Today’s Deep Space Extra… Scientists find dramatic changes in Martian climate.
Space Science
Mars’ ice age may have turned the red planet white 370,000 years ago
Mashable (5/26): Cold and dry now, Mars has been wildly different environmentally within the past 500,000 years, according to the findings from the Southwest Research Institute using NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Climate change on the red planet, including evidence for a waning Ice Age, were dramatic, according to the study published in the journal Science. Understanding the Martian climate will help determine whether Mars was habitable in the past, and if so, why it changed. It may also help to explain changes also underway on the Earth,
Chang’e 5 lunar probe to land on moon and return in 2017
Xinhuanet, of China (5/27): China will look to late 2017 for its Chang’e 5 mission, a robotic effort to land on the moon, gather soil and rocks and return the samples to the Earth.
Low Earth Orbit
A spicy lunch was delivered to astronauts at the International Space Station
Washington Post (5/26): Astronauts aboard the International Space Station dine on a contest winning spicy Jamaican rice and beans with coconut milk entree prepared by students from Phoebus High School in Hampton, Va. NASA sponsored the competition to help improve the taste and nutrition of the space explorers diet.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
NASA, Bigelow plan their next move after expandable space module fails to inflate
Las Vegas Review Journal (5/26): Efforts to initiate a two year test of the commercial Bigelow Expandable Activities Module at the International Space Station stalled on Wednesday, when astronauts faced early difficulties with the manual inflation steps. NASA and Bigelow were still assessing late in the day what went wrong and how to respond and make a second effort to extend the experimental in space astronaut habitat.
Planetary Resources’ asteroid miners focus on Earth observation with $21 million in new funding
Geek Wire (5/26): A $21.1 million investment in the asteroid mining company Planetary Resources may lead to a new direction for the enterprise. The company plans a new Earth observation initiative known as Ceres.
Suborbital
Blue Origin preparing to land New Shepard with a bum parachute next time
Space News (5/26): Blue Origin, the launch services company that includes passenger flight in its business model, plans an upcoming test flight that will assess the ability of the launch vehicle’s crew capsule to land safely with a parachute failure.
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