December 19, 2016December 19, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Book Excerpt: “Incredible Stories From Space,” Roving Mars With Curiosity, part 1

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the "Big Sky" site. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Following is an excerpt from my new book, “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos,” which will be released tomorrow, Dec. 20, 2016. The book is an inside look at several current NASA robotic missions, and this excerpt is part 1 of 3 which will be posted here on Universe Today, of Chapter 2, “Roving Mars with Curiosity.” The book is available for order on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Seven Minutes of Terror

It takes approximately seven minutes for a moderate-sized spacecraft – such as a rover or a robotic lander — to descend through the atmosphere of Mars and reach the planet’s surface. During those short minutes, the spacecraft has to decelerate from its blazing incoming speed of about 13,000 mph (20,900 kph) to touch down at just 2 mph (3 kph) or less.

This requires a Rube Goldberg-like series of events to take place in perfect sequence, with precise choreography and timing. And it all needs to happen automatically via computer, with no input from anyone on Earth. There is no way to guide the spacecraft remotely from our planet, about 150 million miles (250 million km) away. At that distance, the radio signal delay time from Earth to Mars takes over 13 minutes. Therefore, by the time the seven-minute descent is finished, all those events have happened – or not happened – and no one on Earth knows which. Either your spacecraft sits magnificently on the surface of Mars or lies in a crashed heap.

A depiction of the numerous events required for the Curiosity rover to land successfully on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL.

That’s why scientists and engineers from the missions to Mars call it “Seven Minutes of Terror.”

And with the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, which launched from Earth in November of 2011, the fear and trepidation about what is officially called the ‘Entry, Descent and Landing’ (EDL) increased exponentially. MSL features a 1-ton (900 kg), 6-wheeled rover named Curiosity, and this rover was going to use a brand new, untried landing system.

To date, all Mars landers and rovers have used — in order — a rocket-guided entry, a heat shield to protect and slow the vehicle, then a parachute, followed by thrusters to slow the vehicle even more. Curiosity would use this sequence as well. However, a final, crucial component encompassed one of the most complex landing devices ever flown.

Artists concept of the moment the Curiosity rover touches down on the Martian surface, suspended on a bridle beneath the spacecraft's descent stage. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech — Artists concept of the moment the Curiosity rover touches down on the Martian surface, suspended on a bridle beneath the spacecraft’s descent stage. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Dubbed the “Sky Crane,” a hovering rocket stage would lower the rover on 66 ft. (20 meter) cables of Vectran rope like a rappelling mountaineer, with the rover soft-landing directly on its wheels. This all needed to be completed in a matter of seconds, and when the on-board computer sensed touchdown, pyrotechnics would sever the ropes, and the hovering descent stage would zoom away at full throttle to crash-land far from Curiosity.

Complicating matters even further, this rover was going to attempt the most precise off-world landing ever, setting down inside a crater next to a mountain the height of Mount Rainier.

A major part of the uncertainty was that engineers could never test the entire landing system all together, in sequence. And nothing could simulate the brutal atmospheric conditions and lighter gravity present on Mars except being on Mars itself. Since the real landing would be the first time the full-up Sky Crane would be used, there were questions: What if the cables didn’t separate? What if the descent stage kept descending right on top of the rover?

If the Sky Crane didn’t work, it would be game-over for a mission that had already overcome so much: technical problems, delays, cost overruns, and the wrath of critics who said this $2.5 billion Mars rover was bleeding money away from the rest of NASA’s planetary exploration program.

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars, similar to what one would see from orbital distance of 2500 km. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Missions to Mars

With its red glow in the nighttime sky, Mars has beckoned skywatchers for centuries. As the closest planet to Earth that offers any potential for future human missions or colonization, it has been of great interest in the age of space exploration. To date, over 40 robotic missions have been launched to the Red Planet … or more precisely, 40-plus missions have been attempted.

Including all US, European, Soviet/Russian and Japanese efforts, more than half of Mars missions have failed, either because of a launch disaster, a malfunction en route to Mars, a botched attempt to slip into orbit, or a catastrophic landing. While recent missions have had greater success than our first pioneering attempts to explore Mars in situ (on location) space scientists and engineers are only partially kidding when they talk about things like a ‘Great Galactic Ghoul’ or the ‘Mars Curse’ messing up the missions.

View of Mars from Viking 2 lander, September 1976. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

But there have been wonderful successes, too. Early missions in the 1960’s and 70’s such as Mariner orbiters and Viking landers showed us a strikingly beautiful, although barren and rocky world, thereby dashing any hopes of ‘little green men’ as our planetary neighbors. But later missions revealed a dichotomy: magnificent desolation combined with tantalizing hints of past — or perhaps even present day – water and global activity.

Today, Mars’ surface is cold and dry, and its whisper-thin atmosphere doesn’t shield the planet from bombardment of radiation from the Sun. But indications are the conditions on Mars weren’t always this way. Visible from orbit are channels and intricate valley systems that appear to have been carved by flowing water.

For decades, planetary scientists have debated whether these features formed during brief, wet periods caused by cataclysmic events such as a massive asteroid strike or sudden climate calamity, or if they formed over millions of years when Mars may have been continuously warm and wet. Much of the evidence so far is ambiguous; these features could have formed either way. But billions of years ago, if there were rivers and oceans, just like on Earth, life might have taken hold.

Three Generations of Mars Rovers in the ‘Mars Yard’ at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Mars Pathfinder Project (front) landed the first Mars rover - Sojourner - in 1997. The Mars Exploration Rover Project (left) landed Spirit and Opportunity on Mars in 2004. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. — Three Generations of Mars Rovers in the ‘Mars Yard’ at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Mars Pathfinder Project (front) landed the first Mars rover – Sojourner – in 1997. The Mars Exploration Rover Project (left) landed Spirit and Opportunity on Mars in 2004. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The Rovers

The Curiosity rover is the fourth mobile spacecraft NASA has sent to Mars’ surface. The first was a 23-pound (10.6 kg) rover named Sojourner that landed on a rock-covered Martian plain on July 4, 1997. About the size of a microwave oven, the 2-foot- (65 cm) long Sojourner never traversed more than 40 feet away from its lander and base station. The rover and lander together constituted the Pathfinder mission, which was expected to last about a week. Instead, it lasted nearly three months and the duo returned 2.6 gigabits of data, snapping more than 16,500 images from the lander and 550 images from the rover, as well as taking chemical measurements of rocks and soil and studying Mars’ atmosphere and weather. It identified traces of a warmer, wetter past for Mars.

Sojourner - NASA’s 1st Mars Rover. Rover takes an Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) measurement of Yogi rock after Red Planet landing on July 4, 1997 landing. Credit: NASA — Sojourner – NASA’s 1st Mars Rover. Rover takes an Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) measurement of Yogi rock after Red Planet landing on July 4, 1997 landing. Credit: NASA

The mission took place when the Internet was just gaining popularity, and NASA decided to post pictures from the rover online as soon as they were beamed to Earth. This ended up being one of the biggest events in the young Internet’s history, with NASA’s website (and mirror sites set up for the high demand) receiving over 430 million hits in the first 20 days after landing.

