Category: Science

Articles about science, and scientists.

Hazard from Space: Just a catastrophe away from Mass Extinction

by Jk_TheAnonymousWriter

Hazard from Space
(AI Generated)

The apocalyptic threat is revolving and approaching the earth at a much faster rate, which gives us a small window to do something about it. It seems like we are either standing on a time bomb or in the spotlight where the space-time bomb will eventually fall.

We are facing more than a thousand mass annihilation threats that could wipe out the entire human civilization. Those apocalyptic threats are categorized as — Asteroid/comet strikes, high-energy solar flares, expanding sun, local gamma-ray bursts, supernova explosions, and moving stars. And today we are going to talk about asteroid strikes.

It has Happened Earlier and may happen again

The day the sky fell was approximately sixty-six million years ago, when dinosaurs were able to see their approaching end. Luis Walter Alvarez and Walter’s theory suggest that a layer of iridium-rich clay was formed as the asteroid hit the earth. The sudden devastation in the affected area and the widespread secondary effects of the impact were the prime reasons why dinosaurs died so instantly.

How could an asteroid wipe out the entire population of dinosaurs?

Well, asteroids aren’t just some space debris or dust; they are pretty large in shape and have rock bodies. They orbit the sun and can range from a few to 100s of meters in diameter. If the asteroid’s fragment lands on the earth’s surface, it’s known as a meteorite. Some meteoroids and space debris burn out when entering the earth’s atmosphere.

By now, numerous craters have been found that support this tragic end of the dinosaurs and the approaching apocalyptic threat.

The asteroid that put an end to all dinosaurs is thought to have a diameter of about 10 to 15 km. Its impact site is known as the Chicxulub crater. The velocity of the asteroid collision caused a much larger crater, about 150 km in diameter. It resulted in throwing a huge amount of debris into the air, resulting in massive tidal waves and substantial fires that drowned certain parts of the American continent. It further contaminated the climate and generated heatwaves; the dust traveled across and somehow blocked out the sunlight (not completely) that reached the earth’s surface. All this led to the devastation and mass extinction of quite a few species, including dinosaurs, and it also had a huge impact on plant growth.

It seems Asteroid was just testing its impact on Dinosaurs

So, by now, I think you know what will happen if an asteroid (1 km wide) ever hits or strikes the earth. Researchers say that even if an asteroid passes the earth’s orbit, it will result in hugely devastating effects. Astronomers have already discovered over 8000 NEOs (near-Earth objects) large enough to wipe out an entire state or city.

Even smaller asteroids that might strike Earth will result in devastating effects. For example, the space rock that fell over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013, was about 19 meters wide. It caused severe damage not only at the site of the impact but also 93 kilometers away from the original site. More than 1,200 people were injured. So if you think an asteroid will fall on America and then Canada and Mexico will be alright or have no threat or impact, then you are wrong.

Could we have any chance to survive if a gigantic asteroid collides with Earth?

If we are fortunate, the asteroid will be small and will fall over the ocean in deep water. Then less asteroid rock dust will vaporize, and heat waves and further devastation will be much less as compared to when it straightaway hits the ground. It lowers our chances of extinction but doesn’t provide any surety.

Now assume that if the asteroid is large enough, then it most surely will trigger the apocalyptic button that will put an end to the human era. Even though the asteroid won’t have to touch the surface to wipe out human civilization, the atmospheric impact will create a firewall, and there will be an asteroid shower, large enough to destroy anyone who will see it.

During that time, noxious and poisonous gases would cloud up the sky, which would mostly contain asteroid dust. As a result of the sunlight being blocked, no future greens and vegetation, animals, or humans will survive.

Thinking of Buying an Underground Bunker so that you can survive, well the chances of survival are low

If you are lucky enough, your bunker won’t be situated at the site of impact. The direct hit from a large asteroid will excavate a crater approximately 40 kilometers deep. So find a bunker that is much deeper than that.

