Category: space.com

Simulated images of a galaxy 10 billion light-years from Earth, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the proposed High Definition Space Telescope (right), with 25 times the Hubble telescope’s resolving power. Credit: HDST/AURA

Adam Hadhazy, writer and editor for The Kavli Foundation, contributed this article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Scientists have just unveiled a bold proposal for a giant, new, space-based telescope that would be far more powerful than today’s observatories. Called the High Definition Space Telescope (HDST), the instrument is essentially a supersize Hubble Space Telescope, with 100 times its ability to detect faint starlight. 

With an estimated cost of $8 billion to $9 billion, HDST would be a game changer, and if it advances beyond the concept phase, it would launch in the 2030s. With a mirror 25 times the size of Hubble’s, HDST could delve deep into the universe’s past to trace how gasses enriched with the elemental ingredients of life moved in and out of galaxies. 

HDST also could examine dozens of Earth-like exoplanets that are too tiny for the Hubble telescope and its immediate successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, to see. HDST would scour their atmospheres for signs of alien life, perhaps finally answering whether humanity is alone in the cosmos.

The vision for the HDST was described in a July report spearheaded by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), a consortium of global institutions that operate astronomical observatories.

To learn more about HDST’s promise, join a live Kavli Foundation Google+ Hangout at Oct. 6 at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT). The Hangout will be hosted by AURA committee Co-Chairwoman Sara Seager, of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at MIT and Co-Chairwoman Julianne Dalcanton, of the University of Washington, as well as AURA committee member Marc Postman, of the Space Telescope Science Institute. 

The scientists will answer questions about how HDST will trace cosmic evolution, from the primeval rise of chemical elements necessary for life to the potential for alien life right in Earth’s cosmic backyard, plus how to build such a powerful instrument. 

Questions can be submitted ahead of and during this webcast by emailing info@kavlifoundation.org or by using the hashtag #KavliLive on Google+ or Twitter. To join the event, visit kavlifoundation.com.

About the participants:

<img src=”http://i.space.com/images/i/000/032/456/i01/space-expert-voices-contribute-ad.jpg?1378484681″ alt=”If you’re a topical expert — researcher, business leader, author or innovator — and would like to contribute an op-ed piece, email us here.”/>

If you’re a topical expert — researcher, business leader, author or innovator — and would like to contribute an op-ed piece, email us here.
Credit: SPACE.com

Sara Seager — Seager is a professor of physics and planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an affiliated faculty member at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, and co-chairwoman of the HDST study. Her research specialty is exoplanet atmospheres and interiors.

Julianne Dalcanton — Dalcanton is a professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington and co-chairwoman of the HDST study. Her research focuses on the origin and evolution of galaxies.

Marc Postman — Postman is an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and served on the committee for the HDST report. His research interests include galaxy-cluster and large-scale cosmic structure evolution and formation, along with large space telescope design and implementation.

Adam Hadhazy — The moderator, Hadhazy is a freelance science writer who principally covers astrophysics and astrobiology. He has a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University.

Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Space.com.

In this concept image, a resource prospector rover searches for water ice on the lunar surface. Credit: NASA

WASHINGTON — The prototype of a rover designed to search for water ice at the poles of the moon passed a series of tests on Earth in August as project officials seek to line up funding and potential partnerships for the mission.

A NASA team put the prototype version of the Resource Prospector rover, dubbed RP15, through its paces on a test site dubbed the “rock yard” at the Johnson Space Center, testing some of the technologies needed to operate on the lunar surface.

“We wanted to take what we had learned so far and actually attempt to do an entire terrestrial mission, with as high a fidelity we could afford with the budget we’re given,” Dan Andrews, Resource Prospector project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center, said in an Aug. 31 presentation at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Space 2015 conference in Pasadena, California. [Photos: Astronaut Drives Rover from Space]

Andrews said the project came up with the idea of RP15 in the fall of 2014, just before the current fiscal year started, and set a goal of building and testing the rover by the end of this fiscal year. A group at JSC that previously worked on Robonaut, a humanoid robot flown on the International Space Station, built the rover hardware, with software developed at Ames based on that used on the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer mission.

