People still make jokes about the “Russian Space Pen,” but there’s one thing no one jokes about in the space program: going to the bathroom. In a zero-gravity environment, human waste becomes a sanitation and engineering nightmare. This is why the spacesuits NASA is creating for the Orion spacecraft will hearken back to the Apollo suits of the 1970s – they’ll have built-in toilets. Continue reading
NASA has had an incredible streak of good luck as of late with spacecraft that have far outlived their expectations. Cassini at Saturn, Continue reading
NASA stands proud as the space agency celebrated the continued operation of the Mars rover Opportunity after more than 5,000 days of exploration.
Initially planned to Continue reading
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is going to carry a chunk of an ancient Martian meteorite back to its home planet. Ancient pieces of Mars have been resting on Earth in the form of meteorites, which scientists determined blew off Mars’s surface millions of years ago. Now, scientists Continue reading
Two scientists in spacesuits, stark white against the auburn terrain of desolate plains and dunes, test a geo-radar built to map Mars by dragging the flat box across the rocky sand.
When the geo-radar stops working, Continue reading
The slope rises as high as London’s Big Ben tower. Beneath its ruddy layer of dirt is a sheet of ice 300 feet thick that gives the landscape a blue-black hue. If such a scene sounds otherworldly, it is. To visit it, you’ll have to travel to Mars. Continue reading