NASA May Have Found First Evidence of Alien Life

By Jon Fern, Science Editor
Follow @jfernwriter

NASA has found venting plumes of methane on Mars, strongly suggestive of the existence of biological processes on our nearest planetary neighbor.

Chris Webster of NASA said "Strictly speaking, our observations are evidence for methane production on Mars, and in themselves cannot directly provide evidence of microbial life.

"However, from our positive detection of methane on Mars, we cannot rule out the possibility that both the low background level and the high methane values originate in part from microbial activity (methanogenesis).

"Our observations indicate that either the source shut off or the wind field at the source location changed to direct the emission away from us.

"At this time, we have no idea what we will see in the future, or if we will ever see high values again."

NASA: Methane spike

In a press conference, a spokesperson said "It's not an argument that we have found evidence of life on Mars, but it's one of the hypotheses that we must consider as we go forward into the future.This is really exciting news for us."

You can watch a live feed of the announcement by NASA here.

The following is NASA's official press release regarding the methane spike, which you can also find on their website here.

Curiosity Detects Methane Spike on Mars

Dec. 16, 2014: NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in the atmosphere around it and detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by the robotic laboratory’s drill.
"This temporary increase in methane -- sharply up and then back down -- tells us there must be some relatively localized source," said Sushil Atreya of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Curiosity rover science team. "There are many possible sources, biological or non-biological, such as interaction of water and rock."

This image illustrates possible ways methane might be added to Mars' atmosphere (sources) and removed from the atmosphere (sinks). NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected fluctuations in methane concentration in the atmosphere, implying both types of activity occur on modern Mars. A longer caption discusses which are sources and which are sinks. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SAM-GSFC/Univ. of Michigan

Researchers used Curiosity’s onboard Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) laboratory a dozen times in a 20-month period to sniff methane in the atmosphere. During two of those months, in late 2013 and early 2014, four measurements averaged seven parts per billion. Before and after that, readings averaged only one-tenth that level.
Curiosity also detected different Martian organic chemicals in powder drilled from a rock dubbed Cumberland, the first definitive detection of organics in surface materials of Mars. These Martian organics could either have formed on Mars or been delivered to Mars by meteorites.
Organic molecules, which contain carbon and usually hydrogen, are chemical building blocks of life, although they can exist without the presence of life. Curiosity's findings from analyzing samples of atmosphere and rock powder do not reveal whether Mars has ever harbored living microbes, but the findings do shed light on a chemically active modern Mars and on favorable conditions for life on ancient Mars.

This graphic shows tenfold spiking in the abundance of methane in the Martian atmosphere surrounding NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, as detected by a series of measurements made with the Tunable Laser Spectrometer instrument in the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars laboratory suite. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

"We will keep working on the puzzles these findings present," said John Grotzinger, Curiosity project scientist of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (Caltech). "Can we learn more about the active chemistry causing such fluctuations in the amount of methane in the atmosphere? Can we choose rock targets where identifiable organics have been preserved?"
Researchers worked many months to determine whether any of the organic material detected in the Cumberland sample was truly Martian. Curiosity’s SAM lab detected in several samples some organic carbon compounds that were, in fact, transported from Earth inside the rover. However, extensive testing and analysis yielded confidence in the detection of Martian organics.

