Daily Archives: December 17, 2021

The European Space Agency (ESA) has completed the first successful high-altitude drop test of the ExoMars mission parachute, which will be the largest parachute set to ever fly on Mars. Both the first and second-stage parachutes have now successfully flown this year, ensuring the ExoMars mission is on track for launch in 2022.

A pair of high-altitude drop tests took place in Oregon on 21 November and 3 December as part of the ongoing parachute testing to ensure the safe delivery of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover and Kazachok lander to the surface of Mars in June 2023. The 35-meter-wide subsonic parachute will be the second parachute to deploy during the ExoMars descent modules final moments before touchdown.

Both parachutes deployed and flew beautifully, says Thierry Blancquaert, ESA Exomars program team leader. We maximized the lessons learned from all previous tests, and with this double success following the impressive first stage parachute deployment earlier this year, were really on the road to launch. We have demonstrated we have two parachutes to fly to Mars.

The team will continue to test to verify the robustness of the final selection of parachutes, with more high altitude drop test opportunities possible in 2022 for both the first and second stage parachute.

The ExoMars mission is a collaboration between the ESA and Russias space agency, Roscosmos. The ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars mission is scheduled for launch in September 2022. After a nearly nine-month interplanetary cruise, a descent module containing the rover and platform will be released into the Martian atmosphere at a speed of 21,000 km per hour. The lander will be able to slow down thanks to a thermal shield and its two main parachutes. The 15-meter-wide first stage main parachute will deploy while the descent module is still traveling at supersonic speeds, and the 35-meter-wide second stage main parachute will deploy at subsonic speeds. A retro rocket propulsion system will then be triggered 30 seconds before touchdown.

Adjusting and testing the ExoMars parachutes has been a priority following a series of unsuccessful drop tests in 2019 and 2020.

The parachutes are just one element of this complex mission, which, after launch, will see a carrier module transport the rover and surface platform to Mars inside a descent module. Significant progress has been made across many areas of the mission in the last months, as the functional testing phase draws to a close and attention shifts to the launch campaign in Baikonur.

The ExoMars mission will launch on a Proton-M rocket with a Breeze-M upper stage from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in the 20 September 1 October 2022 launch window. Once landed safely in the Oxia Planum region of Mars on 10 June 2023, the rover will drive off the surface platform, seeking out geologically interesting sites to drill below the surface to determine if life ever existed on our neighbor planet. The ExoMars program also includes the Trace Gas Orbiter, which has been orbiting Mars since 2016.

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ESA successfully drop tested the largest parachute set to fly on Mars - Inceptive Mind

Eventually, everyone has a chance to follow through on their promises.

Coincidentally, Elon Musk says his plans for Mars can coincide with the global push to lower the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. "SpaceX is starting a program to take CO2 out of [the] atmosphere & turn it into rocket fuel," tweeted the CEO and tech billionaire on Monday. "Please join if interested."

It's unclear exactly how Musk plans to do this, but it's also hard to deny the appeal of such a capability. Imagine a world where all excess CO2 generated by a nation or region is directly converted into rocket fuel and subsequently consumed during launches, leaving nothing harmful behind.

"Will also be important for Mars," added Musk in a tweeted reply to himself, encouraging high hopes. And, it turns out hope might not be totally unmerited, since there are already ideas in-play about how we might convert CO2 into rocket fuel on the surface of Mars.

While Musk's announcement may feel a little random, it's surprisingly appropriate, considering the abundance of CO2 emitted by the billionaire-to-Earth-orbit pipeline that's scaling up at unprecedented speeds. Even more shocking, this idea of Musk's isn't as outlandish as it may at first seem. A new technique, called "direct air capture," would enable SpaceX to absorb thousands of tons of CO2, and convert it into a kind of rocket fuel, according to Bloomberg. In fact, the country behind the best Zuckerberg satire ever has already begun operations of its DAC plant, which, sucking in 4,400 tons of CO2 annually, also happens to be the largest one in the world, according to a Futurism report. And another one in Scotland will begin operations in 2026, with aims to remove 1.1 million tons (1 million metric tons) per year.

This comes on the heels of Musk announcing a $100 million prize for whoever could bring a world-historic-level carbon removal technique to the global table, early in 2021. "I think this is one of those things that is going to take a while to figure out when the right solution is," said Musk in a Reuters report, at the time. "And especially to figure out what the best economics are for CO2 removal. Right now we've only got one planet. Even a 0.1 percent chance of disaster why run that risk? That's crazy!" During an April discussion with Chairman Peter Diamandis of the XPrize Competition, Musk hinted at his interest in finding a renewable means of lifting people and material into space.

