New findings from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover could provide an answer to the mystery of what happened to the planet’s ancient atmosphere and how Mars has evolved over time.

Researchers have long believed that Mars once had a thick, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere and liquid water on the planet’s surface. That carbon dioxide and water should have reacted with Martian rocks to create carbonate minerals. Until now, though, rover missions and near-infrared spectroscopy analysis from Mars-orbiting satellites haven’t found the amounts of carbonate on the planet’s surface predicted by this theory.

Reported in an April paper in Science, data from three of Curiosity’s drill sites revealed the presence of siderite, an iron carbonate mineral, within the sulfate-rich rocky layers of Mount Sharp in Mars’ Gale Crater.

“The discovery of abundant siderite in Gale Crater represents both a surprising and important breakthrough in our understanding of the geologic and atmospheric evolution of Mars,” said Benjamin Tutolo, associate professor at the University of Calgary, Canada, and lead author of the paper.

To study the Red Planet’s chemical and mineral makeup, Curiosity drills three to four centimeters down into the subsurface, then drops the powdered rock samples into its CheMin instrument. The instrument, led by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, uses X-ray diffraction to analyze rocks and soil. CheMin’s data was processed and analyzed by scientists at the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“Drilling through the layered Martian surface is like going through a history book,” said Thomas Bristow, research scientist at NASA Ames and coauthor of the paper. “Just a few centimeters down gives us a good idea of the minerals that formed at or close to the surface around 3.5 billion years ago.”

The discovery of this carbonate mineral in rocks beneath the surface suggests that carbonate may be masked by other minerals in near-infrared satellite analysis. If other sulfate-rich layers across Mars also contain carbonates, the amount of stored carbon dioxide would be a fraction of that needed in the ancient atmosphere to create conditions warm enough to support liquid water. The rest could be hidden in other deposits or have been lost to space over time.

In the future, missions or analyses of other sulfate-rich areas on Mars could confirm these findings and help us better understand the planet’s early history and how it transformed as its atmosphere was lost.

Curiosity, part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program (MEP) portfolio, was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information on Curiosity, visit: 

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity

News Media Contacts 

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser 
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov 

Andrew Good 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

As NASA prepares to send astronauts to the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, research, testing, and development at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley has played a critical role.

Recently, Ames welcomed Artemis II astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover and Orion leaders Debbie Korth, deputy program manager, and Luis Saucedo, deputy crew and service module manager, to tour Ames facilities that support the Orion Program and celebrate the achievements of employees.

The group started their visit at the Arc Jet Complex, where researchers use extremely hot, high-speed gases to simulate the intense heat of atmospheric reentry before visiting the Sensors & Thermal Protection Systems Advanced Research Laboratories. The team works to develop sensors and flight instrumentation that measure heat shield response throughout a mission.

These systems were used to develop and test Orion’s thermal protection system to ensure the safety of astronauts during future missions. After the successful return of the Artemis I Orion spacecraft, Ames research was essential when analyzing unexpected charring loss on the heat shield.

The visit culminated in an award ceremony to honor employees with outstanding performance and a legacy of service to the Orion Program. Thirty-two employees were honored for their individual or team contributions.

“The Ames workforce has played an important role in developing, testing, and validating the Orion spacecraft’s thermal protection system as well as supporting its software and guidance, navigation, and control,” said Eugene Tu, NASA Ames center director. “I’m pleased to see their contributions recognized and celebrated by program leadership and two of the astronauts whose safety and success were in mind when ensuring these systems are safe, reliable, and the highest quality possible.”

As missions to low Earth orbit become more frequent, space traffic coordination remains a key element to efficiently operating in space. Different satellite operators using autonomous systems need to operate together and manage increasing workloads. NASA’s Starling spacecraft swarm recently tested a coordination with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, demonstrating a potential solution to enhance space traffic coordination.

Led by the Small Spacecraft Technology program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Starling originally set out to demonstrate autonomous planning and execution of orbital maneuvers with the mission’s four small spacecraft. After achieving its primary objectives, the Starling mission expanded to become Starling 1.5, an experiment to demonstrate maneuvers between the Starling swarm and SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, which also maneuver autonomously.

Coordination in Low Earth Orbit

Current space traffic coordination systems screen trajectories of spacecraft and objects in space and alert operators on the ground of potential conjunctions, which occur when two objects exceed an operator’s tolerance for a close approach along their orbital paths. Spacecraft operators can request notification at a range of probabilities, often anywhere from a 1 in 10,000 likelihood of a collision to 1 in 1,000,000 or lower.

Conjunction mitigation between satellite operators requires manual coordination through calls or emails on the ground. An operator may receive a notification for a number of reasons including recently maneuvering their satellite, nearby space debris, or if another satellite adjusts its orbit.

Once an operator is aware of a potential conjunction, they must work together with other operators to reduce the probability of a collision. This can result in time-consuming calls or emails between ground operations teams with different approaches to safe operations. It also means maneuvers may require several days to plan and implement. This timeline can be challenging for missions that require quick adjustments to capture important data.

“Occasionally, we’ll do a maneuver that we find out wasn’t necessary if we could have waited before making a decision. Sometimes you can’t wait three days to reposition and observe. Being able to react within a few hours can make new satellite observations possible,” said Nathan Benz, project manager of Starling 1.5 at NASA Ames.

Improving Coordination for Autonomous Maneuvering

The first step in improving coordination was to develop a reliable way to signal maneuver responsibility between operators. “Usually, SpaceX takes the responsibility to move out of the way when another operator shares their predicted trajectory information,” said Benz.

SpaceX and NASA collaborated to design a conjunction screening service, which SpaceX then implemented. Satellite operators can submit trajectories and receive conjunction data quickly, then accept responsibility to maneuver away from a potential conjunction.

