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8 COOL PLACES FUTUREMARSETCETC

8 Cool Destinations That Future Mars Tourists Could Explore | Space
Touring Mars

Starry Night software
Mars is a planet of vast contrasts — huge volcanoes, deep canyons, and craters
that may or may not host running water. It will be an amazing location for future
tourists to explore, once we put the first Red Planet colonies into motion. The
landing sites for these future missions will likely need to be flat plains for safety
and practical reasons, but perhaps they could land within a few days' drive of
some more interesting geology. Here are some locations that future Martians
could visit.

Olympus Mons

NASA/MOLA Science Team/ O. de Goursac, Adrian Lark

Olympus Mons is the most extreme volcano in the solar system. Located in the
Tharsis volcanic region, it's about the same size as the state of Arizona, according
to NASA. Its height of 16 miles (25 kilometers) makes it nearly three times the
height of Earth's Mount Everest, which is about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) high.

Olympus Mons is a gigantic shield volcano, which was formed after lava slowly
crawled down its slopes. This means that the mountain is probably easy for
future explorers to climb, as its average slope is only 5 percent. At its summit is a
spectacular depression some 53 miles (85 km) wide, formed by magma
chambers that lost lava (likely during an eruption) and collapsed.
Tharsis volcanoes

NASA/JPL
While you're climbing around Olympus Mons, it's worth sticking around to look
at some of the other volcanoes in the Tharsis region. Tharsis hosts 12 gigantic
volcanoes in a zone roughly 2500 miles (4000 km) wide, according to NASA. Like
Olympus Mons, these volcanoes tend to be much larger than those on Earth,
presumably because Mars has a weaker gravitational pull that allows the
volcanoes to grow taller. These volcanoes may have erupted for as long as two billion
years, or half of the history of Mars.
The picture here shows the eastern Tharsis region, as imaged by Viking 1 in
1980. At left, from top to bottom, you can see three shield volcanoes that are
roughly 16 miles (25 km) high: Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons. At
upper right is another shield volcano called Tharsis Tholus.
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Valles Marineris

NASA
Mars not only hosts the largest volcano of the solar system, but also the largest
canyon. Valles Marineris is roughly 1850 miles (3000 km) long, according to NASA.
That's about four times longer than the Grand Canyon, which has a length of
about 500 miles (800 km).

Researchers aren't sure how Valles Marineris came to be, but there are several
theories about its formation. Many scientists suggest that when the Tharsis region
was formed, it contributed to the growth of Valles Marineris. Lava moving through
the volcanic region pushed the crust upward, which broke the crust into
fractures in other regions. Over time, these fractures grew into Valles Marineris.

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The North and South Poles

NASA/JPL/USGS
Mars has two icy regions at its poles, with slightly different compositions; the
north pole (pictured) was studied up close by the Phoenix lander in 2008, while our
south pole observations come from orbiters. During the winter, according to
NASA, temperatures near both the north and south poles are so frigid that
carbon dioxide condenses out of the atmosphere into ice, on the surface.

The process reverses in the summer, when the carbon dioxide sublimates back
into the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide completely disappears in the northern
hemisphere, leaving behind a water ice cap. But some of the carbon dioxide ice
remains in the southern atmosphere. All of this ice movement has vast effects
on the Martian climate, producing winds and other effects.
Gale Crater and Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons)

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Made famous by the landing of the Curiosity rover in 2012, Gale Crater is host to
extensive evidence of past water. Curiosity stumbled upon a streambed within
weeks of landing, and found more extensive evidence of water throughout its
journey along the crater floor. Curiosity is now summiting a nearby volcano
called Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons) and looking at the geological features in each
of its strata.

