Tag: curiosity rover

A Curiosity Christmas!

marsHey all! It’s a new year, a new day, but hopefully, there’s still some holiday cheer to go around! And in that spirit, I thought I’d share some news which came in over the holidays concerning Curiosity’s mission to Mars. For the rover, Christmas was celebrated at a location dubbed “Grandmas House”. Well, technically it spent it at Sol 130, a designated point in an area known as “Yellowknife Bay”. This area is a small depression located in the geographic region known as Glenelg, some 400 meters from “Bradbury Landing” where it first put down.

Curiosity-at-Yellowknife-Bay-Sol-130_3a_Ken-Kremer-580x208It is in Yellowknife Bay that Curiosity has been engaged in searching for its first target site to drill for a rock sample. The purpose of this to test out the rover’s high powered hammering drill, a test which has been put off because the Mars Science Team feared that the rock samples at other locations were not optimal. But the Glenelg area – which lies at the junction of three different types of geologic terrain – features a different type of geologic terrain compared to what Curiosity has driven on previously.

Curiosity-Yellowknife-Bay-Sol-125_2c_Ken-Kremer-580x151While there, Curiosity snapped a series of panoramic pictures of the area, which NASA compiled into the photos seen here and at the top. The rover also used its the APXS X-ray mineral spectrometer, ChemCam laser and MAHLI hand lens imager to gather initial science characterization data on the region and its rocky outcroppings. As you can plainly see, Yellowknife Bay was aptly named, being quite similar in appearance to its namesake here on Earth.

Hard to say what Curiosity will find once its begins drilling, but NASA is sure to be raving about it, either way. Everyone knows those Mars Science Laboratory people can’t keep anything a secret, even when they’re not sure they’ve got anything. Yes, MSL, that was a veiled reference to that “Earthshaking news” story you got us all excited about. And to answer you’re next question, no, I haven’t gotten over it yet. Can’t you tell?

Stay tuned for more news from the Red Planet! And while you’re at it, check out the video below where MSL team member Colette Lohr, the Tactical Uplink Lead, provides the latest video update on the Curiosity rover.

Source: Universetoday.com, (2)

Top Stories of 2012

biotech_alienAs Dec. 31st fast approaches, I find myself thinking about New Years resolutions. And part of that is taking stock on what’s been accomplished in the past year. For me, one of those resolutions was to stay current and share all the new and exciting news from the field of science and tech all my followers people; to the best of my abilities, that is.

In keeping with this, I wanted to create a list of the most important developments of the last year. Many sites have produced a top 10, top 12, even a top 7, list of what they thought the most significant accomplishments were. Well, I wanted to do one of my own! Opinion varies as to what the biggest leaps and bounds were over the course of the last year, and I’ll be damned if I don’t get my say in. Lord knows I’ve spent enough time reading about them, so here’s my comprehensive list of the greatest inventions, developments and advances made during 2012.

I think you’ll all agree, the list packed with stories that are intriguing, awe-inspiring, and even a little scary! Here are the top 12, as selected by me, in alphabetical order:

3D Printing:
cartilage1As far as tech trends go, this one has been in the works for some time. However, 2012 will be remembered as the year that 3D printing truly became a reality. From tree-dimensional models to consumer products to even guns, 3D printers have been featured in the news many times over for their potential and frightening abilities.

However, one of the greatest potential uses will be in the field of artificial cartilage, organs, and even food. As the technology is refined and expands to the field of organic molecules, just about anything can and will be synthesized, leading to an era where scarcity is… well, scarce!

Bionic Implants:
mindcontrolledprostheticPerhaps the years biggest achievement came in the form of bionic prosthetics, artificial limbs which are calibrated to respond to the nerve impulses of the user. As a result, amputees, veterans and accident victims are able to receive artificial limbs that act like the real thing.

The most notable case was Zak Vawter who scaled the 103 flights of Chicago’s Willis Tower using an artificial leg. In addition, two men in Britain had their sight restored after undergoing the first ever case of retinal surgery where bionic implants were placed in their eyes.

Brain Implants:
digital-mind1In September of 2012, scientists grafted an implant onto the brain of Chimpanzee, enhancing its brain power by ten percent. This consisted of an electrode array that was attached to the cerebral cortex of several monkey subjects, researchers were able to restore and even improve their decision-making abilities.

The implications for possible therapies is far-reaching, such as with brain injuries and cognitive disorders. But additionally, it also heralds the beginning of an era where human beings will be able to enhance their intelligence, recall, and memory retention.

Commercial Space Flight:
skylonThough not yet fully realized, 2012 was a big year in terms of commercial space flight. For example, Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic announced the first successful fully-loaded “glide test” of SpaceShipTwo, the rocket craft that will be taking passengers into low orbit as soon as all the kinks are worked out of the design.

In addition, Reaction Engines announced a breakthrough with the design of their hypersonic engine, which they claim will be fitted to their proposed spaceship – the Skylon. Capable of achieving speeds of up to Mach 5, this new craft is expected to be able to take off from conventional airfields, propel itself into low orbit, and deliver supplies to the ISS and make commercial trips around the world. No telling when either company will be conducting its first real suborbital flights, but the clock is ticking down!

Curiosity Rover:
Curiosity_selfportraitOne of the years biggest announcement was the deployment of the Curiosity Rover on the Martian surface. Since it landed, the rover has provided a constant stream of scientific updates and news on the Red Planet. Though the Mars Science Team did not find the “earthshaking” proof organic molecules, it did make a number of important discoveries.

Amongst them was solid evidence that Mars was once home to large rivers and bodies of water. Furthermore, the x-ray lab on board the rover conducted studies on several rock and soil samples, determining what the chemical and mineral composition of Mars surface is.

Faster-Than-Light Travel:
alcubierre-warp-drive-overviewIn the course of speaking at the 100 Year Starship, scientists at NASA began working on the first FTL travel system ever. Long considered to be the stuff of science fiction, physicist Harold White announced that not only is the math sound, but that his team at NASA had actually started working on it.

Relying on the concept of the Alcubierre Drive, the system involves expanding and contracting space time around the ship, allowing it to move faster than the speed of light without violating the Law of Relativity.

Geo-engineering:
converted PNM fileIn October, the world’s first – and illegal – act of geo-engineering took place off Canada’s West Coast. The product of a “rogue geohacker” named Russ George, who was backed by a private company, the project involved the dumping of around 100 tonnes of oron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean. This technique, known as ocean fertilization, was meant to stimulate the growth of algae which metabolize carbon and produce oxygen.

The experiment, which is in violation of two United Nations moratoria, outraged many environmental, legal, and civic groups, many of whom hail from Haida Gwaii, the traditional territory of the Haida nation, who had enlisted by George as part of a proposed “salmon enhancement project”. Though illegal and abortive, the act was the first in what may very well become a series of geoengineering efforts which will be performed the world over in order to stay the progress of Climate Change.

Google’s Project Glass:
google_glasses2012 was also the year that augmented reality became… well, a reality (oh dear, another bad pun). Back in April, Google unveiled its latest concept device for wireless and portable computing, known as Project Glass. Combining an active display matrix, a wireless internet connection and a pair of shades, Google managed to create a device that looks like something straight out of cyberpunk novel.

HIV and Flu Vaccines:
HIV-budding-ColorWhen it comes to diseases, HIV and the Flu have two things in common. Until 2012, both were considered incurable, but sometime in the near future, both could be entirely preventable. In what could be the greatest medical breakthroughs in history, 2012 saw scientists and researchers experiment with antibodies that have been known to fight off HIV and the flu, and to good effect.

In the former case, this involved using a new process known as Vectored ImmunoProphylaxis (VIP), an inversion of the traditional vaccination method, where antibodies were introduced to mice. After allowing the antibodies to reproduce, researchers at Caltec found that the mice were able to fight off large quantities of the virus. In the latter, researchers at the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute in Riems Island, Germany used a new RNA-based vaccine that appeared to be able to fight off multiple strains of flu, not just the latest mutation.

Taken together, these vaccines could bring an end to a common, but potentially deadly ailment, and signal the end of the plague of the 20th century. In addition, this could be the first in a long series of developments which effectively brings all known diseases under our control.

Medical Implants:
enhancement2012 also saw the culmination of several breakthroughs in terms of biomedical research. In addition to the world’s first medimachine, there were also breakthroughs in terms of dissolving electronics, subdermal implants that dispense drugs, and health monitoring patches.

Little wonder then that Cambridge University announced the creation of the Center for the Study of Existential Risk to evaluate future technologies, or that Human Rights Watch and Harvard University teamed up to release a report calling for the ban of “killer robots”. With all the potential for enhancement, it could be just a matter of time before non-medical enhancements are a reality.

Mind-controlled prostheses:
woman-robotic-arm_650x366Researchers at BrainGate created a brain-machine interface that allows users to control an external device with their minds. The first person to use this revolutionary new system was Cathy Hutchinson, a stroke victim who has been paralyzed from the neck down for 15 years, who used the robotic arm to drink a cup of coffee.

This news, combined with other advances in terms of bionic prostheses, could signal the end of disability as we know it. Henceforth, people with severe injuries, amputations and strokes could find themselves able to make full recoveries, albeit through the use of robotic limbs.

Self-driving cars:
googlecar2012 marked an important year as three states (California, Nevada, and Florida) made autonomous vehicles legal. Self-driving cars, once perfected and produced en masse, will help with traffic congestion and significantly reduce the chance of auto accidents through the use of GPS, radar, and other technologies.

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All in all, it’s been an exciting year. And with all that’s been accomplished, the future is certainly looking a lot more interesting and even frightening. What is clear is that predictions made for some time now are becoming realizable, including replication, a cure for all known diseases, advanced robotics, implants, cybernetics, and even post-humanism. Regardless of where one sits on these developments, be you pro, con, or neutral, I think we can all agree that it is an exciting time to be alive!

Happy New Year to all, and here’s hoping 2013 proves just as interesting, and hopefully a lot more peaceful and sound. And may we ALL find ourselves able to keep our New Years resolutions and build upon all we’ve accomplished so far. And of course, with all the potential for medical and technological enhancements that are coming, I sincerely hope we can find ways to improve ourselves on a personal level too!

News From The Red Planet!

mars_lifeIt’s been quite the busy month for NASA and the Curiosity Rover Team. In addition to the hectic research schedule and the excitement over all the potential finds, there’s also been a lot of planning as to what future mission will be like. Already, NASA announced that they plan to send another rover (InSight) to Mars in 2016, this one for the purpose of conducting interior planet studies. But given the success of Curiosity thus far, NASA announced recently that the multi-year, robotic rover program will continue, and will include an additional launch in 2020.

Apparently, this has much to do with the reelection of Barack Obama, whose commitment to space exploration also means that NASA can go ahead with its plans to create an outpost on the Moon. According to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, this and the planned 2020 launch will ensure that “America remains the world leader in the exploration of the Red Planet, while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in the 2030s.”

The planned mission portfolio includes the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers, two NASA spacecraft and contributions to one European spacecraft currently orbiting Mars, the 2013 launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter to study the Martian upper atmosphere, the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission, and participation in the European Space Agency’s 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions.

That alone is pretty exciting  news. But in and around these grand announcements, the Mars Science Labs also released some information a week ago concerning the Martian soil samples which were thought to contain organics. Though the samples did prove to be “earthshaking” as was hoped, they did present some rather interesting findings which are now being released.

curiosity_samplesApparently, the samples taken with the “Rocknest” inside the Gale Crater showed signs of water, sulfur and chlorine-containing substances, among other ingredients, that were delivered by Curiosity’s arm to the analytical laboratory inside the rover. Lamentably, this does not confirm the existence of organic compounds, as the team hoped. But the find does confirm what Curiosity team and NASA scientists have been postulating for some time – which includes the existence of water on Mars and the existence of complex chemical compounds.

Also, it’s important to note that this kind of soil surveying was not possible with any previous rovers or exploratory missions in space. Curiosity is the first Mars rover that is able to scoop soil into analytical instruments and conducts tests in the way it has, so really, any findings should be considered a windfall. Detection of the substances during this early phase of the mission also demonstrated the ability of the rover laboratory to analyze diverse soil and rock samples, which will continue over the course of the next two years.

