Researchers training to simulate Mars mission

Researchers training to simulate Mars mission

HILO, Hawaii

Scientists will mix biology and geology this month inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park as they help NASA get ready for an eventual manned mission to Mars.

The researchers will hike around Mauna Ulu to practice collecting rock samples as they would on the Red Planet, The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

The purpose is to develop protocols that would be used on a real Mars mission to identify and protect samples that could host life.

One of the concerns is contamination of rocks that might be home to living bacteria, said John Hamilton, an astronomy faculty member at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

The project is known as BASALT – or Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains.

Insurgent offensive in Aleppo kills dozens of civilians

BEIRUT

An offensive by Syrian insurgents aimed at the government-held part of the northern city of Aleppo has killed at least 74 civilians, including 25 children, an opposition monitoring group said Saturday.

The insurgents launched the assault eight days ago, hoping to break a months-long government siege on the rebel-held eastern part of the city, which has been subjected to months of devastating Syrian and Russian airstrikes. The insurgents have seized a district on Aleppo’s edge and a nearby village.

The Syrian military said the first three days of the rebel offensive killed more than 80 people. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the different figures.

Protesters demand that S. Korea’s president quit

SEOUL, South Korea

Tens of thousands of South Koreans poured into the streets of downtown Seoul on Saturday, using words including “treason” and “criminal” to demand that President Park Geun-hye step down amid an explosive political scandal.

The protest, the largest anti-government demonstration in the capital in nearly a year, came a day after Park apologized on live television amid rising suspicion that she allowed a mysterious confidante to manipulate power from the shadows.

Holding banners, candles and colorful signs that read “Park Geun-hye out” and “Treason by a secret government,” a sea of demonstrators filled a large square in front of an old palace gate and the nearby streets, singing and thunderously applauding speeches calling for the ouster of the increasingly unpopular president.

Park has 15 months left in her term. If she resigns before the end of it, South Korean laws require the country to hold an election.

Associated Press