One of Curiosity's more exciting finds was discovering complex organic

molecules in the region, on multiple occasions. Results from 2018 announced
these organics were discovered inside of 3.5-billion-year-old rocks. Simultaneous to
the organics results, researchers announced the rover also found methane
concentrations in the atmosphere change over the seasons. Methane is an
element that can be produced by microbes, as well as geological phenomena, so
it's unclear if that's a sign of life.
Medusae Fossae

ESA
Medusae Fossae is one of the weirdest locations on Mars, with some people
even speculating that it holds evidence of some sort of a UFO crash. The more likely
explanation is it is a huge volcanic deposit, some one-fifth of the size of the
United States. Over time, winds sculpted the rocks into some beautiful
formations.But researchers will need more study to learn how these volcanoes
formed Medusae Fossae. A 2018 study suggested that the formation may have
formed from immensely huge volcanic eruptions taking place hundreds of times over
500 million years. These eruptions would have warmed the Red Planet's climate
as greenhouse gases from the volcanoes drifted into the atmosphere.
Recurring Slope Lineae in Hale Crater

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Mars is host to strange features called recurring slope lineae, which tend to form
on the sides of steep craters during warm weather. It's hard to figure out what
these RSL are, though. Pictures shown here from Hale Crater (as well as other
locations) show spots where spectroscopy picked up signs of hydration. In 2015,
NASA initially announced that the hydrated salts must be signs of running water on the
surface, but later research said the RSL could be formed from atmospheric
water or dry flows of sand.In reality, we may have to get up close to these RSL to
see what their true nature is. But there's a difficulty — if the RSL indeed host
alien microbes, we wouldn't want to get too close in case of contamination.
While NASA figures out how to investigate under its planetary protection protocols,
future human explorers may have to admire these mysterious features from
afar, using binoculars.
'Ghost Dunes' in Noctis Labyrinthus and Hellas
basin
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Mars is a planet mostly shaped by wind these days, since the water evaporated
as its atmosphere thinned. But we can see extensive evidence of past water,
such as regions of "ghost dunes" found in Noctis Labyrinthus and Hellas basin.
Researchers say these regions used to hold dunes that were tens of meters tall.
Later, the dunes were flooded by lava or water, which preserved their bases
while the tops eroded away.

Old dunes such as these show how winds used to flow on ancient Mars, which in
turn gives climatologists some hints as to the ancient environment of the Red
Planet. In an even more exciting twist, there could be microbes hiding in the
sheltered areas of these dunes, safe from the radiation and wind that would
otherwise sweep them away.

Space calendar 2022: Rocket launches, sky

events, missions & more!
Space calendar 2022: Rocket launches, sky events, missions & more! | Space
July 21: SpaceX will launch a batch of Starlink satellites from the Vandenberg
Space Force Base, California. The launch is scheduled for 1:13 p.m. EDT (1713
GMT). 
July 22: The National Reconnaissance Office will launch a classified payload
aboard Rocket Lab electron rocket from Launch Complex 1B, Mahia Peninsula,
New Zealand.
July 28: The new moon arrives at 1:54 p.m. EDT (1754 GMT).
July 24: A Chinese Long March 5B rocket will launch the Wentian laboratory
module, the second major component of China's space station. The launch is
scheduled for approximately 2:15 a.m. EDT (0615 GMT).
July 31: Astra will launch the third pair of small CubeSats for NASA's TROPICS mission
from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

AUGUST
Aug. 11: The full moon of August, known as the Sturgeon Moon, arrives at 9:36
p.m. EDT (0136 Aug. 12 GMT).
Aug. 11-12: The Perseid meteor shower peaks.
Aug. 27: The new moon arrives at 4:17 a.m. EDT (0817 GMT). 
Also scheduled to launch in August (from Spaceflight Now):
 A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch SES 20 and SES 21
communications satellites. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station,
Florida.
 NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket will launch on its first uncrewed
test flight of an uncrewed Orion crew capsule, for a mission known as Artemis 1. The
Orion spacecraft will orbit the moon before returning to Earth for a splashdown in the
Pacific Ocean. The mission has been delayed several times.
 A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch a sixth Space Based Infrared
System Geosynchronous satellite (SBIRS GEO 6). The satellite will be used for early-
warning missile detection and will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station,
Florida

RelaunchSpace reconstructs NASA flight plan

for Apollo 11 moon landing
RelaunchSpace reconstructs NASA flight plan for Apollo 11 moon landing | Space

RelaunchSpace has reconstructed every page, font and diagram in "Apollo 11 Flight Plan: Relaunched."  (Image credit:
RelaunchSpace)
More than half a century since its pages served as humanity's first roadmap to
the moon, NASA's Apollo 11 flight plan has been relaunched.

