ICY SCIENCE MAGAZINE WINTER 2014 Vol 2

51RNA is much simpler to manufacture than DNA as it only hasa single strand. It is possible that the first life on earth wasRNA based which later evolved into DNA based life. What wewould like to know is how the first self-replicating strands ofRNA came about.Experiments show that several silicate minerals can act as cat-alysts to enable complex, organic material to self assemble.These inorganic molecules have a particular mineral structureand the oldest zircon grains confirm that these were abun-dantly available on Earth about 4.4 bn years back. Moreover,these silicate minerals contain layers of molecules to whichorganic molecules can easily attach to. When organic mole-cules attach to the mineral surface in this way, they can beforced into such close proximity that they react with eachother to form long chains of molecules.Laboratory experiments have confirmed that natural pro-cesses such as this can easily manufacture strands of RNA upto a few dozen bases in length. Scientists have discovered anRNA strand only 5 bases long which can act as a ribozyme.In this way it is possible that simple ribozymes could havebeen formed, which then acted as a catalyst for forming morecomplex self – replicating RNA molecules. ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

52MembranesFor molecules such as amino acids and nucleic acids to form proteins and DNA respectively, it was required forthe molecules to be concentrated together for extended periods of time and also to be protected by harmfulultra violet radiation from the Sun.Some of the possible locations where molecules could have been concentrated for chemical reactions to takeplace are deep sea vents, impact craters, beaches, and volcanic hot springs.But even if we have the simple molecules coming together to form proteins and DNA/ RNA, we still need astructure to hold these molecules together to enable chemical reactions. Else the molecules will just dissipateThe third important structure of a cell is a membrane.This is formed by lipids. Lipids have a head and a tailstructure. The head is attracted to water whereas thetail is repulsed by water. When lipids are put in water,they spontaneously form an enclosed membrane, trap-ping organic molecules within it to facilitate chemicalreactionsImage: Lipids forming Cell MembranesSource: http://www.autismcoach.com/product_p/ar-001.htm ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

53Lipids have amazing properties. They can selectively allow certain molecules to pass through them. They canalso store energy in the form of electrical voltages across their surfaces which can be discharged to facilitatereactions inside them. In some cases they can grow so big in size that they become unstable and split intosmaller spheres. This is how the first crude proto-cells could have been formed on Earth with simple strands of RNA being trapped within a lipid pre-cell. ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

54 Protocell with small RNA strands trapped inside a membrane. Image Source: http://universe-review.ca/F11-monocell.htm Several proto-cells of various molecular chemical combinations could have been formed. Evolution ensured that the ones which adapted best to their environ- ment replicated faster while others perished. The ones which survived eventu- ally evolved into DNA based life.ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

55Evidence:In order to reconstruct the story of the origin of life we study the geological recordsof Earth. However, no rocks from the first half billion years after earth’s formationhave survived. What we know comes from limited geological clues and laboratoryexperiments.Three lines of fossil evidence suggest that life arose quite early on earth, earlierthan 3.5 billion years back.1. Stromatolites – These are rocks which have a distinct structured layer. Theyare formed in shallow waters by the trapping and binding of sedimentary grainsby mats of microorganisms. The oldest stromatolites which imply fossil remnantsof early life are about 3.5 billion years old. However, this line of evidence has beenunder some controversy as geological processes of sedimentation can also mimictheir layering.Source: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

562. MicrofossilsMicrofossils from the Apex Chert, a rock formation in Australia having an age of 3.5 bn yrsSource: http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/2005/02/seeking-lifes-earthly-cradleMore rigorous tests need to be performed on microfossils before any definitive conclusion is made towardsevidence of early life on earth as mentioned in article below.Article link: http://phys.org/news/2011-03-overturns-oldest-evidence-life-earth.html ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

573. Chemical Signature/ IsotopesThere are two commonly occurring carbon isotopes – carbon-12 and carbon-13. Life prefers to use the lighter isotope ofcarbon which is carbon-12. Inorganic carbon sample always contains a small proportion of carbon-13.On an island off the coast of Greenland, rocks about 3.8 bn years old with lower carbon-13 isotope have been found sug-gesting a biological origin. However these rocks have been subjected to high pressure and heat. So this line of evidencealone is not conclusive.While each line of evidence individually is subject to controversy, all three put together give us important clues about theorigin of life on earth.References:1. Astrobiology course on Coursea.org (https://www.coursera.org/course/astrobio)2. Book: Life in the Universe by J. Bennett, S. Shostak (http://www.amazon.com/Life-Universe-Edition-Jeffrey-Bennett/dp/0321687671)WORDS: HENNA KHANMumbai, IndiaOwner at Universe Simplified - [email protected] -http://www.universesimplified.com/Astronomy/ Science Educator, Skeptic, Travel Freak, Proponent of Disrupt Education ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

58ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014 IMAGE: ORION BY MARY SPICER

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60CLIMATE CHANGE? Image: NASAICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

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62GoICmrllioamabgaiaFntlieagtCmiCoaehntnaa?tnstgoreof po-huAerClimate change is a natural phenomena. Like many pro-cesses on Earth it is cyclical. It has been occurring formillions of years and will continue to do so for millionsmore. Hurrah I hear the skeptics cry out. Finally a scien-tific piece supporting our position publicly. But hold on,Donald Trump shouldn’t crack open his champagne justyet. The debates surrounding climate change are basedaround whether or not we are having an impact on theclimate and whether or not we should act. Most skep-tics agree that climate change is happening, howeverthey argue that it is purely natural and our lifestyles havehad no impact on global warming or our climate whatso-ever. Supporters however, argue that, although a naturallyoccurring process, our CO2 emissions are dramaticallyincreasing the rate at which global warming is occurring.They point to rising ocean temperatures, melting ice caps,and increasingly irratic weather patterns as evidence - allICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

63of which skeptics deny as concrete and argue inconclusive results which can be interpreted in any numberof ways. Unfortunately for them however, this just isn’t the case. In 1988 an Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) was established with the aim of independently reviewing all evidence pertaining toclimate change in order to advise on what action, if any, was needed. So where do they stand? Well, theyhave concluded with greater than 90% probability that most of the observed warming since the mid-20thCentury is due to human activity. Their projections suggest that warming over the 21st Century was at amore rapid rate than at any point over at least the last 10,000 years. So if it is obvious to Scientists that something is happening as a result of human activity, why is there evenneed for a debate? If the evidence is so clear, how can there be skeptics? The answer to that of course issimple enough... Money!It would be very cynical of me to point out that the majority of the argument against climate change comesfrom multi-billion dollar global corporations hell bent on profiteering at any cost, but could that be right?Could these skeptics be fighting a propaganda war to keep their bank accounts healthy at the cost of thenatural world?In its simplest form, the debate on climate change can be summarised as follows:-• There are two possible scenarios, either our actions are increasing global warming and wreakinghavoc on our climate, or we are having no additional impact. This means that global warming is either true,or it is false.• For each scenario there are two out outcomes. Either we act, or we don’t act on climate change.The table below outlines the consequences of each outcome in each scenario in order to highlight what Ibelieve to be the fundamental reasoning behind the need for a debate on climate change. ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

64 TRUE FALSEACT Cost outweighed by benefit Cost - global depression,DON’T ACT social/economic/political Life carries on systems all fail Global Catastrophe - sea Life carries on level rises, temperature rises, atmospheric changes, pollu- tion, breakdown of economy etc.As you can see, the consequences of making the wrong decision could be catastrophic. If we don’t act andour theories are correct, it could be the end of life as we know it. However, if we act when there was noneed we could trigger recession on an unprecedented scale with global ramifications. Obviously there’s every chance we could make the correct decision, but clearly for some, the financial costof getting it wrong is just too high a price to pay for the continued future of humanity.WORDS: DAN LUCUSDan is a regular writer on ICy Science, you can find Dan on Twitter @dan__lucasICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

65ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

66 nternational Space Station astronaut Andre Kuipers captured spectacular aurora blazing over AntarcticaICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

67AntarcticaAntarctica is the earth’s most southerly continent. It is a cold,windy and a dry wilderness. Despite its remote and challengingconditions life has evolved here. The region is a fundamental partof our planets climate and eco system.Antarctica has some of the biggest seasonal changes on the planet.The coastal regions in summer can hover around freezing whilethe interior can drop to -20 ° C. Limited plant life will grow duringthe summer months; however winter brings harsh bitter cold.The coldest surface temperatures have been recorded here witha staggering -89.2 ° C.So how does Antarctica differ from theArctic?The arctic is mostly frozen sea surrounded by land it is a semienclosed sea. Antarctica is land surrounded by sea. Arctic Antarctica ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

