Nation
2,000 US Marines Sent to Haiti
(BBC World News)
Although there are already over 1,000 U.S. troops on the ground in Haiti to aid in relief efforts and reduce looting and violence, more than 2,200 U.S. Marines arrived in Haiti on Monday, Jan. 18, according to U.S. media present there.
Heavy lifting and earth-moving equipment arrived along with the troops, as well as a dozen helicopters and medical support facilities. Relief efforts are currently focused on the center of the capital city. Military escorts are needed for trucks carrying supplies, since desperation has driven looters to take more risks.
As of now, U.S. Navy helicopters have been dropping packages of ready-to-eat meals from the air, but this approach will only help a few people at a time.
In addition, the U.N. has launched an appeal for $562 million towards the relief efforts. This sum would help an average of three million people forfor roughly six months. More funding is being directed towards medium to long-term rebuilding efforts, with money coming from several other U.N. member countries.
Methane on Mars?
(BBC World News)
After a year of discussion between National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA), a decision has finally been reached. The two organizations will launch a joint exploratory mission to Mars: Europe will build it, and the United States will launch it.
Researchers on both sides of the Atlantic will be involved in the sophisticated sensors and data-collecting apparatuses. The Exo-Mars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), as it is currently referred to, will orbit Mars looking for methane and other substances that may suggest the presence of biological life.
Methane is a gas known to be associated with various life processes, and the gas was first detected in the Martian atmosphere in 2003 by the Mars Express orbiter, and also by Earth-based observations. Since then, mapping has shown that particular parts of the planet have higher concentrations of methane gas, and that the distribution of gas shifts constantly and rapidly.
Some scientists think that this is the result of small microbes living in the near-surface layers of the planet, while others insist that the methane gas is produced by geological activity, such as active Martian volcanoes.
These and many more questions about the Red Planet may soon be answered. The launch is currently scheduled for 2016. A landing area on Mars has yet to be determined.
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