The tests in the JSC rock yard, he said, successfully demonstrated some of the key technologies of the rover, including its ability to drill into the ground and capture samples. They also tested distributed operations, with teams at Ames controlling the rover at JSC.

The RP15 rover prototype at Johnson Space Center.
Credit: NASA

Current plans for Resource Prospector call for launching the mission on a medium-class rocket, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9, in 2020. The spacecraft would land on the lunar surface, near one of the poles, using a “crushable pad” landing system that eliminates the need for landing legs and makes it easier for the rover to roll off the lander and onto the lunar surface.

The rover will carry a neutron spectrometer to probe for water ice deposits into the lunar surface. The solar-powered rover would also make brief excursions into permanently shadowed regions of craters most likely to have near-surface deposits of ice, drilling for samples before retreating back into sunlit regions to analyze them.

Andrews said Resource Prospector is designed to carry out its complete mission within a two-week lunar day. That eliminates the complexity and accompanying cost of designing the rover to survive the long lunar night.

Resource Prospector has a planned cost of no more than $250 million, excluding launch. Andrews said the mission would most likely be carried out in cooperation with an international or commercial partner that would provide the lander. “We’ve been told by the [White House] Office of Science and Technology Policy that commercial partnerships, or international partnerships, trump everything,” he said.

A leading option is to work with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which is planning a lunar lander mission. NASA and JAXA have discussed potential cooperation on Resource Prospector for a year and a half, including putting together a report on how the NASA rover would be included on the JAXA lander.

“They are building, as you might imagine, a very impressive lander, more than we need to execute this mission,” Andrews said. A problem with that option, though, is that the lander may not be ready for a 2020 mission, since JAXA is not planning to fly a smaller prototype lander until 2019. A second option, he said, is to partner with Taiwan, which is also studying a lunar lander mission.

Andrews said he has also visited with the three companies — Astrobotic Technology, Masten Space Systems and Moon Express — that are part of NASA’s Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown initiative   to support development of commercial lunar landers. Astrobotic and Moon Express are among the teams in the Google Lunar XPrize competition to develop lunar landers by a deadline that has been extended several times, most recently to the end of 2017. A decision on some kind of partnership is needed by June 2016 to support a launch in the fall of 2020, he said.

Work on Resource Prospector, including the RP15 rover, has been funded by NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems program office. Future support, though, remains uncertain. One issue, Andrews suggested, was the politics of lunar exploration in the wake of the decision to cancel the Constellation program in 2010. “It got swept up in general with the politics of ‘no’ to the moon,” he said.

Andrews said Resource Prospector is now ready to go into Phase B, the planning phase of project development, provided the funding is there. “The politics may not be lined up yet,” he said. “Everything’s right but the local U.S. politics.”

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

ARCA Space Corp. will start testing its Hass suborbital rocket (concept art above) at Space Port America in New Mexico in 2016. Credit: ARCA Space Corp

PASADENA, Calif. — A company that has it roots in a Romanian venture that competed for the Ansari X Prize more than a decade ago plans to carry out tests of high-altitude drones and suborbital rockets at New Mexico’s Spaceport America, spaceport officials announced Sept. 1.

ARCA Space Corporation, based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, plans to use the spaceport for flight tests of its AirStrato UAS drone starting near the end of this year. That will be followed in 2016 by tests of its Haas suborbital rocket, which the company ultimately intends to use for suborbital space tourism flights, carrying up to five people.

“Only in New Mexico did we find the perfect combination of aerospace assets, airspace and affordability,” Dumitru Popescu, chief executive of ARCA Space, said in a statement about the company’s plans to operate from Spaceport America. [Spaceport America: A Reporter’s Photo Tour]

The deal was the consummation of a decade of discussions about operating from New Mexico, said Aaron Prescott, head of business development for Spaceport America, in a Sept. 1 interview. ARCA first visited the state in 2005 when it attended the inaugural X Prize Cup held in Las Cruces. “We’ve stayed in touch ever since, and their technology and business model is now to the point where they’ve decided to make the move,” he said of ARCA.

