The Mars Quarterly ...The Mars Quarterly 4 Volume 2, Issue 2 [Editor's note: The following statement...

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 1

The Mars Quarterly 2 Volume 2, Issue 2

Cover Art: Michael Neal .................3

Obama's Failure To LaunchBy Robert Zubrin..............................4

REACHING HIGHER - 13th AnnualInternational Mars SocietyConventionBy Patricia Czarnik............................5

NEWS BRIEFBy Jason Rhian ................................6

Mars as Our Goal at LastBy Buzz Aldrin..................................7

A New Generation Voicing theDream - Introducing Hero MagnusBy Susan Holden Martin .................8

University Rover Challenge UpdateBy Kevin Sloan.................................9

Miracle of Flight - A Profile ofMusician Michael Hyden................9

Progress of the Mars BalloonProject ARCHIMEDES of theGerman Mars Society (MSD) By Jürgen Herholz .........................10

Organic Geochemistry and theExploration of MarsMark A. Sephton, Ph.D. .................12

IInn TThhiiss IIssssuueeSpring 2010 - Volume 2, Issue 2

PublisherThe Mars SocietyHeadquarters11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit ALakewood, CO 80215 USAwww.MarsSociety.org

President .........................Robert ZubrinTreasurer .............................Gary FisherActing Executive Director ..........................................Lucinda LandDirector of Membership .......................................Patricia CzarnikDirector, University Rover Challenge .............................................Kevin SloanDirector, Mars Desert Research Station..............................Artemis WestenbergDirector, Political Outreach ....................................Gus ScheerbaumActing Director, Public Relations .............................Susan Holden Martin

The Mars QuarterlyEditor-in-Chief ....Susan Holden [email protected] Associate Editor ..................Raul ColonArt Director ..................Keith Keplinger,

Keplinger Designs, Inc.Executive Editors.......Artemis Westenberg, Blake Ortner,

Gus Scheerbaum, Joseph Webster,Kevin Sloan, Patricia Czarnik

Editorial Team/Copy & Proof...............Kenneth Katz, David Christhilf

Debbie Foch, Edie Tepper Larissa Douglass, Doug Jacques

Eric HarkleroadLegal .........Jocelyn Thomsen, Esq. and

Declan O'Donnell, Esq.

A Note to ReadersThe views expressed in articles are theauthors' and not necessarily those ofThe Mars Quarterly, or The MarsSociety. Authors may have businessrelationships with the companies oragencies they discuss.

ReproductionThe Mars Quarterly is publishedquarterly by The Mars Society,Lakewood, Colorado, USA. Volume 2,Issue 2, © 2010, The Mars Society.Nothing herein contained may bereproduced or transmitted in any formor by any means, electronic ormechanical, including photocopy,recording, or any information storageand retrieval system, without writtenpermission of The Mars Society.

Advertisers send email to [email protected]. Addressletters, general inquiries, or sendmember dues or charitable donationsto The Mars Society, PO Box 1312, BigPiney, WY 83113, USA. Please includeyour full name, address, and daytimephone number. The Mars Society is a501(c)(3) organization.

FFrroomm tthhee FFlliigghhtt DDeecckkAs we release this first quarter

issue, the space industry is facingmajor challenges. President Obama'srecently announced cancellation ofseveral major NASA programs hascaused serious concern that Mars willremain out of reach for severaldecades. In addition, as the countrycontinues to struggle with tougheconomic times, this new plan will nodoubt cause significant financialturbulence for our NASA friends wholive and work in Central Florida.

While the President pushes what hebelieves is a transformational plan,those of us close enough to feel theheartbeat of the United States spaceprogram have serious concerns thatthere is much to lose in terms of bothhuman and technological capital. As

you consider the Op/Ed articles in thisissue by Drs. Buzz Aldrin and RobertZubrin, and remarks by Elon Musk,remember that these distinguishedscientists all want humans on Marswithin our lifetime. They may differ inperspective, but not in passion.

The complex challenges ahead mustbe met with as much forward motionon goals as any of us can possiblymuster. Please follow the debateclosely and decide - which plan forreaching Mars is the most likely to getus there? Then call and write yourrepresentatives in Congress, and voteyour plan!

On to Mars!

Susan Holden Martin,Editor-in-Chief


CCoovveerr AArrttIn 1990 a young Michael Neal gave

a report to his fifth grade class onastronauts. To make the informationmore immediate his mother calledNASA and had Michaelshare freeze-dried icecream and dehydratedapplesauce with theother students. Almosttwenty years later hehas picked up wherehe left off, only thistime as a design writerand critic.

Before moving toNew York, he workedas art director for theadvertising agency,Ogilvy & Mather, on brands such asHeal the Bay, and the globalcommunications company, CiscoSystems. Earlier as a graphic designerfor the Port of Long Beach, he helpedto implement more eco-efficientpublication practices to match withtheir Green Port policies. He obtaineda BFA in visual communications fromCalifornia State University, LongBeach.

Currently, Michael is a graduatestudent at the School of Visual arts inNew York as a member of theinaugural class in design criticism. TheMFA is a mixture of design history andjournalism, applied to the fields suchas architecture, industrial and graphicdesign, and advertising, and realizedin medium-specific applications suchas radio programs, documentaries,curated exhibitions, magazines orblogs.

Inspired largely by his fifth gradepaper as well as Dr. Zubrin's, The Casefor Mars, Michael's graduate thesisproject is an examination and reporton the efforts for designing apermanent settlement on Mars. Thistime, instead of applesauce and icecream, he is using the MDRS toexplore how design is being used toshape the Martian experience fromscientific interactions to domesticity.As part of his research, he isexamining ideas of utopianism and

modernism intrinsically linked to off-world colonization. Such designs, toooften lacking wider reporting andscrutiny, will be both world building

and world changing;and probably a bitmore complicatedthan "just add waterand stir."

