Topics: Human spaceflight, US space policy, Mars. Dr. Robert Zubrin was our guest for this non-stop two hour program to discuss the proposed changes in US space policy and why having a destination is so important for our national space program. For more information, visit The Mars Society website at www.marssociety.org. Note the coming Mars Society Conference which Dr. Zubrin told us about, scheduled for Dayton, Ohio from August 5-8, 2010. Dr. Zubrin started our discussion saying that we could go to Mars in about ten years as technology was not the issue. I then asked why even have a human spaceflight program and why Mars. Bob provided us with a comprehensive response and discussion to both of these questions. In fact, this nearly two hour discussion was action packed, covered lots of aspects of space policy, was very comprehensive, and while he was critical of administration policy, he also offered solutions to the problems he described. During our discussion, Dr. Zubrin had much to say about the Augustine Commission findings, Science Advisor John Holdren, the budget expenses earmarked for the ISS when the US will not be visiting the ISS except using the Soyuz, and more. Listeners asked him about nuclear rockets, specifically Vasimr. Dr. Zubrin who has his doctorate in nuclear engineering, had much to say about nuclear rocket propulsion including Vasimr and nuclear thermal which is quite different. Listen to what he had to say about these different types of propulsion and why one is doable and one is extremely hard and costly since it requires so much added power, the latter being VASIMIR. Dr. Zubrin dissected the administration plan, especially the part about heavy lift. Listeners suggested that the research called for in the administration plan for heavy lift was about getting affordable heavy lift. Listen carefully to what Dr. Zubrin had to say about this and the entire research program suggested in the administration plan. Bob went to great lengths to talk about why policy needs a destination and time line, be it the Moon, a NEO, or Mars. He offered us many insights about programs without destination goals and timelines. Do you agree with him? Other listeners asked him many questions about Mars Direct including a potential test flight program, tethers, artificial gravity, and needed milestones. He was asked about a Mars fly by mission or landing on Phobos, he talked about orbital propellant depots, the differences in radiation for an ISS crew as compared to a Mars Direct crew. Toward the end of the program, Bob explained the old but important political doctrine of Thomas Malthus known as Malthusianism and why this is the opposite of what space development is all about. Listen to what Dr. Zubrin had to say about this and its influence in the current administration. At the end of the program, I asked him for his thoughts on the use of commercial launch providers and he said he was supportive of that as long as they can meet the requirements and do it. He indirectly referenced the GAP in this discussion but again said a program without destinations and time frames is a flawed or no program at all.

Our ancestors made their first homes in caves. Now it looks like the first humans on Mars will do the same. An analysis of Martian geography suggests where to look for the right kind of caves. "At least two regions, the Tharsis rise and the Elysium rise, contain volcanic features which may be suitable locations for caves," says lead author Kaj Williams of NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. What's more, the analysis suggests that caves in these regions will contain a ready supply of water, in the form of ice. Lava tubes are the most likely form of cave that we could occupy on Mars. These tunnel-like caves were created when ancient lava flows solidified at the surface, while lava inside drained away.

One of the few inland bases occupied year-round, the two-nation station is built for long-term habitation in the most extreme conditions. The buildings’ drumlike contours maximize thermal efficiency, while a wastewater system developed by the European Space Agency recycles water from showers and sinks. The space agency’s interest in Concordia extends beyond the plumbing: Because the isolation, confinement, and cramped quarters here resemble conditions on a long space journey, the ESA is studying the physiological and psychological effects that life at the station has on its 15 winter residents. There are no plans for a spinoff reality TV show.

Take a look at the kinds of protective shelters we'd need in order to live on Mars' surface. Here's a hint: the shelters are more stone age than space age.

Jennifer Nelkin believes that the future of high-end, boutique-quality farming is not in California, sunny Florida, or even the fertile soils of the Hudson Valley. It’s right under our noses. Or more accurately, right above our noses. As co-founder of Gotham Greens, New York’s first commercial rooftop hydroponics operation, Jenn’s got a lot riding on that future. “I really hope that rooftop gardening is a successful venture, because we’ve borrowed $1.4 million to try and find out.” Located on the roof of a manufacturing plant in Greenpoint Brooklyn, and equipped with solar-powered pumps that feed nutrient-enriched rainwater to an acre of greenhouse space, Jenn’s goal is to produce greens and herbs to sell to local chefs, retailers (Whole Foods has expressed interest), and direct to the public by as early as this fall. So how does one get involved with a project like this? I first met Jenn a few months ago at a dinner party that my friend Joshua Levin of GoodEater.org and I threw for few local food superstars (including our very own Erin), where she regaled us with stories about greenhouses on Mars.

With hard work, an immigrant’s dream of spaceflight came true. Now, his ticket to America could be our ticket to the Red Planet. Like many red-blooded American teens coming of age during the 1960s space race, Franklin Chang-Diaz dreamed of chasing cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin to the stars. There was a hitch, of course. Chang-Diaz wasn't American. He lived outside the United States. And the Costa Rican didn't even speak English. No matter. Chang-Diaz would overcome these obstacles and more to fly a record-tying seven missions aboard the space shuttle. Along the way the physicist would also develop a plasma rocket that promises a revolutionary approach to spaceflight. The rocket, potentially, could blast the next generation of astronauts to Mars in just 39 days, about one fifth of the time required by existing rocketry.

Barack Obama says it should be possible to send astronauts to orbit the planet Mars by the mid-2030s and return them safely to Earth. The US president made the claim in a major speech to staff at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He was laying out the details of his new policy for the US space agency. Mr Obama said he was giving NASA challenging goals and the funding needed to achieve them, including an extra $6bn over the next five years. "By 2025, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first ever crew missions beyond the Moon into deep space," the President said. "So, we'll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history." And then he added: "By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth, and a landing on Mars will follow."

Barack Obama is set to promote his vision for the nation's human space flight program - including putting a human on Mars - just two days after three Apollo astronauts called the new plans ''devastating''. In an announcement to be made at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida today, the President will talk for the first time about the upheaval of NASA's human spaceflight program outlined in his 2011 budget request in February. It involved cancelling plans to return astronauts to the moon, investing in commercial companies to provide transport to orbit and developing new space technologies. A senior administration official said Mr Obama would describe a vision ''that unlocks our ambitions and expands our frontiers in space, ultimately meaning the challenge of sending humans to Mars''.

Find hope in this, NASA, science and Mars fans: President Obama's new stance on NASA's funding will likely pump no less than $6 billion into the agency to create a new heavy rocket sooner than we'd hoped. Mars is its target. Over the previous few weeks we've heard rumors about what NASA's future might look like. All of them seemed attractive compared to the grim reality we'd assumed would happen: The Space Shuttle grounded, the Constellation moonshot program canceled, big delays in getting private space ventures ready to fire humans into space, and huge job losses in NASA and its supporting industries. Now there's word that during a big space event tomorrow, Obama will unveil a new vision that includes $6 billion of extra cash for the space agency, on top of its original budget plans, phased over five years. This money has very specific purposes: Firstly it's going to create 2,500 additional jobs in and around NASA's Florida installations, and secondly it'll result in a new large rocket that'll be key in taking humans to Mars. Spin-off work will include continuing to develop the Orion manned space capsule to act as an emergency escape vehicle for the international space station.

United States president Barack Obama is set to unveil plans to create 2,500 more space jobs and select a design for a rocket to fire astronauts into deep space by 2015, The Washington Post reports. Mr Obama will deliver what has been billed as a "major space policy speech" outlining the new future for US space exploration when he addresses astronauts, space workers and lawmakers on Thursday at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. His address comes after budget proposals in February revealed plans to axe the expensive and over-budgeted Constellation rocket project, a move that fuelled a storm of criticism from lawmakers and space enthusiasts. But the Post reported on its website that Mr Obama's speech would seek to soothe critics and provide more specific details of plans to recreate NASA's human space exploration program in what a White House official said amounted to a "bold and daring" vision.

There's lots of pressure and some speculation that President Obama will throw some sort of manned space flight bone in the direction of NASA when he addresses the space agency's future plans this week at a Kennedy Space Center address. What that may be could come in the form of a formal challenge to NASA to make a manned space flight to Mars in say 10 to 15 years a priority. If that were the challenge it would take quite the effort as most of the equipment needed to make such a trip is largely undeveloped.

Google and Virgin Group today announced the launch of Virgle Inc., a jointly owned and operated venture dedicated to the establishment of a human settlement on Mars. "Some people are calling Virgle an 'interplanetary Noah's Ark,'" said Virgin Group President and Founder Sir Richard Branson, who conceived the new venture. "I'm one of them. It's a potentially remarkable business, but more than that, it's a glorious adventure. For me, Virgle evokes the spirit of explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo, who set sail looking for the New World. I do hope we'll be a bit more efficient about actually finding it, though." The Virgle 100 Year Plan's milestones will include Virgle Pioneer selection (2008-2010), the first manned journey to Mars (2016), a Virgle Inc. initial public offering to capitalize on the first manned journey to Mars (2016), the founding of the first permanent Martian municipality, Virgle City (2050), and the achievement of a truly self-sustaining Martian civilization with a population exceeding 100,000 (2108). “Virgle is the ultimate application of a principle we’ve always believed at Google: that you can do well by doing good,” said Google co-founder Larry Page, who plans to share leadership of the new Martian civilization with Branson and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. "We feel that ensuring the survival of the human race by helping it colonize a new planet is both a moral good in and of itself and also the most likely method of ensuring the survival of our best – okay, fine, only -- base of web search volume and advertising inventory,” Page added. “So, you know, it's, like, win-win." The original contingent of Virgle Pioneers will be selected by numerous criteria, including an online questionnaire, video submission, personal accomplishments, expertise in scientific, artistic, sociological and/or political fields of endeavor, and inadequate Google and Virgin personal performance reviews.

A company backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Toshiba are in early talks to jointly develop a small nuclear reactor, the Japanese electronics giant said Tuesday. The Nikkei business daily earlier reported that the two sides would team up to develop a compact next-generation reactor that can operate for up to 100 years without refueling to provide emission-free energy. The daily said the joint development would focus on the Traveling-Wave Reactor (TWR), which consumes depleted uranium as fuel. Current light-water reactors require refueling every few years. "Toshiba has entered into preliminary talks with TerraPower," said Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori. "We are looking into the possibility of working together." Gates is the principal owner of TerraPower, an expert team based in the US state of Washington that is investigating ways to improve emission-free energy supplies using small nuclear reactors.

Four Europeans vying to become guinea pigs for a 520-day simulated mission to Mars say they are proud to be putting their lives on hold for the sake of scientific advancement. "I want to help humanity take a step forward by improving our level of knowledge," Belgian candidate Jerome Clevers, 28. said at the European Space Agency's (ESA) Dutch offices where he and his colleagues were introduced to the media. Diego Urbina, 26, of Italy added: "When the first humans step on Mars, I can say, 'Yeah, I helped do that.' And then we get to use cool space suits, which is also nice!" Two of the four, who also include Romain Charles, 30, and Arc'hanmael Gaillard, 34, both of France, will take part in a biomedical experiment starting this summer with three Russians and a Chinese participant in what the ESA has termed "second to none as the ultimate test of human endurance"

The UK Space Agency, as it is officially named, took off with the help of British astronaut Major Timothy Peake. But the accent at the launch in London was on the dry realities of economics rather than Dan Dare. Lord Mandelson was on hand to keep proceedings firmly grounded, despite the Science Minister Lord Drayson confessing that he would ''like to see human beings living on Mars''. The Business Secretary said: ''I think it is important to remember that although it is cutting edge, this stuff is not sci-fi. It may start in space, but it comes down to Earth very quickly and is directly relevant to all our daily lives.'' Britain's mini-version of NASA will take overall responsibility for UK space activities, replacing the soon-to-be defunct British National Space Centre (BNSC).

A Belgian, two Frenchmen and a Colombian-Italian have agreed to be locked away in steel containers for 18 months to simulate a mission to Mars. Their self-imposed exile will test the physical and mental requirements of ultra-long duration spaceflight. The Europeans will join a predominantly Russian crew for the Mars500 project, which is due to start in May. All the food and water needed for the "journey" will have to be loaded into the "spacecraft" before "departure". There will even be a simulated landing. After about 250 days, the crew will be split in two, and three "cosmonauts" will move into a separate container to walk on the "surface of the Red Planet" wearing modified Russian Orlan spacesuits.

In May, six people will climb into a steel container in Moscow and the door will be locked tight. For the next 18 months, the "crew" will live inside this windowless environment – four interlocked modules measuring, in total, 550 cubic metres – as they attempt to simulate the conditions onboard a spacecraft on a round-trip to Mars. It sounds like the ultimate TV reality show: six different personalities forced to get along while their omnipotent masters outside issue them with a daily set of tasks and instructions. The experiment is one of the most fascinating and demanding psychological tests you could ever dream up. But, if we are ever to get to Mars, these are exactly the sort of conditions that a crew will have to suffer and survive.

On complex issues, as is often said, it is possible for intelligent people to disagree. That was certainly the case March 15 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, when five leaders of the space exploration intelligentsia met to discuss NASA's plans for human spaceflight. The topic of the event, the 10th annual Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, could hardly have been more timely, given the February budget request from President Obama that sought to drastically change NASA's direction for human spaceflight and the way the agency does that business. If the budget survives Congress, NASA could start hiring private corporations to launch U.S. astronauts into orbit rather than use its own hardware; Obama's plan would also scrap the existing Constellation Program, including the Ares rockets being developed to lift humans beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since the 1970s.

The American Museum of Natural History had little idea of how prescient they were being when they picked the theme for this year's Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate. Shortly after the museum directors decided on the debate topic, "The Moon, Mars and Beyond: Where Next for the Manned Space Program?", the federal budget was announced on 1 February, revealing that NASA's Constellation project of crewed moon missions had been canceled. Kicking off the annual event last night to a sold-out auditorium, Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson said, "What was originally just going to be us putting out opinions now turns out to have huge implications." Although moon and Mars missions are often discussed as if they were mutually exclusive alternatives, general consensus among the scientists on the panel was that even if putting a human on Mars were the paramount long-term goal, returning humans to the moon would still be a critical step toward that end. "The moon is a good place to test out the technology for a Mars mission, like life-support systems and transport vehicles. ... I think that casting it in terms of 'Do we go to the moon first or go to Mars?' is not the right question," Steven Squyres, principal investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover project, said after the debate. Instead, the broader question to which the panelists kept returning was not simply which destination NASA should target first but what will happen if NASA has no clear destination at all.

Fresh imagery from Europe's Mars Express orbiter shows the Martian moon Phobos in sharp, 3-D detail. This isn't the first time Phobos has gotten its close-up, but interest in the irregular moon is rising - in part because it's increasingly seen as a steppingstone for Mars-bound astronauts. Last month, NASA shifted its focus from sending humans back to the moon to a "flexible path" that includes the moons of Mars as potential destinations. The idea is that low-gravity locales such as Phobos (and Mars' other moon, Deimos) should be easier to get to because they're more accommodating for landing and ascent.

A crew of six, including two Europeans, will soon begin a simulated mission to Mars in a mockup that includes an interplanetary spaceship, a Mars lander and a martian landscape. The Mars500 experiment, as long as a real journey to Mars, will be second to none as the ultimate test of human endurance. The European candidates who will help to answer these fundamental questions will be presented to the media on 22 March 2010 at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Media representatives wishing to attend the event are kindly requested to fill in the attached accreditation form and return it by fax to the ESA Headquarters Media Relations Office by 18 March 2010.