ARCA’s first tests at Spaceport America will involve its high-altitude AirStrato UAS drone.
Credit: ARCA Space Corp.

Popescu founded ARCA, derived from the Romanian acronym for the Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association, as a non-profit organization in 1999. It competed unsuccessfully in the $10 million Ansari X Prize suborbital spaceflight competition, but continued to develop both suborbital rocket and high-altitude drone technology after the end of the competition. It incorporated in the U.S. as ARCA Space in 2014.

ARCA Space will initially use existing Spaceport America facilities, including its runway for drone tests and vertical launch site for rocket tests, Prescott said. The company may develop dedicated facilities there if its activities increase in the future, he added.

The ARCA Space agreement is the latest effort by Spaceport America to diversify its customer base beyond its anchor tenant, Virgin Galactic. In May, the spaceport announced a deal with a California company, X2nSat, to establish a satellite ground station at the spaceport. Both ground stations and drones are part of the spaceport’s long-term business strategy, developed earlier this year, Prescott said.

Spaceport America is also retaining ties with SpaceX, even as that company delays plans to conduct flight tests there. SpaceX leased property at the spaceport in 2013 for high-altitude flights of its Grasshopper and F9R vehicles , intended to test technologies intended for reusable versions of the Falcon 9. Prescott said that while those flights did not take place, SpaceX is still maintaining its lease and may return for other flight tests.

Prescott said other companies, in both the aerospace field and other industries, are interested in using the spaceport. “We’ve got a growing pipeline of aerospace users,” he said, as well as some filming and other non-aerospace activities that he expected to be announced in the next few months.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

Human Mars exploration is getting the Hollywood treatment.

“The Martian,” which stars Matt Damon as a NASA astronaut stranded on the Red Planet, hit theaters on Oct. 2. Learn about the real science and engineering behind the blockbuster film — and how the exploration depicted in “The Martian” meshes with NASA’s real-life plans to put boots on the Red Planet — in Space.com’s full coverage below.

Our Review: Does ‘The Martian’ Movie Do the Book Justice? Yes. Yes, It Does  – Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” starring Matt Damon lands in theaters today, but how does it stack up to the hit science fiction novel by Andy Weir? Space.com’s Sarah Lewin explains. Our Latest Story: ‘The Martian’ Locales on Mars Revealed in NASA Spacecraft Photos

Videos:

Infographics and Multimedia:

Story Coverage:

Tuesday, Oct. 6

‘The Martian’ Locales on Mars Revealed in NASA Spacecraft Photos
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter now circling Mars has captured amazing images of craters and plains on Mars that are explored in the hit space movie “The Martian.”

Where ‘The Martian’ Roved: Fly-Over From Orbital Images
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft has helped scientists create a stunning video flyover of the region of Mars that a stranded astronaut on Mars explores in the hit film “The Martian.”

Monday, Oct. 5

‘The Martian’ Misses Out on a Faster Way to Mars: Op-Ed
In “The Martian,” astronauts on the Hermes spacecraft take advantage of orbital mechanics to attempt a rescue of their crewmate Mark Watney stranded on Mars. But did they take the best possible trajectory? Here’s one expert’s take.

Friday, Oct. 2

Does ‘The Martian’ Movie Do the Book Justice? Yes. Yes, It Does
“The Martian” hits theaters today, and we think it’s going to be a space movie of epic proportions. Here’s how it stacks up against its source material: the book “The Martian” by Andy Weir.

‘The Martian’ and Reality: How NASA Will Get Astronauts to Mars
“The Martian” may be science fiction, but NASA is doing its best to make it a reality. Here’s how NASA plans to get astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.

Thursday, Oct. 1

Making ‘The Martian’: Exclusive Interview with Director Sir Ridley Scott
Space.com’s Dave Brody gets up close and personal with “The Martian” director Sir Ridley Scott. See what Scott thinks about space travel, Mars exploration and Matt Damon.

