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NASA Finds Hydrocarbons on Saturn's Moon Hyperion Bill Nye Speaks At

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NASA Finds Hydrocarbons on Saturn's Moon Hyperion Bill Nye Speaks At July 2007 NASA finds hydrocarbons on Saturn’s moon Hyperion NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has re- Cruikshank, a planetary scientist at expected ways with the ordinary ice. vealed for the first time surface details Ames and the paper’s lead author. Images of the brightest regions of of Saturn’s moon Hyperion, including “These molecules, when embedded Hyperion’s surface show frozen water cup-like craters filled with hydrocar- in ice and exposed to ultraviolet light, that is crystalline in form, like that bons that may indicate more wide- form new molecules of biological found on Earth. spread presence in our solar system of significance. This doesn’t mean that “Most of Hyperion’s surface ice basic chemicals necessary for life. we have found life, but it is a further is a mix of frozen water and organic indication that the basic chemistry dust, but carbon dioxide ice is also needed for life is widespread in the prominent. The carbon dioxide is not universe.” pure, but is somehow chemically at- NASA NASA photo Cassini’s ultraviolet imaging tached to other molecules,” explained spectrograph and visual and infrared Cruikshank. mapping spectrometer captured com- Prior spacecraft data from other positional variations in Hyperion’s moons of Saturn, as well as Jupiter’s surface. These instruments, capable moons Ganymede and Callisto, sug- of mapping mineral and chemical gest that the carbon dioxide molecule features of the moon, sent back data is “complexed,” or attached with confirming the presence of frozen other surface material in multiple water found by earlier ground-based ways. “We think that ordinary carbon observations, but also discovered solid dioxide will evaporate from Saturn’s carbon dioxide (dry ice) mixed in un- continued on page 2 Bill Nye speaks at Ames summit NASA’s Cassini spacecraft’s recent photograph of Saturn’s moon Hyperion shows its sponge- Bill Nye, ‘the Science Guy,’ like appearance with craters that are filled with spoke recently at the Participatory hydrocarbons. Exploration Summit held in June at Ames. The event gathered technology Hyperion yielded some of its experts, communications and thought secrets to the battery of instruments leaders and NASA personnel to dis- aboard Cassini as the spacecraft flew cuss how to use new technologies to close by in September 2005. Water make NASA’s work more accessible and carbon dioxide ices were found, through ‘participatory exploration.’ as well as dark material that fits the Participatory exploration is the way in spectral profile of hydrocarbons. which the public can actively engage A paper published in the July 5, in, and potentially contribute to, the 2007, issue of Nature reports details of exciting activities that NASA conducts. Hyperion’s surface craters and com- position observed during this flyby, including keys to understanding the On the Inside . moon’s origin and evolution over Page 2- Liquid mirror telescope on moon 4.5 billion years. This is the first time might see deeper back in time scientists were able to map the surface Page 3 - Nanotechnology space sensor test material on Hyperion. proves successful in orbit “Of special interest is the presence Page 9 - New e-mail system is here! on Hyperion of hydrocarbons - combi- Bill Nye, ‘the Science Guy,’ spoke at Ames dur- Page 12 - Ames Ongoing Events nations of carbon and hydrogen atoms ing the Participatory Exploration Summit held Page 13 - Ames Classifieds that are found in comets, meteorites recently at the center. and the dust in our galaxy,” said Dale www.nasa.gov Liquid-mirror telescope on moon might see deeper back in time Someday, astronauts on the moon The major advantages of liquid searchers used a liquid made of ‘ionic may pour liquid onto a disc-shaped telescope mirrors include ease of ship- salts’ that remains fluid at very low mesh to make a huge mirror for a ping, assembling and maintenance, temperatures. The scientists deposited powerful telescope, according to a re- “which are far easier than for a solid a fine layer of chromium particles on cently public technical article. the liquid and then added a The liquid would include layer of silver particles. The a silver-coated surface, and researchers say that the reflec- would be part of an opti- tiveness of the liquid mirror cal-infrared telescope with a is not yet adequate, but “it is 66-foot (20-meter) to 328-foot now only a matter of techno- (100 meter) aperture capable of logical improvement.” Photo by Guy Plante (Laval) Plante Guy by Photo observing objects 100 to 1,000 The authors say they will times fainter than the James continue to experiment to Webb Space Telescope, the au- develop more ways to make thors say. The technical paper liquid mirrors. The research- appeared in the June 21, 2007, ers predict that