Phoenix-Mars mission Archives | Research & Innovation

91��ɫ study finds fog, thick haze, and 'diamond dust' on Mars

fmaquito — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Nights on Mars are shrouded in icy fog that turns to scattered precipitation, according to a new study of weather near the red planet's north pole, wrote :

The finding marks the first time that fog has been directly observed on the neighbouring world, adding to evidence that modern Mars experiences a type of ongoing water cycle akin to Earth's.

"Because the atmosphere is so thin on Mars, there is nothing to keep in the heat overnight, so the ground cools off very quickly," said study co-author , a [n NSERC post doctoral fellow and] planetary scientist at 91��ɫ [Faculty of Science & Engineering].

"Heat from the air is lost to the ground, so the air close to the ground gets colder, and as that pocket of (cold) air gets larger," more water vapour in the atmosphere condenses into ice crystals, and the fog gets thicker, Moores said.

"The fog starts closer to the ground and rises in height over time, so the cloud gets thicker and thicker and higher and higher as the night goes on," he added.

Eventually the icy haze begins to shower the ground with a light sprinkling of snow-like particles. The shower is not quite snowfall, the scientists say, but is perhaps more akin to the "diamond dust" that falls from the skies on some cold nights in Earth's Arctic regions.

"Because we have the fog," Moores said, "that means that there is a reservoir of water [in the atmosphere] to interact with subsurface water on a daily basis."

The Martian-fog study was published in the Feb. 25 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

Moores is also a member of the (CRESS), which has had a significant role in the lander mission.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Jim Whiteway recognized for contributions to space science

fmaquito — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0000

The Vancouver Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is holding its annual International Astronomy Day event in conjunction with [an event at Simon Fraser University (SFU)], wrote Sept. 11. The society will host guest speaker of 91��ɫ for a lecture at 4pm.

“He’s a big-time Canadian space scientist,” said Howard Trottier, a professor of physics at SFU. Whiteway is best known for spotting snow on Mars. He was the principle investigator for the Canadian weather station on the Phoenix Mars Lander, wrote Now.

Whiteway is the director of the .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Lab technologist brings little pieces of Mars to 91��ɫ, promotes space research

fmaquito — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Nick Balaskas is on a mission. He wants to set a world record for the number of people who have walked on Mars.

Although technically he would need only one person to achieve his goal, Balaskas has set his sights on 500 – a round number he developed based on the total number of individuals who have flown in space since the start of manned space flights 50 years ago, plus a few more for good measure.

Right: Janusz Kozinski, dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science & Engineering, takes a ‘walk’ on a piece of the red planet

A laboratory technologist in the Faculty of Science & Engineering’s and a 91��ɫ physics grad who studies meteorites, Balaskas (BSc ’79) hit upon the idea when he became interested in a meteorite known as (photo, left © Royal Ontario Museum). This orthopyroxene-bearing nakhlite from Mars was found in the Sahara Desert and purchased by meteorite dealers in 2002. The dealers, Adam and Greg Hupe, have shared fragments of the meteorite for research while the main portion is now part of the Royal Ontario Museum’s collection.

Balaskas purchased a couple of tiny fragments from the Hupes and invited 91��ɫ students and friends of 91��ɫ, including a who’s who of distinguished Canadians, to become the first to “walk on Mars” for his world record attempt. Each person who joins Balaskas’ select group treads a careful step (barefoot or socks, their option), receives a certificate of achievement and will be listed among those who helped establish the record, which Balaskas eventually plans to submit to the publisher of the Guinness Book of World Records for official recognition.

91��ɫ President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri became the latest person to walk on Mars when Balaskas visited his office in the 91��ɫ Research Tower. Janusz Kozinski, dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science & Engineering, joined Shoukri in his Mars trek and said the record attempt was a good way of drawing attention to 91��ɫ’s space programs. Balaskas said his goal in starting the project was to raise awareness of 91��ɫ’s ever-increasing reputation as one of the leading space science universities in Canada where 91��ɫ students and members of the 91��ɫ community play a big part.

