AstrotalkUK

Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

Mars – some resources

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Now that Perseverance has arrived safely, we can look forward to some exciting images and scientific data in the coming weeks. Some links worth keeping an eye on include.

NASA Perseverance
Perseverance Instruments  
Mars Helicopter Objectives
Nasa.eyes.gov
Chronology of Mars Exploration
RAW unprocessed images here
Mars Weather Report

Latest images from NASA Perseverance

Perseverance Descent and Landing
NASA Perseverance imagery

Some interesting pictures from Mars. First a video of Curiosity observing Deimos passing in front of the Sun.

Some pictures of Meteorites, Sunset and Earth as seen from Mars

Mars, Gagarin, SETI and British Space Programme

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As part of the WEA’s Festival of Ideas, I will be presenting a series of four two-hour online Zoom meetings (not webinars) with Q&A. The cost for each is £10.00 but depending on personal circumstances – free.

Exploring Mars: 09:45 – 11:45 22 Feb 2021
It’s getting busy on Mars. Currently, Mars has two spacecraft on the surface and another five in orbit from the USA, Europe and India. In February three more will arrive from the United Arab Emirates, USA and China. NASA will attempt to land its most advanced Martian rover called Perseverance on Thursday 18th February, and China will attempt to land its rover in May.

What have we learnt about the red planet’s surface, atmosphere and chemistry? Did Mars have life in the past? Is there life there now? What does the evidence show so far? The dream for humans going to Mars has been written about for centuries are we about to see it happening?

The Day the Cosmonaut came to Manchester 09:45 – 11:45 1 Mar 2021
Three months after the world’s first human in spaceflight, that human, USSR cosmonaut Major Yuri Gagarin, spent five days in Britain. Mostly in London but on 12 July 1961 he came to Manchester for the day. At the time, he was the only human to have orbited the Earth. Why did he come to London and Manchester? Where did he go and who did he meet and what was the impact of his visit between the East and West in the midst of the Cold War?

Based on my 2011 book – Yuri Gagarin in London and Manchester

The search for life beyond the Earth 09:45 – 11:45 8 Mar 2021
The search for life beyond the Earth has been a constant quest in human history. Developments in the 20th century in radio astronomy and space technology have sped up the search for life in the solar system and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). How is that search going? What is the latest progress and current status?

The rise, fall and rise again of the British Space Programme 09:45-11:45 15 Mar 2021
Did you know that Britain is the only country to have developed rockets, launched a satellite and then … pulled the plug on its space programme? That was in 1971 but now the space industry in Britain is thriving once more. This presentation is a look back at early space developments in Britain and why it is thriving again today.

Episode 93: Exploring the surface of Titan

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Prof. John Zarnecki

In the early hours of Christmas day 2004, a small probe called Huygens separated from larger spacecraft Cassini. Three weeks later on 14 January it descended through Titan’s atmosphere to make the most distant soft landing in the solar system to date. Huygens transmitted data during its 136 minute descent through the thick atmosphere and a further 130m minutes from the surface until Cassini disappeared below the horizon.

Prof. John Zarnecki was the principal investigator for the UK based team that built the instruments that first made contact on the surface of Titan, Saturn and the solar system’s largest Moon.

In this conversation, recorded in December 2020, prof. Zarnecki recalls the how the mission came about, the science Huygens revealed at the time and today, a decade and a half later. Cassini-Hugens was a joint mission between NASA and ESA. He also shares his views on the value of international collaboration in space.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:42 — 48.4MB) | Embed

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A video of this interview is available on Youtube.

Space and iconic scientists from history – Online Zoom series starting Jan 2021

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So 2020 is behind us but we do have some distance to travel down the tunnel before we see the light. I reckon March should do it.  Until then why not join me on a weekly Zoom session about the latest (a) developments in space and (b)  scientific contributions from people in history.

I will be running online sessions via Zoom starting next week. They are organised by the Workers’ Educational Association and are free or £57.60 depending on your personal status for each of the two 9-week “courses” (as the WEA calls them).  Both are online via Zoom. I usually run them as Zoom meetings with lots of discussion and interaction rather than as a webinar. 

C3844979 – Explorers of the Cosmos 
9:30 to 11:30 on Wednesdays from 20/01/2021 to 17/03/2021

Our modern understanding of the universe is the end product of centuries of scientific discoveries by many individuals around the world. Whilst most have been forgotten in history, some stand out like shining stars. What was their profound scientific contribution? Why were they able to make breakthrough when they did?

  1. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)
  2. Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) 
  3. Isaac Newton (1643–1727)
  4. Henrietta Swann Leavitt (1868–1921)
  5. Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
  6. Edwin Hubble (1899–1953)
  7. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995)
  8. Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) 
  9. Jocelyn Bell (1943 – )

C3845094 Astronomy -The New Space Age

17:00 to 19:00  on Thursdays from 21/01/2021 to 28/03/2021

What value does space technology and exploration have for us as individuals, communities and countries? The series of talks has been developed and enlarged from the first successful run in 2020. Topics include:

  1. From the Space Race to the New Space Age. How has human space exploration evolved since the launch of Sputnik in 1957?
  2. Services from space. All those satellites in space, what impact do they have on the quality of lives of people on Earth? 
  3. The Private Space sector. It has been emerging for many years. Has it finally arrived?
  4. Managing the Space Environment.  Can the international community apply the lessons of climate change on Earth to the space environment around Earth and beyond?
  5. Rocket Science. A summary of rocket propulsion. How it all started and how it’s done now.
  6. Militarisation of space. Humans on Earth have always fought on land, sea and air. Is war in space inevitable?
  7. Humans in Space.  In this decade, will humans walk on the Moon again? Will this decade finally deliver the promise of space tourism?
  8. Exploration of the Solar System. Spacecraft have now visited all the 8 planets of the solar system, along with comets and asteroids. What have we learnt?
  9. The Search for Life. It’s been going on for more than half a century. How is it going?