Pathfinder, too, utilized an unusual landing system. Instead of using thrusters to touch down on the surface, engineers concocted a system of giant airbags to surround and protect the spacecraft. After using the conventional system of a rocket-guided entry, heat shield, parachutes and thrusters, the airbags inflated and the cocooned lander was dropped from 100 feet (30 m) above the ground. Bouncing several times across Mars’ surface times like a giant beach ball, Pathfinder eventually came to a stop, the airbags deflated and the lander opened up to allow the rover to emerge.

While that may sound like a crazy landing strategy, it worked so well that NASA decided to use larger versions of the airbags for the next rover mission: two identical rovers named Spirit and Opportunity. The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) are about the size of a riding lawn mower, at 5.2 feet (1.6 meters) long, weighing about 400 lbs (185 kilograms). Spirit landed successfully near Mars’ equator on January 4, 2004, and three weeks later Opportunity bounced down on the other side of the planet. The goal of MER was to find evidence of past water on Mars, and both rovers hit the jackpot. Among many findings, Opportunity found ancient rock outcrops that were formed in flowing water and Spirit found unusual cauliflower-shaped silica rocks that scientists are still studying, but they may provide clues to potential ancient Martian life.

A self-portrait of the Opportunity rover shortly after dust cleared its solar panels in March 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

Incredibly, at this writing (2016) the Opportunity rover is still operating, driving more than a marathon (26 miles/42 km) and it continues to explore Mars at a large crater named Endeavour. Spirit, however, succumbed to a loss of power during the cold Martian winter in 2010 after getting stuck in a sandtrap. The two rovers far outlived their projected 90-day lifetime.

Somehow, the rovers each developed a distinct ‘personality’ – or, perhaps a better way to phrase it is that people assigned personalities to the robots. Spirit was a problem child and drama queen but had to struggle for every discovery; Opportunity, a privileged younger sister, and star performer, as new findings seemed to come easy for her. Spirit and Opportunity weren’t designed to be adorable, but the charming rovers captured the imaginations of children and seasoned space veterans alike. MER project manager John Callas once called the twin rovers “the cutest darn things out in the Solar System.” As the long-lived, plucky rovers overcame hazards and perils, they sent postcards from Mars every day. And Earthlings loved them for it.

Curiosity

While it’s long been on our space to-do list, we haven’t quite yet figured out how to send humans to Mars. We need bigger and more advanced rockets and spacecraft, better technology for things like life support and growing our own food, and we really don’t have the ability to land the very large payloads needed to create a human settlement on Mars.

But in the meantime – while we try to figure all that out — we have sent the robotic equivalent of a human geologist to the Red Planet. The car-sized Curiosity rover is armed with an array of seventeen cameras, a drill, a scoop, a hand lens, and even a laser. These tools resemble equipment geologists use to study rocks and minerals on Earth. Additionally, this rover mimics human activity by mountain climbing, eating (figuratively speaking), flexing its (robotic) arm, and taking selfies.

Artist concept of the Curiosity rover, with the various science instruments labeled. Credit: NASA/JPL.

This roving robotic geologist is also a mobile chemistry lab. A total of ten instruments on the rover help search for organic carbon that might indicate the raw material required by life, and “sniff” the Martian air, trying to smell if gasses like methane — which could be a sign of life — are present. Curiosity’s robotic arm carries a Swiss Army knife of gadgets: a magnifying lens-like camera, a spectrometer to measure chemical elements, and a drill to bore inside rocks and feed samples to the laboratories named SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) and) and CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy). The ChemCam laser can vaporize rock from up to 23 feet (7 meters) away, and identify the minerals from the spectrum of light emitted from the blasted rock. A weather station and radiation monitor round out the devices on board.

With these cameras and instruments, the rover becomes the eyes and hands for an international team of about 500 earthbound scientists.

While the previous Mars rovers used solar arrays to gather sunlight for power, Curiosity uses an RTG like New Horizons. The electricity generated from the RTG repeatedly powers rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and the RTG’s heat is also piped into the rover chassis to keep the interior electronics warm.

With Curiosity’s size and weight, the airbag landing system used by the previous rovers was out of the question. As NASA engineer Rob Manning explained, “You can’t bounce something that big.” The Sky Crane is an audacious solution.

Curiosity’s mission: figure out how Mars evolved over billions of years and determine if it once was — or even now is — capable of supporting microbial life.

Curiosity’s target for exploration: a 3.4 mile (5.5 km) -high Mars mountain scientists call Mt. Sharp (formally known as Aeolis Mons) that sits in the middle of Gale Crater, a 96-mile (155-km) diameter impact basin.

Gale was chosen from 60 candidate sites. Data from orbiting spacecraft determined the mountain has dozens of layers of sedimentary rock, perhaps built over millions of years. These layers could tell the story of Mars’ geologic and climate history. Additionally, both the mountain and the crater appear to have channels and other features that look like they were carved by flowing water.

The plan: MSL would land in a lower, flatter part of the crater and carefully work its way upward towards the mountain, studying each layer, essentially taking a tour of the epochs of Mars’ geologic history.

The hardest part would be getting there. And the MSL team only had one chance to get it right.

Landing Night

Curiosity’s landing on August 5, 2012 was one of the most anticipated space exploration events in recent history. Millions of people watched events unfold online and on TV, with social media feeds buzzing with updates. NASA TV’s feed from JPL’s mission control was broadcast live on the screens in New York’s Time Square and at venues around the world hosting ‘landing parties.’

But the epicenter of action was at JPL, where hundreds of engineers, scientists and NASA officials gathered at JPL’s Space Flight Operations Facility. The EDL team – all wearing matching light blue polo shirts — monitored computer consoles at mission control.

Two members of the team stood out: EDL team lead Adam Steltzner — who wears his hair in an Elvis-like pompadour — paced back and forth between the rows of consoles. Flight Director Bobak Ferdowski sported and an elaborate stars and stripes Mohawk. Obviously, in the twenty-first century, exotic hairdos have replaced the 1960’s black glasses and pocket protectors for NASA engineers.

MSL project scientist Ashwin Vasavada with a full scale model of the Curiosity rover. Credit: NASA/JPL.

At the time of the landing, Ashwin Vasavada was one of the longest serving scientists on the mission team, having joined MSL as the Deputy Project Scientist in 2004 when the rover was under construction. Back then, a big part of Vasavada’s job was working with the instrument teams to finalize the objectives of their instruments, and supervise technical teams to help develop the instruments and integrate them with the rover.

Each of the ten selected instruments brought a team of scientists, so with engineers, additional staff and students, there were hundreds of people getting the rover ready for launch. Vasavada helped coordinate every decision and modification that might affect the eventual science done on Mars. During the landing, however, all he could do was watch.

“I was in the room next door to the control room that was being shown on TV,” Vasavada said. “For the landing there was nothing I could do except realize the past eight years of my life and my entire future was all riding on that seven minutes of EDL.”

Plus, the fact that no would know the real fate of the rover until 13 minutes after the fact due to the radio delay time led to a feeling of helplessness for everyone at JPL.

“Although I was sitting in a chair,” Vasavada added, “I think I was mentally curled up in the fetal position.”

As Curiosity sped closer to Mars, three other veteran spacecraft already orbiting the planet moved into position to be able to keep an eye on the newcomer MSL as it transmitted information on its status. At first, MSL communicated directly to the Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas on Earth.

