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Hack-a-day are reporting that they have found ice on mars, as theorised for some time through popular literature and science dissertations. One step closer to a manned mission to mars? I hope so!

I'm not surprised. The problem is that Mars is too small to either have a hot enough core to support a stable atmosphere like our ozone- (created and stabilised by volcanic eruptions!), and its too far away from the sun to heat up that way. (Max. surface temp -5C). Earth is a fluke!
Mercury, also being too small to have accumulated a molten core relies upon intense solar radiation (which as evaporated all its water).

Im reading a text book on the formation of Earths oceans at the moment.
p

stimpsonslostson wrote:I'm not surprised. The problem is that Mars is too small to either have a hot enough core to support a stable atmosphere like our ozone- (created and stabilised by volcanic eruptions!), and its too far away from the sun to heat up that way. (Max. surface temp -5C). Earth is a fluke!
Mercury, also being too small to have accumulated a molten core relies upon intense solar radiation (which as evaporated all its water).

Im reading a text book on the formation of Earths oceans at the moment.
p

Having read Bill Bryson's book on the history of the Earth (and a whole load of other stuff), I agree...Earth is a complete fluke. We're made up of just the right balance of elements, just the right distance from the Sun and we've managed to avoid getting obliterated by any massive asteroids for quite some time. Phew!

I think a manned mission to Mars will happen, but not for at least another 50 years.

We need to innovate our way out of a global recession, the world is small now chaps, we need to reach out to the stars for our salvation. There are other planets that have a similar appearance to earth (for millions of miles away it is quite hard to tell) but how life developed is quite beyond my simple reasoning.

Mike wrote: how life developed is quite beyond my simple reasoning.

there was once this race of mice who wanted to conduct this really big experiement...

They are very clever though, they actually conduct the experiment during lab tests using mice. . . .

European & Russian joint venture to provide a manned craft for our astronauts. Interesting partnership which is showing the US of A isolationist policy will not continue to work as well in the future. They are very reluctant to 'share' things.

Grow plants on the Moon first Wired have an article that suggests that scientists want to start growing food on the surface of the moon prior to sending a manned mission. That sounds like a good idea to me. I personally think you need to make sure you can grow food and have water on the surface before you have a colony!

The Mar's Rover will try to get some more icy soil into its testing oven today using a system that is described as 'less drilling and more shaking' after most of the sticky soil got stuck in the mini scoop!

I guess this is related White Knight Two has been revealed in the US of A by Virgin Galactic. This is the first commercial space tourism that I am aware of from a privately owned company. They are going to start their tourist runs in 2010 and they cost upwards of £100,000 each. They have the first 250 tickets already sold! That is an income of £25 million already! Wow, all they have to do now is be able to supply the equipment to do the tour.

Wired have an interesting article on how to deal with asteroids that are on a direct collision course with the earth. A scientist claims that the NASA recommendation of using nuclear weapons is a misguided political pressure to support the weapons in space idea. There is a cool image on the wired page, check of out!

Wired have a fifty year history of NASA that is good! If you have a spare 30 minutes it is an interesting read. It tells an interesting story and tells us of the industries that have benifited from the space race.

Water on Mars! the next mission is to find life! Rock on a manned mission to Mars. My current prediction will be 2025-2035 for the mission to be announced and launched.

Some images from Mars!

NASA briefs President on potential find that could sustain life on the Red Planet! This could be a huge announcement in the scientific world and almost makes me want to have trained as a Physicist or Astronomer so I could go and work for NASA.

In tandem with the announcement above NASA have also been testing a space probe that will provide detailed analysis of the surface of the Moon so map out topography and heights and also potential safe landing zones for future missions.

It could be interesting to use a similar (or improved) craft to map out the surface of Mars. During that time spent mapping the surface of Mars you could be trial running a colonisation system on the Moon to see how the technology and phycology of the travelers actually stands up to the rigeours of the journey and life on a lower gravity planet.

I am curious on why the President needed briefing though, I suppose it could have been his interest on what was going on or it could be a really important discovery. . . only time will tell.

Private Company fails to launch Space X after three attempts and this is the company that NASA is hoping will fill the mission gap between the retirement of the old shuttle and the new version? Oh dear.