But, the bunker
(AI Generated)

Even if your bunker survived the shockwave and was situated somewhere safe. Eventually, you will find the world devastated, and the food in the bunker will run out after some time; either you will die of starvation or from devastating heatwaves and poisonous gas caused by the impact

What if Doctor Strange transports the asteroid to another dimension using his sling ring?

First, it’s not possible; second, it’s fiction. We don’t have Doctor Strange; we have space agencies that are working to rule out this possible threat. Space agencies like NASA are planning to deflect the asteroid from its original path so it doesn’t strike our beloved planet Earth.

Scientists are continuously observing the NEO and estimating the trajectory of a potential asteroid that may strike Earth.

Surprisingly, if an asteroid or space rock changes its trajectory and puts itself in Earth’s sights, then we may have a plan that works out in our favor. NASA has just tested a plan to deal with this possible situation. The space agency smashed an uncrewed rocket into the 525-foot-wide (160-meter) asteroid known as Dimorphos and demonstrated that they were successful in altering the asteroid’s trajectory.

Because Dimorphos isn’t heading for Earth, we can test this as a planetary defense system for future asteroid strikes; if it works, Dinasours will be jealous.

With birth, the end is also determined, and the end of the Earth is given. Knowing this should fill us with terrible fear. It is something we might be able to change, which is similar to our life, which has a start and an end. It is what distinguishes humans; all we can do is make the most of our time on Earth and live a happy and fulfilling life. Rather than looking up at the sky as a threat and wondering what could kill, aspire to the beauty of what is ahead of us and what surrounds us, and get inspired by infinite space that also offers a future and meaning.

The great news is that there is no known potentially hazardous asteroid, a threat that may kill human civilization, reaching Earth for at least the next 100 years.

280 Million-Year-Old Bacteria Might be Lurking Beneath Mars’ Surface

By Raquel Santos

Conan the Bacterium
(Deinococcus radiodurans (Image by Michael J. Daly/USU) )

Knowing whether there is or ever was life on Mars is a question that we’ve always asked ourselves. There was never any solid indication that there was any form of life on our neighboring planet. Until now.

Researchers at Northwestern University conducted an experiment in which they simulated Mars’ radiation conditions to see how long dried, frozen bacteria and fungi could survive. They concluded that Deinococcus radiodurans, also known as ‘Conan the Bacterium’, could survive 280 million years if buried.

This means that there could be some form of life on Mars, just below the surface, and that the chances of uncovering it are higher than ever.

A Hard-Knock Life on Mars

It’s not complicated to explain why it would be pretty much impossible to find life on Mars. The Red Planet’s environment is unforgiving with icy temperatures, solar protons, and cosmic radiation constantly bombarding its surface.

While there’s evidence that the planet was once more hospitable, it now resembles a frozen desert.

“There is no flowing water or significant water in the Martian atmosphere, so cells and spores would dry out,” said study coauthor Brian Hoffman. “It also is known that the surface temperature on Mars is roughly similar to dry ice, so it is indeed deeply frozen.”

Previous research suggested that some bacteria would be able to survive for up to about a million years beneath the surface of Mars. Now, scientists have discovered that perhaps some life forms could withstand the planet’s harsh conditions for a lot longer.

Martian Simulations – A Proof of Life?

A research team from Northwestern University conducted an experiment in which they simulated the martian environment and radiation to see if any kind of bacteria or fungi could survive underneath the surface.

They exposed six types of organisms to a simulation of the Red Planet’s surface and then zapped them with large doses of gamma radiation and protons to mimic radiation in space. One robust microbe, in particular, the Deinococcus radiodurans, showed promise against the simulated martian conditions.

Conan in a dish
(Conan the Bacterium in a dish (Image by Michael J. Daly/USU))

Using a spectroscopy technique, the researchers measured the accumulation of manganese antioxidants in the microbes’ cells. The more manganese antioxidants are present in the cells, the more resistant a microorganism is to radiation and the better odds it has of survival.

The accumulation of the substance on Conan the Bacterium was such that it would be able to take 140,000 grays of radiation, a dose that’s 28,000 times greater than what would kill us, humans.