“For this experiment, NASA’s Starling accepted responsibility to move using the screening service, successfully tested our system’s performance, then autonomously planned and executed the maneuver for the NASA Starling satellite, resolving a close approach with a Starlink satellite,” said Benz.

Through NASA’s Starling 1.5 experiment, the agency helped validate SpaceX’s Starlink screening service. The Office of Space Commerce within the U.S. Department of Commerce also worked with SpaceX to understand and assess the Starlink screening service.

Quicker Response to Changes on Earth

The time it takes to plan maneuvers in today’s orbital traffic environment limits the number of satellites a human operator can manage and their ability to collect data or serve customers.

“A fully automated system that is flexible and adaptable between satellite constellations is ideal for an environment of multiple satellite operators, all of whom have differing criteria for mitigating collision risks,” said Lauri Newman, program officer for NASA’s Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.

Reducing the time necessary to plan maneuvers could open up a new class of missions, where quick responses to changes in space or on Earth’s surface are possible. Satellites capable of making quicker movements could adjust their orbital position to capture a natural disaster from above, or respond to one swarm member’s interesting observations, moving to provide a more thorough look.

“With improved access and use of low Earth orbit and the necessity to provide a more advanced space traffic coordination system, Starling 1.5 is providing critical data.  Starling 1.5 is the result of a successful partnership between NASA, the Department of Commerce, and SpaceX, maturing technology to solve such challenges,” said Roger Hunter, program manager of the Small Spacecraft Technology program. “We look forward to the sustained impact of the Starling technologies as they continue demonstrating advancements in spacecraft coordination, cooperation, and autonomy.”    

NASA Ames leads the Starling projects. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate funds and manages the Starling mission. 

Imagine your car is in conversation with other traffic and road signals as you travel. Those conversations help your car anticipate actions you can’t see: the sudden slowing of a truck as it begins to turn ahead of you, or an obscured traffic signal turning red. Meanwhile, this system has plotted a course that will drive you toward a station to recharge or refuel, while a conversation with a weather service prepares your windshield wipers and brakes for the rain ahead.

This trip requires a lot of communication among systems from companies, government agencies, and organizations. How might these different entities – each with their own proprietary technology – share data safely in real time to make your trip safe, efficient, and enjoyable?

Technologists at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley created a framework called Data & Reasoning Fabric (DRF), a set of software infrastructure, tools, protocols, governance, and policies that allow safe, secure data sharing and logical prediction-making across different operators and machines. Originally developed with a focus on providing autonomous aviation drones with decision-making capabilities, DRF is now being explored for other applications.

This means that one day, DRF-informed technology could allow your car to receive traffic data safely and securely from nearby stoplights and share data with other vehicles on the road. In this scenario, DRF is the choreographer of a complex dance of moving objects, ensuring each moves seamlessly in relation to one another towards a shared goal. The system is designed to create an integrated environment, combining data from systems that would otherwise be unable to interact with each other.

“DRF is built to be used behind the scenes,” said David Alfano, chief of the Intelligent Systems Division at Ames. “Companies are developing autonomous technology, but their systems aren’t designed to work with technology from competitors. The DRF technology bridges that gap, organizing these systems to work together in harmony.”

Traffic enhancements are just one use case for this innovative system. The technology could enhance how we use autonomy to support human needs on Earth, in the air, and even on the Moon.

Supporting Complex Logistics

To illustrate the technology’s impact, the DRF team worked with the city of Phoenix on an aviation solution to improve transportation of critical medical supplies from urban areas out to rural communities with limited access to these resources. An autonomous system identified where supplies were needed and directed a drone to pick up and transport supplies quickly and safely.

“All the pieces need to come together, which takes a lot of effort. The DRF technology provides a framework where suppliers, medical centers, and drone operators can work together efficiently,” said Moustafa Abdelbaky, senior computer scientist at Ames. “The goal isn’t to remove human involvement, but help humans achieve more.”

The DRF technology is part of a larger effort at Ames to develop concepts that enable autonomous operations while integrating them into the public and commercial sector to create safer, efficient environments.

“At NASA, we’re always learning something. There’s a silver lining when one project ends, you can identify a new lesson learned, a new application, or a new economic opportunity to continue and scale that work,” said Supreet Kaur, lead systems engineer at Ames. “And because we leverage all of the knowledge we’ve gained through these experiments, we are able to make future research more robust.”

Choreographed Autonomy

Industries like modern mining involve a variety of autonomous and advanced vehicles and machinery, but these systems face the challenge of communicating sufficiently to operate in the same area. The DRF technology’s “choreography” might help them work together, improving efficiency. Researchers met with a commercial mining company to learn what issues they struggle with when using autonomous equipment to identify where DRF might provide future solutions.

“If an autonomous drill is developed by one company, but the haul trucks are developed by another, those two machines are dancing to two different sets of music. Right now, they need to be kept apart manually for safety,” said Johnathan Stock, chief scientist for innovation at the Ames Intelligent Systems Division. “The DRF technology can harmonize their autonomous work so these mining companies can use autonomy across the board to create a safer, more effective enterprise.”

Further testing of DRF on equipment like those used in mines could be done at the NASA Ames Roverscape, a surface that includes obstacles such as slopes and rocks, where DRF’s choreography could be put to the test.

Stock also envisions DRF improving operations on the Moon. Autonomous vehicles could transport materials, drill, and excavate, while launch vehicles come and go. These operations will likely include systems from different companies or industries and could be choreographed by DRF.

As autonomous systems and technologies increase across markets, on Earth, in orbit, and on the Moon, DRF researchers are ready to step on the dance floor to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“When everyone’s dancing to the same tune, things run seamlessly, and more is possible.”