Big announcement by NASA about Mars today: 11:30 a.m. EDT

September 28, 2015 • 9:30 am

Reader Tom C. calls our attention to a big announcement today, and he speculated a bit about it:

There’s a NASA press conference regarding something cool on Mars at 11:30 EDT.  I’m hoping for HD images of brachiopod-like fossils embedded in a dry stream bed, but I’ll bet on the discovery of liquid water on the surface.  We shall see…

This post is going up one hour before the press conference, which will be livestreamed here. The announcement by NASA, in part, is this:

NASA will detail a major science finding from the agency’s ongoing exploration of Mars during a news briefing at 11:30 a.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 28 at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

News conference participants will be:

·         Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters

·         Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters

·         Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta

·         Mary Beth Wilhelm of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California and the Georgia Institute of Technology

·         Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) at the University of Arizona in Tucson

A brief question-and-answer session will take place during the event with reporters on site and by phone. Members of the public also can ask questions during the briefing using #AskNASA.

The title of that page is “NASA to announce Mars mystery solved,” and since I doubt there’s life there (it would have leaked already had that been true), the “solution” couldn’t be “no life on Mars”. Our data wouldn’t allow us such a sweeping conclusion. No, I agree with Tom that it’s the presence of liquid water. Readers are invited to add their own speculations below.

44 thoughts on “Big announcement by NASA about Mars today: 11:30 a.m. EDT”

  1. Have they discovered that women are from Mars and men are from Venus – instead of the other way as speculated in some lousy book.

    1. Or maybe Mark Watney! (i.e. the Matt Damon character in The Martian.) Or maybe returned Uncle Martin (My Favorite Martian) to Mars.

      That is it for me. Others will have to make all the Total Recall references.

  6. If they did find water, I’d like to know how it persists on or near the surface. With such low atmospheric pressure, you’d think it would evaporate or, if frozen, sublimate. Evidence of water flowing has already been seen from orbit on the steep sides of craters. So, seeing it close up would be nice but not all that earth shattering (or mars shattering).

    1. I think the high salt concentration elevates the boiling point just as it depresses the freezing point.

      1. Yes, but apparently not as much. The 0-10 degC liquid water range for pure water on the martian surface becomes -70-24 degC.

        2. The key discovery, made a few years ago, is that there’s a remarkable amount of perchlorate in the martian regolith. Salts like magnesium perchlorate can depress the freezing point of solutions to as low as -70 C.

  7. Oh boy. Trying not to get too excited. It might just be something that is merely interesting rather than AWESOME.

    I think definitive evidence of significant amounts of water near or at the surface is most likely it also.

    But, it could be indirect, but relatively strong, evidence for life past or present.

    Or, maybe last night was the end of the World, only on Mars instead of Earth.

    1. I mean, i know there are interesting sciency-bits, but unless we can monetize this for the sporting public, i don’t see america gettin all that interested.

  12. The livestream link isn’t working. I could friggin scream, even though I know I’ll be able to catch it later.

  13. Water? Damn, I was hoping they’d found Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, still motoring down one of the canals.

  14. I’m watching on NASA TV – that’s channel 352 for those with Direct TV. Now, at 11:10 central time they are taking questions from reported. Very interesting and everyone wants to know when we are going – not for awhile.

    The water discovered so far seems to be a very salty or briny water that comes to the surface in different areas on mars and certainly based on proper temperature to be liquid in form.

    The surprising thing for me was the narrow temperature band that they showed for liquid water on Mars. Whereas we see liquid water from 0 C to 100 C, apparently on Mars, only from 0 to 10 C.

    1. That narrow temperature band where pure water can exist is fascinating. The perchlorate absorbs water from the atmosphere, or elsewhere, and forms a salt mixture that can remain liquid for a much wider range of temperatures. (I forget, was it -10 C to +20 C ?). This would account for the streaks down hillsides visible from orbit.

        1. Close, I think Ohja’s diagram was:

          Earth: 0 to + 100 degC
          Mars: 0 to + 10 degC (low pressure)
          Mars brines: – 70 to + 24 degC (solutions).

          1. If you’re confident in those figures, I’d trust yours. I was distracted through much of the conference.

            It’ll be really interesting to see what Martian life looks like. Everybody from NASA at the announcement dodged that question suitably, but I think we can now be reasonably confident that there’s microbial life in these flows for certain, and almost assuredly many other places as well. The same environment on Earth would certainly have microbial life, and it would be very peculiar for there to not be any on Mars.

            b&

  15. Ah, that would explain why my phone (wifi-ing into Tw*tter) has been tw**ting for the last hour or so.
    Bloody great shoal of bait fish swarming around the boat today, hotly pursued by yellow fin tuna. But surprisingly not a shark to be seen. Which probably means that the sharks are hiding, not absent. I shall mention this deduction to tomorrow’s cohort of helicoptees. To make the feel happy.

