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If you have planetary vision, want to be on the cutting edge and don't get bored easily, the European Space Agency may be looking for you. It is looking for 12 volunteers for a simulated mission to Mars that will last up to 520 days in "extreme isolation and confinement."

Despite the rigorous conditions, more than 2,000 applications have been received in two days, project manager Jennifer Ngo-Anh said Thursday.

The Paris-based agency, known as ESA, is working on the Mars500 project with the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow and the simulated mission will be conducted there and include Russians. The Russian participants will be chosen separately in Russia.

The volunteers will investigate the "human factor" of a trip to the Red Planet _ "a journey with no way out once the spaceship is on a direct path to Mars," ESA says.

The experiment will emphasize psychological factors, including stress resistance. The goal is to test how the volunteers hold up in nearly a year-and-a-half of close confinement, in cramped quarters with others and when communications with Earth can take 20 minutes to reach their destination _ each way.

Since 1991, planetary scientists have floated the idea that Mars once harbored vast oceans that covered roughly one-third of the planet. Two long shore-like lips of rock in the planet's northern hemisphere were thought to be the best evidence, but experts argued that they were too "hilly" to describe the smooth edges of ancient oceans.

The view just changed dramatically with a surprisingly simple breakthrough.

The once-flat shorelines were disfigured by a massive toppling over of the planet, scientists announced today. The warping of the Martian rock has hidden clear evidence of the oceans, which in any case have been gone for at least 2 billion years.

"This really confirms that there was an ocean on Mars," said Mark Richards, a planetary scientist at the University of California at Berkeley and co-author of the study, which is detailed in the June 14 issue of the journal Nature.

*By Dave Mosher, Space.com*

Scientists have detected a stellar explosion that is the brightest and most energetic ever recorded, and which could be the first evidence of a new type of supernova fueled by an antimatter engine.

The "SN 2006gy" explosion occurred in a galaxy 240 million light-years away, called NGC 1260, and was 100 times more energetic than typical supernovas. It was detected in September 2006 using ground-based telescopes and NASA's Chandra X-ray space observatory. It brightened slowly for 70 days, and at its peak emitted more than 50 billion Suns worth of light-shining 10 times brighter than its host galaxy-before dimming slowly. Most supernovas reach peak brightness in days to a few weeks.

*Ker Than, SPACE.com*

Although it circled Mars longer than any other spacecraft, the Mars Global Surveyor did not die a death of old age last November, a review board assembled by NASA announced yesterday.

Instead, an errant computer command five months earlier had been placed in the wrong location of the computer memory for the spacecraft. That, in effect, implanted a fatal defect in the spacecraft, disabling a safety feature to prevent the solar panels from rotating too far and mangling its ability to communicate with Earth in case of a mishap.

*Kenneth Chang, New York Times*

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have produced a sparkling new picture of a spiral galaxy called NGC 1672 - a distant relative of our own Milky Way, only sexier.

When I say "distant," I'm talking in terms of literal distance: NGC 1672 is 60 million light-years away, in the southern constellation Dorado. And when it comes to the galaxy's relationship to our home galaxy, astronomers see some interesting similarities as well as differences.

*Cosmic Log, msnbc*

The current Feature story on the THEMIS web site deals with Cydonia and, of course, it mentions the Face. The THEMIS camera used by, if you remember, Team Redstripe (among others) from ASU, was a featured story on space.com's image of the day. Though the HIRiSE camera is getting pictures with a much higher resolution than THEMIS, it manages to stay in the game. See the following links:

http://themis.asu.edu/features/cydonia
Space.com
The Image of the Day

NASA is just one of the many companies that utilize IDL everyday. And, I just discovered it! IDL is the Interactive Data Language - it is a mathematical and visualization environment that the astronomers at least make heavy use of. ASU is attempting to get a renewed license to IDL for use in the SESE program for our astronomers, physicists, and other scienists. Although researchers, developers, and engineers at myriad commercial corporations, government organizations and academic institutions use IDL everyday, there are also educational advantages. "Educational uses should also be considered when discussing an IDL license. There has been a lot of talk about how better to incorporate computing into both the graduate and undergraduate curricula. IDL should be a significant part of that." (Jeff Hester, ASU)

More information can be found here: http://www.ittvis.com/idl/idl_featuretour.asp

After more than a decade of fascinating discoveries, The Hubble Space Telescope will soon be given the new beginning that it deserves. Today, NASA has decided to approve a Space Shuttle mission to repair and upgrade the observatory, despite new Shuttle safety rules formulated after the Columbia disaster that would normally rule out such a rescue mission.

Read the full story at ESA's website using the link below.

A class of especially hardy microbes that live in some of the harshest Earthly environments could flourish on cold Mars and other chilly planets, according to a research team of astronomers and microbiologists. In a two-year laboratory study, the researchers discovered that some cold-adapted microorganisms not only survived but reproduced at 30 degrees Fahrenheit, just below the freezing point of water. The microbes also developed a defense mechanism that protected them from cold temperatures. These close-up images, taken by an electron microscope, reveal the tiny one-cell organisms, called halophiles and methanogens, that were used in the study.

The hew HiRISE camera in orbit currently around Mars has been able to take some of the most fascinating pictures we have ever seen of Mars. It's higher than high quality images have proven to be quite astonishing. Check out their new pictures just released! And, for those of you at ASU, you can check out some unreleased photos early. Here is an email that I recieved:
Check-out the latest Mars Rover panoramic view (3 x 15 feet long) in Gusev crater; it is the highest resolution, full-color version produced and the detail is amazing. Also shown is the color view (3 x 3 ft) of Victoria crater taken by the HIRISE camera from orbit, in which the rover Opportunity can be seen. Both images are in the southeast side hallway, 5th floor PSF wing.

The New National Space Policy was released yesterday!
Check it out on the website of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. It replaces the 1996 Clinton space policy.

http://www.ostp.gov/html/US%20National%20Space%20Policy.pdf

An email that I recieved:

Today marks Sol 960 of the MER Opportunity rover's 90 sol mission and its long awaited arrival at the rim of Victoria crater. NASA held a press conference earlier today to celebrate this event and to reveal stunning images acquired from orbit by MRO's HiRise camera and, on the ground, by Opportunity rover's Panoramic camera. Both sets of images are truly spectacular and not to be missed! I have included links to these images below and also the NASA Press conference which has been posted online. The latter did not play directly from the website, but the download worked great. Enjoy! Jack

Press Conference
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1055

Images
http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/TRA/TRA_000873_1780/
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/targetFamily/Mars