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Sunday, January 31st, 2010

PLRP Meets ISRU

by Bekah Shepard

Aloha! That’s right – PLRP is visiting Hawaii! To be more specific, Allyson and myself have journeyed to the Big Island to take part in another exploration analogue test – the In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Test. ISRU is just a fancy way of saying “using the resources that are in place”, but in this case, we mean resources that are “in place” on the Moon or Mars. Some of the major goals of planetary exploration are sample return (bringing samples from other planets to Earth) and human exploration. Both of these ventures will require lots of fuel, and in the case of human exploration, plenty of oxygen and water. To send enough of these resources to the Moon or another planet would be incredibly expensive, and might even take several trips! Therefore, learning to use resources “in place” to generate fuel, oxygen, and water will be a great help to planetary exploration!

“But what are you Pavilion Lake researchers doing at an ISRU field test?” I hear you cry. It is true that our main focus at Pavilion Lake is the scientific exploration of the lake and its microbialites. However, as our project has grown and the exploration has become more complicated (submersibles, AUV’s, complicated communications, LOTS of people working to support the science) we realized that it can sometimes be challenging to keep the science as the top priority! In our struggles to do science as effectively and successfully as we can, we realized that developing metrics (tools for evaluating how successful we are at doing research) was surprisingly helpful!

ISRU-tent

Our tent at ISRU-Hawaii. Yes, this really is Hawaii.

We have since gone on to collaborate with folks developing the next generation Lunar Rover, and have applied our metrics to their Desert RATs analogue test site in Arizona. (Check out the NASA analogue site for more information about RATs: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/analogs/). That collaboration has continued, and when the opportunity arose to test our metrics in yet another analogue setting, we jumped at the chance! Why? The balance between science, engineering, and operations in different in each of these analogue field tests, and that difference helps us to hone our metrics. We are gaining a better and better understanding of how science functions in each of these types of analogues, and that helps us all to become better exploration scientists.

Stay tuned for next time when Allyson and Bekah say “Hey! This is Hawaii! Where are all the beaches and palm trees!?!

- Bekah

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Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Mobile Command: Communications at Pavilion Lake

by Mike Downs

KSC’s Mobile Mission Control Center (MMCC) left Kennedy Space Center for its cross continent trip to Pavilion Lake on Friday, June 26th. It will arrive at the lake on July 4th, along with the KSC communications team including myself, Bill Dearing, and Marc Seibert.

On board the trailer is all of the communications and logistics gear to support the Pavilion Lake project this year. If you have been to the lake before, you know that its location does not lend itself to good communication. There is no cell phone coverage (nearest is 30-45 minute drive away), and no Starbucks on every corner for free Wi-Fi access.

KSC's Mobile Mission Control Center

KSC's Mobile Mission Control Center

The KSC communications team will be changing all of that. We will be setting up a wireless hot spot zone that will cover the entire lake, including voice communications with the submarines. The test team should be able to be online sending reports over the internet and talking to other scientists and researchers from around the world over many of the VoIP phone circuits we are bringing to the lake.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with last minute testing of gear, packing the MMCC trailer, as well as some extra juggling around of the trailer for a open house at the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) launch party in the rocket garden at the KSC Visitor Center. The MMCC trailer is beginning the 2009 NASA Analog season with its trip to Pavilion Lake. After PLRP, it will leave for Johnson Space Center in Texas to support dry-run activities in preparation for the September Desert Rats outing at the Black Point Lava Flow in Arizona.

I’m looking forward to visiting Pavilion Lake for my first field season, and especially excited to lend support to the DeepWorker submersible operations. By enabling better communication, the team will be able to achieve more science goals while at the lake than was ever possible in the past.

~Mike Downs

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Monday, June 29th, 2009

Learning the Molecular Alphabet: DNA/RNA analysis at Pavilion Lake

by Zena Cardman

I am an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina, and this year I’ll be collecting microbialite samples, to figure out how the microscopic species living on the microbialites vary throughout the lake. Currently I’m working in a lab in the Department of Marine Science at UNC with Andreas Teske and Jen Biddle, where I study the genetic diversity of microbes living around a deep-sea hydrothermal vent site near Guaymas, Mexico. Even though Pavilion Lake is a very different environment, I’ll be using many of the same techniques to study the microbial life in Pavilion Lake as I do to study the microbes living in mud almost 3,000 meters below the surface of the ocean.

My background is in molecular biology, so to study the diversity of the microbialites’ microbes, Jen and I will extract their DNA and RNA, and then determine the sequences of particular genes that they code for. If you need a quick crash course in molecular biology: DNA is a molecule made up of four different types of subunits (called A, T, G and C for short), which are repeated and reordered to form a long chain. The particular order of these subunits stores the genetic information for all life forms, much like different combinations of letters spell out different words. Genes that are “switched on” write the words that code for RNA, a molecule which in turn gets translated into proteins. By looking at the differences between these sequences, we can gain some insight into what types of organisms they are, and how closely related they are. It would be very cool if we find differences in the microbes associated with different types of microbialites!

