Life on Mars?

While Curiosity has had a few recent problems, it has already had great success with its intended mission.  Last month's rock sample from the Gale Crater indicates Mars could have supported life as far back as 3 billion years ago.  The sample included ingredients to life, including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon.  According to a NASA press release,

"A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "From what we know now, the answer is yes." 

It seems we have answered the $2.5 billion answer (the price tag of Curiosity).  So, what's next?  We know Mars had water and could have supported life.  Unfortunately, Curiosity is not equipped to actually detect life itself, so we may need to wait for another mission to do that.  It would be fascinating to learn that life existed on both Earth and Mars at the same time, or even that there is some relationship between life on each planet with one somehow seeding the other (or being jointly seeded in the same way, via a comet for example).  You can learn more about this mission via a NASA broadcast of a March 12th press conference on the rock analysis.

One of the next questions that needs to be "Can Mars support life in the future?"  We hear of government and private sector plans to visit the Red Planet, but nothing solid.  While the science continues on the surface of Mars, let's hope the planning for a future manned visit continues on the surface of Earth.  We have much to learn and much to do, but we need to keep that question in front of ourselves daily as we move forward with our exploration of space.

Curious Problems on Mars

SpaceX was not the only space mission dealing with problems last week.  The Mars rover Curiosity was also dealing with problems that delayed the mission for more than a week.  It appears a computer glitch in late February caused the rover to switch into safe mode.  Luckily, built-in redundancies were established for this type of scenario. Curiosity switched from Computer A to Computer B while repairs are underway.  Some memory loss was anticipated as a result of the computer problems.

And now a solar storm is approaching Mars, causing NASA to shut down the rover one more time.  Solar radiation may have also been the cause of the earlier computer glitch, so it makes sense to be safe.

Only last month had Curiosity started to collect its first Martian samples by drilling into the planet's surface (see image below), with NASA noting:

"The most advanced planetary robot ever designed is now a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars," said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. "This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August, another proud day for America." 

Hopefully, the mission will get back on track after these bumps.  

Great Image: Spirit on Mars

With all of the attention on Curiosity, we sometimes forget about the earlier Mars rover Spirit that was rolling around on the Red Planet's surface from 2004 to 2010 (when we lost communication).  Above is an 360-degree panoramic image from Spirit while nestled in its "Winter Haven."  Below is the rest of the story from NASA:

This 360-degree view, called the "McMurdo" panorama, comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. From April through October 2006, Spirit stayed on a small hill known as "Low Ridge." There, the rover's solar panels were tilted toward the sun to maintain enough solar power for Spirit to keep making scientific observations throughout the winter on southern Mars. This view of the surroundings from Spirit's "Winter Haven" is presented in approximately true color.

The Pancam began shooting component images of this panorama during the 814th Martian day, or sol, of Spirit's work on Mars (April 18, 2006) and completed the part shown here on Sol 980 (Oct. 5, 2006).

This beautiful scene reveals a tremendous amount of detail in Spirit's surroundings. Many dark, porous-textured volcanic rocks can be seen around the rover, including many on Low Ridge. Two rocks to the right of center, brighter and smoother-looking in this image and more reflective in infrared observations by Spirit's miniature thermal emission spectrometer, are thought to be meteorites. On the right, "Husband Hill" on the horizon, the rippled "El Dorado" sand dune field near the base of that hill, and lighter-toned "Home Plate" below the dunes provide context for Spirit's travels from mid-2005 to early 2006.

Left of center, tracks and a trench dug by Spirit's right-front wheel, which could no longer rotate, exposed bright underlying material. This bright material is evidence of sulfur-rich salty minerals in the subsurface, providing clues about the watery past of this part of Gusev Crater.
A version of the McMurdo panorama without the rover deck, but including a supplemental figure with landscape features labeled, is at PIA01907.

Great Accomplishments in 2012

Before we get too far into 2012, I wanted to highlight some of the great space-related achievements from last year.  While there were many noteworthy events, a few come to mind as setting the stage for years to come.  Here are four that I have selected.

