Movie The Fourth Kind inspired by Welles broadcast?

A new movie about the phenomena of alien abduction is drawing some comparisons with The War of the Worlds broadcast of 1938, though by the sounds of things it has much more in common with The Blair Witch Project. Of course it's a little known fact that the Blair Witch Project was itself influenced by Welles' War of the Worlds scare, so the lineage is there, if a little far removed. Anyway, the movie purports to be a true story about alien abductions that have taken place in Nome, Alaska. A psychiatrist played by Milla Jovovich begins to find a pattern in the repressed memories of her patients and supposed "real" archive footage adds to the terror. Check out the trailer below.

SF Crowsnest reviews Waging the War of the Worlds

Doing that really sad thing I'm sure many authors do of googling their own book titles, I discovered that SF Crowsnest has been very kind with a review, using the word "definitive", which is very very flattering and saying "This book deserves your attention and a place on your bookshelf..." which is very very very flattering. The blog I still love radio also carried a very favourable review the other day which also used the same word, and said "...one book can now serve as the definitive single source for old-time radio buffs and reference librarians everywhere." If you'd like to avail yourself of a copy of this "definitive" book, then Amazon.com has stock. :-)

Listen to my interview on the Paranormal Podcast

I recently had the chance to enjoy a great chat with Jim Harold, the host of the Paranormal Podcast. Jim had very kindly invited me onto the show to talk about a shared passion for The War of the Worlds and old time radio and of course to plug my book, Waging the War of the Worlds. It was a fun interview, and we touched on a number of different panic broadcasts. I was particularly pleased to be able to offer some new insights (detailed in my book) about the 1949 Quito broadcast. The full podcast is available now for download from Jim's site, the Paranormal Podcast, where you'll also find over a 100 other shows covering every spooky, controversial and paranormal subject under this, or any other sun.

War of the Worlds tribute broadcast for October 30th.

While it is easy enough to get your hands on a copy of the 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds, it is a rather nice idea to be able to tune into a live repeat at the exact same time and date it went out in 1938. So thumbs up to the folks behind the new movie Me and Orson Welles, who have organised the website waroftheworldstribute.com to do just that. Visit at 8pm EST and you'll be able to hear the whole broadcast. Perhaps they can keep the site going and made it an annual event.

Could a War of the Worlds panic occur again?

The 71st anniversary of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast falls on October 30th and recent events seem to indicate that we're still just as gullible and susceptible to this sort of thing as people were back in 1938. I’ve posted the question “Could there ever be another War of the Worlds style scare?” on the Amazon.com history discussion forum and so far the consensus seems to be yes. You can add your own thoughts on the Amazon discussion, but for the record, I’m siding with those who say it could happen. The recent stories featuring Balloon Boy and the Latvian meteor show just how easy it is for hoax stories to gain traction in the Internet age. It’s a subject I cover in a chapter of my new book, Waging the War of the Worlds.

Latvian meteor revealed as a hoax

Did some Latvian pranksters have the Oct 30th anniversary of the War of the Worlds broadcast in mind when they faked a meteor impact? There's no specific suggestion that they did, but the timing is great and the story is all over the Internet, with video emerging of fires burning in a crater that was discovered in the Mazsalaca region near the Estonian border on Sunday afternoon. Uldis Nulle, a scientist at the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, said: "This is not a real crater. It is artificial." I'm sure Uldis is right, though whoever did this either had a lot of time on their hands, or a lot of help, as the crater measures 27ft wide and 9ft deep! A shame that it was revealed as a hoax so quickly - it would have been great fun to watch the story develop.

The balloon goes up

Maybe it's because the 71st anniversary of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast is coming up, but it's notable how many stories about the kid who was supposedly trapped in a balloon have inspired journalists to cross-reference Welles' infamous drama. It probably helps that the balloon was shaped like a UFO, and of course it all turned out to be a gigantic hoax by the publicity seeking parents - who deserve to have the book thrown at them by the way - but you can't help but admire the way Welles broadcast has worked itself so thoroughly into popular culture that it can be drafted into service like this. Just set up a Google news alert for the term "War of the Worlds" and you'll be astounded at how often it gets used. It was particularly popular during the run on the banks as I recall, but it's in constant use for all manner of subjects.

War of the Worlds and Desperate Housewives Mashup

This is easily the silliest post I've ever put on this blog, but it's hard to resist a story that brings together The War of the Worlds, Desperate Housewives and Lost in one giant plane crash of an episode. Word has it that Wisteria Lane is to suffer a plane crash, possibly killing off several characters. Apparently pictures have leaked showing the crash scene, though these look to be from the still standing plane crash set for the Cruise/Spielberg version of The War of the Worlds. That's not to say that Desperate Housewives won't end up using a redressed version of that very set, though in a final twist, the plane is expected to carry the insignia of fictional carrier Oceanic, which of course was the plane that crashed in the long running TV series Lost.

Buffalo War of the Worlds celebrations

With thanks to Bob Koshinski, Buffalo's resident expert on War of the Worlds broadcasts, here's the full detail of the event planned to celebrate the declaration that Buffalo has been proclaimed the “War of the Worlds Radio Capital of the World.”

DiPaolo’s To Hold “War of the Worlds” Halloween Party Fundraiser.

New York Governor David Paterson and the New York State Senate today proclaimed Buffalo New York as the “War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast Capital of the World”. This declaration is due to the fact Buffalo New York has been the home of more unique radio broadcasts of the H.G Wells story “War of the Worlds” than any other city on the globe.

As many as eight Buffalo radio stations have either produced and broadcast their own original production of the H.G Wells story or have re-aired the classic Orson Welles 1938 original since 1968. Those stations include WKBW, WWKB, WGRF, WEDG, WNUC, WNSA, WEBR and WNED.

Governor Paterson’s declaration and the Senate Proclamation was presented today by Senator William Stachowski (D 58th) to Buffalo Broadcast Association Chairman Don Angelo at a news conference held at DiPaolo’s Restaurant in Blasdell NY.

To celebrate this distinction, the DiPaolo’s Scholarship Fund will hold a Halloween “War of the Worlds” costume party on October 31st to raise funds for Kids Escaping Drugs and the DiPaolo Scholarship Fund. The DiPaolo Scholarship Fund has raised over $750,000 for local charities as well as scholarships for local high school wrestlers since 1996.

The party will be held 7-11 pm on Halloween. Cost will be $25 per person and will include food, beer, wine and soft drinks. A guest Martian DJ will be provided and great prizes for best costume.

Buffalo’s fascination with the Wells story began in 1968 when WKBW’s Program Director Jeff Kaye created an original War of the Worlds radio production which aired on Halloween night. Kaye, along with Engineer and Director Dan Kriegler created a broadcast that has been featured in books, television documentaries, web sites and has received world acclaim. This unique local production, now known as the most famous radio broadcast in Buffalo history, featured such legendary Buffalo broadcasters as Irv Weinstein, Dan Neaverth, Sandy Beach, Jim Fagan, Joe Downey and of course creator Jeff Kaye.

Then on Halloween night 1998 WGRF-FM and WEDG-FM broadcast their own unique War of the Worlds production under the direction of PD John Hager. The broadcast featured staffers Larry Norton, Rob Lederman, Ted Shredd, Tom Ragan, Tom Tiberi and Anita West. It also included WKBW-TV’s Irv Weinstein, WGRZ-TV’s Kevin O’Connell, WIVB’s Don Postles and Carol Jasen, Empire Sports Network’s Bob Koshinski, Erie County Executive Dennis Gorski and even a special cameo from Jeff Kaye.

In fact, Halloween 1998 stands out because on that night stations WGRF and WEDG aired their own unique broadcast, WWKB re-aired the WKBW original and WNUC 107.7 FM re-aired the Welles 1938 original. No radio market in the world had four distinct stations airing unique versions of the H.G Wells classic on the same night.

In keeping with that tradition this Halloween night WWKB 1520 AM is re-airing the 1968 WKBW original and WECK 1230 AM is airing the Orson Welles 1938 version.

John of Carter of Mars news from William Dafoe

Movie site Aint it cool News is carrying a long interview with William Dafoe in which he touches on his role in the forthcoming Pixar adaptation of John Carter of Mars. Excitement is building for this first live action film from the prolific animation studio (Just saw "Up" today and loved it) and Dafoe seems pretty pumped up about it as well, talking about some early pre-production work that will turn him into a 9 foot tall Martian! He also alludes to some stunning design work that is under way. The full interview can be found here - for those who don't want to work through the other stuff, scroll down toward the end of the interview.