[Editor's Note: Asjournalist for MDRSCrew 84, Mike wasasked by the radioshow, Studio 360

with Kurt Andersen (for WNYC/NPR/PRI) to do a segment on MDRS forthe show. A nine minute piece isavailable by podcast from the show'swebsite: http://studio360.org/episodes/2010/03/12/segments/151559. It is alsoairing nationally on carrier stations,for your location visit: http://studio360.org/listings.html. The segmentincludes time at the MDRS Hab, briefinterviews with Dr. Zubrin and Dr.Chris McKay, as well as a cameo byJosh Nelson.]

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[Editor's note: The followingstatement by Mars Society PresidentDr. Robert Zubrin appeared in the NewYork Daily News on April 19, 2010. It isreprinted here with permission.]

In a speech to political alliesgathered at Cape Canaveral last week,President Obama laid out his vision forAmerica's space program. Under theObama plan, NASA will spend $100billion on human spaceflight over thenext 10 years in order to accomplishnothing.

Of course, that's not how Mr. Obamaphrased it. But beneath the President'sflowery rhetoric, that's how things addup.

Here's the background. In 2004, theBush administration launched aprogram called Constellation todevelop a set of flight systems,including the Orion crew capsule andthe Ares 1 and Ares 5 medium andheavy lift boosters, that together wouldallow astronauts to return to the Moonby 2020, and then fly to destinationsbeyond.

Under the plan announced byObama, almost all of this will bescrapped. The only thing preservedout of the past six years and $9 billionworth of effort will be a version of theOrion capsule - but one so purposelystripped down that it will only beuseful as a lifeboat for bringingastronauts down from the spacestation, not as a craft capable ofproviding a ride up to orbit.

With the Space Shuttle program setto sunset in the near future, what thismeans is that the only way Americanswill be able even to reach low Earthorbit will be as passengers on Russianlaunchers, with tickets priced at theKremlin's discretion. In other words,instead of flying astronauts from theEarth to the Moon, our humanspaceflight program will become avehicle for transporting cash fromWashington to Moscow.

The most amazing thing aboutObama's speech, however, was itscognitive dissonance. The President

desperately tried to spin theabandonment of the Moon programnot as a retreat, but as a daringadvance. We've been to the Moonbefore, he declared, and so we have.There's a lot more of space to explore;we should set our sights on pointsbeyond, to the near Earth asteroids,and reach for Mars. Indeed, we canand should.

But the President's plan makes noprovision for actually doing so.Instead, he proposes to simply stall.

So, for example, as the firstmilestone in his allegedly daringprogram of exploration, Obama calledfor sending a crew to a near Earthasteroid by 2025.

Such a flight is certainly achievable.To do an asteroid mission, all that isrequired is a launch vehicle such asthe Ares 5, a crew capsule (such as theOrion), and a habitation module similarto that employed on the space station.Had Obama not canceled the Ares 5,we could have used it to perform anasteroid mission by 2016. But thePresident, while calling for such aflight, actually is terminating theprograms that would make it possible.

The same holds true with thequestion of reaching Mars. From atechnical point of view, we are muchcloser today to being able to sendhumans to Mars than we were tobeing able to send men to the moon in1961 when President John F. Kennedymade his speech committing us to thatgoal - and we were there eight yearslater. With Kennedy-like commitment,we could have astronauts on the RedPlanet within a decade. Yet Obamachose to set that goal for the 2040s, atimeline so hazy as to not require himto actually do anything to realize it.

The bottom line: Under the Obamaplan, NASA will be able to sendastronauts anywhere it likes, providedthat its effort to do so begins after heleaves office. The President's scienceadviser, John Holdren, attempts tojustify this expensive ($10 billion peryear) stalling game by claiming thatthe pause in flight programs will allow

us to develop more advancedtechnologies that will make everythingmuch more achievable later.

This is false to the core. We alreadyknow how to build heavy-lift boosters -we flew our first, the Saturn 5, in 1967.With current in-space propulsiontechnology, we can do a round-tripmission to a near-Earth asteroid or aone-way transit to Mars in six months -a time no greater than a standard crewshift on the space station.

Holdren claims that he wants todevelop a new electrically poweredspace thruster to speed up such trips.But without gigantic space nuclearpower reactors to provide them withjuice, such thrusters are useless, andthe administration has no intention ofdeveloping such reactors. So far fromenabling a quick trip to Mars, theunnecessary futuristic electric thrusterconcept simply provides an excuse fornot flying anywhere at all.

The American people want anddeserve a space program that really isgoing somewhere. To offer that,Obama needs to stop the fakery. Thatmeans a program whose effort willcommence not in some futureadministration, but in his own; onewhose goal is not Mars in our dreams,but Mars in our time.

Zubrin, an aerospace engineer, ispresident of the Mars Society andauthor of "The Case for Mars: The Planto Settle the Red Planet and Why WeMust."

A link to the article may be found athttp://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/04/19/2010-04-19_obamas_failure_to_launch.html

The Mars Society is the only majorspace advocacy organization that hasbeen willing to take a stand andexpose the go-nowhere space policyfor what it is.

Help us tell truth to power.Help us save America's human

spaceflight programDonate to the Mars Society. Come to

the August 5-8 conference. Join theMars Society. www.marssociety.org

OObbaammaa’’ss FFaaiilluurree TToo LLaauunncchhBy Robert Zubrin


President Obama's space policyincludes support for opening up spacetransportation to private industry. Weare witnessing the birth of commercialspace. It is only fitting that this year'sconvention takes us to Dayton Ohio,the birthplace of aviation. Dayton is afamily-friendly city, and thisconvention will be the perfectopportunity to share your passion forhumans in space with your family bybringing them along. We plan not onlyto give you the best speakers in theirfield, but also tours that will give you ahistory of flight and space. OnSaturday, we will feature 'Mars Camp'a free family and kids event that willinclude flight simulators, hands-ondisplays and speakers who will inspirekids to reach higher.

