Exploring the Unknown: My First Steps into Planetary Science Research at the PVL

Every summer, we host undergraduates in the lab at the PVL and during the year we bring in volunteers to experience what professional research looks like. Today Ella, one of those undergrads, tells the story of their research journey so far!

by Ruella Ordinaria

Last summer, one of York’s monthly email updates featured an article on Dr. Haley Sapers’ expedition to Nunavut to test Mars rover simulations. The words, ‘astrobiology’ and ‘Mars’ immediately caught my attention. Seeing that Dr Sapers was part of the Planetary Volatiles Lab (PVL), I emailed Dr. Moores for potential opportunities to contribute to his lab. I exchanged an exciting conversation with Dr. John Moores and in the fall, I was assigned to help a PhD student, Grace Bischof, with her research on developing a Mars Microbial Survival (MMS) model. Fast forward, I completed eight months as an undergraduate volunteer at PVL and this summer, I received the NSERC USRA from NSERC and the Lassonde School of Engineering. 

Now, what’s the actual science I’m working on, you may ask? The MMS Model estimates the bioburden reduction on Mars spacecraft during the cruise phase and on the surface. The MMS model calculates the quantity of terrestrial microorganisms remaining on a spacecraft's surface as it is exposed to the effects of the most deleterious space conditions. These include high vacuum, extreme temperatures, solar UV radiation, and ionizing radiation such as solar wind particles (SWPs). This is important because when we send spacecraft to celestial bodies like Mars, we want to prevent forward contamination as it can impact future exploration of extra-terrestrial life on Mars.

My enriching, fulfilling experience while doing research at the PVL, along with the challenges that came with it, has allowed me to grow both academically and professionally. The first challenge I faced was my limited background in space and planetary science. When I joined the PVL, I was entering my second year as a Biochemistry major and I barely knew anything about biochemistry, let alone planetary science. Although I still struggle with this knowledge gap, it has become easier to address by learning through literature searches. In addition, I also struggled significantly with programming. Grace’s project, the MMS Model, uses Python for calculations and graphing. While I had previous experience with HTML / CSS and Python through hackathons and self-learning, I had never worked with numerical modeling or data processing before. Familiarizing myself with these concepts was a challenge, and I essentially had to learn from scratch—from graphing to using various Python libraries for modeling. Google and Stack Overflow became my go-to resources. Fortunately, I am surrounded by passionate Mars experts with many years of research experience who are always willing to answer my questions.

Not only did I learn about all the exciting things about microbial survival, Mars, clouds, and the atmosphere, but I’ve also developed many technical and soft skills such as coding, writing, data collection, collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking, just to name a few. This invaluable knowledge and skill are something that I would have never formally gained from my degree alone. Engaging in research early on in my academic career has also allowed me to apply the knowledge I’ve learned in the classroom to real, practical research. My interactions with lab members have given me insight into the workload, the highs and lows, and the overall culture in academia, which has helped clarify my career goals and deepened my passion for planetary science and research.

Most importantly, I learned that research is not instantaneous – it is a journey composed of both productive and unproductive days. I learned that some days you might read 10 papers, write pages of words, and run many lines of code, while on other days, you might spend hours just sitting, thinking, writing then scratching and writing again. Although there have been times when I felt unmotivated, I still look forward to coming to the office every day with the same excitement I had when I first visited Dr. Moores’ office.

And of course, one of the best parts about doing research is the people! My interest in research comes from my aspiration to be part of a community that shares a profound passion for exploring the intricacies of the world and a dedication to immersing themselves in their questions – I found that community in the PVL. Some of my favourite memories are getting last place during bowling, dilly-dallying at Toronto Island, and eating lunch at the Petrie courtyard under the legendary Newton tree (manifesting a Nature paper!). I owe all of my positive research experience to my role models – Grace, Dr. Moores, and all the PVL members. Their support has been incredibly helpful in navigating my research challenges and has kept me curious about the world.

So, what’s next? Tomorrow, the next day, and throughout the rest of the school year, I’ll be heading to the Petrie building to continue my exciting planetary science research! Stay tuned ;)!

I, Robot – InSight’s Struggle to Keep the Lights On

Our spacecraft are more than just our robotic avatars on other planets. They carry our culture with them, sometimes literally as with the Voyager golden record. But they also have an effect on those who remain back here at home. This can take the form of becoming the topic of memes, of having fan fiction written about them or being completely anthropomorphized. This week, undergraduate student Vennesa Weedmark considers the Opportunity Rover, InSight lander and their ultimate fate.
Image above: InSight's first selfie.

