1 00:00:03,260 --> 00:00:01,640 was actually our director of the solar 2 00:00:05,269 --> 00:00:03,270 system exploration division and he's 3 00:00:06,530 --> 00:00:05,279 also the principal investigator for the 4 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:06,540 Sam instrument which are being talking a 5 00:00:10,070 --> 00:00:08,370 lot today and I also have Jennifer eigen 6 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:10,080 Brody who has one of the coolest titles 7 00:00:13,820 --> 00:00:11,610 I know of at NASA which is actually an 8 00:00:15,650 --> 00:00:13,830 astrobiologist and we're also here at 9 00:00:16,910 --> 00:00:15,660 another location today as well NASA's 10 00:00:20,300 --> 00:00:16,920 Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California 11 00:00:21,950 --> 00:00:20,310 and here we have dr. Chris Webster who 12 00:00:24,380 --> 00:00:21,960 is a senior research scientist at JPL 13 00:00:25,730 --> 00:00:24,390 and we also have Ashwin Vasavada who is 14 00:00:28,009 --> 00:00:25,740 the project scientist for the Mars 15 00:00:29,779 --> 00:00:28,019 Science Laboratory my name is Michelle 16 00:00:31,429 --> 00:00:29,789 thaller I'm an astronomer here at NASA 17 00:00:32,810 --> 00:00:31,439 and one of the things I'm gonna say 18 00:00:34,549 --> 00:00:32,820 right off the bat today is that none of 19 00:00:36,470 --> 00:00:34,559 us live in a vacuum we all have our own 20 00:00:37,580 --> 00:00:36,480 social media accounts and we're sort of 21 00:00:39,020 --> 00:00:37,590 aware of the interest that this is 22 00:00:41,119 --> 00:00:39,030 generated so I'm going to tell you right 23 00:00:43,190 --> 00:00:41,129 now but we're not announcing today is 24 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:43,200 the detection of life we're not going to 25 00:00:46,850 --> 00:00:44,730 be talking about that what we are 26 00:00:48,709 --> 00:00:46,860 talking about are some really exciting 27 00:00:51,410 --> 00:00:48,719 new results that have to do with organic 28 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:51,420 molecules now organic molecules are what 29 00:00:54,740 --> 00:00:52,890 we understand it is the building blocks 30 00:00:56,810 --> 00:00:54,750 of life and even if we're not announcing 31 00:00:58,160 --> 00:00:56,820 the detection of life today I think that 32 00:01:00,200 --> 00:00:58,170 the discoveries we're gonna be talking 33 00:01:02,029 --> 00:01:00,210 about are a really important next step 34 00:01:03,529 --> 00:01:02,039 into finding out whether Mars was once 35 00:01:05,539 --> 00:01:03,539 habitable or might even still be 36 00:01:07,490 --> 00:01:05,549 habitable so what I'm gonna do now is 37 00:01:08,929 --> 00:01:07,500 actually lead it off with Paul Mahaffey 38 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:08,939 who's gonna talk to us a bit about what 39 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:10,530 we know and what we don't know about 40 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:11,010 Mars 41 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:14,450 so Paul straight up what do we found 42 00:01:21,109 --> 00:01:17,850 really exciting times I'll reinforce 43 00:01:23,630 --> 00:01:21,119 what you said I mean life organic 44 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:23,640 compounds on earth just so much bear the 45 00:01:28,850 --> 00:01:25,890 imprint of life that it's very natural 46 00:01:31,039 --> 00:01:28,860 for us to equate or finding organics on 47 00:01:33,230 --> 00:01:31,049 Mars with finding life but that's not 48 00:01:34,999 --> 00:01:33,240 the you know that's not the bottom line 49 00:01:36,590 --> 00:01:35,009 of what we're trying to get out here the 50 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:36,600 bottom line is is that we greatly 51 00:01:40,730 --> 00:01:39,090 expanded our search for organic 52 00:01:43,639 --> 00:01:40,740 compounds which ultimately are 53 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:43,649 fundamental to our search for life and 54 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:45,090 it's really interesting kind of two 55 00:01:50,060 --> 00:01:47,570 complementary results one result is 56 00:01:51,710 --> 00:01:50,070 organics from billion-year-old rocks 57 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:51,720 that got trapped in the rocks in an 58 00:01:57,050 --> 00:01:54,210 ancient lake billions of years ago and 59 00:01:59,030 --> 00:01:57,060 the second really is the simplest 60 00:02:01,429 --> 00:01:59,040 organic methane in the atmosphere and 61 00:02:02,899 --> 00:02:01,439 those two results I can broad and Chris 62 00:02:05,630 --> 00:02:02,909 Webster the lead author on these papers 63 00:02:07,700 --> 00:02:05,640 are going to talk about but let me just 64 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:07,710 set a little bit of the context it was 65 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:11,250 kind of August 2012 more than five years 66 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:13,410 ago we came barreling into Mars 67 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:15,450 and there was that exciting seven 68 00:02:19,340 --> 00:02:17,610 minutes of Terror and we landed safely 69 00:02:23,450 --> 00:02:19,350 on the service surface thanks to the 70 00:02:26,510 --> 00:02:23,460 great engineering team at JPL that got 71 00:02:29,150 --> 00:02:26,520 us there but the objective of the 72 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:29,160 mission really was to explore a 73 00:02:34,700 --> 00:02:32,730 habitable environment on Mars and right 74 00:02:36,530 --> 00:02:34,710 off the bat we just found incredible 75 00:02:37,310 --> 00:02:36,540 things we found clays that were formed 76 00:02:40,430 --> 00:02:37,320 by water 77 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:40,440 the rover Curiosity is just extremely 78 00:02:44,390 --> 00:02:42,450 capable take stereo pictures and 79 00:02:46,670 --> 00:02:44,400 measures the elemental composition of 80 00:02:48,830 --> 00:02:46,680 the rocks it does some mineralogy and 81 00:02:50,390 --> 00:02:48,840 what we've always done even though we 82 00:02:51,710 --> 00:02:50,400 found many things with the experiment 83 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:51,720 we're going to talk about today which is 84 00:02:59,300 --> 00:02:53,490 Sam the sample analysis at Mars 85 00:03:00,710 --> 00:02:59,310 experiment we essentially found out very 86 00:03:02,420 --> 00:03:00,720 early that this was a habitable 87 00:03:04,820 --> 00:03:02,430 environment water had been there for a 88 00:03:06,590 --> 00:03:04,830 very very long time with our Sam 89 00:03:09,170 --> 00:03:06,600 experiment we found some interesting 90 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:09,180 things for example how old the rocks 91 00:03:13,700 --> 00:03:11,010 were how long they have been exposed to 92 00:03:15,980 --> 00:03:13,710 cosmic radiation measurements of light 93 00:03:17,930 --> 00:03:15,990 versus heavy elements told us about how 94 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:17,940 the atmosphere had escaped over billions 95 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:20,010 of years but we've kept going on this 96 00:03:23,870 --> 00:03:21,570 search for organics and we had found 97 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:23,880 some nothing before we had found some 98 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:26,730 simple organic molecules before but we 99 00:03:33,500 --> 00:03:28,290 greatly expanded the search with the 100 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:33,510 results so Paul's just mentioned some of 101 00:03:35,690 --> 00:03:34,770 the results we're talking about today 102 00:03:37,190 --> 00:03:35,700 and one of the things that's really 103 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:37,200 important is you can be involved in our 104 00:03:40,430 --> 00:03:39,210 discussion so throughout the the 105 00:03:41,810 --> 00:03:40,440 broadcast today you'll see me looking 106 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:41,820 down at my iPad we're taking live 107 00:03:46,850 --> 00:03:43,890 questions so if you're on social media 108 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:46,860 you can use hashtag ask NASA or if 109 00:03:49,730 --> 00:03:48,330 you're joining us on Facebook just put 110 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:49,740 your questions in the Facebook comments 111 00:03:52,430 --> 00:03:50,610 and we'll get to as many of them as we 112 00:03:54,140 --> 00:03:52,440 possibly can and we're also going to be 113 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:54,150 taking questions live from the media a 114 00:03:58,400 --> 00:03:56,610 little bit later in the show so I'll G 115 00:03:59,600 --> 00:03:58,410 be here live looking at your questions 116 00:04:01,250 --> 00:03:59,610 and I can give them to whatever science 117 00:04:03,620 --> 00:04:01,260 this is probably the most appropriate so 118 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:03,630 now we're gonna go to Jen so Jennifer 119 00:04:06,860 --> 00:04:05,250 tell us a bit about you know why is it 120 00:04:09,890 --> 00:04:06,870 significant that we found organics on 121 00:04:11,510 --> 00:04:09,900 Mars we found organic molecules in rocks 122 00:04:13,790 --> 00:04:11,520 from an ancient lake bed 123 00:04:15,860 --> 00:04:13,800 those were organic molecules could have 124 00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:15,870 come from life we don't know that there 125 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:19,290 was ever life on Mars there is the 126 00:04:23,690 --> 00:04:21,210 organic molecules that we found are not 127 00:04:26,420 --> 00:04:23,700 specifically evidence of life because 128 00:04:26,930 --> 00:04:26,430 there are other sources of of making 129 00:04:29,990 --> 00:04:26,940 those model 130 00:04:32,900 --> 00:04:30,000 including things that are non biological 131 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:32,910 in nature things like meteorites or even 132 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:35,250 rock processes we can attribute geology 133 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:37,170 all by itself without life to making 134 00:04:40,970 --> 00:04:38,850 organic molecules and the information 135 00:04:44,260 --> 00:04:40,980 that we have doesn't tell us which 136 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:44,270 source is responsible for what we have 137 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:47,490 well thank you so another one of the 138 00:04:50,870 --> 00:04:49,170 major detection and discoveries we're 139 00:04:52,610 --> 00:04:50,880 talking about today involves methane on 140 00:04:54,470 --> 00:04:52,620 Mars and methane is something that we 141 00:04:56,930 --> 00:04:54,480 think of as natural gas a simple organic 142 00:04:59,450 --> 00:04:56,940 molecule and I'm gonna talk to a Chris 143 00:05:00,950 --> 00:04:59,460 Webster at JPL right now so Chris was 144 00:05:03,770 --> 00:05:00,960 actually instrumental in the discovery 145 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:03,780 before of methane spikes the level of 146 00:05:07,550 --> 00:05:05,370 methane went up very dramatically on 147 00:05:09,350 --> 00:05:07,560 Mars so Chris you've reported before on 148 00:05:10,850 --> 00:05:09,360 these methane spikes can you tell us a 149 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:10,860 bit about well what today is different 150 00:05:15,620 --> 00:05:12,770 and noteworthy about methane on Mars 151 00:05:18,260 --> 00:05:15,630 well Michelle as you know every chapter 152 00:05:21,590 --> 00:05:18,270 in the story of methane on Mars has been 153 00:05:24,170 --> 00:05:21,600 a surprise from some time ago the 154 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:24,180 reports of plumes in the atmosphere of 155 00:05:28,820 --> 00:05:27,090 methane there were reports of patches 156 00:05:30,530 --> 00:05:28,830 when orbiters looked at it in spikes 157 00:05:32,780 --> 00:05:30,540 that we reported as you just mentioned 158 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:32,790 every one of them a surprise but 159 00:05:37,700 --> 00:05:35,490 problematic in the sense frustrating 160 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:37,710 because none of them were repeatable in 161 00:05:42,980 --> 00:05:40,290 time of space they seem to show that 162 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:42,990 methane was misbehaving it was sporadic 163 00:05:48,770 --> 00:05:46,710 or almost random pulses and and patches 164 00:05:52,180 --> 00:05:48,780 were showing up so today we're 165 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:52,190 announcing a discovery of a repeatable 166 00:05:57,290 --> 00:05:54,810 identifiable seasonal pattern in the 167 00:05:59,390 --> 00:05:57,300 methane measurements and we can look 168 00:06:01,400 --> 00:05:59,400 here at the graphic and we can see that 169 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:01,410 it's in the lower background level 170 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:03,090 because most of the time are not looking 171 00:06:07,909 --> 00:06:05,250 at spikes and we see this low background 172 00:06:10,310 --> 00:06:07,919 level you can see from the winter to the 173 00:06:12,500 --> 00:06:10,320 summer this growth and the big surprise 174 00:06:15,050 --> 00:06:12,510 too is not only have we got this 175 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:15,060 wonderful repeatability but their 176 00:06:19,900 --> 00:06:17,130 seasonal cycle changes by a factor of 177 00:06:22,610 --> 00:06:19,910 three that's a huge change completely 178 00:06:25,370 --> 00:06:22,620 unexpected and what it does it gives us 179 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:25,380 a key to unlocking the mysteries 180 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:27,810 associated with Mars methane because now 181 00:06:32,900 --> 00:06:30,570 we have something but to test our models 182 00:06:35,710 --> 00:06:32,910 and our understanding against and we'll 183 00:06:37,580 --> 00:06:35,720 hear a little more about that later so 184 00:06:39,409 --> 00:06:37,590 one of the things you're hearing a lot 185 00:06:40,820 --> 00:06:39,419 about today is the term organic and this 186 00:06:42,860 --> 00:06:40,830 is something that a lot of people are 187 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:42,870 in many different ways so I'm gonna