China Mars Mission, Tianwen-1 Arrives in Orbit

Tianwen-1 Team
(Image Credit: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC))

Hot on the heels of the UAE mission which arrived earlier this week, the Chinese Tianwen-1 mission has also arrived at the red planet and entered orbit. Meaning “Questions to Heaven”, this mission will further extend our knowledge of our new frontier when the second phase lands a rover on the planet, designed to use ground-penetrating radar to learn more about the geological structure. Meanwhile, the orbiter will continue to study the planet using seven remote sensing devices.

Tianwen-1 Orbiter Instruments

A new Space Race is exactly what our struggling world needs right now. My hope is that we can see a new era of cooperation and scientific competition, from which will arise new technologies, new partnerships and a unity that we are sorely lacking. I am firmly convinced that, as nations continue to mount efforts such as this to study the planet, SpaceX will succeed in delivering the capability to get cargo and shortly there after, crew sent to our new home. Much like the Space Station, where astronauts from different nations come together to work and experience the awe of space travel, national boundaries become meaningless during such endeavors. This is sure to be true on Mars as well, where the urgency of research and survival will outshine petty politics that are then millions of miles away.

See this excellent eoportal resource for solid background on the mission.

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UAE Gets to Mars

UAE Hope Mars Probe
(Image Credit: Chris Whiteoak / The National)

After announcing the ambitious project back in 2015, the United Arab Emirates successfully reached the red planet today with their Hope Mars Probe, massively decelerated and entered orbit all according to plan!

This was a wonderful success to see, as it further expands the scope of nations that are embarking upon this new phase of growth and exploration. Dubai and the UAE, more than many other nations in recent history, probably benefits from a frontier mentality that the rest of us can only imagine or read about. They grew in four decades from a small traditional society, based off of fishing and local trade, into a stunning modern metropolis and economic powerhouse, on the back of their good luck being located on top of so much oil. The ruler there, however, is no dummy and knows that the oil gravy train won’t run much longer, so has taken many wise steps to diversify their economy.

This push into science and technology is another of these steps, and will be a benefit to both that region, and to the overall betterment of mankind if they can manage it as they have managed their beautiful cities.

So – congratulations to the UAE team for their successful mission. I can’t wait to see the science that will start to come back from this probe, which will tell us more about the Martian atmosphere on a global scale.

Want to see a cool related video from the successful landing celebration? Check out the entire Burj Khalifa putting on a high-res light show:

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Dual Starships SN9 SN10

SN9 and SN10 Starships
(Image Credit: Elon Musk)

Last year, Musk realized that the pace of progress at the Boca Chica facility needed to be stepped up, and instituted 24 hour, round the clock shifts after hiring 252 professionals in 2 days, doubling the workforce. We have now seen the harvest of that concerted effort, and the amazing team there has started to really crank out the Starships.

This week we are treated to the next in a series of awe-inspiring sights, with two of the massive Starship prototypes deployed and ready for their time to shine. SN9 has been champing at the bit for days now, awaiting an increasingly elusive FAA approval for the next test flight, which will hopefully be this week. SN10, in amazingly close proximity to it’s younger sibling, is ready to show us all what it can do as well. Meanwhile, the first Superheavy booster is well under way in the high bay.

Elon Musk, now the richest man in the world, thankfully has the resources to continue and even further improve this pace of development. He seems to be in a terribly hurry. We should all be very interested as to why, and watch very seriously.

Starship High Altitude Flight Test

Starship High Altitude Test
( Image Credit: SpaceX)

In the three months since the previous Mars Gazette update, a grievous amount of time which the publisher will endeavor to reduce, there has been the typical and astonishing level of progress made by the other-worldly teams at SpaceX. Excitement has been building for weeks, leading up to the next step in the development of Starship, the craft that will soon begin taking supplies and then brave explorers to Mars and beyond. The planned 50,000 ft high altitude test was slated for today but got scrubbed at the last t-1 second mark due to a Raptor engine auto-abort. This conveniently provided enough time to report on this exciting and historic upcoming event! The test has been rescheduled for Wednesday, 12/9/2020 though of course that is subject to change.

Consider what any one of us has gotten accomplished in the past three months. I’ve read a couple of books, I’ve tried not to watch too much news, I’ve written some code that does moderately useful things. These men and women have created the prototype of a ship that will almost certainly take us to Mars in under 6 years. If you have been paying attention, it has almost become a truism to not bet against the God King of Mars. Elon says this is going to work, and I for one believe him!

Be sure to check the SpaceX webcast page tomorrow for updates, and a livestream that will be posted and activated shortly before the next launch attempt.

SpaceX Making Dreams Come True

Starship Hop Test
( Image Credit: SpaceX)

There have been a simply incredible number of breakthroughs, developments and achievements coming out of Boca Chica from the fine folks at SpaceX over the past few months, and the Gazette will start bringing them to you more rigorously. What more important news, one wonders, regarding Mars than the only team in the brief history of humanity who may be able to make multi-planetary life happen!