More than a simple reprint, this new edition from RelaunchSpace(opens in new tab) has
been reconstructed from the ground up so that it appears exactly as it did when
it was prepared in 1969 by the flight planning branch of the flight crew support
division at the Manned Spacecraft Center (today, the Johnson Space Center) in
Houston.
Used in flight by astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins
while they were on board the Apollo 11 spacecraft and referenced by flight
controllers in Mission Control, the flight plan provided a second-by-second
playbook for every action needed to go to the moon and safely return, from liftoff
to touchdown on the moon, to splashdown back on Earth.
"To me, these vintage documents are not just major engineering achievements,
they're works of art," said Alan Gibson of RelaunchSpace, whose idea it was to
republish the flight plan and who led the small team that brought the project to
fruition. "I looked around for a copy of the flight plan and I wasn't happy with the
options I found."

"I just couldn't find anything on the market that did it justice," he said.

"Apollo 11 Flight Plan: Relaunched" is a reference book but also a "curiosity and conversation piece for the truly hardcore
space fans out there." (Image credit: RelaunchSpace)
"Apollo 11 Flight Plan: Relaunched(opens in new tab)" was released earlier this year
and is available for order on this, the 53rd anniversary of the mission.
collectSPACE.com spoke with Gibson about the process that went into recreating
the Apollo 11 flight plan and the plans he has underway for relaunching
additional vintage Apollo documents. This interview has been edited for length
and clarity.

collectSPACE (cS): As you mention, you at first went looking for a modern reprint
of the Apollo 11 flight plan before setting off to make your own. What were your
issues with the versions that have been offered since the 50th anniversary of the
moon landing mission in 2019?
Alan Gibson: I originally wanted to just buy a copy of this 2016 reissue(opens in new
tab) that was crowdfunded using Kickstarter. However, if you read through the
comments on Kickstarter, it turned into quite a disaster. There were missing
pages, obvious errors in the reproduction, lots of people didn't get their books,
etc. There is even one glaring error in their own photos.
Given how quickly they met their funding goal, my guess is that they blew all
their money on advertisements. When they realized they could never make their
money back, they just took their website down and walked.

There is also this one(opens in new tab). I've got a lot of respect for what Constance
Metzinger is doing with reproductions, but to me cleaned up scans just aren't up
to snuff.
I was also aware of the deluxe version(opens in new tab) prepared by former
astronaut Terry Virts. It is very nice, but the price point and scarcity makes it
totally inaccessible for most people, myself included. This one is also colorized,
which I don't like because it deviates from the original.

cS: So how does "Apollo 11 Flight Plan: Relaunched" differ from those previous
projects?
Gibson: I would call this reprint the first successful faithful reconstruction. I base
that claim on several things:
  We took the time to reproduce both the Final version and Revision A. That's why it
comes out 400 pages, not 362. As far as I'm aware, no one has done that before.
 The book on Kickstarter was an attempt at a faithful reconstruction, but it failed rather
badly due to missing pages, clearly incorrect fonts, etc.
 Other reconstructions have either differed significantly (colorization), or haven't been
reconstructions at all (cleaned up scans).
Another difference is that I've pledged to release print-quality source files of the
reproduction after I've funded the next project. It cost a lot of money to do this
reconstruction, but the material being reproduced is an important part of
history, and so it should be available to everyone.

And most importantly, the cover is extremely cool.

"Apollo 11 Flight Plan: Relaunched" reproduces both the mission's final flight plan and Revision A. "And most importantly,
the cover is extremely cool." (Image credit: RelaunchSpace)
cS: What work was involved in creating your version of the flight plan? How many
people were involved and how long did it take to prepare?
Gibson: Everything started out with me identifying the sources to be used. I
settled on a scan from the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station(opens in new tab) in
Australia as the basis for the reproduction. There are a couple of others that you
can find on the internet that were used just for cross checking in case something
wasn't clear. I also bought all the ones available on the internet to use as a
reference, though they turned out to not really be needed.
In batches of 50 pages, I made sure everything on the page was legible. I made
sure all of the fonts had been identified, then send the pages and fonts on to the
layout artist I had hired.