To make telemetry from the spacecraft as streamlined as possible during EDL, Curiosity sent out 128 simple but distinct tones indicating when steps in the landing process were activated. Allen Chen, an engineer in the control room announced each as they came: one sound indicated the spacecraft entered Mars’ atmosphere; another signaled the thrusters fired, guiding the spacecraft towards Gale Crater. Tentative clapping and smiles came from the team at Mission Control at the early tones, with emotions increasing as the spacecraft moved closer and closer to the surface.

Partway through the descent, MSL went below the Martian horizon, putting it out of communication with Earth. But the three orbiters — Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Express — were ready to capture, record and relay data to the DSN.

Scenes from landing night for the Curiosity rover at JPL's Space Flight Operations Facility. Credit: NASA/JPL. — Scenes from landing night for the Curiosity rover at JPL’s Space Flight Operations Facility. Credit: NASA/JPL.

Seamlessly, the tones kept coming to Earth as each step of the landing continued flawlessly. The parachute deployed. The heat shield dropped away. A tone signaled the descent stage carrying the rover let go of the parachute, another indicated powered flight and descent toward the surface. Another tone meant the Sky Crane began lowering the rover to the surface.

A tone arrived, indicating Curiosity’s wheels touched the surface, but even that didn’t mean success. The team had to make sure the Sky Crane flyaway maneuver worked.

Then, came the tone they were waiting for: “Touchdown confirmed,” cheered Chen. “We’re safe on Mars!”
Pandemonium and joy erupted in JPL’s mission control, at the landing party sites, and on social media. It seemed the world celebrated together at that moment. Cost overruns, delays, all the negative things ever said about the MSL mission seemed to vanish with the triumph of landing.

“Welcome to Mars!” the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Charles Elachi said at a press conference following the dramatic touchdown, “Tonight we landed, tomorrow we start exploring Mars. Our Curiosity has no limits.”

Curiosity’s Twitter feed announced its arrival on Mars on August 5, 2012. Credit: Twitter.

“The seven minutes actually went really fast,” said Vasavada. “It was over before we knew it. Then everybody was jumping up and down, even though most of us were still processing that it went so successfully.”

That the landing went so well — indeed perfectly — may have actually shocked some of the team at JPL. While they had rehearsed Curiosity’s landing several times, remarkably, they were never able to land the vehicle in their simulations.

“We tried to rehearse it very accurately,” Vasavada said, “so that everything was in synch — both the telemetry that we had simulated that would be coming from the spacecraft, along with real-time animations that had been created. It was a pretty complex thing, but it never actually worked. So the real, actual landing was the first time everything worked right.”

Curiosity was programmed to immediately take pictures of its surroundings. Within two minutes of the landing, the first images were beamed to Earth and popped up on the viewing screens at JPL.
“We had timed the orbiters to fly over during the landing, but didn’t know for sure if their relay link would last long enough to get the initial pictures down,” Vasavada said. “Those first pictures were fairly ratty because the protective covers were still on the cameras and the thrusters had kicked up a lot of dust on the covers. We couldn’t really see it very well but we still jumped up and down nevertheless because these were pictures from Mars.”

Amazingly, one of the first pictures showed exactly what the rover had been sent to study.
“We had landed with the cameras basically facing directly at Mt. Sharp,” Vasavada said, shaking his head. “In the HazCam (hazard camera) image, right between the wheels, we had this gorgeous shot. There was the mountain. It was like a preview of the whole mission, right in front of us.”

An image captured by the Curiosity rover shortly after it landed on the Red Planet on August 5, 2015, showing the rover's main science target, Mount Sharp. The rover's shadow can be seen in the foreground and the dark band beyond are dunes. Credit; NASA/JPL-Caltech. — An image captured by the Curiosity rover shortly after it landed on the Red Planet on August 5, 2015, showing the rover’s main science target, Mount Sharp. The rover’s shadow can be seen in the foreground and the dark band beyond are dunes. Credit; NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Tomorrow: Part 2 of “Roving Mars With Curiosity,” with ‘Living on Mars Time’ and ‘Discoveries’

“Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” is published by Page Street Publishing, a subsidiary of Macmillan.

December 16, 2016December 16, 2016 by Matt Williams

How Strong is the Gravity on Mars?

What is the gravity on Mars? NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this close-up of the red planet Mars

The planet Mars has few things in common. Both planets have roughly the same amount of land surface area, sustained polar caps, and both have a similar tilt in their rotational axes, affording each of them strong seasonal variability. Additionally, both planets present strong evidence of having undergone climate change in the past. In Mars’ case, this evidence points towards it once having a viable atmosphere and liquid water on its surface.

At the same time, our two planets are really quite different, and in a number of very important ways. One of these is the fact that gravity on Mars is just a fraction of what it is here on Earth. Understanding the effect this will likely have on human beings is of extreme importance when it comes time to send crewed missions to Mars, not to mention potential colonists.

Mars Compared to Earth:

The differences between Mars and Earth are all crucial for the existence of life as we know it. For instance, atmospheric pressure on Mars is a tiny fraction of what it is here on Earth – averaging 7.5 millibars on Mars to just over 1000 here on Earth. The average surface temperature is also lower on Mars, ranking in at a frigid -63 °C compared to Earth’s balmy 14 °C.

Artist rendition of the formation of rocky bodies in the solar system - how they form and differentiate and evolve into terrestrial planets. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech — *Artist rendition of the interior of Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech*

And while the length of a Martian day is roughly the same as it is here on Earth (24 hours 37 minutes), the length of a Martian year is significantly longer (687 days). On top that, the gravity on Mars’ surface is much lower than it is here on Earth – 62% lower to be precise. At just 0.376 of the Earth standard (or 0.376 g), a person who weighs 100 kg on Earth would weigh only 38 kg on Mars.

This difference in surface gravity is due to a number of factors – mass, density, and radius being the foremost. Even though Mars has almost the same land surface area as Earth, it has only half the diameter and less density than Earth – possessing roughly 15% of Earth’s volume and 11% of its mass.

Calculating Martian Gravity:

Scientists have calculated Mars’ gravity based on Newton’s Theory of Universal Gravitation, which states that the gravitational force exerted by an object is proportional to its mass. When applied to a spherical body like a planet with a given mass, the surface gravity will be approximately inversely proportional to the square of its radius. When applied to a spherical body with a given average density, it will be approximately proportional to its radius.

Fig. 2 Variations of gravity accelerations over Mars's surface. Azimuthal equidistant projection with a central meridian of 0° longitude (right) and 180° (left). Data shown is from MGM2011. — *The Mars Gravity Model 2011 (MGM2011), showing variations of gravity accelerations over Mars’s surface. Credit: geodesy.curtin.edu.au*

These proportionalities can be expressed by the formula g = m/r², where g is the surface gravity of Mars (expressed as a multiple of the Earth’s, which is 9.8 m/s²), m is its mass – expressed as a multiple of the Earth’s mass (5.976·10²⁴ kg) – and r its radius, expressed as a multiple of the Earth’s (mean) radius (6,371 km).

For instance, Mars has a mass of 6.4171 x 10²³ kg, which is 0.107 times the mass of Earth. It also has a mean radius of 3,389.5 km, which works out to 0.532 Earth radii. The surface gravity of Mars can therefore be expressed mathematically as: 0.107/0.532², from which we get the value of 0.376. Based on the Earth’s own surface gravity, this works out to an acceleration of 3.711 meters per second squared.

