News and Commentary on Space
I hope Dennis Wingo (or someone in the same line of business) gets his chance, but
Hundreds of suggestions on how to keep the HST operational for another 10 years have poured into NASA from companies and the public. Two of the most popular–moving the HST into an orbit closer to the ISS or using robots to conduct a servicing mission–are impractical, says Weiler.
Someone’s getting an early start.
Just over half of a sample of adults thought Britain should be involved in manned flight missions, and 65% backed robot missions such as the Beagle 2 probe to Mars. Beagle 2 was a tiny British laboratory that should have landed on Mars on Christmas Day, and sent back a call sign written by the Britpop band Blur.Two US landings have been successful, but Beagle 2 has been silent since its arrival, and British scientists now accept the mission is lost.
But at least 66% of those polled thought that Britain should try again with a Beagle 3. A Mori poll conducted for Demos identified even greater enthusiasm among 16- to 34-year-old Britons – the Beagle generation -than among those between 35 and 54: the Apollo generation.
Good news. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Guardian without the obligatory swipe:
“It’s been said that when it comes to foreign policy, Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus,” say Melissa Mean and James Wilsdon, authors of the Demos report, Masters of the Universe. “Britain could tip the balance between these competing visions – to decide whether space should be used for war or peace.”
Mars Rover Opportunity Press Briefing
Significant findings from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, now exploring Meridiani Planum on Mars, will be announced at a press briefing at 2 p.m. EST, Tuesday, March 2, 2004, at NASA Headquarters, Washington.
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A young girl sets out to prove herself by resolving a long-forgotten mystery. But when she gets close to the truth, what she thought was a harmless adventure becomes a threat to the future of the independent commercial settlements on Mars.