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"disqusTitle": "Where's Philae? Space Agency Narrows Search Area for Lost Comet Lander",
"title": "Where's Philae? Space Agency Narrows Search Area for Lost Comet Lander",
"headTitle": "News Fix | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 5:20 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's been a week since the European Space Agency's Philae Lander powered down after completing a series of experiments in an unexpected, and as of yet unknown, location on the surface of Comet 67P.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lander bounced twice and floated more than a kilometer from its intended landing site into a shadier position that hasn't yet allowed enough sunlight for a solar recharge of Philae's batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ESA released a very short audio clip of the lander's initial touchdown Thursday, adding a second track to Philae's astronomical playlist. The first track \u003ca href=\"#audio\">features oscillations\u003c/a> in 67P's magnetic field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=\"https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/177804960\" params=\"color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" iframe=\"true\" /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/21/homing-in-on-philaes-final-landing-site/\">ESA reports\u003c/a> it has narrowed down the search area for the lander using radio wave transmissions between Philae and its mothership, the comet orbiter Rosetta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The radio wave system on both the orbiter and lander is called the Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission, or CONSERT. It was designed to demystify the comet's interior, but it's also proving useful in pinpointing Philae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10351657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate.jpeg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10351657\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate-800x563.jpeg\" alt=\"Philae's final landing site, estimated by CONSERT. (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CONSERT)\" width=\"800\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate-800x563.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate-400x281.jpeg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate.jpeg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philae's final landing site, estimated by CONSERT. (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CONSERT)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Astronomer Gerald McKeegan with the Chabot Space and Science Center has been watching developments of the comet landing this week. He said he's most excited about 67P's interior, which could hold clues about the origin of our solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initial results from CONSERT suggest the comet's exterior is covered in a layer of dust, then very hard ice. But the core seems to be less dense, something McKeegan says was a bit of a surprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We don’t know exactly what goes on inside a comet,\" he said. \"Comets are samples of the very early solar system, at a time when the solar system was first forming. We’re very interested to know -- what was the composition of that cloud of gas? We’re interested in seeing what all was there.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McKeegan said a prevailing theory is that comets and asteroids delivered water to the Earth early in our planet's life. Philae and Rosetta's analysis of the molecular makeup of the comet's ice could solidify that theory, or turn it upside down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10351720\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10351720\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic-800x650.jpg\" alt=\"Rosetta delivered this four-image NAVCAM mosaic comprising images of Comet 67P/C-G on Nov. 17. (ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM)\" width=\"800\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic-800x650.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic-400x325.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosetta delivered this four-image NAVCAM mosaic comprising images of Comet 67P/C-G on Nov. 17. (ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Philae also \"sniffed\" molecules containing carbon as it landed on 67P.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The gases that are blowing off of the comet include some organic compounds, which is not unexpected,\" McKeegan said, \"and they’re still waiting for the results of the drilling operations.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lander's drill system was the last experiment to deploy before Philae went dark. ESA scientists know the drill went down and came up again, but they don't yet know if it was able to deliver any stuff of which comets are made into the lander's body for analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's a possibility that the lander will power-up when the comet gets closer to the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Everybody’s got their fingers crossed that eventually we’ll get enough sunlight to recharge its batteries, and they’ll do some more experimenting,\" McKeegan said. \"There’s some data they don’t have and they’d like to get that. This is still pretty extraordinary. The fact they were able to get it on the comet from 316 million miles away, that’s pretty extraordinary.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 5:20 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philae, we hardly knew ye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The little comet lander with a lot of luck is completing a lightning round of science experiments on the surface of Comet 67P before it powers down, exhausted and unable to recharge its batteries with solar energy because it ended up in a shadow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that sounds not so lucky, consider that Philae bounced twice after hitting the comet initially. A harpoon system intended to blast into the comet's surface and anchor the lander failed to fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Three_touchdowns_for_Rosetta_s_lander\" target=\"_blank\">European Space Agency reports\u003c/a> the lander lifted from the surface for almost two hours and traveled a full kilometer across the comet's surface before touching down again. A shorter, seven-minute lift carried Philae to its final landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philae re-established communication with Rosetta at about 2:30 p.m. PST on Friday and quickly confirmed it had drilled into the comet's surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/533389606302261248\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then it appears to have successfully lifted and righted itself. (Pictures the lander had previously sent back to Earth showed one of its three legs in the air, leading ESA scientists to believe it may have landed on its side.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/533392948252409856\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the toils began to take their toll. Philae's battery charge started to plummet after 3:37 p.m. PST.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/533403430489178112\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the lander managed to take another round of images -- that have not yet made it here -- and to measure the core of the comet with its on-board radar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 4:09 p.m. PST, Philae began communicating between the Rosetta mothership and its radar instrument, Concert:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/533411331937165312\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at 4:28 p.m. PST, ESA Operations confirmed Philae had switched to stand-by mode. All its instruments powered down, but it continued to transmit information. The Rosetta Mission acknowledged Philae's hard work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta/status/533419819581063168\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But take heart; know Philae could rise again, if only briefly. ESA crews are hoping for a window later this year when the comet comes close enough to the sun that Philae will be able to charge up, but still too far away to melt the little lander.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ESA Operations confirmed it had lost communication with Philae at 4:46 p.m. PST.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 3:55 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft and the little lander Philae are delivering information from the surface of Comet 67P, despite the inability of ESA crews to locate exactly where the probe settled after bouncing, twice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists do know the solar-charged Philae may soon run out of power because it appears to be resting in a shadow, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30034060\" target=\"_blank\">according to BBC News\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ESA may attempt to move Philae, but in its current position, it's estimated to power down sometime Friday or Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10348438\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-10348438 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet-800x467.jpg\" alt=\"One of Philae's feet can be seen in this photo from the lander's final landing location. (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet-800x467.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet-400x233.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet-1440x841.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Philae's feet can be seen in this photo from the lander's final landing location. (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chabot Space & Science Center astronomer Ben Burress, a \u003cem>KQED Science\u003c/em> contributor, \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/11/13/now-that-philae-has-landed-a-wealth-of-data-is-forthcoming/\" target=\"_blank\">detailed the lander's ups and downs today\u003c/a> after about 12 incommunicado hours from Philae:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>When communication was reestablished, and data from Philae’s ROMAP instrument was analyzed, it was learned that the probe had experienced not one, but three distinct landings. The first landing reported by the data coincided with the initial landing confirmation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, almost two hours later, a second landing event was indicated. The harpoon system, designed to fire an anchor into the comet to tether Philae down, had not functioned, and Philae had bounced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven minutes after the second landing, a third was reported by the data, the lander apparently having bounced a second time. This time, however, it appeared that Philae had come to rest somewhere on the surface. ESA scientists are attempting to triangulate its exact position with instruments on Philae and Rosetta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the first pictures came in they showed what looks like a jagged, dusty, even gravely cliff face, and no framing horizon. Philae was not level with the ground, but resting at a tilted angle. Later, additional images sent back were assembled into the first panoramic view from the comet.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca name=\"audio\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nDespite the excursions from a perfect landing scenario, Philae has landed, and we are there, thanks to the telepresence the washing-machine-sized robot has given us.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Philae is delivering more than just photos in what could be its very short life. Listen below to 67P's soundscape:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=\"https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176387011\" params=\"auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=false&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"450\" iframe=\"true\" /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chirping is thought to be generated by oscillations in the comet's magnetic field. The sound wave is below the frequency that can be heard by a human ear, but ESA boosted the frequency in the track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philae's landing on Comet 67P might have been a little bumpier than first reported. The lander may have bounced off the comet after initial contact, according to European Space Agency officials, and a harpoon system designed to blast an anchor into the surface appears to have failed to fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's a video from ESA showing how Philae's landing was supposed to go down:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe src=\"http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/content/view/embedjw/439242\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite those small mishaps, the lander has settled for now and is likely doing science experiments while it waits for its mother ship Rosetta to appear on the horizon and re-establish contact with Earth. Learn more about its systems, technology and mission from this graphic:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Click to enlarge.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10348308\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10348308\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1-800x662.jpg\" alt=\"(David Pierce/KQED)\" width=\"800\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1-800x662.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1-400x331.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1-1440x1192.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(David Pierce/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 10:35 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta/status/532593595283689472\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are \u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanspaceagency\" target=\"_blank\">previous photos\u003c/a> from the European Space Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post Wednesday, Nov. 12\u003c/strong>:\u003cbr>\nBill Chappell\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/12/363492519/comet-landing-european-craft-due-to-make-contact-today\" target=\"_blank\">NPR\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of millions of miles from Earth, a man-made object was flung at a comet Wednesday — and now it's sticking to the rock as it hurtles through space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We are on the comet,\" Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager, announced Wednesday, marking a historic achievement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The news came after the European Space Agency endured tense hours of uncertainty following the lander's separation from the Rosetta spacecraft, as scientists awaited a message from the lander that would tell them whether it landed safely -- or suffered a calamity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Ulamec said that the lander was secured to the comet's surface by ice screws that had been shot by the craft's harpoons — and that it was now doing its job and communicating with Earth — he sparked an uproar of applause from workers and spectators at the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while the European agency says the lander is in \"great shape,\" it also says that additional analysis suggests that Philae's harpoons did not fire, and that the agency is looking at trying again. (see update below).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took 10 years for the Philae Lander to reach a point where it could be sent toward Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The ESA said this morning that it had received a signal from the lander as it headed toward its rendezvous with the comet, indicating that if all went well, the lander would be able to communicate and send photos from the comet's surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We'll update this post with developments from space. You can also follow the news at the ESA's \u003ca href=\"http://rosetta.esa.int/\">Rosetta page\u003c/a>, and at \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv\" target=\"_blank\">NASA TV, starting at 9 a.m. ET.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update at 11:50 a.m. ET: 'Harpoons Did Not Fire'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After analyzing telemetry data from the Philae lander, ESA says it seems that the craft's harpoons didn't fire as first thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding that the lander is in \"great shape,\" the agency says its engineers are looking into options for retrying the harpoon operation, which is meant to secure the craft to the comet's surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a tweet, the agency says the lander \"made a fairly gentle touch down on \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/67P?src=hash\">#67P\u003c/a> based on amount of landing gear damping.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update at 11:05 a.m. ET: Philae Has Landed\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a first, the Philae lander is on the comet's surface. We've updated the top of this post to reflect the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update at 10:15 a.m. ET: New Images, And 'A Boot'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Everything looks really, really good,\" says Stephan Ulamec, Philae program manager at DLR, in a progress report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ESA has released new images from the area around the comet, including one shot of Philae breaking away from the Rosetta craft and heading toward 67P.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another image shows the lander from the view of its parent spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two scientists who discovered the comet 45 years ago — Klim Ivanovych Churyumov and Svetlana Ivanovna Gerasimenko — are in the unique position today of watching humanity's attempt to land on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Churyumov and Svetlana Ivanovna Gerasimenko took part in an event hosted by the ESA that was equal parts news conference and viewing party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Gerasimenko was asked the tongue-in-cheek question of how she likes the comet that she and her colleague spotted decades ago, she responded by saying, \"I like the form very much — it reminds me of a boot.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today's comet operation was also being monitored by other space veterans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Our original post continues:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Comet 67P has several surprising qualities. First of all, it smells really bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It stinks,\" researcher Kathrin Altwegg \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/10/24/358364942/european-scientists-conclude-that-distant-comet-smells-terrible\">told NPR's Geoff Brumfiel\u003c/a> last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's because of a mixture of ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, formaldehyde and methanol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The comet also emits \"a mysterious song,\" according to the \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/11/the-singing-comet/\">ESA blog\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The comet seems to be emitting a 'song' in the form of oscillations in the magnetic field in the comet's environment,\" the ESA says. \"It is being sung at 40-50 millihertz, far below human hearing, which typically picks up sound between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. To make the music audible to the human ear, the frequencies have been increased by a factor of about 10,000.