As a side note, the hardest issues we had to work through was the fonts to be
used. I personally spent about two months trying to track down the exact fonts
NASA had used. Luckily I found a copy of the first NASA style guide that named a
couple of them. Some others I was able to identify with the help of the
"identifythisfont" subreddit [on Reddit.com]. Then for every font, there are many
slight variations of that font from different vendors. So we had to put them side
by side and debate which one matched the best.

A scan of an original Apollo 11 flight plan found in the U.S. National Archives. (Image credit: NASA)
Unfortunately for us, some of the fonts in the flight plan aren't really fonts at all.
They were just metal type from computer printers of the day. In those cases, we
either trolled through hundreds of fonts looking for a match or, in one case, had
someone actually make a font from the original images where we couldn't find a
match.
The layout artist reproduced the batch then sent it to me. I flagged any errors
and then sent it on to the proofreader. When I got them back from the
proofreader I would do one more pass. Then the batch with notes went back to
the layout artist for correction. In the end, everything was bundled into one
document, then the proofreader and I did one more pass on it.

Including the cover artist, there were four of us involved. Work was completed in
about nine months.

Neil Armstrong reviewing the Apollo 11 flight plan in 1969. (Image credit: NASA)
cS: Other than finding (or creating) the right fonts, were they any other
challenges you faced? Was there anything you wanted to do but found you could
not?
Gibson: The biggest challenge was definitely finding the right layout artist for the
work. I paid probably a dozen different people to reproduce a few pages as a
work sample before finding the right person for the job. It was worth it in the
end though because the guy I landed on was incredibly detail oriented and
enthusiastic even now.
I wanted to do the printing as faithfully as the reconstruction but found out that
it was nearly impossible at the current moment.

The first issue is that, as far as I have been able to tell, five ring binder
mechanisms are no longer available. The second issue is that the specific type of
loose leaf paper I wanted to use is unavailable due to supply chain problems. A
third issue was that no printer could find the specific peach colored card stock
that was used by NASA. I will probably revisit all of this in the future and give it
another try.

The same pages that were reconstructed for "Apollo 11 Flight Plan: Relaunched" flew on board the first moon landing
mission and were referenced in Mission Control. (Image credit: RelaunchSpace)
cS: What did you learn about the Apollo 11 mission from working on recreating
its flight plan?
Gibson: The biggest takeaway I got from doing this reconstruction was how wildly
impressive NASA engineering was. They managed to plan the lunar landing out
in incredible detail without the benefit of modern computing.
As a career programmer, this impresses me as much as the actual lunar landing.

cS: How would you categorize your relaunched flight plan? Is it a reference book?
A coffee table book? A curiosity?
Gibson: It is definitely a great reference book. My hope is that one day it gets
cited in an academic paper. But in practical terms, it's definitely a curiosity and
conversation piece for the truly hardcore space fans out there.
My hope here is that it becomes a must-have in every space race fan's collection.

cS: Is the Apollo 11 flight plan the only NASA document you wanted to publish?
Are there others you have in mind or are even now in work?
Gibson: This reproduction is the seed for an ongoing project I'm calling
RelaunchSpace. The concept is that each reproduction pays for the next one, so
it just rolls on one release at a time. I'm only thinking of reproducing space race-
era documents now, but I could also see doing reproductions of hardware that
have some practical use like stowage bags.

The next book in the series is the Apollo 11 Mission Report from 1971 (it looks
nicer than the 1969 version). That reproduction is already about 70 percent
done. Currently, I'm stuck on trying to locate the originals of a couple of pictures
of moon rocks.

Once that one is done, I'm planning a third that will be all of the documents
taken aboard the command module, including the very interesting LM (Lunar
Module) Timeline Book.

When that trilogy is complete, I want to run a Kickstarter campaign to offer all
three as a numbered, boxed set. Assuming that all goes well, my current thought
would be to next do a trilogy of the three NASA style guides that have been
published just for a change of pace.

