In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Mars Society has completed a two phase analogue mission to the red planet.


Human Space Exploration

Mars 160: Crew returns to Earth

Spaceflight Insider (8/21): An international six member Mars Society crew has completed Mars 160, a two phase analogue mission to the red planet. The final FMars phase was conducted on Devon Island in Canada.  Participants in both the Devon Island and companion Mars Desert Research Station mission simulation in Utah are to discuss their activities at the annual Mars Society Convention in Irvine, California, September 9.

 

Space Science

A total solar eclipse leaves a nation in awe

New York Times (8/21):  “The world appeared to hush for a few minutes as the moon stood up to the sun, perfectly blocking its fierce light except for the corona, the halo of hot gas that surrounds it,” according to the Times’ report, which also said the lunar shadow’s 90 minute trek across the U.S. brought out throngs of spectators. The next such continental display is expected in 2024.

Rare coast-to-coast total solar eclipse thrills millions across U.S.

Space.com (8/21): A rare total solar eclipse on Monday was likely the most closely followed event of its kind in history, according to one well positioned planetary scientist. The shadow of the moon swept across the U.S. from Oregon to South Carolina. Many joined with friends, family and coworkers to look up as the skies dimmed briefly.

New study says that Martian weather may get snowy overnight

Universe Today (8/21): Even with a thin dry atmosphere, Mars is capable of unleashing snowstorm like bursts. Observations with NASA’s Phoenix lander mission in 2008 suggested as much. Now a U.S. and French led research effort has modeled the phenomena and published findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Voyager 1 scientist says NASA needs new interstellar probes

Forbes.com (8/21): Space enthusiasts this month and in early September are marking the 40th anniversary of the twin Voyager mission launches. Voyager 1 and 2 carried out historic flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and on Aug. 25, 2012 Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to depart the solar system for interstellar space. University of Iowa physicist Dan Gurnett believes its time to launch more of the spacecraft, though equipped to travel faster.

 

Other News

SpaceX informed NASA of slowdown in its commercial Mars program

Spaceflightnow.com (8/18): A top NASA planetary science official confirms that SpaceX has indeed put its Red Dragon mission, a commercial effort to land an uncrewed capsule on Mars, on the back burner for now.  Once planned for a 2018 landing, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said earlier this year the experiment has slipped two years and that the company was dropping efforts to equip its Dragon crewed lander with a propulsion landing system. NASA has offered to assist SpaceX with Red Dragon by providing navigation assistance from Earth to Mars. NASA was interested in the company’s efforts to touchdown on Mars using a technology called Supersonic Retro Propulsion, a rocket braking strategy that could help with future human exploration.