CURIOSITY FINDS METHANE AND ORGANIC COMPOUNDS ON MARS

Mars Curiosity rover has detected methane on Mars, and has also found organic compounds in rock samples., hints of past or present life on Mars:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30456664

The source of the methane cannot be identified. Curiosity scientist Professor Sushil Atreya of the University of Michigan said 'It's possible that clathrates are involved. These are molecular cages of water-ice in which the methane gas is trapped. From time to time, these could be destabilised, perhaps by some mechanical or thermal stress, and the methane gas would be released to find its way up through cracks or fissures in the rock to enter the atmosphere.'

The methane could have got into the clathrate stores from Martian bugs, but it could also have come from a natural process which produces methane when water interacts with certain types of rocks. One way to investigate whether the Martian methane has a biological or geological origin would be to study the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 in the gas, and compare it to figures on Earth. A high ratio would indicate a biological origin. The methane volumes found so far on Mars are insufficient for this type of experiment.

The methane detection by Curiosity confirms the presence of methane that is also observed by orbiting spacecraft at Mars, and by telescopes on Earth, but which earlier could not be found by Curiosity.

Curiosity has also detected organic compounds, chlorobenzene, in the rocks it has been drilling. This is the first detection of organics in surface materials on Mars. It's not certain whether the organic material was actually present in the original rock, or was a produced during the analysis heating process.

Comment:  The importance of these findings is that life as we know it can only exist in the presence of complex carbon structures. We may still be far from proving that life existed on Mars, but these are significant steps in the right direction.

MARS 2020 ROVER PLANS

The next Martian rover will be launched by Nasa in the summer of 2020, to land on Mars in 2021.
It will carry a device able to convert carbon dioxide taken from the Martian atmosphere into oxygen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28582903

The seven scientific projects on board will include an experimental weather station, ground-penetrating radar for analysing the planet's geology, two arm-mounted gadgets for analysing the chemistry and structure of soil and rocks, and two cameras.

The oxygen produced by a new 'MOXIE' device could be used to support human life in a future manned mission to Mars, or make rocket fuel for return missions.

The rover design will be closely modelled on Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in August 2012.

Space will be available to store packaged rock samples drilled from the planet's surface, which could be shipped back to Earth by future return flights.

Comment:  An exciting development of the Curiosity work currently being carried out on the surface of Mars. But a long six year wait before launch.

CURIOSITY MARS ROVER CONTINUES DRILLING

Curiosity has drilled a second deeper hole in the rocked named 'Windjana' at the bottom of Mars' Gale Crater, a week after a test bore just a few centimetres away.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27298907

Professor John Grotzinger said his team was seeking further information on the role played by water in fixing the sediments that make up many of the rocks on the crater floor. 'We're most interested to find clues as to the aqueous geochemistry which resulted in cementation of the sedimentary rocks', he commented. The evidence indicates that the crater once held a lake, and the many rounded pebbles seen by Curiosity hint at the action of the water streams that may have fed that lake.

One obvious difference with the new sandstone hole in the Windjana rock compared to the previous drillings is the markedly darker colour of the particles.

Comment:  The new pictures show an obvious layered aspect of the rocks around Windjana, which look clearly sedimentary. It is brilliant that we are able to follow this scientific exploration of the Martian surface, as it happens.

CONFIRMATION OF WATER IN MARS SURFACE

A new paper by Laurie Leshin of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York describes findings by the Mars Curiosity Rover instruments of water in the Martian surface.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24287207

Curiosity has travelled 400 metres from the touchdown site in Gale crater. Instruments have now recorded ~ 2% water vapour present in the dusty red covering over the Martian surface.

FURTHER EVIDENCE OF MARS WATER INDICATOR

The Mars Curiosity rover computer problem is gradually being sorted, as further results from rock drilling have revealed important new evidence about the nature of water that once existed in the Gale Crater area on the Martian surface.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21755976

Curiosity has drilled into a rock which has been shown to contain clay minerals - with evidence of sulphur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon. This indicates the rock studied was deposited in a fresh water environment. Previous studies showed an acidic water environment, which would be less likely to support micro-organisms. 

MARS CURIOSITY ROVER HITS COMPUTER PROBLEM

Curiosity has been hit by a computer glitch just as it has begun analysing rock samples from the Martian surface. As a result, Curiosity is now working from a back-up computer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21654308

Nasa engineers are trying to sort the problem, which may have been caused by high-energy cosmic ray particles.
Meanwhile, Curiosity's scientific work has been put on hold.

CHECK-UP IMAGE ON-BOARD MARS ROVER CURIOSITY

The link below shows an image taken on 23 February 2013 on-board the Mars rover Curiosity. It was taken by the Mastcam camera.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16766.html

This is a check-up picture, taken just after the delivery of a sample of Martian powdered rock into the SAM intrument, following drilling into the rock. It shows the sample-processor and the delivery tool.

The clarity of this image is remarkable.

CURIOSITY ROVER STARTS DRILLING FOR ROCK SAMPLES

The Mars Curiosity rover has today drilled into a Martian rock at Yellowknife Bay and collected a rock sample for the first time. It's now six months since Curiosity landed.This is a wonderful step forward for interplanetary science - the first historic such probing of a rock on another world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21399857

The pictures from Mars show what looks like a small mound of fine grey powdered rock.
The hole drilled for the sample is 6.4 cm deep and 2.0 cm diameter. The next step will be to transfer the sample into two scientific instruments to carry our careful measurements: Chemin and Sam.

An incredible achievement. To be carrying out precise scientific experiments remotely with samples on the Martian surface is amazing.

SEARCH FOR LIFE ON EARTH ABANDONED
Ironically, while the Mars Curiosity rover continues its daily search for evidence of past life-hospitable environments on the surface of Mars, a project seeking evidence of simple lifeforms in an ancient lake deep below the Antarctic ice has been abandoned due to technical problems drilling the boreholes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20850360

The British Antarctic Survey project aimed to drill 1.8 miles down into the ice to reach a lake and search for traces of simple life forms from up to 0.5 million years ago, as well as gather climate record data. Hopefully the project can be resumed in due course.

Two ambitious and potentially highly significant scientific quests.