Ultraviolet light would kill this microorganism in a few hours if it were exposed to the surface. However, if it were buried just 10 centimeters beneath the surface, its lifespan would increase to 1.5 million years. Burying it 10 meters below showed that Deinococcus radiodurans could survive up to 280 million years.

Conan the Bacterium’s survival skills are due to its genetic code. This microorganism’s chromosomes and plasmids are perfectly aligned and linked together in a way that allows for careful repair after intense radiation exposure.

But what does this all mean exactly?

The Risk of Interplanetary Contamination

If any bacteria or fungi similar to Deinococcus radiodurans ever existed on Mars, particularly during a time when the water stopped flowing, its remains might still be dormant just under the surface.

“Although D. radiodurans buried in the Martian subsurface could not survive dormant for the estimated 2 to 2.5 billion years since flowing water disappeared on Mars, such Martian environments are regularly altered and melted by meteorite impacts,” Michael Daly said. “We suggest that periodic melting could allow intermittent repopulation and dispersal. Also, if Martian life ever existed, even if viable lifeforms are not now present on Mars, their macromolecules and viruses would survive much, much longer. That strengthens the probability that, if life ever evolved on Mars, this will be revealed in future missions.”

Future missions like ExoMars, the Mars Life Explorer, and the Mars Sample Return programs will extract and return materials from about two meters below Mars’ surface. The teams hope that these extractions can prove whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.

If there is in fact evidence that there are any dormant life forms on Mars, there might be risks of contamination. Future missions and astronauts might contaminate the planet with their microbes.

“Our model organisms serve as proxies for both forward contamination of Mars, as well as backward contamination of Earth, both of which should be avoided,” said Michael Daly. “Importantly, these findings have biodefense implications, too, because the threat of biological agents, such as Anthrax, remains a concern to military and homeland defense.”

The study, “Effects of desiccation and freezing on microbial ionizing radiation survivability: Considerations for Mars sample-return” was published in the journal Astrobiology and can be found, here.

Sources:

Asteroid Mining – Economic Benefit and Fallout

Asteroid Mining
(Credit: Detlev Van Ravenswaay via Science Photo Library)

by Rida Fatima

INTRODUCTION

Asteroids are the remaining crumbs from the formation of the planets, the remains of the youthful exuberance of our solar system. Much of the space period was spent ignoring asteroids in favour of the Moon and the much more glamorous planets. The asteroids, which are dark, irregular rocks that are difficult to see and locate, have long passed unnoticed by us. However, that was a misstep. They are essential to the destiny of our species; in fact, asteroids are linked to humanity’s survival and advancement, three options are listed ahead. They carry messages that date back to the formation of the solar system, long before our Earth existed, and where we are heading depends on how we got here. They are also stores of resources that could help us avoid shortages in the future. Last but not least, a small point: We could all be wiped off the face of the planet by an asteroid.

Asteroids are the byproducts of collisions between some of the first protoplanets, or “planetesimals,” which formed in large numbers when the solar system was only a few million years old. Many asteroids are therefore nothing more than heaps of fragmented debris kept together by their own weak gravity, which is around a million times weaker than the gravity we experience on Earth. Because asteroids are untainted messengers from those violent early times, unravelling the solar system’s volatile history is made easier by their presence. In contrast to the planets, the asteroids have not undergone significant change in the last few billion years. There are millions of them, and the vast majority of them orbit the Sun in a region known as the “Main Belt” that lies between Mars and Jupiter.

OPPORTUNITIES IN ASTEROID MINING

Asteroid mining is largely a speculative concept due to its enormous expense. While precise costs of commercial mining are still unknown, comparisons can be made with NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which aims to collect samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The mission is anticipated to take 7 years and cost over US$1 billion, even though it is only expected to return 400 grammes to 1 kilogramme of material. In order to cover such significant development expenditures, Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries were unable to raise the necessary funds. In 2018 and 2019, respectively, other companies bought out both enterprises. Because of the incredibly costly minerals that asteroids have, despite its enormous expense, the development of asteroid mining technology may very well be a successful business. According to Asterank, which calculates the potential value of the roughly 6,000 asteroids that NASA currently monitors, mining just the top 10 most profitable asteroids—those that are both closest to Earth and have the most value and would result in a profit of around US$1.5 trillion. Additionally, there is enormous opportunity for growth. It has been estimated that one asteroid, 16 Psyche, holds US$700 quintillion in gold, or nearly US$93 billion for every person on earth.

