NASA plans to send mini-helicopter to Mars

The US space agency said Friday it plans to launch the first-ever helicopter to Mars in 2020, a miniature, unmanned drone-like chopper that could boost our understanding of the Red Planet.

Known simply as “The Mars Helicopter,” the device weighs less than four pounds (1.8 kilograms), and its main body section, or fuselage, is about the size of a softball.

It will be attached to the belly pan of the Mars 2020 rover, a wheeled robot that aims to determine the habitability of the Martian environment, search for signs of ancient life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers.

Mars 2020 is planned for launch in July 2020 with an arrival on the surface of Mars expected in February 2021.

“NASA has a proud history of firsts,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a statement.

“The idea of a helicopter flying the skies of another planet is thrilling.”

No nation has ever flown an helicopter on Mars before.

Thin atmosphere

The undertaking began in August 2013 as a technology development project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

In order to fly in Mars’ thin atmosphere, the space helicopter has to be super light, yet as powerful as possible.

“The altitude record for a helicopter flying here on Earth is about 40,000 feet (12,100 meters),” said Mimi Aung, Mars Helicopter project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“The atmosphere of Mars is only one percent that of Earth, so when our helicopter is on the Martian surface, it’s already at the Earth equivalent of 100,000 feet up (30,500 meters),” she added.

Engineers built the copter’s twin, counter-rotating blades to “bite into the thin Martian atmosphere at almost 3,000 rpm — about 10 times the rate of a helicopter on Earth,” said a NASA statement.

The helicopter is equipped with “solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries, and a heating mechanism to keep it warm through the cold Martian nights.”

Controllers on Earth will command the Mars Helicopter, which was designed to receive and interpret commands from the ground.

Plans are being laid for a 30-day flight test, with five flights going incrementally further each time, up to a few hundred yards (meters).

Its first flight calls for a brief vertical climb of 10 feet (three meters), followed by hovering for a half minute.
NASA views the copter as a “high-risk, high-reward technology demonstration,” it said.

If successful, it could be a model for scouting on future Mars missions, able to access places the human-built rovers cannot reach.

If it fails, it will not impact the Mars 2020 mission.

“The ability to see clearly what lies beyond the next hill is crucial for future explorers,” said NASA’s Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the science mission directorate.

“We already have great views of Mars from the surface as well as from orbit. With the added dimension of a bird’s-eye view from a ‘marscopter,’ we can only imagine what future missions will achieve.”

source: technology.inquirer.net

Candy company, scientists team up to save chocolate from extinction by 2050

Candy company Mars and scientists from the University of California are working on a technology that will ensure cacao plants can grow amid climate change.

According to a 2014 research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, if “business as usual” continues, countries that produce cacao will increase in temperature by 2.1°C.

The world’s leading producers are Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. The African countries count for over half of chocolate production globally.

The higher temperatures in West Africa would mean a lack of rainfall, which will cause cacao plants to die.

A solution would be to plant on higher ground. However, as in the case of Ghana, agricultural land is limited because forests are being preserved as natural habitats.

According to Business Insider, UC Berkeley geneticist Jennifer Doudna is leading the partnership with Mars to save chocolate with a genome editing technology called CRISPR/Cas9. Doudna herself has contributed research on it.

Mars, known for M&Ms, Snickers and 3 Musketeers, pledged $1 billion to reduce its carbon footprint by over 60 percent by 2050.

Part of this funding goes to UC Berkeley’s biosciences building where cacao seedlings are stored in refrigerated greenhouses.

Under the supervision of Myeong-Je Cho, the director of plant genomics, the plants’ DNA will be transformed to survive in a dryer climate.

The CRISPR/Cas9, a tool which finds a target DNA, binds an enzyme called Cas9 to the DNA and cuts it.

Projects in Doudna’s research lab aim to help farmers in the developing world. For instance, cassava DNA is being modified so that the crop doesn’t produce as much of a harmful toxin when it is in hotter temperatures.