Amazing photos of the Buck

supermoon of 2022 from
around the world
Amazing photos of the Buck supermoon of 2022 from around the world | Space
The largest full moon of 2022 put on quite a show for moongazers all over the
world Wednesday (July 13).

Known as the Buck Moon, Thunder Moon or Hay Moon, the July full
moon appeared big and bright between the constellations
of Sagittarius and Capricornus. July's full moon gets its name from the antlers of
male deer, or bucks, which experience their most rapid phase of annual growth
during the summer months.
This year's Buck Moon is designated as a supermoon because it occurs while
Earth's satellite approaches its closest point to Earth (perigee) throughout its
slightly elliptical orbit around the planet. 
July's full moon was the third in a series of four back-to-back supermoons this
year, spanning from May to August. 

For moongazers around the world, the Buck Moon was an impressive sight,
enabling photographers to capture stunning images as the moon made its
appearance above natural landscapes and bustling cities alike.

In this image, the Buck Moon can be seen seen above a buck grazing outside the
village of Taarbaek, Denmark, some 9 miles (15 kilometers) north of
Copenhagen, on July 14, 2022. 

Amateur astronomers planning on photographing the moon can check out our
guides on the best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography to
get some pointers. Make sure to also brush up on our guide on how to photograph
the moon with a camera to get the best pictures you can during your next
moongazing session.
20 Facts About Constellations
1. The word “constellation” comes from a Latin term meaning “set with stars.”
2. Farmers were the first to use the constellations. In some areas the changing of seasons was
so subtle that the farmers depended on the stars to know when it was time to plant and when
the time was right to harvest.
3. Astronomers have divided the sky into 88 different constellations.
4. We know the constellations have been around for centuries, historical records in 4000 B.C.
(Mesopotamian culture) refer to these bodies of stars. Homer’s epic poem, the Odyssey talks
about the constellations and Eudoxus of Cnidus wrote about 43 constellations, 400 years
later.
5. A book written in 150 A.D. called, Almagest, was written by an Alexandrian astronomer,
Ptolemy. He used historical data provided at the time from 120-150 A.D. He claims to have
taken data from as far back as the 8th century B.C. Babylonia
6. The stars are broken up into groups. The 21 Northern Constellations are; Andromeda,
Aquila, Auriga, Boötes, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Corona Borealis, Cygnus, Delphinus, Draco,
Equuleus, Hercules, Lyra, Ophiuchus, Pegasus, Perseus, Sagitta, Serpens, Triangulum, Ursa
Major and Ursa Minor.
7. There are 15 Southern Constellations; Ara, Argo Navis, Canis Major, Canis Minor,
Centaurus, Cetus, Corona Australis, Corvus, Crater, Eridanus, Hydra, Lepus, Lupus, Orion
and Pisces Austrinus.
8. Astrology also has their own set of 12 Zodiacal Constellations; Aries, Aquarius, Cancer,
Capricornus, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Pisces, Sagittarius, Scorpius, Taurus and Virgo.
9. These original constellations were the only ones to be named until a German Globe maker
named, Casper Vopel added two more in 1536. They are called; Coma Berenices and
Antinous.
10. In Ancient Greek they did not name any constellations with the southern stars until 1589,
when a Dutch astronomer named, Plancius began to fill the southern celestial void. He
created, Crux and Triangulus Antarcticus. From here he went on to create many more
constellations.
11. The Greeks are responsible for naming the constellations. These names came from their
mythological heroes and legends.
12. Before fancy navigational equipment on seafaring ships, the stars were used to pinpoint
their locations; Polaris (The North Star) and Ursa Minor (Little Dipper constellation) were
used to figure out latitude (North/South) by how high Polaris was in the sky.
13. In the Hindu culture, the Nakshatra is the term for lunar mansion. A nakshatra is one of
27 (sometimes also 28) sectors along the ecliptic. Their names are related to the most
prominent patterns of stars in the respective sectors.
14. Each constellation has Greek mythology and stories about how they came to be. These
stories usually involve angry gods and mysterious beings.
15. Today, the stars have been mapped and show their positions. However, the stars found in
each constellation may not be close to each other at all. Some of the stars will shine brighter
if they are closer to Earth or if they are very large stars.
16. Not everyone can see all the constellations – it depends on where you are in the world. In
addition, the season of the year also plays a role in what constellations can be seen.
17. Hydra is the largest constellation by area which takes up 3.16% of the sky.
18. The smallest constellation is Crux. It only takes up 0.17 percent of the sky.
19. The Big and Little Dipper are considered asterisms. This is when a small pattern of stars
is found within a constellation.
20. Twenty two different constellation names start with the letter “C”.