Buffalo declared War of the Worlds capital

The city of Buffalo has declared itself the War of the Worlds Broadcast Capital of the World. It's a claim that it can make with some justification, having suffered not only the original 1938 Orson Welles broadcast, but a 2nd locally produced production by WKBW radio. It was every bit as scary as the original, in fact I'd go so far as to say it was better then Welles production as it seamlessly integrated the story into existing programming and used many well known local news reporters. The initiative to declare Buffalo War of the Worlds Broadcast Capital of the World came from Governor David Paterson and the State senate. However, it's worth noting that there is another contender. Lisbon in Portugal has been hit several times by locally produced War of the Worlds radio broadcasts and of course Quito in Ecuador saw significant loss of life in 1949 when a production went badly wrong. You can read the full story of these broadcasts in my book Waging the War of the Worlds, which tells the history of 10 distinct panic broadcasts around the world.

Read my new War of the Worlds article at otrcat.com

I'm delighted to have a new article published on the otrcat.com website. The article will take you on a little journey through some of the War of the Worlds radio broadcasts that have bedevilled listeners over the years, including a few that until now have been all but forgotten outside the countries that experienced them. It contains a particular favourite of mine, a broadcast in Portugal in 1958 that almost got its creator shot by the secret police! Here's a deep link to the article on the otrcat website, where you'll also find some great Old Time radio recordings.

New movie Pontypool inspired by 1938 Orson Welles broadcast

A new Zombie horror movie with the innocuous sounding title of Pontypool appears to be tipping its hat to Orson Welles and his infamous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. The story is set in the radio studio of tiny station in the town of Pontypool, Canada. The DJ Grant Mazzy (played by Stephen McHattie) begins taking calls from terrified citizens reporting that people are suddenly behaving with extreme violence toward each other. It seems that a Zombie plague is infecting the population, but unlike other Zombie movies, where the disease is spread by bites, in this case the culprit looks to be certain words! Naturally this proves a bit of an impediment to the radio station in warning their rapidly dwindling listeners of the danger.

While I'm not entirely convinced by comparisons to the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, the filmmakers are clearly keen to make one. Watch the trailer on the official site and you'll immediately recognise the opening narration as channelling the ghost of Orson Welles. Of course Pontypool turns the concept of the War of the Worlds broadcast on its head. It’s not the radio station broadcasting a fake story, but trying to deal with the incoming news of a real panic occurring in the outside world.

The film is based on the novel Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess and seems to be getting good word of mouth. The trailer for Pontypool is certainly a tense piece of work.

Orson Welles coming home to Kenosha

Orson Welles is returning to his home town of Kenosha in Wisconsin thanks to the local radio theatre RG Productions, who are staging a production of The War of the Worlds. Performances are scheduled on October 17 at the Kenosha History Center and on October 24 at Kemper Hall. More details can be found at the RG Productions website. It looks like they also archive their productions on the site, so those wishing to hear a new version of the play would be advised to check back to see if it's posted.

ExoMars set for new 2018 launch window

The European Space Agency mission ExoMars is now likely to leave Earth in 2018, a two year delay. Mission planners believed the money pledged by the European Union was insufficient to meet mission requirements, so sought help from NASA to defray some of the costs. This approach has now been approved, though budgets will still need to be reassessed before a formal full go-ahead at the end of the year. The current proposal is to use a US Atlas rocket to launch ExoMars, but the US will also lend expertise in controlling the rover's entry, descent and landing. As part of the revised plans, Europe will also look at a less costly 2016 mission, which will deliver an orbiter and a static lander. More detail can be found at the BBC News website.

War of the Worlds on tour from LA Theatre Works

Readers of this blog based in the USA have an opportunity this month to enjoy the acclaimed LA Theatre Works production of The War of the Worlds, (paired up with The Lost World.) The production is on tour across a number of locations, including Cleveland, Fairfax and Stony Brook, NY. A full tour schedule can be found on the LA Theatre Works website and there are some nice pictures from previous performances on the baylinartists website. If anyone gets to see one of the performances and would like to submit a review, I'd be happy to look at posting it on the War of the Worlds Invasion website.

Orson Welles and Me

My recent book Waging the War of the Worlds would not exist if not for Orson Welles, so great to see a new movie about the great man is on the horizon. The trailer for Orson Welles and Me is now available at Yahoo Movies and it looks like it's going to be good. I'm no fan of Zac Efron who takes the romantic lead, but Christian McKay looks to have nailed Orson Welles and the recreation of Welles' groundbreaking production of Julius Caesar is loaded with atmosphere. Having read just about every book ever written about Welles, it's going to be a blast to see him brought back to life.

War of the Worlds tribute taken for real

A video that recently surfaced on the Internet purporting to show a UFO pursued by jet fighters has, in a bizarre twist, proven to be a tribute to the Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast. The viral video was actually produced to promote the Spanish terra.es website, and was one of several in a series. The others are extremely silly, but the one that got the Internet abuzz is a much more intense piece of work. A group of fishermen out at sea are seen on shaky hand held footage to be freaking out at something in the sky. Jet fighters roar past, and then the camera manages to focus on a disc shaped object, which abruptly plunges straight down into the sea, ejecting a great plume of water as it submerges. Next second a helicopter comes into view and a voice orders the ship to return to port immediately.

This is fantastic stuff, as a bit of a UFO buff myself, I was very excited to find it, but cynic that I also am, I determined to have a hunt around to see if anything could be found to explain it. It didn't take long. A video detailing how it was all made even exists on the terra website, and the reference to it being a tribute to the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast is there in black and white, well Spanish to be precise - "Un homenaje de Terra a 'La Guerra de los Mundos' de Orson Wells en su aniversario." As well as the making of video, you can also see some of the other videos in the series on the terra site, including a nice copy of the UFO Jet fighter chase.

Quite odd to think (and a little worrying) that something made to celebrate a fake broadcast could in itself be mistaken for the real thing. I discuss exactly this sort of thing in my book, Waging the War of the Worlds, arguing (I think all too plausibly given this example) that it would not be impossible for a really talented and determined group of people to pull off a scare on the scale of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast, though this time on a truly global scale.

Here's an embed of the UFO Jet Fighter Chase.

War of the Worlds: Goliath trailer is up!

The much anticipated trailer for War of the Worlds: Goliath has been posted on the official site for the new animated movie. As trailers go, it gives little away about the plot and the first half is a little disjointed, (more random clips than coherent story) but when the action kicks in, wow, it's edge of the seat stuff! Animated in Seoul, South Korea, Goliath owes an obvious debt to Japanese Anime, but it is equally clear that this movie is not going to be a slave to any one art form, and as such gives every indication of shaping up as something refreshingly different. Let's hope that the extremely impressive visuals and very intriguing premise (15 years after the original invasion, an earth reinvigorated with Martian technology faces a 2nd attack) will be backed up by an equally impressive plotline.

Check out the War of the Worlds: Goliath trailer.

Boston to be invaded

It's that time of year again. October 30th will see the 71st anniversary of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast, and around the world, radio stations and theatres are preparing to mount their own versions. I've now received word of what I am sure will be the first of many such productions. This one is to be held at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA, and looks to be a pretty cool going by the very nice website supporting the production. If anyone is aware of other productions, let me know and I'll post information here on the site.

Ice to see you - and make mine a long tall cool one.

University of Arizona researchers have made some startling new observations on Mars, having watched a patch of ice appear and disappear on the surface. That may not sound terribly exciting, but some significant deductions have arisen from the observation of the ice, which remarkably enough, was not only on the surface, but far from the North Pole. The ice looks to have been exposed by the impact of a meteorite, which gave the researchers the opportunity to watch how it behaved on the surface, and here comes the really exciting bit. By running some mathematical models, it was possible to make an estimate of the amount of ice likely to be mixed in with the soil, and with that knowledge it became possible to figure out the purity of the water based on how fast it dissipated; a whopping 99%! And that ice may just be a couple of meters below the surface, with the layer itself weighing in at a meter thick! This has got to be a big boost for the prospects of a sustainable human presence on Mars and for the possibility that life may yet cling to the planet. There's a very good and detailed article on the discovery to be found on the Cosmic Log page at MSNBC.

Seeing red on Mars

The term "the red planet" is of course synonymous with Mars, but the prevailing theory that the distinctive colour was a result of rusting causing by water flowing over the surface now has a challenger. Results from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers perplexingly revealed the presence of minerals that should not have survived contact with water, which set researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark on the trail of an alternative process that could explain the red colour. The solution they have proposed is that regular sand, when combined with magnetite (found in black basalt present on Mars) could have produced a red dust. The researchers found evidence for their theory after tumbling pure quartz in a hermetically sealed flask for seven months, eventually flipping it 10 million times. At the end of the process, some 10% of the sand had turned to dust, which when combined with magnetite developed a red hue. Wind action on Mars could have certainly produced a similar effect over millions of years. The chemical process is not yet fully understood, but if this is the explanation, we’ve got a lot to be thankful for. The black planet just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Google comes clean on UFO logo

A few hours ago Google posted an explanation for the weeks long mystery of their UFO themed logos. Not as exciting as some had suggested, with theories ranging from a new Google product launch to an alien take-over, nor unfortunately can I now continue to claim that they are promoting my new book, Waging the War of the Worlds, though you have to admit, the timing was great. No, the truth is, as some had suspected, that Google are celebrating the birthday of H.G. Wells. So today a new logo goes live, and it's the best yet. Here it is, along with the previous 2. Click for bigger versions, and here's the full explanation of the UFO logos from Google.

