Mathematicians Confirm Life on Mars

The 1976 Viking mission to Mars, sent to seek signs of life, may have found it. Viking's Labelled Release Experiment fed a mix of nutrients to Martian soil, cooked it, and measured the resulting gases for carbon dioxide or other products of biological action. To everyone's surprise, the soil yielded far more products than expected. Principal Investigator Gilbert Levin wanted to immediately announce the discovery of life on Mars, but was delayed by NASA bureaucracy. Before an announcement was made, other scientists popped up to claim that the results were due to non-biological chemistry. No scientist has ever found a way to reproduce these results without life. After 35 years Gil Levin continues to claim that his experiment found life on Mars.

A new study uses mathematical techniques to examine the Viking data. The study examines the raw data for signs of complexity, an indicator of life forms. Chemical processes are not complex; life forms are. The study appears to indicate that the labelled release results were produced by life. The paper, with Gilbert Levin as co-author, appears in the International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences:

Compexity Analysis of the Viking Labelled Release Experiments

This writer had the privilege of working with the scientists who in 1996 founds signs of fossil life on Martian meteorite ALH84001. That evidence has also been disputed. The argument over life on Mars may not be settled until scientists have a sample of Martian soil beneath their microscope. In today's funding climate, Mars has a low priority. While NASA was promised the basic research funding to go beyond Earth, planetary science budgets are being slashed. A complicated sample return mission is in jeopardy without US participation. Another way would be to send a scientist to Mars with a microscope. We all hope that the argument is settled someday.

Mars Water Today

(2-minute video from JPL) Repeated observations with the HiRise camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found these changing gully-like features, probably formed by liquid water flowing today. These features appear and disappear seasonally like stream beds. The water would likely be briny, leading to a lower freezing point. On Earth we often see life in briny water. Creatures like the common brine shrimp can even lie dormant for long periods when water runs dry. Recently researchers at California's Mono Lake claimed to find evidence of microbes that use alkali in their chemistry. The evidence for life on Mars continues to gather.

Our research on Martian meteorites shows signs of fossil life nearly 4 billion years old. Old theories of astrophysics claim that the Sun at this time was barely 75 percent as bright, so Earth and Mars would have been frozen solid. Evidence from both planets indicates flowing water billions of years ago. The Sun converts its fuel to energy according to E=mc^2. Because the speed of light was higher in the distant past, solar luminosity is calculated to be almost exactly today's value. If c had not changed in the amounts predicted, life would not have evolved on Earth. Evidence for "c change" is also gathering.

Spirit Loss of Signal

After no contact with the Spirit rover for a year, mission controllers will this week cease attempts to contact her. Spirit and Opportunity have both survived on Mars long past their design endurance.

Dragon to Mars?

According to Ken Bowersox, Elon Musk has long wanted Mars. Musk supposedly started SpaceX after inquiring about launch prices and finding they were too high. This video advertises how the Dragon spacecraft only requires a launch escape system to be human-rated. The innovative LES dispenses with the escape tower seen from Mercury to Apollo in favour of side-mounted rockets. Since these don't have to be jettisoned, there are abort options all the way to orbit.

If the LES engines are not used for escape, they can be used for landing! The last part of the video shows Dragon landing on a planet that can only be Mars. A habitat and some sort of return vehicle appear to be prepositioned at the landing site. Dragon would be cramped quarters for an 8-month journey. Possibly it would make the voyage attached to some sort of habitat module. The hab would have to be well-stoked with supplies and shielded from the radiation of deep space. Dragon is designed with a heat shield tough enough to survive a return from the Moon. This video is a fascinating glimpse into SpaceX future plans.

PhD: Phobos and Deimos

3 conferences in 3 weeks, in 3 different cities! People actually get paid to have this much fun? The Phobos-Deimos conference is happening at NASA Ames in California. We just heard famous planetary scientist William K. Hartmann talk about theories of a late-heavy bombardment of asteroids. Evidence from Earth's Moon points to a huge storm of impacts 3.9 billion years ago. According to Hartmann, not all scientists agree. No one is sure how the Martian moons originated. Since Apollo, most have agreed that our Moon is the result of a giant impact. The answers may wait until people have visited Phobos and Deimos.

