The largest solar particle event since 2005 has been detected by the radiation- monitoring instrument aboard the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, on its way from Earth to Mars. The Radiation Assessment Detector, inside the mission's Curiosity rover tucked inside the spacecraft, is measuring the radiation exposure that could affect a human astronaut on a potential Mars mission. It has measured an increase resulting from a Jan. 22 solar storm observed by other NASA spacecraft. No harmful effects to the Mars Science Laboratory have been detected from this solar event.

Eight years ago today (January 25, 2004), the Mars Exploration Rover -B (MER -B) slammed into the Martian atmosphere and executed a successful Entry, Descent, and Landing on the Red Planet – beginning what was supposed to be 90 days of science operations on the surface of Mars. Eight years and 2,922 Earth-days later, Opportunity continues its mission of exploration of the Martian surface, unlocking the mysteries of Mars and serving as a symbol of endurance while paving the way for future human missions to the Red Planet.

As NASA managers continue to work through the evaluations into an exploration roadmap for the agency, the end goal of sending humans to Mars is starting to show a level of consistency. Per documentation, the key Design Reference Mission (DRM) evaluations are pointing to the “Flexible Path” approach of visiting a Martian moon, prior to landing humans on Mars itself.

The two leading Republican candidates vying to take on President Barack Obama in this year's presidential election turned to the topic of space during a debate last night in Tampa, Fla. "This president has failed miserably the people of Florida," said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "His plans for NASA? He has no plans for NASA. The Space Coast is struggling." Republican challengers Congressman Ron Paul and former Sen. Rick Santorum weren't asked about space and didn't bring up the topic during the debate. Gingrich will be meeting Wednesday with leaders on Florida's Space Coast -- the region around Kennedy Space Center that bore the brunt of the layoffs following the retirement of the space shuttles last year.

Researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Cornell University are seeking applicants for a NASA-funded Mars analog habitat study, Hawaiʻi Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or HI-SEAS. The study will investigate the impact of food preparation, food monotony, nasal congestion and smelling acuity on food and nutrient intake in isolated, confined microsocieties similar to astronaut crews on long term planetary exploration missions. The study will also track the use of habitat resources related to cooking and eating, to provide data for future designs of planetary habitats. Eight research participants are sought for the analog portion of the study: six to form the habitat crew, one “ground-based” research support specialist to provide support for the experiments from outside the habitat, and one more individual to serve as a backup for the other seven. Crewmembers in the analog portion of the study will spend four months living and working in a Mars analog habitat, wearing “spacesuits” whenever they need to venture outside. They will consume a diet including both freeze-dried and dehydrated foods similar to present-day astronaut foods, plus foods that they prepare themselves from shelf-stable supplies – an alternative approach to feeding crews of long term planetary outposts. The deadline for applications is February 29, 2012. To apply, visit: http://www.manoa.hawaii.edu/hi-seas.

A meteorite that fell to Earth last July in Morocco has proven to be a rare chunk of Mars. Only a handful of Martian meteorites are known, and only five (counting the new find) come from meteorites whose fall was witnessed. That’s important because it tells scientists how long it has been lying on the ground, and therefore how much contamination it might have picked up. In this case, about a dozen pieces (such as the one shown, right), totalling several kilograms, were recovered from Morocco in late December. “Because it’s only been on the ground for six months or less, it hasn’t been exposed to much contamination,” says Chris Herd, a planetary geologist specializing in meteorites at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Herd chairs an international meteoritics committee that yesterday certified the rocks as coming from Mars and approved their name – Tissint – in honour of the village near which they were found.

Arizona State University’s Center for Meteorite Studies has acquired a significant new sample for its collection, a rare martian meteorite that fell in southern Morocco in July 2011. It is the first martian fall in around fifty years. Since the observed fall of the famed Ensisheim meteorite in 1492, there have been around 1,200 recovered meteorite falls. A “fall” is a meteorite that was witnessed by someone as it fell from the sky, whereas a “find” is a meteorite that was not observed to fall but was later found and collected. Only a handful of witnessed meteorite falls occur each year. The chance of finding a meteorite is exceedingly small. The chance of witnessing a meteorite fall and finding it is even smaller – and the probability that the fall is a martian meteorite is smaller yet.

Humans produce two flammable gases: hydrogen and methane. Flammable gases accumulate in an enclosed space and can ignite. Astronauts are humans who spend lots of time in enclosed space. The logic is irrefutable. So, what's the risk to farting astronauts?

It’s not every day that middle school students get a chance to talk to NASA engineers — learning about space exploration to Mars in particular. Thanks to a pilot program brought to Palestine Independent School District by ICEE Success (Institute where Creativity Empowers Education Success), David Delgado, outreach coordinator for NASA’s Mars Public Engagement Team and the Imagine Mars project creative lead, made a special visit to Palestine Middle School classes involved in the pilot program Thursday. The Imagine Mars project is a national arts, sciences and technology education initiative, where students, scientists and civic leaders are working to design a sustainable Mars community.

Somewhere, probably in the southern Pacific between New Zealand and South America, the failed Russian Phobos-Grunt Mars probe returned ignominiously to Earth today, said the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the U.S. Space Command. The agencies said they believed the ship reentered the atmosphere shortly before 1 p.m. ET.