Identifying which specific Martian organics are in the rock is complicated by the presence of perchlorate minerals in Martian rocks and soils. When heated inside SAM, the perchlorates alter the structures of the organic compounds, so the identities of the Martian organics in the rock remain uncertain.
"This first confirmation of organic carbon in a rock on Mars holds much promise," said Curiosity participating scientist Roger Summons of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "Organics are important because they can tell us about the chemical pathways by which they were formed and preserved. In turn, this is informative about Earth-Mars differences and whether or not particular environments represented by Gale Crater sedimentary rocks were more or less favorable for accumulation of organic materials. The challenge now is to find other rocks on Mount Sharp that might have different and more extensive inventories of organic compounds."
Researchers also reported that Curiosity's taste of Martian water, bound into lakebed minerals in the Cumberland rock more than three billion years ago, indicates the planet lost much of its water before that lakebed formed and continued to lose large amounts after.
SAM analyzed hydrogen isotopes from water molecules that had been locked inside a rock sample for billions of years and were freed when SAM heated it, yielding information about the history of Martian water. The ratio of a heavier hydrogen isotope, deuterium, to the most common hydrogen isotope can provide a signature for comparison across different stages of a planet's history.
"It's really interesting that our measurements from Curiosity of gases extracted from ancient rocks can tell us about loss of water from Mars," said Paul Mahaffy, SAM principal investigator of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of a report published online this week by the journal Science
The ratio of deuterium to hydrogen has changed because the lighter hydrogen escapes from the upper atmosphere of Mars much more readily than heavier deuterium. In order to go back in time and see how the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio in Martian water changed over time, researchers can look at the ratio in water in the current atmosphere and water trapped in rocks at different times in the planet’s history.
Martian meteorites found on Earth also provide some information, but this record has gaps. No known Martian meteorites are even close to the same age as the rock studied on Mars, which formed about 3.9 billion to 4.6 billion years ago, according to Curiosity’s measurements.
The ratio that Curiosity found in the Cumberland sample is about one-half the ratio in water vapor in today's Martian atmosphere, suggesting much of the planet's water loss occurred since that rock formed. However, the measured ratio is about three times higher than the ratio in the original water supply of Mars, based on assumption that supply had a ratio similar to that measured in Earth's oceans. This suggests much of Mars' original water was lost before the rock formed.

Credits and more information:

Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
Curiosity is one element of NASA's ongoing Mars research and preparation for a human mission to Mars in the 2030s. Caltech manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and JPL manages Curiosity rover science investigations for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The SAM investigation is led by Paul Mahaffy of Goddard. Two of SAM instruments key in these discoveries are the Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer, developed at Goddard, and the Tunable Laser Spectrometer, developed at JPL.
The results of the Curiosity rover investigation into methane detection and the Martian organics in an ancient rock were discussed at a news briefing Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union's convention in San Francisco. The methane results are described in a paper published online this week in the journal Science by NASA scientist Chris Webster of JPL, and co-authors.
A report on organics detection in the Cumberland rock by NASA scientist Caroline Freissenet, of Goddard, and co-authors, is pending publication.
For copies of the new Science papers about Mars methane and water, visit:http://go.nasa.gov/1cbk35X
For more information about Curiosity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
Learn about NASA’s Journey to Mars at http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars/


Image credit: Dust devils on Mars via Softpedia

Earth Dodged a Bullet: The Solar Superstorm Nobody Told You About

The July 2012 solar superstorm almost struck Earth. Source: NASA

A recent communication from NASA describes how close the Earth came to getting a debilitating blast from the Sun two years ago. A double coronal mass ejection (CME) narrowly missed the Earth, shooting out radiation that would have knocked out all telecommunications devices on the planet, along with all electrically powered equipment.

Described as a solar superstorm, the July 2012 CMEs would have caused lasting damage: "If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces," says Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado. Although it somehow failed to make the news in 2012, the event was described in a paper produced by NASA scientists at the time entitled "A major solar eruptive event in July 2012: Defining extreme space weather scenarios".

"I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did," Baker said in the recent press release from NASA. "If the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire."

A report by the National Research Council into the socio-economic impact of such an event warned of "extensive social and economic disruptions."

It went on to add, "Power outages would be accompanied by radio blackouts and satellite malfunctions; telecommunications, GPS navigation, banking and finance, and transportation would all be affected.

"Some problems would correct themselves with the fading of the storm: radio and GPS transmissions could come back online fairly quickly.

"Other problems would be lasting: a burnt-out multi-ton transformer, for instance, can take weeks or months to repair. The total economic impact in the first year alone could reach $2 trillion, some 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina."

