SETI INSTITUTE Activity Report October 2017

Cover. Bagnold Dune Field on Mars THE CARL SAGAN CENTER FOR RESEARCH Dr. Nathalie A. Cabrol, Director 2

THE CARL SAGAN CENTER FOR RESEARCH Dr. Nathalie A. Cabrol, Director

Peer-Reviewed Publications (in press or published)

1. Chojnacki, M. and Fenton, L. K. (2017) The geologic exploration of the Bagnold dune field at Gale crater by the Curiosity Rover, in press, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1002/2017JE005455.

2. Cox NL, Cami J, Farhang JA, Smoker J, Monreal-Ibero A et al. (2017). The ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES) . I. Project description, survey sample, and quality assessment. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 606, id.A76

3. De Barros ALF, Mattioda AL, Ricca A, Cruz-Diaz GA & Allamandola LJ (2017). Photochemistry of Coronene in Cosmic Water Ice Analogs at Different Concentrations, The Astrophysical Journal, 848, 112-130, https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa8c71.

4. Juvan IG, Lendl M, Cubillos PE, Tregloan-Reed J, Lammer H, Guenther EW, and Hanslmeier A (2017). PyTranSpot - A tool for multiband light curve modeling of planetary transits and stellar spots. 2017arXiv171011209J.

5. Lupisella M and Race MS (2017). Low-Latency Teleoperations, Planetary Protection, and Astrobiology, International Journal of Astrobiology, in press.

6. Marshall, S.E., and 26 colleagues including Busch, M.W. (2017) Shape modeling of potentially hazardous asteroid (85989) 1999 JD6 from radar and lightcurve data, in press, Icarus.

7. Mattioda AL, Bauschlicher CW, Ricca A, Bregman J, Hudgins DM, Allamandola LJ (2017). Infrared spectroscopy of matrix-isolated neutral polycyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocycles: The acridine series, Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 181, 286-308, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S13861425173022 02. 3

8. Mogul, R., Vaishampayan, P., Bashir, M., McKay, C., Schubert, K.E., Bonaccorsi, R, et. 41 al., (2017). Microbial Community and Biochemical Dynamics of Biological Soil Crusts Across a Gradient of Surface Coverage in the Central Mojave Desert, Front. Microbiol., 23 October 2017 Terrestrial Microbiology. www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01974/full

9. Thompson SE, Coughlin JL, Hoffman, K, Mullally F, Christiansen FL et al., (2017) Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler. VIII. A Fully Automated Catalog With Measured Completeness and Reliability Based on Data Release 25. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017arXiv171006758T

Conferences: Abstracts and Proceedings 1. Ballard, L (2017), How to Play with Deep Space Data, Strange Loop Software Developers Conference 9/28/17, St. Louis, MO, https://thestrangeloop.com/2017/how-to-play-with-deep-space- data.html

2. Ballard, L (2017), Where are all the Space Robots?, !!Con, 5/7/17, New York City, http://bangbangcon.com/speakers.html#lisa-ballard

3. Bishop JL, AG Fairén, JR Michalski, L Gago-Duport, LL Baker, MA Velbel, C Gross & EB Rampe (2017). Diverse early aqueous environments and climate on Mars revealed by the phyllosilicate record. Fourth International Conference on Early Mars, Abstract #3030. https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/earlymars2017/pdf/3030.pdf

4. Chitamitara A, Smith JC, Tenenbaum P, and the TESS Science Processing Operations Center (2017). Optimizing the TESS Planet Finding Pipeline. Presented at the 49th DPS, id.416.14

5. Ciarniello M, Filacchione G, D'Aversa E, Cuzzi, JN, Capaccioni F, et al., including Dalle Ore CM (2017). Spectrophotometric study of Saturn's main rings by means of Monte Carlo ray-tracing and Hapke's theory. Presented at the 49th DPS, id.212.04 4

6. Cruikshank DP, Spohrer S, Grundy WM, Moore JM, Umurhan OM, et al., including Dalle Ore CM (2017). Pluto: Fluidized transport of tholins by heating of the subsurface. Presented at the 49th DPS, id.102.06

7. Cuk M, Hamilton DP, Stewart-Mukhopadhyay ST (2017). Collisional Cascades Following Triton's Capture. Presented at the 49th DPS, id.419.01.

