Martian Chronicles–Part 2

My Sunday and I continue my look out in space……

Like the story written by Bradbury…I am chronicling the Mars situation for my readers…..

One of the main problems for any trip to Mars is….where will the people live?

New York-based design agency AI SpaceFactory took the top prize in a NASA competition to 3D print a habitat that could be used on the moon or Mars.

AI SpaceFactory won $500,000 for its efforts, while the second-place recipient, Penn State, got $200,000.

The winning habitat, called Marsha, is tall and slim, to reduce the need for construction rovers on unfamiliar terrain, according to AI SpaceFactory. It is designed to be built on a vertically telescoping arm attached to a rover, which stays still during construction. AI SpaceFactory plans to adapt Marsha’s design for an eco-friendly Earth habitat called Tera; a crowdfunding campaign will begin shortly, the design agency said in a statement.

https://www.space.com/nasa-3d-printed-habitat-competition-winners.html

There has been a discovery of water vapor on Mars…….

A team of scientists say they’ve discovered the unusual way in which water cycles on Mars.

The findings could illuminate how hydrogen from water vapor could be making its way into space on the Red Planet — a potential explanation as to why Mars has turned from a water-rich planet into a dry and desolate one over the course of billions of years.

According to the researchers’ results, water can only rise from the lower into the upper atmosphere during a tiny time window: approximately every two Earth years, when it’s summer on the southern hemisphere and Mars is at its closest to the Sun.

The team of researchers, who hail from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, used a computer simulation and data gathered by space telescopes and space probes to probe the Red Planet’s weather dynamics.

“When it is summer in the southern hemisphere, at certain times of day water vapor can rise locally with warmer air masses and reach the upper atmosphere,” Paul Hartogh from MPS said in a statement.

The water vapor then gets carried to the North Pole where it condenses into liquid and falls out of the sky. During that process, some of the water particles disintegrate and leak hydrogen atoms into the emptiness of space.

With the water vapor thing…could there be life there today?

The search for life on Mars shouldn’t focus exclusively on the distant past, some researchers say.

Four billion years ago, the Martian surface was apparently quite habitable, featuring rivers, lakes and even a deep ocean. Indeed, some astrobiologists view ancient Mars as an even better cradle for life than Earth was, and they suspect that life on our planet may have come here long ago aboard Mars rocks blasted into space by a powerful impact.

Things changed when Mars lost its global magnetic field. Charged particles streaming from the sun were then free to strip away the once-thick Martian atmosphere, and strip it they did. This process had transformed Mars into the cold, dry world we know today by about 3.7 billion years ago, observations by NASA’s MAVEN orbiter suggest. (Earth still has its global magnetic field, explaining how our planet remains so livable.)

https://www.space.com/could-mars-support-life-today.html

As long as we are talking about water in space…..could it be everywhere?

The findings, published this week in Nature, confirm the existence of “superionic ice,” a new phase of water with bizarre properties. Unlike the familiar ice found in your freezer or at the north pole, superionic ice is black and hot. A cube of it would weigh four times as much as a normal one. It was first theoretically predicted more than 30 years ago, and although it has never been seen until now, scientists think it might be among the most abundant forms of water in the universe.

Across the solar system, at least, more water probably exists as superionic ice—filling the interiors of Uranus and Neptune—than in any other phase, including the liquid form sloshing in oceans on Earth, Europa and Enceladus. The discovery of superionic ice potentially solves decades-old puzzles about the composition of these “ice giant” worlds.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-bizarre-form-of-water-may-exist-all-over-the-universe/

Then there is the Moon….the Trump story is that we will return to the Moon as a jumping off point to Mars……that program will be called Artemis, who was the sister of Apollo…

NASA’s next mission to the moon is appropriately named, considering efforts to include the first female lunar walk. The mission is dubbed Artemis, after the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister of the god Apollo, whose namesake mission propelled 12 US astronauts to the moon from 1969 to 1972. “I have a daughter who is 11 years old, and I want her to be able to see herself in the same role as the next women that go to the moon,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said during Monday’s announcement. But “there’s still a long way to go before Artemis can actually deliver,” per the Verge.