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's what that sounds like — close your eyes and you might be able to pick out \"Flight of the Bumblebee\":\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Geoff reports, scientists here on Earth see Philae, which is about the size of a refrigerator, as \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/11/363028703/researchers-to-attempt-robotic-landing-on-comets-surface\">\"our remote hands.\"\u003c/a> The lander will take many readings from the comet's surface, in addition to drilling into it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before any tests can occur, Geoff notes, the comet's rocky and uneven surface could make the landing very tricky — and that's why the lander has harpoons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Moments after its feet touch down, the harpoons will fire,\" Geoff says, \"along with some thrusters to keep the lander grounded. Then screws in the feet will try to get a grip.\"\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 5:20 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's been a week since the European Space Agency's Philae Lander powered down after completing a series of experiments in an unexpected, and as of yet unknown, location on the surface of Comet 67P.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lander bounced twice and floated more than a kilometer from its intended landing site into a shadier position that hasn't yet allowed enough sunlight for a solar recharge of Philae's batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ESA released a very short audio clip of the lander's initial touchdown Thursday, adding a second track to Philae's astronomical playlist. The first track \u003ca href=\"#audio\">features oscillations\u003c/a> in 67P's magnetic field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='100%' height='166'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/177804960&visual=true&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false'\n title='https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/177804960'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/21/homing-in-on-philaes-final-landing-site/\">ESA reports\u003c/a> it has narrowed down the search area for the lander using radio wave transmissions between Philae and its mothership, the comet orbiter Rosetta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The radio wave system on both the orbiter and lander is called the Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission, or CONSERT. It was designed to demystify the comet's interior, but it's also proving useful in pinpointing Philae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10351657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate.jpeg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10351657\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate-800x563.jpeg\" alt=\"Philae's final landing site, estimated by CONSERT. (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CONSERT)\" width=\"800\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate-800x563.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate-400x281.jpeg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/CONSERT_landingsiteestimate.jpeg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philae's final landing site, estimated by CONSERT. (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CONSERT)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Astronomer Gerald McKeegan with the Chabot Space and Science Center has been watching developments of the comet landing this week. He said he's most excited about 67P's interior, which could hold clues about the origin of our solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initial results from CONSERT suggest the comet's exterior is covered in a layer of dust, then very hard ice. But the core seems to be less dense, something McKeegan says was a bit of a surprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We don’t know exactly what goes on inside a comet,\" he said. \"Comets are samples of the very early solar system, at a time when the solar system was first forming. We’re very interested to know -- what was the composition of that cloud of gas? We’re interested in seeing what all was there.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McKeegan said a prevailing theory is that comets and asteroids delivered water to the Earth early in our planet's life. Philae and Rosetta's analysis of the molecular makeup of the comet's ice could solidify that theory, or turn it upside down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10351720\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10351720\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic-800x650.jpg\" alt=\"Rosetta delivered this four-image NAVCAM mosaic comprising images of Comet 67P/C-G on Nov. 17. (ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM)\" width=\"800\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic-800x650.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic-400x325.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/NAVCAM_141117_mosaic.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosetta delivered this four-image NAVCAM mosaic comprising images of Comet 67P/C-G on Nov. 17. (ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Philae also \"sniffed\" molecules containing carbon as it landed on 67P.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The gases that are blowing off of the comet include some organic compounds, which is not unexpected,\" McKeegan said, \"and they’re still waiting for the results of the drilling operations.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lander's drill system was the last experiment to deploy before Philae went dark. ESA scientists know the drill went down and came up again, but they don't yet know if it was able to deliver any stuff of which comets are made into the lander's body for analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's a possibility that the lander will power-up when the comet gets closer to the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Everybody’s got their fingers crossed that eventually we’ll get enough sunlight to recharge its batteries, and they’ll do some more experimenting,\" McKeegan said. \"There’s some data they don’t have and they’d like to get that. This is still pretty extraordinary. The fact they were able to get it on the comet from 316 million miles away, that’s pretty extraordinary.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 5:20 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philae, we hardly knew ye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The little comet lander with a lot of luck is completing a lightning round of science experiments on the surface of Comet 67P before it powers down, exhausted and unable to recharge its batteries with solar energy because it ended up in a shadow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that sounds not so lucky, consider that Philae bounced twice after hitting the comet initially. A harpoon system intended to blast into the comet's surface and anchor the lander failed to fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Three_touchdowns_for_Rosetta_s_lander\" target=\"_blank\">European Space Agency reports\u003c/a> the lander lifted from the surface for almost two hours and traveled a full kilometer across the comet's surface before touching down again. A shorter, seven-minute lift carried Philae to its final landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philae re-established communication with Rosetta at about 2:30 p.m. PST on Friday and quickly confirmed it had drilled into the comet's surface.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Then it appears to have successfully lifted and righted itself. (Pictures the lander had previously sent back to Earth showed one of its three legs in the air, leading ESA scientists to believe it may have landed on its side.)\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>But the toils began to take their toll. Philae's battery charge started to plummet after 3:37 p.m. PST.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Still, the lander managed to take another round of images -- that have not yet made it here -- and to measure the core of the comet with its on-board radar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 4:09 p.m. PST, Philae began communicating between the Rosetta mothership and its radar instrument, Concert:\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>And at 4:28 p.m. PST, ESA Operations confirmed Philae had switched to stand-by mode. All its instruments powered down, but it continued to transmit information. The Rosetta Mission acknowledged Philae's hard work.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>But take heart; know Philae could rise again, if only briefly. ESA crews are hoping for a window later this year when the comet comes close enough to the sun that Philae will be able to charge up, but still too far away to melt the little lander.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ESA Operations confirmed it had lost communication with Philae at 4:46 p.m. PST.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 3:55 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft and the little lander Philae are delivering information from the surface of Comet 67P, despite the inability of ESA crews to locate exactly where the probe settled after bouncing, twice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists do know the solar-charged Philae may soon run out of power because it appears to be resting in a shadow, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30034060\" target=\"_blank\">according to BBC News\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ESA may attempt to move Philae, but in its current position, it's estimated to power down sometime Friday or Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10348438\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-10348438 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet-800x467.jpg\" alt=\"One of Philae's feet can be seen in this photo from the lander's final landing location. (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet-800x467.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet-400x233.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet-1440x841.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Welcome-to-a-comet.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Philae's feet can be seen in this photo from the lander's final landing location. (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chabot Space & Science Center astronomer Ben Burress, a \u003cem>KQED Science\u003c/em> contributor, \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/11/13/now-that-philae-has-landed-a-wealth-of-data-is-forthcoming/\" target=\"_blank\">detailed the lander's ups and downs today\u003c/a> after about 12 incommunicado hours from Philae:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>When communication was reestablished, and data from Philae’s ROMAP instrument was analyzed, it was learned that the probe had experienced not one, but three distinct landings. The first landing reported by the data coincided with the initial landing confirmation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, almost two hours later, a second landing event was indicated. The harpoon system, designed to fire an anchor into the comet to tether Philae down, had not functioned, and Philae had bounced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven minutes after the second landing, a third was reported by the data, the lander apparently having bounced a second time. This time, however, it appeared that Philae had come to rest somewhere on the surface. ESA scientists are attempting to triangulate its exact position with instruments on Philae and Rosetta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the first pictures came in they showed what looks like a jagged, dusty, even gravely cliff face, and no framing horizon. Philae was not level with the ground, but resting at a tilted angle. Later, additional images sent back were assembled into the first panoramic view from the comet.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca name=\"audio\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nDespite the excursions from a perfect landing scenario, Philae has landed, and we are there, thanks to the telepresence the washing-machine-sized robot has given us.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Philae is delivering more than just photos in what could be its very short life. Listen below to 67P's soundscape:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='100%' height='450'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176387011&visual=true&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=false&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true'\n title='https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176387011'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chirping is thought to be generated by oscillations in the comet's magnetic field. The sound wave is below the frequency that can be heard by a human ear, but ESA boosted the frequency in the track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philae's landing on Comet 67P might have been a little bumpier than first reported. The lander may have bounced off the comet after initial contact, according to European Space Agency officials, and a harpoon system designed to blast an anchor into the surface appears to have failed to fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's a video from ESA showing how Philae's landing was supposed to go down:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe src=\"http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/content/view/embedjw/439242\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite those small mishaps, the lander has settled for now and is likely doing science experiments while it waits for its mother ship Rosetta to appear on the horizon and re-establish contact with Earth. Learn more about its systems, technology and mission from this graphic:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Click to enlarge.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10348308\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10348308\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1-800x662.jpg\" alt=\"(David Pierce/KQED)\" width=\"800\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1-800x662.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1-400x331.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/Rosetta1-1440x1192.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(David Pierce/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 10:35 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Here are \u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanspaceagency\" target=\"_blank\">previous photos\u003c/a> from the European Space Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post Wednesday, Nov. 12\u003c/strong>:\u003cbr>\nBill Chappell\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/12/363492519/comet-landing-european-craft-due-to-make-contact-today\" target=\"_blank\">NPR\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of millions of miles from Earth, a man-made object was flung at a comet Wednesday — and now it's sticking to the rock as it hurtles through space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We are on the comet,\" Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager, announced Wednesday, marking a historic achievement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The news came after the European Space Agency endured tense hours of uncertainty following the lander's separation from the Rosetta spacecraft, as scientists awaited a message from the lander that would tell them whether it landed safely -- or suffered a calamity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Ulamec said that the lander was secured to the comet's surface by ice screws that had been shot by the craft's harpoons — and that it was now doing its job and communicating with Earth — he sparked an uproar of applause from workers and spectators at the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while the European agency says the lander is in \"great shape,\" it also says that additional analysis suggests that Philae's harpoons did not fire, and that the agency is looking at trying again. (see update below).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took 10 years for the Philae Lander to reach a point where it could be sent toward Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The ESA said this morning that it had received a signal from the lander as it headed toward its rendezvous with the comet, indicating that if all went well, the lander would be able to communicate and send photos from the comet's surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We'll update this post with developments from space. You can also follow the news at the ESA's \u003ca href=\"http://rosetta.esa.int/\">Rosetta page\u003c/a>, and at \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv\" target=\"_blank\">NASA TV, starting at 9 a.m. ET.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update at 11:50 a.m. ET: 'Harpoons Did Not Fire'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After analyzing telemetry data from the Philae lander, ESA says it seems that the craft's harpoons didn't fire as first thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding that the lander is in \"great shape,\" the agency says its engineers are looking into options for retrying the harpoon operation, which is meant to secure the craft to the comet's surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a tweet, the agency says the lander \"made a fairly gentle touch down on \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/67P?src=hash\">#67P\u003c/a> based on amount of landing gear damping.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update at 11:05 a.m. ET: Philae Has Landed\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a first, the Philae lander is on the comet's surface. We've updated the top of this post to reflect the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update at 10:15 a.m. ET: New Images, And 'A Boot'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Everything looks really, really good,\" says Stephan Ulamec, Philae program manager at DLR, in a progress report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ESA has released new images from the area around the comet, including one shot of Philae breaking away from the Rosetta craft and heading toward 67P.