Such technologies might also directly affect the environment. The utilisation of traditional underground mining methods, which result in acid mine drainage and leak dangerous substances like lead and arsenic into streams, would be completely replaced by asteroid mining. It may pave the way for the creation of solar-powered satellites, a potentially dependable source of renewable energy. The majority of the advancements in asteroid mining technologies have been made in the area of water extraction, reflecting worries about the global water crisis. Small-scale mining (ASM) enterprises that are not run by larger mining companies would be particularly affected by this. The use of child labour and deadly accidents within Congolese ASM activities has revealed the need for considerable change.

Economic Impacts

The implications of asteroid mining on the global economy are both positive and negative. On the one hand, it could produce substantial wealth for individuals; astronomer Neil DeGrasse Tyson claims that the first trillionaire will be a businessman engaged in asteroid mining. It could also destroy the global raw materials sector, which is currently valued at about US$660 billion.

All raw commodities would swiftly lose value as the market would be inundated with asteroid mining resources. Researchers from Tel Aviv University modelled a comparable scenario. They predicted that there would be a tremendous “global struggle for riches and power” in a society that mined asteroids. They arrived at this conclusion after performing a simulation in which one shipment of space minerals reduced the value of the price of gold on Earth by 50%. Notably, the Tel Aviv researchers also predicted that developing countries would suffer greatly from this battle because they rely heavily on the export of minerals and lack the resources to set up their own asteroid mining operations. This perspective, though it might be a feasible one, is not covered in great detail in the economics of space mining literature that is currently available. Asteroid mining might give one company dominance over the trading of a single natural resource, putting at risk the countries that currently rely on resource exports. For instance, some asteroids have platinum inside them that might be worth $50 billion. The leading producer of platinum in the world, South Africa, produced only 4.3 million ounces of the metal in 2018, worth about US$3.8 billion, at an average price of US$882.18 per ounce. The utilisation of South Africa’s platinum riches as well as its numerous other natural resources has considerably helped the country; the sector now employs over 451,000 people and accounts for 8.2 percent of its GDP. Future asteroid mining would become commonplace, which would have a negative impact on many South Africans’ ability to support themselves.

Zimbabwe, another big producer of platinum, would struggle significantly more if mining operations were seized. A wide range of developing economies are in danger as research is being done to find out how much other elements, like cobalt, reside on other asteroids. While, the people currently operating in dangerous mining conditions would probably be safer, but they would also lose their jobs. More significantly, those who lost their jobs would not be able to find new employment in the asteroid mining sector, especially low-income individuals who lack the necessary skills. As a result, these crucial low-skilled occupations for those in desperate need of money would be permanently lost.

Steps Forward

There are a few possible solutions to this problem. The first would entail increasing access to asteroid mining technologies for emerging economies so that more would be able to compete in a future space-oriented economy. Given that such activities would likely be significantly influenced by private enterprises, developing nations may need to sponsor the presence of such companies within their borders or support educational initiatives that would enable the establishment of similar companies domestically. The second choice would necessitate the diversification of economies, as many of them are currently quite dependent on mining technologies. However, given that this process is already occurring and moving very slowly, technology advancements that exclusively benefit wealthy countries would make it slower.

A third option would be to create a system through which wealthier countries that employ the technology would compensate less wealthy countries, as was outlined in the Tel Aviv University study. The last option is for legislators to work on responsible production regulation. This would guarantee that materials would only be produced at a rate that is equivalent to current production, even if mining asteroids in enormous quantities became feasible. This would also lessen the possibility of a situation known as a tragedy of the commons, in which excessive consumption depletes a resource’s availability. It is high time to bring all countries to the asteroid mining table; asteroid mining operations must also involve countries that stand to bear the brunt of its negative economic impacts so things will be divided and managed fairly, producing a less hectic result.

