Category Archives: Mars

NASA has set a goal of getting a sustainable colony of humans on Mars by 2030, and in the years leading up to 2030 the space agency is collecting any relevant information that will assist them in the pursuit.

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A big part of the data collection aspect of the mission is NASA's Mars rovers, Perseverance and Curiosity. Perseverance landed on the Red Planet on February 18, 2021 and has since been inspecting the Jezero Crater for any signs of ancient microbial life. Curiosity landed on Mars on August 6, 2012 and has been studying the geology of Mars for quite some time. Recently, Curiosity snapped an incredible view of the Martian landscape, check it out here.

Since the pursuit of Mars has begun there have been several notable discoveries, and some of them have happened in 2021. Below you will find five recent incredible discoveries about Mars that will assist the human civilization in creating a sustainable presence on Mars.

It was recently confirmed in a paper from earlier in 2021 with images taken by NASA's recently landed Perseverance rover that the Jezero Crater was once flooded with water, and had a river delta present.

Read more: NASA's rover confirms something big on Mars, potential 'signs of life'

NASA's InSight probe, which is equipped with extremely sensitive instruments that measure the vibrations of deep within Mars detected the first Marsquake, and provided data that indicates Mars' crust may be anywhere between 12 and 23 miles thick. Researchers are yet to determine if Mars' core is the same as Earth's.

"Provided details on the depth and composition of Mars' crust, mantle, and core, including confirmation that the planet's center is molten. Earth's outer core is molten, while its inner core is solid; scientists will continue to use InSight's data to determine whether the same holds true for Mars," explains NASA.

Read more: NASA's Mars probe just recorded one of the biggest Martian quakes yet

Back in July, 2021, a paper was published in the journal Geophysical Researcher Letters that details a study on the topography and mineral composition of a select area that's located in the northern hemisphere of Mars. The study found evidence of "super eruptions".

"Spewing water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide into the air, these explosions tore through the Martian surface over a 500-million-year period about 4 billion years ago."

Read more: Mars had thousands of violent volcanic eruptions, NASA image confirms

In early September, NASA's Perseverance rover collected its first rock sample, and has since collected four more samples. The samples being collected are showing signs of groundwater being present, which may even contain microbial life.

"It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment. It's a big deal that the water was there a long time," said Ken Farley of Caltech, the project scientist for the mission.

Read more: There may just be a simple reason why Mars doesn't have surface water

Researchers believe that Mars once contained quite a lot of water, but are yet to find a singular reason why it lost it all. However, they have discovered some factors at would have been at play. Using three spacecrafts researchers were able to discover the dust storms warm up higher altitudes of the cold atmosphere.

"In the higher reaches of Mars, where the atmosphere is sparse, water molecules are left vulnerable to ultraviolet radiation, which breaks them up into their lighter components of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen, which is the lightest element, is easily lost to space, with oxygen either escaping or settling back to the surface," NASA explained

Read more: NASA explains what it's like landing on the surface of Mars

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5 incredible new discoveries about our next home, the Red ...

NASA hopes to get astronauts living on Mars by 2030; before then rovers have been exploring the red planet and uncovering some of its secrets.

They include NASA's Perseverance mission, seeking signs of ancient microbial life, and Curiosity, studying the deep interior of Mars.

Here are five intriguing discoveries about Mars to have been found in recent years.

Scientists have had proof since 2013 that water once flowed on Mars, when NASA's Curiosity rover found smooth, rounded pebbleslike those seen in Earth's riverson the Martian surface.

More recently, it was discovered the Jezero crater area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta.

A 2021 paper on NASA's Perseverance Mars rover mission revealed more details about Jezero's watery past.

The rover's images showed "steep slopes called escarpments, or scarps in the delta, which formed from sediment accumulating at the mouth of an ancient river that long ago fed the crater's lake," NASA noted.

Discussing the research, Nicolas Mangold, a Perseverance scientist and lead author of the paper, called the discovery a "key observation that enables us...to confirm the presence of a lake and river delta at Jezero."

In July 2021, Scientists discovered new detail about Mars' makeup thanks to NASA's Insight probe.