By Vennesa Weedmark

For as long as humans have been launching things into space, we’ve been anthropomorphizing them as extensions of our global self, bravely venturing into the void. These little (or sometimes very large) friends are given nicknames, celebrated, and eventually, mourned. Opportunity, a robotic rover that lived 55 times longer than its planned 90 sol lifetime, drove over 45 kilometers, knew its own birthday, gained a massive online following, and became a symbol of perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds. When NASA finally confirmed its death on February 13th, 2019, and its last message was translated as “My battery is low and it's getting dark”, there was an upwelling of condolences and life-celebrating responses across the internet.

I may have shed more than one tear.

Now, the end seems nigh for InSight aka. Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. Designed to study the interior of the red planet and determine the rate of Martian tectonic activity and impacts, the planets “vital signs”, it launched in 2018 and has been active on Mars for over 1100 sols, slightly beyond its planned mission duration.

Since landing, it has recorded the first sounds of Martian winds, attempted to dig into the surface of Mars, detected marsquakes, found fluctuations in the magnetic field at the landing site, and provided invaluable information about soil at the landing site and the possible methods for drilling into Mars, and successfully emerged from an emergency hibernation caused when its solar panels became covered with dust. Since that first storm, InSight has been trying to clear the sand from its panels using saltation. By using its robotic arms to sprinkle sand near its solar panel, the sand would blow away, touching the solar panels and taking some of the dust with it as it left the solar panel. This, luckily, resulted in a temporary boost in power.

Then, because the bad luck of previous years isn’t done with us yet, January 2022 brought another drop in sunlight due to a regional dust storm, causing InSight to re-enter safe mode. The storm that shuttered InSight was only about 18% as strong as that which brought about the demise of Opportunity, and its safe mode ended again with no lasting signs of damage.

The overarching problem is what will become of InSight as its access to life-giving sun continues to decline, and what working on reduced power will do to the experiments and tests that it has yet to complete. As power drops, it’s saltation cleaning method will also become more difficult to perform.
Opportunity’s arrays were cleaned regularly by atmospheric activity, but InSight has continued to accumulate dust, and its outlook is looking increasingly dim (pun fully intended). Obviously, efforts to clean the Solar panels continue, but short of a “cleaning event”, it is likely that we’ll be mourning another brave explorer in the next year.

Like Oppy, InSight is active on social media and has a sizeable following, tweeting “Skies seem to be clearing overhead, so I’m out of safe mode and back to more normal operations”, as it emerged from its most recent slumber. Hopefully I won’t cry as much when InSight sends its final tweet. 

Note: while two members of PVL (Charissa Campbell and John Moores) are collaborators of the InSight Team, this post is completely independent of our work on that mission and was written by a member of our lab who is not affiliated with the InSight mission.

Applied CS & Space Science Research: An Undergraduate Perspective

 

One of my favourite parts of working in a research group is the opportunity to bring together a diverse set of students. Such a group has a tendency towards creative thinking that generates unexpected insights which propel our work forward. Not to mention the shear fun of working in this kind of an environment. In the past, we've had space engineers, geologists, physicists, atmospheric scientists and former history, political science, music and photography majors. Recently, Vennesa Weedmark, a Computer Science undergraduate here in Lassonde joined our lab. Read about their reflections on the experience below.
(Image via: https://www.csecoalition.org/what-is-the-typical-computer-science-curriculum/ )
 

by Vennesa Weedmark

As an undergraduate computer science student, the push to get an internship and/or co-op has always seemed paramount – partially because experience is “everything” in the industry and partially because an alternative avenue, a position working on a project in a research lab, for example, is rarely discussed. While I don’t deny the practicality of gaining experience in a corporate setting, a scholarly approach provides different kinds of challenges that in turn may allow broadening of a student’s horizons – an opportunity for creativity and a different take on problem-solving skills. 

Having started very recently in PVL, I was surprised at the reaction of many of my fellow CS students, who didn’t even realize that working on projects under the supervision of our professors was possible. Making the revelation even more fascinating was that my pursuit of a research assistant position was in a field outside our collective major discipline.

In a field as diverse as computer science, where we are constantly assured that the possibilities are endless, it would seem almost unremarkable for an adventurous CS student to pursue a scientific area in which they are interested under the umbrella of a research lab. The case for research assistant positions as an internship/co-op type of work experience is further strengthened by the science breadth requirement baked into our degrees; the possibility of working in a lab may encourage students who might otherwise see those courses as unnecessary to the industry. Taking my experience as an example: I have always been interested in programming in a scientific context but taking physics courses as part of my science-breadth requirement encouraged me to gain a deeper understanding of the type of field in which I might be interesting in working. As I’ve progressed through the years, I realized my curiosity went beyond the data-analysis discussions I've had in a classroom setting, which in turn led me to search for a way to pursue a deeper involvement in astrophysics-flavoured data analysis. 