8. Dalle Ore CM, Protopapa S, Cruikshank DP, Grundy WM, Stern SA, et al., (2017). Pluto’s non-icy component: a close-in analysis. Presented at the 49th DPS, id.102.07

9. French RS, Showalter MR, de Pater I, and Lissauer JJ (2017), Orbital and Photometric Analysis of the Inner Uranian Satellites from Hubble Images, DPS meeting #49, id.214.19. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017DPS....4921419F

10. Gordon MK, Guinness EA, Neakrase LDV, Padams J, Raugh AC, (2017), PDS4 Training: Key Concepts and Vocabulary, Third Planetary Data Workshop and The Planetary Geologic Mappers Annual Meeting, held June 12-15, 2017 in Flagstaff, Arizona. LPI Contribution No. 1986, id.7089.

11. Hanus, J., Vernazza, P., Marsset, M., Marchis, F. , Carry, B., et al. (2017). Shape models of large asteroids based on disk-resolved images collected with the SPHERE Extreme AO system, American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #49, id.208.05

12. Marchis, F., Vernazza, P., Marsset, M., Hanus, J., Carry, and the Large Asteroid Survey with SPHERE (LASS), A Large Program to derive the shape, cratering history and density of the largest main-belt asteroids, American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #49, id.208.04

13. Olkin C, Spencer JR, Grundy WM, Parker A, Beyer RA et al., including Dalle Ore CM (2017). The Color of Pluto from New Horizons. Presented at the 49th DPS, id.221.02

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14. Pendleton YJ, Dalle Ore CM, Clark RN, Cruikshank DP (2017). Organic Molecules On the Surfaces of Iapetus and Phoebe. Presented at the 49th DPS, id.210.05

15. Scipioni F, Nordheim T, Clark RN, D'Aversa E, Cruikshank DP et al., including Dalle Ore CM (2017). Water ice and sub-micron ice particles on Tethys and Mimas. Presented at the 49th DPS, id.214.18.

16. Showalter MR, Lissauer JJ, de Pater I, French RS (2017), A Three- Body Resonance Confines the Ring-Arcs of Neptune, DPS meeting #49, id.104.01. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017DPS....4910401S

17. Throop HB, Lauer TR, Showalter MR et al. (2017), Observational Limits for Rings and Debris at Pluto from New Horizons, DPS meeting #49, id.215.04. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017DPS....4921504T

18. Tiscareno MS (2017). Imaging of Saturn’s main rings during the Cassini Ring-Grazing Orbits and Grand Finale (invited). European Planetary Science Congress, 11, 996. http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2017/EPSC2017-996.pdf

19. Tiscareno MS (2017). High-resolution imaging of Saturn’s main rings during the Cassini Ring-Grazing Orbits and Grand Finale (invited). AAS Division for Planetary Sciences, 49, 108.02.

20. Tiscareno MS (12/12). High-resolution imaging of Saturn’s main rings during the Cassini Ring-Grazing Orbits and Grand Finale (invited). American Geophysical Union, U22A-06.

Technical Reports & Data Releases

1. Coughlin JL (2017). Finished an activity which saw all of our Kepler science documents get added to the NASA ADS system, so they are now more easily findable and citeable, and authors get credit for their work on documents considered at the quality of a peer-reviewed paper, but 6

until now were not easily findable/citable by the community. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?bibstem=ksci

2. Li, J. Completed TESS Photometer Performance Assessment (PPA) report design, which will be used in science operations to monitor the performance of the TESS photometer.

3. Showalter M, and the PDS Team (Gordon MK, Ballard L, Tiscareno MS, French RS) released a new webserver, an updated website (http://pds-rings.seti.org), and a new data browsing tool called “Viewmaster” (http://pds-rings.seti.org/viewmaster).

4. Smith, J. and R. Morris: Implemented critical TESS commissioning tools to measure the in-flight Focal Plane Geometry (FPG) and Pixel Response Function (PRF). Both tools are needed at launch to ensure the Mission’s ability to correctly select target pixels for collection.

