Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis
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THE PLANETARY REPORT FAREWELL, SEPTEMBER EQUINOX 2017 VOLUME 37, NUMBER 3 CASSINI Planetary.Org CELEBRATING a LEGACY of DISCOVERIES
THE PLANETARY REPORT FAREWELL, SEPTEMBER EQUINOX 2017 VOLUME 37, NUMBER 3 CASSINI planetary.org CELEBRATING A LEGACY OF DISCOVERIES ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES C DYNAMIC RINGS C COMPLICATED TITAN C ACTIVE ENCELADUS ABOUT THIS ISSUE LINDA J. SPILKER is Cassini project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. IN 2004, Cassini, the most distant planetary seafloor. As a bonus, it has revealed jets of orbiter ever launched by humanity, arrived at water vapor and ice particles shooting out of Saturn. For 13 years, through its primary and fractures at the moon’s south pole. two extended missions, this spacecraft has These discoveries have fundamentally been making astonishing discoveries, reshap- altered many of our concepts of where life ing and changing our understanding of this may be found in our solar system. Cassini’s unique planetary system within our larger observations at Enceladus and Titan have made system of unique worlds. A few months ater exploring these ocean worlds a major focus for arrival, Cassini released Huygens, European planetary science. New insights from these dis- Space Agency’s parachuted probe built to coveries also have implications for potentially study the atmosphere and surface of Titan habitable worlds beyond our solar system. and image its surface for the very first time. In this special issue of The Planetary Report, a handful of Cassini scientists share some results from their studies of Saturn and its moons. Because there’s no way to fit every- thing into this slim volume, they’ve focused on a few highlights. Meanwhile, Cassini continues performing its Grand Finale orbits between the rings and the top of Saturn’s atmosphere, circling the planet once every 6.5 days. -
A Self Reconfigurable Undulating Grasper for Asteroid Mining
A SELF RECONFIGURABLE UNDULATING GRASPER FOR ASTEROID MINING Suzanna Lucarotti1, Chakravarthini M Saaj1, Elie Allouis2 and Paolo Bianco3 1Surrey Space Centre, Guildford UK 2Airbus DS, Stevenage UK 3Airbus, Portsmouth UK ABSTRACT are estimated as over 1km diameter and 4133 as 300- 1000m diameter. While surface features remain mostly unknown, mass and orbit parameters are available. The Recent missions to asteroids have shown that many have closest NEAs can be reached with less ∆V than the rubble surfaces, which current extra-terrestrial mining Moon. techniques are unsuited for. This paper discusses mod- elling work for autonomous mining on small solar system There have been so far been five missions to the sur- bodies, such as Asteroids. A novel concept of a modular face of SSSBs - NEAR-Shoemaker to Eros, where they robot system capable of the helical caging and grasping unexpectedly landed [9], Hayabusa 1 to Itokawa [10], of surface rocks is presented. The kinematics and co- Rosetta to the Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko [11], ordinate systems of the Self RecoNfigurable Undulating Hayabusa 2 to Ryugu [12], and OSIRIS-Rex to Bennu Grasper (SNUG) are derived with a new mathematical [13]. Hayabusa 2 and OSIRUS-Rex are both currently formulation. This approach exploits rotational symmetry live missions. Detailed close-range surface images have and homogeneity to form a cage to safely grasp a target of been obtained from Itokawa, 67P and Ryugu, higher alti- uncertain properties. A simple model for grasping is eval- tude images from low orbit or prior to landing have been uated to assess the grasping capabilities of such a robot. -
Bayesian Analysis of the Astrobiological Implications of Life's
Bayesian analysis of the astrobiological implications of life's early emergence on Earth David S. Spiegel ∗ y, Edwin L. Turner y z ∗Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 08540,yDept. of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ 08544, USA, and zInstitute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, The Univ. of Tokyo, Kashiwa 227-8568, Japan Submitted to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Life arose on Earth sometime in the first few hundred million years Any inferences about the probability of life arising (given after the young planet had cooled to the point that it could support the conditions present on the early Earth) must be informed water-based organisms on its surface. The early emergence of life by how long it took for the first living creatures to evolve. By on Earth has been taken as evidence that the probability of abiogen- definition, improbable events generally happen infrequently. esis is high, if starting from young-Earth-like conditions. We revisit It follows that the duration between events provides a metric this argument quantitatively in a Bayesian statistical framework. By (however imperfect) of the probability or rate of the events. constructing a simple model of the probability of abiogenesis, we calculate a Bayesian estimate of its posterior probability, given the The time-span between when Earth achieved pre-biotic condi- data that life emerged fairly early in Earth's history and that, billions tions suitable for abiogenesis plus generally habitable climatic of years later, curious creatures noted this fact and considered its conditions [5, 6, 7] and when life first arose, therefore, seems implications. -