Left: From left, President Shoukri with Balaskas and Dean Kozinski

91��ɫ researchers achieved world recognition in 2008 when, as part of the Phoenix Mars Mission team led by Professor Jim Whiteway, they helped determine that, like the Earth, it even snows on Mars (see YFile, Oct. 1, 2008).�� A new team of researchers from 91��ɫ’s Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering led by Professor Jack McConnell will take part in the , a partnership between the , the (CSA) and .

Whiteway is the director of the ; McConnell is also a member, as are many faculty involved in space research at 91��ɫ.

91��ɫ grad Steve MacLean (BSc ’73, PhD ’83, Hon. DSc ’93), a former Canadian astronaut who was appointed president of the Canadian Space Agency in 2008, is a member of a smaller and exclusive group of 91��ɫ space scientists who have walked on a different world and have certificates to prove it. Balaskas said he told Canadian astronaut Julie Payette, an honorary degree recipient at this year’s 91��ɫ Spring convocation, that her colleague McLean had done something she hadn’t done – walked on the moon! McLean was presented with a certificate and a fragment of NWA 482, a meteorite that originated from the Lunar Highlands that is geologically identical to the Genesis Rock brought back from the Moon by the Apollo 15 astronauts.

Left: A fragment of NWA 998, a meteor from Mars

But his project is more than just a promotional gimmick, says Balaskas, who during the day oversees the Faculty’s undergraduate physics labs. He and Sal Boccia, an engineering technologist in the metallurgy lab at the University of Toronto, have examined samples of NWA 998 under an electron microscope and found things they feel are worth further study, which they plan to pursue.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ researcher part of international team developing instrument to map asteroid

fmaquito — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

The Canadian Space Agency invests in concept studies for future space mission to Venus, the Moon or an Asteroid

The Canadian Space Agency has awarded two contracts to Richmond, BC-based and a contract to the University of Calgary to develop three different concept studies for Canada’s participation in NASA’s Program − the next space venture to another celestial body in our solar system.

Under these contracts, worth $500,000 each, MDA and the University of Calgary will work with international science research teams to develop preliminary designs for the three proposed missions, one of which will be selected by NASA for launch on a planetary space mission between 2016 and 2018. The final decision will be made in 2011.

Michael Daly, a professor in the Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science��& Engineering, is the deputy science team lead on the University of Calgary’s project. He will oversee the Canadian instrument development for the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx), which would collect samples from a primitive asteroid and return them to Earth. The samples would help scientists better understand the formation of our solar system and the origin of complex molecules necessary for life.

Left: NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes upon the dusty remains of shredded asteroids around several dead stars. This artist's concept illustrates one such dead star, or white dwarf, surrounded by the bits and pieces of a disintegrating asteroid. Image:��NASA/JPL Caltech.

The OSIRIS-REx proposal includes a lidar instrument, based in part on the Canadian-built laser used on NASA's Phoenix-Mars lander. Daly will collaborate with colleagues at the Universities of Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and British Columbia to develop a lidar capable of mapping asteroids and moons. Michael Drake at the University of Arizona in Tucson is the principal investigator for the overall project.

“This project builds upon 91��ɫ’s long history of successful collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency and our expertise in developing instrumentation for space research,” said Michael Siu, associate vice-president research, science & technology. “We have every confidence that Professor Daly and the rest of the OSIRIS-REx team will make significant strides.”

Daly, a former staff member at MDA, was the chief engineer for the Phoenix Meteorological Station project. He joined 91��ɫ’s faculty in January 2010.

“The selection process for missions like is highly competitive,” said Canadian Space Agency president Steve MacLean. “It is a testament to Canadian talent that our industry and academic community are part of all three candidates for the mission. No matter which proposal wins, it is significant that Canada is in a position to play a highly visible and vital role in the final mission.”

The Canadian Space Agency has also published a .

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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Snow-discovering spacecraft finally bites the Martian dust

fmaquito — Fri, 28 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

The Phoenix is dead and this time it won’t rise again.