5. Tenenbaum, P. Generated simulated data sets used by the TESS project for critical Ground Segment Integration Testing (GSIT). The GSITs are the pre-flight tests that allow the TESS project to pass flight-like data through the entire ground system, testing interfaces and operations. The simulated data include a month’s worth of star images from all TESS detectors.

6. Tenenbaum, P. Generated simulated commissioning data including spacecraft pointing dither, to test the PRF and FPG commissioning tools prior to their use on flight data.

7. TESS Team: completed operations and analysis of the pipeline results for two dry-runs of GSIT-3, a key milestone for the TESS Mission on its way to a Spring 2018 launch.

8. Twicken, J. Completed revisions to the TESS Data Validation (DV) report design. The pipeline-generated DV reports are used by TESS scientists to help validate transiting planet candidates detected in the TESS pipeline.

Other Professional Publications 7

1. Acton C, Slavney S, Arvidson R, Gaddis L, Gordon M, et al. (2017). The Planetary Data System, Lunar And Planetary Information Bulletin, Issue 150, September 2017. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/newsletters/lpib/lpib150.pdf 2. Tiscareno MS helped to write captions for the following JPL releases of Cassini images: “Staggering structure,” “Cassini’s ‘inside-out’ rings movie,” “Lone propeller,” “Inside-out rings: Over the limb,” and “Inside- out rings: View from beneath.”

3. Tiscareno MS (10/16) presented recent Cassini results at a press conference held at the DPS Annual Meeting and was featured in a JPL press release entitled “Fresh findings from Cassini.” A number of media outlets used the content.

4. The asteroid radar team, including Busch M.W., observed the asteroid 2012 TC4 before and after its extremely close Earth flyby on 2017 October 12 as part of an international effort to demonstrate capabilities to rapidly respond to new asteroid discoveries. The observations were reported in press releases, which were quoted by various news media. For examples: http://2012tc4.astro.umd.edu/ , https://www.nasa.gov/feature/this-is-a-test-asteroid-tracking- network-observes-oct-12-close-approach , http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/astronomy-space- david-dickinson/asteroid-2012-tc4-set-to-zip-past-the-earth-on- thursday/ .

Invitation to Speak (Professional)

1. Bishop JL (Oct. 3). Invited talk “Diverse early aqueous environments and climate on Mars revealed by the phyllosilicate record” in session on Geochemical and Mineralogical Evolution at the Fourth International Conference on Early Mars, Flagstaff, AZ.

2. Bishop JL (Oct. 5). Invited panelist in session “Early Mars: Cold, Warm, or Cold and Episodically Warm?”, Fourth International Conference on Early Mars, Flagstaff, AZ.

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3. Cabrol, NA (Nov. 6 and 8). Solar Radiation Workshop, NASA Ames. Invited panel member: Beyond Directorates.

Highlights/ Significant Events and Activities Bonaccorsi, R. 10 days doing research 1 km underground! Rosalba led a team of researchers from NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute. They drilled across 38 cm within the salt wall in the Boulby Potash Mine, Cleveland UK. MINAR 5 is a part of the UK Center of Astrobiology led by Charles Cockell. MINAR 5 has joined the NASA Spaceward Bound Expedition series. This educational program used the lab and the mine environment to carry out science and technology in support of the subsurface exploration of the Moon and Mars, and Ocean Worlds. Their team performed sterile drilling, analysis of recovered samples with Raman Spectroscopy, and life detection of salt and brine samples using Adenosine Triphosphate and Lipid A biomarkers. We also worked with teams associated with EXomars CLUPI Instrument and HABIT 2020 Environment package.

Figures – Top: Teachers and scientists planning together for EVA sim activities with ESA trainee astronaut Matthias Maurer. Bottom: End of the day, after an exciting day of work in the underground laboratory. Waiting for Boulby Mine elevator to get back to the (sunny?) surface. Coughlin J (2017). K2 C14 exports were held up by an error, but we’ve worked around and should be delivering to the archives by next week. Investigation into a possible re-processing of all K2 data continues with a presentation date of Nov. 30 set. C15 is currently being observed without any 9 issues, and work has been completed on selecting targets for C16, with C17, C18, and C19 in the planning stage. Gordon MK (8/28). Organized and hosted a one day meeting to develop a PDS wide strategy for PDS4 Training.