Indeed, Bridenstine said NASA would need an extra $1.6 billion on top of the $21 billion already requested in order to meet the accelerated 2024 deadline the Trump administration proposed in March for the new mission. Ars Technica cites three sources as saying the White House plans to cut the Pell Grant reserve fund, which helps low-income students pay for college, to make up the necessary funds, $1 billion of which is to be spent on development of a two- or three-stage lunar lander. “In the coming years, we will need additional funds,” but “this is a good amount that gets us out of the gate,” Bridenstine said.

Fascinating! Hopefully the Trump admin will consider the Space Treaty that was signed some years ago….Hahahahaha….sorry cannot see that as an obstacle to the domination of space…do you?

I have always looked to space since my early years……it fascinates me although I realize that we need that cash here on this planet…..but the thought of walking on another planet makes me smile.

My problem with this is that Pell Grants will be tapped to pay for this ….I say why not end a war or two and have all the cash they will need.

Howe many “space scientist” will not get an education if the grants are stopped? Just a thought.

Stay tuned…more space stuff on the way……

Random Space Stuff For A Sunday

Before I begin my daily ramblings…..

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

I admit it I am a space nut….and I have been since my early childhood when I got a telescope and shows like Buck Rogers with Buster Crabbe and Flash Gordon were a Saturday morning ritual….and the great black and white movies…..

I try to find interesting space stuff to let my readers know where the space science is going….if any place.

As we extend our reach into space we will be needing lots of resources like food and water……and now science has found a “bioreactor”…..

Astronauts on the International Space Station will begin testing an innovative algae-powered bioreactor to assess its feasibility for future long-duration space missions.

The algae-powered bioreactor, called the Photobioreactor, represents a major step toward creating a closed-loop life-support system, which could one day sustain astronauts without cargo resupply missions from Earth. This will be particularly important for future long-duration missions to the moon or Mars, which require more supplies than a spacecraft can carry, according to a statement from the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

The Photobioreactor arrived at the space station Monday (May 6) on a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship. The experiment is designed to use algae to convert the carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts on the space station into oxygen and edible biomass through photosynthesis.

https://www.space.com/space-station-algae-experiment-fresh-air.html

Will it have terrestrial applications?

Electric power will be a problem unless we find a way to generate it without condemning the planet…..

Without the Sun, the Earth would slowly cool down. This fact is particularly evident on clear nights, when the heat of our planet, unblocked by clouds, spreads into the darkness of space. Now researchers from Stanford University have developed a device that can take advantage of this heat flow and create electricity.

The experimental device is a bit like an anti-solar panel, given that it has a similar optoelectronic system. However, instead of using incoming radiation from the Sun, it uses outgoing radiation from the Earth. As reported in Applied Physics Letters, the system uses the negative illumination effect. The infrared semiconductor generates electricity as the heat flows away from the surface of the device.

https://www.iflscience.com/technology/researchers-have-built-a-device-that-gets-electricity-from-the-coldness-of-space/

Then there is experiments in space travel……

UC Santa Barbara students sent up, via balloon, a prototype miniature spacecraft that might eventually become the “wafercraft” that researchers posit could be propelled by lasers to achieve space travel at relativistic speeds to reach nearby star systems and exoplanets.

So begins a journey, funded by NASA and several private foundations, that may one day lead to interstellar travel.

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-05-experimental-cosmologist-group-iterations-space-traveling.html

Enter the “Replicants”….remember them from Blade Runner?

Some of these replicants even work in space. In the original “Blade Runner” (1982), a replicant named Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) briefly talks about his experiences working off of planet Earth. The 1968 Philip K. Dick novel on which the movie was based, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, also mentions androids being used for space labor.

While replicants are still far in the future, NASA and other space agencies already use humanoid robots to help do work in space. (Japanese officials hoped to put a humanoid on the moon in 2015, but that hasn’t happened yet.) There are many other versions of space robots exploring our solar system — including rovers, satellites and space probes — but here are some examples of the humanoid robots that are doing work in space.

https://www.space.com/38460-humanoid-robots-for-space-exploration.html

None of this is particularly useful to most….but is just damn interesting (at least to me and after all it is my blog)……

That is my start for a rainy Sunday….hope all have a good Mothers Day.

May The Fourth Be With You–2019

Saturday….MoMo has hunted down a mole, dug it up and is now playing with it….

Apparently it just pissed her off….now she is just pissed at me for spoiling her fun……

Onward……

Since today is May the Fourth I feel compelled to post on space and a galaxy far far away ………..it is only a matter of time until we discover life on another planet….