the first lunar, issue of the journal, Nature. liquid-mirror telescope will be “In this case, we have built no earlier than 2020. shown how the moon is ideal Borra received a grant from (for) using liquid mirror tech- A 3.7 meter-diameter liquid mirror, such as this one at Laval University, the Canadian Space Agency to nology to build a telescope someday might be used to create a huge mirror for a large telescope on the conduct his studies. The other much larger than we can af- moon. Mercury is used in the liquid mirror. There are no detectable mer- authors include: Omar Seddiki fordably build in space,” said cury vapors in the air because a thin transparent layer of oxide covers the of Laval University, Quebec, mirror’s surface. Shown from left to right are an unidentified undergradu- Ames Center Director S. Pete ate student; Remi Cabanac, a graduate student who did his Ph.D. thesis on Canada; Roger Angel and Dan- Worden and a co-author of the liquid mirrors; Dr. Ermanno Borra (lead author of a technical paper entitled iel Eisenstein, both from the technical paper. The lead au- ‘Deposition of metal films on an ionic liquid as a basis for a lunar telescope’ University of Arizona, Tucson; thor is Ermanno Borra, Laval published in the June 21, 2007 issue of the journal, Nature); and Gregoire Paul Hickson, University of University, Quebec, Canada. Tremblay, who also wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the liquid mirror.) British Columbia, Vancouver, “Such telescopes, perhaps 100 Canada; and Kenneth Seddon, meters in diameter, can see back to the mirror,” the authors note. The Queen’s University of Belfast, early phases of the universe after the In laboratory experiments, the re- U.K. Big Bang,” Worden added. BY JOHN BLUCK The authors envision making lunar, infrared telescopes to study normal and dwarf galaxies. Hydrocarbons on Saturn’s moon Hyperion “The lunar, liquid-mirror project continued from front page was supported by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. It enabled a moons over long periods of time,” from the imaging team about Hyper- team of scientists including myself to said Cruikshank, “but it appears to be ion’s strange, spongy-looking appear- show how the moon - our first target much more stable when it is attached ance. Details are online at: http://ci- in the Vision for Space Exploration to other molecules.” clops.org/view.php?id=3303 (VSE) - might support astronomy,” “The Hyperion flyby was a fine The Cassini-Huygens mission is Worden explained. “ We hope that this example of Cassini’s multi-wavelength a cooperative project of NASA, the or similar possibilities will excite the capabilities. In this first-ever ultravio- European Space Agency and the Ital- scientific community about the op- let observation of Hyperion, the detec- ian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion portunities contained within the VSE,” tion of water ice tells us about com- Laboratory, a division of the California Worden observed. positional differences of this bizarre Institute of Technology in Pasadena, body,” said Amanda Hendrix, Cassini According to the article, an un- manages the Cassini-Huygens mission scientist on the ultraviolet imaging coated mirror would be carried to the for NASA’s Science Mission Director- spectrograph at NASA’s Jet Propulsion ate, Washington. moon in a drum that astronauts would Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. More information on the Cassini empty into a rotating mesh, robotically Hyperion, Saturn’s eighth largest mission is available at: http://www. unfolded like an umbrella. moon, has a chaotic spin and orbits nasa.gov/cassini “Surface tension would prevent Saturn every 21 days. The July 5 issue BY RUTH DASSO MARLAIRE the liquid from falling through the of Nature also includes new findings small holes of the mesh,” the authors said. Astrogram July 2007 Nanotechnology space sensor test proves successful in orbit NASA Ames recently designed Ames the opportunity for a technol- nano-chip chamber, temperature and and built the first nanotechnology- ogy demonstration flight. Li proposed pressure sensors, custom electronics, based electronic device that was her sensor for that flight because of software controls and communica- successfully tested in space. The the maturity of its development. Julie tions. After waiting on the shelf for Ames-developed, Nano-ChemSensor Schonfeld, deputy director for the over a year to fly and three months on Unit (NCSU) hitched a ride to orbit on Ames’ Center for Nano-Techonology orbit to be powered, the unit auto- the U.S. Naval Academy’s MidSTAR-1 at the inception of the project, was matically injected the on-board gas satellite on March 9, 2007, as one of the familiar with the capabilities of the En- containing 20 parts per million NO2 in gineering Systems nitrogen over the nano-sensors during Division, having four experiments each day with three started her career NO2 exposures in each experiment.
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