Tag Archives: mars mission

Japan, Germany join hands for Mars Moon Exploration (MMX)

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When it comes to expansion or exploration, Japan and Germany stand together as history has repeatedly shown us. Soon after launching a rover on asteroid Ryugu last month, Japan has announced its future vision to explore Mars moons in collaboration with the German space agency.

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Germany’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and the German Aerospace Center DLR have agreed to conduct a joint study by a Rover onboard Martian Moon eXploration Mission (MMX).

Currently, the DLR-CNES asteroid lander MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout) onboard Hayabusa 2 that landed on the surface of asteroid Ryugu on October 3, 2018, is conducting remote observation as well as surface composition analysis of the asteroid.

In the light of this success, JAXA, CNES, and DLR jointly declared their wish to cooperate on the MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) mission, which is led by JAXA to explore Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, aiming for observation, landing, and sample return.

JAXA, CNES, and DLR have agreed that the rover onboard MMX would be developed through French-German collaboration. The rover would be released to the surface of Martian Moon prior to the landing of its mother ship, MMX. The rover is to analyze the surface regolith and configuration in great details to optimize the MMX landing and sample return operation.

The entire process is expected not only to reduce the mission risk but also to achieve scientific result as the rover acquires surface data in advance of the physical sample return to the Earth, said JAXA in a statement.

While the MASCOT with primary batteries allows approximately 1-day of operation, the rover onboard MMX is to be powered by solar cell, which is to enable mobile surface observation that is expected to last for several months.

The scientific observation instrument to be onboard MMX will be determined to maximize the outcome of MMX mission. JAXA, CNES, and DLR are going to jointly conduct study activities for MMX and the rover with the aim for launch in 2024.

Are UFO revelations true? Buzz Aldrin clears lie detector test on UFO sighting

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Astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Al Worden, Edgar Mitchell and Gordon Cooper have one thing in common, they are among the ardent defenders of UFO theory and claimed to have seen or chased many during their space travels. Now, all the four have cleared a lie-detector test, which reiterates their claim.

The lie detector test was carried out using the latest technology and experts said they were “completely convinced” with the results that they are telling the world truth about signs of alien life.

Buzz Aldrin, now 88, was the second human alogn with Neil Armstrong to set foot on the moon in their historic Apoll 11 mission in 1969. He claimed later that he saw a UFO. “There was something out there that was close enough to be observed, sort of L-shaped,” he said repeatedly.

The Institute of BioAcoustic Biology in Albany, Ohio, which has conducted the test, preferred to keep its technology top secret though. They have claimed that they used complex computer analyses of the astronauts’ voice patterns and more reliable than current lie detector tests.

Edgar Mitchell, another who took the test was the sixth astronaut to walk on the moon, who had earlier claimed that “aliens have contacted humans several times”.

Al Worden, 86, who had piloted the Apollo 15 mission revealed similar views to Good Morning Britain viewers with his claims earlier to have seen extra-terrestrials. In addition, the voice recordings of Edgar Mitchell and Gordon Cooper, both now dead, were also analysed by the Ohio-based institute.

Mitchell was part of the Apollo 14 mission and Cooper was also a space pilot who claimed to have chased UFOs during his flights.

Aldrin has been in the news recently for advocating an affordable plan to get humans to Mars.

Since Earth does a lap of the Sun once every 365.256 days and Mars too does a lap of the Sun once every 686.93 Earth days, he said we can overlay these two orbits with a third orbit, that of a spacecraft, which takes 2 and 1/7th years to complete. This spacecraft can meet up with the two planets, he said.

Instead of using fuel to change direction, the spacecraft could use gravitational slingshot manoeuvres to reduce the cost of each trip, he explained.

NASA Successfully Tests Mini Methane Sensor for Future Mars Exploration

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NASA researchers have developed a mini drone-like methane sensor that can fly and successfully tested it on a Vertical Take-off and Landing like any small unmanned aerial system (sUAS). The sensor, developed by JPL for use on Mars, will be used to detect methane with much higher sensitivity than previously available, especially in NASA’s next mission to Mars in 2018.

The tests were conducted in central California at the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve, in partnership with Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI). The jointly conducted test of NASA’s Open Path Laser Spectrometer (OPLS) sensor also helps to detect methane in parts per billion by volume could help the pipeline industry more accurately pinpoint small methane leaks.

“These tests mark the latest chapter in the development of what we believe will eventually be a universal methane monitoring system for detecting fugitive natural-gas emissions and contributing to studies of climate change,” said Lance Christensen, OPLS principal investigator at JPL.

Researchers from JPL and the Mechatronics, Embedded Systems and Automation (MESA) Lab at the University of California, Merced, conducted the flight tests in late February. They flew a small unmanned aerial system equipped with the OPLS sensor at various distances from methane-emitting gas sources. Tests were done in a controlled setting to test the accuracy and robustness of the system, said NASA.

Next stage of testing later this year will feature a fixed-wing UAS, which can fly longer and farther so as to monitor natural-gas transmission pipeline systems, which are often hundreds of miles long and can be located in rural or remote areas.

A JPL mini methane gas sensor is flight tested on a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) under a project to improve energy pipeline industry safety. The sensor enables methane detection with higher sensitivity than previously available for the industry in hand-carried or sUAS-deployable instruments.Credit: University of California, Merced.