Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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October 30th, 2022
Credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China is launching its Mengtian lab module, the final section of the country’s space station. All is in readiness at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province.
China is reportedly set to launch the Mengtian module on October 31 at 3:35 a.m. Eastern time. The lab module will be boosted skyward atop its carrier rocket, a Long March-5B Y4.
Next up! China’s Mengtian lab for the country’s space station.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Microgravity research
If successfully hurled spaceward, Mengtian (“dreams of heaven”) will join its sister module, the now attached Wentian module. The new addition will form the final section of the T-shape structure of China’s Tiangong space station.
Primarily, Mengtian contains scientific experiments focused on microgravity research in fluid physics, materials and combustion science, basic physics and aerospace technology.
The construction of China’s space station will be completed this year, followed by the formal application and development phase.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Pre-launch test
A just-completed pre-launch test assessed the functionality of the Mengtian and the coordination between different systems prior to liftoff. The Saturday test involved the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, the Wenchang Space Launch Site, the Xi’an Satellite Control Center in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, and all the monitoring stations and vessels related to the launch, according to the China Central Television (CCTV).
In-construction: China’s space station.
Credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“We continue to review equipment and facilities in all systems and take solid steps to ensure a ‘zero-time-window’ launch. Currently, the equipment and facilities are in good condition and the weather on the launch day meets the requirements. We have confidence and determination to ensure a safe, punctual and successful launch,” said Zhong Wen’an, chief engineer of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
Livestream launch
The currently onboard Shenzhou-14 crew consists of Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe. They were sent to the space station on June 5 for a six-month mission.
A Dongfang Hour Livestream of the Mengtian launch via CCTV and a deep dive about the module can be viewed at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YAd2eSuHaM
Also, go to these videos about the upcoming launch at:
Posted in 
Credit: NASA
A new NASA appraisal has identified seven major challenges to landing and operating at the Moon’s lunar South Pole.
The result is a set of policy recommendation to consider for Artemis landing and operations sites.
NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) has released “Lunar Landing and Operations Policy Analysis.”
Credit: NASA
What if?
The document stems from NASA leadership asking OTPS to examine policy concerns rising up from the lunar dust, even before an Artemis astronauts sets foot on the Moon.
For example: What if another organization wants to land or operate right next to a NASA rover? What if that organization’s landings eject dangerous rocks and dust that could damage others’ assets on the Moon or in cislunar space? What if some agencies operations on the Moon endanger those of other agencies? Do some locations deserve special protections because of their unique scientific or historic value?
Ethics and equity
The assessment notes that within the next four years, at least 22 lunar surface missions are expected. Half of these missions will occur in the Moon’s south polar region.
Lunar south pole – future Moon base location?
Credit: NASA
“Due to this upcoming proliferation of actors and activities at or near the lunar south pole, and due to the potential close proximity of operations, NASA and other operators will face challenges never faced before,” the document explains.
Flagged in the report — particularly when future lunar activity involves commercial activities and the possibility of human habitation – are issues of ethics and equity.
“As with any new endeavor, there is a chance that our exploration will interact in complicated ways with human concerns, such as unequal access to resources, geopolitical power dynamics, cultural values, and more,” states the document. “Some of the recommendations contained in this report may have implications for these questions as well.”
The NASA Artemis program will send the first woman and the next man to the Moon to develop a sustainable human presence on the Moon.
Credit: NASA
Major challenges
As for major challenges ahead, the report identified seven of them: Challenges posed by landings; threats to and from surface operations; challenges to moving across the lunar surface; the danger of Radio-Frequency Interference; threats to areas with special characteristics; the challenge of unexpected activities on the surface; and the need for human heritage protection.
This work can ultimately help support NASA’s vision for “sustainable and responsible exploration,” as robust and transparent ethical dialog helps enable long-term shared visions and public benefit, the report concludes.
To access the full report — “Lunar Landing and Operations Policy Analysis” – go to:
Clutter in the cosmos.
Credit: Used with permission: Melrae Pictures/Space Junk 3D
There continues to be an onslaught of rhetoric about dealing with space debris. However, no answer fits the entire panorama of cosmic untidiness we find ourselves in.
Indeed, the state of affairs has already been characterized by orbital debris authorities as a “tragedy of the commons.”
