Olivine-respiring bacteria isolated from the rock-ice interface in a lava-tube cave, a Mars analog environment

The boundary between ice and basalt on Earth is an analogue for some near-surface environments of Mars. We investigated neutrophilic iron-oxidizing microorganisms from the basalt-ice interface in a lava tube from the Oregon Cascades with perennial ice. One of the isolates (Pseudomonas sp. HerB) can use ferrous iron Fe(II) from the igneous mineral olivine as an electron donor and O(2) as an electron acceptor. The optimum growth temperature is ～12-14°C, but growth also occurs at 5°C. Bicarbonate is a facultative source of carbon. Growth of Pseudomonas sp. HerB as a chemolithotrophic iron oxidizer with olivine as the source of energy is favored in low O(2) conditions (e.g., 1.6% O(2)). Most likely, microbial oxidation of olivine near pH 7 requires low O(2) to offset the abiotic oxidation of iron. The metabolic capabilities of this bacterium would allow it to live in near-surface, icy, volcanic environments of Mars in the present or recent geological past and make this type of physiology a prime candidate in the search for life on Mars.     

R3DE: Radiation Risk Radiometer-Dosimeter on the International Space Station--optical radiation data recorded during 18 months of EXPOSE-E exposure to open space

Radiation Risk Radiometer-Dosimeter E (R3DE) served as a device for measuring ionizing and non-ionizing radiation as well as cosmic radiation reaching biological samples located on the EXPOSE platform EXPOSE-E. The duration of the mission was almost 1.5 years (2008-2009). With four channels, R3DE detected the wavelength ranges of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 400-700?nm), UVA (315-400?nm), UVB (280-315?nm), and UVC (<280?nm). In addition, the temperature was recorded. Cosmic ionizing radiation was assessed with a 256-channel spectrometer dosimeter (see separate report in this issue). The light and UV sensors of the device were calibrated with spectral measurement data obtained by the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) satellite as standard. The data were corrected with respect to the cosine error of the diodes. Measurement frequency was 0.1?Hz. Due to errors in data transmission or temporary termination of EXPOSE power, not all data could be acquired. Radiation was not constant during the mission. At regular intervals of about 2 months, low or almost no radiation was encountered. The radiation dose during the mission was 1823.98 MJ m(-2) for PAR, 269.03 MJ m(-2) for UVA, 45.73 MJ m(-2) for UVB, or 18.28 MJ m(-2) for UVC. Registered sunshine duration during the mission was about 152 days (about 27% of mission time).The surface of EXPOSE was most likely turned away from the Sun for considerably longer. R3DE played a crucial role on EXPOSE-EuTEF (EuTEF, European Technology Exposure Facility), because evaluation of the astrobiology experiments depended on reliability of the data collected by the device. Observed effects in the samples were weighted by radiation doses measured by R3DE.     

Spectral signatures of photosynthesis. II. Coevolution with other stars and the atmosphere on extrasolar worlds

As photosynthesis on Earth produces the primary signatures of life that can be detected astronomically at the global scale, a strong focus of the search for extrasolar life will be photosynthesis, particularly photosynthesis that has evolved with a different parent star. We take previously simulated planetary atmospheric compositions for Earth-like planets around observed F2V and K2V, modeled M1V and M5V stars, and around the active M4.5V star AD Leo; our scenarios use Earth's atmospheric composition as well as very low O2 content in case anoxygenic photosynthesis dominates. With a line-by-line radiative transfer model, we calculate the incident spectral photon flux densities at the surface of the planet and under water. We identify bands of available photosynthetically relevant radiation and find that photosynthetic pigments on planets around F2V stars may peak in absorbance in the blue, K2V in the red-orange, and M stars in the near-infrared, in bands at 0.93-1.1 microm, 1.1-1.4 microm, 1.5-1.8 microm, and 1.8-2.5 microm. However, underwater organisms will be restricted to wavelengths shorter than 1.4 microm and more likely below 1.1 microm. M star planets without oxygenic photosynthesis will have photon fluxes above 1.6 microm curtailed by methane. Longer-wavelength, multi-photo-system series would reduce the quantum yield but could allow for oxygenic photosystems at longer wavelengths. A wavelength of 1.1 microm is a possible upper cutoff for electronic transitions versus only vibrational energy; however, this cutoff is not strict, since such energetics depend on molecular configuration. M star planets could be a half to a tenth as productive as Earth in the visible, but exceed Earth if useful photons extend to 1.1 microm for anoxygenic photosynthesis. Under water, organisms would still be able to survive ultraviolet flares from young M stars and acquire adequate light for growth.     

Daytime Ionosphere Retrieval Algorithm for the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON)

The NASA Ionospheric Connection Explorer Extreme Ultraviolet spectrograph, ICON EUV, will measure altitude profiles of the daytime extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) OII emission near 83.4 and 61.7 nm that are used to determine density profiles and state parameters of the ionosphere. This paper describes the algorithm concept and approach to inverting these measured OII emission profiles to derive the associated \(\mathrm{O}^{+}\) density profile from 150–450 km as a proxy for the electron content in the F-region of the ionosphere. The algorithm incorporates a bias evaluation and feedback step, developed at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory using data from the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI) and the Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric Detection System (RAIDS) missions, that is able to effectively mitigate the effects of systematic instrument calibration errors and inaccuracies in the original photon source within the forward model. Results are presented from end-to-end simulations that convolved simulated airglow profiles with the expected instrument measurement response to produce profiles that were inverted with the algorithm to return data products for comparison to truth. Simulations of measurements over a representative ICON orbit show the algorithm is able to reproduce hmF2 values to better than 5 km accuracy, and NmF2 to better than 12% accuracy over a 12-second integration, and demonstrate that the ICON EUV instrument and daytime ionosphere algorithm can meet the ICON science objectives which require 20 km vertical resolution in hmF2 and 18% precision in NmF2.     