So what is the probability that a flare this big could actually hit Earth? Physicist Pete Riley published a recent paper in Space Weather called "On the probability of occurrence of extreme space weather events" in which he explained that there is a 12% chance that a flare of this magnitude will strike Earth in the next ten years.

And according to Ashley Dale, writing in Physics World, violent superstorms occur every 150 years - and we're five years overdue.

With odds like these, it may be a good idea to be prepared. According to advice available from the US Government, families should have a communications plan, and households should have emergency kits on hand. Check out the ready.gov website for more ways in which you can be prepared for an extreme space weather event. You can also keep an eye on solar storm warnings with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.

Press Release: NASA Completes Key Review of World’s Most Powerful Rocket in Support of Journey to Mars

August 27, 2014

RELEASE 14-229

NASA Completes Key Review of World’s Most Powerful Rocket in Support of Journey to Mars




Artist concept of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) 70-metric-ton configuration launching to space. SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions, including to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars.

Image Credit: NASA/MSFC


NASA officials Wednesday announced they have completed a rigorous review of the Space Launch System (SLS) -- the heavy-lift, exploration class rocket under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars -- and approved the program's progression from formulation to development, something no other exploration class vehicle has achieved since the agency built the space shuttle.


"We are on a journey of scientific and human exploration that leads to Mars," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "And we’re firmly committed to building the launch vehicle and other supporting systems that will take us on that journey."

For its first flight test, SLS will be configured for a 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit. In its most powerful configuration, SLS will provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons), which will enable missions even farther into our solar system, including such destinations as an asteroid and Mars.

This artist concept shows NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, rolling to a launchpad at Kennedy Space Center at night. SLS will be the most powerful rocket in history, and the flexible, evolvable design of this advanced, heavy-lift launch vehicle will meet a variety of crew and cargo mission needs.

Image Credit: 

NASA/MSFC

This decision comes after a thorough review known as Key Decision Point C (KDP-C), which provides a development cost baseline for the 70-metric ton version of the SLS of $7.021 billion from February 2014 through the first launch and a launch readiness schedule based on an initial SLS flight no later than November 2018.

Conservative cost and schedule commitments outlined in the KDP-C align the SLS program with program management best practices that account for potential technical risks and budgetary uncertainty beyond the program's control.

“Our nation is embarked on an ambitious space exploration program, and we owe it to the American taxpayers to get it right,” said Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot, who oversaw the review process. “After rigorous review, we’re committing today to a funding level and readiness date that will keep us on track to sending humans to Mars in the 2030s – and we’re going to stand behind that commitment.”

"The Space Launch System Program has done exemplary work during the past three years to get us to this point," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We will keep the teams working toward a more ambitious readiness date, but will be ready no later than November 2018.”

The SLS, Orion, and Ground Systems Development and Operations programs each conduct a design review prior to each program’s respective KDP-C, and each program will establish cost and schedule commitments that account for its individual technical requirements.

"We are keeping each part of the program -- the rocket, ground systems, and Orion -- moving at its best possible speed toward the first integrated test launch,” said Bill Hill, director Exploration Systems Development at NASA. "We are on a solid path toward an integrated mission and making progress in all three programs every day."

“Engineers have made significant technical progress on the rocket and have produced hardware for all elements of the SLS program,” said SLS program manager Todd May. “The team members deserve an enormous amount of credit for their dedication to building this national asset.”

The program delivered in April the first piece of flight hardware for Orion’s maiden flight, Exploration Flight Test-1 targeted for December. This stage adapter is of the same design that will be used on SLS’s first flight, Exploration Mission-1.

Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has all major tools installed and is producing hardware, including the first pieces of flight hardware for SLS. Sixteen RS-25 engines, enough for four flights, currently are in inventory at Stennis Space Center, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where an engine is already installed and ready for testing this fall. NASA contractor ATK has conducted successful test firings of the five-segment solid rocket boosters and is preparing for the first qualification motor test.