Extraterrestrial life, that familiar science-fiction trope, that kitschy fantasy, that CGI nightmare, has become a matter of serious discussion, a “risk factor”, a “scenario”.

How has ET gone from sci-fi fairytale to a serious scientific endeavour modelled by macroeconomists, funded by fiscal conservatives and discussed by theologians?

Because, following a string of remarkable discoveries over the past two decades, the idea of alien life is not as far-fetched as it used to seem.

Discovery now seems inevitable and possibly imminent.

https://theconversation.com/why-the-idea-of-alien-life-now-seems-inevitable-and-possibly-imminent-115643

This seems to be the consensus among planet scientists…..they are trying desperately to find that life and to justify the money spent in that pursuit.

Of course we could all just sit back and buy into the “Ancient Alien” BS….for me I prefer a more scientific approach than some silly leap of faith from a bunch of deluded and washed up pundits.

Then there is Mars……I read a piece about human life on Mars after colonization…..

A city on Mars could provide the first-ever truly blank slate to organize a new kind of economy.

While attempts to re-organize the means of production are as old as humankind itself, these experiments have always been limited to some extent by the economic systems that came before. People can only change so much so fast. Space exploration, and the establishment of new colonies, may be humanity’s first shot at creating an economy from the ground up. Its first settlers could opt for pure socialism — where all ownership was shared — just as easily as they could establish a city that enshrines property rights so much there are no other laws at all. The dusty red surface, in other words, will provide us with what could be the first history-free moment to start anew.

“To an economist, this is perhaps the most exciting thing about space settlement!” Matt Weinzierl, a professor at Harvard Business School who has written about the economics of space, tells Inverse. With Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk possibly on the verge of opening up space to society, a prospect that has venture capitalists excited, this developing area of research has started to grapple with how economics may shift as humans explore beyond Earth.

https://www.inverse.com/article/55060-a-mars-colony-could-be-humanity-s-best-shot-at-a-purely-designed-economy

That is an ambitious and glowing prospect for a Mars colony…….and then it may not happen as quickly as some have predicted…..

An independent report concluded that NASA has no chance of sending humans to Mars by 2033, with the earliest such a mission could be flown being the late 2030s.

The report, while completed prior to the March 26 speech where Vice President Mike Pence directed NASA to return humans to the moon by 2024, does offer insights into how much a lunar return might cost and how it fits into long-term plans to send humans to Mars.

NASA contracted with the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) to prepare the report, which Congress directed NASA to perform in the 2017 NASA authorization act. That bill called specifically for a technical and financial assessment of “a Mars human space flight mission to be launched in 2033.”

https://www.space.com/human-mars-mission-is-not-feasible.html

It is possible that a Mars colony will have to wait awhile longer.

There is my round-up from a galaxy far far away……

May the Fourth be with you!

By The Way….MoMo is now onto a new adventure.

Have a good day and see you later….chuq

Updates From Space

A Spring day….cool temps and sun…..the garden loves it and MoMo is busy……

Yes I know….but I have been fascinated with all things space since my early years…..I watch because few others do……

The new planet hunter scores big……

The signals collected by TESS were followed up by the Planet Finder Spectrograph (PFS) on the Magellan II telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. PFS has the ability to provide astronomers with estimates for the mass of exoplanets. As revealed in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the sub-Neptune HD 21749b weighs around 23 Earths and has 20 times the volume of our planet.

This warm giant planet orbits its star every 36 days. While this is a small number compared to the planets in the Solar System (Mercury, for example, orbits the Sun in 88 days), HD 21749b’s is the longest orbital period among the planets detected by TESS. Most of the planets found by this mission are expected to have orbital periods of fewer than 10 days, so the analysis of this object was actually more complex than expected.

https://www.iflscience.com/space/nasas-new-planet-hunter-has-found-its-first-earthsized-world/

Star Wars fans have had their dream come true (well maybe a small one)

“Tatooine” found!

The only known multiplanet “Tatooine” system just got even more interesting.

A third world lurks in the two-star Kepler-47 system, and it’s bigger than its two previously discovered siblings, a new study reports.

“We certainly didn’t expect it to be the largest planet in the system,” study co-author William Welsh, an astronomer at San Diego State University (SDSU), said in a statement. “This was almost shocking.”

https://www.space.com/third-alien-planet-in-tatooine-system-kepler-47.html

BTW,,,Tatooine is a place in Tunisia……FYI

Saturn’s moon Titan is a popular place in astronomy…….

It’s been well over a year since NASA’s incredibly trusty Cassini probe performed its final act, plunging into Saturn’s atmosphere where it was obliterated by the intense friction. It was a bittersweet day for the astronomy community, but the wealth of information Cassini gathered during its over 13 years orbiting Saturn is still yielding new discoveries.

\In a new paper published in Nature Astronomy, researchers on the Cassini project reveal that the spacecraft’s bounty of radar data now shows that Saturn’s moon Titan are even more special than scientists already realized. The moon’s lakes, which were observed by Cassini during its final pass in 2017, are far deeper than anyone thought.

https://bgr.com/2019/04/16/saturn-titan-lakes-moon-methane/

https://www.space.com/saturn-moon-titan-phantom-lakes-caves.html

Space is not the final frontier but it is getting a lot more crowded. I watch because so many do not.

My day is full of yard work and to MoMo’s whims…..have a great Saturday.

Space For A Saturday

There seem to be a bunch of stuff happening in space these days……so I feel I must let my readers know the stuff they may have missed……

Since my younger days watching the serials “Flash Gordon”, “Rocky Jones” and “Buck Rogers” I have been fascinated with space and the exploration of planets……

Mars is getting more attention these days…..so maybe a quick history of the many missions to Mars would help…..

Since 1960, humankind has launched dozens of missions to Mars in an effort to get to know our planetary neighbor better. Some of the missions were flybys, gathering information in brief bursts. Others were long-standing orbiters that lasted years as they traveled around the Red Planet.

Since the first successful flyby in 1965, four space agencies have successfully made it to Mars: NASA, the former Soviet Union space program, the European Space Agency and the Indian Space Research Organization, while others, including the space agencies in Japan and China, have tried.

https://www.space.com/13558-historic-mars-missions.html

A report came out that life may be developing close (a relative term) to home…..

A few decades ago, we didn’t know if there were any planets outside our solar system. Thanks to advances in astronomy like Hubble and the Kepler Telescope, we now know there are uncountable planets in the universe, including at least one in the solar system next door. Researchers from Cornell University are taking a closer look at that planet, known as Proxima-b to determine if it might harbor life. They believe that it very well may, and the proof they cite is Earth.

Proxima-b orbits the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, a mere 4.24 light years away from Earth. Scientists announced the discovery of Proxima-b in 2016. It orbits its parent star every 11.2 Earth days and has a mass at least 1.3 times that of Earth, suggesting that it has a rocky surface. As a red dwarf, Proxima Centauri is smaller and cooler than the sun, so liquid water might exist on Proxima-b even though it orbits very close to the star.

Life May Be Evolving on the Closest Alien Planet to Earth

Venus at one time could have been as water rich as the Earth……

Venus may have once been a water-rich, Earth-like world whose raging volcanism morphed it into the overheated planet it is today. But it didn’t become a nightmarish planet overnight. The fingerprints of its gradual shift may be present in some of the oldest surface features, hidden in plain sight.

To understand what happened on the neighboring world billions of years in the past, researchers are turning to tesserae, complex geologic features on the Venusian surface whose origins remain a mystery. Tesserae are broad plains where rocks have been folded and broken by geologic activity.

https://www.space.com/venus-transformation-evidence-on-surface.html

Speaking of life on other worlds…….There have been many years to debate on whether we should be sending invites out in space…..think Independence Day movie……

Today, scientists around the world are trying to phone, well, whatever‘s out there — and fighting over whether it could spell our doom.

Nearly seven in 10 Americans think there’s intelligent life out there. Will they be cute and sweet like “E.T.”? Or ruthless like the “Independence Day” creatures in giant spaceships blowing us to smithereens?

It’s not just theoretical. It’s a giant debate raging in the scientific community. Stephen Hawking, the renowned astrophysicist, fell into the “Independence Day” camp, warning: “Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach. Who knows what the limits would be?”

https://www.newsy.com/stories/the-facts-on-extraterrestrial-life/

I have been asked what I think……and I usually ask people if they remember a Twilight Zone episode (the original not some cheesy knock-off)…

https://youtu.be/MW9upuIp1Ek

Does that answer any questions?

Finally….help name a planet……

A dwarf planet discovered over a decade ago is the largest body we know of in our solar system without a proper name – but that’s about to change.

Meg Schwamb, an astronomer at Gemini Observatory in Hawaii, and her colleagues have opened a public vote to name the distant world, which is currently known only as 2007 OR10. They have selected three potential names that fit the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) rules on official names for minor planets, and will recommend the winner to the IAU, which will then select the formal name.

So why now, instead of when the researchers discovered OR10 in 2007? “You can’t name something when you don’t know anything about it,” says Schwamb. “When we found it, I knew the orbit and generally the size.” Now, after lots of follow-up observations, we know more than just that it is about 1250 kilometres across and orbits beyond Pluto in the Kuiper belt.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2199230-you-can-help-name-the-largest-unnamed-world-in-the-solar-system/

I gave them two names……Tango U-Rella and Klandathu…….what are your choices?

One Day BAM To The Moon!

50 years ago this year we went to the Moon and walked around….and after a few more visits the US decided not to spend any more energy and money on visits to the Moon.

And then just days ago……our VP, Mike Pence, said that he wanted the US to return to the Moon in 5 years……

Pence, who serves as chairman of the National Space Council, delivered the remarks during the body’s fifth meeting in Alabama on Tuesday. He said the country is once again in a space race against “adversaries” like Russia and China.

“The first woman and the next man on the moon will both be American astronauts launched by American rockets from American soil,” Pence said at the meeting.

He said that President Donald Trump agrees with the goal. In 2017, Trump issued Space Policy Directive 1, which called on NASA to put American astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972.

Pence added that the astronauts will walk on the moon’s south pole, which might host reservoirs of ice.

NASA needs new urgency and focus to meet the challenge, Pence said. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the agency will do everything in its power to meet that deadline.

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-03-26/pence-tells-nasa-to-put-americans-on-the-moon-in-5-years

Apparently Pence was echoing the words of JFK….but there is a slight problem with the VP’s chest thumping about the Moon…..

The rocket that will be used to go back to the Moon is the problem……

NASA has been toiling away on a monster rocket for the past eight years — but how much action the skyscraper-size Space Launch System will see once it’s completed is now anybody’s guess.

Designed to send humans and almost 60,000 pounds of cargo to the moon and perhaps beyond, the SLS will be bigger and more powerful than any rocket since the Saturn V behemoth that took the Apollo astronauts to the moon 50 years ago. NASA has said the rocket will send Americans back to the lunar surface as early as 2024, with an uncrewed test flight tentatively scheduled for 2020.

But the orange-and-white rocket has fallen three years behind schedule — and is way over budget. Almost $17 billion has been spent so far on the space vehicle, which was projected to cost $10.6 billion when its construction was approved in 2011. Experts say each SLS flight will cost at least $1 billion, or about 11 times more than SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, which made its debut last year.

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/nasa-s-17-billion-moon-rocket-may-be-doomed-it-ncna991061

Pence is learning the same lesson that “What-his-name” has had to learn……saying does not make it so.

One day these “people” will learn to put brain in gear before driving off at the mouth.

And under the media radar was the expansion of the bureaucracy……and the spending of more taxpayer money…..the Space Development Agency….

The newly established Space Development Agency promises to chart the first steps of a “comprehensive architecture” to address eight critical defense priorities by the end of September, the organization’s director said here Tuesday.

Fred Kennedy, who comes to the fledgling SDA from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, aims to present a fuller picture of what that architecture should look like to Pentagon leadership by the end of the fiscal year. If all goes well, the SDA would develop, buy, and deploy its first assets on orbit, along with ground segments, no later than 2022.

http://airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2019/April%202019/SDA-Director-Embarks-on-Space-Architecture-Overhaul.aspx

Idle promises can be expensive…..and the taxpayer will shoulder the price.

Space Law

I have been amiss in my writing on foreign policy and international situations…..politics has taken over as a major concern for me…..then there is the damn silly proposal for a Space Force.

What about “Space Law”?

A new SciFi Channel series?

NO!

I have been one of the few bloggers that have been watching the new proposal by Trump to expand our military branches by one….a Space Force or Corps or whatever the name they choose…..who know maybe “Starship Troopers” will become popular.

I am opposed because of the massive amount of funds it will take from concept to reality……then there is the thing called “Space Law”…..yep there is a set of legal positions when it comes to space…..who knew? Well I did.

Then I read an article about the idea of space mining…..again another subject that I have posted several posts about….

https://lobotero.com/2012/04/29/the-new-world-of-mining/

https://lobotero.com/2013/02/02/mining-a-new-frontier/

https://lobotero.com/2016/05/22/miners-not-minors/

It seems that Russia is interested in asteroid mining……

Space mining has been the realm of science fiction, but a handful of firms and governments are pursuing the idea of making it a reality. The small Duchy of Luxembourg became the first country to adopt legal regulations relating to mining in space, including from asteroids.

“In January we offered Luxembourg a framework agreement on cooperation in the use of (mining) exploration in space. We expect an answer from Luxembourg,” said Golikova, part of a Russian delegation headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-luxembourg-russia-space/russia-wants-to-join-luxembourg-in-space-mining-idUKKCN1QN1OQ

All this got me to thinking……is there legal aspects to all this outer space stuff?

What happened to that UN Space Law from the 1960s?

The onset of domestic space programs during the Cold War propelled the official creation of international space policy (i.e. the International Geophysical Year) initiated by the International Council of Scientific Unions. The Soviet Union‘s 1957 launch of the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, directly spurred the United States Congress to pass the Space Act, thus creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).^[3]^[6] Because space exploration required crossing transnational boundaries, it was during this era where space law became a field independent from traditional aerospace law. Since the Cold War, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (the “Outer Space Treaty”) and the International Telecommunications Union have served as the foundational legal framework and set of principles and procedures constituting space law. Further, the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, along with its The Office for Outer Space Affairs subcommittee, aid in governing international space law and policy. Challenges that space law will continue to face in the future are fourfold—spanning across dimensions of domestic compliance, international cooperation, ethics, and the advent of scientific innovations. Furthermore, specific guidelines on the definition of airspace have yet to be universally determined.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_law

Is it possible that a Space Force would be in violation of treaties already in place?

the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;
outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;
outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;
States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner;
the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes;
astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind;
States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities;
States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and
States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.

The proposal of a US Space Force could break a couple of these long standing laws……time for the UN to step in and talk with all the countries involved in the rush to space….again.

Some of my friends say that I have too much time on my retired hands…..to that I say….”Brain worms gotta feed”!

Now aren’t you sorry you asked?

Peace Out My Friends!

Martian Chronicles

Not the mini-series or the book by Bradbury….my “Chronicles” are about the findings on the “Angry Red Planet” (a B movie from the 50s)…..

There have many that believe that Mars had an atmosphere way before the Earth…

Asteroid impacts may have helped make Mars a more life-friendly place — and not just by delivering water and the carbon-based building blocks of life as we know it to the Red Planet.

Incoming space rocks may also have helped seed Mars with biologically usable forms of nitrogen long ago, if the planet’s atmosphere were rich in hydrogen (H2) back then, a new study reports.

In 2015, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity discovered nitrate (NO3) in the rocks of Gale Crater, the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) hole in the ground the six-wheeled robot has been exploring since 2012. Nitrate is a “fixed” form of nitrogen; life-forms, at least as we know them on Earth, can nab NO3’s nitrogen and incorporate it into biomolecules like amino acids. That’s in contrast with “unfixed” gaseous nitrogen (N2), which features two tightly bonded, inert and relatively inaccessible nitrogen atoms. (This inaccessibility helps explain why farmers fertilize their fields, even though Earth’s air is nearly 80 percent N2.)

https://www.space.com/asteroid-strikes-life-on-mars.html

Even to the point of having huge flowing rivers……

Huge rivers seem to have been flowing across Mars relatively recently, scientists said.

The flowing water came in rivers much bigger and more powerful than those seen on Earth, they said. And they seem to have stuck around far longer than we had realised.

The raging water courses carved deep channels into the Martian surface at “hundreds of locations”, said scientists.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/mars-water-rivers-alien-proof-life-red-planet-a8842771.html

Actually that water may still be there just a lot deeper than we thought…..

Researchers at the University of Southern California dropped a bold claim Thursday: based on a new analysis, Mars likely harbors a “deep groundwater” system that probably extends far beyond the planet’s poles and bubbles to the surface through cracks in craters.

“We have seen the same mechanisms in the North African Sahara and in the Arabian Peninsula, and it helped us explore the same mechanism on Mars,” researcher Abotalib Abotalib said in a press release.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/deep-martian-groundwater

Did Mars and Venus have a atmosphere that could be said to be “livable”…..