Confirmed speakers:Dr. Robert Zubrin

(President, Mars Society)Dr. Michael Griffin

(former NASA Administrator)Dr. Carolyn Porco

(Director of CICLOPS, Saturn Imaging Team)

Dr. Geoffrey Landis (NASA scientist, Nebula and Hugo award-winning science fiction writer)

Dr. Mary Turzillo (Nebula award-winning science fiction author)

Miles O'Brien (former CNN anchor and host of This Week in Space)

Steve Heck (Pathfinder Astronaut in the new Teachers in Space Program, and a NASA Endeavor Fellow at

Columbia University in New York.

... more to come

Special Programming:Mars CampThis one-day free event on

Saturday, August 7, is designed topromote STEM education (Science,Technology, Engineering and Math). Itwill include flight simulators, hands-ondisplays and special guest speakers allaimed at educating and inspiring thenext generation of space explorers.

Tours/Events:Museum of the USAF Tour•Museum of the United States Air

Force, a world-class museum, hasseven galleries including the Missile &Space Gallery (see below), an Air Parkwhich features aircraft exhibits, theWorld War II 8th Air Force ControlTower and Nissen Huts, as well as aplayground and other special exhibits.http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/visit/index.asp

•Missile & Space Gallery opened tothe public in 2004. It is contained in asilo-like structure that stands 140 feethigh. Visitors can view missiles suchas Titan I and II and Jupiter fromground level or can take in an aerialview from an elevated platform thathugs the inside circumference of thegallery. As part of the museum'songoing expansion efforts, the galleryalso features a portion of themuseum's space collection, includingthe Apollo 15 Command Module,Mercury and Gemini capsules, rocketengines, satellites, and balloongondolas.

Carillon Historical Park Tour•Carillon Historical Park showcases

Dayton's rich heritage of creativity,invention, and the milestones intransportation that changed the nationand the world. It is a uniquecombination of museum, park, andnatural area. Website:http://www.daytonhistory.org/

•Wright Brothers Aviation Centerhouses the 1905 Wright Flyer III, theworld's first practical airplane.

•Sugar Camp explore the criticalrole of cryptology with WAVES(Women Accepted for VolunteerEmergency Service ) at NCR's(National Cash Register) Sugar Camptraining facility during World War II.

•Deed's Barn features suchinventions as a Liberty aircraft engine,an early Frigidaire refrigerator, and a1912 Cadillac with the Delcoautomobile electric system, site ofinvention of the electric self-starter forthe automobile

StargazingMiami Valley Astronomical Society

(MVAS) has cordially invitedconvention goers to view the night skyat the Apollo Observatory located atthe Boonshoft Museum of Discoveryon Friday night, August 6.

More information is available at the13th Annual Mars Society Conventionwebsite -http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2010-annual-convention/.

Please check back often for updates.

RREEAACCHHIINNGG HHIIGGHHEERR13th Annual International Mars Society Convention

August 5-8, 2010, Dayton Marriott, Dayton, Ohio

By Patricia Czarnik

The Mars Society can be followed on both Facebook and Twitter. bookmark these sites now:

http://twitter.com/TheMarsSociety

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2231107150&ref=ts

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CAPE CANAVERAL - Before AirForce One touched down at 1:24 a.m.(EDT) on Thursday, April 15, PresidentObama was already in political hotwater. His announcement that theprogram to replace the shuttleprogram, Constellation, would becancelled caused an outburst of angrysentiment from points across thecountry - and within his own party.The President's visit and subsequentspeech at Kennedy Space Center'sOperations and Checkout building,(O&C) seems to have had little impacton this perception. Overnightcartoons displaying the 'new NASA' asbeing powered by a bottle rocket

popped up on news sites and onFacebook, and detractors pointed outperceived flaws in the plan.

Senator Bill Nelson, who recentlyhas voiced his support for thepresident's new space visionintroduced NASA Chief AdministratorCharles Bolden who endorsed the newpath for NASA before introducing thepresident.

If Obama was attempting toreassure NASA and its contractors, hewent about it poorly. His choice ofstopping off points, Space LaunchComplex, (SLC) 40 where SpaceX'sFalcon 9 is being prepared for ascheduled May 8 launch date, seemed

to imply that the President has put histrust in these new firms and theirrockets, as opposed to those of thespace agency. His comments later inthe day reinforced this sentiment. Inhis address the President stated that

NASA would no longer continue, "…on the same path." He went on tostate that NASA would be given a "…transformative agenda." However itwas other aspects of Obama's plan,such as the fact that a finaldetermination on what type of heavy-lift rocket that would be used for thesenew missions would not take place foranother five years, that causedconcern with industry experts.

"Why does it need to be studied forfive years?", wondered two-timeshuttle astronaut Robert Springerwhen asked about the plans outlinedby Obama. "This has been studied todeath, why study it more?"

The President did however providekey milestones that the agency shouldmeet under this new plan, such as avehicle that is capable of sendingastronauts beyond the Moon would bedeveloped by 2025, and a mannedmission to Mars would occur by themid-2030s. The President went on toadd that he expected to seeastronauts land on the Martian surface- within his lifetime.

The President also sought to stemconcerns that this plan would be adestructive influence on the economyof Central Florida. In his remarks, hementioned a $40 million plan topromote regional growth in thesurrounding area. The new planstates that an additional 2,500 jobs willbe created, a number that exceeds

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“Fostering competitive commercial spaceflight is the only possible path to establishing life on Mars.The government path is completely unsustainable. Best case is a flags and footprints mission likeApollo, followed by nothing. Therefore, I think Obama’s plan for space has the potential for evengreater historic significance than Kennedy’s. That is, if you care about making life multi-planetary.”

