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Life on Mars Is Possible

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"moss growing out of a crack in stone"

The tiny fungi in question managed not only to survive in Mars-like conditions, but thrive.

The colonization of the Red Planet was a subject of numerous movies, books and space lovers’ fantasy. And it might come true, after all, since astronauts discovered that life on Mars is possible. The potential lifeform that could thrive in the harsh conditions is fungi. While the tiny Antarctic fungi were only tested on the space station in conditions similar to those on the Red Planet, scientists are confident that life on Mars is possible.

The Cryptoendolithic Fungi Could Be the First Lifeform on Mars

According to the scientists, the Cryptoendolithic fungi could be the first lifeform on Mars. The tiny shroom is usually found in the Antarctic Land of Victoria in the Dry Valleys of McMurdo so it is used to live in very harsh environments.

In order to test if the life form could survive on the alien planet, European researchers collected a few samples and sent them to the International Space Station (ISS). After 18 months of exposure to an environment specially created to mimic the conditions on the Red Planet, the fungi was doing well.

Life on Mars is Possible

Rosa Noetzel de la Torre, a co-researcher in the Life on Mars project, and a member of the Aerospace Technology National Institute in Spain says that the endolithic communities’ cells remained intact prior to the exposure, their cellular DNA stability remaining high.

According to de la Torre, the next step is to plant the Cryptoendolithic fungi on the surface of the alien planet and see if life on Mars is possible or not.

After being relocated on the surface of the Red Planet the microorganism will continue to be studied, scientists focusing on its bioindicators, its stability on a long-term basis and, of course, its ability to survive in another world.

It’s A Small Step for the Fungi, But a Big Step for Humankind

This is a very important advancement in the research for Mars colonization. It is the first step towards bringing intelligent life on the Red Planet. A small step for the fungi, but a big step for humankind.

After discovering, last year, that there are salty water rivers flowing on the surface of the planet, the introduction of living microorganisms is the next logical step for the scientists.

But the survival skills of the Cryptoendolithic fungi is not just a clue that life on Mars is possible, but it may also mean that life on Mars was possible some time ago.

The Mars-Like Conditions Only Enhanced the Metabolic Activity of the Fungi

After 18 months of experiments, and different kinds of microorganism used and exposed to both space and Mars conditions, the results showed that the fungi that were exposed to space conditions did not fare well at all, but the Mars one showed a double metabolic activity level than the one they had on Earth. This only comes to strengthen the idea that life on Mars is possible.

Image source: www.wikimedia.org

SpaceX Parachutes Were Successfully Tested

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"The SpaceX parachutes that were tested successfully by NASA"

SpaceX is already working on a propulsion mechanism that will land the spacecraft on land.

NASA released some footage to the general public revealing that the SpaceX parachutes were successfully tested. The Crew Dragon system for landing developed by Elon Musk’s company, Space X was tested in Coolidge, Arizona and the results were more than satisfying.

SpaceX Parachutes Were Successfully Tested

A cargo aircraft model C-130 carried the parachute assembly thousands of feet in the air in order for the drop test to be carried out. In place of an actual Crew Dragon craft, SpaceX used a weight that was similar in weight and form to the actual spacecraft. The parachutes were rigged to the weight to deploy in similar conditions as they would in the actual Crew Dragon mission to return astronauts from the ISS.

The test did not include all of the parachute-based landing mechanism developed by SpaceX. The additional parachutes that are meant to open when the full landing will take place were not added to the experiment because the drogue parachutes will be enabled at an altitude that was not consistent with the one from which the weight was dropped.

Nonetheless, the tests were a success, meaning that the landing mechanism devised by SpaceX will some bring back home the astronauts that serve on the ISS.

This Is Not the First Parachute Test Performed by Space X

But this is not the first parachute test performed by SpaceX. In the last month of 2013, Elon Musk’s program performed an early drop test for the landing mechanism. The test that was performed then did not include the modification made for human transport. It was just meant to see how the parachutes react in real-life conditions. The Dragon Crew module was designed afterwards.

The 2013 test included only three main parachutes and two drogue ones. Since then, the Crew Dragon received four main parachutes in order to make the descent more stable.

The Crew Dragon Will Land the Astronauts in the Ocean

For now, the Crew Dragon will land the astronauts in the ocean, a technique that was also used in the Apollo missions. But since the SpaceX parachutes were successfully tested, the company is already working on a propulsion system that will not make swimming a mandatory skill for astronauts.

Last November the Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco super engines were also put to the test. After the experiments, SpaceX noted the fact that a landing strategy using propulsion is important in the development of a landing mechanism that does not involve the surface of the ocean.

NASA declared that additional tests will be made, as they are trying to replicate real-life landing conditions as best as they can.

