The Era of Exploration:

While browsing the internet, I stumbled across a rather alarming idea. It was in the form of a quote, and it read, “You were born too late. You will never explore Earth. You were also born too early. You will never explore the stars.” I find this assertion a tad depressing.

According to this quote, there is little hope that we will ever trek across the surface of unexplored mountains, deserts, volcanic plains, or what have you. No matter how remote a place may be someone, somewhere has already explored it.

Similarly, chances are, we will never boldly trek out into space and go where no man (or woman) has gone before. We lack the technology. We lack the drive. So the exploration of this final frontier will be left to those who are not yet born. But is our outlook really this dismal?

Find out what the future of exploration really holds for us at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/the-era-of-exploration/

Image:
NASA

Earth"s Magentic Shield and the Van Allen Radiation Belts:

Some of you may not be aware of this, but the Earth is shrouded in a doughnut shaped, magnetic force field! Okay, that aforementioned statement is *a bit* sensationalist, but it is more or less true. The Earth is protected by a "shield" of magnetism. This magnetic shield is generated from the rotating, metallic, liquid iron core at the center of the Earth -- a dynamo.

And as many of us already know, the Sun can be temperamental and cruel. It is the giver of life, but it can also be the harbinger of death. The chaotic sphere of rotating plasma in the Sun emanate charged particles in all directions; occasionally producing violent flares. If powerful enough, these flares can release energy that can soar through our magnetic shield and cripple modern infrastructure.

Learn how the Earth is able to protect us at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/recent-news-on-earths-van-allen-radiation-belts/


Image:
NASA

A View of Mars 4 Billion Years Ago:

After hearing about the rovers, satellites, and all of the upcoming manned missions to Mars, have you thought to yourself, "gee, I wonder what a day would look like on that planet"? If you are a science enthusiast, chances are, you probably have. I"m afraid that it wouldn"t be too exciting. Unless you were fortunate enough to see one of the planet"s massive dust storms, mostly, a day on Mars would look like a lot of reddish dirt (still though, it"s alien reddish dirt, so that"s kind of neat). However, it would be a completely different story if you saw it 4 billion years ago.

It"s not just everyday people who spend their days imagining life on alien worlds. NASA and the people at Conceptual Image Lab have been thinking a lot about Mars as well. In fact, they thought about it so much that they decided to make a video of Mars from 4 billion years ago. This is, as NASA puts it, “one of the most complex animations [they have] ever produced”. The video (which can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKPrwY0Ycno) is designed to help scientists who are working on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission, which launches on the 18th of November. It will look at the gases that are currently on the upper atmosphere of Mars to determine the change within its climate.

To read more about what Mars was like, see:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/a-view-of-mars-4-billion-years-ago/

Image source:
http://ipy.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html

Curiosity Confirms First Drilled Mars Sample

References, sources, and further reading can be found here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/curiosity-confirms-first-drilled-mars-sample/

To read the full article, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/curiosity-confirms-first-drilled-mars-sample/