Elon Musk, Space X

PresidentBarack Obamahas finallygiven what weadvocates forthe humanexploration ofMars havepatientlywaited for —

and fought to achieve-for decades.During a speech at the Kennedy SpaceCenter April 15th he set humanlandings on Phobos and Mars as theultimate goal of our civil spaceprogram. First, we'll get to sharpen ourdeep space chops by an asteroidrendezvous mission in 15 years -usinga spacecraft that incorporates thetechnology developed for the OrionCrew Exploration Vehicle. Then it'sonward to Phobos by the mid-2030s,followed by landings on Mars, too. "Iintend to be around to see it!", Obamajoked. But for him to fulfill that boast,all of us will need to shift ouradvocacy to Congress, still deeplyskeptical about Obama's space policy,

to explain why the key elements of theObama plan are good for Americanspace leadership.

Those elements include helping tocreate a new industry built aroundferrying astronaut crews to theInternational Space Station. Perhapsthe plan's most controversial -andmisunderstood-component, privatizinglow Earth orbit is an idea whose timehas come. But many misunderstandthe idea, thinking it is the end ofmanned spaceflight. Actually, theopposite is true-many more types ofvehicles that will be ferrying back andforth from LEO. At the same time, theOrion crew capsule will survive, firstas an escape vehicle to be docked atthe station, later as part of a deepspace duo of capsule and explorationvehicle. A key element of the new planis an accelerated development of anew heavy lift booster. If the Shuttleprogram isn't extended, that boostershould be a "clean sheet" design thatutilizes the new research called forthin the budget — new hydrocarbonbooster engines, successors to the

F-1s that powered the Saturn V, aswell as new types of upper stages thatpossibly feature in-flight refuelingcapability. Obama set a deadline of2015 to choose the heavy lifter'sdesign — but I predict we can beatthat deadline well in advance leadingwith evolution to various size multistage reusable launches.

And the budget proposal calls forfully funding ISS research, especiallyin ways to protect deep space-goingcrews from solar radiation, morefunds for Earth and space science, andnew types of advanced humanoidrobots. For space advocates, there'ssomething in there for nearly all of us.

Which is why I challenge membersof the Mars Society to work with theSpace Exploration Alliance andmembers of the Planetary Society,National Space Society, AIAA andother groups to explain and advocatefor the Presidential plan. Obama isn'tthe only one who hopes to live longenough to see humans on Mars. Iexpect to be right there with him!

MMaarrss aass OOuurr GGooaall aatt LLaassttBy Buzz Aldrin

previous estimates. However, originalnumbers post-shuttle showed thatlayoffs in and around Kennedy SpaceCenter would be around 9,000. Whenit was announced that theConstellation Program was alsocancelled, that number nearly tripledto 23,000.

Ironically, the employees thatnormally work in the O&C buildingwhere the President was speaking -were not allowed in the building thatday due to security concerns. Oneworker who spoke on condition ofanonymity saw other reasons as towhy they were not allowed in. Whenasked about how they felt about thePresident's visit, the employee stated,

My guess is that they didn't want himwalking by and getting an earful!"

At the conclusion of the President'sremarks there were a number ofbreakout sessions that took place bothat Kennedy Space Center, as well asthe nearby Kennedy Space CenterVisitor Complex. The entire event wasa star-studded affair with severalastronauts in attendance includingBuzz Aldrin, the second man to walkon the moon; Mae Jemison, the firstfemale African-American astronaut;and Mike Foale and Mike Grunsfeld.Also in attendance were numerousmilitary and political officials, as wellas science-celebrities Bill Nye, theScience Guy, and astrophysicist Neil

deGrasse Tyson.

Jason Rhian is a graduate of theUniversity of South Florida whocompleted two NASA internships.He currently covers space issues forExaminer.com, Spacevidcast andSpaceRef.com. Jason has coveredsome 14 space shuttle and numerousunmanned launches. His groupaffiliations include the National SpaceSociety, the NASA/JPL Solar SystemAmbassadors, the AstronautScholarship Foundation Ambassadors,the Florida Public RelationsAssociation, and the Google LunarX-PRIZE team - Omega Envoy.

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AA NNeeww GGeenneerraattiioonn VVooiicciinngg tthhee DDrreeaammIntroducing Hero Magnus

By Susan Holden Martin


Hero MagnusMarch 2, 2010

The Honorable Gabrielle GiffordsUnited States House of Representatives 1728 Longworth House Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative Giffords: Hello. I am writing to you because I know you have control over thefuture of human space flight. My name is Hero Magnus. I havewanted to go to Mars since the age of 2, and my vision is to be thefirst person on Mars. I am 9 years old, and I am concerned thatAmerica doesn't have a vision like mine about going into space. Ithink we used to have a vision. Our back to the moon plan and goingeventually to Mars was our vision before, but now it's being undone. Iknow that you're able to vote about that, and I think that the vote youmake should help America have a space dream. I want to know whatyou think would help America get into space. Do you think we needbig federal agencies like NASA to go to Mars, and have all of Americagoing and working and having a vision together, or can smallbusinesses like SpaceX and the Mars Society get out there on theirown? I think it's better to have a plan from all of America, becausethen we know we are going to do it. Whatever your choice is in thevote, I want you to help America still expand our amazing new waysof exploring-searching our neighbor planets and moons. Sincerely yours,Hero Magnus

This is me (4 years old), pointing atthe rocky surfaces of the red planet.Here I am 7, and this is a picture ofme in the LA Times flipping &spinning upside-down down atSpaceCamp in Huntsville, Alabama

The Mars Society is pleased tointroduce you to Hero Magnus. Heroheard the call from Mars a few monthsbefore her third birthday. Mostrecently she embarked on a letterwriting campaign to Congress inadvance of the 10th Annual IsaacAsimov Memorial Debate held onMarch 15 in New York City. Underparental supervision, Hero personallyhand-delivered her letters to membersof both House and Senatesubcommittees dealing with space. Acopy of her letter to RepresentativeGiffords, Chair of the HouseSubcommittee on Space andAeronautics, appears at right.

