Cedars, January 2019

January 2019 9 OFF CAMPUS rior is probably solid; if it tends to have a lit- tle bit more wobble to it than expected, then that will probably indicate that there is some molten material still in the interior of Mars.” HP3, the lander’s heat probe, will also be able to detect how much natural heat is com- ing from the planet’s interior, possibly shed- ding further light on this question. HP3 will burrow five meters into Mars’ surface, deeper than humans have ever dug on any planet be- sides Earth. The probe will drag a long tether behind it that anchors it to the lander. Every 50 centimeters, the probe will emit a pulse of heat, allowing the sensors along the tether to track how heat travels within Mars’ interior. This data gives scientists more infor- mation about the internal composition of the planet, including potential structural similarities to Earth. The HP3 experiment is a crucial start to learning more about the mysteries underground, which could be significant if a manned mission is ever sent to Mars. There may be frozen water, useful minerals or potential raw materials for fuel. InSight’s final instrument, the seis- mometer, was placed on the planet’s surface by the lander’s robotic arm on December 19, 2018. This instrument measures seismic waves from “marsquakes.” While earth- quakes are caused by the shifting tectonic plates that make up Earth’s crust, Mars’ surface appears to be one continuous layer. However, Gollmer said, this does not mean the planet is seismically inactive. “Even as a solid object, there will be stresses and strains applied to Mars just due to its interaction with the sun’s gravitation- al field,” Gollmer said. “That could cause some shifts of the material inside of Mars, and anytime there’s any kind of significant shifting, that’s what we would call a quake. … It’s probably those tidal stresses that are going to initiate any kind of marsquakes.” The seismometer is also equipped with an array of wind, pressure, temperature, and magnetic field sensors, which allow it to sense surface vibrations from weather sys- tems such as dust storms. NASA has already released the first recordings of the sound of Martian wind captured by the seismometer. The InSight mission reflects a larger in- terest in exploring the red planet, including the possibility of one day establishing a hu- man colony on Mars. According to chemis- try professor and former NASA scientist Dr. Doug Miller, interest in further moon mis- sions has dwindled since the 1960s. Mean- while, Mars has captured the attention of both national and private space organiza- tions not just as a scientific opportunity, but as a potential future investment. “The moon has no atmosphere. Mars has something,” Miller said. “Mars has ice and carbon dioxide. The moon, not so much. So you’ve got an atmosphere, you’ve got wa- ter, you’ve got carbon dioxide. You’ve got things to work with. You can actually mine minerals on Mars. There’s all sorts of inter- esting things you can do on Mars that you can’t really do on an airless, small satellite.” Additionally, while the moon’s gravity is 17 percent of Earth’s, Mars’ gravity reaches 38 percent — still weak, but better than the moon’s. Gravity is significant not just for the construction of a colony, but for the health of visiting astronauts on temporary missions. When human muscles and bones car- ry only 38 percent of the body weight they should, they can weaken. Some astronauts who spend significant amounts of time in low-gravity environments come back taller because their back bones spread, with faces puffed by accumulated fluid. Even if all the other obstacles to sustaining life on Mars are overcome — fromoxygen to food supply to ra- diation—gravity remains a significant hurdle. Even beyond the technical and physi- cal obstacles, any manned mission to Mars would have to grapple with the psycholog- ical toll that long-term confinement would have on the crew. The trips to the moon were a few days; a mission to Mars would likely be upwards of 18 months. Given some limited simulation experiments on Earth, some experts suspect that maintaining the mental health of the crew might be a bigger obstacle than the technical challenges. While sending a crew to Mars is likely a long way off, Gollmer thinks the InSight mission is still of value. “If we just go to Mars just to land there and say we did it, that’d be a bit anticlimac- tic,” Gollmer said. “But if we actually have some interesting questions that we’re trying to answer, the more data we have, the better questions we’re going to be able to pose before a manned mission actually goes to Mars.” Gollmer also sees another, larger ben- efit to exploring the possibility of a manned mission to Mars: the technological advance- ments that come out of doing pure research to solve hard problems. “My concern is we think of it more as an engineering project as opposed to an in- vestment in maintaining and advancing our understanding of the universe and the world itself,” Gollmer said. “There are a number of spin-off technologies that came out of the space program that were not the main objec- tive, but because we were trying to do some- thing hard, we gained lots of side benefits.” Space exploration can lead research down avenues scientists otherwise might not have the funding to pursue. For instance, sci- entists at the Kennedy Space Center are de- veloping a reactor to convert waste produced by astronauts into gas that can be used as fuel. It’s an urgent problem on a small ship without the storage space to waste on trash, but it’s also easy to see useful applications for this technology here on Earth. “I think we see a lot more students com- ing through interested in more of the profes- sional programs like engineering and nurs- ing because they see the practical application of the science,” Gollmer said. “But to actually do the hard science and the exploration — if we are going to keep our technological edge in this country, we are going to need that.” The InSight lander is one step in this direction. RISE is already collecting data, HP3’s burrowing site has been selected, and the seismometer will begin operations within the next few weeks. Over the next two years, the secrets of Mars’ interior will gradually be unlocked — perhaps paving the way for a human crew in the years to come. Breanna Beers is a sophomore molecular and cellular biology major and the inter- im off-campus news editor for Cedars. She loves exercising curiosity, hiking new trails, and quoting The Princess Bride whether it’s relevant or not. www.resoundradio.com Listen Online Now! Student Focused Radio 24/7