Russia's space agency on Sunday called off all predictions of the likely crash site of its ill-fated Mars probe only hours before the 13.5-tonne spacecraft was due to begin its fatal descent. Roscosmos said on its website that fragments of the stranded Phobos-Grunt voyager would probably fall to Earth on Sunday between 1436 GMT and 2224 GMT. But it cancelled its Saturday forecast of the debris splashing down in the Pacific off the western coast of Chile. Two earlier updates had the fragments falling into the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. "The operations support group is keeping continuous watch of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft's descent from orbit," the brief Roscosmos statement said. The unmanned $165 million vessel -- stuck in orbit since its November 9 launch -- will be one of the largest objects to re-enter the atmosphere since Russia brought down the Soviet-era Mir space station in 2001.

Doomed Russian Phobos-Grunt Mars probe that's been stuck in Earth orbit for two months may finally come crashing down on January 15 over the Pasific Ocean, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Saturday. Roscosmos said the spacecraft will fall within the eight-hour interval starting from 18:36 on Sunday Moscow time [14:36 GMT] to 2:24 on Monday [22:24 Sunday GMT]. The possible scatter zone is 51.4 degrees North latitude to 51.4 degrees South latitude. As of 20.30 Saturday, the spacecraft was moving in the near-Earth orbit with an altitude that varied between 144.6 km at perigee and 167.1 km at apogee, the Russian space agency said. According to the latest report from the U.S. Strategic Command, the failed probe would hit Earth's atmosphere between 17:26 Moscow time Sunday [13:26] and 03:02 Moscow time Monday [23:02 Sunday GMT]. It puts the altitude at between 138.1 km at perigee and 160.2 km at apogee.

A doomed Russian Mars probe that's been stuck in Earth orbit for two months may finally come crashing down Sunday over the Indian Ocean, Russian space officials say. The 14.5-ton Phobos-Grunt spacecraft should fall back to Earth between Saturday and Monday (Jan. 14 to Jan. 16), Russia's Federal Space Agency, known as Roscosmos, announced in a statement Wednesday. If Phobos-Grunt comes down at the "central point" in that window — 5:18 a.m. EST on Sunday — it will fall over a stretch of empty ocean west of the Indonesian island of Java, according to a re-entry projection map Roscosmos published with the update.

A Russian scientific spacecraft whizzing out of control around the Earth, and expected to re-enter the atmosphere on Saturday, may have failed because it was struck by some type of antisatellite weapon, the director of Russia’s space agency said in an interview published Tuesday. He did not say who would want to interfere with the spacecraft, which was intended to explore a moon of Mars. Russia has not succeeded in sending a spacecraft to Mars since the 1980s. An attempt in 1996 to launch a Mars lander that could burrow below the planet’s surface failed because of a flaw in the rocket that carried it. Phobos-Grunt, which took about five years to build and cost $160 million at current exchange rates, was launched from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan on Nov. 9; it also carried a small Chinese Mars orbiter.

The Gerber Foundation has awarded the Grand Rapids Public Museum a $10,000 grant -- that works out to about $11 bucks a head -- to send 900 kids to Mars. Sort of. The scholarship fund will support about 900 students in fifth through eighth grade, from Lake, Newaygo and Oceana counties, to travel to Grand Rapids to see the “Facing Mars” exhibition opening in February at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Professor Stephen Hawking, who has decoded some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, predicted that humans will colonise Mars - but not for at least a century. The physicist said it is 'essential' for man to spread across the galaxy in case Earth is destroyed suggesting that it was 'almost certain' that a disaster 'such as nuclear war or global warming' would obliterate the planet within a thousand years. "It is essential that we colonise space. I believe that we will eventually establish self-sustaining colonies on Mars and other bodies in the solar system, but not within the next 100 years," the Daily Mail quoted Professor Hawking as telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme on the eve of his 70th birthday.

NASA has sent its Mars Rover, Opportunity, on its first winter working vacation since the solar-powered vehicle began exploring the red planet’s surface several years ago. Similar to humans who travel to sunny locations during the winter, the robotic rover will spend the next several months literally soaking up sunlight. The U.S. space agency, NASA, says it positioned Opportunity with its solar panel angled toward the Sun to make sure the rover will have enough power to last for the duration of the long Martian winter. Mission scientists say it was not necessary for Opportunity to be kept in a Sun-facing position the previous four Martian winters because its landing site just south of the planet's equator gets relatively strong sunlight year-round. They decided to use the maneuver this year because the rover’s solar panels were caked with an unusually thick coating of dust.

The failed Russian Mars probe Phobos-Grunt has been pictured moving across the sky by the Paris-based amateur astronomer Thierry Legault. The spacecraft is seen moving left to right in the video. The bulbous shape of its fuel tanks and its outstretched solar panels are easily discernable. Mr Legault uses a sophisticated telescopic tracking system and captured similar imagery of Nasa's defunct UARS satellite last year. Phobos-Grunt is falling to Earth. It is expected to re-enter the atmosphere in the next 8-9 days and burn up.