We invite you to read her letter andview the video of her at the HaydenPlanetarium -- witness for yourselfhow the dream lives on in one child'sheart.

Hero at the Hayden Planetarium:http://www.landmarkny.com/marssociety/

The Hayden Planetarium's podcastof the Great Space Debate can befound here:http://www.amnh.org/news/2010/03/podcast-isaac-asimov-debate/.

The Mars Society would like tothank Landmark Pictures & Sound fortheir outstanding videography, and theAmerican Museum of NaturalHistory/Hayden Planetarium for theircooperation and courtesy.

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MMiirraaccllee ooff FFlliigghhttA Profile of Musician Michael Hyden

Mike Hyden grew up in Tulsa,Oklahoma, and has been writingmusic for over 30 years.

He has won numerous contests andawards over the past couple ofdecades. He wrote a version of hissong "The Miracle of Flight" for theMar's Society's 2004 Song Contest. Hewas working overseas then and couldnot get back in time to get it recordedbefore the contest's deadline. The

original song can be heard at:http://mikehydenmusic.homestead.c

om/MIRACLE-OF-FLIGHT.htmlAfter moving to Nebraska and after

watching a show about NebraskaAstronaut Clay Anderson, he sent thesong to Clay's wife, Susan, who alsoworks for NASA. She requested thesong be played for her husband on hislast shuttle mission, in the NASAtradition of playing songs to the flight

crews to wakethem up eachmorning. Shesays it sums up

Clay's life. On April 13, 2010, FlightDay 10 of the Discovery shuttlemission STS-131, the song was playedfor Mission Specialist ClaytonAnderson while the shuttle wasdocked to the International SpaceStation. The actual NASA broadcastcan be heard at:http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/audio/shuttle/sts-131/html/ndxpage1.html

If you would like more informationabout Mike's music, he can be reachedat: [email protected]

The Challenge:For the fourth year, teams of

university students will design andbuild the next generation of Marsrovers. From June 3-5, 2010 theteams and their rovers will face off atthe Mars Desert Research Station inUtah.

The Prize:The winning team will win

transportation, lodging and admissionfor 5 team members to the 13thAnnual International Mars SocietyConvention in Dayton, Ohio thissummer, and large cash prizes.Connect with URC on Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=32010099179&v=wall

This June, the largest and mostgeographically diverse field of teamsto date will descend upon the MarsDesert Research Station (MDRS) inUtah USA for the 2010 UniversityRover Challenge (URC). Twelve teamsfrom the United States, Canada,Poland, and Italy, will all have one goalin mind - taking home the title of URCChampion.

Last year's winner, York University,performed well in all events, whichhas set a high bar for the teamscompeting this year. The 2010 teamswill face not only formidiblecompetition, but also two new tasks -a Sample Return Task and an

Equipment Servicing Task. Bothevents will demand extraordinaryfinesse on the part of the rovers, andsheer determination on the part of theteams. However, as the competitionevents get more difficult from year-to-year, the student teams continuallyrise to the challenge.

Future human explorers on Marswill be dependent upon their roboticcounterparts; and as these studentsare proving, the technology is ready.The only limit at URC is how difficult achallenge the judges can devise.

For more information on theUniversity Rover Challenge, pleasevisit:http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/urc

UUnniivveerrssiittyy RRoovveerr CChhaalllleennggee UUppddaatteeBy Kevin Sloan

The STS-131 crew members pose for a portrait in thecupola of the International Space Station. Picturedcounter-clockwise (from top left) are Commander AlanPoindexter, Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. and MissionSpecialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, RickMastracchio, Naoko Yamazaki, Clayton Anderson andStephanie Wilson. Image credit: NASA


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By Jürgen Herholz

ARCHIMEDES, the Mars balloonproject of the German Mars Society(MSD) consists of a Mars BalloonProbe, a 10-m balloon carrying aninstrument pod, and the associatedballoon storage and deploymentsystem. ARCHIMEDES will travel toMars onboard a satellite and then bereleased for its Mars entry anddescent mission, while the satelliteremains in Mars orbit. The balloon willbe inflated in free space around Mars,then the Mars Balloon Probe will beseparated from the inflation system,enter the Mars atmosphere anddescend slowly down to Mars whilesending scientific measurements viathe orbiting satellite to Earth.

So far extended flight testing underlow gravity conditions was performedwith the objective of verifying thescientific hypotheses and conclusionsand the resulting design ofARCHIMEDES. In 2005, the criticalballoon deployment system wassuccessfully tested during shortparabolic flights and later in 2006,during a sounding rocket campaign.

In October 2008, a full system testwas performed with the flight testvehicle MIRIAM, a 1:2.5 downscaledflight test model of ARCHIMEDES.MIRIAM was launched on a REXUS 4sounding rocket of DLR-Moraba to a170 km altitude in Kiruna, NorthernSweden. The MIRIAM mission shouldsimulate the ARCHIMEDES mission inthe higher Earth atmosphere atconditions similar to the Mars mission.

Fig.1 shows the mission scenario;Fig.2 the MIRIAM flight model priorlaunch; and Fig.3 the inflated 4-mballoon with the instrument pod(merely visible due to its size ofapprox. 30 cm diameter, comparedwith the 4-m balloon).

MIRIAM was developed by the MSDin cooperation with the University ofthe German Armed Forces inNeubiberg and IABG in Ottobrunn,both near Munich.