These kinds of positions give an entirely different perspective when learning and applying computer science – creativity, responsibility, and communication skills (all valuable points on a resume) are given equal weight alongside coding ability and language skills. My current role at PVL is an excellent example of this: by analyzing a series of photos (read data) taken of the Martian surface, we hope to find evidence of triboelectricity. To do this, I am writing scripts to mask sources of light which can then be applied to the images; thus, allowing only those points of light relevant to the analysis to shine through. The creativity part comes in the use of 3rd party libraries: since only the end goal is known, and there is no guarantee that the supplementary code we are relying on will work in this case, errors become even more mysterious – were they the result of an error in the code itself, or in one of the many imports that are being used? How do you go about understanding code that may be based on incomplete or incompatible libraries? In applying our knowledge to our schoolwork as undergraduates, many examples of very similar problems are easily found online – in research, that foundation upon which to fall back, if it exists at all, is significantly reduced.

I in no way mean to diminish the importance of the concepts and methodologies we are taught to manipulate at the undergraduate level; these are just as necessary for the problem-solving process that is at the core of research. The elation of solving a problem is further heightened when there is no one on the other end with the answer and those intuitive leaps that are nigh impossible to teach in a classroom setting are, in my limited experience, the core of learning to code in the context of scientific analysis.

Orbital Resonances and Musical Harmonies

This week, our summer undergraduate researcher, Simon Friesen, takes a step back from pondering the dusty skies of Mars to consider the Music of the Spheres. Music has long been associated with mathematics and the physical sciences. I know more than a few researchers who started out studying music only to later find themselves drawn to the harmonies of nature. This includes past PVL researchers as well as a few people with whom I went to graduate school. No talent or study ever goes to waste and there are surprising patterns that arise again and again in different fields. One such variation on a theme in planetary science takes place when considering orbital resonances and how this data can be represented musically.

by Simon Friesen

Orbital resonances are found throughout the solar system (and there are even some examples found between exo-planets and their stars). There are two main types of orbital resonances: unstable resonances, which clear objects at specific radii from the parent body (think gaps between the rings of Saturn caused by its inner moons); and mean-motion resonances which maintain and self-correct the orbits of the bodies involved.

For the purposes of this exploration, I want to focus on the stable orbits between planets or moons in the solar system. Three of the moons of Jupiter – Ganymede, Europa, and Io – are in a stable ratio of orbits of 1:2:4 (specifically, for every single orbit that Ganymede completes, Europa will complete two orbits and Io; four). These types of orbital resonances are somewhat rare in our solar system, but do include the following notable examples: Pluto – Neptune, 2:3; Tethys – Mimas (moons of Saturn), 2:4; Dione – Enceladus (other moons of Saturn), 1:2; Hyperion – Titan (further moons of Saturn), 3:4; Haumea – Neptune (suspected), 7:12; 225088 Gonggong – Neptune, 3:10; and Pluto’s moons, Styx – Nix – Hydra, have a ratio of 11:9:6. We will also take a look at orbital resonances found in distant exo-planet systems later.

The term resonance is also a common feature of another interest of mine: music. The exploration of some of the mathematical formalism behind harmonious sounds was done by Pythagoras, who found that sounds based frequencies that were small number ratios of each other sounded consonant. This work laid the foundation for myriad western tuning systems and western harmonies. Pythagoras found that frequencies of ratios 1:2, 2:3, and 4:3 sounded best together. To try this out for yourself, find an online tone generator and open up two copies in different tabs. For a 2:1 ratio, try 440 Hz (A4 on the piano; I’ll use this as a reference tone for all the other harmonies we’ll explore later) and 880 Hz. This is known in western music as the octave. For 2:3, use 440 Hz and 660 Hz. This is called an interval of a fifth. For 4:3, use 440 Hz and 586.67 Hz. This interval is known as a fourth. These Pythagorean intervals can be used to construct the twelve notes in the Pythagorean scale. This scale, and many other scales that came after it, suffers from the circle of fifths not being closed and from certain terrible-sounding intervals called wolf intervals.

Multiple variations on western tuning systems have been developed since Pythagoras’ day including, but not limited to: Just Intonation tuning, which created better sounding thirds at a ratio of 4:5 (try 440 Hz and 550 Hz); Meantone scales, which preserved nice thirds but had slightly worse fifths (compare 440 Hz and 657.95 Hz to the previous 660 Hz); Well Temperament, favoured by Bach and granting each key signature its own distinct character; and 12-Tone Equal Temperament (12-TET), which spreads all 12 notes in an octave logarithmic-evenly across the octave. I encourage you to look these scales up in more detail; each one has strengths and weaknesses. I’ll reference these scales later when looking for the closest match to intervals created from orbital resonances.