talk 188 00:06:46,339 --> 00:06:44,370 to you Jennifer eigen Road so so 189 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:46,349 Jennifer tell us a bit about what do we 190 00:06:49,730 --> 00:06:48,330 mean by organic and tell us about you 191 00:06:51,469 --> 00:06:49,740 know what is so significant about 192 00:06:53,749 --> 00:06:51,479 finding organics on Mars right so 193 00:06:55,730 --> 00:06:53,759 organic molecules to a chemist are 194 00:06:57,499 --> 00:06:55,740 simply molecules forms of carbon and 195 00:06:59,390 --> 00:06:57,509 hydrogen sometimes there's other things 196 00:07:02,450 --> 00:06:59,400 that go in that such as sulfur nitrogen 197 00:07:04,369 --> 00:07:02,460 oxygen phosphorus however that's your 198 00:07:06,170 --> 00:07:04,379 chemist is just that type of a structure 199 00:07:07,790 --> 00:07:06,180 what we're not talking about is 200 00:07:09,559 --> 00:07:07,800 molecules that specifically come from 201 00:07:11,450 --> 00:07:09,569 life and we're really not referring to 202 00:07:13,309 --> 00:07:11,460 the organic stuff that you find at the 203 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:13,319 grocery store which is that pesticide 204 00:07:19,100 --> 00:07:15,690 free produce that we get they're very 205 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:19,110 different things so it seems to be kind 206 00:07:22,279 --> 00:07:20,250 of amazing I mean this is one of the 207 00:07:24,170 --> 00:07:22,289 engineering feats of the Mars Curiosity 208 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:24,180 rover is that we're finding molecules we 209 00:07:27,589 --> 00:07:25,770 have a chemical laboratory on another 210 00:07:29,149 --> 00:07:27,599 planet he talked to us about how we 211 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:29,159 identify these molecules on another 212 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:30,210 planet all the way on Mars 213 00:07:35,510 --> 00:07:33,330 sure so the Curiosity rover drills into 214 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:35,520 rock layers and when it does it produces 215 00:07:39,860 --> 00:07:37,770 a rock powder and that rock powder gets 216 00:07:42,260 --> 00:07:39,870 put into the Sam oven and heated and 217 00:07:43,820 --> 00:07:42,270 when it's heated it produces gases they 218 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:43,830 get whisked off into the mass 219 00:07:47,420 --> 00:07:45,930 spectrometer here you can see the gases 220 00:07:50,659 --> 00:07:47,430 coming through some tubes and they enter 221 00:07:54,379 --> 00:07:50,669 into this chamber where electrons ionize 222 00:07:56,300 --> 00:07:54,389 that material as a result if you have 223 00:07:58,969 --> 00:07:56,310 molecules that are split into tiny 224 00:08:01,490 --> 00:07:58,979 little pieces and the mass spectrometer 225 00:08:02,779 --> 00:08:01,500 can then identify what those different 226 00:08:04,430 --> 00:08:02,789 pieces are and we can put them back 227 00:08:06,860 --> 00:08:04,440 together to understand what the original 228 00:08:08,899 --> 00:08:06,870 molecule was now there's another feature 229 00:08:11,379 --> 00:08:08,909 of Sam that is it has a gas 230 00:08:14,779 --> 00:08:11,389 chromatograph and a gas chromatograph 231 00:08:17,869 --> 00:08:14,789 looks a little bit like this it's a 232 00:08:19,399 --> 00:08:17,879 really really long tube and it has in a 233 00:08:20,119 --> 00:08:19,409 hole in it that's about the width of a 234 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:20,129 human hair 235 00:08:25,459 --> 00:08:23,490 now that the column allows molecules to 236 00:08:26,930 --> 00:08:25,469 go through it and they go down this long 237 00:08:28,850 --> 00:08:26,940 long tube and when they come out the 238 00:08:31,700 --> 00:08:28,860 other side they come out one by one 239 00:08:33,620 --> 00:08:31,710 they're separated and when that happens 240 00:08:36,230 --> 00:08:33,630 they go into the mass spectrometer and 241 00:08:39,079 --> 00:08:36,240 we can identify individual molecules now 242 00:08:40,550 --> 00:08:39,089 the GCS on Sam were built by our French 243 00:08:44,029 --> 00:08:40,560 colleagues from the French National 244 00:08:46,009 --> 00:08:44,039 Center for scientific research and it's 245 00:08:48,050 --> 00:08:46,019 because of these GCS that we were able 246 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:48,060 to identify certain molecules that we 247 00:08:51,650 --> 00:08:50,730 are reporting on today and in fact 248 00:08:53,150 --> 00:08:51,660 actually we have one of our first 249 00:08:54,590 --> 00:08:53,160 questions from social media this is from 250 00:08:55,970 --> 00:08:54,600 John Vandal art we were talking 251 00:08:58,160 --> 00:08:55,980 about drilling into the surface of Mars 252 00:09:00,050 --> 00:08:58,170 but the arm of Sam how far in do we go 253 00:09:01,819 --> 00:09:00,060 how are you deep into the surface five 254 00:09:05,090 --> 00:09:01,829 centimetres that's about as far as you 255 00:09:06,410 --> 00:09:05,100 can go yeah five centimetres we'll talk 256 00:09:07,819 --> 00:09:06,420 a little bit more John about why that's 257 00:09:10,009 --> 00:09:07,829 significant there may be even more 258 00:09:11,780 --> 00:09:10,019 interesting things farther down so the 259 00:09:13,340 --> 00:09:11,790 thing that really amazes me and I 260 00:09:14,689 --> 00:09:13,350 remember very well the landing of the 261 00:09:16,790 --> 00:09:14,699 Curiosity rover as one of the best 262 00:09:17,990 --> 00:09:16,800 nights early mornings of my life when 263 00:09:20,090 --> 00:09:18,000 you showed me that tiny gas 264 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:20,100 chromatograph coil you know that had to 265 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:22,290 actually land on Mars at one point going 266 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:23,490 through the atmosphere there was a big 267 00:09:27,439 --> 00:09:25,410 snap of g-forces like up to ten times 268 00:09:29,689 --> 00:09:27,449 the force of gravity we actually land 269 00:09:32,420 --> 00:09:29,699 these incredibly sensitive sophisticated 270 00:09:33,439 --> 00:09:32,430 instruments on Mars and I want to talk a 271 00:09:34,189 --> 00:09:33,449 little bit more about that so we're 272 00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:34,199 gonna go our friend 273 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:37,110 Ashwin at JPL so tell us where you are 274 00:09:41,660 --> 00:09:38,610 and tell us a bit about the the 275 00:09:43,519 --> 00:09:41,670 Curiosity rover the larger rover hi 276 00:09:45,110 --> 00:09:43,529 there yeah you know probably wondering 277 00:09:47,749 --> 00:09:45,120 what's behind me and what you see behind 278 00:09:49,519 --> 00:09:47,759 me is actually the test model of the 279 00:09:51,199 --> 00:09:49,529 Curiosity rover it's a twin basically 280 00:09:53,749 --> 00:09:51,209 that we use for testing here on earth 281 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:53,759 the one on Mars is in a place called 282 00:09:58,910 --> 00:09:56,370 Gale Crater we sent it there it's about 283 00:10:01,340 --> 00:09:58,920 a hundred mile diameter hole in the 284 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:01,350 ground that formed when a giant impact 285 00:10:04,550 --> 00:10:02,730 occurred on Mars about four billion 286 00:10:06,170 --> 00:10:04,560 years ago but what drew us to this 287 00:10:08,179 --> 00:10:06,180 crater is the mountain that you see in 288 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:08,189 the middle of it this mountain wasn't 289 00:10:12,319 --> 00:10:10,170 there when the crater formed in fact it 290 00:10:14,809 --> 00:10:12,329 formed as sediment was carried in by 291 00:10:16,999 --> 00:10:14,819 rivers and streams and then deposited 292 00:10:19,970 --> 00:10:17,009 into this giant lake that filled the 293 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:19,980 crater and as that sediment settled out 294 00:10:23,420 --> 00:10:21,569 from the water it builds up the layers 295 00:10:25,429 --> 00:10:23,430 that then made up the mountain each 296 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:25,439 layer of this mountain is younger than 297 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:27,569 the one below it so by climbing this 298 00:10:31,790 --> 00:10:29,490 mountain with the rover we can read the 299 00:10:33,379 --> 00:10:31,800 ancient history of Mars and climbing is 300 00:10:35,420 --> 00:10:33,389 exactly what we've been doing throughout 301 00:10:37,429 --> 00:10:35,430 most of curiosity's mission we're now a 302 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:37,439 thousand feet above the crater floor 303 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:38,850 that's as high as some of the 304 00:10:45,259 --> 00:10:41,490 skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles and 305 00:10:46,939 --> 00:10:45,269 we get this amazing view and so the the 306 00:10:48,710 --> 00:10:46,949 progress has just been to continually 307 00:10:50,509 --> 00:10:48,720 drill each layer of this mountain and 308 00:10:51,949 --> 00:10:50,519 the samples that Jen described were 309 00:10:54,410 --> 00:10:51,959 taken from the lowest part of the 310 00:10:57,710 --> 00:10:54,420 mountain about a few years ago in 2015 311 00:10:59,540 --> 00:10:57,720 and it's taken us a few years to get an 312 00:11:01,790 --> 00:10:59,550 understanding of these results so that 313 00:11:03,259 --> 00:11:01,800 we can describe them to you today and an 314 00:11:04,639 --> 00:11:03,269 Ashwin there was a reason that Gale 315 00:11:06,379 --> 00:11:04,649 Crater was selected there was something 316 00:11:07,670 --> 00:11:06,389 really fascinating about the rocks some 317 00:11:08,569 --> 00:11:07,680 evidence of water can you tell us a bit 318 00:11:11,210 --> 00:11:08,579 about why this site was 319 00:11:14,479 --> 00:11:11,220 selected sure I mean we had some hints 320 00:11:17,179 --> 00:11:14,489 that water was involved in interacting 321 00:11:19,189 --> 00:11:17,189 with these rocks because of the orbiters 322 00:11:20,359 --> 00:11:19,199 that have been at Mars before us so for 323 00:11:22,850 --> 00:11:20,369 example there's the Mars Reconnaissance 324 00:11:25,039 --> 00:11:22,860 Orbiter and there's Mars Express and 325 00:11:27,139 --> 00:11:25,049 both of those instruments had in both of 326 00:11:28,819 --> 00:11:27,149 those orbiters had instruments capable 327 00:11:30,710 --> 00:11:28,829 of detecting clay minerals at the site 328 00:11:32,090 --> 00:11:30,720 so we know that some of the layers in 329 00:11:33,739 --> 00:11:32,100 the mountain are made of clay minerals 330 00:11:35,929 --> 00:11:33,749 which means that water had interacted 331 00:11:38,229 --> 00:11:35,939 with them we weren't sure though if 332 00:11:40,789 --> 00:11:38,239 rivers and lakes actually existed and 333 00:11:42,769 --> 00:11:40,799 curiosity has now shown that Lakes is 334 00:11:44,329 --> 00:11:42,779 listed for a long time probably hundreds 335 00:11:46,189 --> 00:11:44,339 of thousands if not millions of years 336 00:11:48,139 --> 00:11:46,199 and actually I have a question from 337 00:11:49,970 --> 00:11:48,149 social media so Jean pack up John 338 00:11:51,439 --> 00:11:49,980 Pascale from facebook says tell us more 339 00:11:52,639 --> 00:11:51,449 about the tweak in the repairs made to 340 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:52,649 the arm there was some trouble recently 341 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:54,569 with the drilling arm and it I mean it's 342 00:11:58,609 --> 00:11:56,610 space is hard you're all the way on Mars 343 00:12:01,489 --> 00:11:58,619 tell us how you actually fix this from 344 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:01,499 millions of miles away you know this is 345 00:12:04,549 --> 00:12:02,970 really worth the press conference of its 346 00:12:05,780 --> 00:12:04,559 own you know it's just sort of 347 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:05,790 coincidence that we have this amazing 348 00:12:09,350 --> 00:12:07,410 week to tell you not only about the 349 00:12:10,999 --> 00:12:09,360 success of the drill but about these 350 00:12:13,579 --> 00:12:11,009 wonderful results from the last few 351 00:12:15,769 --> 00:12:13,589 years of exploration as well in late 352 00:12:17,299 --> 00:12:15,779 2016 we realized that one of the main 353 00:12:19,369 --> 00:12:17,309 motors of the drill was no longer 354 00:12:21,319 --> 00:12:19,379 functioning reliably this basically 355 00:12:22,909 --> 00:12:21,329 meant the drill was dead and a big part 356 00:12:25,489 --> 00:12:22,919 of what we could accomplish on Mars we'd 357 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:25,499 no longer be able to do it's not just 358 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:26,850 that we fixed something or tweaked 359 00:12:30,829 --> 00:12:28,410 something we had to invent a whole new 360 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:30,839 way of drilling and that's just a 361 00:12:34,429 --> 00:12:32,970 remarkable story that really I have to 362 00:12:36,590 --> 00:12:34,439 give all the credit to the engineers at 363 00:12:38,419 --> 00:12:36,600 JPL who did that work so for about a 364 00:12:40,699 --> 00:12:38,429 year and a half they tried to fix the 365 00:12:42,319 --> 00:12:40,709 motor then invent this entire new way of 366 00:12:44,449 --> 00:12:42,329 drilling that didn't use that motor any 367 00:12:46,539 --> 00:12:44,459 longer and just this week we have 368 00:12:49,699 --> 00:12:46,549 achieved success we've now successfully 369 00:12:52,129 --> 00:12:49,709 drill drilled and analyzed samples with 370 00:12:53,419 --> 00:12:52,139 our laboratories once again so we're 371 00:12:54,949 --> 00:12:53,429 talking about drilling down and 372 00:12:56,359 --> 00:12:54,959 analyzing these samples and for those of 373 00:12:57,409 --> 00:12:56,369 you that are a fan of organic chemistry 374 00:12:58,850 --> 00:12:57,419 we're actually gonna dive into the 375 00:13:01,069 --> 00:12:58,860 details just a little bit right now so 376 00:13:04,309 --> 00:13:01,079 so Jenn tell me the details about what 377 00:13:06,439 --> 00:13:04,319 was detected right so we detected a 378 00:13:08,090 --> 00:13:06,449 variety of molecules including some that 379 00:13:10,429 --> 00:13:08,100 have a carbons linked in a ring 380 00:13:12,499 --> 00:13:10,439 structure such as benzene and others 381 00:13:12,949 --> 00:13:12,509 that include carbon chains and here's an 382 00:13:15,590 --> 00:13:12,959 example 383 