The DNA and RNA of a biological sample degrade quickly, so you have to preserve it if you want to be able to study it back home in your lab. Often samples are frozen at –80 degrees, or in liquid Nitrogen, in order to preserve their genetic information for future analysis. But it can be difficult to freeze samples like this, and safely ship them back to your lab when you are out doing field research. Instead, I’ll be using a salty solution to preserve the RNA in the microbialite samples I take. Field work is a fun challenge, because you have to be so prepared ahead of time! Everyone with the Pavilion Lake Research Project has been working hard for months already to make sure we’re ready for anything at the lake.

While there is barely a week left I leave for Pavilion Lake, I’m currently attending a course on astrobiology in Spain. The students are all young (mostly in graduate school, or recent PhDs), and it’s wonderful to witness the beginnings of collaborations between young scientists. I think astrobiology is especially conducive to collaboration, because it’s so interdisciplinary, and field projects like PLRP are no exception.

I can’t wait to see everyone at Pavilion Lake!

~Zena

Zena behind a mammoth-sized stack of clone libraries

Zena behind a mammoth-sized stack of clone libraries

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Thursday, June 25th, 2009

UBC-Gavia: The (Un)Common Loon in the Lake

by Andrew Hamilton

Behold the Common Loon. The Great Northern Diver. Scientific name Gavia immer. The bird that lent its image and name to the one dollar coin, the “loonie”.

The Common Loon, Gavia immer

The Common Loon, Gavia immer

Well, there’s a new loon in town, and this one is not very common. UBC-Gavia, the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) named after the Common Loon, is the robot that will be diving beneath the surface of Pavilion Lake this summer. As one of only a handful of Gavia-class AUVs in the world, and one of only two in Canada, seeing this uncommon loon is a rare and special sight in Canadian lakes.

This year we are particularly excited to have Dr. Art Trembanis joining the project who will be bringing some very high-tech toys with him from the University of Delaware. Dr. Trembanis may have an uncommon name (apparently he is one of only 6 Trembanis’ in the world – the other 5 being his immediate family) but he’s certainly no loon. Art is the happy owner of another Gavia AUV that is equipped with an inertial navigation system (INS), the navigation instrument found on commercial airliners. This allows his Gavia to fly with unprecedented location accuracy and precision underwater. Due to the interchangeable modules on the Gavia AUVs, this also means he can bring the INS module with him to attach to UBC-Gavia for the Pavilion Lake project to collect high-resolution spatially referenced data. It is also an excellent idea when there are multiple submersibles flying around the lake at the same time (UBC-Gavia and the Deepworkers) to know precisely where each one is. Avoiding an unplanned underwater encounter is priority one!

Four uncommon loons. Doug Miller, Andrew Hamilton and Art Trembanis with the University of Delaware's Gavia AUV

Four uncommon loons. Doug Miller, Andrew Hamilton and Art Trembanis with the University of Delaware's Gavia AUV

One of the goals of Gavia at Pavilion is to help us track the flow of groundwater inputs into the lake. There are several springs that flow into the lake underwater and depending on the chemistry of this groundwater these springs may play a role in microbialite formation. We expect the groundwater may be more saline and dense than the lake water and so will creep along the bottom from its sources to the deepest part of the lake. Flying UBC-Gavia in precise bottom tracking mode, equipped with the INS, will help us focus in on the path of the groundwater and allow us to send the Deepworkers in for a closer inspection.

Another exciting first for this field season is that we hope to test a water sampler prototype designed by three undergraduate engineering students at UBC. Gabriel Hamilton, Jadon Harrison and Mark Mosher, designed and built an independent bottle system that attaches to the the outside of UBC-Gavia. This will allow us to collect small water samples at depth during the mission and return them to the surface for analysis. The team has successfully tested the sampling system independently, now we want to put it through its paces in the field on UBC-Gavia. A robust and functional water sampler attached to the AUV would permit the collection of samples from locations that may otherwise be inaccessible and expand UBC-Gavia’s capabilities for biological analysis (as a molecular oceanographer this is very exciting to me!). The team of undergrads will be giving us a demonstration of their water sampler this evening, so we’re looking forward to seeing it in action.

So if you happen to be at Pavilion Lake during the first two weeks of July, watch for the rare uncommon loon diving under the water. It will be followed closely at the surface by a more common loonie (yours truly) in a zodiac (although I think it’ll be a while before my image makes it onto a coin!).