Rocket engines could benefit from a natural Martian lubricant - but not to keep them oiled. A salty sludge that may be lubricating the ice caps of Mars could one day provide fuel. The ice is too cold to flow normally. But if winds were to carry salty soil particles to the ice cap, they might gradually sink to form a briny bed, kept liquid by the planet's warmth. This could allow the ice cap to flow like a glacier, say David Fisher at the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa, and colleagues. Such brine would freeze as it moved toward lower temperatures at the edge of the ice cap, forming a ring of concentrated salt. This could one day be mined as a component of solid rocket fuel, says Fisher.

Despite NASA's manned space exploration being in a state of flux, there's still a lot of innovative ideas for future manned expeditions to Mars. From new concepts for interplanetary rockets to the next generation of unmanned reconnaissance robots, we are certainly well on our way to acquiring the technologies necessary to land an astronaut on Mars. But once we're there, how will we get around? Mars is a big place -- it has approximately the same amount of land to explore as Earth -- so it would be nice if we traveled in style. So why not travel in award-winning style? An Illinois-based design consulting firm decided to take on this challenge, designing a manned Mars rover, winning the "Good Design Award" in the transportation category from The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design last month. They were in good company; Good Design Awards also went to Mercedes for their SLR Coupe and Apple for the iPod touch.

On April 15, President Barack Obama will visit Florida to host a White House Conference on the Administration’s new vision for America’s future in space, the White House today announced. The President, along with top officials and other space leaders, will discuss the new course the Administration is charting for NASA and the future of U.S. leadership in human space flight. Specifically, the conference will focus on the goals and strategies in this new vision, the next steps, and the new technologies, new jobs, and new industries it will create. Conference topics will include the implications of the new strategy for Florida, the nation, and our ultimate activities in space.

What could have formed these unusual channels? Inside Newton Basin on Mars, numerous narrow channels run from the top down to the floor. The above picture covers a region spanning about 1500 meters across. These and other gullies have been found on Mars in recent high-resolution pictures taken by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor robot spacecraft. Similar channels on Earth are formed by flowing water, but on Mars the temperature is normally too cold and the atmosphere too thin to sustain liquid water. Nevertheless, many scientists hypothesize that liquid groundwater can sometimes surface on Mars, erode gullies and channels, and pool at the bottom before freezing and evaporating. If so, life-sustaining ice and water might exist even today below the Martian surface -- water that could potentially support a human mission to Mars. Research into this exciting possibility is sure to continue!

Remember the people who said the moon landing was a hoax? A New Port Richey company hopes to create a simulated trip to Mars that everyone will know is fake but will appear as realistic as possible. "This is not Disney World or Universal Studios," said Mark Homnick, 52, one of the managers of NewSpace Center LLC. The company has submitted site plans for a 75-acre lot in Titusville on Florida's Space Coast to build Interspace, a space-themed entertainment and research facility that would include the simulated Martian environment. The men estimated the project will cost about $30-million and said their plans began in 2005. Homnick and his vice president, Joseph Palaia, run the company and its parent, 4Frontiers, out of Homnick's waterfront stilt home.

In his recent testimony before Congress, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden told lawmakers the goal of the U.S. space program under President Barack Obama was Mars. But he also warned that getting to Mars would require a step-by-step evolution, because NASA lacked the technology to safely send astronauts so deep into space. The Obama budget contained the down payment on a Mars mission, with billions set aside for research and testing of advanced, cutting-edge technologies that could be employed to make a mission to Mars a reality. I believe we can be well on our way to Mars by July 20, 2019 -- which just happens to be the 50th anniversary of my Apollo 11 flight to the moon. The plan I've designed, called a unified space vision, contains ideas for the development of a deep-space craft that I call the Exploration Module, and development of a true heavy lift space booster evolved from the existing space shuttle.

On this final segment of NOVA scienceNOW’s chat with awesome MIT engineer Dava Newman, she’s asked to pick between Star Wars and 2001, talks about what foods to eat while sailing around the world (that is, when food isn’t being used to steer the boat), and shares the highest complement she’s received for her form-fitting next generation space suit. Nope, it’s not about how much it makes astronauts look like Spider Man.

A journey from Earth to Mars could eventually take just 39 days -- cutting current travel time nearly six times -- according to a rocket scientist who has the ear of the US space agency. Franklin Chang-Diaz, a former astronaut and a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), says reaching the Red Planet could be dramatically quicker using his high-tech VASIMR rocket, now on track for liftoff after decades of development. The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket -- to give its full name -- is quick becoming a centerpiece of NASA's future strategy as it looks to private firms to help meet the astronomical costs of space exploration. NASA, still reeling from a political decision to cancel its Constellation program that would have returned a human to the moon by the end of the decade, has called on firms to provide new technology to power rovers or even future manned missions. Hopes are now pinned on firms like Chang-Diaz's Texas-based Ad Astra Rocket Company.

NASA needs to go somewhere specific, not just talk about it, skeptical U.S. senators told the space agency chief Wednesday. President Barack Obama's proposed budget kills the previous administration's return-to-the-moon mission, sometimes nicknamed "Apollo on steroids." That leaves the space agency adrift without a goal or destination, senators and outside experts said at a Senate Commerce science and space subcommittee hearing, the first since Obama unveiled his new space plan this month. On top of that the nation's space shuttle fleet is only months away from long-planned retirement, an issue for senators from Florida, where NASA is a major employer. And while the new NASA plan includes extra money - $6 billion over five years - for private spaceships and developing new rocket technology, NASA shouldn't be just about spending, the senators said. It should be about John F. Kennedy-like vision.

Its origins were in providing NASA with a device to manufacturer oxygen for a manned Mars colony. But when the mission was scrubbed, K.R. Sridhar set his sights back down here to the challenges on Earth, and, figuratively speaking, turned his device inside out. Instead of giving off oxygen, it would take oxygen in. And the output would be cleanly generated electricity. A 60 Minutes segment offered an introductory peek into the people and the principle behind a clean energy innovation that will be officially introduced on Wednesday, February 24. Bloom Energy, and its Bloom Box fuel cell technology, have been mum until now on the details while they have been raising a staggering $400 million in investment capital with the hope of launching what Sridhar insists will be a clean energy game-changer.

Future Mars prospectors will likely find mineral riches in some unusual settings, say planetary scientists studying the different ways valuable metals might have been concentrated on the red planet. On Earth, surface waters, ground waters and even chemicals left by living things play major roles in leaching, concentrating and depositing valuable metals and minerals like iron, gold, silver, nickel, copper and many more. But on Mars there are no oceans or surface waters; no microorganisms either. What's more, the planet is so cold that even groundwater is frozen as permafrost and functions as little more than another mineral in the ground. So where does a starving miner look on Mars for usable quantities of ore?

Westmont Illinois based Montgomery Design International (MDI) and Santa Barbara California based Ergonomic Systems Design have announced they have jointly been awarded the Chicago Athenaeum and Museum’s “GOOD DESIGN” award for 2009 as creators and designers of the Manned Mars Exploration Rover (MMER). Designed as an independent study for the 2037 Mars mission, the Rover was cited for its bold, futuristic design as well as providing transport and life support for Mars astronauts.

NASA's emerging exploration plan will call for safely sending humans to Mars, possibly by the 2030s, and de-emphasize exploration of the moon, the agency's leader said Tuesday. “That is my personal vision,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “I am confident that, when I say humans on Mars is a goal for the nation, not just NASA, I'm saying that because I believe the president will back me up.” Bolden cited appearances set before congressional committees on Feb. 24 and 25 as a deadline for creating the “beginnings of a plan” for human exploration. At those hearings, Bolden said, he will be able only to give a range of dates for a Mars trip because scientific questions, such as mitigating radiation exposure and bone loss, remain unanswered. But he confidently said the 2030s, even the early 2030s, were viable if given a reasonable and sustained budget.

President Obama has decided to abandon plans to return to the moon and focus on a much more ambitious effort -- a manned trip to Mars -- instead. A return to the moon would have been possible within this decade, but going to Mars will require cooperation among space-faring nations and is likely 30 years, give or take, into the future. The president's new budget request provides US$3 billion over five years for "robotic exploration precursor missions that will pave the way for later human exploration of the moon, Mars and nearby asteroids," Bolden explained. "These missions will inform us of the most interesting places to explore with humans, and validate our approaches to get them there safely and sustainably." Also included in the proposed $3.8 trillion budget are funds for developing new engines, propellants, materials and combustion processes, as well as cross-cutting technologies such as communications, sensors and robotics, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said.

Defending a budget that effectively cancels a program that would have returned humans to the moon by 2020, NASA's top official said the space agency is looking beyond the lunar surface—to Mars. In a statement, NASA administrator Charlie Bolden noted that the $3.8 trillion federal budget proposal handed down earlier this week by President Obama provides $3 billion over five years in funds "for robotic exploration precursor missions that will pave the way for human exploration of the moon, Mars, and nearby asteroids." Bolden said robotic exploration is an essential precondition for manned missions to Earth's closest celestial neighbors. "These missions will inform us of the most interesting places to explore with humans, and validate our approaches to get them there safely and sustainably," said Bolton.

This certainly isn't a surprise, considering Buzz Aldrin has been advocating manned missions to destinations other than the moon for some time, but it's certainly worth hearing what the second man on the moon has to say about today's announcement about NASA's shake-up. In a nutshell, Aldrin supports President Obama's revised vision for NASA space exploration. This means canceling a return trip to the lunar surface and concentrating on other destinations first, pushing the envelope of human endeavor.

Notwithstanding the chill in Indo-Pak ties, students from both the countries have come together in designing an innovative crew ship to travel from Earth to Mars and jointly compete with students from other countries at NASA. Under the Sixteenth Annual International Space Settlement Design Competition, sponsored by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Boeing, school students from Lahore and Delhi have prepared a novel project on future of human civilisation in Mars. The project on crew ship is to travel from Earth to Mars reflects an innovative idea of people of the Earth going to Mars by this space craft. "You can go from Earth to Mars by a space craft. You can leave the space craft in the orbit between Earth and Mars and it will cross the orbit of Mars from where people can safely go to Mars," said Sanaa Nusreid, a student from Lahore Grammar School. As per the project, 8,800 people, including 2,300 crew members and 6,500 travellers, can go Mars in the space craft.

NASA will probably not build an outpost on the moon as originally planned, the agency's acting administrator, Chris Scolese, told lawmakers on Wednesday. His comments also hinted that the agency is open to putting more emphasis on human missions to destinations like Mars or a near-Earth asteroid. NASA has been working towards returning astronauts to the moon by 2020 and building a permanent base there. But some space analysts and advocacy groups like the Planetary Society have urged the agency to cancel plans for a permanent moon base, carry out shorter moon missions instead, and focus on getting astronauts to Mars.

Most space scientists, sociologists and sci-fi writers agree: when humankind finally sets down roots somewhere other than the planet of our birth, Mars is our most likely destination. Chilly, lifeless (as far as we know) and frighteningly far away, Mars still offers the best hope for a human race whose figurative eggs have been kept in one basket for far too long.

Engineers have identified a way to shield astronauts riding the Ares 1 rocket from potentially dangerous vibrations caused by the launcher's solid-fueled first stage, according to NASA. Managers decided last week to incorporate an upper plane C-spring isolator module and upper stage liquid oxygen damper on the Ares 1 rocket to ensure astronauts inside the Orion crew module will not experience intense vibrations during launch, according to a posting on a NASA Web site.

President Barack Obama will ask Congress next year to fund a new heavy-lift launcher to take humans to the moon, asteroids, and the moons of Mars, ScienceInsider has learned. The president chose the new direction for the U.S. human space flight program Wednesday at a White House meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, according to officials familiar with the discussion. NASA would receive an additional $1 billion in 2011 both to get the new launcher on track and to bolster the agency’s fleet of robotic Earth-monitoring spacecraft. According to knowledgeable sources, the White House is convinced that scarce NASA funds would be better spent on a simpler heavy-lift vehicle that could be ready to fly as early as 2018. Meanwhile, European countries, Japan, and Canada would be asked to work on a lunar lander and modules for a moon base, saving the U.S. several billion dollars. And commercial companies would take over the job of getting supplies to the international space station.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi raised questions Wednesday about boosting NASA funding, in competition with other budget priorities, and pursuing a Mars trip. The California Democrat also said any boost in funding, as recommended by a recent commission, would have to be measured against other priorities to create jobs. “I, myself, if you are asking me personally, I have not been a big fan of manned expeditions to outer space, in terms of safety and cost,” Pelosi told reporters a roundtable on legislative accomplishments this year. “But people could make the case; technology is always changing.” President Barack Obama, who met Wednesday with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, is weighing how to support the agency. A recent report from the U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Commission recommended phasing in a $3 billion boost in funding in order to pursue spaceflight safely, but Obama hasn’t signaled what suggestions he will adopt.

Researchers from NASA Johnson Space Center Neurosciences Laboratory and National Space Biomedical Research Institute are testing a new system that may make astronauts' return to Earth a bit easier. If you've ever seen space travelers land back on terra firma after months in orbit, you must have noticed that they are usually carried by others or use wheelchairs. This happens because over time our sensory system forgets how to coordinate using gravity as one of the inputs. The new system may end up being used on spacecraft to keep astronauts from forgetting how to walk when gravity comes back to them.

NASA's 100-page Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0, elements of which were first seen in a 1 October 2007 presentation, is now available on the Lunar and Planetary Institute's exploration strategies website with a publication date of July 2009. But this blogger can't find any blogosphere links to it that date to then or since so here it is! Exclusively! With a 406-page addendum and a 47-page executive summary there is plenty to trawl through from this study that was first announced in 2006 - click through to the extended portion of this blogpost for more comment

At the TEDx NASA conference, I had some amazing conversations with people in the "green room" while preparing to take the stage. One individual had spent his entire career with NASA focused on travel to Mars. This was his life's passion. But now that he has moved out of the space program into the private sector, he wonders if the money spent on space travel should be re-focused. He wonders if we should spend the money fixing problems here on earth. We had a lively debate. One thing I suggested was that shooting for Mars MIGHT be the way to fix some of our issues here on Earth.

The Plymouth Rock project could be a stepping stone to Mars. A plan to send a manned space mission to land on an asteroid is gaining traction within both NASA and the aerospace industry as experts look to bridge the feasibility gap between lunar missions and an eventual rendezvous with Mars. Of course, no party is ruling out the possibility of an Armageddon-esque trip to a Near Earth Object (NEO) on a harmful trajectory, should the need arise in the future. While neither NASA or the White House has signed off on -- or even offered funding to study -- such a mission, briefing charts put together by Lockheed Martin, maker of the space agency's next-gen passenger spacecraft, detail how a mission might work. It's not as far-fetched, or far away, as one might think, with a mission to an NEO possible in a 2020-2025 time frame.

Students in fourth through seventh grade will work to create the ultimate baseball experience "on Mars," even designing the rules for how to play a game on the Red Planet. NASA and JPL have partnered with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to host a workshop for kids on Sat., Nov. 7, in Cooperstown, N.Y. The workshop runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7. Cost is $5 per student, which covers materials, supplies and admission to the Museum. The workshop is limited to 50 participants. To register, visit http://education.baseballhalloffame.org/something_new/ or call 607-547-0362 to request a registration form.

Space explorers have yet to get their hands on the replicator of "Star Trek" to create anything they might require. But NASA has developed a technology that could enable lunar colonists to carry out on-site manufacturing on the moon, or allow future astronauts to create critical spare parts during the long trip to Mars. The method, called electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3), uses an electron beam to melt metals and build objects layer by layer. Such an approach already promises to cut manufacturing costs for the aerospace industry, and could pioneer development of new materials. It has also thrilled astronauts on the International Space Station by dangling the possibility of designing new tools or objects, researchers said.

