Chris McKay (NASA) at the SMMMASH 2012 www.scaruffi.com/stanford/tour2012.html

1. Space:
Should we go?
Or should we stay?
18 Oct 2012
Chris.McKay@nasa.gov

2. The search for a second genesis of life
⇒ comparative biochemistry (life 2.0)
⇒ life is common in the universe (yeah!)
Aliens:
not on our tree of life
"The Tree of Life"
defines Earth Life

3. Where to look for life?
Mars: past liquid water, no/yes on organics,
consumes organics
Increasing
chance of life
not related to
Earth life Europa: has ocean,
possibly organics
Enceladus: has icy jet,
liquid water, organics, nitrogen
Titan: liquid - not water, organics

7. The current mission to Mars:
Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity
Launched: Nov. 2011
Landed: 5 Aug 2012

8. MSL photographed by MRO as it lands
Curiosity on parachute, imaged by
HiRISE on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

9. Heat Shield dropping off during descent phase.
Photographed byshield separation captured
Heat the descent cameras
by Curiosity’s Mars Descent Imager

10. Skycrane landing kicks up a little dust.
Kicking up dust just prior to landing

11. NASA/JPL
Navigation camera image showing the surface
scour marks and rocks on the rover’s deck

12. Curiosity and its
tracks by
HiRISE on the The long winding road
Mars
Reconnaissance
Orbiter

13. Mastcam-100 image of Mount Sharp’s layers,
canyons and buttes
This boulder is the
size of Curiosity
NASA/JPL/MSSS

14. NASA/JPL/MSSS
The conglomerate “Link” with associated
loose, rounded pebbles

15. There is a pyrolysis GCMS as part of the SAM instrument on MSL
Sample Analysis for Mars
Three modes which could detect organics despite the perchlorate
1. Combustion with O2 to CO2
2. Liquid extraction, SAM will wash the samples with two derivatization agents:
tetramethylammonium hydroxide &
N-Methyl-N-(Tert-Butyldimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide
3. Head space monitoring during pyrolysis

16. Two sources of non-biological organic materials:
Meteorites and Miller-Urey synthesis experiments
How do they differ from life?
Two sources of non-biological organic
materials:
Two sources of non-biological organic
materials:
Life
Miller-Urey Experiments

18. Human exploration

23. this slide intentionally left banke