Showalter MR, Gordon MK, Tiscareno MS (10/16) organized and led the annual meeting of advisors to the Ring-Moon Systems Node of the Planetary Data System.

Tiscareno MS (continuing). Member of the AAS DPS Subcommittee on Professional Culture and Climate, which works towards making the community of planetary scientists an environment in which professional merit is the only criterion that determines each person’s success. Tiscareno MS (continuing). Co-chair of the Local Organizing Committee for the 2018 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, which will take place next April in San Jose CA.

Honors and Awards Tenenbaum, P. (9/26) Ames Honor Award, Outstanding Contractor Employee for work on the TESS Mission.

CENTER FOR EDUCATION Pamela Harman, Director 10

CENTER FOR EDUCATION Pamela Harman, Director

• Reaching for the Stars: NASA Science for Girl Scouts: - G.I.R.L. Convention, Columbus OH: Ø Pamela Harman hosted the SETI Institute’s Astronomy Adventures Exhibit, featuring Girl Scout Stars activities and space science badges preview Ø Pamela Harman participated with Astronomy Society of the Pacific and Girl Scouts of Northern California in a STEM Campfire workshop, “Fun with the Moon and Stars” Ø Pamela Harman presented during STEM Campfire panel discussion, “Future of Space Exploration” - The SETI Institute received the Alliance Award from Girl Scouts of Northern California South Bay & Peninsular Area n recognition of outstanding support of Girl Scouts of Northern California at the annual recognition evenet • California Science Education Conference, Sacramento, CA: - Coral Clark was a Focus Speaker “From the Stratosphere to the Classroom: NASA, Flying Telescopes, and NGSS” - Pamela Harman led the “Visible and Invisible Light in a 3- Dimentional Learning Setting” workshop • Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors: - Dana Backman and Pamela Harman led a group of AAAs and a school district liaison through training, meetings, and tours at NASA AFRC Building 703 and facilitated two overnight flights on SOFIA

CENTER FOR OUTREACH Rebecca McDonald, Director 11

CENTER FOR OUTREACH Rebecca McDonald, Director

Popular Publications (print and digital) 1. I magnifici 8 italiani ai vertici della ricerca (The top 8 Italian researchers) (Corriere Della Sera, features Rosalba Bonaccorsi)

2. We may have found 20 habitable worlds hiding in plain sight (New Scientist, includes interview with Jeff Coughlin)

3. New Telescope “Gives Back the Sky” to City-Dwellers (Scientific American, includes interview with Franck Marchis)

4. Project Blue: Building a Space Telescope that Could Directly Observe Planets Around Alpha Centauri (Universe Today, includes interview with Franck Marchis)

5. Unistellar’s eVscope successfully finds, images asteroid Florence (Phys.org, by Franck Marchis)

6. It’s Official! The eVscope from Unistellar Gets Kickstarted (Cosmic Diary, by Franck Marchis)

7. Sputnik Shook the Nation 60 Years Ago. That Could Happen Again (NBC News, by Seth Shostak)

8. Gravitational Waves May Solve Some Big Cosmic Riddles (NBC News, by Seth Shostak)

9. LIGO Scientists Spy Neutron Star Smash-Up that Blew Bling into Space (NBC News, by Seth Shostak)

10. Butterfly Effect (Communications of the ACM, short fiction by Seth Shostak)

11. First Rings Found Circling Weird World Near Pluto (National Geographic, including interview with Mark Showalter)

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12. Is there anybody out there? (Planetary Society, includes interviews with Jill Tarter and Eliot Gilum)

13. Cassini and the Rings of Saturn (American Scientist, by Matt Tiscareno)

14. After a Dive into Saturn, Cassini Spacecraft Melts into History (Science, includes interview with Matt Tiscareno)

15. Something Special is Happening: Cassini’s Scientists Honor Their Favorite Photos (The Ringer, includes favorite photo of Matt Tiscareno)

16. Why it’s good news that Pluto doesn’t have rings (Science News, includes interview with Matt Tiscareno)

17. Cassini takes last look at the ring patterns made by mini moons (New Scientist, includes interview with Matt Tiscareno)