The probe, which landed on Mars in 2018, has a seismometer that can sense vibrations underneath the ground. And as a result, was able to take the first recording of a Marsquake.

From Insight's data, researchers determined that Mars' crust could be 12 miles to 23 miles. Earth, which is nearly twice the size of Mars, has a crust ranging from a few miles to more than 45 miles.

According to NASA the three papers based on the seismometer's data published in Science, "provided details on the depth and composition of Mars' crust, mantle, and core, including confirmation that the planet's center is molten. Earth's outer core is molten, while its inner core is solid; scientists will continue to use InSight's data to determine whether the same holds true for Mars."

Scientists now think Mars' core is molten, but are yet to determine whether Mars has a solid inner core like Earth's.

Scientists recently found evidence for thousands of "super eruptions," the most violent volcanic explosions known.

To do so, they studied the topography and mineral composition of a portion of the Arabia Terra region in Mars' northern hemisphere.

A paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters in July 2021 paints a vivid picture:

"Spewing water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide into the air, these explosions tore through the Martian surface over a 500-million-year period about 4 billion years ago."

Martian rock samples are providing clues about where groundwaterpotentially conducive to microbial lifemay have once been found on Mars for long stretches.

NASA's Perseverance rover collected its first samples, from the Jezero crater, in early September and the results astounded many scientists.

"It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment," said Ken Farley of Caltech, project scientist for the mission, later that month "It's a big deal that the water was there a long time," he added.

Regional dust storms "play a huge role in drying out" Mars, NASA announced in August 2021.

Scientists think Mars contained much more water billions of years ago, but are less sure about the reason for the water escaping.

Using three spacecraft, however, scientists discovered one reason: the storms warm up higher altitudes of the cold atmosphere.

"In the higher reaches of Mars, where the atmosphere is sparse, water molecules are left vulnerable to ultraviolet radiation, which breaks them up into their lighter components of hydrogen and oxygen," NASA explained

"Hydrogen, which is the lightest element, is easily lost to space, with oxygen either escaping or settling back to the surface."

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5 Amazing New Discoveries About Mars

Space-X founder Elon Musk has shared a photo of Starship, the massive, next-generation rockethis company is developing to launch cargo and people on missions to the moon and Mars, after he announced they have begun building a launchpad in Florida.

"We will soon make these real," Musk tweeted on Saturday, a day after announcing SpaceX has started constructionon an orbital launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"Construction of Starship orbital launch pad at the Cape has begun," Musk tweeted on Friday.

According to a CNBC report on Friday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) confirmed SpaceX is within the rights of their lease agreement to make launch infrastructure improvements within the boundaries of the pad. The American space agency has said it is not providing funds for the Starship launchpad.

Also read | As Elon Musk's Starlink offers internet services in India, govt issues warning

The orbital tests for the new spacecraft is a major part ofElon Muskand SpaceXs plans for the future of space travel and the company'sultimate goal is to launch an uncrewed mission to Marsin 2024 and human spaceflightto the Red Planet in 2026.

According to reports, the Starship design is meant to be used for both suborbital flights on Earth and for deep-space missions. They also say Starshipwill be a next-generation fully reusable rocket capable of carrying up to 100 people toMars.

Also read | The evolution of the space race

Being reusable, the Starship can be re-filled with propellant after returning from space and be ready to launch again in a short period of timereducing the cost of the entire enterprise.

The SpaceX prototype of its Starship SN11, which is being designed for an eventual trip to Mars, crashed during a test landing attempt in March.

In August, SpaceX said in filings with the Federal Communications Commission it intends to use its Starship rocket as the primary vehicle to deliver spacecraft into orbit.

Also read | Number of people that walked on Moon will grow soon: Elon Musk

Elon Musk has spoken about his dream of building cities on Mars and said settling humans on other planets could preserve civilisation if Earth were to experience a cataclysm. "History is going to bifurcate along two directions. One path is we stay on Earth forever, and then there will be some eventual extinction event,"Musksaid in 2016.

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Mission to Mars: Elon Musk shares photo of Starship, says will soon make these real - Hindustan Times

Award-winning theatre company Back Alley Productions invites you to the Mars Theatre for a pay-what-you-can Christmas Concert, scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 16 and Friday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. both evenings.

