MAIN ARTICLE: Mars Life - Hints At Life Under Olympus Mons?
According to a pair of scientists if you are looking for life on mars, the place to look is under the biggest pimple on the planet. More after the fold.
Poll Results: The poll conducted yesterday had a strong turnout and an even stronger result. Scroll down for the latest space polling, click subscribe to stay informed.
Star Trek: In the News. Family Guy The Next Generation Photo Released
Yesterday's Comments: "Fermi and not Femi - I was so disappointed that my 15 minutes of fame was a non starter, I need glasses." - LaFeminista
Today's Poll: If life is discovered in our Solar System do you think it will be like earth DNA.
LOOKING FOR LIFE:
Standing 15 miles tall, Olympus Mons is the tallest structure on Mars. Recently two reseachers have put forth a theory that may give Olympus Mons another unique title as a reservoir of life. You simply have to look under it.
Mars Life? Computer Analysis Hints At Water and Life Under Olympus Mons
"The Martian volcano Olympus Mons is about three times the height of Mount Everest, but it's the small details that Rice University professors Patrick McGovern and Julia Morgan are looking at in thinking about whether the Red Planet ever had – or still supports – life.
Using a computer modeling system to figure out how Olympus Mons came to be, McGovern and Morgan reached the surprising conclusion that pockets of ancient water may still be trapped under the mountain.
Their research is published in February's issue of the journal Geology.
The scientists explained that their finding is more implication than revelation. "What we were analyzing was the structure of Olympus Mons, why it's shaped the way it is," said McGovern, an adjunct assistant professor of Earth science and staff scientist at the NASA-affiliated Lunar and Planetary Institute. "What we found has implications for life – but implications are what go at the end of a paper." "
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McGovern and Morgan created a computer model using a particle dynamics simulation. Because of Olympus Mons asymmetric shape, they have concluded that clay sediments had to the cause of that shape. This is a classic "follow the water" senerio. Many researchers believe that water is the key (see "Scientists: Phoenix Mars Lander Found Liquid Water.", 'Americans in Space', Mar 10, 2009) to finding life on Mars.
particle dynamics simulation:
Molecular dynamics
"Molecular dynamics (MD) is a form of computer simulation in which atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a period of time by approximations of known physics, giving a view of the motion of the atoms."
Dynamical simulation:
"Dynamical simulation, in computational physics, is the simulation of systems of objects that are free to move, usually in three dimensions according to Newton's laws of dynamics, or approximations thereto"
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MOUNT OLYMPUS:
Olympus Mons
"The central edifice stands 27 kilometers (around 16.7 miles/approx. 88,580 ft) high above the mean surface level of Mars[2][3] (about three times the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level and 2.6 times the height of Mauna Kea above its base). It is 550 km (342 miles) in width, flanked by steep cliffs, and has a caldera complex that is 85 km (53 miles) long, 60 km (37 miles) wide, and up to 3 km (1.8 miles) deep with six overlapping pit craters. Its outer edge is defined by an escarpment up to 6 km (4 miles) tall, unique among the shield volcanoes of Mars.
Both the size of Olympus Mons and its shallow slope (2.5 degrees central dome surrounded by 5 degree outer region) mean that a person standing on the surface of Mars (image - NASA, Olympus Mons caldera)
would be unable to view the upper profile of the volcano even from a distance, as the curvature of the planet and the volcano itself would obscure it. However, one could view parts of Olympus: standing on the highest point of its summit, the slope of the volcano would extend beyond the horizon, a mere 3 kilometers away; from the three kilometer elevated caldera rim one could see 80 kilometers to the caldera's other side; from the southeast scarp highpoint (about 5 km elevation) one could look about 180 km southeast; from the northwest scarp highpoint (about 8 km elevation) one could look upslope possibly 240 km and look northeast possibly 230 km.
An occasional misconception is that the top of Olympus Mons is above the Martian atmosphere. The atmospheric pressure at the top varies between 5 and 8% of the average Martian surface pressure (600 pascals); by comparison the atmospheric pressure at the summit of Mount Everest is about 32 percent of that at sea level. Even so, airborne Martian dust is still present and high altitude carbon dioxide-ice cloud cover is still possible at the peak of Olympus Mons, though water-ice clouds are not. Although the average Martian surface atmospheric pressure is less than one percent of that seen on Earth, the much lower gravity on Mars allows its atmosphere to extend much higher, as lower gravity increases scale height."