Related: ‘The Martian’ Director Ridley Scott Promotes NASA’s Mars Dreams

‘The Martian’ Wants to Mail You a Potato: Movie Offers Stamped Spuds
Potatoes play a surprising role in the new space movie “The Martian.” Here’s how to get your own “The Martian” potato for spud goodness.

Lush Oasis to Arid Desert: How Our View of Mars Has Changed
Over the years, Mars has transformed from an imagined world filled with life to an arid desertlike world. See how the evolution happened.

Wednesday, Sept. 30

‘The Martian’ Cast’s Q&A With Space Station Crew
Real astronauts in space got a call from the cast of “The Martian” today. Watch how it went here.

Inside ‘The Martian’: Movie’s Sleek Spacesuits Explained
There’s some real-life science behind the sleek spacesuits worn by astronauts in the space movie “The Martian.” See the spacesuit tech involved here.

Tuesday, Sept. 29

The AstroCritic: What ‘The Martian’ Gets Right About Astronauts
The movie gets a lot about astronauts right, suggests AstroCritic and former International Space Station commander Leroy Chiao.

‘The Martian’ Celebrates Discovery of Water on Mars
Following NASA’s announcement that there is liquid water on the surface of Mars, Mark Watney, the fictional lead character in the upcoming movie “The Martian,” has a very special message for the world.

‘The Martian’ (2014): Book Excerpt
Read chapter one of Andy Weir’s novel “The Martian.”

Monday, Sept. 28

‘The Martian’ Dust Storm Would Actually Be a Breeze
Mars’ dust storms would be much less damaging than portrayed in “The Martian,” though still dramatic.

More “The Martian” Coverage

‘The Martian’ Lands at NASA: Actors Meet Real-Life Counterparts in Houston
NASA rolled out the red carpet for two ‘Red Planet’ movie actors, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the agency’s real journey to Mars with the stars from “The Martian.” The cast members visited the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Train Like ‘The Martian’: Movie’s Mars Crew Gear for Sale by Sports Outfitter
There’s a new way to look like an astronaut — or at least a fictional future crew member of a Mars-bound mission — thanks to a joint marketing promotion between the upcoming film “The Martian” and the American sports clothing company Under Armour.

Making Mars Exploration ‘Smart and Cool’: NASA and ‘The Martian’
In the history of Hollywood envisioning the future of space exploration, few, if any films have come as close to NASA’s own goals at the time of the movie’s release as Ridley Scott’s “The Martian.”

Boots on Mars by 2050, ‘The Martian’ Author Says (Video)
The author of “The Martian” suspects a lack of cooperation from Congress will push NASA’s first manned mission to the Red Planet back to the middle of the century.

‘The Martian’ Shows 9 Ways NASA Tech Is Headed to Mars
How much of the technology in “The Martian” actually exists, or is in the works, today? Read on to find out what NASA’s developing for real-life manned Mars exploration.

‘The Martian’ Lands at NASA’s Mars Mission Control (Photos)
“The Martian” star Matt Damon, director Ridley Scott and Andy Weir, who wrote the book on which the movie is based, visited NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on Aug. 18.

Epic Trailer for ‘The Martian’ Questions the Value of a Human Life in Space
The awesome new trailer for “The Martian” is full of thrilling and stressful moments, and raises important questions about the value of human life in space exploration.

First Trailer for ‘The Martian’ Puts Matt Damon in Peril
The first official trailer for Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” is a doozy, packing gorgeous vistas of the Red Planet, intricately rendered spaceships and some laughs into three dramatic minutes.

‘The Martian’ Author Andy Weir Takes a Spin on NASA’s Electric Rover
Andy Weir, author of the acclaimed novel ‘The Martian,’ stopped by NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston recently and took the new Modular Robotic Vehicle for a test ride. See the photos here.

‘The Martian’ Author Andy Weir & Steve Jurveston Mind-Meld on Mars Colonies
The effort to colonize Mars moves forward, pushed by visionaries and pragmatists alike.