Is there such a thing as “weather” on Mars? There are some doubts, considering the planet’s atmosphere is only 1 percent as dense as that of the Earth. Mars, however, definitely has clouds, drastically low temperatures and out-of-this-world dust storms, and Istvan Szunyogh, a Texas A&M professor of atmospheric sciences, has been awarded a NASA grant to analyze and forecast Martian weather. Mars is the most Earth-like planet we know, but it is still quite different. For example, it is much colder on Mars. The south pole of the Earth is covered by water ice, but the south pole of Mars wears a dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) cap. In winter, the temperature at the poles can dip to -140°C (-220 degrees Fahrenheit), which is so cold that even carbon dioxide freezes.

Equipped with wearable AI systems and digital eyes that see what human eyes can’t, space explorers of the future could be not just astronauts, but “cyborg astrobiologists.” That’s the vision of a research team led by Patrick McGuire, a University of Chicago geoscientist who’s developed algorithms that can recognize signs of life in a barren landscape. “When they look at scenery, children gravitate towards the thing that’s different from the other things,” said McGuire. “That’s how I looked at the cyborg astrobiologist.” At the heart of McGuire’s system is a Hopfield neural network, a type of artificial intelligence that compares incoming data against patterns it’s seen before, eventually picking out those details that qualify as new or unusual.

A leading cosmologist says he has figured out how to affordably mount a manned mission to Mars – make it a one-way trip. Citing cost savings as well as reduced risk, Prof. Paul Davies made the suggestion at a gathering of NASA astrobiologists last year. Davies envisions a first-time mission involving four astronauts. The quartet would land on Mars' surface and immediately seek shelter, possibly inside lava tubes to avoid radiation poisoning. The first four would eventually be joined by others, establishing a permanent colony on the red planet. None of the visitors could ever return home. He admitted that conditions might be a little Spartan, but "not as bad as Guantanamo Bay."

It will be Nasa’s first experiment on primates in decades. If a manned mission to Mars ever takes place, the human pilots will be outside Earth’s protective magnetic field for several months, unprotected from solar radiation. Little research has been done on this sort of long-term exposure to low doses of radiation. Rats and mice have been exposed to this sort of radiation before, but that gives only a hint of what the effects would be on humans. Eleanor Blakely, a biophysicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said: "Obviously, the closer we get to man, the better."

The Russian Institute of Medical-Biological Problems (IMBP) is looking for volunteers to participate in the third step of the Russian experiment "Mars-500", which simulates an isolated 520-day flight to the Red Planet. "The basic requirements are as follows: age 25 to 50, higher education and a knowledge of Russian and English at a high enough level to ensure professional and social interaction," the IMBP said in an announcement. Applications should be sent to pressimbp@gmail.com (with cc to class@imbp.ru) with the title «Участие в проекте "Марс-500» ("Participation in the Mars-500 project").

Science Illustrated - A plasma rocket engine now in development could reduce the travel time to Mars by two-thirds.

Russia laid out its ambition to gain an edge in the space race by building a nuclear-powered spaceship. Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov told a government meeting that the preliminary design could be ready by 2012. He said it would then take nine years and 17 billion rubles ($600 million) to build the ship. At the meeting on new communications and space technologies, televised live, President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the plan and ordered the Cabinet to find the money for it. But the stated ambition contrasted with slow progress on building a replacement to the mainstay Russian spacecraft, sounding more like a plea for extra government cash than a detailed proposal. "It's a very serious project," said Medvedev. "We need to find the money."

The recently released report from the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee (AKA: The Augustine Commission), Seeking a Human Space Program Worthy of a Great Nation, states that "A human landing and extended human presence on Mars stand prominently above all other opportunities for exploration. Mars is unquestionably the most scientifically interesting destination in the inner solar system. It possesses resources which can be used for life support and propellants. If humans are ever to live for long periods with intention of extended settlement on another planetary surface, it is likely to be on Mars." The Mars Society is in perfect agreement with this statement and we hope that NASA will pursue a program that will realize this goal as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, the Augustine Commission report then goes on to state that we are not ready to go to Mars with current technology and we can go nowhere in the next decade, even with the expenditure of over a hundred billion dollars. While challenging, sending humans to Mars is possible with current technological expertise and we could have humans on Mars in the 2020s.

series of newly discovered depressions on the Martian surface could be the entrances to a cave system on the red planet. Hints of subsurface tunnels have been found in images of Mars before, but the new evidence is more suggestive, said Glen Cushing, a physicist with the U.S. Geological Survey who discovered the possible caves. Such a subsurface system could provide shelter to future Mars-visiting astronauts, as well as a protective habitat to any potential past or present Martian microbes, Cushing said.

Forty years after Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin was part of a historic first, becoming the second man to walk on the moon, he dared President Barack Obama to seize the reins of history - and send Americans to land a man on Mars, or one of its two moons, Phobos. Aldrin said the president has "the most glorious opportunity to go down in history" if he declared the United States' intent to send astronauts to the Red Planet - much as President John F. Kennedy dared the United States to send men to the moon in 1961. Speaking Thursday at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in East Garden City, where he was signing copies of two recent books, Aldrin said if the United States sent "creatures from the Earth to set up life on another planet" it would be viewed "for thousands and thousands of years like Alexander the Great, Magellan and Columbus." He said Obama could take credit for the vision.

Moon or Mars - Where Should Humans Go First?

Putting a human on Mars might be easier than anyone thought. A flight to the Red Planet currently takes at least six months, which is why we send robots—the trip is boring, fuel costs are astronomical, and cosmic radiation is nobody's friend. But NASA engineer Robert Adams has a solution: the two-burn maneuver, an all-but-forgotten secret of orbital mechanics that could cut travel time in half.

"We should establish a self-supporting colony on Mars," suggests J Richard Gott, professor of astrophysical sciences as Princeton University in the US. "That would make us a two-planet species and improve our long-term survival prospects by giving us two chances instead of one." As one might expect, his belief in the species-saving potential of space exploration is echoed by Sir Richard, whose Virgin Galactic company plans to offer orbital flight for paying passengers. "If we are going to survive as a civilisation we need low energy and environmental access to space on an industrial scale," he told the magazine.

Now that the hype surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Moon landings has come and gone, we are faced with the grim reality that if we want to send humans back to the Moon the investment is likely to run in excess of $150 billion. The cost to get to Mars could easily be two to four times that, if it is possible at all. This is the issue being wrestled with by a NASA panel, convened this year and led by Norman Augustine, a former chief executive of Lockheed Martin, that will in the coming weeks present President Obama with options for the near-term future of human spaceflight. It is quickly becoming clear that going to the Moon or Mars in the next decade or two will be impossible without a much bigger budget than has so far been allocated. Is it worth it?

NASA must provide the crew with some 20,000 meals -- light, with a shelf life of five years. Scientists are experimenting with packaging and preservation, but so far, mac and cheese is out.

As space policy experts mull over alternative strategies for astronaut exploration of the solar system, possibly including human flight to Mars, the recently-concluded fortieth anniversary celebrations of the Apollo 11 moon landing inspire one specific question: what’s taken so long? In the heady days of the Apollo triumphs, even the “pessimistic” forecasts imagined it might take as long as twenty years to get astronauts to Mars. Optimistic schedules put the first footsteps on the Red Planet—another “giant leap for mankind”—as early as 1982. When it didn’t happen in fifteen or twenty years, or even in twice that period, or even by current plans by twice again that period, the question naturally arose: why not? Had the national will failed? Had our adventurous culture lost its nerve?

The first astronauts to walk on the moon want President Barack Obama to aim for a new destination: Mars. On Monday, the Apollo 11 crewmen, fresh from a Washington lecture Sunday in which two of them expressed concerns about NASA getting bogged down on the moon, are meeting with Obama at the White House. In one of their few joint public appearances, the crew of Apollo 11 spoke on the eve of the 40th anniversary of man’s first landing on the moon, but didn’t get soggy with nostalgia. They instead spoke about the future and the more distant past.

Does a sandwich on Mars taste different? The answer could be no, according to new research that found long-term spaceflight exposure doesn't change later generations of wheat seeds. Molecular biologist Robert Ferl of the University of Florida and colleagues studied wheat seeds descended from plants that flew on the Russian Mir space station. The progenitor plants were in space for 167 days in 1991. When they were brought back to Earth, the plants gave rise to viable offspring seeds.

Speaking at a Washington lecture over the weekend, Apollo 11 crewmembers Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins expressed concern about NASA focusing too much on past accomplishments. That is to say, they believe we should focus our efforts on Mars. Critics believe that going back to the moon is, as Aldrin put it "a glorified rehash of what we did 40 years ago"—something that would waste time and money that we could be spending on a trip to Mars. NASA argues that going back to the moon and establishing a permanent base is an essential stepping stone to a successful Mars mission—a feat that would take at least 20 years to accomplish according to their estimates. The issue here, it seems, is not that we should ever step foot on the moon again, it's that NASA and the Obama administration should grow a set of balls by prioritizing Mars and fully committing to a program right now. After all, we went from nearly zero to the moon in the sixties with primitive technology. What do you think? Should we skip the moon and head for Mars?

Blasting off from Earth and hurtling through space at thousands of miles an hour, it takes astronauts three days to reach the moon -- a tiny distance in a universe measured in light years, but a fantastic voyage on a human scale. Now plans are under way to go back, even as the future of U.S. human space exploration is under close scrutiny and pressure is growing on NASA to aim for another alien world.

Medication that can protect humans against nuclear radiation has been developed by Jewish-American scientists in cooperation with a researcher and investors from Israel. The full story behind the dramatic discovery will be published in Yedioth Ahronoth's weekend edition. The ground-breaking medication, developed by Professor Andrei Gudkov – Chief Scientific Officer at Cleveland BioLabs - may have far-reaching implications on the balance of power in the world, as states capable of providing their citizens with protection against radiation will enjoy a significant strategic advantage vis-à-vis their rivals. Gudkov's discovery may also have immense implications for cancer patients by enabling doctors to better protect patients against radiation. Should the new medication enable cancer patients to be treated with more powerful radiation, our ability to fight the disease could greatly improve.

Four Russians, a Frenchman and a German ended a simulated 105-day space trip in Moscow on Tuesday designed to test their responses in the kind of isolated surroundings they would experience in a manned mission to Mars. Stepping out of their sealed compartments in a Moscow scientific complex, the crew members were ending one test just as space agencies step up preparations for a longer 520-day isolation experiment expected to start next year.

Buzz Aldrin: Our mission to the moon was shared by the world as an adventure. He says he became depressed after the mission was over. Aldrin says he took on a new mission: to open space to the average person. He says a mission to colonize Mars would restore adventure of space travel

NASA will probably not build an outpost on the moon as originally planned, the agency's acting administrator, Chris Scolese, told lawmakers on Wednesday. His comments also hinted that the agency is open to putting more emphasis on human missions to destinations like Mars or a near-Earth asteroid. NASA has been working towards returning astronauts to the moon by 2020 and building a permanent base there. But some space analysts and advocacy groups like the Planetary Society have urged the agency to cancel plans for a permanent moon base, carry out shorter moon missions instead, and focus on getting astronauts to Mars.

Six volunteers locked themselves away in a network of metal tubes for the next 105 days on Tuesday in an experiment to study the human stresses of a manned mission to Mars. Four Russians and two Europeans — a mix of cosmonauts, doctors, an engineer and an airline pilot — shut the metal hatch behind them, sealing themselves inside a habitat at Russia's Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow. The three-month endurance test is a trial run for a planned 520-day mock Mars mission by the European and Russian space agencies later this year to study the effects of prolonged isolation on the human body and mind.

What would you be prepared to do for money? For $6,500 (£4,500) a month, to be precise? How about the following: locking yourself inside a small metal container for three months without any communication with the outside world, with electronic monitors attached to various parts of your body and with frozen baby food and cereal bars for breakfast, lunch and dinner? To add to the fun you'll have five companions who will do everything possible to stop you trying to escape before the three months are up. Meanwhile, from a control room outside, a team of scientists will monitor your every move checking for any signs that you are starting to crack up. And banish all hope of finding solace through alcohol or tobacco. Both are strictly forbidden.

On the return flight from a meeting at NASA headquarters a couple of years ago, my mind was reflecting upon the Space Shuttle program...its milestones...its tragedies...and its soon-to-be fleet retirement. (As of this writing, the Space Shuttle fleet is slated for retirement by September 30, 2010.) While gazing out over the clouds through the airplane window, a number of thoughts swirled in my head: Instead of retiring the Space Shuttle, and simply moth-balling the orbiters at museums and "rocket parks" around the country, could we give the fleet a heroic assignment? A grand mission commensurate with their thirty years of service? Something that would be truly historic -- even through the lens of time a millennium from now?

The Obama administration should set a concrete schedule for human Mars missions, and make sure new hardware developed for NASA's return to the Moon can be adapted for missions to other destinations, a new report says. With a new US president set to take charge of the White House and many questions hanging over NASA's future, many have been trying to advise the agency about where it should go from here. President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has been very tight-lipped, but if the Obama administration takes its cue from the preponderance of advice it's getting, then human missions to Mars may well move up in priority. Back in November, the Planetary Society, a space advocacy group, released a report called "Beyond the Moon", which called for delaying new missions to the Moon and channelling more resources into paving the way for human missions to Mars instead. Now, an independent group of space experts, led by David Mindell of MIT, is calling for a timeline for human Mars missions, and urging that any Moon hardware be designed with other destinations in mind as well.

NASA and other spaceflight programs worldwide should focus on putting people on Mars, not the moon, an advocacy group for space exploration said in a new plan announced today. "The U.S. landed humans on the Moon nearly 40 years ago," said Louis Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society. "Returning to the moon has not sufficiently excited the public and will require resources that will be badly needed elsewhere in the space program." The plan, "Beyond the Moon: A New Roadmap for Human Space Exploration in the 21st Century," included four key elements:

Future astronauts could benefit from a magnetic "umbrella" that deflects harmful space radiation around their crew capsule, scientists say. The super-fast charged particles that stream away from the Sun pose a significant threat to any long-duration mission, such as to the Moon or Mars. But the research team says a spaceship equipped with a magnetic field generator could protect its occupants. Lab tests are reported in the journal Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion. The approach mimics the protective field that envelops the Earth, known as the magnetosphere.

In this day and age, people engage in their right to vote from all over the world. But this Nov. 4, few ballots will have traveled as far as those cast by two NASA astronauts. Commander Edward Michael Fincke and Flight Engineer and Science Officer Greg Chamitoff are living and working onboard the International Space Station. Though they are 220 miles above Earth and orbiting at 17,500 miles per hour, they will still be able to participate in the upcoming election. A 1997 bill passed by Texas legislators sets up a technical procedure for astronauts -- nearly all of whom live in Houston -- to vote from space.

NASA chief Mike Griffin has outlined the punishing lunar endurance mission that would have to be completed before NASA could ever consider sending humans to Mars. Speaking on NASA's future mission priorities at this week's International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, Griffin said that Mars is not automatically the next destination simply because humans have already been to the Moon. "The total human experience on the Moon is less than 27 human working days – on a world that is the size of Africa," he says. "So whether the Moon is a stepping stone to Mars or a place of interest in its own right depends on knowledge we don't have yet." To improve that knowledge, and to test the logistics and human factors of potential Mars missions in the bargain, Griffin proposes an elaborate lunar mission experiment. It would mimic the travel and landing time of a Mars mission by using the International Space Station as a mock Mars spaceship – and the Moon as a surrogate Mars.