Hopes dwindle for Spirit rescue

The Spirit rover has now been mired in sand since early May and the chances of finding a way for it to escape are looking increasingly grim. Mission controllers have been using full-scale versions of the rover here on earth to simulate various options, but it may be that the rover is now permanently stuck, though this is not necessarily the end of its mission, as it can continue to relay scientific observations from a static position. An excellent summary of the efforts to free Spirit can be found on the spaceflight now website. A fabulous image has also been released of Spirit, snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Look for the little white dot to the left of the Home Plate volcanic feature.



Credit: NASA/University of Arizona

Google UFO logo mystery solved: It's my book!

Google has been playing a merry game with its users the past few weeks by substituting its logo with ones featuring a hovering UFO. There's no official explanation from Google, which is famous for altering its logo to tie in with significant events like anniversaries, holidays and historic events, but this is the first time the logo has changed without any overt reason. That sent the internet abuzz with speculation.

The first logo appeared last week, and at roughly the same time Google posted a coded message on their Twitter account, 1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19. Using the simple cipher that 1 is A and 2 is B, etc, the message was quickly translated as saying "your o are belong to us", which tied in with the logo as the UFO was abducting a letter o from the word Google and also refers to a famously awful Japanese to English translation of the line "All your base are belong to us" from the Japanese video game Zero Wing. This became an Internet phenomenon in 2000-2002, spreading as a meme far and wide. So far, so weird.

Then this week Google did it again, posting a second UFO themed logo, this time featuring crop circles. Again, the Google Twitter account provided a clue, with the posting of a map co-ordinate: 51.327629, -0.5616088. A quick check confirms that these are the map reference co-ordinates for 1-7 Woodham Rd in Woking, England. Wells happened to live in Woking, though at Maybury Road. However, it was in Woking that Wells wrote The War of the Worlds and it just so happens that he was born on 21 September 1866. So is Google planning a H.G. Wells logo next week to celebrate his birthday?

Could be, but there is a more obvious explanation. Last week saw the publication of my first book, Waging the War of the Worlds. I can therefore now reveal that Google is of course planning to celebrate this momentous event with a Waging the War of the Worlds logo. Look out for it next week, and in the meantime, you can buy Waging the War of the Worlds from all good online booksellers. (And perhaps even some of the bad ones.)

My new book published - Waging the War of the Worlds

I am delighted to announce the publication of my first book. Waging the War of the Worlds is the most detailed account ever produced (so I firmly believe) of the 1938 Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast, but it also tells many new stories of radio panics, several every bit as exciting and calamitous to listeners as that first momentous transmission. Learn how Martian attacks have paralysed Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Portugal, with detailed chapters containing masses of newly uncovered material never before presented in English. Waging the War of the Worlds is available direct from the publisher McFarland and from all the top online stores such as Amazon.

Go to Mars young man

While NASA is struggling to find the money to get to Mars, there are those who think that space exploration (and Mars) represents our best hope for survival. Asked by New Scientist magazine for ideas to make the world a better place, luminaries from both science and business put space exploration high on the list of vital endeavours. J Richard Gott, professor of astrophysical sciences as Princeton University was vocal in his belief that Mars represents a bolt hole for the human race, commenting that a permanent presence on Mars would "...make us a two-planet species and improve our long-term survival prospects by giving us two chances instead of one." Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson also spoke up for the merits of space exploration, though of course he would as he would reap some of the rewards via his Virgin brand spacecraft. Find the full range of comments at New Scientist.

Manned Mars mission in doubt

A long awaited report into the future of NASA will, much as expected, throw a giant spanner into the works, concluding that the agency has nowhere near enough money to even get to the Moon, let alone Mars. Though the full report is still to be released, a summary sent to the White House last week makes for gloomy reading, suggesting that NASA will not be able to break earth orbit for the next 20 years if present expenditure levels are maintained. However, the report also sounds for the first time as if some real level headed thinking is taking place. NASA has see-sawed from one goal to another since the Moon landings, but never really had a long term strategy, so there is hope that the proposals outlined will give the agency some much needed focus. The report proposes a number of scenarios, including the idea that astronauts would travel to Mars but not actually land. This is not quite as crazy as it sounds, since the idea would be to use the orbiting astronauts to control robotic landers and rovers. The time lag between Earth and Mars is such that live remote control of probes is impossible, but having astronauts on hand, combined with cutting edge rovers, would be a potent combination. Not as romantic as a manned landing perhaps, but should such a mission provide compelling evidence for life, then the pressure for human footprints on the surface might well become overwhelming.

John Carter movie gathers pace

The omens are good that the long gestating John Carter of Mars movie is now a certainty, with further casting announcements having been made. English actors Samantha Morton, Dominic West and Polly Walker have all joined Disney's adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book series. Morton plays Sola, a Martian who befriends Carter; West plays Sab Than, prince of the Zodangans and Walker takes on the role of the merciless Sarkoja. Taylor Kitsch (best known by genre fans as Gambit in the recent Wolverine movie) has already signed on as Carter. Andrew Stanton, a long time Pixar alumni (his credits include the marvellous Wall-E) is directing for a 2012 release date.

War of the Words

I often find it amusing to see how often The War of the Worlds radio broadcast of 1938 is used as the go to metaphor in doom and gloom stories. I would not normally mention a specific example, but I am strongly impelled to in this case as it gives me an opportunity to deviate off message and register my disgust at the negative attacks on the NHS presently clogging the American press.

I’m a British resident with a mother in her 80s and I also have a young daughter, so I can talk from experience of both ends of the spectrum. I’m particularly incensed that according to certain American commentators and politicians, my mother should be dead under the NHS. Well, here’s the truth. She would be dead, if NOT for the NHS. During a recent serious illness, at no point did anyone suggest she should be discarded, tossed aside, left to die! She was treated without question of cost – in fact, when we suggested that private care might be best to speed things up (because yes, the NHS can be slow) her consultant, (who would have pocketed the fee) urged us to stick with the NHS as he would have better access to the full suite of medical resources. My daughter also has had exemplary treatment. What American commentators seem to forget in their pathological hatred of anything that smacks of socialism, is that here in the UK, you can get private care quite easily, so we’ve got the best of both worlds. I’ve seen television programs showing thousands of impoverished Americans turning up at charity health fairs, some having travelled hundreds of miles in a desperate quest for free treatment. So how dare the right wing disparage our NHS when America clearly can’t look after its own people with anything approaching care and dignity. Rant over. Normal service will now be resumed.

What an Opportunity

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped an image of the Opportunity rover. Taken on its 1783rd sol (Mars day) on the Red Planet, the image clearly shows the tracks of the rover, which had driven some 130 meters on the previous day. Astounding images like this are routinely used by the Opportunity operations team to plan out the path taken by the rover, which is presently making for the Endeavour crater.



Opportunity Imaged by HiRISE (ESP_011765_1780)
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Inflatable heat shield test

Packed into a 15-inch shroud payload, a newly developed inflatable heat shield was recently put through its paces by NASA engineers. Launched to a height of 124 miles, the shield automatically inflated itself into a 10-foot diameter mushroom shape of silicone-coated fabric. Given the success of the mission, which splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, NASA is hopeful that the shield will be useful not only for re-entries into the earths atmosphere, but also as a shield for future Mars missions, where space and weight are at a premium. More info at popsci.com

Rock and a hard place

There's a community of ardent armchair researchers to be found on the Internet determined to prove that intelligent life once existed on Mars. To this end, they're scouring images returned from Mars looking for a smoking gun. One of the most perplexing images that has turned up in this search appears to show a monolith like object on the Martian surface, in fact not a little like the famous monolith in 2001 A Space Odyssey. But of course at the other end of the spectrum, scientists working in the field of Mars exploration are less than thrilled to be told they are covering up the existence of life on Mars, though I've yet to see it explained why they would send probe after probe to Mars with all the attendant risk that they'll be rumbled. And so to the Monolith, snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Scientists at the University of Arizona are equally determined to put the monolith down to natural causes. Most likely says Alfred McEwen, "it's more likely that this boulder has been created by breaking away from the bedrock to create a rectangular-shaped feature." That sounds pretty reasonable to me, but while my strong inclination is to err on the side of caution, that's not to say that one-day, some amateur observer might spot something missed by the experts. But for now, the scientists at NASA really are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

War of the Wolds: Not a typo!

