It Mightn't Have Been Water

Volcanoes Or Impacts?

Two scientific teams are claiming it might not have been water that gave rise to the features seen on the surface of Mars. Here's the Link.

Rather than abundant surface water over significant stretches of planet's history, as has been widely reported, Opportunity's observations might represent the results of a meteor impact or volcanic activity on an otherwise very dry world.

The counterarguments, presented in two papers in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, go to the very heart of the ultimate question about Mars: Was it ever warm and wet enough to support life?

The new reports, however, are based on the initial data from the Opportunity rover during its first 45 days on Mars.

The Mars rover mission’s principal investigator, Steven Squyres of Cornell University, said both of the new studies could not take into account more recent data from Opportunity that were not available to the researchers.

So the stage is set for more arguments.

Cargoship Sent To ISS

In all the shuffle we tend to forget there's an International Space Station up there which is still under construction. Well, here's the update.

Russian engineers want to use the additional time to stow additional garbage and unused equipment on the unpiloted cargo carrier. That Progress and its contents will be destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere in early March.
The Progress 20 cargo craft is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Dec. 21 and dock with the station on Dec. 23. The new Progress will bring supplies of food, water, fuel and air to the station as well as holiday gifts for the crew.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev wrapped up last week with more stowage of items in the Progress 19 cargo ship. McArthur also assisted Tokarev as he began Lower Body Negative Pressure testing, using special garments to draw blood down to his lower extremities to counteract the effects of weightlessness.

Life in space goes on. It's amazing how mundane this seems.