      1. I’m not sure of the specifics – but the bloody fish knew I’d not got a permit for the camera, so they put on a fine display of the tuna rushing about a metre below the surface, and shifting billowing waves of silveriness … “roiling” is a good word … maybe 10 metres down, too far to see the individuals, but you still see the coordinated glisten of thousands of silvery flanks turning in unison.
        And then back to the grindstone.
        I’ll try to get a permit on the camera tomorrow, but I start at 03:00, which isn’t best time for fish photos.

          1. Because Permit To Work Regulations of (IIRC) 1992 as an Approved Code of Practice under HSAW 1974 (Health and Safety At Work Act). I think – ask Mick The Safety who sits at the desk behind me for the full legislative chain. But the short answer is “Policy. If you don’t like it, leave. Now.”
            The whole site is treated as a flammability “zone 1 ” (US, “zone 2” under UK regulations, but they don’t apply here except when they do) – a flammable or explosive atmosphere can be present during normal operations. Therefore all portable equipment which is not certified as Intrinsically Safe (incapable of creating a spark of more the 60 microjoule in the presence of two fault conditions ; that’s enough energy to ignite acetylene at it’s lower explosive limit in air) may only be operated on the site under a Hot Work permit. Doesn’t matter if it’s a gas axe or a pocket calculator, if it’s not certified IS, then it’s not allowed, Full stop, end of discussion.
            Oh, you want to re-start the discussion? Yes, that does include wristwatches. And mobile phones. And mechanical wristwatches with a metal band (possibility of causing unexpected electrical arcing, in addition to impact sparking). Personal jewellery including your wedding ring is not permitted outside the accommodation. Got a visible piercing that you can’t remove or replace with a non-metal keeper? Sorry, but you’re on the next flight home.
            Cameras of any stripe have another problem in addition to the general problems of electrical equipment : they often contain a flash unit, and most users do not know how to disable the flash. Flash units are very good at setting off the flash detectors, of which we have around 90 around the site, to look out for unexpected arcing (doh!).
            I’ve tried having the discussion over a diving camera in a 3-atmosphere watertight housing – it still fails (if the housing were certified Ex-E or Ex-D, which it isn’t) because of the flash.
            We do have a new (year old) certified IS camera. That still needs a hot work permit because it still has a flash. It takes pictures at 640 x 480, no video, no removable storage (of course – that would open up the housing) and every time you replace the batteries (certification is only valid with zinc-carbon cells ; alkalines and rechargeables not allowed) the internal clock and frame counter re-sets. That cost nearly a thousand dollars.
            We do have a derogation for the smoking area to be used for smoking. But if we’re handling fuel 100m away at the other end of the boat, the smoking area is shut down. There is no derogation for cameras or mobiles in the smoking area, only smoking materials.
            This isn’t home, this is work. It is also home for up to several months at a time.
            I have to have these policies on hand, because when someone who comes looking for my office-fellow to get a derogation, it’s quicker for me to shut down the question by running through the rules. I’m a ticketed gas tester, so I can do the site survey and fire-watching if someone (e.g. me) has a need to use a camera outside, but the paperwork has got to be in place.
            By the way, though I find this to be as much a pain in the proverbial donkey as the next man, I also recognise that these rules are, in a very literal sense, written in dead men’s blood. Every one of them. People died to learn these mistakes, and for others to not repeat them. I had two friends melt on the Piper Alpha a few months after I started work. that was a bit of a wake up call.
            Above I mentioned the difference between US and UK definitions of flammability zones.
            Damn … operational procedures to be reviewed for next week’s activities … couple of pages of bullet points to check at the meeting, make it look as if I’m paying attention. Where was I? Oh yes, US and UK have differing definitions in one field. UK has regulations that go back to the coal mines (Davy’s safety lamp, BASEEFA were operating in the 1920s – British Association for Safety of Electrical Equipment in Flammable Atmospheres), and we have to be compatible with both USCG regulations and DNV (Det Norske Veritas – a certification agency recognised by the Norwegian and most European authorities, and Lloyd’s Register of Shipping) Did I mention that we have an inspector employed by Lloyds on board? Something to do with the 25 billion dollar hit they’re taking part of following the Deepwater Horizons disaster.)
            Well, you did ask “Why do you need a permit?” There are a lot of interacting reasons.

          2. A very thorough answer! Just what one would expect from someone who has been succesful in a very dangerous line of work. Lack of attention to detail often equals failure, which in your line of work often means maimedness or death.

          3. As various branches of the armed forces of various countries are wont to say, “6 Ps !”
            Perfect
            Planning
            Prevents
            Piss-
            Poor
            Performance
            (And variations on the theme. There’s probable an Assyrian version carved in cuneiform on a stone tablet somewhere in Ninevah.
            And if I ever get sent to Eyerak, or such a place, I might just get such a tablet prepared to order.

          4. Cameras of any stripe have another problem in addition to the general problems of electrical equipment : they often contain a flash unit, and most users do not know how to disable the flash.

