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Mars Photo of the Day - Jan 31 2012

Today's Image of Mars shows dunes and sand ripples of varying sizes within an impact crater in Noachis Terra. These dunes are a perfect representation of the natural beauty on Mars. 

Because dunes are shaped by the wind, their orientation helps scientists to determine the wind's direction and strength in the imaged area. This can help scientists when they are planning future missions to Mars and need to be wary of all environmental factors. 

Clicking on this image will take you to the original high-resolution image from HiRISE. [See the captioned image]

We Must Increase Celebrity Support of the Space Industry


With enough help from people like you we can put space back on the agenda for everyone again. Anytime that you read something about a celebrity supporting the space industry, even if it's just a tweet, let me know via any of these channels.




or email david.j.geaney[at]marstravel.org



Celebrities exert incredible influence over people from all walks of life. They have thousands and sometimes millions of people following their every word. If an A-List celebrity says something is cool, it becomes cool. When Stephen Colbert features something on The Colbert Report it instantly becomes popular.

Morgan Freeman - Celebrity space industry supporter
Celebrities are people and people are naturally fascinated with the cosmos. Many celebrities have previously shown interest in personal space travel, so the interest is there: it's just a matter of capitalizing on it for the betterment of the entire space industry, and ultimately all of humanity. If celebrities could see how important their public support of the space industry would be to the advancement of humanity, there is no doubt that some of them would do something.

View the list of celebrities actively supporting the space industry.

Why does it matter if celebrities support the space industry?

World governments have been the primary customer of the space industry, but in recent years many governments have been questioning the importance of the space industry. This makes it more important than ever to gain celebrity support because doing so will also increase popular support for the space industry.

If celebrities don't already openly support space exploration, why would they suddenly jump on board?

Mars Photo of the Day - Jan 30 2012

Today's Images of Mars are two topographic maps of Mars from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), which show the enormous variance in altitudes on The Red Planet. As you can see, much of the Northern hemisphere is much lower than the Southern hemisphere. The Northern hemisphere on Mars is 1-3km lower than the Southern hemisphere. The crust in the northern hemisphere averages 32 km thick, but the crust in the southern hemisphere averages 58 km thick.































There are numerous theories to explain this highland-lowland dichotomy. In a previous post I detailed these theories, but I will reproduce them below: