Bio Engineering 190A, Project

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Searching for Water on Mars

• Bio Engineering 190A, Project 1
• Group 2
• Christopher
• Nic
• Rosemary
• Sarah
• Vicky
• September 17, 2002

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Mars

• Mars has the most hospitable
• climate in the solar system
• after earth.
• Large volcanoes
• Giant Valleys
• 
  Volcanoes

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Water? Life?
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Mars Today ....

• Low Temperature
• Thin Atmosphere
• Impossible for liquid water to exist at the
  surface

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How about Deep below the Surface?
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Why Do We Care about Water?

• 1. Search for evidence of life beyond Earth
• Water is essential for every form of
  terrestrial life as far as we known.
• If we find water on Mars,
• LIFE?!?

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• If there is life on Mars
• Life may also exist elsewhere in the universe.

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Water as a Fuel Source

• Hydrogen and oxygen are elements used to generate
  rocket fuel
• Water H2O
• HYDROLYSIS will give us
• ROCKET FUEL !!!

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Understanding Mars' Evolution

• What happened to Mars??
• Mars was Earthlike early in its history, it might
  even have water running on its surface.
• Lost its atmosphere around 3 billions years ago
• Became an icy cold desert.

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• Understanding Mars ? Help us learn more about
  Earth.
• Understand the forces driving climate change on
  Earth.

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Colonize Mars?

• Send humans and colonize the Mars surface.
• Human astronauts on Mars could do a better job of
  exploring than robot

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Gamma Ray Specrometry GRS and Neutron Detectors
(Mars Odyssey)
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Gamma Ray Specrometry GRS and Neutron Detectors
(Mars Odyssey)
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Thermal Imaging THEMIS (Mars Odyssey) TES (MGS)
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LAZER Altimeters MOLA on Mars Clobal Surveyor
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Image Analysis
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Current Knowledge about Wateron Mars

• Frozen in polar ice caps
• Ice cloud also present at poles
• Pressure too low on surface for liquid water
• There may be large quantities of ice below
  surface
• Evidence of large quantities of water in the past

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Ice Under the Surface
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Seepage and Surface Runoff
On Mars
From near Mt. St. Helens after 1980 Eruption
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Lava and Water Rootless Cones
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Lava and Water Fissures and Floods
Fissures
Streamlined Mesas
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Precense of Hematite
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Sediment Deposits
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Possible Ocean?
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Nuclear Magnetic Resonance....

• Structure and quantity determination of species
• Geological studies
• Flow Measurements

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Principles of NMR

• When protons are placed inside a magnetic field
  Bo, their magnetic moment aligns either in the
  direction of the field or in the opposite
  direction, with spin up (lower energy level)
  being favored.
• When electromagnetic radiation of frequency ?o is
  absorbed, transitions from the lower to the
  higher energy level can occur (resonance
  condition).

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Principles of MRI

• The resonance frequency of a spin is
  proportional to the magnetic field it is
  experiencing.
• ? ?Bo
• A correlation between spatial position of
  a spin and its resonant frequency is established
  when a sample is placed in magnetic field
  gradient
• ? ?(BoGxx)

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Traditional NMR/MRI
Oh my! This is a big magnet.
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Ex-situ sensor ?

• It is much smaller, cheaper and portable!
• The sample doesnt have to be inserted to the
  magnet

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END
Now Just Give me the money!!