LPSC 2011

The Woodlands Waterway Marriott, North of Houston. This week March 7-11 was the big Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in the Woodlands. Monday afternoon scientist Robin Canup lectured on formation of planetary satellites. Later Monday the MESSENGER team reported on the spacecraft's approach to Mercury orbit, due this St. Patricks Day!

Tuesday afternoon we heard new results from the Mars meteorite team at Johnson Space Center. Study of the Nahkla Martian meteorite show sings of carbonates, a key indicator of life. Tuesday evening the Antarctic Meteorite search (ANSMET) reported on 1200 new meteorites recovered from Antarctica to JSC.

Thursday morning Japanese researchers reported that the Hayabusa spacecraft had returned tiny particles of asteroid regolith to Earth. The roundtrip journey to asteroid Itokawa took seven years! On the way three of the spacecraft's four ion thrusters failed. Finally in 2010 the sample capsule returned by parachute to Australia. We hope to learn more about asteroids for future human missions.

We also heard the first news about the enormous earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The more we understand Earth and the processes within its interior, the better prepared we will be. The source of Earth's core heat could be mysterious as a Black Hole.

In Woodlands you might also have heard this presentation:

Lunar Orbit Anomaly and GM=tc^3 Cosmology

INTRODUCTION: Studies of the Moon, made thanks to Johnson Space Center, have confirmed a large anomaly in lunar orbital evolution. The Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment (LLRE) has reported the Moon's semimajor axis increasing at 3.82±.07 cm/yr, anomalously high. Tidal data indicates a recession rate of only 2.9 ± 0.6 cm/yr. Additional observations independently measure a recession rate of 2.82 ± .08 cm/yr. A cosmology where speed of light c is related to time t by GM=tc^3 has been suggested to predict the redshifts of Type Ia supernovae. By this hypothesis, lunar orbital distance would appear to increase an additional 0.935 cm/yr. An anomaly in the lunar orbit may be precisely accounted for, shedding light on puzzles of "dark energy.'' This hypothesis may also explain the “faint young sun” paradox of astrophysics.

Phobos Eclipse

Merry Christmas!

for those who missed the lunar eclipse this week, here is one more enhanced video from JPL. Martian moon Phobos eclipsed the Sun in November 9, 2010. Humans may someday visit Phobos as a steppinstone to Mars. Their comrades on the surface will see sights like this.

Martian Sunset

Sunset on Mars as we would have seen on November 5, 2010. Some people doubt the wisdom of settling permanently on another world. Some will say it is too dangerous, even suicidal, or just not worth the effort. Seeing this, what no human has seen before, makes it all worthwhile.

Arsenic and Old Life

From my presentation in Buenos Aires: Meteorite ALH84001, in which signs of fossil life were discovered in 1996.

Last Thursday astrobiology researchers working at Mono Lake in California announced discovery of microorganisms that can thrive on arsenic. This discovery could widen the definition of organic chemistry. Other scientists have already questioned these results. The science of astrobiology has long met with skepticism.

In 1996 NASA scientists found signs of fossil life on this meteorite, picked up from Antarctica in 1984. The rock forming ALH84001 is over 3.5 billion years old. Martian life could be very old, possibly predating life on Earth. Fossils from another world may be one of the great scientific finds of our time.

McKay et al proposed that a combination of features in ALH84001 could best be explained by a biogenic hypothesis:

1) Carbonates formed at relatively low temperatures involving water

2) Possible microfossils (biomorphs) simlar to Earthly bacterial forms

3) Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) associated with carbonates

4) Nanophase magnetite (Fe304) similar to that produced by bacteria

From time to time others try to attack these discoveries. Recently a paper claimed that the carbonates could have formed by other means, implying that all the findings are invalid. The most convincing evidence, and subject of the most recent work, is nanophase magnetite. As seen in a microscope, magnetites in ALH84001 form crystalline patterns that could not be formed by simple heating. Such patterns are formed by magnetitic bacteria on Earth.

