mars one eyes robotic clone as first red planet colonist

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6 | NewScientist | 14 December 2013 PHOENIX will be reborn – this time as a reality TV star. Mars One, a Dutch organisation based around the idea of putting a human colony on the Red Planet and turning it into a TV show, says it will launch a clone of NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander in 2018. How the group will fund the robotic mission is unclear, but if successful, it could be the first private venture to reach Mars. The lander would be part of a precursor mission to lay the foundations for the Martian colonists, due to arrive in 2025. That means the organisation is already looking at its first delay. Mars One had originally said it would launch a robotic mission in 2016, before humans land in 2023. Speaking on 10 December at the National Press Club in Washington DC, CEO Bas Lansdorp announced that the organisation has teamed Mars TV gets robot up with spaceflight veteran Lockheed Martin, which designed the NASA lander, to build Mars One’s version. There will be a few tweaks. The original Phoenix spacecraft, which landed on Mars in 2008, used a robotic arm to scoop up and analyse soil. Mars One’s lander will attempt to extract water from the surface and test flexible solar panels. Mars One’s plan includes a communications satellite, to be built by UK company Surrey Satellite Technology, that will relay live video feed of the planet’s surface broadcast by the lander. The Phoenix mission cost $475 million. It is unclear how much the clone will cost and how Mars One will pay for it and for the orbiter. Lansdorp says the organisation is in discussions with partners to fund components. The group has also launched a crowdfunding campaign. But he expects the Phoenix clone to be cheaper than the original as, unlike NASA, Mars One isn’t starting from scratch. “Mars One is going to be an easier customer to deal with because we require less paperwork,” Lansdorp adds. Healthy diet costs EATING healthily costs us about $1.50 more per day, according to the most thorough review yet of the affordability of a healthy diet. “For low-income families, an extra $1.50 is a lot,” says Mayuree Rao of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. “It could be a real barrier to healthy eating.” Rao and her colleagues analysed 27 studies from 10 high-income countries, comparing the cost for healthy versus unhealthy ingredients and diets. Meats saw the largest difference in price: healthier options cost an average of 29 cents per serving more than unhealthy options. Healthier diets as a whole cost on average $1.48 more per day (BMJ, doi.org/qfd). The food industry needs to take some blame, says Rao. “Over several decades, the US has developed a complex system of farming, manufacturing and marketing that favours a lower cost of processed foods. We just don’t have the same system for healthier foods.” Lost to the SaharaSahara mammals decline THE Sahara desert is looking ever more like its nickname, the sea of sands, as its native wildlife populations decline catastrophically. Of the 14 species of large animal historically found in the region, half are now extinct in the wild or confined to just 1 per cent of their normal range, says a report by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London. These include the scimitar-horned oryx (pictured), categorised as extinct in the wild, and the addax, of which there are thought to be just 200 left in the world. Leopards and Saharan cheetahs are also among those species most at risk (Diversity and Distribution, doi.org/qfk). The troubled politics of the region makes it difficult to study wildlife, so conservationists are still uncertain about the cause of the decline, but hunting is partly to blame. “Hunting is widespread across the region, and almost certainly has played a key role in the declines of antelope and ostrich. But habitat degradation and increasing desertification may also play a role,” says the study’s lead author, Sara Durant. A recent rise in mining activities and oil extraction is likely to have led to increased access to the more remote regions of the desert, which could also contribute to overhunting and unsustainable use of natural resources, Durant says. Some countries are taking steps to remedy the situation. Niger has just established the Termit and Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve, which shelters the remaining addax. “Mars One says it will send the first privately funded lander and orbiter to the Red Planet in 2018” AMONG the tributes to Nelson Mandela this week were those extolling his role in galvanising the global effort against HIV. “His actions helped save millions of lives and transformed health in Africa,” said Michel Sidibé of UN agency UNAIDS. Mandela, who died on 5 December, gave speeches at AIDS conferences in Durban, South Africa, in 2000 and Bangkok, Thailand, in 2004. Mandela’s HIV legacy IRA BLOCK/GETTY His address in 2000 is credited with catalysing a scale-up in the supply of antiretroviral therapies to people in Africa with HIV, especially pregnant women. “Every word uttered, every gesture made, has to be measured against the effect it can and will have on the lives of millions,” Mandela told the conference. “Mandela had the power to change hearts and minds,” said Bertrand Audoin of the International AIDS Society. UPFRONT

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Page 1: Mars One eyes robotic clone as first Red Planet colonist

6 | NewScientist | 14 December 2013

PHOENIX will be reborn – this time as a reality TV star.

