Great Image: The Curiosity Rover From Above

In the image above from earlier this month, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is looking down on Mars' surface and caught a shot of the Curiosity Rover as it explored the surface of the planet.  Here is the story from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory: 

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover and tracks from its driving are visible in this view from orbit, acquired on April 11, 2014, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The rover is near the largest butte in the lower left quadrant of the image, at about a two o'clock position relative to the butte. It appears bright blue in the exaggerated color of this image.

The multi-layered location filling much of the left half of this image is called "the Kimberley." Curiosity's science team chose it, based on other HiRISE images, as a potential gold mine for the rover mission. Black gold, that is, as organic material that, if found at the Kimberley could be a biomarker (sign of past life) -- the holy grail of Mars exploration.

Curiosity entered the area included in this image on March 12, along the tracks visible near the upper left corner. The distance between parallel wheel tracks is about 9 feet (2.7 meters). The area included in the image is about 1,200 feet (about 365 meters) wide. This view is an enhanced-color product from HiRISE observation ESP_036128_1755, available at the HiRISE website at http://uahirise.org/releases/msl-kimberley.php. The exaggerated color, to make differences in Mars surface materials more apparent, makes Curiosity appear bluer than the rover really looks. A stereo view combining information from this observation with topography derived from earlier HiRISE observations, for a three-dimensional appearance, is at PIA18082.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Kepler-186f: Finding the Needle in a Haystack of Data

The recent announcement that Kepler located an Earth-like planet 500 light years away was the product of detailed research on a trove of data collected during Kepler's lifetime.  Kepler-186f is similar to the size of Earth and within its star's habitable zone. The planet's sun is a dwarf star located in the constellation Cygnus.  The star is smaller than our sun and provides only about 1/3 the heat of our sun. A year on Kepler-186f, which is about 1.1 times the radius of the Earth, is about 130 days.

The full story can be found in Science magazine in a report titled "An Earth-Sized Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Cool Star."  Pretty straight forward like those all blue paintings titled "Blue."  The report abstract is a little more detailed:

The quest for Earth-like planets is a major focus of current exoplanet research. Although planets that are Earth-sized and smaller have been detected, these planets reside in orbits that are too close to their host star to allow liquid water on their surfaces. We present the detection of Kepler-186f, a 1.11 ± 0.14 Earth-radius planet that is the outermost of five planets, all roughly Earth-sized, that transit a 0.47 ± 0.05 solar-radius star. The intensity and spectrum of the star’s radiation place Kepler-186f in the stellar habitable zone, implying that if Kepler-186f has an Earth-like atmosphere and water at its surface, then some of this water is likely to be in liquid form.

It is possible that more such exoplanets may emerge from Kepler's archived data as scientists sift through the information.  While Kepler's original mission may have ended last year, the scientific community has plenty of data to play with for years to come.  It reminds me of archaeology, where digging can be the easy part while cataloging the find an putting together the various pieces takes many more years as association with other artifacts takes place and theories are confirmed.  

In a press release, NASA noted that we are not necessarily looking at a twin Earth but more likely a distant cousin:

 "Being in the habitable zone does not mean we know this planet is habitable. The temperature on the planet is strongly dependent on what kind of atmosphere the planet has," said Thomas Barclay, research scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute at Ames, and co-author of the paper. "Kepler-186f can be thought of as an Earth-cousin rather than an Earth-twin. It has many properties that resemble Earth."

Of course Kepler-186f is not the most interesting name.  Late night host Craig Ferguson had his own ideas recently, noting "I think we have to be more creative...This planet is big and old and surrounded by stars a fraction of its age.  Why don't we call it George Clooney."  Okay, maybe Mr. Ferguson can work on his astronomy and we can keep trying on the name.

Image Credit:  NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-CalTech

More Great Television on the Cosmos

So far I am enjoying the Fox/National Geographic update on Carl Sagan's Cosmos, though the commercials can be somewhat annoying when you are in the middle of an interesting discussion.  For instance, during the first episode, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson was telling the story about the Roman Catholic Church's persecution of Giordano Bruno when a commercial break pops up to sell the movie Noah.  That is not something you would see on PBS.  I think I would rather download the program and watch it without such interuptions.

That said, Dr. Tyson has done a good job updating the old Cosmos and paying respect to Carl Sagan in the first few episodes, even noting his meeting with Dr. Sagan and revisiting some of the same iconic locations made famous in the first series. 

What surprised me when I re-watched the first episode of the original Cosmos was how it was at the very edge of new discoveries in 1981.  Dr. Sagan discussed the Viking rovers on Mars in 1976, the discovery of rings surrounding Uranus in 1977, the discovery of Pluto's moon Charon in 1978, and the sighting of lightening on the dark side of Jupiter in 1979.  The solar system was just opening up to us when the show was first broadcast. 

And another part of the show was his concern for humanity's future that ran through the original Cosmos, which made sense then with the Cold War and could be mentioned again with the Russians acting up again.  Dr. Sagan also mourns the loss of the great library of Alexandria, noting the lost knowledge and thousands of years it took us to regain this knowledge.  Of course, I also saw some hopeful items that were not part of the first episode of the new series.  For instance, the program gives us a view of potential civilizations on other planets in the Milky Way, which as before we even discovered the existence of any planets around other suns.