Other potential uses are editing human genes—possibly producing controversial “designer babies”—and eliminating human diseases.  Niña V. Guno /ra

source: technology.inquirer.net

NASA Mars rover finds clear evidence for ancient, long-lived lakes

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida  - Three years after landing in a giant Martian crater, NASA's Curiosity rover has found what scientists call proof that the basin had repeatedly filled with water, bolstering chances for life on Mars, a study published on Thursday showed.

The research offered the most comprehensive picture of how Gale Crater, an ancient, 87-mile (140-km) wide impact basin, formed and left a 3-mile (5-km) mound of sediment standing on the crater floor.

Early in its mission, Curiosity discovered the gravel remnants of streams and deposits from a shallow lake.

The new research, published in the journal Science, showed that the crater floor rose over time, the result of sediments in water settling down, layer after layer, for what may have been thousands of years, California Institute of Technology geologist John Grotzinger said.

"We knew that we had a lake there, but we hadn't grasped just how big it was," Grotzinger said.

Water from north of the crater regularly filled the basin, creating long-lasting lakes that could have been a haven for life. Scientists suspect the water came from rain or snow.

"If one discovers evidence of lakes, that's a very positive sign for life," Grotzinger said.

Eventually, the crater filled with sediments. Then the winds took over and eroded the lakebed, leaving behind just a mound at the center. That mound, named Mount Sharp, is why Curiosity was sent to Gale Crater to look for ancient habitats suitable for microbial life.

Scientists have learned that Mars had all the ingredients thought to be necessary for life.

Exactly how Mars managed to support long-lived surface water is a mystery. Billions of years ago, the planet lost its global magnetic field, which allowed solar and cosmic radiation to gradually blast away its protective atmosphere. Under those conditions, liquid water evaporates quickly.

"If you have a body of standing water that lasts more than hours to days without boiling off, that is a huge surprise," Grotzinger said.

Current computer models of Mars fall well short of an atmospheric blanket thick enough to support the long-lived lakes, the researchers noted.

Grotzinger suspects that Mars may have had greenhouse gases or some other chemistry that so far has gone undetected.

Last week, another team of scientists published research showing that trickles of briny water seasonally flow on present-day Mars, carving narrow streaks into cliff walls throughout the equator. The source of the water is not yet known.  — Reuters

NASA scientists answer questions about alien life and water on Mars

To mark the discovery of liquid water on Mars, scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) held an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on reddit where they answered questions from the public.

Just a leaky faucet's worth of water

Just how much water are we talking about here? According to the scientists, it’s just a small amount—comparable to the amount that drips from your faucet if you don’t close it tightly. “We think this is a very small amount of water—maybe just enough to wet the top layer of the surface of Mars,” they said. “Think of this as a ‘seep’ not a flow.”

At present, NASA’s rovers can’t approach the regions where they suspect water is present because they’re considered “special regions.” To enter the area, extra precautions are required to prevent contamination by Earth life.

Preventing contamination by Earth life

Scientists are keenly aware of the possibility of microscopic alien life, and are very careful to make sure that Earth life doesn't contaminate and overrun the potentially fragile Martian ecosystem.

For one thing, rovers need additional sterilization before they can come closer. Scientists also take samples of microbes on the spacecraft before launch for comparison with any future discoveries.

Other Mars-related projects NASA has in mind are InSight in 2016—a lander designed to detect Mars-quakes—and a rover in 2020.

The AMA took place from 2-3 p.m. ET (2-3 a.m. Tuesday in the Philippines). Scientists who participated were Rich Zurek, Chief Scientist of NASA’s Mars Program Office and Project Scientist at the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project; Leslie K. Tamppari, Deputy Project Scientist, MRO; Stephanie L. Smith, NASA-JPL social media team; and Sasha E. Samonchina, NASA-JPL social media team. — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com