Are we going to Mars?

Are we going to Mars?

When you look at the stars at night, do you ever wonder if we are truly the only ones looking?

In an effort to discover the possibilities of any life on Mars, NASA is following a scientific theme called “Seeking Signs of Life.” This is NASA’s attempt to find evidence of Mars’ ability to support the past or present microbial life.

            Since water is essential to life, Mars missions such as: 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Mars Phoenix Lander were conducted following the theme, “Follow the Water.”

            Mars’ Curiosity rover landed in a place that shows evidence that suggest presence of water in the past.  But the rover also seeks organics. It marks a transition between “Follow the Water,” and “Seeking Signs of Life,” because it seeks the chemicals necessary to allow potential for life to evolve and thrive.

            Curiosity is equipped with the largest, most advanced suite of scientific instruments ever sent to the Martian surface. The Sample Analysis Suite (SAM) is composed of mass spectrometer, gas chromatograph, and tunable laser spectrometer. Together they account for more than half of the scientific instruments on board the Mars Science Laboratory.

            What will truly set Curiosity apart from its predecessors in addition to the extra scientific instruments will be a software called OnSight. The software employed by Curiosity instruments is being developed by NASA in conjunction with Microsoft that will enable scientists here on Earth to work on Mars virtually. Scientists will wear Microsoft HaloLens to experience Mars through the eyes of the Curiosity rover. The OnSight software will use real data from the rover to form a 3-D simulation where scientists can plan activities and preview their work in firsthand.

                  The OnSight system will overlay visual information and rover data, by using holographic computing, to the user’s field of view; essentially creating a hybrid real world through blending the view of the physical world with computer-generated images. This technology permits scientists to explore the Martian landscape in a more natural, or human, way.

CHM1045 Honors: Mario A. Alvarez, Aismeri Martinez, Valentina Dempaire

Engineering Group I

"Mars Gets Ready for Another Visitor"

Mars gets ready for another visitor.

 “Maven is not designed to land; rather, it will study Mars’ upper atmosphere from orbit”

NASA’s director of planetary science,

Jim Green.

           Launched in November 2013 and after 10 months and 442 miles (711 million kilometers), the NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) approaches Mars on September 21th, 2014. This Maven spacecraft could solve mystery of Mars's missing water. Different from 2012 Curiosity Rover, it will not land on the surface but it will be more important than other missions.

         The scientific’s goal this time is to use MAVEN data to determine and learn how Mars went from a warm, wet world that may have had microbial life during its first billion years to the cold, dry place of today, and allowing to make full sense of Curiosity’s individual discoveries. MAVEN should be able to help scientists understand about Mars’ atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability. MAVEN would help scientists answer the question: How the radical climate affected the planet? Further, MAVEN would help them understand if the water seeped down into the interior, or it was driven into space.

          With MAVEN, scientists at NASA expect to discover things they haven’t been able to ascertain in the past decades. It's NASA's 21st mission to Mars since the 1960s. There are three spacecraft now circling mars, one European and two Americans, in addition there are two NASA rovers exploring the surface.

         To go to Mars is not like going to another country in our planet, it is a big step for mankind. The planetary scientists are tracing the pathway for humans to be able to land and explore safely on Mars, and to understand everything about this planet; eventually humans will be capable to land not only in Mars, but also on other planets

CHEM1045 Honors Project Fall 2014:

Engineering Team: Stephany Cerezo, Anabel Alvarez Seivane and Milaidys Boffil.

"Curiosity Rover’s First Bite of Mount Sharp”

On September 24^th, the NASA's Mars rover Curiosity collected its first taste of Mount Sharp. Mount Sharp, with a height of 3.4 miles, had been the rover Curiosity’s main destination since it was launched in November 2011. On Sept. 22^th, the rover made a test drilling to a target rock on an outcrop at the mountain’s base called “Pahrump Hills”. The objective was to measure its suitability for sample collection. The test resulted satisfactory, encouraging the mission team to proceed with a full-on drilling operation on Wednesday, Sept. 24^th. The rover drilled about 2.6 inches (6.7 centimeters) deep into the basal–layer of the mountain and collected a powered-rock sample. Curiosity's robotic arm was used for close-up inspection of distinctive features on the nearby surface of the rock. The team now hopes to gain information about composition of fluids at that location from long ago and its progressive composition since the mountain was formed. "This first look at rocks we believe to underlie Mount Sharp is exciting because it will begin to form a picture of the environment at the time the mountain formed, and what led to its growth." said Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of JPL.

The next steps of the mission is to run the sample through parts of the rover’s internal chemical lab.  The Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, a tool in Curiosity’s laboratory, would hit the powdered rock with X-rays to examine its mineral structure and to reveal the basic composition of the rock. Further, the temperature under which it formed and even the acidity of water that may have altered the rock. Then, the sample runs to the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite (SAM), which will use a mass spectrometer to look at elemental abundances and perhaps even age-date the rock.

Chm 1045 Fall 2014 Honors Project:

Engineering Group: John Sevilla, Jazmina Olivas, Gabriela Barrera, Juan Albrecht