Dr. Afshin Khan: Crops on Mars

by Emily Harari Every 4th of July, many Americans turn their gaze to the night sky. From a pop of color and a quick clap like thunder, fireworks unveil themselves. In addition to gunpowder, a lesser known ingredient called perchlorates are responsible for the mesmerizing explosions. Perchlorates are salts containing an ion called perchlorate – a chlorine atom bonded to four oxygen atoms. These salts can serve as oxidants for fireworks and explosives, but also can be toxic to living […]

September 7, 2016

Talking Mars with The New Yorker

Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra was recently featured on the New Yorker Radio Hour in a segment titled “Why Do You Want to Go to Mars?” Archive editor Josh Rothman hosts a conversation with Dr. Haqq-Misra and Elizabeth Kolbert, a New Yorker staff writer, about the prospects and perils of attempting the human colonization of Mars. [listen to the segment at WNYC.org]

May 31, 2016

New Paper: Sovereignty on Mars

Sara Bruhns and Jacob Haqq-Misra recently published a paper titled “A pragmatic approach to sovereignty on Mars” in the journal Space Policy. Sara performed this work during her participation in the BMSIS Young Scientist Program. Below is a short summary of this idea. National space agencies and private corporations have declared plans to send humans to the red planet, with longer-term planets of settlement and resource extraction likely to follow. Such actions may conflict with the Outer Space Treaty, which […]