The Schiaparelli Mars Lander is on its way!

Mars is about to get another lander!

Yesterday, the European Space Agency's Schiaparelli Mars Lander separated from the Trace Gas Orbiter around Mars and began its descent! This lander is designed mostly with one goal in mind: test out landing technologies that could help in future Mars missions. 

Schiaparelli isn't meant to last long on Mars (a few days of activity at most), but while it is there it will hopefully achieve a couple of small scientific studies to better understand the Martian atmosphere, just as its travel partner, the Trace Gas Orbiter, is doing.


Both the TGO and the lander left Earth back in March of this year. They reached Mars in just about seven months' time. On October 16th, Schiaparelli separated from the TGO and has now started its three-day descent to the Martian surface. The ESA is hoping that its landing will be a demonstration of what works (and possibly, what doesn't) in their suite of landing stage technologies, including heat shield protection, parachute deployment, radar positioning systems, and of course, thrusters.

At first, the ESA couldn't establish contact between the Schiaparelli Lander and the TGO after separation, but contact has since been restored, and all fingers are crossed. With any luck, Wednesday will see a smooth landing.

Go, Schiaparelli, go!

While I've been away...

Long time, no blog. The last few months have been busy in abnormal ways, so I've been thrown off my routine. I'm finally catching up on life, so it's time to get back into the blogging game!

Celebration as MAVEN moves into orbit. Credit: Lockheed Martin

During the time I've been slacking on my blog, there were two things in the universe that were notably not slacking off--NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution craft (MAVEN) and India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM).

After 10 months of space travel, MAVEN entered into orbit around Mars one week ago. MOM had traveled for a similar amount of time, and entered into orbit just days later. Both of these spacecrafts have made huge strides for science and space travel.

Artist's conception of MOM.

MOM is India's first interplanetary mission, and was launched to simultaneously test out their space travel technology and also set into orbit another piece of scientific equipment around Mars. MAVEN, on the other hand, was launched by NASA with one particular burning question in mind: what happened to Mars' atmosphere?

Mars is incredibly similar to Earth, with one glaring difference being its lack of reasonable atmosphere. Once, however, Mars had a thicker atmosphere. NASA wants to know what changed, and could it ever happen to us. MAVEN is designed with a set of specialized instruments to try and answer this mystery.

Artist's conception of Siding Spring passing by Mars. NASA.

Both of these spacecraft have reached Mars just before an incredibly rare event is set to take place. The Siding Spring comet is due to fly past Mars on October 19th, peppering the surface of the planet with meteorites and flying closer to Mars than the Moon is to Earth. NASA has worked tirelessly to ensure all the orbiters and rovers will safely make it through this major event, and presuming all goes well, every piece of equipment NASA has on and around Mars will get a chance to study this comet as it flies by. This is an incredible opportunity to not only learn more about comets, but learn what happens to a planet when one gets this close!

Basically, Mars is taking one for the team, and we're lucky enough to have had prep time to move our equipment to safe locations.

Expect a more usual blog schedule to resume as the fall goes on, and updates on the entire comet situation as it draws closer!

Live on the East Coast? Watch a Moon Mission Launch this Friday!

This Friday, at 11:27 pm EST, the Minotaur V rocket will launch from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. It's going to take NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) to space, so that it can orbit the moon and collect cool new information about our big rocky neighbor.

Image credit: NASA Ames/ Zion Young

If it does indeed launch this Friday (depends on the weather), the following will happen:

1. It'll get into orbit around the moon on October 5th.
2. It'll mark another first in privatizing rocket science--this launch is done with the Minotaur rocket from Oribital sciences.
3. It'll be VISIBLE to people living on the East Coast of the U.S.!

If you're anything like me and would love to see this happen from your backyard, here's how:

Listen into NASA TV to make sure the launch really is GO this Friday. If it is, make sure you're outside by 11:25 pm. Find a seat that will give you a clear view of the sky in the direction of Virginia (which will be dependent on where you live). Take a look at the map below to figure out how high in the sky to look (reminder, 10 degrees is about the size of a closed fist held extended out from your body). 

Finally, sit back and enjoy! Orbital has some great information on the various stages of launch you might see (aka, when things fall off the rocket!): find more information here.

Best of luck! And don't be late! The viewing window will only last a couple minutes. Rockets go fast.

Happy Anniversary, Curiosity!

It's been one year since the eyes of Earth were glued on Mars, waiting for Curiosity to touch down. At 1:31am, August 6th, EST, the rover landed. And a handful of minutes later, the signal traveling through space from Mars reached Earth, and we all learned she was safe.

It was the best birthday present ever (my birthday is the 6th!). And knowing that a year later she's still going strong, makes for yet another amazing birthday present.

For as long as I'll live, I will never forget the exhilarating feeling upon learning Curiosity had touched down. I was watching the livestream of JPL, as much of the world was, and actually burst into tears as we learned "we're safe on Mars!". I screamed, jumped up and down, rocked back and forth, and pretty much terrified my cat, but wow was that a moment to experience.

Curiosity has already taught us so much. Our perspective of Mars is changing rapidly, thanks to this rover and the team of scientists who analyze the data she sends our way. For a long time, water on Mars was a contested issue--we knew there had been some, but was it common? How much was there? Could it actually have supported life? Curiosity has already shown us that water existed once in great quantities. It flowed in rivers like we have on Earth. And most importantly, this water contained the right stuff for life. And all this we've learned in less than a year. Wow.

This is easily the most memorable moment in space exploration of my entire 28 years of life. It's brought me to tears on more than one occasion, and I just love that Curiosity is paving the way for even cooler Mars missions in the future.

Happy Anniversary, Curiosity. Roll on, girl! Roll on!

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

What the...I have to push buttons to turn the page?!

My sister visited over the weekend and gave me a Sony e-Reader. She got it years ago at some function, and only used it once. So she gave it to me, seeing as I'm the reader/author of the family.

I've held out on getting any sort of e-book reading device since they first started coming out with them. I'm just too addicted to the "real" thing...the feel of a real book in my hands. However, I will admit, this is likely because of the emotional significance books had for me growing up. After all, stories are stories, no matter where the words are written, or what they're written on. Plus, I'm all about advancing technology, and it's been ages since the "book" got a real upgrade.

So...with that in mind...

I guess I should give this e-reader thing a try.

(Cue inner-me kicking and screaming.)

Anyone else have experiences to share about trying out your first e-book?