Christmas Concert: The Show ushers in the holiday with holiday-themed Broadway songs ranging from the golden age, all the way into the modern era. Some songs we are singing are from White Christmas, Elf: The Musical, Auntie Mame, and many other classics.

But, not only do you get a riveting concert, we have a cast of funny characters: Eve, Gloria, Dottie and Joseph, played by our local talent, who help remind us all what Christmas is all about.

When we decided that we wanted to do something for Christmas, we really wanted to encapsulate the feeling of Christmas, family, love and community. Director Madison Smith said.

As this season is about generosity and giving back, Back Alley is asking only for pay-what-you-can for tickets.Any amount is welcomed, but if youre wanting to see the show for free then thats fine, too. This is our way of saying thank you for supporting the theatre throughout the years, and especially since we have had to close and slowly re-open.

Weve been performing at the Mars Theatre since 2016, and the community has supported us all that time, Smith added. We thought this Christmas, our gift to them would be a thank you for their support and patronage. We think it will be a night of memories, community and warmth. We hope to see you there!

The Mars Theatre is located at 117 N. Chattanooga Street, Lafayette, Georgia. Visit http://www.BAPshows.com or call (706) 621-2870.

NOTE:MASKS ARE ALSO REQUIRED BY ALL PATRONS AT THIS TIME.

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Back Alley Productions Brings Holiday Concert To The Mars Theatre - Chattanooga Pulse

Gullies on the wall of the Terra Sirenum crater (Photo by NASA/JPL/MSSS/Getty Images)

When astronomer Percival Lowell spotted what he thought were canals on Mars in the 19th century, he sparked an obsession with whether there is (or was) life on the Red Planet.

While Lowells discovery made him a laughing stock, today, space probes trundle across the surface of Mars in search of signs of life.

But one of the most dramatic moments was on this day in 2006, when NASA scientists announced the discovery of what appeared to be recently flowing water on Mars, captured by the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Many scientists believe Mars was once warm and wet, and that microbial life might have flourished there long ago.

But what NASA announced in December 2006 was much more dramatic: evidence suggesting that water had flowed on Mars within that decade.

The new deposits appeared over the space of seven years, NASA said (NASA)

The evidence came in the form of bright streaks down the side of two craters, Terra Sirenum and Centauri Montes, which may have been left by several swimming pools-worth of water flowing down the gentle slopes.

Due to the low atmospheric pressure on Mars, the water would have boiled away from the surface.

"These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Programme.

John Murray of the Open University, one of the lead scientists on the European Mars Express spacecraft said, You've heard of a smoking gun. This is a squirting gun. It is a really interesting and tantalising find. There is so much evidence of past water flow, but if this is right then the same is happening at the present time.

Were the gullies in Terra Sirenum formed by flowing water? (Getty/NASA)

The images were captured by the Mars Global Surveyor satellite (Photo By Encyclopaedia Britannica/UIG Via Getty Images)

"This is one more place in which we might possibly find life. If you have micro-organisms frozen in water deposits just below the surface of Mars, then yes, these could be revived.

"It's a small possibility but it is a possibility: on Earth, microbescan exist for tens of thousands of years like that and still berevived."

Story continues

In the decade-and-a-half after the finding, NASA rovers have flown to Mars, and other tantalising signs of flowing water have been uncovered.

In 2015, images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) found more evidence that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.

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Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks have been seen on the Red Planet.

Scientists believe that briny water is flowing in a shallow subsurface flow, with enough water wicking to the surface to explain the darkening.

John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington said, Our quest on Mars has been to follow the water, in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what weve long suspected.

This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water - albeit briny - is flowing today on the surface of Mars.

US President Joe Biden gestures as he speaks during a virtual call to congratulate the NASA JPL Perseverance team on the successful Mars landing, March 4, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Today, NASAs new Perseverance probe (armed with its own helicopter) is still searching for signs of life.

Perseverance will explore the Jezero Crater region of Mars.

