NASA’s Ingenuity mini-helicopter is charging up its solar panels and spinning its blades in preparation to fly above the Martian surface. The 4-pound drone is set to lift off early on Monday in an atmosphere just 1/100th as dense as Earth’s, rise 10 feet above Mars’ Jezero Crater, harboring, NASA hopes, fossilized life that might have thrived billions of years ago, then gently touch back down. The insect-like craft uses a microchip that is comparable to what was found in cellphones a few years ago –about 150 times the computing power available to the much larger Perseverance rover.
“The landing site in Jezero Crater with landforms reaching as far back as 3.6 billion years old, could potentially answer important questions in planetary evolution and astrobiology,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “It will revolutionize how we think about Mars and its ability to harbor life.”
We re Already Colonizing Mars
msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
We re already colonizing Mars
slate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from slate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“Planet Earth Report” provides descriptive links to headline news by leading science journalists about the extraordinary discoveries, technology, people, and events changing our knowledge of Planet Earth and the future of the human species.
Who Would Kidnap a Space Telescope?–‘‘We hope pirates don’t take it,” one astrophysicist said, reports Marina Koren for The Atlantic. about the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope.–“NASA’s new space telescope has had a rough go. Name a problem, and this telescope meant to be the most powerful of its kind, a worthy successor to the famous Hubble has faced it: poor management, technical errors, budget overruns, schedule delays, and a pandemic. So, naturally, the people responsible for the telescope’s safety are now thinking about pirates.”
The Atlantic
The Atlantic Daily: 14 Fixes for Pandemic Monotony
We’ve arrived at the final stretch of this pandemic. Break up the monotony of isolation with a small activity, as suggested by our newsroom.
Carolyn Drake / Magnum
Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of being isolated for another few months, or have simply run out of activities to do in your home, let us help. Below, our writers and editors offer their best suggestions for making it through this stretch.