Coming up Wednesday
Author, veteran astronaut, and space advocate Buzz Aldrin's new book talks space exploration
Almost forty-four years after the U.S. won the race to the moon, famed astronaut Buzz Aldrin is making his case for a new focus – Mars. In his new book out today - "Mission To Mars: My Vision For Space Exploration" he makes the argument for continued space exploration both robotic, and human. Author, veteran astronaut, and space advocate Buzz Aldrin joins “Starting Point” to discuss the next steps for space exploration.
"Curiosity" sends back the first full-resolution images of Mars – NASA scientist Dr. Michael Meyer weighs in
Lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program Dr. Michael Meyer weighs in on the first full-resolution images the "Curiosity" rover sent back of Mars’ rocky surface.
Two new photographs, stitched together into a single image, show the red planet's rocky surface in striking detail. The early pictures are being compares to the Mojave Desert.
Dr. Meyer talks about curiosity and its recent discoveries. He says, “It’s a very precious asset that we now have on Mars. It’s priceless.” “One of the things we’re excited about is that even in our landing area we see several different types of soil regulate in the area that might in fact help us understand gale craters.”
Dr. Meyer also weighs in on NASA sensation Bobak Ferdowsi – better known as the "Mohawk Guy."
NASA scientist: Successful rover landing 'kind of like winning a gold medal in the Olympics'
After traveling for more than eight months and traversing 352 million miles, NASA's Curiosity rover is now on Mars.
From conception to landing, the rover mission took eleven years to complete and cost an estimated $2.6 billion.
NASA scientist Jim Garvin appears on Starting Point this morning to discuss the significance of the mission and to explain what scientists hope to accomplish with the rover.
"We'd like to find the kind of chemical fingerprints that show that Mars may have been a habitable world [...] and that would maybe tell us that we're not alone" Garvin explains. "So this mission is all about understanding the rocks and soils on Mars as if we were chemical fossil hunters so we have to do a lot of exploring to address that question."
Latest Videos