And as the team was sure to mention in a Tweet made shortly after the “earthshaking” discovery did not materialize, there’s still plenty of time to find all that they are looking for. Curiosity’s mission is far from over, and she will hardly be the last surveyor – man-made or manned – that will be roving the landscape of the Red Planet.

Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Curiosity Rover’s First X-Ray Analysis of Martian Soil

Curiosity_cheminanalysisA bit of retro news from the Curiosity front here. Roughly one month ago, before the big announcement about “earthshaking news” was made, there was some other news regarding Curiosity’s ongoing soil analyses. And given all the attention that was dedicated to the possibility of organic molecules, this is one news story that might have been overlooked.

Put simply, Curiosity performed tests that were previously impossible on Mars, using an x-ray scanner that was roughly the size of shoebox in order to conduct detailed analyses of Martian soil. The purpose, of course, was to determine what kinds of minerals it contains and how its soils first came into being.

The device in question, called CheMin, takes a sample of sand – just a thimbleful – and shakes it 2,000 times a second, all the while bombarding it with x-rays. The rays then penetrate the grains, and the way in which they diffract can tell scientists about their constituent atoms. The results are then scanned to see just what kind of mineral composition it has (take a look up top to see the results rendered in stunning technicolor!)

Up until now, this technique has been impossible simply because the equipment needed to carry out such operations were far too large and clunky to fit on a rover. But thanks to NASA engineers, the device in question was shrunk down exponentially in size and even boasts improved electronics, ensuring it is both portable and energy-efficient.

As a result, the Curiosity rover has made some very interesting discoveries. For starters, Curiosity has determined that the soils in the area are extremely similar to those found around the Mauna Kea shield volcano in Hawaii. In fact, it’s identified crystalline feldspar, pyroxenes, and olivine – all of which are common to the soil here on Earth.

Yes, not exactly earthshaking news is it? But it’s interesting nonetheless, and let’s us know once again that Mars and Earth have plenty in common.

Source: Wired.com

Ice and Organics Found on Another Planet!

mercury_messengerYes, the announcement from the Curiosity team yesterday that no organics have been found on Mars (yet) certainly came as a big disappointment. However, people may be interested to hear that organic molecules were discovered on a different planet in our Solar System, along with water and ice. Would you believe it, the planet is Mercury? Yes, the world famous for lakes of molten metal and extreme heat may actually boast the building blocks of life.

This information is the latest to come from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, which is now orbiting the closest planet to our Sun. It confirms what was postulated 20 years ago, after images were taken of the polar region and detected radar-bright materials which were beleived to be water and ice. And where water and ice occur, organic molecules are often sure to follow. Though Mercury boasts the hottest environment of any planet in the Solar System, the area in question lies within a permanent shadowed series of craters on the northern pole.

Scientists today said that Mercury could hold between 100 billion to 1 trillion tons of water ice at both poles, and the ice could be up to 20 meters deep in places. Additionally, intriguing dark material which covers the ice could hold other volatiles such as organics. Unfortunately, all of this water comes in the form of ice, as surface temperatures in the poles are too cold to allow for a thaw. In addition, the total lack of atmosphere on Mercury would mean that any liquid would evaporate and be sucked into space very quickly.

At a briefing which was held yesterday, Sean Solomon – MESSENGER Principal Investigator – has this to say about the news: “These findings reveal a very important chapter of the story of how water ice has been delivered to the inner planets by comets and water rich asteroids over time.” In short, it is believed that these ice deposits and organic molecules were delivered to the planet through a series of meteor impacts, and which have survived thanks to the existence of Mercury’s permanently shadowed polar regions.

Granted, no settlers are ever likely to be making a home on Mercury – not without some serious technological innovations! – but the discovery is a very interesting find and does help scientists to understand how life may have begun here on Earth. What’s more, this news may help Curiosity and other science teams to determine where and how organic molecules and ice could be found on Mars. The challenges there are similar to those on Mars, since she too is an inner planet that has virtually no atmosphere and a great deal of surface radiation, not to mention that she too would have been the recipient of water ice and organics through meteoric impacts.