The mission consists of a 3-metre-long rover called Perseverance, and a smaller 'rotorcraft' (1.2 metres in diameter) called Ingenuity (Getty)

It will also collect and cache samples of martian rocks and soil for subsequent missions to collect and return to Earth as part of the joint ESA-NASA Mars Sample Return campaign.

Perseverance is armed with X-Rays and ultraviolet light and will zoom in to rock surfaces to look for signs of past microbial life.

Watch: Mars Rover captures stunning images of Martian sand dunes

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On This Day: When will we know if there's life on Mars? - Yahoo Movies UK

When I was in college in the mid-2000s, I devoured books by pastors and writers who were labeled Emergent. Coming out of my Southern Baptist upbringing, I was drawn to expressions of Christianity that seemed to engage culture not as an enemy, but as an opportunity for greater contextualization of the gospel.

It seemed that much of the kinetic energy behind this Emergent movement was coming out of the Pacific Northwest. Donald Miller, who lived in Portland, Ore., wrote his book Blue Like Jazz. I was so captured by his frank and honest reflections on faith that I jumped at the opportunity after my freshman year of college to do an internship in Portland with a fledgling ministry organization.

My internship was to work with a ministry to the unhoused based out of a small church start. We worshiped in a movie theater, and we hosted nightly events where we washed the feet of and provided free haircuts for the unhoused on the streets of Portland. Our small congregation was part of a quasi-denominational body of churches called the Acts 29 Network, a group of theologically Reformed church planters.

As part of the internship, the other intern and I were given a book to read written by one of the main leaders of the Acts 29 Network. The book was The Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll. In it, Driscoll lays out his personal sense of mission and calling for churches to be places of deep doctrinal truth and also edgy experiences of cultural engagement.

I was discerning a call to ministry at the time, and Driscolls concrete certainty was appealing at a time in my life when I felt out at sea riding the waves of doubt and confusion.

I was discerning a call to ministry at the time, and Driscolls concrete certainty was appealing at a time in my life when I felt out at sea riding the waves of doubt and confusion.

For the next couple of years, I followed Driscolls ministry as it began to explode on YouTube. Friends would send me clips of his sermons, and we would gawk at his audacity to scream at his congregation and curse while preaching. However, his fervency always seemed to arise out of a passionate adherence to the gospel and, therefore, we felt his outbursts and vitriolic language were simply expressions of his fervency for truth and righteousness. In other words: The ends justified the means.

As my theological horizons began to expand, I started to see Driscolls sermons in a new light. I could no longer square away his prize-fighter version of Jesus with the Lamb of God. I heard too many stories of women who were turned away from the gospel because of Driscolls rants about Femi-Nazis. Eventually, by the grace of God, I found other voices that led me deeper into the way of Jesus.

Which is why I have listened with heightened interest to the recent podcast from Christianity Today called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. For those who may not be aware, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill catalogues the story of Driscoll, the church he founded in Seattle (Mars Hill), its rapid growth and its even more rapid closing after Driscoll was found to have fostered an abusive and noxious leadership environment.

The final episode recently posted caused me to reflect on the experience of listening to this story of a churchs rapid growth and sudden crumbling.

The podcast has not been without controversy, and I think some of the criticism has been unfair. Some people have taken umbrage at the fact that the podcast highlights some of the positive experiences many had at Mars Hill. One episode features a beautiful story of a father baptizing his daughter. Twitter exploded with indignation that the podcast was somehow giving credence to Driscolls toxic theology. But I think those criticisms show an ignorance of the cultural contexts that give rise to leaders like Driscoll.

We need to hear those stories of genuine ministry because they serve as a warning to those who are currently embedded in church settings. None of us are immune from being blinded by the good things happening around us to the point where we shrug off possibly toxic behavior from our leaders or ourselves.

Because if the only lesson I take away from The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill is, Woo. Thank God Im nothing like Mark Driscoll, then I am no better than the Pharisee standing in the Temple with gratitude that I am not like that tax collector (Luke 18:9-14).

Instead, we all must wrestle with what we carry within ourselves and be willing to examine (deconstruct) our own theologies and perspectives on leadership. None of us are immune from falling into the trap of becoming a toxic leader or participating in the toxic culture of a church or hitching our wagon to toxic theology because we have somehow convinced ourselves that the ends justify the means.

