HONR289V Spring 2017 BLOG

Blog Post #25. Sun Apr 9 19:06:03 2017. Brian Bock wrote:

If anyone is interested, Andy Weir originally published The Martian as individual chapters on his website. You can skim through them via the wayback machine (https://web.archive.org/web/20120919075620/http://www.galactanet.com/writing.html).

One of the most obvious (and easiest to find) differences is in one of the final revisions of the final chapter. https://web.archive.org/web/20121010202516/http://www.galactanet.com/martian/martian26.html Scroll down to the end and read the last paragraph. I'm very glad he cut it from the book.

Blog Post #24. Sun Apr 9 0:35:22 2017. Colin Sybing wrote:

Found a simulation of a spacecraft using tethered artificial gravity. Zubrin suggested this kind of artificial gravity for Mars Direct's manned craft https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFzcGGIemwk

Blog Post #23. Thu Mar 9 16:28:40 2017. Thomas McHale wrote:

Hey folks, NASA has a website where you can check out a global map of Mars. It has bookmarks for various Mars missions and interesting landmarks. You can also draw lines on it and see the elevation along your lines. Very cool stuff. Might help you all with placing The Martian in the landscape. http://mars.nasa.gov/maps/explore-mars-map/fullscreen/

Blog Post #22. Mon Mar 6 11:04:15 2017. Savannah Williams wrote:

I found an on-campus event that space junkies might be interested in! Take a look if you're interested in dark matter.

http://umdtickets.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event.asp?id=489&cid=126

Blog Post #21. Fri Mar 3 10:44:24 2017. Brian Bock wrote:

Curiosity is awesome.

Blog Post #20. Fri Mar 3 10:43:39 2017. Brian Bock wrote:

Curiosity is awesome.

Blog Post #19. Sat Feb 25 19:17:49 2017. Colin Sybing wrote:

Here's a video of the Curiosity Rover's ChemCam, which uses a laser to analyze minerals in rocks from a distance. The actual laser fires at around 3:35.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7UgAtAyLns

Blog Post #18. Thu Feb 23 17:07:36 2017. Vivian Carvajal wrote:

Here's a cool info-graphic on how to terraform Mars:

https://futurism.com/images/terraforming-mars-practical-guide/

Blog Post #17. Sun Feb 19 21:14:50 2017. Colin Sybing wrote:

I thought it was pretty interesting that JPL can outsource some of its really important work. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter was constructed entirely by a private company instead of JPL (Lockheed Martin).

Blog Post #16. Sun Feb 19 18:09:31 2017. John Lewis wrote:

One of the things I found really interesting between chapters 16-21 is how important geology is to understanding Mars. I figured that the focus would be more on chemistry to try and understand the water patterns, but geology is actually much more prevalent. It is also really important to understanding the history of Mars.

Blog Post #15. Sun Feb 19 16:48:15 2017. Peter Kirby wrote:

I looked a little more into current volcanic activity on Mars given that Spirit landed on a lava flow. It seems that there is no current surface volcanic activity on Mars, at least not that scientists have recorded, but lava would have been present as recently as the Amazonian period of Mars less than 500 million years ago.

Blog Post #14. Sun Feb 19 16:22:26 2017. Savannah Williams wrote:

I looked into the ice floes in the Elysium plane that the Mars Express Rover saw in 2003 (according to chapter 16). It sounds like scientists give responsibility for that random icy plane to an eruption of Cerberus Fossae fissures.

Blog Post #13. Sun Feb 19 16:00:36 2017. Brian Bock wrote:

While reading about the Mars missions, I came across NASA's Eyes on Space app. It is a live time visualization of all the planets and active missions with the ability to see orbits and scroll back in time. I think its really cool and an awesome visual aid to accompany the reading! Check it out!

Blog Post #12. Sun Feb 19 15:22:44 2017. Sarah Loewenstein wrote:

I researched more into radiation on Mars, and learned that the majority of radiation risk is incurred on the trip to Mars, and not on the planet itself. The Mars Curiosity rover measured that radiation on the trip over would be equivalent to 24 CAT scans. Furthermore, there is still more radiation on the surface of Mars than there is on the surface of Earth. Radiation remains as one of the biggest risks of sending astronauts to Mars.

Blog Post #11. Sun Feb 19 7:13:24 2017. Matthew Brady wrote:

I was also impressed yet again by NASA's ability to hypothesize about the cause of failure for missions. I would not expect much to be learned after losing communication with a spacecraft, but they still manage to determine things like "vibrations emitted by the deployment of the landing leg" "caused the onboard computer to assume that the craft had landed".

Blog Post #10. Sun Feb 19 7:08:31 2017. Matthew Brady wrote:

I learned that the ExoMars mission that NASA had to pull out of was planned to be the first of several missions. Part of this Mars Exploration Joint Initiative between NASA and ESA was going to be a Mars sample return mission in the 2020s!

Blog Post #9. Sat Feb 18 22:27:42 2017. Steven Neubauer wrote:

I looked up the Beagle 2 mission and found that it carried the first "mole" rover which was named PLUTO. PLUTO had a goal of digging into the ground a little more than a meter to see further under the Martian surface. The Beagle 2 mission was unsuccessful though, believed to have entered the atmosphere too fast.

Blog Post #8. Sat Feb 18 17:49:14 2017. Logan Kline wrote:

Hi everyone! I wanted to check up on Opportunity's mission to the Endeavor crater that Dr. Squyres mentioned in his interview. I found this picture that Opportunity took on the rim of the crater.

Blog Post #7. Sat Feb 18 16:21:16 2017. Thomas McHale wrote:

Whoops, the embed didn't work here's the link https://xkcd.com/695/

Blog Post #6. Sat Feb 18 16:20:16 2017. Thomas McHale wrote:

A little bit of Rover humor for you all:

Blog Post #5. Sat Feb 18 4:39:24 2017. Cecile Brule wrote:

NASA still does the "send your name to Mars" project that started with the Spirit lander. In 2015 they let people register for the InSight mission, which is scheduled to launch in May 2018. (

Blog Post #4. Thu Feb 16 16:56:30 2017. Aniket Goel wrote:

Hey guys, I learned that the European Space Agency sent a Mars orbiter (ExoMars) which got to Mars in October of 2016 to determine the source of the methane that the Mars Explorer detected in 2003 (they also plan to launch a rover in 2020).

Blog Post #3. Tue Feb 14 11:24:20 2017. Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

Mars in the News! Here are some new findings on the Martian polar caps: EOS Mars article

Blog Post #2. Sun Jan 29 20:38:00 2017. Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

Mars is visible in the evening for much of this semester! Look for it tonight and tomorrow for an especially nice grouping with Venus and the Moon. Image from EarthSky.org.

Blog Post #1. Wed Jan 25 19:08:36 2017. Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

Welcome to the HONR289V Blog! I hope that you find it useful. It works best if you all make an effort to post good stuff here for the rest of the class to enjoy. You can even use Simple HTML Commands to include links and images.

But Wait - there's More! Simply post something fun here by February 29 and receive 2 juicy bonus points!*

* Offer void where prohibited by law, you must be enrolled in ASTR330 to participate, you must be a resident of Earth, and bonus points have no cash value.

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