No, it's not a typo. This really is The War of the Wolds, and it's fantastic! Made by film maker Robin Smith on a shoestring budget, this is a short film in the style of a trailer for a War of the Worlds movie. It's been entered into the Virgin Media Shorts competition. You should check it out and if you like it as much as me, show your support. So what is a wold? In this case, it's an area in the North Lincolnshire area of England. Specifically, Smith has his Martians laying siege to the town of Barton.

This is an extraordinarily professional looking piece of work, with stunning special effects. The moment a Martian Tripod straddles an underpass under which a group of people are trapped is jaw dropping. If Smith can win, he bags £30,000 of film funding to shoot their next film with the UK Film Council and Virgin Media. My hope is that he takes his speculative trailer and amps it up to a full on movie.

Check out the full entry below.

The Spirit is willing, but the wheels are weak

The Spirit rover continues to be stuck up to its hubcaps on Mars, but JPL engineers have put together a simulation of the conditions Spirit has encountered and are busy attempting various scenarios to drive the plucky rover free of its sand trap. The same technique got sister rover Opportunity out of a similar jam back in 2005, so JPL are hopeful they can work the same magic again. A fully operating twin of Spirit is now in a box of sand in Pasadena and Wired magazine have an excellent article online detailing the preparations to build the simulation.

Europe's Mars rover launch delayed

The European ExoMars mission, seen as one of the most ambitious yet mounted to the red planet, has suffered a further setback (its 3rd delay) with a new launch date now likely to be in 2018. Mission planners are putting a brave face on things, pointing out that the delay will have benefits, rolling the mission up with the NASA program. The plan now envisages an American Atlas launcher delivering an orbiter in 2016 which will hunt for methane traces (a key indicator of life) and it is also possible that their might be payload room for a static lander. Then in 2018, ExoMars, accompanied by a smaller rover based on the Spirit/Opportunity design would arrive, targeted toward any promising Methane finds from the 2016 orbiter. So we've got a bit of a wait, but the payoff could be enormous is this combined mission finds evidence of actual life now on Mars. The full story is on the BBC website.

Bolden hints at refocused NASA

Details have emerged of a meeting at NASA at which the new NASA head Charles Bolden introduced himself to staff and laid out some of his vision for the agency. While precise details were lacking, it is clear from his comments that Bolden believes the agency is burdened down with too many conflicting projects and is lacking the vision and focus needed to get a manned mission to Mars. Encouragingly, Bolden repeated again his determination to get a NASA mission to Mars off the ground. A two-time space shuttle commander and retired Marine Corps major general, Bolden looks to be the sort of decisive leader the agency needs.

Mars predictions say presence by 2019

There's a big debate brewing right now about the path NASA should take in the coming years. Former President George W Bush tasked NASA with a return to the Moon prior to a Mars mission, but it seems new President Obama is not so keen, and we're not really sure yet what this bodes for Mars, though as previously noted in this blog, we've got a Mars focused NASA administrator and now Dr. Charles Elachi, director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has chimed in with his predictions. Speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference, he was very upbeat for the prospects for manned exploration of the solar system, predicting a presence on Mars by 2019! That seems a tad optimistic to me, but it's good to see more senior people in the American space program pushing for this kind of commitment. Elachi also brought with him a super cool full scale model of the 2011 Mars rover named Curiosity.

NASA's administrator aims for Mars

Nice to hear that NASA's new Administrator Charles Bolden Jr is firmly supporting the prospect of a manned mission to Mars. Speaking to The Associated Press, Bolden sounded every inch the enthusiast, making the goal of reaching Mars sound pretty personal to him, which is exactly the passionate attitude you want in someone in his position. Bolden told the AP that, "In my lifetime, I will be incredibly disappointed if we have not at least reached Mars." Given that he's in his early 60's, it sounds like we can expect fast progress under Bolden's tenure. Even better, he went on to observe that he "did grow up watching Buck Rogers and Buck Rogers didn't stop at Mars." A science fiction fan in charge at NASA? The sky may not be the limit! Read the full AP story here.

Red hot and molten

New research published in the journal Nature Geoscience suggests that the planet spent a considerable period of time with its surface in a molten state, with temperatures in the region of 1000 degrees celsius curtailing the chances of life developing for at least the first 100 million years of its existence.

International scientists from the USA, Belgium, and Australia looked at a rare type of Martian meteorite called a Nakhlite (named after Nakhla in Egypt where the first one was found.) By measuring radioactive traces of exotic elements such as Hafnium, Lutetium, and Neodymium, the team were able to postulate that the early atmosphere would have been composed of a thick steam, keeping the surface trapped in a molten state.

Eventually the surface tipped over, allowing the crust to solidify. More detail can be found at physorg.com.

Apollo Astronauts push for Mars

Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins have called for a mission to Mars rather than the present NASA focus of a return to the Moon. Speaking at a gathering of the Apollo 11 astronauts, including a rare appearance by Neil Armstrong, both Aldrin and Collins expressed a desire to see a Mars landing. Praising the achievements of the Apollo program, Aldrin nevertheless said, "The best way to honour and remember all those who were part of the Apollo programme is to follow in our footsteps; to boldly go again on a new mission of exploration." Collins added, "Sometimes I think I flew to the wrong place. Mars was always my favourite as a kid and it still is today." The return to the moon program is of course by no means certain, and the Obama administration has been somewhat ambivalent about the idea. What this might do for the prospects of a Mars mission is presently anyone’s guess.

Life on Mars tantalisingly closer

Analysis of images from the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter seems to indicate that warming weather on Mars may have melted ice-rich soils as recently as 2 million years ago. The geographical features that point to this event were originally thought to have been volcanic in origin, but Matthew Balme, a research scientist with the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute has looked afresh at the images and now believes they were formed by the expansion and contraction of ice due to freeze/thaw cycles. If true, then the equator region would be an ideal place to look for signs of past life.

New War of the Worlds tripod model

It's always great to learn of a new War of the Worlds product, and it's particularly exciting that a forthcoming War of the Worlds model represents a first commercial project for fan Neil Hughes. Neil has been crafting his vision of a Martian tripod for the last six months, and going by the pictures on his blog, this has been a labour of love. The model is intended for use in the rather wonderfully named war-gaming scenario Glorious Adventures in Science Loosely Involving Generally Historical Times, or G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T for short. Eureka Miniatures will be selling the tripod, but to see some shots of the model in progress, check out Neil's blog.

Cast Recording of Wayne's War of the Worlds available for pre-order

The stage version of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds is turning into something of a worldwide phenomena, having toured Australia and New Zealand and heading this year to Ireland, Holland and Germany. For the UK leg of the 2009 tour, each performance is to be recorded and made available for purchase just minutes later. You can pre-order the performance of your choice right now on the Concert Live website. Each 3 CD set will contain the recording of your choice, plus 20 photographs from that night’s performance. For those lucky enough to have tickets to one of the shows, this strikes me as a really superb memento of what is sure to me a fantastic concert experience, but of course you don’t have to attend a concert to buy one of these albums. The only real difficulty then is which date you pick. For more info and to pre-order The War of the Worlds CD, visit the Concert Live website.

Spring blooms detected on Mars

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured extraordinary images of geological activity as Spring arrives on the Red Planet. The beautiful images almost look as if they are biological in nature, but in reality they are caused by plumes of carbon dioxide vaporising from solid blocks of dry ice. During the Martian winter, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere builds up an underground layer of dry ice as much as a metre thick. As the planet warms up in the spring, the ice returns to a vapour, and as it finds weak points or cracks in the surface, it pours out, bringing with it a payload of dust that forms bizarre looking patterns on the surface. More details are available at the JPL website.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

First Mars 500 mission begins

On March 31st, an intrepid crew of 6 entered the Mars 500 spacecraft simulator in Moscow. The hatch was closed and sealed, and will not be reopened for 105 days! Over the coming months, the crew will simulate a trip to and from Mars, including a landing, though 105 days is not in reality anywhere near enough time to simulate a real mission to Mars. However, this experiment is just a precursor to a much more ambitious follow up experiment, which will see another crew of 6 locked up for 520 days. The experiments are critical to the development of a real mission to Mars, which will require a crew to share tiny quarters for over a year. The psychological and physical strains this will create need to be well understood before any real mission is launched. You can follow the mission on the ESA website and the official Russian site is here.

Deimos captured in new light

The previously rather drab little Martian moon of Deimos can now be seen in a new light, thanks to the latest pictures shot by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Captured on February 21st, 2009, using near-infrared, and red and blue-green filters, the new images show subtle colour variations on the surface. These are probably caused by the exposure of surface materials to the space environment, which leads to darkening and reddening. Brighter and less-red surface materials have seen less exposure to space due to recent impacts or downslope movement of regolith. The pictures can be seen here.