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another image shows the lander from the view of its parent spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two scientists who discovered the comet 45 years ago — Klim Ivanovych Churyumov and Svetlana Ivanovna Gerasimenko — are in the unique position today of watching humanity's attempt to land on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Churyumov and Svetlana Ivanovna Gerasimenko took part in an event hosted by the ESA that was equal parts news conference and viewing party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Gerasimenko was asked the tongue-in-cheek question of how she likes the comet that she and her colleague spotted decades ago, she responded by saying, \"I like the form very much — it reminds me of a boot.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today's comet operation was also being monitored by other space veterans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Our original post continues:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Comet 67P has several surprising qualities. First of all, it smells really bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It stinks,\" researcher Kathrin Altwegg \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/10/24/358364942/european-scientists-conclude-that-distant-comet-smells-terrible\">told NPR's Geoff Brumfiel\u003c/a> last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's because of a mixture of ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, formaldehyde and methanol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The comet also emits \"a mysterious song,\" according to the \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/11/the-singing-comet/\">ESA blog\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The comet seems to be emitting a 'song' in the form of oscillations in the magnetic field in the comet's environment,\" the ESA says. \"It is being sung at 40-50 millihertz, far below human hearing, which typically picks up sound between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. To make the music audible to the human ear, the frequencies have been increased by a factor of about 10,000.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's what that sounds like — close your eyes and you might be able to pick out \"Flight of the Bumblebee\":\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Geoff reports, scientists here on Earth see Philae, which is about the size of a refrigerator, as \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/11/363028703/researchers-to-attempt-robotic-landing-on-comets-surface\">\"our remote hands.\"\u003c/a> The lander will take many readings from the comet's surface, in addition to drilling into it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before any tests can occur, Geoff notes, the comet's rocky and uneven surface could make the landing very tricky — and that's why the lander has harpoons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Moments after its feet touch down, the harpoons will fire,\" Geoff says, \"along with some thrusters to keep the lander grounded. Then screws in the feet will try to get a grip.\"\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Want to Go to Mars? A Cheaper Alternative Resides in Chile's Atacama Desert",
"headTitle": "Want to Go to Mars? A Cheaper Alternative Resides in Chile’s Atacama Desert | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23601\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 273px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/IMG_6407-162x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-23601\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/IMG_6407-162x162.jpg\" alt='\"Desert selfie\" in the driest place on the planet: Atacama Desert in Chile.' width=\"273\" height=\"278\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Desert selfie” in the driest place on the planet: the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you want to go to Mars but can’t quite afford the hundreds of billions of dollars for a ticket, there is another solution: consider instead a trip to the Atacama Desert in Chile. This place is not a typical holiday destination, but for those of us who want that \u003cem>out-of-this-world\u003c/em> experience, this is as Martian as it gets. The wettest part of the desert receives a mere 15mm of rain a year, and even that is a monsoon compared with the 2mm of rain that falls once per decade in the hyper-arid core of the Yungay region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When flying into the region last month on a small connecting jet from Santiago to Antofagasta, the closest town to the desert where I’d collect samples for my research, I stared out of the window at the Atacama below — noticing the geomorphological similarities between the driest desert on Earth and many of the satellite and rover photos I have analyzed from Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Gpm0pAVAY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The landscape is almost completely devoid of any plants and animals\u003c/a> (even at the microbial level): your backyard probably has more biological activity than the whole of the Yungay region.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>And during the first day of my field campaign with scientists from NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, our team drove approximately 600km through the Atacama; not a single insect collided with our truck’s windshield. In this desolate and extraordinarily dry environment, it is hard to imagine that Mars is still 1000 times drier than the driest part of the Atacama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Atacama, I had to readjust my perception of time and dominance of normal erosion processes. In most terrestrial environments, water is responsible for carving the landscapes we see. But in Yungay, the soils and boulders have been etched for millions of years by wind, the rare miniscule rainfall and extraordinarily, earthquakes. \u003ca href=\"http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/11-68.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scientists estimate that the Atacama has experienced approximately 30,000 seconds of rock-shaping shaking over the last few million years\u003c/a>. The result is some of the most Mars-like terrains you can find on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23605\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2006-04-20-02.24.58-2-1024x731.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23605\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2006-04-20-02.24.58-2-1024x731.jpg\" alt=\"Boulders in the driest part of the Atacama are commonly marked by light-toned grooves worn into the surface by nearby boulders during earthquakes. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"731\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Boulders in the driest part of the Atacama are commonly marked by light-toned grooves worn into the surface by nearby boulders during earthquakes.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When I began my Ph.D. over two years ago, I could have only hoped that my thesis project would have taken me to the most Martian place on Earth, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUTydO1oYyU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">covered from head-to-toe in a sterile suit, dust mask and gloves for hours\u003c/a> in order to collect uncontaminated sediments for analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My research interests lie at the juncture point between geology and biology. I want to understand how exactly the chemical constituents that make up life get preserved in the rock record on Earth, especially in Mars-like environments. This will help to enable me to make a prediction about how and where we might be able to find molecular evidence of past life (\u003cem>if there ever was any\u003c/em>) on Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23603\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/DSC_6057-2-1024x680.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23603\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/DSC_6057-2-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"Clean sampling of biomarkers in the desert soil requires suits, gloves, masks, goggles, and sterile tools to make sure no contamination ends up in the soil sample. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clean sampling of biomarkers in the desert soil requires suits, gloves, masks, goggles, and sterile tools to make sure no contamination ends up in the sample.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility of Mars analog environments like the Atacama is paramount. These unique locations provide a test-bed of sorts to begin to understand in greater detail geological processes occurring hundreds of millions of miles away on another planet. This is why many scientists, including myself, travel to Mars analogs to study geological processes up-close and to take samples back to our labs to examine them with analytical instruments that would be extremely difficult and costly to send to the red planet.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23601\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 273px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/IMG_6407-162x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-23601\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/IMG_6407-162x162.jpg\" alt='\"Desert selfie\" in the driest place on the planet: Atacama Desert in Chile.' width=\"273\" height=\"278\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Desert selfie” in the driest place on the planet: the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you want to go to Mars but can’t quite afford the hundreds of billions of dollars for a ticket, there is another solution: consider instead a trip to the Atacama Desert in Chile. This place is not a typical holiday destination, but for those of us who want that \u003cem>out-of-this-world\u003c/em> experience, this is as Martian as it gets. The wettest part of the desert receives a mere 15mm of rain a year, and even that is a monsoon compared with the 2mm of rain that falls once per decade in the hyper-arid core of the Yungay region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When flying into the region last month on a small connecting jet from Santiago to Antofagasta, the closest town to the desert where I’d collect samples for my research, I stared out of the window at the Atacama below — noticing the geomorphological similarities between the driest desert on Earth and many of the satellite and rover photos I have analyzed from Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Gpm0pAVAY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The landscape is almost completely devoid of any plants and animals\u003c/a> (even at the microbial level): your backyard probably has more biological activity than the whole of the Yungay region.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>And during the first day of my field campaign with scientists from NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, our team drove approximately 600km through the Atacama; not a single insect collided with our truck’s windshield. In this desolate and extraordinarily dry environment, it is hard to imagine that Mars is still 1000 times drier than the driest part of the Atacama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Atacama, I had to readjust my perception of time and dominance of normal erosion processes. In most terrestrial environments, water is responsible for carving the landscapes we see. But in Yungay, the soils and boulders have been etched for millions of years by wind, the rare miniscule rainfall and extraordinarily, earthquakes. \u003ca href=\"http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/11-68.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scientists estimate that the Atacama has experienced approximately 30,000 seconds of rock-shaping shaking over the last few million years\u003c/a>. The result is some of the most Mars-like terrains you can find on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23605\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2006-04-20-02.24.58-2-1024x731.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23605\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2006-04-20-02.24.58-2-1024x731.jpg\" alt=\"Boulders in the driest part of the Atacama are commonly marked by light-toned grooves worn into the surface by nearby boulders during earthquakes. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"731\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Boulders in the driest part of the Atacama are commonly marked by light-toned grooves worn into the surface by nearby boulders during earthquakes.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When I began my Ph.D. over two years ago, I could have only hoped that my thesis project would have taken me to the most Martian place on Earth, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUTydO1oYyU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">covered from head-to-toe in a sterile suit, dust mask and gloves for hours\u003c/a> in order to collect uncontaminated sediments for analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My research interests lie at the juncture point between geology and biology. I want to understand how exactly the chemical constituents that make up life get preserved in the rock record on Earth, especially in Mars-like environments. This will help to enable me to make a prediction about how and where we might be able to find molecular evidence of past life (\u003cem>if there ever was any\u003c/em>) on Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23603\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/DSC_6057-2-1024x680.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23603\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/DSC_6057-2-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"Clean sampling of biomarkers in the desert soil requires suits, gloves, masks, goggles, and sterile tools to make sure no contamination ends up in the soil sample. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clean sampling of biomarkers in the desert soil requires suits, gloves, masks, goggles, and sterile tools to make sure no contamination ends up in the sample.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility of Mars analog environments like the Atacama is paramount. These unique locations provide a test-bed of sorts to begin to understand in greater detail geological processes occurring hundreds of millions of miles away on another planet. This is why many scientists, including myself, travel to Mars analogs to study geological processes up-close and to take samples back to our labs to examine them with analytical instruments that would be extremely difficult and costly to send to the red planet.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "Now That Philae Has Landed, a Wealth of Data is Forthcoming | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23716\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/philaehaslanded.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23716\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/philaehaslanded.jpg\" alt=\"Montage of first image from Philae (left), first panorama (center), and location of the initial landing location. (Rosetta/ESA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Montage of first image from Philae (left), first panorama (center), and location of the initial landing location. (Rosetta/ESA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wednesday, November 12, 2014, 8:03 AM PST, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft successfully launched the landing probe, Philae, to a landing on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a historic first. Cheers, Rosetta and Philae!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, the Rosetta spacecraft, in orbit around the comet, relayed from Philae the first-ever image from the surface of a comet—an extreme close-up of ancient terrain that goes back four and a half billion years, to the earliest times in our solar system. That picture, to me, is worth the entire 20 year effort to deliver Philae to the spot it now rests—and a wealth of data from other instruments on Philae is yet to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">This was a moment more than 20 years in the making; the last ten years were spent just traveling to the comet.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Exactly where the lander sits is not presently known. There were unexpected challenges during the landing operation, starting before Philae was even launched from its mothership, Rosetta, when it was discovered that a thruster on top the lander had failed. The thruster’s function was to help prevent the probe from bouncing off the comet’s surface upon landing. In the low gravity environment of the comet, a bounce speed of only three feet per second could send it floating back into space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ESA operators decided to proceed with the landing despite the lost thruster, relying on other systems designed to make the lander stick to the comet: a harpoon anchor, shock absorbers and fastening augers in its landing gear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”wmjSZm2FfVWcOCJFNeSF2HcgUjYvpv5D”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Philae separated from Rosetta and spent the next seven hours coasting at about two miles per hour to its target landing spot on the comet, landing site J. All that ESA operators could do was watch telemetry come in and wait, hoping for a textbook landing—although, this being a first-ever event, it’s not in any textbooks, yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 8:03 AM PST, ESA received confirmation that Philae had landed on schedule, setting off a cathartic explosion of cheers around the ESOC control room in Darmstadt, Germany.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ground images from Philae did not come in immediately, for the Rosetta spacecraft, Philae’s relay station with Earth, soon set below the horizon of the comet, and would not emerge for another twelve hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When communication was reestablished, and data from Philae’s ROMAP instrument was analyzed, it was learned that the probe had experienced not one, but three distinct landings. The first landing reported by the data coincided with the initial landing confirmation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, almost two hours later, a second landing event was indicated. The harpoon system, designed to fire an anchor into the comet to tether Philae down, had not functioned, and Philae had bounced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven minutes after the second landing, a third was reported by the data, the lander apparently having bounced a second time. This time, however, it appeared that Philae had come to rest somewhere on the surface. ESA scientists are attempting to triangulate its exact position with instruments on Philae and Rosetta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the first pictures came in they showed what looks like a jagged, dusty, even gravely cliff face, and no framing horizon. Philae was not level with the ground, but resting at a tilted angle. Later, additional images sent back were assembled into the \u003ca title=\"First panoramic view from Philae\" href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Highlights/Panoramic_postcard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first panoramic view\u003c/a> from the comet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the excursions from a perfect landing scenario, Philae has landed, and we are there, thanks to the telepresence the washing-machine-sized robot has given us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was a moment more than 20 years in the making; the last ten years were spent just traveling to the comet. And though a great deal of careful design, planning, and testing took place to help ensure success, in remote space exploration there is always the specter of a critical failure that can make the entire expedition come to naught–particularly with robotic spacecraft operating hundreds of millions of miles from Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is still an adventure in progress, and Philae may not be completely out of the woods just yet. Its tilted landing orientation could mean that it is perched on the edge of a cliff, or in a pit. It may also present problems when the lander’s initial 60-hour battery life runs out and it needs to switch to its solar-charged battery system. If the tilt of Philae’s solar panels does not provide adequate energy, it could run out of power sooner than planned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In any case, both Philae and the orbiter Rosetta are bound to the comet’s sun-approaching trajectory, which will carry them to a closest point to the sun next August. As the drama of Philae’s uncertain life ahead unfolds, so will that of the comet as it heats up and becomes more active–and we have a front row seat.