SLS will be the world's most capable rocket. In addition to opening new frontiers for explorers traveling aboard the Orion capsule, the SLS may also offer benefits for science missions that require its use and can’t be flown on commercial rockets.

The next phase of development for SLS is the Critical Design Review, a programmatic gate that reaffirms the agency's confidence in the program planning and technical risk posture.

For more information about SLS, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/sls

-end-

Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov

---

NASA news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an e-mail message with the subject linesubscribe to hqnews-request@newsletters.nasa.gov. 
To unsubscribe from the list, send an e-mail message with the subject line unsubscribe to hqnews-request@newsletters.nasa.gov.

All text copyright NASA 2014

View the original press release here.

Forget Climate Change and Terraform Mars Instead, Economist Suggests

Mars Exploration Rover Landing site. Nr. 2 Melas Chasma. Credit: NASA/Kees Veenenbos

The global effort to halt climate change by 2100 could cost a total of $3 trillion, according to a popularly quoted study published by the German Institute for Economic Research.

However, economist Andrew Lilico, writing in the Telegraph, has proposed an alternative use for these funds: the terraforming of Mars.

Lilico argues that the benefits payback would occur during the same timescale: if we started now, we could have a blue Mars within 100 years. A green Mars wouldn't be achieved until at least 100 years later, with a fully operational ecosystem perhaps taking a total of 600 years.

The cost of terraforming Mars. Credit: NASA/National Geographic/Discovery Channel

The proposition has potential. Instead of trying to halt global warming on Earth, a process requiring the coordination of the world's business leaders and governments, why not kick-start global warming on Mars? It seems counter-intuitive, but by warming Mars, and seeding it with algae, bacteria and plants, the planet would eventually yield its own ecosystem, and in time provide a habitable atmosphere for human civilization.

The main hurdle to the plan would be the cost. An agency or agencies involved in the terraforming process would need a budget of $3 trillion. The impetus to undertake such a massive project would have to be present to raise such funds. While it makes sense to begin building a second home for our species, and others, convincing enough investors of this may be difficult, especially while many countries are still under-developed and humanitarian aid puts continual stress on resources.

Global energy investment vastly overtakes the amount required to either halt climate change or terraform Mars, according to Lilico. With a many-decades payback period, spending on energy and energy efficiency between now and 2035 is estimated at $40 trillion. Safeguarding a second home for humankind could be undertaken at a fraction of that expenditure.

Life on Earth is vulnerable to asteroid strikes, nuclear war, pandemic viruses, catastrophic vulcanism and no end of other potential triggers of extinction events. By choosing to remain solely on Earth, we are placing all of our eggs in one basket. Lilico's suggestion, by drawing a parallel between the costs of halting climate change on one planet and initiating it on another, has highlighted the comparative economic ease with which we could begin humanity's next chapter with a whole new set of horizons.

Subglacial Ecosystem Hints at Extraterrestrial Life

Artist's interpretation of a subglacial lake on Europa. Credit: Britney Schmidt/Dead Pixel VFX/Univ. of Texas at Austin.

A new paper published in the Nature journal has concluded that there is indeed a microbial ecosystem underneath the Antarctic ice sheet, providing evidence that ends decades of speculation about whether life can exist in such extreme habitats. The ecosystem is ancient and diverse, holding in the region of 4,000 distinct species of microorganisms.

A microbe examined as part of the study. Credit: Trista Vick-Majors.

Lead researcher Brent Christner told the Telegraph: "This does nothing but strengthen the case for life on other icy bodies in solar system and beyond. The first time we went to Antarctica and the first place we selected to drill a hole we found life. So it’s not much of a stretch that in similar conditions, like on the icy moon of Jupiter, Europa, life could exist there."