Of course, Musk isn't the first person to consider the conversion of carbon into more marketable substances, or products of value to the economy. After all, it makes more sense to use everything involved than to simply bury waste products like CO2 underground. And many companies and scientists have taken strides down this line of thought. For example, we could embed solid forms of carbon in building materials, including steel and cement, an industry already deemed emissions-heavy, said Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science Harry Atwater, of the California Institute of Technology, in a Popular Science report. "What if we could actually take the carbon dioxide emitted through all the past synthesis of construction materials and then turn it back into materials that we could use like carbon fiber composites and other forms of more benignly stored carbon," asked Atwater, in the report.

"That would be an indefinite form of storage," he added. But for Musk to convert CO2 from the air into rocket fuel, he'll have to get crafty. Right now, SpaceX's Starship uses supercooled liquid methane and LOX to propel itself away from the Earth. Earlier models like the Falcon 9 also use LOX, but combined with refined kerosene. These fuels won't exist in abundance on Mars, which is why scientists have developed concepts that could capable of using Mars' CO2-rich atmosphere. In October of this year, a team of engineers suggested using a carbon catalyst inside of a reactor, to convert carbon dioxide into methane, which can then be employed in the next generation of rocket engines, perhaps like SpaceX's Raptor engines. This idea relies on what's called a "Sabatier reaction" something already in use by the crew of the International Space Station to filter CO2 from the internal atmosphere of the station. It even generates drinking water.

If Elon Musk's private aerospace firm can leverage this knowledge to convert CO2 in Earth's atmosphere into rocket fuel at scale, it could create a new and exciting incentive for space tourists effectively transforming an environmentally dubious activity (going to space because you're rich enough while polluting the Earth) into an inherently eco-friendly act that also generates a fresh source of drinkable water. Pretty neat, at least, in theory.

Obviously, this could radically transform the public face of SpaceX. But the pilgrims of the Red Planet will face the same hardships: At the time of his XPrize interview, Musk said his firm had a long-term plan to use as much renewable energy as possible to power rocket flights to space, which for Musk always means Mars. He also said stressed his classic argument about mass extinction events, and how humans won't surviveunless we become a multi-planet species. But when asked if his plans for Mars were "just some escape hatch for rich people," the billionaire and now-TIME Magazine "Person of the Year" answered that relocation to Mars won't exist exclusively for the rich. Likening missions to Mars to the first journeys to Antarctica, Musk emphasized that would-be Martians will confront an uncomfortable, dangerous, and exciting reality: that there's no guarantee of returning. "A bunch of people will probably die," he warned in the live stream. With this in mind, we can only hope that carbon capture technology can absorb enough pollution from rocket launches that the space adventures of tomorrow don't come at the expense of the Earth's habitability.

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Elon Musk Wants SpaceX to Reach Mars Using Carbon Capture. Here's How It Could Work - Interesting Engineering

(RNS) One of the biggest religion stories of 2021 has been the saga of the now-shuttered Mars Hill Church in Seattle and the downfall of its controversial celebrity pastor Mark Driscoll, detailed in a popular podcast thats been downloaded more than 13 million times.

A lesser-known but noteworthy story has been playing out at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan. Once also led by a celebrity pastor, the church is charting a different course forward, moving from a leader-centric model and installing instead this past summer two co-pastors: Ashlee Eiland and Troy Hatfield.

Eiland, who is Black, and Hatfield, who is white, are the first co-pastors in the churchs history, while Eiland is also the first woman to serve at Mars Hill as a senior pastor.

The two had been serving as part of an interim leadership team at the church since the departure of AJ Sherrill, the former senior pastor, in August 2020. Hatfield is a longtime staffer at Mars Hill, having joined the church as a worship leader in 2004 when it was one of the fastest-growing churches in the country under founding pastor Rob Bell. Eiland was called to the church in 2019 to launch a new campus of the church in nearby Grand Rapids.

For both, the role of senior leader came as a surprise. Eiland said in the churches shed grown up in, women didnt serve in top leadership roles. Hatfield said hed never aspired to be a senior pastor. But after serving together on an interim basis, they embraced the invitation from the Mars Hill elder board to become co-pastors.

Co-pastors Ashlee Eiland, from left, and Troy Hatfield lead a service at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, in Sept. 2021. Courtesy photo

I was really inspired by the idea, said Eiland. It felt well-discerned and prayedthrough and we had the advantage of having done some co-leadership before.

Having co-pastors at a church or other congregation is rare. The 2012 National Congregations Study found 94.5% of congregations have one person serving as senior leader. The 2020 Faith Communities Today Study found that 5% of congregations have two or more clergy who share leadership equally. That study also found only 10% of congregations overall have a woman serving in a senior role. If a woman leader is referred to as a co-pastor, it is often because they are married to the senior pastor.