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:15,600 propane now these are just 384 00:13:20,119 --> 00:13:17,970 representative of molecules small little 385 00:13:21,530 --> 00:13:20,129 bits and pieces of molecules but because 386 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:21,540 we see these coming 387 00:13:25,340 --> 00:13:23,250 from the sample at high temperatures 388 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:25,350 what they're really telling us is that 389 00:13:30,139 --> 00:13:27,690 they're part of something larger a macro 390 00:13:31,490 --> 00:13:30,149 molecule and this is just an example of 391 00:13:34,460 --> 00:13:31,500 something we find on earth we call it 392 00:13:37,370 --> 00:13:34,470 Carrigan now we find examples of karagin 393 00:13:41,059 --> 00:13:37,380 on earth and things like coal and black 394 00:13:43,730 --> 00:13:41,069 shale these two things rights and we 395 00:13:46,340 --> 00:13:43,740 also find them in meteorites so they're 396 00:13:48,410 --> 00:13:46,350 common this tells us that there is 397 00:13:50,540 --> 00:13:48,420 organic material in the rock in a 398 00:13:52,610 --> 00:13:50,550 different form than what Sam detected 399 00:13:56,170 --> 00:13:52,620 and what it means is that it was in a 400 00:14:00,319 --> 00:13:56,180 robust form this form of organic matter 401 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:00,329 resistant to changes now the other thing 402 00:14:05,900 --> 00:14:04,410 that we found was a thiophene and this 403 00:14:07,699 --> 00:14:05,910 is an example of some of the data we 404 00:14:09,829 --> 00:14:07,709 would get from Sam we can actually tell 405 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:09,839 after the molecules go through the GC 406 00:14:15,379 --> 00:14:12,930 column the actual structure we use this 407 00:14:17,540 --> 00:14:15,389 information to figure out this type of 408 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:17,550 structure so here we have four carbons 409 00:14:25,639 --> 00:14:20,850 and a sulfur now sulfur looks like this 410 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:25,649 when it's in rock form but in the sample 411 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:28,170 the sulfur is probably in the organic 412 00:14:33,069 --> 00:14:29,850 molecules themselves and that's 413 00:14:36,319 --> 00:14:33,079 important because sulfur actually is the 414 00:14:37,639 --> 00:14:36,329 is a material that can help bind all the 415 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:37,649 small pieces of organic molecules 416 00:14:41,949 --> 00:14:39,810 together into something really big like 417 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:41,959 that large molecule I showed you and 418 00:14:48,079 --> 00:14:46,170 sulfur helps to resist oxidation that's 419 00:14:50,900 --> 00:14:48,089 really important for our discovery 420 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:50,910 because we are looking at ancient rocks 421 00:14:54,050 --> 00:14:52,410 that are three and a half billion years 422 00:14:57,199 --> 00:14:54,060 old and we found organic materials 423 00:14:59,480 --> 00:14:57,209 inside them however we drilled in the 424 00:15:02,449 --> 00:14:59,490 top five centimeters and that's hot five 425 00:15:04,689 --> 00:15:02,459 centimeters the surface is exposed to a 426 00:15:07,879 --> 00:15:04,699 lot of ionizing radiation and that 427 00:15:10,730 --> 00:15:07,889 generates free radicals and oxidants and 428 00:15:12,860 --> 00:15:10,740 all of those can be grade organic 429 00:15:14,540 --> 00:15:12,870 materials and so that rock has been 430 00:15:16,610 --> 00:15:14,550 sitting at the surface for an extended 431 00:15:18,650 --> 00:15:16,620 period of time we're talking tens of 432 00:15:21,350 --> 00:15:18,660 thousands to hundreds of thousands of 433 00:15:23,150 --> 00:15:21,360 years and that's a long time for all 434 00:15:24,530 --> 00:15:23,160 these changes that happen there were a 435 00:15:26,300 --> 00:15:24,540 lot of people who thought we weren't 436 00:15:29,569 --> 00:15:26,310 going to find all the organic molecules 437 00:15:32,929 --> 00:15:29,579 that we did for instance Viking started 438 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:32,939 this quest back in 1976 looking for 439 00:15:37,670 --> 00:15:35,490 organic molecules we at Curie 440 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:37,680 he has continued that quest and now we 441 00:15:42,050 --> 00:15:39,810 have a diverse set of molecules that we 442 00:15:43,670 --> 00:15:42,060 can now start to understand a little bit 443 00:15:46,100 --> 00:15:43,680 more about how this material is 444 00:15:48,350 --> 00:15:46,110 preserved and where else we might look 445 00:15:50,090 --> 00:15:48,360 to get more this is a pretty amazing 446 00:15:51,650 --> 00:15:50,100 thing I mean you know working on Mars is 447 00:15:53,300 --> 00:15:51,660 very hard I mean a lot of people know 448 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:53,310 that Mars has almost no atmosphere 449 00:15:56,300 --> 00:15:54,570 compared to the earth about one percent 450 00:15:58,010 --> 00:15:56,310 the atmospheric pressure of the earth it 451 00:15:59,389 --> 00:15:58,020 has very high radiation levels because 452 00:16:01,579 --> 00:15:59,399 Mars isn't protected the way the earth 453 00:16:03,110 --> 00:16:01,589 is by an active magnetic field as well 454 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:03,120 as a thick atmosphere that's right so we 455 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:05,130 have this laboratory working on Mars and 456 00:16:10,310 --> 00:16:08,370 so the the radiation from the Sun gets 457 00:16:11,780 --> 00:16:10,320 about how far down into the soil it's 458 00:16:13,610 --> 00:16:11,790 coming from the Sun but it's also coming 459 00:16:15,350 --> 00:16:13,620 from the galaxies right and it can 460 00:16:17,060 --> 00:16:15,360 extend about a metre and a half down 461 00:16:19,519 --> 00:16:17,070 maybe a little bit more depends on what 462 00:16:21,230 --> 00:16:19,529 model you use but there are places you 463 00:16:23,090 --> 00:16:21,240 can go deeper down that we might be able 464 00:16:25,519 --> 00:16:23,100 to tap into molecules that aren't 465 00:16:27,740 --> 00:16:25,529 disrupted by the radiation itself and 466 00:16:30,740 --> 00:16:27,750 the ExoMars Rover is a perfect example 467 00:16:33,350 --> 00:16:30,750 it's going to drill two meters deep this 468 00:16:35,810 --> 00:16:33,360 is the European Space Agency's ExoMars 469 00:16:37,850 --> 00:16:35,820 River and it's go JAL two meters deep 470 00:16:40,519 --> 00:16:37,860 and it will have the opportunity to 471 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:40,529 examine materials at the surface and on 472 00:16:45,019 --> 00:16:41,970 the way down to see if there's 473 00:16:48,079 --> 00:16:45,029 comparisons will learn how important it 474 00:16:50,389 --> 00:16:48,089 is to where where we have to refine our 475 00:16:53,090 --> 00:16:50,399 analyses where we have where what will 476 00:16:54,740 --> 00:16:53,100 understand the preservation issue and 477 00:16:56,590 --> 00:16:54,750 how it affects things at the surface as 478 00:16:59,870 --> 00:16:56,600 a compared to things further down but 479 00:17:02,300 --> 00:16:59,880 most importantly if there are bio 480 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:02,310 signatures inside that organic material 481 00:17:06,110 --> 00:17:04,890 or associated with it we're going to 482 00:17:08,390 --> 00:17:06,120 have a better chance of understanding 483 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:08,400 that if we get to materials that are not 484 00:17:11,419 --> 00:17:10,290 exposed to all this radiation that's one 485 00:17:13,100 --> 00:17:11,429 of the things today we're finding some 486 00:17:14,660 --> 00:17:13,110 very interesting chemistry right up on 487 00:17:15,679 --> 00:17:14,670 the surface of Mars and then it's a 488 00:17:17,540 --> 00:17:15,689 promise it even more interesting 489 00:17:19,970 --> 00:17:17,550 chemistry to come if we can get a little 490 00:17:21,679 --> 00:17:19,980 bit deeper down underneath that so you 491 00:17:24,679 --> 00:17:21,689 know we're looking at Gale Crater and 492 00:17:26,120 --> 00:17:24,689 and yeah what's so how do these organics 493 00:17:27,799 --> 00:17:26,130 get here we're finding these organic 494 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:27,809 molecules now on um on the floor of Gale 495 00:17:30,890 --> 00:17:29,610 Crater how'd they get there so what 496 00:17:32,900 --> 00:17:30,900 we're looking at here are a lot of 497 00:17:35,750 --> 00:17:32,910 layers that were put down in an ancient 498 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:35,760 lake and as previously we discussed that 499 00:17:39,530 --> 00:17:37,410 Lake had been there for a long period of 500 00:17:41,299 --> 00:17:39,540 time hundreds of thousands maybe even 501 00:17:43,790 --> 00:17:41,309 millions of years we're not sure but 502 00:17:46,820 --> 00:17:43,800 those lake sediments are for a gigantic 503 00:17:48,710 --> 00:17:46,830 lake organic materials can come into 504 00:17:51,470 --> 00:17:48,720 that lake through rivers 505 00:17:54,590 --> 00:17:51,480 they could be windblown in or they can 506 00:17:56,990 --> 00:17:54,600 be formed in the actual lake itself by 507 00:17:58,960 --> 00:17:57,000 things like biology now there's three 508 00:18:01,970 --> 00:17:58,970 different sources of organic materials - 509 00:18:03,740 --> 00:18:01,980 one of them's the biology one of them 510 00:18:05,899 --> 00:18:03,750 could be meteorites that are in falling 511 00:18:08,149 --> 00:18:05,909 into the surface and being directly 512 00:18:10,100 --> 00:18:08,159 deposited and the other one is a rock 513 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:10,110 forming processes that might generate 514 00:18:13,909 --> 00:18:12,210 organic matter are all on their own and 515 00:18:16,370 --> 00:18:13,919 they might be the ones that are being 516 00:18:18,620 --> 00:18:16,380 brought in by rivers we don't have 517 00:18:20,450 --> 00:18:18,630 enough information from the observations 518 00:18:23,090 --> 00:18:20,460 we've made to tell what the source is 519 00:18:24,620 --> 00:18:23,100 and how it got in there so we found this 520 00:18:26,419 --> 00:18:24,630 really locate a really good location to 521 00:18:28,220 --> 00:18:26,429 look for organics on Mars and we're also 522 00:18:30,140 --> 00:18:28,230 going to talk now about the seasonal 523 00:18:31,700 --> 00:18:30,150 methane so I mean it is are your 524 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:31,710 discoveries about the sorts of organics 525 00:18:34,789 --> 00:18:33,330 and the site is that all related to 526 00:18:38,930 --> 00:18:34,799 Chris's stuff about the cities now leave 527 00:18:40,779 --> 00:18:38,940 nothing yes and no if you take the 528 00:18:43,700 --> 00:18:40,789 organic detection in the ancient rocks 529 00:18:45,950 --> 00:18:43,710 and you just generalize it we have found 530 00:18:48,110 --> 00:18:45,960 organic material in the subsurface and 531 00:18:50,870 --> 00:18:48,120 that might be representative of organic 532 00:18:53,779 --> 00:18:50,880 material throughout a grander area and 533 00:18:56,060 --> 00:18:53,789 that is carbon that could go through 534 00:18:59,480 --> 00:18:56,070 various processes and make its way to 535 00:19:01,100 --> 00:18:59,490 the surface and and and form it turned 536 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:01,110 into things like methane and then seep 537 00:19:04,159 --> 00:19:02,010 into the atmosphere 538 00:19:05,870 --> 00:19:04,169 now the detection that Chris has going 539 00:19:08,539 --> 00:19:05,880 to talk about is about modern day 540 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:08,549 nothing as opposed to ancient signals 541 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:10,890 well I discovered in the rocks all right 542 00:19:15,380 --> 00:19:12,330 so we're gonna go over to Chris Webster 543 00:19:17,299 --> 00:19:15,390 back at JPL and so so Chris did tell me 544 00:19:18,980 --> 00:19:17,309 a bit about the seasonality of methane 545 00:19:21,950 --> 00:19:18,990 you tell me to give us some detail about 546 00:19:25,039 --> 00:19:21,960 this new discovery well I thought I'd 547 00:19:28,430 --> 00:19:25,049 tell you right away that we've seen the 548 00:19:30,350 --> 00:19:28,440 seasonal variation and we've tried to 549 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:30,360 look at the data and come up with some 550 00:19:35,510 --> 00:19:32,850 explanations and we've been able to rule 551 00:19:38,180 --> 00:19:35,520 out some of the some of the sources we 552 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:38,190 don't actually think the meteoritic or 553 00:19:43,279 --> 00:19:41,250 delivery of interplanetary dust that can 554 00:19:45,620 --> 00:19:43,289 produce methane in the atmosphere as Jen 555 00:19:47,180 --> 00:19:45,630 said we don't think that's so important 556 00:19:49,909 --> 00:19:47,190 because we wouldn't expect to see a 557 00:19:52,430 --> 00:19:49,919 large seasonal variation we might see 558 00:19:55,549 --> 00:19:52,440 20% instead we're seeing this massive 559 00:19:57,919 --> 00:19:55,559 change in that in the methane signal and 560 00:20:01,070 --> 00:19:57,929 so what we consider we look at the data 561 00:20:02,150 --> 00:20:01,080 and the idea that best fits our data is 562 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:02,160 is the 563 00:20:08,180 --> 00:20:05,610 idea of subsurface storage so way under 564 00:20:09,710 --> 00:20:08,190 the ground under Mars this does methane 565 00:20:12,350 --> 00:20:09,720 is trapped it may be trapped as 566 00:20:14,870 --> 00:20:12,360 clathrates or other materials we don't 567 00:20:16,700 --> 00:20:14,880 know if that methane is ancient we don't 568 00:20:19,190 --> 00:20:16,710 know if it's modern it could be either 569 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:19,200 and we also don't know if that methane 570 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:22,170 was created from rock water rock 571 00:20:28,490 --> 00:20:24,810 chemistry like serpentinization or it 572 00:20:31,130 --> 00:20:28,500 was created by methanogens microbes we 573 00:20:33,290 --> 00:20:31,140 cannot distinguish that so but the 574 00:20:35,660 --> 00:20:33,300 methane leaks or seeps up to the surface 575 00:20:37,850 --> 00:20:35,670 we believe and finds its way through 576 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:37,860 cracks