Ridley Scott to Bring Andy Weir’s ‘The Martian’ to Life in 2015
A movie adaptation of the science fiction thriller “The Martian” written by Andy Weir is set to hit the silver screen in 2015.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

A PSLV lifted off Sept. 28 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and placed the 1,500-kilogram Astrosat into low Earth orbit. Credit: ISRO video

PARIS — India’s PSLV rocket on Sept. 28 successfully placed the nation’s first astronomy satellite into a near-equatorial low Earth orbit along with six secondary payloads that included satellites owned by prospective competitors in commercial maritime surveillance.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the 1,513-kilogram Astrosat spacecraft was healthy in orbit. Operating from an orbit of 650 kilometers in altitude inclined six degrees relative to the equator, Astrosat is expected to deliver optical, ultraviolet and X-ray images of black holes and other phenomena in a five-year mission.

Launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India’s east coast, the PSLV — which has developed a regular business in carrying foreign satellites into low Earth orbit — placed one Indonesian, one Canadian and four U.S. satellites into orbit. [India’s First Mars Mission in Pictures (Gallery)]

Indonesia’s LAPAN-A2 satellite was the biggest of the secondary payloads, weighing 76 kilograms and carrying an optical imager with a 4-meter ground resolution. The satellite was built by Indonesia’s National Institute of Aeronautics and Space. It follows the LAPAN-A1 satellite that was built under the leadership of the Technical University Berlin, with Indonesian engineers trained in Berlin in satellite construction.

LAPAN-A2 also carries an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver to capture signals from ships and enable coastal-management agencies to determine ship identity, speed and heading beyond the reach of coastal radars.

AIS is a capability common to all the secondary payloads on the Sept. 28 launch.

Spire Global of San Francisco, which is fielding a constellation of cubesats to deliver GPS signal-occultation data for commercial meteorological use, is including AIS payloads on its spacecraft.

The four 4-kilogram Lemur-2 satellites were successfully orbited, Spire said in a post-launch statement.

Spire said it is the first U.S. cubesat owner to launch aboard the PSLV. Only recently, and with little fanfare, has the U.S. government relaxed its former policy of forbidding commercial satellites with U.S. parts to launch on India’s rockets because India had not agreed to sign an agreement with the U.S. on commercial-launch pricing.

Skybox Imaging of Mountain View, California, owned by Google, has also contracted for multiple commercial imaging satellites to launch on the PSLV, and Airbus Defence and Space of Europe has launched the commercial Spot 6 and Spot 7 Earth-observation satellites, both with U.S. components, on PSLV rockets.

The four AIS-equipped Lemur-2 satellites will make Spire the third commercial entity to field an AIS constellation. Orbcomm of Rochelle Park, New Jersey, has equipped its second-generation machine-to-machine messaging satellite constellation with AIS receivers, and exactEarth of Cambridge, Ontario — majority-owned by Canada’s Com Dev — is developing a dedicated AIS business.

Satellite Quiz: How Well Do You Know What’s Orbitin…

The space age dawned with the launch of Sputnik 1, Earth’s first artificial satellite, in 1957. Thousands of additional spacecraft have followed in Sputnik’s footsteps, serving humanity in a variety of ways. How well do you know Earth’s satellites?

0 of 10 questions complete

Satellite Quiz: How Well Do You Know What’s Orbitin…

The space age dawned with the launch of Sputnik 1, Earth’s first artificial satellite, in 1957. Thousands of additional spacecraft have followed in Sputnik’s footsteps, serving humanity in a variety of ways. How well do you know Earth’s satellites?

0 of questions complete

The 5.5-kilogram exactEarth-9 satellite was aboard the PSLV rocket. Com Dev recently pulled a proposed initial public offer of exactEarth stock, citing overall market conditions, but has told investors that exactEarth will still receive the funds it would have drawn from the stock issue in the form of continued investment from Com Dev and Hisdesat of Spain, which owns a minority stake in exactEarth.

