Working Group Reports and Presentations: Mars Settlement and Society

The long-term implications of space exploration must be considered early in the process. With this in mind, the Mars Settlement and Society Group focused on five key areas: Philosophical Framework, Community Infrastructure and Government, Creating Stakeholders, Human Subsystems, and Habitat Design. The team proposes long and short term goals to support getting to and then staying long-term on Mars. All objectives shared the theme that they should engage, inspire, and educate the public with the intent of fostering stakeholders in the exploration of Mars. The objectives of long-term settlement on Mars should not neglect group dynamics, issues of reproduction, and a strong philosophical framework for the establishment of a society

Radiation Shielding System Using a Composite of Carbon Nanotubes Loaded with Electropolymers

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) coated with a hydrogen-rich, electrically conducting polymer such as polyethylene, receive and dissipate a portion of incoming radiation pulse energy to electrical signals that are transmitted along the CNT axes, and are received at energy-dissipating terminals. In this innovation, an array of highly aligned nanowires is grown using a strong electric field or another suitable orientation procedure. Polyethylene (PE), polymethymlethacrylate (PMMA), or other electrically conducting polymer is spin-coated onto the SWCNTs with an average thickness of a few hundred nanometers to a few tenths of micrometers to form a PE/SWCNT composite. Alternatively, the polymer is spin-coated onto the nanowire array or an anodized alumina membrane (AAM) to form a PE/metal core shell structure, or PE can be electropolymerized using the SWCNTs or the metal nanowires as an electrode to form a PE/SWCNT core shell structure. The core shell structures can be extruded as anisotropic fibers. A monomer can be polymerized in the presence of SWCNTs to form highly cross-linked PE/SWCNT films. Alternatively, Pb colloid solution can be impregnated into a three-dimensional PE/SWCNT nanostructure to form a PW/SWCNT/Pb composite structure. A face-centered cubic (FCC) arrangement provides up to 12 interconnection channels connected to each core, with transverse channel dimensions up to 20 nm, with adequate mechanical compressive strength, and with an associated electrical conductivity of around 3 Seimens/cm for currents ranging from 0.01 to 10 mA. This threedimensional nanostructure is used as a host material to house appropriate radiation shielding material such as hydrogen- rich polymer/CNT structures, metal nanoparticles, and nanowires. Thicknesses of this material required to attenuate 10 percent, 50 percent, and 90 percent of an incident beam (gamma, X-ray, ultraviolet, neutron, proton, and electron) at energies in the range of 0 440 MeV are being determined, for example, by measuring fluence rate reduction. For example, a radiation field arrives first at an exposed surface of the innovation and produces an associated first electric field within the metal-like fingers of the three-dimensional nanostructure. This field is intensified near the exposed tips of the fingers, and this intensified field generates an intensified second electric field near the adjacent exposed tips of the coated CNSs. This generates an associated electrical current in the CNSs, and the associated electropolymer coating. The current is received by the second substrate transport component and is transported to the dissipation mechanism located contiguously to the second substrate

Nottingham on film: part 1 & 2

Nottingham on Film, written, produced and edited by filmmaker Andy McKay pieces together rarely seen and newly restored films of the city of Nottingham from 1920 to 1980, arranging these hidden gems into ten themes so the viewer can choose how to make their exploration of twentieth century Nottingham. Known as “The Queen of the Midlands”, Nottingham is an ancient city with a rich cultural and industrial history. The twentieth century saw rapid change for Nottingham, in the market square - the largest in England outside the capital and scene of many civic celebrations, in industry and transport, as well as in everyday life - and the new medium of film was there to record this change. Among the rarely seen films, all preserved by MACE, are scenes of enjoyment at the Goose Fair, coronation celebrations, life on the shop floor in knitwear, lace, bicycle and tobacco manufacture, trade on the River Trent and a wealth of news reports from ITV’s regional news magazine programme, ATV Today. These include the opening of Nottingham Playhouse and building work of the ‘new’ Victoria Centre in 1964

Protecting and Expanding the Richness and Diversity of Life, An Ethic for Astrobiology Research and Space Exploration

The ongoing search for life on other worlds and the prospects of eventual human exploration of the Moon and Mars indicate the need for new ethical guidelines to direct our actions as we search and how we respond if we discover microbial life on other worlds. Here we review how life on other worlds presents a novel question in environmental ethics. We propose a principle of protecting and expanding the richness and diversity of life as the basis of an ethic for astrobiology research and space exploration. There are immediate implications for the operational policies governing how we conduct the search for life on Mars and how we plan for human exploration throughout the Solar System

The Search for a Second Genesis Life on Other Worlds in Our Solar System

No abstract availabl

Life on Mars: Past, Present, and Future

Mars has evidence for past liquid water, presence of an atmosphere with CO2 and N2, and potential for preservation of evidence of life. Composition of the Martian atmosphere is 95.3% Carbon dioxide, 2.7% Nitrogen, 1.6% Argon, 0.3-0.1% Water Vapor, 0.13% Oxygen, and 0.07% Carbon Monoxide. Current Mars missions include: Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Express, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Enceladus: Biosignatures

Saturn's moon Enceladus is a new world for Astrobiology. Through the study of Enceladus' plumes new insights into its habitability will be gained. The four core parameters for life include: water, carbon, nitrogen, and energy; all were found in the plume. Carbon and nitrogen in the plume exist in forms easily usable by biological systems (CH4, HCN, NH3, H2, CO2, and organics up to C6). The first step to search for evidence of life is to define potential biosignatures for Enceladus

Maternal folate depletion during early development and high fat feeding from weaning elicit similar changes in gene expression, but not in DNA methylation, in adult offspring

Scope: The ‘Predictive Adaptive Response’ hypothesis suggests that the in utero environment when mismatched with the post-natal environment can influence later life health. Underlying mechanisms are poorly understood, but may involve gene transcription changes regulated via epigenetic mechanisms. Methods and results: In a 2 × 2 factorial design, female C57Bl/6 mice were randomised to low or normal folate diets (0.4 mg/2 mg folic acid/kg diet) prior to and during pregnancy and lactation with offspring randomised to high- or low-fat diets at weaning. Genome-wide gene expression and promoter DNA methylation were measured using microarrays in adult male livers. Maternal folate depletion and high fat intake post-weaning influenced gene expression (1859 and 1532 genes, respectively) and promoter DNA methylation (201 and 324 loci, respectively) but changes in expression and methylation were poorly matched for both dietary interventions. Expression of 642 genes was altered in response to both maternal folate depletion and post-weaning high fat feeding, treatments imposed separately. In addition, there was evidence that the combined dietary insult (i.e. maternal folate depletion followed by high fat post-weaning) caused the largest expression change for most genes. Conclusion: Our observations align with, and provide evidence in support of, a potential underlying mechanism for the ‘Predictive Adaptive Response’ hypothesis

What Is Life—and How Do We Search for It in Other Worlds?

If there is life on distant worlds, how would we go about finding it