and fissures and eventually when 577 00:20:42,380 --> 00:20:40,410 it gets to the surface we're then in a 578 00:20:45,110 --> 00:20:42,390 situation where the surface temperature 579 00:20:47,900 --> 00:20:45,120 can modulate or especially amplify the 580 00:20:50,650 --> 00:20:47,910 release of methane so this is a an 581 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:50,660 exciting time because we have this 582 00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:53,850 seasonal cycle to constrain some of the 583 00:20:59,660 --> 00:20:57,090 theories and of the sources and sinks of 584 00:21:01,070 --> 00:20:59,670 this important guess now of course I 585 00:21:02,300 --> 00:21:01,080 want to talk to you a bit more about you 586 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:02,310 trying to distinguish between whether 587 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:03,530 this is a biological or non-biological 588 00:21:07,670 --> 00:21:05,490 source of the methane but to begin with 589 00:21:09,710 --> 00:21:07,680 tell us about how you actually detected 590 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:09,720 this so in the case of gems work they 591 00:21:13,610 --> 00:21:11,610 actually brought Martian soil into this 592 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:13,620 oven and heated it up but how is the 593 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:14,970 methane variation detected 594 00:21:20,450 --> 00:21:17,850 well it's we're ingesting from the air 595 00:21:22,310 --> 00:21:20,460 and if you look at curiosity around 596 00:21:25,610 --> 00:21:22,320 about waist height there are two inlets 597 00:21:28,220 --> 00:21:25,620 two little valves and these valves allow 598 00:21:31,190 --> 00:21:28,230 the Martian atmosphere into our sample 599 00:21:33,110 --> 00:21:31,200 cell once it gets into Sam and into the 600 00:21:36,380 --> 00:21:33,120 tunable laser spectrometer in particular 601 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:36,390 we have tiny little infrared laser being 602 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:39,810 that multi passes it bounces 81 times 603 00:21:44,870 --> 00:21:42,450 between these mirrors and that amplifies 604 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:44,880 its sensitivity so when you look at the 605 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:47,370 laser light on a detector you can scan 606 00:21:53,060 --> 00:21:49,530 the laser and look for this the spectrum 607 00:21:55,550 --> 00:21:53,070 of methane and that the resolution a 608 00:21:58,190 --> 00:21:55,560 spectral resolution is so high that we 609 00:22:00,560 --> 00:21:58,200 see individual methane lines and in 610 00:22:03,170 --> 00:22:00,570 particular we see a fingerprint the 611 00:22:05,110 --> 00:22:03,180 three lines together that can only be 612 00:22:07,910 --> 00:22:05,120 from methane so our measurement is 613 00:22:09,700 --> 00:22:07,920 unambiguous the signals we see they come 614 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:09,710 from methane and nothing else and 615 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:12,330 secondly we measure them with higher 616 00:22:15,950 --> 00:22:14,970 precision so let's go to the let's go to 617 00:22:17,930 --> 00:22:15,960 the two different scenario 618 00:22:19,700 --> 00:22:17,940 is what be causing the methane I guess 619 00:22:21,830 --> 00:22:19,710 one is that we have a seasonal cycle 620 00:22:23,330 --> 00:22:21,840 because bacteria under the surface of 621 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:23,340 Mars would be more active in the summer 622 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:27,090 is that the idea that's a possible idea 623 00:22:34,130 --> 00:22:29,130 but again we cannot distinguish that 624 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:34,140 from serpentinization the reaction of 625 00:22:39,290 --> 00:22:36,930 water with olivine to produce serpentine 626 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:39,300 and hydrogen once you get the hydrogen 627 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:42,330 released in both of both of in that 628 00:22:49,850 --> 00:22:47,970 reaction it can be catalyzed metal 629 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:49,860 catastro deuce methane let's see a 630 00:22:56,210 --> 00:22:52,770 biological root or it can be catalyzed 631 00:22:58,460 --> 00:22:56,220 through enzymes in the microbes in the 632 00:22:59,990 --> 00:22:58,470 cell potential so just sort of putting 633 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:00,000 that into slightly simpler terms if you 634 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:01,410 have water that's interacting with 635 00:23:05,030 --> 00:23:03,690 volcanic minerals like olivine you can 636 00:23:06,500 --> 00:23:05,040 also get in similar methane that's 637 00:23:10,610 --> 00:23:06,510 trapped in the soil and preferentially 638 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:10,620 comes up in the summer yes yes that's 639 00:23:15,050 --> 00:23:12,530 exactly right 640 00:23:17,450 --> 00:23:15,060 but we are we're hoping that we'll see 641 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:17,460 more we'll get more results in the 642 00:23:23,390 --> 00:23:19,890 future on this especially from other 643 00:23:27,470 --> 00:23:23,400 missions and as far as testing for the 644 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:27,480 biological source or not there are 645 00:23:32,030 --> 00:23:29,730 several more steps that can be made we 646 00:23:34,790 --> 00:23:32,040 can look at the carbon 13 isotope ratio 647 00:23:37,310 --> 00:23:34,800 for example that could be suggestive of 648 00:23:40,340 --> 00:23:37,320 biological activity and we can look at 649 00:23:43,910 --> 00:23:40,350 the accompaniment of other gases so we 650 00:23:46,250 --> 00:23:43,920 have and we can sit on the surface in 651 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:46,260 curiosity and maybe one day we'll see a 652 00:23:50,300 --> 00:23:48,210 plume that's large enough where we can 653 00:23:52,540 --> 00:23:50,310 measure that carbon 13 ratio or 654 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:52,550 ourselves so there's lots of exciting 655 00:23:59,210 --> 00:23:56,010 ways forward but at this at this moment 656 00:23:59,750 --> 00:23:59,220 again the biological option is is being 657 00:24:03,350 --> 00:23:59,760 held 658 00:24:04,910 --> 00:24:03,360 it hasn't been rolled out so really 659 00:24:07,250 --> 00:24:04,920 exciting results about the methane and a 660 00:24:08,540 --> 00:24:07,260 seasonal variation of it on Mars I want 661 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:08,550 to take a moment just to say it burning 662 00:24:11,510 --> 00:24:09,810 base has been joining us where we're 663 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:11,520 live at NASA we're at the Goddard Space 664 00:24:14,510 --> 00:24:12,930 Flight Center and we're also at NASA's 665 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:14,520 Jet Propulsion Laboratory and we'll be 666 00:24:18,430 --> 00:24:16,650 taking your questions soon live so if 667 00:24:21,410 --> 00:24:18,440 you're on social media use the hashtag 668 00:24:22,940 --> 00:24:21,420 hashtag ask NASA and if you're joining 669 00:24:24,500 --> 00:24:22,950 us on Facebook to put your questions in 670 00:24:26,750 --> 00:24:24,510 the comments and we'll get to as many of 671 00:24:28,940 --> 00:24:26,760 those as we possibly can okay so we've 672 00:24:29,870 --> 00:24:28,950 talked a bit about the the latest 673 00:24:31,669 --> 00:24:29,880 results 674 00:24:32,750 --> 00:24:31,679 the Mars Curiosity rover one of the 675 00:24:34,310 --> 00:24:32,760 things that I just want to mention very 676 00:24:36,500 --> 00:24:34,320 briefly is that we have a mission to 677 00:24:37,789 --> 00:24:36,510 Mars on the way right now they fit that 678 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:37,799 this year we launched the insight 679 00:24:42,740 --> 00:24:39,570 mission and it will arrive at Mars 680 00:24:44,150 --> 00:24:42,750 November 26 of this coming year and the 681 00:24:45,350 --> 00:24:44,160 exciting thing about the insight mission 682 00:24:46,850 --> 00:24:45,360 is that it's looking about it's looking 683 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:46,860 at a different sort of definition of the 684 00:24:50,930 --> 00:24:48,330 word life it's looking to see whether 685 00:24:52,909 --> 00:24:50,940 the planet Mars is still geologically 686 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:52,919 alive and by that we mean are there 687 00:24:56,659 --> 00:24:54,690 things like Mars quakes is there any 688 00:24:58,549 --> 00:24:56,669 activity below the surface how quickly 689 00:25:01,010 --> 00:24:58,559 is the interior of Mars losing heat 690 00:25:02,870 --> 00:25:01,020 through geological processes so look for 691 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:02,880 that good coming this fall we'll have 692 00:25:06,110 --> 00:25:05,010 another landing on Mars a geological 693 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:06,120 mission to actually see what the 694 00:25:10,940 --> 00:25:08,490 activity geologically is underneath the 695 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:10,950 surface of Mars okay well before we go 696 00:25:14,210 --> 00:25:12,450 on I do want to make one more trip back 697 00:25:15,649 --> 00:25:14,220 to the UM of the uh the Mars Curiosity 698 00:25:17,810 --> 00:25:15,659 rover into Ashwin 699 00:25:19,460 --> 00:25:17,820 so Ashwin the amazing thing about this 700 00:25:21,380 --> 00:25:19,470 seasonal variation of methane that we 701 00:25:23,630 --> 00:25:21,390 were just talking about is you need to 702 00:25:25,549 --> 00:25:23,640 be there for many seasons so so tell us 703 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:25,559 about the lifetime of the the Curiosity 704 00:25:28,340 --> 00:25:27,090 rover and you just give us a sense of 705 00:25:31,399 --> 00:25:28,350 what an amazing accomplishment that's 706 00:25:34,010 --> 00:25:31,409 been sure yeah you know this is really 707 00:25:36,770 --> 00:25:34,020 wonderful to have this discovery that 708 00:25:38,350 --> 00:25:36,780 took so many years to not only take the 709 00:25:40,460 --> 00:25:38,360 measurements but then to analyze as well 710 00:25:41,630 --> 00:25:40,470 the measurements that Chris described 711 00:25:43,370 --> 00:25:41,640 come from an instrument called the 712 00:25:45,500 --> 00:25:43,380 tunable laser spectrometer within the 713 00:25:47,990 --> 00:25:45,510 Sam instrument suite on Mars and we've 714 00:25:49,970 --> 00:25:48,000 taken about thirty measurements with 715 00:25:51,590 --> 00:25:49,980 this instrument over the course of the 716 00:25:55,279 --> 00:25:51,600 mission in fact we're planning one on 717 00:25:58,610 --> 00:25:55,289 Mars today so without having the rover 718 00:26:00,289 --> 00:25:58,620 survived for six earth years three Mars 719 00:26:02,090 --> 00:26:00,299 years which is three times longer than 720 00:26:03,770 --> 00:26:02,100 its original mission we would have never 721 00:26:05,510 --> 00:26:03,780 been able to discover these amazing 722 00:26:08,510 --> 00:26:05,520 seasonal patterns that are the heart of 723 00:26:12,020 --> 00:26:08,520 what Chris described and finally I just 724 00:26:16,130 --> 00:26:12,030 wanted to add a few more words to to 725 00:26:18,770 --> 00:26:16,140 Jen's discoveries one of the things that 726 00:26:21,110 --> 00:26:18,780 makes that so special as the role how it 727 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:21,120 fulfills the role that curiosity has has 728 00:26:26,630 --> 00:26:22,530 played within the Mars exploration 729 00:26:28,970 --> 00:26:26,640 program NASA charged this mission with 730 00:26:30,890 --> 00:26:28,980 detecting organics on Mars and we've 731 00:26:32,930 --> 00:26:30,900 certainly done that and expanded how 732 00:26:35,060 --> 00:26:32,940 mange of organics that we know of today 733 00:26:37,100 --> 00:26:35,070 but it was more than that to we also 734 00:26:39,919 --> 00:26:37,110 wanted to understand how organic 735 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:39,929 molecules organic matter on Mars that 736 00:26:43,650 --> 00:26:42,570 was incorporated in rocks three billion 737 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:43,660 years ago 738 00:26:46,890 --> 00:26:45,250 would be there for us to survive it 739 00:26:49,050 --> 00:26:46,900 would be there for us to discover all 740 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:49,060 those years later what are the processes 741 00:26:53,970 --> 00:26:50,890 that and environments that allowed it to 742 00:26:56,100 --> 00:26:53,980 resist that degradation and that really 743 00:26:58,380 --> 00:26:56,110 is remarkable from Jen's results that 744 00:27:00,450 --> 00:26:58,390 she's been able to determine what types 745 00:27:03,270 --> 00:27:00,460 of molecules and what types of 746 00:27:05,580 --> 00:27:03,280 environments allowed those molecules to 747 00:27:07,500 --> 00:27:05,590 persist to today and this is not only 748 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:07,510 important for curiosity as you know 749 00:27:10,710 --> 00:27:08,770 fulfilling one of our main mission 750 00:27:12,750 --> 00:27:10,720 objectives but it's also important for 751 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:12,760 future Mars missions who will seek 752 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:16,210 direct signs of life missions like XO 753 00:27:20,700 --> 00:27:18,850 Mars and Mars 2020 and what this does is 754 00:27:22,710 --> 00:27:20,710 gives us it gives us confidence that 755 00:27:24,150 --> 00:27:22,720 when those missions get to Mars there 756 00:27:26,670 --> 00:27:24,160 still can be something for them to 757 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:26,680 discover so Ashwin you were just 758 00:27:29,790 --> 00:27:28,330 mentioning that via the Martian year is 759 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:29,800 a bit longer than the earth year and 760 00:27:33,090 --> 00:27:31,570 another thing is that the Martian day 761 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:33,100 tell us about how similar the Martian 762 00:27:36,180 --> 00:27:34,810 day is to an earth day and how different 763 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:36,190 it is I think you actually have some 764 00:27:42,270 --> 00:27:38,410 personal stories relating