Chapter 1, Version A
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AND SCHOOL REFORM IN POSTCOLONIAL INDIA Mousumi Mukherjee MA, MPhil, Calcutta University; MA Loyola University Chicago; EdM University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Education Policy and Leadership Melbourne Graduate School of Education University of Melbourne [5 June 2015] Keywords Inclusive Education, Equity, Democratic School Reform, Girls’ Education, Missionary Education, Postcolonial theory, Globalization, Development Inclusive Education and School Reform in Postcolonial India i Abstract Over the past two decades, a converging discourse has emerged around the world concerning the importance of socially inclusive education. In India, the idea of inclusive education is not new, and is consistent with the key principles underpinning the Indian constitution. It has been promoted by a number of educational thinkers of modern India such as Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Azad and Tagore. However, the idea of inclusive education has been unevenly and inadequately implemented in Indian schools, which have remained largely socially segregated. There are of course major exceptions, with some schools valiantly seeking to realize social inclusion. One such school is in Kolkata, which has been nationally and globally celebrated as an example of best practice. The main aim of this thesis is to examine the initiative of inclusive educational reform that this school represents. It analyses the school’s understanding of inclusive education; provides an account of how the school promoted its achievements, not only within its own community but also around the world; and critically assesses the extent to which the initiatives are sustainable in the long term. -
Argops) Solution to the 2017 Astrodynamics Specialist Conference Student Competition
AAS 17-621 THE ASTRODYNAMICS RESEARCH GROUP OF PENN STATE (ARGOPS) SOLUTION TO THE 2017 ASTRODYNAMICS SPECIALIST CONFERENCE STUDENT COMPETITION Jason A. Reiter,* Davide Conte,1 Andrew M. Goodyear,* Ghanghoon Paik,* Guanwei. He,* Peter C. Scarcella,* Mollik Nayyar,* Matthew J. Shaw* We present the methods and results of the Astrodynamics Research Group of Penn State (ARGoPS) team in the 2017 Astrodynamics Specialist Conference Student Competition. A mission (named Minerva) was designed to investigate Asteroid (469219) 2016 HO3 in order to determine its mass and volume and to map and characterize its surface. This data would prove useful in determining the necessity and usefulness of future missions to the asteroid. The mission was designed such that a balance between cost and maximizing objectives was found. INTRODUCTION Asteroid (469219) 2016 HO3 was discovered recently and has yet to be explored. It lies in a quasi-orbit about the Earth such that it will follow the Earth around the Sun for at least the next several hundred years providing many opportunities for relatively low-cost missions to the body. Not much is known about 2016 HO3 except a general size range, but its close proximity to Earth makes a scientific mission more feasible than other near-Earth objects. A Request For Proposal (RFP) was provided to university teams searching for cost-efficient mission design solutions to assist in the characterization of the asteroid and the assessment of its potential for future, more in-depth missions and possible resource utilization. The RFP provides constraints on launch mass, bus size as well as other mission architecture decisions, and sets goals for scientific mapping and characterization. -
51. Astrobiology: the Final Frontier of Science Education
www.astrosociety.org/uitc No. 51 - Summer 2000 © 2000, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112. Astrobiology: The Final Frontier of Science Education by Jodi Asbell-Clarke and Jeff Lockwood What (or Whom) Are We Looking For? Where Do We Look? Lessons from Our Past The Search Is On What Does the Public Have to Learn from All This? A High School Curriculum in Astrobiology Astrobiology seems to be all the buzz these days. It was the focus of the ASP science symposium this summer; the University of Washington is offering it as a new Ph.D. program, and TERC (Technical Education Research Center) is developing a high school integrated science course based on it. So what is astrobiology? The NASA Astrobiology Institute defines this new discipline as the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny of life in the Universe. What this means for scientists is finding the means to blend research fields such as microbiology, geoscience, and astrophysics to collectively answer the largest looming questions of humankind. What it means for educators is an engaging and exciting discipline that is ripe for an integrated approach to science education. Virtually every topic that one deals with in high school science is embedded in astrobiology. What (or Whom) Are We Looking For? Movies and television shows such as Contact and Star Trek have teased viewers with the idea of life on other planets and even in other galaxies. Illustration courtesy of and © 2000 by These fictional accounts almost always deal with intelligent beings that have Kathleen L. -
