NEW YORK: For Scott Kelly, the next 12 months will be ones of weightlessness. He is currently taking part in NASA’s first-ever year-long mission in space. While MIR-era cosmonauts still hold the record for longest space flights, Kelly’s mission will have new breakthroughs not because of his time above the planet, but also because of his brother’s time on the surface. Scott and his identical twin brother Mark Kelly, both astronauts, will have their health carefully studied so that scientists can better understand the effects that space travel can have on the mind and body. So while Scott orbits in the International Space Station, Mark will sit on Earth acting as the control group in this experiment. It is all part of NASA’s decades-long preparation for the inevitable risks and stresses of a crewed mission to Mars and back.
It is also a fine symbol for NASA’s current condition: sitting in orbit, waiting for Mars. Every step forward only clarifies just how far away that goal really is. The Orion capsule set imaginations, and expectations, ablaze in its first test launch late last year. However, its next launch, originally planned for 2017, looks to be postponed until 2018. That optimism from a few months ago is turning into lost time and lost opportunity.
Texas’ own U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has blamed Earth science missions as the reason for NASA’s sluggish progress in crewed exploration. His frustration is understandable, but misguided. After all, Earth science programs only utilize about 10 percent of NASA’s budget. The rest of NASA’s $18.5 billion budget goes toward exploration, rocket development and other space operations, including the International Space Station.
Tesla driverless system to use updated radar technology
WASHINGTON: Electric carmaker Tesla announced Sunday it was upgrading its Autopilot software to use more advanced radar technology. In a...