Implications:

At present, it is unknown what effects long-term exposure to this amount of gravity will have on the human body. However, ongoing research into the effects of microgravity on astronauts has shown that it has a detrimental effect on health – which includes loss of muscle mass, bone density, organ function, and even eyesight.

Understanding Mars’ gravity and its affect on terrestrial beings is an important first step if we want to send astronauts, explorers, and even settlers there someday. Basically, the effects of long-term exposure to gravity that is just over one-third the Earth normal will be a key aspect of any plans for upcoming manned missions or colonization efforts.

For example, crowd-sourced projects like Mars One make allowances for the likelihood of muscle deterioration and osteoporosis for their participants. Citing a recent study of International Space Station (ISS) astronauts, they acknowledge that mission durations ranging from 4-6 months show a maximum loss of 30% muscle performance and maximum loss of 15% muscle mass.

Their proposed mission calls for many months in space to get to Mars, and for those volunteering to spend the rest of their lives living on the Martian surface. Naturally, they also claim that their astronauts will be “well prepared with a scientifically valid countermeasures program that will keep them healthy, not only for the mission to Mars, but also as they become adjusted to life under gravity on the Mars surface.” What these measures are remains to be seen.

Learning more about Martian gravity and how terrestrial organisms fare under it could be a boon for space exploration and missions to other planets as well. And as more information is produced by the many robotic lander and orbiter missions on Mars, as well as planned manned missions, we can expect to get a clearer picture of what Martian gravity is like up close.

As we get closer to NASA’s proposed manned mission to Mars, which is currently scheduled to take place in 2030, we can certainly expect that more research efforts will be attempted.

We have written many interesting articles about Mars here at Universe Today. Here’s How Strong is the Gravity on Other Planets?, Martian Gravity to be Tested on Mice, Mars Compared to Earth, Asteroids Can Get Shaken and Stirred by Mars’ Gravity, How Do We Colonize Mars? How Can We Live on Mars?, and How Do We Terraform Mars?

Information on the Mars Gravity Biosatellite. And the kids might like this; a project they can build to demonstrate Mars gravity.

Astronomy Cast also has some wonderful episodes on the subject. Here’s Episode 52: Mars, and Episode 95: Humans to Mars, Part 2 – Colonists.

Sources:

December 13, 2016December 15, 2016 by Matt Williams

Martian Mineral Points Toward Past Habitability

Curiosity picture showing color variations on Mount Sharp, Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL

For over a year, the Curiosity rover has been making its way up the slopes of Mount Sharp, the central peak within the Gale Crater. As the rover moves higher along this formation, it has been taking drill samples so that it might look into Mars’ ancient past. Combined with existing evidence that water existed within the crater, this would have provided favorable conditions for microbial life.

And according to the most recent findings announced by the Curiosity science team, the upper levels of the mountain are rich in minerals that are not found at the lower levels. These findings reveal much about how the Martian environment has changed over the past few billion years, and are further evidence that Mars may have once been habitable.

The findings were presented at the Fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), which began on Monday, Dec. 12th, in San Fransisco. During the meeting, John Grotzinger – the Fletcher Jones Professor of Geology at Caltech and the former Project Scientist for the Curiosity mission – and other members of Curiosity’s science team shared what the rover discovered while digging into mineral veins located in the higher, younger layers of Mount Sharp.

This pair of drawings depicts the same location at Gale Crater on at two points in time: now and billions of years ago. Water moving beneath the ground, as well as water above the surface in ancient rivers and lakes, provided favorable conditions for microbial life, if Mars has ever hosted life. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech — *Artist’s illustration showing the Gale Crater as it appears today, with the Curiosity rover climbing Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech*

To put it simply, mineral veins are a great way to study the movements of water in an area. This is due to the fact that veins are the result of cracks in layered rock being filled with chemicals that are dissolved in water – a process which alters the chemistry and composition of rock formations. What the rover found was that at higher layers hematite, clay minerals and boron are more abundant than what has been observed at lower, older layers.

These latest findings paint a complex picture of the region, where groundwater interactions led to clay-bearing sediments and diverse minerals being deposited over time. As Grotzinger explained, this kind of situation is favorable as far as habitability is concerned:

“There is so much variability in the composition at different elevations, we’ve hit a jackpot. A sedimentary basin such as this is a chemical reactor. Elements get rearranged. New minerals form and old ones dissolve. Electrons get redistributed. On Earth, these reactions support life.”

At present, no evidence has been found that microbial life actually existed on Mars in the past. However, since it first landed back in 2012, the Curiosity mission has uncovered ample evidence that conditions favorable to life existed billions of years ago. This is possible thanks to the fact that Mount Sharp consists of layered sedimentary deposits, where each one is younger than the one beneath it.

*The Gale Crater, billions of years ago, showing how the circulation of groundwater led to chemical changes and deposits. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech*

These sedimentary layers act as a sort of geological and environmental record for Mars; and by digging into them, scientists are able to get an idea of what Mars’ early history looked like. In the past, Curiosity spent many years digging around in the lower layers, where it found evidence of liquid water and all the key chemical ingredients and energy needed for life.

Since that time, Curiosity has climbed higher along Mount Sharp and examined younger layers, the purpose of which has been to reconstruct how the Martian environment changed over time. As noted, the samples Curiosity recently obtained showed greater amounts of hematite, clay minerals and boron. All of these provide very interesting clues as to what kinds of changes took place.

For instance, compared to previous samples, hematite was the most dominant iron oxide mineral detected, compared to magnetite (which is a less-oxidized form of iron oxide). The presence of hematite, which increases with distance up the slope of Mount Sharp, suggests both warmer conditions and more interaction with the atmosphere at higher levels.

The increasing concentration of this minerals – relative to magnetite at lower levels – also indicates that environmental changes have occurred where the oxidation of iron increased over time. This process, in which more electrons are lost via chemical exchanges, can provide the energy necessary for life.

*Hi-resolution pictures showing the Curiosity rover’s various drilling sites, up until Nov. 2016. Credit: NASA/JPL*

In addition, Curiosity’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument has also noted increased (but still minute)) levels of borons within veins composed primarily of calcium sufate. On Earth, boron is associated with arid sites where water has evaporated, and its presence on Mars was certainly unexpected. No previous missions have ever detected it, and the environmental implications of it being present in such tiny amounts are unclear.

On the one hand, it is possible that evaporation within the lake bed created a boron-deposit deeper inside Mount Sharp. The movement of groundwater within could have then dissolved some of this, redepositing trace amounts at shallower levels where Curiosity was able to reach it. On the other hand, it could be that changes in the chemistry of clay-bearing deposits affected how boron was absorbed by groundwater and then redeposited.

Either way, the differences in terms of the composition of upper and lower levels in the Gale Crater creates a very interesting picture of how the local environment changed over time:

“Variations in these minerals and elements indicate a dynamic system. They interact with groundwater as well as surface water. The water influences the chemistry of the clays, but the composition of the water also changes. We are seeing chemical complexity indicating a long, interactive history with the water. The more complicated the chemistry is, the better it is for habitability. The boron, hematite and clay minerals underline the mobility of elements and electrons, and that is good for life.”