And I would like to make a plug for another terrific series that covers the Cosmos - Wonders of the Universe with Dr. Brian Cox.  Similar to his earlier Wonders of the Solar System, Dr. Cox is a great story-teller that makes science come alive.  And he too discusses our place in this vast cosmos and notes in the first episode that we are at the very beginning of a universe that will last for trillions of years.  All of it is awe-inspiring.  And one interesting bit of information:  at the age of 12, Dr. Cox read Carl Sagan's book Cosmos and this inspired him to become a physicist.  I expect his own program will do the same for other young viewers. 

Away from the Politics II: Discoveries in the Solar System

The past few weeks have been full of announcements on discoveries within our solar system.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Subsurface Lake on Enceladus:  NASA's Cassini probe has identified a reservoir of water on Saturn's moon (shown above in comparison to our own Moon) that is 19 to 25 miles thick, or equivalent to the water in one of the Great Lakes (I have read comparisons to either Lake Erie or Lake Superior).  What does this mean?  NASA stated: "The subsurface ocean evidence supports the inclusion of Enceladus among the most likely places in our solar system to host microbial life."  Interesting indeed.

• An Asteroid with Rings:  Rings were found around an asteroid named Chariklo, which orbits in the outer solar system between Saturn and Uranus.  Chariklo is one of the larger objects in that region being about 155 miles across. This is the first non-planetary body in our solar system we have identified with its own rings.

• New Icy Object Beyond the Kuiper Belt:  Astronomers have spotted a new object now labeled 2012VP113 (not very dramatic) that orbits outside the Kuiper Belt, which contains Pluto.  We already know that dwarf planet Sedna is out in those reaches.  This raises some interesting questions.  The Sydney Morning Herald reports this could indicate something is pulling these ice objects out that far, such as undiscovered giant planet or maybe a passing star from long ago. 

Away from the Politics: More on the Big Bang

While the U.S. and Russia have been tussling on a variety of issues, some solid science has been going on unabated.  For instance, last month the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced the discovery of gravitational waves formed when the universe was a trillionth of a trillionth of a second old.  While I cannot really wrap my head around the particulars, this discovery (if successfully duplicated by others) could further confirm the theory of cosmic inflation, or the idea of rapid expansion of the universe in the first 380,000 years of its existence.  I found a nice scientific cartoon (really) that walks us through these ideas at PhD Comics.  And here is the March 17th video from the Center with the scientific announcement.

The research itself involved scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the University of Minnesota, while the observations themselves were made at the BICEP2 telescope near the South Pole. 

NASA Ends Connections with Russia

It was only a matter of time.  NASA has decided to end contact with the Russians on most space ventures with the exception of the International Space Station (ISS), which makes sense since they are our only ride to the station at the moment.  We may want to make a point, but we are not foolish enough to jeopardize a $100 billion station.

According to MSN News, the leaked NASA memo stated:

NASA employees can't travel to Russia or host visitors until further notice. They're also barred from emailing or holding teleconferences with their Russian counterparts because of Russia's actions in Ukraine...

The picture above may be the last American-Russian family photo for awhile.  The current ISSExpedition 39 crew members pictured on the front row are Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata (right), commander; and NASA astronaut Steve Swanson, flight engineer. Pictured from the left (back row) are Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Tyurin and NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, all flight engineers.

Photo credit: NASA

Elon Musk on 60 Minutes - More Than Rockets

Sunday night's 60 Minutes had a nice piece on Elon Musk's efforts as a carmaker and rocket builder.  The uncertain nature of his initial ventures and astounding success in the face of critics is impressive.  We have all heard of the success of SpaceX, but his efforts with Telsa are also impressive.  It is amazing that $60,000 to $100,000 electric cars are selling so well, but the real story is his attempts to do something new, change perceptions, and then bring down the price for the average American.

Here is part of the conversation on Sunday night, which shows Mr. Musk's willingness to learn but may make investors wary:

Scott Pelley: How did you figure you were going to start a car company and be successful at it?

Elon Musk: Well, I didn't really think Tesla would be successful. I thought we would most likely fail. But I thought that we at least could address the false perception that people have that an electric car had to be ugly and slow and boring like a golf cart.

Scott Pelley: But you say you didn't expect the company to be successful? Then why try?

Elon Musk: If something's important enough you should try. Even if you -- the probable outcome is failure.

The Telsa Model S was the Motor Trend 2013 Car of the Year, with the magazine noting:

The 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year is one of the quickest American four-doors ever built. It drives like a sports car, eager and agile and instantly responsive. But it's also as smoothly effortless as a Rolls-Royce, can carry almost as much stuff as a Chevy Equinox, and is more efficient than a Toyota Prius. Oh, and it'll sashay up to the valet at a luxury hotel like a supermodel working a Paris catwalk. By any measure, the Tesla Model S is a truly remarkable automobile, perhaps the most accomplished all-new luxury car since the original Lexus LS 400. That's why it's our 2013 Car of the Year.

Even with this success, Mr. Musk still faces problems distributing his cars in some states. For instance, New Jersey may take away Telsa's license to sell cars directly to customers and bypass dealerships.  Then again, he has faced even greater challenges in the past and won.