Did Phoenix Burn Martian Life?

May 25, 2009

It sounds like a freshman biology laboratory error: "Too bad Joe, you burned the sample. Anything that was alive is now dead. Very, very dead. Clean up the broken glass and burn marks on the wall."

Down here on Earth, we're allowed to make experimental mistakes. If we damage a sample, we simply collect a new one and modify our technique. Unfortunately, when it's a robot, on the Martian surface that's doing the experiment, there's very little we can do if an experiment goes wrong. In fact, we'd probably have no clue if the experiment had gone wrong in the first place; robots only do what they are programmed to do.

Last year, when the Phoenix Mars Lander was scraping samples of regolith from the surface, it made the bitter-sweet discovery of perchlorate in the soil. Perchlorate can be found in rocket fuel, and as you may have guessed, rocket fuel isn't exactly a healthy addition to anyone's diet.

Although the discovery of perchlorate was a real downer for Mars life hunters (but caused a huge fuss online), there was still some hope. Perchlorate is a salt, and salts, when dissolved in water, can lower the freezing point, keeping it in a fluid state. Therefore, it is well within the realms of reality that there may be pools of salty water (brine) situated in the upper layers of regolith. Amazingly, it is known that some basic forms of life in harsh desert environments on Earth actually use perchlorate as an energy source.

Awesome! The search for Mars life is still on!

Not so fast. Everything from the Viking Mars landers in the 1970's to the Phoenix Mars lander last year have turned up blanks for the search for ET in the Martian dirt. Not only that, but there have been no discoveries of organic compounds. Organic compounds should have been discovered by now; cometary material is known to contain organic chemicals and we know that Mars has been peppered with this material in the past. So where are all the organics?

In an attempt to detect organic compounds and basic life forms, our robotic landers use small ovens to heat samples up and then analyze the gases given off. But therein lies the problem, there's a reason why perchlorate is used in rocket fuel. It burns.

Usually at low temperatures, perchlorate is harmless, but when heated to a few hundred degrees, it releases large quantities of oxygen. Oxygen fuels fire, burning any combustible material. Organics are combustible! It's therefore little wonder we haven't found and organic chemicals (or life) on Mars - each scoop of soil our 'bots collected got charbroiled! Rather than hunting for life, Phoenix was sanitizing the samples.

Oops.

Now scientists are trying to think up other ways to analyze Martian soil for organics. I'm thinking we might have to wait for the first manned missions to Mars before we can conclusively work out whether Mars has the potential to support life. Human ingenuity will beat a programmed robot every time...

Source: New Scientist

New Jupiter-Europa Mission: Call it 'Clarke'?

February 19, 2009

No sooner does Discovery Space put up a Wide Angle pondering a mission to Jupiter's ice-encrusted Europa, then the U.S. and European space agencies say,
"Baby, you're as cold as ice -- and covered in ice -- but we're going to fly out 780 million miles to meet you."

I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea.

Check out the European Space Agency's (ESA) release here, and NASA's release here (Emily Lackdawalla of the Planetary Society Blog seems to have put the first post up about this, so a hat tip to her).

Now, Europa did have some stiff (or should I say muddy?) competition: Saturn's chilly moon Titan. Scientists put up a fight for robotic visitation rights, and they still won -- Titan is on the roadmap for a future mission.

I think the reason Titan came in at #2 is because we already dropped a probe onto its soupy, organic surface -- the Huygens probe, for all of you non-space nerds -- which is why I think it's high-time we give Europa a peek.

Looking for background? Roll through this package we put together for you last week:

Methane on Mars, Penny for a Star, NASA's New Boss?

January 19, 2009

Rounding up last week's space news, and a sneak peek at Discovery Space this week:

A Martian Methane Bomb on Earth

January 16, 2009

We writer types sometimes use a very unwelcome term, and I'd like to use it now:

Pack journalism.

Other variations: Herd journalism, "me-too" journalism.

Today, I'm using it to refer to the recent news about methane plumes discovered on Mars.

Thing is, we knew about this in October 2008. Nearly 3 months ago. Not to toot the horn of our very own blogger Ray Villard, but read it for yourself.

But back to pack journalism: What's the harm?

I'm not certain its damage physically measurable, but consider this: Seeing the same story written 1,000 different ways, yet saying the same boring thing (we don't know if there's life on Mars), in every media outlet from here to Timbuktu. That's a perfect recipe to whack a few confidence points off of the media scorecard. Ouch.

Thankfully here at Discovery Space, we're somewhat insulated from "the pack." We are not a news site -- but we do get behind it, blow it up and expand on the most interesting pieces. Take, for instance, our Wide Angle about life on Mars -- which we threw together after tabloids started publishing stories such as this, this and this.

Speaking of which... Er, really? NASA did not say there was past or present life on Mars.

Too late to stop the misinformation train, though -- people across the planet began freaking out about and wondering why this story is not in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, etc. etc. etc.

...enter pack journalism.