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Yesterday morning, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft successfully launched the landing probe, Philae, to a landing on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a historic first. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23716\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/philaehaslanded.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23716\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/philaehaslanded.jpg\" alt=\"Montage of first image from Philae (left), first panorama (center), and location of the initial landing location. (Rosetta/ESA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Montage of first image from Philae (left), first panorama (center), and location of the initial landing location. (Rosetta/ESA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wednesday, November 12, 2014, 8:03 AM PST, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft successfully launched the landing probe, Philae, to a landing on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a historic first. Cheers, Rosetta and Philae!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, the Rosetta spacecraft, in orbit around the comet, relayed from Philae the first-ever image from the surface of a comet—an extreme close-up of ancient terrain that goes back four and a half billion years, to the earliest times in our solar system. That picture, to me, is worth the entire 20 year effort to deliver Philae to the spot it now rests—and a wealth of data from other instruments on Philae is yet to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">This was a moment more than 20 years in the making; the last ten years were spent just traveling to the comet.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Exactly where the lander sits is not presently known. There were unexpected challenges during the landing operation, starting before Philae was even launched from its mothership, Rosetta, when it was discovered that a thruster on top the lander had failed. The thruster’s function was to help prevent the probe from bouncing off the comet’s surface upon landing. In the low gravity environment of the comet, a bounce speed of only three feet per second could send it floating back into space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ESA operators decided to proceed with the landing despite the lost thruster, relying on other systems designed to make the lander stick to the comet: a harpoon anchor, shock absorbers and fastening augers in its landing gear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Philae separated from Rosetta and spent the next seven hours coasting at about two miles per hour to its target landing spot on the comet, landing site J. All that ESA operators could do was watch telemetry come in and wait, hoping for a textbook landing—although, this being a first-ever event, it’s not in any textbooks, yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 8:03 AM PST, ESA received confirmation that Philae had landed on schedule, setting off a cathartic explosion of cheers around the ESOC control room in Darmstadt, Germany.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ground images from Philae did not come in immediately, for the Rosetta spacecraft, Philae’s relay station with Earth, soon set below the horizon of the comet, and would not emerge for another twelve hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When communication was reestablished, and data from Philae’s ROMAP instrument was analyzed, it was learned that the probe had experienced not one, but three distinct landings. The first landing reported by the data coincided with the initial landing confirmation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, almost two hours later, a second landing event was indicated. The harpoon system, designed to fire an anchor into the comet to tether Philae down, had not functioned, and Philae had bounced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven minutes after the second landing, a third was reported by the data, the lander apparently having bounced a second time. This time, however, it appeared that Philae had come to rest somewhere on the surface. ESA scientists are attempting to triangulate its exact position with instruments on Philae and Rosetta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the first pictures came in they showed what looks like a jagged, dusty, even gravely cliff face, and no framing horizon. Philae was not level with the ground, but resting at a tilted angle. Later, additional images sent back were assembled into the \u003ca title=\"First panoramic view from Philae\" href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Highlights/Panoramic_postcard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first panoramic view\u003c/a> from the comet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the excursions from a perfect landing scenario, Philae has landed, and we are there, thanks to the telepresence the washing-machine-sized robot has given us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was a moment more than 20 years in the making; the last ten years were spent just traveling to the comet. And though a great deal of careful design, planning, and testing took place to help ensure success, in remote space exploration there is always the specter of a critical failure that can make the entire expedition come to naught–particularly with robotic spacecraft operating hundreds of millions of miles from Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is still an adventure in progress, and Philae may not be completely out of the woods just yet. Its tilted landing orientation could mean that it is perched on the edge of a cliff, or in a pit. It may also present problems when the lander’s initial 60-hour battery life runs out and it needs to switch to its solar-charged battery system. If the tilt of Philae’s solar panels does not provide adequate energy, it could run out of power sooner than planned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In any case, both Philae and the orbiter Rosetta are bound to the comet’s sun-approaching trajectory, which will carry them to a closest point to the sun next August. As the drama of Philae’s uncertain life ahead unfolds, so will that of the comet as it heats up and becomes more active–and we have a front row seat.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Historic First: Rosetta Spacecraft Plans to Land Its Probe on a Comet",
"headTitle": "A Historic First: Rosetta Spacecraft Plans to Land Its Probe on a Comet | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23117\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/philae_after_landing1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23117\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/philae_after_landing1.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of the Philae lander on the surface of comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (Rosetta/ESA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of the Philae lander on the surface of comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (Rosetta/ESA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After 10 years of travel and three months orbiting the comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) \u003ca title=\"ESA, Rosetta\" href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rosetta \u003c/a>spacecraft is poised to deliver its landing probe, Philae, to the comet’s surface — a first in history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can witness this historic event in the making through a \u003ca title=\"ESA Live Stream\" href=\"http://www.livestream.com/eurospaceagency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">live stream\u003c/a> of the event from ESA. Tune in to ESA’s webcast, or come up to \u003ca title=\"Chabot Space & Science Center Comet Landing Event\" href=\"https://14884.blackbaudhosting.com/14884/page.aspx?pid=196&tab=2&txobjid=61e6e728-f26d-4311-a589-61d880fa56d3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> to share the experience on the planetarium dome. Philae’s expected landing time is around 8:00 AM PST on Wednesday, November 12. Chabot’s doors will open at 6:00 AM.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Almost there…\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>About seven hours before landing, Philae will be released by its mothership, Rosetta, and then coast the 14 miles to the comet at a leisurely 2 miles per hour. If you are an insomniac, you can watch the live stream at home from midnight to 8:00 AM, though the most exciting moments will likely be around launch and landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the moment from Star Wars when the rebel pilot drones, “Almost there…” as he prepares to fire torpedoes into the Death Star—and though the nearly three-mile-long comet would be a death star of a sort if it collided with Earth, in this case its orbit never carries it close enough to us to be that kind of a concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upon contact with the comet’s surface, Philae will fire two harpoons to bind itself to the comet. Its landing legs will also absorb the impact of touchdown to prevent the small probe from bouncing back into space. The comet’s surface gravity is so weak that the velocity needed to escape its pull is only 3 feet per second—about the same speed Philae will have upon landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philae packs a number of \u003ca title=\"Philae's instrumentation\" href=\"http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/31445-instruments/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scientific instruments\u003c/a> into its three-foot-wide body, including an X-ray spectrometer, a combination gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, infrared and visual imagers, a radiowave sounding system, an electrical sounder, an acoustic monitor, a magnetic and plasma monitor, and a drill for taking soil samples. The suite of instrumentation is geared to tell us as much about this comet specimen and in as much detail as possible, fueling a major leap forward in our understanding of one of these time capsules of the solar system. [contextly_sidebar id=”dBesX3aV09j8Niz16u6I1368H0RcJk3o”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Rosetta mission’s goal is to investigate evidence locked up in cold sleep in the comet’s ices and soil for billions of years, from the formation of the solar system, and decode the ancient secrets. Being bits of material left over from the earliest times of our solar system, \u003ca title=\"Comets, Space.com\" href=\"http://www.space.com/53-comets-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">comets \u003c/a>enable us to see deep into the past and learn about the conditions in which the planets, including Earth, formed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, Rosetta was named for the Rosetta Stone, the Egyptian stele bearing a text written in three ancient languages that enabled archaeologists to decode ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, thereby giving us a better understanding of that ancient civilization. The smaller landing probe, Philae, is named after the island in the Nile River on which the Rosetta Stone was found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosetta was launched in March of 2004, and has spent the past decade maneuvering into an orbit that matches its target. It spent a number of months in hibernation, when its trajectory carried it too far from the sun for its solar panels to supply much electricity. After a successful wakeup call last January, Rosetta has spent the months since making observations of 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it made its final approach. Then in August it maneuvered itself into a tenuous orbit around the comet, surveying the surface in search of a landing site for Philae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, landing….\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "After 10 years of travel and three months orbiting the comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft is poised to deliver its landing probe, Philae, to the comet's surface -- a first in history.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23117\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/philae_after_landing1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23117\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/philae_after_landing1.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of the Philae lander on the surface of comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (Rosetta/ESA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of the Philae lander on the surface of comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (Rosetta/ESA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After 10 years of travel and three months orbiting the comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) \u003ca title=\"ESA, Rosetta\" href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rosetta \u003c/a>spacecraft is poised to deliver its landing probe, Philae, to the comet’s surface — a first in history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can witness this historic event in the making through a \u003ca title=\"ESA Live Stream\" href=\"http://www.livestream.com/eurospaceagency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">live stream\u003c/a> of the event from ESA. Tune in to ESA’s webcast, or come up to \u003ca title=\"Chabot Space & Science Center Comet Landing Event\" href=\"https://14884.blackbaudhosting.com/14884/page.aspx?pid=196&tab=2&txobjid=61e6e728-f26d-4311-a589-61d880fa56d3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> to share the experience on the planetarium dome. Philae’s expected landing time is around 8:00 AM PST on Wednesday, November 12. Chabot’s doors will open at 6:00 AM.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Almost there…\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>About seven hours before landing, Philae will be released by its mothership, Rosetta, and then coast the 14 miles to the comet at a leisurely 2 miles per hour. If you are an insomniac, you can watch the live stream at home from midnight to 8:00 AM, though the most exciting moments will likely be around launch and landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the moment from Star Wars when the rebel pilot drones, “Almost there…” as he prepares to fire torpedoes into the Death Star—and though the nearly three-mile-long comet would be a death star of a sort if it collided with Earth, in this case its orbit never carries it close enough to us to be that kind of a concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upon contact with the comet’s surface, Philae will fire two harpoons to bind itself to the comet. Its landing legs will also absorb the impact of touchdown to prevent the small probe from bouncing back into space. The comet’s surface gravity is so weak that the velocity needed to escape its pull is only 3 feet per second—about the same speed Philae will have upon landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philae packs a number of \u003ca title=\"Philae's instrumentation\" href=\"http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/31445-instruments/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scientific instruments\u003c/a> into its three-foot-wide body, including an X-ray spectrometer, a combination gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, infrared and visual imagers, a radiowave sounding system, an electrical sounder, an acoustic monitor, a magnetic and plasma monitor, and a drill for taking soil samples. The suite of instrumentation is geared to tell us as much about this comet specimen and in as much detail as possible, fueling a major leap forward in our understanding of one of these time capsules of the solar system. \u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Rosetta mission’s goal is to investigate evidence locked up in cold sleep in the comet’s ices and soil for billions of years, from the formation of the solar system, and decode the ancient secrets. Being bits of material left over from the earliest times of our solar system, \u003ca title=\"Comets, Space.com\" href=\"http://www.space.com/53-comets-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">comets \u003c/a>enable us to see deep into the past and learn about the conditions in which the planets, including Earth, formed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, Rosetta was named for the Rosetta Stone, the Egyptian stele bearing a text written in three ancient languages that enabled archaeologists to decode ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, thereby giving us a better understanding of that ancient civilization. The smaller landing probe, Philae, is named after the island in the Nile River on which the Rosetta Stone was found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosetta was launched in March of 2004, and has spent the past decade maneuvering into an orbit that matches its target. It spent a number of months in hibernation, when its trajectory carried it too far from the sun for its solar panels to supply much electricity. After a successful wakeup call last January, Rosetta has spent the months since making observations of 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it made its final approach. Then in August it maneuvered itself into a tenuous orbit around the comet, surveying the surface in search of a landing site for Philae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, landing….\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Part 2 of the\u003c/em> TED Radio Hour \u003cem>episode\u003c/em> \u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/357837221/how-it-all-began\">How It All Began\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>About David Christian’s TED Talk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Christian explains the history of the universe from the big bang, and how humans occupy little more than a millisecond on that cosmic timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>About David Christian\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/modern_history/staff/professor_david_christian/\">David Christian \u003c/a>is a historian \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/10/24/146258/what_are_the_origins_of_the_universe?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"rssmi_more\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/10/24/146258/what_are_the_origins_of_the_universe?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"What Are The Origins Of The Universe?\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NPR Science – ingested into KQED\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Part 2 of the\u003c/em> TED Radio Hour \u003cem>episode\u003c/em> \u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/357837221/how-it-all-began\">How It All Began\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>About David Christian's TED Talk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003cp>David Christian explains the history of the universe from the big bang, and how humans occupy little more than a millisecond on that cosmic timeline.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>About David Christian\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/modern_history/staff/professor_david_christian/\">David Christian \u003c/a>is a historian \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/10/24/146258/what_are_the_origins_of_the_universe?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"rssmi_more\">...Read More\u003c/a>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Part 2 of the\u003c/em> TED Radio Hour \u003cem>episode\u003c/em> \u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/357837221/how-it-all-began\">How It All Began\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>About David Christian’s TED Talk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Christian explains the history of the universe from the big bang, and how humans occupy little more than a millisecond on that cosmic timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>About David Christian\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/modern_history/staff/professor_david_christian/\">David Christian \u003c/a>is a historian \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/10/24/146258/what_are_the_origins_of_the_universe?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"rssmi_more\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Photos From Thursday's Solar Eclipse",
