Two Steps Forward In The Search For Life On Mars
Two Steps Forward in the Search for Life on Mars
We haven’t found aliens but we are a little further along in our search for life on Mars thanks to two recent discoveries from our Curiosity Rover.
We detected organic molecules at the harsh surface of Mars! And what’s important about this is we now have a lot more certainty that there’s organic molecules preserved at the surface of Mars. We didn’t know that before.
One of the discoveries is we found organic molecules just beneath the surface of Mars in 3 billion-year-old sedimentary rocks.
Second, we’ve found seasonal variations in methane levels in the atmosphere over 3 Mars years (nearly 6 Earth years). These two discoveries increase the chances that the record of habitability and potential life has been preserved on the Red Planet despite extremely harsh conditions on the surface.
Both discoveries were made by our chem lab that rides aboard the Curiosity rover on Mars.
Here’s an image from when we installed the SAM lab on the rover. SAM stands for “Sample Analysis at Mars” and SAM did two things on Mars for this discovery.
One - it tested Martian rocks. After the arm selects a sample of pulverized rock, it heats up that sample and sends that gas into the chamber, where the electron stream breaks up the chemicals so they can be analyzed.
What SAM found are fragments of large organic molecules preserved in ancient rocks which we think come from the bottom of an ancient Martian lake. These organic molecules are made up of carbon and hydrogen, and can include other elements like nitrogen and oxygen. That’s a possible indicator of ancient life…although non-biological processes can make organic molecules, too.
The other action SAM did was ‘sniff’ the air.
When it did that, it detected methane in the air. And for the first time, we saw a repeatable pattern of methane in the Martian atmosphere. The methane peaked in the warm, summer months, and then dropped in the cooler, winter months.
On Earth, 90 percent of methane is produced by biology, so we have to consider the possibility that Martian methane could be produced by life under the surface. But it also could be produced by non-biological sources. Right now, we don’t know, so we need to keep studying the Mars!
One of our upcoming Martian missions is the InSight lander. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core.
Finding methane in the atmosphere and ancient carbon preserved on the surface gives scientists confidence that our Mars 2020 rover and ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) ExoMars rover will find even more organics, both on the surface and in the shallow subsurface.
Read the full release on today’s announcement HERE.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
More Posts from Alexschi and Others
Science-Heavy SpaceX Dragon Headed to Space Station
Heads up: a new batch of science is headed to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Dragon on April 2, 2018. Launching from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a Falcon 9 rocket, this fire breathing (well, kinda…) spacecraft will deliver science that studies thunderstorms on Earth, space gardening, potential pathogens in space, new ways to patch up wounds and more.
Let’s break down some of that super cool science heading 250 miles above Earth to the orbiting laboratory:
Sprites and Elves in Space
Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) experiment will survey severe thunderstorms in Earth’s atmosphere and upper-atmospheric lightning, or transient luminous events.
These include sprites, flashes caused by electrical break-down in the mesosphere; the blue jet, a discharge from cloud tops upward into the stratosphere; and ELVES, concentric rings of emissions caused by an electromagnetic pulse in the ionosphere.
Here’s a graphic showing the layers of the atmosphere for reference:
Metal Powder Fabrication
Our Sample Cartridge Assembly (MSL SCA-GEDS-German) experiment will determine underlying scientific principles for a fabrication process known as liquid phase sintering, in microgravity and Earth-gravity conditions.
Science term of the day: Liquid phase sintering works like building a sandcastle with just-wet-enough sand; heating a powder forms interparticle bonds and formation of a liquid phase accelerates this solidification, creating a rigid structure. But in microgravity, settling of powder grains does not occur and larger pores form, creating more porous and distorted samples than Earth-based sintering.
Sintering has many applications on Earth, including metal cutting tools, automotive engine connecting rods, and self-lubricating bearings. It has potential as a way to perform in-space fabrication and repair, such as building structures on the moon or creating replacement parts during extraterrestrial exploration.
Plants in space! It’s l[a]unch time!
Understanding how plants respond to microgravity and demonstrating reliable vegetable production in space represent important steps toward the goal of growing food for future long-duration missions. The Veggie Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System (Veggie PONDS) experiment will test a passive nutrient delivery system in the station’s Veggie plant growth facility by cultivating lettuce and mizuna greens for harvest and consumption on orbit.
The PONDS design features low mass and low maintenance, requires no additional energy, and interfaces with the Veggie hardware, accommodating a variety of plant types and growth media.
