Viking GCMS Data Restoral and Perceiving Temperature on Other Worlds: Astrobiology Projects at NASA Ames
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Viking GCMS Data Restoral and Perceiving Temperature on Other Worlds: Astrobiology Projects at NASA Ames Melissa Guzman Internship Report submitted to the International Space University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the M.Sc. Degree in Space Studies August, 2015 Internship Mentor: Dr. Christopher McKay Host Institution: NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, USA ISU Academic Advisor: Dr. Hugh Hill Abstract The primary task for the summer was to procure the GCMS data from the National Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) and to assess the current state of the data set for possible reanalysis opportunities. After procurement of the Viking GCMS data set and analysis of its current state, the internship focus shifted to preparing a plan for restoral and archiving of the GCMS data set. A proposal was prepared and submitted to NASA Headquarters to restore and make available the 8000 mass chromatographs that are the basic data generated by the Viking GCMS instrument. The relevance of this restoral and the methodology we propose for restoral is presented. The secondary task for the summer is to develop a thermal model for the perceived temperature of a human standing on Mars, Titan, or Europa. Traditionally, an equation called “Fanger’s comfort equation” is used to measure the perceived temperature by a human in a given reference environment. However, there are limitations to this model when applied to other planets. Therefore, the approach for this project has been to derive energy balance equations from first principles and then develop a methodology for correlating “comfort” to energy balance. Using the -20°C walk-in freezer in the Space Sciences building at NASA Ames, energy loss of a human subject is measured. Energy loss for a human being on Mars, Titan and Europa are calculated from first principles. These calculations are compared to the freezer measurements, e.g. for 1 minute on Titan, a human loses as much energy as x minutes in a -20°C freezer. This gives a numerical comparison between the environments. These energy calculations are used to consider the physiological comfort of a human based on the calculated energy losses. Acknowledgements Thank you to my internship advisor, Chris McKay, for his clear and infectious scientific curiosity, his constant supply of original project ideas, and his generosity of time and mentorship. Thank you to my ISU advisor, Hugh Hill, for his unrelenting encouragement and his helpful foresight. Thank you also to my comrades in the cubicles, James Bevington, Patrick Carlson, and Jade Checlair, who were always there to bounce ideas around. i Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... i Table of Tables ................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Figures ............................................................................................................................... iii Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................. iv 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 2. Restoral and archiving of Viking GCMS data sets ....................................................................... 3 2.1 Viking Restoral Objectives ..................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Viking GCMS Background Work and Motivations ................................................................. 4 2.3 Applications of Restored Viking Data .................................................................................... 7 2.4 Current state of the Viking GCMS datasets ......................................................................... 12 2.5 Proposed plan for Viking GCMS data restoration ............................................................... 14 2.6 Submission of PDART proposal and future plans ................................................................ 21 3. Modelling perceived temperature of the human body on other planets ............................. 22 3.1 Perceived Temperature Objectives ..................................................................................... 22 3.2 Perceived Temperature Background Work and Motivations ............................................. 22 3.3 Mojave Desert field measurements .................................................................................... 25 3.4 Plan of action for perceived temperature future progress ................................................. 27 4. Internship Benefits to the Student ........................................................................................ 31 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 32 References .................................................................................................................................... 35 Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 37 ii Table of Tables Table 1: Objectives for the Viking restoral project. ........................................................................ 4 Table 2: Comparison of elution times. .......................................................................................... 11 Table 3: Current known information on the digital Viking GCMS data. ....................................... 14 Table 4: Summary of plan for data restoral. ................................................................................. 15 Table 5: Examples of clues from Biemann et al. 1977 of possible use for restoring data set. ..... 17 Table 6: Solution utilized to open, split and export Viking data set. ............................................ 19 Table 7: Objectives for the perceived temperature project. ........................................................ 22 Table 8: Measurements for perceived temperature calculations taken at Silver Lake. ............... 25 Table 9: Measurements for perceived temperature calculations taken at Mosquite. ................ 27 Table 10: Main energy considerations for energy calculations from first principles. .................. 28 Table 11: Proposed methods for correlating energy balance with comfort level ........................ 30 Table 13: Recommendations for continuation of projects. .......................................................... 34 Table 14: Full document of clues from Biemann et al. 1977. ....................................................... 37 Table 15: Table of variables for Perceived Temperature ............................................................. 39 Table of Figures Figure 1: A screen shot from the short film, Wanderers. ............................................................... 2 Figure 2: An illustration of how to read this report by chapter and sections ................................ 3 Figure 3: A full depiction of Mars exploration by crafts sent from Earth.. ..................................... 5 Figure 4: An example of helpful cataloguing of the GCMS data. .................................................... 8 Figure 5: Chlorobenzene detection by SAM on Mars.. ................................................................. 11 Figure 6: Mass chromatographs of m/e 128 ................................................................................ 12 Figure 7: The mass chromatogram of m/e 50 from the 200°C experiment. ................................ 16 Figure 8: A screenshot of the Viking GCMS data .......................................................................... 18 Figure 9: Working solution for cataloging GCMS data set. ........................................................... 19 Figure 10: Example of GCMS data set indexing so far in preparation for restoration ................. 20 Figure 11: Plot of first 1,000 data points from one file of VL-1 GCMS data. ................................ 20 Figure 12: Modes of heat transfer between the human body and an environment. .................. 23 Figure 13: Energy balance equation for the human body. ........................................................... 23 Figure 14: Flow diagram of Perceived Temperature applying PMV metod ................................. 26 Figure 15: Images of field measurement locations and test subject in the Mojave Desert. ........ 27 Figure 16: Examples of simple and detailed geometry in full body human thermal modelling. 31 iii Abbreviations GC Gas Chromatograph GCMS Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry GEX Gas Exchange (Instrument) ITAR International Traffic in Arms Regulations LR Labelled Release (Instrument) MS Mass Spectrometer NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology NSSDCA National Space Science Data Coordinated Archive PMV Predicted Mean Vote PR Pyrolytic Release (Instrument) PT Perceived Temperature SAM Sample Analysis on Mars TEGA Thermal Evolved Gas Analysis VL Viking Lander VL-1 Viking Lander 1 VL-2 Viking Lander 2 iv 1. Introduction This report will cover