We’ve established that scales and tuning systems can be created using ratios of frequencies, and that orbital resonances occur within our solar system that are based on ratios of orbits. I want to explore what some of these ratios sound like. From previous; Ganymede, Europa, and Io are in stable orbit ratios of 1:2:4 respectively. This is exactly the same as Pythagoras’ octave; try it out using 440 Hz, 880 Hz and 1760 Hz. Similar to this, Tethys and Mimas have a ratio of orbits of 2:4 (880 Hz and 1760 Hz); and Dione and Enceladus have a ratio of 1:2 (back to 440 Hz and 880 Hz). Pluto and Neptune have a stable ratio of orbits of 2:3, the same as Pythagoras’ interval of a fifth (440 Hz and 660 Hz). Hyperion and Titan have a ratio of orbits of 3:4, giving us the same interval as a Pythagorean fourth (440 Hz 586.67 Hz).

Haumea and Neptune have a supposed ratio of orbits of 7:12. To hear this, use 440 Hz, and 440 * (12/7) = 754.28 Hz. This harmonic interval is closest a 12-TET 6^th interval (use n = 9 in the formula 440 * 2^n/9 = 739.99 Hz; to hear it, use 440 Hz and 739.99 Hz). Does one interval sound better to you?

Hydra, Nix, and Styx have a ratio of orbits of 6:9:11. 6:9 is the same as 2:3, so the interval is a Pythagorean fifth. To find the frequency of the highest pitch, we use: 440 * 11/6 = 806.67 Hz. This is closest to a Just major seventh interval, but is close to a quarter tone flatter. Putting all three tones together (440 Hz, 660 Hz, and 806.67 Hz) creates something that you might describe as an A major 7^th suspension chord, but is really outside of western tonality.

Orbital resonances have also been found in exo-planets and extra-solar systems. Though it is still a rare phenomenon, some of these extra-solar systems also exhibit longer chains of orbital resonances than are found in our solar system.

On the simple end of things, Kepler-29 has an observed 7:9 resonance between a pair of planets. Translating this to our 440 Hz reference pitch gives us 440 * (9/7) = 565.71 Hz. This pitch is close to both a Pythagorean and a 12-TET major third. Kepler-37 has three planets in ratios of 8:15:24. Referencing 440 Hz we find the upper two pitches to be 440 * (15/8) = 825 Hz, and 440 * (24/8) = 1320 Hz (I will omit calculations from here on; all further frequencies will be created from ratios in a similar manner). The middle tone is a Just major seventh, and the high pitch is an octave plus a fifth, giving us another A major 7^th suspended chord. Kepler-233 has a series of planets in a 3:4:6:8 ratio of orbits (frequencies 440 Hz, 586.67 Hz, 880 Hz, and 1173.33 Hz). This chord is only made of octaves and fourths, so we might consider it an A-suspended 4^th chord.

Kepler-80 has six planets in a 4:6:9:12:18 ratio (440 Hz, 660 Hz, 990 Hz, 1320 Hz, and 1980 Hz). This chord is made of a fifth, a second (up an octave, in tune with the Pythagorean and Just scales), and two further fifths in upper octaves. This chord would then be a stellar example of an A major suspended second. Kepler-90 has six planets in a ratio close to (but not exactly) 2:3:4:7:11 (440 Hz, 660 Hz, 880 Hz, 1540 Hz, and 2420 Hz). This chord consists of a fifth, an octave, a high sharp major second, and a high sharp minor seventh, making this some strange variation on an A 9^th suspended 2^nd, but is not really part of any scale system. Finally, TRAPPIST-1 has an astounding 7 planets in a ratio close to 2:3:4:6:9:15:24 (440 Hz, 660 Hz, 880 Hz, 1320 Hz, 1980 Hz, 3300 Hz, and 5280 Hz (feel free to skip this one)). This chord consists of a fifth, an octave, a high fifth, a high Pythagorean second, and an extremely high fifth, giving us an A major suspended 2^nd chord.

And so, we now have a wider understanding of both western harmonies and resonances between orbiting objects in and beyond our solar system. I had expected to find many more notes that did not fit neatly into scales, but surprisingly only Kepler-90; pluto’s moons Hydra, Nix, and Styx; Haumea and Neptune; and Kepler 29 produced notes not included from our reference scales. The universe seems to doubling or 1.5-factor periods in orbits. Some of the intervals outlined here could inform new tuning systems or harmonies to explore musically.

Via Wikipedia: "Sequence of conjunctions of Hydra (blue), Nix (red) and Styx (black) over one third of their resonance cycle. Movements are counterclockwise and orbits completed are tallied at upper right of diagrams (click on image to see the whole cycle)." Photo: By WolfmanSF - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4175932

How far can a golfer hit a drive on Mars… and the Moon?

Click Here to view an animated version of the figure above!

This week, undergrad Noah Stanton takes on a burning question in comparative planetology: how would a change of venue to another planet or Moon affect one's golf game? Read on for his deep-dive! Reminds me a little of some of the tangents I followed in my earlier years!

by Noah Stanton

Have you ever been watching golfers playing on Pebble Beach and thought, ‘What would happen if he or she took that shot on Mars or the Moon?’. I’d assume no, but I am here to tell you this important information. In order to figure out a way to model a golfer’s shot let’s start somewhere we know a little bit better, Earth. 

