Tag Archives: Mars

Pack Your Things, We are Going to Mars

Posted on October 23, 2017 by | 2 comments

Who said that we are going?

Around a year ago, the South African-born billionaire, Elon Musk, announced his plan for the colonilization of  Mars in a live video that went viral. Musk planned to land on Mars in the next decade and get it ready to host life by 2030. Since then, many have questioned the feasibility of the plan, including an esteemed astronaut who hypothesized that the project would stop as soon as Musk realizes the investment is not rewarding.

Are we even close?

According to researchers from the University of Lisbon and the University of Porto, we are. In their paper that was published on 18 October 2017, in the Journal Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Vasco Guerra et al. argue that Mars has nearly ideal conditions for CO2 dissociation to O2 and CO in Plasmas. As a result, production of O2 in Mars from CO2, which constitutes 95.9% of the Martian atmosphere, is possible.

Wait…what?

This is an illustration of a plasma lamp. When current is passed through plasma, amazing colours are observed. Uploaded by Joshua_Willson to Pixabay.com April 26, 2017

Basically, plasma is a state of matter where positive gas ions are surrounded by free negatively charged electrons. It can have interesting applications, such as plasma lamps. This state does not necessarily require high temperaturet. For example, non equilibrium low temperature plasma is a very interesting field of study and it is the type that Guerro describes as “the best media for CO2 dissociation”. There are several studies about how plasma assists the dissociation of pure CO2 in the presence of a catalyst, usually TiO2. First, plasma supplies energy to drive the highly endothermic dissociation of CO2 through electron direct impact, in which an electron from the plasma transfers its energy to the CO2 molecule by collision, which aids the break of the C=O bond. Second, plasma adjusts the particles to the catalyst’s interface. Third, low temperature hinders the reverse reactions.

Why mars?

That is exactly Guerro’s argument. Guerro states that the atmospheric pressure of mars, 4.5 Torr, replaces the use of vacuum pumps that are necessary for the process on earth. Moreover, the average Martian atmospheric temperature, -63 oC, enhances the energy transfer from the plasma to the CO2. Also, Guerra mentions that the operation only requires as low as 20 W, which can be achieved on mars. Finally, the Martian atmosphere consists of 95.9% CO2, so O2 should be produced from this abundant source. Guerro says that the byproduct of this reaction, CO, can be used to fuel the return trip. In this way, the CO2 decomposition provides two benefits. Also, look at how beautiful it is:

An illustration of Mars, which is very beautiful. Uploaded by GooKingSword at pixabay.com

 

Personally, I used to think that if we can fix the atmosphere on Mars, then we should be able to fix it on Earth first. However, it turned out that Mars is helpful, but Earth is not. I started packing already…

By: Maged Hassan

2 Comments

Posted in Admin

Tagged , , , ,

Did Martian gave hope to young explorers ?

Posted on October 2, 2017 by | 1 comment

Whenever a new science fiction movie comes out, there’s often a lot of talk about how “accurate” it is, and this is usually in reference to the science: Can dinosaur DNA really come from a preserved mosquito? Can an asteroid really be deflected with a nuclear bomb?Usually, the scientific content of these movies is inaccurate, as movie directors try to engage in fantasy by having monsters and magic.  If it doesn’t involve post-apocalyptic scenes of zombies invading the Earth, it is not appetizing for the over-demanding audience.  With this in mind, “The Martian” might be one of the most accurate movies in terms of scientific content. However, it still exaggerates many aspects related to agriculture and fails to mention the reality behind trying to grow plants on Mars.

Farming on Mars

In the movie, after becoming stranded on the surface of Mars, Watney resorts to using a combination of his excrement, water, and Martian soil to grow potatoes. But is this realistic? Could the Martian soil be of any use? Isn’t it sterile and dead?

In terms of basic mineral content and chemical content, yes, it would be possible to grow plants in the Martian Soil. In fact, scientists conducted research on the chemical composition of rocks from Mars. They found that mars contained many bio-elements such as Potassium, Calcium, and Iron. Scientists claim that the rocky material on Mars is fertile and has the potential to yield extremely productive soils.

Well, kudos to the director for getting these facts right but Hang on! Is using human excrements even safe? No, it is not. Many studies show that using excrements could result in major health problems. It could spread disease and have a serious impact on human health.

 Water Availability  

Matt Damon’s character took hydrazine from the rocket and dissociated it into nitrogen and hydrogen. He then mixed the hydrogen with oxygen to make water. This process is doable if I was an expert on how to extract fuel and knew basic chemistry. It could certainly work but if I was stranded on Mars, I will just make water out of the soil. Water is available in its natural state on Mars as ice, permafrost or soaked into the soil. Martian soil is about 5% water. by weight, at low latitude and up to 60% water near the poles. Martians are not going to get their water by importing hydrazine and burning it with precious cabin oxygen, they are going to find it in the soil!

The Martian was a great movie in terms of depicting scientific content. It succeeded in inspiring young people to consider the possibility of conquering space. However, before you pack your bags and move to Mars, you must know that surviving on Mars could be a struggle. Even though the elements of life might be available on Mars, trying to sustain human life will be a challenge.

1 Comment

Tagged , , , , , , ,

New Plan for Seeking Life on Mars

Posted on September 24, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Written by: Jake Wong, Sept. 24th

Many have wondered whether our neighbor planet, Mars, contains life outside of what we know of here on Earth. It would make sense, as Mars is within the proper distance away from the Sun to sustain life. However, enough research has been done to know that the stereotypical humanoid green “Martian” does not exist. Therefore, researchers are switching targets to find life: fossilized microorganisms, or “microfossil”.

Geology professor Craig Marshall and his team recently released a paper discussing how the detection of vanadium can lead to detecting life. The technique makes use of Raman spectroscopy, which reveals the cellular composition of a sample. Previously, researchers had been using Raman spectroscopy to see if a sample contains carbon chains, which all living things are made of. However, there are a lot of artificial carbon samples that may visually look like a fossil without actually being previously alive. Therefore, a new identifying factor was required, which Marshall’s team believes to be vanadium.

Example of a microfossil from Earth taken by Craig Marshall. Source

It has been previously shown that vanadium on Earth is present in things like crude oil and fossilized plants, both of which are similar to what would indicate life on Mars. This also shows that the vanadium can still be detected after extremely long periods of time and potentially under great pressure. In order to detect vanadium, Marshall is testing a technique called synchrotron micro-X-ray fluorescence, which focuses on the elemental presences in a sample.

So, if a sample has the physical characteristics of a microfossil, is shown to contain carbon material through Raman spectroscopy, and is shown to contain vanadium through synchrotron micro-X-ray fluorescence, then we can conclude that sample contains a microorganism, Marshall states. However, currently all tests on this hypothesis have been on samples from Earth. Soon, we will hopefully see this method being used on actual Martian rocks.

I believe these results are the first steps for mankind to finally make groundbreaking extraterrestrial discoveries. In the past, our testing of Martian samples was highly limited and not extremely targeted for finding life, but with these new ideas and techniques, we may find data that could lead to future colonization of Mars. I have extremely high hopes for this project and the future of our space exploration.

With investigations of Mars continuing and a Rover planned to be sent to Mars in 2020, we may find soon that we are not as alone in the solar system as we once thought.

An artist’s rendition of the Rover to land on Mars in 2020
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Read Marshall’s paper here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Admin

Tagged , , , , , ,