescope Has Arrived At L2 January 25, 2022Today, at 2 p.m. EST, Webb fired its onboard thrusters for nearly five minutes (297 seconds) to complete the final postlaunch course correction to Webb's trajectory.Keith Cowing
- Consistent Asteroid Showers Rock Previous Thinking On Mars Craters January 25, 2022New Curtin University research has confirmed the frequency of asteroid collisions that formed impact craters on Mars has been consistent over the past 600 million years.Keith Cowing
Space Flight Now
- Webb reaches orbital destination a million miles from Earth January 24, 2022The James Webb Space Telescope slipped into orbit around a point in space nearly a million miles from Earth Monday where it can capture light from the first stars and galaxies to form in the aftermath of the Big Bang.William Harwood
- Cargo Dragon capsule departs space station January 23, 2022SpaceX's Cargo Dragon spacecraft, closing out a month-long mission, undocked from the International Space Station Sunday after a two-delay in its departure to wait for better weather in the capsule's recovery zone off the coast of Florida. Splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico is scheduled for Monday.Stephen Clark
- Astra fires up rocket for first time at Cape Canaveral January 22, 2022Astra, a company seeking to carve out a segment of the growing small satellite launch market, test-fired its two-stage rocket at Cape Canaveral on Saturday in preparation for an upcoming demonstration flight for NASA.Stephen Clark
- Webb closes in on destination with critical mirror alignment on tap January 22, 2022Thirty days outbound from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope will slip into its parking orbit a million miles away Monday, an ideal spot to scan the heavens in search of faint infrared light from the first generation of stars and galaxies.William Harwood
- Atlas 5 rocket delivers two military inspector satellites to high-altitude orbit January 21, 2022Two satellites for a once-classified U.S. military program to track and inspect other spacecraft in orbit -- a mission the Space Force's top general equates to a "neighborhood watch" -- lifted off from Cape Canaveral Friday on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.Stephen Clark
- Science mission begins for NASA’s new eye on the X-ray universe January 21, 2022A NASA astronomy satellite that launched Dec. 9 from Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX rocket has started observing the X-ray universe, beginning a mission to study the nature of black holes and the super-dense skeletons left behind by exploded stars.Stephen Clark
- Live coverage: Atlas 5 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral January 21, 2022United Launch Alliance's first mission of the year debuted a new configuration of the company's workhorse Atlas 5 rocket when it lifted off at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) Friday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The rocket, featuring a wide fairing and a single solid rocket booster, is carrying two U.S. military tracking and inspection sa […]Stephen Clark
- ULA’s first launch of 2022 to debut unflown variant of Atlas 5 rocket January 20, 2022United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket has flown in 10 different configurations over 90 missions since 2002, each version optimized to haul satellites of a certain size and mass into space. The only variant of the Atlas 5 rocket yet to fly is set to launch Friday afternoon from Cape Canaveral with a pair of satellites to help the U.S. military keep tra […]Stephen Clark
- Atlas 5 rocket rolls to launch pad for Space Force mission January 20, 2022Gearing up for its first mission of the year, United Launch Alliance rolled an Atlas 5 rocket to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Thursday, a day before liftoff with a pair of U.S. Space Force satellites on a flight that will debut a version of the Atlas 5 never used before.Stephen Clark
- Spacewalking cosmonauts activate space station’s newest Russian module January 19, 2022Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov completed a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk Wednesday outside the International Space Station, preparing Russia's new Prichal module for the arrival of the next Soyuz crew spacecraft in March.Stephen Clark
SpaceRef — Mars News
- Perseverance's Sample Tube Is Cleared Of Pebbles January 26, 2022The team has made good progress implementing the initial recovery steps outlined in last week's blog.
- Consistent Asteroid Showers Rock Previous Thinking On Mars Craters January 25, 2022New Curtin University research has confirmed the frequency of asteroid collisions that formed impact craters on Mars has been consistent over the past 600 million years.
- A Greenwich Observatory On Mars January 21, 2022The crater in the center of this HiRISE image defines where zero longitude is on Mars, like the Greenwich Observatory does for the Earth.
- Curiosity Rover Measures Intriguing Carbon Signature on Mars January 18, 2022After analyzing powdered rock samples collected from the surface of Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover, scientists today announced that several of the samples are rich in a type of carbon that on Earth is associated with biological processes.
