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Taking a Robotic Geologist to Mars

By Guest PostAugust 3, 2012Sciencebob downs, chemcam, chemin, curiosity, earth minerals, gale crater, geologic past, hirise camera, ipods, mars, mars rover, martian equator, martian surface, mount sharp, NASA, nuclear generator, rare earth minerals, red planet, robotic geologist, rock sample, shaunna morrison, star wars, ua geoscientists, xrays

As Mars rover Curiosity makes its final approach to the Red Planet, two UA geoscientists are getting ready to help solve some of the mysteries of its geologic past.

On Aug. 5, at about 10:30 p.m., an already busy summer will kick into overdrive for University of Arizona geosciences professor Bob Downs and one of his graduate students, Shaunna Morrison. At that time – provided everything goes as planned – Curiosity, the most sophisticated exploration vehicle ever sent to another planet, will parachute toward the Martian surface faster than the speed of sound after a nine-month journey through space. And as soon as it sinks its six wheels into the red dust, the two scientists specializing in mineralogy will have not one, but two planets to deal with.

As “primary data downlink leaders” designated by NASA, Downs and Morrison are part of a team of scientists tasked with the identification of rocks that Curiosity will encounter during its two-year expedition across the floor of Gale Crater near the Martian equator. (more…)

Ralph Milliken: Curiosity’s Mission on Mars

By Guest PostAugust 2, 2012Sciencebrown geologist, chemcam, chemin, curiosity, dan, david orenstein, earth, earth time, gale crater, geology, guadalupe mountains, jpl, mars, mars time, msl, NASA, neutron detector, organic material, plasma, ralph milliken, red planet, rover, rover curiosity, sam, xray diffraction

As Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, gets set to land in the wee hours of Monday morning, Brown geologist Ralph Milliken will be getting ready to get to work. He’s a member of the mission’s science team. His curiosity lies in finding out why Mars is a colder, drier place than it used to be.

PASADENA, Calif. [Brown University] — Ralph Milliken, assistant professor of geological sciences, is on the science team of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which is set to land the rover Curiosity on the Red Planet in the early morning of Aug. 6 Eastern Daylight Time. The rover will allow the team to study the rocks and soils of Gale Crater, giving scientists years of data to help them learn the geological history of the planet. If there are signs of water or organic material, Curiosity can find those, too. (more…)

China Olympics Traffic Measures Cut Carbon Emissions

By Guest PostJuly 31, 2012Environment2008 summer olympics, Beijing, bike, carbon emission, china olympic, climate change, emission, greenhouse gas, helen worden, lex ivey, london olympics, mopitt, motor vehicle, NASA, ncar, pollution control, threat, traffic, traffic restriction, university of toronto, university of tsinghua

A new NASA-funded study of the impacts of China’s traffic restrictions for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing shows how widespread changes in transportation patterns could greatly reduce the threat of climate change.

New research by an international team of scientists led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colo., indicates that China’s restrictions on motor vehicles designed to improve air quality during the games had the side benefit of dramatically cutting emissions of carbon dioxide by between 26,500 and 106,000 U.S. tons (24,000 and 96,000 metric tons) during the event. (more…)

Researchers Develop New Amp to Study the Universe

By Guest PostJuly 23, 2012Scienceamplifier, black holes, byeong ho eom, caltech, electric current, electrical signal, jonas zmuidzinas, NASA, peter day, quantum computer, quantum world, radio wave, wavelengths, xrays, zero resistance

Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, both in Pasadena, have developed a new type of amplifier for boosting electrical signals. The device can be used for everything from studying stars, galaxies and black holes to exploring the quantum world and developing quantum computers.