In-orbit explosions can be related to the mixing of residual fuel that remain in tanks or fuel lines once a rocket stage or satellite is discarded in Earth orbit. The resulting explosion can destroy the object and spread its mass across numerous fragments with a wide spectrum of masses and imparted speeds.
Credit: ESA
There is the clutter of dead or dying spacecraft, tossed away booster stages, and myriad pieces of human-made leftovers, from effluents belched out from solid rocket motors, stray nuts and bolts, and paint chips to droplets bubbling out of spacecraft coolant systems – some of them radioactive. Toss in for good measure, shards of satellites created during anti-satellite tests.
In short, it’s a heavenly mess – with long-term consequences.
Go to my new Space.com story – “Getting space junk under control may require an attitude shift” – at:
Encapsulated X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle for United States Space Force-7 mission.
Credit: Boeing
The now orbiting X-37B space drone is winging its way toward 900 days in Earth orbit.
Back in July, this U.S. Space Force robotic craft zipped by the longest mission of the program: 780 days on orbit.
All is mum regarding how long this current 6th mission — X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-6) – will remain in space. It was launched in May 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Mid next week, unless the craft makes a near-term landing, the vehicle stretches its wings and sails past the 900-day mark.
X-37B Air Force space plane.
Credit: Boeing/Inside Outer Space Screengrab
Onboard experiments
This mission underway is the first X-37B vehicle to use a service module to host experiments. The service module is an attachment to the aft of the vehicle that allows additional experimental payload capability to be carried to orbit.
While the entire manifest of what the space plane is carrying and what the vehicle is carrying out is classified, there are some details that have been made publicly available.
The mission deployed the FalconSat-8, a small satellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy and sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory to conduct several experiments on orbit.
Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has pioneered “sandwich” modules that are used in space solar power experiments.
Credit: NRL/Jamie Hartman
In addition, two NASA experiments are onboard the space plane to study the results of radiation and other space effects on a materials sample plate and seeds used to grow food.
Also, a U.S. Naval Research Laboratory experiment is evaluating technology to transform solar power into radio frequency microwave energy.
Overall, technologies being tested in the X-37B program include advanced guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, avionics, high temperature structures and seals, conformal reusable insulation, lightweight electromechanical flight systems, advanced propulsion systems, advanced materials and autonomous orbital flight, reentry and landing.
Credit: Boeing
Flight roster
Here’s a listing of previous flights of the Boeing-built space plane:
OTV-1: launched on April 22, 2010 and landed on December 3, 2010, spending over 224 days on orbit.
OTV-2: launched on March 5, 2011 and landed on June 16, 2012, spending over 468 days on orbit.
OTV-3: launched on December 11, 2012 and landed on October 17, 2014, spending over 674 days on-orbit.
OTV-4: launched on May 20, 2015 and landed on May 7, 2015, spending nearly 718 days on-orbit.
OTV-5: launched on September 7, 2017 and landed on October 27, 2019, spending nearly 780 days on-orbit.
Post-landing of OTV-5 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility.
Courtesy Photo 45th Space Wing Public Affairs
As to when and where OTV-6 will return to a wheels-stopped landing is anybody’s guess.
OTV-1, OTV-2, and OTV-3 missions touched down at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, while the most recent flights — OTV-4 and OTV-5 — landed at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Perseverance rover deposits select rock and soil samples in sealed tubes on Mars’s surface for future missions to retrieve and bring back to Earth for detailed study.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is preparing to drop off an initial cache of samples as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign.
The site for drop-off of 10 sample-filled tubes is called Three Forks, a flat and free of obstacles locale.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/USGS
Since Perseverance landed at Jezero Crater in 2021, the rover has explored over 8 miles (13 kilometers) and collected 14 samples with rock cores and martian air. There are 43 sample tubes carried to Mars.
Potential helicopter pickup
The deployment of 10 tubes to the surface is for potential future helicopter pickup, said Ken Farley, project scientist for the Mars 2020 (Perseverance) mission, during an October 27th virtual meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG).
Farley said that the Three Forks depot drop will start in roughly mid-November; an estimated 43 sols will be required to complete.
Newly revised Mars Sample Return campaign makes use of a set of machines, including use of helicopters, to collect Martian soil, rock and atmospheric specimens for return to Earth.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Creation of Three Forks Depot liberates Mars 2020 to continue to acquire the best possible cache for Mar Sample Return (MSR) in extended missions, Farley told the MEPAG gathering.