"headTitle": "Photos From Thursday’s Solar Eclipse | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Sky gazers turned out for Thursday’s partial solar eclipse. In the Bay Area, the moon obscured about 40 percent of the sun. The next time there will be a solar eclipse visible from here will be \u003ca href=\"http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEdecade/SEdecade2011.html\">August 2017\u003c/a> (and it will be a total eclipse.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse2-e1414105433249.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse2-e1414105433249.jpg\" alt=\"Melissa Sheridan holds her son Neo as he watches the solar eclipse from the Foothill Observatory. (James Tensuan/KQED)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23003\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa Sheridan holds her son Neo as he watches the solar eclipse from the Foothill Observatory. (James Tensuan/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23007\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1516px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipseshannonrosa.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipseshannonrosa.jpeg\" alt=\"The moon obscured about 40 percent of the sun in Thursday's eclipse. (Courtesy of Shannon Rosa)\" width=\"1516\" height=\"1516\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23007\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The moon obscured about 40 percent of the sun in Thursday’s eclipse. (Courtesy of Shannon Rosa)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22999\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse1-1024x682.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-22999 size-large\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse1-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Watching Thursday's solar eclipse from Foothill College in Los Altos. (James Tensuan/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Watching Thursday’s solar eclipse from Foothill College in Los Altos. (James Tensuan/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse3-e1414102345482.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse3-e1414102345482.jpg\" alt=\"Foothill College student Seongju Choi watches the solar eclipse from the observatory in Los Altos. (James Tensuan/KQED)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23001\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Foothill College student Seongju Choi watches the solar eclipse from the observatory in Los Altos. (James Tensuan/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23004\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipsewatching-e1414106318967.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipsewatching-e1414106318967.jpg\" alt=\"Adam Grossberg and Dan Brekke of KQED step outside to see the eclipse. (Olivia Hubert-Allen/KQED)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23004\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adam Grossberg and Dan Brekke of KQED step outside to see the eclipse. (Olivia Hubert-Allen/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23005\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1279px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipsenasascreenshot.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipsenasascreenshot.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot from NASA's livestream of the eclipse. Large sun spots are visible. (NASA)\" width=\"1279\" height=\"685\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23005\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from NASA’s livestream of the eclipse. Large sun spots are visible. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original Post:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22948\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 673px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Partial-Solar-Eclipse_T-Ruen_NASA.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Partial-Solar-Eclipse_T-Ruen_NASA.jpg\" alt=\"A partial solar eclipse occurs when the moon obscures only part of the sun from Earth's view. (T. Ruen/NASA)\" width=\"673\" height=\"474\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22948\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A partial solar eclipse occurs when the moon obscures only part of the sun from Earth’s view. (T. Ruen/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A partial solar eclipse will be visible throughout the Bay Area on Thursday afternoon, given clear skies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area is one of the best places in the U.S. to view this eclipse. Here, the moon will cover about 40 percent of the sun. As you move south and east across the country, smaller and smaller segments of the sun will be eclipsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Solar eclipses occur when the moon moves between Earth and the sun. Picture the orbit of the moon and the orbit of Earth as two huge hula hoops in the sky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only time you can have eclipses is when the two hula hoops cross, when the two orbits cross,” says Andrew Fraknoi, chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College. “And that’s what happens every six months. The orbit of the moon and the apparent orbit of the sun cross.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fraknoi says today’s solar eclipse won’t reduce the amount of light we see outside, which raises a question: how can the moon cover up 40 percent of our sun without us noticing it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The short answer,” Fraknoi says, “is that the sun is brighter than you think.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says if you were shopping for a light bulb the same wattage as the sun, forget your typical 40 watt bulb: You’d have to buy a 400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 watt bulb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That amount of light so overwhelms the light receptors in the human eye, Fraknoi says, that even losing nearly half of it doesn’t change our overall sense of light and dark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you want to watch today’s event, there are a number of ways to do that safely. And you don’t even have to wake up in the middle of the night like you may have done for \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/10/03/set-your-alarm-for-the-early-morning-total-lunar-eclipse-on-october-8/\">the lunar eclipse\u003c/a> two weeks ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/What-is-a-solar-eclipse.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22953\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/What-is-a-solar-eclipse.jpg\" alt=\"solar eclipse\" width=\"5171\" height=\"1127\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How and When to View the Eclipse\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eclipse will begin at 1:52 p.m., as the moon begins to creep across the sun. The moon reaches peak eclipse at 3:15, so the best viewing time is between 3 and 3:30 this afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But don’t imagine you can look at the sun just because it’s partially covered up — you’ll \u003ca href=\"http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html\">burn your retina\u003c/a> if you look directly at a solar eclipse, just the way you burned fall leaves as a kid, using a magnifying glass in the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And sunglasses are not enough. To look directly at a solar eclipse, you need a special viewer, available for sale at many science centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Science museums and observatories around the Bay Area are holding eclipse viewing parties, listed below, where you can safely watch the eclipse through filtered telescopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you can get to where you can see the sun either projected from a telescope or through a telescope with a safe filter,” Fraknoi says, “you can actually see the seething surface of our star, the sun, and then the dark body of our much closer moon, covering up some part of the sun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also have a lot of fun watching the eclipse by making your own \u003ca href=\"http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html\">pinhole projector.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22798\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2094px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Eclipse-Pinhole-Projector-Jenny-Oh.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22798\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Eclipse-Pinhole-Projector-Jenny-Oh.jpg\" alt=\"KQED science producer Jenny Oh has fun with a homemade pinhole projector during a 2012 eclipse. (Jenny Oh/KQED)\" width=\"2094\" height=\"1000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED science producer Jenny Oh has fun with a homemade pinhole projector during a 2012 eclipse. (Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Make a pinhole in a piece of cardboard, or even a sheet of paper, then hold that over another cardboard or piece of paper. The sun will pass through the pinhole and project an image of itself, giving you a safe way to watch the eclipse. (Do not look through the pinhole at the sun.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more basic than that, you can create a pinhole projector with your hands by simply overlapping the fingers of one hand on top of the other – creating a waffle pattern – and allowing the sun to pass through the holes between your fingers and make a projection on the ground. Or if you’re in area with trees, look for the projected images of the sun on the ground as it passes through the spaces between the leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today’s solar event is the last in our eclipse season this year. The next event will be a lunar eclipse in April. The next solar eclipse won’t happen until August 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Eclipse-Watching Events in the Bay Area\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Francisco\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The\u003ca href=\"http://www.calacademy.org/\"> California Academy of Sciences and Morrison Planetarium\u003c/a> will host a viewing from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on their living roof (weather permitting), with planetarium staff on hand. Rain or shine, the eclipse will also be broadcast via internet feed inside the museum. Museum admission fees apply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco State University faculty and students will offer \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfsu.edu/~sfsumap/southeast.htm\">eclipse viewing in the plaza\u003c/a> at the south entrance to Thornton Hall, from 1:52 to 4:32 in the afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>East Bay\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/visit/events/partial_solar_eclipse_2014\">The Lawrence Hall of Science\u003c/a> is hosting an event for museum guests from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. that includes observations through solar telescopes, a Q&A in the planetarium, and model demonstrations. Eclipse-viewing glasses are also available for purchase in the store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org/eclipses.htm\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> will have astronomy experts and special eclipse viewers on the observation deck to help people view the eclipse safely. Included with museum admission or $15 for the viewing party only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://msnucleus.org/events/events.html\">Children’s Natural History Museum\u003c/a> in Fremont will have telescopes for viewing the eclipse from 2 to 4:00 in the afternooon. In case of rain or clouds, the museum will also have a video feed of the eclipse inside the museum, along with solar system demonstrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society will host an \u003ca href=\"https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=60250\">eclipse viewing party\u003c/a> from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>South Bay\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.foothill.edu/ast/fhobs.php\">Foothill College Observatory\u003c/a> will be open from 2 to 4:30 for an eclipse party. Parking costs $3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.collegeofsanmateo.edu/calendar/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=13749\">College of San Mateo Observatory\u003c/a> will have several solar telescopes available in the observatory from 1:45 to 4:30 p.m., including one that people can use to take pictures of the eclipse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the San Mateo County Astronomical Society will provide telescopes, viewing aids and information from 2 to 5 p.m. at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.smcas.com/\">San Carlos Library\u003c/a>. The many perforations in the library dome will also cast beautiful images of the eclipsed sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.sjaa.net/directions/\">San Jose Astronomical Association\u003c/a> will hold an eclipse party for the public from 1 to 4 p.m. at Houge Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>North Bay\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma State University is hosting a \u003ca href=\"http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/publicviewingnight.shtml\">public viewing\u003c/a> from 1:45 to 4:30 p.m. at the campus observatory and a track and field nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://rfo.org/\">Robert Ferguson Observatory\u003c/a> will be open from 1 to 4:30 p.m. for observing the eclipse. Parking is $8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thanks to Professor Andrew Fraknoi, Foothill College, for this list of eclipse viewing parties.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sky gazers turned out for Thursday’s partial solar eclipse. In the Bay Area, the moon obscured about 40 percent of the sun. The next time there will be a solar eclipse visible from here will be \u003ca href=\"http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEdecade/SEdecade2011.html\">August 2017\u003c/a> (and it will be a total eclipse.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse2-e1414105433249.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse2-e1414105433249.jpg\" alt=\"Melissa Sheridan holds her son Neo as he watches the solar eclipse from the Foothill Observatory. (James Tensuan/KQED)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23003\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa Sheridan holds her son Neo as he watches the solar eclipse from the Foothill Observatory. (James Tensuan/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23007\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1516px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipseshannonrosa.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipseshannonrosa.jpeg\" alt=\"The moon obscured about 40 percent of the sun in Thursday's eclipse. (Courtesy of Shannon Rosa)\" width=\"1516\" height=\"1516\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23007\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The moon obscured about 40 percent of the sun in Thursday’s eclipse. (Courtesy of Shannon Rosa)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22999\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse1-1024x682.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-22999 size-large\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse1-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Watching Thursday's solar eclipse from Foothill College in Los Altos. (James Tensuan/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Watching Thursday’s solar eclipse from Foothill College in Los Altos. (James Tensuan/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse3-e1414102345482.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/solareclipse3-e1414102345482.jpg\" alt=\"Foothill College student Seongju Choi watches the solar eclipse from the observatory in Los Altos. (James Tensuan/KQED)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23001\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Foothill College student Seongju Choi watches the solar eclipse from the observatory in Los Altos. (James Tensuan/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23004\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipsewatching-e1414106318967.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipsewatching-e1414106318967.jpg\" alt=\"Adam Grossberg and Dan Brekke of KQED step outside to see the eclipse. (Olivia Hubert-Allen/KQED)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23004\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adam Grossberg and Dan Brekke of KQED step outside to see the eclipse. (Olivia Hubert-Allen/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23005\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1279px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipsenasascreenshot.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/eclipsenasascreenshot.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot from NASA's livestream of the eclipse. Large sun spots are visible. (NASA)\" width=\"1279\" height=\"685\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23005\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from NASA’s livestream of the eclipse. Large sun spots are visible. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original Post:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22948\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 673px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Partial-Solar-Eclipse_T-Ruen_NASA.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Partial-Solar-Eclipse_T-Ruen_NASA.jpg\" alt=\"A partial solar eclipse occurs when the moon obscures only part of the sun from Earth's view. (T. Ruen/NASA)\" width=\"673\" height=\"474\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22948\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A partial solar eclipse occurs when the moon obscures only part of the sun from Earth’s view. (T. Ruen/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A partial solar eclipse will be visible throughout the Bay Area on Thursday afternoon, given clear skies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area is one of the best places in the U.S. to view this eclipse. Here, the moon will cover about 40 percent of the sun. As you move south and east across the country, smaller and smaller segments of the sun will be eclipsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Solar eclipses occur when the moon moves between Earth and the sun. Picture the orbit of the moon and the orbit of Earth as two huge hula hoops in the sky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only time you can have eclipses is when the two hula hoops cross, when the two orbits cross,” says Andrew Fraknoi, chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College. “And that’s what happens every six months. The orbit of the moon and the apparent orbit of the sun cross.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fraknoi says today’s solar eclipse won’t reduce the amount of light we see outside, which raises a question: how can the moon cover up 40 percent of our sun without us noticing it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The short answer,” Fraknoi says, “is that the sun is brighter than you think.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says if you were shopping for a light bulb the same wattage as the sun, forget your typical 40 watt bulb: You’d have to buy a 400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 watt bulb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That amount of light so overwhelms the light receptors in the human eye, Fraknoi says, that even losing nearly half of it doesn’t change our overall sense of light and dark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you want to watch today’s event, there are a number of ways to do that safely. And you don’t even have to wake up in the middle of the night like you may have done for \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/10/03/set-your-alarm-for-the-early-morning-total-lunar-eclipse-on-october-8/\">the lunar eclipse\u003c/a> two weeks ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/What-is-a-solar-eclipse.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22953\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/What-is-a-solar-eclipse.jpg\" alt=\"solar eclipse\" width=\"5171\" height=\"1127\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How and When to View the Eclipse\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eclipse will begin at 1:52 p.m., as the moon begins to creep across the sun. The moon reaches peak eclipse at 3:15, so the best viewing time is between 3 and 3:30 this afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But don’t imagine you can look at the sun just because it’s partially covered up — you’ll \u003ca href=\"http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html\">burn your retina\u003c/a> if you look directly at a solar eclipse, just the way you burned fall leaves as a kid, using a magnifying glass in the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And sunglasses are not enough. To look directly at a solar eclipse, you need a special viewer, available for sale at many science centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Science museums and observatories around the Bay Area are holding eclipse viewing parties, listed below, where you can safely watch the eclipse through filtered telescopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you can get to where you can see the sun either projected from a telescope or through a telescope with a safe filter,” Fraknoi says, “you can actually see the seething surface of our star, the sun, and then the dark body of our much closer moon, covering up some part of the sun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also have a lot of fun watching the eclipse by making your own \u003ca href=\"http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html\">pinhole projector.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22798\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2094px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Eclipse-Pinhole-Projector-Jenny-Oh.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22798\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Eclipse-Pinhole-Projector-Jenny-Oh.jpg\" alt=\"KQED science producer Jenny Oh has fun with a homemade pinhole projector during a 2012 eclipse. (Jenny Oh/KQED)\" width=\"2094\" height=\"1000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED science producer Jenny Oh has fun with a homemade pinhole projector during a 2012 eclipse. (Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Make a pinhole in a piece of cardboard, or even a sheet of paper, then hold that over another cardboard or piece of paper. The sun will pass through the pinhole and project an image of itself, giving you a safe way to watch the eclipse. (Do not look through the pinhole at the sun.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more basic than that, you can create a pinhole projector with your hands by simply overlapping the fingers of one hand on top of the other – creating a waffle pattern – and allowing the sun to pass through the holes between your fingers and make a projection on the ground. Or if you’re in area with trees, look for the projected images of the sun on the ground as it passes through the spaces between the leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today’s solar event is the last in our eclipse season this year. The next event will be a lunar eclipse in April. The next solar eclipse won’t happen until August 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Eclipse-Watching Events in the Bay Area\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Francisco\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The\u003ca href=\"http://www.calacademy.org/\"> California Academy of Sciences and Morrison Planetarium\u003c/a> will host a viewing from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on their living roof (weather permitting), with planetarium staff on hand. Rain or shine, the eclipse will also be broadcast via internet feed inside the museum. Museum admission fees apply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco State University faculty and students will offer \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfsu.edu/~sfsumap/southeast.htm\">eclipse viewing in the plaza\u003c/a> at the south entrance to Thornton Hall, from 1:52 to 4:32 in the afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>East Bay\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/visit/events/partial_solar_eclipse_2014\">The Lawrence Hall of Science\u003c/a> is hosting an event for museum guests from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. that includes observations through solar telescopes, a Q&A in the planetarium, and model demonstrations. Eclipse-viewing glasses are also available for purchase in the store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org/eclipses.htm\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> will have astronomy experts and special eclipse viewers on the observation deck to help people view the eclipse safely. Included with museum admission or $15 for the viewing party only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://msnucleus.org/events/events.html\">Children’s Natural History Museum\u003c/a> in Fremont will have telescopes for viewing the eclipse from 2 to 4:00 in the afternooon. In case of rain or clouds, the museum will also have a video feed of the eclipse inside the museum, along with solar system demonstrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society will host an \u003ca href=\"https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=60250\">eclipse viewing party\u003c/a> from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>South Bay\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.foothill.edu/ast/fhobs.php\">Foothill College Observatory\u003c/a> will be open from 2 to 4:30 for an eclipse party. Parking costs $3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.collegeofsanmateo.edu/calendar/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=13749\">College of San Mateo Observatory\u003c/a> will have several solar telescopes available in the observatory from 1:45 to 4:30 p.m., including one that people can use to take pictures of the eclipse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the San Mateo County Astronomical Society will provide telescopes, viewing aids and information from 2 to 5 p.m. at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.smcas.com/\">San Carlos Library\u003c/a>. The many perforations in the library dome will also cast beautiful images of the eclipsed sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.sjaa.net/directions/\">San Jose Astronomical Association\u003c/a> will hold an eclipse party for the public from 1 to 4 p.m. at Houge Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>North Bay\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma State University is hosting a \u003ca href=\"http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/publicviewingnight.shtml\">public viewing\u003c/a> from 1:45 to 4:30 p.m. at the campus observatory and a track and field nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://rfo.org/\">Robert Ferguson Observatory\u003c/a> will be open from 1 to 4:30 p.m. for observing the eclipse. Parking is $8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thanks to Professor Andrew Fraknoi, Foothill College, for this list of eclipse viewing parties.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "NASA's MAVEN Mission Investigates Mars' Atmosphere",
"headTitle": "NASA’s MAVEN Mission Investigates Mars’ Atmosphere | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22632\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/mavens-early-results.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22632\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/mavens-early-results.jpg\" alt=\"Maps of carbon and oxygen coronas of Mars' extended atmosphere. (MAVEN/NASA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maps of carbon and oxygen coronas of Mars’ extended atmosphere. (MAVEN/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>NASA’s latest mission to Mars, MAVEN (Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution), entered Martian orbit less than a month ago on September 21. It’s already begun to reward us with revealing insights into the disappearance of Mars’ atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”lxlaOZd7x8Mv0FVxw1LcEFmkIPSKm2Bz”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MAVEN is the first spacecraft designed to investigate Mars’ outermost atmospheric sheath, the rarified “corona” of gases that come into direct contact with the solar wind, the stream of electrically charged gases blown off by the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until now, robotic missions have been concerned with Mars’ surface conditions: composition of rocks and soil, mineral deposits, topography, sedimentary layering, and surface weather and climate, not to mention keeping an eye out for signs of life, past or present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The intensive investigation of Mars’ surface over the decades not only introduced us to a cold, dry desert planet, but also revealed that it wasn’t always so. Long ago in Mars’ past, the evidence tells us, the climate was much more Earth-like: a thicker, warmer atmosphere, lakes and seas of liquid water, precipitation and runoff. And, most tantalizing of all, conditions suitable for sustaining some form of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">What happened to change Mars so drastically?\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The stark difference between the planet we see today and the world of the past that we have reconstructed posed the question, what happened to change Mars so drastically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today Mars’ atmospheric pressure at ground level is over a 100 times thinner than Earth’s, unable to hold much heat and too thin to support surface water in liquid form. There is a lot of water on Mars, we have found, but it’s all locked up as subsurface and polar ice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A planet’s climate is largely determined by its atmosphere, so scientists have sent MAVEN to explore why Mars has lost so much of its gaseous cocoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca title=\"MAVEN initial scientific returns\" href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-351&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=daily20141014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Early returns from MAVEN’s\u003c/a> Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph have shown us the “coronas,” or thin, highly extended envelopes of gases stretching into space from Mars. The instrument allows scientists to map the coronas of specific gases, like oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, the byproducts of the breakdown of water and carbon dioxide molecules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process scientists believe is responsible for the slow leak of Mars’ air, and what MAVEN has been sent to investigate, is the interaction of the high-energy particles of the solar wind with molecules at the top of Mars’ atmosphere. Solar wind particles—mostly protons–would impart their energy to atmospheric molecules, essentially giving them the boost needed to escape Mars’ gravity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On September 26, a coronal mass ejection (CME) — a powerful blast of high energy particles — erupted from the sun into space, and NASA scientists predicted that it would impact Mars on September 29. MAVEN successfully measured the CME’s arrival at Mars on the predicted day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22637\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 150px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/comet-siding-spring-150x150.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-22637\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/comet-siding-spring-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Comet Siding Spring at Mars. (NASA)\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Comet Siding Spring at Mars. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once MAVEN enters the full science investigation phase of its mission, sometime in early to mid-November, it will also be able to observe in detail how such blasts of high energy solar particles actually interact with Mars’ atmosphere and verify the suspected mechanism of Mars’ atmospheric demise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other Martian news, on Sunday, October 19, the \u003ca title=\"Comet Siding Spring approaches Mars\" href=\"http://www.planetary.org/blogs/bruce-betts/20141013-video-introduction-comet.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">comet C/2013 A1 “Siding Spring”\u003c/a> will pass within 85,000 miles of Mars—one third the distance between Earth and the moon—and there is a chance that particles in the comet’s tail will sweep over Mars. This not only poses some risk of impact by high-speed dust particles with orbiting spacecraft, including MAVEN, it also gives those spacecraft the chance to observe the interaction of a comet tail with a planet’s atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "NASA's latest mission to Mars, MAVEN (Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution), entered Martian orbit less than a month ago on September 21. It's already rewarded us with revealing insights into the disappearance of Mars' atmosphere.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22632\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/mavens-early-results.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22632\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/mavens-early-results.jpg\" alt=\"Maps of carbon and oxygen coronas of Mars' extended atmosphere. (MAVEN/NASA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maps of carbon and oxygen coronas of Mars’ extended atmosphere. (MAVEN/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>NASA’s latest mission to Mars, MAVEN (Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution), entered Martian orbit less than a month ago on September 21. It’s already begun to reward us with revealing insights into the disappearance of Mars’ atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MAVEN is the first spacecraft designed to investigate Mars’ outermost atmospheric sheath, the rarified “corona” of gases that come into direct contact with the solar wind, the stream of electrically charged gases blown off by the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until now, robotic missions have been concerned with Mars’ surface conditions: composition of rocks and soil, mineral deposits, topography, sedimentary layering, and surface weather and climate, not to mention keeping an eye out for signs of life, past or present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The intensive investigation of Mars’ surface over the decades not only introduced us to a cold, dry desert planet, but also revealed that it wasn’t always so. Long ago in Mars’ past, the evidence tells us, the climate was much more Earth-like: a thicker, warmer atmosphere, lakes and seas of liquid water, precipitation and runoff. And, most tantalizing of all, conditions suitable for sustaining some form of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">What happened to change Mars so drastically?