68WildlifeThere is quite a diverse selection of wild- Above: Image from http://www.asoc.org/issues-and-life. Limited but still able to grow are a few advocacy/antarctic-wildlife-conservationplanets, which some flower. The most well Below: Orca (Killer Whales)known wildlife is of course the Penguin. Thepenguin is one of the few creatures that canlive, breed and survive the cold harsh condi-tions. There are three species of birds thatbreed in the Antarctic. Other wildlife thatmake their home here or at least for somepart of the year include, whales, ColossalSquids, fur seals,Other organisms that live in the Antarcticregion are fungi, mosses, liverworts, algae,bacteria and phytoplankton.Climate& TemperatureSummer: The summer months are Decemberto Feb/March, there are temperature vari-ations across the continent, generally oncoastal areas the temperatures are aroundfreezing and can sometimes be positive. Theinterior however is much colder; this is dueICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

to its elevation, higher latitude and distance from 69the sea. Temperatures in the interior never really getabove -20 °C. Aurora australis lights up the winter sky at the South Pole Station, Antarctica.Winter: Coastal regions can range between -10 and Image Source: http://icestories.explor--30 ° C, the sea around the continent freezes adding atorium.edu/dispatches/and increased land mass. The interior can fall below Below: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/fea--60 °C, with the coldest temperature recorded at the tures/contenthandler.cfm?id=2504Russian station Vostok in 1983 at -89.2 °C. ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014Antarctica has just two seasons. Because the Earthin space is tilted which never changes, during thesummer the Antarctic is bathed in sunlight, howeverin winter the reverse happens and it is in constantdarkness.Did you know Antarctica is a desert?Despite its bright white appearance there is very littlesnowfall in Antarctica. What snow has fallen becomeslayered and forms ice sheets.Snow mainly falls in the coastal regions with limitedsnow in the interior However in recent years snow fallhas increased and this can be down to global warmingof the planet.

70WindsAntarctica winds can be moderate however galesand hurricane winds do happen, the winds distrib-ute any snow fall which over a period of time addsto the ice sheets.Sea IceThe sea ice plays an important role in the globalclimate system and eco system. Sea ice is seasonaland occurs mostly during the cold dark winterseason, the ice significantly expands the areas landmass. Both the arctic and Antarctic sea ice drivesthe vertical ocean circulation system, which redis-tributes heat between the equator and the poles.This movement carries nutrients around the seasand oceans.Sea ice modulates exchanges of heat, moisture andgases between the atmosphere and the ocean.The ice itself is less salty than the sea water, saltor brine creates tubes in the underside of the ice,the brine filters down in to the sea, the salt watersinks creating a circulation. Algae grow in the brineICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

71tubes. Krill feedClimate ChangeRecently a research ship got stuck in theAntarctic sea ice, despite reports that thickice formed around the ship this is actuallyuntrue. The ship got stuck in area wherethe floating sea ice was more densely pop-ulated; this made it more difficult for theship to navigate through.Climate and climate change, are complex inAntarctica, geologically the region has twodistinctive regions, East Antarctica and westAntarctica. Separated by the Trans AntarcticMountains but connected by the vast icesheet. The vast expanse makes climatechange less uniform than that of the Arctic,where climate change effects can be seenmore dramatically. The interior ice sheetsand glaciers over the past decades haveshown significant ice loss, this is mainly inwest Antarctic. However in the Ross Sea areathere has been increased sea ice. The Rosssee is situated in West Antarctica border-ing the Trans Antarctic Mountains. Possible ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

72causes could be the melting ice sheets; fresh water flowing into the sea area is diluting the salty sea water,when sea ice freezes the salt is rejected in the form of brine. By diluting the sea water it raises the freezing tem-perature. As we now water non salty water freezes at 0 ° while salty water starts to freeze at -1.9 °C. (NOAA)Increased snow fall has been recorded in Antarctica especially in East Antarctica. Snowfall is contributed bywarmer temperatures, increased air humidity causes precipitation and if conditions and temperatures are right,we have snowfall.Below Image of a formed Brine Tube, formed in the sea ice.ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

73My Favorite MotionsI’m an observer of Earth’s orbit, my favorite motion. I do this by observing where the sun and moon riseand set throughout the year, whether the horns of a crescent moon tilt high or low, or how high the eclip-tic is. Tracking these motions has paid off at least twice: Once it made me realize that a partial lunar eclipsewould peak while the moon sets behind a high ridgeline I live under, and at 4:40 am the following morning,I took this picture from my yard:Perhaps I guessed and got lucky.Regardless, understanding Earth’s orbitoffers useful tools of prediction, butmore important (the second payoff), itpulled me into studying climate science.Understanding Earth’s orbit is as mucha subject for climatologists as it is forastronomers. In astronomy, detectionsof exoplanets, for example, must be cor-rected for Earth’s motion. In climatology,past climate change must be interpreted with regard to Earth’s changing orbit. The orbit parameters of interestare tilt, eccentricity, and precession. Due to tugs from the sun, moon, and other planets, these parameters changeon scales of thousands of years, comparable in scale to major shifts in Earth’s climate.ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