It seems that with every discovery, the long history of “Earth’s Twin” is becoming more accessible, yet more mysterious. The more we learn about it past and how it came to be the cold, desiccated place we know today, the more we want to know!

Further Reading: NASA

December 5, 2016December 6, 2016 by Ken Kremer

‘Insufferable’ Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin Recovering From ‘Record Setting’ Antarctic Expedition Emergency Evacuation

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin trekking across Antarctica as the oldest man to reach the South Pole, prior to emergency medical evacuation on Dec. 1, 2016. Credit: Team Buzz

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin trekking across Antarctica as the oldest man to reach the South Pole. Credit: Team Buzz — Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin trekking across Antarctica as the oldest man to reach the South Pole, prior to emergency medical evacuation on Dec. 1, 2016. Credit: Team Buzz

Buzz Aldrin – the second man to walk on the Moon – is recovering nicely today in a New Zealand hospital after an emergency medical evacuation cut short his record setting Antarctic expedition as the oldest man to reach the South Pole – which Team Buzz lightheartly noted would make him “insufferable”!

“He’s recovering well in NZ [New Zealand],” Team Buzz said in an official statement about his evacuation from the South Pole.

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, who followed Neil Armstrong in descending to the lunar surface in 1969 on America’s first Moon landing mission, had to be suddenly flown out of the Admunsen-Scott Science Station late last week per doctors orders after suffering from shortness of breath and lung congestion during his all too brief foray to the bottom of the world.

He was flown to a hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand for emergency medical treatment on Dec. 1.

Upon learning from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that Aldrin “now holds the record as the oldest person to reach the South Pole at the age of 86,” his Mission Director Christina Korp jokingly said: ‘He’ll be insufferable now.”

“Buzz Aldrin is resting in hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand. He still has some congestion in his lungs so has been advised not to take the long flight home to the States and to rest in New Zealand until it clears up,” Team Buzz said in an official statement on Dec. 3.

Buzz had been at the South Pole for only a few hours when he took ill, apparently from low oxygen levels and symptoms of altitude sickness.

“I’m extremely grateful to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for their swift response and help in evacuating me from the Admunsen-Scott Science Station to McMurdo Station and on to New Zealand. I had been having a great time with the group at White Desert’s camp before we ventured further south. I really enjoyed the time I spent talking with the Science Station’s staff too,” said Aldrin from his hospital room in a statement.

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin being evacuated from Antarctica for emergency medical treatment on Dec. 1, 2016. Credit: Team Buzz

Prior to the planned Antarctic journey, his doctors had cleared him to take the long trip – which he views as “the capstone of his personal exploration achievements”.

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin is seen recovering well in New Zealand hospital on Dec. 2 after medical emergency evacuation from expedition to the South Pole on Dec. 1, 2016. Credit: Team Buzz

Buzz’s goal in visiting the South Pole was to see “what life could be like on Mars” – which he has been avidly advocating as the next goal for a daring human spaceflight journey to deep space.

“His primary interest in coming to Antarctica was to experience and study conditions akin to Mars that are more similar there than any other place on earth,” Team Buzz elaborated.

He had hoped to speak more to the resident scientists about their research but it was all cut short by his sudden illness.

“I started to feel a bit short of breath so the staff decided to check my vitals. After some examination they noticed congestion in my lungs and that my oxygen levels were low which indicated symptoms of altitude sickness. This prompted them to get me out on the next flight to McMurdo and once I was at sea level I began to feel much better. I didn’t get as much time to spend with the scientists as I would have liked to discuss the research they’re doing in relation to Mars. My visit was cut short and I had to leave after a couple of hours. I really enjoyed my short time in Antarctica and seeing what life could be like on Mars,” Aldrin explained.

Buzz also thanked everyone who sent him well wishes.

“Finally, thanks to everyone from around the world for their well wishes and support. I’m being very well looked after in Christchurch. I’m looking forward to getting home soon to spend Christmas with my family and to continue my quest for Cycling Pathways and a permanent settlement on Mars. You ain’t seen nothing yet!”, concluded Aldrin.

I recently met Buzz Aldrin at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, as part of the Grand Opening of the new ‘Destination Mars’ attraction.

Destination Mars is a holographic exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex in Florida. Be sure to catch it soon because the limited time run end on New Year’s Day 2017.

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin discusses the human ‘Journey to Mars with Universe Today at newly opened ‘Destination Mars’ holographic experience during media preview at the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex in Florida on Sept. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

The new ‘Destination Mars’ limited engagement exhibit magically transports you to the surface of the Red Planet via Microsoft HoloLens technology.

It literally allows you to ‘Walk on Mars’ using real imagery taken by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover and explore the alien terrain, just like real life scientists on a geology research expedition – with Buzz Aldrin as your guide.

Here’s my Q & A with moonwalker Buzz Aldrin speaking to Universe Today at Destination Mars:

Video Caption: Buzz Aldrin at ‘Destination Mars’ Grand Opening at KSCVC. Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin talks to Universe Today/Ken Kremer during Q&A at ‘Destination Mars’ Holographic Exhibit Grand Opening ceremony at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (KSCVC) in Florida on 9/18/16. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

And Buzz seemed quite healthy for the very recent Grand Opening of the new ‘Heroes and Legends’ exhibit on Nov. 11 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

………….

Learn more about ULA Delta 4 launch on Dec 7, GOES-R weather satellite, Heroes and Legends at KSCVC, OSIRIS-REx, InSight Mars lander, ULA, SpaceX and Orbital ATK missions, Juno at Jupiter, SpaceX AMOS-6 & CRS-9 rocket launch, ISS, ULA Atlas and Delta rockets, Orbital ATK Cygnus, Boeing, Space Taxis, Mars rovers, Orion, SLS, Antares, NASA missions and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events:

Dec 5-7: “ULA Delta 4 Dec 7 launch, GOES-R weather satellite launch, OSIRIS-Rex, SpaceX and Orbital ATK missions to the ISS, Juno at Jupiter, ULA Delta 4 Heavy spy satellite, SLS, Orion, Commercial crew, Curiosity explores Mars, Pluto and more,” Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings

November 29, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

‘Spectacular’ First Images and Data Released from ExoMars Orbiter

One of the first images from the Mars Camera, CaSSIS, on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. The image shows a 1.4 km sized crater (left center) on the rim of a much larger crater near the Mars equator. Credit: ESA/Roscosmos/ExoMars/CaSSIS/UniBE.

The first images taken by the newest mission to Mars have been released, and the teams behind the instruments on ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter are ecstatic.

“The first images we received are absolutely spectacular – and it was only meant to be a test,” said Nicolas Thomas, who leads the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System at the University of Bern.

The ExoMars TGO arrived in orbit at Mars over a month ago, on October 19, 2016 along with the Schiaparelli lander, which unfortunately crashed on the surface of Mars.

“A lot of public attention has been on the failed landing of Schiaparelli,” said Thomas, “but TGO has been working really well so we have been extremely busy in the past month.”

Scientists and engineers have been turning on and checking out the various instruments on TGO as it orbits in an initial elliptical orbit that takes it from just 250 km above the surface of Mars to nearly 100,000 km every 4.2 days.

During November 20-28 it spent two orbits testing its four science instruments for the first time and making important calibration measurements. A total of 11 images were returned during the first close fly-by during that period, which you can see in the video below.