Reference:

Can we establish Human Civilization in Space in the next 50 years?

by JkTheAnonymousWriter

“The human race must colonize space within the next 100 years or it will become extinct”
~ Stephen Hawking

International Space Station
(Credit: Nasa)

Let’s start this from the start. Isaac Newton must have thought about space travel in his thought experiment to evaluate orbital motion. Cannonballs when fired from the mountain top with a high muzzle speed and if the velocity is much higher, then their paths curve downward no more sharply than the Earth’s surface curves away underneath them; therefore, the cannon-balls will surely go into orbit. This experiment is still the neatest and easiest way to teach the concept of orbital flight.

Newton estimated that to throw a cannonball into the Earth’s orbit, its speed must be about 25000 km/h. However, even after knowing that we weren’t able to achieve that speed until 1957 with the launch of Sputnik 1, 12 years later, we stepped on the moon.

And now we are in the Cenozoic Era. Hundreds more have now traveled into space, which means we have done nothing more than circle the Earth in a space station. The ISS (International Space Station) was one of the most expensive artifacts ever constructed. The ISS acts as a microgravity and technical payoff space environment research laboratory. Extensive scientific research is conducted there in fields like astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and some other major fields that might lead us to successful space colonies.

We have so far developed many technologies, space inventories, and robots that will easily help us to explore the entire universe. But the main problem is that we depend on chemical fuel, and at the speed we are going, it might take more than billions of times infinity to explore the entire universe. However, in this century, we will successfully explore our solar planets up to the very edge. We have sent the JWST (James Webb space telescope) into space, which will reveal the mysterious unknown things of the universe. The discoveries will lead us to a new space era and will expand our vision of the entire cosmos.

We are moving towards better communication through networking satellites. In total, about 4,852 active satellites are orbiting the Earth as of January 1, 2022. Researchers and astronomers are planning to take the next step toward planet mining and space fabrication. In that way, they plan to lower the cost of space missions by using space materials as fuel and other means for better and cheaper exploration.

In 2024, NASA is launching a moon base camp mission – Artemis. They are planning to build a gateway in lunar orbit so that they can easily export robots, human beings, and other materials for further research. Also, it will help us learn more about the major effects of disrupted Space Space circadian rhythms, isolation, and high doses of radiation—all this information is quite necessary for establishing space territorial civilization and exploration.

It’s quite complex and sophisticated, as we see in sci-fi movies, to colonize space. Initially, it will be robots who will be sent, not humans, into Mars, space, and exoplanets. The robots that can work and utilize information without any signals or input, such as AI robots, can work for long hours with no human contact. Because it will almost certainly take a long time to send a signal from another planet to Earth and then back again. In the coming years, private space organizations like SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, Blue Origin, and Jeff Bezos, will surely bring the silicon valley culture to space tourism. Elon Musk is planning to launch 100 missions in 2023. He has already succeeded in building reusable rockets. Reusable rockets, which seemed impossible a few years back.

We would have already built a space colony by now if we had solved the problems of the cost price of every mission, space radiation, intrinsic inefficiency of chemical fuel, weight load, and much more. If we remain dependent on our usual means, then surely it will take a lot of time and money to even build a base camp on another planet.

Despite the endless hurdles, scientists are working day and night on many innovations and intriguing ideas that might change the course of our space journey. Project RAMA has proposed a unique and faster way to explore space by turning space rocks and asteroids into autonomous spacecraft. It will use robotic processes to transform asteroid elements into programmed automata.

Another innovation is Nasa’s smart spacesuits with stretchable self-healing skin. It will be a hybrid, intelligent, mobile EVA space suit that helps humans detect signals, weather, and survive on Mars missions.