-- SpaceX:  The company's successful resupply mission to the International Space Station has created a new relationship between the U.S. space program and the private sector.  Today private companies are in a position to replace NASA for routine missions.  The question now is whether they someday supplant NASA.

-- Higgs Bosom:  The discovery of this mysterious particle explaining most of the universe will keep scientists busy for years.  Brian Cox, the English professor and particle physicist, stated in The Guardian:

The hubristic nature of daring to imagine it, of daring to say: "This is how I think the universe works", is truly brilliant. It's difficult for anyone to get their head around – it's only a century ago that Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus. We didn't even know that atoms existed 150 years ago. This will speed up our understanding of the universe rapidly.

-- Voyager Exiting the Solar System:  The two Voyager spacecraft are crossing the border between home and the unknown as they exited our solar system and began a new journey.  They are still part of the protecting heliosphere of our system, but not for much longer. What is amazing beyond this feat is that we can still communicate with both spacecraft 35 years after their launch. According to NASA, the signal from Voyager 1 takes approximately 17 hours to travel to Earth. The durability of these craft and ingenuity of our space program is pretty amazing. 

-- Curiosity on Mars:  The successful landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars was a solid accomplishment for NASA and mankind.  With its cluster of sophisticated instruments, we have a chance to learn much more about the Red Planet and its origins.  With the success of Curiosity, NASA is planning a second rover.  Nothing breeds optimism (and duplication) like success. 

Update:  Scientific American released its own list of Top 10 Science Stories of 2012.  We certainly agree on many topics.

Science Friday: Mars Contamination

Last month NPR's Science Friday program had an interesting story on the Curiosity mission, noting how the craft may have been contaminated prior to its launch.  Specifically, the program noted that part of Curiosity's drill may have been exposed to microbes on Earth before the rover launched to Mars. 

During the broadcast, Catharine Conley, NASA’s planetary protection officer, walks the listener through NASA sterilization procedures, as well as the risk to the Mars mission.  The bottom line is that Ms. Conley is troubled by sloppy procedures but not too concerned about the mission since Gale Crater is not expected to have any water or ice, which would be subject to Earth contamination.

Another piece on the matter from The Christian Science Monitor notes:

“Water or ice near the surface in Gale Crater was not a significant probability,” said David Lavery, program executive for solar system exploration at NASA headquarters. “We weighed that against the risks of not having a bit mounted in the drill prior to launch, and the specter of not being able to drill any holes at all on Mars.”

“Of course, there is always a possibility that Mars will surprise us,” Lavery said.

Given the significant investment and hopes related to this mission, it would have been best to follow procedure and not jeopardize any aspect of the critical science.  Hopefully, NASA made the right decision.  The Monitor article goes on to state:

Conley’s predecessor at NASA, John D. Rummel, a professor of biology at East Carolina University, said, partly in jest: “It will be a sad day for NASA if they do detect ice or water. That’s because the Curiosity project will most likely be told, ‘Gee, that’s nice. Now turn around.'"

I recommend subscribing to the Science Friday podcast.  You will also be able to tap into other great Mars stories such as:

-- Martian Lab Made in Manhattan (Aug. 10, 2012):  

Curiosity carries one of the most "complicated instruments ever to land on the surface of another planet," according to NASA. The rover's  "Sample Analysis at Mars" -- which can take dirt and crushed rock from the Red Planet and analyze those samples for indicators of alien life -- was partly built in the Big Apple by Honeybee Robotics. Flora Lichtman got a tour of the facility.

-- Mars Excitement: Back to the Future (Aug. 08, 2012):

The excitement about the first pictures of Mars' surface coming back from the Curiosity mission to Mars is déjà vu all over again. I recall being at Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the Viking missions to Mars back in the mid 1970s and feeling the joy and exhilaration of seeing the first pictures ever sent back to Earth from another planet when Viking 1 touched down in July 1976. Think about it: The first pictures ever sent back from the surface of another planet! 