Science thrives on skepticism, and great discoveries are almost always questioned. Several lines of data still point to life on a Martian meteorite. The question may not be completely settled until we have new samples from Mars. Humans may have discovered what they have long wondered about, life from another world.

Life from Mars

I gave another talk was today here at Johnson Space Center, on the latest evidence for life on Mars. I've had the honour of working with the scientists who in 1996 discovered life signs on meteorite ALH84001. The presentation was originally given at the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) conference in Buenos Aires. Like a changing speed of light, the discovery of life signs on a Martian meteorite has fought an uphill battle. Today evidence shows what many have long believed, that life exists on another world.

The Latest On Spirit

This is the view from Gusev Crater, Mars at local sunrise 5:51 PM on July 22, 2010 Universal Time. Earth once again leads the parade of planets prior to sunrise. Below, Jupiter and Venus form a tighter grouping. A Martian Galileo with a telescope could probably see Jupiter's moons at night. Earth's Moon, previously the limit of human exploration, may be visible on some nights.

No communication has been heard from the Spirit rover since March 22. Most likely Spirit has experienced a low-power fault, has turned off all subsystems, and gone to sleep. During this hibernation, the rover will use all available solar power to recharge her batteries. When there is sufficient battery charge, Spirit would be heard from again.

No word yet from ARES, the human expedition to Mars. It was due to land July 13. Perhaps the crew is alive but, like Spirit, unable to communicate.

Loss of Signal

This is the view you would see looking East from Gusev Crater at local sunrise, 1:14 PM Universal Time. Because of the speed of light, this image will not appear until 1:26 PM UT. Earth is slightly lower in the sky than last week and Venus higher, so they form a cluster with Jupiter between them. Observers on Earth will see Mars between Venus and Saturn, with a crescent Moon nearby. If Earth's Moon were bright enough to be seen from Mars, its orbit would span an angular distance 1/6 the Moon's diameter seen from Earth. All of human history, even the Apollo landings on the Moon, has taken place in a tiny patch of sky.

Mission Control in Houston often deals with loss of signal from spacecraft. More than one day after landing there is no word from Gusev Crater. The Spirit Rover, permanently lodged in Martian regolith, has not been heard from since March 13. The ARES spacecraft launched October 28, 2009 has not been heard from since beginning reentry. Many things could have gone wrong. The inflatable heat shield has never been tested in Martian conditions. The 3 main parachutes, which deploy at a speed over Mach 1, are another possible point of failure. There are many risks in landing a spacecraft on Mars.

Possibly the crew landed safely but the communications dish has not deployed. Signals between Earth and Gusev Crater are limited to the roughly 12 hours that Earth is visible in the sky. The crew's first priority is maintaining her own survival and that of the spacecraft. Possibly she is safely settling on Mars, but unable to communicate. If this ARES mission is not successful, hopefully others willl follow. There is still a possiblity of hearing a human voice from Mars.

A Landing on Mars

Our last view of Space. 62 km over Mars, this is the view from the ARES spacecraft at 5:55 PM Universal Time, 10 minutes from a landing scheduled for 6:05 PM UT. Because of the speed of light, this image will not reach Earth until 6:07 PM UT, by which time ARES will have landed. The dark area near the horizon is Gusev Crater, our target and site of the Spirit Rover.

Rendezvous and landing is a complex three-body dance involving Sun, Mars and spacecraft. Since leaving Earth orbit, ARES has been in an elliptical Hohmann transfer orbit to intercept Mars. Because ARES has been near the aphelion in her course, Mars has been overtaking the spacecraft from astern at 2.65 km/sec. In addition, Mars' gravity has been slowly pulling the spacecraft in, adding to the relative velocity. There is no turning back fron landing, neither has there been since Earth escape. Like unmanned probes of the past, ARES will use Mars' atmosphere to cancel her velocity.