If you could travel back in time to the early stages of the Solar System, some 4.5 billion years ago, you wouldn’t find one life-friendly world, but three. Venus, Earth, and Mars all looked very similar from a planetary perspective, as they all had substantial surface gravity and atmospheres similar to Earth’s in thickness. There were volcanoes, watery oceans, and complex interactions that enabled these worlds to retain the heat they absorbed from the Sun.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/03/27/what-was-it-like-when-venus-and-mars-became-uninhabitable-planets/amp/

The Rovers carry out scientific experiments and readings…..and one of the readings was seismic activity……

Since NASA’s InSight lander touched down on Mars at the end of last year, the plucky little surface probe has spent months getting carefully situated so that its special seismometer could carefully listen for “marsquakes” — a neologism for earthquakes that occur on Mars, rather than Earth, as you probably guessed. Observations of marsquakes will help determine just what’s going on inside Mars, and to what extent it is still a geologically active world. We know Mars was very geologically active in the past; notably, it has the tallest mountain of any planet in the solar system.

While InSight hasn’t heard earth-shaking marsquakes yet, a Science Magazine interview with Philippe Lognonné, a planetary seismologist at Paris Diderot University who manages the team that runs the seismometer, revealed that the lander’s instrument has detected a different kind of rumbling known as microseisms. They are the first of their kind to be detected on another planet.

https://www.salon.com/2019/03/24/tremors-on-mars-detected-for-first-time-but-theyre-not-caused-by-geologic-activity/

Life is where you find it……does that include Mars?

The NASA Mars Rover Curiosity has been going around the Red Planet in search of new areas for drilling after encountering some technical problems early this month. During one of its excursions, it was able to take a snapshot of some really nice pebbles with some odd yet interesting details.

In a photo released on the NASA website, one can see what looks like normal pebbles from a stream bed. But upon closer inspection and with some enhancement from Kevin M. Gill, a NASA software engineer who does processing of space images, a picture of perfectly round gray pebbles can also be seen.

According to CNET, the pebbles, which are now being studied by the space agency’s rover team, look very similar to rocks found in another area of the planet. These rocks were discovered by the now-deceased NASA rover Opportunity and were labeled as “blueberries.”

https://www.ibtimes.com/nasa-mars-rover-curiosity-detects-odd-pebbles-red-planet-hints-alien-life-2779542

Mushrooms in the Martian story?

From NASA’s rovers and landers to David Bowie, one question about the Red Planet remains sadly unanswered. Is there life on Mars? Now a controversial review paper has claimed that the answer is a resounding yes. And it’s definitely going to start a big debate.

The paper includes images taken by Curiosity and Opportunity of what the researchers are calling fungi, lichens, and algae growing on Mars. So, are there really mushrooms growing on Mars, like some are reporting?

The paper, titled Evidence of Life on Mars? is published in the first edition of a brand new journal, the Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science Reviews, and looks at almost 200 peer-reviewed studies debating curious structures, seasonal changes in methane, and the possibility that life has traveled between planets. The journal itself calls the evidence controversial and had six independent scientists and eight senior editors peer review it, three of which rejected it.

https://www.iflscience.com/space/mushrooms-on-mars-controversial-paper-claims-evidence-fungi-and-microbes-live-on-mars-today/

In The 50s a bad SciFi movie, The Angry Red Planet” had this big spider-like creature tormenting the astronauts…..but in real life the Martian spider is “Blue”…..

David Bowie sang about his sci-fi persona Ziggy Stardust performing with the Spiders from Mars, and now it turns out there’s a “spider” on Mars after all.

An image captured by a European Space Agency (ESA) orbiter recently showed what appears to be a very hairy, blue spider extending its “legs” across the Martian landscape.

But in reality, the so-called spider is a sprawling pattern left behind on a ridge by a frenzy of dust devils, when hundreds or even thousands of whirling tornadoes formed in the area, ESA representatives said yesterday (March 14) in a statement.

The “Chronicles” continue and the news is made and man waits for his chance to step onto the “Angry Red Planet”…….

When Mars Attacks?

I got to thinking after a post from last weekend about “alien life”…….what if Mars attacks?

I could go into a review of The Expanse: Season 3….but that would be cheating…..I am offering up what could happen if we have an “alien contact”….no not those “aliens”…..real life ones from a galaxy far far away.