to this well 765 00:27:43,710 --> 00:27:42,280 yeah you know there's enormous number of 766 00:27:46,110 --> 00:27:43,720 similarities between Mars and Earth 767 00:27:47,730 --> 00:27:46,120 they're very similar planets in some 768 00:27:50,430 --> 00:27:47,740 ways that are purely coincidental Mars 769 00:27:52,620 --> 00:27:50,440 is a 24 and 1/2 hour day and it has a 770 00:27:54,420 --> 00:27:52,630 tilt on its axis about 25 degrees 771 00:27:56,700 --> 00:27:54,430 similar to Earth's tilt of 23 degrees 772 00:27:59,040 --> 00:27:56,710 which makes the days and the seasons 773 00:28:01,200 --> 00:27:59,050 remarkably earth-like it also makes it 774 00:28:02,910 --> 00:28:01,210 incredibly interesting to operate a 775 00:28:07,620 --> 00:28:02,920 rover in the most efficient way on Mars 776 00:28:10,020 --> 00:28:07,630 because the best way actually live on a 777 00:28:11,430 --> 00:28:10,030 21 37 minute day which all of us on the 778 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:11,440 Mars Science Laboratory did for the 779 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:13,210 first 90 days of the mission before we 780 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:16,810 all started going crazy just comment 781 00:28:19,860 --> 00:28:18,610 about you know 40 minutes later every 782 00:28:21,810 --> 00:28:19,870 day that that would disrupt your sleep I 783 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:21,820 would think yeah somebody who's just 784 00:28:25,020 --> 00:28:23,410 joined us has asked us oh where are you 785 00:28:26,070 --> 00:28:25,030 to give us another sense about where 786 00:28:26,610 --> 00:28:26,080 you're standing and what sort of room 787 00:28:28,650 --> 00:28:26,620 you're in right now 788 00:28:30,510 --> 00:28:28,660 sure yeah we're at the Jet Propulsion 789 00:28:32,790 --> 00:28:30,520 Laboratory we're in a place called the 790 00:28:34,230 --> 00:28:32,800 Mars yard it doesn't look like a yard in 791 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:34,240 here of course because we're in a shed 792 00:28:39,420 --> 00:28:37,210 where the twin model of curiosity lives 793 00:28:41,100 --> 00:28:39,430 so behind us you see the engineering 794 00:28:43,110 --> 00:28:41,110 model some people call her Maggie and 795 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:43,120 she's very much like the one that's on 796 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:45,130 Mars especially in terms of all the 797 00:28:48,390 --> 00:28:46,570 software on board and all the 798 00:28:50,340 --> 00:28:48,400 electronics we have some of the 799 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:50,350 instruments here as well and this model 800 00:28:55,050 --> 00:28:52,570 can drive out into the yard and we've 801 00:28:56,490 --> 00:28:55,060 used it for tests including all solving 802 00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:56,500 anomalies that occur on the surface of 803 00:28:59,280 --> 00:28:57,370 Mars 804 00:29:01,080 --> 00:28:59,290 this is the model that was used to teach 805 00:29:03,210 --> 00:29:01,090 the rover on Mars how to drive and how 806 00:29:04,860 --> 00:29:03,220 to navigate we can use it for a lot of 807 00:29:07,170 --> 00:29:04,870 things where we don't want to use the 808 00:29:10,830 --> 00:29:07,180 precious time and resources of the 809 00:29:11,940 --> 00:29:10,840 actual Rover on Mars well but we're good 810 00:29:13,410 --> 00:29:11,950 we're gonna start by taking some 811 00:29:14,340 --> 00:29:13,420 questions now but before we do that I 812 00:29:16,020 --> 00:29:14,350 actually want to go back to Paul for 813 00:29:17,730 --> 00:29:16,030 just one more last thing so you know 814 00:29:19,260 --> 00:29:17,740 we've talked about landing this amazing 815 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:19,270 Rover on Mars and then you have this 816 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:21,010 incredible chemical laboratory on Mars 817 00:29:24,870 --> 00:29:23,290 tell us that story how did we get this 818 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:24,880 sensitive chemical laboratory on another 819 00:29:30,390 --> 00:29:26,890 planet let me get to that question 820 00:29:32,430 --> 00:29:30,400 you're asking me have you throw one in 821 00:29:34,350 --> 00:29:32,440 my direction first okay but nobody will 822 00:29:40,230 --> 00:29:34,360 ask and what did you do this morning 823 00:29:42,450 --> 00:29:40,240 Paul what we did this morning actually 824 00:29:45,660 --> 00:29:42,460 was look at data that came down from 825 00:29:47,730 --> 00:29:45,670 curiosity that was deposited into Sam 826 00:29:50,250 --> 00:29:47,740 and it's been months and months so like 827 00:29:52,830 --> 00:29:50,260 Ashwin mentioned were just in the 828 00:29:54,450 --> 00:29:52,840 process of getting the drill back in 829 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:54,460 order we're just tremendously excited 830 00:29:58,290 --> 00:29:56,410 about that so the search of organics is 831 00:30:00,630 --> 00:29:58,300 going to go on but getting back to your 832 00:30:04,230 --> 00:30:00,640 other question which is what it took to 833 00:30:07,290 --> 00:30:04,240 get the I mean the Sam instrument is 834 00:30:09,900 --> 00:30:07,300 just very complicated it took a huge 835 00:30:12,150 --> 00:30:09,910 team of scientists and engineers and 836 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:12,160 software programmers it's an 837 00:30:16,110 --> 00:30:13,690 international team we put this 838 00:30:19,380 --> 00:30:16,120 instrument together at NASA Goddard but 839 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:19,390 Chris Webster team at Jet Propulsion lab 840 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:20,610 developed the tunable laser spectrometer 841 00:30:25,980 --> 00:30:23,890 our French colleagues developed the gas 842 00:30:27,419 --> 00:30:25,990 chromatograph mass spectrometer in fact 843 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:27,429 this morning they were calling in from 844 00:30:32,130 --> 00:30:29,130 Toulouse because they were supporting 845 00:30:35,100 --> 00:30:32,140 operations of our instrument from 846 00:30:36,799 --> 00:30:35,110 Toulouse so what we did was we spent 847 00:30:38,970 --> 00:30:36,809 several years putting this together 848 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:38,980 assembled it at goddard tested it at 849 00:30:42,169 --> 00:30:40,570 Goddard we put it in environmental 850 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:42,179 chambers that exactly match the 851 00:30:46,860 --> 00:30:44,170 conditions we would have on the surface 852 00:30:48,419 --> 00:30:46,870 of Mars we tested out the scripts the 853 00:30:50,490 --> 00:30:48,429 software that we're going to run on Mars 854 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:50,500 and then eventually we brought it to Jet 855 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:53,410 Propulsion lab and this image that you 856 00:30:58,169 --> 00:30:56,530 see shows Sam that's at gold coated box 857 00:31:02,250 --> 00:30:58,179 about the size of the microwave oven 858 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:02,260 being gently lowered into the rover the 859 00:31:06,510 --> 00:31:04,690 rover is upside down at that point and 860 00:31:08,250 --> 00:31:06,520 we lowered Sam into it and then we did 861 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:08,260 some more testing we put the whole Rover 862 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:10,210 intact in a big environmental chamber at 863 00:31:12,330 --> 00:31:11,170 JPL 864 00:31:14,490 --> 00:31:12,340 and who we should we were sure 865 00:31:16,140 --> 00:31:14,500 everything was perfect then the rover 866 00:31:17,940 --> 00:31:16,150 was ready to ship to the Cape and 867 00:31:20,250 --> 00:31:17,950 everything got launched so you see 868 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:20,260 everybody there in bunny suits the 869 00:31:24,570 --> 00:31:22,330 reason they're in those white suits is 870 00:31:26,940 --> 00:31:24,580 we did not want to bring our skin oils 871 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:26,950 and everything else to Mars because then 872 00:31:31,230 --> 00:31:29,170 Jen would have to report that we were 873 00:31:33,540 --> 00:31:31,240 finding things that look like they came 874 00:31:36,390 --> 00:31:33,550 from Chris Webster or somebody else in 875 00:31:38,460 --> 00:31:36,400 the cleanroom at JPL so it took a lot of 876 00:31:40,710 --> 00:31:38,470 work and a great team work and and 877 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:40,720 several nations joining us has just been 878 00:31:43,350 --> 00:31:42,370 tremendously exciting well actually what 879 00:31:44,580 --> 00:31:43,360 what you were just talking about leads 880 00:31:46,410 --> 00:31:44,590 into one of the social media questions 881 00:31:48,390 --> 00:31:46,420 so a person named 3d physics from 882 00:31:49,650 --> 00:31:48,400 Twitter asks how do you verify that the 883 00:31:50,430 --> 00:31:49,660 sensitive experiments haven't been 884 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:50,440 compromised 885 00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:52,450 either before reaching on Mars or after 886 00:31:59,400 --> 00:31:56,290 landing on Mars yeah what we do is we 887 00:32:01,440 --> 00:31:59,410 bring along standards for example we do 888 00:32:03,900 --> 00:32:01,450 but any good analytic chemist us in the 889 00:32:06,450 --> 00:32:03,910 lab we run blanks so for example if 890 00:32:08,790 --> 00:32:06,460 we're looking to make sure that none of 891 00:32:10,230 --> 00:32:08,800 the residual organics and the 892 00:32:12,030 --> 00:32:10,240 instruments are producing the signals 893 00:32:14,220 --> 00:32:12,040 that we see we go ahead and we run a 894 00:32:15,690 --> 00:32:14,230 full sequence of runs but we don't put 895 00:32:18,030 --> 00:32:15,700 sample in the cup and then we see what 896 00:32:19,530 --> 00:32:18,040 we got so we work very very hard to make 897 00:32:22,890 --> 00:32:19,540 sure that what we're seeing is from Mars 898 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:22,900 and we're very confident that what we're 899 00:32:26,580 --> 00:32:25,090 seeing is from Mars there's a there's a 900 00:32:27,750 --> 00:32:26,590 lot of questions coming in right now as 901 00:32:29,250 --> 00:32:27,760 I mentioned you're welcome to give us 902 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:29,260 any questions that you have you can 903 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:31,690 either use the hashtag ask NASA or if 904 00:32:34,980 --> 00:32:33,250 you're on Facebook to simply put your 905 00:32:36,870 --> 00:32:34,990 questions in the comments so there's 906 00:32:38,310 --> 00:32:36,880 several questions from many people sorry 907 00:32:40,110 --> 00:32:38,320 that I'm not going to name you all about 908 00:32:41,910 --> 00:32:40,120 can this methane that we're detecting be 909 00:32:43,470 --> 00:32:41,920 ever be used as a fuel for future 910 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:43,480 missions is it something that's useful 911 00:32:48,530 --> 00:32:45,970 for a human presence on Mars should we 912 00:32:50,850 --> 00:32:48,540 should be good at rigor Chris for that I 913 00:32:54,900 --> 00:32:50,860 want to take a stab at that question 914 00:32:56,970 --> 00:32:54,910 Chris well of course there isn't right 915 00:32:58,650 --> 00:32:56,980 now we're seeing low background levels 916 00:33:01,290 --> 00:32:58,660 we're not seeing a lot of methane of 917 00:33:04,230 --> 00:33:01,300 course methane is always useful as a 918 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:04,240 fuel that the the ability to extract it 919 00:33:10,620 --> 00:33:08,890 from the atmosphere would be wouldn't we 920 00:33:12,540 --> 00:33:10,630 would not be efficient but if there's a 921 00:33:14,310 --> 00:33:12,550 way one could access subsurface 922 00:33:16,620 --> 00:33:14,320 reservoirs then it becomes a whole new 923 00:33:19,740 --> 00:33:16,630 ballgame but that's really speculation 924 00:33:20,940 --> 00:33:19,750 at this point and I guess I'll sing as 925 00:33:22,530 --> 00:33:20,950 we're out of JPL right now I'll give 926 00:33:23,850 --> 00:33:22,540 another one - Ashwin so we have a 927 00:33:24,780 --> 00:33:23,860 question about if you could have if you 928 00:33:26,700 --> 00:33:24,790 could add it just 929 00:33:27,870 --> 00:33:26,710 more tool to the rover what would have 930 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:27,880 been right well yeah but what was the 931 00:33:32,580 --> 00:33:28,930 thing that you really want on the rover 932 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:32,590 that just don't happen to have that's a 933 00:33:41,820 --> 00:33:39,780 I'm gonna deflect you say the next thing 934 00:33:42,990 --> 00:33:41,830 we want to do on Mars is exactly what 935 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:43,000 we're doing with the Mars 2020 mission 936 00:33:47,580 --> 00:33:45,250 building on all the results from 937 00:33:49,260 --> 00:33:47,590 habitability and organics and the 938 00:33:51,780 --> 00:33:49,270 possibility of life that curiosity has 939 00:33:53,100 --> 00:33:51,790 opened up and looking ahead to having 940 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:53,110 instruments on Mars that are built 941 00:33:58,320 --> 00:33:54,850 specifically to look for those signs of 942 00:34:00,120 --> 00:33:58,330 life so Jen this seems like a good one 943 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:00,130 for an astrobiologist I mean this is a 944 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:02,170 difficult question I mean we have 945 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:04,570 organic molecules how do you know if 946 00:34:07,590 --> 00:34:06,010 they're processed by life you know what 947 00:34:09,149 --> 00:34:07,600 signs would you look for that might hint 948 00:34:11,430 --> 00:34:09,159 to you that this is something based on 949 00:34:13,710 --> 00:34:11,440 life well all life that we know of is 950 00:34:15,090 --> 00:34:13,720 based on organic molecules even though 951 00:34:17,250 --> 00:34:15,100 we know that that's not the only way you 952 00:34:18,510 --> 00:34:17,260 can make them so if we're going to look 953 00:34:20,879 --> 00:34:18,520 for life the first thing you probably 954 00:34:23,419 --> 00:34:20,889 want to do is look for signatures 955 00:34:25,980 --> 00:34:23,429 associated with organic