Mars One, a Dutch organisation based around the idea of putting a human colony on the Red Planet and turning it into a TV show, says it will launch a clone of NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander in 2018. How the group will fund the robotic

mission is unclear, but if successful, it could be the first private venture to reach Mars.

The lander would be part of a precursor mission to lay the foundations for the Martian colonists, due to arrive in 2025.

That means the organisation is already looking at its first delay. Mars One had originally said it would launch a robotic mission in 2016, before humans land in 2023.

Speaking on 10 December at the National Press Club in Washington DC, CEO Bas Lansdorp announced that the organisation has teamed

Mars TV gets robot up with spaceflight veteran Lockheed Martin, which designed the NASA lander, to build Mars One’s version. There will be a few tweaks. The original Phoenix spacecraft, which landed on Mars in 2008, used a robotic arm to scoop up and analyse soil. Mars One’s lander will attempt to extract water from the surface and test flexible solar panels.

Mars One’s plan includes a communications satellite, to be built by UK company Surrey Satellite Technology, that will relay live video feed of the planet’s surface broadcast by the lander.

The Phoenix mission cost $475 million. It is unclear how much the clone will cost and how Mars One will pay for it and for the orbiter. Lansdorp says the organisation is in discussions with partners to fund components.

The group has also launched a crowdfunding campaign. But he expects the Phoenix clone to be cheaper than the original as, unlike NASA, Mars One isn’t starting from scratch. “Mars One is going to be an easier customer to deal with because we require less paperwork,” Lansdorp adds.

Healthy diet costsEATING healthily costs us about $1.50 more per day, according to the most thorough review yet of the affordability of a healthy diet.

“For low-income families, an extra $1.50 is a lot,” says Mayuree Rao of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. “It could be a real barrier to healthy eating.”

Rao and her colleagues analysed 27 studies from 10 high-income countries, comparing the cost for healthy versus unhealthy ingredients and diets. Meats

saw the largest difference in price: healthier options cost an average of 29 cents per serving more than unhealthy options. Healthier diets as a whole cost on average $1.48 more per day (BMJ, doi.org/qfd).

The food industry needs to take some blame, says Rao. “Over several decades, the US has developed a complex system of farming, manufacturing and marketing that favours a lower cost of processed foods. We just don’t have the same system for healthier foods.”

–Lost to the Sahara–

Sahara mammals decline THE Sahara desert is looking ever more like its nickname, the sea of sands, as its native wildlife populations decline catastrophically.

Of the 14 species of large animal historically found in the region, half are now extinct in the wild or confined to just 1 per cent of their normal range, says a report by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London. These include the scimitar-horned oryx (pictured), categorised as extinct in the wild, and the addax, of which there are thought to be just 200 left in the world. Leopards and Saharan cheetahs are also among those species most at risk (Diversity and Distribution, doi.org/qfk).

The troubled politics of the region makes it difficult to study wildlife, so

conservationists are still uncertain about the cause of the decline, but hunting is partly to blame. “Hunting is widespread across the region, and almost certainly has played a key role in the declines of antelope and ostrich. But habitat degradation and increasing desertification may also play a role,” says the study’s lead author, Sara Durant. A recent rise in mining activities and oil extraction is likely to have led to increased access to the more remote regions of the desert, which could also contribute to overhunting and unsustainable use of natural resources, Durant says.

Some countries are taking steps to remedy the situation. Niger has just established the Termit and Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve, which shelters the remaining addax.

“Mars One says it will send the first privately funded lander and orbiter to the Red Planet in 2018”

AMONG the tributes to Nelson Mandela this week were those extolling his role in galvanising the global effort against HIV. “His actions helped save millions of lives and transformed health in Africa,” said Michel Sidibé of UN agency UNAIDS.

Mandela, who died on 5 December, gave speeches at AIDS conferences in Durban, South Africa, in 2000 and Bangkok, Thailand, in 2004.

Mandela’s HIV legacyIr

a Bl

ock

/Get

ty

His address in 2000 is credited with catalysing a scale-up in the supply of antiretroviral therapies to people in Africa with HIV, especially pregnant women. “Every word uttered, every gesture made, has to be measured against the effect it can and will have on the lives of millions,” Mandela told the conference. “Mandela had the power to change hearts and minds,” said Bertrand Audoin of the International AIDS Society.

UPFroNt

131214_N_Upfront.indd 6 10/12/13 17:27:36