This could be a reality for after all we have spent 50+ years sending messages to space for others to call us or to stop by for a chat……(personally, I do not think those are good ideas)

The Chinese government has promised to investigate the unidentified flying object that forced Xiaoshan Airport to delay 18 flights last week. Tabloids rushed to cover the incident, with the U.K. Sun making a gratuitous “alien craft” reference, and video footage on YouTube led to numerous comments regarding the existence of extraterrestrial life. What if aliens were to make contact—do we have an E.T. contingency plan?

Sort of. The U.S. government is not particularly interested in alien planning. Starting in 1947, the Air Force made a formal study of UFOs but stopped investigations in 1969 after having failed to uncover any evidence of extraterrestrial vehicles or of a threat to national security. In 1992, the government paid for a SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project through NASA—the Microwave Observing Program’s mission was to conduct targeted analyses of nearby stars—but deemed it unworthy of funding one year later. There is, however, a nongovernmental organization established by the International Academy of Astronautics to “prepare, reflect on, manage, advise, and consult in preparation for … a putative signal of extraterrestrial intelligent (ETI) origin.” That organization, the SETI: Post-Detection Taskgroup helmed by the theoretical physicist Paul Davies, has a set of recommendations in place.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/07/do-we-have-an-alien-contact-contingency-plan.html

Really! Do we have a plan when ET comes for a visit?

The science fiction movie “Arrival,” which opened in theaters last weekend, poses tantalizing questions about how humans might make contact — and eventually communicate — with intelligent aliens. The much-hyped film has renewed people’s interest in the search for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. But what would happen if humans really did make contact with an intelligent alien civilization? If E.T. calls, is there a plan?

The answer is yes, and no, said astronomer Seth Shostak, who leads efforts to detect radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.

“There are some protocols, but I think that’s an unfortunate name, and it makes them sound more important than they are,” Shostak told Live Science. [Greetings, Earthlings! 8 Ways Aliens Could Contact Us]

https://www.livescience.com/56886-arrival-movie-alien-contact-protocol.html

To answer my question ….then yes we have a plan….the UN has put together protocols for a future meeting……

The United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has announced that it will consider drafting protocols for what to do when we finally make contact with extra-terrestrial civilizations in space. What’s prompting the UN to consider this possibility is the fact that astronomers are expected to announce, perhaps later this year or next year, that our satellites (such as Kepler and Corot) have identified earth-like planets in space. So far, almost 500 large Jupiter-sized planets have been discovered, but earth-like planets are much more difficult to identify.

https://bigthink.com/dr-kakus-universe/un-to-establish-protocols-for-when-we-make-contact-with-aliens

Want more info on UNOOSA……http://www.unoosa.org/

It is always good to have a plan beforehand……never get caught flat footed as they say.

Where Are Those Aliens?

It is a Sunday and warmer temps have returned….my friend MoMo will be happier that the rain has stopped long enough for her romp through the yard…..

I could go on some rant about all those aliens streaming across our Southern border and stealing our jobs along the way……but that would be worthless since the aliens I am referring to are those from Planet X…the ones that that ridiculous TV show, Ancient Aliens, keeps telling us that we were visited and shown the way to civilization but have since decided to not show up and lead us to a better future……why?

As usual the Old Professor has an answer to the “why”……..

We must be the only fledgling fliers in the cosmic neighborhood, as various astrophysicists have suggested for decades. But a new analysis from a team led by University of Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank suggests a more nuanced resolution to the old paradox. Sweeping across the Milky Way and establishing a unified galactic empire might be inevitable for a monolithic super-civilization, but most cultures are neither monolithic nor super—at least if our experience is any guide. Spaceships break down. Overactive stars roast otherwise desirable targets. Economic crises and government shutdowns kill nascent starships before they get off the ground.

Using a blend of theory and simulation posted last week to the paper database arXiv, currently under peer review, Frank and his colleagues explore the substantial middle ground between a barren and brimming galaxy—one where some civilizations may succeed in going multi-stellar, but without any establishing a spatial and temporal stranglehold on the entire Milky Way. https://www.popsci.com/where-are-aliens-new-model

For 50 years we have been sending stuff into space telling anyone that finds the stuff who we are and how to get here from there……is that a good idea…think about it.

I do enjoy these stories……”The truth is out there”……where have I heard that before?

Time for me say bye-bye…..be well, be safe….chuq

In Saner Thought

"It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error"..Thomas Paine

Tag: Space Exploration