“This amplifier will redefine what it is possible to measure,” said Jonas Zmuidzinas, chief technologist at JPL, who is Caltech’s Merle Kingsley Professor of Physics and a member of the research team. (more…)

Meet a Face Behind the MIRI

By Guest PostJuly 21, 2012Scienceall sky survey, asteroid, caltech, cosmos, galaxy formation, hawaii, infrared bright galaxies, infrared telescope, james webb, jpl, mauna kea, mid infrared instrument, mike ressler, miri, NASA, palomar, san diego, space telescope, star formation, wise

This summer welcomed the delivery of the James Webb Space Telescope’s first flight instrument, the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The instrument will peer out into the farthest depths of the cosmos and capture light showcasing star and galaxy formation.

MIRI’s design, assembly and journey were made possible because of a collaboration between a European consortium of institutes that developed the instrument in a partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., working with the European Space Agency, University of Arizona and NASA. (more…)

Greenland Glacier Loses Ice

By Guest PostJuly 21, 2012Environmentair temperature, andreas muenchow, aqua satellite, Arctic, coast guard ship, greenland glacier, greenland ice sheet, henry larsen, ice island, ice shelf, icy seas blog, labrador, lancaster sound, manhattan, nares strait, NASA, ocean temperature, petermann fjord, petermann glacier, terra, ward hunt

Greenland glacier loses ice island twice the size of Manhattan

An ice island twice the size of Manhattan has broken off from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier, according to researchers at the University of Delaware and the Canadian Ice Service. The Petermann Glacier is one of the two largest glaciers left in Greenland connecting the great Greenland ice sheet with the ocean via a floating ice shelf.

Andreas Muenchow, associate professor of physical ocean science and engineering in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, reports the calving on July 16, 2012, in his “Icy Seas” blog. Muenchow credits Trudy Wohleben of the Canadian Ice Service for first noticing the fracture. (more…)

Astronomers Discover Houdini-Like Vanishing Act in Space

By Guest PostJuly 9, 2012Scienceastronomer, astronomical scale, baffling discovery, benjamin zuckerman, carl melis, Chile, constellation centaurus, dust, dust particles, dusty disc, game changer, gemini observatory, gemini telescope, infrared astronomical satellite, iras, joseph rhee, joy pollard, jupiter, lynette cook, mars, mega flare, mercury, NASA, neptune, norm murray, rocky debris, rocky planet, saturn rings, solar system, tyc 8241 2652, ucla, wise satellite

Astronomers report a baffling discovery never seen before: An extraordinary amount of dust around a nearby star has mysteriously disappeared.

“It’s like the classic magician’s trick — now you see it, now you don’t,” said Carl Melis, a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Diego and lead author of the research. “Only in this case, we’re talking about enough dust to fill an inner solar system, and it really is gone!”

“It’s as if the rings around Saturn had disappeared,” said co-author Benjamin Zuckerman, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy. “This is even more shocking because the dusty disc of rocky debris was bigger and much more massive than Saturn’s rings. The disc around this star, if it were in our solar system, would have extended from the sun halfway out to Earth, near the orbit of Mercury.” (more…)

Mars Panorama: Next Best Thing to Being There

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2012Sciencearizona state university, cornell university, endeavour crater, greeley haven, jim bell, mars exploration rover, mars odyssey orbiter, mars panorama, mars pathfinder, martian winter, NASA, opportunity, pancam, ron greeley, steve squyres

PASADENA, Calif. — From fresh rover tracks to an impact crater blasted billions of years ago, a newly completed view from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the ruddy terrain around the outcrop where the long-lived explorer spent its most recent Martian winter.

This scene recorded from the mast-mounted color camera includes the rover’s own solar arrays and deck in the foreground, providing a sense of sitting on top of the rover and taking in the view. Its release this week coincides with two milestones: Opportunity completing its 3,000th Martian day on July 2, and NASA continuing past 15 years of robotic presence at Mars. Mars Pathfinder landed July 4, 1997. NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor orbiter reached the planet while Pathfinder was still active, and Global Surveyor overlapped the active missions of the Mars Odyssey orbiter and Opportunity, both still in service. (more…)

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