INTERNATIONAL MARS - THE LATEST
 JUST LAUNCHED: EXOMARS
The first of two joint ESA–Roscosmos missions to Mars has begun a seven-month journey to the red planet, where it will examine the planet's atmosphere for signs that may indicate present-day geological or biological activity.
 JUST ANNOUNCED: UPDATE ON MARS 2020
China has released more details of its 2020 Mars mission that will send an orbiter, lander and rover to the red planet to seek signs of life. The orbiter will have space particle detectors and cameras capable of detecting methane (which may signal biological processes on the planet); the rover will feature a ground penetrating radar that could reveal a much about past and present conditions on Mars.
 IS IT GETTING CROWDED UP THERE?
With 5 spacecraft currently orbiting Mars and more on the way, does Mars need an orbital traffic cop? While there's only a very slight chance any of the orbiters will collide, the Deep Space Network - with antennas and transmitters in Goldstone, California; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia - tracks them all, and also monitors positions and likely collision paths - giving all plenty of time to move out of the way.
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WHO ARE THE MARS-FARING NATIONS OF THE WORLD?
Those with currently active Mars missions:
   
European Space Agency*, India, Russia, United States
Those with Mars missions in the works:
  
China, European Space Agency*, India, Japan, Russia, United Arab Emirates, United States
*The European Space Agency (ESA) has 22 nation members:
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SPACEWARD BOUND: MARS IN INDIA
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 NASA's Spaceward Bound will send an international team of 31 scientists to Ladakh in August 2016 to study remote Indian topography and microbial life that may be similar to conditions scientists may someday find on Mars.
As reported by The Times of India, Spaceward Bound India marks the first time Indian scientists have participated - and hosted - NASA's ongoing study of Mars-like locations on Earth. Previous analog missions have taken place in Mojave Desert, Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Indian scientists from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotoany in Lucknow and from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune will join scientists from the Mars Society Australia and from NASA, including veteran planetary scientist Dr. Carol Stoker, who is featured in Madame Mars: Women and the Quest for Worlds Beyond.
Spaceward Bound was developed at NASA Ames Research Center to educate the next generation of space explorers by involving students and educators in exploration of extreme environments on Earth that serve as analogs for human exploration of Mars. The results of the Spaceward Bound India fieldwork will be shared with educators and students worldwide.
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NEWS FROM FRIENDS OF MADAME MARS
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From Pascal Lee of the SETI Institute:
Passage to Mars, a documentary film chronicling the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition, a NASA/ Mars Institute endeavor, will premiere at Laemmle Theaters In Los Angeles the week of 31 May to 5 June 2016.
Written and directed by Jean-Christophe Jeauffre and co-written by NASA expedition leader Pascal Lee (whose narrati on is voiced by Zachary Quinto), the movie tells the true story of a crew of six aboard NASA experimental vehicle HMP Okarian, attempting to cross 2,000 miles of Arctic sea-ice to reach a NASA outpost on the remote island of Devon – a place on Earth where humans prepare for life on Mars. The intended two-week mission becomes a two-year epic journey of human endurance when exploring extreme locations on Earth or on Mars. The film combines footage shot on location by humans in the Arctic and by robots on Mars.
“We wanted to have a record of our expedition on film, create a tool to help promote Humans to Mars, and inspire the next generation of explorers with a positive message,” explains Lee.
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From the Mars Society:
Dr. Susan Jewell of Mars Without Borders (featured in Madame Mars: Women and the Quest for Worlds Beyond) has been selected for a Mars Society venture just announced: twin desert-arctic Mars analog missions, Mars 160, which will begin in fall 2016 at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah and then continue in summer 2017 at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) in northern Canada. The same seven-member team will participate in both missions, spending 80 days in each location.
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From SpaceX:
 Supporters of human missions to Mars have two reasons to cheer about the successful SpaceX launch on April 8: the historic landing of the stage one rocket on a floating barge, and delivery of an expandable hab - the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) - to the ISS. Both - reusable rockets and easily transportable, inflatable habitats - advance technologies that may become useful for human exploration and colonization or Mars: .
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ARE YOU MAKING NEWS ABOUT MARS, SPACE EXPLORATION OR STEM/STEAM EDUCATION? SEND US YOUR NEWS SO WE CAN INCLUDE IT IN FUTURE ISSUES OF THIS NEWSLETTER!
