What a mysterious planet Mars is, but is it really that different than Earth? On Monday, NASA came out with news that they have found water on Mars!! Now we know that there is a possibility that there is life! So exciting! When looking at all the maps we did during all of our meetings, I couldn't help but thinking of the similarities of Earth and Mars. They both have water (yay), volcanos, sand, creators, and deep cannons. Although the levels of elevation are quite dramatic on Mars, it still shows that we could have that on Earth. I was looking through the photos of Mars on the NASA website and am still shocked at how high resolution they are. It baffles me at how while Mars is in orbit, a satellite that is orbiting Mars is taking these photos as well as how this information is being sent back to earth in a whopping 7 mins one way. I can't fathom how this information is sent through space so efficiently and fast.
Here are some photo comparisons, can you even tell the difference?
HiRISE, or High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, might
just be the coolest thing in the world. Costing $40 million, the Universtiy of
Arizona directed the building of this massive camera that takes amazing photos
of mars. In March of 2006, HiRISE took its first photos of mars in Martian
orbit. Essentially, this camera was able to produce the most detailed images of
mars that have ever been seen; creating huge advancements for NASA and the potential
to gather so much more information about the red planet.
I was checking out the website and found the most amazing
images of RSL, or recurring slope lineae, from all different craters and ridges
all around mars. The color is enhanced on all the images to show the details in
the terrain. Each photo looks almost like a zoomed in image of a thick, textured,
acrylic painting. (Inspo!)
Instead of
doing a tiny summary of Percival Lowell’s life and contributions to the study
of Mars, I thought I would elaborate on his inspirations and muses – these are
the people and things that got Lowell’s juices flowing and led him in the
direction of Mars Canals and the founding of his observatory in Arizona. I also
talk briefly about his legacy.
Before
Lowell became an astronomer he traveled the globe, spending most of his time in
Korea and Japan. He wrote multiple books about his studies in Japan, including Noto: An Unexpected Corner of Japan, and
Occult Japan, or The Way of the Gods. He
was specifically fascinated in the Japanese religious practices, their
relationships and behaviors within societal range, and how this affected their
economy and society. His intense study of the Japanese culture can be seen as
almost a foreshadowing into his almost obsessive yet scholarly study of the
surface of Mars, including his various books and surface scans of possible
Martian society movement in his future endeavors.
Camille Flammarion was a French
astronomer and author of La planète Mars,
which was one book that heavily influenced Lowell’s following of astronomy
and the beginning of his research into Mars.
Flammarion, similar to Lowell, was quite fascinated with psychology and
religious practice. He study psychical research, becoming very interested in
reincarnation and comparing it to the scientific method and later tried working
as a medium. Lowell’s dive into the depths of
Mars canal began with the drawings of said surface grooves by the Italian
astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli. Lowell became so fascinated with these canals
that he dedicated the next decade on to researching and studying the surface of
Mars, which led to him writing 3 books and more and more people joining on the
“Mars has intelligent life!” bandwagon. Later he would be shunned for these
thoughts because no other astronomers could find these canals on the surface of
Mars, but in 1909 the Mount Wilson Observatory telescope would pick up on
these, and all would be well.
Lowell’s
legacy: Clyde Tombaugh would discover Pluto with Lowell’s telescope. Lowell
believed in the mysterious Planet X, beyond the reaches of Neptune and Uranus,
where no eyes had pried quite yet. Well, he wouldn’t discover it, until a guy
named Clyde Tombaugh came along and used the Planet X coordinates to discover
Pluto, naming it after Lowell with his initials: PL. Here is a video talking about Lowell's fueling of the Mars canals theory and also it is simply enjoyable for the intense music and the depiction of the Mar's surface.
Oh Percival,
you always knew Pluto was real, and even though people are now disregarding it
as a planet, I can say that it will always live on in my heart, along with the
rest of your Martian canals and their hysteria of the possibility of
intelligent life.
Here is a
video showing what it would have been like landing humans on Mars and
discovering intelligent life (before we landed on the moon…conspiracy theory).
The first visit to JPL got me thinking about the impressive discoveries that NASA did. I can't even imagine that it is possible to build these spacecrafts that travel beyond Earth, enter a space and land on a different planet. I learnt that Mars is similar to Earth and it has craters, domes, and rocks on its surface. Still, we have very little information about Mars. While finding a safe site for space crafts to land on Mars, scientists have been preparing InSight, which is a NASA discovery program mission. This mission will place a lander on Mars to study its interior that will enable us to understand the process of terrestrial planet formation in our solar system. With geophysical instruments, Insight Mars Lander can "measure the planet's 'vital signs': its 'pulse' (seismoloy), 'temperature' (heat flow probe), and 'reflexes' (precision tracking)." InSight is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport. It is built to explore the process that shaped Mars and rocky planets. This spacecraft is built and tested in Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.
This spacecraft will launch during March 4 to March 30, 2016 and land on Mars on September 28, 2016. The figure below shows Artist's Concept of InSight Lander on Mars with labeled features.