First cache of samples on the surface
The NASA/European Space Agency MSR effort calls for returning Mars samples to Earth in 2033. On October 19, the two space agencies endorsed the plan to deposit the first cache of samples on the surface.
The MSR project recently went through a reconfiguration of the campaign. It now includes two sample recovery helicopters instead of an additional “fetch” rover, along with its lander.
Credit: ESA – K. Lochtenberg
A recent assessment of Perseverance’s reliability and life expectancy increased confidence that the rover will be able to deliver samples to NASA’s Sample Retrieval Lander in 2030.
In case Perseverance is not able to bring the sample tubes to the Mars Accent Vehicle (MAV) location, two small helicopters deployed by the lander will fetch them. MAV is built to rocket off bits, pieces, and atmosphere of the Red Planet into Mars orbit.
Those samples are then transferred to the European Earth Return Orbiter for hauling them homeward to our planet.
A Long March-5 booster departs Wenchang launch site.
Credit: CASC
China’s Mengtian Laboratory Module is on the launch pad, being readied for a reported liftoff on October 31st atop the powerful Long March-5B Y4 booster. That departure will take place from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site Hainan Province, China.
The lab will round out the basic on-orbit configuration of China’s Tiangong Space Station.
However, it appears that the booster’s takeoff may signal yet another round of duck-and-cover. That is, when and where the launcher’s core stage falls back to Earth in uncontrollable mode becomes a spin of the roulette wheel.
Guessing game
Once again, the guessing game of just where on the planet the core stage’s fiery re-entry will occur is sure to absorb extensive time of rocket body trackers…and for good reason.
Credit: The Aerospace Corporation
The CZ-5B core stage is projected to be around 21 metric tons. That’s about twice the mass of an average school bus or the empty mass of a Boeing 737. Estimates for objects like this are that 20-40% of the mass might survive reentry to the surface. But which surface? Ocean or land mass?
By design, the core stage of the LM-5B reaches orbit rather than falling away in the Earth’s atmosphere. Consequently, previous launches of the hefty rocket have resulted in uncontrolled re-entries as the core stage naturally falls out of orbit, risking catastrophic damage on the ground.
Reignited concern
Harry Boneham, Aerospace Analyst at the London-headquartered GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view regarding the upcoming launch:
“The move has obviously reignited concern regarding the possibility that debris from re-entering boosters could cause damage on the ground. The boosters can reach orbital velocity, and factors such as fluctuations in the density of the upper atmosphere and the rocket’s orientation can make atmospheric re-entry difficult to control and forecast,” Boneham told Inside Outer Space. “Whilst much of the booster will burn up during re-entry, significant — approximately 20-40% of the rocket’s dry mass — hardened sections such as engines will reach the ground,” he added.
Next up! China’s Mengtian lab for the country’s space station.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
International law
In 2020, some debris from a Long March-5B landed in Cote d’Ivoire, damaging several buildings. In 2022, some significant debris hit land in Indonesia and Malaysia, Boneham recalled.
“Under international law, specifically the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects which elaborates on Article VII of the Outer Space Treaty, China would be liable to pay compensation for damage caused by its space objects on the surface of the Earth. However, enforcement would be a difficult process,” said Boneham.
Looking forward, it is unlikely that China will move away from using the Long March-5B.
It is China’s most powerful rocket, and sole option for heavy-lift launches. There are only two more launches of the Long March-5B officially planned, including this Mengtian launch. China is also planning on launching a space telescope, Xuntian, in 2023 using the big booster.
Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)/China National Space Administration (CNSA)/United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)/China Manned Space Agency (CMSA)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Given China’s ambition to establish a leading presence in space, Boneham said that further launches would not be a surprise.
“China is developing the super-heavy lift Long March 9, but first flight is not expected until the end of the decade and low-Earth orbit launches would be inefficient except for extremely heavy payloads. Additionally, China is beginning to develop reusable rocket boosters, which would clearly remove the issue of uncontrolled booster reentry,” Boneham said. “However, development is at an early stage and only appears to be focused on the smaller Long March-2, probably for crew and cargo transfer. For the foreseeable future, for carrying heavy payloads to low-Earth orbit this decade, the Long March-5B is China’s main option,” he said.
