Here is the first Joint Production to be sent down from the Planetary Lake Lander Base Camp; Hope You Like it
Its its true, we built a Robo-Dome at a discrete location in the Andes Mountains, but more importantly, we also built a video production studio next door.
Here is the first Joint Production to be sent down from the Planetary Lake Lander Base Camp; Hope You Like it
0 Comments
The steep, arid slopes of the Andes Mountains beckon me again to ascend towards the snow-line where I will soon join the Planetary Lake Lander Team as part of a NASA and Aqua Survey Sponsored Project. For the nest 3 weeks I'll be posting via Satelite connection, on the Official PLL Website, http://www.planetarylakelander.com/
I hope you'll join us there! In A few days Ill depart for the Chilean Andes to re-join the Planetary Lake Lander Project. One of my roles this year, aside from collecting scientific data, will be Outreach, meaning I hope to post a lot about our activities, both here and on the new PLL website, planetarylakelander.com
I hope you'll join us and follow the adventure! Aqua Survey High Def. Productions Producers Garrett Hayes and Andrew Froening Made this film happen.
I hope you'll enjoy it and share it, because Im off to the Andes again this week in my new role of Education and Outreach Lead, and look forward to sharing my enthusiasm for this exciting project by making a lot of very short videos and sharing them, both here, and on the new website for the Planetary Lake Lander Project Having participated in a couple of Dr. Nathalie Cabrols Mars Analog Adventures here on earth, I was excited to read and share this article "Exploring Earth's Alien Spaces" profiling her work which appeared recently in Science News Magazine.
The Planetary Lake Lander project will continue its mission this year to prepare a robotic research vessel for the rigors of space travel and to navigate liquid surfaces of other planets, like the Methane Seas of Titan. Last year I was lucky enough to join the team in the Chilean Andes to help out; exactly the type of scientific exploration I live for. Here's a photo from one of my bathymetry recording voyages upon Laguna Negra during that trip. After a quick internet search for "Why Do We Explore", I was surprised to find that the # 3 hit was an article written by an explorer to whom I had posed that question less than a month ago, during a scientific expedition in the Andes Mountains.
In that interview, Dr. Nathalie Cabrol said that she thought exploration was an original and fundamental drive in all life forms. Well the article she guest posted on the Blog Life At The SETI Institute explains a lot more detail of her philosophy on who the original explorers were. Here is a snippet: "Each species goes as far and as fast as its evolutionary path can take it. This path is dictated by that species’ exposure to the environment and to other species. We (as in life in general) are all trying to constantly expand our horizon, for there is gain in doing so. At the most primary level the gain is physical survival through a greater range of environments, which provide additional resources to supply a greater number of individuals of the same group. The curiosity and awe that we humans associate with exploration is a late comer. Understanding when this driving force developed is by itself a fascinating subject. I do not believe the first bacteria were curious about their environment; they simply tried to adapt to it." Not only was her article a fascinating read, the commentary and counterpoint was really good too. You can read the entire thing here Students from The Lancaster Day School in Pennsylvania have been following the Planetary Lake Lander, and wrote in with a lot of very good questions about what the project. Several of these questions were answered by Dr. Nathalie Cabrol, the Principal Investigator for the Planetary Lake Lander Project, and Dr. Ellen Stofan, the Principal Investigator for the Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) mission that was proposed to NASA last year. Dr. Cabrol, an astrobiologist, and Dr. Stofan, a planetary geologist, are both scientists who study the surfaces of Earth and other planets in order to understand the physical processes, such as glaciation, volcanism and erosion, that shape planetary surfaces over time and lead to the development of possible habitats for life . I hope to get answers to all of these questions posted for you soon. In the mean time, here is one that we posted on the official blog of the Planetary Lake Lander. Q. What kind of life may be possible on Titan/Saturn/Mars? Why is NASA
