Blue Origin Launches NASA Satellites on Mars Mission
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Envision a time when hundreds of spacecraft are exploring the solar system and beyond. That's the future that NASA's ESCAPADE, or escape and plasma acceleration and dynamics explorers, mission will help unleash: one where small,
Hitching a ride on a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, NASA's pair of Escapade (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecrafts were launched at at 3:55 p.m. ET Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Blue Origin successfully launched—and partially landed—its New Glenn rocket on Thursday. The achievement marks a major step forward in the company’s bid to rival SpaceX as a reliable provider of reusable rockets for NASA and other government agencies.
A mudstone sample from Jezero Crater shows textures and minerals that on Earth often form through microbial activity. Scientists caution that nonbiological processes could also explain the features, and proof will require Earth-based lab testing.
NASA begins its second Mars trial in Houston, where four volunteers will live for a year in a printed habitat called the CHAPEA program.
Mars is a cold, dry, desert-like planet. But billions of years ago, scientific evidence suggests that it had a thick atmosphere, which kept it warm enough to support flowing water on its surface. So, what happened to the Red Planet, and could it happen to Earth?