Eiland and Hatfield said they are still fine-tuning what it means to lead as co-pastors. For now, they split preaching duties, while each oversees one of the two locations where Mars Hill worships, with Eiland in Grand Rapids and Hatfield in Grandville. They also team up on bigger-picture planning for the church.

As co-pastors, the two have been charged with helping Mars Hill find its way forward a task made more complicated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The church was founded in the late 1990s, using whats known as an attractional model of ministry, centered on Bell, a charismatic communicator who could draw huge crowds. By the time Hatfield had arrived on staff, the church had more than 10,000 people for weekend services.

Since Bells departure in 2012, the church has had a series of fairly short-tenured senior leaders and has shrunk in size. Today, about 1,200 people attend in-person and online services, though it is hard to tell how many people are part of the church because of the pandemic.

Mars Hill Bible Church co-pastors Troy Hatfield, left, and Ashlee Eiland. Courtesy photo

Mars Hill has also been rethinking its identity in recent years.

In the past 18 months, the consideration for Mars Hill has been, how do we faithfully be a local church? said Hatfield.

Starting a new campus in Grand Rapids is helping with the transition. That location is essentially a church plant, said Eiland, and is in a residential neighborhood, which makes it different from the Grandville campus, located in a former mall. The new campus is in a place where people live, while the older location is a place people drive to, said Hatfield. That difference in geography, Eiland said, will reshape the church, helping make it more congregation-centered and less leader-centered.

I think were going to discover new ways of being this church, said Eiland.

RELATED: Like Beth Moore, many women preachers have had to break free to follow Gods call

For his part, Hatfield said he has always been drawn to a parish model of ministry, where the clergy have a close connection to their congregation and their community. He is also careful how he describes the church, trying to stay away from any sense of ownership on his part as a leader.

This is not my church, he said. This is Christs church. And I have been invited to help lead Christs church.

Mark McCloskey, professor of ministry leadership at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, said collaborative ministry like co-pastoring has a number of benefits. Having more than one leader means power isnt all concentrated in one person. It also means all of the burden of running a church doesnt fall on one person.

More than that, he said, shared leadership was a common practice in the Bible.

In the New Testament, youd have to look long and hard to find a model where theres a sole senior pastor, he said. Basically, youd have a plurality of leaders.

That model can make space for different viewpoints and perspectives. But it is not easy, said McCloskey, who runs a program on transformational leadership. Pastors who think they need to have all the answers, for example, have difficultly sharing power.

I tell my classes, you have to have somebody who can be in charge without being in control, who can be present without casting a shadow, he said.

Worship at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, in April 2021. Photo via Facebook/Mars Hill

When she was first interviewed at Mars Hill, Eiland said, she was asked to describe a leader who had inspired her to walk with Jesus. The first person who came to mind was her grandmother, who taught her how to pray, how to love the Bible and how to have a faith that was not just in her head or her heart but was lived out in her day-to-day life.

Character matters, she said. People are watching you. Not just who you are at church or on a platform on Sunday morning, but who you are to your neighbor, who you are to the construction person working on your yard, who you are to the person at the grocery store. All of that matters.

Eiland was quick to admit she remains a work in progress and has much to learn. But the importance of striving to live out her faith remains at the top of her mind. What good will her ministry be, she said, if it doesnt shape her into the person God wants her to be?

The Church We Hope For co-pastors Bobby Harrison, left, and Ins Velsquez-McBryde in Pasadena, California. Courtesy photo

Two thousand miles away, in Pasadena, California, Ins Velsquez-McBryde and Bobby Harrison, co-pastors of The Church We Hope For, a multiethnic start-up congregation, are also charting a way forward as leaders during the pandemic.

The church began as a house church in January 2020, paused during the early months of the pandemic, then rebooted on as an online community when it became clear the pandemic would not end any time soon.

Velsquez-McBryde described the church as a healing place for people who have been hurt by the church in the past but who still hope to find the kind of beloved community found in the Bible. On a recent Sunday, she greeted worshipers by name as they joined the Sunday Zoom call, chatting with them while waiting for the service to begin and reminding folks not to spill coffee on their living room rugs at home.

Were going to miss this one day, you know, when we are in person again, she said.

Harrison also chimed in, recalling the potluck after a recent in-person gathering. The two pastors, who are longtime friends, lead the Zoom meetings together and take turns preaching week by week. They hope their shared leadership reinforces the message they preach.

We aim to be an embodied witness of the good news that men and women can serve side by side and worship side by side and lead side by side, he said.

