Reference
- FAILED MARS MISSIONSWhat was the Mars Observer mission?
Since the Viking mission, a number of scientific missions to Mars have ended in failure. One particularly high-profile failure was NASA's Mars Observer mission. Launched on September 25, 1992, it was a $1 billion mission that had a tremendous amount of scientific capability. Regrettably, on August 21, 1993, three days before it was to enter orbit around Mars, flight engineers lost contact with Mars Observer. It was never heard from again. Investigators suspect that ruptured tubing in the spacecraft's propulsion system caused it to spin out of control. - Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)Space Exploration Technologies Corporation was established in 2002. Since then, SpaceX has been developing the Falcon family of space launch vehicles for light-lift to heavy-lift capabilities. As of 2010 the light-class Falcon 1 was operational and the heavy-lift Falcon 9 was successfully developed and flight tested.
In addition, SpaceX secured funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA announced in 2008 the selection of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, which is under development by SpaceX, to resupply ISS when Space Shuttle operations are terminated (current plans call for termination in 2011). SpaceX signed a US $1,600m. contract for a minimum of 12 flights, with an option to order additional missions for a cumulative total contract value of more than US $3,000m. with NASA’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Program. - VikingMission to Mars consisting of two orbiter-lander spacecraft. Viking 1 was launched by a Titan-Centaur booster on 1975 September 9, and injected into Mars orbit on 1976 June 19. The first month of orbiter operations consisted of locating and verifying a safe landing site for the lander spacecraft. The lander spacecraft separated from the orbiter and landed on the surface on 1976 July 20. Viking 2 was launched on 1975 August 20, injected into Mars orbit on 1976 August 7, and its lander spacecraft touched down on 1976 September 3.
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Credo Reference is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.
Perspectives
Elon Musk
In the spirit of Steve Jobs and Moneyball, Elon Musk is both an illuminating and authorized look at the extraordinary life of one of Silicon Valley's most exciting, unpredictable, and ambitious entrepreneurs--a real-life Tony Stark--and a fascinating exploration of the renewal of American invention and its new "makers." Elon Musk spotlights the technology and vision of Elon Musk, the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, who sold one of his Internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius's life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in South Africa and flight to the United States to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits. Vance uses Musk's story to explore one of the pressing questions of our age: can the nation of inventors and creators who led the modern world for a century still compete in an age of fierce global competition? He argues that Musk--one of the most unusual and striking figures in American business history--is a contemporary, visionary amalgam of legendary inventors and industrialists including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs. More than any other entrepreneur today, Musk has dedicated his energies and his own vast fortune to inventing a future that is as rich and far-reaching as the visionaries of the golden age of science-fiction fantasy. Thorough and insightful, Elon Musk brings to life a technology industry that is rapidly and dramatically changing by examining the life of one of its most powerful and influential titans.
The Scientific Exploration of Mars
What do we know about Mars? What remains to be understood? Is there evidence of life there? Will humans ever travel there? The dream of exploring Mars has been around since the early days of human civilization and still forms part of our vision of the future for the human race. Today, we send unmanned spacecraft to explore this neighbouring world to examine its climate, search for evidence of past or present life, and learn how conditions there relate to those on Earth. Plans are now being prepared for a manned mission to Mars, set against an uncertain background of political, practical, technical and financial considerations. This unique book provides a complete description of the past, present and future of Mars exploration. Written by a scientist intimately involved with missions to Mars, it provides a personal firsthand account. It will appeal to anyone interested in this fascinating planet.
The Space Barons
The historic quest to rekindle the human exploration and colonization of space led by two rivals and their vast fortunes, egos, and visions of space as the next entrepreneurial frontier The Space Barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs who are pouring their fortunes into the epic resurrection of the American space program. Nearly a half-century after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, these Space Barons-most notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, along with Richard Branson and Paul Allen-are using Silicon Valley-style innovation to dramatically lower the cost of space travel, and send humans even further than NASA has gone. These entrepreneurs have founded some of the biggest brands in the world-Amazon, Microsoft, Virgin, Tesla, PayPal-and upended industry after industry. Now they are pursuing the biggest disruption of all: space. Based on years of reporting and exclusive interviews with all four billionaires, this authoritative account is a dramatic tale of risk and high adventure, the birth of a new Space Age, fueled by some of the world's richest men as they struggle to end governments' monopoly on the cosmos. The Space Barons is also a story of rivalry-hard-charging startups warring with established contractors, and the personal clashes of the leaders of this new space movement, particularly Musk and Bezos, as they aim for the moon and Mars and beyond.