Unfortunately, the MIRIAM flight test

was only a partial success due to lateseparation of the MIRIAM flight vehiclefrom the REXUS 4 carrier. This led tothe disturbance of the subsequentmission sequence, resulting in only apartial inflation of the balloon and itsoff-nominal release. No data werereceived subsequently from theelectronics pod of the balloon.

Although the MIRIAM mission didnot produce the data expected on the

balloon entry behaviour, thevery complex balloonstorage, deployment,inflation and release systemworked as planned. TheMSD decided therefore inearly 2009 to maintain thebasic MIRIAM design andexperience for anothersimilar mission, calledMIRIAM-2. The entry part,consisting of the balloonwith the electronics unit, isnow called MIRIAM-B. Itsdevelopment began in mid-2009 with the objective of alaunch in 2013.

"Lessons-learned"changes, which will beintroduced for MIRIAM-2,include the replacement ofthe separation system by aproven design, an update ofthe electronics systems, and

the provision of an access capabilityto the instrument pod electronics andbatteries without disassembly of thevehicle, allowing late access to thebatteries and electronics in case oflaunch delays, or for test purposes.Mission objectives will be enhancedby adding additional sensors, a GPS,and an internal camera monitoring theballoon behaviour during entry.Modifications of the balloonmanufacturing techniques used inMIRIAM-2 will be closer to the onesthat will be used for the Mars mission.

Discussions are underway with theprovider of the launcher and launchservices, DLR-Moraba in


Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, for apossible launch in 2013.

The Mars Society Germany is verymuch looking forward to the MIRIAM-2 flight test as an indispensablestepping stone to the ARCHIMEDESMars mission, which may then takeplace in 2018 at the earliest. Theresults of the MIRIAM-2 mission will

indicate whether additional tests arerequired.

Jürgen Herholz, Dipl.-Ing. Email:

[email protected]/Membership:

-VFR (Verein zur Förderung derRaumfahrt)

-Mars Society Deutschland-MSD(Vorstandsratsmitglied-Member of

the Consultation Board) -Mars Society (USA)-Association Planète Mars

(Frankreich)

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OOrrggaanniicc GGeeoocchheemmiissttrryy aanndd tthhee EExxpplloorraattiioonn ooff MMaarrssMark A. Sephton, Ph.D.

Impacts and Astromaterials Research Centre, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ.

REPRINTED WITHPERMISSION: Journal ofCosmology, 2010,Vol 5, 1141-1149.Cosmology, March6, 2010; and MarkA. Sephton, Ph.D.

AbstractThe Red Planet provides a relatively

accessible world on which theories oflife's diversity and origin can betested. Such examinations areimminent with a number of missionsto Mars forthcoming. These missionscontain several life detectioninstruments that will sample thesurface and subsurface. Organicgeochemical knowledge fromterrestrial studies can inform oursearch for organic matter in Marsrocks. Recent data on Mars mineralsand atmospheric gases suggest whichmethods may be most useful toaccess any organic records present. Amineralogically-diverse Mars providesvarying opportunities for thepreservation of past and present life.Extinct or extant life will occupyspecific size fractions that must betargeted. Studies suggest thatmethane is most likely derived fromthe subsurface. Even if abiotic inorigin, the combination of reducedgases and oxidised minerals providesopportunities for life. In the nearsubsurface methane may bepolymerised by cosmic radiation toform abiotic organic matter. This paperconsiders terrestrial approaches thatmay be useful in a Martian context.

Keywords: Mars, Organic,Geochemistry, Minerals, Radiation

1. THE SEARCH FOR ORGANIC MATTER ON MARSMars is Earth's nearest planetary

neighbour and it is unsurprisingtherefore that effort to find life outsidethe Earth focuses on the Red Planet.Yet Mars has environmental conditions

that are distinct from the Earth. Marsis cold and dry with a thinatmosphere. Liquid water, the solventof life, is not stable at the planet'ssurface. Under Martian conditionswater passes directly from ice to gas,a process termed sublimation.Moreover, the lack of a magnetic fieldensures that the Martian surface issubjected to levels of radiation notgenerally seen on the Earth.

The search for life on Mars thereforepresents particular challenges. Theharsh conditions on Mars will ensurethat any extant life will haveadaptations similar to those found inextremophilic organisms on Earth.Extant life, if present, is also likely toexploit the subsurface environmentwhich provides more equableconditions than those at the surface.The subsurface is also importantbecause evidence of Mars life may bepresent in fossil form, entombed insedimentary rocks. Conditions onMars were more conducive to life inthe early history of the Red Planet.Liquid water was once widespread onthe Martian surface and theseconditions coincided with theprobable timing of the origin of life onEarth.

2. PRESERVATION OF ORGANIC MATTER ON MARSOrganic geochemical principles can

be used to inform life searchprotocols. Organic geochemistry dealswith the influence of life on rocks,including the production of organicmatter, its preservation andmodification in the subsurface, andthe interpretation of the consequentorganic records in sedimentarysequences. The preservation of life'sremains occurs through a complexseries of processes involvingdegradation, selective preservationand adsorption on mineral surfaces, allof which depend on the physical andchemical environment of deposition.

The cold and dry climate of Mars

has an effect on the preservation oforganic matter. Amino acids forexample suffer decarboxylation(removal of the acid functional group)rapidly under terrestrial conditions at25 °C. Yet at colder temperaturesdestruction becomes exponentiallyslower. For instance, at 0 °C the halflife for this process is between 0.8 and1.1 Ga and at -20 °C the half lifeincreases further to between 2.3 and220 Ga (Aubrey et al. 2006). Notablythis duration exceeds the age of Marsitself suggesting that in some casesremnants of life may survive better onMars than Earth.