The co-pastors said their ministry partnership has been a blessing during COVID, which has made the hard work of starting a new congregation even more challenging. Leading a new church during COVID as a solo pastor would have been daunting, they said.

Co-pastors Ins Velsquez-McBryde, center left, and Bobby Harrison lead a service at The Church We Hope For in Pasadena, California. Courtesy photo

Co-pastoring can be a healthy model for church leaders but also for the congregation, said Juliet Liu, co-lead pastor of Life on the Vine Church in Long Grove, Illinois, which has had co-pastors for most of its history. A shared leadership model shows that in the kingdom of God, power is meant to be used for the benefit of all, she said. When we are entrusted with power and authority, its not so one person can keep it for themselves, she said. Its actually shared so that it can be exercised on behalf of everyone.

Liu said it is also crucial for co-pastors to have a strong friendship and trust. Otherwise, their partnership can lead to conflict.

Velsquez-McBryde likes to use the term re-creating when talking about the mission of the church, pointing back to the story of the Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis. In the garden, she said, there was harmony, not hierarchy, and the idea of a hierarchy comes after the fall. Addressing those power inequalities is important not just between men and women but also between people from different ethnic backgrounds.

Otherwise, she said, all you have is presence without power.

RELATED: Multiracial churches increase as Blacks, whites learn to worship together

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At the other Mars Hill church, new co-pastors hope to build a faithful future - Religion News Service

NEWARK, N.J., Dec. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Mars Wrigley, the maker of some of the world's most beloved treats and snacks, takes the next step in its commitment to more sustainable packaging with M&M'S theater boxes in the U.S. M&M'S was recently named one of the top 5 brands in the US by YouGov, and M&M'S theater boxes will now be fully recyclable in U.S. with the removal of the traditional plastic overwrap. This sustainability step eliminates 98 metric tons of plastic waste a year, equal to the weight of aspace shuttle headed into orbit. The updated packaging has been rolling onto shelves since late September and is now available in theaters and major retailers nationwide.

"At Mars Wrigley, we're committed to creating better moments by improving our societal impact and helping protect the environment through more sustainable packaging," said Justin Comes, Vice President of R&D, Mars Wrigley North America. "Removing 98 tons of plastic equal to the weight of aspace shuttle headed into orbit from our M&M'S theater boxes in the U.S. is an important sustainability step for one of America's best and most famous brands to help build a circular economy where packaging never becomes waste."

This latest M&M'S announcement is one of many tangible actions Mars Wrigley is taking around the world to support a circular economy and to help people protect our planet while enjoying some of their favorite treats and snacks.

A few notable highlights of Mars' Climate Action:

Packaging Reduction and Redesign:

Collaborative Partnerships:

These initiatives underscore Mars Wrigley's purpose of Better Moments and More Smiles, which emphasizes a connected and caring world and supports the ambitions laid out in Mars Sustainable in a Generation plan. For further information on Mars' approach to sustainable packaging, visithttps://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/healthy-planet/sustainable-packaging.

Media Contacts:

Mars Wrigley Caitlin KemperTel: +1 - 201-841-8350[emailprotected]

About Mars, IncorporatedFor more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating, and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us.

Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services, we employ 133,000 dedicated Associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world's best-loved brands including DOVE, EXTRA, M&M's, MILKY WAY, SNICKERS, TWIX, ORBIT, PEDIGREE, ROYAL CANIN, SKITTLES, BEN'S ORIGINAL, WHISKAS, COCOAVIA, and 5; and take care of half of the world's pets through our pet health services AniCura, Banfield Pet Hospitals, BluePearl, Linnaeus, Pet Partners, and VCA.

We know we can only be truly successful if our partners and the communities in which we operate prosper as well. The Mars Five Principles Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom inspire our Associates to take action every day to help create a world tomorrow in which the planet, its people and pets can thrive.

For more information about Mars, please visitwww.mars.com. Join us on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, LinkedInandYouTube.

SOURCE Mars Wrigley

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Mars Wrigley US Removes 98 Metric Tons of Plastic - Equivalent to the Weight of a Space Shuttle Headed into Orbit - with "Launch" of M&M'S Theater...

For one reason or another, people decided long ago to name all the important places on Mars using Latin words. In fact, the whole planet wears the name of the Roman God of War, so the choice of keeping with tradition might have seemed like a natural one.

One such case is Noctis Labyrinthus, which would roughly translate as nights labyrinth. The moniker was slapped onto a region in the Tharsis area that is famous among people studying Mars for its intricate system of valleys.