Modelling a golf shot involves bio-mechanics, aerodynamics, elasticity of the golf ball, etc., which is maybe outside the abilities of a mere blogpost. I will need to make some assumptions, focus on some parts of the swing, and ignore the rest. The two modeled parts of the swing will be:

1)    The initial contact and acceleration due to the club-head hitting the ball
2)    The flight of the ball after the initial contact

So, what’s it like researching in the PVL!?

This week Ariella reflects on her time spent with the lab over the summer as a TEPS fellow. Above, she is pictured at the Lassonde Undergraduate Research Conference alongside Noah Stanton, another of our Summer Researchers. We wish her well as she enters into her final year of her undergraduate career and sets her sights on what lies beyond!

By Ariella Sapers

Over the last 4-5 months I’ve spent my time being an undergraduate researcher for the Planetary Volatiles Laboratory at York University, which was a huge change to my previous research experience.

I’m used to staring at stars in my previous research projects - but now, it was all about Mars! For starters, I did not realize the amount of incredible Mars research that is done in this lab ... and worldwide. I was very naive before I started - as my head had always been stuck in astrophysics research – so I didn’t realize the cool research that’s conducted in the Planetary Sciences! Before this, the only experience I had was a Planets and Planetary Systems course taught at York University by Dr. John Moores, which is what intrigued me in the first place.

This research experience didn’t just let me work in a cool lab ... I got to attend two conferences throughout the summer. The first was the TEPS conference. This conference was the Technologies for (Exo) Planetary Sciences which allowed all award holders to come for a three-day conference. TEPS is an NSERC CREATE Program that allows undergrads, masters, PHD and Post Docs to be trainees. I was lucky enough to have received one of these awards which officially made me a TEPS Trainee! This meant I got to attend the TEPS conference and meet a lot of Planetary Scientists. The vast amount of research being conducted on Mars, exoplanets and the moon is incredible. It also showed me what masters students and PhD students are working on - since I’m close to graduating, it was nice to see the endeavours of graduate students.  

50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing Blog Post

This week, PVL Undergraduate Researcher Ariella Sapers reflects on a significant anniversary for space exploration: the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landings. Above, a photo of a plaque like the one left on the lunar surface by Apollo 11. And yes, folks, that is Richard Nixon's signature on the bottom (to my knowledge the only politician whose name is written on a monument off the Earth) - it took the efforts of three different administrations to pull off this event.

By Ariella Sapers

With the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing just passing, I thought it was only appropriate to dedicate a blog all about the event and the celebrations that occurred here at York University!

On July 20th 1969, three brave men, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz’’ Aldrin, and Michael Collins took a leap of faith as part of NASA’s Apollo 11 lunar mission and headed to the moon. The Apollo Lunar Module, The Eagle, landed on the moon at 20:17 UTC in which Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the surface of the moon on July 21st at 02:56 UTC. With this walk, human beings had officially walked on the surface of a planetary body that wasn’t Earth. 

Is Pluto in Danger?

Spring is in the air. Aside from cherry blossoms, new leaves on the trees and rising temperatures (perhaps in some places, but apparently not Toronto), that means that we have new students in the lab. One of those new students is Ariella Sapers and she is starting off her work with us by diving right in with this article on Pluto. As you'll see from her article, it's definitely not springtime for Pluto. The image she has chosen, shown above (Credit: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI)) the artist gives a a distinctively cold cast to their view of this dwarf planet and it's large moon Charon from the surface of one of the outer-lying moons.

By Ariella Sapers

I’m one of the many people that strongly believe Pluto needs to become a planet again. Even though the three characteristics that define a planet  (is in orbit around the Sun, has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape), and has cleared its orbital pathway) make logical sense, there is no real logic needed for the Pluto lovers out there who are mad with this decision. Ever since Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, it has been a beloved member of our Solar System. That is until 2006 when Pluto officially was demoted to a “Dwarf Planet,” due to the fact that it does not clear its orbital pathway. With that being said, there are mysteries and wonders about Pluto that are still being discovered to this day.

As we know, New Horizons flew by Pluto July 14th 2015 making it the first spacecraft ever to explore Pluto. I couldn’t have been the only one who woke up extra early to watch this flyby happen and I couldn’t have been the only one amazed by the images that we received on Earth. These images were breathtaking: being able to see an object 4.67 billion miles away from Earth in detail was quite an accomplishment for the New Horizons team. It was a huge leap for science as we would now be able to understand and learn more about Pluto’s atmosphere. 

