Activism, Space Science, Space Settlement

Mars One and University of Twente join forces

April 4, 2013 TopSpacer

An announcement from the Mars One

Mars One welcomes University of Twente as its
first Science and Education partner

The Mars One Foundation, an organization preparing to send the first human settlers to Mars, has joined forces with University of Twente, Netherlands in a partnership where researchers at the university will help tackle specific mission challenges.

AMERSFOORT, April 4, 2013 – Mars One is very happy to announce University of Twente as its first Science and Education partner.

Engaging young researchers in universities and colleges around the world is crucial for the success of the Mars One mission. By working closely with its Science and Education partners, Mars One will address a broad range of social and technical research questions.

Pool of fresh critical minds
The Mars One mission is designed around existing technology; however the team wishes to prepare a premise not only for the settlers’ journey and survival but also for an expanding, productive Martian community.

Bas Lansdorp, founder of Mars One and alumnus of Twente said: “We hope that researchers from University of Twente will help develop techniques to ensure the settlers’ stay on the planet will be a success story.”

“Future research is needed, for example to find ways for making the settlement less dependent on frequent resupply missions from Earth by making smart use of resources on Mars. This collaboration will engage a pool of fresh critical minds with such challenges,” he said.

Mars spin offs for better Earth
Pleased about the partnership, Professor Ed Brinksma, Rector Magnificus of the University said: “The Mars One mission shows a lot of courage and ambition, and the team clearly dares to think big. As an entrepreneurial university, their enterprising spirit appeals to us a great deal.”

“We hope that from the complexity of an expedition to Mars new research projects will sprout as spinoffs in the fields of solar energy and recycling- solutions for problems we now face on Earth,” he said.

Collaboration in Education and Research
Both partners see many starting points of collaboration in the future. To start with, experts from Mars One will contribute to one of the academic semesters at new ATLAS University College, to be launched in September 2013 within the University of Twente.

In addition to education there are plenty of potential research links. Professor Brinksma offers some examples: “Our Robotics and Mechatronics departments can contribute to the manned and unmanned robotic vehicles that the Mars pioneers will use. Our behavioral scientists can also help astronauts learn coping mechanisms and how to deal with uncertainty.”

“Mars One welcomes partnership from research institutes with a foresight. We want to work very actively with places of higher education around the world. We welcome University of Twente as our first Science and Education partner,” said Bas Lansdorp.

===

About Mars One:

Mars One is a not-for-profit organization that will establish a human settlement on Mars through the integration of existing, readily available technologies from the private spaceindustry. Mars One will fund this decade-long endeavor by involving the whole world as the audience of a televised broadcast of every aspect of this mission – from the astronaut selections, their eight year training on a Mars-like mock-up on Earth to their arrival on Mars in 2023 and their lives on the Red Planet. The first footprint on Mars will inspire generations and go down in history as the next

giant leap for mankind.

About the University of Twente:

The University of Twente, Netherlands is where talent can best realize its full potential and where students and staff are key. Together, over three thousands cientists and professionals carry out groundbreaking research, bring about socially relevant innovation and provide inspiring teaching for more than nine thousand students. Entrepreneurship is

second nature to us. The campus is home to around hundred businesses, including student-run businesses. The University of Twente has also generated more than seven hundred successful spin-off companies. The University’s business park – Kennispark Twente encourages and assists entrepreneurs to start new companies

Links to further information

University College ATLAS

===

Here’s the Mars One intro video:

http://youtu.be/n4tgkyUBkbY

Space Policy

Space policy roundup

April 4, 2013 TopSpacer 1 Comment

A look at budget issues for space in the coming fiscal year: What To Watch For In The 2014 Budget – The Planetary Society

—

Another Congressional hearing on the threats to earth from asteroids and comets: Next week: “Threats from Space,” the sequel – Space Politics

—

Some of the legal issues involved in space settlements: Space settlement and future of space law – Babak Shakouri/The Space Review.

—

The latest Res Communis collection of space and aviation law, regulation and policy links: Library: A Round-up of Reading.

**************************

Shop Amazon – Best Selling Products – Updated Every Hour

Science and Technology

NASA press conference on the AMS measurements

April 4, 2013 TopSpacer

Here is a replay of the NASA press conference discussing the AMS-02 results:

http://youtu.be/g8G7amd9D54

Space Science

Mar orbiter images Curiosity parachute flapping in the wind

April 3, 2013 TopSpacer

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots the parachute used to bring the Curiosity rover onto the Red Planet surface:

Mars Science Laboratory: Used Parachute On Mars Flaps In The Wind

Curiosity’s Parachute Flapping in the Wind

This sequence of seven images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows wind-caused changes in the parachute of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft as the chute lay on the Martian ground during months after its use in safe landing of the Curiosity rover.

PASADENA, Calif. – Photos from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show how the parachute that helped NASA’s Curiosity rover land on Mars last summer has subsequently changed its shape on the ground.

The images were obtained by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Seven images taken by HiRISE between Aug. 12, 2012, and Jan. 13, 2013, show the used parachute shifting its shape at least twice in response to wind.

The images in the sequence of photos are available online at http://uahirise.org/releases/msl-chute.php and at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16813 .

Researchers have used HiRISE to study many types of changes on Mars. Its first image of Curiosity’s parachute, not included in this series, caught the spacecraft suspended from the chute during descent through the Martian atmosphere.

HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project and Curiosity are managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been studying Mars from orbit since 2006, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mro .