Friday, 16 January 2009 by lukemeister.

NASA held an interesting press conference yesterday about the discovery of localized emissions of methane from Mars. The discovery of Martian methane, using both ground-based telescopes and a spacecraft orbiting Mars, was reported in 2003, but the detections weren’t certain. Now high-resolution infrared spectra taken by Michael Mumma at NASA/Goddard and colleagues, reported online in Science, seems to provide definitive measurements. The CH₄ appears to arise from three regions near or within Arabia Terra, Nili Fossae, and Syrtis Major. The most intriguing observation in the new study is that the atmospheric abundance of methane dropped by a factor of two between 2003 (northern summer on Mars) and 2006 (vernal equinox on Mars), possibly suggesting a seasonal cycle. Methane has a lifetime of centuries against destruction by ultraviolet light from the Sun, so there must be another sink, possibly involving reactions with perchlorate or peroxide in the Martian soil.

On Earth most methane is generally thought to originate biologically, although it can also be produced through serpentinization, which involves the reaction of minerals like olivine and pyroxene with water and carbon dioxide. Both biological and abiological origins for Mars’ methane are in play. If martian microbes exist, their metabolism might resemble that of organisms found at 3 km depth in a gold mine in South Africa. Even if Martian methane originates abiologically, the new observations seem to imply that Mars shows a surprisingly high level of geological activity, as serpentinization on Earth is associated with hydrothermal systems.

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Saturday, 8 November 2008 by bbbeard.

Now that the nasty Republican war on science is over, scientists at last feel free to post pictures like these.

Great job, all you planetary scientists out there!

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Monday, 29 September 2008 by bbbeard.

… said Elon Musk, deservedly ecstatic over the successful launch of SpaceX Falcon I Flight 4. A previous post here detailed the sorrows of Flights 1-3. Congratulations to the SpaceX team for a great effort!

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Wednesday, 6 August 2008 by bbbeard.

SpaceX loses yet another launch vehicle.

For those of you not familiar with SpaceX, it is at the forefront of the NewSpace movement, whose advocates believe it is imperative to harness the power of private enterprise to make mankind a spacefaring species. Its colorful and brilliant founder, Elon Musk, is one of those Internet Billionaires that populate the new technology landscape these days. SpaceX has developed a new commercial launch vehicle, the Falcon I.

Unfortunately, the first two “demo” flights failed to reach orbit. This third flight was intended as a “production” flight and carried actual “paying” payloads.

I have mixed emotions about this failure. On the one hand, I agree with the motivation of the NewSpace advocates. I would like to see us become a spacefaring species. I reckon it’s the only way my great-great-grandson will get to fly one of these.

But I have spent the last twelve months helping design NASA’s new launch vehicle, the Ares I. This rocket science stuff isn’t as easy as it sounds. Staging is risky. Propellant slosh can bring you down to earth. In a sense, it’s good to know that the problems I’m working on are not simple.

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