Lassonde Undergraduate Research Award

Romina is one of three undergraduates working in the lab this summer. She, like Alex holds a Lassonde Undergraduate Research Award (LURA) while Michael holds an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA). These funding sources are key for getting top undergraduates involved in research early in their careers, giving them a taste for what a graduate degree or a life in research might be like.

by Romina Bahrami

This summer I had the great opportunity to participate in research in the Planetary Volatiles Lab as an undergraduate student who just finished their first year of university. Doing research as an undergraduate student seems stupid and meaningless to many people and I can’t deny the lack of knowledge and experience as an undergraduate comparing to a graduate student; but I believe letting us work besides graduate students can act as an accelerator for us. Most people, including myself, who enter the science majors especially physics and astrophysics, have the intention to become a researcher one day while they know nothing about a researcher’s job or lifestyle. 

Video Game provides opportunity for research on impactors

In his inaugural post, PVL Summer Undergraduate Michael Tabascio takes a look at a most unusual crater that appears in popular culture, on the map of the game "fortnite" as pictured above. As frequent readers of this space will appreciate, I think it's absolutely critical to bring the public along for the ride that is planetary exploration. As such, depictions of planetary processes like these offer a unique opportunity to connect our work with that public experience and to deepen the appreciation of both perspectives.

By Michael Tabascio

Fortnite is a hunger games style third person shooter has taken the world by storm, with the objective to be the last one alive by eliminating your opponents. It can be said with great assurance that Fortnite is the biggest game of the year, with the map evolving every couple months. Perhaps the most notable change came in May, when the map was struck by a meteor leaving a gigantic crater in the middle of the map. Using the dimensions of the crater, the direction and angle of the meteor, as well as the material of both the meteor and the ground beneath it, we can estimate what the size of the meteor was that hit the map.

Summer Conference Season – Round 2: TEPS!

A number of members of PVL just completed a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia to attend the annual TEPS Summer Skills Series, organized by Catherine Neish and Christa Van Laerhoven. My trainees tell me they did a wonderful job and reported a very intellectually exciting and collaborative time out west. I asked Alex (4th from right in the first row) to weigh in on his experiences at the conference.

By Alex Séguin

On May 29th, 2018, seven members of PVL participated in the NSERC CREATE Technology for Exoplanetary Science(TEPS) Summer Skills Conference at the University of British Columbia. The workshop brings together young researchers involved in planetary science, exoplanetary science, and space instrumentation to encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations and to expose students of one field to two other complementary ones. Spanning the course of three days, the event offered us six keynote speakers and gave TEPS trainees an opportunity to present their latest research and receive feedback from their peers. This summer, PVL’s presence consisted of Paul (PDF), Christina (PDF), Jake (PhD), Giang (PhD), Charissa (MSc), Brittney (MSc), and myself, Alex (UG).   

As students preparing ourselves to pursue a career in the space sector, it is always encouraging and helpful to observe established individuals already successful in the field. Such were TEPS’ keynote speakers, who not only showed us the type of work they perform, but also shared some useful tips on how to find our place in the industry. The first presenter was Dr. Jani Radebaugh (Brigham Young University) who discussed the significance of using Earth as a planetary analog and common pitfalls when doing so. She used geomorphological features found within the Solar System as examples; Sometimes, features are comparable while other times they only share a similar cosmetic appearance. 

2000 Sols on Mars: What Goes Into Documenting Another World?

The second in our two-part series on Curiosity's 2000th Sol on Mars. In this article Brittney takes a look at the public reaction to the day and reflects on choosing that perfect image to commemorate the occasion, in this case from an observation she herself designed, planned and ran on Mars! What goes into producing that top line image? Read on to find out. You can read the first article, written by Charissa Campbell and talking about operations, by clicking on this link.

By Brittney Cooper

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), better known as Curiosity Rover, celebrated its historic 2000^th sol on Mars last week. 2000 Martian days equates to roughly 3 Martian years, which has allowed the rover a great deal of time to traverse Gale Crater. Along the way, the science team has used MSL to analyze Mars’ geology, all the while monitoring the atmosphere and its processes as the seasons change each year.

To celebrate this historic occasion, the BBC published an article featuring a collection of images captured by the rover throughout its journey. It turned out that a triptych of images taken as part of an observation I proposed were selected to be included in the article. It was really cool to see them alongside others in such a large outlet. An unexpected (but positive) result of those images being published came in the form of discussions with friends and family about what my actual role was in the capture of those images.

Failing with Elegance

In the post below, Alex reflects on a frustrating problem in the lab. In many ways, our failures can be even more valuable than our successes, as they give us an opportunity to learn. Not to mention, as a mentor of mine once said, if you're not pushing into resistance and having problems then you aren't truly doing quality experimental science!

