Perseverance rover’s Mars samples now won’t make it to Earth until 2033 at best

Scientists will have to wait a little longer to get their hands on pristine Mars samples that might hold evidence of ancient Red Planet life. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are working together to haul back to Earth several dozen Mars samples, which are being collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover on the floor of the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater. Jezero is a great place to do such work, NASA officials have said, because billions of years ago it harbored a big lake and a river delta, potentially…

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Biden proposes $26 billion NASA budget as agency pledges 2040 human Mars landing

NASA hopes to put people on Mars by 2040 as the agency discussed the Biden administration’s proposed $26 billion NASA budget Monday (March 28). Moon and Mars exploration, space technology and Earth science are among the priorities of the Biden administration’s request, which is asking for $1.93 billion (or 8%) over the 2022 allocation NASA received. “Our goal is to apply what we’ve learned living and operating on the moon and continue then out into the solar system. Our plan is for humans to walk on Mars by 2040,” agency…

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A small asteroid’s orbit is changed forever after super close Earth flyby

A Hungarian astronomer who had discovered a small asteroid just hours before it hit Earth earlier this month nearly scored a second lucky strike spotting another space rock that appeared on a collision course with the planet. This time, however, the body missed Earth by just a few thousand miles. Krisztián Sárneczky, an astronomer at the Konkoly Observatory near Budapest in Hungary, spotted the asteroid, about 6.6 to 14 feet (2 to 4 meters) in size, according to EarthSky, on Thursday (March 25) night, as it was hurtling toward Earth.…

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‘The Paradox Hotel’ by Rob Hart is a trippy time travel murder mystery (exclusive)

Ever since H.G. Wells’ sci-fi novella “The Time Machine” entered Victorian society in 1895, we’ve been transfixed with the notion of hopping backwards and forwards via the turbulent waters of the time stream.  Expanding upon the time travel idea of skipping through the centuries, film franchises and TV shows like “The Terminator,” “Back to the Future,” “12 Monkeys,” “Looper” and “Doctor Who” have all explored the promise and the perils of time travel to varying degrees over the last 50 years. The result is some of the best time travel…

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