The latest episode of NASA’s Space to Ground reports on activities related to the Int. Space Station:
Monthly Archives: March 2015
Space settlement experimentation in northern Canadian
Speaking of space settlements, there often comes up the question of what are the best earth analogs. Communities on small islands, the early New World settlements, and Antarctic science bases are typical suggestions. A New Scientist article suggests Canadian Arctic mining towns. Such towns can form very quickly in very isolated and difficult environments – and sometimes disappear very quickly as well: New Urbanist: Off-world colonies of the Canadian Arctic – New Scientist.
An example mentioned is Fermont, Quebec, which is known
for the huge self-contained structure containing apartments, stores, schools, bars, a hotel, restaurants, a supermarket and swimming pool which shelters a community of smaller apartment buildings and homes on its leeward side. The structure was designed to be a windscreen to the rest of the town. It permits residents (other than mine workers) to never leave the building during the long winter, which usually lasts about seven months. The town, designed by Maurice Desnoyers and Norbert Schoenauer, was inspired by similar projects in Sweden designed by Ralph Erskine, notably that of Svappavaara, a copper mining town in Sweden. The building measures 1.3 kilometres (4,300 ft) long and stands 50 metres (160 ft) high.[4] [Wikipedia]
The V-shaped structure can be seen in this image:
![VilledeFermont-00-large[1]](https://i0.wp.com/hobbyspace.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/VilledeFermont-00-large1-300x152.jpg?resize=300%2C152)
From the New Scientist article:
The town is also home to an extraordinary architectural feature: a residential megastructure whose explicit purpose is to redirect the local weather. Known as the Mur-écran or “windscreen”, this structure is an astonishing 1.3 kilometres in length, shaped roughly like a horizontal V or chevron. Think of it as a climatological Maginot Line, built to resist the howling, near-constant northern winds.
…
However, [Elon Musk] is not talking about building a Martian version of London or Paris. In a sense, we are already experimenting with off-world colonisation – only we are doing it in the windswept villages and extraction sites of the Canadian north.
Video: Mars One CEO responds to questions about the project
Following up on the recent criticisms of the Mars One project, CEO Bas Lansdorp responds point by point in this posting : Mars One’s CEO Bas Lansdorp answers questions about mission feasibility – Mars One
And in this video:
What do you think of the recent news articles that doubt the feasibility of Mars One?
At Mars One we really value good criticism because it helps us to improve our mission. We get a lot of criticism from our advisors and that is also exactly what we want from them. The recent bad press about Mars One was largely caused by an article on medium.com, which contains a lot of things that are not true. For example, the suggestion was made that our candidates were selected on the basis on how much money they donate to Mars One. That is simply not true and this is very easy to find that on our website. There are a lot of current Round Three candidates that did not make any donations to Mars One and there are also lot of people that did not make it to the third round that contributed a lot to Mars One. The two things are not related at all and to say that they are is simply a lie. The article also states that there were only 2,700 applications for Mars One which is not true. We offered the reporter, the first journalist ever, access to our list of 200,000 applications but she was not interested in that. It seems that she is more interested in writing a sensational article about Mars One than in the truth.
Update on the ‘Garden of ETON’ ISS experiment campaign
I’ve mentioned the Chicks in Space (MaryAnn Bulawa, Adia Bulawa, & Lillith Bulawa) and their campaign to crowd-fund a space experiment a couple of times (see here and here).
We’ve developed a hydroponic garden specifically designed to function under conditions of microgravity – ETON. We’ve been offered the opportunity to launch NanoETON on NASA’s ISS to test our hypothesis that water can be circulated in microgravity using centripetal force. This research may help the development of hydroponic gardens for future space missions.
They are participating in the DreamUP! program that
helps students raise money to fund testing their experiments in space on the U.S. National Laboratory aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Through DreamUp, junior high, high school and undergraduate college students can take advantage of NanoRacks’ three standardized research platforms on the International Space Station. NanoRacks DreamUp program, which aims to stimulate commercial student participation in low-earth orbit projects gives the opportunity to conduct experiments in the unique weightlessness environment of space.
The crowd-funding campaign has now reached 71% of the goal of $15k with 11 days laft: Sending the Garden of ETON to Space – Experiment
Our research is at a standstill until we are able to continue our experiments under actual conditions of microgravity. We have the opportunity to send a payload to the ISS on NanoRacks LLC. We have reconfigured our experiment to a 4×4 inch box but need funding to transport the project to NASA’s International Space Station.