74 Figure 1: Orbital paramters tilt, eccentricity, and precession (Not to scale). Changes to Earth’s orbit alterthe distribution of sunlight between the northern and southern hemispheres. Understanding the effect ofsubtle shifts in this energy distribution gives clues to how sensitive Earth’s climate is to small, gradual changes.Tilt is easy for anyone to observe, as it is primary driver of seasons and of the changes of the sun and moon.For climate, the degree of tilt determines how extreme the difference between seasons can be. For example,in Figure 2, the two worlds may have the same sun and the same orbit, but would have drastically differentseasons because of the differences in tilt:Figure: Right- Earth today with a hypothetical Earth having a 90 degree tilt (not to scale)ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

75Such a difference in season could also result in dras-tically different global climates, where one is habit-able by humans and the other isn’t.Eccentricity is less obvious to the casual observer buteasy to observe with a telescope suitable for solarobservations (that is, has a proper solar filter). If youobserve the sun in January, it will appear larger thanthe same observation in July (see Figure 3).While tilt and eccentricity are discernable from short-term observations, precession requires long term Figure 2 Above : Earth today with a hypothetical Earth having a 90 degree tilt (not to scale) Figure 3: Apparent difference in the size of the sun at aphelion and perihelion (orbit is not to scale) ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

76 Figure 4: Precession of Earth’s rotational axis (not to scale) observations. Astronomers know precession as the change in orientation of the Earth’s rotational axis. It makes our star charts go out of date every 25 years and has moved boundaries of the constellations so that they no longer follow the current lines of declination and right ascension. I’ve observed discrepancies in the cycle attributed to precession, and so I speculate their is common confu- sion over the concept. This is not surprising, for “pre- cession” has different meanings depending on whether one is an astronomer or a climatologist. When people say precession occurs on a cycle of 26,000 years, they probably mean astronomical procession; if they say a cycle of 19,000 to 23,000, then they’re probably refer- ing to climatic precession. So what is precession? It is the counter-motion you get when you try to change the rotational axis of a gyro- scope. Earth is the gyroscope whose axis currently points toward Polaris. Earth’s equator is the wheel of the gyroscope. The gravitational tugs of the sun and moon are trying to pull the equator into line with their orbits. As a result, Earth’s pole follows a circular path that repeats roughly every 26,000 years (see Figure 4). Whereas astronomical precession is Earth’s moving axis of rotation, climatic precession combines the movingICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

77axis with the changing eccentricity of Earth’s orbit.As shown in Figure 5, Earth’s orbit is an ellipse, not a true circle, and so the amount of solar energy Earthreceives varies throughout the year. ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

78Currently, Earth’s perihelion occurs near the northern hemisphere’s winter and the southern hemisphere’ssummer. Thus, the southern hemisphere in summer gets a little more solar energy than the northern hemi-sphere gets in its summer and the reverse happens in Winter. Northern hemisphere winters get a little moresolar energy than southern hemisphere winters. Note that the points of solstice are determined by thedirection of the tilt, and perihelion and aphelion are determined by eccentricity. The solstices do not haveto occur near perihelion and aphelion.Now, consider precession. Precession determines the placement of seasons in relation to Earth’s orbit. Figure6 shows the seasons as quarter sections of Earth’s orbit: Figure 6: Earth’s seasons shown as a 4-color ring (not to scale)ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

79The solstice is the point were Earth’s axis pointstoward or away from the sun (toward or awaydepending on which hemisphere you’re in). Now ifthis direction of tilt changes (precesses), the pointsof solstice and equinox move as shown in Firgure 7:Figure 7 Right: Precession moves solstices and equi-noxes clockwise.As the solstices and equinoxes mark the seasons, theseasons move, rotating clockwise. Figure 8 showsthe seasons, equinoxes, and solstices rotated clock-wise. Imagine precession as all of these orbit ele-ments rotating clockwise, for a complete loop every26,000 years. Figure 8: Seasons shown as a 4-color ring moving clockwise with precession ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

80Now if climatic precession considered the movement of the axis only, earth’s solstices would realign withEarth’s semimajor axis every 26,000 years. However, this doesn’t happen because the orientation of thesemimajor axis is also moving, but in counterclockwise direction. Gravitational tugs from other planets, pri-marily Jupiter, change the degree of eccentricity and rotate the semimajor axis. Given time, these oppositemotions move aphelion from the southern hemisphere’s summer to the northern hemisphere’s summerand back again at cycles that vary from 19,000 to 23,000 years.Figure 9: Seasons moving clockwise with semimajor axis moving counter-clockwise induce a climatic pre-cession cylee that varies between 19,000 and 23,000 years.ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