A tethered spacecraft will spin through increasingly hi-fidelity testing in a lab, in zero gravity, and eventually space, as part of the next project chosen by the Mars Society. The Mars Society announced Tuesday that the Tethered Experiment for Mars inter-Planetary Operations (TEMPO 3 or TEMPO cubed) is the favorite proposal chosen from members' ideas for the group's next project. The project aims to supplement research on the feasibility of long-term space flight for humans. Mars Society president Robert Zubrin said that while space agencies around the world have "chosen to study the effects of zero gravity on humans with no end in sight," his group seeks to develop technology to provide humans with gravity in space. "Similar problems existed in the past, when aircrews flew at high altitude and low oxygen levels," he said in a news announcement. "The technological solution of providing oxygen was frowned upon by aviation doctors in favor of trying to 'negate the effect' of the low oxygen through medication. Today, flight crews use oxygen at high altitudes, and we expect astronauts to travel with gravity."

4Frontiers Corporation, a NewSpace technology, entertainment & education company, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $25,000 research grant from the Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC), as part of the Florida Space Research & Education Grant Program. This grant will assist 4Frontiers in pursuing its technology roadmap for Mars settlement technologies. The project’s goal is to study the performance of various transparent materials which have been selected as potential candidates for use in future Mars greenhouses. The research will involve the construction of small chambers that incorporate these materials, simulating a Mars greenhouse. The chambers will then be placed within a larger chamber which will simulate the environmental conditions found on the Martian surface. The project will investigate heat transfer and stress performance of these materials under the unique conditions specific to the red planet.

Hyperion Power Generation, a startup building compact nuclear power reactor units that are “about the size of a typical backyard hot tub”, says commercial deployments could start as early as 2013. The release quotes the company’s CEO John “Grizz” Deal, who says the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based startup has advanced development of its device enough to be able to reach that goal. The company says it initially plans to make 4,000 units — each being able to generate 70 megawatts of heat energy, or 27 megawatts of electricity from a steam turbine. That’s the equivalent power for 20,000 homes. There’s also the possibility of linking devices that could produce more power.

The ice and minerals found using a robotic arm in the Martian soil could make it easier for humans to live on the planet in the not-so-distant future. The ice on the northern pole of Mars has been a particularly important find for NASA scientists because robots and astronauts could extract usable, even drinkable, water from it, helping to sustain an extended stay on the Red Planet, according to Ray Arvidson, a co-investigator for the Mars Lander's robotic arm team and a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "I think the fact that we found water ice means there's a large reservoir of it," Arvidson told Computerworld on Friday. "Water is crucial to us as humans, in terms of keeping us going. Water also is a resource that can be processed, in terms of getting oxygen and hydrogen. Finding that water near the surface is important. When you actually go to Mars, you don't want to take that water with you … the fact that the water is close to the surface is good."

Presumptive Republican White House nominee John McCain said Thursday he would like to see a manned mission to Mars as part of a "better set of priorities" for NASA that would better engage the public. At a townhall event in Florida, the Arizona senator was asked about funding for the US space agency's shuttle program, which is due to end in 2010.

Previewing the new exhibit, Facing Mars, at the Ontario Science Centre last week afforded me the double excitement of returning to the Science Centre and being able to go to Mars. Seriously, I was giddy. I've always been fascinated with all things space. In fact, my earliest memory was waking up in the hospital when I was three with a plastic toy space shuttle on my bed. Plus, the timing couldn't be better, because NASA had another hole-in-one shot to Mars last week and Canada's meteorological station is now reporting daily from the red planet.

Dainese may be known for its luxe motorcycle helmets and leathers, but the Italian company recently displayed two pieces of decidedly futuristic apparel at the 2008 Legend of the Motorcycle Concours d'Elegance. In anticipation of NASA's down-the-road Mars landing missions, Dainese has teamed up with MIT for an ambitious project that intends to pressurize an astronaut's body without the usual bubble of air that creates bulky spacesuits. We've seen the suit concept before, but bringing on these bike gurus is just cool—and smart. Ditching the old-school “Moon Man” image, Dainese's futuristic space duds feature a fitted design strung with intertwining black-and-gold filaments. It may look like a sleek bodysuit by Armani, but the filaments actually serve a crucial purpose: They run along Lines of Non Extension (LoNEs) on the human body, which according to chairman Lino Dainese “remain stationary even when we move. If these points are united,” he explains, “the same pressure is established throughout the body.”

Last week, 32 talented candidates gathered at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, with the hope of becoming part of a unique study that will act as a platform for human exploration of the Solar System. The study, called Mars500, is a ground-based simulation of a mission to Mars and back. Two of the candidates, together with four Russian volunteers, will be sealed in an isolation chamber for a total of 105 days starting in October. This is followed by the full isolation period with another two European candidates, which lasts for 520 days starting early in 2009.

If Dr. Robert Zubrin could take a trip to Mars, he would be sure to pack a bread maker in his suitcase. Not just because bread is a pretty reliable expeditionary food, but because the act of cooking, according to Zubrin, seems to help people get along with each other, especially when they are in slightly dire, less than luxurious and more than stressful circumstances. And Zubrin would know, too. He has, after all, led almost a half-dozen mock Mars missions on barren Arctic ice fields and scorching Utah deserts with volunteer teams made up of students, scientists, journalists and anyone else willing to wear fake spacesuits and live in tiny tin-can-like habitation modules for days on end. The simulated expeditions were made, in part, to research ways to live and work on the Red Planet. But they also revealed something else: what personality types might best be suited to make the 35 million-mile journey and who would be better off watching from Mission Control. "Some of these crews have worked out very well," said Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, a 7,000-member multinational group determined to reach what it calls the New World. "Others were at each other's throats."

What will it take to plant booted feet on Martian soil? And what will it take to keep them there indefinitely? We set our sights on the Red Planet. The dream of visiting Mars is as old as the fantasies of sci-fi authors Edgar Rice Burroughs and Ray Bradbury, but it took a giant step forward in January 2004, when U.S. President George W. Bush announced America's intention of returning to the Moon, and using that as a springboard to the Red Planet. The proposed U.S. program – still in its early design stages – kicks off with a series of robotic missions to the Moon, followed by more manned lunar missions around 2020. It also involves a new spaceship, called Orion, based on a combination of technology derived from the space shuttles and the venerable Saturn V – the booster used 38 years ago to launch Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on their historic voyage to the Moon. That's the Moon taken care of, but it's yet to be determined when the U.S. program is due to crank it up a notch and set its sights on Mars.

The idea, to say the least, was provocative. Back in March Nancy Atkinson wrote a piece for Universe Today about a retired NASA engineer named Jim McLane, who suggested a way to jump-start human settlement of Mars: go before we're sure how to get back. "When we eliminate the need to launch off Mars, we remove the mission’s most daunting obstacle," McLane told her. He said it would not be a suicide mission, but that risks are necessary when you do great things. "I don’t think there would be any shortage of people willing to volunteer for the mission. Lindbergh was someone who was willing to risk everything because it was worth it. I don’t think it will be hard to find another Lindbergh to go to Mars."

Radiation Shield Technologies has been granted a new patent for Demron, the protective garment that shields users from alpha and beta radiation, gamma rays, x-rays, and other nuclear emissions. The flexible, cool, and lightweight suit provides all the protection of a lead apron with a new level of comfort, and without any dermal or inhalation risks. Its malleability, thinness, and effectiveness allow it to be used for full-body nuclear, biological, and nuclear-biological chemical suits, tactical anti-nuclear vests, and high-energy suppression blankets. Several governments have ordered suits for use in emergencies that involve radiation, and scientists have even earmarked it for use in future missions to Mars.

SFC William H. Ruth of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division stationed somewhere in Afghanistan wrote in response to SPACE.com Senior Editor Tariq Malik’s story Monday about Prof. Stephen Hawking’s belief in extraterrestrial life and he has a suggestion for NASA: “Please forward this to the proper channels. I have read Stephen Hawking’s latest remarks on space travel and the importance of it to human survival. The problem is, NASA is going about it all the wrong way. Here is an idea: Send battle-hardened, strong-minded soldiers and marines on the long trips into space. We are conditioned to live with the bare minimal (of) life’s necessities and are trained to be prepared for … the worst conditions that any environment could throw at us. Hell, me and my men will go, set up a colony somewhere and await colonists to arrive. Me and most of my men are on our 3rd or 4th deployment into a combat area. We are scouts, reconnaissance specialists. We go before everyone else and spend time living off the land. Sounds just like the type of men needed for a long colonization journey.

For now, NASA openly says the prospect of sending astronauts to Mars is out of the question -- too complicated and expensive. But a retired NASA engineer named James C. McLane III says a Mars mission is doable, and would unify the world as never before. Just a couple of details: McLane would send only one astronaut. And it would be a one-way flight.

NASA is considering proposals submitted last month from a handful of companies for a spacecraft propulsion system that could refuel on Mars and other planets. Some of the companies that submitted bids include Alliant Techsystems Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp., which both employ hundreds of people in Maryland. The designs center on an engine fueled by a mix of liquid oxygen and liquid methane, the components of which are found naturally on Mars. The propellants, which NASA dubs "LOX/methane," are nontoxic and safer than those that power the space shuttle. And astronauts would not have to carry heavy fuel for the return trip but could fill up at an outpost in deep space. "If we go to Mars at some point, it will be a method of living off the land," said Mark D. Klem, project manager for NASA's Propulsion and Cryogenic Advanced Development project, which seeks out technologies that could be developed for future NASA missions.

If a robot surgeon is treating you, your life is in danger. That’s not due to any machine-borne malice, but because current research into autonomous surgery is focused on battlefield casualties barely clinging to life and astronauts injured on distant planets. To demonstrate how that research is progressing, Silicon Valley-based SRI International and the University of Cincinnati held a series of tests this past September that sound like a cross between a PR stunt and a B-movie: human doctors squaring off against a robotic surgeon aboard a nose-diving DC-9 aircraft. During periods of zero gravity and sustained acceleration of 1.8 g’s, a robot made incisions and applied sutures on simulated tissue, while a human surgeon did the same.

The Mars Institute is co-convening this week a unique scientific meeting titled "First International Conference on the Exploration of Phobos and Deimos: The Science, Robotic Reconnaissance, and Human Exploration of the Two Moons of Mars." The conference is being held at NASAÕs Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. The meeting is bringing together scientists, engineers, space exploration professionals, and students from around the world to discuss over three intense days (5-7 Nov 2007) the exploration of Mars's two mysterious satellites and how their exploration relates to that of the Moon, Mars, small bodies, and the solar system beyond.

Until recently, astronauts rarely worried about what to wear—a standard gas-pressurized spacesuit was the only choice. But navigating Mars in a bulky 300-pound setup would be like doing gymnastics in a suit of armor. “They’re not going there to sit in the habitat,” says Dava Newman, a professor of astronautics at MIT. “They’ll have to work five to seven days a week.” Newman has designed an alternative with enough flexibility to get the job done. Partially inspired by giraffe anatomy—the tall beasts use tight leg skin to help regulate blood pressure—the BioSuit relies on mechanical counterpressure instead of gas pressure. Every suit must be tailored to squeeze its owner. Newman estimates the BioSuit is 10 years from completion, but already the multiple layers can offer 25 to 30 kilopascals of pressure in the legs, enough to counter the thin atmospheres of other planets. And they’re safer than the old “gasbag” suits—a small hole can be patched on the fly. While we wait for a Mars mission, MIT hopes to put the BioSuit to work on Earth, helping physical therapy patients exercise.

Australian-led scientists have designed a new space habitat that might one day allow astronauts on the Moon or Mars to be 90 to 95 per cent self-sufficient. The development of such as system could save billions of dollars in shuttle trips to re-supply lunar or space colonies and brings closer the vision of a human habitat on Mars. The technology could also have applications on Earth to develop more sustainable farming techniques and improve recycling processes.

NASA aims to put a man on Mars by 2037, the administrator of the US space agency indicated Monday. This year marks the half-century of the space age ushered in by the October 1957 launch of the Sputnik-1 by the then Soviet Union, NASA administrator Michael Griffin noted. In 2057, the centenary of the space era, "we should be celebrating 20 years of man on Mars," Griffin told an international astronautics congress in this southern Indian city where he outlined NASA's future goals. The international space station being built in orbit and targeted for completion by 2010 would provide a "toehold in space" from where humanity can travel first to the moon and then to Mars, Griffin said.

A germ that causes food poisoning and other illnesses can be three times more dangerous in space than on the ground, an experiment has shown. The finding spells out tougher challenges for astronauts taking trips to the moon or Mars, as recent work also hints that the body's immune system weakens during extended stays in space. "Space flight alters cellular and physiological responses in astronauts including the immune response," said Cheryl Nickerson, a microbiologist at Arizona State University and leader of the experiment. "However, relatively little was known about microbial changes to infectious disease risk in response to space flight."

Ten gerbils took off from the Russian-run Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan on Friday for a 12-day voyage to test the possible effects of a human mission to Mars, an official said Friday. A Foton-M spaceship with the rodents on board took off on a Soyuz rocket, mission official Anfisa Kazakova told AFP by telephone. The rocket is to include a cage with 10 rodents with the aim of studying the physiological and biological effects of long-term flights, she said.

In the 40 years that humans have been traveling into space, the suits they wear have changed very little. The bulky, gas-pressurized outfits give astronauts a bubble of protection, but their significant mass and the pressure itself severely limit mobility. Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, wants to change that. Newman is working on a sleek, advanced suit designed to allow superior mobility when humans eventually reach Mars or return to the moon. Her spandex and nylon BioSuit is not your grandfather's spacesuit--think more Spiderman, less John Glenn. Traditional bulky spacesuits "do not afford the mobility and locomotion capability that astronauts need for partial gravity exploration missions. We really must design for greater mobility and enhanced human and robotic capability," Newman says.

A potential outward bound destination for astronauts: Phobos and Deimos - the two moons of Mars. NASA is stirring up the exploration pot by co-sponsoring in early November the first international conference on sending robots and humans to Phobos and Deimos. This global gathering of experts will meet at the NASA Ames Research Center in California. They’ll detail new ideas on probing Phobos and Deimos, as well as how to utilize the two moons as a gateway for exploring Mars itself. In the human exploration department, scientists and engineers are to delve into what an expeditionary crew might do on Phobos and Deimos - and how to use those mini-worlds to help in investigating the red planet. Also, what precursor robotic missions that might be needed will be addressed. By the way - Russia is already spearheading a multi-nation project to explore Phobos, dubbed the Phobos-Grunt mission, a sample return effort eyed for 2009.

Last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, and Science recommended an increase of over $280 million above the requested level for NASA. However, within this budget markup, there is language that would prevent work on programs devoted to humans to Mars. According to a House Appropriations Committee press release, the markup language states that NASA cannot pursue “development or demonstration activity related exclusively to Human Exploration of Mars. NASA has too much on its plate already, and the President is welcome to include adequate funding for the Human Mars Initiative in a budget amendment or subsequent year funding requests." THIS ANTI-MARS LANGUAGE MUST BE REMOVED! Otherwise, the program may turn into MOON ONLY program. We can't let that happen.