Usagi Yojimbo v Martians

Usagi Yojimbo is a rather bizarre comic book written and drawn by its creator Stan Sakai for the last 25 years. Its hero is, wait for it, a Samurai rabbit! But if Sakai has his way, his Japanese Bunny will soon be battling Martians. Usagi Yojimbo is generally set at the beginning of Edo period in Feudal Japan (the early 17th century) and was inspired by the famous Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, but Sakai has also branched out on occasion, even going so far as to transplant a version of the character into space for a spin off series. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of his character, Sakai spoke at the recent WonderCon convention, and revealed he has plans to pit the Samurai against H.G. Well's Martians. Said Sakai, "It would be set two hundred years before Wells’ time and would involve a very old Usagi fighting a Martian tripod."

Drip drip of evidence builds for water

The jury is likely to be out for some time, but intriguing images have come to light that seem to show drops of water that had formed on the landing strut of the Phoenix Mars lander. The "drops" are seen over a period of days to form, drip and merge down the struts. Study leader and Phoenix co-investigator Nilton Renno of the University of Michigan believes that the drops may have started life as saline mud that was splashed up onto the struts during the landing of the Phoenix probe. Salt in the mud would then have absorbed water vapour from the atmosphere to form the watery drops. The "water" might contain a substance called perchlorates, which acts as a powerful antifreeze, so though the drops may have partially frozen at night, they would have been in a liquid state during daylight hours. However, caution is urged, as it would not be likely that this highly salty water would be a good place for life to form.

Recent water on Mars - in a manner of speaking.

Planetary geologists at Brown University have found a gully fan system on Mars that they think was formed about 1.25 million years ago by flowing water. That may seem like an age, but in geological terms it's a blink of an eye, and if ever proven, means Mars had flowing water a lot more recently than previously supposed. The gully system is located on the inside of a crater in Promethei Terra, an area of cratered highlands to be found in the southern mid-latitudes. Mars Daily has an excellent story on the discovery.

Methane on Mars detected

One of the clearest indicators yet of the presence of life on Mars has been discovered as scientists release the results of a 7-year study of the Martian atmosphere. Using telescopes in Hawaii, researchers detected up to 19,000 tonnes of methane on the planet. Most exciting of all, the methane appeared to build up in the Northern hemisphere during summer months on the planet, which would also be indicative of some kind of biological process. However, caution is being exercised, since it is not impossible that the process producing the methane is geological. We might be seeing something called serpentinisation, which occurs when rocks rich in certain minerals react with water, releasing methane, but the odds certainly now seem to be 50/50 that some kind of primitive microbes are thriving on Mars.

Mars may have harboured life giving water

Recent observations of Mars have suggested the planet may have been covered in vast reserves of water, but that it was too acidic to support life. But now NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is reported to have discovered carbonates on the surface that could not have survived in the harsh water thought to have dominated the surface. This strongly suggestes that there were pockets of water on the surface much more conducive to life. Read more at space.com.

Russia and China plan joint Mars Mission

New details have emerged of a joint Russian/Chinese mission to Mars, following the signing of a co-operative agreement in March 2007. Yinghuo-1 and the Russian Phobos-Grunt probe will be dispatched together on board a Russian Zenit rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, with an October 2009 launch date penciled in. On Arrival after an 11-month voyage, Yinghuo-1 will go into orbit, where it will study the magnetic field, the interaction between ionospheres, escape particles, and solar wind. It also carries cameras, which will image the surface and the moons of Mars. The Chinese probe will draw power during it's flight to Mars from the Russian vehicle, but Chinese scientists are still apparently working to solve potential power problems when their 110 kilogram solar powered probe detaches and goes into orbit, where it will encounter frequent periods when it will be in shadow. Meanwhile Phobos-Grunt will attempt a highly ambitious touchdown on the moon Phobos, where it will collect samples for return to earth. The main body of the lander will continue operating on Phobos for up to a year.

New 3D images of Mars released

Scientists working with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, (HIRISE) camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been busy accumulating a stunning new set of 3D images of the Martian surface. 362 of these have now been released by the HIRISE team on their web site, and all you need is a cheap pair of 3D glasses to view these remarkable images. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been a stunning success, with over 800,000 image assets now released. These latest set includes a simply heart stopping image of Sixty-meter tall fractured mounds, probably composed of solidified lava, on the southern edge of Elysium Planitia and extraordinary layers below the rim of Candor Chasma, which is a large canyon in the Valles Marineris. To view all the images, visit the HIRISE site.

Mars Science Laboratory delayed to 2011

NASA plans for further exploration of Mars have suffered a blow with the announcement that their Mars Science Laboratory mission has been delayed due to overruns on the technical development of the rover. With a massive payload 10 times the weight of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, the mission is extremely ambitious, but problems with the 31 actuators that control the steering mechanism, drill and robotic arm are been blamed on the delay. Because missions need to be launched every 26 months when Earth and Mars are their optimum positions, the sensible decision was taken to allow the launch date to slip rather than try to rush the process of perfecting the actuators. More on this story at the LA Times.

China has eye on Mars

A report in the Times of India indicates that China is aiming to become the latest nation to dispatch a probe to Mars. According to the story, the probe will take 11 months to reach Mars and will be powered by a Russian built spacecraft. Wang Li, an official with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said. "The satellite will conduct a range of explorations such as the probe of space environment, solar winds as well as magnetic fields on the planet. " Said Wang Li, "The move signifies China has made a solid leap forward in Mars exploration." The full story can be read at the Times of India website.

Force Field would protect astronauts on Mars trip

British scientists based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and universities of York and Strathclyde have made a major breakthrough that offers the promise of a safe trip to Mars by astronauts. One of the biggest worries facing mission planners for a trip to Mars is the issue of Solar Storms. Astronauts leaving the safety of the earth's magnetic field face the very real danger of exposure to lethal levels of radiation. The Apollo missions left the earth's protective field for only a few days, but an 18 month round trip to Mars would almost certainly encounter one or more of these storms. The effect would pound the spacecraft's electronics and quite likely kill the crew. It has been proposed that a crew with adequate warning of a storm could orientate their craft so as put as much of its bulk between them and the incoming radiation, or to carry very heavy shielding, but this new line of research proposes manufacturing a portable magnetic field to protect the craft. This mini-magnetosphere would be housed in two outrider satellites in front of the spacecraft. The system is in the process of being patented and a working prototype could be built within 5 years.

NASA's Phoenix Lander signing off

The onset of the Martian winter and chilling temperatures as low minus 141 degrees Fahrenheit means that mission controllers of NASA's Phoenix Lander are facing the possibility that the probe may well be about to sign off for good. Communications in the last few days have been patchy to say the least, with the craft showing great reluctance to talk to mission control. As energy levels on the craft plummeted, mission control switched off various power hungry devices including 2 heaters, but it was touch and go if Phoenix would be able to stir back into life. 2 Nail biting days went by (29th, 30th Oct) before a signal was received. Though Phoenix is now back in touch, it is felt that the craft may only have a few weeks left before it finally succumbs to the harsh environment, though it has lasted several months longer than originally planned.

Grovers Mill cartoons

It's always nice to see that The War of the Worlds continues to mean something even in this day and age, and that people are still able to mine the events of 1938 for fresh inspiration. With the 70th anniversary fast approaching, the artist Robert Hummel (who happens to live near to Grovers Mill) is producing a great series of cartoon illustrations that bring the Martians back to Grovers Mill. You can check out his work at his blog at
www.GroversMillMartians.blogspot.com

Make mine a cold one

In a landmark discovery by NASA scientists, it has been announced that the Mars Phoenix lander has detected water in a sample scooped from the surface. It has been known from orbital observations that water ice existed beneath the surface, but this is the first tangible evidence. The frozen water was discovered in a sample from a trench dug by Phoenix and dubbed "Snow White." Said team member William Boynton, "We've finally touched it and tasted it. It tastes very fine." The sample itself has been named "Wicked Witch" We named it after the witch from Hansel and Gretel, who saw her final demise by being pushed into an oven," said Boynton at the press conference announcing the discovery. The ice discovered is tiny, but with Phoenix continuing to work flawlessly and the mission extended to September, it is hoped that further discoveries can now be made.

Phoenix shakes and bakes

After a tense few days for mission scientists, when it seem possible that the primary science experiment on the Phoenix lander would fail, it has been announced that a soil sample has been successfully delivered to Oven number 4, and that testing is to begin with the TEGA (Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer). The landing and deployment of Phoenix's robotic arm had gone flawlessly, but when a first sample of Martian soil was scooped up and delivered to the Oven, problems began. The experiment is designed to allow only a small amount of fine material into the Oven, but it looked like the Martian soil was so densely clumped that it was unable to pass through the filter to the Oven. NASA scientists sent several commands to try and shake the soil through, but these appeared to fail. After six attempts there was no luck, but then scientists rechecked the oven and found that against all expectations, it was full. Speculation is that the cumulative effect of the shaking or some changes to the cohesiveness of the soil unclogged things, but thankfully the mission is now back on track.

