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Sols 4161-4163: Double Contact Science
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Sols 4161-4163: Double Contact Science This image was taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4159 (2024-04-18 13:24:29 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSEarth planning date: Friday, April 19, 2024
Curiosity has a three-sol weekend plan coming up as it makes progress along the edge of upper Gediz Vallis ridge. We have observations planned to investigate multiple bedrock targets with interesting rippled textures, dark-toned float, and the ridge. With two contact science targets, lots of targeted and untargeted remote observations, and a drive scheduled, Curiosity will have a busy three-sol plan ahead!
On the first sol of the plan, we have two contact science bedrock targets for MAHLI and APXS to analyze. MAHLI will image these targets up close, and APXS will acquire spectra from the targets for analysis of their elemental compositions. One of these bedrock targets (“Florence Lake”) is light-toned with laminations and will be brushed first to remove the dust on its surface. The other contact science target (“Mist Falls”) is a block of unbrushed, light-toned bedrock with a rippled texture. MAHLI also has a rotational stereo observation of “Castle Rock Spire” (a light-toned block of bedrock) and observations of the REMS UV sensor. In addition to bedrock observations by MAHLI and APXS, ChemCam has a LIBS observation of dark-toned float target “Silver Peak” on the first sol of this plan. ChemCam will also acquire long-distance RMIs of the rim of upper Gediz Vallis ridge and Fascination Turret to document stratigraphy. Mastcam will acquire mosaics to document exposed bedding, Kukenan butte, and Pinnacle Ridge.
Observations of Pinnacle Ridge by Mastcam will complement the ChemCam long-distance RMI observation of it on the second sol of the plan. This sol also has a ChemCam LIBS observation of “Needle Lake” to document different degrees of erosion of bedrock across laminations and a ChemCam passive dark test. Mastcam will image the two LIBS targets and will also acquire several mosaics of “Pahoa Island”, “Quail Flat”, and “The Nose” to document light-toned laminated bedrock, ripple structures, and characteristics of a dark float rock, respectively. On the second sol Curiosity will drive away. The third sol of the plan features untargeted remote observations, including ChemCam Passive Sky activities, dust devil observations, and Mastcam tau measurements.
Written by Abigail Knight, Graduate Student at Washington University
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NASA Astronaut to Inspire Artemis Generation in Boston
April 22, 2024
NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, along with representatives from NASA and the International Space Station National Laboratory, will visit Boston on Wednesday, April 24, and Thursday, April 25, as part of the agency’s Destination Station to highlight research opportunities aboard the station.
Destination Station was created to educate the public and engage prospective researchers about the benefits, capabilities, and opportunities to use the space station. The space station has been continuously inhabited for more than 23 years, enabling more than 5,000 researchers to conduct more than 3,500 innovative experiments in the areas of biology and biotechnology, human health, space and physical science, and technology.
Throughout the week, NASA and the ISS National Lab will meet with a variety of academic institutions, business incubators, and private-sector companies with ties to the Boston community. During the visits, Bowen will provide perspectives on living and working in space.
Media who wish interview Bowen during the outreach events in Boston, should contact Kara Slaughter at kara.c.slaughter@nasa.gov or 281-483-5111.
Bowen was the first submarine officer selected to be a NASA astronaut. He most recently served as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission to the station where he was part of a six-month research mission, Expedition 69. He is a veteran of three space shuttle flights to the station, including STS-126, STS-132, and STS-133. Bowen has logged a total of 227 days in space and conducted 10 extravehicular activities in his career. His 10 spacewalks make him one of five humans who have conducted that many spacewalks and he is third on the all-time list for most cumulative spacewalking time. Bowen and the crews of Expedition 68 and 69 conducted more than 200 science experiments including tissue chip research, bioprinting human cells and tissues in space, and studying antibodies in microgravity. Bowen is a Massachusetts native and earned his bachelor’s degree from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and his master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
Over the years, NASA’s Destination Station has led to research collaborations aboard the orbiting laboratory with a variety of academic and commercial companies. This visit also is a prelude to the 13th annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference at the Boston Marriott Copley Square from July 29 – Aug. 1, 2024.
Learn more about the International Space Station and its crews at:
Discover the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory at:
https://www.issnationallab.org
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Kara Slaughter
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
NASA Invites Media to Learn About New Tech Mission Powered by the Sun
A new NASA mission is testing a new way to navigate our solar system by hoisting its sail into space – not to catch the wind, but the propulsive power of sunlight.
NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is led by the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The microwave oven-sized CubeSat is scheduled to launch aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand. The launch window opens at 3 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, April 23 (10 p.m. UTC). Successful deployment and operation of the solar sail’s lightweight composite booms will prove the capability and open the door to larger scale missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Once it arrives in its orbit, roughly 600 miles above Earth, the CubeSat will deploy a lightweight sunlight-powered composite solar sail system that measures more than 800 square feet. Much like a sailboat uses wind to traverse the ocean, the solar sail technology will use the pressure of sunlight to travel through space and perform a series of maneuvers to demonstrate orbit raising and lowering. Throughout the demonstration, the spacecraft may be visible to the naked eye in the night sky.
