First detection of boron on the surface of Mars New finding provides more clues about water habitability

ChemCam target Catabola is a raised resistant calcium sulfate vein with the highest abundance of boron observed so far. The red outline shows the location of the ChemCam target remote micro images (inset). The remote micro images show the location of each individual ChemCam laser point (red crosshairs) and the B chemistry associated with each point (colored bars). The scale bar is 9.2 mm or about 0.36 inches. Credit: JPL-Caltech/MSSS/LANL/CNES-IRAP/William Rapin

Boron has been identified for the first time on the surface of Mars, indicating the potential for long-term habitable groundwater in the ancient past. This finding and others from NASA's Curiosity rover science team will be discussed in a press conference today in San Francisco during the American Geophysical Union conference.

"No prior mission to Mars has found boron," said Patrick Gasda, a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "If the boron that we found in calcium sulfate mineral veins on Mars is similar to what we see on Earth, it would indicate that the groundwater of ancient Mars that formed these veins would have been 0-60 degrees Celsius [32-140 degrees Fahrenheit] and neutral-to-alkaline pH." The temperature, pH, and dissolved mineral content of the groundwater could make it habitable. 

Mars with oceans - Imgur

The boron was identified by the rover's laser-shooting Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument, which was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in conjunction with the French space agency. Los Alamos' work on discovery-driven instruments like ChemCam stems from the Laboratory's experience building and operating more than 500 spacecraft instruments for national defense. Boron is famously associated with arid sites where much water has evaporated away -- think of the borax that mule teams once hauled from Death Valley. However, environmental implications of the boron found by Curiosity are still open to debate. Scientists are considering at least two possibilities for the source of boron that groundwater left in the veins: 

The Curiosity rover on Mars with a simulated Chem- Cam laser pulse ResearchGate 

It could be that the drying out of part of Gale lake resulted in a boron-containing deposit in an overlying layer, not yet reached by Curiosity. Some of the material from this layer could have later been carried by groundwater down into fractures in the rocks. Or perhaps changes in the chemistry of clay-bearing deposits and groundwater affected how boron was picked up and dropped off within the local sediments.The discovery of boron is only one of several recent findings related to the composition of Martian rocks. Curiosity is climbing a layered Martian mountain and finding rock-composition evidence of how ancient lakes and wet underground environments changed, billions of years ago, in ways that affected their favorability for microbial life.

As the rover has progressed uphill, compositions trend toward more clay and more boron. These and other variations can tell us about conditions under which sediments were initially deposited and about how later groundwater moving through the accumulated layers altered and transported ingredients.Groundwater and chemicals dissolved in it that appeared later on Mars left its effects most clearly in mineral veins that filled cracks in older layered rock. But it also affected the composition of that rock matrix surrounding the veins, and the fluid was in turn affected by the rock.

Map of shallow subsurface water distribution on Mars 

"There is so much variability in the composition at different elevations, we've hit a jackpot," said John Grotzinger, of Caltech, Pasadena, Calif. As the rover gets further uphill, researchers are impressed by the complexity of the lake environments when clay-bearing sediments were being deposited and also by the complexity of the groundwater interactions after the sediments were buried.

"A sedimentary basin such as this is a chemical reactor," Grotzinger said. "Elements get rearranged. New minerals form and old ones dissolve. Electrons get redistributed. On Earth, these reactions support life." Whether Martian life has ever existed is still unknown. No compelling evidence for it has been found. When Curiosity landed in Mars' Gale Crater in 2012 the mission's main goal was to determine whether the area ever offered an environment favorable for microbes.Four recent drilling sites, from "Oudam" this past June through "Sebina" in October, are spaced about 80 feet (about 25 meters) apart in elevation. This uphill pattern allows the science team to sample progressively younger layers that reveal


Mount Sharp's ancient environmental history. "Variations in these minerals and elements indicate a dynamic system," Grotzinger said. "They interact with groundwater as well as surface water. The water influences the chemistry of the clays, but the composition of the water also changes. We are seeing chemical complexity indicating a long, interactive history with the water. The more complicated the chemistry is, the better it is for habitability. The boron and clay underline the mobility of elements and electrons, and that is good for life.


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• 4,000 confirmed exoplanets similar to Earth

• Australian Radio Telescope Parkes Joins $100 Million Search for Alien Life

• Researchers have found another planet (Wolf 1061c) that can sustain life: Located just 14 light-years away

• Back to Europa! ALIEN OCEAN NEXT NASA'S MISSION TO EUROPA

• Chances are very high that Europa , Jupiter's moon host alien life. NASA announcement

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ExoMars is preparing for the great landing on Mars this month 19 October . What is the main purpose of the mission

ExoMars Mission: ESA Targets Meridiani Planum For Schiaparelli Module's October Landing photo: ibtimes.com

Schiaparelli spacecraft of the European Space Agency (ESA) has received oridinele landing on Mars. Experts from the ground is expected on October 19, probe to land on the Red Planet.

Launched on March 14, ExoMars mission has propelled two space probes, Trace Gas Orbiter probe landing and Schiaparelli, to Mars. The two probes will separate Saturday (October 16th 2016). If everything works correctly Schiaparelli probe landing on Mars will reach a distance of three days. While Schiaparelli will be on the Martian surface, Trace Gas Orbiter probe will orbit around the Red Planet to study its atmosphere.

ESA - Robotic Exploration of Mars photo: esa.int

The probe is scheduled to land at Meridiani Planum region of Mars, area close to the equator. It will enter the Martian atmosphere of 21,000 km / h and had only six seconds to brake and to land safely, ESA officials said.

