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Scientists find atomic oxygen in Mars’ atmosphere

Computer simulation of Mars’ surface

For the first time in four decades, scientists have detected a notable quantity of atomic oxygen in Mars’ atmosphere. The results of the reading, carried out by a modified Boeing 747SP, are seen as a step forward in the study of the atmosphere of the Red Planet.

Specifically, the oxygen was found in the upper layer of the planet’s atmosphere, called the mesosphere. Although the quantity of the vital gas discovered was about half that expected by the researchers, the find is expected to provide clues to how atmospheric erosion happens and also shed light on how gases permeate Mars’ atmosphere.

The layer of atomic oxygen was detected by a customized jetliner, namely a Boeing 747SP equipped with a telescope with a 100-inch diameter. The plane flies at an altitude of between 37,000 and 45,000 feet. Due to the high altitude, researchers can catch the far-infrared wavelengths crucial in detecting oxygen. Otherwise, the high density and moisture of the Earth’s skies makes it impossible to detect the gas. The use of a spectrometer, carried by the specially-adapted plane above Earth’s atmosphere, allows scientists to do just that.

Atomic oxygen is made up of a single atom of oxygen, compared to the O2 we breathe on Earth, which results when two oxygen atoms join together. Due to its high reactivity, the gas does not exist naturally on Earth’s surface for very long.

NASA’s interest in atomic oxygen is twofold. Firstly, researchers are eager to know more about the effect of the gas, which is very difficult to measure on Martian atmosphere, on materials used to build spacecraft. According to researchers, shuttle flights sent to space in the early days of American missions saw their outer layers of material erode under the influence of atomic oxygen. Secondly, scientists are interested in finding out as much as they can about the Red Planet’s atmosphere, ahead of a much-awaited manned mission to Mars.

Last time atomic oxygen was detected in the atmosphere of Mars was during the Mariner program, a mission targeting Mars, Mercury and Venus between 1962 and 1973, and the Viking program respectively, which was dedicated to Mars and carried out in 1975.

Image source: Wikipedia

NASA Intends to Grow Potatoes on Mars

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Similar to the plot from The Martian movie, NASA plans to grow potatoes on Mars.

It appears great endeavors do not resume any longer to the big screen, as they have transcended into reality. Such is the plan of NASA which involves growing potatoes on Mars, quite similar to the recent movie The Martian, starring Matt Damon.

The space agency is currently experimenting with the vegetables like botanist Mark Watney did in the movie. In the absence of real Martian soil, NASA has to make do with earth from the Peruvian desert, which is known to be quite similar to the one from the red planet. For the upcoming trip to Mars, growing food outside of Earth is a crucial step. According to the space agency, while in the movie Watney plants potatoes in Martian soil in the Hab controlled environment, the actual soil of Mars already has the nutrients necessary for the vegetables.

At the moment, NASA is working with the International Potato Center based in Lima to test 65 types of Peruvian potatoes. Since the vegetable is highly adaptable to various climates, they are trying to determine which variety is best suited for space cultivation. Potatoes would be crucial for the astronauts that will land on Mars, because they are rich in protein, iron, carbohydrates, zinc and vitamin C, and thus very nutritious.

The experiment is taking place in Peru because the country features one of the driest places on our planet, La Joya Desert. Part of the Atacama Desert, the region is praised by NASA for its conditions similar to the ones of Mars. However, even if they do figure out how to grow the vegetables on Martian soil, there is the matter of their evolution in the hostile environment of the red planet.

The average temperature of Mars is minus 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Not to mention the dust storms and high levels of radiation, along with its thin atmosphere made of carbon dioxide. According to International Potato Center scientists Walter Amoros,

“I’ve done tests under stressful conditions, but never so stressful. I don’t think they’ll grow in the open air [on Mars]. They will have to plant them under controlled conditions, in domes.”

This is not the first food experiment conducted by NASA. The space agency has previously tasked astronauts on the International Space Station with growing plants in order to understand how those are affected by the lack of gravity.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Training for the Trip to Mars Has Begun

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As the trip to Mars closes in, NASA astronauts are being tested for their ability to control the Orion spacecraft. While the test is important, it is only one of the obstacles these brave men and women will have to face on their voyage to the red planet.

The test required the astronauts to don their spacesuits and see whether they are able to interact with the control systems of the spacecraft when wearing the uncomfortable gear.

NASA has designed Orion to become the next delivery system to space, and is capable of transporting humans to the orbit of our planet, but also beyond to the infinite Universe. It is also set to take the astronauts to Mars, on a trip that will be held sometime in the 2030s.

According to the statement released on the official website of NASA by officials, the engineers of the Johnson Space Center of NASA in Houston are currently in the process of evaluating various aspects of the voyage.

First, they have to determine how crews inside a copy of Orion can interact with the cursor control device and rotational hand controller when they are wearing the Modified Advanced Crew Escape suits. This is primordial for the voyage, since the controllers are tools for operating the control system and displays of the spacecraft, and the crew will use them to both interact with and maneuver Orion in missions taking them to destinations in the deep space.

Named the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the spacecraft is made to carry four astronauts beyond the orbit of Earth, and is the first to do so since 2011 when the space shuttle program of NASA was retired. The last vehicle to carry humans further LEO was Saturn V, a spacecraft that was retired back in 1973.