In chemical terms, however, lifeusually differs from fossil life quitedramatically and the search for fossillife on Mars must be cognisant of thisfact. Extant life is dominated bymacromolecules but not all of theseentities or their sub-units resistdegradation at the same rate. OnEarth, within days to weeks, bacterialdegradation removes delicatemacromolecules such as nucleic acidsand proteins. Simple organicmolecules that are important energyproviders such as amino acids, sugarsand short-chained carboxylic acids arealso lost on this timescale. Withinmonths to years unresistantmacromolecules such aspolysaccharides are removed, leavingonly the lipids to persist for periods ofthousands to millions and evenbillions of years. It must be notedhowever, that the degradation ratesmentioned reflect the presence ofprotein catalysts called enzymeswhich can accelerate the process by afactor of 1017(Wolfenden et al. 1998).In the absence of enzymes, daysbecome hundreds of years and yearsbecome millions of years. In eithercase, it is the lipids that represent themost likely organic matter to beencountered on Mars (Table 1).

3. THE LIPIDS OF MARSWith lipids representing the most

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stable molecules in sedimentary rocksit is appropriate to consider theinformation they could provide ifencountered on Mars. Biologicalmarkers or "biomarkers" are lipids that

represent a rich source of informationon source organisms, environmentalconditions and subsurface conditionsfollowing deposition. Even thesimplest interpretation of lipid

biomarkers would provide importantinformation on Mars (e.g. the domainof life to which the source organismbelonged).

All known living organisms have

Table 1. Biomacromolecules associated with prokaryotic organisms arranged according to their preservationpotential. Adapted from Tegelaar et al. 1989. Values in the original paper ranged from - (extensive degradation

under any depositional conditions) to ++++ (no degradation under any depositional conditions).

Table 2. Lipid biomarkers of the three domains of life.


lipid membranes. Table 2 list thecharacteristic membrane moleculesfound in organisms of the threedomains. These molecules haveadditional units attached at their polarends (e.g. phosphates or sugars).Isoprenoids, hopanoids and steroidshave similar biosynthetic pathwaysand represent progressiveevolutionary adaptation. The Archaeahave isoprenoidal structures, bacterialmembranes have fatty acid layers withhopanoids that help modifymembrane rigidity. Eukaryoticmembranes contain steroids in theplace of hopanoids. Importantly, thebiosynthesis of steroids requiresaerobic conditions (Summons et al.2006). Such conditions never existedon Mars so it would appear unlikelythat steroids will be part of anyinventory of biomarkers in Martianrocks.

4. THE SIZE FRACTIONS TO SAMPLEPreparation of rock or soil samples

for analysis on Mars may requiresome form of drilling, crushing,grinding or sieving (e.g. Beaty et al.2005). These important first stepsmust be performed carefully so as tonot introduce any sample bias or torender the samples unsuitable fororganic detection. Terrestrialprocedures provide a valuable insightinto the effects of preparation stepsbut fundamental differences are likelyto exist between organic matter onEarth and any counterpart on Mars.

Organic matter in terrestrial rocks isdistributed across a number of sizefractions. The relative contributions ofparticular organisms to these sizefractions is well known in palynology

where samples are screened to isolatethe larger, most information rich andmorphologically recognizable organicentities. Inevitably these areEukaryotic organisms and Bacteriaand Archaea rarely producepalynomorphs (Traverse 2007).

Microscopic Eukaryotes, Bacteriaand Archaea contribute to what iscalled "amorphous" organic matterwhich resides in the smallest sizefractions in rocks and is oftenremoved in palynological preparationsteps. Organic geochemical analysisof palynological size fractions hasrevealed the chemical consequencesof screening by size with Eukaryoticremains, such as land plant debris,dominating the larger size fractions(Sephton et al. 2005).

Bacterial and Archaeal signals arethe most likely responses fromorganic investigations on Mars. Theseorganisms have diameters between500 nm and 2 ?m. Their small sizeensures that their biochemistry issimple with cellular processes that arenot compartmentalized intoorganelles. This lack of complex partsprovides benefits in extremeenvironments because there is little tofail under environmental stress. Morecomplex organisms are most likelyprecluded by the extreme conditionson Mars. Martian organic signalstherefore will be derived from thefinest, i.e. in practice


analogues were calculated byPommerol et al. (2009) and the datacan be used to predict monolayerorganic contents (Table 3). It is clearthat phyllosilicates are particularlyimportant minerals for theentombment and preservation oforganic matter. Phyllosilicateformation requires water and thereforeconditions that are conducive to life.Moreover, phyllosilicates and organicmatter are hydrodynamic equivalentsindicating that they settle from waterat the same locations. Oncejuxtaposed, the high surface areas ofphyllosilicates provide ample sites fororganic adsorption. Hence,phyllosilicates provide a combinationof relatively promising opportunitiesfor life and a high probability for thepreservation of its remains. Suchdeposits therefore are importanttargets for life search missions.

6. MARS METHANEIn 1965 James Lovelock suggested

that life produces atmospheric gasesthat are incompatible on a long termbasis (Lovelock, 1965). The apparentabsence of a non-equilibrium situationin the Martian atmosphere was asetback for life detection studies. Yetrecently just such a non-equilibriumsystem has been recognized andmethane has been detected in theatmosphere of Mars. Earth basedtelescope observations reveal anaverage concentration of 10±3 ppbv(Krasnopolsky et al., 2004), while thePlanetary Fourier Spectrometer on theorbiting Mars Express spacecraftprovides concordant data at 10±5ppbv (Formisano et al., 2004) and14±5 ppbv (Geminale et al., 2008).

