Curiosity Could Find Microorganisms on Mars? - http://clapway.com/2015/11/03/curiosity-could-find-microorganisms-on-mars123/

With the recent discovery that acid fog revealed dissolved rock on mars may give way for the Martian probe to further explore Martian caves and discover life. Speculation says that there could be microorganisms hidden in the caves, Curiosity could find microorganisms on the Red Planet, meaning there could be life on Mars after all.

The acid fog seems to be making the affected areas into a sort of rock soup, giving the Red Planet some more geological diversity. After Curiosity captured images of Mars’ known and unknown features, it could be on its way to spotting the next big thing: life on Mars.

There have been many potential indicators of life found in Mars. There’s the footage that Curiosity captured where it spotted suspicious white discs inside a Martian cave, and the speculation that Mars could hold fossilized life. A geobiologist has related structures in the footage of Martian sedimentary rock with Earthly structures that are for a fact known to be created by microbial lifeforms on the Journal Astrobiology, which leads the scientific community to believe there could after all not only be life on Mars, but that it could have a similar constitution to how life works on our planet.

 

Curiosity Could Find Microorganisms on Mars?

Colonizing Mars Might Not Be Possible After All - http://clapway.com/2015/10/15/colonizing-mars-might-possible/

In our past articles, we briefly mentioned Mars One, a not-for-profit Dutch company looking to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. This once in a lifetime opportunity, which was originally set to launch in 2024, has already drawn the attention of over 200,000 eager adventurers and soon-to-be astronauts. Yet, according to a new analysis by a team of grad students at MIT, this trip may be too good to be true. In fact, new arrivals would most likely begin dying within just 68 days of touching down.

Specifically, the biggest problem concerns the amount of breathable air that is available. On Earth, plants inhale what animals exhale and visa versa. This creates a perfectly stable habitat to provide all life with enough carbon dioxide and oxygen to survive.

However, to recreate the same environment on Mars is a bit more complicated. The problem arises with lettuce and wheat, both of which are considered essential crops to our diet. Bringing the crops to Mars, however, would push 02 levels past “3 molar fractions”, or the point at which the threat of fire rises to dangerous levels. The risk is especially high after 30 days, when lettuce matures and again at 68 days, when wheat matures.

A simple solution to the problem would be to vent the excess O2 out. However, at this time, venting apparatuses are not able to distinguish one gas from another. Thus, nitrogen – an essential gas needed to make up the atmosphere – would also be filtered out. Without nitrogen, the internal pressure of the planet would be too low to survive in.

The equipment that Mars One plans to use also raises some questions. Although much of the hardware has already been proven functional aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Mars’ gravity – which is 40% of Earth’s – is entirely different from the micro-gravity (essentially zero gravity) that the hardware currently operates in. Thus, a piece of equipment weighing 10 lbs. on Earth would weigh 0 lbs. in zero gravity and 4lbs. on Mars. The difference in partial gravity will “inevitably lead to different [environmental] technologies.”

Without taking this into consideration, technical breakdowns are certain to occur at alarming frequencies. In fact, according to the MIT graduates, over the course of 130 months, the need for spare parts would consume 62% of the payload space on resupply missions. This leaves little room for the essentials, such as food and medicine.

Then there are the smaller details to take care of, such as the budget. The graduates predict that the estimated price tag of $6 Billion would barely scratch the surface of the actual amount needed to successfully go through with the mission. But until these kinks in the plan are catered to, don’t expect to see any flags on Mars just yet. We can’t say we aren’t hopeful though.

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Take SHOWME with you on Mars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5cxM-g_b9w

Colonizing Mars Might Not Be Possible After All

Suggestions of life on Mars indicated by opal. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/08/opal-in-martian-meteorite-might-mean-life-343/

Opal found in a Martian meteorite might mean life once existed on the fourth rock from the sun. While this Martian meteorite has been on earth for just over 104 years, scientists and researchers are now using updated technology to thoroughly examine the rock.

Discovery of the Opal

In 1911, the Egyptian city of Nakhla was the host of a visitor from another planet. While this ‘visitor’ was in fact a meteorite and obviously not cognizant, it was what’s inside that would eventually lead to a fascinating discovery. Traces of the gemstone known as opal found in a Martian meteorite might mean life once existed on the red planet, at the very least, in a microbial sense. Scientists inspected a piece of the Nakhla meteorite, named for the city where it landed, with an electron microscope. This yielded trace evidence of the gemstone inside this otherworldly rock.

The Science Behind the Rock

The opal itself is not necessarily a sign of life, however, the conditions in which an opal forms might be. According to Martin Lee of the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow, opals are generally created in or near hot springs. It just so happens that, at least on Earth, various forms of microbial life can live and even thrive in the conditions that hot springs create. What’s even more, is that, since opal, like other gemstones, are a solidification of minerals and often form around a base, it is possible that other opal, similar to the type found in the Nakhla meteorite, might have encompassed evidence of the aforementioned microbial life.

