By: Jonathan O’Callaghan/IFLScience Scientists have announced a breakthrough with an ion thruster that could one day take humans to Mars. It’s called the X3 thruster, a type of ion propulsion known as a Hall thruster. This technology is alluring because it can theoretically achieve higher speeds than conventional chemical propulsion. In a series of tests at NASA’s Glenn…
Elon Musk Just Revealed Exciting New Details About His Plans To Colonize Mars
By: Jonathan O’Callaghan/IFL Science Elon Musk has updated us on his plans to colonize Mars in typical Elon Musk fashion, outlining some rather grand goals and an ambitious roadmap to get there. The SpaceX CEO revealed new details in a talk today at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia. This was basically an update from the…
NASA Just Announced They Can’t Afford To Get Humans To Mars
By: Karla Lant/Futurism NASA admitted today that under the current budget they cannot afford to get humans to Mars. NASA’s next steps will depend on its funding, but now more than ever, the future of Mars colonization rests in the hands of commercial space companies. BUDGET BUMMER NASA has been talking about getting humans to…
NASA Is Going To Test A Mini Fission Reactor That Might One Day Be Used On Mars
By: Jonathan Callaghan/IFL Science NASA is investigating an intriguing new method to power future space missions, which may help humans live on the surface of Mars. As reported by Irene Klotz over at Space.com, the $15 million project is known as Kilopower. From September of this year until January 2018, they’re going to start testing the system. Nuclear…
The Surface Of Mars Is Even More Deadly Than We Thought
By: Jonathan O’Callaghan/IFL Science When we send spacecraft to Mars, we have to heavily sterilize them in order to not accidentally take Earth life with us. After all, we don’t want to contaminate the surface of the Red Planet with our own life, and possibly make a false detection in the future. However, a new study poses…
It’s Official. Humans Are Going To Mars. NASA Has Unveiled Their Mission.
By: Karla Lant/Futurism Though the undertaking will no doubt include many challenges, NASA is finally ready to make humanity’s dream of sending people to Mars a reality. To that end, the agency has shared its five-part plan for reaching the Red Planet. THE MARS MISSION Humanity has been fascinated by Mars since long before we stepped…