Dead Spacecraft on Mars Spotted in New

Photos
Dead Spacecraft on Mars Spotted in New Photos | Space
Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove
off in January 2004. The lander is still bright, but with a reddish color, probably due to accumulation of Martian dust. The
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded this
view on Jan. 29, 2012, providing the first image from orbit to show Spirit's lander platform in color.  (Image credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)
A NASA probe orbiting Mars has captured new photos of two dead spacecraft frozen in place
at their Red Planet graves.

The photos were taken by NASA's powerful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which has
been circling the planet since 2006.
The spacecraft first spied NASA's dead Phoenix Mars Lander in the Martian arctic on Jan. 26
in a color photo that reveals the lander and its frigid surroundings as they appeared following
Phoenix's second winter on the planet. The Phoenix spacecraft

In a separate photo, MRO also spotted the three-petal landing platform that delivered
NASA's Mars rover Spirit to the surface of the Red Planet in January 2004. The platform
used parachutes and airbags to bounce to a stop on Gusev crater so the Spirit rover could
begin its mission.
 PLAY SOUND
Spirit drove off the lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working
life in a range of hills roughly two miles (3.2 kilometers) to the east, NASA officials said in a
statement. The rover went silent in 2010 and NASA officially declared it dead last year. [See
the new photos of dead Mars probes]
In the MRO image, which was taken on Jan. 29, Spirit's lander platform appears as a bright
feature at the bottom left, southwest of Bonneville Crater.

MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera has recorded color
images of the Spirit rover itself before, but all previous photos of the lander platform were in
black and white, according to NASA officials.

Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform (circled) that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
drove off in January 2004. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

Dead rover on Mars

Spirit and its twin rover Opportunity were originally designed for three-month missions to
look for signs of past water activity on Mars. Both rovers far outlived their warranty,
however, and the missions delivered evidence that the Red Planet was once a much wetter,
warmer place.
Spirit stopped driving when it became mired in sand in May 2009. Mission scientists then
converted the rover into a stationary observatory, and Spirit continued to send back data from
its trapped location. But, 10 months later, the rover fell silent after being unable to capture
enough sunlight on its solar panels over the course of the Martian winter.

Still, Opportunity remains alive and well on Mars, and last month celebrated a remarkable
eight years on the surface of the Red Planet. After a three-year trek, the intrepid rover arrived
at the 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer) Endeavour Crater in August 2011. The rover recently
uncovered what researchers say is the best evidence yet for liquid water on ancient Mars.

This image, taken Jan. 26, 2012, shows NASA's no-longer-active Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft after its second Martian
arctic winter. The lander has the same appearance as it did after its first winter, as seen in an image from May 2010. This
view is from monitoring frost patterns at the Phoenix landing site in far-northern Mars, using the High Resolution Imaging
Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of
Arizona)

Phoenix rises no more

The Phoenix Mars Lander landed in May 2008 on a mission to search and dig for evidence of
water in the Vastitas Borealis plains in the Martian arctic. During its nearly six-month
mission, the $475 million lander confirmed the presence of subsurface water ice and made
valuable characterizations of Martian dirt.

The Phoenix mission ended in November 2008 when the spacecraft could no longer receive
adequate power due to a combination of dwindling sunlight, light-obscuring dust and harsh
winter temperatures.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter itself continues to have a prolific career in orbit around the
Red Planet. The powerful probe began circling Mars on March 10, 2006 and is currently in an
extended phase of its mission.