Because a few media outlets incorrectly report that we've found life on Mars, the unfortunate party begins. Every journalist and their mother is ordered to have a story about Martians filed a.s.a.p., setting off a feverish race to address claims of alien microbes when, really, the news is really just one incremental step in the search for life beyond Earth.

That said, I'm not knocking on the scientific findings here. They are very interesting and exciting. And I'm not knocking my colleagues, either -- there are some great pieces about this out there.

Yet NASA knows better than anybody that "alien" and "life" in the same sentence is a touchstone of interest for any human being -- so they'll drum up as much publicity as they can, when they can. Talk about stealing the spotlight: the space agency held their own TV press conference for what was a report in Science magazine.

Ok, so NASA isn't innocent when it comes to such publicity stunts, but I understand why they do it. To them, any widely-publicized advancement in the search for life could be that straw that breaks the camel's back, so to speak, to get support -- public, political, financial and otherwise -- to explore the solar system *coughAllanHillsmeteoritecough*.

Is there a solution to these problems? I'm not sure there is, but I'm sure the planet would appreciate any ideas -- feel free to leave 'em in the comments section below.

P.S. Seeking a superior breakdown of how science news shapes up? Don't miss Charlie Petitt's blog, the Knight Science Journalism Tracker -- one of my personal favorites that deserves its spot in the "VIB" (Very Important Blogs) folder of my Google Reader account. Petitt has a great inventory of the "Martian methane bomb" in this post.

Photo: NASA/Wikimedia Commons/Dave Mosher

Dark Energy, Mars Carbonates, Google Lunar X PRIZE

December 22, 2008

Regulars 'round these parts should now know the drill for these Discovery Space preview videos. If not, here's the deal:

1. I make an embarrassing video of myself. (You can find all of them here.)
2. In said video, I dish out the biggest news in space from last week.
3. After that, you get a preview of what's coming down the road for Discovery Space.

What you do after that is up to you, but if it involves making fun of me, then you can join the healthy crowd on YouTube. They have many sticks with pointy ends to jab me.

That being said, entertain thyself -- and don't miss the extra goodies after the jump:

Do Astronomers Believe in Aliens?

November 24, 2008

The scoop: Believing that intelligent extraterrestrial life -- aka aliens -- exist is one thing. Believing that they have visited Earth in our short time on the planet is another. Astronomer, author and blogger Phil Plait explains.

When I give public talks, I can almost guarantee that during the Q&A I'll get asked: Do I believe in aliens and UFOs?

My answer usually gets a laugh: "Yes, and no."

As far as aliens go, I suspect pretty strongly that there's life in space. We know of over 300 planets orbiting other stars, and we've only just started looking. In our Milky Way Galaxy alone there are probably literally billions of planets. Life on Earth got started pretty rapidly, relatively speaking, after the crust cooled and liquid water formed, so we know it's not tough for life to get its start... and it's entirely possible there is microbial life inside icy moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn.

So thinking aliens exist has a pretty decent scientific basis. But them coming here is an entirely different beast.

Are You A Believer?

November 20, 2008

I just hopped off an online interview with a director from MUFON -- the Mutual UFO Network -- and felt the need to say something about it.

Our interview, by the way, regards a mini-site I'm building for a Discovery Channel show called "UFOs Over Earth". As of right now the schedule is:

- The Bucks County Flap - Nov. 24 (Mon.) at 9:00 pm ET.
Re-runs: Dec. 13 (Sat.) at 10:00 pm ET and 2:00am ET

- Mass Sightings in Mexico - Nov. 24 (Mon.) at 10:00 pm ET

- The Fayetteville Incident - Re-runs: Dec. 13 (Sat.) at 9:00 pm ET and 1:00am ET)

TV schedules are fickle, however, so for the most up-to-date one click this here link.

At any rate, back to the chat...

Signs of Life CAN Survive in Meteorites

September 24, 2008

Remember back in 1996, when a group of scientists thought they found fossilized bacteria on a Martian meteorite? Debate about the rock -- also known as ALH 84001 -- still goes on to this day. Most scientists are convinced it's not a fossilized remnant (too small to be bacteria, they argue), but others remain optimistic.

Now that you have that picture zipping around in your brain, read this (emphasis added):

STONE-6 ARTIFICIAL METEORITE SHOWS MARTIAN IMPACTORS COULD CARRY TRACES OF LIFE

An artificial meteorite designed by the European Space Agency has shown that traces of life in a martian meteorite could survive the violent heat and shock of entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

First of all, WOW.

Second, before your imagination runs too wild, the experiment did not show that life could survive the fiery reentry to Earth (even beneath about an inch of rock). That's still up for debate.

What it did show, however, is that the bacteria turn into nice carbon outlines on the rocks they ride on. (To get an idea of how this works, check out the picture at left -- it's a permanent shadow left by someone who was vaporized during the Hiroshima atomic blast).

Ok, now let's back up a bit: What the heck is STONE-6? It's one of a couple experiments packed into a small FOTON M3 capsule that launched last year from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

Scientists created their own lava-like and sedimentary rocks, infusing them with bacteria and some really old fossils in the process. Then they strapped the rocks to the capsule's heat shield; when it returned to Earth, presto! A fine simulation of Martian rock making a fiery atmospheric entry.