On May 24, NASA released photos of the Mars Phoenix lander that finally ended even the faintest hope that the 91��ɫ-designed weather instruments on board the spacecraft would come to life again. The photos show that the lander’s solar panels appear to have collapsed due to the weight of a thick layer of frost, robbing it of power it needs to communicate – if its physical components were not already cracked and broken by the extreme cold.

Left: Members of the 91��ɫ Phoenix team nervously await the first results from Mars on May 28, 2008

Although none of the Phoenix team at 91��ɫ held out much hope for Phoenix’s survival, the news from NASA made it official. The team will be toasting both the project’s success and the lander’s demise tonight at the Space Science Symposium: Reflections on Canada’s Past and Future Achievements in Space Science, being held to honour the 50-year career of Gordon Shepherd, Distinguished Research Professor in 91��ɫ’s Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering.

“We will be celebrating the accomplishment and the fact that it’s finally over,” said 91��ɫ Professor Jim Whiteway, principal investigator for the Canadian portion of the Phoenix project, which was led by the University of Arizona and NASA.

The Phoenix touched down on the Red Planet two years ago and provided the world with the stunning revelation that it snows on Mars (see YFile, Oct. 1, 2008). But the lander, whose meteorology instruments were designed by Whiteway and his team from 91��ɫ’s Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science (CRESS) in the Faculty of Science & Engineering (FSE), was never designed to withstand a Martian winter. “We stopped hoping it would respond in March,” said Whiteway. “We never did make any plans – it wasn’t designed to survive the winter.”

NASA issued a story and photos (right) taken by the Mars Odyssey orbiter (see ), which flew over the landing site 61 times during a final attempt to communicate with the lander. No transmission from the lander was detected. Phoenix also did not communicate during 150 flights in three earlier listening campaigns this year.

Since the work of the mission ended with the onset of the Martian winter in November 2008, Whiteway and his team have published 15 papers in international journals reporting new knowledge that has changed our understanding of the climate and the hydrological cycle on Mars. These results are now informing a new generation of computer models being used to study the climate on Mars. “They are simple observations and would be quite pedestrian on earth,” Whiteway said, “but they are quite something else on a different planet.”

Alan Carswell, chair of the board at Optech, professor emeritus at 91��ɫ��and developer of��the lidar technology, said it was fitting that the Space Seminar, where he is also speaking, is being held on the very day two years ago that the 91��ɫ team received the first results from Phoenix’s MET package. It was a few days later that the instrument confirmed that it snows on Mars. “That was a pure lidar observation – without it the snow wouldn’t have been detected,” Carswell said. “The fact that it was our lidar that allowed it to be seen was really quite reassuring and satisfying.”

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��A view of one of Phoenix's solar panels after the landing on Mars

With the project reports all but complete, the 91��ɫ team��is now focusing on new proposals for missions to map asteroids and moons using the lidar technology that was a key component of the Phoenix’s MET package. These projects are being led by 91��ɫ Professor Michael Daly, a former staff member at MDA Space Missions who was the chief engineer for the Phoenix MET project and then joined FSE as a professor in January.

Phoenix’s meteorological component was a collaboration led by 91��ɫ, in partnership with the University of Alberta, Dalhousie University, the University of Aarhus (Denmark), the Finnish Meteorological Institute, MDA Space Missions and Optech Inc., with $37 million in funding from the Canadian Space Agency. The mission was a of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories and the University of Arizona.

For more information on the science results of the mission and links to more stories about Phoenix, see YFile, July 6, 2009.

By David Fuller, contributing YFile writer.

Republished courtesy of YFile.

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For 91��ɫ profs, it's science on-demand at Royal Canadian Institute gala dinner

fmaquito — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Have you ever wanted to have dinner with a scientist? Ask questions about Canada’s laser radar on NASA's 2007 Phoenix mission to Mars, the role of human genomes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the consequences of dwindling fossil fuels or perhaps how biochemical pathways affect obesity?

The Royal Canadian Institute (RCI) for the Advancement of Science, Canada's oldest scientific society at 161 years,��is hosting a gala dinner featuring 25 scientists, and guests get to choose which one they’d like to sit with.