If scientists were to obtain access to more Martian meteorites that contain opal, they might find definitive proof in the form of fossilized microbes, that life once existed on Mars.

Martian Meteorite’s History

Many people witnessed the meteorite’s fall to Earth, which is not surprising as the entire object was broken up into around 40 pieces, weighing in at just about 20 pounds (~9 kilograms). The landing zone for this rock was an astonishing 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) in diameter. Two of the 40 pieces were donated to the Natural History Museum in London.

The discovery of the opal in the Martian meteorite might mean life exists outside of Earth, but what implications could that have, assuming it were true, on our study of space and the universe in general?

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For more technology related news, visit Clapway Trends:

Opal in Martian Meteorite Might Mean Life

Opportunity Rover"s Mars Marathon Complete! - http://clapway.com/2015/07/08/opportunitys-mars-marathon-complete987/

Although one wouldn’t imagine a group of scientists specialized in interplanetary probe adventures to be of the jogging sort, NASA’s Opportunity, a probe with wheels exploring Mars for the past eleven years, has just completed a 26.2-mile marathon. This may seem slow to us bipeds, but the Opportunity rover snapped enough pictures for NASA to compose an eight-minute video, which brings us a lovely synopsis of the rover’s run.

THE MARS MARATHON WAS RECORDED

The Opportunity rover began its marathon in January of 2004, finishing this past April. It was by no means a walk in the park, however, as one can surmise from the constant crackling soundtrack, generated by the rover’s accelerometer as vibrations were tracked. Both Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit, were expected to run for only 90 days, but, per de rigueur of NASA ingenuity, they both continued to extend their exploratory missions, dauntlessly weathering the worst of Mars’ dust storms, frigid temperatures and other environmental hazards.

CASUALTIES OF MARS

Spirit died in 2009, but Opportunity kept trekking for an additional six years, carrying on the baton of scientific exploration. Opportunity is actually still running, though, exceeding Earthlings’ expectations by 45 times its original life-expectancy.

OPPORTUNITY rover’S GREAT FINDINGS

In its eleven-year tour, the Opportunity rover discovered many indications of the former presence of water on Mars, and even hinted at the possibility that Mars may still be sustaining life. Spirit’s journey ended rather anticlimactically as it fell into a sand trap, but Opportunity carried on despite a bad case of gimpy shoulder and damaged wheel. Tack on top of these physical issues its memory problems: the Opportunity rover no longer uses flash memory, which refused to self-repair despite several earlier attempts. What this has meant is that Opportunity has to relay its data and findings to NASA on Earth every single day or risk losing its data to the dusty horizon. Think Groundhog Day with amnesia.

Opportunity rover project manager John Callas explained that “[f]lash memory is a convenience but not a necessity for the rover…It’s like a refrigerator that way. Without it, you couldn’t save any leftovers. Any food you prepare that day you would have to either eat or throw out. Without using flash memory, Opportunity needs to send home the high-priority data the same day it collects it, and lose any lower-priority data that can’t fit into the transmission.”

So, despite recent space blunders like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket mishap, it should be noted that, even when some things go very wrong, when it comes to space exploration, if things go a little right, they go extraordinarily well. Three cheers for Opportunity!

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Want your kids to be as interested in space as you are? Show them the Space Scouts Summer Adventure kit.

Opportunity Rover"s Mars Marathon Complete!

How should we explore life on Mars? - http://clapway.com/2015/05/31/can-sample-return-answer-questions-about-life-on-mars-123/

Can Sample Return Answer Related Questions About Life on Mars? Or will in situ observation work better?

NASA has decided that it only has the funding to do one high-cost, large-scale mission per decade. It had a choice between the Mars sample return and a mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. NASA chose to do the Mars sample return and actually ended up only having the funding to collect the samples, not return them to Earth as well. The Europa Clipper mission is postponed, although that moon is still being explored.

For funding reasons, sample return from Mars postponed to next decade.

The decision to postpone the return of the samples to Earth ended up making what was supposed to be a “flagship mission” for a decade turn out to be one for two decades instead. This turned out to be a very expensive move, yet NASA chose to make this mission top priority despite the fact that many people suggested that in situ exploration was the best way to explore possibilities of life on Mars.

It has been suggested by research that sample return results could be hard to decypher or even unreadable.

A study has shown that it is quite likely that the sample return would give us hard-to-interpret, flawed results, just like studying past Mars meteorites. Certain meteorites, like ALH64001, did provide for some interesting observations, though. It was over 4 billion years old, and thought to perhaps contain traces of ancient Martian life. The problem with observations like this, though, are that there are many small meteorites that contain organic matter constantly showering Mars. It is thus very difficult to determine whether the organic matter found in Martian meteorites came from the red planet or not.