So c’mon Mars! Show us what you got. You don’t want to be outdone by your Hermian cousin do ya?

“Earthshaking” News From Mars!

Curiosity-RocknestCancel the champagne! Turns out what we have here is a tentative conclusion made by some overzealous scientists. According to an update made earlier today, scientists working for NASA indicated that no organic molecules were found in the sample of Martian soil taken by Curiosity nine days ago. The news first appeared on NASA’s Twitter feed as follows:

“Everybody, chill. After careful analysis, there are no Martian organics in recent samples.”

This was followed shortly thereafter with:

“Why the wait? We’re moving at the speed of science. My team needed time to analyze the data.”

Uh, yeah. Because that’s what we were concerned with; the wait, not the getting of our hopes up! But last but not least, there some words of reassurance:

“Turn that frown upside down: We’re fewer than four months into a multi-year mission. We’ve only just begun!”

To be fair, this announcement doesn’t rule out the possibility of organic molecules on the Martian surface. It’s just that no organic molecules have been found yet. Unfortunately, having thought that they had detected some traces in their samples, Grotzinger conveyed the team’s excitement about the possibility of a discovery and triggered a bit of a media frenzy. Understandable, but frankly, I have a bit of a bone to pick with Grotzinger himself.

Dude, you had to know we’d all get excited and start hanging on your every update with baited breath. But in the end, we were like a bunch children on Christmas morning, desperately waiting to rip into our presents, only to find that Santa had stuck us with an IOU! Or worse, a note saying: “There are plenty more Christmas’s coming! Be happy!” Turn my frown upside down, Grotzinger? You owe me restitution!

Okay, now that I’m ranted out, I sincerely hope the mission meets with the results they are looking for soon. Granted, Curiosity still has many more years before her mission is complete, but I don’t think I can stand this kind of suspense! And frankly, I’d like to hear about some definitive proof that terraforming is possible on a planetary scale. Get on it, NASA! You got a planet to prep for colonization!

Animation of Curiosity’s 1st “Touch and Go” Maneuver

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving in the US, Curiosity performed her first “touch and do” maneuver. This was the process whereby the rover drove up to and inspected an interesting looking rock using the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on its arm, then moved onto the next point of interest on the same day.

This latest maneuver now puts Curiosity inside the ‘Glenelg’ geologic formation. The NASA science team selected this as the first major science destination because it lies at the intersection of three diverse types of geological areas that will help unlock the secrets of Mars’ ancient watery history and evolution to modern times.

What makes this historic is that it is the first time the rover has conduct a touch and go maneuver on the same day. Ordinarily, the rover performs these duties separately. According to Curiosity Mission Manager Michael Watkins (of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif), “[this] is a good sign that the rover team is getting comfortable with more complex operational planning, which will serve us well in the weeks ahead.”

In honor of this event, NASA scientists created a animation of the maneuver using the same software they do to plan the rover’s movements. Beginning with the examination it made using its arm sensor, the animation then shows (with painful accuracy) the rover making the 25.3 meter (83 foot) transit to its next location.

News From Mars!

An interesting slew of news has been coming from NASA recently, courtesy of the Curiosity Rover and its mission to Mars. First, there was the announcement by John Grotzinger on NPR radio that Curiosity’s science team had discovered something potentially “earth-shattering” on the Red Planet, which came just two days ago. Since then, researchers over at NASA have been keeping a tight lip on what that might be, though it seems to be taking an extraodinary effort to do so. One can only imagine what they’re dying to tell us…

But it seems more stories are coming in the wake of this. First, there was the revelation by the Curiosity Rover that Mars radiation levels, once thought to be problematic for life, are actually safe for humans. According to Don Hassler, the principal investigator on Curiosity’s Radiation Assessment Detector instrument (RAD), Curiosity determined that “the Mars atmosphere is acting as a shield for the radiation on the surface and as the atmosphere gets thicker, that provides more of a shield and therefore we see a dip in our radiation dose.”