Share details
Given China’s continued use of the Long March variant, Boneham said that there are actions which could be taken to limit the risk to life and property from reentering debris.
“For instance, during the last re-entry of a Long March-5B booster in July 2022, it was reported that Chinese authorities did not share details regarding specific trajectory information with the wider global community which would have allowed a degree of forewarning in areas at risk from debris, Boneham said. “Refusing to share this information does not ameliorate the reputation of the People’s Republic of China when it comes to conduct in space,” he concluded.
In-construction: China’s space station.
Credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Updates
In the meantime, Liu Bing, deputy director designer of the Long March-5B carrier rocket, recently told China Central Television, that “an elaborative evaluation” was carried out after rocket specialists “planned its orbit to enable a successful entry.”
It remains unclear as to what proactive steps, if any, China has taken to assure the safe plop down of core stage leftovers.
Come launch day, one group that’s planning to monitor the upcoming Long March 5B launch and any possible uncontrolled re-entry that may result is The Aerospace Corporation.
As with previous uncontrolled reentries, they will be posting updates on their Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS) website, as well as through social media channels.
To keep an eye on CORDS, go to:
The late Frank Drake with cosmic equation to gauge the presence of intelligent life in the cosmos. The Drake Equation identifies specific factors believed to play a role in the development of civilizations in our galaxy.
Credit: SETI Institute
A look into interstellar expansion through the framework of the Drake equation suggests that a “low-mass Galactic Club” remains a possibility for our galaxy.
Researchers have tackled a key question: If the galaxy is teeming with intelligent life, then where is everybody? It’s a question often described as the Fermi paradox, one that was asked by nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi.
The Fermi paradox typically assumes that expansion would proceed uniformly through the galaxy, but not all stellar types may be equally useful for a long-lived civilization.
Source: NASA Exoplanet and Exploration Program
Pondering this paradox is a new research paper – “Galactic settlement of low-mass stars as a resolution to the Fermi paradox” – authored by Jacob Haqq-Misral of Blue Marble Space Institute of Science and Thomas J. Fauchez of American University.
Migration locations
“We suggest that low-mass stars, and K-dwarf stars in particular, would be ideal migration locations for civilizations that originate in a G-dwarf system,” the study team explains. “The search for technosignatures in exoplanetary systems can help to place constraints on the presence of such a ‘low-mass Galactic Club’ in the galaxy today.”
Such a low-mass Galactic Club, originating from a parent G-dwarf system, the researchers note, would have had plenty of time to develop in the history of the galaxy without us taking any notice of its activities.
Extraterrestrial sociology
Haqq-Misral and Fauchez point out that there’s need to grapple with the unknown characteristics of extraterrestrial sociology. “We do not know if extraterrestrial civilization exists, and if it does, we have no knowledge of their motives.”
While it is possible that long-lived technological civilizations do not expand, it also remains possible that such civilizations pursue galactic settlement in order to ensure their longevity, they suggest. An expanding civilization will preferentially settle on low-mass K- or M-dwarf systems, avoiding higher-mass stars, in order to maximize their longevity in the galaxy, the study team adds.
Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, CC BY
“Extraterrestrial expansion through the galaxy remains viable. We can exclude scenarios in which all G-dwarf stars would have been settled by now, but the possibility remains open that a Galactic Club exists across all K-dwarf or M-dwarf stars,” the researchers state. “The search for technosignatures in low-mass systems provides one way to constrain the presence of such a Galactic Club.”
Ideal targets
On one hand, K-dwarf systems may be ideal targets to search for biosignatures and technosignatures, however, such planets can be difficult to detect.
“Further research into understanding the breadth of possibilities for detecting extraterrestrial technology will become increasingly important as observing facilities become more adept at characterizing terrestrial planets in low-mass exoplanetary systems,” they conclude.
To read the full paper – “Galactic settlement of low-mass stars as a resolution to the Fermi paradox” – go to:
Credit: ThinkOrbital
As the dawning of private space stations looms large on the horizon, new visions about designs of orbiting facilities are growing.
One innovative look at creating habitable space comes from ThinkOrbital, based in Lafayette, Colorado. The spherical Orb2 provides a large volume, protected from orbital debris and thermal effects – habitation for astronaut missions and tourism.