Calculations for the lifetime ofmethane in the Martian atmospheresuggest durations of approximately300-600 yr (e.g. Atreya et al., 2007).The annual resupply of methaneneeded to maintain the Martianatmospheric abundance isapproximately 126 tonnes if estimatedmethane loss near the surface isconsidered (Atreya et al., 2007;Formisano et al., 2004), and 270tonnes if the estimate is widened toaccommodate methane lossthroughout the entire atmospheric

column (Krasnopolsky et al., 2004).Potential sources of Martian

methane include life (Krasnopolsky etal., 2004), serpentinization ofultramafic crust (Atreya et al., 2007;Oze and Sharma, 2005), recentvolcanism (Neukum et al., 2004) andablating meteorites/comets (Court andSephton 2009). Volcanism appearsunlikely to be a major contributorbecause of the absence of hot spotsrecognised by the thermal emissionimaging system (THEMIS) on the MarsOdyssey orbiter (Christensen, 2003)and the paucity of the gaseousconsort of volcanic methane, sulfurdioxide, as implied by spectroscopicinvestigations (Krasnopolsky, 2005).Methane has been measured incarbonaceous chondrites at only 0.14ppm (Butterworth et al., 2004) butmuch more could be generated bydegradation of the gas pronemacromolecular organic fraction thatthese objects contain at percentagelevels. Recent experimental studies,however, have demonstrated thatmeteorite or cometary addition andablation is also an implausible sourceof Martian methane producing only 10kg of the required 270 tonnes eachyear (Court and Sephton 2009).

7. SUBSURFACE METHANE ON MARSWith the direct injection of methane

into the Martian atmosphere, either bymeteorite/comet ablation or volcanicactivity ruled out, it becomesseemingly unavoidable that themethane is sourced from thesubsurface. If the source is biologicaland represents a form ofmethanogenic microbe then thesesubsurface sites are importantscientific targets.

If the source of methane isserpentinisation then opportunities forother forms of life exist in near surfacesites and their scientific importanceremains high. Serpentinisation occursat temperatures of 40-90 °C which arebelieved to occur at a depth of 2 kmon Mars, with liquid water beingstable at depths of 2-20 km (Oze andSharma, 2005; Atreya et al., 2007).Any abiotic methane derived fromserpentinisation must rise through at

least 2 km of Martian material to reachthe atmosphere and en route to thesurface the methane would encounteroxidants including sulphates and ferriciron.

This redox situation presentsmetabolic opportunities for life similarto those observed around methaneseeps on Earth where anaerobicmethanotrophic Archaea gain energyexclusively from the anaerobicoxidation of methane with sulfate asthe final electron acceptor (Hinrichs etal. 1999). Microbial utilization ofmethane is not inconsistent with itspassage to the atmosphere and interrestrial seep analogues not allmethane is removed by the microbialcommunity and up to 80% of methanecan escape to the atmosphere(Wegener et al. 2008).

Upwardly percolating subsurfacemethane would also have other effectson Mars. Organic matter is hydrogen-rich and as such is preserved best inoxygen free environments. On Earth,aerobic respiration occurs rapidly inoxygen-rich surface environments.Aqueous environments are moreconducive to anoxia and are often thesites of enhanced organic preservationwhen decomposing organic matterexhausts the supply of oxygen.Methane sourced in the Martiansubsurface may provide similaropportunities for enhanced organicpreservation. The upward percolationof methane through the Martiansubsurface would promote morereduced conditions in which organicmatter is protected from degradation.

8. RADIATION EFFECTS ON MARSSolar energetic particles and

Galactic cosmic rays impinge on theMartian surface owing to the lack of amagnetic field which would shield theplanet from radiation. The harshconditions on the Martian surfaceensure that the search for life on Marsis beginning to focus on thesubsurface. Organic matter istransformed by radiation but at depthsbelow two meters the radiation flux issubstantially attenuated and preservedmaterial may be encountered (Kminek& Bada 2005). Yet transformation does


not always mean destruction andradiation can immobilize organiccompounds providing records of pastorganic fluxes.

New insights into the effects ofradiation chemistry in organic matter-containing rocks have been providedby studies of terrestrial organicresidues that appear to have formedfrom the trapping of methane aroundradiation-releasing mineral grains thatcontain small amounts of uranium andthorium (Court et al. 2006). Radiationenergy cleaves molecules, theproducts of which are highly reactiveand readily combine to generate new,more complex compounds. Forpassing methane, progressiveradiolytic alteration produces anorganic solid comprising of largerorganic units. Unsurprisingly it is thehighly stable polycyclic aromatichydrocarbons that dominate theresulting intractable organic material.Such organic deposits may be presentin the very near subsurface abovemethane producing regions on Marsand their extent could indicate theduration or magnitude of methanegenerated through time.

In addition to polymerizing methanein the Martian subsurface, radiationcould also produce de novo abioticorganic matter. The work of Calvin andco-workers (Garrison et al. 1951)revealed that high energy particleradiation reflecting cosmic rays orradioactive radiation can produce lowyields of organic compounds fromcarbon dioxide and water. Existingknowledge of the Red Planet and datafrom the Neutron Spectrometerinstrument of the Mars Odysseyspacecraft's Gamma Ray Spectrometerinstrument suite imply that all three ofthese components are present at highlatitudes on Mars (Mellon et al. 2004)and could provide an additional, smallbut continuous, source of non-biological organic matter in the nearsubsurface of Mars. Radiation, itappears, may be an importantgenerator of relatively accessible non-biological organic matter on Mars.

9. TESTING THE HYPOTHESESThe European Space Agency (ESA)

is planning the ExoMars mission forrobotic in situ analyses of Martian soil

for the presence of life's chemicals.Current proposals are for a drill tocollect samples of Martian soil atcertain depths. Access to the nearsubsurface of Mars initiates a numberof newly testable hypotheses asdescribed above. Results from thenear subsurface provided by ExoMarsmay reveal an organic recordcontaining evidence of past or presentlife, mineral-organic interactions,radiation-induced polymerization, orcombinations of all three.

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