81This is is climatic precession, and it is linked to major shifts in Earth’s climate from glacial to warm interglacialstates. An area of intense study is understanding how this happened to the Eemian period 125,000 years ago,and how it triggered the most recent deglaciation starting about 21,000 years ago.And this only scratches a surface of this topic. The forces changing the orbit do vary, and that’s why preces-sion varies from 19-23,000 years. It would take sophisticated calculations beyond my abilities to describe theexact motions, but it is not difficult to appreciate the effect and understand how the data can be used in pub-lished climate science.Efforts to link orbit and climate have a long history. In the 1840s, Joseph Adhemar proposed that the ice-sheetin Antarctica could be linked to the southern hemisphere winter occurring at aphelion: a “smaller” sun result-ing in less sunlight which could sustain colder temperatures.In the 1870s, James Croll offered an alternative hypothesis: Because Earth travels more slowly as it approachesaphelion, the southern winter was longer by 8 days than the northern winter, thus the southern hemispherespends more time farther from the sun.In the 1930s, Milutin Milankovitch turned the idea around by suggesting that orbital parameters creating coolsummers and warm winters at high northern latitudes may explain the rise and fall of ice sheets. This theory iscurrently held by climatologists. But the solar energy changes and the timing of these changes is a small part ofthe climate picture. These energy changes alone are not enough to explain the shifts in climate over the pastmillion years. Calculating orbital changes gives climatologists an estimate of how much energy was in the orig-inal push, but the rest of the momentum came from Earth itself. Changing the distribution of sunlight changesthe distribution of icesheets, which can disturb the motion of ocean currents, which can alter the amount ofCO2 the oceans absorb, which can lead to increases in atmospheric CO2, which in turn magnify the initial push.The Earth’s responses to the initial push is greatly simplified here. Full coverage is an on-going topic in severalprofessional journals, where climatologists address numerous questions yet to be answered, such as why ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

82some interglacials vary in dura- Some recom-tion, why some are warmer than mended links from Skepticalothers, and why orbital changes Science on climate science history and orbit:sometimes fail to trigger globalclimate change. Though there are History of Climate Science: www.skepticalscience.com/history-cli-questions, there are also enough mate-science.htmlanswers to know how Earthcan react to a change in energy, History of Climate Science – Interactive Timeline: www.skepticalscience.com/whether that change is from orbit cshistory.phpor CO2. I invite anyone interested Milankovitch Cycles: www.Milankovitch.htmlin Earth’s orbit to discover whatthis topic shares with climatescience, to better understand the The Last Interglacial (first of a 5-part series): www.skepticalscience.basis for climate forecasts, and to com/LIG1-0706.htmlbetter evaluate the necessity pol-icies needed to anticipate theseforecasts.WORDS & IMAGES JOHN GARRETTaJonhdnpGroamrreottteiss aasntrilolunsotmraytotrhwrohuogdhrathwesTfoemr SekceupltaicVaallSlecyieAnscterownwomw.eSrksepticalScience.com(www.temeculavalleyastronomers.com).ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

83Mars Exploration Rover their own challenges. Sadly for the MER team, although SpiritOpportunity Celebrates 10 also far exceeded its mission, the last contact with Spirit wasYears Working on Mars in 2010. In honor of Opportunity and her twin, Spirit, a new museum exhibit has opened at the Smithsonian Institution. By: Nicole Willett, Education Director, Huge wall size panoramas of Mars give visitors a sense that they are on the surface of the planet. The exhibit also has a full scaleThe Mars Society model of the rover as its centerpiece. The name of the exhibit is “Spirit and Opportunity: 10 Years Roving Across Mars” TheWith all of the hype surrounding the Mars museum officials stated that the purpose of the exhibit is toScience Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity, it is easy combine art and science in a multimedia experience that visi-for the public to forget the Mars Exploration tors will be immersed in. (Space.com)Rovers (MER) Spirit and Opportunity. Thetwin rovers were each launched by a DeltaII Heavy Lifter rocket in the summer of2003. The Opportunity Rover landed usingthe airbag method in Meridiani Planumon January 25, 2004 three weeks after theSpirit Rover landed. This very industriousrover was planned for only a 90 day surfacemission and has now gone 39 times past itsplanned mission. On January 25, 2014 theOpportunity rover completed 10 full Earthyears on Mars. The two rovers have mademany wonderful discoveries and they pavedthe way for Curiosity. Each rover has a dis-tinct personality and each have encountered ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