\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The stark difference between the planet we see today and the world of the past that we have reconstructed posed the question, what happened to change Mars so drastically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today Mars’ atmospheric pressure at ground level is over a 100 times thinner than Earth’s, unable to hold much heat and too thin to support surface water in liquid form. There is a lot of water on Mars, we have found, but it’s all locked up as subsurface and polar ice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A planet’s climate is largely determined by its atmosphere, so scientists have sent MAVEN to explore why Mars has lost so much of its gaseous cocoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca title=\"MAVEN initial scientific returns\" href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-351&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=daily20141014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Early returns from MAVEN’s\u003c/a> Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph have shown us the “coronas,” or thin, highly extended envelopes of gases stretching into space from Mars. The instrument allows scientists to map the coronas of specific gases, like oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, the byproducts of the breakdown of water and carbon dioxide molecules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process scientists believe is responsible for the slow leak of Mars’ air, and what MAVEN has been sent to investigate, is the interaction of the high-energy particles of the solar wind with molecules at the top of Mars’ atmosphere. Solar wind particles—mostly protons–would impart their energy to atmospheric molecules, essentially giving them the boost needed to escape Mars’ gravity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On September 26, a coronal mass ejection (CME) — a powerful blast of high energy particles — erupted from the sun into space, and NASA scientists predicted that it would impact Mars on September 29. MAVEN successfully measured the CME’s arrival at Mars on the predicted day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22637\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 150px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/comet-siding-spring-150x150.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-22637\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/comet-siding-spring-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Comet Siding Spring at Mars. (NASA)\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Comet Siding Spring at Mars. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once MAVEN enters the full science investigation phase of its mission, sometime in early to mid-November, it will also be able to observe in detail how such blasts of high energy solar particles actually interact with Mars’ atmosphere and verify the suspected mechanism of Mars’ atmospheric demise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other Martian news, on Sunday, October 19, the \u003ca title=\"Comet Siding Spring approaches Mars\" href=\"http://www.planetary.org/blogs/bruce-betts/20141013-video-introduction-comet.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">comet C/2013 A1 “Siding Spring”\u003c/a> will pass within 85,000 miles of Mars—one third the distance between Earth and the moon—and there is a chance that particles in the comet’s tail will sweep over Mars. This not only poses some risk of impact by high-speed dust particles with orbiting spacecraft, including MAVEN, it also gives those spacecraft the chance to observe the interaction of a comet tail with a planet’s atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Set Your Alarm for the Early Morning Total Lunar Eclipse on October 8",
"headTitle": "Set Your Alarm for the Early Morning Total Lunar Eclipse on October 8 | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22151\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/LunarEclipse08-28-07-conrad_jung.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22151\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/LunarEclipse08-28-07-conrad_jung.jpg\" alt=\"Total Lunar Eclipse of August 28, 2007. (Conrad Jung/Chabot Space & Science Center)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Total Lunar Eclipse of August 28, 2007. (Conrad Jung/Chabot Space & Science Center)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Early Wednesday morning on October 8, the full moon will become engulfed in darkness and cast a blood-red glow across night. And though this kind of thing was a little scary to many \u003ca title=\"National Geographic, Lunar Eclipses in Past Cultures\" href=\"http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140413-total-lunar-eclipse-myths-space-culture-science/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cultures in the past\u003c/a>, today a total lunar eclipse is something simply to be enjoyed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each month when the moon passes through its full phase, reaching the point in its orbit around Earth where it is opposite in the sky from the sun, it comes close to the shadow the Earth casts into space, usually passing just above or below it. But on rarer occasion, such as the full moon of October 8, 2014, the sun, Earth and moon will come into alignment and the moon will pass through Earth’s shadow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”XFc5IzWymVTQMYN6cLpdxHf48imiYNlF”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca title=\"NASA Eclipses\" href=\"http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2014.html#LE2014Oct08T\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">entire event\u003c/a>, from the time the moon first touches the partial shadow of the Earth called the penumbra (literally “almost shadow”) to when it finally departs once again, will take place over a little more than five hours, starting at 1:15 AM PDT and ending around 6:30 AM, as twilight begins to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you want to experience the entire event then set your alarm for around 1:00 AM and find a comfortable place with a sweeping view of the southern sky and the full moon. Then, watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Be advised, however, that you may not notice anything unusual at first, and even when you do eventually convince yourself of a slight graying on the left edge of the moon’s disk, the change is subtle. The moon has touched the Earth’s penumbral shadow, where the Earth blocks some, but not all, of the sun’s light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Die-hard eclipse watchers may choose the five-hour option, but if you’d like to concentrate your viewing enjoyment to a shorter span of time, start watching closer to 2:15 AM. At this time the moon begins to enter the Earth’s umbra, or full shadow where all of the sun’s light is blocked, and you will see a very noticeable bite taken out of the left edge of the Moon. For the next hour and ten minutes the umbral shadow will spread across the Moon’s disk, until at 3:25 the eclipse enters totality, when the Moon is completely engulfed in the darkest central core of Earth’s shadow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Totality, frankly, is the best and most beautiful part of a total lunar eclipse, so if all you want is a quick glimpse of the eclipse at its peak, check it out sometime between 3:35 to 4:24 AM PDT. Mid-eclipse, when the moon is deepest in Earth’s umbra, will be at 3:54 AM.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All things being equal the moon should completely vanish into the darkness of Earth’s umbra during totality, but this is not the case. Instead, though the full moon does darken considerably, its light doesn’t completely go out, and can change hue as well, going from the stark white of a normal full moon to orange or orange-red.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ruddy glow comes from Earth’s atmosphere, which filters out the bluer wavelengths of sunlight to let the redder tones pass through. Our atmosphere also bends the sunlight, focusing it into the Earth’s shadow and illuminating the darkness with reddish light. During a total lunar eclipse, if you were on the moon looking back at Earth you would see the dark disk of Earth’s night side set within a fiery ring of red light—the combined glow of all the sunrises and sunsets all the way around the rim of the world.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In the wee morning hours of Wednesday, October 8, a total lunar eclipse will occur, delighting anyone of the lucky side of the Earth willing to set their alarms extra early. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Be advised, however, that you may not notice anything unusual at first, and even when you do eventually convince yourself of a slight graying on the left edge of the moon’s disk, the change is subtle. The moon has touched the Earth’s penumbral shadow, where the Earth blocks some, but not all, of the sun’s light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Die-hard eclipse watchers may choose the five-hour option, but if you’d like to concentrate your viewing enjoyment to a shorter span of time, start watching closer to 2:15 AM. At this time the moon begins to enter the Earth’s umbra, or full shadow where all of the sun’s light is blocked, and you will see a very noticeable bite taken out of the left edge of the Moon. For the next hour and ten minutes the umbral shadow will spread across the Moon’s disk, until at 3:25 the eclipse enters totality, when the Moon is completely engulfed in the darkest central core of Earth’s shadow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Totality, frankly, is the best and most beautiful part of a total lunar eclipse, so if all you want is a quick glimpse of the eclipse at its peak, check it out sometime between 3:35 to 4:24 AM PDT. Mid-eclipse, when the moon is deepest in Earth’s umbra, will be at 3:54 AM.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All things being equal the moon should completely vanish into the darkness of Earth’s umbra during totality, but this is not the case. Instead, though the full moon does darken considerably, its light doesn’t completely go out, and can change hue as well, going from the stark white of a normal full moon to orange or orange-red.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ruddy glow comes from Earth’s atmosphere, which filters out the bluer wavelengths of sunlight to let the redder tones pass through. Our atmosphere also bends the sunlight, focusing it into the Earth’s shadow and illuminating the darkness with reddish light. During a total lunar eclipse, if you were on the moon looking back at Earth you would see the dark disk of Earth’s night side set within a fiery ring of red light—the combined glow of all the sunrises and sunsets all the way around the rim of the world.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Mission To Study Mars' Climate Enters Red Planet's Orbit",
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"content": "\u003cp>This Sunday night, we headed back to Mars: NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft fired its six main engines, slowing down enough so it could be captured by the gravity of the red planet and go into orbit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, is a distinctly un-sexy name for a \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/09/21/143794/mission_to_study_mars_climate_enters_red_planets_orbit?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"rssmi_more\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/09/21/143794/mission_to_study_mars_climate_enters_red_planets_orbit?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Mission To Study Mars' Climate Enters Red Planet's Orbit\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NPR Science – ingested into KQED\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "\u003cp>This Sunday night, we headed back to Mars: NASA's MAVEN spacecraft fired its six main engines, slowing down enough so it could be captured by the gravity of the red planet and go into orbit.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003cp>MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, is a distinctly un-sexy name for a \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/09/21/143794/mission_to_study_mars_climate_enters_red_planets_orbit?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"rssmi_more\">...Read More\u003c/a>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>This Sunday night, we headed back to Mars: NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft fired its six main engines, slowing down enough so it could be captured by the gravity of the red planet and go into orbit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, is a distinctly un-sexy name for a \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/09/21/143794/mission_to_study_mars_climate_enters_red_planets_orbit?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"rssmi_more\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/09/21/143794/mission_to_study_mars_climate_enters_red_planets_orbit?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Mission To Study Mars' Climate Enters Red Planet's Orbit\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NPR Science – ingested into KQED\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "NASA's Curiosity Rover Arrives at the Foot of Mars' Mount Sharp",
"headTitle": "NASA’s Curiosity Rover Arrives at the Foot of Mars’ Mount Sharp | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_21750\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/curiosity-pahrump-outcrop.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21750\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/curiosity-pahrump-outcrop.jpg\" alt='Rock strata exposed along the margins of the valleys in the \"Pahrump Hills\" region on Mars. (Curiosity/NASA)' width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rock strata exposed along the margins of the valleys in the “Pahrump Hills” region on Mars. (Curiosity/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over two years since landing on the gravely floor of Gale Crater on Mars, \u003ca title=\"NASA/Mars Science Laboratory\" href=\"http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory\u003c/a> rover, Curiosity, has reached the base of its primary mission goal, Mount Sharp: a 3-mile-high mound of sediment that preserves a geologic record of Mars going back billions of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is an exciting time and a huge milestone since we have finally arrived at the base of Mt. Sharp … the destination of the Curiosity rover,” says Dr. Paul Mahaffy, Principle Investigator of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “There is plenty of evidence in our new site, named the Pahrump Hills, of flowing water, and the outcrops to be explored at this location is in a geological formation called the Murray Formation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”l9wr4mH9GDcTrRchxdOCPm7Cvd2V0cCK”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiosity’s \u003ca title=\"Curiosity's SAM instrument\" href=\"http://ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov/sam/%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SAM instrument\u003c/a> will heat samples of the outcrops to hundreds of degrees and analyze the gases released for signs of organic compounds that could have survived Mars’ harsh radiation environment, as well as other inorganic compounds. Sampling the chemistry of the lowest exposed layers of Mount Sharp, Curiosity will be reading from a page of Mars’ geologic history from the very distant past, and as the rover commences its true climb up the mountain’s slope through ever more recent layers of the past its primary mission activity is now beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why did it take Curiosity almost two years to reach the mountain it was sent to investigate? A person could have walked the distance from the landing site to its present location in an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the reason, especially during the last year, was for the health and safety of the robot. Some of the terrain it has driven over was rougher than expected and sharp rocks have caused excessive wear and tear on four of its six wheels. Navigating through this challenging terrain required some care, and decisions were made to approach the mountain by a different route than originally planned.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Curiosity spots signs of an ancient lake bed–ooh, shiny!\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But the greater reason for Curiosity’s seemingly slow and casual approach to the mountain boils down to two words: “Ooh, shiny!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_21765\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 125px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/PIA18475_ip-125x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-21765\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/PIA18475_ip-125x162.jpg\" alt=\""The route of NASA's Mars Curiosity rover up the slopes of Mount Sharp on Mars is indicated in yellow in this false-color image. The rover's current position is marked with a star." Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona \" width=\"125\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“The route of NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover up the slopes of Mount Sharp on Mars is indicated in yellow in this false-color image. The rover’s current position is marked with a star.” Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Although Mt. Sharp had been the original destination of the mission,” says Dr. Mahaffy, “the Curiosity rover had been diverted from a direct path … by the compelling evidence early in the mission of an ancient lakebed in the opposite direction…. Exploration of the minerals and stratigraphy of this lakebed had realized significant mission objectives of identifying a habitable environment with all the ingredients necessary for life present billions of year ago in an ancient lake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attractive region, dubbed Yellowknife Bay, kept NASA scientists busy and Curiosity close to its landing spot for nearly a year. And though Curiosity’s primary destination was Mount Sharp, its mission is to assess the suitability of Mars’ environment in the past for supporting microbial life, so the detour through Yellowknife Bay was time well spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I know about the “ooh, shiny” compulsion. On many an on-foot exploration of my favorite place, Death Valley, I have experienced the same thing—and since Death Valley has been used as a surrogate for Mars in science fiction and in engineering tests of Mars-bound robots, Curiosity and I are simpatico. So many canyon climbs and ridge crawls and playa strolls that I made were the result of seeing something across the landscape that looked interesting and wanting to check it out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So now the “real” adventure begins on the slopes of Mount Sharp. How far will Curiosity climb, and what will it tell us about how Mars’ environment has changed over billions of years? I can’t wait to find out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep those wheels rolling, Curiosity!\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_21750\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/curiosity-pahrump-outcrop.