Congrats Peggy Whitson!

As you might remember, I worked at NASA-Johnson Space Center for several years and was privileged to know and work alongside incredibly talented and courageous scientists, engineers, computer scientists and astronauts. One of those was Peggy Whitson who now holds the longest total combined time in space of any human. Peggy is a huge supporter of STEM education and all it offers. Check out this video of her talk with the President about all the opportunities in STEM and what her work means to her. Go science!

Auroras on Mars

As many of you know, I am super interested (some might say obsessed) in space exploration. So I'm excited to relate the latest Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) findings about auroras on Mars. 

Auroras happen on Earth when energy particles from space rain down on the upper atmosphere and are pulled to the Arctic and Antarctic poles by the planet's global magnetic field. On Mars, no organized planetary magnetic field exists so solar winds can blow them anywhere. Only pockets of magnetic fields draw them.

Since scientists know that Mars had a thick atmosphere billions of years ago, they are studying localized auroras to see if solar winds are still eroding the carbon dioxide and oxygen molecules present in the red planet's very thin atmosphere.

What does an aurora on Mars look like? 

"A diffuse green glow seems quite possible in the Mars sky, at least when the Sun is throwing off energetic particles," notes Nick Schneider who leads MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument team at the University of Colorado.

MAVEN's mission is to explore the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun and solar wind. Scientists will be watching for loss of volatile compounds—such as CO2, N2, and H2O—from the Martian atmosphere into space. Understanding this loss will offen insight into Mars' atmosphere and climate, liquid water and potential for habitability.

To see the aurora borealis or aurora australis on Earth is definitely a bucket list item for me, but perhaps auroras on Mars will be a common site for our children's children. I can only hope! Go science!

Curiosity Detects Methane

News flash! NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has measured a 10X spike in methane, an organic chemical in the atmosphere and detected other organic molecules in a rock sample gathered by the robotic laboratory’s drill.

So since it is probably not coming from belching cows like here on Earth, where is the methane coming from?

"This temporary increase in methane -- sharply up and then back down -- tells us there must be some relatively localized source," said Sushil Atreya of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Curiosity rover science team. "There are many possible sources, biological or non-biological, such as interaction of water and rock."

Organic molecules, often loaded with carbon and hydrogen, are thought of as chemical building blocks of life (but they can exist without the presence of life). Curiosity's findings from atmospheric and rock samples don't tell us whether Mars has living microorganisms (or has ever had them), but the data shows that Mars is chemically active and may have favorable conditions for life.

Go science!

Checking Out A Mars Comet Flyby

We tend to forget how much space hardware we have in our cosmic quiver. Now these space science assets are gearing up for a once-in-a-lifetime comet (C/2013 A1) flyby of Mars on October 19, 2014. The comet, also called Siding Spring, will pass within 87,000 miles (139,500 km) of our neighboring planet. This may not seem like a near miss, but to put it into perspective, it is less than half the distance to our moon from Earth. 

NASA expects Siding Spring (coming from the Oort Cloud 5,000 - 100,000 astronomical units away and thought to be left from the formation of the solar system) to pass by Mars with little problem, but the debris trail that accompanies comets may be a different story. [NASA rovers Curiosity and Opportunity should be fine and checking out the visitor.] Time will tell.

In any event, we Earthlings and our NASA instrumentation/satellites will have front row seats to the action. Go science!

Oceans on Mars

Mars with oceans

Writing fiction always stirs my imagination to come up with "what if" scenarios. To develop characters with depth, you have to challenge them. It's what makes a story interesting. 

What about alien geography and fictional locations? What if Mars had oceans? What would it look like? Would it be a sister planet to Earth or vastly different? 

Here is an artist's idea of what Mars would look like with global oceans. 

The bottom image shows water ice on the Martian surface.  It has been seen by scientists on Earth to change with the seasons. 

You don't have to imagine it. It's fact! They also know that oceans used to exist on the surface a long time ago. They were much more acidic than oceans on our planet. 

What kinds of life might have existed on Mars then? Can you imagine Martian tadpoles? Cockroaches? Sea horses? 

Sometimes science and science fiction are not that far apart. Fun to think about. 

Symphony of Science

Have you seen the Symphony of Science website? It is awesome! Science and music combine to offer scientific knowledge in a novel way via music clips and re-mixed scientists.

My favorite so far is We Are Star Dust. The tune is catchy. I'm humming it now. It's also a great tool for teachers to jazz up chemistry, biology and physics lessons.

In addition, the Symphony of Science project offers presentations on dinosaurs, Mars, space, reality, ancient/native peoples, and the environment among others.

7 Minutes of Terror

Remember, the Mars rover Curiosity is scheduled to land in the wee hours tonight/tomorrow morning after a 36 week journey from Earth. You can join millions of other science fans holding their breath during the 7 minutes of terror when the landing process takes place. Will all the steps happen as planned? Tune in! http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

Mars Triangle

If you enjoy spying cosmic coolness in the night sky, you won't want to miss the alignment in the west/southwest sky tomorrow evening at twilight of Mars, Saturn, and the star Spica. Here is a link for a sneak peek to what you will see.  http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/ 
Enjoy!