materials and 956 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:25,990 that was part of the reason why it's so 957 00:34:29,129 --> 00:34:27,850 significant we found organic materials 958 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:29,139 in the first place it helps us guide 959 00:34:34,050 --> 00:34:31,450 guide where we're going to look for more 960 00:34:35,580 --> 00:34:34,060 of these now in those signatures they 961 00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:35,590 might be things about the chemistry of 962 00:34:40,139 --> 00:34:38,530 the organic materials or perhaps they're 963 00:34:42,659 --> 00:34:40,149 things about how the organic materials 964 00:34:44,310 --> 00:34:42,669 are stuck together in shapes how they're 965 00:34:46,730 --> 00:34:44,320 packaged maybe it's going to be about 966 00:34:49,530 --> 00:34:46,740 their isotopes there's a whole suite of 967 00:34:51,659 --> 00:34:49,540 chemical and physical things that we can 968 00:34:54,450 --> 00:34:51,669 measure that might indicate signatures 969 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:54,460 of life let me jump in there I mean Jen 970 00:34:58,740 --> 00:34:56,290 herself went up to small guard one time 971 00:35:00,870 --> 00:34:58,750 to one of the farthest most northern 972 00:35:02,730 --> 00:35:00,880 Springs a hot spring way up in that cold 973 00:35:04,110 --> 00:35:02,740 area and then we put some of this 974 00:35:06,270 --> 00:35:04,120 material in the gas chromatograph mass 975 00:35:08,250 --> 00:35:06,280 spectrometer and these patterns showed 976 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:08,260 up that showed the length of the carbon 977 00:35:12,570 --> 00:35:10,210 chains and bingo that was the signature 978 00:35:14,340 --> 00:35:12,580 for lights so those are one of the many 979 00:35:15,780 --> 00:35:14,350 types of things we'll look for that's 980 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:15,790 right and there happens to be another 981 00:35:20,070 --> 00:35:17,890 experiment on Sam that we haven't used 982 00:35:22,530 --> 00:35:20,080 yet it's one of the wet chemistry 983 00:35:25,500 --> 00:35:22,540 experiments and if those types of things 984 00:35:26,940 --> 00:35:25,510 are left behind in the organic material 985 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:26,950 that we come across assuming we will 986 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:29,650 come across more perhaps if it's the 987 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:31,210 right sample and the right compounds are 988 00:35:35,190 --> 00:35:33,970 there maybe we'll get some hints so I 989 00:35:36,390 --> 00:35:35,200 understand we actually have a media 990 00:35:37,740 --> 00:35:36,400 question that they're gonna try to feed 991 00:35:39,450 --> 00:35:37,750 in on audio so 992 00:35:40,500 --> 00:35:39,460 if I could ask for that question we're 993 00:36:00,930 --> 00:35:40,510 gonna try to have an audio feed at the 994 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:00,940 moment why is methane so exciting him 995 00:36:06,569 --> 00:36:03,970 what what is it that you found that is 996 00:36:11,730 --> 00:36:06,579 so intriguing about this organic 997 00:36:12,900 --> 00:36:11,740 chemical compound difference then what 998 00:36:14,460 --> 00:36:12,910 we kind of already knew that there 999 00:36:17,550 --> 00:36:14,470 already the building blocks of life 1000 00:36:18,839 --> 00:36:17,560 essentially a mark okay should we should 1001 00:36:21,300 --> 00:36:18,849 we go to Chris for the methane question 1002 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:21,310 did you hear that yes yes I would start 1003 00:36:25,230 --> 00:36:23,410 right away by saying whenever you have 1004 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:25,240 an oxidizing atmosphere and you see 1005 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:27,490 reduce compounds like methane or 1006 00:36:32,309 --> 00:36:29,410 hydrogen sulfide they're always very 1007 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:32,319 exciting and in particular for the Mars 1008 00:36:37,890 --> 00:36:35,890 methane because 95% of the methane on 1009 00:36:40,410 --> 00:36:37,900 earth is produced from biology it's 1010 00:36:44,970 --> 00:36:40,420 produced from termites or rice paddies 1011 00:36:46,319 --> 00:36:44,980 or cows or sheep or termites etc because 1012 00:36:48,930 --> 00:36:46,329 of that there's always been this 1013 00:36:52,050 --> 00:36:48,940 interest in Mars methane as its 1014 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:52,060 potential biological origin and that's 1015 00:36:56,010 --> 00:36:54,490 true also because we know it only can 1016 00:36:57,990 --> 00:36:56,020 last for 300 years 1017 00:37:00,480 --> 00:36:58,000 so if we see methane in the Martian 1018 00:37:02,099 --> 00:37:00,490 atmosphere that means it has to do 1019 00:37:06,150 --> 00:37:02,109 something is happening today it's being 1020 00:37:09,540 --> 00:37:06,160 released or it's being created and I'll 1021 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:09,550 hand over to to Paul to answer the 1022 00:37:15,510 --> 00:37:12,130 second part well that's let me add to 1023 00:37:16,950 --> 00:37:15,520 that I mean on earth like Chris 1024 00:37:18,780 --> 00:37:16,960 mentioned most of the methane in the 1025 00:37:21,660 --> 00:37:18,790 atmosphere comes from biology from rice 1026 00:37:25,620 --> 00:37:21,670 paddies or you know from a lot of 1027 00:37:27,420 --> 00:37:25,630 different processes but all the most of 1028 00:37:29,550 --> 00:37:27,430 the oxygen on earth also comes from 1029 00:37:32,250 --> 00:37:29,560 biology billions of years ago the 1030 00:37:34,230 --> 00:37:32,260 cyanobacteria got serious and they 1031 00:37:36,630 --> 00:37:34,240 started cranking away and so in our 1032 00:37:39,569 --> 00:37:36,640 atmosphere we have both a combination of 1033 00:37:40,980 --> 00:37:39,579 methane and oxygen and that's what some 1034 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:40,990 of the folks who are building these big 1035 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:43,450 telescopes follow-on telescopes to the 1036 00:37:46,890 --> 00:37:45,130 James Webb for example that are going to 1037 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:46,900 be out in space looking at exoplanets 1038 00:37:49,829 --> 00:37:48,130 they're going to be looking for 1039 00:37:51,240 --> 00:37:49,839 combinations of oxidizing and reducing 1040 00:37:53,130 --> 00:37:51,250 things the 1041 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:53,140 might be evidence of life so it's really 1042 00:37:58,520 --> 00:37:55,330 fundamental it's really interesting and 1043 00:38:00,270 --> 00:37:58,530 and I sure hope grandma understood that 1044 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:00,280 and I understand we have another 1045 00:38:11,910 --> 00:38:01,570 question for the media that will come 1046 00:38:14,250 --> 00:38:11,920 over audio hi there was a similar 1047 00:38:17,250 --> 00:38:14,260 announcement of detection of both 1048 00:38:20,970 --> 00:38:17,260 methane and organic materials back in 1049 00:38:24,570 --> 00:38:20,980 2014 also by the Curiosity rover how is 1050 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:24,580 this announcement different or how have 1051 00:38:32,130 --> 00:38:29,410 you built on the findings from 2014 for 1052 00:38:33,570 --> 00:38:32,140 this this detection I know we were just 1053 00:38:34,980 --> 00:38:33,580 talking about that beforehand is that 1054 00:38:36,090 --> 00:38:34,990 being a very good question to ask so I 1055 00:38:39,240 --> 00:38:36,100 think did you Jennifer do what you want 1056 00:38:41,550 --> 00:38:39,250 take that sure in 2014 we reported the 1057 00:38:43,290 --> 00:38:41,560 discovery of chlorinated molecules now 1058 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:43,300 these are carbon structures that have a 1059 00:38:47,580 --> 00:38:45,130 chlorine attached to them and there was 1060 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:47,590 a few of them it was a significant 1061 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:49,330 discovery it was the first time we were 1062 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:51,610 able to confirm organic molecules on 1063 00:38:55,530 --> 00:38:53,770 Mars for the it was the first time and 1064 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:55,540 we've been looking for this for a very 1065 00:38:59,070 --> 00:38:57,370 long time with the hopes that we would 1066 00:39:01,560 --> 00:38:59,080 find it with the with the Viking 1067 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:01,570 instruments in 1976 and finally with 1068 00:39:06,740 --> 00:39:04,450 curiosity in landing and on a lake bed 1069 00:39:10,020 --> 00:39:06,750 that we could actually discover these 1070 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:10,030 now we were left with what do these mean 1071 00:39:14,220 --> 00:39:12,130 the thing about the chlorine molecules 1072 00:39:17,100 --> 00:39:14,230 is that it's not what you typically find 1073 00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:17,110 in natural samples and so we weren't 1074 00:39:21,570 --> 00:39:18,730 sure what the significant was at the 1075 00:39:23,790 --> 00:39:21,580 time however it did give us a lot of 1076 00:39:25,770 --> 00:39:23,800 motivation to keep looking there have to 1077 00:39:28,020 --> 00:39:25,780 be other layers in in the Gale Crater 1078 00:39:30,690 --> 00:39:28,030 other layers of the lake sediments and 1079 00:39:32,700 --> 00:39:30,700 we wanted to find more organic molecules 1080 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:32,710 and that's exactly what happened we 1081 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:34,930 drove for miles away we started down at 1082 00:39:38,340 --> 00:39:36,610 the lowest part of the crater we drove 1083 00:39:40,470 --> 00:39:38,350 for miles away and got to the base of 1084 00:39:42,990 --> 00:39:40,480 the mountain and the first layers that 1085 00:39:45,030 --> 00:39:43,000 we looked at contain all of this organic 1086 00:39:47,310 --> 00:39:45,040 material that we're reporting today so 1087 00:39:49,290 --> 00:39:47,320 we have essentially expanded upon the 1088 00:39:52,140 --> 00:39:49,300 inventory of the organic molecules and 1089 00:39:53,460 --> 00:39:52,150 now we have a better sense of how they 1090 00:39:56,430 --> 00:39:53,470 were preserved in the rocks in the first 1091 00:39:59,490 --> 00:39:56,440 place so should mention that your report 1092 00:40:01,620 --> 00:39:59,500 Jen showed significantly greater 1093 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:01,630 abundance than we had detected before 1094 00:40:07,829 --> 00:40:04,690 and one more thing to add is in almost 1095 00:40:10,589 --> 00:40:07,839 every experiment we do as we heat up the 1096 00:40:12,420 --> 00:40:10,599 sample in this little quartz cup we see 1097 00:40:15,390 --> 00:40:12,430 a big oxygen signal and the oxygen 1098 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:15,400 signal comes from a mineral mineral that 1099 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:17,650 breaks apart that contains chlorine and 1100 00:40:22,589 --> 00:40:20,770 oxygen but then the hot oxygen can react 1101 00:40:24,329 --> 00:40:22,599 with some of the organics and produce 1102 00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:24,339 carbon dioxide that's called combustion 1103 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:27,250 and what Jen did with part of her 1104 00:40:31,140 --> 00:40:28,930 analysis was really to look at the high 1105 00:40:32,309 --> 00:40:31,150 temperature release of organics that 1106 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:32,319 might have escaped some of that 1107 00:40:35,849 --> 00:40:34,450 destruction but there still things there 1108 00:40:38,609 --> 00:40:35,859 that we're not seeing so I mean that's 1109 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:38,619 really motivating our desire to get back 1110 00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:40,930 and with different techniques really 1111 00:40:44,490 --> 00:40:42,730 look for a more comprehensive suite of 1112 00:40:47,579 --> 00:40:44,500 organics try and figure out where they 1113 00:40:49,410 --> 00:40:47,589 really came from and Christy would you 1114 00:40:50,970 --> 00:40:49,420 like to continue your answer as to why 1115 00:40:52,650 --> 00:40:50,980 what we're announcing today is different 1116 00:40:54,990 --> 00:40:52,660 from what was detected before as far as 1117 00:40:57,420 --> 00:40:55,000 the the seasonality of the methane yes 1118 00:40:59,550 --> 00:40:57,430 it's it's very different because in the 1119 00:41:02,220 --> 00:40:59,560 past we were seeing spikes that we 1120 00:41:04,109 --> 00:41:02,230 couldn't understand and we had ideas 1121 00:41:05,309 --> 00:41:04,119 about them but we couldn't constrain 1122 00:41:07,859 --> 00:41:05,319 them because they only occurred 1123 00:41:10,050 --> 00:41:07,869 occasionally so now we first what we've 1124 00:41:12,599 --> 00:41:10,060 measured the background level over two 1125 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:12,609 years so we know the total amount of 1126 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:15,010 methane in the atmosphere is constrained 1127 00:41:21,420 --> 00:41:18,130 by that it's a low average value of only 1128 00:41:24,270 --> 00:41:21,430 0.4 parts per billion it changes a lot 1129 00:41:27,180 --> 00:41:24,280 but the total amount is low so that also 1130 00:41:29,430 --> 00:41:27,190 constrains the magnitude of pulses and 1131 00:41:31,890 --> 00:41:29,440 spikes elsewhere that would mix into the 1132 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:31,900 hemisphere so this is a very important 1133 00:41:37,530 --> 00:41:34,690 observation the fact that it changes so 1134 00:41:40,230 --> 00:41:37,540 dramatically this factor of three is has 1135 00:41:42,839 --> 00:41:40,240 got to be duplicated by models that 1136 00:41:45,750 --> 00:41:42,849 explain it now we do think that the 1137 00:41:48,809 --> 00:41:45,760 spikes and the low background seasonal 1138 00:41:50,730 --> 00:41:48,819 cycle are related it's quite conceivable 1139 00:41:53,460 --> 00:41:50,740 that the same reservoirs are slowly 1140 00:41:55,829 --> 00:41:53,470 seeping methane up to the to the surface 1141 00:41:59,490 --> 00:41:55,839 are also occasionally causing large 1142 00:42:00,480 --> 00:41:59,500 