Mars Phoenix lander touches down

JPL scientists were jumping for joy today when the Mars Phoenix lander completed a flawless touchdown in the unexplored far north of the red planet. Designed to search for evidence of the necessary conditions to support life, the probe has already returned the first photographs and will deploy a robotic scoop to examine soil samples. Touchdown was confirmed by a signal at 2353 GMT on 25 May (1953 EDT; 0053 BST on 26 May). The first photographs show an extremely flat Arctic plain, with little in the way of the rocks, boulders and rough terrain encountered by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers.

Super powered sands of Mars explained

It may be that Martian sand particles are a cut above the average. Murilo Almeida, a physicist at the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil is proposing that a process called saltation may explain why huge sand storms can be whipped up on Mars, despite the fact that wind speeds seldom pick up sufficient energy to power them. The saltation process is effectively a chain reaction, as dust particles crash into the surface, kicking up yet more dust. Using computer modeling, Almeida and his team found that sand grains on Mars have super powers, leaping a hundred times higher and longer than their puny counterparts on Earth, while reaching speeds five to ten times faster than sand on Earth.

Salt shakes up life debate on Mars

Last month salt was the villain in the on again, off again debate about the possibility that life may once have existed on Mars. Then it was a case of too much salt, but recent observations from the orbiting Mars Odyssey probe have uncovered chloride salts at more than 200 locations in the Red Planet’s southern hemisphere and this time it seems to be the right kind of salt. No mention is made of the earlier negative results obtained by the Opportunity Rover, and the reports, carried by publications such as the British Times newspaper and National Geographic are extremely upbeat for the case that these deposits are prime sites for life to have taken hold. Paul Knauth, a geologist at Arizona State University is reported to be particularly excited about the discovery, and has gone so far as to say that some of the 3.8 billion year old deposits may still yet be "actively oozing." An excellent article goes into depth regarding this theory at National Geographic.

Massive water deposits spotted on Mars

Evidence presented at the 39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference here in Houston, Texas indicates that significant volumes of water ice have been discovered in Mars' mid-northern latitudes. The Sharad radar experiment on Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been looking at distinctive geological features called lobate debris aprons (LDAs). These dome-shaped structures are concentrated around the mid-latitudes in the planet's northern and southern hemispheres. By penetrating the domes with the Sharad radar, scientists were able to judge their geological makeup. Very little attenuation (reduction in signal strength) was detected, suggesting they were predominantly made of ice. Commenting on the likely concentration of water bound up in the features, lead scientist Dr Jeff Plaut estimated, "robustly, more than 50% ice by volume - but it could be much more." The ice is thought to have formed during the mid to late Amazonian era, the cold, dry period of Martian history which began around 1.8 billion years ago and lasts to the present day.

Holden crater - cup of life?

It may have have only held water for a few thousand years, but evidence gathered by the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter may well show that life had a chance of finding a foothold in Holden crater. The HiRise camera has spotted a jumble of house-sized rocks, called megabreccia, in the 154-kilometre-wide Holden Crater. They were probably formed in the impact that created the crater, but a spectrometer on MRO, called CRISM has discovered that the rocks are covered by layers of fine sediments and clay. Such material forms through prolonged contact with water. The evidence points to two wet periods in the history of the crater. The first would have lasted several thousands years, then later water from a network of large channels called the Uzboi Vallis system inundated the surrounding landscape. The crater wall held back the water for a time, before it rose high enough to flood the interior. This wet period would have lasted several hundred years, but it was this rapid flood that scattered the megabreccia and exposed clay that had been covered over by sediments from the first lake. Holden crater is one of 6 prime landing sites under consideration for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory, and this discovery is sure to increase its chances of selection.

Pouring salt on Mars

The continuing seesaw of evidence for and against life on Mars (past or present) took another swing back toward the negative today when NASA announced new findings from the Opportunity rover. While both rovers on Mars continue to accumulate compelling evidence that the planet was once awash with water, the data from Opportunity seems to suggest that this water would have been very salty and acidic, which would be far from ideal for live to prosper. However, let's not get too despondent. News stories published today all seem to be keen to headline the negative, but read the details and it's not at all cut and dry. Yes, the water would have been pretty nasty, but Rover team member Dr Andrew Knoll is reported as saying "It was really salty - in fact, it was salty enough that only a handful of known terrestrial organisms would have a ghost of a chance of surviving there when conditions were at their best." So not a slam-dunk for the absence of life. Something could have survived, and lets not forget either that Opportunity has surveyed a tiny fraction of the land surface of Mars. Were an alien probe to land in some of the truly inhospitable locations on earth, it would send back gloomy messages as well. This case is definitely not closed.

Nicolas Sarkozy urges Mars vision

Visiting the Ariane rocket launch site in French Guiana, French president Nicolas Sarkozy urged great international cooperation on a Mars mission. Said Sarkozy, "I am convinced that an exploration programme can only be global, without exclusivity or appropriation by one nation or another... Each will be able to take part with their capabilities, their strengths and their choices." Sarkozy pointed out that Europe boasted "skills in robotic exploration, transport and technology", while the US had the dollars and would bring "technical and scientific competences" to the project. Sarkozy said he would ask the ESA and European Union to "co-operate on a framework for dialogue with the US and other space powers on a joint initiative".

Cooperation needed for Mars

A conference of 50 astronauts, public interest advocates, aerospace industry executives and scientists meeting at Stanford University have urged the US government to consider greater co-operation with space faring nations if the goal of sending humans to Mars is to be achieved by the early 2030's. According to figures released by the conference, the US is about 3 billion dollars a year short of the needed funds to achieve its aims. Plans to return first to the Moon were also criticised as a distraction from the greater goal of sending humans to Mars.

Have we photographed a Martian?

An extraordinary imaged snapped by NASA's Spirit rover on Mars has set the Internet abuzz with theories as to what it really shows. Undoubtedly it is perplexing picture, though it took an eagle-eyed Internet blogger to spot the tiny detail. Blown up, what you see looks exactly like a person striding across the Martian surface, but is that really what it shows, or is it just a trick of light, shadow and perspective. For my two cents, clearly it looks nothing like the Martians that H.G. Wells wrote about, so it can't be the real deal. Others have speculated it's bigfoot (on vacation?) or Osama Bin Laden. NASA is said to be puzzled, but apparently no one from NASA has actually commented, and I don't imagine they will. There is a dedicated band of armchair explorers who have irked NASA over the years by picking out tiny details from Martian photographs, everything from signs of standing water, to vegetation and details of old masonry and statues. Perhaps that's what this is, an old statue from a long dead Martian civilisation. It's a lovely thought, but alas I think this will turn out to be a red heron. It seems highly unlikely that two legged upright beings are somehow surviving on Mars, unless of course it's not a Martian. Could it be an American astronaut sent there in some ultra secret black budget anti gravity spacecraft, or even an alien from another star system out for a stroll, having parked his flying saucer over the next ridge? See, even I'm at it now.

You can see the full image at this site, but here's a close up for you.

Czech artists face jail over television fake

An extraordinary highjack of a Czech weather television broadcast might land a group of maverick artists in Jail. Echoing the 1938 War Of The Worlds broadcast, viewers were stunned to see a nuclear mushroom cloud rise over a mountain during a live weather broadcast. The imagery is incredibly realistic, but was a complete fake inserted by the Ztohoven collective artists group, who are thought to have hacked into the television signal. They have now been charged with scare mongering and propagating false information, and if found guilty could face three years in jail. In a statement Ztohoven said:

"We are neither a terrorist organization nor a political group, our aim is not to intimidate the society or manipulate it, which is something we witness on daily basis both in real world and in the world created by the media.Whether the reasons are political interests, market interests, financial interests or interests of supranational companies – we meet hidden manipulation and attempt to invade the subconscious mind of citizens with specific products or ideology, using all available means. We do not think that a subtle distortion of such system or an appeal to pure common sense of people and their ability to remain unaffected are harmful, not even in a democratic society. That is why, several years ago, the art group “Ztohoven” penetrated the public sphere of Prague, questioned the space given to advertisement generally and the space given to specific adverts. On the 17th of June 2007 this group attacked the space of TV broadcasting. It distorted it, questioned its truthfulness and its credibility. It drew attention to the possibility of using images of the world created by the media in place of the existing, real world. Is everything we see daily on our TV screens real? Is everything presented to us by the media, newspapers, television, Internet actually real? This is the concept our project would like to introduce and remind of. We believe that even the free space of public service broadcaster is able to endure such action and such impeachment. We hope our action will become an appeal for the future and remind the media of their duty to bring out the truth. Thank you for independent media and free space for our society."

