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NASA May Put Greenhouse on Mars in 2021
By Mike Wall, Senior Writer | May 06, 2014 07:01am ET
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Mars Plant Experiment (MPX)
Pin It A rendition of the proposed location of the Mars Plant Experiment (MPX) on top of a Curiosity rover image. MPX would be affixed to NASA's next Mars rover, which is due to launch in 2020.
Credit: Chris McKay and the MPX Proposal Team
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Plant life may touch down on Mars in 2021.
Researchers have proposed putting a plant-growth experiment on NASA's next Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch in mid-2020 and land on the Red Planet in early 2021. The investigation, known as the Mars Plant Experiment (MPX), could help lay the foundation for the colonization of Mars, its designers say.
"In order to do a long-term, sustainable base on Mars, you would want to be able to establish that plants can at least grow on Mars," MPX deputy principal investigator Heather Smith, of NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, said April 24 at the Humans 2 Mars conference in Washington, D.C. "This would be the first step in that … we just send the seeds there and watch them grow." [The Boldest Mars Missions in History]
The MPX team — led by fellow Ames scientist Chris McKay — isn't suggesting that the 2020 Mars rover should play gardener, digging a hole with its robotic arm and planting seeds in the Red Planet's dirt. Rather, the experiment would be entirely self-contained, eliminating the chance that Earth life could escape and perhaps get a foothold on Mars.
Graphic Illustrating the Mars Plant Experiment
Pin It Graphic illustrating the Mars Plant Experiment (MPX) concept, which aims to send a tiny greenhouse to the Red Planet along with NASA's next Mars rover in 2021.
Credit: Chris McKay and the MPX Proposal teamView full size image
MPX would employ a clear "CubeSat" box — the case for a cheap and tiny satellite — which would be affixed to the exterior of the 2020 rover. This box would hold Earth air and about 200 seeds of Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant that's commonly used in scientific research.
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The seeds would receive water when the rover touched down on Mars, and would then be allowed to grow for two weeks or so.
"In 15 days, we'll have a little greenhouse on Mars," Smith said.
MPX would provide an organism-level test of the Mars environment, showing how Earth life deals with the Red Planet's relatively high radiation levels and low gravity, which is about 40 percent as strong as that of Earth, she added.
"We would go from this simple experiment to the greenhouses on Mars for a sustainable base," Smith said. "That would be the goal."
In addition to its potential scientific returns, MPX would provide humanity with a landmark moment, she added.
"It also would be the first multicellular organism to grow, live and die on another planet," Smith said.
The 2020 Mars rover is based heavily on NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed in August 2012 to determine if the Red Planet has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. Curiosity has already answered that question in the affirmative, finding that a site called Yellowknife Bay was, indeed, habitable billions of years ago.
Mars Myths & Misconceptions: QuizNo planet is more steeped in myth and misconception than Mars. This quiz will reveal how much you really know about some of the goofiest claims about the red planet.Start the Quiz
The original 'Face on Mars' image taken by NASA's Viking 1 orbiter, in grey scale, on July, 25 1976. Image shows a remnant massif located in the Cydonia region. 0 of 10 questions complete
NASA wants the 2020 rover to search for signs of past Mars life, and collect rock and soil samples for eventual return to Earth. But the space agency is still working out the details of the robot's mission — for example, figuring out what instruments it will carry.
NASA received 58 instrument proposals for the rover during its call for submissions, which lasted from September 2013 until January of this year. Final selections should be made by June or so, NASA officials have said.
Curiosity totes 10 instruments around Mars, so the 2020 rover may end up with a similar amount of scientific gear.
http://www.space.com/25767-nasa-mars-greenhouse-rover-plant-experiment.html
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To Combat Climate Change, Humanity Must Act Now, NASA Chief Says
By Mike Wall, Senior Writer | May 08, 2014 06:43pm ET
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NASA Chief Charles Bolden Discuss 3rd National Climate Assessment
Pin It NASA Administrator Charles Bolden discusses the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment at the space agency's Ames Research Center in California on May 8, 2014.