The views show Hebes Chasma, an 8 km-deep trough in the northern most part of Valles Marineris, during the spacecraft’s closest approach.

“We saw Hebes Chasma at 2.8 metres per pixel” Thomas said. “That’s a bit like flying over Bern at 15,000 km per hour and simultaneously getting sharp pictures of cars in Zurich.”

The first stereo reconstruction of a small area in Noctis Labyrinthus. The image gives an altitude map of the region with a resolution of less than 20 meters. Credit: ESA/Roscosmos/ExoMars/CaSSIS/UniBE

The team tested the color and stereo capabilities of CaSSIS were also successfully tested. Below is a 3D reconstruction of a region called Noctis Labyrinthus that was produced from a stereo pair of images. This region is also part of Valles Marineris and has a system of deep, steep-walled valleys.

Thomas said these first images don’t show much color because the surfaces in this area are covered with dust so there are few color changes evident. “We will have to wait a little until something colourful passes under the spacecraft,” he said. Until then, the pictures will be black and white.

The ExoMars 2016 mission is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos. ExoMars will continue the search for biological and geologic activity on Mars, which may have had a much warmer, wetter climate in the past. The TGO orbiter is equipped with a payload of four science instruments supplied by European and Russian scientists that will investigate the source and precisely measure the quantity of the methane and other trace gases.

Methane provides the most interest because it has been detected periodically on Mars. On Earth, methane is produced primarily by biological activity, and to a smaller extent by geological processes such as some hydrothermal reactions.

First detection of atmospheric carbon dioxide by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter’s Atmospheric Chemistry Suite. Credit: ESA/Roscosmos/ExoMars/ACS/IKI.

The two instruments that will be used to look for methane and other gases were also tested. During the test observations last week, the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite focused on carbon dioxide, which makes up a large volume of the planet’s atmosphere, while the Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery instrument looked for water.

The teams also coordinated observations with ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, as they will do future corresponding observations during the mission.

Starting in March, 2017, TGO will use Mars atmosphere to perform aerobraking to gradually slow the spacecraft down to reach a roughly circular orbit 400 km above Mars. The aerobraking process will take between 9-12 months, with the primary science phase will beginning near the end of 2017.

The CaSSIS camera team said nominal operations will have the instrument acquiring 12-20 high resolution stereo and color images of selected targets per day.

Sources: ESA, University of Bern.

November 25, 2016November 26, 2016 by Matt Williams

Schiaparelli’s One Second Of Terror

Artist's impression of the ExoMars Schiaparelli lander passing into Mars' atmosphere. Credit: ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscomos (the Russian federal space agency) had high hopes for the Schiaparelli lander, which crashed on the surface of Mars on October 19th. As part of the ExoMars program, its purpose was to test the technologies that will be used to deploy a rover to the Red Planet in 2020.

However, investigators are making progress towards determining what went wrong during the lander’s descent. Based on their most recent findings, they concluded that an anomaly took place with an on-board instrument that led to the lander detaching from its parachute and backshell prematurely. This ultimately caused it to land hard and be destroyed.

According to investigators, the data retrieved from the lander indicates that for the most part, Schiaparelli was functioning normally before it crashed. This included the parachute deploying once it had reached an altitude of 12 km and achieved a speed of 1730 km/h. When it reached an altitude of 7.8 km, the lander’s heatshield was released, and it radar altimeter provided accurate data to the lander’s on-board guidance, navigation and control system.

Schiaparelli lander descent sequence. Image: ESA/ATG medialab — Schiaparelli lander descent sequence. According to their investigation, the ESA has determined that an error led the parachute and backshell to be jettisoned prematurely, causing the lander to crash. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

All of this happened according to plan and did not contribute to the fatal crash. However, an anomaly then took place with the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which is there to measure the rotation rates of the vehicle. Apparently, the IMU experienced saturation shortly after the parachute was deployed, causing it to persist for one second longer than required.

This error was then fed to the navigation system, which caused it to generate an estimate altitude that was below Mars’ actual ground level. In essence, the lander thought it was closer to the ground than it actually was. As such, the the parachute and backshell of the Entry and Descent Module (EDM) were jettisoned and the braking thrusters fired prematurely – at an altitude of 3.7 km instead of 1.2 km, as planned.

This briefest of errors caused the lander to free-fall for one second longer than it was supposed to, causing it to land hard and be destroyed. The investigators have confirmed this assessment using multiple computer simulations, all of which indicate that the IMU error was responsible. However, this is still a tentative conclusion that awaits final confirmation from the agency.

Schiaparelli on Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab — *Artist’s impression of the Schiaparelli lander on Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab*

As David Parker, the ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration, said on on Wednesday, Nov. 23rd in a ESA press release:

“This is still a very preliminary conclusion of our technical investigations. The full picture will be provided in early 2017 by the future report of an external independent inquiry board, which is now being set up, as requested by ESA’s Director General, under the chairmanship of ESA’s Inspector General. But we will have learned much from Schiaparelli that will directly contribute to the second ExoMars mission being developed with our international partners for launch in 2020.”

In other words, this accident has not deterred the ESA and Roscosmos from pursuing the next stage in the ExoMars program – which is the deployment of the ExoMars rover in 2020. When it reaches Mars in 2021, the rover will be capable of navigating autonomously across the surface, using a on-board laboratory suite to search for signs of biological life, both past and present.

In the meantime, data retrieved from Schiaparelli’s other instruments is still being analyzed, as well as information from orbiters that observed the lander’s descent. It is hoped that this will shed further light on the accident, as well as salvage something from the mission. The Trace Gas Orbiter is also starting its first series of observations since it made its arrival in orbit on Oct. 19th, and will reach its operational orbit towards the end of 2017.

Further Reading: ESA

November 18, 2016November 26, 2016 by Evan Gough

Mars Has Features That Look Very Similar To Life Bearing Hot Springs On Earth

Rock formations near hot spring discharge channels at El Tatio, Chile, shown in this image, bear a striking resemblance to formations in the Gusev Crater on Mars. Image: Steven W. Ruff, Jack D. Farmer

A type of rock formation found on Mars may be some of the best evidence yet for life on that planet, according to a new study at Nature.com. The formations in question are in the Gusev Crater. When Spirit examined the spectra of the formations, scientists found that they closely match those of formations at El Tatio in Northern Chile.

The significance of that match? The El Tatio formations were produced by a combination of living and non-living processes.

The Gusev Crater geo-located on a map of Mars. Image: Wikimedia Labs

The Gusev Crater is a large crater that formed 3 to 4 billion years ago. It’s an old crater lake bed, with sediments up to 3,000 feet thick. Gusev also has exposed rock formations which show evidence of layering. A system of water channels called Ma’adim Vallis flows into Gusev, which could account for the deep sediments.

When it comes to evidence for the existence of life on Mars, and on early Earth, researchers often focus on hydrothermal spring deposits. These deposits can capture and preserve the biosignatures of early life. You can’t find evidence of ancient life just anywhere because geologic processes erase it. This is why El Tatio has received so much attention.

It’s also why formations at Gusev have received attention. They appear to have a hydrothermal origin as well. Their relation to the rocks around them support their hydrothermal origin.

El Tatio in Chile is a hard-to-find combination of extremely high UV, low rainfall, high annual evaporation rate, and high elevation. This makes it an excellent analog for Mars.