ESA is preparing for future human exploration missions to Mars. We are currently looking for volunteers to take part in a 520-day simulated Mars mission. To go to Mars is still a dream and one of the last gigantic challenges. But one day some of us will be on precisely that journey to the Red Planet. A journey with no way out once the spaceship is on a direct path to Mars. These men and women will have to take care of themselves for almost two years during the roundtrip. Their survival is in their own hands, relying on the work of thousands of engineers and scientists back on Earth, who made such a mission possible. The crew will experience extreme isolation and confinement. They will lose sight of planet Earth. A radio contact will take 40 minutes to travel to us and then back to the space explorers. A human mission to Mars is a bold vision for the time beyond the International Space Station. However, preparations have already started today. They are geared and committed to one goal: to send humans on an exploration mission to Mars, individuals who will live and work together in a spaceship for over 500 days.

An experiment aimed at finding ways to help astronauts adapt to life on Mars could end up helping insomniacs on Earth, researchers said on Monday. They found that two 45-minute exposures to bright light in the evening could help people adjust to a longer, Martian-style day. During the experiment, they found a wider-than-expected variation in an internal system the human body uses to keep track of days and nights, and they believe their treatment might help people with certain disorders of this system. "The results have powerful implications for the treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders, including shift work disorder and advanced sleep phase disorder," said Dr. Charles Czeisler, chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard medical school in Boston. The U.S. space agency NASA had asked Czeisler's lab to find ways to help astronauts adjust to life on Mars, where the days are about 24 hours and 39 minutes long, or 24.65 hours.

NASA has unveiled plans for crew and launch vehicles to return humans to the moon as the first steps toward building an outpost there and eventually traveling to Mars. NewsHour correspondent Tom Bearden takes a closer look at NASA's space vision.

In the year that BBC One’s 1970s era police show proved such a ratings hit it was perhaps appropriate that an entry nicknamed the "Life on Mars Garden" should win the Chelsea Flower Show. But the Chelsea judges still caused something of a stir when they favoured Sarah Eberle’s garden for an astronaut on Mars over Ulf Nordfjell’s near perfect celebration of the tercentenary of the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. Yet the judges, all professional designers themselves, clearly thought Miss Eberle’s garden was out of this world. Miss Eberle said she was "overwhelmed" to win her first best in show at Chelsea for "600 days with Bradstone," the Martian garden that has taken her eight years to research and build, with the help of the European Space Agency.

As the Earth fades into the rearview mirror, the astronauts who set out on the missions that NASA proposes to the moon and Mars will face new challenges to stay mentally and physically fit. Confinement on spacecraft and isolation from friends and family create psychological stress. Bones weaken without gravity and there is solar and cosmic radiation exposure. "The risks to human health on long-duration missions beyond Earth orbit, if not solved, represent the greatest challenge to human exploration of deep space," concludes Safe Passage: Astronaut Care for Exploration Missions, a study for the space agency by the National Academy of Sciences in 2001. Without the swift, fictional propulsion systems of Star Wars and Star Trek fame, a round-trip voyage to Mars will send astronauts packing for 2 years. A tour of duty at a lunar outpost would last six months. The trip durations lead to another worry: How does a faraway astronaut receive treatment for a medical emergency?

Spacecraft start out clean - as close to germ-free as humans can make them. But after years of use, unused spaces within the walls can become home to unwanted life forms. When NASA joined the Russian space program in its evaluation of the microbial activity aboard the Mir spacecraft, they made some interesting discoveries. NASA's plan was to obtain information that would be useful during long-duration missions. Mir had suffered several power outages during its fifteen years in low earth orbit; temperature and humidity had gone well beyond normal levels. In 1998, NASA astronauts were collecting samples from air and surfaces. Imagine their surprise when they opened an obscure service panel in Mir's Kvant-2 Module and discovered a free-floating mass of water.

Scientists from the University of Sheffield are developing an artificial `plastic blood´, which could act as a substitute for real blood in emergency situations. The `plastic blood´, which will be on display at the Science Museum this month, could have a huge impact on military applications. Because the artificial blood is made from a plastic, it is light to carry and easy to store. Doctors could store the substitute as a thick paste in a blood bag and then dissolve it in water just before giving it to patients – meaning it´s easier to transport than liquid blood. Donated blood has a relatively short shelf-life of 35 days, after which it must be thrown away. It also needs refrigeration, whereas the `plastic blood´ will be storable for many more days and is stable at room temperature.

How do you get rid of the body of a dead astronaut on a three-year mission to Mars and back? When should the plug be pulled on a critically ill astronaut who is using up precious oxygen and endangering the rest of the crew? Should NASA employ DNA testing to weed out astronauts who might get a disease on a long flight? With NASA planning to land on Mars 30 years from now, and with the recent discovery of the most "Earth-like" planet ever seen outside the solar system, the space agency has begun to ponder some of the thorny practical and ethical questions posed by deep space exploration. Some of these who-gets-thrown-from-the-lifeboat questions are outlined in a NASA document on crew health obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request. NASA doctors and scientists, with help from outside bioethicists and medical experts, hope to answer many of these questions over the next several years.

The European Space Agency (ESA) will partner with Russian researchers to lock a crew of six people in metal tubes for a simulated trip to Mars. Known as Mars500, the simulated space mission will take place in an isolation facility in Russia, allowing organizers to study the difficulties presented by such a lengthy spaceflight. The participants, selected from a pool of volunteers, will attempt to re-create all elements of an actual mission, including launch, an outboard journey, a research trip to the planet’s surface, and the return trip—all of which will take 500 days. Locked inside the research station, the crew will have to deal with limitations such as a carefully portioned food supply, 20-minute delays in communication, and simulated emergencies, with the further possibility of real medical emergencies arising.

The world's first female astronaut Valentina Tereshkova, marking her 70th birthday on Tuesday, says she still dreams of flying to Mars -- even on a one-way ticket. In June 1963, 25-year-old Tereshkova spent 71 hours in orbit on board a Soviet Vostok spacecraft, earning a niche in the history books and scoring propaganda points for the Soviet Union in its Cold War space rivalry with the United States. The story of the peasant's daughter who became a household name thanks to communism's achievements made her a role model for young Soviet women. Her photograph smiling from a space suit became an icon. President Vladimir Putin, who invited Tereshkova to his residence near Moscow to mark her birthday, said her flight remained an inspiration for the resurgent Russia of today.

Burrowing inside an asteroid whose orbit carries it past both the Earth and Mars could protect astronauts from radiation on their way to the Red Planet. The idea is being investigated with funding from NASA. Outside the protective bubble of the Earth's magnetic field, charged particles from the Sun and from beyond our solar system in the form of cosmic rays pose a hazard to astronauts.

As NASA lays plans for travel to the moon and Mars, the agency is exploring propulsion systems, crew modules, and habitat structures. It has looked at the psychology of being cooped up with fellow astronauts for a years-long Mars mission, and studied how to maintain bone structure and muscle strength in microgravity. But a new study should force renewed attention on one of the most intractable dangers of space travel: radiation. The review, published Sept. 29 in Mars, the International Journal of Mars Science and Exploration, identified major radiation hazards that must be solved before the safe completion of a human Mars mission.

The House passed a bill that supports the president's plans to explore Mars and increase spending on research and encouraging science professionals to enter teaching. This bill passed after three days of debate that touched on everything from medical marijuana laws to the Pacific Northwest's salmon fishery. Along the way, House lawmakers endorsed the Supreme Court's ruling to permit evidence seized in violation of long-standing "knock and announce" rules and backed bilingual ballots for people whose native language is not English. The bill covers the annual budgets of the departments of Commerce, State and Justice, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy the Earth, world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday. The British astrophysicist told a news conference in Hong Kong that humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years. "We won't find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system," added Hawking, who arrived to a rock star's welcome Monday. Tickets for his lecture planned for Wednesday were sold out. "It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species," Hawking said. "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of."

Sound dies quickly in the cold, thin air of Mars. Researchers have modeled a sound wave traveling through the Martian atmosphere and report that it doesn't go far--even a lawn mower's roar dies after a hundred meters or so. The model presents an unusually detailed picture of how sound travels in an alien atmosphere and hints at what it would take to communicate on the Red Planet.

It's the moment every wannabe astronaut dreams of: landing on Mars. Just imagine making that momentous speech as you plant your flag in the red soil, the sun rising behind you over Olympus Mons. How breathtaking to see the Earth rise in the night sky, just a white dot among millions of others. But there's a flip side. By the time you make that speech, you will have been cooped up inside a metal box for six months. You'll not talk to your friends or family for another two years. You and your fellow inmates are bound to have survived some hair-raising, potentially fatal crises, and everyone's nerves will be in tatters.

Last December a second Italian-French crew took up residence in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. They will stay there for over a year; nine months of this will be winter, with no visitors and no chance for an emergency rescue. The aim: to help the European Space Agency (ESA) with preparations for a human mission to Mars.

NASA issued a Request for Information Tuesday soliciting ideas on lunar exploration activities that could be pursued as part of the agency's long term exploration goals for the moon, Mars and beyond. Sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, this request seeks input from individuals and organizations covering a broad range of disciplines, from lunar science activities, to operational activities and technology research efforts that could be done on the moon to assist in preparing for future human missions to Mars and beyond.

Human spaceflight to Mars could become a reality within the next 25 years, but not until some physiological problems are resolved, including an alarming loss of bone mass, fitness and muscle strength. Former astronaut James A. Pawelczyk, Ph.D. illuminated the issues in a keynote address today at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) 10th-annual Health & Fitness Summit & Exposition in Orlando.

The top man at Russia's leading space firm has mooted an ambitious expansion of the country's space effort. President of Energia corporation Nikolai Sevastianov said manned missions to the Moon and Mars were on the cards by 2030. He said: "We can land on the Moon before 2015". His plan is to start mining the Moon for the 1m tons of potential fusion fuel helium-3 scientists say it has. They say this would be enough to power Earth for 1,000 years, and one experts estimates its value at $4bn per ton. This would easily offset the cost of mining it, Sevastianov said.

For the first time since 1972, the United States is planning to fly to the moon, but instead of a quick, Apollo-like visit, astronauts intend to build a permanent base and live there while they prepare what may be the most ambitious undertaking in history — putting human beings on Mars. NASA’s moon planners are closely following the spaceship initiative and, within six months, will outline what they need from the new vehicle to enable astronauts to explore the lunar surface.

Cosmonaut, Russian space engineer speak to Powhatan students. Russian cosmonaut Yury Usachev logged more than 670 days in space but even he has his limits. Speaking yesterday to several hundred students at Powhatan High School, Usachev shuddered at the thought of a possible manned mission to Mars and said he'd let the next generation of space pioneers sign up.

Do you even CARE what kind of disgusting bugs and bacteria live on your clothes and bedding? Do you? Well, The world first washing machine dryer with "air wash" function cares. The AQUA AWD-AQ1 from Sanyo disinfects and deodorizes your clothes without using water. It shoots ozone-filled air to whisk away odors and bacteria. It also recycles the water it uses for rinsing and disinfects it using the selfsame ozone. It even has special modes to fight against mode, add steam, and even wash without detergent. It will be out in March for $2200.

Engineers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a method of machining metals that uses ice-cold carbon dioxide to remove cuttings while cooling and lubricating the workpiece. Dubbed Snow-Machining, it could eliminate the need for oil-based and synthetic fluids currently used in the cutting and metal-parts cleaning industries. Experts at the University of Michigan estimate over 200 million gallons of metalworking oils are used annually in the U.S., and the amount of cutting fluid is at least several times that figure.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to send six astronauts on a 500-day mission to Mars, according to its final draft report on the Mars exploration program. U.S. President George W. Bush promoted a new vision for NASA's space exploration in a speech he gave in January 2004. NASA is aiming to realize the mission before 2030. The human mission to Mars is planned to take 2-1/2 years for the round-trip and will comprise three sets of vehicles.

A few weeks before leaving for the Antarctic Concordia Station, the Italian-French crew that will spend over one year in one of the harshest, isolated environments on Earth, attended two days of preparatory training at ESA's Headquarters in Paris, France. During their stay at the research station the crew will participate in a number of ESA experiments � the outcome of which will help prepare for long-term missions to Mars.

The human body needs warmth and the areas in which we feel the cold first are naturally enough those which are at the extremities � hands and feet. The feet are particularly vulnerable in arctic climates as they are continually in contact with very cold surfaces. Accordingly, the advanced nanotech underfoot insulation offered by ToastyFeet insole liners from Polar Wrap. Most insulation requires loft but when you step on it, it gets compressed and loses its loft and therefore its insulating power. Aerogel doesn't require loft as it contains nanometer-sized pockets of air that can maintain thermal protection and shape even when you step on it. In partnership with NASA, this same flexible aerogel technology is being developed for next generation space suits but you can get it now and keep your feet toasty warm. We've written about numerous applications for aerogel technology including a translucent roofing system and about the origination of the world's lightest solid.

A few decades from now, space travelers living on Mars may think the Pilgrims had it easy. The pioneers who make the 80-million-mile, three-year journey to Mars and back will probably not have the just-add-water-and-heat packaged foods that are aboard the international space station, where the crew orbiting Earth will prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner today of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans and cherry-blueberry cobbler. NASA's Johnson Space Center is working on a project to send humans back to the moon, and from there to Mars.

Russia and China have agreed to launch in 2007 a 10-year space cooperation plan with a focus on joint development of major projects, such as a joint lunar exploration and landing on Mars, the Zhongguo Tongxun She news agency reported. The two sides agreed to �explore the possibility of cooperation in the moon and deep space exploration� as well as joint development of large space projects, according to the joint communique issued at the 10th regular meeting between Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov last week.

NASA is set to unveil today details of its new space architecture, a "how-to" response to President George W. Bush's Moon, Mars and beyond vision speech made in January 2004. Bush called for putting astronauts back on the Moon by 2020 and sending humans to Mars thereafter. Last week SPACE.com and Space News reported that NASA will announce today plans to send four astronauts to Moon in 2018. On the list: A re-usable vehicle that's safer than the shuttle; technology for extracting fuel from the destination; and an airbag landing upon return to Earth. Plans were also detailed for sending robotic scouts first.

With the shuttle fleet grounded and the International Space Station staffed by a skeleton crew, NASA is set to unveil plans on Monday to take people and cargo to the moon. Even before the official announcement, there is criticism from Capitol Hill over the reported $100 billion cost of the lunar program, given U.S. government commitments to the Iraq war and the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

NASA briefed senior White House officials Wednesday on its plan to spend $100 billion and the next 12 years building the spacecraft and rockets it needs to put humans back on the Moon by 2018. The U.S. space agency now expects to roll out its lunar exploration plan to key Congressional committees on Friday and to the broader public through a news conference on Monday, Washington sources tell SPACE.com.

Neil Armstrong said Tuesday that a human expedition to Mars won't happen for at least 20 years, but might be easier than the trip that made him the first person to step onto the moon in 1969. Armstrong said scientists must develop better onboard spacecraft technology and stronger shields to block space radiation before people can travel to Mars.

A new center that aims to be a cross between a museum and an amusement park may soon allow people to explore a Martian settlement without ever having to leave Earth. The Martian research and outreach center will be operated by Four Frontiers, a new Florida-based space commerce company whose main objective is the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars. �We see ourselves as the pioneers of the new space frontier,� said Four Frontiers� CEO Mark Homnick. �We follow in the path made by the early explorers such as NASA and the ESA. We settle in the new land, we turn it into a home and add value.�

NASA soon will unveil detailed plans for sending astronauts back to the moon before the end of the next decade. And while an official announcement won't come until mid-September, here's a sneak preview based on an internal NASA-Department of Defense memo and a speech given last week by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin.