In their book A Church Called Tov, father and daughter Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer write about how churches become places of goodness (the Hebrew word for good is tov) instead of harm. They draw from high-profile examples of toxic leadership such as Bill Hybels or James MacDonald, but throughout the book they warn that the symptoms that led to these downfalls are pitfalls for all of us. They write: When leaders acquire power, power itself becomes an agent that may reduce the leaders capacity for empathy and compassion, especially toward those who are powerless (like women, in many churches). Such a self-centered hubris may cause the personal character of the power-shaped pastor to lose contact with the very essence of Christianity.

Its not that the podcast has been without faults. I wish The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill had gone much further in deconstructing the ways Mark Driscolls theology arose out of a patriarchal form of Calvinism that leads many down a path of theological arrogance that is often disguised as biblical Christianity.

Mark Driscolls theology arose out of a patriarchal form of Calvinism that leads many down a path of theological arrogance that is often disguised as biblical Christianity.

I wish the podcast had done more to talk about how Driscolls constant mocking of anything outside traditional gender roles came from a place of deep and sinful homophobia and transphobia.

I wish the podcast had done more to examine the ways Driscoll constantly preached the myth of redemptive violence and used war imagery in harmful and unwise ways. I wish all of those things and more.

Yet, I am grateful for The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill because it has reminded me of the utter necessity of cyclically deconstructing my own theology and my own sense of calling.

May I never be caught in the traps of power and fame.

May I never be the source of my neighbors spiritual trauma.

And may I never stop pursuing the grace of the mystery of God at work in broken places, at work in me.

Tyler Tankersleyserves as senior pastor of Ardmore Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C. He is a graduate of Central Baptist Theological Seminary.

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I lived in the culture of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, and theres one part of the story thats wrong | Opinion by Rick Pidcock

3 Leadership lessons from Mark Driscoll | Opinion by Alan Rudnick

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Reflections on The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill - Baptist News Global

Moscow, Nov 27 (EFE).- Russia on Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Mars 2 becoming the first-ever spacecraft to reach the Martian surface, where it crashed.

Of course, Mars 2 was a very important stage in our Martian investigations, Mikhail Marov, who was part of the USSRs planetary research program, told Efe.

But the launch of the Mars 3 device shortly afterwards was much more important, the academic added.

Mars 3, which was identical to its predecessor, was launched in May 1971, nine days after Mars 2.

In general, the USSR paid great attention to the Mars research program and the launch of these devices in 1971 was, alongside the Venus program, one of the main tasks of planetary research, the scientist said.

Dispatching space crafts to the red planet was difficult as the Soviet scientists did not have the ephemeris, the tables of values that allow to establish the positions of astronomical objects in the sky, he stressed.

The United States, meanwhile, had the necessary data but did not share it with the Soviets because of the Cold War. Americans didnt want us to be the first, he said.

To overcome the lack of data, Soviet constructors and engineers proposed unique on-board navigation systems to take the necessary and process measures to guide a trip to Mars.

After a failed attempt to send a device to the red plants orbit ahead of Mars 2, it entered the Martian atmosphere at a sharper angle than calculated and thus it crashed, Marov said.

It was the first device sent from Earth to Mars, although unfortunately, it was not very successful. But Mars 3 did it all flawlessly, said the scientist.

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Russia marks 50th anniversary of reaching Mars' surface - La Prensa Latina

Finding a gift that will excite the faces of young children this holiday season is a wonderful feeling, and its all the better when its a gift they can learn from while playing. This Cyber Monday augmented reality deal is a great example of that, and you can find PlayShifius Orboot Earth on sale for only $38.19 at Amazon right now.

This augmented reality globe offers a classic Earth exploring toy, but with new interactive functions through a smartphone that turns a simple globe into a magical new interactive experience. Whats more, PlayShifu offers a Mars edition of this exciting augmented reality toy so you can learn as much about the Red Planet as you can about our home. If you're a Prime member you can save $11 at Amazon.

Dont miss out on even more fun and educational science toy deals in our Cyber Monday National Geographic science kit deals.

