Page 8 - Mars Summit News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The material can hold over 30 times its own weight while also being flexible was created by experts from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

China and the US are in a race to Mars - with both nations due to land a rover on the Red Planet this month, and plans for future missions already in development. This new 'space race', unlike the battle to the Moon between the US and Soviet Union, is likely to be a much more crowded field, including private firms and smaller nations - such as the United Arab Emirates who have a probe en-route to Mars now. SpaceX founder Elon Musk reiterated in a recent interview that his aim is to land the first humans on Mars by 2026 - that is seven years earlier than NASA's earliest goal. 

British aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce has formed an unlikely alliance with the UK Space Agency to develop nuclear-powered spacecraft engines.  The collaboration will see the two organisations working together to explore the potential of nuclear power as a source of energy for future expeditions into deep space. If successful, a nuclear spacecraft could cut the journey time to Mars to just three to four months - roughly half the time possible using current chemical engines. What's more, the reduced journey times would mean astronauts on board the spacecraft are exposed to less radiation d...