Video: Microbial Life Discovered Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet. Credit: National Science Foundation

The research made use of a NASA designed and funded submarine in conjunction with the international Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project. The submarine was used to access Lake Whillans, on the West Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. The NASA JPL website describes the site as a "20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) lake... totally devoid of sunlight (with) a temperature of 31 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 0.5 degrees Celsius). It is part of a vast Antarctic subglacial aquatic system that covers an area about the size of the continental United States."

The paper characterizes the ecosystem found beneath the ice layer covering Lake Whillans as "chemosynthetically driven... inhabited by a diverse assemblage of bacteria and archaea".

However, astrobiologist Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center was critical of the suggestion that this finding has off-wold implications. Commenting on the paper, but not connected to it, McKay told Space.com: "First, it is clear that the water sampled is from a system that is flowing through ice and out to the ocean.

"Second, and related to this, the results are not indicative of an ecosystem that is growing in a dark, nutrient-limited system. They are consistent with debris from the overlying ice — known to contain micro-organisms — flowing through and out to the ocean. Interesting in its own right, but not a model for an isolated ice-covered ecosystem."

The research is part of a trend in astrobiology towards investigating habitats that most closely resemble ice worlds such as Enceladus and Europa. By studying terrestrial analogues of these conjectured subglacial environments, the likelihood of their habitability may be weighed. There is growing confidence that extraterrestrial life exists in such environments; so much so that NASA is currently investing in a Europa orbiting mission, while ESA are developing in a program called JUICE which aims to launch a mission to Jupiter and its moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa in 2022, with a projected arrival in 2030.

Sizing Up a Super-Earth, Saturn's Embryonic Moon, and Teleconnected Clouds

Measuring a "Super-Earth". Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

It's high time AstrobioWire did its first all-in-one news round-up, so here it is. These are some of the best news articles to come out of NASA so far this year (we'll focus on NASA this time, since their research is so very news-friendly).

You may have seen some of these nuggets orbiting the social mediasphere already, while others may have eluded your scopes entirely. Either way, stand by for awesomeness in 3...2...1...

• Supercritical Water Starts Fires in Space: "When supercritical water is mixed with organic material, a chemical reaction takes place—oxidation. It's a form of burning without flames."
• Super-Earth Measured With Extreme Accuracy: "A team led by Sarah Ballard, a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, recently measured the diameter of a "super Earth" to within an accuracy of 148 miles total or about 1 percent — remarkable accuracy for an exoplanet located about 300 light years from Earth."
• NASA to Conduct Astronaut Twin Experiment: "The interesting thing about Scott is, he's a twin. His brother Mark is also an astronaut, now retired. While Scott, the test subject, spends one year circling Earth at 17,000 mph, Mark will remain behind as a control."
• Is Saturn Forming a New Moon? "We have not seen anything like this before. We may be looking at the act of birth, where this object is just leaving the rings and heading off to be a moon in its own right."

  

  A moon is born? NASA's Cassini captures a disturbance in Saturn's outer ring. Source: NASA

• Teleconnected Clouds Interact Poles Apart: "New data from NASA's AIM spacecraft have revealed "teleconnections" in Earth's atmosphere that stretch all the way from the North Pole to the South Pole and back again, linking weather and climate more closely than simple geography would suggest."
• There's Definitely Water in the Asteroid Belt: "This is the first time water vapor has been unequivocally detected on Ceres or any other object in the asteroid belt and provides proof that Ceres has an icy surface and an atmosphere."

If that didn't whet your appetite, check out the Science News section at NASA for more great stories.

NASA Releases Footage of Supersonic Flying Saucer

LDSD motor firing. Cedit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA has released footage of a flying saucer intended for Mars landings, as well as other landing missions. NASA has named the system a Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD). Launched from Hawaii in June this year, the LDSD was towed by balloon to the edge of space before the motor took the craft soaring to Mach 4. The thin air of the outer atmosphere was used to test the LDSD's capabilities as it is similar to the atmosphere of Mars.