-- Carl Sagan's Welcome to Mars (Aug. 08, 2012):

Shortly before his death in 1996, astronomer and science broadcaster Carl Sagan recorded a message for future Mars explorers:

"Maybe we’re on Mars because of the magnificent science that can be done there — the gates of the wonder world are opening in our time. Maybe we’re on Mars because we have to be, because there’s a deep nomadic impulse built into us by the evolutionary process — we come, after all, from hunter-gatherers, and for 99.9% of our tenure on Earth we’ve been wanderers. And the next place to wander to is Mars. But whatever the reason you’re on Mars is, I’m glad you’re there. And I wish I was with you."

Another Curiosity Landing Simulation

Just as astronomy has benefited from private citizens scanning the heavens with their own telescopes or offering some of their computer capacity to search for extraterrestrial life, private citizens are now assisting with videos and other media to make the space achievements more dramatic for the public.  I provided one example last month from Andrew Bodrov, and this month we have Bard Canning's painstakingly created "Curiosity Descent" covering Curiosity's landing on the Martian surface.  This video covers events from the heat shield separation all the way to the landing and Curiosity's panning the landscape.  A separate video shows how Mr. Cannin was able to create the video.  It's a fun presentation  And while it is not science, but rather a simulation (I covered NASA's pre-landing simulation earlier), it can only bring greater attention to NASA's amazing adventure.

In an interview, Mr. Canning stated:

My aim with this video was to bring the wonder of the Mars Science Laboratory mission to a wider audience.  To this end, I had to make the video a little more ‘Hollywood’ than its previous incarnations. I expected some backlash for this, but as you can see, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

A Fitting Tribute to Ray Bradbury

NASA has decided to name the Curiosity landing site after Ray Bradbury, making the announcement on August 22nd, the day that would have been the author's 92nd birthday.  Called "Bradbury Landing," the author now has a permanent spot on the Red Planet many years after penning The Martian Chronicles. 

In the NASA press release, Michael Meyer, NASA program scientist for Curiosity, stated,

This was not a difficult choice for the science team...Many of us and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars.

I think this quote from Mr. Bradbury applies to many things, but certainly our latest adventure with curiosity:

Americans are far more remarkable than we give ourselves credit for. We've been so busy damning ourselves for years. We've done it all, and yet we don't take credit for it.

Curiosity Panorama from Mars

Take a look at this panoramic shot of the Martian surface put together by Andrew Bodrov.  It works best on an iPad or similar device.  I was wondering how Mr. Bodrov was able to do this until I read an explanation from NPR:

Earlier today, we published a panorama that purported to be stitched together from images taken by the NASA Mars rover Curiosity. Since that time, we have learned that the author of the panorama has said he used Adobe Photoshop to add a sun to the sky. According to Talking Points Memo, Andrew Bodrov used images from a 2005 Mars rover to approximate the size and appearance of the sun.

Mr. Bodrov's creativity, and contribution, is impressive.

NASA Adminstrator's Jobs Report

Just as President Obama used the successful landing of Curiosity to sell the merits of a private sector space program, which really had nothing to do with the mission at hand, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden made sure to use his second paragraph to sell the jobs created by NASA, stated to be about 7,000 positions in 31 states.  This is also how we push Department of Defense programs that we do not really need but keep certain legislators in their own jobs.

Luckily, the statements contained a little bit of vision as well for those who want a space program for learning about space itself.  First, the United States intends to send humans to Mars in 2030, of course a date so comfortably in the distance that we do not really need to fund it under this administration.  A more near term goal is next year's mission involving the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter (pictured below).  According to NASA,

Scientists will use MAVEN data to determine the role that loss of volatile compounds—such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and water—from the Mars atmosphere to space has played through time, giving insight into the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability.

This week's successful Mars mission makes future missions to the Red Planet more likely as it proves American know-how and garners more interest in all things Martian.  Let's cheer this week and push for even more starting next week. Mars awaits!