Above is pictured the first ‘hop test’ of the new Starship design. As usual, it went flawlessly, though it followed a series of explosive decompressions and other excitement on the test pad of previous Starship test models. These events are always confusingly mocked by observers, who completely fail to grasp that this is the fastest way to develop the product and reach success. Would-be competitors such as Blue Origin and (good gracious) Boeing are still drafting plans to have a series of meetings to discuss the design of their test stands, no doubt. Meanwhile, Musk and company are probably drawing up the plans for the Mars pizzerias!


SpaceX Astronaut Launch Success!

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley
(Photo Credit: SpaceX)
Well done SpaceX, that was incredible and the result of vision, a decade of hard work, and good old fashioned pioneer spirit. Talk about patriotism in these difficult times? Returning human launch capability to US soil is one of the most important and patriotic things I can imagine as we embark upon a renewed era of exploration and growth.

Every dime of finance and industry we have ever known has come from only the resources of this planet and now, if we keep playing our cards right, the possibilities exist on a scale hard to imagine, but inarguably vastly larger than what we have had up until now. Excited to see this happening in my lifetime and when I hopefully have a few years left to enjoy it and be involved. And also to set up the kids to really be a part of it!

Mars Rover Has a Name!

There has been a winner in the contest to name the next NASA rover en route to the Red Planet. The winner is Alexander Mather, with his steadfast and optimistic suggestion of “Perseverance”! Check out this video for more info, and congrats to Alexander. Seeing such interest in space exploration from today’s kids continues to renew my hope for the future!

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Mars 2020 Rover Naming Contest

Mars 2020 Rover Naming Contest
(Credit: NASA)
The next NASA Mars rover is slated to launch in July 2020, and arrive at Jezero Crater in February 2021. Before it takes off, NASA is again running their student naming contest, allowing K-12 students across the US to submit name suggestions. The top 9 finalists have been selected, and are as follows:

  • Endurance, K-4, Oliver Jacobs of Virgina
  • Tenacity, K-4, Eamon Reilly of Pennsylvania.
  • Promise, K-4, Amira Shanshiry of Massachusetts.
  • Perseverance, 5-8, Alexander Mather of Virginia.
  • Vision, 5-8, Hadley Green of Mississippi.
  • Clarity, 5-8, Nora Benitez of California.
  • Ingenuity, 9-12, Vaneeza Rupani of Alabama.
  • Fortitude, 9-12, Anthony Yoon of Oklahoma.
  • Courage, 9-12, Tori Gray of Louisiana.

Now you can vote on the winner at go.nasa.gov/name2020 until January 28th, so don’t waste any time getting over there!

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The Bees at Lunares Station

Bees at Lunares Station
(Image Credit: Lunares Research Station)

If that title doesn’t sound like an excellent 1960s sci-fi pulp, then I don’t know what does. Best part is? We’re living in a time when it’s just referencing a real thing!

Turns out there is a facility called Lunares Research Station, which was founded in 2017 as “a specialized facility for simulating manned space missions on the Moon and Mars”. Check out their site for the great work they are doing!

Of particular interest to us today is recent research they have been doing with bees, as reported by Wired this week. You see, even though NASA is working on Mars Bees (which is itself another excellent pulp title) we have to consider that in many ways, the original natural approach may simply be better. However, what is being observed is that hives in isolated conditions are suffering a downward spiral of collapse which will have to be better understood and resolved before they will be able to participate in upcoming missions. The idea, of course, is that humans will have to grow food for both the long journey, as well as for basic upkeep once we are settled in our new environment. We would like to bring some of the comforts of home, like good old honey bees to pollinate the produce we need to consume, so it’s good that the fine folks at Lunares are hard at work on this problem!

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Mars Starship Update from SpaceX

Starship Lunar Base
(Photo Credit: SpaceX)

Last week, Elon Musk gave a presentation on the state of the Starship project, standing directly in front of a beautiful, soon to be functional full scale prototype of the ship itself, from their Boca Chica facility. The video below is entirely worth a watch, and the Q&A portion is actually much more illuminating and detailed than the main presentation so be sure to stick around for that portion as well.

SpaceX continues to do incredible work on a schedule to boggle the mind. The voices which are sometimes pitched against them, out of ignorance, confusion or disbelief, are growing ever quieter as it becomes clear that “space is hard” is no longer a viable excuse for mediocre performance, embarrassing budget over-runs, and 50 year old disposable technology.

The next 6 months are sure to be incredibly important for SpaceX, and arguably mankind depending on your level of agreement with their philosophy. Not only should the crew dragon program begin launching actual humans to the Space Station, but we will likely see the first sub-orbital tests of Starship, with the Super Heavy booster soon to follow. Elon reminded everyone that the window for the light of consciousness on this planet to leave for the stars took 4.5 billion years to open, and it won’t be open for long so we have a responsibility to seize the moment. He also mentioned that they will commence building a fleet of ships as fast as they can. I often speculate about what he knows, that we do not! At least, one can have faith that if there is any way possible to save conscious thought, he’s the one most likely to succeed at that mission.

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