The Spirit and Opportunity rovers, developed by NASA, have been working on Mars for more than a year now. During this time, the rovers have uncovered tell-tale signatures of past volcanic and oceanic activities by studying the various rocks littering the Martian surface. The prospect of finding past/present life on Mars have never been better, and to that end, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, University of Idaho, and University of Montana are developing a chemical guidebook as part of what they hope will be a definitive method to determine whether extraterrestrial rocks have ever harbored life.
Spirit Rover (Courtesy: NASA)
The scientists will take advantage of two sophisticated research tools:
a) On the hardware side, the LOCI (Laser and Optical Chemical Imager) combines a laser with a mass spectrometer. Already part of the rover repertoire, the laser evaporates the rock surface, and the spectrometer analyses the gas cloud that is formed. Scientists can then study the spectral image to determine what the surface layers were made of – minerals such as iron, say, with a sprinkling of microbial waste products.
b) On the software side, a fuzzy logic computer program called the SIDIE (Spectral IDentification Inference Engine) would supply the Mars rover with some extra brains. Developed at the Idaho National Laboratory, SIDIE uses an open-ended reasoning approach that mimics a human's decision-making abilities and learning.
Thus combined, the two innovations might be able to point to rocks that have a curious chemical signature that might be the product of activities similar to what we call, life! Another bit of good news: NASA has recently extended the operations of the rovers to September 2006; so scientists will be able to test the new software on the rovers to see if they can find some such evidence of past or present life :):).
Spirit Rover (Courtesy: NASA)
The scientists will take advantage of two sophisticated research tools:
a) On the hardware side, the LOCI (Laser and Optical Chemical Imager) combines a laser with a mass spectrometer. Already part of the rover repertoire, the laser evaporates the rock surface, and the spectrometer analyses the gas cloud that is formed. Scientists can then study the spectral image to determine what the surface layers were made of – minerals such as iron, say, with a sprinkling of microbial waste products.
b) On the software side, a fuzzy logic computer program called the SIDIE (Spectral IDentification Inference Engine) would supply the Mars rover with some extra brains. Developed at the Idaho National Laboratory, SIDIE uses an open-ended reasoning approach that mimics a human's decision-making abilities and learning.
Thus combined, the two innovations might be able to point to rocks that have a curious chemical signature that might be the product of activities similar to what we call, life! Another bit of good news: NASA has recently extended the operations of the rovers to September 2006; so scientists will be able to test the new software on the rovers to see if they can find some such evidence of past or present life :):).
New Tools For Mars Rovers
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4 Comments:
I still think that we are the Martians. Life developed there first, as the planet began to die, Earth was seeded so that life would survive. That's just my theory.
Broomhilda: You might be right, you know! There is one theory that life first started on Mars, and then a volcanic eruption or meteor impact threw a rock(s) into orbit (which had some biological material in it). This rock(s) came to Earth and seeded life here. It has not been disproved yet, so who knows?!
Un-apologetic Atheist: I agree with you wholeheartedly. NASA is the spark that has given birth to many a technologies. People do not always understand that space research is not only for space.. it has huge benefits on Earth as well!
About private ventures, the more the better. Soon these private ventures will get corporations behind them (Virgin Galactic, for example), and that will bring in the shareholders and the common man who will have a direct stake and say in what is going on. I think that is a good thing to have.
On the sad side, NASA has become too politicized. I would like to see NASA to be a semi-autonomous body.. getting part of the funds from the government, but also able to launch private ventures or collect money by selling/licensing (unclassified) technologies.
Gindy: Are you talking about The Martian Chronicles?
Abt. private ventures, again, whenever you involve laymen and women directly (through shareholding), the industry will be propelled in the right direction. Large groups of people often come to a right solution (given that there is no noticeable bias) even though an individual might not.
Lucretia: I personally think the rover-time should be extended as long they work! But they might cut funding for the voyagers.. and that makes me hopping mad :-(.
Wise Donkey: Yup! You have seen nothing yet :-D.
Ok, off to work, and perhaps writing a new post :-):-).
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