84Ten years ago Opportunity bounced to a stop and landed in Eagle Crater. The landing site was named Challenger MemorialStadium in honor of the astronauts who perished in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. Eagle Crater is a smallcrater with a layered outcropping of geological features. This was a serendipitous place for a landing, some stating it asan astronomical “hole-in-one”.In keeping with NASA’s “follow the water” goal on Mars, the JPL website states the following:“Understanding the history of water on Mars is important to meeting the four science goals of NASA’s long-term MarsExploration Program:• Determine whether Life ever arose on Mars• Characterize the Climate of Mars• Characterize the Geology of Mars ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

85• Prepare for Human Exploration”To accomplish these goals, Opportunity carries a plethora ofscientific instruments and cameras. The rover carries a pan-oramic camera, a hazard camera, and a microscopic imager.It also hosts a suite of spectrometers (an instrument that uti-lizes the electromagnetic spectrum to analyze data), and arock abrasion tool (RAT). Many of these instruments are atthe end of a robotic arm that extends to sample and analyzethe rocks, soils, and minerals.Images: Top Opportunity Image-NASA.govLeft: Jelly Donut Image-NASA.gov ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

86 Squyres speaking at the Mars As the rover traverses the many craters on Mars and stops and Society 16th Annual Conven- analyzes each area, she has made many discoveries. A major dis- tion-The Mars Society covery at the landing site, as stated by NASA scientists, is that the area was at one time soaked with water. This was determinedICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014 by the vast number of spherules found at the site that were later determined to be hematite. The spherules were nicknamed “blueberries” due to their shape and distribution. Also, in the false color images they appeared to be a bluish hue. Hematite is found on Earth and is known to be formed in the presence of water over a long period of time. It is a mineral form of iron oxide. This was a major discovery for the MER team. An unexpected discovery was Heat Shield Rock. This is a Martian meteorite discovered near the heat shield that had fallen to the ground after the rover landed. This will always be known as the first discovery of a meteorite on another planet. The meteor- ite was pretty easy to spot against the background of Martian soil and rocks. The “weathering” on a meteorite is quite distinct compared to any indigenous matter. Ironically the mission has been extended so long, in part due to the weather on Mars. The rover’s power source is in the form of solar panels. The surface of Mars is covered in fine dust and is very windy. Several times over the course of the mission, the solar panels have been covered in dust. The weather on Mars often includes dust devils. These dust devils have been responsible for clearing the dust covered solar panels, thereby,

87rejuvenating the power to the rover. This was an unexpected and happy event for the team.Opportunity has also made astronomical observations. These include the transits of both natural satellites,Phobos and Deimos, across the face of the Sun. The rover’s cameras have also photographed the Earth,which appears as an indistinct bright object in the Martian sky. This reminds us of how small we really are.Some of the major craters that Opportunity has visited include, Endurance Crater, Erebus Crater, VictoriaCrater, and Endeavour Crater. More recently at Endeavour Crater, Opportunity discovered a bright vein ofgypsum. This has been nicknamed “Homestake Vein”. The identification of this substance is more strongevidence of water on Mars in the past. Another recent discovery, in September 2012, at Endeavour Crateris a very dense accumulation of spherules that are different than the hematite spherules previously dis-covered. It is stated that the spherules in question have a soft middle and crunchy outer layer. They arestill being investigated as to what their composition is. Opportunity has endured a harsh climate and sur-vived, perhaps thrived. When I asked Dr. Steve Squyres, NASA’s Principal Investigator of the MER mission,about the health of Opportunity at the 16th Annual Mars Society Convention in August 2013, he stated thatwith the exception of a few minor issues, the overall health is good and that each day with Opportunityis a gift. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKbr9CEjI6c) The credit for this must be given to the hun-dreds or thousands of passionate scientists who designed, developed, and implemented this mission. TheOpportunity Rover is managed by a team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Ca. On January 16,2014, NASA held a special event to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)Spirit and Opportunity. Though we had our last communication with Spirit in March 2010, Opportunity isstill roving and discovering. Squyres, spoke at the event held at CalTech and revealed the latest big newswas that a jelly-donut-like rock seemed to have appeared out of nowhere near the rover. Squyres describedthe rock as white around the edges with a dark red-center which has the size and appearance of a jelly-donut. He stated that his team was very surprised and when they did the preliminary analysis they dis-covered it was composed of sulfur, magnesium, and manganese. They are discussing the possibilities ofhow the rock arrived next to the rover, two leading theories are that it was flung from under the wheel of ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

