Happy “Back To The Future Day”!

Ahh, scientists. Impatient, but the best

Fifty years ago, a bunch of impatient scientists didn’t want to wait all day for a computer to compute the very first digital photo of Mars, so they colored the printout with pastels and made the print themselves.

Try driving on Mars: https://eyes.nasa.gov/curiosity/

Like it? Last day to vote for it in the Webby Awards: http://bit.ly/1VEE0tn

A Martian Sunset

The 34mm eye of the Mastcam aboard Curiosity took this view of the sun setting over Gale Crater on sol 956 of the mission (April 15, 2015).

Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / Damia Bouic

Life on Mars…Maybe

A sample pulled from Mars just last month has been thoroughly examined by the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, and earlier today scientists declared that they have finally found solid evidence that Mars could have once sustained life.

From mission lead scientist John Grotzinger of Caltech:

“We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and is so supportive of life that probably if this water was around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it.“

Read more via Science Now.

Photos: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/MSSS

Fifty years ago, a bunch of impatient scientists didn’t want to wait all day for a computer to compute the very first digital photo of Mars, so they colored the printout with pastels and made the print themselves.

Keyhole in the Carina Nebula

Planet Series - Beau Wright

The newest picture taken by mars curiosity. If you think it’s shopped then you’re wrong because everything on tumblr is real now reblog this you peasants. 

Back-to-Back Friday Spacewalks

On Friday, Jan. 6 and Friday, Jan. 13, astronauts on the International Space Station will step outside to perform spacewalks. 

What’s a spacewalk? It’s any time an astronaut gets out of a vehicle or spacecraft while in space. It can also be called an EVA (extravehicular activity).

Astronauts go on spacewalks for many reasons. These activities allow crew members to work outside their spacecraft (in this case the space station).

So what specific tasks will astronauts perform in these two upcoming spacewalks? Let’s take a look…

Both spacewalks are being performed to upgrade the orbital outpost’s power system. 

The crew members will install adapter plates and hook up electrical connections for six new lithium-ion batteries that were delivered to the station in December.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson will perform the first spacewalk on Jan. 6. The work will continue Jan. 13 during the second spacewalk, which will be conducted by Kimbrough and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

Prior to each spacewalk, the new batteries will be robotically extracted from a pallet to replace 12 older nickel-hydrogen batteries through a series of robotic operations.  

Watch LIVE Spacewalk Coverage

Friday, Jan. 6 Coverage begins at 5:30 a.m. EST, with astronauts venturing outside at 7 a.m. Watch HERE

Friday, Jan. 13 Coverage begins at 5:30 a.m. EST, with astronauts venturing outside at 7 a.m. Watch HERE

Watch for more…

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