To ensure that the landing will be carried out according to plan, the probe will monitor sensors altitude above the Martian surface, since last 7 km. When the probe reaches two meters above the surface, will plummet a few moments, then stop thrusters and land on the ground.


Once at ground Schiaparelli on Mars will study wind, humidity, atmospheric pressure, air temperature and other phenomena. Measurements will be sent to the Trace Gas Orbiter. The main purpose of the mission is to pave the way for research of life rover on Mars, which was scheduled to be released in 2018.


Other articles on the same theme:

• NASA announced the next mission to Mars
• Elon Musk announced great mission on Mars. When it launches and what purpose
• Water existed on Mars billions of years before scientists about the phenomenon
• Mars could support extraterrestrial life. A new image published by the European Space Agency shows the place that would have hosted life

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Elon Musk announced great mission on Mars. When it launches and what purpose

Elon Musk is ready to reveal his grand plan about colonizing Mars.

Billionaire entrepreneur who said several times that he founded SpaceX in 2002 specifically to help the colonization of Mars offered new details about the Red Planet, postings on Twitter and conferences and interviews.

He recently announced that SpaceX wants to launch its first mission to Mars in less than two years in May 2018. In its unmanned probe, Dragon will land on Mars to test landing system and other technologists that will involve manned missions will need.

The supersonic retropropulsoarele insecure ,, '', with which Dragon will slow down when you will enter the Martian atmosphere. But if the tests are successful, the Red Dragon will be just the beginning of the company SpaceX missions to Mars.

,, What I'm saying is that we have established a cargo route to Mars, '' said Musk. ,, It will be a safe route that will take place every 26 months. It will be like a train station, where researchers will consider safe will choose, because it will be much cheaper than other means of this kind exist today, '' he added.

In 2020, the company plans to launch an unmanned Dragon capsule using two Falcon rockets. 2022 will launch unmanned capsule, but other purposes, it will build architecture SpaceX colony on Mars that Musk recently baptized him Interplanetary Transport System (ITS).

Musk said he wants to carry through SIT Mars more people. But his plans are more ambitious. It wants to achieve a permanent settlement to be used when the Earth will no longer be inhabited.

new Interplanetary Transport System

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NASA announced the next mission to Mars

In March 2016, the launch of the probe from NASA, InSight has been postponed due to an error. The ship was to examine the interior of Mars.

But NASA said recently that mission launch will take place on May 5, 2018, will arrive on Mars after almost seven months, on November 26.

InSight is a stationary probe that will pierce the surface of Mars to five meters deep, to measure the temperature of the planet. Mission previously was postponed because of a breakage of the void that was discovered at one of the instruments probe called Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure, which was to detect signals of earthquakes on Mars, the impacts from meteorites and other phenomena, such as sandstorms and landslides.

Launch to Mars can only occur at certain times when the planets are aligned in a certain way for the probe to reach the destination quicker. NASA warned that delaying the mission could affect other missions. The initial budget for the mission was 675 million dollars, the delay will cost another 153 million dollars.

Source: IFL Science

NASA's Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Milestone on Journey to Mars

A booster for the most powerful rocket in the world, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), successfully fired up Tuesday for its second qualification ground test at Orbital ATK's test facilities in Promontory, Utah. This was the last full-scale test for the booster before SLS’s first uncrewed test flight with NASA’s Orion spacecraft in late 2018, a key milestone on the agency’s Journey to Mars.

“This final qualification test of the booster system shows real progress in the development of the Space Launch System,” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Seeing this test today, and experiencing the sound and feel of approximately 3.6 million pounds of thrust, helps us appreciate the progress we’re making to advance human exploration and open new frontiers for science and technology missions in deep space.”

The booster was tested at a cold motor conditioning target of 40 degrees Fahrenheit –the colder end of its accepted propellant temperature range. When ignited, temperatures inside the booster reached nearly 6,000 degrees. The two-minute, full-duration ground qualification test provided NASA with critical data on 82 qualification objectives that will support certification of the booster for flight. Engineers now will evaluate these data, captured by more than 530 instrumentation channels on the booster.

When completed, two five-segment boosters and four RS-25 main engines will power SLS on deep space missions. The solid rocket boosters, built by NASA contractor Orbital ATK, operate in parallel with SLS’s main engines for the first two minutes of flight. They will provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed for the rocket and Orion spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravitational pull.

"Today's test is the pinnacle of years of hard work by the NASA team, Orbital ATK and commercial partners across the country," said John Honeycutt, SLS Program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “SLS hardware is currently in production for every part of the rocket. NASA also is making progress every day on Orion and the ground systems to support a launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We're on track to launch SLS on its first flight test with Orion and pave the way for a human presence in deep space."

The first full-scale booster qualification ground test was successfully completed in March 2015 and demonstrated acceptable performance of the booster design at 90 degrees Fahrenheit – the highest end of the booster’s accepted propellant temperature range. Testing at the thermal extremes experienced by the booster on the launch pad is important to understand the effect of temperature on how the propellant burns.

The initial SLS configuration will have a minimum 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capability. The next planned upgrade of SLS will use a powerful exploration upper stage for more ambitious missions, with a 105-metric-ton (115-ton) lift capacity. In each configuration, SLS will continue to use the same core stage and four RS-25 engines.

For more information about NASA’s Journey to Mars, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/journeytomars

For more information on SLS, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/sls

Source: NASA