Reentry is a fascinating problem in itself. 12 minutes from touchdown, ARES deploys a 20 meter diameter inflatable heat shield. A communications blackout begins as plasma builds around the spacecraft and the crew experiences deceleration up to 9 gees. In a matter of seconds the spacecraft slows from Mach 5 to less than Mach 1. 12 km from the surface the 3 main parachutes deploy, followed by heat shield separation. Less than 1 km from the surface, landing jets will fire. If all goes well, the spacecraft will touch down softly on the plains of Gusev Crater.

We would hear from the landed crew at 6:17 Universal Time.

Companions

Thoughts of masquerade parties and fixed constants are behind us. If all goes well. our ARES spacecraft launched October 28, 2009 is nearing Mars. A landing is scheduled in Gusev Crater at noon local time July 13, 2010. That is 1805 Houston time or 0805 in Hawaii. As the spacecraft is near aphelion of a Hohmann elliptical orbit, Mars will overtake the spacecraft from astern at 2.65 km/sec. 24 hours from landing, at a distance of 228000 km, the planet spans 1 degree and 42 minutes, about 3 times the size of the Moon seen from Earth. Deimos and Phobos are spectacularly arrayed alongside the planet. The next day will be very busy and exciting for the crew, but the view is worth every moment.

Parade of Planets

Last week we saw sunrise from the surface of Mars. Martian days (Sols) are 24 hours, 39 minutes long. 7 Sols later it is 8:36 AM July 8 UT on Earth, sunrise at Gusev Crater. Because of the 12-minute time delay, the image will appear 10:48 PM July 7 Hawaii time. Earth is just past her maximum angular separation from the Sun, and will soon be circling behind. Below Earth is Jupiter, fortuitously in position to be seen behind the inner planets. The new morning star below Jupiter is Venus. Mercury is on the other side of the Sun, visible every day at sunset. From the vantage point of Mars one can easily observe the inner worlds orbit the Sun.

This is Mars from 1.4 million km, the view from a human spacecraft 6 Sols from landing. Even 6 days out, Mars is 4 times the distance from Earth to the Moon. ARES was launched from Kennedy Space Center October 28, last day of the 2009 Mars launch window. This ARES, accelerating to Earth escape velocity, has been on a Hohmann transfer orbit to rendezvous with Mars on July 13, 2010. As the spacecraft is near aphelion in her elliptical path, Mars appears astern approaching at 2.65 km/sec. Apollo astronauts also saw the Moon overtake them from behind.

Even one day from landing Mars will be 235,000 km away, 2/3 the Earth-Moon distance. On that exciting day the crew will see the planet grow from a tiny disk to dominate the sky. ARES would have used all her cryogenic fuel escaping Earth, and must aerobrake to enter Mars' atmosphere. She will encounter Mars' atmosphere on the side facing the Sun, gaining about 300 m/sec from the planet's rotation. NASA technicians have launched 7 spacecraft to land on Mars in this manner, with only one failure. This ARES mission would have a good chance of success.

Once on Mars, the adventure would be just beginning. A resupply mission can not land until the next launch opportunity 26 months in the future. Lacking sufficient water and oxygen, the crew would have to find water on Mars. The possible scientific gains would make this risk more than worthwhile. The crew on Mars would every morning enjoy a view like this parade of planets.

Habitation Intention kindly hosts an "awe-inspiring" Carnival of Space!

Earthrise, Gusev Crater

On Earth it is 3:20 AM Universal Time on June 30, 2010. Due to the speed of light, a message from Mars would not reach Earth until 3:32 UT. This is the exact view you would see looking East from Gusev Crater, Mars. The Sun is shortly due to rise at the center of the frame. Rising ahead of the Sun, the bright starlike object at top centre is Earth. All of human history, the struggle to understand the world, has taken place on that tiny dot. This is a view that no human being has seen before.