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) on Friday invited China's first spaceman, Yang Liwei, to make a space flight to the moon aboard the promising Russian Kliper shuttle, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. The invitation was offered by the head of Roskosmos, Anatoly Perminov, at a meeting in the day with the Chinese taikonaut. Taikonaut was coined to refer to Chinese astronauts, who are called cosmonauts in Russia.

NASA will soon make public its space exploration strategy of returning crews to the Moon and sending humans to distant Mars and other targets. But implementing such lofty goals is fraught with political correctness, as well as the need for heavy doses of technological suitability and cost-saving savvy.

Russia will start an experimental program for preparation for flights to Mars in 2006, said Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos. "The agency is not planning a manned flight to Mars until 2015, although we will start an experimental program at the Institute of Medical and Biological Research next year," he told the Voice of Russia state-controlled radio station. "An international six-men crew will conduct a simulated 500-day flight to Mars."

NASA has decided that its next launch vehicle for getting humans into space will be based on the space shuttle system, including its main engines, solid rocket boosters and external tank. There will be one big difference, though, instead of riding along the side of the new rocket, astronauts in the future will be riding on top on top of their next launcher -- above any debris that might fall off. Speaking to reporters via telephone July 29, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said the agency's plans are the result of an intensive Exploration Systems Architecture Study he ordered in late April to plot NASA's return to the moon by 2020. That study will be publicly unveiled in "a few weeks," Griffin said.

As NASA turns its attention to preparing for human travel to the Moon and Mars, there are many hurdles to overcome. This fall, the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and NASA Quest will open the school year with a challenge to students, primarily in grades 5-8, to work with NASA scientists to design solutions to these obstacles. During October and November, students are invited to join NASA researchers Jennifer Heldmann, William J. Clancey and Chris McKay and other leading scientists as they embark on a Mars analog study at California's Lassen Volcanic National Park. By studying snowfields in the park, scientists hope to learn more about the development and use of technologies needed to help understand and explore the moon and Mars. They will also learn about polar ice caps and the possible life that could exist there.

Several Mars Foundation principals attended the NSS International Space Development Conference in Washington, DC this week. The attendees included Bruce Mackenzie, Joseph Palaia, Wayne White, Martha Adams, Mike Turner, and Gary Fisher. Presenting at the conference, we gave an overview of our current progress of Mars Settlement design and some of the results of our eight-month feasibility study. We are continuing our cutting-edge research efforts into permanent Mars settlement technologies & systems, and will be publishing our concepts over this summer in peer-reviewed scientific publications.

NASA's new administrator and Texas Republican Rep. Tom DeLay said Tuesday the space agency will have the necessary funding to implement President Bush's vision to send astronauts back to the moon and to Mars. "We have the money to do good things," said Michael Griffin, who has visited at least seven of NASA's centers since he was appointed in April. During a two-day visit at the home of human spaceflight, he spoke with astronauts, flight directors and other top administrators.

NASA trains astronauts on desolate Devon Island in the Arctic, Earth's closest environment to the red planet. Sarah Hampson finds wonder in the wild.

Take the cold tolerance of bacteria that thrive in arctic ice, add the ultraviolet resistance of tomato plants growing high in the Andes mountains, and combine with an ordinary plant. What do you get? A tough plant "pioneer" that can grow in Martian soil. Like customizing a car, NASA-funded scientists are designing plants that can survive the harsh conditions on Mars. These plants could provide oxygen, fresh food, and even medicine to astronauts while living off their waste. They would also improve morale as a lush, green connection to Earth in a barren and alien world.

At the beginning of 2001, with Mars Express (MEx) and Beagle 2 progressing well towards what everyone thought would be an epic journey to Mars, the European Space Agency (ESA) called together a group of 10 Experts in Space Exploration. A few lively meetings later these experts came up with their vision for Europe exploring the solar system during the 21st century.

Two teams of researchers are hoping their tiny devices will mean big leaps for future Mars-bound humans, allowing them to carry powerful computers and generate life support materials from the planet�s atmosphere. In one corner, NASA-funded scientists are tweaking microtechnology to produce compact systems that produce breathing oxygen or rocket propellant, vital components of any manned space mission. Meanwhile, two Purdue University researchers are adapting microchannel heat sinks � small copper plates lined with numerous grooves each three times the width of a human hair � with conventional refrigeration methods to build more efficient cooling systems.

Human missions to Mars will be much more difficult than missions to the moon. Round trip human missions to Mars will require about two years to complete, compared with the eight-day Apollo missions to the moon. Because humans will likely stay on Mars for much longer than they did on the moon, the development of the infrastructure required for a scientific outpost that can sustain humans for long periods of time is critical. Robert L. Ash, professor of aerospace engineering at Old Dominion University (ODU), will speak on "Challenges of Building a Human Outpost on Mars" at a colloquium at 2 p.m., Thursday, May 5, at NASA Langley's H.J.E. Reid Conference Center.

Future hunts for past or present life on Mars, hauling back to Earth samples of martian rock and soil, as well as setting the stage for a human voyage to the red planet is taking on a decidedly European look. European Space Agency (ESA) officials are taking steps to shift into high gear the building of the ExoMars robotic rover mission. The lander would be launched in 2011, likely onboard a Soyuz Fregat 2b booster from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

When humans return to the Moon and travel to Mars, they'll have to be careful of what they inhale. In 1972, Apollo astronaut Harrison Schmitt sniffed the air in his Lunar Module, the Challenger. "[It] smells like gunpowder in here," he said. His commander Gene Cernan agreed. "Oh, it does, doesn't it?" The two astronauts had just returned from a long moonwalk around the Taurus-Littrow valley, near the Sea of Serenity. Dusty footprints marked their entry into the spaceship. That dust became airborne--and smelly. Later, Schmitt felt congested and complained of "lunar dust hay fever." His symptoms went away the next day; no harm done. He soon returned to Earth and the anecdote faded into history.

Mice forced to breathe hydrogen sulfide -- known best for its rotten egg smell -- go into a kind of suspended animation, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a finding that may help save human lives. Although hydrogen sulfide gas is toxic in high doses, it may activate some of the mechanisms that cause other animals to go into hibernation, they wrote in this week's issue of the journal Science. "We are, in essence, temporarily converting mice from warm-blooded to cold-blooded creatures, which is exactly the same thing that happens naturally when mammals hibernate," said Mark Roth, who led the study, in a statement. "We think this may be a latent ability that all mammals have -- potentially even humans -- and we're just harnessing it and turning it on and off, inducing a state of hibernation on demand," said Roth, a biochemist.

NASA's new administrator, Michael Griffin, faced the press today for the first time since being confirmed by the Senate last week and vigorously defended the Bush administration's ambitious plan to send human beings to the moon and Mars. "We could probably go to Mars for what we spent on Apollo" in today's dollars, he said. "It is a journey, not a race," Griffin said. If the country put aside "a few billion a year," the Mars plan would be "very affordable."

Rather than hurried improvisation, saving the crew of Apollo 13 took years of preparation. "Houston, we've had a problem." Thirty-five years ago today, these words marked the start of a crisis that nearly killed three astronauts in outer space. In the four days that followed, the world was transfixed as the crew of Apollo 13�Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert�fought cold, fatigue, and uncertainty to bring their crippled spacecraft home. But the crew had an angel on their shoulders�in fact thousands of them�in the form of the flight controllers of NASA's mission control and supporting engineers scattered across the United States.

An in-depth critique of the space program and a prescription of the radical steps necessary to make the new Bush administration "Vision for Space Exploration" real written by Mars Society president Dr. Robert Zubrin has been published in the Spring 2005 edition of "The New Atlantis," the journal of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC). The Zubrin article, entitled "Getting Space Exploration Right," includes fierce and systematic criticism of former NASA administrator's non-destination driven approach of (not) implementing the president's new human space exploration policy. It also diagnoses the source of the many debacles of the O'Keefe administration, including the Hubble fiasco, the Orbital Space Plane and JIMO program failures, and the Columbia disaster. Finally, the article lays out the technical approach needed for successful implementation of a human Moon-Mars exploration program.

An international manned flight to Mars could be possible by 2030, the Russian Space Agency said on Monday. The agency head Anatoly Perminov was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying a Mars mission will be preceded by manned flights to the Moon. �According to assessments by our experts, manned flights to the moon will resume by 2015-2020,� he said. �The construction of a permanent station on the moon or industrial development of it is possible.�

After decades of sending probes across the void of interplanetary space, officials are now reshaping how solar system exploration is accomplished. The renovation is due in large measure to the visionary Moon, Mars and beyond directive given to NASA by U.S. President George W. Bush just more than a year ago. While money and mandate are in a state of near-rendezvous, the melding of space science objectives with human exploration goals is still to be fully played out, as is the prospect of broader international collaboration. "The scientific exploration agenda NASA has been pursuing for the past decade or so is bearing enormous fruit, providing key early inputs to how NASA implements the vision," said James Garvin, NASA Chief Scientist in Washington, D.C. "Initial robotic steps in the vision implementation will inform and guide future decisions that will ultimately steer how human beings explore the Moon and Mars."

This past year President Bush announced a plan for space exploration that includes preparing for a human mission to Mars. Although the initiative is new, detailed plans for sending people to Mars have existed for decades. In the 1950's, Werner Von Braun outlined a comprehensive plan for Mars travel. At Apollo 11's launch in 1969, Vice President Spiro Agnew proposed Mars as the next goal for NASA. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush called for an extensive program of Moon and Mars explorations. And in the 1990's, author and engineer Robert Zubrin offered a simple and direct plan for Mars exploration. But reaching Mars within a reasonable time-frame will require more than plans; it will require vision: NASA must distinguish the problems that require new and imaginative research from those that can be solved using existing knowledge.

The MoonMars Habitat Student Design Workshop is underway at ESA/ESTEC � working in the inspiring setting of the Erasmus User Centre, the 30 participants have until the end of the week to study, discuss and design a Moon, Mars or other planetary habitat. The 30 students selected come from 13 different countries and a broad range of background, including engineering, space science, architecture, ergonomics, medicine and psychology.

SpaceShipOne to Cassini-Huygens, there has been a lot of recent buzz in the media about all things cosmic. Students at North Dakota's public and tribal colleges and universities, who wonder just how they could be a part of the future of space science, recently were invited to participate in the development of a Martian Space Suit with each of their home schools. Since that invitation, Turtle Mountain Community College has joined UND as a participant in the program, which is based at UND. The invitation to other schools remains open. "We need students with the enthusiasm and interest for human space flight," said Pablo DeLeon from UND's Department of Space Studies.

This one�s got both the whiz-bang and why-didn�t-I-think-of-that factors. Plug it in, and water comes out. That�s it. No lines to connect, no bottles to stick on top (spilling water all over the floor in the process). So where does the water come from? Somebody had the clever idea of combining a dehumidifier with a water purifier, so that instead of throwing out the pan of water sucked from the air, you can drink it.

On Friday 8 April, media representatives wishing to know more about ESA's Aurora programme and its future development are invited to a press briefing in London to share with European space scientists the results of an international workshop to be held in Birmingham on 6 and 7 April. The ESA Aurora exploration programme, currently in its preparatory phase, features robotic exploration of Mars as a first step to deepen scientific knowledge of the Martian environment and address technological challenges.

For years scientists have been warning of an apocalyptic future facing the world. With the prospect of an earth made infertile from over-production and mass reliance on chemicals, coupled with an atmosphere polluted by greenhouse gases there seems little to celebrate. But belief is growing that an answer to some of the earth's problems are not only at hand, but under our feet. Specialists have just met in Perth to discuss the secrets of rock dust, a quarrying by-product that is at the heart of government-sponsored scientific trials and which, it is claimed, could revitalise barren soil and reverse climate change.

NASA has a new Vision for Space Exploration: in the decades ahead, humans will land on Mars and explore the red planet. Brief visits will lead to longer stays and, maybe one day, to colonies. First, though, we're returning to the Moon. Why the Moon before Mars? "The Moon is a natural first step," explains Philip Metzger, a physicist at NASA Kennedy Space Center. "It's nearby. We can practice living, working and doing science there before taking longer and riskier trips to Mars."

As rovers and orbiters continue to scour Mars for more signs of water and the potential for extraterrestrial life, space scientists and enthusiasts are champing at the bit to put humans on the red planet. "There's no question we'll ultimately go there. It's a matter of when, not if," said Lynn Rothschild, an astrobiologist at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. Robert Zubrin is the president of the Mars Society, a Colorado-based organization that promotes human exploration and settlement of the red planet. He said the technology exists to put humans on Mars within a decade. "We are much closer to being able to send humans to Mars today than we were to being able to send men to the moon in 1961, when [United States President John F. Kennedy] started the Apollo program," Zubrin said.

NASA�s Mars program could undergo major alternation, driven by budgetary and technical issues, as well as science goals. �We�ve been getting inputs, advice, actions items�from the road mapping teams,� said Doug McCuistion, Mars Exploration Program Director at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. �Nothing is finalized at this point. There have been no final decisions made or, frankly, any interim decisions made as yet.�

About one of every seven NASA workers nationwide will be transferred or paid to leave in the next 1 1/2 years as the space agency focuses on President Bush's moon-Mars exploration plan, officials said Thursday. However, many of those who depart likely will be replaced by new workers with skills more closely aligned with the new, deep space mission. NASA employs about 18,900 government workers.

While talking to journalists about Russia's view on manned projects in deep space, Anatoly Perminov, the director of the Federal Space Agency, said at a recent space summit in Montreal that nothing would be possible without all the interested parties conducting joint work on flying to planets first from Earth, then the ISS and finally the Moon. While speaking about the Russian space industry's plans to send a manned expedition to Mars in an exclusive RIA Novosti interview, Mr. Perminov highlighted a unique Russian experiment, Mars-500. This experiment will involve specialists and scientists, both direct participants and observers, who will try to create the conditions of a space journey lasting nearly two years here on Earth.

Given sufficient funding, Russian cosmonautics can by 2014 manage an orbital flight to Mars without landing. Physician cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who set a record in the duration of space flight, said so at the press conference on the publication of the book World Manned Cosmonautics. To him, in 2018-2020 Russian cosmonautics will be ready to perform a Martian mission with landing. "But only if there is sufficient financing and cooperation with other countries of Europe", the cosmonaut said.

In April, 30 students from across Europe will take part in the Habitat Design Workshop to be held in the Erasmus User Centre at ESA�s European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands. Their aim: to find novel and innovative ways of sustaining human life in space. ESA�s Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration, responsible for the Aurora Exploration Programme, and the Science Directorate invite graduates and post-graduates to participate in this exciting nine-day programme of activities, organised by the Moon-Mars Working Group in cooperation with ESA.

Are women up to the job of exploring Mars? This week, the director of Russia�s top space medical institute told students that only men should be allowed on the first mission to the Red Planet, because women are too weak to endure the flight's rigors. His comments once again exposed the internal contradictions of a country that put the first woman into space while having the reputation of being the last European bastion of male chauvinism.

America can make it to Mars some day, but not until it understands how Africans survived the journey from their homeland into slavery in the United States, writer and poet Nikki Giovanni told her audience at IPFW on Wednesday. She spoke about how great black Americans are and how amazing it is that the people who were brought over to become slaves survived their journey and started anew. �The only people on Earth who have ever been in an unknown space and unknown place and maintained their sanity were the captured Africans,� Giovanni told a packed Walb Ballroom.