Apparently, the levels are equal to what astronauts deal with on the International Space Station, which means people in suits will be able to walk on the Red Planet safely once a manned mission is mounted. Knowing that they can conduct surveys on the surface without additional radiation shields should prove to be a boon for colonization as well. More settlers will certainly be drawn to Mars now that they know they can settle in without having to worry about little things like radiation sickness or mutations!

Third, there was the news that in the wake of making its “one for the history books” discovery, that Curiosity has finished collecting and analyzing soil samples and is preparing to move on. The final checks and preps were made amidst ethereal whirlwinds and twisters, which are characteristic of the region known as the “Gale Crater”, where it has been conducting its research for the past month. The rover is now being prepared to move on in search of suitable targets for a compact rock drill, the final major sample acquisition system to be tested.

Ashwin Vasavada, the deputy project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory rover at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif, had this to say on the next phase of the mission: “We still would like to get a little further into this Glenelg region where we see this diversity of rocks and layered rocks and other really interesting terrain. And then we still have a goal in the next month or two of doing the big U-turn and heading up to Mount Sharp.”

Mount Sharp is a 3-mile-high mound of layered terrain that sits in the center of the Gale Crater, where Curiosity is expected to spend the bulk of its planned two-year mission. In the meantime, the research team needs to go over all the information Curiosity has sent back, including an ongoing analysis of the martian weather.

On top of all that, there’s still the matter of that “earth shaking news”. How about it NASA? You too, Grotzinger? We’re ready and waiting… how much more time do your researchers need before they’re sure and are free to break the news they are so clearly dying to share? I still say its organic molecules, but what do I know?

Source: news.cnet.com

“Earthshaking” News From the Red Planet?

In an interview with NPR earlier today, John Grotzinger – the Principal Investigator for NASA’s Mars Science Labs – said a recent soil sample test with the SAM instrument (Sample Analysis at Mars) shows something”‘earthshaking.” Like any good scientist (or a terrible tease), Grotzinger and his team are awaiting confirmation before announcing just what it is they’ve found. Nevertheless, the announcement of a potential discovery which could be “one for the history books” has fueled speculation and put many on the edge of their seats.

Thus far, the smart money has been on the discovery of organic molecules in the Martian soil, which is precisely what Curiosity has been up to for the past few months. This is because the very purpose of the SAM instrument to examine the chemical and isotopic composition of the Martian atmosphere and soil, specifically to determine if anything organic is capable of living there. If so, it will end the age-old argument of whether or not life can exist on the surface Mars, even if it doesn’t currently.

It will also prove to be a boon for those who are seriously looking ahead, and plotting manned missions to the Red Planet with the intent of making it habitable for humans. As I’m sure all people are aware of by now, there are plenty of people who are monitoring Curiosity’s findings and hoping they will help determine whether or not terraforming can be carried on the the planet, with the long-term goal of creating a “Green Mars” where terrestrial species can live and thrive, crops can grow, and oceans and rivers can once again exist.

I think I speak for them and myself when I say, “Grotzinger, best of luck to you, and this better not be some kind of media stunt!” Oh, I can’t wait to hear what they find!

Source: Universe Today

Curiosity’s Best Image Yet!

In case you were worried that Curiosity had fallen into a ditch, more news has just come from the Red Planet featuring everybody’s favorite rover! It seems the robot has been taking pictures again, and word around the campfire is that it is Curiosity’s best yet! Having taken a break from its usual round of performing scientific research on soil samples and surface terrain, Curiosity took a pause to snap a self-portrait

Well, in truth, it was fifty-five photos, all of which were taken by the Rover’s hi-resolution Mars Hand Lens Imager. These photos were then combined back at Mission Control by NASA personnel to form a panoramic image that shows Curiosity at work digging holes in the sand and with Mount Sharp in the background. The area of the shoot is appropriately known as the “Rocknest” since this is where Curiosity has been for the past few months, gathering scoops of Martian soil for analysis.

In addition to its aesthetic appeal, the images serve an important function. According to NASA’s website, “Self-portraits like this one document the state of the rover and allow mission engineers to track changes over time, such as dust accumulation and wheel wear.” Apparently, they also ensure that Curiosity continues to function within established parameters while personnel are not at the helm.

Check out the full image below. As you can plainly see, it is high-resolution and extremely detailed.