See Mars With Your Own Two Eyes!!!

Mars is the only planet in our solar system that you can clearly see from space with a small telescope or even with your naked eyes. You can view Mars fairly easily when it is in the night sky and see a verity of different things depending on how good your telescope or eyesight is, or where Mars is located compared to the earth and what the planet surface is doing. Most likely you will be able to see the contrast in dark and light colors on the planet that represent the darker cratered terrain in the south and the lighter smooth plains in the north. If you own a small telescope or even if you do not and are interested in viewing the red planet to see if it is really red then June 2007 through April 2008 are the prime Mars observing months. Mars is still a morning planet for most of 2007 until it reaches opposition on December 24. The best time to view Mars will be in the hours after it rises, when it is the highest in the sky. Once December rolls around you should wait to view Mars until the middle of the evening or early morning to experience the best views the planet has to offer. Merry Christmas! Here is a site with the months of the year and the best time to view Mars during these months.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/viewing-tips-2007.html

NASA Preparing for Mars Sample Return Mission in 2020

The next NASA Mars rover will collect samples of soil and pebbles from Mars in order to bring the collection back to Earth for study. The goal of the collection task is to prove if there was ever life on Mars. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is scheduled for launch in 2009. The sample return mission is currently estimated to occur in 2020.

Source:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/10/30/mars-sample-return.html

Depiction of Mars in Fictional Works, Part VIII

This is the eighth part of a nine part series. In this series, I will discuss how Mars is depicted in various fictional works such as movies, books, and games.

In Part VIII, I will discuss about Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy: Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars. It chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars. The story of Red Mars takes place in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars. It depicts the struggle between the human residents and the greedy corporations, which led to the destruction of Mars’ infrastructure. Green Mars and Blue Mars concerned with a centuries-long program of terraforming the planet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy

Depiction of Mars in Fictional Works, Part VII

This is the seventh part of a nine part series. In this series, I will discuss how Mars is depicted in various fictional works such as movies, books, and games.

In Part VII, I will discuss about a science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury. The Martian Chronicles is collection of stories that chronicles the colonization of Mars by humans and their conflicts with the native Martians. The novel consists of three parts. The first part details the attempt of humans to reach Mars, and the ways that the Martians try to keep them from returning. The second part details the colonization of Mars by humans and their contact with the few surviving Martians. And the final part details how the human settlers on Mars have become the new Martians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_Chronicles

New Mars Space Suite Makes Life Easy for Future Astronauts

An astronautics professor at MIT has recently developed a new spacesuit that is lightweight and more practical for space travelers and future mars inhabitors. This spacesuit is very flexible and will allow the astronauts to move around more freely. Her spacesuit was partially inspired by giraffe anatomy which use tight leg skin to regulate blood pressure. The suite is an estimated ten years from completion but will be used and tested on earth by helping physical therapy patients exercise.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4220822.html

Depiction of Mars in Fictional Works, Part VI

This is the sixth part of a nine part series. In this series, I will discuss how Mars is depicted in various fictional works such as movies, books, and games.

In Part VI, I will discuss about a science fiction novel by Arnould Galopin that depicts the inhabitants on Mars as savage dwarf-like beings with long, tentacle arms, bat-men with artificial wings, and a race of civilized macro-cephalic gnomes. The story of Doctor Omega is about a crew of explorers who used a spacecraft made from a substance called stellite to travel to Mars. This substance can repel time and space. They end up landing in one of the Martian seas, where they encounter phosphorescent fish and aggressive reptilian mermen. The novel also discusses about the explorers’ interaction with the inhabitants of Mars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Omega

Depiction of Mars in Fictional Works, Part V

This is the fifth part of a nine part series. In this series, I will discuss how Mars is depicted in various fictional works such as movies, books, and games.

In Part V, I will discuss about the depiction of Martians in a novel by Fredric Brown. The author took on a different view of the Martian invaders. Martians, Go Home depicts them as little green men with long, fragile limbs, small torsos, and big, bald heads. These Martians didn’t want to invade Earth, but they did spend their time criticizing and making fun of the local Earth inhabitants; they were considered as annoying pests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martians,_Go_Home