- Possible Hydrated Minerals on the Plains of Terra Sirenum On Mars January 16, 2022This image shows a small light-toned exposure of rock on the plains of Terra Sirenum, in a heavily cratered region of the Southern Hemisphere of Mars.
- Widespread Megaripple Activity on Martian North Pole Area January 14, 2022Megaripples, intermediate-scale bedforms caused by the action of the wind, have been studied extensively and thought to be largely inactive relics of past climates, save for a few exceptions.
- Streaking In Arabia Terra On Mars January 13, 2022This image shows us great examples of transitioning streaks in Arabia Terra.
- Leading Into Isidis Planitia On Mars January 11, 2022This public suggestion wanted to get a closer look at an area in Isidis Planitia that might have been carved out by landslide.
- Small Rocks Cause A Pause In Mars Perseverance Sample Collection January 10, 2022On Wednesday, Dec. 29 (sol 306) Perseverance successfully cored and extracted a sample from a Mars rock. Data downlinked after the sampling indicates that coring of the rock the science team nicknamed Issole went smoothly.
- Ridges Near Vernal Crater On Mars January 7, 2022In this scene, there is contact between a ridged unit and a presumably underlying non-ridged unit.
SpaceX
- Starlink Mission January 19, 2022
- Transporter-3 Mission January 13, 2022
- Starlink Mission January 6, 2022
- CRS-24 Mission December 21, 2021
- Turksat 5B Mission December 19, 2021
- Starlink Mission December 18, 2021
- Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Mission December 9, 2021
- Starlink Mission December 3, 2021
- Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission November 24, 2021
- Starlink Mission November 13, 2021
Spacewire
- Virgin Orbit partners with Sultanate of Oman for deep space mission
- The role of space and the IAF in turning vision into action
- Sultanate of Oman and SatRevolution announce international consortium for country's first satellite launch and first mission to deep space
- PSI’s David Grinspoon Honored as Lifetime AAAS Fellow
- Chairwoman Johnson Joins House Leadership in Unveiling America COMPETES Act of 2022
- Joint USAF/NOAA Solar Geophysical Activity Report and Forecast 25 January 2022
- Satellogic Completes Business Combination with CF Acquisition Corp. V to Become Publicly Traded Company
- Study probes Earth’s turbulent past to explain where oceans came from
- Global Commercial Space Payload Market Report 2022: Emergence of Private Players And Start-ups In The Space Industry & Growing Demand For Internet Connectivity
- Eutelsat Signs up to French #StOpE Initiative Against Everyday Sexism in the Workplace
NASA Image of the Day
- The Colors of Water January 26, 2022Much like the sky, rivers are rarely painted one color.
- X-59 Wind Tunnel Testing at NASA Glenn January 25, 2022This colorized schlieren image is of a small-scale model of NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology airplane.
- Studying the ‘Lost Habitable’ World of Venus January 24, 2022NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is designing mission concepts to survive the planet's extreme temperatures and atmospheric pressure.
- Hubble Sights a Sail of Stars January 21, 2022The spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 3318 are lazily draped across this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This spiral galaxy lies in the constellation Vela and is roughly 115 light-years away from Earth.
- Peering Through a Window to the World January 20, 2022In this image from Jan. 9, 2022, NASA astronaut Kayla Barron peered out from a window inside the International Space Station's cupola.
- Remembering Trailblazing Pilot Charles McGee January 19, 2022Retired U.S. Air Force Honorary Brigadier General Charles McGee, left, spoke with NASA astronaut Alvin Drew in 2020.
- Drilling Holes on the Red Planet January 18, 2022This image shows the Highfield drill hole, on Vera Rubin Ridge in Gale crater on Mars, made by NASA’s Curiosity rover in its search for rock samples. Just recently, scientists announced that an analysis of rock samples collected by the rover were enriched in carbon 12, a type of carbon that on Earth is associated with biological processes.
Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Stars, Dust, and Gas Near Antares Why is the sky near
- Video: Comet Leonard over One Hour Which direction is this comet heading?
- Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula By starlight this eerie visage shines in the dark,
- Saturn, Tethys, Rings, and Shadows Seen from
- The Full Moon and the DancerOn Monday, January's
- Young Star Jet MHO 2147Young Star Jet MHO 2147
- NGC 7822 in CepheusHot, young stars and
Bill Housley 
