July 9

Jessica Marquez, NASA Ames Research Center

People and Automation: Implications for Long Duration Lunar and Planetary Exploration

Future long duration lunar and planetary missions will require that astronauts leverage automated systems to a far greater extent than has ever been experienced. Dr. Jessica Marquez will outline the latest research on automated mobility systems that future astronauts will need and potential pitfalls that may be encountered if too much automation is used.

poster

July 16

Eli Silver, UC Santa Cruz, Earth and Planetary Sciences

Creation and Destruction of Continental Crust at Subduction Zones

Dr. Eli Silver of UC Santa Cruz will outline some of the latest research on plate tectonics. Presently, continental crust is being created in subduction zone settings (sites where tectonic plates converge) such as the Aleutians and Sumatra, due to both magmatic addition to the crust and to tectonic off-scraping. Other subduction zones (Central America, Tonga, Mariana, Peru, northern Chile, northern Japan, Kuriles) are undergoing crustal destruction through the process of subduction erosion. Global estimates indicate thmagmatic addition plus sediment accretion slightly exceeds the combined rates of subductionat erosion and sediment subduction, leaving the Earth slightly positive in terms of the growth of continental crust.

July 23

No seminar due to free NASA Ames Lunar Institute Conference

July 30

Josh Emery, SETI Institute

Spitzer Thermal Emission Spectra of Asteroids: Implications for the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems

The Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on Spitzer has observed more than 120 asteroids, several Centaurs and Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), and satellites of the giant planets. As capabilities continue to improve, direct observations of small body populations in other systems and inter-comparisons between systems will foster significant insights into the formation and evolution of planetary systems. In this talk, Josh will present an overview of the IRS observations of small Solar System bodies, with a few representative objects highlighted for detailed discussion.

Aug. 6

Alfonso F. Davila, NASA Ames Space Sciences Postdoctoral Researcher

Life in a cold and dry planet - Lessons for the Phoenix Mission

The Atacama Desert (Chile) ranks as the driest desert on Earth, and is considered a good analog to the extremely arid conditions on Mars. Alfonso will show how photosynthetic bacteria in the hyper-arid core of the Atacama are almost exclusively found within hygroscopic salts, which favor the condensation of water at relative humidity levels that otherwise hinder the occurrence of liquid water on the surface. The resulting saturated solutions are challenging to life, but the habitability of some salts is enhanced at temperatures close to the eutectic. Hygroscopic minerals provide one of the last habitable niches when liquid water is no longer stable or possible, on the surface of a planet that transitions into extreme hyper-aridity and freezing temperatures. Life in dry and cold planets will likely follow similar survival strategies and adaptations

Aug. 27

Professor Lynn Cominsky, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sonoma State University

Exploring the Extreme Universe with GLAST

NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission was launched into orbit on June 11, 2008. GLAST's mission is to explore the most energetic and exotic objects in the cosmos: blazing galaxies, intense stellar explosions and super-massive black holes. All the instruments on board are working well, and details of the hardware for Large Area Telescope and the GLAST Burst Monitor are described, along with opportunities for ground-based astronomers to get involved with GLAST. Professor Cominsky will present the first exciting results from the mission.

Oct. 8

Greg Laughlin, UC Santa Cruz

The Galactic Planetary Census

During the past decade, over three hundred planets have been discovered orbiting stars beyond the Sun. The catalog of planets is rapidly pushing down to ever-lower masses, and the discovery of potentially habitable planets is likely no more than a year or two away. In this talk, Greg will focus on how the emerging and distinct population of "Super Earth" type planets is giving an advance indication of both the frequency of occurrence and the mechanisms of formation for terrestrial-mass planets in the local galactic neighborhood.

Oct. 29

Richard Muller, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, UC Berkeley

Discovery of Strong Cycles in Fossil Diversity

Richard Muller and his collaborators have recently analyzed the most complete record of marine animal fossils ever compiled, the "Compendium" of Jack Sepkoski, which lists all known fossil marine animal genera back 542 million years. When the fossil diversity (number of distinct genera) is plotted, it shows a very strong 62 Myr cycle. The cycle is particularly evident in the species that endured for relatively short times, as shown in the diagram below (published in Nature, vol 434, 208-210, 10 March 2005).