Aauw stgeorge-hansen-mars-presentation-2016-01-04
- 1. Mars Madness Men are from Mars – but women can be mar1ans too! Planetary Scien0st: A STEM Career C. J. Hansen-‐Koharcheck, Ph.D. 4 January 2016 CO2 (Dry Ice)
- 2. The Exploration of Mars It takes a village…
- 3. Mars is the 4th planet from the sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
- 5. Our best views of Mars come from robotic spacecraft • The first spacecraft arrived at Mars over 30 years ago • We have 3 orbiters and 2 rovers operating there right now • One of the rovers has been there since 2004 • The other landed in August 2012 Exploration Theme: Follow the water
- 6. The desert planet Very cold, very dry Like the earth, Mars has mountains, volcanoes, a giant canyon, impact craters, polar caps, dust devils, clouds and an amazing number of sand dunes There is water on Mars but today it is all frozen. (The average temperature is -81F). Ice forms permanent polar caps and is frozen into the soil like permafrost in Alaska.
- 7. Very cold, very dry • Composed of carbon dioxide • Pressure ~ 10 mB ~ 1% of earth • At this pressure liquid water will boil directly into the atmosphere • Clouds of ice crystals • CO2 snow Mars has an atmosphere
- 8. Step 1: Mission Concept What do we know / What do we want to learn? • Scientists define science objectives • NASA / Congress decide whether or not to fly the mission, and what the scope of the mission will be Mars2020 Rover How NASA carries out solar system exploration
- 9. Step 2 – Select science instruments and design and build the spacecraft • Requires (think STEM!) – Scientists to describe measurements to be made – Engineers to design instruments and the spacecraft to carry them to their destination – Engineers and technicians to build and test the hardware – Managers to plan schedules and keep the project within the budget available A. Instruments (“Payload”) and science teams selected B. Spacecraft and instruments designed and built C. Test the assembled hardware D. Ship spacecraft to Florida and connect to launch vehicle
- 10. High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter With HiRISE we can view Mars at geologists’ scale, detecting objects ~1m in size from an orbit 300 km above the surface of Mars Launched 2005 Began science observations late 2006 We wrote a proposal, and got selected, to build this camera in 2001; I am a member of the science team HiRISE is a 1600 megapixel camera
- 11. Tharsis Largest volcanic province on Mars 4 large volcanoes Eruptions began ~4 billion years ago Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system 44.25° S 336.75° E 56.75° N 271.12° E 0° ~600 km 44.25° S 336.75° E 56.75° N 271.12° E 0° ~600 km Olympus Mons Arsia Mons Pavonis Mons Ascraeus Mons Volcanoes on Mars At one time scientists thought that all rocks on Mars were igneous
- 12. Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system 21 km high = 69,000 ft (3x Mt. Everest) Most similar to the Mauna Loa shield volcano in Hawaii, 8 km high
- 13. Olympus Mons
- 14. Lava Tubes and Collapse Pits Cerberus PSP_007777_1790 Tartarus Colles PSP_001420_2045 PSP_004847_1745 HiRISE Images
- 15. Sand Dunes on Mars
- 16. Valles Marineris: Super-Sized Canyon on Mars Earth’s Grand Canyon was formed by water erosion Mars’ Valles Marineris is a tectonic feature, where the crust split, due to the upward pressure of the Tharsis volcanic province In the canyon walls we see layers of volcanic ash and / or sedimentary rock
- 17. Grand Canyon on Earth
- 18. Layering is common in ancient terrains on Mars We are working on understanding the composition of these layers to understand Mars’ history PSP_004091_1325
- 19. Layers near Valles Marineris Noctis Labyrinthus Just like on earth we study layers to understand the geologic history Different layers formed by groundwater infiltration PSP_008538_1685_IRB
- 20. Mars may have been warm and wet long ago • There is evidence that liquid water flowed on the surface of Mars over 3 billion years ago • We see river beds and deltas • Catastrophic floods carved channels Dendritic channels indicative of river flow
- 21. Eberswalde Delta Close-up of layers in the delta
- 22. Similar Rock Outcrops on Mars and Earth - Dry Stream Bed on Mars • Rounded gravel fragments within the rock outcrop on Mars (left) and earth (right) • Gravel fragments become round by transport, by wind or water • Some fragments are too large to be transported by wind • There must have been water streams transporting the gravel fragments Picture from the Curiousity Rover Orbiters get global view Rovers provide ground truth in limited areas
- 23. Liquid Water on Mars Today • Recurrent Slope Lineae (RSLs) discovered in HiRISE images • Only active in the summer • Only in a narrow latitude band
- 24. Recurring Slope Lineae on Mars Flows of liquid water on Mars today! Must be very salty to remain liquid in Mars’ low pressure atmosphere Could there be life?