Credit: Mike Wall/Space.com
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Humanity must act now if it hopes to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, NASA chief Charles Bolden says.
Climate change is not some far-off, nebulous issue that future generations will have to confront, Bolden told reporters Thursday (May 8) during a discussion of the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment report here at NASA's Ames Research Center. Rather, it's happening right now, and people all over the world are already feeling the effects.
"The world is different from the way it used to be," Bolden said. "Climate change is a problem we must deal with right now." [8 Ways Global Warming Is Already Changing the World]
The latest National Climate Assessment (NCA), which was released by the White House on Tuesday (May 6), is the most comprehensive and authoritative document ever written about how climate change is affecting the United States, Bolden added.
The report doesn't paint a pretty picture.
"Precipitation patterns are changing, sea level is rising, the oceans are becoming more acidic and the frequency and intensity of some extreme weather events are increasing," the NCA states. "The observed warming and other climatic changes are triggering wide-ranging impacts in every region of our country and throughout our economy."
Bolden spoke in front of Ames' "hyperwall," a 23-foot-wide (7 meters) visualization system that helps scientists analyze and display huge and complicated datasets.
Over Bolden's right shoulder, the hyperwall showed a map of the continental United States depicting average July temperatures in 1950. Over his left shoulder was a prediction of how this map would look in July 2100 in a "business as usual" scenario, with no meaningful action taken to curb emissions of the heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide.
On the 1950 map, only a small corner of the southwestern U.S. blushes dark red, indicating average July temperatures of at least 105 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius). But this color covers about one-third of the 2100 map — including some of today's prime agricultural land in the Midwest and Great Plains.
"We don't want to be there," Bolden said, gesturing toward the July 2100 map. "We think we can do something about it."
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The image of Earth in space like a blue marble highlighted the planets fragility and the beauty of Earth. 0 of 10 questions complete
Taking steps to reduce the use of fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum would indeed make a difference, helping the nation and the world mitigate some of climate change's most dramatic effects, the NCA states. But impacts are unavoidable (and ongoing) at this point, because carbon dioxide stays in Earth's atmosphere for decades.
"The amount of warming projected beyond the next few decades is directly linked to the cumulative global emissions of heat-trapping gases and particles," the NCA report states. "By the end of this century, a roughly 3-degree F to 5-degree F rise is projected under a lower emissions scenario, which would require substantial reductions in emissions (referred to as the 'B1 scenario'), and a 5-degree F to 10-degree F rise for a higher emissions scenario assuming continued increases in emissions, predominantly from fossil fuel combustion (referred to as the 'A2 scenario')."
NASA scientists and satellites contributed greatly to the NCA report, Bolden said, and the space agency will continue to keep tabs on the planet from above. NASA has already launched one Earth-observation mission in 2014 — the Global Precipitation Measurement core observatory, which blasted off in February — and will loft four more before the calendar flips over.
"I am calling this — in fact, NASA now calls it — the year of Earth," Bolden said. "We're focusing on trying to put instruments up, whether they're on the International Space Station or free flyers, that will help us get more information to help us understand more about what's happening on our Earth."
http://www.space.com/25811-climate-change-action-nasa-chief.html
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Seven Pinoys still in the running for life on Mars program
May 7, 2014 3:27pm
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Mars may soon have Filipino colonizers hopping along its bright red surface building constructs, after seven Filipinos made it through Mars One's third screening process.
Four more Filipinos have been added to three previous candidates, three of them currently abroad while one works in Pasig. The seven are:
Michael Theodore L. Pias
Profession: Physician in an oilfield
Current Location: Oman
Willard Sollano Daniac
Profession: Electrical inspector at KAHRAMAA-Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation
Current Location: Qatar
Catherine Jane Franco
Profession: Pre-production engineer in a PCB manufacturing company
Current Location: Singapore
Jaymee del Rosario
Profession: President of International Metal Source
Current Location: USA
Duane Locsin
Profession: I.T. support and hauler
Current Location: Australia
Gabrielle Angeli
Minerva (no last name given)
Daniac has earlier cited his “knowledge of Astronomy [and] Physics,” as well as of the characteristics of Mars, as his advantage.
