Posted by tourdemars to Mars Gravity Biosatellite at October 2, 2005 01:37 AM

Future explorers of Mars got a literal leg up thanks to a NASA research grant provided to a student space project. The Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program announced September 21 that they have received a $200,000 NASA advanced projects development grant. The funding will support development of a full payload engineering model, as well as make possible a number of tasks that push the project nearer to a real-time liftoff. The Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program is the first ever mission to study the effects of Martian gravity on mammals, a fundamental step moving humans out beyond low Earth orbit to the red planet.