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Looking for water on Mars
September 29, 2008Houston meeting highlights Phoenix's probe and the challenges of working on the surface of Mars
NASA's Phoenix Scout Lander reached Mars on May 25,, opened a soils lab, and started looking for water. Phoenix uses a robotic scoop arm to deliver regolith samples to the suite of instruments aboard the Lander--with one exception. The thermal and electrical conductivity probe designed by a team of research scientists at Decagon Devices Inc. is actually mounted on the robotic arm and makes direct contact with the regolith. It measures thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, electrical conductivity, and dielectric permittivity of the regolith, as well as vapor pressure of the air.
Finding Water, Building Climate Models
Phoenix uses the probe to look for evidence of water on Mars and to determine thermal properties of the regolith for use in climate models. The data collected so far await analysis, but the numbers look intriguing and promising not just for Mars study but here on earth.
Fat Needle Challenge
Logistical challenges early on forced the Decagon team to look for flexibility in the transient heated needle technique in order to build a successful thermal properties analyzer for Mars. Phoenix's robotic arm can't insert the needles as gently as a human hand. Long, thin needles approximating an infinitely long line heat source as required by the model were likely to snap when inserted into a surface of unknown hardness. The best alternative design featured stubby, conical needles which violated the assumptions of the transient heated needle theory.
Flexibility in the Theory
Decagon's Mars team doubted whether the model could even fit time and temperature data collected with a short, conical needle.
"I thought there was very little chance," says Dr. Gaylon Campbell, a team member, "but it turns out that it does."
By correlating the parameters generated with standards of known thermal properties, the team was able to correct the parameters generated by long, skinny needles to fit those from short, fat needles.
Mars Ingenuity on Earth
Dr. Doug Cobos will present the paper, "Measuring Thermal Properties on Mars: Relaxation of Requirements for Transient Heated Needle Measurements of Material Thermal Properties." His research will discuss the Mars teams' methods and results in a 1:30 pm paper on Tuesday, 7 October in Room 310BE of the George R. Brown Convention Center. He will also describe how their instrument- and theory-related discoveries benefit earth-side users as well.
The paper will be presented during the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies (GCAGS) in Houston.
"We don't use conical needles in our commercial thermal properties sensors, but the mathematical models we developed for Mars make those sensors much more accurate and effective," says Dr. Colin Campbell, another member of the team. "The Mars project has expanded both the depth of our understanding and the breadth of our perspective."
Soil Science Society of America
Phoenix uses the probe to look for evidence of water on Mars and to determine thermal properties of the regolith for use in climate models. The data collected so far await analysis, but the numbers look intriguing and promising not just for Mars study but here on earth.
Fat Needle Challenge
Logistical challenges early on forced the Decagon team to look for flexibility in the transient heated needle technique in order to build a successful thermal properties analyzer for Mars. Phoenix's robotic arm can't insert the needles as gently as a human hand. Long, thin needles approximating an infinitely long line heat source as required by the model were likely to snap when inserted into a surface of unknown hardness. The best alternative design featured stubby, conical needles which violated the assumptions of the transient heated needle theory.
Flexibility in the Theory
Decagon's Mars team doubted whether the model could even fit time and temperature data collected with a short, conical needle.
"I thought there was very little chance," says Dr. Gaylon Campbell, a team member, "but it turns out that it does."
By correlating the parameters generated with standards of known thermal properties, the team was able to correct the parameters generated by long, skinny needles to fit those from short, fat needles.
Mars Ingenuity on Earth
Dr. Doug Cobos will present the paper, "Measuring Thermal Properties on Mars: Relaxation of Requirements for Transient Heated Needle Measurements of Material Thermal Properties." His research will discuss the Mars teams' methods and results in a 1:30 pm paper on Tuesday, 7 October in Room 310BE of the George R. Brown Convention Center. He will also describe how their instrument- and theory-related discoveries benefit earth-side users as well.
The paper will be presented during the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies (GCAGS) in Houston.
"We don't use conical needles in our commercial thermal properties sensors, but the mathematical models we developed for Mars make those sensors much more accurate and effective," says Dr. Colin Campbell, another member of the team. "The Mars project has expanded both the depth of our understanding and the breadth of our perspective."
Soil Science Society of America
Thermal Properties Current Events and Thermal Properties News RSSTechnique measures heat transport in the Earth's crust
Putting a new spin on an old technique, Anne M. Hofmeister, Ph.D., research professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has revolutionized scientists' understanding of heat transport in the Earth's crust, the outermost solid shell of our planet.
Super-Tough Sunshield to Fly on the James Webb Space Telescope
Imagine sunglasses that can withstand the severe cold and heat of space, a barrage of radiation and high-speed impacts from small space debris. They don't exist, but Northrop Grumman engineers have created a Sunshield for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope that can withstand all of those elements. The space telescope needs a Sunshield to block heat from the sun so its cameras and instruments can operate properly a million miles from the Earth, when it launches in 2013.
Coating copies microscopic biological surfaces
Someday, your car might have the metallic finish of some insects or the deep black of a butterfly's wing, and the reflectors might be patterned on the nanostructure of a fly's eyes.
NRL scientists produce carbon nanotubes using commercially available polymeric resins
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have successfully produced carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in high yields in bulk solid compositions using commercially available aromatic containing resins.
Clemson physicist addresses international forum on thermoelectric energy
Energy lost from hot engines could save billions of dollars if it could be captured and converted into electricity via thermoelectric devices, Clemson University physicist Terry Tritt told scientists gathered in Dallas for the world-renowned NanoTX '07 conference.
Theory predicts aging process in DVDs, plexiglas, other polymer glasses
Polymer glasses are versatile plastics widely used in applications ranging from aircraft windshields to DVDs. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a theory that predicts how these materials age. The theory also explains why motions at the molecular level can have macroscopic consequences.
'World's smallest controlled heat source' studies explosives at the nanoscale
Using nanometer scale analysis techniques and quantities too small to explode, researchers have mapped the temperature and length-sale factors that make energetic materials - otherwise known as explosives - behave the way they do.
Titania nanoparticles could lead to improved sensors and solar energy
Nanostructured titania (TiO2) has been extensively studied as a very promising material for applications in sensors, photocatalysis, solar energy conversion and optical coatings.
Prof develops cancer nanobomb
University of Delaware researchers are opening a new front in the war on cancer, bringing to bear new nanotechnologies for cancer detection and treatment and introducing a unique nanobomb that can literally blow up breast cancer tumors.
Transition Metal Selenites (Mn, Co, Ni, Fe, Cu, Zn and Cd)
The work involved a multidisciplinary task, undertaking the study of phases of mineralogical and physico-chemical interest. Selenites were synthesised, given that they are a new field and likely to present original physical properties.
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