For Pias, it's his “good head for observation and analysis.”
Del Rosario, meanwhile, said: “As the owner of my own company, I can clearly work well with others and be a team leader.
“Being born in the Philippines, I know that I can easily adapt to any new surroundings and work with any available resources,” he added.
In a statement, Mars One said only 705 candidates remain in the running. A panel interview will decide who gets to colonize Mars on 2024. Each selected person will undergo astronaut training before they take off for the red planet.
The "Balitanghali" report said whoever goes to Mars will be there for good. —Rie Takumi/KBK/TJD, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/stor...still-in-the-running-for-life-on-mars-program
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The Rise of Carbon Dioxide in a Single Video
I’m always amazed by the power of data visualization. In this case a video shrinks the rising levels of carbon dioxide over the course of 800,000 years to just under two minutes.
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The motivation is simple: April set a carbon dioxide milestone by averaging 400 parts per million for the entire month. That’s uncharted territory over the course of human history.
Screenshot from the video showing the variations in the amount of CO2 in Earth atmosphere for the last 800,000 years.
Screenshot from the video showing the variations in the amount of CO2 in Earth atmosphere for the last 800,000 years.
The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are monitored from a site atop Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano, where they have been measured continuously since 1958. Previous to this date scientists measure ice cores, which contain air bubbles and therefore snapshots of carbon dioxide levels.
This animation from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences makes clear that while there have been some variations over time, the current rise is unparalleled by geological scales.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution CO2 levels stayed roughly around 280 ppm. But then with the kickstart of carbon emissions, levels were driven exponentially higher. They soared past 350 ppm — the level scientist James Hansen said was the safe upper limit of CO2 — in October 1989.
The first measurement in excess of 400 ppm was made on May 9, 2013. This year, the level rose above that mark two months earlier, and has remained above 400 ppm steadily since the beginning of April. Levels will peak in May and then drop back down throughout the summer months as trees and plants soak up some CO2.
Once the northern hemisphere spins into fall, the instrument on Mauna Loa will again read higher CO2 levels. Next year will probably see an even earlier onset of levels above 400 ppm. It likely won’t be long before levels never drop lower than 400 ppm, even throughout the summer months.
Also, today the U.S. Global Change Research Program released a report that has been five years in the making, providing an overview of observed and projected climate change. It’s a lengthy document, but you can see an overview here. In sum, the report shows how the world is already experiencing the effects of climate change and the impacts are playing out before our eyes.
“We’ve seen a lot in the last five years,” said Andrew Rosenberg of the Union of Concerned Scientists, one of the lead authors on the report’s oceans chapter, in a press release from The Daily Climate. “So what we’ve tried to do is be quite comprehensive on what our observations have been, as opposed to just modeling projections.”
“Five years ago, ocean acidification and species movement was already happening, but the observational record wasn’t as clear,” Rosenberg said. “Now it really is quite clear. It’s not theory-based or model-based.”
Global temperatures measured by decades since the 1880's. The period from 2001-2012 was the warmest on record globally. Every year was warmer than the 1990s average. Credit: U.S. Global Change Research Program.
Global temperatures measured by decades since the 1880′s. The period from 2001-2012 was the warmest on record globally. Every year was warmer than the 1990s average. Credit: U.S. Global Change Research Program.
This report is unique in that it not only includes data from scientists, but also has input from local groups and industries facing climate impacts. Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington, and maple syrup producers in Vermont are all experiencing climate-related issues. So, too, are coastal planners in Florida, water managers in the Southwest, and Native Peoples on tribal lands from Louisiana to Alaska.
Human beings are already being impacted by climate change.
http://www.universetoday.com/111719/the-rise-of-carbon-dioxide-in-a-single-video/
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Mars after 100 years of terraforming
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