The Planetary Society will present �Mars: A New World for Humankind� to members of Congress in Washington, DC on Thursday February 10, 2005. Steven Squyres, principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rovers, and Bill Nye the Science Guy, Vice President of The Planetary Society, will make the presentation with Louis Friedman, the Society�s Executive Director, moderating the program. �New visions for robotic and human space flight merge at Mars,� said riedman. �Politicians rightly ask about the value of space exploration; this presentation of results from Mars exploration will demonstrate that value and, hopefully, help implement the vision.�

New Russian space shuttle called Kliper will be exhibited at the Le Bourget Air Show in June, 2005. Kliper made by the Russian corporation Energia may be used for flights to the International Space Station and also to the Moon, the head of the Russian Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov, was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying. It also can land at common airdromes, he said.

The maker of legendary movies "Titanic," "Aliens" and "The Terminator" is no longer limiting his zest for extracurricular exploration to the depths of the ocean. Nowadays, James Cameron is spending more of his "spare" time involved in NASA's bid to send human explorers deeper into the solar system.

The NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) is an international field research project centered on the scientific study of a very special island in the Canadian High Arctic, Nunavut Territory. Devon Island is the world�s largest uninhabited desert island. It is cold, dry, desolate and contains an amazing feature -- a 24-kilometer wide impact crater that is 23 million years old. All of this means that Devon Island is a very good environment for scientists studying what it would take to conduct a manned mission on Mars.

A team of leading UK space scientists and industrialists have been appointed by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) to help shape the European Space Agency's (ESA) Aurora Programme of space exploration. Under the Chair of Dr Mark Sims, University of Leicester, the Aurora Advisory Committee (AurAC) will co-ordinate and define the case for UK participation in Aurora, taking account of UK expertise, science priorities, technology developments and potential spin-off applications.

PPARC has appointed a board of space experts to oversee the UK's participation in the European Space Agency's Aurora programme. The Aurora Advisory Committee (AurAC) will be headed by Dr. Mark Sims from the University of Leicester, last seen as project manager on the Beagle 2 mission. He will be joined by the Open University's Professor Colin Pillinger, and Dr Sarah Dunkin, vice president of the Royal Astronomical Society, among others.

Biophan Technologies Inc. recently announced an agreement between its TE-Bio subsidiary and NASA for the joint development of high-density, nanoengineered thermoelectric materials for use with implantable medical devices. Currently, implantable electromedical devices have to be replaced every few years due to short battery life. Biophan�s aim is to develop a thermoelectric power system based on temperature differentials in the human body. �By deriving power from the heat produced by the body,� says Biophan CEO Michael Weiner, �we can extend the life of these devices.�

If NASA is ever able to put a man on the moon again, or on Mars, it's very likely that the agency will owe a bit of thanks to a small Maryland video-game developer. In recent months, Vision Videogames has been putting the finishing touches on SpaceStationSim, a game timed for publication when the next space shuttle launches, supposedly this spring. As its title suggests, the game lets players pretend they're astronauts on the International Space Station in a 3-D, simulated environment. But pure fantasy this is not. In fact, Vision Videogames designed the game using technical specifications from NASA as part of a Space Act agreement. And now the company is under contract to play a crucial role in the development of the crew exploration vehicles, or CEVs, that could someday prowl around the moon or Mars.

NASA's future exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond will involve utilizing natural resources at the many destinations. To gain a better understanding of the properties and behaviors of lunar and martian environments, NASA's Kennedy Space Center is hosting the "Granular Materials in Lunar and Martian Exploration" workshop Feb. 2 and 3, 2005 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

The biggest solar proton storm in 15 years erupted last week. NASA researchers discuss what it might have done to someone on the Moon.

Future explorers on the Moon and Mars could be outfitted in lightweight, high-tech spacesuits that offer far more flexibility than the bulky suits that have been used for spacewalks in the 1960s. Research is under way at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a Bio-Suit System that incorporates a suit designed to augment a person�s biological skin by providing mechanical counter-pressure. The �epidermis� of such a second skin could be applied in spray-on fashion in the form of an organic, biodegradable layer.

There has been no shortage of ideas of how to send humans to Mars. From the �Battlestar Galactica� spacecraft of NASA�s Space Exploration Initiative 15 years ago to Robert Zubrin�s Mars Direct concept to high-speed alternatives powered by Franklin Chang-Diaz�s VASIMR engine, there have been plenty of proposals for mounting manned expeditions to the Red Planet, with varying flight times, crew sizes, and, of course, costs. Far less has been said, however, about what exactly humans will do once on the surface.

Two Chinese astronauts may be orbiting Earth as early as September, this time spending five days aloft in the nation's second manned venture into outerspace, China's space agency chief confirmed Thursday. Sun Laiyan, who heads the China National Space Administration, also said the country expects to expand exchanges with the United States in space science and applications to further tap co-operative potential.

No way, says Steve Squyres, the top scientist for the Mars rover missions. You might think Squyres would feel a bit of sympathy with the sentiment expressed in "The Matrix" by Agent Smith, the movie's virtual-reality villain: "Never send a human to do a machine's job." After all, Squyres serves as the principal investigator for the wildly successful robotic Mars adventure, which has lasted a year as of today. But in a recent interview, the Cornell University astronomer said that human exploration has to be a central part of our effort to figure out what's going on in the universe.

Women will participate in a ground-based imitation of a flight to Mars "500 days," announced head of the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) Anatoly Perminov, sharing the plans of his agency for the next year. "The imitation is going to be more attractive than any of the currently popular reality shows. Six people, men and women, will participate in the experiment that will last for a year and a half. I will tell you about the details of the experiment at the end of January," he said.

The time, when humans will fly to Mars and land on the mysterious red planet, is drawing near. Russia and the USA are the two countries that traditionally compete in the filed of space exploration. Russia's approach to the goal consists of three aspects. Russia plans to use its rich experience of manned flights - the development, assemblage and exploitation of space complexes. Scientists also plan to develop breaking technologies for this purpose and make the project feasible under problematic conditions of the Russian economy.

The countries participating in the Preparatory European Space Exploration Programme Aurora have recently confirmed and increased their contributions. This preparatory phase has attracted additional contributions for the period 2005-2006. Sweden has now joined the programme. The subscribed envelope has nearly tripled, from the original �14.3m to around �41.5m currently.

Former astronaut Jeffery Hoffman is proposing a hybrid system to protect future astronauts; on long voyages through the solar system they will be exposed to lethal doses of radiation from cosmic rays. He has recieved funding from NASA through NIAC (NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts) to research the idea of a superconducting magnetic radiation shielding system to supplement (or replace) traditional passive shielding. The idea of using a magnetic field to shield a craft from radiation is not new; as Dr. Hoffman points out "the Earth has been doing it for billions of years!" Using magnetic shielding was proposed in the late 1960's, but not pursued after plans for further space exporation were scrapped.

Russian scientists are selecting volunteers to be locked in a capsule for 500 days to test plans for a trip to Mars. The mock mission is designed to simulate the tough conditions of a space trip to the Red Planet. A team of six men will be physically cut off from the outside world to test equipment intended to make them self-sufficient for long periods.

Purdue University researchers, in the culmination of a four-year NASA-funded project, have created a method that will enable engineers to design more efficient systems for heating, cooling and other applications in spacecraft for missions to Mars and the moon.

While NASA engineers toil away with spacecraft designs to determine how humans will explore the moon and Mars, other researchers are developing devices to help future astronauts feed their hunger. Future long-duration space crews may need up to 40 different food processing machines to turn crops such as wheat and tomatoes into edible foods like bread and cereals, NASA officials estimated.

Astronauts on space missions are busy -- too busy to tend the hydroponic gardens that will keep them alive on long trips to distant worlds, or on the surface of the Moon or Mars. Using a $100,000 NASA grant, Peter Ling of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center has created a robotic tomato harvester to keep astronauts on task. NASA understands that long-term space missions depend on some form of farming as a matter of survivial. Plant cultivation not only yields foodstuffs and organic material, but also helps make air breathable and can provide water filtration.

Sending astronauts once again to the moon � and one day to Mars � will require another giant leap for NASA. But the space agency took one of its first steps toward that objective recently with the help of a report from a committee chaired by Donald Fraser, director of the BU Photonics Center. The National Research Council (NRC) committee was commissioned by NASA to assess the relative merits of four possible systems integration approaches being proposed for Project Constellation, the program to build the crew exploration vehicle (CEV) and related exploration systems necessary to fulfill President George Bush�s ambitious vision for space travel

The Mars Society has begun a new series of simulated Red Planet expeditions at its Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, following up on past rounds of research. "Expedition Alpha" moved in to the space-outfitted habitat this week and is already sending back dispatches. Over the next two weeks, the nine crew members will test tools and techniques that could be used someday during a human mission to Mars � then make way for Expedition Beta.

A biotech company has won approval to conduct human trials of a dental treatment that uses genetically modified bacteria to prevent cavities for a lifetime, after resolving regulators� safety concerns. Oragenics Inc. said Tuesday that trials of the product, known as Replacement Therapy, would get underway early next year. The company�s shares surged 20 percent on the news.

Russian space officials on Tuesday unveiled a full-scale high-fidelity mockup of the spacecraft they hope will replace the veteran Soyuz space capsule. Descriptions of the Kliper (for "clipper ship") vehicle have been widely circulated in the space community but today�s presentation in Moscow was the most detailed yet. The Energia Rocket and Space Corporation, the organization that has built all of Russian�s human space vehicles for the past half century, hosted the media event at its headquarters in Korolyov, a Moscow suburb. Deputy General Designer Valeriy Ryumin, himself a former cosmonaut, called the craft �a spaceship of the future� and boasted that �neither the United States nor Europe have anything of the kind.

NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate is on the lookout for new concepts for its Vision for Space Exploration -- the White House-backed Moon, Mars and beyond agenda. And on November 16th, NASA selected a concept from Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation for inflatable thin-film ballutes for return from the Moon. Not only Moon-to-Earth traffic could benefit by using the ballute/aerocapture technique. So too could missions to Mars, as well as future probes to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, and other distant destinations.

When the history of this lame duck Congress is written, historians may make little notes about the dustup over intelligence reform. However, their long memories are likely to record that, by funding the President's space initiative, this was a lame duck that soared. The $16.2 billion that Congress authorized for NASA, a five percent increase in its budget, made it official that mankind is headed outwards again -- to the moon, to Mars, and beyond. The House also passed a revised commercial space bill, which just a short time ago, was pronounced deader than Tom Daschle's political career.

Ray Bucklin can remember when "Mars jars" were sprouting up in laboratories around the country. In the years after the Viking probes landed on the surface of Mars, many scientists spent their spare time building bottle-like devices that replicated the thin air or the surface of the Red Planet � and using them to see whether plants could survive under Martian conditions. Now Bucklin and his graduate students at the UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Science (UF/IFAS) have put together a Mars jar to beat them all � a room-sized chamber in which the researchers can test models of greenhouses that could one day be built on the Red Planet.

Expedition Alpha launches Mars Society Canada's field research training program. ExAlpha will be the 30th Crew at the Mars Desert Research Station, and the first of the 4th Field Season at the Utah site. This two-week mission will run from November 27th to December 12th, 2004. The ExAlpha crew hopes to set a new standard for high science-return missions at MDRS.

Keeping an astronaut crew in tip-top shape during lengthy treks to and from distant Mars may demand portable gravity. There�s need for long-duration space travelers to counter such debilitating effects as muscle atrophy, bone loss, cardiovascular deconditioning and balance disorders -- effects seen in humans as they cope with stints in microgravity. Over the decades, artificial gravity research has been an on-again, off-again proposition. But in the last few years, and propelled by NASA�s new Moon, Mars and beyond exploration mandate, artificial gravity studies are now being developed, this time with a new spin.

With a green light from Congress, NASA is moving swiftly to carry out President Bush's ambitious plan to return robots and humans to the moon and eventually to Mars. The United States is also seeking foreign partners for the hugely expensive project, hoping to save money and avoid wasteful duplication. Space officials from 17 countries, including China, Russia, Japan and much of Europe, participated in a planning workshop in Washington last week. Representatives from each nation said they intend to participate in at least the planning phase.

It�s the year 2027 and NASA�s Vision for Space Exploration is progressing right on schedule. The first interplanetary spacecraft with humans aboard is on course for Mars. However, halfway into the trip, a gigantic solar flare erupts, spewing lethal radioactive protons directly at the spacecraft. But, not to worry. Research by former astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman and a group of MIT colleagues back in the year 2004 ensured that this vehicle has a state-of-the-art superconducting magnetic shielding system that protects the human occupants from any deadly solar emissions.

China and 15 other countries have joined NASA officials this week to consider how they might cooperate with U.S. plans for human exploration of the moon and Mars. The three-day Washington workshop was the first in a series of meetings sponsored by the U.S. space agency, NASA's Michael O'Brien said on Thursday, the last day of the gathering. "It was somewhat precedent-setting for this particular meeting to have the Chinese there in attendance," O'Brien said in a telephone news conference. China has its own space program and is not among the countries participating in the International Space Station.

Work is underway to establish the first interplanetary laser communication link. The $300 million NASA experiment, if successful, will connect robotic spacecraft at Mars with scientists back on Earth via a beam of light traveling some 300 million kilometers. For scientists eager to download bandwidth-intensive imagery and other data collected by planetary orbiters, probes and landers, the laser communications would offer a dramatic breakthrough in the amounts of information spacecraft can reliably transmit back to Earth.

Would Columbus have reached the New World if his ships could not carry enough water for their crews? Would Lewis and Clark have made it to the Pacific if they had no fresh water along the way? The answer is probably no, because water is just as precious to explorers as it is to everyone on Earth. Water is one of the most crucial provisions astronauts need to live and work in space, whether orbiting Earth, working at a lunar base or traveling to Mars. That's why NASA is following several different but complementary avenues at four agency centers to develop dependable ways of recycling water.

The hubbub over a $10 million prize for a pair of private manned spaceflights is over, with a quiet electronic transfer of funds into the bank account of Mojave Aerospace Adventures, a check-and-trophy presentation ceremony last weekend in St. Louis, and a glitzy gala marking the official and successful end of the X Prize. Now, the real work begins.

Five spacecraft are circling Mars and creeping across its ruddy surface, looking for traces of long-gone waters and signs that the cold, arid planet may once have been hospitable to life. The robotic martian invasion - three orbiters and two six-wheeled rovers - has already uncovered strong evidence that water once flowed on Mars and is now locked in subsurface ice. But big questions about water on Mars remain. When did it flow? How long did it last? How much was there? Where did it come from? Where did it go? Perhaps the most tantalizing question: Were there long-lived watery environments where microbial life could have gained a foothold?

A scientific manuscript submitted by International Space Station (ISS) astronauts while in space was published today. The research findings show minimally trained operators using remote guidance can perform ultrasound in space. The results of the shoulder ultrasound exams done in space for the first time will advance the care of space travelers on long-duration missions and may find additional uses helping treat medical emergencies on Earth. The article is available today in the on-line version of Radiology and will appear in print in the February 2005 issue.

Anyone who wants to follow in the shoes of Burt Rutan and win the next big space prize will have to build a spacecraft capable of taking a crew of no fewer than five people to an altitude of 400 kilometers and complete two orbits of the Earth at that altitude. Then they have to repeat that accomplishment within 60 days. While the first flight must demonstrate only the ability to carry five crew members, the winner will have to take at least five people up on the second flight. And one more thing. They have to do it by Jan. 10, 2010.

With a quick computer key stroke, space station astronaut Leroy Chiao became the first American to vote for president from space, casting an encrypted ballot via e-mail and urging fellow countrymen to go to the polls Tuesday. "It was just a small thing for me, but it is important symbolically to show that every vote does count," Chiao said from the international space station a few hours after the polls opened 225 miles below.