Here is the full statement by the Administrator: 

NASA is back on Mars – and getting ready for the next mission to the Red Planet! After an astounding 352 million mile journey and a harrowing landing that demonstrated cutting-edge technology, Curiosity, the largest rover ever sent to another planet, is in place and ready to work. This robotic laboratory will seek answers to one of humanity’s oldest questions as it investigates whether conditions have favored development of microbial life on the Red Planet. The mission is a critical planetary science mission -- and a precursor to sending humans to the Red Planet in the 2030’s, a goal set forth by President Obama. 

It’s another great leadership moment for our nation and a sign of the continued strength of NASA’s many programs in science, aeronautics and human spaceflight. It’s also important to remember that the $2.5 billion investment made in this project was not spent on Mars, but right here on Earth, supporting more than 7,000 jobs in at least 31 states.

With the retirement of the Shuttle program after its final flight in July 2011, some have suggested that NASA’s leadership in the exploration of space, including our extraordinary successes on Mars, was coming to an end. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Curiosity mission is only the latest in a long list of extraordinary NASA missions that established the United States as the undisputed world leader, and it will help guarantee that remains the case for many years to come.
When our Orion deep space crew vehicle takes its first test flight in 2014, it will travel farther into space than any spacecraft designed for humans has flown in the 40 years since our astronauts returned from the moon. 

In 2017, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, will launch Orion. 

We also reached a critically important milestone in May when SpaceX became the first private company to send a spacecraft -- the Dragon cargo capsule -- to the International Space Station and return it with cargo intact. This successful mission ushered in a new era in spaceflight -- and signaled a new way of doing business for NASA. And just a few days ago, we announced the next step in the Obama Administration’s aggressive plan to once again launch our astronauts from U.S. soil on spacecraft built by American companies. 

As part of our commitment to maintain American leadership in the exploration of Mars beyond the Curiosity mission, NASA will launch the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter next year. Earlier this year, I directed NASA’s science mission director, along with the head of human exploration, Chief Technologist, and Chief Scientist to develop a more integrated strategy to ensure that the next steps for Mars exploration will support the nation’s planetary science objectives as well as our human exploration goals. They are looking at many options, including another robotic mission to land on Mars in this decade. 

I am so proud of the NASA team that has made tonight’s challenging milestone possible. However, tomorrow we begin to plan for the next great challenge -- and start compiling incredible scientific data from Curiosity. For the past 50 years, NASA has specialized in doing the hard things. Thanks to the ingenuity of our teams across America and the world, we are poised for even greater success.

More Curosity Photos From Mars

NASA's Curiosity continues to send fascinating photos of the journey ahead.  Below is a shot of the distant rim of Gale Crater. 

 And below is a photo of the landing site with the various mission pieces scattered throughout the area.

 Here is NASA's description of the scene above:

The four main pieces of hardware that arrived on Mars with NASA's Curiosity rover were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image about 24 hours after landing. The large, reduced-scale image points out the strewn hardware: the heat shield was the first piece to hit the ground, followed by the back shell attached to the parachute, then the rover itself touched down, and finally, after cables were cut, the sky crane flew away to the northwest and crashed. Relatively dark areas in all four spots are from disturbances of the bright dust on Mars, revealing the darker material below the surface dust.

Success: Curiosity Lands on Mars

We can all breath easy now.  Curiosity is safe and sound on the surface of Mars, landing earlier this morning.  To the right you can see Curiosity's first photo from the Red Planet.  NASA states, 

[The photo] was taken through a "fisheye" wide-angle lens on the left "eye" of a stereo pair of Hazard-Avoidance cameras on the left-rear side of the rover. The image is one-half of full resolution. The clear dust cover that protected the camera during landing has been sprung open. Part of the spring that released the dust cover can be seen at the bottom right, near the rover's wheel. 

Here is the statement by President Obama on the landing:

Tonight, on the planet Mars, the United States of America made history. 

The successful landing of Curiosity – the most sophisticated roving laboratory ever to land on another planet – marks an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future. It proves that even the longest of odds are no match for our unique blend of ingenuity and determination.