Specialists are positive NASA will succeed in landing the spacecraft on the red planet safely in about twenty years. Until now, Orion has already been tested for a flight in 2014 was successful in completing two Earth orbits. In this way, NASA has verified its critical safety equipment. According to the space agency,

“NASA’s Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.”

The project is being developed at the same time with the Space Launch System, which will become the most powerful rocket in history by transferring humans to other places for the first time.

Image Source: Care2

Volcanic Explosions Shaped the Face of Mars

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A new study points towards the fact that Mars has developed conditions for water long before we previously thought. As a result, life could have had an extended period of time to evolve on the red planet.

The findings were released in the Nature journal last Wednesday, and they prove that Mars had appropriate climate conditions to allow the flow of water even before the time that scientists have previously determined. It appears that certain centripetal forces from the red planet have shifted its surface by twenty degrees. This is estimated to have taken place 3.2 billion years in the past, in order to move the mass of a volcanic region named Tharsis. The occurrence is widely known as “true polar wander”.

Tharsis is Mars’ largest volcanic region measuring 2,500 miles. It can reach a height of six miles and includes nine small volcanoes and three huge ones that are one hundred times bigger than the ones we have on Earth.

Scientists have agreed that after this modelling of Tharsis the river valleys were formed. Since the region gained height due to the lava’s buildup, the rivers started to flow away from it. This is largely believed because the valleys of the red planet are very similar to the ones on Earth.

By tilting the planet to its original position, researchers have determined that its topography might have allowed rivers to flow without the influence of Tharsis. It appears that the water used to flow from the southern hemisphere of Mars towards the lower plains of the north. If the polar ice caps did melt, then they are the source of the flowing water. This could have happened after the volcanoes made temperatures rise.

The research team consisting of scientists from the United States, France and Senegal, has also determined that the volcanic activity must have started five hundred million years before the time that was previously established.

According to NASA scientist Ashwin R. Vasavada who worked on the Curiosity project,

“From a practical point of view, if water was around later, it better helps explain everything we’re finding with Curiosity. This extended Tharsis volcanism may be the key to explaining why the climate remained conducive to liquid.”

The results of the study complement the findings of the Curiosity rover from NASA, which has discovered that the Gale Crater used to be filled with water hundreds or thousands of years. As the famous trip to Mars is approaching, we can expect more and more details to emerge on the mysterious red planet.

Image Source: NASA

SpaceX chief Elon Musk proposes much faster internet speeds to visit Mars

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SpaceX chief Elon Musk on Friday announced developing a second internet system in outer space that would make it possible to stretch all the way to Mars one day.

The tech billionaire and serial entrepreneur on Friday visited Seattle and announced at the glitzy private event that he has higher aspirations for landing on the Red Planet.

“One day I will visit Mars,” Musk said.

During the SpaceX event, Musk reportedly said that the proposed space network would be much faster than the internet that we experience today.

The main idea behind proposed plan is to offer low-cost high-speed internet accessibility to areas of the world having vulnerable network connections, while improving global internet speeds in general.

According to the media reports, the task would be an expensive one as the space network is likely to cost USD 10 million for its development. It would need hundreds of satellites to orbit 750 miles above the planet Earth and is low in comparison to the 22,000 mile height that most satellites achieve.

The report further said that the plan is to create internet speeds that are much faster. Musk said as the speed of light is 40 percent faster in the space vacuum compared to fiber, similarly aim is to create faster internet speeds.

According to the sources, the project has still not named and it’s also not clear that when will exactly SpaceX would bring the proposed system.

But media reports suggest that the effort would be starting with 60 employees and will be primarily based in Seattle. The team is likely to grow to 1,000 over the next three to four years.

Mars Curiosity Rover detects organic matters on Gale Crater

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US space agency NASA’s Curiosity rover, which is searching for signs of life in the martian atmosphere, has made another significant findings on Mars.

Calling it a promising finding, the NASA scientists said that the rover has detected organic molecules, suggesting Mars have supported terrestrial life at certain point of time in the past.

Organic molecules, the basic building blocks of all known forms of terrestrial life, were discovered following a drilling procedure in the sample from the Sheepbed mudstone in the Curiosity rover’s landing site- Gale crater.

These life-building molecules were found by the team of NASA scientists responsible for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on Curiosity rove.

Organic molecules, which consist of a wide range of molecules created from oxygen, carbon and hydrogen atoms, can also be developed through chemical reactions having no life.

Caroline Freissinet, a NASA scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, said, “We think life began on Earth around 3.8 billion years ago and our result shows that places on Mars had the same conditions at that time – liquid water, a warm environment and organic matter.”

According to the scientists, the organic molecules that have been uncovered by Curiosity also included chlorine atoms like chlorobenzene and several dichloroalkanes, like dichloroethane.

The Mars Curiosity rover along with its instruments’ set, including SAM, was sent to Mars in the year 2011 for the discovery of life supporting substances on the ancient habitable Martian environment.

The scientists said even though they cannot conclude that whether there was life at Gale crater, the latest findings show that the ancient environment provided a supply of reduced organic molecules for their use as building blocks for life as well as an energy source for life.

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