China's second manned space flight will be conducted by two astronauts over five days in 2005. "Shenzhou-VI will be blasted into space sometime next year," said Zuo Saichun, a spokesperson of the China Aerospace Science and Technology (CAST). "The spacecraft will make new breakthroughs in China's manned space technology." Their capsule is designed to be capable of orbiting for a whole week, the spokesperson said.

Manned missions beyond the Moon are no longer wild dreams. For example, the objective of ESA's Aurora programme, after exploring Mars with robotic missions, is to send astronauts to the red planet. Engineers are already considering the space systems that will be required, from the spacecraft and propulsion systems to the life support systems, for journeys that will last 6-9 months.

Russia's position as a leading space power is not only based on the number of successful space flights, but also on its ability to make long-term plans in this field, which is impossible without the continued development of new technology. Today, this is seen in the beginning of test flights and the continued development of new launch vehicles and spaceships. This is the main component of the national space program for the next decades. An example of this is Samara-based Progress Space Center's Soyuz-2-Rus rocket, which will have its first test flight on October 29, as well as the Kliper shuttle spacecraft which was included in Russia's 2005-2025 Federal Space Program.

Internationally- renowned astronautical engineer Dr. Robert Zubrin will speak as part of the convocation series at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 2 in Neumann Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. He will present his book, �The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must� (Simon and Schuster, 1996), and he plans to highlight the research and plan for enacting humankind�s habitation and settlement of Mars. His 16 years of experience has led him to confidently affirm humans will be able to send people to Mars within 10 years. �We are more prepared today to send humans to Mars than we were to send men to the moon,� Zubrin said. �We could be on Mars in eight years. �

As American space exploration fulfills promises for a new era of long-term moon colonization and a mission to Mars, the research of Florida Institute of Technology space physicist Ming Zhang will become more important to the lives of each and every astronaut. While his research on cosmic radiation has its roots in pure science, the practical applications of what he has learned about space weather are matters of life and death. With more than $1 million in NASA funding, Zhang is researching cosmic and energetic solar radiation, seeking how the two space weather components affect human beings, both as space travelers and as the end-user of satellite technology.

Gazing out of their space capsules, Apollo astronauts witnessed sights that humans had never before seen. They saw the breathtaking view of the Earth's bright blue disc against the inky black of space. They saw the far side of the Moon. They also saw strange flashes of light inside their eyeballs! Since then, astronauts aboard Skylab, the Shuttle, Mir, and the International Space Station have all reported seeing these flashes. No need to call Agents Mulder and Scully of The X Files, though: what the astronauts are experiencing is space radiation zipping through their eyes like subatomic bullets. When a "bullet" strikes the retina, it triggers a false signal that the brain interprets as a flash of light.

The announced manned mission to Mars is not simply a flight of fancy, but an important investment in research, NASA's administrator said Thursday. In a wide-ranging session at the weeklong Gartner Symposium/ITxpo at the Walt Disney World Dolphin, Sean O'Keefe also said throughout human history, there has been the desire to explore the unknown, to understand what we don't know and then build on what we learn from the experience.

Advocates of a propulsion idea for spacecraft claim that it would enable a 90-day round trip to Mars. Using current technology, it would take astronauts about 2.5 years to travel to Mars, conduct their mission and return to Earth, US scientists estimate. It would use a space station to fire a beam of magnetised particles at a solar sail mounted on a spacecraft.

Russia has called on the United States and other space exploring countries to share in the Kosmoport project in which the Energiya launching complex in Baikonur would be used to send flights to Mars and the Moon.

Technologies from space provide new solutions for food handling on Earth. In exchange travellers in space will get gourmet menus from Earth to cheer them up during long space missions. At the International Food Exhibition SIAL in Paris this week, ESA presents an exchange of ideas between food and space, including recipes for travellers to Mars.

Although he isn't quite through with high school, Nathan Lynch is pretty sure that, if he had to, he could get to Mars. And after six months of homework from NASA and a week at High School Aerospace Scholars program, that's not just empty bragging. "I think with all the information we had, it looked like if we'd have had the technology, we could have done it that day," said Lynch, a White Deer High School senior. "It was amazing to see that 40 high school students could come together and put a mission together to Mars."

In the future, bedtime for astronauts may be more than a few evening hours of regular shuteye. It may help them reach other planets, though admittedly they would have to sleep for quite a long time. European researchers, however, are on the case, conducting hibernation experiments that will hopefully help them understand whether humans could ever sleep through the multiple years it would take for a spaceflight to the outer planets or beyond.

For all its prominence in Florida, America's space program is barely on the radar of the two presidential candidates on the campaign trail. President Bush laid out an ambitious new agenda for NASA during a speech at the agency's Washington headquarters in January, but has referred to his "vision for space exploration" only rarely, and in passing, since.

What the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor and several other researchers are working on is something called "beamed energy propulsion," using laser beams to propel spacecraft without the big, fire-belching engines rocket ships are associated with today. As a result, they would be lighter, cheaper and more accessible to the average person who wants to take a jaunt into space.

Call for Volunteers: The Mars Society is requesting volunteers to participate as members of the crew of the Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah during extended simulations of human Mars exploration operations. The upcoming Mars Desert Research Station field season will begin in December 2004 and run through April 2005. The Mars Society will be issuing an additional call for volunteers for the summer 2005 field season of the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) on Devon Island later. However those volunteering for MDRS at this time may also volunteer for FMARS 2005. FMARS crew selection is highly competitive, and prior experience at MDRS, while not strictly required, is considered to be an important credential for FMARS selection. In 2004, for example, 6 out of 7 FMARS crew members had prior MDRS experience. Submission deadline for the first round of MDRS selections is October 31, 2004. Applications submitted after that date will be considered for openings as they become available.

Concept Centaur combines proprietary dynamic stabilization technology with advanced propulsion and suspension systems, and an intuitive user interface to create a unique four-wheel device that is easily controllable on two or four wheels. Its full suspension and aggressive rider positioning provide an exhilarating ride for one or two people while maintaining control over a variety of terrain. Its rugged performance, zero emissions, and quiet operation make it a good low-impact way to explore the world. Its power and versatility make it suitable for a variety of indoor and outdoor recreational and commercial applications.

Russian space researchers will lock six men in a metal tube for more than year in an effort to mimic the stresses and challenges of a manned mission to Mars. The 500 Days experiment, under development by the Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, will isolate human volunteers in a mock space station module for -- as its namesake suggests -- a complete 500 days to study how a long mission to Mars might affect its human crew. "Obviously, we're very interested in the results," NASA spokeswoman Dolores Beasley said of the long-duration study during a telephone interview. "It is a high priority for us."

Fresh from flight training and their first head-over-heels sample of weightlessness, NASA's astronaut candidates are available to meet with the news media Thursday in Houston at 3 p.m. EDT. The class includes three educator astronauts, three military pilots, a Navy SEAL, an astrophysicist, two physicians, and an engineer. Also training with the 11-member astronaut candidate class are three Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronauts.

A drug that prevents bone loss could permit astronauts to make long journeys in space, according to results from a study of spinal injury patients. Drugs such as zoledronate could certainly play a key role in long space missions, says Colin McGuckin, a stem-cell scientist at Kingston University, UK, who is working with NASA to develop a way to use cell transplants to limit an astronaut's bone loss. "It's six months to Mars, a year doing experiments on the surface and then six months back. Over that time, bone loss is going to be a major problem," he says. But he adds that a mission to Mars will probably still need to provide the astronauts with an artificial gravity area, generated by a rotating section of the ship. "The solution will be a combination of clever medicine and clever spacecraft," he says.

A Las Vegas hotel magnate who is hoping to build the world's first commercial space stations on Tuesday launched a challenge offering $50 million to the creators of the first privately funded spaceship to reach orbit. Robert Bigelow, who owns Budget Suites of America, formally announced the long-rumored prize just a day after the first privately funded spaceship rocketed out of the atmosphere and won the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which was designed to spur commercial spaceflight. To win the contest, which is limited to U.S.-based ventures, a team must build a five-seat spacecraft without government money and send five astronauts into orbit above the Earth twice within 60 days.

Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEPH) today released data from a pilot study indicating that non-human primates treated with NEUMUNE(TM)(HE2100) after exposure to a high dose of radiation experienced an improved rate of survival over animals receiving placebo or no treatment. NEUMUNE is an investigational immune regulating hormone being developed by Hollis-Eden as a treatment for acute radiation injury pursuant to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "animal rule" for countermeasures to weapons of mass destruction. The Company is presenting the data this week at the 46th Annual Meeting of The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) in Atlanta, Georgia, October 3-7, 2004.

The UK is almost certainly going back to Mars and is set to become a major player in Europe's efforts to explore the Solar System. Science minister Lord Sainsbury says the country will pay the �5m interim subscriptions needed to maintain a premier place in the Aurora programme. Aurora sets out a vision for Europe to visit the planets with robotic probes and perhaps one day even with humans.

By 6:45 on a chilly desert evening, a deep indigo sky has squeezed what remains of the day into thin lines of pink and turquoise twilight along the horizon. Satisfied with nightfall's progress, NASA engineer Joe Kosmo gives the word, and his crew begins to pressurize a spacesuit glistening under a floodlit canopy. Tonight's objective: to test new helmet lights to see how effectively they might illuminate an astronaut's path. If you've ever wondered how exploration equipment makes its way into space, welcome to the rolling flanks of Arizona's famed meteor crater. For two weeks a year, this stark landscape becomes a surrogate planet - a place where a small team of scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration drive a futuristic electric tractor, guide small robotic "scouts," and test an array of other gear astronauts may need in their cosmic garages for future explorations of the moon and Mars.

While a team of aerospace engineers takes aim this week on the $10 million Ansari X Prize competition for privately developed suborbital spaceflight, a Nevada millionaire is planning an even loftier contest. Robert Bigelow, chief of Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, is apparently setting higher goals for private spaceflight endeavors with America's Space Prize, a $50 million race to build an orbital vehicle capable of carrying up to seven astronauts to an orbital outpost by the end of the decade, according to Aviation Week and Space Technology. Bigelow told Aviation Week that not only would Space Prize winners secure the $50 million purse, half of which he's putting up himself, but also snag options to service inflatable space habitats under development by Bigelow Aerospace.

The Bigelow Aerospace project to privately develop inflatable Earth-orbit space modules is beginning to integrate diverse U.S. and European technologies into subscale and full-scale inflatable test modules and subsystems at the company's heavily guarded facilities here. While much public attention is focused on the massive International Space Station (ISS), Bigelow has quietly become a mini-Skunk Works for the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). Ongoing technical assistance to Bigelow from JSC is focused on helping the company spawn development of orbiting commercial inflatable modules by the end of the decade, with the possibility of JSC later using the Bigelow technology for inflatable modules on the Moon or Mars.

As much as bullets or body armor, rations or radios, an army needs water to survive -- especially when it's fighting in the blistering heat of an Iraqi summer. But hauling a soldier's daily requirement of three to four gallons of water has become a gargantuan burden to U.S. armed forces. So Darpa, the Pentagon's mad science division, has come up with a plan for thirsty GIs: Cut the amount of the water they're carrying in half, and pluck the rest from out of thin air.

Thirty-five years ago on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin busted open one small meal for man -- foil packets containing roasted turkey and all the trimmings -- while kids at home slurped Tang in solidarity. That mission lasted only nine days. Now, food scientists are working out ways to feed astronauts on a mission to Mars that will last years.

It was once the preserve of science fiction books and films but scientists now believe that they will be able to develop ways of sending people on long space journeys in hibernation. The European Space Agency is funding research into what has become the holy grail of space travel - a method that will allow astronauts to spend months or years in suspended animation. The agency hopes to create a hibernation system for a planned manned mission to Mars in 2033.

With the advent of small probes using high technology, it's now possible to build and fly spacecraft on a budget similar to a Hollywood blockbuster movie, about $200 million. With another couple decades before the first manned mission to Mars begins its ramp up to launch, the cost of flying a small but very capable spacecraft to the Red Planet should drop still more. That would put it within the budget of a consortium of news organizations, if not quite within reach of any one.

Researchers think the human body clock could hinder space exploration. Russell Foster's team at Imperial College London, UK, is looking at how astronauts would cope away from Earth. Whilst the human body is used to a 24-hour cycle, the day on Mars is an extra 39 minutes long, which could prove difficult for humans to adapt to.

China's space program is expecting government approval this year to build a new and more powerful rocket that will serve as the nation's vehicle to explore the moon, state media said Thursday. According to Luan Enjie, director-in-chief of China's lunar exploration program, the new-generation carrier rocket will be developed over the next eight years, Xinhua news agency said.

People could land on Mars in the next 20 to 30 years provided scientists can find water on the red planet, the head of NASA's surface exploration mission said on Wednesday. Two partially solar-powered "robot geologists" -- Mars Exploration Rovers, or MERs -- have been trundling across 3 miles of the planet and into craters since January, beaming back data about the makeup of what scientists believe is Earth's sister planet. Asked how long it could be before astronauts land on Mars, Arthur Thompson, mission manager for MER surface operations, told Reuters in an interview in Lima, "My best guess is 20 to 30 years, if that becomes our primary priority."

A new research station at the bottom of the world may give future Antarctica researchers some special treats, like the ability to live above ground and look out a window. German scientists are adapting a habitat designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) to replace the shifting, disappearing and aging Neumayer II Research Station, a pair of metal tubes buried amongst the snow of the Ekstrom Ice Shelf in Antarctica's Atka Bay. The Antarctic version of ESA's space house is only the beginning, especially for an agency with loftier goals. "We dream to go to Mars," SpaceHouse designer Fritz Gampe said. "To do that we need very lightweight housing." It might be inflatable or use rocket cylinders or the present shell-shaped structure.

The AeroGrow is a new aeroponic garden designed for growing herbs and even larger fruits and vegetables right in your kitchen or smoky dorm room, all without soil. Instead, the AeroGrow uses water and nutrients inside a clear planter, where you can see all of the roots as they grow. Three different growing areas are designed to let you mix and match different plants, and seeds started in the AeroGrow can safely be transplanted into the soil if you want to use it as a starter.

In the basement of the energy wing of the Engineering Quad, past a long, white tunnel, down two flights of stairs and through a set of double doors, is a postcard with the message, "Greetings from Mars." The postcard hangs on the wall of a lab � the Electric Propulsion and Plasma Dynamics Lab (EPPDyL) � in which research is conducted that may help put a man on Mars. And a grant from NASA just moved that research one step closer to completion.

Mars and the Moon can be tough on spacesuits. So can Arizona's high desert, and it's a lot easier to get to. That's why a NASA-led team will head for sites near Flagstaff, Ariz., this month to try out equipment -- spacesuits, rovers and science gear. The tests could help America pursue the Vision for Space Exploration to return to the Moon and travel to Mars. The team will conduct a series of live satellite link videoconferences between researchers in the field and students at eight NASA Explorer Schools. Three of the videoconferences -- at 2 p.m. EDT Sept. 16, 1 p.m. EDT Sept. 21 and 2 p.m. EDT Sept. 23 -- will also be available to Internet audiences through Web casts.

NASA's plans to send astronauts back to the Moon and, ultimately, to Mars raises an important sartorial question: What ever will they wear? The zero-gravity spacesuits that astronauts currently don when leaving the shuttle to manhandle satellites and other large objects won't do when it comes to walking around the surface of a planet for hours at a time. "The biggest issue is mobility. On a planet surface, they'll have