Unfortunately for their artistic aims, it appears that several viewers suffered heart attacks, believing they were watching the beginning of a third world war. You can watch the footage at the BBC.

Possible active Glacier discovered on Mars

The European Space Agency's (Esa) Mars Express spacecraft has spotted what appears to be an active Glacier on the Martian surface, located in the Deuteronilus Mensae region between Mars' rugged southern highlands and the flat northern lowlands. While Glaciers have been identified before on Mars, previous sightings have been of very old formations (in the region of millions of years old.) This newly identified Glacier may only be several thousand years old. Distinctive glacial ridges have been spotted with white tips that can only be freshly exposed ice. This is an extremely rare occurrence, since as soon as water is exposed to the Martian atmosphere, it sublimates (turns from a solid state directly into gas). More detail can be found at the BBC News website.

NASA delays 2011 mission

Mystery surrounds a decision by NASA to disband a board whose job it was to select the winning proposal for the $475 million Mars atmospheric probe. Citing a serious conflict of interest, NASA disbanded the original board and formed an entirely new one. The administrative delay means that the mission schedule has slipped and the probe will not be able to launch until 2013. NASA is keeping the precise nature of the problem to itself because revealing details would compromise the selection process, saying only "In preparing for the evaluation of Mars Scout Concept Study Reports for the final selection, NASA identified an organizational conflict of interest. NASA determined action had to be taken to resolve the conflict in order to maintain a fair competition."

Mars lining up for impact in 2008

A 100-meter wide asteroid with the destructive potential of the infamous 1908 Tunguska impact has been detected on a possible collision course with Mars. The odds are 75 to 1 that the asteroid, designated 2007 WD5, will hit Mars by January 30th, but on cosmic terms, this adds up to an incredibly close shave for the Red Planet. If it does hit, the impact will be barely visible from Earth even through powerful telescopes, but several orbiting probes may well be able to see something when it slams into an area near Martian equator. Rather worryingly, the impact is likely to be close by Nasa's long lived Opportunity rover.

Greenhouse solution to Martian water mystery

The abundant evidence accumulated over recent years for the existence of a water rich atmosphere in the distant Martian past has been vexing scientists. While some clues point dramatically to water having once existing on the surface, other evidence flatly contradicts it. The problem may be that in trying to reconcile the evidence, we have been applying an Earth-like process to Mars when in fact we need to be thinking of something uniquely Martian. The key problem is that probes have uncovered plenty of sulphur minerals on the surface but no limestone as on Earth. The two should go hand in hand, since on Earth, Silicate rocks remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and with water to hand, convert it into calcium carbonate, commonly known as limestone. The lack of limestone has been particularly puzzling, but now a new theory suggests that sulphur dioxide may have taken the place of carbon dioxide. On Earth, sulphur dioxide is quickly oxidised to sulphate, but on an early oxygen poor Mars, the sulphur dioxide would have lingered in the atmosphere for much longer, acting as a greenhouse gas and warming the planet. It's a neat theory, and may finally prove the conclusive step in our understanding of the early Martian atmosphere. More can be read at the BBC website.

NASA outlines Mars mission timeline

NASA has begun to outline some of the specifics of its plan to put a human presence on Mars. The proposed mission vehicle is going to weigh in at a hefty 400,000kg (880,000lb) and is intended to put a "minimal" crew on the surface in 2031. Three or four of NASA's new Ares V rockets will be needed to loft the ship into space, which will require assembling in orbit. An advanced cryogenic fuel propulsion system would propel the mission to Mars on a six to seven month voyage. A cargo lander and surface habitat would be dispatched ahead of the crew vehicle and astronauts will be expected to grow their own fruit and vegetables during their trip. The mission will require an unparalleled degree of expertise from the astronauts, who will be required to respond to any likely situation or emergency far from any possible help. The plan as outlined is still extremely tentative and very likely subject to change, but with other countries eyeing the red planet, the coming decades are shaping up to be very exciting.

Spirit breaks free from Tartarus sand trap

NASA mission specialists are racing against time to get Spirit into the optimum position to survive the long Martian winter, but thought they might be in trouble when the rover got itself stuck in a sandy area they named "Tartarus" after a deep, underworld dungeon in Greek mythology. The rover is now free, but has about 25 metres more of equally difficult terrain to cross before it reaches a slope, which it is hoped will provide an optimum spot to soak up enough sunlight to survive the winter.

China sets launch date for Mars probe

China is shaping up to be one of the big players in space exploration and has am ambitious set of missions on the drawing board. Newly announced is a launch date for a Mars Orbiter. A final name for the probe has yet to be decided, though the China Daily is calling it Yinghuo-1, which appears to translate as Firefly. The 100kg probe will be lofted into orbit on a Russian launch vehicle in October 2009, marking a new closeness with Russia. Yinghuo-1 is expected to spend a year in orbit about Mars, but the mission has the potential to be extended by a further year. The probe will conduct a variety of scientific observations and return images of the planet.

Spirit bedding down for Winter

In what has become a regular yearly occurrence, the Spirit rover is looking for a comfortable warm spot to spend the Martian winter. Spirit is heading toward a north-facing slope, where it is hoped the rover can eke out enough sunlight to keep its systems ticking over until Summer. A number of such slopes were considered and rejected, and Spirit is now heading toward a particular promising one at the northern end of Home Plate, an intriguing geologic feature that had taken up several months research time for the rover. The 60-meter drive is worth the risk, as the slope provides a 25-degree incline that will maximise the available sunlight. Spirit can't afford to be cavalier about where it hunkers down for winter. After a long dust storm, the solar panels are covered in dust, so every extra bit of power will be crucial to survival this year. Unlike the rover’s sister Opportunity, they cannot count on a lucky gust of wind to clean the cells. Opportunity is in a windy locale; the area that Spirit is traversing now is almost windless. It is hoped that Spirit can be bedded down by the 1st January 2008, but it may then have to stay under cover for eight months.

Mars Express orbiter probes Medusae Fossae

The European Mars Express orbiter has been looking beneath the surface of Mars, at a particularly odd area known as the Medusae Fossae. The Medusae Fossae roughly forms the divide between lowland and highland regions along the Martian equator and has long intrigued geologists because the material it is composed of has been seen to absorb radar waves, leading to them been referred to as called "stealth" regions. Until now, no one has been sure how thick these deposits are, or what they might be composed of. The only reasonable certainty is that the material is relatively new, at least in a geologic sense, as there is little sign of disturbance by impact craters. Now the Mars Express Orbiter, which uses longer wavelengths than Earth-based radar experiments, has been able to make some intriguing observations.

The material it turns out is in places up to 2.5 kilometres (1.4 miles) thick in places, but there is still some uncertainty as to their composition. They could be volcanic ash deposits from now-buried vents or nearby volcanoes, or perhaps deposits of wind-blown materials eroded from Martian rocks. Most excitingly, they could be ice-rich deposits, somewhat similar to the layered ice deposits at the poles of the planet, but formed when the spin axis of Mars tilts over, making the equatorial region colder. Unfortunately, this later scenario seems the most unlikely, as the water vapour pressure on Mars is so low that any ice near the surface would quickly evaporate. The electrical properties of the layers suggest that they could be poorly packed, fluffy, dusty material, but this also has its detractors, since if it hard to understand how 2.5 kilometres of dust could retain such a lose composition. So the mystery of the Medusae Fossae endures, but we are step closer to understanding it.

Rovers warranty extended again

For the 5th time since landing on Mars, the remarkable Spirit and Opportunity rovers have had their mission time extended, possibly as far as 2009. It's an amazing achievement given that they were expected to last at best 90 days. Yet the two rovers have been hard at work since January 2004 and despite many problems, including dust on their solar panels and a dragging wheel on Spirit, they continue to return valuable scientific data. To date, Spirit has driven 7.26 kilometers (4.51 miles) and has returned more than 102,000 images. Opportunity has driven 11.57 kilometers (7.19 miles) and has returned more than 94,000 images.

Mars water debate ebbs and flows

Has there been, or is there even now, water on Mars is a question that provokes vigorous debate amongst scientists. Just in the last month, data from Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was re-examined and previously promising evidence for free flowing water some time in the planets past was downgraded from a probable to a maybe. Alfred McEwen from the MRO project suggested that incredible images which appeared to show sudden explosive outpourings of water in just the last year might not even have been water. "The thing we've found with six examples is that they all occur on some of the steepest slopes, steep enough that dry movement, dry flow, could have been sufficient to explain these deposits," said Professor McEwen.

But don't give up on that watery Mars yet. Just in the last few days University of Guelph researchers say they may have identified visible signs of water, in a white, salty substance churned up by the wheels of the Spirit rover. If the material is indeed what they think it is, then the deposits spotted in the Columbia Hills region of the planet could contain up to 16 per cent water. Normally the chemical analyser on Spirit, called an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer would not be able to extract this sort of information, but some clever work on the data has revealed the evidence for water, which had previously been dismissed as interference. So it's not the most conclusive piece of evidence, but the debate is clearly not yet closed.