One of the most prominent human interests in Mars is without a doubt the potential for finding, with more concrete proof, the origins of our own planet. Given that Mars shares a reasonable proximity to the sun and is another rock/volcanic based planet, it's similarities to our own creates innumerable opportunities for the discovery of this fundamental information. While many missions concerning Mars have gathered invaluable data, this data gathered from a combination of orbiting satellites and rovers landing on the surface, has solely been focused on gathering surface data. The InSight Discovery Program is one that is unprecedented in type and innovation, as it posits the opportunity to truly dig into Mars' core, delving into its earliest evolution and the very essence of the planet itself.
What makes Mars a further fascination with regards to its potential for uncovering truths about the nature and of our own planet, is the fact that its lack of tectonic plates allows for a more stable and complete record of its own history. Moreover, Mars is an enigma in this sense as it is both large enough to have undergone early internal heating and differentiation and small enough to have potentially retained the signature of these processes over 4 billion years.
A thoroughly interesting aspect of the InSight mission is one which evokes the sheer implications of the potential discoveries that will be made upon the mission's landing in September of 2016. Upon further investigation of the way in which the Insight lander will conduct these experiments, I found that the design and construction of the lander implies a rather cross-cultural and international effort. One of the key tools used by this rover will be a seismometer which was contributed by the French space agency, Centre Nationale D'études Spaciales or CNES. This fundamental tool will be used to measure microscopic ground motions. Further, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is responsible for the contribution of the Heat-flow Probe, allowing the lander to drill 3-5 meters deep to measure heat emittance from Mars' core. To me this evokes the quasi-political implications of these discoveries and how they will affect the way in which each country's contribution to space discovery is a reflection of their advancements in science and rationality.
To quote JPL's website "The science payload is comprised of two instruments: the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), provided by the French Space Agency (CNES), with the participation of the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Imperial College and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); and the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), provided by the German Space Agency (DLR). In addition, the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE), led by JPL, will use the spacecraft communication system to provide precise measurements of planetary rotation". It is astounding to see the level of collectiveness in this endeavor as perhaps the best testament to the importance of the discoveries that will occur in September of 2016.
Another interesting fact about the InSight mission is NASA's outreach to allow people to send their names to Mars. Similarly to the hi Juno experiment, this facet of the InSight mission is one that draws intrigue with regards to human nature and our innate desire to make our mark upon great discoveries. Perhaps more interesting is the mere fact that our reconnaissance has proven that there is no life on Mars and that we still possess the desire to make ourselves known to the planet in some way or other.
Our last visit at JPL mainly
consisted of physical planetary information from qualified employees rather
than the ol’ razzle dazzle. However, I really enjoyed sitting down and seeing
the more behind the scenes research that people do at JPL and how exactly they
come to all these amazing conclusions about space.
Towards
the end of our day there, we were presented with a presentation that was more
of an all-encompassing subject of research and exploration. It started with how
the exploration of the moon began and how it parallels with the current rovers
on Mars and soon the beginnings of sending people there as well. During this
discussion, Percival Lowell was mentioned as a major pioneer of the belief that
there were canals built by aliens on Mars. Of course this was immediately fascinating
to me because of my film background, but it was even more attractive due to the
fact that most people believed him and was seen as a credible source to the
public.
so thoughtful
The naivety
began in 1894 after reading a book about the canals on Mars, he began to become
more and more interested in space and astronomy. He decided to build and
observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona (which eventually led to the discovery of
Pluto) to do his research and study space. He studied all of space but really
began to focus on Mars and its canals and soon wrote three books about themMars, Mars and It’s Canals, and Mars
as the Abode of Life. He hypothesized that the advanced species were digging
canals in order to tap into the ice caps because there was so little water
available on the planet as a whole. These theories obviously excited the public
about the new possibilities of alien life but were looked down upon by the astronomical
community. Decade later his theories were disproved by NASA but people still held
on to certain beliefs that derived from his theories about Mars.
Lowell
also observed Venus believing that the texture was a spoke like surface with a large
spot. However, Sky and Telescope in July 2003 hypothesized
that Lowell's telescope “created such a small exit pupil
at the eyepiece
it may have become a giant ophthalmoscope
giving Lowell an image of the shadows of blood vessels cast on the retina of
his eye.” But he contributed the most to society by searching for more information
about Planet X, a planet past Neptune, or better known as Pluto. He believed
that there would be a planet with a strong gravitational pull to somehow effect
Neptune and Uranus. In 1906 he began the search for Planet X having his legacy carried
on when his observatory took the first picture of Pluto in 1915. Later in 1930,
Clyde Tombaugh, employed by the observatory, officially discovered Pluto relatively
due to Lowell’s research and hypotheses. Lowell’s initials were selected as Pluto’s
astronomical symbol although his theories about the planet were proven wrong
upon discovery.
Although
most of the astronomical community voiced their skepticism, the public has and always
will have a fascination with space and the unknown. Here is a representation on
the influence that Lowell had in 1950’s Science Fiction.
When looking at all the maps we did during all of our meetings, I couldn't help but thinking of the similarities of Earth and Mars. They both have water (yay), volcanos, sand, creators, and deep cannons. Although the levels of elevation are quite dramatic on Mars, it still shows that we could have that on Earth. I was looking through the photos of Mars on the NASA website and am still shocked at how high resolution they are. It baffles me at how while Mars is in orbit, a satellite that is orbiting Mars is taking these photos as well as how this information is being sent back to earth in a whopping 7 mins one way. I can't fathom how this information is sent through space so efficiently and fast.
