Proposed Mars Flyby in 2018

Former space tourist and astronaut Dennis Tito called for a 501 day Mars flyby mission by January, 2018 when Mars will be at its closest approach to Earth.  Tito was a guest speaker at the Humans To Mars summit in Washington, D.C. last week when he called for the 2018 flyby mission with two astronauts in a short sprint to demonstrate capabilities and possiblities with current technology available for human spaceflight.  Other guest speakers at the summit included current NASA administrator Charles Bolden and former NASA astronaut and moon walker from Apollo 11 Buzz Aldren.  According to the organizations web site the Human2Mars Summit's goal is two fold:

H2M is a comprehensive Mars exploration conference, organized by Explore Mars, Inc. to address the major challenges that need to be overcome to send humans to Mars by 2030.

Tito emphasized that a flyby was essential to maintain enthusiasm for a "boots on the ground" misson envisioned by NASA's current timeline as a first step toward the colonization of Mars.  To read the entire article covering Tito's presentation click here.

NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover Back In Action

Nice to see NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity back on the job after Mars slipped behind the sun for a month.  It has been operating on the surface of Mars since November 26th, 2011.  As Mars solar conjunctions happen every 26 months these 'blackouts' are planned and expected.  From what I can tell this is the most advanced Martian rover to date.  As it is the size of a small car the engineering feat landing it is something to marvel at.  You can follow Curiosity's exploits here and keep up to date on any new discoveries and possibilites future exploration.  The images being sent back are really jaw dropping.  I hope this rover lasts as long as the Mars rover Opportunity which has been operating since January 25th, 2004.  That's over nine years now.  It's twin Spirit stopped working in 2009.