Credit: ThinkOrbital
Turn up the volume
According to the firm’s website, they are exploring the possibility of delivering a platform with 4,000 cubic meters of internal volume in a single-launch configuration.
“That is four times the volume of the International Space Station in a single launch, thanks to developments in super heavy launch and autonomous on-orbit assembly capabilities,” explains Jim MacConnell, Chief Technology Officer at ThinkOrbital.
Credit: ThinkOrbital
Swiss knife assembly
“Our ThinkPlatforms are based on mature technologies available today, configured for single-launch, autonomous assembly in-orbit, re-imagining opportunities for satellite servicing, space debris processing, in-space manufacturing, on-orbit storage, refueling, space tourism and research,” the group’s website explains.
For in-space construction, walking robotic arms would be utilized. A combination of the robotic arm and an electron beam welding gun creates a Swiss knife of universal space assembly.
ThinkOrbital explains that electron beam welding has been successfully tested in space. “It is arguably the best welding method, with highest strength of welds and the smallest heat affected zone. It can weld 30 centimeters of steel in a single pass, with energy efficiency over 90%.”
Credit: ThinkOrbital
Scalable space structure
ThinkOrbital is focused on large, scalable and cost-efficient space structure for the “New Space economy.”
Offering the pressurizable 300 cubic meter ThinkPlatform-1 (a volume that is made by a cube that is one meter on each side), it can be attached to an existing space station. Possible use: Storage, fuel depot, entertainment.
To review the plans of ThinkOrbital, go to:
Credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Mengtian Laboratory Module is on the launch pad, being readied for a reported liftoff of October 31st.
The Long March-5B Y4 launch vehicle topped by the new space lab has been transported on October 25th to the launch pad at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site Hainan Province, China.
Both rocket and payload now enter a preparation phrase for its near-future launch.
The Mengtian Laboratory Module (“Dreaming of Heavens”) is the second module to be put in place that will expand the country’s space station.
Next up! China’s Mengtian lab for the country’s space station.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Operation window
“We have hammered out details and carried out relevant tests regarding its moves at every stage. Separate tests for its control system, power system and measuring system, as well as an overall test for all working systems have been done. (The rocket is) now in good condition,” Yu Ziwen, commander in chief of the Long March-5B carrier rocket’s power system under the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, told China Central Television (CCTV).
“To satisfy the working needs for Mengtian and the carrier rocket at the launching area, we have specially designed an operation window on the payload fairing,” said Liu Bing, deputy director designer of the Long March-5B carrier rocket.
Credit: The Aerospace Corporation
To ensure wireless communication on its way up, a window designated for wave transmitting was also added, Liu added. “In the meantime, an elaborative evaluation was also carried out after we planned its orbit to enable a successful entry,” he told CCTV.
There have been voiced concerns regarding the Long March-5B’s core stage that, in the past, has fallen back to Earth in an uncontrolled manner – causing consternation as to where and when the discarded stage would makes its plunge.
In the future, this same booster will hurl Xuntian, the Chinese space station telescope.
Station complete is set for year’s end.
Credit: CNAS/CCTV Video News Agency/Inside Outer Space screengrab
T-shaped station
The soon-to-be-lofted module is loaded with scientific equipment to study microgravity and carrying out experiments in fluid physics, materials science, combustion science and fundamental physics.
If successfully launched, Mengtian will join its sister module Wentian, that was launched and successfully docked with the space station in July.
Mengtian will form the final section of the T-shape structure of China’s Tiangong space station.
The three-member crew of the Shenzhou-14 mission, now stationed onboard the space station, will later be joined by three more astronauts in the coming months. The goal is to complete construction of China’s space station by year’s end.
Go to these videos about the rollout of the Chinese booster at:
Credit: NASA
As robots wheel across the Red Planet and future human footprints are implanted there, ancient bacteria may well lurk beneath Mars’ surface.
A new study finds the chances of uncovering life on Mars are better than previously expected.
Michael Daly from the Bethesda, Maryland-based School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and colleagues, sought to better understand the impact of the martian surface, inundated with ionizing radiation — on microbial dormancy and survivability.
Credit: Astrobiology
The study results are published today in the peer-reviewed journal Astrobiology.