If Elon Musk succeeds in Mars colonization, then we will surely need breathable air. Ivan Ermanoski, an extraordinary research professor at Arizona State University, has proposed that he can help in making that possible through a process called thermal swing sorption/desorption, which is also known as TSSD. TSSD will help in generating breathable oxygen on the red planet. This portable oxygen generator will use 10 times less energy as compared to our other leading methods.

Also, space mining can transform space rockets. Nasa is planning to work on a technique called optical mining. They plan to transform the asteroid using concentrated sunlight into rocket propellants.

Establishing space colonies on other planets will surely mold and transform our human species’ future. Scientists are planning to do so with 3D printers to create 3D-printed homes, which will not only protect you from the outer atmosphere but radiation too.

Virgin Galactic aims to make space tourism active soon. Virgin Galactic has claimed to have already taken around 600 deposits for space passengers booked on the first-ever commercial space flight that might soon take off in the coming few years.

So, the answer to the question of: will we be able to establish space colonization? Well, we can surely say space tourism will be a big thing and a billionaire-making industry in the coming 50 years. As for space colonization, as far as we are going, many private companies will surely succeed in making base camps and transportation camps, and that will surely lead to Mars civilization in the coming 50 years.

We need a habitable atmosphere, where gravity can hold the habitable atmosphere in its grasp and can sustain life. Even if we move to Mars and build artificial gravity and camps for organic sustainability and evolution, it will lead to a generic constraint. It will further lead to organic intelligence species that will evolve on another planet.

But forget about mass emigration from Earth. It will not be possible within such a feasible budget. Also, political obstacles and public opinion do play a part in that. It is quite possible to take measures and transform the earth while preserving what we have.

However, in doing so, we won’t ever get an answer to our prime question, “Are we alone?”.

New craters on Mars might hold clues about the planet’s atmosphere and evolution

By Raquel Santos

An international team of researchers located four new impact craters on the surface of Mars. Using a seismometer and images captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the team was able to pinpoint the location of these craters.

Impact Craters
(Image of the four new craters by NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona)

This is the first time investigators were able to capture impact dynamics on Mars. Such information might hold valuable clues regarding the planet’s atmosphere and internal structure. It might also give us some insight into how our planetary neighbor formed and evolved over time.

Martian Meteoric Exploration

Mars is located nearby our solar system’s asteroid belt. The proximity between the two and Mars’ flimsy atmosphere makes it vulnerable to impacts by space rocks. Even though we know the repercussions of a meteoroid’s impact here on Earth, researchers were never quite able to figure out impact dynamics on Mars.

“Meteoroids and other projectiles in space can change the atmosphere and surface of any planet through impact,” said Nicholas Schmerr, a co-author of the paper. “We’ve seen this on Earth, where these objects can hurtle through the atmosphere, hit the ground, and leave behind a crater. But before this, we’ve never been able to capture the dynamics of an impact on Mars, where there’s a much thinner atmosphere.”

To investigate the martian planet’s structure, crust, and impact activity NASA launched the InSight lander. It touched down on the Elysium Planitia in late 2018 and began recording data, including seismic waves.
Researchers examined those recordings to see if they between 2020 and 2021 to see if they could find any recent craters produced by incoming meteoroids. They expected to detect between one and 100 impacts every five Earth years.

Elysium Planitia
First images of Elysium Planitia from InSight’s Instrument Deployment Camera (Source: Wiki, by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

An Impactful Research

Researchers explored the acoustic and seismic waves triggered by the impact of space projectiles using SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure), an instrument embedded in InSight. Determining how fast these waves traveled through Mars’ air and rock, researchers estimated the location of four different craters that they decided to explore in detail.

To confirm their estimations, they compared them to visual data provided by Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
“These seismic measurements give us a completely new tool for investigating Mars, or any other planet we can land a seismometer on,” said planetary geophysicist Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the InSight mission’s principal investigator.

The combination of the images and wave data provided investigators with a way to study the martian atmosphere and its interior structure. A better understanding of Mars’ seismology will provide valuable information regarding the planet’s core, heating processes, and underlying tectonic activities.