There is now a doubling of any donation:
Here’s what you get with a donation:
We’re also offering backers rewards for joining the community!
$50: Certificate of Participation from NanoRacks, LLC
$100: Have your name written inside the hardware that carries E.T.O.N. to the International Space Station.
$250: Receive an item such as a Space Patch that has flown to the ISS and back (0 out of 2 left)
$1,000+: Decal with your Name or Company Logo placed on the outside of the payload with an accompanying photograph. *Donor must supply a decal of 1 inch by 3 inches or less. (Limited supply, 5 out of 6 left)
MAVEN detects aurora and high altitude dust cloud on Mars
NASA MAVEN orbiter at spots some interesting phenomena in Martian atmosphere:
NASA Spacecraft Detects Aurora and Mysterious Dust Cloud
around Mars
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has observed two unexpected phenomena in the Martian atmosphere: an unexplained high-altitude dust cloud and aurora that reaches deep into the Martian atmosphere.
![15-045a[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/15-045a.jpg)
Artist’s conception of MAVEN’s Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph (IUVS) observing the “Christmas Lights Aurora” on Mars. MAVEN observations show that aurora on Mars is similar to Earth’s “Northern Lights” but has a different origin. Image Credit: University of Colorado
The presence of the dust at orbital altitudes from about 93 miles (150 kilometers) to 190 miles (300 kilometers) above the surface was not predicted. Although the source and composition of the dust are unknown, there is no hazard to MAVEN and other spacecraft orbiting Mars.
“If the dust originates from the atmosphere, this suggests we are missing some fundamental process in the Martian atmosphere,” said Laila Andersson of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospherics and Space Physics (CU LASP), Boulder, Colorado.
The cloud was detected by the spacecraft’s Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) instrument, and has been present the whole time MAVEN has been in operation. It is unknown if the cloud is a temporary phenomenon or something long lasting. The cloud density is greatest at lower altitudes. However, even in the densest areas it is still very thin. So far, no indication of its presence has been seen in observations from any of the other MAVEN instruments.
Possible sources for the observed dust include dust wafted up from the atmosphere; dust coming from Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars; dust moving in the solar wind away from the sun; or debris orbiting the sun from comets. However, no known process on Mars can explain the appearance of dust in the observed locations from any of these sources.
MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) observed what scientists have named “Christmas lights.” For five days just before Dec. 25, MAVEN saw a bright ultraviolet auroral glow spanning Mars’ northern hemisphere. Aurora, known on Earth as northern or southern lights, are caused by energetic particles like electrons crashing down into the atmosphere and causing the gas to glow.
![15-045b[1]](https://i0.wp.com/hobbyspace.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/15-045b1.jpg)
A map of IUVS’s auroral detections in December 2014 overlaid on Mars’ surface. The map shows that the aurora was widespread in the northern hemisphere, not tied to any geographic location. The aurora was detected in all observations during a 5-day period. Image Credit: University of Colorado
“What’s especially surprising about the aurora we saw is how deep in the atmosphere it occurs – much deeper than at Earth or elsewhere on Mars,” said Arnaud Stiepen, IUVS team member at the University of Colorado. “The electrons producing it must be really energetic.”
The source of the energetic particles appears to be the sun. MAVEN’s Solar Energetic Particle instrument detected a huge surge in energetic electrons at the onset of the aurora. Billions of years ago, Mars lost a global protective magnetic field like Earth has, so solar particles can directly strike the atmosphere. The electrons producing the aurora have about 100 times more energy than you get from a spark of house current, so they can penetrate deeply in the atmosphere.
The findings are being presented at the 46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.
MAVEN was launched to Mars on Nov. 18, 2013, to help solve the mystery of how the Red Planet lost most of its atmosphere and much of its water. The spacecraft arrived at Mars on Sept. 21, and is four months into its one-Earth-year primary mission.
“The MAVEN science instruments all are performing nominally, and the data coming out of the mission are excellent,” said Bruce Jakosky of CU LASP, Principal Investigator for the mission.
MAVEN is part of the agency’s Mars Exploration Program, which includes the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, the Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft currently orbiting the planet.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system, including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and biological potential. In parallel, NASA is developing the human spaceflight capabilities needed for its journey to Mars or a future round-trip mission to the Red Planet in the 2030’s.
MAVEN’s principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN project. Partner institutions include Lockheed Martin, the University of California at Berkeley, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
For images related to the findings, visit: www.nasa.gov/maven