"A good test is one where there are no surprises but a great test is one where you are able to learn new things, and that is certainly what we have in this case." Ian Clark, the LDSD principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. "Our test vehicle performed as advertised. The SIAD and ballute, which extracted the parachute, also performed beyond expectations. We also got significant insight into the fundamental physics of parachute inflation. We are literally re-writing the books on high-speed parachute operations, and we are doing it a year ahead of schedule."

The LDSD will be able to place larger payloads that the current rovers on the surface of Mars. Together with the James Webb Space Telescope and the next generation Mars rovers currently in development, these are exciting times for new space technology.

NASA Press Release: Rosetta Arrives at Target Comet

August 6, 2014:  Today, after a decade-long journey chasing its target, the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe, carrying three NASA instruments, became the first spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

"After 10 years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion kilometers, we are delighted to announce finally we are here," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's director General.



Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on August 3, 2014, from a distance of 177 miles (285 kilometers). Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Full image and caption

The latest images of the comet taken by Rosetta are available at http://www.nasa.gov/rosetta

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and Rosetta are 252 million miles (405 million kilometers) from Earth, about halfway between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. The comet is in an elliptical, 6.5-year orbit that takes it from beyond Jupiter at its farthest point, to between the orbits of Mars and Earth at its closest to the sun. Rosetta will accompany the comet for over a year as it swings around the sun and back out towards Jupiter again.

Rosetta is 62 miles (100 kilometers) from the comet's surface. Over the next six weeks, it will fly two triangular-shaped trajectories in front of the comet, first at the 62-mile (100-kilometer) altitude and then down at 31 miles (50 kilometers). At the same time, the spacecraft's suite of instruments will provide a detailed scientific study of the comet, scanning the surface to identify a target site for its comet lander, Philae. Eventually, Rosetta will attempt a close, near-circular orbit at 19 miles (30 kilometers) and, depending on the activity of the comet, may come even closer.

"Over the next few months, in addition to characterizing the comet nucleus and setting the bar for the rest of the mission, we will begin final preparations for another space history first: landing on a comet," said Matt Taylor, Rosetta's project scientist from the European Space Agency's Science and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

As many as five possible landing sites will be identified by late August, before the primary site is identified in mid-September. The final timeline for the sequence of events for deploying Philae -- currently expected for Nov. 11 -- will be confirmed by the middle of October.



Close up detail focusing on a smooth region on the ‘base’ of the ‘body’ section of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image was taken by Rosetta’s Onboard Scientific Imaging System (OSIRIS) on August 6, 2014. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team Full image and caption

Comets are considered to be primitive building blocks of the solar system and may have helped to "seed" Earth with water, perhaps even the ingredients for life. But many fundamental questions about these enigmatic objects remain, and through a comprehensive, in situ study of the comet, Rosetta aims to unlock the secrets within.

The three U.S. instruments aboard the spacecraft are the Microwave Instrument for Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO), an ultraviolet spectrometer called Alice, and the Ion and Electron Sensor (IES). They are part of a suite of 11 science instruments aboard the Rosetta orbiter.

MIRO is designed to provide data on how gas and dust leave the surface of the nucleus to form the coma and tail that give comets their intrinsic beauty. Studying the surface temperature and evolution of the coma and tail provides information on how the comet evolves as it approaches and leaves the vicinity of the sun.

Alice will analyze gases in the comet's coma, which is the bright envelope of gas around the nucleus of the comet developed as it approaches the sun. Alice also will measure the rate at which the comet produces water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. These measurements will provide valuable information about the surface composition of the nucleus.

The instrument also will measure the amount of argon present, an important clue about the temperature of the solar system at the time the comet's nucleus originally formed more than 4.6 billion years ago.

IES is part of a suite of five instruments to analyze the plasma environment of the comet, particularly the coma. The instrument will measure the charged particles in the sun's outer atmosphere, or solar wind, as they interact with the gas flowing out from the comet while Rosetta is drawing nearer to the comet's nucleus.

