Newsletter Spring 2021

Comments from the Chair

While the ROM unfortunately remains closed due to the pandemic, the Friends of Earth and Space (FES) have continued to engage our members through regular emails sharing links to articles of interest, through our newsletters, and through our Talks series.

With the excitement of the Mars 2020 mission, and our own Kim Tait featured so prominently, earlier this year one of our members, Doug Gibson, presented the topic, “Everything you Wanted To Know About Mars – but Were Afraid to Ask”. Doug’s Talk included an interesting overview of the history of rovers, while describing and preparing the audience for the following day’s event – the landing on Mars of the rover, Perseverance. There was a great turnout and many positive comments shared for Doug. As Chair, I personally thank Doug for sharing his knowledge in and passion for the field of astronomy with us.

Details for our Annual General Meeting scheduled for the fall of 2021 will be sent out once confirmed.

Best wishes to you all – and thank you for your continued support of the Earth Sciences section.

Toni Fiore Lisi, FES Chair

1 NASA’s Perseverance Helicopter Makes History

On April 19, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made history by being the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. Ingenuity hitched a ride to Mars on the under-belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover which landed on Mars on February 18, 2021.

Figure 1: Ingenuity helicopter under the Perseverance rover. © NASA, 2021.

The 1.8 kg helicopter, with two 0.6-meter diameter blades, climbed to a prescribed maximum altitude of 3 meters and maintained a stable hover of 30 seconds, descended, and touched down on Mars for a total of 39.1 seconds of flight.

It used its navigation camera to take its first black-and-white photo in flight.

On its second flight on April 22nd, Ingenuity climbed even higher to 4.9 meters, and was air-bound for a total of 52 seconds. After a brief hover, it tilted at a 5-degree angle and moved sideways for 2.1 meters. Ingenuity’s color camera took several images from different directions before landing. Perseverance’s video recorded the flights from a distance.

Ingenuity contains no scientific instruments; its main purpose is to demonstrate whether aerial flight is possible on Mars and whether it could be used for future missions. The April 19th flight is the first of five to be conducted over a 30 Martian day (31 Earth days) period.

The lower gravity on Mars (one-third of Earth’s) and the thin atmosphere (1% of Earth’s) made it a challenge for engineers to build a craft that could fly. To achieve this feat, Ingenuity had to be built very light, with twin blades that counter-rotated and spun at 2500 revolutions a minute, five times faster than on Earth.

2 Figure 2: Ingenuity helicopter. © Twitter, @NASAPersevere, 2020.

A small swatch of wing fabric from the original Wright Flyer, was placed by engineers under Ingenuity’s solar panels. The Wright brothers made history in 1903 with the first successful powered flight on Earth. A small splinter of wood from the same craft had also accompanied the Apollo 11 mission to the moon in July 1969. Ingenuity’s launch site on Mars has now been named after the Wright brothers, in honor of this historic moment.

Figure 3: Wright Brothers Field, Ingenuity Helicopter Flight Zone Map. © NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona, 2021.

NASA engineers have affectionally nicknamed Perseverance and Ingenuity Percy and Ginny. Percy has taken more than 35,000 images since landing on Mars. To view them and Ginny’s first flight visit NASA’s Mars exploration program website.

Michelle Abrams, FES Member

3 Modern Alchemy: The Manufacture of Synthetic Diamonds

Specimens of both natural and synthetic industrial diamonds were recently donated to the Royal Ontario Museum by a member of the Friends of Earth and Space.

Natural industrial diamonds, like their gem siblings, are formed deep beneath the Earth’s surface by natural processes. Synthetic industrial diamonds, on the other hand, are manufactured. The vast majority of industrial diamonds are synthetic.

Figure 4 : Natural vs. synthetic diamonds. © Instagram @diamond_buzz, 2020.

Industrial diamonds are components of: core drills used in mineral, oil and gas exploration, and in construction; abrasive wheels and saws; pastes used in precision grinding of optical lenses and many other industrial applications where hardness is an essential requirement.

Industrial diamonds are generally classified as such because their smaller size, colour or other physical characteristics are considered unsuitable for processing into gem diamonds. While industrial diamonds are considered lower quality stones, industrial diamond impregnated saws and polishing wheels are used in the cutting and faceting of their more glamorous siblings.

Natural industrial diamonds, like their gem siblings, were formed deep beneath the Earth’s surface by natural processes involving levels of extreme heat and pressure sufficiently high to crystallize carbon into a diamond. The diamonds formed were later carried to the surface of the Earth in a form of volcanic magma known as

4 kimberlite. Diamonds were not formed in the host kimberlite; however, kimberlite was the molten elevator which transported diamonds to the Earth’s surface.

Synthetic industrial diamonds, on the other hand, are diamonds which are not formed by natural processes. Synthetic diamonds are generally manufactured within ultra- high-pressure and temperature machines which recreate the extreme heat and pressure required to crystallize carbon. A form of carbon, which can be processed within these machines, is graphite.

Figure 5: Scanned electron microscopy of synthetic diamonds. © Instagram, @swissnanopics, 2020.

Synthetic diamonds can be used for size, superior hardness, and thermal properties. The temperature and pressure required to crystallize the raw material graphite is created by crushing the graphite between large anvils made of tungsten carbide. The pressure involved in transforming the graphite to diamond is such that, after a number of production cycles, the anvils will shatter. The breaking of an anvil is accompanied by a loud thud and a slight ground tremor in the vicinity of the particular machine. The broken anvils can be replaced quite quickly, however, the weight of the tungsten carbide anvils requires the use of a forklift or overhead crane.

The breaking and replacing of anvils occurs several times a day in a large synthetic plant due to the number of machines in simultaneous operation. Because of the weight, consumable nature, vital role, quality control, and recyclability of the tungsten carbide anvils, there are advantages in having an anvil production plant adjoining the synthetic diamond plant.

Graphite is a very soft substance, often used in the core of pencils, ranking a lowly 1.5 on the Mohs Hardness Scale. However, when graphite is crystallized, it becomes a diamond which is awarded the highest ranking of 10.

5 Figure 6: Graphite mineral. © Miriam Doerr Martin Frommherz, Shutterstock.

Synthetic diamonds were first commercially produced in large quantities in the mid- 1900s. Many years of research were required to discover a method of producing synthetic diamonds and to design machines capable of recreating and surviving the severe conditions which attended the birth of natural diamonds. The scientists who developed methods for converting one of the softest materials into the hardest, may be regarded as true alchemists of the twentieth century.

Robert Yeoman, FES member

We hope you will consider joining our group and become a member with a $50.00 tax-receipted donation. For more information, contact us at [email protected].

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