SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
NASA's Mars 2020 mission, which will look for signs of past life on Mars, will use smart methods originally developed to find the oldest life on Earth, according the mission's Deputy Project Scientist, Dr Ken Williford. The 2020 mission builds on the successes of prior rovers, to make coordinated measurements that could detect signs of ancient life - or biosignatures - in their original spatial context. These techniques, known as "spatially resolved biosignature analysis" derive from geochemical analysis of early life on Earth.
Speaking at the Goldschmidt conference in Paris where he is presenting the methods to be adopted, Dr Ken Williford (who is also Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Astrobiogeochemistry Laboratory) said:
[...] New scientific methods for searching for the most ancient evidence for life on Earth have led to a leap forward in capabilities for biosignature detection. Rather than using "bulk" geochemistry techniques that measure the average composition of a rock, Mars 2020 is developing new capabilities including X-ray fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy to map the elemental, mineral, and organic composition of rocks at high spatial resolution, with analytical spot sizes about the width of a human hair. Understanding the spatial distribution of chemical features preserved in ancient rocks is key to determining whether or not they were formed by life.
[...] In addition, the Mars 2020 mission will use the knowledge gained from its scientific exploration to select and collect key samples that could one day be examined in laboratories back on Earth. Thirty to forty rock and sediment core samples, each about 15 grams, will be hermetically sealed in titanium tubes and deposited in a safe location on the surface of Mars for possible retrieval by a future mission.
"Mars 2020 represents a crucial first step towards a possible Mars sample return. Our objective is to collect a diverse set of samples from our landing site with the best potential to preserve records of the evolution of Mars - including the presence of life if it was there. We'll use our onboard instruments to provide the critical field context that future scientists would need to understand the measurements made back on Earth."
Dr Williford also discussed the three remaining candidate landing sites for the Mars 2020 mission. One site at Columbia Hills in Gusev crater, was visited previously by the Spirit rover and features silica deposits interpreted by some as analogous to hydrothermal springs known to be inhabited on Earth. The two other sites are located close together on the edge of Isidis Planitia, one of the largest (and oldest) impact craters in the Solar System. Northeast Syrtis features some of the oldest exposed Martian crust with evidence for alteration in the presence of liquid water that leads researchers to believe that this site could have hosted subsurface life. Jezero crater features an ancient river delta and a lake that could have been a prime location for life on early Mars.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Saturday August 19 2017, @03:45PM (2 children)
Manned exploration or bases on the Moon, Mars, Venus [wikipedia.org], Mercury [nasa.gov], Ceres, Ganymede, Callisto, Enceladus. I didn't include Europa because it experiences lots of radiation from Jupiter. Oh, and if the low gravity of Ceres (0.029 g) to Mars (0.376 g) causes health problems, you suck it up and die there because at least it's not the microgravity (~0 g) environment of the ISS. Robotic landers on every other object mentioned in this comment where applicable. Don't forget to land robots on the Moon, Mars, et al. in advance so they can build structures and greenhouses for humans. Develop sustainability technologies that allow some number of people to live off the resources of a place like the Moon or Mars (without resupply from Earth), and use these technologies back on Earth.
Drill into Europa and Enceladus, and maybe other objects [wikipedia.org], in order to get into the subsurface liquid ocean and search for life. There are multiple upcoming missions to Europa but none of them will drill miles down into the ocean. Europa and Enceladus are easier targets because you might only need to drill 5-10 km at the weakest parts (and that's why these two objects spray water out regularly [sciencemag.org]).
An orbiter or flyby of all asteroids over ~100km in diameter [wikipedia.org]. Pallas [wikipedia.org] is the biggest unexplored one because its orbital inclination makes it difficult to reach. Dawn could leave Ceres to explore another target, but we should always be studying Ceres in some capacity since it's the best asteroid to put humans on permanently.
NASA should partner with corporations to develop asteroid mining technologies. Some of the technologies can be dual use [popsci.com]. OSIRIS-REx [wikipedia.org] will return a sample from an asteroid. Asteroid redirection should include moving multiple asteroids to orbit or land on the Moon.
Decide once and for all whether EmDrive [wikipedia.org] is a crock. Give the Eagleworks team more manpower and a bigger budget so they can test better designs. Include material scientists so they can work on getting the "Q factor" up. If EmDrive does work, start discussing nuclear-powered EmDrive spacecraft for deep solar system exploration or solar-powered for inner solar system (including the asteroid belt?). Throw some more money at the group to study the warp drive concept [wikipedia.org].
Dump the Space Launch System and partner with SpaceX and other companies to get their superheavy launchers developed (bigger than Falcon Heavy, such as the Interplanetary Transport System [wikipedia.org]).
A James Webb Space Telescope [wikipedia.org] class telescope mission every year instead of every decade. Proposed missions include ATLAST [wikipedia.org], HDST [wikipedia.org], and others. The bigger the better, since they will need to have huge mirrors in order to directly image exoplanets to find biosignatures. Also produce more all-sky survey type telescopes with wide fields of view like the LSST [wikipedia.org].
Orbiters or flybys to trans-Neptunian [wikipedia.org] dwarf planets, particularly Eris, 2007 OR10, Makemake, Haumea, Quaoar, Sedna, Orcus, etc. Send an orbiter to Pluto. New Horizons 2 [wikipedia.org] was cancelled due to a plutonium shortage, so produce more plutonium-238 for radioisotope thermoelectric generators.
Find Planet Nine [wikipedia.org]. Image the shit out of it. Find as many moons as possible using telescopes. Then send the fastest spacecraft in human history (it will have to travel over 20-30 AU in a year to get there nice and fast) to flyby or better yet, orbit it. Also find the Mars-sized "Planet Ten" [wikipedia.org] if it exists around 50-60 AU away.
Return to Uranus and Neptune. The last exploration of these gas giants was in 1986-1989 by Voyager 2. Send a lander to Triton [wikipedia.org].
Work on the technologies needed for Breakthrough Starshot [wikipedia.org] so that Alpha Centauri can be explored.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 19 2017, @04:14PM (1 child)
I don't think "not having welfare and illegals" (as suggested by that philanthropist EF) is going to be enough (for even a single one of those). Maybe if we diverted a percent or two of the military budget...? Hah! I kid, i kid, that's obviously insane.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 19 2017, @04:18PM
You can't divert $10 billion from the $600+ billion military budget! ISIS would win!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]