WASHINGTON: NASA’s future plans to explore Mars may end up using astronauts as space messengers.
The new idea surfaced as a special team looking for a new Mars robotic exploration plan released a preliminary report Tuesday.
One of the option calls for a Martian robotic rover to collect rocks on the red planet. Later, astronauts in a newly built spaceship would be used to pick them up from a cosmic delivery point somewhere between Earth and Mars and return them home.
The report gives the space agency several options with no specific timing for future missions and no decision is expected until next year. The new plan is needed because budget cuts earlier this year killed two future robotic flights. The space agency has so far explored Mars with orbiters and robots, like the rover Curiosity that landed last month.
The ultimate goal has been to get a robot to collect rocks and Martian soil to send to Earth for more detailed scientific examination.
Separately, NASA is working on new missions for astronauts to explore away from Earth, with an ultimate goal of sending them to Mars sometime in the 2030s.
The NASA team proposed combining both dreams, getting astronauts involved in Martian exploration earlier. But they wouldn’t exactly go to Mars itself. The astronauts would go somewhere between Mars and Earth and pick up the rocks left by a spacecraft that carried them off Mars.
That plan takes advantage of the new rocket and spaceship system for astronauts that should be ready in the next decade, said NASA associate administrator for sciences John Grunsfeld.
It also would lessen contamination worries about the Martian rocks. Scientists want to make sure that the Martian samples could not bring alien germs to Earth and that Earth organisms don’t contaminate the Martian sample, Grunsfeld said.
And it would help the mission to land humans on Mars because it “looks a lot like sending a crew to Mars and returning them safely,” Grunsfeld said.
The planning team looked at a few options for a Mars sample return mission:
— Send a bunch of spacecraft to Mars — a rover, a launcher to return home, an orbiter — in several launches.
— Package all those spacecraft into one or two launches that would save money but increase risk of failure.
— Send a bunch of small rovers to look around different spots of Mars to find the best samples and then design a system to collect and return those rocks.
Before that can happen, NASA still has to decide what robotic or orbiter mission it wants to send to Mars in 2018, if any. It’s a time when Earth and the red planet will be close and save money on fuel costs. Grunsfeld said NASA only has about $800 million budgeted for that, which is not enough for a major rover.
The next big leap: Astronauts may go beyond the moon
The next big leap: Astronauts may go beyond the moon
Jessica Kahawaty to narrate London concert paying tribute to Arab music icons
DUBAI: Australian Lebanese model and entrepreneur Jessica Kahawaty this week announced that she will serve as the storyteller for “A Night With The Legends,” a one-night musical tribute celebrating iconic women of Arabic music, taking place at London’s Royal Albert Hall on March 5.
Kahawaty will portray Scheherazade and deliver spoken narration during the program.
The evening will pay tribute to the legacies of Umm Kulthum, Fairuz, Warda, Sabah, Asmahan and Layla Mourad.
Vocals will be performed by Lebanese vocalist Abeer Nehme, accompanied by the UK-based London Arab Orchestra under the direction of conductor Basel Saleh, alongside the London-based Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. The program will also feature a 70-member all-female choir.
“I’m incredibly humbled,” Kahawaty wrote to her 1.8 million followers on Instagram. “As storyteller, I’ll be weaving history, memory and meaning into the musical experience in a one-night tribute celebrating the iconic women of the golden era of Arabic music.”
“I cannot wait to see you all there,” she added.
Kahawaty is also an entrepreneur. She co-founded fine jewelry label Kahawaty Jewels with her father, master jeweler Ghassan Kahawaty, launching the Dubai-based brand last year as a continuation of the family’s longstanding craftsmanship tradition.
“I grew up watching my father in his jewelry trade. I saw how happy he made people when he created these beautiful pieces,” Kahawaty previously told Arab News. “I’ve always wanted to continue my father’s legacy and my grandfather’s trade. I felt like this is the perfect time to launch Kahawaty Jewels in Dubai, which is a city I’ve been in for over 13 years.”
Kahawaty and her mother are also behind UAE-based food delivery business Mama Rita. In July last year, the pair expanded the venture with the launch of a cookbook, which featured a cover endorsement from Hollywood actress and producer Courteney Cox.
Writing on Instagram at the time, Kahawaty said: “The moment we held the Mama Rita cookbook in our hands for the very first time … after two years of pouring our hearts into it. And we’re beyond thrilled to share a special surprise on the cover — a quote from the one and only (Courteney Cox). Her iconic role as Monica in ‘Friends’ — the talented chef, perfectionist and loving control freak — mirrors so much of the dynamic between mum and me. And her true persona is even more beautiful, warm and generous.”