The exactEarth EV9 satellite was injected into a good orbit, is healthy in orbit and is sending signals, company President Peter Mabson said Sept. 28.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

The life of artist and scientist Edward Belbruno is profiled in the new documentary film, “Painting the Way to the Moon.” One of Belbruno’s paintings, “Diophantine Flow” (2010), pays homage to his scientific work on spacecraft orbits. Credit: Edward Belbruno

This event is being produced by Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

On Oct. 22, meet Princeton University artist and mathematician — and Space.com columnist — Ed Belbruno in a public showing of his art at Café Minerva in Manhattan. Join Space.com to celebrate how Belbruno’s art unlocks discoveries in space exploration, and experience the beauty of the universe in a whole new way.

Inspired by his art, Belbruno charts new paths to travel the solar system and explores the cyclical nature of an expanding, and possibly contracting, universe. Belbruno gained fame at NASA when he successfully plotted a revolutionary route to the moon. Recently, he charted a new course to Mars, modeled how life may spread through the cosmos, and calculated evidence for an ever-expanding and contracting universe — all discoveries unlocked by the swirls, symbols and patterns of his art.

Now the subject of the award-winning film “Painting the Way to the Moon,” Belbruno has become an advocate for transcending the barriers between the arts and sciences. 

When: Oct. 22, 2015, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET
Where: Café Minerva, 302 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10014
Who: Ed Belbruno of Princeton University

Joined by special guests:

• Robert Vanderbei, Princeton University
• New York-based artist Rob Mars

Space.com Essays by Ed Belbruno

About Ed Belbruno

Galleries

Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Even Google couldn’t help but celebrate the incredible news that liquid water has been found on the surface of Mars.

The Google Doodle for today (Sept. 29) features an adorable animation that gives a nod to the incredible news that liquid water flows on the Red Planet.

Evidence of water found on Mars found on our homepage! pic.twitter.com/hsWqEDYdFh

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) September 29, 2015

In the short video, a cartoon-character version of Mars is shown slurping down a big glass of water. The expression on the Red Planet’s face is one of surprise — as if it didn’t know anyone was watching. But scientists have had their eyes on Mars for a long time.

The liquid water on the surface of Mars is not in the form of rivers or lakes — instead, the water can be found soaking Martian hillsides, appearing as dark streaks called “recurring slope lineae” (or RSL), that were first identified in 2011. The water is mixed with a particular family of salts called perchlorates, which have the ability to absorb water from the air and create a salt-water mixture (a process called deliquescence). NASA scientists suggested that this finding increases the likelihood that Mars is habitable; it might also be possible for astronauts to use the water for drinking.

Google has a history of highlighting space-related science with its daily doodles. Previous doodles have focused on the historic flyby of Pluto by NASA’s New Horizons mission, the ongoing comet encounter by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, the Perseid meteor shower and the birthday of pioneering astronomer Annie Jump Cannon, to name a few.

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Following NASA’s announcement that there is liquid water on the surface of Mars, Mark Watney, the fictional lead character in the upcoming movie “The Martian,” has a very special message for the world.

A special message from Mark Watney. #TheMartian #MarsAnnouncement https://t.co/60wJUzlJue

— The Martian Movie (@MartianMovie) September 28, 2015

Watney’s reaction to the news may seem a little familiar to those who have seen the trailer for the movie, which tells the story of an astronaut who is accidentally left behind on Mars, and must try to survive on the inhospitable planet while he awaits a rescue mission.

NASA’s announcement of liquid water on Mars’ surface came yesterday (Sept. 28), just a few days before the movie’s premier this Friday (Oct. 2). The movie, which is based on the book of the same name by Andy Weir, stars Matt Damon as Watney.

Scientists know that water ice exists at the Martian poles, and that water vapor can be found in the Martian atmosphere. This appears to be the best evidence yet that liquid water can survive on the surface of the Red Planet. No other planet or moon in our solar system is known to have liquid water on its surface, although there is evidence of entire oceans under the surface of a few moons in the solar system.