18. Oddball dwarf planet Haumea has a ring (Science News, includes interview with Matt Tiscareno)

Television, Podcasts and Multimedia 1. Looking for life on Mars, under North Yorkshire (Channel 4 TV News, includes interview with Rosalba Bonaccorsi)

2. Sand in the Wind (WeMartians podcast featuring interview with Lori Fenton)

3. Death Dive to Saturn (Nova/PBS, included interview with Matt Tiscareno)

4. Saturn: Inside the Rings (Discovery Canada/National Geographic Channel, included interview with Matt Tiscareno)

Public Presentations 1. Vittoria (Victory) – Rosalba Bonaccorsi invited on talk show on Italian Public radio, Radio 1 November 8, 2017

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2. Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series at Foothill College – Michael Busch is scheduled to lecture April 18, 2018

3. San Francisco Amateur Astronomers at the Presidio in San Francisco – Michael Busch will give monthly lecture June 19, 2018

4. K-8 Davenport School of the Arts, Florida – Mitchell Gordon participated in annual Space Night event, presenting The Puzzles of Saturn’s Rings: 40 Years of Spacecraft Exploration. He also assisted in a hands-on activity for students, Colors of the Solar System.

5. Hartnell Community College, Salinas, CA – Gerry Harp presented, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at the SETI Institute on October 18, 2017.

6. Astronomy Club of New York City – Franck Marchis participated in a star party on September 8 and StarFest on September 9. His blog post can be found here.

7. Planetary Society and Los Angeles Amateur Astronomer Club – Franck Marchis participated in a star party at Griffith Observatory on September 30, 2017.

8. Dropbox – Franck Marchis participated in private star party October 4, 2017

9. Google – Franck Marchis participated in private star party October 30, 2018

10. East Bay Astronomical Society – Franck Marchis spoke on the Search for Earth Cousins on October 14, 2017

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11. Star Parties on Provo, UT – Franck Marchis participated at Brigham Young University (October 17, 2017) and Sundance (October 18, 2017)

12. Pier 17, San Francisco – Franck Marchis and Clement Chalumeau participated in a star party October 24, 2017

13. Menlo Park Library, Menlo Park, CA -- Margaret Race was an invited presenter for Science Night on September 28, 2017 with 500 people in attendance

14. Biocurious, Santa Clara, CA – Seth Shostak presented Developments in SETI on October 15, 2017

15. Century Club, San Francisco, CA – Seth Shostak presented Searching for Life in Space on October 22, 2017

16. World Conference of Science Journalists, Berkeley, CA – Seth Shostak participated in panel discussion, Where are We in the Search for Aliens on October 29, 2017

17. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA – Matt Tiscareno gave the September Benjamin Dean Astronomy Lecture, Farewell to Saturn: Cassini’s Spectacular End-of-Mission Science on September 11, 2017

18. Astronomy on Tap San Francisco, CA – Matt Tiscareno was one of three featured speakers on November 11, 2017

19. San Francisco Amateur Astronomers at the Presidio in San Francisco – Matt Tiscareno will give the monthly lecture May 15, 2018 Big Picture Science - It’s in Material (October 2, 2017) - On Defense (October 9, 2017) - Too Big to Prove (October 16, 2017) 15

- Sex Post Facto (October 23, 2017) - Venom Diagram (October 30, 2017)

SETI Talks • September: Cassini: A look back and a fond farewell (Matt Tiscareno) • October: The Anthropocene – What Now? (David Grinspoon)

Facebook Live: • Exoplanets and Project Blue (Franck Marchis) • Behind the Scenes at Big Picture Science (Seth Shostak, Molly Bentley and Gary Neiderhoff) • Future NASA Missions – Live from DPS (Franck Marchis) • Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors – Live from SOFIA (Pamela Harman and Dana Backman) • The Unistellar Telescope (Franck Marchis) • Interstellar Comets (Matija Cuk, Michael Busch and Matt Tiscareno) • Life Detection in Salts – Live from Boulby Mine (via UK Centre for Astrobiology, Rosalba Bonaccorsi)