THE HUNT IS ON:
Scientists are in the process of scouring (see "Did life on Earth come from Ceres?", 'Americans in Space', Mar 05, 2009) the solar system now in the search for extraterrestial life. The new mission announced to visit the moons of Jupiter is another active place researchers (see "NASA's new Flagship Jupiter mission with ESA.", 'Americans in Space', Feb 19, 2009) want to look closer for signs of life.
For others the search for life is not limited to (see "Of Aliens, exoplanets and the Drake Equation.", 'Americans in Space', Feb 17, 2009) our solar system but for any earth like planet. With the successful launch (see "NASA Delays Alien Planet Hunting Mission.", 'Americans in Space', Feb 28, 2009) of the Kepler space telescope the hunt is really going to heat up because the telescope is expected to discover hundreds of earth sized planets in the habitial zones of the parent stars.
POLL RESULTS:
Yesterday's poll: "Will today's space junk scare at the space station be a wake up call?" had a stronger then average turnout and, as I mentioned before, when writing a poll I do a little mental exercise on how it may turnout. This is another case where I was not in the ballpark, hell, I wasn't even in the same state. DKOS members, who participated in the poll, where very clear. Where I thought it would be a close poll it was one of the most lopsided conducted to date. Fully 95% thought the close call at the space station would be totally ignored until an accident actually happens. Two percent thought it would act as a wake up call.
STAR TREK: In the News.
Family Guy The Next Generation Photo Released
"As reported by Comics Continuum, A new photo for the Family Guy "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode was released today, showing the Next Generation crewmembers standing in a transporter with Stewie standing in front of them."
YESTERDAY'S COMMENTS:
"Still in Aerospace, but not NASA linked I am still in aero, but working more military applications and less of the white ops stuff. I'd prefer to be back in the latter.
Refugee because the development of the ISS finished. I was in software and avionics, working the interface between KIBO and the ISS. That element launched last year (and I flew down to see it).
After that, I worked on a proposal for the CEV, and the company I'm employed by didn't win. I don't care to work for LockMart, and Houston isn't a place I'd like to live again, so I defected to Seattle. For a while, at least.
Bigelow: They're agressive and actually doing work, I'll give them that. I question their integration into other independent efforts...the thing is, this frontier seems to attract independent cowboys (self occasionally guilty), and the commercial route causes fragmentation rather than pooling of knowledge and resources. This can be good; lots of different good designs are developed, and the best will be selected out. But it can also cause worthy ideas to be lost for lack of resources. I feel mixed about it, really." - jbdigriz
"Cool diary. The bad part about this stuff is that 26% of the people in this country think we scientists make all this stuff up and that they know how things are. There was a 2-page article in the Sunday Austin American Statesman on our governor appointed chairman of the state board of education who says that God created the universe. Like he know. If he could prove anything like that, I'd be first in line to write his Nobel Prize letter. Morons run our educational system in Texas." - dolfin66
Rimjob - "In Other Cosmology News...
Pluto is a planet again ... at least in Illinois.
Quietly adopted on February 26, the state resolution is meant to honor Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh, who was born and raised in the farming village of Streator.
"This is one of those things that the village is very proud of," said Illinois State Senator Gary Dahl, who sponsored the resolution. "I don't think we are changing the status of the planet. We're simply asking that March 13 be declared Pluto Day and that, for the day, Pluto is a planet."
Despite these seemingly humble intentions, the bill has reignited heated debate over what exactly a planet is. "Go, Illinois!" said planetary scientist Alan Stern, principle investigator for NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto.
"We may very well have to have a full on cascade event before the various space powers get real about the collection of orbital junk. For far too long we have acted as though all that lost stuff just floated away.
Even war planning does not take into account how bad things would be if there were a vast cloud left from all the current stuff in orbit. It could (possibly) get so bad as to close orbital operations for some time."- Something the Dog Said
TODAY'S POLL:
Read other NASA and Space diaries on DKOS.