Five of the scientists are from 91��ɫ, which is a sponsor of the dinner. They are physics Professor Emeritus Allan Carswell, humanities and science & technology��studies Professor Bernard Lightman, Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Giuseppina D’Agostino, anthropology and science & technology studies Professor Natasha Myers, and Canada Research Chair in Ecology��& Conservation Biology, Professor Bridget Stutchbury. In addition, Mark Lievonen, president of Sanofi Pasteur Ltd., a 91��ɫ alumnus and member of 91��ɫ's Board of Governors, will also host a table.

Right: Giuseppina D’Agostino

Founder and director of Osgoode's Intellectual Property Law & Technology Program (IP Osgoode), D’Agostino, a recent recipient of the Law Commission of Ontario’s Visiting Scholarship Program, will talk about "Challenges to the Commercialization of Intellectual Property". The commercialization of intellectual property is often said to be indispensable for fostering a vibrant, creative and innovative economy, but many challenges remain before an invention can be brought from the lab into the marketplace.��D’Agostino is currently investigating the intellectual property and privacy aspects of the electronic health record in Canada.

Left: Bernard Lightman

Lightman, editor of the history of science journal Isis, will discuss "Who, Exactly, Was Charles Darwin?��The Making of a Cultural Icon".��Lightman's early work, summed up in his��, centred on the birth of a new form of unbelief in the wake of the debates over evolutionary theory. More recently,��he has tackled the issue of how science was popularized in the second half of the 19th century in Britain. His current project is a biography of the eminent Victorian physicist John Tyndall.

Right: Allan Carswell

Former president of the Canadian Association of Physicists and vice-president of the Canadian Academy of Science, Carswell founded Optech Inc.��in 1974 to develop commercial lidars (laser radar). He and a Canadian team provided a lidar on NASA's 2007 Phoenix mission to Mars as part of a meteorological station, MET, for studies of the Martian atmosphere. After the landing in May 2008,��MET provided measurements of outstanding value, including the discovery of snowfall on Mars. An internationally recognized leader in the lidar field, Carswell will present "Canada Goes to Mars".

Left: Bridget Stutchbury

Stutchbury, Canada Research Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biology and a field biologist who has studied bird behaviour and conservation for 25 years, has followed Canadian migratory songbirds to their wintering grounds in Latin America to understand the threats they face far away. She is author of , a Governor General’s Literary Award non-fiction finalist, and the forthcoming T. She will discuss "Conservation Biology Studied Through Birds".

Right: Natasha Myers

Myers' research examines the lively visual cultures that thrive in contemporary life science laboratories and classrooms, with an interest in the artistry, craft and creativity of scientific work.��She will discuss "Art Meets Science".��Myers has been engaged in art-science collaborations for over a decade.��Her most recent project was the 2009 Art Meets Science Series at 91��ɫ, a year-long series of events designed to foster a culture of collaboration among 91��ɫ’s artists and scientists.

Left: Mark Lievonen

Lievonen (BBA Spec. Hons. ’79, MBA ’87), a member of the Board of Directors of Oncolytics Biotech Inc. and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, will talk about the Canadian Vaccine Capability: Collaborating for Continued Success.

In addition, ex-91��ɫie Brock Fenton,��a biology professor at the University of Western Ontario and former chair of 91��ɫ’s Department of Biology as well as former associate vice-president research, will��ask "How do Universities Interact With Society?" He has written several books about bats intended for a general audience, including Just Bats (University of Toronto Press, 1983) and The Bat: Wings in the Night Sky ( Key Porter Press, 1998)).

Right: Brock Fenton

Scientists are chosen from various disciplines and many southern Ontario academic institutions. Each scientist hosts a table of eight.��The gala partners are awarded several places, and their guests, as well as individual ticket purchasers, can choose the table of greatest interest to them.��After a reception of an hour or so, dinner will start. Each scientist will provide a brief overview of their subject and/or current work and guests are then free to ask any questions or suggest topics they would like the host to discuss. For tables and topics, click here. Following the dinner, the president of the RCI will open a general question-and-answer period at which time any of the participants are free to direct a question to any of the scientists present.