Conan the bacterium
Researchers mimicked the conditions on Mars and tested the influence of desiccation and freezing on the ionizing radiation survival of six model microorganisms: vegetative cells of two bacteria, a strain of yeast, and vegetative cells and endospores of three Bacillus bacteria.
They found that the hearty bacterium — D. radiodurans — could survive 280 million years if buried. Indeed, if life ever evolved on Mars, then its living remains could still be dormant in the deep subsurface.
D. radiodurans is affectionately known as “Conan the Bacterium.”
D. radiodurans (affectionately known as “Conan the Bacterium”) is particularly well-suited to surviving Mars’ harsh environment.
Credit: Michael Daly, et al.
Surviving radiation
“We report that desiccated and frozen cells of the bacterium D. radiodurans can survive astonishing ionizing radiation,” stated the investigators, “exposures equivalent to hundreds of millions of years of background radiation on Mars.”
The new findings, “Effects of desiccation and freezing on microbial ionizing radiation survivability: Considerations for Mars sample-return,” was supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the National Institutes of Health.
This new work comes at a time when NASA’s Mars return sample to Earth project is jelling. It becomes important to protect Earth from potential extraterrestrial sources of contamination. Likewise, it is critical to avoid mistaking Earth life for indigenous life hauled back from Mars.
Newly revised Mars Sample Return campaign makes use of a set of machines, including use of helicopters, to collect Martian soil, rock and atmospheric specimens for return to Earth.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Comprehensive look
John Rummel, an Astrobiology Editorial Board Member, noted that “the work put forward by Michael Daly and his colleagues represents a comprehensive look at the interactions between desiccation, freezing, and radiation survivability in one of our most tenacious microbes, Deinococcus radiodurans,” he said in an Astrobiology statement.
Even if viable lifeforms are not now present on Mars, given that whole viable D. radiodurans cells can survive the equivalent of 280 million years in the frozen martian subsurface, then their macromolecules would survive much, much longer.
“This strengthens the probability that, if life ever evolved on Mars, this will be revealed in future missions,” the investigators concluded.
Rummel added that the potential for D. radiodurans or other Earth microbes to survive present-day conditions on Mars “draws attention to the need for a complex analysis regarding the very real possibility of Earth microbes contaminating specific landing sites on Mars, and even some of them—as qualified martian survivors—showing up in our studies after a ride home to Earth in a sample returned from Mars.”
Mars Life Explorer – a general engineering model for MLE with solar panels, drill, and science payload on lander deck.
Courtesy: Amy Williams
Deep drilling
The research team, including Northwestern University’s Brian Hoffman and Ajay Sharma, reported that ancient bacteria could survive close to the surface on Mars much longer than previously assumed. And — when the bacteria are buried and, thus, shielded from galactic cosmic radiation and solar protons — they can survive much longer.
Any biological remains of life could be revealed in future missions, such as the European Space Agency’s ExoMars (Rosalind Franklin rover) and the projected Mars Life Explorer, which will carry drills to extract materials from 6.5 feet (2 meters) below the surface.
“Importantly, these findings have biodefense implications, too, because the threat of biological agents, such as Anthrax, remains a concern to military and homeland defense,” said study leader, Daly, in the university statement.
Back contamination
According to Hoffman, senior co-author of the first-of-its-kind study: “We concluded that terrestrial contamination on Mars would essentially be permanent…over time frames of thousands of years.” This may well complicate scientific efforts to search for Mars life, he said.
Signs of ancient life on Mars could be preserved in layered rocks like those shown in this illustration of NASA’s Perseverance rover in Jezero crater.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Likewise, if microbes evolved on Mars, they could be capable of surviving until present day. That means returning Mars samples could contaminate Earth,” said Hoffman.
Although Conan the Bacterium could only survive for a few hours at the surface while bathed in ultraviolet light, its lifetime improves dramatically when it is shaded or located directly below Mars’ surface.
According to the university statement, buried just 10 centimeters below the Martian surface, “Conan the Bacterium’s survival period increases to 1.5 million years. And, when buried 10 meters down, the pumpkin-colored bacterium could survive a whopping 280 million years.”
To view the paper — “Effects of Desiccation and Freezing on Microbial Ionizing Radiation Survivability: Considerations for Mars Sample Return” — go to:
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2022.0065
To access a collection of informative works in Astrobiology — Mars Sample Return: Planning for Returned Sample Science – go to:
