Cozy Dark emerging technology began work in 2010 as a skunkworks-style engineering firm and is registered with CCR and NSPIRES.
Our early engineering & design efforts have focused on orbital debris solutions and electrodynamic tether technology.
Zach Urbina founded Cozy Dark with the cooperation of technical, research, and academic colleagues in the Southern California AeroAstro community.
We also have a growing library of space science talks featuring Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, astrophysicist Sean Carroll and more.
Search
Loading Tweet...
Tag Results
24 posts tagged Mars
Mojave Desert Tests Prepare for NASA Mars Roving |
Team members of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission took a test rover to Dumont Dunes in California’s Mojave Desert this week to improve knowledge of the best way to operate a similar rover, Curiosity, currently flying to Mars for an August landing.
The test rover that they put through paces on various sandy slopes has a full-scale version of Curiosity’s mobility system, but it is otherwise stripped down so that it weighs about the same on Earth as Curiosity will weigh in the lesser gravity of Mars.
Information collected in these tests on windward and downwind portions of dunes will be used by the rover team in making decisions about driving Curiosity on dunes near a mountain in the center of Gale Crater.
First, however, the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, launched Nov. 26, 2011, must put Curiosity safely onto the ground. Safe landing on Mars is never assured, and this mission will use innovative methods to land the heaviest vehicle in the smallest target area ever attempted on Mars. Advances in landing heavier payloads more precisely are steps toward eventual human missions to Mars.
Curiosity is on track for landing the evening of Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (early on Aug. 6, Universal Time and EDT) to begin a two-year prime mission. Researchers plan to use Curiosity to study layers in Gale Crater’s central mound, Mount Sharp. The mission will investigate whether the area has ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life.
NASA Spacecraft Detects Changes in Martian Sand Dunes |
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed that movement in sand dune fields on the Red Planet occurs on a surprisingly large scale, about the same as in dune fields on Earth.
This is unexpected because Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth, is only about one percent as dense, and its high-speed winds are less frequent and weaker than Earth’s.
For years, researchers debated whether sand dunes observed on Mars were mostly fossil features related to past climate, rather than currently active. In the past two years, researchers using images from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera have detected and reported sand movement.
Now, scientists using HiRISE images have determined that entire dunes as thick as 200 feet (61 meters) are moving as coherent units across the Martian landscape. The study was published online May 9 by the journal Nature.
“This exciting discovery will inform scientists trying to better understand the changing surface conditions of Mars on a more global scale,” said Doug McCuistion, director, NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, Washington. “This improved understanding of surface dynamics will provide vital information in planning future robotic and human Mars exploration missions.” continue reading
Opportunity Rolling Again After Fifth Martian Winter |
With its daily supply of solar energy increasing, NASA’s durable Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has driven off the sunward-tilted outcrop, called Greeley Haven, where it worked during its fifth Martian winter.
Opportunity’s first drive since Dec. 26, 2011, took the rover about 12 feet (3.67 meters) northwest and downhill on Tuesday, May 8. The rover operations team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., received confirmation of the completed drive late Tuesday, relayed from NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter.
“We’re off the Greeley Haven outcrop onto the sand just below it,” said rover driver Ashley Stroupe of JPL. “It feels good to be on the move again.”
While at Greeley Haven for the past 19 weeks, Opportunity used the spectrometers and microscopic imager on its robotic arm to inspect more than a dozen targets within reach on the outcrop. Radio Doppler signals from the stationary rover during the winter months served an investigation of the interior of Mars by providing precise information about the planet’s rotation.
Ancient Volcanic Blast Provides More Evidence of Water On Early Mars |
The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1 percent the density of Earth’s. It’s one of the reasons liquid water covers much of our planet but cannot exist on the Red Planet. As more research points toward the possibility of water on early Mars, scientists have increased their studies on the density of its atmosphere billions of years ago. It’s not an easy task. In fact, it’s very difficult to even determine Earth’s atmospheric pressure from the same time frame.
Georgia Tech Assistant Professor Josef Dufek is attempting to learn more about the past atmospheric conditions by analyzing two unlikely sources: ancient volcanic eruptions and surface observations by the Mars rover Spirit. His new findings, published by the journal Geophysical Research Letters, provide more evidence that early Mars was saturated with water and that its atmosphere was considerably thicker, at least 20 times more dense, than it is today.
“Atmospheric pressure has likely played a role in developing almost all Mars’ surface features,” said Dufek, an instructor in the School Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “The planet’s climate, the physical state of water on its surface and the potential for life are all influenced by atmospheric conditions.” continue reading
100 Days and Counting to NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Landing |
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, carrying the one-ton Curiosity rover, is now within 100 days from its appointment with the Martian surface. The mission has about 119 million miles (191 million kilometers) to go and is closing at a speed of 13,000 mph (21,000 kilometers per hour).
“Every day is one day closer to the most challenging part of this mission,” said Pete Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Landing an SUV-sized vehicle next to the side of a mountain 85 million miles from home is always stimulating. Our engineering and science teams continue their preparations for that big day and the surface operations to follow.”
On Sunday, April 22, a week-long operational readiness test concluded at JPL. The test simulated aspects of the mission’s early surface operations. Mission planners and engineers sent some of the same commands they will send to the real Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars to a test rover used at JPL.
“Our test rover has a central computer identical to Curiosity’s currently on its way to Mars,” said Eric Aguilar, the mission’s engineering test lead at JPL. “We ran all our commands through it and watched to make sure it drove, took pictures and collected samples as expected by the mission planners. It was a great test and gave us a lot of confidence moving forward.” continue reading
The pit-chains of Mars – a possible place for life? |
The latest images released from ESA’s Mars Express reveal a series of ‘pit-chains’ on the flanks of Alba Mons, one of the largest volcanoes in the Solar System.
The images, taken on 22 June 2011, cover Tractus Catena in the Arcadia quadrangle, part of the vast Tharsis region on Mars. Tractus Catena sits on its southeastern flank of Alba Mons and the pit-chains in that region are a series of circular depressions that formed along fracture points in the martian crust.
One origin scenario for these pit-chains involves groundwater. Some of Earth’s most famous examples are the network of ‘cenotes’ on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. These deep natural pits form when the surface limestone rocks collapse, exposing the groundwater underneath.
This origin is the most interesting in the context of the search for microbial life on Mars. If there are any cave-like structures associated with the pits, microorganisms could have survived, protected from the harsh surface environment. Also, any caves associated with the pit-chains may in future provide a possible refuge for astronauts from the harsh surface radiation.
via unknownskywalker
Images: 1. Tractus Catena from the nadir and colour channels of Mars Express, combined to form a natural colour view of the region. 2. A computer generated perspective view of Tractus Catena.
Today I was treated to a tour of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena. Highlights included a full-sized, fully functional Mars Science Lab rover and a bird’s eye view of exploration mission operations control center. At the time we were passing through, data packets from the Dawn mission to Vesta were being received. Another highlight was a 1/3 scale model of the lunar ATHLETE rover which was just kinda hanging out in a shed. - ZU
