Oh Life on Mars

So I found this article about life on Mars that is really optimistic. But it is all the opinions of the guy who swears he found evidence of microbial life on Mars in '76 so I would say the article is a somewhat less then objective view.

This article talks about how NASA has started to make the first steps towards sending people towards Mars. They have claimed that the first steps will be to learn about what life in Space is like by comparing peoples lives at ISS.

Phoenix Mars Lander

In August, the Phoenix Mars Lander mission (at the cost of $355 million) is expected to blast off to Mars. Unlike the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, Phoenix is a stationary platform with a robotic arm that will work on the planet's extreme northern plains and hunt around for ice, dig ditches and then analyze and test surface soils and subsurface samples for signs of complex organic molecules. In addition, it will also take high-resolution pictures of its surroundings and measure atmospheric conditions more than a dozen miles above the surface.

First Steps to Mars

NASA is already planning it's journey to Mars. Astronauts are stationed on the International Space Station for six months at a time and trying to simulate the journey to Mars. For example, food and medicine exposed to +6 months of travel. They have found that the food kept in orbit lost some its nutritional impact. In addition, some medicines also lost their potency. By finding these problems now, they can effectively find a solution and hopefully prevent unnecessary problems later on.

A little to hot of a hot spot

Here's an article about a new map of Mars that shows conventration of cosmic rays on Mars. The most intense spots are found at the highlands and NASA thinks this may cause problems to anyone looking to set up camp on the southern hemisphere of our neighboring Red Planet.

China and Russia building ties to reach Mars

China and Russia have agreed to jointly send a probe to Mars and it's moon, Phobos in 2009. This agreement is a milestone of the two country's space cooperation. In addition, they also plan on expanding economic and humanitarian cooperation and to promote security ties to strengthen strategic partnership.

Practice Run

This article discusses how some scientists are headed to the deserts of southern california to practice being in a situation like Mars so that they would be able to learn what it would be like to conduct research on Mars.

Sulfer and trace water detected by NASA rover

This article discusses bright white and yellow soil was unintentionally uncovered by NASA's Spirit rover as it moved over the surface of Mars almost a year ago and utilizing an infrared spectrophotometer, the rover detected water bound to minerals such as sulfate salts present in the soil. Researchers theorize that they could have been deposited by ancient gas vents.

Studying the potential for Martian life in China?

NASA scientists are studying the world's oldest and driest deserts in the world and have found some evidence suggesting that the conditions in China's northwest deserts are similar to some regions on Mars. The scientists looked for microbial life in the form of cyanobacteria and measured rainfall amounts, temperature, humidity, and light to compare against different types of microbial ecosystems.

Mars' polar ice

A joint NASA-Italian Space Agency orbiter has recently made radar measurements of the thickness of the ice at the south pole of Mars and discovered that there is enough frozen water to cover the planet in about 36 feet of water. The icecap covers an area larger than Texas, and it also goes to depths up to 2.3 miles below the surface. The orbiter also provides useful information on the deeper structures of Mars and how they compare to the Earth.

NASA Scientist and Teachers Study Mars

NASA's Spaceward Bound project plans on taking a team of NASA scientist and 40 teachers to study the unique geologic formations of the Mojave Desert and the microbes that inhabit the environment. The desert inhospitable, sun-scorched environment presents scientists with opportunities to study environments similar to what explorers will find on the moon and Mars.

Space Suits

This is a really short article but I guess that there is a special space suit that was designed for use on Mars and is in the process of being tested right now in Utah. Definately shows that there are people out there who really are trying hard to get to the red planet.

ExoMars Mission 2013

The year 2013 could proove itself to be very crucial in the on-going search for life on Mars. Thanks to the European Space Agency the ExoMars mission is set to launch in 2013. Like the Viking it will be able to land on the planet and report data regarding its findings on the red planet.

Caves on Mars?

Visual and infrared imaging from the Odyssey may suggests potential caves on mars. Researchers have found six/seven chambers that stay relatively warm at night. This suggests that the cavern is trapping daytime heat. Researchers find this discovery exciting because caves are promising places to look for signs of life.

Rocket Plane Can Sniff Out Methane on Mars

According to Joel Levine of NASA's Langley Research Center, methane gas on Mars can be located with the help of an aeroplane mission called ARES. The aeroplane would not only be able to detect local concentrations of methane, but also be able to survey a path hundreds of kilometers long. The ARES plane would enter Mars' atmosphere protected by a heat shield; drift close to the surface on a parachute, then cut loose at an altitude of 1.5 km. Levine claimed that ARES would be able to identify different compounds in the atmosphere, by weighing molecules sucked into a mass spectrometer.