ExoMars rover set to explore life on Mars in situ.

The ESA’s Exomars rover is going to explore life on Mars in situ, looking for biosignatures. It will also drill over six feet below the surface, in hopes of learning more about Martian geology. Either way, it is very hard to find well-preserved samples, despite the fact that Martian climate is cold and Mars has no continental drift. This is due to a number of factors, from cosmic radiation levels to the aforementioned organic matter that has been landing on the planet for years.

Can Sample Return Answer Questions About Life on Mars?

Are We Responsible for Methane on Mars? - http://clapway.com/2015/05/26/are-we-responsible-for-methane-on-mars-123/

Methane on Mars has been a hot topic for scientists for half a century. It is currently unknown if the planet is emitting it, or if it’s perhaps even a result of our presence there. If it is present on Mars naturally, it could indicate that Mars is much more geologically, or perhaps even biologically, active than previously thought. Methane was, at first, not detected by the Curiosity rover. However, a few months after the first methane scan, the gas was detected and actually seemed to be increasing in concentration over a period of two months. Some people believe that the detection of methane was a result of a measurement glitch, or that methane plumes on the planet could be seasonal. Others, like Kevin Zahnle, a scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, believe the methane spike was actually a result of our exploration of the red planet.

 

Methane on Mars could come from Curiosity rover.

The Curiosity rover that took the methane readings has a chamber that contains methane at a concentration a thousand times as high as what was detected. When the rover’s spectrometer detected methane upon its landing, the Curiosity team realized that some terrestrial air had leaked into the spectrometer when it was on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Most of that methane was pumped out after, with only a small amount kept for calibration purposes.

Yet, Curiosity team insists the methane couldn’t have come from the rover.

The team insists that the methane from within the rover could not have been responsible for the methane that was later found, since there was no evidence of any leakage. Additionally, they tell us that the amount of methane present in the Curiosity rover’s chamber was inconsequential, and would have done very little to contribute towards a methane spike. Yet, Zahle believes that terrestrial air could have breached other parts of the rover, and may thus still be to blame.

There are also other possible sources of the methane on Mars.

Although unlikely, it is a possibility that the methane gas may have been a direct result of a meteorite falling near the rover. The meteorite may have contained the gas, since carbonaceous meteorites contain a small amount of organic material. To further muddy the waters, carbonaceous meteorites don’t even leave craters, since they break up in the atmosphere and rain down bits of organic shrapnel. Curiosity will take more measurements around the holiday season, since that’s the season during which the last bit of methane was detected in 2013.

Are We Responsible for Methane on Mars?

3D Print Challenge To Create Mars One Homes for Citizens - http://clapway.com/2015/05/17/3d-print-challenge-to-create-mars-one-homes-for-citizens-123/

NASA 3D printing has a new game-changing use! In the past couple of years, it has not been possible to have missed word of NASA’s mission to bring humans to Mars for resettlement. There has to be a six-degrees-of-separation thing–or less degrees–where people are connected to someone who quietly applied for Mars One! With the Mars One challenge still a real goal of NASA’s, a NASA 3D printing challenge has come into play.

The space agency created a competition called the 3D Printed Habitat Challenge. Its goal? To create a place for Mars One explorers to live and stay once reaching their new planetary homes. The competition will attract the savvier in 3D printing design, planning to award $50,000 to winners on architectural merit, as well as $1.1 million to the two competitors who manage to build something of real materials able to shelter against true conditions in Mars. How is that for a new way to become a millionaire?

Why Mars One Needs 3D Printing

This is invaluable to the Mars One initiative because 3D printing could be a solution that makes its possible to resettle in Mars having to bring crazy amounts of construction supplies from Earth all the way to Mars. Imaginably, the costs for that would really be unearthly and even implausible. Another reason a well-design 3D printed habitat would be a godsend is that if some home repairs were needed, it would be possible to do it without having to await resupply materials from such a long way away.

The biggest question of late in the Mars One initiative has not been how to get humans to Earth for resettlement–but then what? How do they survive once there? Volunteer citizens probably even would like to know where they would be living and in what. While the Mars One mission won’t be until around 2035, it is never too early to plan for a mission as essential as this one.

3D printing is becoming a tour de force, a technology that can improve life on Earth and the extraterrestrial world.  Sam Ortega’s the systems engineer for NASA speaks of 3D printing. “The future possibilities for 3D printing are inspiring, and the technology is extremely important to deep space exploration.This challenge definitely raises the bar from what we are currently capable of, and we are excited to see what the maker community does with it.”

Joining The 3D Printed Habitat Challenge: Mark Those Calendars

Lately, NASA has been opening up a lot of challenges to the general public, particularly the young. Interested competitors and 3D printmakers can register beginning September 26. For more information, rules and to register for the 3-D-Printed Habitat Challenge, please click here.

3D Print Challenge To Create Mars One Homes for Citizens