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(VIRTUAL) MARS IN THE NEWS
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Mars in Florida: "Mixed Reality" Mars
Destination: Mars, opening this summer, will allow visitors to Kennedy Space Center in Florida the opportunity to take a virtual stroll on Mars, using a "HoloLens" augmented reality headset developed by Microsoft, to explore the planet's surface. The attraction will use "mixed reality" - some physical elements blended with a virtual landscape - to simulate the Martian landscape.
The experience will be similar to one employed at JPL, where scientists use the same VR tech to immerse themselves in Martian landscapes - so as better to help Curiosity figure out where to go next.
The Kennedy Space Center experience will feature two virtual tour guides: Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin and rover driver Erisa Hines.
Mars in Vegas: Space Tourism Begins at Home
 Mars World, a Las Vegas theme park set to open in 2021, will be "based on an authentic city of the future on the Red Planet," according to its developers, who plan to build the their attraction inside the world's largest dome - and also to figure out some way to simulate micro-gravity.
With a two-billion dollar price tag and fundraising running behind schedule, some think the project is a far-fetched space dream, but if it happens, there's good news for tourists: free admission, including tram rides around a crater, plus apres-exploration treats such as Vegas-style spa treatments and extravagant Mars-themed entertainment.
Get On Board: Mars Bus Takes Off
Lockheed Martin has launched Generation Beyond, an educational initiative that aims to "inspire the next generation of innovators, explorers, inventors and pioneers to pursue STEM careers." by bringing space exploration into homes and classrooms.
 Centerpiece of the initiative is a ride on the Mars Experience bus - as the vehicle moves, it makes the students feel like they're driving across the red planet, while just out the window, they see inspiring vistas of the planet's surface.
The high-tech vehicle will tour the U.S. to give students from different regions a chance to try it out.
Generation Beyond will also provide a free deep-space curriculum to all middle school teachers, and has released Hello Mars - an app that helps locate Mars in the sky and sends real-time Mars weather reports.
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DE-MYSTIFYING THE MARTIAN MOUNDS
Huge mounds found inside Mars craters - first spotted by Viking landers in the 1970s - are the result of long-term climate change, according to research detailed in the March 31 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The craters were carved over time by powerful planetary winds unchecked by other climactic and geological forces like liquid water or plate tectonics that may mitigate wind erosion on Earth.
"The findings show the importance of wind in shaping the Martian landscape," according to lead author Mackenzie Day, a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences, as reported in Astro Watch.
Her team used a miniature crater in a wind tunnel to test erosion patterns, and also built a computer simulation resulting in rainbow-hued images to illustrate the process (warmer colors seen in photo above indicate higher elevations).
The craters - some several miles high - were carved during the Noachian Period which began over 3.7 billion years ago, a time when scientists believe Mars transitioned from a wet to dry world.
The most famous - and most photographed - of the Martian mounds is Mount Sharp, inside Gale Crater, now being explored by Curiosity (the circle shows Curiosity's landing spot, with its path marked by a blue line). Photo illustration credit NASA/JPL, appearing in Live Science.
MARTIAN GRAVITY LOOKS LIKE THIS:
 A new map of Martian gravity has been created by imagery from three orbiting spacecraft whose trajectories vary subtly due to the planet's gravitational pull as they pass overhead. These slight differences, transmitted to the Deep Space Network, were used to build the map, published March 5 in the journal Icarus.
Scientists will be able to use the new gravity map to help plan future Mars missions; knowledge about the planet's gravitational anomalies will allow more precise orbital insertion for future spacecraft. In addition, the data provides a rare glimpse into the planet's interior and will help scientists learn more about processes that have affected the crust and inner core of the planet over time.
THROWBACK MARS: 360-DEGREE PATHFINDER VIEW
Use your mouse or finger (in supported browsers/mobile devices) to check out a newly stitched 360 degree view of Mars as seen by the 1997 Pathfinder spacecraft. In the interactive video, handy labels help identify visible features, including the Sojourner rover and her rocky pal Yogi (seen above in the center of the static panoramic version). Tip from Madame Mars: the Chrome browser works best!
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Copyright © 2016 Madame Mars Project/Documentary Film Institute, All rights reserved.
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YOUR GIFT WILL HELP US GROW!
"Hope," for Amiri, may also refer to the changes in women's roles she has observed and experienced in her homeland.