Cold Case on Mars

The long running television crime drama Cold Case is celebrating its 100th episode in great style, with a story that will dig up the bones of a crime committed amidst the chaos of the Orson Welles War Of The Worlds radio broadcast. The episode is called "World's End" and will air on Sunday, November 4. The Cold Case series stands out amongst the numerous crime dramas on our screens by taking the interesting angle of resurrecting cases that were left unsolved years ago. By applying modern forensic technology and investigative techniques, the cold case team hopes to put to rest these old mysteries. Little is known at present about the episode Worlds End, will it will apparently involve the case of a woman strangled to death and dumped in a well.

Pixar mission to Mars

Trailblazing computer animators Pixar (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars) are reported to have concluded a deal with the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs to bring a trilogy of movies to fruition based on the John Carter of Mars novels. It's a concept that has been back and forth through development hell for many years, with any number of attempts made and shelved, but this has got to be the most exciting and yet most worrying to date. Pixar have never tackled anything like this before. This is potentially no kiddie cartoon and it will be interesting to see if they have the nerve to stay true to the source material, which had its fair share of nudity and violence. If they can stick to the spirit of the source material, we can anticipate an extraordinary cinema experience. Reports indicate that representatives of Pixar recently spent a day looking through the huge Burroughs archives for inspiration and have the full support of Burroughs representatives, Danton Burroughs, Sandra Galfas and Jim Sullos. But we've got a long wait: the first movie is expected in 2012.

Race to Mars: Thoroughbred or also ran?

Discovery Channel Canada premieres its ambitious looking 10-hour mini series on Sunday September 23rd. The series is as one would expect from the channel, a highly detailed and scientifically accurate look at the way in which the first human explorers might get to Mars, though on the evidence of the trailer, it looks wearisomely similar to other attempts to dramatise such a mission, with the inevitable, one might also obligatory technical failure along the way, giving rise to the usual heroics to get the mission to Mars safely. Anyway, I'm not sure when we'll see this in the UK, so if anyone would like to post comments and reviews after the first episode airs, feel free. The official website is here, and for those in the UK who would like to watch the trailer, I suggest here, since the official site detects UK IP addresses and refuses to play.

Not a whole lot after all?

A few months ago there was great excitement when a number of mysterious dark features were discovered on the surface of Mars. It very much looked like these might be cavernous entrances to underground caves, but a new image shot from a different angle has unfortunately demolished this theory. It looks like rather than caves, these features are pits. The newest image, with the sun shining from the west, shows the side of the pit, allowing geologists to make a good guess at the true size and nature of the feature, which it must be said, is still pretty impressive.

From the shadow of the rim cast onto the wall of the pit, it seems it is at least 78 meters (255 feet) deep and 150 x 157 meters (492 x 515 feet) across. Something similar has been observed here on earth, where pits form on volcanoes in Hawaii. These "pit craters" generally do not connect to long open caverns but are the result of deep underground collapse.

A shame then that the secret entrances to a long lost Martian civilisation have not been discovered, but a good lesson that it's worth waiting for the Fat Martian to sing before jumping to conclusions.

Going where no Gerbil has gone before

10 Gerbils have been blasted into space for a 12-day mission to test the possible effects on humans of a flight to Mars. The Gerbils were launched from Kazakhstan on Friday 14th September aboard a Foton-M spaceship. The mission will study the physiological and biological effects of long-term flights. The 10 are all sand rodents, praised as "a very interesting object for research" because they "can live for more than a month without using liquids," said Anatoly Grogoryev of the Russian Academy of Science. Day and night will be simulated aboard the spacecraft and the tiny cosmonauts filmed throughout their mission. Unfortunately it will not be a happy ending for all the Gerbils, as several will be dissected on their return to earth. You can't help wishing for a malfunction, and the poor little things go off course and fetch up on a nice little tropical island.

Mars had 40 ice ages

Norbert Schörghofer of the University of Hawaii at Manoa has proposed a new Martian climate theory, which suggests the planet has gone through at least 40 ice ages during the past five million years. These regularly send the planet's permanent ice sheets toward the equator before melting backward. These cyclical fluctuations are likely caused by shifts in the planet's orbit that alter the amount of sunlight reaching the planet's surface. The large volumes of ice found across the planet has puzzled scientists, with the prevailing theory being that the ice was laid down some 5 million years previously as snowfalls, but explaining how the ice water has survived so long has proven difficult. Schörghofer's theory explains the presence of the ice by suggesting it was laid down much later than thought, some perhaps only half a million years ago. National Geographic has the full story.

Opportunity begins Victoria descent

After an initial cautious probe a few days ago to check for wheel slippage, mission controllers have now committed the Opportunity rover to a full exploration of the large Victoria crater. Opportunity re-entered the crater during the rover's 1,293rd Martian day, or sol, (Sept. 13, 2007) to begin a weeks-long exploration of the inner slope. John Callas, the Mars rover project manager has described the exposed rock features in Victoria as like a bathtub ring, with hopes high that the impact which caused the crater will have exposed million year old geological evidence. Opportunity is now about 20 feet (6 meters) inside the rim, with the aim being to reach a layer of light-coloured rock exposed along the crater's inner slope within about a week. The total mission time within the crater is scheduled to last 3 months.

Opportunity scouts Victoria crater

With the dust storms that threatened the Opportunity and Spirit rovers now abated sufficiently to resume operations, the Opportunity rover has taken a first cautious drive into Victoria crater. The crater, measuring approximately one half-mile across and about 200 to 230 feet (70 meters) deep has been a top target for the rover for quite some time. Within the crater, about 40 feet (12.2 meters) below the rim, is a bright band of rocks that is intriguing scientists and which they hope will provide another revealing glimpse into the history of the planet. But this may be a one-way trip for the rover. Once in, it may not be able to get back out again, though there is plenty to explore inside the crater. Opportunity did not drive all the way in on this occasion, but far enough in -- about four meters (13 feet) -- to get all six wheels past the crater rim. Then it backed uphill for about three meters (10 feet). Commands were relayed to the rover to stop driving if the wheels suffered more than 40% slippage. This did indeed happen, so the rover automatically stopped and it is now perched on the rim with just the front wheels over the edge. Mission scientists will now examine the telemetry received back and plan how best to get Opportunity all the way safely.

Rovers are roving again

After many weeks of frustrating inactivity, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers have begun to tentatively wake from a slumber imposed by Mission Control to conserve energy while a planet wide dust storm raged. The storm is now showing some signs of abating, Opportunity is receiving some 230-240 watt hours of energy, while Spirit is getting 313 watt-hours of energy per day and has already made a short 42 centimetre drive. Spirit is now expected to begin the drive to Home Plate, an interesting geological feature that geologists believe may be the remains of a volcano. Opportunity meanwhile is poised to begin the long delayed descent into Victoria crater, a move that may well signal the end for the plucky little robot, as it may well not be able to climb back out again. Spirit is suffering from a layer of dust on the lens of the camera mounted on the end of the rover’s robotic arm and various options are under discussion to try and shake it off. In order to avoid the same problem occurring with Opportunity, the mission controllers are delaying opening the dust cover for now. The solar panels on both rovers may also become impacted by dust, as it begins to settle as the storm dies down, but it is hoped that gusts of wind that have previously helped cleanse the cameras may come to the rescue again.

Canada gears up for Mars

A consortium of Canadian universities is planning to send a lander to Mars in 2009. At just $20 million dollars, the mission is going to cost a fraction of the recently launched Phoenix mission. Though the Northern Light robot will weigh a petite 35 kilograms, far less than Phoenix, it is expected to carry a varied range of instruments, such as a spectrometer, seismic and environmental sensors, plus a rover named Beaver with a 1km range. The rover will also come equipped with a number of useful instruments, including a ground-penetrating radar and a rock grinder. The mission is not government sponsored, but hopes to raise the $20 million needed via private contributions and sponsorship. Costs will be kept low by using an off the shelf launch system, such as the Russian Rockot system, which is made from converted Soviet era ballistic missiles. More info can be found at the Northern Light website.

Mars Phoenix Mission lifts off

NASA has successfully launched the Mars Phoenix lander from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a Delta II rocket. It was a textbook lift-off, brilliantly lighting up the night sky. The launch was delayed from Friday because of bad weather, but the rescheduled launch in the early hours of the morning went smoothly. Unlike the Spirit and Opportunity missions presently on Mars, Phoenix is not mobile, but the lander carries with it a 2.4m (7.5ft) robotic arm that will dig into the Martian polar region surface in search of complex carbon-based chemicals (organics) in the soil that could provide tell-tale signs of life.