Media interested in scheduling an interview with one of the NASA Ames engineers involved with the development of the CubeSat should email the NASA Ames Office of Communications at arc-dl-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
A media resource reel including animated clips of the solar sail system is available here.
Get launch updates, breaking news, and images on the small satellites blog as well as NASA Ames’ Instagram, Facebook, and X.
For more information about NASA’s Ames Research Center, visit:
-end-
Rachel Hoover
Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif.
650-604-4789
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NASA Announces 30th Human Exploration Rover Challenge Winners
NASA announced the winners of the 30th Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) April 22, with Parish Episcopal School, from Dallas, winning first place in the high school division, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, capturing the college/university title.
The annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing challenges – held its concluding event April 19 and April 20, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The complete list of 2024 award winners is provided below:
High School Division
- First Place: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas
- Second Place: Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology, Reno, Nevada
- Third Place: Escambia High School, Pensacola, Florida
College/University Division
- First Place: University of Alabama in Huntsville
- Second Place: Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Third Place: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina
Ingenuity Award
- University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida
Phoenix Award
- High School Division: East Central High School, Moss Point, Mississippi
- College/University Division: North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota
Task Challenge Award
- High School Division: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado
- College/University Division: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota
Project Review Award
- High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas
- College/University Division: University of Alabama in Huntsville
Featherweight Award
- Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
Safety Award
- High School Division: NPS International School, Singapore
- College/University Division: Instituto Especializado de Estudios Superiores Loyola, San Cristobal, Dominican Republic
Crash and Burn Award
- KIET Group of Institutions, Delhi-NCR, India
Jeff Norris and Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Award
- High School Division: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado
- College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina
Team Spirit Award
- Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Most Improved Performance Award
- High School Division: Jesco von Puttkamer School, Leipzig, Germany
- College/University Division: Universidad Católica Boliviana – San Pablo, La Paz, Bolivia
Social Media Award
- High School Division: Bledsoe County High School, Pikeville, Tennessee
- College/University Division: Universidad de Piura, Peru
STEM Engagement Award
- High School Division: Princess Margaret Secondary School, Surrey, British Columbia
- College/University Division: Trine University, Angola, Indiana
Artemis Educator Award
- Sadif Safarov from Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Rookie of the Year
- Kanakia International School, Mumbai, India
More than 600 students with 72 teams from around the world participated as HERC celebrated its 30th anniversary as a NASA competition. Participating teams represented 42 colleges and universities and 30 high schools from 24 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 13 other nations from around the world. Teams were awarded points based on navigating a half-mile obstacle course, conducting mission-specific task challenges, and completing multiple safety and design reviews with NASA engineers.
“This student design challenge encourages the next generation of scientists and engineers to engage in the design process by providing innovative concepts and unique perspectives,” said Vemitra Alexander, HERC activity lead for NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. “While celebrating the 30th anniversary of the challenge, HERC also continues NASA’s legacy of providing valuable experiences to students who may be responsible for planning future space missions including crewed missions to other worlds.”
HERC is one of NASA’s eight Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis program, which seeks to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon while establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
HERC is managed by NASA’s Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated in HERC – with many former students now working at NASA, or within the aerospace industry.
To learn more about HERC, please visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/roverchallenge/home/index.html
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Gerelle Dodson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4637
gerelle.q.dodson@nasa.gov
Taylor Goodwin
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov
Scientists use AI to reconstruct energetic flare blasted from Milky Way's supermassive black hole
Will We Know if TRAPPIST-1e has Life?
The search for extrasolar planets is currently undergoing a seismic shift. With the deployment of the Kepler Space Telescope and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), scientists discovered thousands of exoplanets, most of which were detected and confirmed using indirect methods. But in more recent years, and with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the field has been transitioning toward one of characterization. In this process, scientists rely on emission spectra from exoplanet atmospheres to search for the chemical signatures we associate with life (biosignatures).
However, there’s some controversy regarding the kinds of signatures scientists should look for. Essentially, astrobiology uses life on Earth as a template when searching for indications of extraterrestrial life, much like how exoplanet hunters use Earth as a standard for measuring “habitability.” But as many scientists have pointed out, life on Earth and its natural environment have evolved considerably over time. In a recent paper, an international team demonstrated how astrobiologists could look for life on TRAPPIST-1e based on what existed on Earth billions of years ago.