(and why are you) so interested in Titan? A. We know that comets and asteroids have delivered the carbon compounds or building blocks of life all over the solar system. Astrobiologists believe that life requires water, a source of energy (like lightning or volcanism) and nutrients. Life on Saturn, with its high pressure and hydrogen gas atmosphere is not like any habitable environment that we know of! However, science fiction writers have thought of organisms that could live off lightning floating in the clouds! At Titan, there is no liquid water and it is very, very cold. However, there are liquid hydrocarbons (sort of like oil or gasoline) and there is much about the evolution of life here on Earth, let alone on other planets, that we would learn from exploring the undoubtedly complex organic chemistry in Titan’s lakes. Titan can be thought of as having conditions similar to those of Earth when life evolved, only much colder! Mars was very similar to Earth for a short period of time, with liquid water on its surface, so life is likely to have evolved. But since the time period was short, life is likely to be microbial. There are no glaciers on Titan- its cold climate has been stable for a long period of time. High-resolution orbital imagery of Mars has revealed evidence of glaciers on its surface- the youngest are likely 500,000 years old. We know these glaciers must have gone through periods of melting and sublimation. Some of this glacial ice may be preserved under layers of debris. This ice may still harbor microbial life, so they would be excellent targets for a future Mars mission! The lake in the Andes is being used to test technology to explore lakes on Titan, while the conditions in the deglaciating lake may be similar to those at some point in Mars’ past. And of course, they are also helping us to understand the effects of our warming climate on ecosystems here on Earth. Having gone up into the Andes Mountains in Chile just after Thanksgiving, and spending 3 weeks without access to phone, text, TV,or email, Its both a pleasure and a shock to be back in a city.
I cant say 'Back in Civilization" because the Base Camp at Laguna Negra might have been the most "Civilized" place I have ever been: Working in the shadows of glaciers with a dozen or more NASA Scientists preparing for a Robotic Exploration of other planets, Eating Expedition Cuisine with them in a Dome Tent while listening to classical music drowned out by the roaring wind, while helping to assemble a prototype future spacecraft that thinks for itself is not what I call Uncivilized. None the less, a hot bath, a traditional meal, and a soft bed was not unappreciated. Ill post a few fotos of the Expedition Right Away, andtry to share some of the action that I didnt post on the Planetary Lake Lander Website. All the best, Eric Not sure how they mow the grass on the side of this building though. Santiago is a swank, Metropolitan city with lovely hotels and a sandwich that made the trip worthwhile, the Churasco Italiano. But I'm not here to film a food show, I'm here to climb up into the Andes Mountains with a group of NASA Scientists, and my camping gear is AWOL. I love to play the 'Abandon Ship" game, and consider whether I could survive with the gear I have in my ditch bag. So after a quick inventory of my kit, I feel ready to head into the wilderness. (good thing I have an extra pair of socks.) The exercise was perhaps theoretical, the airline said they would have my backpack full of gear for 3 weeks in the mountains here in the morning, before we head up the hill. We'll be sharing a satellite phone from the mountaintop, the whole scientific team, so I'm changing my gmail to the stripped down html version right now while in the airport headed for Santiago, We have a limited bandwidth budget, that cant be wasted uploading non-essential things that modern earthlings take for granted, like spell-checker. Interestingly enough, that's exactly one of the constraints that our little robot will face when its launched into space to land on an ocean of methane on Titan. Bandwidth of information beamed long distances through space is at a premium, so one of the most important jobs of the Planetary Lake Lander Project is to teach the rover how to think for its self. It cant be phoning home to ask questions about whether or not to take a picture, collect a sample, or track an interesting incident. Heres an interesting blog post by Tom Kerwick on how bandwidth limitation is driving research in Artificial Intelligence. |
My Name is Eric and My Job is Scientific Exploration.
That means I'm lucky enough to join expeditions to excavate sunken cities, climb volcanoes, find missing bombs, and Sail old research vessels, while searching for the mysteries of the natural world. Categories
All
Archives
May 2024
|