If everything goes as smooth as the SpaceX parachutes tests, NASA estimates that the Crew Dragon will be bringing back the astronauts from the ISS as soon as 2017.

Image source: www.wikimedia.org

NASA All Geared up to Send Astronauts to One year Long ISS Mission

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astronuast on one year ISS mission

In 2014, a group of astronauts carried out more than 200 experiments in ISS within a short time period of six months

It seems like the missions of International Space Station is gradually progressing with the time. This year, NASA intends to send two American astronauts in ISS.  They will carry out seven other experiments in this time period.

Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko are extremely excited to spend one year in the orbit. Thus far, astronauts have spent maximum six months in the space. Hence, the accomplishment of the new mission would be a great success for the researchers.

The chief aim of this mission is to figure out the influence of space on the bodies of human beings. The entire research will focus on the mental and physical alterations of these astronauts. The scientist will closely analyze metabolism, mental health, microbes and physical performance of them.

As per the recent press release of NASA, the two astronauts will provide significant information regarding the medical, psychological and biomedical impact of space on human body.

Researchers wish to determine the affect of space on the first astronauts who will travel to Mars

Additionally, Scott Kelly will also work on another experiment simultaneously. He will work along with his twin brother, Mark Kelly. Scientists will execute similar test on the body of Mark. However, the only difference is that Mark will stay on Earth rather than ISS.

ISS Crew Evacuates US Section Of The Station Due To Ammonia Leak

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ISS-crew-evacuates-US-section

As per the recent reports revealed, the crew aboard the International Space Station has been enforced to evacuate and close off the US part of the station after an alarm sounded for a possibly perilous chemical spill.

Two Americans and an Italian astronaut have taken asylum with three cosmonauts in the Russian part of the station after a sensor spotted a possible ammonia spill from a cooling system.

Roscosmos — Russian space agency said all 6 of the ISS crew had emptied to the Russian part of the station lined up with crisis dealings after the alarm sounded around 9am GMT on Wednesday.

After hearing the alarm, the team wore masks and moved to the Russian part as a safety measure. NASA stressed that a defective sensor or computer system may well have set off a false alarm.

“There is no firm data to propose there was a genuine ammonia leak,” a NASA representative said. “The crew members are safe and secure inside the Russian section of the International Space Station.

As investigators examined information returning from the International Space Station, the alarm looked continually prone to have been brought on by a defective sensor. “It’s turning into a stronger case this is a false sign,” the representative said.

The cooling system on the space station utilizes two loops that are loaded with ammonia. The ammonia gathers heat from electronic gear aboard and is then pumped outside the station where it dumps the heat into space through titan radiators.

The alarm sounded after a sensor spotted a change in pressure in a part of a related water cooling framework and an upsurge in the station’s cabin pressure, which can be an indication of an ammonia spill. As the astronauts closed off the US segment of the station and made for cover, NASA controllers switched off trivial supplies and started an examination.

The crew is likely to stay in the Russian section for the rest of the day until experts are certain that the US section is safe to open once more. In a dialog with the US space explorers, NASA’s capcom in Houston, Jim Kelly, told the crew: “There’s nothing for you to do now. Appreciate your unplanned day off.”

Maxim Matyushin, leader of the Russian mission control focus in Moscow, said in a Roscosmos proclamation: “The group’s wellbeing has been attained through the synchronized and convenient actions of the cosmonauts and astronauts, and also the mission control groups in Moscow and in Houston.”

SpaceX’s Failed To Land Its Rocket On A Hovering Platform, Sighs Elon Musk

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The unmanned Falcon 9 rocket launched by SpaceX, on a cargo resupply service mission to the International Space Station, lifts off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida

SpaceX’s endeavor to land its Falcon 9 rocket on a hovering barge in the Atlantic Ocean ended up in failure in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Elon Musk tweeted about his organization’s endeavors to recuperate the rocket, after launch and partition from the Dragon private space podule, which is presently winging its way to the International Space Station.

Approximately 10 minutes into the flight, Dragon separated from Falcon 9, the point SpaceX endeavored to land the rocket on a hovering robotic “spaceport drone ship”.

However, that part of the mission failed, with Falcon 9 suffering a crash landing. The agency said:

While the rocket made it to the drone ship, it landed hard. Tragically we lacked the capacity to get good landing video due to the dark and haze, yet we are at present assessing significant telemetry information which will advise future endeavors.

Dragon, in the mean time, is anticipated to be linked up to the ISS on Monday morning, when it will resupply ‘nauts who are right now living on the space lab.

For now, a post-launch news meeting at US space agency NASA has been called off, after what it depicted as an “impeccable” SpaceX launch.