Cheers,

Andrew

An uncommon loon on the beach. Art's Gavia AUV staying cool in Delaware

An uncommon loon on the beach. Art's Gavia AUV staying cool in Delaware

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Piloting DeepWorker: not your everyday commute!

by Allyson Brady

As the field season draws closer, I think about how lucky I am to be part of the Pavilion Lake project and of all the amazing people and activities that are part of my research. This year will be my second time driving the submersibles at Pavilion and I can’t wait! It’s hard to believe that already a year has gone by since the last field season. We’ve been so busy prepping for the science and how we’re going to use the subs this year that I feel the need to stop and remember what a unique opportunity this is and how much fun it is to actually drive the DeepWorkers! Everything from launch, to navigating our flights plans, and to recovery is done with the support of an amazing team of people that allows the pilots to focus on the science and of course, on our driving!

Driving the submersible is in some ways similar to driving a car, but we usually describe how the subs move through the water as ‘flying’, because you are moving in three dimensions like the pilot of an aircraft. Most of the power and control over speed comes from your feet and foot pedals that let you move forward and back, but they also allow you to move up and down at the same time. Of course, learning to steer with your feet rather than a steering wheel is a different story. One little twist of the foot is all it takes to start heading in a new direction. That is, unless you have small feet like me and then it’s a big twist of the foot before you go anywhere! Fortunately I have comfy slippers that help fill the foot pedals and keep my feet toasty warm in chilly depths of the lake. It can definitely get cold down at the bottom of the lake (about 4 ºC) so wearing several layers of warm clothing is a must if you want to stay comfortable. Unfortunately, sweatshirts are not too much fun when you’re waiting on deck in the middle of hot July day but they’re definitely worth it once you’re in the water. I’d also recommend a hearty breakfast before launch as it’s hard to find good snacks at 200 ft. Our missions tend to run around 2 hours and despite the fact that it may sound like a long time, it’s amazing how quickly time flies. In addition to keeping our eyes open for interesting microbialites or other intriguing finds, we also have to keep track of our navigation, video recording, life support and maintain a narration of the environment around us. But it’s very easy to simply get caught up in the wonder of being surrounded by fields of microbialites.

We really are lucky to have the opportunity to explore such a unique and interesting environment. There are so many exciting things to see that I’m always disappointed when the dive is over and it’s time to return to the surface. So with only two more weeks to go, my slippers are packed and I’m ready to fly!

~ Allyson

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Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Focusing on the details: 2009 DeepWorker Science Goals

by Margarita Marinova

Submersible tracks from the 2008 field season. Satellite image from Google Earth.

Submersible tracks from the 2008 field season. Satellite image from Google Earth.

As the field season nears, and everyone is busy finishing up all those details necessary to make our time in the field run smoothly, it’s important to refocus on our science goals for this year.

To quickly recap last year’s field season : our science pilots managed to explore most of the lake, giving a wealth of video footage and personal observations for the entire science team to analyze during the past year. You can see just how much of the lake we covered last year from all the submarine tracks! For the 2009 field season we have two main goals: to finish exploring some of the areas that we didn’t reach last year (you never know what’s hiding in the dark!); and to explore in detail the areas that we found to be particularly fascinating from our analysis of the 2008 data.

Following-up on the extensive exploration from last year, we are turning our attention to understanding some of the already identified features and trends, and using these to answer some big questions. In the lake we find microbialite structures that vary in shape and size. Some lake bottom areas are covered with the microbialites, while others have just sediment, or algae, or rocks from landslides. So why is there such a variation in what we find in the lake? How do the microbialites form? What sets their shape, their size, their distribution? And what can they tell us about the preservation of biosignatures – the fossils of microorganisms? These are hard questions that geobiologists have been trying to answer for decades, and we think that studying Pavilion Lake will contribute to the understanding of microbialites throughout Earth’s history. To tackle these questions, this field season we will be using the DeepWorkers to get detailed imaging and data at previously identified areas of interest.

Microbialite structures among the chara (algae). Are the microbialites using the chara as a base to grow on?

Microbialite structures among the chara (algae). Are the microbialites using the chara as a base to grow on?

Analysis of last year’s DeepWorker observations gave some surprising results, but also showed some possible trends that need to be investigated further. Last year we were surprised that the macro-morphology – the large-scale shape of the microbialite structures – was not strictly correlated with depth, like we thought it would be. So this year we hope that detailed observations needed to answer some smaller questions will ultimately help us answer our big questions. Some smaller questions we’re asking are: what are the microbialites growing on? Do they need a rock as a growing base, or algae, or do they just sit in the sediment? And does the growing medium have an effect on the shape or size of the microbialite? What about the small-scale structure (micro-morphology)? Microbialites with similar macro-morphologies can still be composed of differently shaped and sized components. The answers from all of these smaller questions will hopefully shed light on the bigger questions.

Every year we get some answers, and come up with even more questions. But that’s why this project is fascinating: Pavilion Lake is such a complex system! Little by little – by asking the right questions – the answers are coming together and we are starting to understand Pavilion Lake.

~Mars

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