] On August 27, Mars will be closer to Earth than at any ] point in the past 73,000 years. ] ] That's good news for amateur astronomers, but it won't ] make a manned mission to the Red Planet any easier. For ] that, NASA has earmarked an initial $2 million to build ] the Integrated Human Exploration Mission Simulation ] Facility, dubbed Integrity, at Houston's Johnson Space ] Center. ] ] Integrity is an all-inclusive, deep-space mission ] simulator that will house mock transit, habitation and ] landing modules, complete with waste-, air- and ] water-recycling technologies. Mars on planet earth |