SpaceX Scrubs Falcon 9 Booster Launch To ISS, Rescheduled For Friday

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Space_X-scrubs-Falcon-9-launch

SpaceX have to scrub its first launch of 2015 at around 5:09 am early today, which would have utilized the firm’s Falcon 9 booster to send its reusable Dragon resupply vessel to the International Space Station (ISS) with a shipment of supplies. The company has now rescheduled the Cape Canaveral display for Friday, which was put for the most striving test yet of SpaceX’s cost-saving booster reuse plan.

The task is a pivotal one for SpaceX as it marks the company’s first attempt at the delicate maneuver of landing a core piece of the Falcon 9 (v1.1) booster rocket on a barge in the ocean near the launch site after detaching. Once the first phase of the rocket launches, and has completed its work, it will return to Earth to attempt to land on a sea barge in the Atlantic Ocean. If this sort of capacity can be proven, it guarantees significantly lower launch costs later on.

All fragments of a rocket are typically tossed after use and are smashed as they fall back down.

SpaceX, though, has been honing the controlled return of the first phase of its Falcon 9 vehicle.

The trouble accountable of Tuesday’s scrub choice linked with a technical issue spotted in the steering system of the rocket’s upper stage.

The next opportunity to send up the vehicle will be on Friday at 10:09 GMT (05:09 local Florida time).

SpaceX itself has been playing down hopes, rating the odds of victory at close to 50-50.

“I’m almost certain this will be extremely thrilling, however, as I said, it’s a test,” advised Hans Koenigsmann, VP for mission certification at SpaceX.

“There’s a sure probability that this won’t work out okay that something will happen. It’s the first time we have attempted this – no one has ever attempted it as much as we know.”

The main role of the flight is to send the Dragon payload ship on a way to meet with the International Space Station (ISS).

It will be the first American re-supply mission to the orbiting stage since October’s astounding blast of a freight framework operated by contender Orbital Sciences Corporation.

However, it is the result of the SpaceX test that is prone to stand out as truly newsworthy.

The firm trusts it can return, revamp and re-use key components of its rockets.

To this end, it has been trying first-arrange promoters that relight their engines to attempt to abate their fall through the environment, joining fins to help guide them downwards, and legs to make a stable landing.

Thus far, there have just been counterfeit landings, in which the stage is brought to a floating position at the surface of the sea, where, without a robust stage to set down, every promoter has afterward been lost in the water.

Friday’s endeavor will be different in that SpaceX has sent a hovering freight boat to the targeted return site approximately 300km northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Florida’s Space Coast Is Envisioning An Occupied 2015

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SpaceX-Falcon-9-v1.1-rocket-Dragon-spacecraft-Cape-Canaveral-Air-Force-Station-Space-Launch

Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is envisioning an occupied year ahead. Various rocket launches and other ventures are planned all through the year, Florida Today reported on Sunday.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) aims to commence the year on Tuesday with an early morning freight launch to the International Space Station. The previous spring, the organization won a 20-year lease of a mothballed NASA launch pad. The organization told the newspaper that it intends to end outfitting the pad by midyear so it can help launches of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

Space coast also aimed to overhaul the two ex-shuttle hangars at Kennedy Space Center to house an emit Air force space plane project moving from California this year. The Air force is anticipated to carry out a 4th launch of its unmanned X-37v Orbital Test Vehicle this from Cape Canaveral this year. As many as 24 rocket launches are planned for the current year from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Air Force said. 16 rockets were launched from the station in 2014.

Moreover, United Launch Alliance will begin structuring a team access tower close to a launch pad, where Atlas V rockets will launch Boeing’s CST-100 capsule.

Space Florida lately declared arrangements for an anonymous commercial space organization to take up residence at one of two state-run pads. Joined state and organization investment at the site is anticipated to total $34 million in excess of 5 years and add 100 jobs.

After almost eighteen months of negotiation, NASA and Space Florida are nearing a contract for the state to get the control of Kennedy Space Center’s three-mile shuttle runway.

“It truly is the attraction of Florida’s next generation commercial spaceport,” said Space Florida CEO and President Frank Dibello.

Space Florida plans to draw business operations to the runway going from drones to a suborbital space plane XCOR Aerospace is on the rise for space voyagers.

Swiss Space Systems could arrive late this year with an Airbus jet that will fly symbolic arcs to render clients and researchers to brief periods of weightlessness.

Also Moon Express, a California startup creating a little robotic moon lander that is a nominee to win the Google Lunar XPRIZE, will return soon to proceed with flight tests started a year ago at the runway.