From Hayabusa to Hayabusa2: Present Status and Plans for Sample Curations of Asteroidal Sample Return Missions by Jaxa
81st Annual Meeting of The Meteoritical Society 2018 (LPI Contrib. No. 2067) 6117.pdf FROM HAYABUSA TO HAYABUSA2: PRESENT STATUS AND PLANS FOR SAMPLE CURATIONS OF ASTEROIDAL SAMPLE RETURN MISSIONS BY JAXA. T. Yada1, K. Sakamoto1, M. Yoshitake1, K. Kumagai2, M. Nishimura2, Y. Nakano1, S. Furuya1, M. Abe1, T. Okada1, S. Tachibana3, H. Yurimoto1,4, and M. Fujimoto1,5, 1Astromat. Sci. Res. Group, Inst. Space Astronaut. Sci., Japan Aerosp. Explor. Agnecy, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210, Japan ([email protected]), 2 Marine Works Japan Ltd., 3-54-1 Oppamahigashi, Yokosuka 237-0063 Japan, 3Dept. Earth Planet. Sci., Grad. Sch. Science, Univ. Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan, 4Dept. Earth Science, Grad. Sch. Science, Hokkaido Univ., Kita 8, Nishi 5, Kita, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0808, Japan, 5Earth-Life Sci. Inst., Tokyo Inst. Tech., 2-12-1-1E-1 Ookayama, Meguro, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan. Introduction: The new era of sample return missions had started since the Stardust returned samples from com- et 81P/Wild 2 in 2006 [1], followed by the Hayabusa spacecraft from the near-Earth S-type asteroid 25143 Itokawa in 2010 [2,3]. In this year, Hayabusa2 will reach its target body, the near-Earth C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu [4], and also OSIRIS-REx toward the near-Earth B-type asteroid 101955 Bennu [5]. Additionally, several other sample return missions have been planned recently, such as the Martian Moons eXplorer (MMX) for the Phobos and/or Deimos [6], the CAESAR for 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko [7], and the HELACLES for the the Moon [8]. -
Transcript-Life-Beyond-Earth-Mind-Man
Video Transcript for Archival Research Catalog (ARC) Identifier 649452 Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man – 1975 Ashley Montagu: When we speak of life beyond Earth, what we generally mean is of course intelligent life, something resembling our noble selves. It is highly probable that there are such intelligent forms of life in other galaxies in the universe. And it is even more probable that many of these forms are vastly more intelligent than we. Philip Morrison: It is conceivable that a spherical ship will land in front of the Washington Monument and a figure with four antennas and otherwise looking like a professional football player will walk out and demand to see our leader. But I hope very much that the universe of circumstance is wider than the rather shoddy imaginations of science fiction writers for 30 or 40 years. And I’m pretty convinced it is. We’ve not found their guidance so great in any but the most modest activities, like going to the Moon, which is not very much. George Wald: May I reply to that one. Narrator: Life Beyond Earth – George Wald: You see, this is a beautiful exposition of the myths we live with. Narrator: – and the Mind of Man, a symposium on extraterrestrial life and some of its implications for us all. Sponsored jointly by NASA and Boston University and chaired by Professor Richard Berendzen. Richard Berendzen: Let me briefly introduce the panel. On the far side is Dr. Ashley Montagu who’s a world-renowned anthropologist and social biologist. Next to him is Dr. -
Is It the First Use of the Word Astrobiology ? Author
Title : Is it the first use of the word Astrobiology ? Author : Danielle Briot Adress : Observatoire de Paris 61 avenue de l’Observatoire 75014 Paris France tel : 33(0)1 40 51 22 39 and 33(0)1 45 07 78 57 [email protected] running title : First use of the word Astrobiology ? 1 Abstract The research of life in Universe is a ancient quest that has taken different forms over the centuries. It has given rise to a new science, which is normally referred as Astrobiology. It is interesting to research when this word was used for the first time and when this science developed to represent the search for life in Universe as is done today. There are records of the usage of the word "Astrobiology" as early as 1935, in an article published in a French popular science magazine. Moreover this article is quite remarkable because its portrayal of the concept of the subject is very similar to that considered today. The author of this paper was Ary J. Sternfeld (1905 - 1980), who was ortherwise known as a poorly respected great pioneer of astronautics. We provide a brief description of his life, which was heavily influenced by the tragic events of the 20th century history, from Poland and France to Russia. He was a prolific scientific writer who wrote a number of very successful scientific books and papers. Keywords : History – Pioneers 2 1. Introduction The question of the life in the Universe, in relation with the question of the multiplicity of worlds, is very ancient and probably dates back to Greek philosophers. -
Evolutionary Processes Transpiring in the Stages of Lithopanspermia Ian Von Hegner
