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  Home arrow News arrow News from Space arrow going down; Bigelow rising

 
going down; Bigelow rising | Print |  E-mail
Written by Staff   
Wednesday, 04 July 2007

going down

The Mars rover Opportunity is going to descend into the massive Victoria Crater, even though NASA is not certain that the rover will be able to get out again, according to NASA.

Scientists feel that the opportunity to study older rocks inside the crater outweighs the risks.

“We don’t want this to be a one-way trip,” said Steve Squyres, principal investigator for the rovers’ science instruments, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. “We still have some excellent science targets out on the plains that we would like to visit after Victoria. But if Opportunity becomes trapped there, it will be worth the knowledge gained.”

The Rover will enter Victoria Crater through an alcove named Duck Bay.

Bigelow rising

Bigelow Aerospace—”the leading private company for space habitat destinations,” according to their Web site—has successfully launched and inserted into orbit their Genesis II spacecraft.The Genesis II is a prototype of future inflatable space modules, and it has successfully accomplished two key tasks helping to prove the viability of this technology: the module’s flexible exterior expanded from a diameter of about 6.2 feet to 8 feet, and the solar panels extend to supply power.

 
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