Stunning Time-Lapse Video Of Earth’s Violent Storms From ISS: Christmas Present

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time-lapse-footage-from-ISS-of-Earth's-violent-storms

A new time-lapse footage permits us here on Earth to see what our planet looks like from the ISS (International Space Station) — and the sights are stunning.

Alexander Gerst, European Space Agency astronaut came back from the ISS back in Nov after serving as a flight engineer for a 6 month voyage. However, engineer work wasn’t all he was doing on board the spaceship: he also set up cams to catch 12,500 pictures out the window of the ISS, and transformed them into a time-lapse footage that delineates everything from vicious storms to splendid auroras, as indicated by International Business Times.

Gerst said his time on board the ISS made him acknowledge exactly how little the planet is in the universe, and how delicate of a vessel it is for humankind, and that “we have to comprehend the universe we live into secure our home,” he said in an announcement.

Gerst, who hails from Germany, was a part of the Blue Dot mission a month ago, serving beside Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suarev and American astronaut Reid Wiseman. They were observed to perceive how they would rearrange to gravity after spending a lot of time in space.

All of them used Twitter to document their journey, posting pictures and videos to share with their fans.

They were charged with a series of missions and trials, including investigating seedling development in zero gravity, perception of meteors as they enter the environment, and investigations of bone and muscle physiology, to name some.

They came back to Earth at the start of November, slipping through the mists and arriving in Kazakhstan after the 165-day mission. Cold climate made recovery troublesome right off the bat, yet the team arrived securely in their targeted area only 3.5 hours after undocking from the ISS.

Amid their mission, the ISS made 2,640 orbits, or 70 million miles, permitting Gerst to get all the pictures he required to develop stunning time-lapse. They had launched on 28th May from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southwest Kazakhstan, as per a CBS News report.

Since the Soyuz module they returned in had tipped onto its side, the recovery groups needed to spend a half hour separating the three men from the spaceship. They all come out well and in great spirits, chatting with specialists and experts.

The ISS is a tenable artificial satellite that sits in low-Earth orbit (LEO), a modular spaceship whose first segment was sent into space in 1998. It is currently the biggest artificial body in orbit and can frequently be seen with the stripped eye by a spectator on Earth. It is a joint project between the United States and Russia. It is utilized to lead tests in an extensive variety of fields, including biology, physical, and meteorology.

The ISS has been in incessant operation for more than 14 years since Expedition 1 touched base in November 2000. It holds the record for longest incessant human existence in space, demolishing the past record of about 10 years by the Russian space station Mir, which left service in 1996.

The ISS is 239 feet long, 356 feet wide and 66 feet tall. It weighs about 500 tons.

 

NASA Releases Video Showing Orion Spaceship Scorching Re-entry Into Earth’s Atmosphere

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Orion's-blistering-reentry-into-Earth's-atmosphere

NASA recently releases footage recorded amid the first experimental run of NASA’s Orion crew capsule this month gives an astronaut’s eye view of what it would have been like for a crew riding along on the “Trial by Fire” as the vehicle started the blistering re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere and endured burning temperatures amid the roughly 10 mins dive homewards and parachute aided splashdown.

A significant part of the video, filmed through a window, was streamed live on NASA TV. Though, the footage was lately made accessible by the space agency, after information was gathered on December 5.

As per the NASA’s officials, “The footage gives a taste of the severe conditions the spaceship and the astronauts it carries will bear when they come back from profound space destinations on the voyage to Mars.”

NASA’s Orion capsule arrived at an elevation of 3604 miles and the footage begins with a sight of the Earth’s arch far unique in relation to what we’ve become familiar to from Space Shuttle flight and the International Space Station.

After that it evolves to the scorching atmoshperic entry and impacts from the superheated plasma, the proceeded dive, exquisite series of parachute openings, and ends up with the spectacular splashdown.

The camera that caught this was one of the first components to be detached and evaluated after Orion led its expedition through Earth’s climate. The recorder was set up in a manner that it gazes out from one of Orion’s windows. The recording so produced is surely mind boggling as it shows spaceship reaching at a velocity of more than 20,000 mph amid its re-entrance and warming up to more than 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

A systematic analysis of the footage indicates how friction develops, producing staggering temperatures which brought on the undeniably thick air encompassing the spaceship to change colors, from white, to yellow and after that a light red.

All the heat produced by this high temperature will be avoided teams that will ultimately fly on Orion by a procedure known as ablation. This is a methodology wherein the material that involves the vessel’s heat shield consumes away and brings all the heat with itself.

NASA’s Orion spaceship has been intended to carry maximum four astronauts, conceivably for missions to Mars and close-by space rocks. The experimental run in case of this video was unmanned, yet it is the first event when a spaceship is intended for space explorers has gone as far as Orion did, in more than 40 years.

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