Tonight’s success, delivered by NASA, parallels our major steps forward towards a vision for a new partnership with American companies to send American astronauts into space on American spacecraft. That partnership will save taxpayer dollars while allowing NASA to do what it has always done best – push the very boundaries of human knowledge. And tonight’s success reminds us that our preeminence – not just in space, but here on Earth – depends on continuing to invest wisely in the innovation, technology, and basic research that has always made our economy the envy of the world.

I congratulate and thank all the men and women of NASA who made this remarkable accomplishment a reality – and I eagerly await what Curiosity has yet to discover. 

This is a proud day for NASA.  I am not sure why the President felt it was necessary to align the success with his private sector vision.  Let's keep it simple.  Great job, NASA!

The Planetary Society is Having a Curiosity Party

The Planetary Society will be watching and hopefully celebrating the successful landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars next month.  You can join the Society members at Planetfest 2012, being held August 4th and 5th in Pasadena, CA.   The purpose of the gathering is pretty simple: 

Few space events carry the power of a Mars landing in real-time – experienced with a community of other people interested in space, and with experts describing the process as it unfolds.  It’s nail-biting time as the countdown nears – to the yet unknown success or failure of one of engineering’s greatest feats, a landing on an alien world.  Discussions and entertainment wrap around the actual landing, building excitement and also knowledge, especially for future explorers.

Other similar events are being held in other parts of the country.  Check here for the latest list.

Whether or not you can attend an event you can still watch Planetfest 2012 via webcast.  Wherever you might be, you will want to watch this historic event.

Curiosity Landing Takes Place Next Month

NASA's Curiosity rover is scheduled to land on the surface of Mars on August 5th (at exactly 10:31 pm PT).  It will be nice to see more U.S. exploration of Mars, even if it is only a robotic mission.  Launched aboard an Atlas V on November 26, 2011, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the car-sized rover has been slowly making its way to the Red Planet these past seven and a half months.

NASA has put together a nice video called 7 Minutes of Terror describing the 7 minutes from the time the spacecraft carrying Curiosity hits the Martian atmosphere to the point of landing on the surface.  I would all it 8 months of terror given the complexity of the mission, but I am not writing the script.  Given the fact that the entire landing had to be perfectly choreographed long ago and will happen without any intervention from NASA once it starts, in some ways the mission is more amazing and complex than one including human intervention.  I away find these missions, be it landing on the surface of a planet to looping around the solar system for the perfect fly-by of a distant planet, to be a more spectacular demonstration of mankind's ability than the construction of the pyramids or Notre Dame. 

If all goes well, which is always a question when traveling to Mars (just ask the Russians), Curiosity will begin its two-year exploration of Gale Crater and the informally named Mount Sharp, described by NASA as follows:

Mount Sharp rises about 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the landing target on the crater floor, higher than Mount Rainier above Seattle, though broader and closer. It is not simply a rebound peak from the asteroid impact that excavated Gale Crater. A rebound peak may be at its core, but the mountain displays hundreds of flat-lying geological layers that may be read as chapters in a more complex history billions of years old.

Twice as tall as the sequence of colorful bands exposed in Arizona's Grand Canyon, the stack of layers in Mount Sharp results from changing environments in which layers are deposited, younger on top of older, eon after eon, and then partially eroded away.

A successful landing will be the start of a new period of exploration and hopefully offer new insights to the life of Mars and maybe even the likelihood of prior life on Mar.  One can also hope that this mission will renew interest in future trips to Mars, including a manned mission down the road.  It is worth recalling that Curiosity itself was planned before President Obama took office and quite possibly would not have been possible under this Administration.  Moreover, the United States has already pulled out of ExoMars, another Mars mission planned with our European friends, forcing them to look to Russia for a reliable partner. Let's hope we can get past our current Earth-bound problems and reach for the stars (or at least neighboring planets) again.

Note:  Mount Sharp (shown below in terms of size) pays tribute to geologist Robert P. Sharp (1911-2004), a founder of planetary science, influential teacher of many current leaders in the field, and team member for NASA's first few Mars missions. Sharp taught geology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in Pasadena, from 1948 until past his retirement. Life magazine named him one of the 10 best college teachers in the nation.