The bright object between Earth and the horizon is Jupiter. This month the largest planet is on the far side of the Sun, making it appear among the inner planets. Uranus, just above the horizon, is too faint to be seen. From the vantage point of Mars one could easily view Earth, Venus and Mercury circling the Sun. If there were intelligent life on Mars they would long ago have figured out the Copernican model, something Earth beings didn't accept until barely 500 years ago. Travel to the Moon and Mars leads to scientific insights that no one has yet imagined.

Gusev Crater was also landing site of the Spirit Rover. Since 2009 Spirit has been stuck in loose regolith, becoming a stationary research platform. No communication has been received from Spirit since March 22, 2010. She may have gone into hibernation to conserve batteries. The Winter solstice occurred here on May 13, so the chances of Spirit waking are warming up. When humans travel to Mars, we will follow their survival with even greater interest. Travel to Mars is risky for machines and people, but it is our ultimate adventure.

Mars Ancient Oceans

Could this have been Mars 3.5 billion years ago? Accumulating evidence from spacecraft like the Mars Reconniassance Orbiter shows signs of river networks on the surface. New research from the MRO laser altimeter, to be published in Nature Geoscience on June 13, shows that many river deltas were at exactly the same elevation 3.5 billion years in the past. This would indicate that the deltas all fed into one enormous ocean.

3.5 billion years is also the approximate age of carbonate globules found in meteortie ALH84001. These globules are one of four lines of evidence indicating Martian life from the metorite. This discovery from 1996 energized the new science of astrobiology. Recent work by Kathy Thomas-Keprta and colleagues at Johnson Space Center strengthens the case for ancient Martian life. This life could have thrived in an ancient ocean.

The "Faint Young Sun" hypothesis stated that the early Sun was 25% less luminous. Both Earth and Mars would have been frozen solid. The appearance of life would have been unlikely. Solar luminosity would continually increase (lower line) until Earth's oceans would boil. This astrophysical theory is not supported by evidence. Overwhelming evidence shows that both planets were warm enough for liquid water and life.

The Sun turns fuel to energy according to E=mc^2. If the speed of light c had increased at GM=tc^3 predicts, solar luminosity would be nearly constant (upper line). Earth would have conditions for life to evolve over billions of years. The fact that life exists to read this article is evidence that the speed of light has changed in precisely the amounts predicted.

LPSC

Shortly after our work with lunar sample, results were presented at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. LPSC began as a small affair in JSC's Gilruth center, later graduating into the South Shore Harbour Resort. Since last year LPSC has been held in the Woodlands Conference Center, a lovely place served by waterways and little boats. The field of planetary science continues to grow.

Monday March 1 was NASA night, with a briefing by Dr. Laurie Leshin from headquarters. Here she is celebrating our Cassini mission being extended another 7 years. Tuesday morning was the Women's networking breakfast, which also gets bigger each year. This year there was barely time to speak with the woman next door.

While water on the Moon is still a hot topic. water on Mars was also on many minds. There is ample evidence of ancient stream beds and oceans on the Red planet. Thanks to spacecraft, today's planetary scientist can closely study individual features on Mars. There is plenty of work for new scientists.

Thursday afternoon's session turned into a debate about life on Mars. In 1996 scientists found signs of life on Martian meteorite ALH84001. One key bit of evidence was magnetites, minerals formed by living things in reponse to Earth;s magnetic field. Since then detractors have tried vainly to find alternate explanations. One naysayer stood up Thursday, claimed that magnetites were produced by heating. He showed computer simulations of heating that seemd to support his thesis.

Kathie Thomas-Keprta of the Mars Meteorite Team then gave her talk and completely demolished the opposition. She found places in his computer code where he entered zero instead of a number. Kathie had even contacted the author of the computer program, who concurred that the detractor had used his software improperly. Science based on computer models is hardly science at all.

Overwhelming evidence shows that ancient Mars had conditions for liquid water and life. Old models claimed that the Sun was faint and Mars was frozen solid. Ancient water on Mars is more evidence of a hot young Sun and a changing speed of light. There will be detractors to the end, but rewriting laws of physics will keep physicists employed too.