Planetary Structure and Evolution

The findings from this research will likely impact different planetary studies, as they’ll allow researchers to use seismic activity data to investigate other planets across our entire solar system.

“We can connect a known source type, location, and size to what the seismic signal looks like. We can apply this information to better understand InSight’s entire catalog of seismic events, and use the results on other planets and moons, too,” said Brown University planetary scientist Ingrid Daubar, a co-author of the study published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The results could help researchers understand how often new impacts occur in the inner solar system and how they impact each planet’s atmosphere and interior. Combining acoustic and seismic wave recordings with images might also be the first step in determining a planet’s core solidity and heating processes.

Researchers also consider these findings as a way to better understand planetary formation and evolution. “Studying how impacts work on Mars is like opening a window into the fundamental processes of how terrestrial planets form,” Schmerr said. “All inner solar system planets share this commonality, including Earth.”

The original article is called “Newly formed craters on Mars located using seismic and acoustic wave data from InSight” and can be found in Nature Geoscience.

Sources:

New evidence suggests there’s liquid water under the Martian ice cap

By Raquel Santos

An international team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, has found new evidence that suggests the existence of liquid water under the South polar ice cap of Mars. Using spacecraft laser-altimeter measurements, researchers provided the first line of evidence, without using radar, that our neighbor red planet might contain water under its icy surface.

Mars South Polar Ice Cap
(Image Credit: Photo by NASA/JPL/MSSS (Source: Wikipedia))

The findings give way to a wide variety of implications. The main one is that there is a probability that Mars is geothermally active.

A back-and-forward debate

In 2018, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express satellite provided some evidence that indicated that there was liquid water under Mars’ southern ice cap. Using its ice-penetrating radar, MARSIS, revealed an area at the base of the ice that reflected the radar signal.
These measurements were originally interpreted as a possibility of the presence of water beneath the ice. However, researchers were quick to refute it.

Subsequent studies showed that other types of dry material produce similar responses to the ones found under the martian ice cap. And because the climate conditions on Mars are so cold, liquid water beneath the ice would require additional heat sources that weren’t expected to exist on this planet at the time. The radar signal also appeared in some orbital passes but not others.

This debate put the theory on standby, waiting for another line of evidence that could either support it or disprove it completely.

Is that water?

Results from the recent research, published in the Nature Astronomy journal, provide additional evidence that there could, in fact, be liquid water under the southern martian polar ice cap. The team used a wide variety of techniques to examine the surface of Mars’ south polar ice cap where the radar signal was identified.

The analysis showed a 10-15 kilometer-long surface undulation, with depressions followed by raised areas, similar in scale to undulations over subglacial lakes on Earth.

Surface topographic impact of subglacial water beneath the south polar ice cap of Mars
(Image Credit: Original Article)

Then, the researchers tried to determine whether these undulations could be explained by liquid water under the cap. They ran computer simulations of ice flow adapted to the conditions found on Mars.

These models predicted what would happen beneath the ice cap if there was liquid water present. They also inserted various levels of geothermal heat coming from inside the planet. The experiment generated undulations that were similar in shape and size to the ones observed on the real ice cap surface.

Professor Neil Arnold, the leader of the research, said: “The combination of the new topographic evidence, our computer model results, and the radar data make it much more likely that at least one area of subglacial liquid water exists on Mars today, and that Mars must still be geothermally active in order to keep the water beneath the ice cap liquid.”

Where there’s water…

There might be water on Mars, but it doesn’t mean that there’s life. However, it makes it a bit more likely that it could’ve existed in the past when the planet’s conditions were a lot different than what they are today.

For the water to be liquid under the martian ice caps, in such cold conditions, it would need to be extremely salty. That, combined with the harsh conditions of the red planet would make it difficult for even the most extreme microbial life to survive. If martian microbial life is anything like the one existing on Earth, that is.

Still, this discovery could potentially open new paths to help us understand if there were any habitable environments on Mars in the past. It could also be used as a starting point to trying to figure out more about other planets as well.