The team consisted of astronomers and astrobiologists from the Global Systems Institute, and the Departments of Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics and Statistics, and Natural Sciences at the University of Exeter. They were joined by researchers from the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria and the Natural History Museum in London. The paper that describes their findings, “Biosignatures from pre-oxygen photosynthesizing life on TRAPPIST-1e,” will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
The TRAPPIST-1 system has been the focal point of attention ever since astronomers confirmed the presence of three exoplanets in 2016, which grew to seven by the following year. As one of many systems with a low-mass, cooler M-type (red dwarf) parent star, there are unresolved questions about whether any of its planets could be habitable. Much of this concerns the variable and unstable nature of red dwarfs, which are prone to flare activity and may not produce enough of the necessary photons to power photosynthesis.
With so many rocky planets found orbiting red dwarf suns, including the nearest exoplanet to our Solar System (Proxima b), many astronomers feel these systems would be the ideal place to look for extraterrestrial life. At the same time, they’ve also emphasized that these planets would need to have thick atmospheres, intrinsic magnetic fields, sufficient heat transfer mechanisms, or all of the above. Determining if exoplanets have these prerequisites for life is something that the JWST and other next-generation telescopes – like the ESO’s proposed Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) – are expected to enable.
But even with these and other next-generation instruments, there is still the question of what biosignatures we should look for. As noted, our planet, its atmosphere, and all life as we know it have evolved considerably over the past four billion years. During the Archean Eon (ca. 4 to 2.5 billion years ago), Earth’s atmosphere was predominantly composed of carbon dioxide, methane, and volcanic gases, and little more than anaerobic microorganisms existed. Only within the last 1.62 billion years did the first multi-celled life appear and evolve to its present complexity.
Moreover, the number of evolutionary steps (and their potential difficulty) required to get to higher levels of complexity means that many planets may never develop complex life. This is consistent with the Great Filter Hypothesis, which states that while life may be common in the Universe, advanced life may not. As a result, simple microbial biospheres similar to those that existed during the Archean could be the most common. The key, then, is to conduct searches that would isolate biosignatures consistent with primitive life and the conditions that were common to Earth billions of years ago.
This artistic conception illustrates large asteroids penetrating Earth’s oxygen-poor atmosphere. Credit: SwRI/Dan Durda/Simone MarchiAs Dr. Jake Eager-Nash, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Victoria and the lead author of the study, explained to Universe Today via email:
“I think the Earth’s history provides many examples of what inhabited exoplanets may look like, and it’s important to understand biosignatures in the context of Earth’s history as we have no other examples of what life on other planets would look like. During the Archean, when life is believed to have first emerged, there was a period of up to around a billion years before oxygen-producing photosynthesis evolved and became the dominant primary producer, oxygen concentrations were really low. So if inhabited planets follow a similar trajectory to Earth, they could spend a long time in a period like this without biosignatures of oxygen and ozone, so it’s important to understand what Archean-like biosignatures look like.”
For their study, the team crafted a model that considered Archean-like conditions and how the presence of early life forms would consume some elements while adding others. This yielded a model in which simple bacteria living in oceans consume molecules like hydrogen (H) or carbon monoxide (CO), creating carbohydrates as an energy source and methane (CH4) as waste. They then considered how gases would be exchanged between the ocean and atmosphere, leading to lower concentrations of H and CO and greater concentrations of CH4. Said Eager-Nash:
“Archean-like biosignatures are thought to require the presence of methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapor would be required as well as the absence of carbon monoxide. This is because water vapor gives you an indication there is water, while an atmosphere with both methane and carbon monoxide indicates the atmosphere is in disequilibrium, which means that both of these species shouldn’t exist together in the atmosphere as atmospheric chemistry would convert all of the one into the other, unless there is something, like life that maintains this disequilibrium. The absence of carbon monoxide is important as it is thought that life would quickly evolve a way to consume this energy source.”
Artist’s impression of Earth in the early Archean with a purplish hydrosphere and coastal regions. Even in this early period, life flourished and was gaining complexity. Credit: Oleg KuznetsovWhen the concentration of gases is higher in the atmosphere, the gas will dissolve into the ocean, replenishing the hydrogen and carbon monoxide consumed by the simple life forms. As biologically produced methane levels increase in the ocean, it will be released into the atmosphere, where additional chemistry occurs, and different gases are transported around the planet. From this, the team obtained an overall composition of the atmosphere to predict which biosignatures could be detected.
“What we find is that carbon monoxide is likely to be present in the atmosphere of an Archean-like planet orbiting an M-Dwarf,” said Eager-Nash. “This is because the host star drives chemistry that leads to higher concentrations of carbon monoxide compared to a planet orbiting the Sun, even when you have life-consuming this [compound].”
For years, scientists have considered how a circumsolar habitable zone (CHZ) could be extended to include Earth-like conditions from previous geological periods. Similarly, astrobiologists have been working to cast a wider net on the types of biosignatures associated with more ancient life forms (such as retinal-photosynthetic organisms). In this latest study, Eager-Nash and his colleagues have established a series of biosignatures (water, carbon monoxide, and methane) that could lead to the discovery of life on Archean-era rocky planets orbiting Sun-like and red dwarf suns.
Further Reading: arXiv
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