NASA's next Mars rover won't just explore the Red Planet; it will, the space agency hopes, make it so a little bit of Mars might make it to Earth. Known as Mars 2020, the upcoming rover will hunt for signs of habitable environments on Mars while searching for signs of past microbial life. The robotic traveler will also cache a series of samples that can be returned to Earth with a future mission.
The mission is currently slated to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in July or August 2020, when Earth and Mars are positioned to require the least amount of power for interplanetary travel. It is scheduled to land in February 2021, with an initial mission duration of at least one Martian year, or 687 Earth-days. The car-sized rover is about 10 feet long (not including the arm), 9 feet wide, and 7 feet tall (about 3 meters long, 2.7 meters wide, and 2.2 meters tall). At 2,314 lbs. (1,050 kilograms) More specific information about the rover and mission itself you can find here. The heat shield for NASA's next Mars spacecraft just cracked open. Luckily, engineers found this out during testing here on Earth, long before the Mars 2020 rover mission leaves for the Red Planet in search of habitable environments there.
In preparation for landing, both the rover and the craft's landing gear will be encapsulated in a protective material — a heat shield — to keep them safe during the scalding trip through the Martian atmosphere. Engineers discovered the fracture on April 12, after a week of structural testing at Lockheed Martin. The crack was unexpected, but NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory – which manages the mission development – said the mission should still lift off in 2020, as anticipated. This is a stream translation from the youtube: Here is the one video I found about unfold houses. It's incredible, how far the engineers can go. SpaceX finished 2017 with publishing picture and video of Falcon heavy in the vertical position, which is ready to launch. The launch itself is planned for January this year, the exact date wasn't mentioned. We'll wait for this event. Enjoy the video and pictures below!
New Year’s Eve is a day of mixed feelings for many people. On one hand, people have fun and start thinking about future. On another hand, some people experience a sense of nostalgia as they reflect on the events that took place in their lives in the past 12 months. Perhaps, I am closer to the second type of people even though I always on the eve of New Year start thinking about plans for next year, probably as well as anyone of us. For me 31st of December always was the day when whole family and close friends meet together, remind the happy things happened with us for last 365 days as well as to bid farewell to sad events and say thank you to all around that made us who we are. Of course, lot’s of tasty food and fireworks is inalienable part… part of the end of old life and beginning new, with new hopes and newly established goals. Happy 2018! Think, Dream, Create!
A set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up after 37 years without use.
Hi, there! I was out for the two weeks. I needed this period of time to organize everything and now I am back and ready to tell you about the biggest robo-festival in the Europe, which was hosted in Tallinn 24th – 26th of November. |