Get Your (Virtual) Ass To Mars!

The landing of NASA's Curiosity rover onto the surface of Mars was exhilarating to say the least, and after updating the rover's software over the weekend, we're probably about a week away from the rover taking its first real drive around Gale crater.  In the meantime, Curiosity has already sent back some absolutely stunning pictures, including the view above.

A little poking around the web has revealed a 360 degree panoramic view of the Martian landscape, sent back from the red planet's newest resident.  (I know there are weird indicators that this panorama might actually be of New Mexico, but I think that's actually just mislabeling.  Either that I'll be apologizing later along with the LA Times and Huffington Post.)


Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2

That is flat out astounding.

There are fewer realizations in this life that disappoint me more than the knowledge that I will almost certainly never get a chance to set foot on another planet; I therefore consider myself lucky to have the Opportunity (Martian rover pun!) to at least live in an era where I can glimpse what future generations will almost certainly get to experience firsthand.  In fact, last week I saw a similar view (seen here, courtesy of a previous rover) on my wife's cell phone while sitting in the bleachers at a football game.  Let that sink in for a minute.

We certainly live in interesting times, and there's plenty more to come!  Check out Time's spread on some of NASA's future pursuits through the Innovative Advanced Concept Program.

WATCH THIS NOW: Curiosity Rover Lands On Mars, NASA Goes Berserk

Stop whatever you're doing right now.  You need to see this.

Last night, being the huge space nerd that I am, I woke up at 1:30AM in order to witness history as NASA landed the 2,000lbs Curiosity rover onto the surface of Mars.  For those of you who were sleeping (or, for west coasters, otherwise occupied) here's what you missed.

Note: the money shot happens at 3:10, but do you yourself a favor and don't skip ahead.  The building tension in the room only amplifies the incredible moment of elation when it arrives.

Curiosity (which you can follow on Twitter @MarsCuriosity) is by far the largest and most advanced craft we've ever landed on the surface of another planet, and the landing process involved dangling the rover from nylon cables as the craft parachuted into the Martian atmosphere, just to put things in perspective.  My favorite moments of the above video include the mohawk guy with stars painted onto the sides of his head (designed by his coworkers, naturally), scientists young and old brought to tears as a life's dream is fulfilled, and best of all is the team leader who knows they're about to get confirmation and silently points across the room, practically daring someone to be the first to say it out loud.  Oh yeah, and then the pictures start coming in and everyone goes totally nuts all over again.

I've watched this video three times in the last half hour and every time I get a huge shit-eating grin on my face and tears in my eyes.  Humanity's had a pretty rough go of it recently; here in the U.S. we've had a horrific shooting at a temple, a lightning strike at a NASCAR event, and thousands of people endorse deep-fried hatred and discrimination against their fellow citizens.  And that was just this past week.  Olympic medals are great and all, but in two weeks you'll be struggling to remember the name of that one gymnast while Curiosity continues to send back incredible images and data for the benefit of all mankind.

Let's see what's out there.

NASA Gives SpaceX The OK To Carry Astronauts

Good news everybody!

NASA has awarded over $1 billion in grants to three private companies with the ultimate goal of returning American astronauts to the International Space Station.  Ever since we retired the space shuttle last year, the U.S. has been without the means to transport our space explorers, leaving us with no other choice but to thumb rides from our Russian comrades.

But that all changed this past May, when SpaceX successfully transported cargo to the ISS and returned in one piece.  In light of that success, NASA has given the green light, along with $440 million, to Elon Musk's SpaceX to develop new hardware and an emergency return system for their transport unit.  Check out the video below, complete with creepy astronaut animation:

The company is scheduled to run a series of cargo missions over the next few years and expects to be carrying astronauts as soon as 2015!  That's incredible, especially considering the fact that NASA has yet to finish designing, let alone actually building their own space shuttle replacement.

No one mourned the loss of the space shuttle more than me.  Personally I'd love to increase NASA's budget tenfold, but that just ain't gonna happen.  In the meantime, NASA has their Curiosity rover touching down on Mars next week.  Check out the Atlantic's fantastic photo feature here.

NASA Ponies Up For Innovation

This week, NASA launched a program designed to help support risky future technologies, some of which may never pay off.  NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) awarded 30 contracts worth $100,000 each to various groups who've proposed some very out-of-the-box ideas like an air gun for clearing orbital debris, 3D-printable miniature spacecraft, and concepts for lunar colonies and advanced spacesuits.

Despite NASA's chronic lack of funding, the NIAC program is meant specifically for concepts and innovation which most would consider too risky to invest in, yet could potentially provide a huge payoff and bring about major breakthroughs in a number of fields.  While I'm sure some will declare the program to be wasteful spending, I absolutely love this idea.  If NASA was a sports franchise we'd call this a rebuilding year, so I love that NASA is branching out a bit, re-branding themselves as a haven for innovators and a proving ground for future technology.  Invention often comes from the most unlikely of places, and sometimes discovery is born in the pursuit of completely different goals.

I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

Farewell Atlantis

In the wee small hours of this morning, the space shuttle Atlantis touched down in Florida, bringing STS-135 to a close and officially ending the US space shuttle program.  As has been well documented by this point, it's a bittersweet ending, as the mothballing of the shuttle fleet leaves America with no means of autonomous space flight.  From now on, we'll be depending on the Russian Soyuz craft to get our astronauts to the ISS, a prospect that has left many Americans more than a bit dismayed.  (Although none of this righteous indignation ever seems to manifest itself whenever NASA gets its budget slashed...)

Fact of the matter is that the decommissioning of the shuttles was long overdue, and while I'm disappointed in our lack of an immediate replacement, I give the White House credit for recognizing and admitting that the Constellation program that was intended to succeed the shuttles was, in fact, both costly and inefficient.  Moreover, starting over from scratch has allowed NASA to refocus the goals of our new ships, which will now be focused not simply on returning to the moon, but on long distance spaceflight as well, sending astronauts to asteroids, Mars and beyond.  While it will leave a gap in our spaceflight capabilities, scrapping the Constellation program looks to have been the right move and I look forward to seeing the next generation of U.S. spacecraft.  

To go out on a high note, I'll leave you with this link to the In Focus photo blog, which has put together an excellent gallery of images that depict STS-135 from start to finish.  It also includes my absolute favorite photo to come out of all the media hoopla surrounding the final shuttle launch: that of a father and son who were present for the the first shuttle launch in 1981, and re-staged their photo 30 years later at the final launch.

Click it here for the last set of space shuttle photos ever.