Mars

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Hugo Chavez: Maybe Capitalism Ended Life on Mars

He blames it for many things, but this takes the cake

(Newser) - Sammy Hagar was this close to having the day's weirdest quote (it's here ) about extraterrestrial life, but then Venezuela's Hugo Chavez gave a speech. "I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism...

257 Days Later, Astronauts 'Land' on Mars

No one's quit after months in the pod

(Newser) - A team of researchers has finally arrived on Mars after a 257-day flight —none of which was real. Six men from across the globe spent 257 days locked in a 12-by-20-foot steel capsule in Moscow, simulating the experience of traveling to the planet, the Daily Mail reports. They’ll...

400 People Say They'd Sign Up for One-Way Mars Trip

Psychological consequences don't deter intrepid space fans

(Newser) - A voyage to Mars would be long, boring, could cause profound depression, and, oh yes, would be nearly impossible to return from. Who in the world would want to sign up for that? Apparently, lots of people. The Journal of Cosmology recently ran an article explaining the logistics of a...

How to Prevent Sex on Mars: His and Hers Spaceships?

Study: Astronauts of the opposite sex are bound to have some

(Newser) - Boy, send a male and female astronaut to Mars, and next thing you know they'll be hiding behind the land rover fornicating like rabbits. It's just what humans do, says a new study in the Journal of Cosmology . It examines the potentially dangerous medical and social repercussions of sex between...

World's Hardiest Creatures Survive 'Martian Soil'

Researchers seek to keep Earth stowaways away from Mars

(Newser) - A tiny but incredibly tough creature called the tardigrade has been identified as the Earth-dweller most likely to hitch a ride to Mars and survive once there—indicating that our methods for sterilizing Mars rovers may not be up to snuff. The millimeter-long creature, also known as the water bear,...

NASA Plans to Send Men to Mars, Leave Them There

 NASA Plans to Send 
 Men to Mars, Leave 
 Them There 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

NASA Plans to Send Men to Mars, Leave Them There

Hundred Year Spaceship could hit other planets, too

(Newser) - NASA is hatching an audacious plan to send astronauts into space to colonize Mars and other planets—and never return. The project, known as the Hundred Year Starship, has already received more than $1.5 million in funding, the Daily Mail reports, though that’s a small fraction of what...

How Darwin's Island Might Help Colonize Mars

Little-known experiment provides a lesson

(Newser) - When Charles Darwin came to Ascension Island—an insanely remote volcanic rock in the middle of the Atlantic—it was utterly barren and desolate, bedeviled by dry trade winds from southern Africa. So the legendary scientist embarked on one of his most remarkable, and least heralded experiments. With the help...

Massive Ocean Once Covered 36% of Mars

And it had 10 times as much water as Earth

(Newser) - A vast ocean once covered more than a third of Mars’ surface, containing 10 times more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined, according to new research. Scientists studying what appear to be ancient, dried out river systems found 52 delta regions that all lay at about the same...

Botticelli's Mars Is on Acid

The sartyr next to him has a suspicious plant

(Newser) - There's a reason Mars looks so out of it in Botticelli's classic painting Venus and Mars. A sharp-eyed art historian tells NPR that he's on what's known as "poor man's acid." Check out the sartyr in the bottom right (the one who's sort of sticking his tongue out...

'Virtual Mars' Crew Locked in 'Spaceship' for 18 Months

Russia launches simulated mission in study

(Newser) - A multinational crew of cosmonauts will be embarking on a 520-day mission to nowhere today. The all-male crew—three Russians, a Frenchman, an Italian, and a Chinese man—are taking part in a Mars mission simulation at a Moscow medical center locked in capsules, the BBC reports. The experiment aims...

Mars Rover Goes Missing
 Mars Rover Goes Missing 

Mars Rover Goes Missing

May be 'hibernating' to survive Martian winter

(Newser) - The Mars rover is MIA. The machine has failed to make a scheduled communication with the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, and NASA officials are speculating that the aging Spirit may have gone into power-saving "hibernation" mode to survive the red planet's winter. "We may not hear from Spirit again...

Mars Makes Final Appearance Until 2012 Tonight
 Mars Makes Final 
 Appearance Until 
 2012 Tonight 
Stargazer Alert

Mars Makes Final Appearance Until 2012 Tonight

It will look like a bright star near the moon

(Newser) - If you get a chance and the skies are clear tonight, take a gander up toward the moon. There should be one bright, solitary star next to the moon—or at least, it’ll look like a star. It’s actually Mars, and this will be your last chance to...

Europe Closes In on Mock Mars Trip

Psychological experiment to test effects of isolation

(Newser) - The European Space Agency today introduced the four finalists vying for the questionable privilege of being locked inside a cramped fake spaceship for 17 months. Dubbed Mars 500, the project aims to study the psychological stresses of a journey to the Red Planet. “You need to be a little...

Top Scientists Set Sights on Aliens

London conference sussing out ETs

(Newser) - ET, phone London. That's where top scientists are meeting this week to discuss the existence of alien life, possibly even on our own planet. The search for aliens should focus not on outer space, but on earth, Arizona State University physicist Paul Davies will argue in a presentation to his...

NASA Probe Snaps Mars 'Trees'
 NASA Probe Snaps Mars 'Trees' 

NASA Probe Snaps Mars 'Trees'

Martian landslides create optical illusion

(Newser) - NASA's Mars orbiter has captured an image of what looks remarkably like rows of trees sprouting from the red planet's surface. The effect is actually an optical illusion, caused by erupting sand debris and dust clouds. The photo shows an area 240 miles south of Mars' north pole where the...

Russians Aim to Send Monkey to Mars

Robot would look after primate during 520-day round trip

(Newser) - The first Earthling to reach Mars may be a Russian monkey, according to scientists at an ex-Soviet facility. The director of an institute that supplied monkeys to the Soviet space program in the '80s says the facility is in talks with Russia's Cosmonautics Academy over supplying animals for a simulated...

Museum Puts 'Martian Colony' on Display

Alien microbacteria found on meteorite

(Newser) - A London museum that unwittingly hosted a fossilized colony of Martians for decades has put the alien life on display. NASA scientists who recently examined the Natural History Museum's fragment of the Nakhla meteorite believe bumps on its surface are fossilized Martian microbacteria, the Telegraph reports. The meteorite crashed into...

In Meteor, NASA Sees Best Evidence Yet of Life on Mars

Martian meteorite shows fossilized bacteria

(Newser) - A Martian meteorite that hit Antarctica 13,000 years ago offers “very strong evidence of life on Mars,” say NASA scientists after concluding that microscopic worm-like structures in the rock are almost certainly fossilized bacteria. The meteorite, which broke off the Red Planet millions of years ago, also...

Vast Ocean Once Covered Half of Mars

Valley network points to rainy, humid ancient planet

(Newser) - A single huge ocean fed by rivers once covered much of the northern half of Mars, according to a new analysis of the planet's network of valleys. The researchers say their computer analysis—which replaces maps hand-drawn from satellite images in the '90s—shows that Mars was once much rainier...

NASA Will Try to Free Rover Stuck on Mars

Spirit has been in a sand trap since April

(Newser) - Help is on the way, rover. NASA will attempt to free the Mars rover Spirit from its sand-trap prison on Monday. The plucky machine got stuck in April—“the equivalent of falling through the ice over a frozen pond," says a NASA official. Spirit has been exploring Mars...

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