By Alexandre Séguin

Over the past semester, I have been working alongside Paul, Jake and John to set up a cryogenic vacuum chamber to emulate Moon-like conditions. I was assigned to a setup of a solenoid valve which controlled the flow of liquid nitrogen in the chamber. This subsystem includes the valve itself, a driver and a micro-controller. In short, the micro-controller reads a temperature input, determines whether the valve should open or close, and sends a signal to the driver which then activates the valve appropriately. Things did not go as smoothly as expected, and you will now have the opportunity to understand my thought process at the time. At the end, there will be a reflection on the lessons learned and the importance of handling frustrating situations well. Let’s get to work!

The Appeal of Space Engineering

This week, undergraduate space engineering student Alexandre Séguin reflects on what he might tell a high school student looking to match up their interests with a career path via a university education. In the spirit of such matching, the image above shows the Jules Verne ATV docking with the international space station (image: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Flight_Safety )

by Alexandre Séguin

As the leaves turn to darker colours and the sun makes its visits shorter by the day, I find myself preparing for yet another end of term examination session. Going over my different courses, I pondered that with nearly two and a half years of progress in York’s space engineering program, I interestingly have had the opportunity to explore quite a few different engineering disciplines. I have had a taste of electrical design, programming, 3D modeling, and orbital mechanics to name but a few. When I recently volunteered at the Ontario University Fair, I took these experiences with me to share them with new prospective students. One of the most common question asked was “Why did you chose space engineering?”. I responded with what I usually say, essentially that I liked math, science, and was good at both. However, now that I have a fair amount of experience as a student of space engineering, I believe the question merits a more thorough answer. In a time where apps and silicon chips rule supreme, what is the appeal to study space engineering?

The ice-sands of Mars

 

This week Alex gives an update on some of her work with Giang investigating small-scale topography of the Northern Polar Cap of Mars. As always with Alex's posts, expect her flowing prose to be punctuated with fascinating images culled from the many she has examined.

By Alexandra Innanen

With nearly 600 frames from all over the Martian north pole, my efforts have recently been turning to categorization of the nearly 600 variations on ‘polar cap’ which we’ve seen. This is the kind of repetitive work that I can do with the help of a good podcast and some tea, taking a break from my studies to flip through the catalogue of black and white features. Some of the various myriad features which I have been looking at are dunes. The Martial polar cap is lousy with dunes. Some of them are quite obvious, bringing to mind those classic sandy desert landscapes, while others are more hidden; zoom in on a seemingly uniform HiRISE image and suddenly stripy linear dunes start to emerge. There are basically four types of dunes that we’ve seen on the pole: longitudinal, transverse, star and barchan.

Time Management: When Undergraduate Research and Midterms Collide

This week, PVL undergraduate Brittney Cooper reflects on the hectic schedule of students, especially those who participate in research in addition to their regular studies. The image above is a snapshot of her desk. It might look a little busy, but research has shown that a cluttered workspace might not be as much of a disadvantage as you might think.

by Brittney Cooper

I’ve been a part of PVL for a while now (before we were even known as “PVL”!) and I began as a volunteer for a couple years during the school year, applying for grants to be a summer student, and then eventually I became a contract RAY (Research at York) student. I’m in my 5^th and final year of my undergrad and I feel incredibly lucky and really happy to have as much experience in research and academia as I do now, it’s been a learning experience on many fronts.

One massively beneficial thing I’ve learned from this experience (that seems to dominate my life currently) is time-management. I don’t just mean the concept of it, I mean legitimately sorting out my weeks, days, even hours when times are tough (i.e. midterm season in your final year of undergrad, when you’re applying for grad school).

I kid you not, having a full course load and a part-time research gig has taught me to never underestimate what can be done in an hour, and in the madness of everything, scheduling my time is paramount. It is exhausting, but it is also exhilarating in a really kind of embarrassing way. Being productive and getting things done on my commute, during a break between classes, or just before attending to the remnants of my school-year social-life allows me time to enjoy my weekends. I am aware that this jam-packed lifestyle is not unique to undergraduate students; in fact I feel it is probably akin to what a great deal of post-grads experience in their respective fields, so I feel assured that this is a useful skill to hone.

So you think you can research, Vol. 2

This week Alex Séguin, one of our undergraduate research assistants, recounts his experiences at the Lassonde Undergraduate Research Fair. This year we had two entrants - Alex in the poster competition and Brittney Cooper (who wrote last year's post on this event) in the oral competition where she took first prize. I'm already looking forward to next year's Vol. 3.

by Alex Séguin

On Tuesday, August 15th, the Lassonde School of Engineering hosted the 2017 Summer Research Conference. Affectionately named "So You Think You Can Research?”, the event offered undergraduate students working in Lassonde a chance to present the work they have done over the last four months. Naturally, the vast majority of participants were Lassonde students but some were studying mathematics, biology, psychology, or even came from other universities! As for myself, I presented a poster of my work with PVL titled Towards an Airborne Methane-Measuring Sensor for Titan Exploration.