Quick Science Tip: Download the Plant Growth App to grow your own veggies in space! Apple users can download the app HERE! Android users click HERE!
Testing Materials in Space
The Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility (MISSE-FF) experiment will provide a unique platform for testing how materials, coatings and components react in the harsh environment of space.
A continuation of a previous experiment, this version’s new design eliminates the need for astronauts to perform spacewalks for these investigations. New technology includes power and data collection options and the ability to take pictures of each sample on a monthly basis, or more often if required. The testing benefits a variety of industries, including automotive, aeronautics, energy, space, and transportation.
New Ways to Develop Drugs in Space
Microgravity affects movement and effectiveness of drugs in unique ways. Microgravity studies already have resulted in innovative medicines to treat cancer, for example. The Metabolic Tracking investigation determines the possibility of developing improved drugs in microgravity, using a new method to test the metabolic impacts of drug compounds. This could lead to more effective, less expensive drugs.
Follow @ISS_Research on Twitter for your daily dose of nerdy, spacey goodness.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
sketchviews Carlos Almeida
Aluminum House in Madrid
Casa de Aluminio (Aluminum House) by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos sits on a site surrounded by gardens and tall trees within the city of Madrid, Spain. The metallic finish and horizontal proportions help minimize the scale of the house which sits like a jewel in a site bound by nature.
You can also see previous features of Fran Silvestre Arquitectos work following the links:
Casa del Acantilado
Casa del Atrio
Casa Balint
Casa en la Ladera de un Castillo
Social Housing
I have received a lot of follow up questions and comments to my post about social housing and my opinion that vertical social housing is a dying typology including:
What is Vertical Social Housing? Google didn’t return anything obviously useful.
Hi, different anon, but what impact are you referring to when it comes to vertical social housing?
A dying typology? You are wrong
What is Social Housing? Social housing is affordable housing. A key function of social housing is to provide accommodation that is affordable to people on low incomes. Limits to rent increases set by law mean that rents are kept affordable.
Vertical Social Housing brings up images of identical towers like the Pruitt–Igoe complex which was composed of 33 buildings of 11 stories each, located on St. Louis. Its demolition was one of the first demolitions of modernist architecture; postmodern architectural historian Charles Jencks called its destruction “the day Modern architecture died." Its failure is often seen as a direct indictment of the society-changing aspirations of the International school of architecture. [via]
In the United States, policies included "urban renewal” and building of large scale vertical social housing projects. Urban renewal demolished entire neighborhoods in many inner cities to accommodate these projects as a solution to the lack of affordable housing; but in many ways, it was a cause of urban decay rather than a remedy.
This type of architecture segregated and isolated its residents from the cities around them. Effectively trapping them in buildings that quickly deteriorated because of poor maintenance and overcrowding. Like in every typology you find some successful examples but many of these projects have been demolished to be replaced by low rise urban infill projects. The idea is to thread social housing into the tapestry of the city instead of creating isolated pockets.
You can read more on how cities have tried to redirect their efforts to provide affordable housing in books like Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival and American Project.
Architecture should not reinforce the old stigma of living in social housing, and architects should find the joy in tight budgets, limited briefs, and seemingly mundane programs.
Here are some recent successful examples of low-rise social housing:
Le Lorrain – Brussels, Belgium
Honeycomb Apartments – Izola, Slovenia
Monterrey Housing – Nuevo León, Mexico
Vivazz, Mieres Social Housing – Asturias, Spain
Tête en l’air Social Housing – Paris, France
2/ 30 days of noirvember
The Third Man (1949)
Swing by the Perelman Building and check out “Mythography: Sources for Classical Myth,” on view in the Museum Library now through February 19. With a selection of classically-inspired works from the 1300s to the 1800s, the installation explores changing perspectives on the work of Homer and his peers.
“Homer, His Iliads,” translated by John Ogilby in 1660, engraving by Cornelis van Caukercken after Abraham van Diepenbeeck
Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery, has been on quite a journey since we met her in September 2010.
We first met her in the context of Downton Abbey’s changing fortunes. With the sudden death of her cousins James and Patrick on the ill-fated Titanic, the future of the estate is...
snapchat /add/ nextarch Standing still #minimalmood #mindtheminimal #ig_minimalshots #minimalist #minimalismo #igerstoronto #toronto #torontoclx #mycity #citylife #rustlord_archdesign #urbanromantix #harmonyoflight #ptk_architecture photo by @mariamollard #next_top_architects #nextarch
matizes
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