NASA also provided part of the electronics package for the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer, which is part of the Swiss-built Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) instrument. ROSINA will be the first instrument in space with sufficient resolution to be able to distinguish between molecular nitrogen and carbon monoxide, two molecules with approximately the same mass. Clear identification of nitrogen will help scientists understand conditions at the time the solar system was formed.

U.S. scientists are partnering on several non-U.S. instruments and are involved in seven of the mission's 21 instrument collaborations. NASA's Deep Space Network is supporting ESA's Ground Station Network for spacecraft tracking and navigation.

Launched in March 2004, Rosetta was reactivated in January 2014 after a record 957 days in hibernation. Composed of an orbiter and lander, Rosetta's objectives upon arrival at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August are to study the celestial object up close in unprecedented detail, prepare for landing a probe on the comet's nucleus in November, and track its changes as it sweeps past the sun.

Credits:

Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

The scientific imaging system, OSIRIS, was built by a consortium led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany) in collaboration with Center of Studies and Activities for Space, University of Padua (Italy), the Astrophysical Laboratory of Marseille (France), the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, CSIC (Spain), the Scientific Support Office of the European Space Agency (Netherlands), the National Institute for Aerospace Technology (Spain), the Technical University of Madrid (Spain), the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Uppsala University (Sweden) and the Institute of Computer and Network Engineering of the TU Braunschweig (Germany). OSIRIS was financially supported by the national funding agencies of Germany (DLR), France (CNES), Italy (ASI), Spain, and Sweden and the ESA Technical Directorate.

Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center, Cologne; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen; French National Space Agency, Paris; and the Italian Space Agency, Rome. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the U.S. participation in the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Web links:

European Space Agency home page

Rosetta -- from the ESA

Rosetta -- from NASA

NASA Instruments on Rosetta

Rosetta Comet Comes Alive -- from Science@NASA

All text and images copyright NASA 2014. Read the original press release here.

NASA Press Release: NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before

An artist concept image of where seven carefully-selected instruments will be located on NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. The instruments will conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet as never before.

Image Credit: 

NASA

RELEASE 14-208

NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before

The next rover NASA will send to Mars in 2020 will carry seven carefully-selected instruments to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet.

NASA announced the selected Mars 2020 rover instruments Thursday at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Managers made the selections out of 58 proposals received in January from researchers and engineers worldwide. Proposals received were twice the usual number submitted for instrument competitions in the recent past. This is an indicator of the extraordinary interest by the science community in the exploration of the Mars. The selected proposals have a total value of approximately $130 million for development of the instruments.

Planning for NASA's 2020 Mars rover envisions a basic structure that capitalizes on the design and engineering work done for the NASA rover Curiosity, which landed on Mars in 2012, but with new science instruments selected through competition for accomplishing different science objectives. Mars 2020 is a mission concept that NASA announced in late 2012 to re-use the basic engineering of Mars Science Laboratory to send a different rover to Mars, with new objectives and instruments, launching in 2020. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages NASA's Mars Exploration Program for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit: 

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Mars 2020 mission will be based on the design of the highly successful Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, which landed almost two years ago, and currently is operating on Mars. The new rover will carry more sophisticated, upgraded hardware and new instruments to conduct geological assessments of the rover's landing site, determine the potential habitability of the environment, and directly search for signs of ancient Martian life.

"Today we take another important step on our journey to Mars," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.” While getting to and landing on Mars is hard, Curiosity was an iconic example of how our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way for humans to pioneer Mars and beyond. Mars exploration will be this generation’s legacy, and the Mars 2020 rover will be another critical step on humans' journey to the Red Planet."

Scientists will use the Mars 2020 rover to identify and select a collection of rock and soil samples that will be stored for potential return to Earth by a future mission. The Mars 2020 mission is responsive to the science objectives recommended by the National Research Council's 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey. 

“The Mars 2020 rover, with these new advanced scientific instruments, including those from our international partners, holds the promise to unlock more mysteries of Mars’ past as revealed in the geological record,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This mission will further our search for life in the universe and also offer opportunities to advance new capabilities in exploration technology.”