The day started off with complementary coffee and a welcome address from Dr. Pagiatakis (Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies), Dr. Philipps (Interim Vice President Academic and Provost), and Dr. Sinclair (NSERC Ontario Regional Office’s Manager). They emphasized the importance of our first research contributions, saying they are valued and recognized. After this, a newly appointed Assistant Professor named Dr. Boakye-Yiadom talked about his current research, some of the things he had learned along the way, and how they applied to us. In fact, most of what he said applies in any research context!

The Landscape Art of Mars

Alexandra Innanen is an Undergraduate Researcher working at PVL for the summer. Along with MSc Giang Nguyen, they've been scouring the Northern Polar Cap of Mars in images, looking at the fine details and trying to deconvolve what role the atmosphere plays in their formation. Along the way, Alexandra has seen more than just thousands of images of dust and ice and had the opportunity (below) to talk a little bit about the aesthetic appreciation of the landscape that one can obtain from orbit. Today she shares with you her top five selections!

By Alexandra Innanen

The North Pole of Mars is a pretty cool place – pun absolutely intended. This summer I’ve joined Giang in looking for patterns in the Martian ice cap, something he talked about in a previous post. I have looked through a truly astronomical number of HiRISE images, nearly 1000 at this point. While many of them do showcase those beautiful patterns we’re looking for (I have been known to punch the air at a particularly uniform set of dunes), a number are what I lovingly refer to as ‘garbage’. Some of these are just flat nothingness, with no distinguishing features to recommend it. Some are more visually interesting, but without any sense or uniformity. These are fairly useless in terms of patterns, but can be fun to look at, and sometimes have neat stories behind them.

I have a folder on my laptop called “Space Stuff” which I could easily rename “Nifty Pictures of Mars” at this point. It’s full of HiRISE images that I looked at and went “well, there’s no pattern there but boy is that cool!” I’m going to show off my top five images here.

Okay, the one at the top of this article is probably the coolest. Should I have ended with it? Is everyone going to leave now? Anyway, this is an avalanche at the edge of the layered deposits of the north pole, which fall off in steep cliffs (reminding me a bit of the Scarborough Bluffs near where I live). You can see the layering in the escarpment, and the edge of the ice in the lower left corner. Here’s some perspective: the dust cloud you can see is about 200 m across. That’s nearly two football fields long. This led me to another image taken in 2008 showing FOUR avalanches, which readers are encouraged to peruse at their leisure.

Frozen Moons

This week, Keagan Lee, an Undergraduate Research Assistant working at PVL for the summer reports on some independent reading he has been doing on a fascinating solar system object: Europa. The image above is a well-known mosaic acquired by the Galileo Orbiter, which you can find on the Planetary Photojournal here.

By Keagan Lee

We like to think of Earth being in the “Goldilocks Zone” -- an area in a star system that is not too cold and not too hot so that liquid water can exist on its surface -- as if this is the ideal location in the solar system. We call Earth the “Blue Planet” because it has so much water. Ostensibly, yes. In our neighbourhood, we are the largest host of water; any water that made its way to Mercury (outside of the permanently shadowed polar traps) or Venus would be boiled off instantly, and it is too cold for water to exist in liquid form on Mars, at least currently. But water is much more likely to exist further out in the solar system where the effects of solar radiation are lessened because of the distance from the Sun and, as a consequence, is found in the form of ice. Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, which is less than 1% the mass of Earth, is estimated to have more than twice the volume of water than Earth!

Analog Rover Missions: More Than Just Acting Out Your Childhood Dreams

 

PVL Undergraduate Student Brittney Cooper (right) driving the MESR Rover (left) in the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Mars Yard following the end of a 2 week long analog mission put on by the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX) at Western, in conjunction with CSA, in 2014.   This weekend, students from the Toronto area will get their own opportunity to participate in a model or 'analogue' space mission.

By Brittney Cooper

      In just under a week, PVL plans to host its first analog rover mission on May 27th. It’s a one-day event for upper year high-school students, and I will be the acting “rover”. Don’t laugh, this is not my first analog mission but it is however my first one acting in the role of a robot. While each mission has its own unique goals and desired outcomes, the overarching reason for conducting this type of exercise lies in education, training and outreach.
      Acting on a real-life mission is a unique experience, and it is not easy to know what to expect based upon the experiences you’ve had in previous jobs or in other areas of your life. Analog missions serve as a great tool to train and provide examples of the operation processes, hierarchy and protocol. You get the opportunity to understand how important science decisions are made and rationalized against data and power constraints of your rover or spacecraft. It’s a unique opportunity to gain insight on how hundreds of people are able to work together to design a mission from the beginning. This includes formulating the science outcomes and payloads, and then actually acting out the structured long-term and tactical planning that is carried out regularly, to achieve those outcomes.