Sojourner
Andrew Mishkin, a senior systems engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a leader of NASA's robotic program, brings us this insider's look at the Mars Pathfinder probe that electrified the world's imagination. One hundred twenty-two million miles away from her controllers, a sophisticated robot smaller than a microwave oven did what had never been done before-explored the rocky, red terrain of Mars. Then, six-wheeled Sojourner beamed spectacular pictures of her one-of-a-kind mission back to Earth. And millions of people were captivated. Now, with the touch of an expert thriller writer, Sojourner operations team leader Andrew Mishkin tells the inside, human story of the Mars Pathfinder mission's feverish efforts to build a self-guided, offroading robot to explore the surface of the Red Planet. With witty, compelling anecdotes, he describes the clash of temperamental geniuses, the invention of a new work ethic, the turf wars, the chewing-gum solutions to high-tech problems, the controlled chaos behind the strangely beautiful creation of an artificial intelligence-and the exhilaration of inaugurating the next great age of space exploration
Aeronautics - 21st Century Flight
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Aeronautics is the science of flight as well as the theory and practice of aircraft navigation. Any machine that flies through the air falls into the field of aeronautics. This includes helicopters, airplanes, as well as space vehicles such as the SpaceX Dragon and the retired NASA space shuttles. Aerodynamics is a branch of physical science which deals with the motion of air and the way that it interacts with objects in motion. By studying the way air flows, engineers can define the shape of a plane. The wings, tail, and the main body - or fuselage - all affect the way air will move around the plane. Students may find it interesting that engineers consider air to behave as a fluid, like water, but they should not confuse these two states of matter. They must take into account aerodynamics, propulsion, materials, structure, stability and control.
Robotics – Advances in Engineering
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowAlmost fifty years ago the first industrial robot was "employed" in an automobile assembly plant. Robots are regularly used for hazardous, super-heavy and difficult tasks in manufacturing, agriculture, entertainment, medicine, and space exploration. Welding robots with touch sensing and seam tracking abilities increase assembly plant efficiency, while robotic surgery results in less pain, quicker recovery and shorter hospital stays. NASA's robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity are mapping the terrain and searching for evidence of water on Mars. Honda Motor Company's humanoid robot, ASIMO, can walk, run, recognize people and identify sounds and voices.
Websites
- Blue OriginLearn more about Blue Origin and their space programs
- Mar's Exploration ProgramRead about NASA's programs and plans to explore mars.
- NASAOfficial website for the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- SpaceXLearn about SpaceX and the new frontiers of space travel
Looking for Life on Mars
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowFollow along as NASA launches the Mars 2020 Mission, perhaps the most ambitious hunt yet for signs of ancient life on Mars. In February 2021, the spacecraft blazes into the Martian atmosphere at some 12,000 miles per hour and lowers the Perseverance Rover into the rocky Jezero Crater, home to a dried-up river delta scientists think could have harbored life. Perseverance will comb the area for signs of life and collect samples for possible return to Earth. Traveling onboard is a four-pound helicopter that will conduct a series of test flights--the first on another planet. During its journey, Perseverance will also test technology designed to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, in hopes that the gas could be used for fuel--or for humans to breathe--on future missions.
Online Resources
- China’s Mars Exploration Mission and Science InvestigationChina’s first Mars exploration mission (HuoXing-1) has been named as ‘Tianwen-1’ meaning Heaven Inquiry. Tianwen-1 was launched on July 23, 2020. In this paper, the scientific objectives of earlier and current Mars exploration missions worldwide are reviewed, and the scientific objectives, payloads and preliminary scientific investigation plan of China’s first Mars exploration mission are introduced, and expected scientific achievements are analyzed.
- A human mission to Mars: Predicting the bone mineral density loss of astronautsA round-trip human mission to Mars is anticipated to last roughly three years. Spaceflight conditions are known to cause loss of bone mineral density (BMD) in astronauts, increasing bone fracture risk. There is an urgent need to understand BMD progression as a function of spaceflight time to minimize associated health implications and ensure mission success. Here we introduce a nonlinear mathematical model of BMD loss for candidate human missions to Mars: (i) Opposition class trajectory (400-600 days), and (ii) Conjunction class trajectory (1000-1200 days). Using femoral neck BMD data (N = 69) from astronauts after 132-day and 228-day spaceflight and the World Health Organization's fracture risk recommendation, we predicted post-mission risk and associated osteopathology. Our model predicts 62% opposition class astronauts and 100% conjunction class astronauts will develop osteopenia, with 33% being at risk for osteoporosis.
- Mission to Mars Amidst a PandemicFor years, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in New Mexico has led an outreach effort called Mission to Mars to engage fifth grade students in applying science and mathematics concepts related to building a colony on Mars. Many organizations across the US canceled similar events due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This design case details the original program and the pivot made to continue the program. We share successes—including reaching more rural learners—insights, and challenges, and how these have shaped a more inclusive vision for future programs.
Has Mars Always Been Dead?
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowMars ranks as NASA's number one priority in the search for exolife. Here, you delve into why Mars is so intriguing to astrobiologists and what the search has found to date. Start with a comparison of Mars and the Earth, then watch the first-ever observation of water ice on Mars sublimating into vapor.