            If it helps…and it very well might not…most professional DSLRs don’t have a built-in flash. None of Canon’s 5D or 1D series has ever had a built-in flash, for example.

            The standard batteries for the Canon cameras are Canon-branded rechargeable…but they can also take AA cells. For the 5D line, this requires using the optional vertical grip; the grip either takes a pair of standard Canon batteries or a carrier that holds a number of AA cells. And underwater housings are available for them as well.

            Obviously, none of this would be cheap by typical middle-class hobbyist standards, but they may well qualify as cheap by industrial standards. Especially if you shop used…the original Canon 5D can be had for a song these days and will outperform 90%+ of the cameras on the market. The 5D Mark II is likely almost as cheap by now, does video, and will outperform 95%+ of the cameras on the market.

            b&

          5. It won’t help. If it doesn’t have a certification from (in America / under the aegis of USCG regulations) Underwriters Laboratories or (for the UK) BASEEFA, or (for most of Europe) DIN, it simply will not be considered by “the management”. They (“the management”) know that they don’t have the technical experience to assess such matters, not do they have the time to carry out a case-by case consideration. Without either type-approval from one of those testing authorities, or an individual item’s serial numbered certificate, then the equipment will not be loaded onto the boat to come out, won’t get lifted off the boat if it did get alongside, and wouldn’t be allowed to be used if it did somehow get on board.
            A toolbox came out last week, for use by a third party contractor. It contained uncertified equipment of a type banned. This was spotted, the equipment was taken out of service and destroyed. It will not be returned to the third party, and after being destroyed on the rig, it certainly will not be coming back. Except possibly as paper – it was the wooden shaft of a sledgehammer. Type-disapproved : wooden shafts on any tools are forbidden, as they are too prone to hidden flaws and unpredictable failures. Same for straight ladders which are not permanently fixed into equipment (in the month when that rule was introduced, one of my friends wrenched his shoulder falling from just such a ladder when decorating at home, and I raised the case as an illustration of why ladders were being taken out of service. I got the weekly prize for that – a first aid kit, I think it was.)
            So … interesting camera, you could probably make a case for it being suitable for the job. You have three options : take it out as it stands, and have it destroyed if you try to use it at the worksite ; spend around $3000 to have the entire assembly (includes all operator’s manuals) for it’s intended use inspected by a “certifying authority” and the single item to be certified as fit for purpose (repeat performance after 1, 3 or 5 years) ; or pay I-don’t-know-how-much for the general class of Canon 5D MkII cameras with XYZ housings and P,Q,R accessories to be type-approved. In the last case, your name had better be “Canon Inc.”
            It’s not going to happen.
            Incidentally – you know why the ban on rechargeables and most non-zinc-carbon batteries? It’s the possible discharge currents – what is generally considered a good thing – being able to provide a high power output – is also a hazard (high power output). So don’t expect anything with a high capacity or high power battery to be able to get a type approval. That’s why air-powered tools are so popular : limited power at the point of use.

          6. Well, I’m obviously out of my league on that one.

            If I ever visit a rig, remind me to show up naked, with no baggage.

            …except that’d fall afoul of some other regulation, I’m sure….

            b&

          7. Hmm. Yes, you would.
            Even if the water temperature is high enough to not demand a survival suit (immersion suit ; the numbers vary from region to region, but are typically in the 15-18 centigrade range), you’d still be expected to wear footwear not likely to trip you in an emergency (which means, no open-toe sandals), and sufficiently robust clothing that the seat harness (4-point or 5-point ; varies from company to company again) isn’t going to cut into your flesh, and nor is it going to transfer significant contamination (bacteria, blood, sweat) from your skin to the next person using the harness and seat.
            I recall the horror on one TV presenter’s face when the life cycle of human intestinal worms was explained to them. “What, you mean at some point … [ motions with fingers into mouth] … [disgusted look]”. There are other reasons for clothes than “modesty.”

  17. Wilhelm is a biomarker expert, so she and recurrent slope lineae discoverer Ohja suggested to me solving the methane problem with clathrates or serpentinisation.

    Instead they found hydrated salts after painstaking observations. (The RSL are a few meters in width, HiRise has 0.25 m resolution, but the spectrometer CHRISM has ~20 m resolution. They could pick 6 [!] good pixels that allowed a long campaign to resolve the salts.)

    Ohja described some interesting physics. The liquid water range on Earth is 0-100 degC at the surface, but on low pressure Mars it has shrunk to precarious 0-10 degC or almost nothing. Perchlorates restore the range to – 70 – 24 degC, or almost as much as here – evven though life can only reproduce in the upper 40 degC of the range.

    1. evven though life can only reproduce in the upper 40 degC of the range.

      Life, Torbjorn, as we know it.
      We still don’t know if a life chemistry can develop in fluids like this. We don’t know it’s possible, or impossible ; we only know of one chemistry, out of …
      I’m going to have to “Rumsfeld” about known unknowns and unknown knowns. You know what I mean.

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