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NRAO/Socorro Colloquium Series

 Roger Wiens

 LANL

 Exploring Mars with Curiosity



Abstract  


Since 2012 the 1-ton Curiosity rover, with its 10 instruments, has been exploring Gale crater near Mars’ equator. Shortly after landing, the rover team discovered evidence of an ancient streambed. Upon further exploration we now understand that Gale crater was once a large, habitable lake. During the rover’s 9-km traverse we have observed periodic releases of methane from an unknown source and we have sought to understand evidence for highly variable levels of paleo-groundwater oxidation.

Given the venue at the NRAO I will preface the talk with a few words about determining the solar isotopic composition with the Genesis mission, and the window it gives us into the evolution of the solar nebula



February 20, 2015

11:00 am

Array Operations Center Auditorium

All NRAO employees are invited to attend via video, available in Charlottesville Auditorium, Green Bank Auditorium, and VLA Video Conference Room.

Local Host:  Laura Perez

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