Most Martian meteorites are spotted in Antarctica, and it's because their black color stands out in the snow and ice. Problem is, bacterial remnants burned onto the rocks (at 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit) don't show up on black meteorites very well... They're totally camouflaged.

Here's what Frances Westall, leader of the experiment, had to say:

"The STONE-6 experiment shows that sedimentary martian meteorites could reach Earth.  The fact that we haven't found any to date could mean that we need to change the way we hunt for meteorites ...  In this experiment we found that the sedimentary rocks developed a white crust or none at all. That means that we need to expand our search to white or light-coloured rocks."

In other words, we need to start finding more  needles in a haystack that is Antarctica. White rocks, not black ones. That's where we'll find signs of life, if anywhere.

Easier said than done, but it's a promising lead in figuring out if life has ever existed in the Solar System other than on our home planet.

NOTE: This post went up prematurely last week, so my apologies if you're seeing it again.

Photos, top to bottom: NASA; Department of Defense

Martian Chemistry Find: Bad for Life?

August 04, 2008

If you didn't catch my previous post about the Mars-potential-for-life rumors, click here.

In short, quite a few  people ran stories describing a positive habitability-of-life result for Martian soil. Those reports stemmed from from a recent wet chemistry test by none other than the Phoenix Mars Lander, but were distorted in "retelling on the Internet," as Phoenix scientist Michael Hecht told me.

Now NASA has just put out a new press release, and -- oops -- looks like that "great for life" result might in reality be the opposite.

Scientists found perchlorate, which is an oxidizer, a DNA-munching chemical, and something that's not pleasant for supporting life.

The press release beat around the bush quite a bit about concluding it's a bad sign, but one interesting note was this (emphasis added):

The team also is working to totally exonerate any possibility of the perchlorate readings being influenced by terrestrial sources which may have migrated from the spacecraft, either into samples or into the instrumentation.

Translation: Rocket fuel Solid rocket propellant -- which perchlorate is an oxidizer for -- could have contaminated Phoenix somehow. Thing is, Phoenix used liquid hydrazine fuel to land and not solid rockets to land on the Martian surface. (Thanks to Sara Hammond for the correction!)

The Phoenix team, however, thought digging deep to get to pure samples would prevent any contamination. That might not be the case, though.

So, the final word? Still uncertain, but it's not a good thing any way you look at it. Either:
a) Pure Martian soil samples may be far more difficult to obtain than thought or...
b) Perchlorate is a major component of Martian soil (possible ouch for microbes).

We'll have to wait until tomorrow after 1 p.m. EDT, when NASA holds a press conference, to get more information.

My hope, having written an article for SPACE.com last year on the subject, is that it's fuel contamination. Even though Phoenix didn't use solid rockets to land. But it's just that: A hope.

Photo: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona/Univ. of Michigan

Something Fishy's Happening on Mars

August 03, 2008

Updated at 10:15 a.m. EDT (see below)

Nope, no fish on Mars. You didn't hear that at the Space Disco blog first.

But do check out Emily Lakdawalla's blog over at the Planetary Society (not to be confused with the Planetary Science Institute) -- apparently something very interesting was found in a recent wet chemistry experiment on the Red Planet.

We'll have to wait to hear about what they found, though, because the Mars team is allegedly holding out until they can get their results peer-reviewed.

Emily points out that the Mars Phoenix Twitter feed has refuted the two biggest claims so far:
1) life -- past or present -- was not discovered on Mars
2) Phoenix scientists have not met with the White House about the findings

Then again, it's also important to remember that almost anyone can pull the levers and push the buttons behind a Twitter feed; for all anyone knows, it could be me... (I kid, I kid!)

So here's what I'm going to do: Have the experts tell Discovery Space exactly what happened over the weekend, because no one really seems to have a clue. Confusion breeds chaos, goes that one famous saying. I think.

I'll keep you updated, of course, so keep checking back often!

UPDATE 1 (10:05 a.m. EDT): Michael Hecht, the lead scientist for the MECA instrument on the Phoenix Mars Lander, which is the source of all the "interestingness" (as I'd like to call it) that's going on right now, responded to an email I sent out over the weekend.

Here is the Aviation Week article he's referring to. And now the message, with emphasis added in italics:

We appreciate the interest from Discovery Space ... but we can only talk about what has been released.

We share your concern about the rumors and there is likely to be a press release to address them, possibly as soon as tomorrow.

Much of the content of the Aviation Week article was actually discussed in the press conference on July 31 (available on the University of Arizona iTunes site if you didn't see it), though the story has grown in the retelling on the internet.

Mike Hecht

So we gather from this, from a major official on the Phoenix Mars Lander team, that:

1) A press release is coming out within 24 hours to address the rumors
2) There are indeed plenty of rumors going around
3) People on the Internet (aka news providers and bloggers) are blowing the Aviation Week report out of proportion

So, more thumb twiddling as we wait for an interview with someone on the MECA team...

Photo: NASA