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Leonard Nimoy (left, Spock on “Star Trek”) and daughter Julie at Nimoy’s place in Lake Tahoe (between California and Nevada), which Nimoy later had to sell, as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease made it too hard for him to stay at that elevation. Credit: Nimoy Family

Family members of the late Leonard Nimoy — Spock, to millions of “Star Trek fans” — are trying to raise half a million dollars for a documentary about the lung disease that claimed his life earlier this year.

“COPD: Highly Illogical – A Special Tribute to Leonard Nimoy” is expected to be released in February 2016, regardless of the funds raised, but there is an active campaign on FirstGiving.com that now has about $203,000 pledged, including a $200,000 donation from Novartis Pharmaceuticals. The campaign concludes Nov. 30. 

“We want to have amazing computer-animated graphics, and if we have the full budget, we’ll be able to use that footage,” David Knight, Nimoy’s son-in-law, told Space.com. “We will also reference Mr. Spock and ‘Star Trek.’ There are intellectual-property and licensing fees with CBS and Paramount. We want to be able to use those throughout the film.” [Astronauts, Obama Remember Leonard Nimoy]

Trouble breathing

David Knight and his wife, Julie Nimoy. Julie is the daughter of Leonard Nimoy, famous for playing Spock on “Star Trek.”
Credit: Nimoy Family

Knight and his wife, Julie (Nimoy’s daughter) first conceived the documentary after Nimoy gave an interview to television personality Piers Morgan in February 2014. Nimoy had been spotted by paparazzi in an airport using a wheelchair and supplemental oxygen, Knight said, and wanted to go on the air to talk about the condition that was killing him.

COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a condition in which a person has trouble breathing, and it gets worse over time. Symptoms of the disease include wheezing, coughing or chest tightness, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Leonard Nimoy (left, Spock on “Star Trek”) and daughter Julie in Malibu, California.
Credit: Nimoy Family

Nimoy, who was a smoker but quit decades before he was diagnosed with COPD, spent the rest of his life raising awareness about his condition, Knight said. It was around U.S. Thanksgiving in November 2014 that Knight and his wife approached Nimoy about doing the documentary.

“We talked to Leonard first about it, and he gave us a lot of encouragement,” Knight said. “It was something he thought was really a great idea. Unfortunately, at that time, his health was changing.”

The film will focus on COPD and will include an animated voyage into the body using the USS Enterprise, the ship that Nimoy was first officer on in “Star Trek.” There will also be interviews with doctors and other experts on COPD, which is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, Knight said.

Two family documentaries

Leonard Nimoy (Spock on “Star Trek”) and family friend and actress Arielle Kebbel wearing “I Quit” buttons, representing the decision to quit smoking.
Credit: Nimoy Family

Nimoy’s death this past February was “a sad time” for the family, Knight said. It has already sparked two tributes: Besides this documentary, Nimoy’s son Adam is directing a more “Star Trek”-focused film called “For the Love of Spock,” which raised more than $600,000 on Kickstarter this year (warping far past its goal).

Adam Nimoy is also directing “Highly Illogical,” which will be made by Knight’s and Julie Nimoy’s production company, Health Point Productions. The production company previously made a documentary called “Microwarriors: The Power of Probiotics” (bacteria and yeast that aid digestion) that was directed by Adam Nimoy and narrated by Leonard Nimoy.

“Highly Illogical” will be made available for free on the Internet and will also play in special screenings across the United States when it is released, Knight said. More information about the campaign and film is available at
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/COPDFilm/Nimoy or http://nimoycopdfilm.com.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We’re also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Credit: NASA/JHPL/SWRI/mash mix: Space.com’s @SteveSpaleta

The United States glows in the early morning darkness in an image taken by Scott Kelly aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

On the halfway point of his year-long mission in space, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly captured this stunning image of the United States early in the morning.

“Clear skies over much of the USA today. #GoodMorning from @Space_Station! #YearInSpace,” the astronaut wrote on Twitter Sept. 15.

