Making milestones on the journey to Mars on This Week @NASA – August 7, 2015

TL;DR

NASA's Curiosity rover celebrates 3 years on Mars, new online tools "Mars Trek" and "Experience Curiosity" launched, advancements in technology for Mars exploration, NASA astronauts named for upcoming space expeditions, CubeSat Launch Initiative underway, stunning photos of the International Space Station and the moon captured.

Transcript

“Here’s some of the stories trending This Week at NASA!” NASA’s Curiosity rover celebrated the 3-year anniversary of its landing on Mars recently. Since landing, Curiosity has driven nearly seven miles to its current location at Mount Sharp, and found evidence of past conditions suitable for microbial life. To mark the anniversary, NASA is unveilin... Read More

Key Insights

• 🪐 NASA's Curiosity rover has made significant discoveries on Mars and has been exploring the planet for three years.
• 🇲🇭 New online tools, "Mars Trek" and "Experience Curiosity," provide an immersive Mars experience using real data.
• 🎟️ Technological advancements are enabling Mars exploration missions to make important scientific findings and progress towards future human missions to Mars.
• 👾 The CubeSat Launch Initiative gives students and space enthusiasts the opportunity to participate in space research and have hardware launched into space.
• 👨‍🚀 NASA astronauts have been named for upcoming space expeditions to the International Space Station, continuing research for Mars exploration.

Questions & Answers

Q: What new online tools has NASA launched to enhance the Mars experience?

NASA has launched "Mars Trek," a web-based application that provides high-quality imagery of Mars' features, and "Experience Curiosity," a 3-D simulation program that takes viewers along with the Curiosity rover during its expeditions on the Martian surface.

Q: Which advancements in technology are enabling Mars exploration missions?

Advances in technology are enabling Mars exploration missions to continue making important scientific discoveries, such as finding evidence of past conditions suitable for microbial life, and are paving the way for future human missions to Mars.

Q: Who are the NASA astronauts named for the upcoming space expeditions?

NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Jack Fischer have been named to the Expeditions 51 and 52 crews to the International Space Station in 2017. They will continue important research to advance NASA's journey to Mars and make discoveries that can benefit all of humanity.

Q: What is the CubeSat Launch Initiative and who can participate?

The CubeSat Launch Initiative is a program that offers students, educators, and space enthusiasts the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in designing, building, and operating small research satellites. Participants can also have their hardware launched as secondary payloads on NASA spaceflights.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The Curiosity rover has been on Mars for 3 years, covering nearly seven miles on Mount Sharp and finding evidence of past conditions suitable for microbial life.

• NASA has launched two new online tools, "Mars Trek" and "Experience Curiosity," to provide high-quality imagery and a 3-D simulation of Mars exploration.

• Advances in technology are enabling Mars exploration missions to make important scientific discoveries and pave the way for future human missions to Mars.

• NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Jack Fischer are part of upcoming space expeditions to the International Space Station in 2017.

• The CubeSat Launch Initiative offers students and space enthusiasts the opportunity to design, build, and operate small research satellites, with the chance for their hardware to be launched as secondary payloads on NASA spaceflights.

• Stunning photos of the International Space Station passing by the moon and the fully illuminated "dark side" of the moon (never visible from Earth) were captured by NASA.