ARES (Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey of Mars) Photo credit: NASA

Money and space exploration

Is NASA lacking funds? Although the organizations maintains a significant budget, it still needs more money. This article discusses one senators desire to increase NASA's budget in the hopes of catching up with other competing nations in space exploration. It is a good reminder of how expensive space exploration can really be. Although Mars is of great interest, we must first be sure that the suspected discovery of life in the future may carry a large price tag.

50 ways to kill an asteriod

This week in Washington, D.C. hundreds of scientists attended the Planetary Defense Conference 2007 to discuss different methods of destroying asteroids. There were tons of ideas- some reasonable, and others not so much. Some of them wanted to destroy asteroids with nuclear weapons and other wanted to send unmanned robots to the asteroid, drill into it and send the debris into space to alter the course of the asteroid. There's also a diagram on this site that offers detailed instructions on how to "avert Armageddon".

Further evidence for past water on Mars

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took photos of one of the large canyons on Mars and show rocks that appear to have been 'chemically altered by the long-term presence of flowing water.' The article discusses how life could have been protected from the harsh Martian environment by living in underground pools.

Lisa Nowak Update

Here's just an update on Lisa Nowak. NASA fired Nowak a month after she was charged with trying to kidnap a woman. NASA claims that Nowak's dismissal did not reflect the space agency's belief in her guilt or innocence, but because she is a naval officer on assignment to NASA. Instead of working for NASA, she will return to the military.

Germany Plans a Moon Mission

Germany plans an unmanned flight to the moon by 2013. The aim is to put a probe into orbit around the moon to chart the entire surface and provide indications of significant geological formations that could later be of interest for drilling. In addition, the probe will also investigate the moon's magnetic fields, look for water and analyse the minerals on its surface. Currently, the US is developing a spacecraft for manned light to the moon in order to build an astronaut station as a staging point for missions to Mars. With Germany increasing it's technology, it may be possible that Germany will become involved with this at a later date.

Too much money spent on Mars?

This article is really interesting because it looks at the financial issues that can sometimes limit how much space exploration we can really accomplish. Even though we know how to find "killer asteroids" we simply don't have the money to carry out of the necessary studies. It made me think about how much money we spend looking for life on Mars when the life on this planet could be in grave danger.

Delayed Shuttle Launch

NASA set a goal of flying 5 missions this year, but after a hail storm last week the external tank on the shuttle, which has caused so many problems in the past, needs to be examined and repaired. The foam on the ET has become potted due to the impact from the hail storm (see the link for a great photo). And NASA doesn't want to take any chances for repeating the Columbia disaster- when a piece of the foam on the ET damaged the shuttle during launch. Since then, the ET has been redesigned using less foam, and another version is currently in the works. However, the original launch scheduled for March 15 could be delayed as long as June making it seemingly impossible for NASA to accomplish it's 5 mission goal this year.

This article talks about how because there is such a weak magnetic field we are not likely to find any life on Mars because life on Mars would be obliterated by the cosmic rays. The neat thing is that it was presented by a student at UCLA in their planetarium which is not the normal venue for learning about a lack of life on Mars. The article talks about a wide range of information from comets being used to tranport life and is very interesting.

Look Beyond the Water

This article talks about how searching for water is not sufficient enough for finding life and that we need to search for some of the other essential molecule etc in order t find life. I think it is really interesting because Nasa has made a probe that will search for organic carbon.

Sensor for life

This article discusses a NASA-funded project developing a sensor to go to Mars to grind Martian soil into a fine powder and analyze it for amino acids. The Urey (Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector) is able to distinguish between 'right handed' and 'left handed' amino acids, and if a 50/50 mix between the two is found would probably indicate that Mars had/has no life while uniformity in one or the other could indicate life.

Is Mars' air hidden?

Maybe Mars does have a lot of air which makes up its atmosphere and maybe we just haven't found it yet. This article discusses a new hypothesis that although Mars lacks an atmosphere to our current knowledge, in the future we could discover that the atmosphere is merely hidden within the planet.

Mine Bacteria

Ancient bacteria found at the bottom of gold mines in South Africa suggests that there could be life below the surface of Mars. The published study claims that the microbes appeared to have survived for tens of millions of years living on hydrogen and sulphate, not oxygen. A geosciences professor at Princeton University said that the "bacteria- which are completely unknown and have no name or recognisable origin" live in conditions that are similar to those on Mars.

After testing at some of the harshest climates on earth, including the Atacama Desert in Chile, urey, a new sensor for detecting life, has been selected to go to Mars. This instrument will be more powerful than any sent so far, and will be able to detect more sensitively for life on Mars as well as if products were produced by living organisms. Urey is expected to launch in 2013 aboard the European Space Agencies ExoMars rover.