The orbiter continues to provide valuable insights into the planet's ancient environment and
how processes such as wind, meteorite impacts and seasonal frosts are continuing to affect
the surface of Mars today, NASA officials said. MRO has transmitted more data to Earth than
all other interplanetary missions combined.

Dark energy has the cosmoslogists scratching their heads. Observations taken by NASA's Hubble Space
Telescope and future space telescopes will be needed in order to determine the properties of dark energy, which
makes up about 70 percent of the universe.

Probing dark energy, the energy in empty space causing the

expanding universe to accelerate, calls for accurately measuring
how that expansion rate is increasing with time. Dark energy is
thought to drive space apart.

The diagram at right shows the changes in the rate of

expansion since the universe's birth 15 billion years ago.
The more shallow the curve, the faster the rate of
expansion. The curve changes noticeably about 7.5 billion
years ago, when objects in the universe began flying apart
at a faster rate. Astronomers theorize that the faster
expansion rate is due to a mysterious, dark force that is
pulling galaxies apart. Image courtesy of NASA/STScI/Ann
Feild. Click on image for larger view.

Astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to hunt for supernovae (an energetic explosive event that
occurs at the end of a star's lifetime), using their brightness, astronomers could measure if the universe was
expanding faster or slower in the distant past.

In its search, Hubble discovered 42 new supernovae, including six that are among the most distant ever found.
The farthest supernovae show that the universe was decelerating long ago, but then "changed gears" and began
to accelerate.

Albert Einstein coined the term "cosmological constant" to represent the possibility that even empty space has
energy and couples to gravity. Like other astronomers of the time, he thought that the universe was static and so
proposed there was a repulsive force from space that kept the universe in balance.

Einstein discarded his own findings in 1929, when Edwin Hubble found through his research that the universe
was expanding and not static. Today, new data from Hubble may
well prove Einstein was on the right track. The pull of gravity and
the push of dark energy have been trying to outmuscle each
other since the beginning of time. About seven billion years ago,
dark energy got the upper hand because the universe had grown
so large and matter (the source of gravity) had expanded and
scattered.

At left is an illustration of the possible fates of the universe.

Unstable dark energy could cause a "big rip" (the universe
expands violently, then the stars, planets and atoms come
unglued) or a "big crunch" (the universe implodes or
compresses). Image courtesy of NASA/STScI/Ann Feild.
Click on image for larger view.
Cosmologists believe about 70 percent of the universe consists of dark energy, 25 percent is dark matter, and
only four percent normal matter (the stuff that stars, planets and people are made of). Hubble observations
suggest the dark energy may be Einstein's cosmological constant, an energy percolating out of the vacuum of the
space between galaxies.

The energy of the universe is dominated by empty space emitting a repulsive form of gravity that is pushing the
universe apart. But what does all this mean to Earth? Even if Einstein's theory was correct, we won't have to be
concerned about the "dark side" for about 30 billion years, according to Hubble researchers.
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Space Quiz Questions and

Answers

Which planet is the hottest in the solar system?

Mars
Earth
Mercury
Venus

Which of these planets is the smallest?

Neptune
Mercury
Venus
Pluto

What is the Great Red Spot on Jupiter?

A volcano
A lake
A crater
A storm

What is the sun made of exactly?

Liquid larva
Rock
Molten iron
Gas
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The largest volcano in the solar system is called

Olympus Mons. Where is it?
Mars
Earth
Uranus
Venus

How many moons does Mars have?

1
2
3
4

Where is the asteroid belt?

Between the orbits Earth and Mars
Between the orbits Earth and Venus
Between the orbits Mars and Jupiter
Between the orbits Jupiter and Saturn

Which is the closest planet to the sun?

Earth
Mercury
Neptune
Saturn
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How fast does the Earth spin?
1 miles per hour
10 miles per hour
100 miles per hour
1,000 miles per hour

Which planet in our solar system has massive rings?

Getty
Images/iStockphoto

Saturn
Neptune
Mercury
Pluto
ANSWERS
1. VENUS
2. MERCURY
3. A STORM
4. GAS
5. MARS
6. 2
7. B/W MARS AND JUPITER
8. MERCURY
9. 1,000 MILES
10. SATURN