The Mars 2020 rover also will help advance our knowledge of how future human explorers could use natural resources available on the surface of the Red Planet. An ability to live off the Martian land would transform future exploration of the planet. Designers of future human expeditions can use this mission to understand the hazards posed by Martian dust and demonstrate technology to process carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce oxygen. These experiments will help engineers learn how to use Martian resources to produce oxygen for human respiration and potentially as an oxidizer for rocket fuel.

"The 2020 rover will help answer questions about the Martian environment that astronauts will face and test technologies they need before landing on, exploring and returning from the Red Planet," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Mars has resources needed to help sustain life, which can reduce the amount of supplies that human missions will need to carry. Better understanding the Martian dust and weather will be valuable data for planning human Mars missions. Testing ways to extract these resources and understand the environment will help make the pioneering of Mars feasible."

The selected payload proposals are:
 

• Mastcam-Z, an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability with the ability to zoom. The instrument also will determine mineralogy of the Martian surface and assist with rover operations. The principal investigator is James Bell, Arizona State University in Tempe.
• SuperCam, an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy. The instrument will also be able to detect the presence of organic compounds in rocks and regolith from a distance. The principal investigator is Roger Wiens, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. This instrument also has a significant contribution from the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales,Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Plane’tologie (CNES/IRAP) France.
• Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer that will also contain an imager with high resolution to determine the fine scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials. PIXL will provide capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis of chemical elements than ever before. The principal investigator is Abigail Allwood, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. 
• Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC), a spectrometer that will provide fine-scale imaging and uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser to determine fine-scale mineralogy and detect organic compounds. SHERLOC will be the first UV Raman spectrometer to fly to the surface of Mars and will provide complementary measurements with other instruments in the payload. The principal investigator is Luther Beegle, JPL.
• The Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE), an exploration technology investigation that will produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide. The principal investigator is Michael Hecht, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), a set of sensors that will provide measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity and dust size and shape. The principal investigator is Jose Rodriguez-Manfredi, Centro de Astrobiologia, Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial, Spain.
• The Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Exploration (RIMFAX), a ground-penetrating radar that will provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface. The principal investigator is Svein-Erik Hamran, Forsvarets Forskning Institute, Norway.

"We are excited that NASA's Space Technology Program is partnered with Human Exploration and the Mars 2020 Rover Team to demonstrate our abilities to harvest the Mars atmosphere and convert its abundant carbon dioxide to pure oxygen," said James Reuther, deputy associate administrator for programs for the Space Technology Mission Directorate. "This technology demonstration will pave the way for more affordable human missions to Mars where oxygen is needed for life support and rocket propulsion."

Instruments developed from the selected proposals will be placed on a rover similar to Curiosity, which has been exploring Mars since 2012. Using a proven landing system and rover chassis design to deliver these new experiments to Mars will ensure mission costs and risks are minimized as much as possible, while still delivering a highly capable rover.

Curiosity recently completed a Martian year on the surface -- 687 Earth days -- having accomplished the mission's main goal of determining whether Mars once offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

The Mars 2020 rover is part the agency's Mars Exploration Program, which includes the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, the Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft currently orbiting the planet, and the MAVEN orbiter, which is set to arrive at the Red Planet in September and will study the Martian upper atmosphere.

In 2016, a Mars lander mission called InSight will launch to take the first look into the deep interior of Mars. The agency also is participating in the European Space Agency's (ESA’s) 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, including providing "Electra" telecommunication radios to ESA's 2016 orbiter and a critical element of the astrobiology instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover.

NASA's Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system, including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and biological potential. In parallel, NASA is developing the human spaceflight capabilities needed for future round-trip missions to Mars.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will build and manage operations of the Mars 2020 rover for the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.

For more information about NASA's Mars programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mars

-end-

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
 

All text copyright NASA 2014