Evolutionary processes transpiring in the stages of lithopanspermia Ian von Hegner To cite this version: Ian von Hegner. Evolutionary processes transpiring in the stages of lithopanspermia. 2020. hal- 02548882v2 HAL Id: hal-02548882 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02548882v2 Preprint submitted on 5 Aug 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. HAL archives-ouvertes.fr | CCSD, April 2020. Evolutionary processes transpiring in the stages of lithopanspermia Ian von Hegner Aarhus University Abstract Lithopanspermia is a theory proposing a natural exchange of organisms between solar system bodies as a result of asteroidal or cometary impactors. Research has examined not only the physics of the stages themselves but also the survival probabilities for life in each stage. However, although life is the primary factor of interest in lithopanspermia, this life is mainly treated as a passive cargo. Life, however, does not merely passively receive an onslaught of stress from surroundings; instead, it reacts. Thus, planetary ejection, interplanetary transport, and planetary entry are only the first three factors in the equation. The other factors are the quality, quantity, and evolutionary strategy of the transported organisms. -
Chang'e 5 Samples (Mexag) (Head-Final)
Chang’E 5 Lunar Sample Return Mission Update James w. Head Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Brown University Providence, RI 02912 USA Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG) Spring Meeting: April 7 - 8, 2021. Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG) Spring Meeting Barbara Cohen, ExMAG Chair. 2/10/21 • 1. Please provide an update on the Chang'e 5 Sample Return Mission. • 2. What is known of the collection so far? • 3. Please provide an overview of allocation procedures. • 4. Since US federally-funded researchers cannot work directly with China - Who outside of China is working with the mission team? • 5. We'd also appreciate your thoughts on: What NASA might be able to do to enable the US analysis community to collaborate on this sample collection? Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG) Spring Meeting Barbara Cohen, ExMAG Chair. 2/10/21 • 1. Some Myths and Realities. • 2. Organization of the Chinese Space Program. • 3. Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) context for Chang’e 5. • 4. Chang’e 5 Landing Site Selection, Global Context, Key Questions, Mission Operations and Sample Return. • 5. Returned Sample Location, Storage, Preliminary Analysis and Distribution. • 6. Opportunities for International Cooperation. Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG) Spring Meeting Barbara Cohen, ExMAG Chair. 2/10/21 • 1. Some Myths and Realities. • 2. Organization of the Chinese Space Program. • 3. Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) context for Chang’e 5. • 4. Chang’e 5 Landing Site Selection, Global Context, Key Questions, Mission Operations and Sample Return. • 5. Returned Sample Location, Storage, Preliminary Analysis and Distribution. • 6. Opportunities for International Cooperation. -
Cubex: a Compact X-Ray Telescope Enables Both X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging Spectroscopy and Pulsar Timing Based Navigation
SSC18-V-05 CubeX: A compact X-Ray Telescope Enables both X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging Spectroscopy and Pulsar Timing Based Navigation Jan Stupl, Monica Ebert, David Mauro SGT / NASA Ames NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA; 650-604-4032 [email protected] JaeSub Hong Harvard University Cambridge, MA Suzanne Romaine, Almus Kenter, Janet Evans, Ralph Kraft Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA Larry Nittler Carnegie Institution of Washington Washington, DC Ian Crawford Birkbeck College London, UK David Kring Lunar and Planetary Institute Houston, TX Noah Petro, Keith. Gendreau, Jason Mitchell, Luke Winternitz NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD Rebecca. Masterson, Gregory Prigozhin Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Brittany Wickizer NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA Kellen Bonner, Ashley Clark, Arwen Dave, Andres Dono-Perez, Ali Kashani, Daniel Larrabee, Samuel Montez, Karolyn Ronzano, Tim Snyder MEI / NASA Ames Research Center Joel Mueting, Laura Plice Metis / NASA Ames Research Center NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Yueh-Liang Shen, Duy Nguyen Booz Allen Hamilton / NASA Ames NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Stupl 1 32nd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites ABSTRACT This paper describes the miniaturized X-ray telescope payload, CubeX, in the context of a lunar mission. The first part describes the payload in detail, the second part summarizes a small satellite mission concept that utilizes its compact form factor and performance. This instrument can be used for both X-ray fluorescence (XRF) imaging spectroscopy and X-ray pulsar timing-based navigation (XNAV). It combines high angular resolution (<1 arcminutes) Miniature Wolter-I X-ray optics (MiXO) with a common focal plane consisting of high spectral resolution (<150 eV at 1 keV) CMOS X-ray sensors and a high timing resolution (< 1 µsec) SDD X-ray sensor.