Atacama rover helps NASA learn to search for life on Mars
A dedicated team of scientists is spending the next four weeks in northern Chile's Atacama Desert. They are studying the scarce life that exists there and, in the process, helping NASA learn more about how primitive life forms could exist on Mars.... ...The NASA-funded researchers are studying the Atacama Desert, described as the most arid region on Earth, to understand the desert as a habitat t...Water on Mars not easy to find, says Texas A&M researcher
COLLEGE STATION, Aug. 10, 2004 Suspected large lakebeds that once were scattered on the planet Mars have not yet been found, say the research team that operated the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Their work appears in the current issue of Science magazine.... ...Members of the team have written several articles in the magazine, among them "The Spirit Rover's Athena Science Investigation at...Workforce achievements celebrated at NASA Marshall Center Awards ceremony
Today, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., recognized its workforce for outstanding achievements and contributions to America's space program. ... ...William Readdy, NASA associate administrator for the Office of Space Flight in Washington, joined Marshall Center Director David King at Marshall's annual NASA Honor Awards ceremony to salute more than 240 employees for special...If airbags work well, then Mars landing sites can be chosen more boldly, says UB geologist
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The anticipated Mars landing on Jan. 24 of the Opportunity rover will be a bit more challenging than the Spirit's bounce onto the red planet earlier this month, according to a University at Buffalo geologist, but if it's successful, then scientists will be able to be much bolder about selecting future Mars landing sites. ... "If both of these landers survive with airbag technolog...NPS Pharma and VIMAC Ventures locate at MaRS, a major new research and enterprise center in Toronto
TORONTO May 17, 2004 Salt Lake City-based NPS Pharmaceuticals and Boston-based VIMAC Ventures announced today that they plan to locate key business and research facilities to the new MaRS (Medical and Related Sciences) Discovery District biosciences research and commercialization hub in downtown Toronto. These firms have selected MaRS as the ideal global destination to pursue research and comm...The beaver (Castor canadensis), well known for altering ecosystems, may be more influential than originally suspected. Living along streams and rivers across the United States, many beavers encounter different varieties of cottonwoods. In a study published in the March issue of Ecology, "Beavers as molecular geneticists: a genetic basis to the foraging of an ecosystem engineer," researchers fro...Marsupial among model organisms next in line for sequencing
BETHESDA, Md., Wed., Feb. 25, 2004 The Large-Scale Sequencing Research Network this year will begin sequencing the genomes of more than a dozen new model organisms, including the first marsupial to have its DNA deciphered. The research network, supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is part of an effort to further advanc...ESA prepares mission to search for life on Mars
Through its long-term Aurora Programme of solar system exploration, ESA is already preparing a series of robotic missions that will reveal the Red Planet's secrets and pave the way for a human expedition in decades to come. ...A major step towards the realisation of this ambitious robotic programme was completed this week with the selection of two industrial teams to carry out the detailed desig...A team of scientists from LSU, NASA, the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and other research organizations has discovered an area of Earth that is shockingly similar to the surface of Mars. ... This joint research effort has discovered clues from one of Earth's driest deserts about the limits of life on this planet, and why past missions to Mars may have failed to detect life. The r...Beagle 2 fails to call Mars express
Today's first real opportunity for the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter to hear a signal from the Beagle 2 lander passed in silence.... ...Hopes were high that Beagle 2 would receive and respond to commands sent by Mars Express as it flew over the presumed landing site at around 12.15 GMT. Not only was Mars Express flying over Isidis Planitia at an altitude of just 220 miles (350 km),...Endurance of plants under quartz rocks possible model for life on early Earth, Mars
DURHAM, N.C. -- Microscopic Mojave Desert plants growing on the underside of translucent quartz pebbles can endure both chilly and near-boiling temperatures, scavenge nitrogen from the air, and utilize the equivalent of nighttime moonlight levels for photosynthesis, a new study reports. The plants, which receive enough light through the pebbles to support photosynthesis, could offer a model for h...Beagle 2 team still hopes to repeat Mars landing success
At a press briefing in London today, Professor Colin Pillinger (Open University), Beagle lead scientist, and Dr Mark Sims (University of Leicester), the mission manager, congratulated their colleagues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the successful landing of the Spirit rover on Mars....... "I'd like to give congratulations to NASA and the Spirit team for getting the lander down safely," sa...Bacteria discoveries could resemble Mars, other planets
CORVALLIS, Ore. A team of scientists has discovered bacteria in a hole drilled more than 4,000 feet deep in volcanic rock on the island of Hawaii near Hilo, in an environment they say could be analogous to conditions on Mars and other planets. ... Bacteria are being discovered in some of Earth's most inhospitable places, from miles below the ocean's surface to deep within Arctic glaciers. The la...Mars mission scientist will live a 25-hour day
PASADENA, Calif. -- Steven Squyres, the principal investigator for the science instruments aboard the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, juggles his commitments to the four space missions he is actively involved in, as well as to his teaching and advising duties, with an energetic ease that makes some wonder if he has found the secret to a 25-hour day. ... Well yes, actually, he has. ... Not 25...Separation day arrives for Mars Express and Beagle 2
After a joint journey of 250 million miles (400 million km), the British-built Beagle 2 spacecraft and the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter should now have parted and gone their separate ways. ...... At 8.31 GMT, software on Mars Express was scheduled to send the command for the Beagle 2 lander to separate from the orbiter. This would fire a pyrotechnic device that would slowly releas...Study finds that fungus farming by snails causes marsh grasses to wither
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A startling mutual-aid society is linking fungus and snails in marine ecosystems, according to a study led by a Brown University biologist. The study presents the first evidence that a species of marine snail engages in a previously undemonstrated form of food acquisition and ecological control by initiating and encouraging the growth of fungi, its preferred food, on live mars...ESA's first step towards Mars Sample Return
If all goes according to plan, this is exactly what ESA's long-term Aurora programme of Solar System exploration will achieve a decade from now, when the first samples of Mars material will be sealed in a special capsule and returned to Earth for analysis. ...The first step towards making this great leap in human knowledge a reality was taken at the end of October with the announcement of the wi...Launched on 2 June 2003 from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) on board a Russian Soyuz launcher operated by Starsem, the European probe built for ESA by a European team of industrial companies led by Astrium carries seven scientific instruments that will perform a series of remote-sensing experiments designed to shed new light on the Martian atmosphere, the planet's structure and its geology. In particula...Rocks could reveal secrets of life on Earth and Mars
A new UK project could help detect evidence for life on Mars, as well as improve our understanding of how it evolved on Earth. ...... The aim is to develop a technique that can identify biomolecules in water that have been trapped in rocks for millions to billions of years. ...... As well as analysing samples from Earth, the proposed technique could be used to obtain important information from wa...Duke ecologist finds devastation, hope in Iraqi marshes
DURHAM, N.C. -- An expedition by Duke University wetlands expert Curtis Richardson to evaluate damage to Iraq's storied Mesopotamian Marshlands revealed an environmental disaster of vast proportions. However, he also found the potential for restoring a significant portion of the marshes and with them the Marsh Arab culture. ... On his June 16-26 trip, he encountered dust-bowl-level desiccation wi...Industry asked to design Mars rover and payload
On 9 July, the Aurora Programme Office issued an Invitation to Tender (ITT) for companies wishing to submit proposals for the detailed design of the ExoMars rover and its Pasteur payload of scientific instruments....The deadline for submission of proposals is 13 October 2003, after which two companies will be selected to conduct the one-year Phase A design studies. ...... The ExoMars mission incl...Hitchhiking bacteria could compromise the detection of life on Mars
Is there life on Mars? It's possible, but it may not Martian, say scientists. New research, published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, suggests that conditions on Mars are capable of supporting dormant bacteria, known as endospores. This raises concern about future attempts to detect Martian life forms because endospores originating on Earth could potentially hitch a ride to Mars and...Early Mars: Warm enough to melt water?
While some researchers believe that only asteroid collisions made Mars warm enough to have running rivers, a Penn State researcher believes the planet had to be continuously warmer to form Mars' deep valleys, but he does not know how the planet warmed up. ... Some recent research suggests that early Mars was cold most of the time and warmed up only when objects impacted the planet. The impacts w...Carnegie Mellon University receives NASA award to develop probes to detect life on Mars
PITTSBURGH--Carnegie Mellon University scientist Professor Alan Waggoner has received a three-year $900,000 award from NASA to develop fluorescent-dye-based systems to be used in remote operations to detect life on Mars and in other hostile or distant environments. ... As part of the grant, Waggoner's team will develop new fluorescent dyes that bind to the common building blocks of life DNA, lip...URI biologist to monitor salt marshes in national parks
URI Graduate School of Oceanography biologist Mary-Jane James-Pirri has received a $221,000 grant from the National Park Service to implement a program to monitor vegetation and free-swimming fish and decapod crustaceans (nekton) at several park units throughout the coastal northeast. ... James-Pirri will select the study sites where salt marsh vegetation and nekton communities will be monitored...New CU-NASA research belies previous idea that Mars was once warm, wet planet
A new study led by University of Colorado at Boulder researchers indicates Mars has been primarily a cold, dry planet following its formation some 4 billion years ago, making the possibility of the evolution of life there challenging at best.... ...Led by CU-Boulder doctoral candidate Teresa Segura and her adviser, Professor Owen B. Toon, the team used Mars photos and computer models to show that...Livestock in salt marshes help farmers and geese
If livestock are allowed to graze in salt marshes in the Wadden Sea area, the vegetation remains in a good condition for the hundreds of thousands of Brent Geese which forage there en route to Siberia. When such grazing does not take place on a large scale, the geese are likely to become more dependent on pastures. This is the conclusion reached by biologists from the University of Groningen in a...Without blue crabs, southern salt marshes wash away, study finds
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Scale back the harvest of blue crabs now, say Brown University biologists. Their new study suggests that current over-harvesting of blue crabs may be triggering the colossal die-off of salt marshes across the southeastern United States and may one day cause nearby barrier islands to collapse as well.... ...In experiments along the Virginia and Georgia coasts, the researchers m...NATO picks promising pollution solution at NASAs Marshall Center for pilot study program
A project to treat groundwater and soil contamination at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has attracted international attention and been added to a pilot program sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)....... The NATO Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society has picked one of the Marshall Centers in-situ remediation projects as one of just four worl...Sea level rise threatens marshes in Chesapeake and Delaware Bays
WASHINGTON - Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, the two largest estuaries on the east coast of the United States, are losing marshland to rising sea levels caused by greenhouse warming. Research by University of Maryland scientists suggests that virtually all coastal marshes along these bays could disappear before 2100, if the sea level continues to rise at present rates or higher rates predicted by c...URI Graduate School of Oceanography scientists examine the success of restored salt marshes
The restoration of salt marshes is a common way to rectify past environmental damage caused by dikes, roadways, and other man-made structures that restrict water flow and alter the delicate ecosystem. But how successful is the attempt to restore salt marshes? ... URI Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) researcher Mary-Jane James-Pirri, along with GSO alumnus Kenneth Raposa of the Narragansett...AMHERST, Mass. Deep below the surface of the Beverhead Mountains of Idaho, a research team led by Derek Lovley, head of the microbiology department at the University of Massachusetts, and Francis H. Chappelle of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has found an unusual community of microoganisms that may hold the key to understanding how life could survive on Mars. Their findings are spelled out...Australian scientists are using a humble indigenous freshwater crayfish, known as the Yabby, as their inspiration to help build miniature robots for NASA's exploration of Mars.... ...Platoons of robo-yabbies could soon explore the red planet searching for water or conducting chemical analysis of the atmosphere and the planet's crust - tasks that are currently impractical for humans.... ...Univers...Genetically modified earth plants will glow from Mars
. .GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- In what reads like a story from a 1950s science fiction magazine, a team of University of Florida scientists has genetically modified a tiny plant to send reports back from Mars in a most unworldly way: by emitting an eerie, florescent glow. . If all goes as planned, 10 varieties of the plant could be on their way to the Red Planet as part of a $300 million mission sched....A researcher supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) has published new evidence in the Feb. 27 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that meteorite ALH84001, one of the meteorites retrieved from Antarctica, may contain remnants of primitive life that existed on Mars billions of years ago. Meteorite ALH84001 was discovered through the U.S. Antarctic Program's...UMR research could pave way for discovery of life on Mars
. ROLLA, Mo. -- In the wake of last month's announcement that scientists have found what they believe to be a living microbe that pre-dates Tyrannosaurus rex, Dr. Melanie Mormile is keeping one eye on salt crystals that contain ancient earth-bound bacteria and another on Mars. . . Mormile, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri-Rolla and an expert on microsc....A number of recent press reports have mentioned a forthcoming paper in the international journal regarding new Mars data. These press accounts, based on unnamed sources, represent varying degrees of accuracy.. .Under 's embargo policy is designed to uphold the integrity of the peer-review process, to protect author confidentiality, and to ensure that the public receives the highest quality a...Cattails and contamination: marshy stalks hold DNA clues on pollution
.A team of researchers at the University of Cincinnati has detected significant.differences in the genetic diversity of common cattails in areas heavily.impacted by pollution, providing evidence that cattails might be an effective.indicator of environmental stress.. .Cattails were selected for study because they have a wide geographic.distribution, from the Arctic circle to the tropics, and thus....Salt marshes are among the most biologically interesting.places on earth. The waters and soil teem with plants and animals bound up in.the cycles of life and death. For herbivores, salt marshes are a garden of.delights, a salad bar with savory selections.. .Herbivores can, however, be picky eaters depending on how palatable salt marsh.plants are. New research by the University of Georgia's Mar.... CORVALLIS, Ore. - Scientists at Oregon State University have discovered.evidence of rock-eating microbes living nearly a mile beneath the ocean floor in.conditions which suggest similar life could exist on Mars or other planets. The.discovery was announced Friday in the journal Science. . Microbial fossils were found in abundant quantities in miles of core.samples taken during variou...