The RCI for the Advancement of Science is a not-for-profit organization founded in Toronto in 1849 by a small group of civil engineers, architects and surveyors and��led by Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915) who established the concept of time zones.

The gala will take place Thursday, April 22, from 6 to 9:30pm, in the MaRS Collaboration Centre, 101 College St., Toronto. Tickets are $250. The dinner will help to raise awareness and funds for the RCI's outreach activities, in particular��the��free public lectures it presents every year in Toronto and Mississauga on a diverse range of topics. The fundraising also goes toward providing scholarships for deserving high school students to attend university.

91��ɫ provides the Webcasting and archiving for all the lectures through the support of University Information Technology and the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. Click to view archived Webcasts of previous lectures. 91��ɫ also supplies many of the speakers.��This winter two of the six Toronto were from 91��ɫ.

For more information, visit the Web site or contact 91��ɫ biology Professor Ron Pearlman, a member of the RCI council and the gala organizing committee,��at ronp@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy o f YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ-led scientists issue Phoenix-Mars findings

fmaquito — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Key findings of the Phoenix-Mars mission’s Canadian science team, led by 91��ɫ, have been published in the journal Science. The report, published on Friday, summarizes the scientific findings of the mission, which was conducted last summer on the planet Mars.

During the five-month mission, which concluded in November 2008, the team’s laser instrument detected snow falling from Martian clouds – a first in observations from the surface of the red planet.

"We found ice clouds and precipitation that were surprisingly Earth-like – certainly more so than expected," says Professor Jim Whiteway, the lead Canadian scientist and Canada Research Chair in Space Engineering��and Atmospheric Science in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Science & Engijneering. He is also a member of the Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science.

Left: Professor Jim Whiteway. Photo courtesy of the Canadian Space Agency

In the Science article, "Mars Water-Ice Clouds and Precipitation," Whiteway and 22 co-authors conclude that, had Phoenix operated further into winter, they would have seen evidence of precipitation accumulating into a seasonal buildup of water ice on the ground.

"Before Phoenix, we did not know whether precipitation occurred on Mars. We knew that the polar ice cap advanced as far south as the Phoenix site in winter, but we didn't know how the water vapour moved from the atmosphere to ice on the ground. Now we know that it does snow, and that this is part of the hydrological cycle on Mars," explains Whiteway.

The mission obtained measurements from the surface in the Arctic region of Mars. The spacecraft landed before the summer solstice and operated throughout the midsummer peak and decline in atmospheric water vapour, making it possible to observe the processes that contribute to the water cycle.

The team used a Canadian-designed light detection and ranging (LIDAR) instrument that emitted pulses of laser light upward into the atmosphere and detected the backscatter from dust and clouds. The laser instrumentation was part of Phoenix’s meteorological station, which gathered crucial information about the climate on Mars via temperature, wind and pressure sensors.

The LIDAR observed water-ice clouds in the atmosphere of Mars that were similar to cirrus clouds on Earth. Measurements of atmospheric dust indicated that the planetary boundary layer (PBL) on Mars was well-mixed – up to heights of approximately four kilometres – by summer daytime turbulence and convection. The water-ice clouds were detected at the top of the PBL and near the ground each night in late summer after the air temperature began decreasing.

Whiteway and his colleagues interpreted that water vapour mixed upward by daytime turbulence and convection forms ice crystal clouds at night, which then precipitate back toward the surface.

He says the publication of their findings cements a new chapter of knowledge about Mars. "It was several years of difficult work with a high risk," says Whiteway. "It’s satisfying that we achieved something special."

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

Phoenix’s meteorological component was a collaboration led by 91��ɫ, in partnership with the University of Alberta, Dalhousie University, the University of Aarhus (Denmark), the Finnish Meteorological Institute, MDA Space Missions and Optech Inc., with $37 million in funding from the Canadian Space Agency. The mission was a joint project of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories and the University of Arizona.

For more on the Phoenix-Mars mission, see YFile, Nov. 12, 2008, Aug. 15, 2008 and May 30, 2008.

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