Formed sometime in the planets past by means of faulting, these valleys are also very deep, and for geologists, thats godsent, as they can peer into the Martian past by studying the layers of soil, as theyre visible from up in orbit to the HiRISE camera.

The main image of this piece shows a portion of the Noctis Labyrinthus as seen back in 2007 from an altitude of 255 km (158 miles). According to the people at NASA and the University of Arizona who look at these images for a living, this is a trough that is 300 meters (984 feet) deep.

If youd allow, its like someone took a knife and sliced right through the Martian terrain, revealing layered beds that may help us, Earthlings, with better understanding both the spatial and temporal distribution of hydrated (water-bearing) minerals on Mars, thus deciphering the aqueous history of the planet.

In this particular place, scientists have found hydrated minerals, yet another sign that water was at some time in the past a constant presence on the neighboring piece of rock.

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Noctis Labyrinthus Is Where You Could Get Lost on Mars, Here's a Slice of It - autoevolution

BRUSSELS Mars Petcare announced Dec. 14 it will roll out new wet pet food packaging made with recycled plastic materials, in partnership with SABIC and Huhtamaki.

The companys SHEBA brand of wet cat food will be the first to make the transition across Europe, starting in 2022. The companys partnership with SABIC and Huhtamaki was established in late 2020.

We are pleased to share this progress in our sustainable petfood packaging journey, said Barry Parkin, chief procurement and sustainability officer at Mars, Inc. Over the past year, we have been closely working with SABIC and Huhtamaki, continually testing and learning and scaling up the recycled plastic content in our pet food packs. As part of our Sustainable in a Generation plan, we are committed to doing our part to help drive a circular economy, which includes redesigning our packages for circularity. The fact that we are now able to introduce recycled content into our SHEBA pouches helps accelerate our journey to achieve 30% average recycled content in our plastic packaging and to reduce by 25% our use of virgin plastic.

The process utilizes advanced recycling or chemical recycling technology to render food-safe recycled plastics for use in more sustainable flexible plastic packages. According to Mars Petcare, this technology is essential to help close the gap in the journey for more circular plastics.

As we get prepared to deploy food safe recycled content in wet pet food pouches, its only fitting that its with our iconic SHEBA brand, which through its work on ocean health strives to make a meaningful and measurable difference in the world, said Deri Watkins, regional president at Mars Pet Nutrition Europe. Our consumers want more than just quality food for their pets, and we are pleased that this innovation enables us to provide pet parents with more environmentally sustainable products.

The new wet pet food packaging formats will incorporate ISCC PLUS certified recycled material. SABIC lends expertise in advanced recycling technology through its TRUCIRCLE portfolio of plastic innovations, which showcases the companys ability to produce polypropylene from flexible plastic packaging waste that can be used for direct food contact packaging applications. Huhtamaki brings technical expertise in developing and manufacturing easy tear sterilizable polypropylene films, such as its Terolen solution. The combination of both companies areas of expertise has allowed Mars Petcare to begin incorporating TRUCIRCLE polymers in its wet pet food packages.

We are very pleased about the ongoing strategic efforts with Mars and Huhtamaki, said Lada Kurelec, general manager of PP, PET, PS, PVC, PU and elastomers for petrochemicals at SABIC. The transformation of the industry towards a circular economy requires unprecedented innovation and intensive collaboration across the value chain. Together, we have set another milestone on this exciting journey.

Current packaging for Mars Petcares SHEBA brand includes aluminum trays, cans and cardboard sleeves, all of which are readily recyclable in key markets. The company hopes the inclusion of recycled plastic materials will take it one step closer to its goal of achieving flexible bag and pouch recyclability. This new application is also expected to spur growth for the development and availability of food contact recycled packaging solutions moving forward.

We are fully committed to partnering with global leaders to develop solutions which drive the transition to a circular economy, said Marco Hilty, president of flexible packaging at Huhtamaki. We are proud to work with Mars and SABIC on a concrete solution which can be used globally. Successfully processing recycled polymers into high-quality, easy tear films for wet retort packaging at an industrial scale is a significant milestone in delivering on our ambition to have more than 80% of our raw materials renewable or recycled. This is important for consumers and in line with our ambitious 2030 strategy.

The initiative is one of several from Mars aiming to reduce its overall environmental impact. The company has invested $1 billion in its Sustainable in a Generation Plan. Additionally, Royal Canin, a science-based brand of Mars, announced in October a commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2025.

On the whole, pet food and treat industry players big and small are shifting to more environmentally friendly packaging as the feature becomes increasingly important to consumers.

Read more aboutpackaging solutions and trendsfor pet food and treats.

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Mars Petcare begins transition to recycled packaging for wet pet foods - Pet Food Processing