Mars | M Thomas Apple Author Page

Uranus and Neptune may be rocky…but who cares?

November 14, 2026
MThomas

“Ice giants” Uranus and Neptune may be so icy after all…and…so…what?

The evidence that Uranus and Neptune must be icy is “all indirect, it’s all circumstantial,” says Jonathan Fortney, a planetary astrophysicist at the University of California (UC), Santa Cruz. “This was always in the back of people’s minds: that the planets could be more complicated.”

https://www.science.org/content/article/uranus-and-neptune-may-not-be-ice-giants-after-all

But all the claims are based on computer models, using old data and new information from telescopes. The only way to determine what these planets are really made of is to send a modern probe with modern equipment to the outer regions of the solar system.

And that takes money. And a whole lot of time.

Is this really the priority? Why aren’t we exploring ways to live on the Moon and Mars? NASA, get your priorities straight! Stop wasting time on computer models of planets that obviously will never support live and focus on those planets closer to us that could!

New goal for JAXA: Fear!

October 23, 2026
MThomas

While NASA has successfully landed nine spacecraft on Mars over the past 50 years and China scored a 2021 touchdown, no one has ever reached Phobos or its sidekick Deimos. And no one has managed to fetch samples from Mars, let alone its moons.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-mars-moon-mission-fb51fbbf90374631e8ae658f9ca461

JAXA launched their MMX (Martian Moon Explorer) spacecraft successfully on October 20th. It hopes to arrive next summer.

And return with samples by 2031. Glad they got the initial launch window in time.

Nobody’s ever done this before. Let alone in conjunction with several other countries.

(The image is from another version of the article, but I wanted to post the original AP one bc it has a video clip of the rocket launch.)

Beyond Spacesuits: How Genetic Engineering Could Make Us Martian

September 19, 2026
MThomas

When we think about colonizing Mars, we usually imagine advanced spacesuits, dome cities, and massive terraforming projects.
Beyond Spacesuits: How Genetic Engineering Could Make Us Martian

Wish I had seen this writing prompt this past June! I could have written…

Well, probably something very similar to this. Only without the obvious use of AI.

Just think, though…this would be the beginning of a new species of human, the first in several hundreds of thousands of years.

Homo Martis?

Hibernating through space: An old idea, finally possible?

July 17, 2026
MThomas

Ground squirrels reduce their metabolism during hibernation; could humans do it, too, with some genetic tweaks?

Hibernation is extremely complex – after all, it affects every cell in the body – and there are almost certainly multiple switches involved in the process. MIT neuroscience researcher Siniša Hrvatin has identified another brain region that seems to play a key role in the process. In a paper published earlier this year (but not yet peer-reviewed), he and his team targeted a region known as the preoptic area, which plays a key role in metabolism and temperature. By activating neurons in the preoptic area of hamsters, the researchers put them into torpor, lowering the animals’ body temperature to 15C.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/ng-interactive/2026/jul/14/human-hibernation-space-mars

The key would be whether this is possible in humans.

And, of course, whether revival can be timed and automated – or perhaps with robotic (AI) assistance…

Of course, science fiction has posited “sleeper ships” for decades now. The Songs of Distant Earth (Arthur C. Clarke, one of the “Big Three”) is probably the most well-known of the classic sleeper ship stories, but there are plenty of others to choose from…

Farewell, MAVEN, the most successful NASA Mars probe yet

June 4, 2026
MThomas

Originally designed to operate for just one year around Mars, MAVEN’s mission was repeatedly extended, enabling the most extensive research into the workings of the Martian atmosphere ever attempted.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-declares-end-mars-orbiter-maven-mission

Thanks to MAVEN, we know how the Mars atmosphere has been eroded by solar wind over billions of years. Designed to work for a single year, it operated for over eleven years.

Billions and billions of wasted dollars’ worth of samples…

February 19, 2026
MThomas

NASA’s plans for Mars sample return are effectively cancelled as part of a bill approved by the U.S. Congress, ending efforts to collect Perseverance rover samples that could contain evidence of alien life.

https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/nasas-mars-sample-return-is-dead-leaving-china-to-retrieve-signs-of-life-from-the-red-planet

Congratulations, America. You’ve managed to give Mars to China.

But do tell me how this makes America great again…

…and just how ironical the rover’s name is at this point…

And also WordPress, could you please fix the “quotation” block style? It refuses to turn off…

Get ready for the great planetary alignment February 28th!

February 27, 2025
MThomas

The best day to see all seven major planets (yes, you read that right, all seven!) is Friday, February 28th.

The link will describe (and give pictures) of where to find them all in the night sky.

Finding Orion is the key to most of them. Knowing where the Pleiades are helps, too.

The next time this “parade” appears will be 2040, so fingers crossed for clear skies!

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/seven-planet-parade-28-february-2025

Fifteen years and counting…

February 21, 2025
MThomas

Hi, everyone. I know I haven’t posted in a while now (about three months).

Things happened. I’ll see if I can deal with that in a post this weekend before returning to regularly blogging about astronomy and etc.

Winter is still here! (In the northern hemisphere.) Going on walks and hiking in 3C windy weather only makes hot chocolate taste that much better…

☕️

Japan launches world’s first wooden satellite

November 12, 2024
MThomas

Researchers at Kyoto University who developed it hope it may be possible in the future to replace some metals used in space exploration with wood.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3qzd5ql9o

The researchers argue that “if” trees could be planted on Mars…

OK, just stop right there. I’m pretty sure Mars will struggle to support even grass, let alone trees.

And the argument that, due to a lack of oxygen, flammable wooden structures in space would not be in danger strikes me as a bit ludicrous…surely there would be oxygen inside the wooden structures?

And, you know, I do think I’ve seen this before some where…nah…

Interstellar! If only…

September 26, 2024
MThomas

According to Thorne, who served as a consultant on the science of Interstellar, quantum mechanics could hypothetically explain a way to time travel via wormhole. So far, it’s a thought experiment that leads to the conclusion that you’d lose information along the way—not very practical.

First off, I’m incredibly annoyed at the way WordPress has screwed up the “quotation” function. It seems they are more focused on encouraging bloggers to use AI to write.

Uh. I don’t need AI. I blog. The end. WTH is the point of using AI to write my thoughts? It’s already being trained to USE my blog in the first place! Idiots.

OK. Second, the Popular Mechanics article I’m linking to is entitled “Interstellar travel is possible if we break into a higher dimension, scientists say.”

Only, that is NOT what scientists say. It’s still a thought experiment!

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