Searching for life on Mars: selection of molecular targets for ESA's aurora ExoMars mission

The European Space Agency's ExoMars mission will seek evidence of organic compounds of biological and non-biological origin at the martian surface. One of the instruments in the Pasteur payload may be a Life Marker Chip that utilizes an immunoassay approach to detect specific organic molecules or classes of molecules. Therefore, it is necessary to define and prioritize specific molecular targets for antibody development. Target compounds have been selected to represent meteoritic input, fossil organic matter, extant (living, recently dead) organic matter, and contamination. Once organic molecules are detected on Mars, further information is likely to derive from the detailed distribution of compounds rather than from single molecular identification. This will include concentration gradients beneath the surface and gradients from generic to specific compounds. The choice of biomarkers is informed by terrestrial biology but is wide ranging, and nonterrestrial biology may be evident from unexpected molecular distributions. One of the most important requirements is to sample where irradiation and oxidation are minimized, either by drilling or by using naturally excavated exposures. Analyzing regolith samples will allow for the search of both extant and fossil biomarkers, but sequential extraction would be required to optimize the analysis of each of these in turn.     

On algebraic compilers and planetary fly-by orbits

This paper reports on two major technology events of great significance in the field of Astronautics which were conceived and developed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory during the decade of the fifties. It is a personal memoir by the author on two important topics which should be a part of the written history of our field.Part one details the conception and development by Dr J. Halcombe Laning, Jr of “George”, the world's first algebraic compiler for use on Project Whirlwind—MIT's first experimental all-digital computer. This was indeed challenging since Whirlwind at that time had but 1024 sixteen-bit words. Dr Laning began work in the summer of 1952 and the first version of the George compiler was finished in March of 1953.In the early fifties many people were debating the feasibility of a system for translating algebraic formulae into computer programs which would allow the engineer to avoid the all too painstaking and error-prone task of writing programs using basic computer code. But Hal Laning was the first to do it.In part two of this paper, the author explores the early concepts of energy exchange between a spacecraft and a planet during a close encounter of these two celestial objects. The fact that this energy transfer could be exploited for useful purposes in the development of interplanetary orbits was first documented in an MIT Instrumentation Laboratory report published in April of 1958. The topic has been the subject of recent papers at several IAF congresses, but they failed to recognize the early work at MIT. As a part of this important history, the author describes his own work to develop a round-trip orbit to Mars using the planet Venus for a gravity assist to shorten the flight time from three years to one and a quarter years. The first orbit of this type was obtained by the author on 26 January 1961. To the author's knowledge, no one has even suggested that practical three-dimensional multiple fly-by orbits had been constructed at an earlier date.     

Cospas-Sarsat: a quiet success story

This article will look at the origins of the Cospas-Sarsat International cooperative space program and its transition in the mid-1980s from a technical demonstration to an operational program. It will then attempt to identify some of the reasons for its success, with a view toward determining their applicability to other joint space applications projects.     

X-ray spectra and time variability of active galactic nuclei

The X-ray spectra of broad line active galactic nuclei of all types (Seyfert I's, NELG's, Broadline radio galaxies) is well fit by a power law in the .5–100 keV band of mean energy slope α = .68±.15. There is, as yet, no strong evidence for time variability of this slope in a given object. The constraints that this places on simple models of the central energy source are discussed. BL Lac objects have quite different X-ray spectral properties and show pronounced X-ray spectral variability.On time scales longer than 12 hours most radio quiet AGN do not show strong, ΔI/I > .5, variability. The probability of variability of these AGN seems to be inversely related to their luminosity. However characteristic timescales for variability have not been measured for many objects. This general lack of variability may imply that most AGN are well below the Eddington limit. Radio bright AGN tend to be more variable on long, τ 6 month, timescales.     

Estimating the life cycle cost of the space exploration initiative

The Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) will take mankind back to the Moon and then to Mars. Preliminary estimates of SEI life cycle cost (LCC) are central to assessing programme alternatives. SEI LCC should be estimated by identifying the additional cost to accomplish the initiative over and above the cost to sustain a ‘base’ of space activities. Results of a study of four SEI alternatives provided SEI LCC cost estimates ranging from $91 billion to $308 billion (constant 1989 US dollars) from 1992 through 2020, depending upon programme philosophy. SEI LCC will be driven by the philosophy and goals of the programme, and, given the goal of ‘permanence’, essentially indeterminate because of the open-ended time horizon.     

Magnetotactic bacteria on Earth and on Mars

Continued interest in the possibility of evidence for life in the ALH84001 Martian meteorite has focused on the magnetite crystals. This review is structured around three related questions: is the magnetite in ALH84001 of biological or non-biological origin, or a mixture of both? does magnetite on Earth provide insight to the plausibility of biogenic magnetite on Mars? could magnetotaxis have developed on Mars? There are credible arguments for both the biological and non-biological origin of the magnetite in ALH84001, and we suggest that more studies of ALH84001, extensive laboratory simulations of non-biological magnetite formation, as well as further studies of magnetotactic bacteria on Earth will be required to further address this question. Magnetite grains produced by bacteria could provide one of the few inorganic traces of past bacterial life on Mars that could be recovered from surface soils and sediments. If there was biogenic magnetite on Mars in sufficient abundance to leave fossil remains in the volcanic rocks of ALH84001, then it is likely that better-preserved magnetite will be found in sedimentary deposits on Mars. Deposits in ancient lakebeds could contain well-preserved chains of magnetite clearly indicating a biogenic origin.     