88the rover or that it is a piece of impact ejecta from a nearby meteorite impact. A third possibility may bethat a dust devil carried it across the landscape and it landed by the rover. More detailed analysis of therock is ahead for the MER team. There is more to behold from Opportunity in the future, stay tuned…… Blueberries on Mars-Astrobio.netICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

89Brian B Ritchie“This is my first RGB Jupiter, done with the C8 and ZWO ASI120MM and the Baader filter wheel at f.15.Seeing was a bit mushy. Also the colours seem a bit off. Otherwise I’m quite happy for a first attempt”. ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

90Our Return to the MoonThe lander of Chang’e 3 took a panoramic shot of Mare Imbrium, the Sea of Rains, with the little rover, Yutu,off on an early jaunt. Photo credit: CNSA and Ken Kremer.China’s Chang’e 3 lunar mission landed on the moon this past December, 2013. This is very likely the firststep in humankind’s continual active presence on the surface of the moon. Mare Imbrium, the landing spot, isthe largest basin on near side of the moon, just to the south and west of the north pole at 44 degrees North.China’s first two moon missions, Chang’e 1 and Chang’e 2, orbited the moon to determine the best terrainand elements of interest for a landing area. Based on that data, and the data collected by the orbiters ofother countries, Mare Imbrium was chosen over the original target area of Sinus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows).The landing spot is an area of lava flows that are darker than some flows nearby, and this may be one of theprime reasons this area was chosen. The darker lava rock on the moon is rich in titanium, which is associ-ated with helium-3, a potential fusion energy source.ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

91Photo credit: Lick Observatory ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

92Lunar map showing relative amounts of titanium dioxide. Photo credit: CNSA/CLEPIt’s estimated that the moon is so rich in helium-3, it could potentially be the Earth’s mining site for our futureenergy needs. The distribution of titanium dioxide (highest in the red areas on the map) is considered a good proxyfor the distribution of helium-3, since titanium dioxide traps helium-3 blown in with solar winds. This helium-3 hasbeen blown onto the moon and captured by the titanium dioxide for billions of years, so there is likely enoughhelium-3 to fuel the Earth for a very long time, if the fusion technology becomes practical. Research into fusionhas advanced recently, with successful fusions of deuterium--helium-3, and of helium-3 with itself. There are stillsome problems in building practical fusion reactors, but countries like China, and private enterprises, are activelyconsidering how to mine the moon’s helium-3 and bring it to Earth, to be ready to profit once the practical tech-nology is in place.There may also be a lot of water ice between rock and dust particles away from the poles, due to the presenceof helium-3. It’s been recently shown by astromaterials scientist Hope Ishii and her colleagues that particles inEarth’s plasmasphere capture helium-3 from the solar wind, and this helium joins with oxygen in the particles toform miniscule water amounts between the particles. If this is happening on the moon, the particles would lookdry to our eye but the water could possibly be extracted for use. ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

93Water forming in particles of interplanetarydust. Photo credit: Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory. (Right)The poles are the most interesting spot for future The lander of mission Chang’e 3. Photo credit:prospectors, because of the huge amounts of CASC/China Ministry of Defense (Below)water ice there. A lot of the technology beingdeveloped right now by space entrepreneurs isfocused on the kind of support needed to buildinfrastructure which will be needed for miningwater ice and for habitation on the moon. Thisis going to happen, and soon - while the mainmission of Chang’e 3 is for doing scientificresearch, the landing marks the beginning ofwhat will probably become a continual humanand machine presence on the moon. The experi-ence of Chang’e 3’s soft landing and of the provenability for the robots to mostly survive the lunarnight are two of the biggest feats sought by com-mercial companies. It’s possible that the colorcamera on the lander did not survive the lunarnight, but lessons from failures are also valuableto engineers. The data from the mission will beused by private enterprises to help them decidethe best places and methods for mining, andmany have already booked support services with ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