The Mars-like conditions at El Tatio make it rather unique on Earth, and that uniqueness is reflected in the rock deposits and structures that it produces. The most unique ones may be the biomediated silica structures that resemble the structures in Gusev. This resemblance suggest that they have the same causes: hydrothermal vents and biofilms.

Silica structures at the Gusev Crater (left) closely resemble the silica structures at El Tatio (right.) Image: Steven W. Ruff, Jack D. Farmer

Biomediated Structures?

The rock structures at El Tatio are typically covered with very shallow water that supports bio-films and mats comprised of different diatoms and cyanobacteria. The size and shape of the structures varies, probably according to the variable depth, flow velocity, and flow direction of the water. The same variations are present at Gusev on Mars. This begs the question, “Could the structures at Gusev also have a biological cause?”

Microscopic images of structures at El Tatio. B, in the upper right, shows the biofilm community partly responsible for the formation of the structures. The surface biofilm community includes silica-encrusted microbial filaments and sheaths, and spindle-shaped diatoms (white arrows.) Image: Steven W. Ruff, Jack D. Farmer.

Luckily, we have a rover on Mars that can probe the Gusev formations more deeply. Spirit used its Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) to obtain spectra of the Gusev formations. These spectra confirmed the similarity to the terrestrial formations at El Tatio.

Spirit was helpful in other ways. The rover has one inoperable wheel, which drags across the Martian surface, disrupting and overturning rock structures. Spirit was intentionally driven across the Gusev formations, in order to overturn and expose fragments. Then, Spirit’s Microscopic Imager was trained on those fragments.

(A) shows the wheel marks left by Spirit. The darker ones on the right are from the inoperable wheel. (B) is a closeup of the box in (A). (C) shows some of the rover tracks and features in Gusev. (D) shows two whitish rocks, intentionally overturned by Spirit's busted wheel. Image: NASA/JPL/Spirit PanCam. — (A) shows the wheel marks left by Spirit. The darker ones on the right are from the inoperable wheel. (B) is a closeup of the box in (A). (C) shows some of the rover tracks and features in Gusev. (D) shows two whitish rocks, intentionally overturned by Spirit’s busted wheel. Image: NASA/JPL/Spirit PanCam.

MM scale close-up images of the Martian rocks, on the left, show many similarities with the El Tatio rocks, right. Images: Steven W. Ruff, Jack D. Farmer, NASA/JPL.

Unfortunately, Spirit lacks the instrumentation to look deeply into the internal microscale features of the Martian rocks. If Spirit could do that, we would be much more certain that the Martian rocks were partly biogenic in origin. All of the surrounding factors suggest that they do, but that’s not enough to come to that conclusion.

This study presents more compelling evidence that there was indeed life on Mars at some point. But it’s not conclusive.

November 8, 2016November 8, 2016 by Evan Gough

Mars One Merges With Mobile Payment Company In Odd Restructuring

An artist's illustration of a Mars settlement. Image: Bryan Versteeg/MarsOne — An artist's illustration of an early Mars settlement. Credit: Bryan Versteeg/MarsOne

“Pssst. Hey you! Want to go to Mars? No, you won’t be able to come back, you’ll die there. No, we don’t have a ship. No, we don’t have any plans for life support, or for growing food to eat while you there. But we do have our own mobile payment app!”

So goes the sales pitch from Mars One, the oddball of the space exploration world.

In a move that can charitably be described as “puzzling”, Mars One is merging with Swiss mobile payment company InFin Innovative Finance AG. InFin is a small player in a mobile payment field dominated by huge entities like Google, Apple, and Samsung. So, other than ensuring that Mars One astronauts will be able to complete their online shopping without hassle, what is behind this merger?

Money.

In case you don’t know, Mars One is the Netherlands-based company proposing to send astronauts to Mars and set up a human colony there. There would be no returning to Earth, and the “lucky” people chosen by Mars One to be the first to go, would die there. Mars One has been roundly criticized by the aerospace community at large for its lack of detail and its lack of technical capability.

This latest move is unlikely to quell any of the criticism.

Mars One has had no problem attracting a huge number of applicants to become astronauts and colonists. Over 200,000 people applied, and that number has been whittled down to 100. They’ve been able to attract applicants, and a lot of attention, but one thing they haven’t been able to attract is money.

Mars One say they need $6 billion to establish their colony on Mars, but they’ve only raised about $1 million so far, mostly from donations, astronaut application fees, and from t-shirt sales and other merchandise. Yes, t-shirts.

“Mars One is very pleased to have been acquired by InFin. This step provides the opportunity to raise capital through the listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.” – Bas Lansdorp

Clearly, Mars One needs cash, and this merger gives Mars One access to capital. You see, InFin is traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and once the two entities have merged, Mars One will be publicly traded. It’s difficult to see how any institutional investors would ever go anywhere near Mars One stock, but it may be an investment for novelty-seekers, space enthusiasts, or true believers. Who knows?

In a press release, Mars One CEO and co-founder Bas Lansdorp said “This listing also supports our aim to attract international support to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars: our global followers will have the opportunity to be part of this adventure and to literally own a piece of this historic venture.”

A cynic might say that Mars One was just created by Lansdorp as a way to generate some cash from the interest surrounding human travel to Mars. This latest move just adds to the cynicism, since there’s no apparent synergy between a space travel company and a mobile payment company.

If the fact that they sell t-shirts to raise money for their Mars colony doesn’t make you question how capable and serious Mars One is, then this latest move surely will.

Or, maybe we’re being too hard on Mars One. It’s not like NASA or the ESA has ever inspired a line of clothing, or an opera.

Maybe Mars One is an innovator, and is thinking outside the box. Just because space exploration has always been done one way, doesn’t mean it can’t be done in another. Maybe in the final analysis, Mars One will be a successful endeavour, and will show others how unorthodox approaches can work. Only the future knows, and we’re still waiting for the future to tell us.

In the meantime, want to buy a t-shirt?

November 1, 2016November 3, 2016 by Matt Williams

Curiosity Finds a Melted Space Metal Meteorite on the Surface of Mars

Image from Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam), which captured a small rock believed to be a meteorite on Sol 153. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/ASU

Since it landed on the surface of the Red Planet in 2012, the Curiosity rover has made some rather surprising finds. In the past, this has included evidence that liquid water once filled the Gale Crater, the presence of methane and organic molecules today, curious sedimentary formations, and even a strange ball-shaped rock.

And most recently, Curiosity’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) captured images of what appeared to be a ball of melted metal. Known as “Egg Rock” (due to its odd, ovoid appearance) this object has been identified as a small meteorites, most likely composed of nickel and iron.

Egg Rock was first noticed in an image that was snapped by Curiosity on Oct. 28th, 2016, (or Sol 153, the 153rd day of Curiosity’s mission). The rover then snapped a two-frame portrait of the meteorite (seen below) two days later (on Sol 155) and studied it using its ChemCam’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI). This provided not only a close-up of the strange object, but also a chance for chemical analysis.