Large-scale impact cratering on the terrestrial planets

Impact cratering as a geologic process on the terrestrial planets is addressed. The crater densities on the Earth and Moon form the basis for a standard flux-time curve, which can be used to date unsampled planetary surfaces and constrain the temporal history of endogenic geologic processes. The attached uncertainties and the shape of the flux curve (a rapid exponential decay for the period 4.6 – 4.0 by, followed by the establishment of a constant fluid by 3.5 – 3.0 by which continues more or less to the present) are such that only very old (3.8 by) and very young ( 1.0 by) surfaces can be dated with some confidence. Dating of intermediate-aged surfaces is more imprecise; a problem which is most significant for the geologic history of Mars.

The cratering mechanics of simple craters are fairly well understood. A transient cavity of roughly parabolic cross-section results from the combined excavation and displacement of the target rocks by the cratering flow-field, which can be approximated by the Z-model derived from shallow-buried explosive events. The walls of the transient crater are unstable and slump inwards, resulting in a final bowl-shaped crater partially filled by breccia. The formation process of larger, shallow complex structures is less well understood. Recent models favor the complete collapse of the initial cavity, with the dynamic uplift of the excavated cavity floor. Regardless of the driving force for uplift, yield strength of the target rocks must be drastically reduced during cavity modification by an, as yet, imprecisely known process.

The formation of large impact basins had a profound effect on planetary evolution. They define the basic tectonic and stratigraphic framework of the Moon and their secondary effects lasted for 10⁸ y. The evidence is less compelling from other planets, but a general feature appears to be the concentration of later endogenic activity in and around basins. On Earth, it is possible that basin-formation contributed to the establishment of the dichotomy between proto-continental and proto-oceanic crusts. The effects of impact continue into recent geologic history and may be linked to major biological changes on Earth, such as at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary.     

Magnetic Fields in Astrophysical Jets: From Launch to Termination

Long-lived, stable jets are observed in a wide variety of systems, from protostars, through Galactic compact objects to active galactic nuclei (AGN). Magnetic fields play a central role in launching, accelerating, and collimating the jets through various media. The termination of jets in molecular clouds or the interstellar medium deposits enormous amounts of mechanical energy and momentum, and their interactions with the external medium, as well, in many cases, as the radiation processes by which they are observed, are intimately connected with the magnetic fields they carry. This review focuses on the properties and structures of magnetic fields in long-lived jets, from their launch from rotating magnetized young stars, black holes, and their accretion discs, to termination and beyond. We compare the results of theory, numerical simulations, and observations of these diverse systems and address similarities and differences between relativistic and non-relativistic jets in protostellar versus AGN systems. On the observational side, we focus primarily on jets driven by AGN because of the strong observational constraints on their magnetic field properties, and we discuss the links between the physics of these jets on all scales.     

Geochemistry of Carbonates on Mars: Implications for Climate History and Nature of Aqueous Environments

Ongoing research on martian meteorites and a new set of observations of carbonate minerals provided by an unprecedented series of robotic missions to Mars in the past 15 years help define new constraints on the history of martian climate with important crosscutting themes including: the CO₂ budget of Mars, the role of Mg-, Fe-rich fluids on Mars, and the interplay between carbonate formation and acidity. Carbonate minerals have now been identified in a wide range of localities on Mars as well as in several martian meteorites. The martian meteorites contain carbonates in low abundances (<1 vol.%) and with a wide range of chemistries. Carbonates have also been identified by remote sensing instruments on orbiting spacecraft in several surface locations as well as in low concentrations (2–5 wt.%) in the martian dust. The Spirit rover also identified an outcrop with 16 to 34 wt.% carbonate material in the Columbia Hills of Gusev Crater that strongly resembled the composition of carbonate found in martian meteorite ALH 84001. Finally, the Phoenix lander identified concentrations of 3–6 wt.% carbonate in the soils of the northern plains. The carbonates discovered to date do not clearly indicate the past presence of a dense Noachian atmosphere, but instead suggest localized hydrothermal aqueous environments with limited water availability that existed primarily in the early to mid-Noachian followed by low levels of carbonate formation from thin films of transient water from the late Noachian to the present. The prevalence of carbonate along with evidence for active carbonate precipitation suggests that a global acidic chemistry is unlikely and a more complex relationship between acidity and carbonate formation is present.     

Towards a One Percent Measurement of Frame Dragging by Spin with Satellite Laser Ranging to LAGEOS, LAGEOS 2 and LARES and GRACE Gravity Models

During the past century Einstein’s theory of General Relativity gave rise to an experimental triumph; however, there are still aspects of this theory to be measured or more accurately tested. Today one of the main challenges in experimental gravitation, together with the direct detection of gravitational waves, is the accurate measurement of the gravitomagnetic field generated by the angular momentum of a body. Here, after a brief introduction on frame-dragging, gravitomagnetism and Lunar Laser Ranging tests, we describe the past measurements of frame-dragging by the Earth spin using the satellites LAGEOS, LAGEOS 2 and the Earth’s gravity models obtained by the GRACE project. We demonstrate that these measurements have an accuracy of approximately 10%. We then describe the LARES experiment to be launched in 2010 by the Italian Space Agency for a measurement of frame-dragging with an accuracy of a few percent. We finally demonstrate that a number of claims by a single individual, that the error budget of the frame-dragging measurements with LAGEOS-LAGEOS 2 and LARES has been underestimated, are indeed ill-founded.