Lakes of Mars

On May 25, 2008 the Phoenix lander touched down in the Green Valley of Vastitas Borealis at a latitude of 68 degrees North. Landing near the Arctic North of Mars, Phoenix returned images of ice just beneath the surface. With a planned lifetime of 3 months, Phoenix continued transmitting for 5 months before going silent to the Martian Winter. Today JPL scientists are trying to re-establish contact. The Odyssey orbiter will complete 30 overflights this week, with more passes planned for February and March.

This week French scientists have concluded that water ice from Planum Borum, the polar ice cap, is exceptionally pure. Data from the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter points to 95 percent purity. The Martian North would be an excellent place for humans to settle and stay. a settler could bet her life on finding water beneath the surface.

Calcium carbonates found by Phoenix are more evidence of a warm, wet past for Mars. Abundant photos point to ancient lakes and stream beds. A lake bed is difficult to spot from orbit, so even more may exist. This adds to evidence from meteorites that early Mars had conditions suitable for life. Billions of years ago the planet may have been awash with water.

The "Faint Sun" hypothesis speculates that the early Sun was only about 75% as bright as today. Earth and Mars would have been frozen solid, making evolution of life unlikely. Abundant evidence from both planets shows that they were both warm enough for life. Since the Sun turns fuel to energy according to E=mc^2, a higher speed of light would have made solar luminosity nearly equal to today. Ancient lakes on Mars are more evidence that the speed of light has changed.

Life From Mars

Humans have long asked about life on Mars. In 1976 the Viking Lander brought experiments designed to find chemical reactions indicative of life. To scientists' surprise, those reactions were found in abundance. Researchers explained the positive results as chemical reactions, even inventing reactions that had never been observed on Earth. After Viking, Mars was officially called lifeless.

25 years ago this month geologist Robbie Score spent her Christmas holiday Wintering in Antarctica. On December 27, 1984 she was hunting for rocks on the Far Western Icefield near the Allan Hills. She spotted an odd grapefruit-sized rock on the ice. Score immediately identified it as a meteorite, and its greenish colour made it distinct from other meteorites found nearby. Bobbie Score named the rock ALH84001, an Allan Hills meteorite found in 1984. For nine years the odd green rock sat on a shelf unnoticed, but Robbie Score may have stumbled upon one of history's great finds.

An early classification identified ALH84001 as coming from an asteroid. In 1993 geologist Duck Mittlefehldt, a friend of Robbie Score, reexamined the little meteorite and concluded that it had arrived from Mars. Later analysis showed that the rock had first crystallized 4.5 billion years ago, near the dawn of our solar system. 16 million years ago it was launched from Mars by a meteorite impact. After wandering the solar system for millions of years, the green rock landed in Antarctica 13,000 years ago.

The biggest surprise was yet to come. In 1996 colleagues David McKay, Everett Gibson and Kathie Thomas-Keprta discovered signs of bacterial life on ALH84001. They foundd several major bits of evidence, including magnetites and fossil-like forms. Magnetites are used by living organisms to sense direction. After an initial blast of publicity, other researchers found alternate explanations. The debate over life on Mars raged on.

The team's latest paper, Origins of magnetite nanocrystals in Martian meteorite ALH84001, does a good job of demolishing competing theories. Afer painstaking work, the team shows that alternate explanations of the magnetites are contradictory. This paper will convince many on the fence that life has been discovered from Mars. NASA press release.

The Martian bacteria were thriving at a time when astrophysics says that the Sun was only 75% as bright, and both Earth and Mars were frozen solid. Reality has not cooperated with theory, for evidence says that both planets had temperatures suitable for life. This is the "Faint Young Sun Paradox." Fortunately the Sun turns fuel to energy according to E=mc^2. If the speed of light were changing according to GM=tc^3, solar luminosity would be changed exactly enough to make temperatures comfortable for life.

When evidence is found that c is changing, others are quick to come up with alternate explanations. This is how "dark energy" got started. As with life on Mars, an abundance of evidence will show a changing speed of light.