Astrobiology Magazine has some interesting articles about possible life elsewhere in the Solar System….
Mawrth Vallis Water
“Layers of clay have been discovered in the martian highlands using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The data indicate that liquid water was once widespread on early Mars.”
The Stuff of Life on Titan
“Could tholins formed in Titan’s atmosphere react with liquid water temporarily exposed by meteor impacts or ice volcanoes to produce potentially probiotic complex organic molecules - before the water freezes? Until this year, no one knew.
“Now, laboratory research by Catherine Neish, a graduate student working on her doctorate in planetary science at the University of Arizona, shows in the journal Astrobiology that, over a period of days, compounds similar to tholins can be hydrolyzed (i.e., react with water) at near-freezing temperatures.”
Cracking the Question of Alien Life
“New research is providing clues about the potential for life on Europa. By studying Europa’s surface, scientists hope to determine the best places to search for life and whether or not the moon is geologically active.”
ESA PRESS RELEASE
ESA’s Mars Express radar sounder, MARSIS, has looked beneath the martian surface and opened up the third dimension for planetary exploration. The technique’s success is prompting scientists to think of all the other places in the Solar System where they would like to use radar sounders.
No matter how accurate a camera is, it can only map a planet’s surface. To retrieve information about the underground realm, planetary scientists in the past would have thought it necessary to land on the surface and start digging.
But that would only be good for a single spot on a large planet and the first few decimetres of the surface. To get the global picture of the subsurface they need a radar sounder, such as the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS), to find the best spots for the future landers to go and dig.
MARSIS is built to map the distribution of liquid and solid water in the upper portions of martian crust. If reservoirs of water are detected, it will help us understand the hydrological, geological, climatic and possibly biological evolution of Mars. The radar experiment works because every time a radar wave crosses a boundary between different substances, it generates an echo that the orbiter detects.
Continue reading ‘ESA Breaks on Through to the “Third Dimension” on Mars’
A Flagship class Titan explorer balloon. Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Space.com’s Leonard David reports that NASA and ESA planetary scientists are working out the details on possible flagship-class missions to Jupiter and Saturn that include landers, balloons and a mini-submarine.
“We have the outer planet flagship mission in the [NASA] budget … I do believe it will happen,” said Dr. Fran Bagenal, who heads up the chair of the Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG). “I couldn’t have said that four years ago … now I have great confidence that this will happen.”
One mission under review involves two orbiters to study Jupiter and its frozen moon Europa, which scientists believe possesses a subsurface ocean. Russia has proposed a Europa lander for the flight.
The Saturn mission would involve a main spacecraft that would orbit the gas giant and a smaller one to explore its satellite Titan. The Titan vehicle could deploy an atmospheric balloon, surface probes, or a mini-submarine to explore the moon’s methane lakes.
After years of brilliant success studying the Red Planet, scientists and engineers working on NASA’s Mars exploration are getting their just desserts: deep cutbacks in their programs for the next four years.
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin announced last week that he was refocusing the agency’s exploration budget on the outer planets. RedOrbit.com reports that NASA is requesting around $343 million annually for Mars exploration for 2009-12, just over half the $620 million it had estimated just a year ago.
Griffin said the change was spurred by a recent National Research Council report which gave the agency an “A” for its Mars work and a “D” for its exploration of the outer worlds.
“After Mars Science Lab - the current planetary sciences flagship - we are now planning in earnest for an outer planets flagship to Europa, Titan or Ganymede,” Griffin told attendees at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston last week.
Continue reading ‘Mars Program Gets an “A”; NASA Slashes Funding’