Close up of Egg Rock, showing the laser reflection from Curiosity's ChemCam. Credit: NASA/JPL — *Close up of “Egg Rock”, showing the laser reflections from Curiosity’s ChemCam instrument. Credit: NASA/JPL*

The chemical analysis revealed that the rock was composed of metal, which explained its melted appearance. In essence, it is likely the rock became molten as it entered Mars’ atmosphere, leading to the metal softening and flowing. Once it reached the surface, it cooled to the point that this appearance became frozen on its face.

Such a find is quite exciting, if not entirely unexpected. In the past, Curiosity and other rovers has spotted the remains of other metallic meteorites. For instance, back in 2005, the Opportunity rover spotted a pitted, basketball-sized iron meteorite that was named “Heat Shield Rock“.

This was followed in 2009 by the discovery of “Block Island“, a large dark rock that measured 0.6 meters (2 feet) across and contained large traces of iron. And in 2014, Curiosity spotted the mostly-iron meteorite that came to be known as “Lebanon” which measured 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide – making it the largest meteorite to ever be found on Mars.

However, “Egg Rock” is somewhat unique, in that its appearance seems more “melted” than meteorites spotted in the past. And as George Dvorsky of Gizmodo indicated, other aspects of its appearance (such as the long hollows) could mean that it lost material, perhaps when it still molten (i.e. shortly after it reached the surface).

Iron Meteorite on Mars. Opportunity finds an iron meteorite on Mars, the first meteorite of any type ever identified on another planet. The pitted, basketball-size object is mostly made of iron and nickel. Opportunity used its panoramic camera to take the images used in this approximately true-color composite on the Sol 339 (Jan. 6, 2005). Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell — *Image of the iron meteorite fpund on Mars by the Opportunity rover on the Sol 339 (Jan. 6th, 2005). Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell*

And such finds are always interesting because they provide us with the opportunity to study chunks of the Solar System that might not survive the trip to Earth. Given its greater proximity to the Asteroid Belt, Mars is better situated to be periodically struck by objects that get kicked out of it by Jupiter’s gravity. In fact, it is theorized that this is how Mars got its moons, Phobos and Deimos.

In addition, meteorites are more likely to survive passing through Mars’ atmosphere, since it is only about 1% as dense as Earth’s. Last, but certainly not least, meteorites have been striking Earth and Mars for eons. But since Mars has had a dry, desiccated atmosphere for all of that time, meteorites that land on its surface are subject to less wind and water erosion.

As such, Martian meteorites are more likely to be intact and better preserved over the long haul. And studying them will give planetary scientists opportunities they may not enjoy here on Earth. Now if we could just transport some of these space rocks home for a more detailed analysis, we’d be in business! Perhaps that should be something for future missions to consider.

Further Reading: ASU – Red Planet Report

October 28, 2016 by Bob King

Best Photos Yet of the Mars Lander’s Demise

Credit: Schiaparelli lander protected by its heat shield as it enters the Martian atmosphere. Credit: ESA

A closeup of the dark, approximately circular crater about 7.9 feet (2.4 meters) in diameter marking the crash of the Schiaparelli test lander on Mars. The photo was taken on October 25 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Lander (MRO). Credit: — A closeup of the dark, approximately circular crater about 7.9 feet (2.4 meters) in diameter that marks the crash of the Schiaparelli test lander on Mars. The new, higher-resolution photo was taken on October 25 by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Lander (MRO). A hint of an upraised rim is visible along the crater’s lower left side. The tiny white specks may be pieces of the lander that broke away on impact. The odd dark curving line has yet to be explained. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

What’s the most powerful telescope for observing Mars? A telephoto lens on the HiRise camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that can resolve features as small as 3 feet (1-meter) across. NASA used that camera to provide new details of the scene near the Martian equator where Europe’s Schiaparelli test lander crashed to the surface last week.

The Schiaparelli test lander was protected by its heat shield as it descended through the Martian atmosphere at high speed. Credit: ESA

During an October 25 imaging run HiRise photographed three locations where hardware from the lander hit the ground all within about 0.9 mile (1.5 kilometers) of each other. The dark crater in the photo above is what you’d expect if a 660-pound object (lander) slammed into dry soil at more than 180 miles an hour (300 km/h). The crater’s about a foot and a half (half a meter) deep and haloed by dark rays of fresh Martian soil excavated by the impact.

But what about that long dark arc northeast of the crater? Could it have been created by a piece of hardware jettisoned when Schiaparelli’s propellant tank exploded? The rays are curious too. The European Space Agency says that the lander fell almost vertically when the thrusters cut out, yet the asymmetrical nature of the streaks — much longer to the west than east — would seem to indicate an oblique impact. It’s possible, according to the agency, that the hydrazine propellant tanks in the module exploded preferentially in one direction upon impact, throwing debris from the planet’s surface in the direction of the blast, but more analysis is needed. Additional white pixels in the image could be lander pieces or just noise.

This Oct. 25, 2016, image shows the area where the European Space Agency's Schiaparelli test lander reached the surface of Mars, with magnified insets of three sites where components of the spacecraft hit the ground. It is the first view of the site from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter taken after the Oct. 19, 2016, landing event and our highest resolution of the scene to date. Annotations by the author. Click for a full-resolution image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech — This Oct. 25, 2016, image shows the area where the European Space Agency’s Schiaparelli test lander reached the surface of Mars, with magnified insets of three sites where components of the spacecraft hit the ground. It is the first view of the site from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter taken after the Oct. 19, 2016, landing event and our highest resolution of the scene to date. Click for a full-resolution image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In the wider shot, several other pieces of lander-related flotsam are visible. About 0.8 mile (1.4 km) eastward, you can see the tiny crater dug out when the heat shield smacked the ground. Several bright spots might be pieces of its shiny insulation. About 0.6 mile (0.9 kilometer) south of the lander impact site, two features side-by-side are thought to be the spacecraft’s parachute and the back shell. NASA plans additional images to be taken from different angle to help better interpret what we see.

The last happy scene for the lander when it still dangled from its chute before dropping and slamming into the surface. Credit: ESA — Schiaparelli dangles from its parachute in this artist’s view. A software error caused the chute to deploy too soon. Credit: ESA

The test lander is part of the European Space Agency’s ExoMars 2016 mission, which placed the Trace Gas Orbiter into orbit around Mars on Oct. 19. The orbiter will investigate the atmosphere and surface of Mars in search of organic molecules and provide relay communications capability for landers and rovers on Mars. Science studies won’t begin until the spacecraft trims its orbit to a 248-mile-high circle through aerobraking, which is expected to take about 13 months.

Everything started out well with Schiaparelli, which successfully transmitted data back to Earth during its descent through the atmosphere, the reason we know that the heat shield separated and the parachute deployed as planned. Unfortunately, the chute and its protective back shell ejected ahead of time followed by a premature firing of the thrusters. And instead of burning for the planned 30 seconds, the rockets shut off after only 3. Why? Scientists believe a software error told the lander it was much closer to the ground than it really was, tripping the final landing sequence too early.

Landing on Mars has never been easy. We’ve done flybys, attempted to orbit the planet or land on its surface 44 times. 15 of those have been landing attempts, with 7 successes: Vikings 1 and 2, Mars Pathfinder, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, the Phoenix Lander and Curiosity rover. We’ll be generous and call it 8 if you count the 1971 landing of Mars 3 by the then-Soviet Union. It reached the surface safely but shut down after just 20 seconds.

Mars can be harsh, but it forces us to get smart.

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