Kelly and his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Kornienko, are spending double the typical time of an International Space Station crew member in space. The goal of the mission is to better understand how the body changes in microgravity. [Liftoff! US, Russia Launch Historic One-Year Space Mission]

Kelly and Kornienko are doing a suite of experiments to look at their bone loss, muscle tone, eye pressure and other indicators that commonly change for astronauts who are in space between four and six months.

In addition, Kelly is doing a set of genetic experiments to compare with his twin brother Mark Kelly. Mark is a retired space shuttle astronaut who commanded one of the last missions in 2011.

NASA says the year-long mission will help it better position itself for a future mission to Mars. While the longest single stay in space was 437 days (by Valeri Polyakov in 1994 to 1995, on the Russian Mir space station), a Mars mission would take at least 500 days.

Prior to this mission, a few year-long (or longer) missions took place on Mir in the 1990s. Today’s better genetic technology and deeper understanding of how the human body is influenced by microgravity helped NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency to go forward with the longer mission for Kelly and Kornienko.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We’re also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

It might be a bit easier for humanity to get a foothold on Mars than people had thought.

Yesterday (Sept. 28), scientists announced that the strange dark streaks — called recurring slope lineae (RSL) — that appear on steep Red Planet slopes when the weather is warm are caused by salty liquid water.

The discovery boosts the chances that life may exist today on or near the Martian surface, researchers said. And it makes the outlook for putting boots on the Red Planet, which NASA hopes to do by the end of the 2030s, a bit rosier as well. [Main Story: Salty Water Flows On Mars Today, NASA Says] 

Indigenous Martian water “may be an important resource for future human explorers and inhabitants of Mars, and decrease the cost and increase the resilience of human activity on the Red Planet,” said discovery team member Mary Beth Wilhelm, of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. 

“Looking forward, it is imperative for us to further understand the source of the water for these features, as well as the amount,” Wilhelm said yesterday during a NASA news conference that announced the RSL find.

Getting to the bottom of these mysteries may not take long, NASA officials said.

“Now that we know what we’re looking for with HiRISE, we can begin a better search; we can begin to be more methodical,” Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science division, said during the press briefing.

HiRISE, which stands for High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, is a powerful camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). HiRISE first spotted the RSL streaks in 2011, and their liquid-water nature was deduced thanks to data gathered by another MRO instrument called CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars).

“We can look and see if we can determine if there is some sort of aquifer network that may be supplying these [RSL features]. We don’t know that — there are other theories, other ideas — but that is actually the next step,” Green said. “So if there is indeed those kind of resources that we can begin to probe, we might be able to answer that question pretty quickly.”

Other possible sources of RSL water include moisture in the thin Martian atmosphere and melting subsurface ice, researchers wrote in their new study, which was published online yesterday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

NASA would like its envisioned crewed missions to the Martian surface to live off the land as much as is safely possible. Indeed, the space agency’s next Red Planet rover, which is scheduled to blast off in 2020, will carry an instrument designed to exploit indigenous Martian resources.

That instrument, called the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE), is a technology demonstration that will turn atmospheric carbon dioxide into pure oxygen and carbon monoxide. Mars pioneers could theoretically use a scaled-up version of such a device both to stay alive and to help them launch off the Red Planet when it’s time to go home. (Oxygen can be used to burn rocket fuel.)  

Observations by MRO, NASA’s Curiosity rover and other spacecraft have shown that Mars has plenty of other resources that human outposts could potentially utilize, said former astronaut John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Grunsfeld mentioned perchlorates, chlorine-containing compounds that are widespread in Martian soil. The solid rocket boosters on NASA’s now-retired space shuttle fleet burned aluminum perchlorate fuel, Grunsfeld noted.

“In principle, you could make solid-rocket fuel” on Mars, he said during yesterday’s news conference.

But water is perhaps the most important resource for putative future Mars explorers and settlers, which is why the RSL discovery is so intriguing to the people mapping out NASA’s crewed path to the Red Planet.

“The exciting thing is that, I think we will send humans in the near future to Mars,” Grunsfeld said. “They’ll be scientists looking for signs of life, and also to be able to live on the surface. And the resources are there.”

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.