The PlayShifu Orboot Earth augmented reality globe is an exciting learning toy for kids ages 4 to 10. By scanning the globe with the companion app on a smartphone or tablet, you can unlock a fascinating array of features that teach you about this amazing planet of ours. The app will show you animal facts with fun illustrations, play music, tell stories and offer up some fun quizzes as well.

There are over 400 highlights and more than 1,000 world facts across categories that include animals, monuments and cuisines of the world. Kids can learn about the food chain, some of the Wonders of the World and go on global scavenger hunts for hidden treasures.

The Mars edition of PlayShifus globes offers a similar range of functionality, but with more of a space exploration spin. Find the locations of famous Mars landing missions, the spacecraft used to get there and what discoveries they found. This globe is aimed at kids ages 6 to 12, so a little more advanced than the Earth version.

The apps for these globes are available on a wide range of smart devices and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Googles Play Store.

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Cyber Monday augmented reality globe deals: Kids can explore Mars and Earth - Livescience.com

About 60 years ago, humans acquired the technological ability to travel to space. By now, science fiction franchises like Star Trek inspired entrepreneurs such as Jeff BezosJeffrey (Jeff) Preston BezosHealth risks of space tourism: Is it responsible to send humans to Mars? Michael Strahan headed for space aboard next Blue Origin flight Why science and religion come together when discussing extraterrestrial life MORE to translate their wealth into enterprises of space tourism. Bezos recently expressed the desire to send 1 trillion humans into space in the distant future, because Earth will not be able to accommodate all of them. Unfortunately, humans were not selected by Darwinian evolution to survive for long periods of time in space.

The hazards from energetic particles have been known since the early days of space exploration. On Earth, humans are protected from these charged particles, which originate from the Sun and our Milky Way galaxy. Earth is shielded by its magnetic field and atmosphere. Mars has no magnetic field or atmosphere to shield humans from the damage caused by cosmic radiation.

Human astronauts outside the Earths magnetic womb get zapped by solar energetic particles, mostly during sporadic solar flares that last from minutes to hours. Such flares are prominent when the sun is active, namely during solar maxima in its 11-year cycle of surface activity. The most energetic solar particles can be deadly. Humans have a better chance of survival on Mars when the Sun is least active, namely during solar minima.

But even if humans avoid the radiation from the Sun, there is an additional risk from Galactic cosmic rays. During a space journey that lasts more than three years, these Galactic particles would be life-threatening as well. The potential cumulative effects from space radiation must be studied thoroughly before sending humans for missions that last more than a few years. Protection could potentially be offered in deep caves under the Lunar or Martian surface.

Our solar system receives only a fraction of the Galactic cosmic rays, thanks to magnetic shielding by the so-called heliosphere, located at a hundred times the Earth-Sun separation, where the Solar wind meets the interstellar medium. The heliosphere was traversed by NASAs Voyager 1 space craft in 2012 and by Voyager 2 in 2018. The instruments onboard these missions revealed that the heliosphere blocks about three-fourths of the galactic cosmic rays.

As of now, scientists are unable to forecast reliably the levels of Galactic cosmic radiation throughout the solar system. The very region that shields the galactic radiation is the one that is least understood.

Space missions, such as Voyager, New Horizons, Interstellar Boundary Explorer and Cassini-Huygens, revealed the frontal extent of the heliosphere and the incoming stream of hydrogen atoms from the galaxy, but the fundamental features of the heliosphere remain unknown. In particular, the global shape and distribution of cosmic radiation are uncertain.

Before sending humans to long space journeys, more resources should be allocated to studying the radiation filtered by the heliosphere. Better understanding of our own environment will also help us forecast whether life exists on Earth-like planets around other stars.

Some habitable planets are protected from energetic particles by their atmosphere and magnetic field, as well as by the analog of our heliosphere, labeled astrosphere for other stars. We currently know very little about astrospheres in general. Studies of the heliosphere would help us understand the critical mechanisms that controls the properties and shielding of energetic particles that pose a threat to extraterrestrial life.

The human body is fragile. Humans cannot safely venture to long journeys beyond our immediate vicinity near Earth. Before sending human-astronauts to long expeditions we must ensure that we are not sending them to their death. Ahead of dreaming about a large human population on Mars, as advocated by Elon Musk, we must understand the radiation environment throughout the solar system.