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21750\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/curiosity-pahrump-outcrop.jpg\" alt='Rock strata exposed along the margins of the valleys in the \"Pahrump Hills\" region on Mars. (Curiosity/NASA)' width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rock strata exposed along the margins of the valleys in the “Pahrump Hills” region on Mars. (Curiosity/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over two years since landing on the gravely floor of Gale Crater on Mars, \u003ca title=\"NASA/Mars Science Laboratory\" href=\"http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory\u003c/a> rover, Curiosity, has reached the base of its primary mission goal, Mount Sharp: a 3-mile-high mound of sediment that preserves a geologic record of Mars going back billions of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is an exciting time and a huge milestone since we have finally arrived at the base of Mt. Sharp … the destination of the Curiosity rover,” says Dr. Paul Mahaffy, Principle Investigator of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “There is plenty of evidence in our new site, named the Pahrump Hills, of flowing water, and the outcrops to be explored at this location is in a geological formation called the Murray Formation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiosity’s \u003ca title=\"Curiosity's SAM instrument\" href=\"http://ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov/sam/%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SAM instrument\u003c/a> will heat samples of the outcrops to hundreds of degrees and analyze the gases released for signs of organic compounds that could have survived Mars’ harsh radiation environment, as well as other inorganic compounds. Sampling the chemistry of the lowest exposed layers of Mount Sharp, Curiosity will be reading from a page of Mars’ geologic history from the very distant past, and as the rover commences its true climb up the mountain’s slope through ever more recent layers of the past its primary mission activity is now beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why did it take Curiosity almost two years to reach the mountain it was sent to investigate? A person could have walked the distance from the landing site to its present location in an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the reason, especially during the last year, was for the health and safety of the robot. Some of the terrain it has driven over was rougher than expected and sharp rocks have caused excessive wear and tear on four of its six wheels. Navigating through this challenging terrain required some care, and decisions were made to approach the mountain by a different route than originally planned.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Curiosity spots signs of an ancient lake bed–ooh, shiny!\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But the greater reason for Curiosity’s seemingly slow and casual approach to the mountain boils down to two words: “Ooh, shiny!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_21765\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 125px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/PIA18475_ip-125x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-21765\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/PIA18475_ip-125x162.jpg\" alt=\""The route of NASA's Mars Curiosity rover up the slopes of Mount Sharp on Mars is indicated in yellow in this false-color image. The rover's current position is marked with a star." Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona \" width=\"125\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“The route of NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover up the slopes of Mount Sharp on Mars is indicated in yellow in this false-color image. The rover’s current position is marked with a star.” Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Although Mt. Sharp had been the original destination of the mission,” says Dr. Mahaffy, “the Curiosity rover had been diverted from a direct path … by the compelling evidence early in the mission of an ancient lakebed in the opposite direction…. Exploration of the minerals and stratigraphy of this lakebed had realized significant mission objectives of identifying a habitable environment with all the ingredients necessary for life present billions of year ago in an ancient lake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attractive region, dubbed Yellowknife Bay, kept NASA scientists busy and Curiosity close to its landing spot for nearly a year. And though Curiosity’s primary destination was Mount Sharp, its mission is to assess the suitability of Mars’ environment in the past for supporting microbial life, so the detour through Yellowknife Bay was time well spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I know about the “ooh, shiny” compulsion. On many an on-foot exploration of my favorite place, Death Valley, I have experienced the same thing—and since Death Valley has been used as a surrogate for Mars in science fiction and in engineering tests of Mars-bound robots, Curiosity and I are simpatico. So many canyon climbs and ridge crawls and playa strolls that I made were the result of seeing something across the landscape that looked interesting and wanting to check it out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So now the “real” adventure begins on the slopes of Mount Sharp. How far will Curiosity climb, and what will it tell us about how Mars’ environment has changed over billions of years? I can’t wait to find out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep those wheels rolling, Curiosity!\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv>Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">http://www.npr.org/\u003c/a>.\u003c/div>\n\u003cp> \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/09/07/142694/nearearth_object_to_come_25000_miles_close?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"rssmi_more\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/09/07/142694/nearearth_object_to_come_25000_miles_close?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Near-Earth Object To Come 25,000 Miles Close\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NPR Science – ingested into KQED\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cdiv>Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">http://www.npr.org/\u003c/a>.\u003c/div>\n\u003cp> \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/09/07/142694/nearearth_object_to_come_25000_miles_close?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"rssmi_more\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/09/07/142694/nearearth_object_to_come_25000_miles_close?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Near-Earth Object To Come 25,000 Miles Close\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NPR Science – ingested into KQED\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Will Explore Mars' Upper Atmosphere",
"headTitle": "NASA’s MAVEN Spacecraft Will Explore Mars’ Upper Atmosphere | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_21171\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 630px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/08/maven-vergano.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21171\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/08/maven-vergano.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of NASA's MAVEN spacecraft. (NASA)\" width=\"630\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On September 21, NASA’s \u003ca title=\"NASA's MAVEN Mission\" href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/maven/overview/#.VAD5ItJdV8E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MAVEN \u003c/a>(Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft will go boldly where no one has gone before: to the very top of the Martian atmosphere!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One might ask, with all of the amazing imagery and mind-opening discoveries made by the fleets of orbiters, landers and rovers that have explored Mars’ surface, why is anyone interested in the rarified gases at the highest layers of Mars’ already rarified atmosphere? The answer, as it turns out, is a tale of two planets: Mars and Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we first started to explore Mars with robotic spacecraft in 1965 and compared it to our home planet, we were struck more by the differences between the two than the similarities. Our home world is wet, vibrant and greenly alive, while rusty-red Mars was found to be dry, desolate and lifeless — more like our Moon with a thin wisp of atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over a campaign of exploration spanning decades, we have gathered a great deal of observational data that has told a much more nuanced story of Mars: a wet, active and far more Earth-like Mars than imagined even in a lot of science fiction. The reason we failed to see the similarities at first is that it required looking across a gulf of time, and it takes time, and data, to reconstruct an accurate picture of the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars, we now know with fair certainty, once had a thicker, warmer atmosphere and a water cycle with precipitation, river systems, and wide shallow, likely salty seas. Whether life ever emerged on Mars is still a question, but the environment we are sensing a couple billion years in the past feels temperate and inviting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what happened? Why is Mars today a cold, dry desert world with an atmosphere a hundredth as thick as Earth’s? Where did its warming, protective atmosphere disappear to — and could the same thing happen to other planets, even Earth?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where MAVEN comes in. MAVEN’s scientific instruments are designed to characterize the nature of not only the upper Martian atmosphere and ionosphere, but its \u003ca title=\"Solar Wind Rips Up Martian Atmosphere\" href=\"http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/21nov_plasmoids/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interaction with the solar wind\u003c/a>: the stream of electrically charged particles that blows constantly from the sun and across all of the planets of the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Is Mars’ atmosphere a mostly-deflated leaky balloon?\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The action of high-speed ions in the solar wind scouring volatile molecules (like carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and water) from the exposed upper layers of Mars’ atmosphere and carrying them away into space could account for the loss. Mars’ atmosphere, it seems, is a balloon with a slow leak, now mostly deflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If MAVEN determines that the solar wind has indeed eroded Mars’ atmosphere into space, does that mean the same thing will happen to Earth?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This may be where one of those stark differences between Mars and Earth becomes important: a global magnetic field. \u003ca title=\"Earth's Magnetic Field\" href=\"http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=64\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Earth has one\u003c/a>: a global dipolar magnetosphere generated by currents deep inside our planet and emanating outward into the space surround it. The solar wind’s particles are ions — electrically charged hydrogen nuclei for the most part. When an electrically charged particle moves through a magnetic field, its path is deflected. That’s how an old-style television set (pre-flat screen CRT, or cathode ray tube, technology) deflects a beam of electrons to paint a luminous picture on the phosphorescent screen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earth’s atmosphere is completely enclosed within the larger volume of space occupied by the magnetosphere, so it is shielded from the mayhem the solar wind probably inflicts on the bare, unprotected ionosphere of Mars. So erosion of the Earth’s atmosphere is not presently a big concern, though it would be if we ever lost that protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars, however, \u003ca title=\"What Happened to Mars' Magnetic Field\" href=\"http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/what-happened-to-mars-atmosphere-15277534\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">does not have an active global magnetic field\u003c/a> today, and may not have had one for a long time now. Past orbiter missions have detected patches of localized magnetic fields emanating from the Martian crust, which may be the “fossil” remnants of a global field that sheltered Mars in its warm and wet youth, but their influences are weak, scattered, and do not extend to the higher regions of Mars’ atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Understanding exactly what is taking place where the solar wind collides with Mars’ atmosphere will give us better insight into its loss over time, and how the surface environment has evolved in response to that loss. In turn, we may be getting a glimpse of what could happen to the Earth in the hopefully very distant future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazing what studying a few sparse molecules can tell you.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "On September 21, NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft will go boldly where no one has gone before: to the very top of the Martian atmosphere!",
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"description": "On September 21, NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft will go boldly where no one has gone before: to the very top of the Martian atmosphere!",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_21171\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 630px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/08/maven-vergano.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21171\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/08/maven-vergano.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of NASA's MAVEN spacecraft. (NASA)\" width=\"630\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On September 21, NASA’s \u003ca title=\"NASA's MAVEN Mission\" href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/maven/overview/#.VAD5ItJdV8E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MAVEN \u003c/a>(Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft will go boldly where no one has gone before: to the very top of the Martian atmosphere!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One might ask, with all of the amazing imagery and mind-opening discoveries made by the fleets of orbiters, landers and rovers that have explored Mars’ surface, why is anyone interested in the rarified gases at the highest layers of Mars’ already rarified atmosphere? The answer, as it turns out, is a tale of two planets: Mars and Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we first started to explore Mars with robotic spacecraft in 1965 and compared it to our home planet, we were struck more by the differences between the two than the similarities. Our home world is wet, vibrant and greenly alive, while rusty-red Mars was found to be dry, desolate and lifeless — more like our Moon with a thin wisp of atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over a campaign of exploration spanning decades, we have gathered a great deal of observational data that has told a much more nuanced story of Mars: a wet, active and far more Earth-like Mars than imagined even in a lot of science fiction. The reason we failed to see the similarities at first is that it required looking across a gulf of time, and it takes time, and data, to reconstruct an accurate picture of the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars, we now know with fair certainty, once had a thicker, warmer atmosphere and a water cycle with precipitation, river systems, and wide shallow, likely salty seas. Whether life ever emerged on Mars is still a question, but the environment we are sensing a couple billion years in the past feels temperate and inviting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what happened? Why is Mars today a cold, dry desert world with an atmosphere a hundredth as thick as Earth’s? Where did its warming, protective atmosphere disappear to — and could the same thing happen to other planets, even Earth?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where MAVEN comes in. MAVEN’s scientific instruments are designed to characterize the nature of not only the upper Martian atmosphere and ionosphere, but its \u003ca title=\"Solar Wind Rips Up Martian Atmosphere\" href=\"http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/21nov_plasmoids/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interaction with the solar wind\u003c/a>: the stream of electrically charged particles that blows constantly from the sun and across all of the planets of the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Is Mars’ atmosphere a mostly-deflated leaky balloon?\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The action of high-speed ions in the solar wind scouring volatile molecules (like carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and water) from the exposed upper layers of Mars’ atmosphere and carrying them away into space could account for the loss. Mars’ atmosphere, it seems, is a balloon with a slow leak, now mostly deflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If MAVEN determines that the solar wind has indeed eroded Mars’ atmosphere into space, does that mean the same thing will happen to Earth?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This may be where one of those stark differences between Mars and Earth becomes important: a global magnetic field. \u003ca title=\"Earth's Magnetic Field\" href=\"http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=64\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Earth has one\u003c/a>: a global dipolar magnetosphere generated by currents deep inside our planet and emanating outward into the space surround it. The solar wind’s particles are ions — electrically charged hydrogen nuclei for the most part. When an electrically charged particle moves through a magnetic field, its path is deflected. That’s how an old-style television set (pre-flat screen CRT, or cathode ray tube, technology) deflects a beam of electrons to paint a luminous picture on the phosphorescent screen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earth’s atmosphere is completely enclosed within the larger volume of space occupied by the magnetosphere, so it is shielded from the mayhem the solar wind probably inflicts on the bare, unprotected ionosphere of Mars. So erosion of the Earth’s atmosphere is not presently a big concern, though it would be if we ever lost that protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars, however, \u003ca title=\"What Happened to Mars' Magnetic Field\" href=\"http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/what-happened-to-mars-atmosphere-15277534\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">does not have an active global magnetic field\u003c/a> today, and may not have had one for a long time now. Past orbiter missions have detected patches of localized magnetic fields emanating from the Martian crust, which may be the “fossil” remnants of a global field that sheltered Mars in its warm and wet youth, but their influences are weak, scattered, and do not extend to the higher regions of Mars’ atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Understanding exactly what is taking place where the solar wind collides with Mars’ atmosphere will give us better insight into its loss over time, and how the surface environment has evolved in response to that loss. In turn, we may be getting a glimpse of what could happen to the Earth in the hopefully very distant future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazing what studying a few sparse molecules can tell you.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
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