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Dornald Mhlanga the 2021 NASA Space Apps Challenge Bulawayo local lead has shared some news

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Hi 2021 NASA Space Apps Challenge Bulawayo Teammates!   With roughly 4 weeks until Space Apps 2021 – we are excited to support you as you plan your event! Below are quite a few updates for the hackathon. Please take a minute to read through them.  In this week's planning call, we will talk about Project Submission, do a live walkthrough and have time to learn from the GO Team and each other.  *Global Awards*  In honor of our 10th year, NASA Space Apps have added 4 new awards this year! See the descriptions below:  Traditional Space Apps awards:  *Best Use of Science* - The solution that makes the best and most valid use of science and/or the scientific method.  *Best Use of Data* - The solution that best makes space data accessible, or leverages it to a unique application.  *Best Use of Technology* - The solution that exemplifies the most innovative use of technology.  *Galactic Impact* - The solution with the most potential to improve life o...
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Individual regional dust events can boost planetary water loss by a factor of five to ten and represent an important driver of atmospheric evolution on Mars, according to an analysis of data collected by a trio of spacecraft: NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter

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. This artist’s concept depicts the dry environment seen at Mars today versus the early Martian environment. Image credit: Simon Fraser University. Dust storms heat up higher altitudes of the Martian atmosphere, preventing water vapor from freezing as usual and allowing it to reach farther up. In the higher reaches of Mars, water molecules are left vulnerable to ultraviolet radiation, which breaks them up into their lighter components of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen, which is the lightest element, is easily lost to space, with oxygen either escaping or settling back to the surface. Planetary scientists have long suspected that Mars has lost most of its water largely through this process, but they didn’t realize the significant impact of regional dust storms, which happen nearly every summer in the planet’s southern hemisphere. Globe-enveloping dust storms that strike typically every three to four Martian years were thought to be the main culprits, along with the hot summer months in t...
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NASA’s Perseverance Plans Next Sample Attempt

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The rover will abrade a rock this week, allowing scientists and engineers to decide whether that target would withstand its powerful drill. In its search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is once again preparing to collect the first of many rock core samples that could eventually be brought to Earth for further study. This week, a tool on the rover’s 7-foot-long (2-meter-long) robotic arm will abrade the surface of a rock nicknamed “Rochette,” allowing scientists to look inside and determine whether they want to capture a sample with the rover’s coring bit. Slightly thicker than a pencil, the sample would be sealed in one of the 42 remaining titanium tubes aboard the rover. Should the team decide to acquire a core from this rock, the sampling process would be initiated next week. The mission attempted to capture their first record of the crater floor on Aug. 6 from a rock that ultimately  proved too crumbly , breaking into powder and fragments o...
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