#Mars-bound spaceship experiencing technical issues: NASA

“#Mars-bound spaceship experiencing technical issues: NASA” The nose cone containing the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover sits atop a motorized payload transporter at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 7, 2020. Credit: NASA/KSC Mars 2020, the spaceship carrying NASA’s new rover Perseverance to the Red Planet, is experiencing technical difficulties and is running…

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#Sticking the landing on Mars: High-powered computing aims to reduce guesswork

“#Sticking the landing on Mars: High-powered computing aims to reduce guesswork” A closer look at a plume particle simulation. Credit: Capecelatro Research Group/Michigan Engineering Future spacecrafts bound for the moon or beyond will benefit from high-powered computer simulations underway at the University of Michigan that model the particulate mayhem set in motion by rocket thruster-powered…

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#Breakthrough method for predicting solar storms

“#Breakthrough method for predicting solar storms” Credit: CC0 Public Domain Extensive power outages and satellite blackouts that affect air travel and the internet are some of the potential consequences of massive solar storms. These storms are believed to be caused by the release of enormous amounts of stored magnetic energy due to changes in the…

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#Plutonium-238 to help power Perseverance on Mars

“#Plutonium-238 to help power Perseverance on Mars” The Perseverance rover, headed for Mars this summer, carries a plutonium isotope produced at ORNL, the first domestic production in about 30 years. As it decays, Pu-238 will power the rover and its instruments across the planet. Credit: NASA After its long journey to Mars beginning this summer,…

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#With Perseverance and a little MOXIE, MIT is going to Mars

“#With Perseverance and a little MOXIE, MIT is going to Mars” MOXIE will collect carbon dioxide (CO2) from the Martian atmosphere and electrochemically split the it into oxygen and carbon monoxide molecules. Credit: NASA/JPL On July 30, a two-week window of opportunity opens for Perseverance—the newest Mars rover, forged in the spirit of human curiosity—to…

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#New method determines planetary regolith thermal conductivity

“#New method determines planetary regolith thermal conductivity” This image of Mars from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows gullies that may have been carved by liquid water emerging from subsurface aquifers, a hypothesis for which Stephen Wood’s research provides support. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona A new analytic…

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