Planned Products of the Mars Structure Service for the InSight Mission to Mars

Space Science Reviews - The InSight lander will deliver geophysical instruments to Mars in 2018, including seismometers installed directly on the surface (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure,...     

From Initial Models of Seismicity,Structure and Noise to Synthetic Seismograms for Mars

The InSight mission will land a single seismic station on Mars in November 2018, and the resultant seismicity catalog will be a key component for studies aiming to understand the interior structure of the planet. Here, we present a preliminary version of the web services that will be used to distribute the event and station metadata in practice, employing synthetic seismograms generated for Mars using a catalog of expected seismicity. Our seismicity catalog consists of 120 events with double-couple source mechanisms only. We also provide Green’s functions databases for a total of 16 structural models, which are constructed to reflect one-dimensional thin (30 km) and thick (80 km) Martian crust with varying seismic wave speeds and densities, combined with two different profiles for temperature and composition for the mantle. Both the Green’s functions databases and the precomputed seismograms are accessible online. These new utilities allow the researchers to either download the precomputed synthetic waveforms directly, or produce customized data sets using any desired source mechanism and event distribution via our servers.

     

Off-axis irradiation and the polarization of broad emission lines in active galactic nuclei

The stokes Monte Carlo radiative transfer code has been extended to model the velocity dependence of the polarization of emission lines. We use stokes to present improved modeling of the velocity-dependent polarization of broad emission lines in active galactic nuclei. We confirm that off-axis continuum emission can produce observed velocity dependencies of both the degree and position angle of polarization. The characteristic features are a dip in the percentage polarization and an S-shaped swing in the position angle of the polarization across the line profile. Some differences between our stokes results and previous modeling of polarization due to off-axis emission are noted. In particular we find that the presence of an offset between the maximum in line flux and the dip in the percentage of polarization or the central velocity of the swing in position angle does not necessarily imply that the scattering material is moving radially. Our model is an alternative scenario to the equatorial scattering disk described by Smith et al. (2005). We discuss strategies to discriminate between both interpretations and to constrain their relative contributions to the observed velocity-resolved line and polarization.     

Validation of numerical prediction of dynamic derivatives: The DLR-F12 and the Transcruiser test cases

The dynamic derivatives are widely used in linear aerodynamic models in order to determine the flying qualities of an aircraft: the ability to predict them reliably, quickly and sufficiently early in the design process is vital in order to avoid late and costly component redesigns. This paper describes experimental and computational research dealing with the determination of dynamic derivatives carried out within the FP6 European project SimSAC. Numerical and experimental results are compared for two aircraft configurations: a generic civil transport aircraft, wing-fuselage-tail configuration called the DLR-F12 and a generic Transonic CRuiser, which is a canard configuration. Static and dynamic wind tunnel tests have been carried out for both configurations and are briefly described within this paper. The data generated for both the DLR-F12 and TCR configurations include force and pressure coefficients obtained during small amplitude pitch, roll and yaw oscillations while the data for the TCR configuration also include large amplitude oscillations, in order to investigate the dynamic effects on nonlinear aerodynamic characteristics. In addition, dynamic derivatives have been determined for both configurations with a large panel of tools, from linear aerodynamic (Vortex Lattice Methods) to CFD. This work confirms that an increase in fidelity level enables the dynamic derivatives to be calculated more accurately. Linear aerodynamics tools are shown to give satisfactory results but are very sensitive to the geometry/mesh input data. Although all the quasi-steady CFD approaches give comparable results (robustness) for steady dynamic derivatives, they do not allow the prediction of unsteady components for the dynamic derivatives (angular derivatives with respect to time): this can be done with either a fully unsteady approach i.e. with a time-marching scheme or with frequency domain solvers, both of which provide comparable results for the DLR-F12 test case. As far as the canard configuration is concerned, strong limitations for the linear aerodynamic tools are observed. A key aspect of this work are the acceleration techniques developed for CFD methods, which allow the computational time to be dramatically reduced while providing comparable results.     

Pumice as a remarkable substrate for the origin of life

The context for the emergence of life on Earth sometime prior to 3.5 billion years ago is almost as big a puzzle as the definition of life itself. Hitherto, the problem has largely been addressed in terms of theoretical and experimental chemistry plus evidence from extremophile habitats like modern hydrothermal vents and meteorite impact structures. Here, we argue that extensive rafts of glassy, porous, and gas-rich pumice could have had a significant role in the origin of life and provided an important habitat for the earliest communities of microorganisms. This is because pumice has four remarkable properties. First, during eruption it develops the highest surface-area-to-volume ratio known for any rock type. Second, it is the only known rock type that floats as rafts at the air-water interface and then becomes beached in the tidal zone for long periods of time. Third, it is exposed to an unusually wide variety of conditions, including dehydration. Finally, from rafting to burial, it has a remarkable ability to adsorb metals, organics, and phosphates as well as to host organic catalysts such as zeolites and titanium oxides. These remarkable properties now deserve to be rigorously explored in the laboratory and the early rock record.     

Nitrous oxide as a rocket propellant

Nitrous oxide is introduced as a multi-purpose propellant for spacecraft. Potential space applications of this propellant are given. Based on comparison to conventional systems, a multi-mode nitrous oxide propulsion concept is expected to deliver higher performance. Main features of a self-pressurising, nitrous oxide storage system are described. A nitrous oxide catalytic decomposition technique is suggested for restartable spacecraft propulsion. Up-to-date experimental results are presented. A conclusion describes the long-term feasibility of novel nitrous oxide propulsion option concepts.