October 5 News Items

Dragonfly To Visit Mars (Source: Robot News)
ExoFly is a dragonfly like MAV or Micro Air Vehicle. The current model weighs 17 grams and is based on its predecessor the DelFly Micro from the folks at the Delft University of Technology. The ExoFly is now being prepared for a possible journey to Mars by adding a solar cell and increasing the weight to 20 grams. This should give the ExoFly a range of 15 km. Visit http://www.robotliving.com/2008/10/04/dragonfly-to-visit-mars/ to view a video. (10/5)

New Mexico Space History Museum Turns 32 Years Old (Source: Alamogordo Daily News)
The New Mexico Museum of Space History, keeper of artifacts integral to the history of the Tularosa Basin's participation in the Space Race, celebrates its 32nd anniversary today. At the opening ceremonies, the founders billed the facility as the "Birthplace of American Space Flight." (10/5)

Asteroid Blast May Have Thwarted Life on Mars (Source: Times of London)
A giant asteroid could have destroyed Mars’s chances of evolving into an Earth-like blue planet by punching a hole in its crust so large that it damaged the red planet’s magnetic field, scientists have found. Earth’s magnetic field, generated by molten iron moving in its core, deflects radiation that would otherwise blast its atmosphere into space. Scientists have long been puzzled why Mars lacks a similar field, but measurements from an orbiting spacecraft may have provided an answer. They have found intense magnetic anomalies affecting surface rocks all over Mars’s southern hemisphere. These appear to be remnants of a field that once embraced the whole planet. (10/5)

Marshall's Role in Space Just as Vital Today (Source: Huntsville Times)
In Huntsville, the Rocket City, the history of spaceflight is visible everywhere. Rockets rise over the skyline. Visitors can climb into a Mercury capsule and touch moon rocks. Schools are named for astronauts and spacecraft. The civic center is named for Dr. Wernher von Braun, first director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Some 7,000 people work at Marshall Center, and many more earn their living supporting the space program here. NASA was founded on Oct. 1, 1958. Two years later Marshall Space Flight Center was formed at Redstone Arsenal. Since that time Marshall Center and Huntsville have played a vital role in our nation's space program. We built the Saturn V that carried astronauts to the moon and the Lunar Roving Vehicle that transported them across its surface. We created America's first space station, Skylab, and managed Spacelab missions which conducted groundbreaking science in Earth orbit. (10/5)

International Space Station Changes Orbit, Awaiting Tourist (Source: AFP)
The orbital path of the International Space Station (ISS) was successfully raised Saturday to accommodate the landing of the world's sixth space tourist in eight days time. The ISS had to change its distance from Earth -- now 353 kilometers (200 miles) after the 1.25-kilometer adjustment -- to create optimal conditions for the arrival of a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov, US astronaut Michael Fincke and the tourist Richard Garriott. The Soyuz TMA-13 is due to be launched from Kazakhstan on October 12. Multi-millionaire US businessman Garriott is the son of US astronaut Owen Garriott. He paid more than $30 million to be launched into space from Kazakhstan. (10/5)