94commercial spaceflight companies. Within the next few decades, humans, their robots, and their neededinfrastructure will begin to have a steady presence on the lunar surface.China’s Chang’e 3 mission arrived on the moon on December 14, 2013. Chang’e 3 is the landing stage ofChina’s multi-stage moon mission, and includes an instrumented lander and rover. Both the lander androver have tested and used some of the equipment, and then hibernated for their first two-week long lunarnight. Once the sun returned they got back to work, and according to the Chinese press things seemedto be working fine. On January 24, 2014 the lander powered down to hibernate for the second lunarnight phase, but before the rover could do the same, something went wrong in communication with theChinese scientists, and so its instruments and solar panels couldn’t be protected before the night camewith its -180 C temperature. It had been hoped that the Yutu rover would provide ground-truth for datacollected by the orbiters of China and other countries, but if Yutu doesn’t survive the night, this will needto wait for Yutu’s backup rover in the Chang’e 4 mission, which will be launched in 2015.The Yutu rover has these mineral and rock analyzing instruments: Ground Penetrating Radar, PanoramicCamera, Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer, and Visible/near-Infrared Imager. These are some of the samekind of instruments aboard the Curiosity rover, which is studying the geology in its own area on Mars.Hopefully the Chang’e 4 rover will get to use these instruments much more than Yutu did! Yutu rover. Photo credit: CNSA/CCTVICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

95 Photo of Earth, taken by the Chang’e 3 lander. This is the first picture of Earth taken from the moon in almost 40 years. Photo credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences.A photo of Earth’s plasmasphere, taken withthe camera on the Chang’e 3 lander’s LunarUltraviolet Telescope. Photo credit: ChineseAcademy of Sciences. ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

96On board the working lander is the Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope which will be used to study the Earth’s plas-masphere. China is cooperating with the International Lunar Observatory Association to share access tothe Chinese telescope in exchange for time on the ILOA’s telescope, the International Lunar Observatory. Asmall version of the ILO, the ILO-X, will be launched aboard the Moon Express inaugural flight to the moonin 2015. The larger 2-meter ILO-1 will be delivered by Moon Express to the moon’s south pole in 2017. TheILOA will use China’s Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope for a program they call Galaxy, Astronomical Imaging forGlobal 21st Century Education. The ILOA’s own ILO-1 is planned to be the start of a lunar base for research,prospecting, and future human habitation. So far the plans for the ILO include the Galaxy First Light Imagingprogram, and access for professional and amateur astronomers on a commercial basis. The smaller ILO-Xwill be accessible on the internet and available for citizen science projects. So with the mutual, and in partopen-access use of these telescopes, we still have the kind of cooperation that sees the moon as belongingto all humans, even in this new phase of big commercial interest in the moon. Private enterprise is helpingnations to move past a few proprietary barriers. This may be simply in the slip stream of the drive for profitssince private companies are taking advantage of the lack of rules for themselves that keep countries fromclaiming parts of the moon. An artist concept of the International Lunar Observatory, shown after landing near the moon’s south pole in 2017 by the Moon Express spacecraft. Photo credit: ILOA/Moon ExpressICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

97Bye, Yutu. Photo credit: China News. WORDS; DENISE HEMPHILLcom/Xinhua ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

98 ObserMvaatuonraieKs,eHaawaiiTonight is the final of 6 nights at Mauna Kea Observatories, whereI have been an observer on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope(JCMT) at Mauna Kea Observatories. Mauna Kea has the world’slargest observatory with a number of telescopes operated byvarious countries and operating in various wavebands. JCMT isa submillimetre-wavelength telescope run by the UK. It has a 15metre primary mirror and is the largest submillimetre telescope inthe world.Observers from the UK can come to JCMT for scientific research,and are joined by Hawaii-based telescope operators who know howto run the telescope and how to fix it if anything goes wrong. Thetelescope is located at an altitude of 4092 metres, and there areaccommodation facilities a little further down the mountain at HalePohaku (HP) at 2804 metres altitude. Because of the high altitudeand the health concerns that come with it, observers are requiredto acclimatise for 24 hours at HP before travelling to the summitto work on the telescopes. This is where all astronomers from thevarious telescopes sleep during their stay; there are lodges withbedrooms and a main facility with a cafeteria and pool tables, pingpong, dart boards etc.ICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014

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100On a typical night, staff for each telescope will meet to havedinner at around 5pm at HP then travel up to the summitof the mountain. We then work throughout the night andcome back at around 8am to have breakfast and then go tosleep. Since JCMT is not an optical telescope, sunrise doesnot affect us. However, submillimetre telescopes are heavilyaffected by precipitation, and cannot operate when this levelis too high. Last night it snowed heavily at the summit and alltelescopes were closed for the night. I have included somephotos from these last few nights – I hope you enjoy them.Caroline ScottCaroline Scott is a final year Astrophysics PhD student atImperial College London, and is currently doing a Pre-doctoral Fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre forAstrophysics and a Research Fellowship at Harvard’s Instituteof Applied Computational Science. Twitter: Astro_CazICY SCIENCE | QTR 1 2014