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Search for Life on MARS

Search for Life on MARS. Q: Why is water important for life?. A: Because it’s such a great solute. Who am I?. Adrian Brown PhD student at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology (ACA), Macquarie University Supervisors are Prof. Malcolm Walter, Director of the ACA, and Dr. Tom Cudahy, CSIRO

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Search for Life on MARS

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  1. Search for Life onMARS

  2. Q: Why is water important for life? A: Because it’s such a great solute.

  3. Who am I? • Adrian Brown • PhD student at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology (ACA), Macquarie University • Supervisors are Prof. Malcolm Walter, Director of the ACA, and Dr. Tom Cudahy, CSIRO • Thesis topic – Mapping Ancient Hydrothermal Systems on Earth and Mars

  4. Presentation Overview • Finding water in rocks • Colours of ancient rocks – Pilbara, WA • NASA’s Mars Exploration Landers • 2004 Mars Landing Sites – how they were chosen • Rover Instruments • Colours of ancient rocks – Gusev Crater, Mars • Investigating Grains of Rock with Microscopes • Dust: part of the problem or the solution?

  5. Finding water in rocks! • Water becomes part of rocks in various ways: • Unbound water, fluid inclusions • Bound water in clays • Part of the mineral, in the form of hydroxyl • It can be preserved in these forms indefinitely, but will be subject to weathering, radiation (evaporation), diffusion and advection processes O H H

  6. Ancient Rocks of Earth – a Mars Analogue? • ACA scientists are investigating the ancient Pilbara region of northern Western Australia • 3.5 billion years old • Contains first signs of life on Earth in the form of stromatolites • Could be a good analogue for Mars

  7. North Pole Dome

  8. Colours of Ancient Rocks Sun • A spectrometer splits up light into different colours • By graphing colour intensities we can record a characteristic spectral response of rocks Collector Infrared Red Rock Sample Yellow Diffractometer Blue Ultraviolet

  9. Colours of rocks • Mica alteration (left) chlorite alteration (right)

  10. Mapping colours of rocks

  11. The 2003 Martian Missions

  12. Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)

  13. Landing Site Restrictions • Low latitudes required because the rovers are solar powered • Landing site must be 1.3km below ‘Martian Sea level’ so parachutes can function • Low winds must be present • Not too much dust, lest solar arrays and rocks are covered, and surface must bear the weight of a rover • Just enough rocks to be interesting, not enough to be dangerous

  14. Meridiani Isidis Gusev

  15. MER Instruments PANCAM – panoramic camera Mini TES – thermal emission spectrometer Magnetic Arrays APXS – alpha particle x-ray spectrometer Mossbauer – fe spectrometer MI – microscope imager RAT – rock abrasion tool

  16. Colours of rocks on Mars Silicates CO2 Carbonates

  17. Dust – part of the problem or solution?

  18. Latest image

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