Heena Sharma Blog

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said that the agency is planning its first round-trip voyage to Mars during which the crew could spend about a month on the planet's surface. The US space agency wants to send humans to Mars as early as the 2030s. NASA will use advanced propulsion systems to enable a faster journey to the Red Planet while limiting radiation exposure for its astronauts and other mission risks, Bridenstine said on Monday while participating in a discussion with the Space Foundation, a non-profit organisation. "Our preferred launch window will give the crew about 30 days on the Martian surface, which is ample time to search for life on another world," he said. Read More

The first person to set foot on Mars is likely to be a woman, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said. While Bridenstine did not identify a specific person, he said that women are at the forefront of the US space agency's upcoming plans. Asked if a woman will go to the Moon for the first time, Bridenstine said "The answer is absolutely. In fact, it is likely to be a woman, the first next person on the Moon." "It is also true that the first person on Mars is likely to be a woman," Bridenstine said during a recent interview on the science and technology radio talk show "Science Friday." NASA recently announced that it will have its first all-female spacewalk at the end of the month, when astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will get to float around in space. "We have the first all-female spacewalk happening this month at the end of March, which is of course, National Women's Month. So NASA is committed to making sure t...

Our senses are stuck in the past . There’s a flash of lightning, and then seconds pass until we hear the rumble of distant thunder. We hear the past. We are seeing into the past too . While sound travels about a kilometre every three seconds, light travels 300,000 kilometres every second. When we see a flash of lighting three kilometres away, we are seeing something that happened a hundredth of a millisecond ago. That’s not exactly the distant past. But as we look further afield, we can peer further back. We can see seconds, minutes, hours and years into the past with our own eyes. Looking through a telescope, we can look even further into the past. A second back in time If you really want to look back in time, you need to look up. The Moon is our nearest celestial neighbour - a world with valleys, mountains and craters. Read More Business Standard

Nasa InSight will study the interior of Mars and will teach us valuable science as we prepare to send astronauts to the Moon and later to Mars. This accomplishment represents the ingenuity of America and our international partners, and it serves as a testament to the dedication and perseverance of our team. The best of NASA is yet to come, and it is coming soon," CNN quoted Bridenstine as saying. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is the first outer space robotic explorer and will study the crust, mantle, and core of the fourth planet in our solar system. The lander, launched on May 5, 2018, from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and took a six-month cruise from Earth to Mars ever since, is NASA 's first spacecraft to land on Mars since Curiosity. "We've studied Mars from orbit and from the surface since 1965, learning about its weather, atmosphere, geology and surface chemistr...