pulses of the gas to be released well 1143 00:42:02,579 --> 00:42:00,490 thank you and I understand we have 1144 00:42:17,830 --> 00:42:02,589 another media question so we'll go to 1145 00:42:25,210 --> 00:42:21,670 see is no cycle methane and also quite 1146 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:25,220 noticeably a detection of thiophene in 1147 00:42:32,530 --> 00:42:28,370 the subsoil so if I could ask what 1148 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:32,540 follow-up investigations specifically 1149 00:42:42,730 --> 00:42:36,530 from the Europeans could support and add 1150 00:42:49,140 --> 00:42:42,740 to this specifically the trace gas 1151 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:49,150 orbiter presumably can do the kind of 1152 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:51,770 isotopic analysis that you can't 1153 00:42:57,040 --> 00:42:54,650 so can you foresee that being able to 1154 00:42:59,680 --> 00:42:57,050 contribute and secondly still with 1155 00:43:02,110 --> 00:42:59,690 ExoMars but in the future you're talking 1156 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:02,120 about drilling to two meters is the 1157 00:43:11,590 --> 00:43:06,530 graph gas chromatograph on ExoMars the 1158 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:11,600 same as the one on MSL and planets do 1159 00:43:16,930 --> 00:43:14,530 the work that you say needs to be done 1160 00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:16,940 let me take a first shot at that and 1161 00:43:20,310 --> 00:43:18,890 Chris may want to jump in first of all 1162 00:43:22,930 --> 00:43:20,320 let me say Leo it's great to hear 1163 00:43:25,030 --> 00:43:22,940 somebody saying methane instead of 1164 00:43:28,660 --> 00:43:25,040 methane like Chris Webster does all the 1165 00:43:31,570 --> 00:43:28,670 time but starting with with the ExoMars 1166 00:43:33,940 --> 00:43:31,580 mission we're actually very proud of the 1167 00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:33,950 work that our team did here at Goddard 1168 00:43:39,130 --> 00:43:36,410 to deliver a mass spectrometer to an 1169 00:43:41,020 --> 00:43:39,140 experiment on the ExoMars Rover which is 1170 00:43:44,070 --> 00:43:41,030 planned to launch in 2020 that 1171 00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:44,080 instrument is called MoMA and we greatly 1172 00:43:49,420 --> 00:43:47,090 expand the techniques that we use there 1173 00:43:51,610 --> 00:43:49,430 to look at these samples that come up 1174 00:43:53,950 --> 00:43:51,620 from two meters below the surface the 1175 00:43:55,510 --> 00:43:53,960 first thing we do is totally different 1176 00:43:57,520 --> 00:43:55,520 it's never been done before on the 1177 00:44:01,600 --> 00:43:57,530 surface of another planet we use a laser 1178 00:44:03,010 --> 00:44:01,610 basically to put a pulse of energy into 1179 00:44:05,170 --> 00:44:03,020 the sample that's in front of the 1180 00:44:07,300 --> 00:44:05,180 instrument and then we let some of those 1181 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:07,310 ions up into a mass spectrometer has a 1182 00:44:12,250 --> 00:44:09,770 very high mass range we can do things 1183 00:44:14,770 --> 00:44:12,260 like find a high mass peak it's a very 1184 00:44:15,910 --> 00:44:14,780 soft ionization technique and we can do 1185 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:15,920 what's called tandem mass spectrometry 1186 00:44:21,010 --> 00:44:18,770 we can break that molecule apart into 1187 00:44:22,300 --> 00:44:21,020 its constituents and really try and get 1188 00:44:26,110 --> 00:44:22,310 at the structure it's a very powerful 1189 00:44:28,150 --> 00:44:26,120 technique we also have a GCMs a gas 1190 00:44:30,100 --> 00:44:28,160 chromatograph mass spectrometer and then 1191 00:44:31,220 --> 00:44:30,110 also was a contribution from our French 1192 00:44:33,549 --> 00:44:31,230 colleagues they're really 1193 00:44:35,930 --> 00:44:33,559 at understanding how to do that 1194 00:44:38,890 --> 00:44:35,940 separation of gases that Jen talked 1195 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:38,900 about and they do the derivative 1196 00:44:43,549 --> 00:44:41,010 chemistry the chemistry that tries to 1197 00:44:45,980 --> 00:44:43,559 pull out interesting things like amino 1198 00:44:48,140 --> 00:44:45,990 acids a little bit differently we kind 1199 00:44:50,270 --> 00:44:48,150 of have a lot of fluid in a cup 1200 00:44:52,460 --> 00:44:50,280 we puncture the cup and put sample in 1201 00:44:56,109 --> 00:44:52,470 and they try and control that a little 1202 00:44:59,270 --> 00:44:56,119 bit better by having basically a little 1203 00:45:00,740 --> 00:44:59,280 container that'll break apart at exactly 1204 00:45:03,289 --> 00:45:00,750 the right temperature put the 1205 00:45:05,539 --> 00:45:03,299 derivatives a ssin in and then do 1206 00:45:08,089 --> 00:45:05,549 separation the technologies have also 1207 00:45:10,099 --> 00:45:08,099 advanced a bit for example you know one 1208 00:45:12,020 --> 00:45:10,109 thing we'd be very interested in finding 1209 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:12,030 is chirality the left and 1210 00:45:16,190 --> 00:45:14,490 right-handedness of an amino acid if 1211 00:45:19,099 --> 00:45:16,200 we're lucky enough to find an amino acid 1212 00:45:21,289 --> 00:45:19,109 on life there's they're not equivalent 1213 00:45:23,780 --> 00:45:21,299 but in in meteorites they're they're 1214 00:45:26,079 --> 00:45:23,790 largely equivalent so with Momo we're 1215 00:45:28,910 --> 00:45:26,089 trying to solve that problem as well so 1216 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:28,920 technology advances and our ability to 1217 00:45:33,859 --> 00:45:31,170 think through what we can put in place 1218 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:33,869 on another planet advances and maybe 1219 00:45:38,900 --> 00:45:35,970 Chris should talk about what the 1220 00:45:40,700 --> 00:45:38,910 European trace gas orbiter which is also 1221 00:45:42,230 --> 00:45:40,710 looking for methane what they hope to 1222 00:45:44,150 --> 00:45:42,240 find I understand that's just getting 1223 00:45:45,740 --> 00:45:44,160 going in operation around Mars and 1224 00:45:47,030 --> 00:45:45,750 they've not been doing much reporting 1225 00:45:50,930 --> 00:45:47,040 yet but they're just getting their 1226 00:45:53,359 --> 00:45:50,940 initial set of data yes the the exciting 1227 00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:53,369 thing about t geo is it's cold it's 1228 00:45:57,140 --> 00:45:55,290 going there to look at a lot of gases in 1229 00:45:59,630 --> 00:45:57,150 the atmosphere but especially a methane 1230 00:46:00,829 --> 00:45:59,640 in particular as Paul said they started 1231 00:46:02,630 --> 00:46:00,839 to make measurements and we're all 1232 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:02,640 waiting with bated breath to see what 1233 00:46:07,190 --> 00:46:05,010 they find but they're going to in 1234 00:46:08,870 --> 00:46:07,200 particular by mapping it globally 1235 00:46:11,750 --> 00:46:08,880 they'll be able to relate their 1236 00:46:14,450 --> 00:46:11,760 measurements to ours now one thing that 1237 00:46:17,510 --> 00:46:14,460 they could do is if they see large 1238 00:46:19,970 --> 00:46:17,520 plumes somewhere even though they don't 1239 00:46:22,970 --> 00:46:19,980 have a lot of spatial resolution they 1240 00:46:24,859 --> 00:46:22,980 could potentially pinpoint or hone in on 1241 00:46:27,980 --> 00:46:24,869 an area of Mars that seems to be 1242 00:46:29,720 --> 00:46:27,990 associated with the the increase from 1243 00:46:31,910 --> 00:46:29,730 the surface that would be a very 1244 00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:31,920 exciting fine because it tells us where 1245 00:46:36,319 --> 00:46:33,930 we need to go to to get the better 1246 00:46:38,620 --> 00:46:36,329 signals when we look at it and that's 1247 00:46:41,930 --> 00:46:38,630 important you asked about the carbon 13 1248 00:46:44,390 --> 00:46:41,940 isotope ratio remember there's a hundred 1249 00:46:44,890 --> 00:46:44,400 times less carbon 13 methane and there 1250 00:46:47,050 --> 00:46:44,900 is red 1251 00:46:51,070 --> 00:46:47,060 methane and if you want to measure that 1252 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:51,080 to 1% you're stuck with this extremely 1253 00:46:56,650 --> 00:46:54,170 high sensitivity needed so if the trace 1254 00:46:58,420 --> 00:46:56,660 gas orbiter sees significant amounts of 1255 00:47:00,220 --> 00:46:58,430 methane they will certainly be able to 1256 00:47:02,860 --> 00:47:00,230 make that measurement but if they see 1257 00:47:05,290 --> 00:47:02,870 mainly the low background levels that we 1258 00:47:06,780 --> 00:47:05,300 are seeing of 0.4 parts per billion it's 1259 00:47:09,700 --> 00:47:06,790 gonna be a challenge 1260 00:47:11,080 --> 00:47:09,710 so those are you don't mind if we have a 1261 00:47:12,400 --> 00:47:11,090 limited time for questions and we've had 1262 00:47:13,870 --> 00:47:12,410 some pretty technical answers I actually 1263 00:47:15,730 --> 00:47:13,880 want to go to some of the middle school 1264 00:47:17,770 --> 00:47:15,740 students that are actually live tweeting 1265 00:47:20,290 --> 00:47:17,780 us right now so apparently I need to 1266 00:47:21,430 --> 00:47:20,300 call out mr. Sol D's aerospace class so 1267 00:47:23,260 --> 00:47:21,440 you guys are sending us lots of 1268 00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:23,270 questions so they're asking us about the 1269 00:47:26,110 --> 00:47:25,130 implications does this discovery have 1270 00:47:28,270 --> 00:47:26,120 any implications for the future 1271 00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:28,280 colonization of Mars or human presence 1272 00:47:32,350 --> 00:47:28,970 on Mars 1273 00:47:34,180 --> 00:47:32,360 sure it could when we have organic 1274 00:47:36,100 --> 00:47:34,190 materials in the rock so we found in 1275 00:47:39,340 --> 00:47:36,110 Gale Crater there might be wider spread 1276 00:47:41,230 --> 00:47:39,350 and perhaps those would be a resource 1277 00:47:43,870 --> 00:47:41,240 for humans we don't know what that would 1278 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:43,880 be exactly perhaps there are organisms 1279 00:47:48,010 --> 00:47:46,010 there that we don't know about yet they 1280 00:47:49,780 --> 00:47:48,020 might be helpful for farming there might 1281 00:47:54,010 --> 00:47:49,790 be organic materials that could be used 1282 00:47:56,140 --> 00:47:54,020 as fuel for both farming organisms 1283 00:47:59,080 --> 00:47:56,150 including plants need carbon in order to 1284 00:48:00,850 --> 00:47:59,090 turn it into their own biomass and and 1285 00:48:03,460 --> 00:48:00,860 perhaps there's another other ways of 1286 00:48:06,310 --> 00:48:03,470 using it to generate fuels that the 1287 00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:06,320 people there when actually use those 1288 00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:08,450 have not been fully investigated yet but 1289 00:48:11,860 --> 00:48:10,370 I know it's an open book on what 1290 00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:11,870 technologies we might use in the future 1291 00:48:15,670 --> 00:48:14,210 on Mars and actually the sort of the 1292 00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:15,680 follow-on question to this so there 1293 00:48:18,850 --> 00:48:17,450 there's Mack from Pier middle school who 1294 00:48:22,050 --> 00:48:18,860 asked could be possible to bring samples 1295 00:48:24,340 --> 00:48:22,060 back from Mars that's a great question 1296 00:48:25,810 --> 00:48:24,350 Ashwin actually is a perfect person to 1297 00:48:27,460 --> 00:48:25,820 ask that because there's a program at 1298 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:27,470 Jet Propulsion Laboratory it's doing 1299 00:48:35,470 --> 00:48:32,570 exactly back from Mars yeah we sure hope 1300 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:35,480 so one of the things that we're working 1301 00:48:38,860 --> 00:48:37,130 on here at JPL is the mission that I 1302 00:48:41,260 --> 00:48:38,870 referred to earlier called the Mars 2020 1303 00:48:42,970 --> 00:48:41,270 Rover it has some really sophisticated 1304 00:48:44,410 --> 00:48:42,980 instruments that it's bringing with it 1305 00:48:46,420 --> 00:48:44,420 to Mars to do these kinds of 1306 00:48:49,570 --> 00:48:46,430 investigations to look directly for 1307 00:48:51,700 --> 00:48:49,580 signs of life but it also is proposed to 1308 00:48:53,650 --> 00:48:51,710 bring samples back to earth one day it 1309 00:48:55,990 --> 00:48:53,660 requires a few follow-on missions to do 1310 00:48:58,210 --> 00:48:56,000 that something to land a rocket on Mars 1311 00:49:00,730 --> 00:48:58,220 and then to gather those Sam 1312 00:49:02,590 --> 00:49:00,740 from 2020 or we're 2020 has left them on 1313 00:49:04,570 --> 00:49:02,600 the surface to bring them back to that 1314 00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:04,580 rocket and then to blast off from Mars 1315 00:49:09,400 --> 00:49:07,610 and then to rendezvous with the the the 1316 00:49:11,830 --> 00:49:09,410 spacecraft that we've now put in Mars 1317 00:49:14,530 --> 00:49:11,840 orbit and bring it back to earth that's 1318 00:49:16,510 --> 00:49:14,540 a lot of really actually cool technology 1319 00:49:18,450 --> 00:49:16,520 that JPL has to invent in the next 1320 00:49:20,350 --> 00:49:18,460 couple decades to accomplish that and 1321 00:49:21,820 --> 00:49:20,360 this is actually something that kind of 1322 00:49:23,590 --> 00:49:21,830 leads on to that yeah we are planning to 1323 00:49:25,390 --> 00:49:23,600 return to Mars we have an active Mars 1324 00:49:26,470 --> 00:49:25,400 exploration program and you know one of 1325 00:49:28,240 --> 00:49:26,480 the things we're trying to do is figure 1326 00:49:30,220 --> 00:49:28,250 out where the best places to land next 1327 00:49:31,750 --> 00:49:30,230 would be so there's some questions here 1328 00:49:33,670 --> 00:49:31,760 about how are we determining the best 1329 00:49:36,250 --> 00:49:33,680 places to we don't where to explore next 1330 00:49:37,750 --> 00:49:36,260 on Mars one of the one of the big 1331 00:49:39,910 --> 00:49:37,760 questions is where else are we going to 1332 00:49:41,680 --> 00:49:39,920 find the organic carbon and there are 1333 00:49:43,540 --> 00:49:41,690 various environments that we understand 1334 00:49:45,700 --> 00:49:43,550 on earth as being good places that we 1335 00:49:47,950 --> 00:49:45,710 can collect organic materials that get 1336 00:49:50,290 --> 00:49:47,960 preserved and then there's also good 1337 00:49:52,090 --> 00:49:50,300 places for life so for instance a lake 1338 00:49:54,010 --> 00:49:52,100 bed like what we found in Gale Crater is 1339 00:49:56,770 --> 00:49:54,020 a perfect example but there are others 1340 00:49:58,630 --> 00:49:56,780 hydrothermal systems where hot fluids 1341 00:50:00,970 --> 00:49:58,640 and gases coming out of the ground can 1342 00:50:03,340 --> 00:50:00,980 create provide a lot of chemicals that 1343 00:50:05,380 --> 00:50:03,350 organisms can use we see these in the 1344 00:50:08,230 --> 00:50:05,390 ocean on earth as hydrothermal vents 1345 00:50:09,820 --> 00:50:08,240 there are records of of rocks on Mars 1346 00:50:11,950 --> 00:50:09,830 that suggest that our ancient 1347 00:50:13,900 --> 00:50:11,960 hydrothermal systems so that might be 1348 00:50:17,350 --> 00:50:13,910 another place for us to look so right 1349 00:50:19,540 --> 00:50:17,360 now the larger Mars Science community is 1350 00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:19,550 talking about where it is they want to 1351 00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:21,170 go and these are some of the key 1352 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:23,890 scientific motivators for choosing sites 1353 00:50:29,020 --> 00:50:26,810 let me add to that a little bit we have 1354 00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:29,030 two things we have a huge amount of data 1355 00:50:33,100 --> 00:50:30,890 because we have very capable orbiters 1356 00:50:36,580 --> 00:50:33,110 orbiting Mars and on those orbiters we 1357 00:50:38,110 --> 00:50:36,590 have imagers that can see a few feet we 1358 00:50:40,060 --> 00:50:38,120 can see our Rovers on the surface of 1359 00:50:42,370 --> 00:50:40,070 Mars we can see the rover tracks so 1360 00:50:45,250 --> 00:50:42,380 that's one tool we use the other tool we 1361 00:50:46,630 --> 00:50:45,260 use from space is spectroscopy one thing 1362 00:50:48,220 --> 00:50:46,640 that brought us together ater was 1363 00:50:50,470 --> 00:50:48,230 finding minerals that were hydrated that 1364 00:50:52,150 --> 00:50:50,480 had water so that was a clue there might 1365 00:50:55,300 --> 00:50:52,160 have been a lake there but the other 1366 00:50:57,550 --> 00:50:55,310 really fun thing about Mars is on earth 1367 00:51:00,190 --> 00:50:57,560 it's very very hard to find old rocks 1368 00:51:02,620 --> 00:51:00,200 and the reason is Earth is is so active 1369 00:51:05,380 --> 00:51:02,630 still there's you see the Hawaii 1370 00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:05,390 Volcanoes going off and so the landscape 1371 00:51:08,950 --> 00:51:06,530 keeps changing 1372 00:51:11,620 --> 00:51:08,960 plate tectonics it called it moves it 1373 00:51:14,020 --> 00:51:11,630 continents around on Mars that stuff off 1374 00:51:16,240 --> 00:51:14,030 throws out billions of years ago so you 1375 00:51:18,670 --> 00:51:16,250 know half the surface practically is 1376 00:51:21,310 --> 00:51:18,680 very very very old so we can get at the 1377 00:51:22,720 --> 00:51:21,320 ancient history of Mars by landing on 1378 00:51:24,370 --> 00:51:22,730 the surface and looking what happened 1379 00:51:26,110 --> 00:51:24,380 early in the history of the solar system 1380 00:51:29,260 --> 00:51:26,120 that's right the modern landscape is 1381 00:52:14,650 --> 00:51:29,270 actually a very ancient yeah so we're 1382 00:52:15,940 --> 00:52:14,660 gonna go to another and Ashwin I hope 1383 00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:15,950 that came through well I believe that 1384 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:17,810 the person's asking about how this how 1385 00:52:21,250 --> 00:52:19,130 these discoveries will fit in with the 1386 00:52:23,260 --> 00:52:21,260 legacy of the the Mars Curiosity rover 1387 00:52:26,820 --> 00:52:23,270 and your view of that some comments from 1388 00:52:29,740 --> 00:52:26,830 it yeah it's a it's a great question and 1389 00:52:31,450 --> 00:52:29,750 sometimes being involved it's so deeply 1390 00:52:33,970 --> 00:52:31,460 in the day-to-day sort of forget to look 1391 00:52:35,500 --> 00:52:33,980 at the bigger picture but you know as I 1392 00:52:38,830 --> 00:52:35,510 mentioned earlier the way I think about 1393 00:52:40,630 --> 00:52:38,840 it is really that we have a role in this 1394 00:52:42,670 --> 00:52:40,640 ongoing exploration of Mars that's now 1395 00:52:48,610 --> 00:52:42,680 been going on for more than 50 years and 1396 00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:48,620 will continue in the future it was life 1397 00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:50,810 ever originated on Mars and and then 1398 00:52:54,910 --> 00:52:52,250 eventually sending humans there and 1399 00:52:56,530 --> 00:52:54,920 maybe even colonizing Mars one day and 1400 00:52:58,510 --> 00:52:56,540 the role that curiosity was designed to 1401 00:52:59,770 --> 00:52:58,520 play was to figure out if Mars ever was 1402 00:53:01,600 --> 00:52:59,780 habitable we didn't know that before 1403 00:53:05,230 --> 00:53:01,610 curiosity went there we didn't know that 1404 00:53:08,140 --> 00:53:05,240 Lakes survived on Mars in this time 1405 00:53:12,580 --> 00:53:08,150 period from three to four billion years 1406 00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:12,590 ago at Doric iving on Mars for up to 1407 00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:14,930 millions of years and we didn't know the 1408 00:53:18,700 --> 00:53:17,090 extent that organic matter was present 1409 00:53:20,650 --> 00:53:18,710 on Mars could be concentrated in these 1410 00:53:22,720 --> 00:53:20,660 environments and would be preserved for 1411 00:53:24,250 --> 00:53:22,730 us to study today so those are some 1412 00:53:25,540 --> 00:53:24,260 really big questions that the mission 1413 00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:25,550 was specifically design 1414 00:53:29,650 --> 00:53:27,290 to address and you know with these 1415 00:53:31,660 --> 00:53:29,660 results you just couldn't be I couldn't 1416 00:53:34,060 --> 00:53:31,670 be happier in how we've been able to 1417 00:53:37,210 --> 00:53:34,070 meet those objectives and provide them 1418 00:53:39,610 --> 00:53:37,220 as material for future missions to use 1419 00:53:42,130 --> 00:53:39,620 when they're designing where to go and 1420 00:53:43,240 --> 00:53:42,140 how to accomplish their science I think 1421 00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:43,250 we just have a little bit of time left 1422 00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:44,210 but I think there's one more question 1423 00:53:54,580 --> 00:53:45,890 from the media or in Drye sneaked in so 1424 00:53:56,020 --> 00:53:54,590 please go ahead hi yeah thanks very 1425 00:53:59,070 --> 00:53:56,030 taking my question I just wanted to ask 1426 00:54:02,500 --> 00:53:59,080 the question about those clathrates the 1427 00:54:04,120 --> 00:54:02,510 methane is coming from do you think that 1428 00:54:05,530 --> 00:54:04,130 it's the rising summer temperatures that 1429 00:54:10,540 --> 00:54:05,540 are warming those up and that's how 1430 00:54:11,830 --> 00:54:10,550 they're releasing it sources for that 1431 00:54:15,370 --> 00:54:11,840 the rising methane levels in the summer 1432 00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:15,380 yes you asked about clathrate so there 1433 00:54:19,240 --> 00:54:18,050 is a clathrates are stable on mars 1434 00:54:21,970 --> 00:54:19,250 they're created through the 1435 00:54:24,730 --> 00:54:21,980 high-pressure course initially they 1436 00:54:26,560 --> 00:54:24,740 could be a source but we don't believe 1437 00:54:31,060 --> 00:54:26,570 remember once you get under the surface 1438 00:54:33,580 --> 00:54:31,070 by several metres and below that you 1439 00:54:36,340 --> 00:54:33,590 don't really have a seasonal cycle there 1440 00:54:38,610 --> 00:54:36,350 it's pretty constant temperature so the 1441 00:54:40,840 --> 00:54:38,620 clathrates or other reservoirs might be 1442 00:54:43,150 --> 00:54:40,850 leaking or seeping the methane 1443 00:54:45,580 --> 00:54:43,160 continuously throughout the year it's 1444 00:54:47,230 --> 00:54:45,590 only when it gets to the surface where 1445 00:54:49,570 --> 00:54:47,240 the surface temperature has that 1446 00:54:51,460 --> 00:54:49,580 seasonal cycle that that modulates the 1447 00:54:53,890 --> 00:54:51,470 release of that methane into the 1448 00:54:56,710 --> 00:54:53,900 atmosphere I think that was your 1449 00:54:58,240 --> 00:54:56,720 question well that's actually all the 1450 00:54:59,680 --> 00:54:58,250 time we have if you submitted questions 1451 00:55:01,390 --> 00:54:59,690 by a social media that we didn't get to 1452 00:55:02,710 --> 00:55:01,400 we're gonna spend the next hours and 1453 00:55:04,630 --> 00:55:02,720 days trying to get to as may them as we 1454 00:55:06,160 --> 00:55:04,640 can and answering them online but for 1455 00:55:08,410 --> 00:55:06,170 now thank you so much for joining us we 1456 00:55:16,270 --> 00:55:08,420 were live at NASA and have a great rest 1457 00:55:19,120 --> 00:55:16,280 of the day bye we want to know has life 1458 00:55:21,220 --> 00:55:19,130 ever existed on Mars do pockets of life 1459 00:55:22,690 --> 00:55:21,230 persist on Mars today 1460 00:55:24,370 --> 00:55:22,700 NASA's approach to answering these 1461 00:55:27,610 --> 00:55:24,380 questions is to break them down into 1462 00:55:29,530 --> 00:55:27,620 smaller and smaller steps first we need 1463 00:55:31,870 --> 00:55:29,540 to know if ancient Mars was habitable 1464 00:55:34,420 --> 00:55:31,880 that it once have the right climate and 1465 00:55:36,250 --> 00:55:34,430 the right chemistry to support life the 1466 00:55:37,840 --> 00:55:36,260 Curiosity rover is investigating these 1467 00:55:40,930 --> 00:55:37,850 questions by looking for organic 1468 00:55:43,060 --> 00:55:40,940 molecules containing carbon organic 1469 00:55:45,070 --> 00:55:43,070 molecules are the backbone of all life 1470 00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:45,080 on Earth though they can also come from 1471 00:55:49,900 --> 00:55:47,810 nonliving sources today the surface of 1472 00:55:54,610 --> 00:55:49,910 Mars readily destroys organics making 1473 00:55:56,860 --> 00:55:54,620 them difficult to chat six years ago 1474 00:55:59,710 --> 00:55:56,870 curiosity landed in Gale Crater on 1475 00:56:02,050 --> 00:55:59,720 ancient lake bed a few months after 1476 00:56:04,150 --> 00:56:02,060 arrival it drilled into sedimentary 1477 00:56:06,250 --> 00:56:04,160 rocks and detected traces of organic 1478 00:56:09,670 --> 00:56:06,260 molecules using an instrument called the 1479 00:56:12,460 --> 00:56:09,680 Sam now curiosity is climbing the mound 1480 00:56:14,530 --> 00:56:12,470 in the middle of Gale Crater and Sam has 1481 00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:14,540 made a subsequent detection of organics 1482 00:56:18,040 --> 00:56:16,490 this new detection is exciting 1483 00:56:20,530 --> 00:56:18,050 because it comes from rocks that are 1484 00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:20,540 billions of years old that means that 1485 00:56:24,850 --> 00:56:22,370 the organic material within them is 1486 00:56:27,220 --> 00:56:24,860 extremely ancient some of the organics 1487 00:56:29,650 --> 00:56:27,230 that Sam has detected contains sulfur 1488 00:56:32,050 --> 00:56:29,660 likely introduced through geological 1489 00:56:34,330 --> 00:56:32,060 processes sulfur can act as a 1490 00:56:35,890 --> 00:56:34,340 preservative binding organic molecules 1491 00:56:38,590 --> 00:56:35,900 together to make them tougher and 1492 00:56:40,720 --> 00:56:38,600 protecting them from oxidation in fact 1493 00:56:42,550 --> 00:56:40,730 sulfur is the element that makes hair 1494 00:56:45,310 --> 00:56:42,560 and fingernails tough as well as 1495 00:56:47,530 --> 00:56:45,320 vulcanized rubber Martian sulfur has 1496 00:56:49,630 --> 00:56:47,540 probably had a similar effect on these 1497 00:56:53,670 --> 00:56:49,640 old organic molecules helping to 1498 00:56:56,350 --> 00:56:53,680 preserve them over geological timescales 1499 00:56:58,270 --> 00:56:56,360 Sam made the new detections by heating 1500 00:57:00,340 --> 00:56:58,280 samples of crushed rock to very high 1501 00:57:02,710 --> 00:57:00,350 temperatures above a thousand degrees 1502 00:57:04,210 --> 00:57:02,720 Fahrenheit this vaporizes samples and 1503 00:57:06,420 --> 00:57:04,220 released several species of small 1504 00:57:08,950 --> 00:57:06,430 hydrocarbons like benzene and propane 1505 00:57:11,170 --> 00:57:08,960 because the hydrocarbons were released 1506 00:57:12,820 --> 00:57:11,180 as such high temperatures they may be 1507 00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:12,830 the fragments of bigger heavier 1508 00:57:18,190 --> 00:57:15,050 molecules within the rock similar to 1509 00:57:20,950 --> 00:57:18,200 keratins on earth carriages are found in 1510 00:57:22,780 --> 00:57:20,960 rocks like black shale and cold and are 1511 00:57:27,550 --> 00:57:22,790 the products of ancient plant and 1512 00:57:29,410 --> 00:57:27,560 bacteria we don't know if the recently 1513 00:57:31,630 --> 00:57:29,420 discovered organics on Mars are a 1514 00:57:32,300 --> 00:57:31,640 biological origin but it's exciting to 1515 00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:32,310 find such 1516 00:57:36,320 --> 00:57:33,810 old material preserved right at the 1517 00:57:38,780 --> 00:57:36,330 surface this finding is also encouraging 1518 00:57:40,910 --> 00:57:38,790 for future exploration NASA and the 1519 00:57:43,070 --> 00:57:40,920 European Space Agency are preparing to 1520 00:57:44,510 --> 00:57:43,080 send the next generation of Rovers to 1521 00:57:46,730 --> 00:57:44,520 Mars in 2020 1522 00:57:49,490 --> 00:57:46,740 Guerry new technologies the search for 1523 00:57:52,340 --> 00:57:49,500 signs of microbial life in the distant 1524 00:57:55,190 --> 00:57:52,350 past Mars was much warmer and wetter 1525 00:57:57,140 --> 00:57:55,200 than it is today the rocks at Gale 1526 00:57:59,270 --> 00:57:57,150 Crater tell us it was once an 1527 00:58:02,060 --> 00:57:59,280 environment where life as we know it 1528 00:58:04,400 --> 00:58:02,070 could have survived the discovery of 1529 00:58:06,560 --> 00:58:04,410 ancient organic molecules shows that 1530 00:58:08,600 --> 00:58:06,570 another ingredient of life was present 1531 00:58:10,850 --> 00:58:08,610 at that time and it broadens our