- 25. Mars’ Polar Caps • At both poles, Mars has permanent polar caps composed of water ice • At the south pole the permanent water ice cap is covered with CO2 ice (dry ice) • Both poles are also covered seasonally with dry ice that condenses down to ~550 latitude • The seasonal caps are very active in the spring when the dry ice sublimates (evaporates) SPRC
- 26. Avalanche on Mars PSP_007338_2640 Blocks of ice fell off this 2300 ft. cliff at the side of the polar cap and caused the billowing cloud of dust caught on camera
- 27. Landing on Mars • The first successful landers on Mars were the Vikings • Two spacecraft, landed in 1976, sent back data for 6 years • The first rover, Pathfinder/Sojourner, landed in 1997 • Two more rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed in 2004 • Phoenix landed in the north polar region in 2007 • The latest Mars rover, Curiosity, landed 5 August 2012 • Next will be InSight, 2020 launch • Then Mars2020, with a 2020 launch
- 28. Rover Family now on Mars Curiousity, the latest rover to land on Mars, touched down 5 August 2012 Spirit / Opportunity, Sojourner, and Curiosity
- 29. The first rover on Mars
- 30. The Movie “The Martian” • Pathfinder is the rover he is digging up…
- 31. The Martian – what the landing site really looks like • They got the sand right! • But martian wind could never blow the MAV over HiRISE image
- 32. Western Edge of Marth Crater uahirise.org/ ESP_042252_1930 In the book “The Martian” by Andy Weir, stranded astronaut Mark Watney is headed for the Ares 4 landing site but encounters the rim of Marth Crater just as a dust storm arrives. This HiRISE image shows the nature of this terrain. The Trip to be Rescued
- 34. Opportunity’s view from inside Victoria Crater Opportunity discovered definitive evidence that there have been standing bodies of water on the surface of Mars, long ago A real picture from the surface of Mars
- 35. Dust Devil in Action Spirit caught this dust devil going by in a series of images, making up a time-lapse sequence
- 36. Gale Crater Landing Site for Curiosity • Landing site in Gale Crater selected based on presence of clay minerals because clay is consistent with lots of water in the past The destination for NASA’s latest rover
- 37. • Bigger, better • Launch was in 2011 • Landing 5 August 2012 • Destination: Mt. Sharp in the center of Gale Crater Mars Science Lab “Curiosity” Rover selfie on Mars
- 38. Curiosity’s Destination • Gale crater central mound drive-to goal – study those layers!
- 39. 3 years, 10 km Later Numbers are days on Mars #976 was in May, 2015
- 40. Do what you came to do! • Requires – Scientists to plan observations, analyze data, write papers to document new results – Engineers to operate the spacecraft and instruments – Engineers to operate the Deep Space Network antennas to receive data around the world – Programmers to write specialized software – Reporters and educators to communicate the discoveries Step 3: Carry out science observations
- 41. Step 3: Carry out science observations Plan where to drill Test experiments in the lab before carrying them out on the rover
- 42. HiRISE Team in Snow Canyon We learn about Mars by studying similar places on Earth
- 43. Utah minus vegeta1on = Mars HiRISE team mee1ng
- 44. What does a planetary scientist do? (What do I do?) • In charge of the “seasonal processes” science theme – Formulate hypotheses – Plan what pictures to take when (to test hypotheses) – Analyze the images – Share ideas and data with my colleagues at team meetings and conferences – Write papers with new understanding of what is happening on Mars • Several times per year plan entire picture-taking sequence, set up camera configuration • Working on a coffee table book of HiRISE images
- 45. Seasonal Processes on Mars In the winter Mars’ polar region is covered with a seasonal polar cap composed of dry ice
- 46. Seasonal Processes on Mars • In the spring the ice turns to gas • The gas coming off the bottom of the ice layer gets trapped until the pressure builds enough to rupture the ice layer • The gas escapes, carrying bits of the surface dirt with it
- 47. Seasonal Activity on Dunes • These dunes are adjacent to the permanent (water ice) polar cap • Sand falls from the crest of the dunes in the spring PSP_007962_2635 Lat = 83.5 Lon = 118.5 Ls = 55.7 6 km North
- 48. Coral Pink Sand Dunes • To get a beQer idea of how this all works we took dry ice to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes Utah State Park
- 49. Coral Pink Sand Dunes • Candy geTng ready for an ice run • Seats to watch dry ice sublimate • Serina burying a block of ice
- 52. (A few of the) Women in Planetary Science
- 53. Future Women in Planetary Science eSmart Summer Camp 2015