Stuff on Mars

This is kinda neat. It's a Wikipedia list of all the manmade stuff that is currently on Mars. Some of it is functional, most of it isn't. All I have to say is, enough with the unmanned missions, let's send some people already!

Huh

I thought this was kind of interesting. It turns out that there has been a space tourist and by that they mean someone who is not an astronaut who payed his way to space. His name is Dennis Tito, an American man who paid the Russians to take him out of orbit.

Stuff we think will be

I've been mulling over the various things about space that most of us might think of if we thought about what spaceflight in the future would involve. Gravity on board a spaceship, for instance, is a big one. Because it is costly and difficult to film in zero gravity, there are very few movies that do (Apollo 13 is one, but when it comes to Sci-Fi, everyone assumes that in the future we will have figured out artificial gravity).
What is interesting, of course, is that artificial gravity is, I would guess, rather low on our list of technologies to work on. I am sure we will be exploring space and doing all manner of amazing things before we try to create gravity. Achieving gravity in space would be a great benefit to astronauts, but it might be easier to fix the problems that zero G presents in ways other than simulating gravity.
But the assumption that in the future there will be artificial gravity exists because filmmakers can't film without it. This article is about a Robert Heinlein story, the movie based on it, and how it influenced future Sci-Fi writers and film makers. We saw this kind of thing happen with the whole Martian canal idea and the long belief that there was life on Mars. The idea may come from anywhere, but once it becomes a norm in science fiction, it shapes how we look at spaceflight and the future.

Mars Needs You: Space Tourist Spreads the Word

Mars Needs You: Space Tourist Spreads the Word

Check Check Check ah check it out!

the top ten

I found a page of the top 10 Mars photos ever. They are pretty cool, beginning way back when with Schiaparelli and continuing into more advanced imagery. The photos are chosen on a variety of factors, with historical significance holding a lot of weight in the ranking. The term "photo" is also used loosely, and some of the photos on the list are digital fabrications of real surface features of Mars. My favorite photo is number 8.

Tom and Jerry go to Mars

Back when this animated series began, Tom and Jerry were just ordinary housepets with nothing better to do than chase each other up and down the stairs every day. But now, they're going to Mars--on accident, of course, because they stowed away in a spaceship going to Mars. The whole adventure is viewable on DVD.

Europe to Conduct 500-Day Mock Mission to Mars

The European Space Agency (ESA) and a group Russian researchers are set to lock a crew of six people in metal tubes for a simulated trip to Mars. The "mission" will be known as Mars500, and will take place in an isolation facility in Russia. It will enable organizers to study the difficulties presented by a lengthy spaceflight such as the one to Mars. The volunteer participants 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 real limitations such as a carefully portioned food supply, 20-minute delays in communication, and simulated emergencies. In addition, there is the further possibility of real medical emergencies arising.

http://www.marsnews.com (04/03/07)