November 30, 2019

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Will Hunt for Microscopic Fossils (Source: Astrobiology)
A paper published today in the journal Icarus identifies distinct deposits of minerals called carbonates along the inner rim of Jezero, the site of a lake more than 3.5 billion years ago. On Earth, carbonates help form structures that are hardy enough to survive in fossil form for billions of years, including seashells, coral and some stromatolites – rocks formed on this planet by ancient microbial life along ancient shorelines, where sunlight and water were plentiful.

The possibility of stromatolite-like structures existing on Mars is why the concentration of carbonates tracing Jezero’s shoreline like a bathtub ring makes the area a prime scientific hunting ground.

Mars 2020 is NASA’s next-generation mission with a focus on astrobiology, or the study of life throughout the universe. Equipped with a new suite of scientific instruments, it aims to build on the discoveries of NASA’s Curiosity, which found that parts of Mars could have supported microbial life billions of years ago. Mars 2020 will search for actual signs of past microbial life, taking rock core samples that will be deposited in metal tubes on the Martian surface. Future missions could return these samples to Earth for deeper study. (11/27)

Firefly Aerospace Announces DREAM Payload Participants (Source: Firefly)
Firefly Aerospace's Dedicated Research and Education Accelerator Mission (DREAM) is a global competition to host academic and educational payloads as rideshare participants on the inaugural flight of the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle. Payloads have been selected to fly on Alpha's maiden flight to support and stimulate STEM on a global basis.  There are 26 DREAM payloads representing 7 different countries. At least two were from Florida principal investigators, including CD SEAS Mission Microgravity, and a payload by Embry-Riddle's Spaceflight Sciences Policy and Operation Club. (11/19)

New KSC Launch Communications Anntennas Empower Artemis (Source: Space Daily)
As Artemis astronauts lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, new ground systems will provide them with the communications links needed to ensure safety and mission success. On Robert H. Goddard Road at Kennedy, a small dome housing a 20-foot antenna rises from the surrounding wetlands. This new ground station is the Kennedy Uplink Station, one of three that comprise the Near Earth Network's Launch Communications Segment, managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The station is a product of interagency and inter-center collaboration that improves efficiencies, reduces costs and will enable NASA's Artemis missions to the Moon. (11/28)