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Portuguese Students Get A Glimpse Into Future Mars Missions
Lisbon, Portugal (SPX) Jan 20, 2010 Hundreds of Portuguese high school students were recently given a distinct privilege: a look at what future Mars missions could look like, as described by former NASA astronaut Laurence R. Young. Young, the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at MIT, director of the health science and technology program in bioastronautics, and founding director of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, spoke at the Escola Secund�ria de Cam�es in Lisbon as part of the MIT Portugal Program "MIT Professors Visit Schools" collaboration with Ci�ncia Viva, an organization that promotes science and technology in Portugal. The series, which has reached more than 2,000 students so far, has sent more than a dozen MIT faculty to speak at schools across Portugal.
Student says, "I'm going to Mars" These include exposure to radiation, bone loss, and elevated risk of cancer and psychological disorders. But he also sketched the background of Mars exploration, from the ancient Babylonians to NASA's Mars rovers - and reminded the students that the Age of Exploration started in Portugal, with Vasco da Gama and others. The audience, which filled the school's auditorium beyond capacity, was inspired at Young's certainty that a Mars mission was within the reach of humanity, most likely through an international consortium. After the talk, a 16-year-old student was quoted by Portuguese radio's Antena 1 as saying, "I'm going to Mars. I'm going to be the first Portuguese astronaut to go to Mars!" For his own part, Young said, "The enthusiasm, knowledge, and level of interest of the students at the Cam�es high school in Lisbon was fantastic. It makes it clear that exploration remains a motivator for science education all around the world."
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Related Links Escola Secund�ria de Cam�es Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Tooling Up ExoMarsParis, France (ESA) Jan 19, 2010 ESA and NASA are inviting scientists from across the world to propose instruments for their joint Mars mission, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Scheduled for launch in 2016, the spacecraft will focus on understanding the rarest constituents of the martian atmosphere, including the mysterious methane that could signal life on Mars. Establishing whether life ever existed, or is still active on Mars today, is one of the outstanding scientific quests of our time. Both missions in the ExoMars programme will address this important goal. The first spacecraft is the Trace Gas Orbiter, which ESA will build and NASA will launch. ... read more |
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