A safe bet, for the time being, is to send our technological kids, in the form of robots like the Perseverance rover or futuristic AI-astronauts. Artificially-made hardware is manufactured to be far more resilient to damage by energetic particles than the human body. And we should be proud of launching our technological products to space as we are of sending our biological kids to explore the world.

Merav Opher is a professor in the Astronomy Department at Boston University. She is currently the William Bentinck-Smith fellowat the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. She is the leading SHIELD, a NASA DRIVE Science as principal investigator. SHIELD is a multi-institutional effort with more than 45 leading scientists across a dozen institutions. She was the chair-elect of the APS Topical Group in Plasma Astrophysics; member of the Decadal Survey in Space Physics of Solar and Heliospheric Panel and the last three NASA Heliophysics Mission Senior Review Panels.

Avi Loeb is a professor of science at Harvard University, head of the Galileo Project, founding director of Harvard University's - Black Hole Initiative, director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University from 2011-2020. He chairs the advisory board for the Breakthrough Starshot project and is a former member of the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. He is the bestselling author of Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth and a co-author of the textbook Life in the Cosmos.

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Health risks of space tourism: Is it responsible to send humans to Mars? | TheHill - The Hill

SPACEX is building a spacecraft that billionaire CEO Elon Musk says will one day take people to the Moon and Mars.

It's called Starship, and the California rocket firm's latest prototype, SN20, is due for launch soon as part of the craft's first orbital test flight.

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SpaceX has said that SN20 will be its first Starship prototype to reach space. Previous versions have performed short "hops" of up to 10 km (6 miles).

Lifting off atop SpaceX's huge deep-space rocket booster, Super Heavy, the 165-foot-tall (50 meters) spacecraft is expected to fly in early 2022.

The precise timing of the liftoff is unclear, as SpaceX still isn't cleared to fly the craft from its Starbase launch site in south Texas.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is still conducting an environmental assessment of Starbase.

A draft assessment has been filed and the FAA has collected public comments on the document, but the final report has not yet been released.

In the meantime, SpaceX is conducting tests of SN20 on the ground to ensure it's ready for liftoff.

On November 12, the vehicle engaged in a static test a brief firing up of its six Raptor engines while the vehicle remained stationary on the ground.

"Good static fire with all six engines!" Musk tweetedshortly after the test.

So far, SpaceX has named its Starship prototypes in numerical order. The SN stands for Starship serial Number.

SN8, for instance, was the eighth prototype, while SN9 was the ninth and so on.

However, the company apparently broke with this trend for the naming of SN20. The last spacecraft was dubbed SN15, meaning numbers 16 to 19 were skipped.

The jump is because SN20 is what Musk calls Starship's "next major technology revolution".

Unlike previous prototypes, it's capable of orbital flight and is loaded with six raptor engines, instead of three.

The upgrade required a reset of the naming to scheme to differentiate this line of Starships from the last.

Expect the next big advancement to start with SN30, and the one after that to begin at SN40, and so on.

The spacecraft hasn't even reached orbit yet, meaning its first flight to the Moon or Mars if it ever gets there is a long way off.

Starship will play a key role in Nasa's Artemis programme, which aims to establish a long-term presence on the Moon.

In April 2021, the space agency awarded Nasa a $2.9billion contract to develop Starship into a lander capable of touching down on the lunar surface.

Nasa aims to land astronauts on the Moon later this decade.

SpaceX has also announced plans to fly the vehicle around the Moon in 2023 on a flight boarded by the Japanese online retail billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.

Plans for the spacecraft's first trip to Mars will depend on the success of these flights. Musk has said he can get Starship to the red planet in the 2030s.

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In other news, Apple has announced that it will let customersfix their own iPhonesfor the first time starting next year.

The UK is fighting anepidemic of hack attackstargeting consumers and businesses, according to officials.

NASA hasslammed Russiaafter a missile it fired into one of its own satellites forced the space station to perform an emergency swerve.

And, a 75-year-old Brithas toldof his anger after scammers on WhatsApp fooled him into sending them hundreds of pounds.

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