“The quality of data coming back from Mars, from orbital satellites as well as from the landers, is such that we can use it to answer really difficult questions about conditions on, and even under the planet’s surface, using the same techniques we also use on Earth,” said Arnold. “It’s exciting to use these techniques to find out things about planets other than our own.”

Sources:
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966152
https://www.science.org/content/article/liquid-water-spied-deep-below-polar-ice-cap-mars
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-022-01782-0
https://www.outlookindia.com/international/explained-how-scientists-found-new-evidence-of-liquid-water-below-ice-caps-on-mars-news-227748

Mars Copter Ready to Rock

Mars Copter
(Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA has reported over the weekend that the Mars Copter, an incredible bonus feature included with the Perseverance rover mission, has checked in and all systems are nominal! It will be undergoing battery charging sessions over the next several weeks, assessing how it performs in that harsh climate with extreme cold temperatures over night of around -130F. Once it has demonstrated that it can be hearty and hold a charge, it will be released from home base and be on its own! A 30 day mission will then commence, and we might start getting some really incredible in-flight videos from the little Ingenuity copter, which will of course be the first aircraft on another world.

In the meantime, we can be sure that Perseverance will continue to send back more and more findings, supplementing the already rich set of imagery we have gotten in just the first few days!

Perseverance Wheel and Rocks

References

Perseverance Arrives Feb 18th

Nasa Perseverance Rover
(Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

With the UAE and China reaching Mars this past week, the United States will now be joining the party this week with their latest Mars rover, Perseverance! It plans to arrive in a pretty grand way, so be sure to check out this rendering of the landing process.

Yes, that’s right, they plan to inflate a giant, supersonic parachute, then deploy a jet-powered “sky crane” that will descend to a safe landing spot and hover above the surface while lowering the rover to the ground on a tether (Reuters). That’s a lot of science!

The mission profile is to “seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth”. Be sure to learn more at the official NASA Mars 2020 page!

One can almost tangibly feel the interest and activity surrounding missions to Mars building stronger every day. Public sentiment and commercial support will be at a fever pitch, just in time for SpaceX to bring their Starship system on line in about a year, and then we are going to see some seriously amazing things!

References:

UAE Gets to Mars

UAE Hope Mars Probe
(Image Credit: Chris Whiteoak / The National)

After announcing the ambitious project back in 2015, the United Arab Emirates successfully reached the red planet today with their Hope Mars Probe, massively decelerated and entered orbit all according to plan!

This was a wonderful success to see, as it further expands the scope of nations that are embarking upon this new phase of growth and exploration. Dubai and the UAE, more than many other nations in recent history, probably benefits from a frontier mentality that the rest of us can only imagine or read about. They grew in four decades from a small traditional society, based off of fishing and local trade, into a stunning modern metropolis and economic powerhouse, on the back of their good luck being located on top of so much oil. The ruler there, however, is no dummy and knows that the oil gravy train won’t run much longer, so has taken many wise steps to diversify their economy.

This push into science and technology is another of these steps, and will be a benefit to both that region, and to the overall betterment of mankind if they can manage it as they have managed their beautiful cities.

So – congratulations to the UAE team for their successful mission. I can’t wait to see the science that will start to come back from this probe, which will tell us more about the Martian atmosphere on a global scale.

Want to see a cool related video from the successful landing celebration? Check out the entire Burj Khalifa putting on a high-res light show:

References:

SpaceX Astronaut Launch Success!

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley
(Photo Credit: SpaceX)
Well done SpaceX, that was incredible and the result of vision, a decade of hard work, and good old fashioned pioneer spirit. Talk about patriotism in these difficult times? Returning human launch capability to US soil is one of the most important and patriotic things I can imagine as we embark upon a renewed era of exploration and growth.

Every dime of finance and industry we have ever known has come from only the resources of this planet and now, if we keep playing our cards right, the possibilities exist on a scale hard to imagine, but inarguably vastly larger than what we have had up until now. Excited to see this happening in my lifetime and when I hopefully have a few years left to enjoy it and be involved. And also to set up the kids to really be a part of it!