What Caused the Rivers on Mars:
Climate Change or Impacts?

ABSTRACT:
Since Mariner 9 took images of Martian river valleys in 1971, we have struggled to understand how they were formed.  Mars is thought to have had a dense atmosphere with enough greenhouse gases to have maintained a balmy, wet climate.  To date, no one has managed to construct a climate model to support this theory and the river valleys remain a mystery.  Recently, a new idea has emerged suggesting that asteroid impacts may have led to the release of water from beneath Mars’ surface.  This talk will explore how impacts could create rivers and Mars’ climate history.

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Noctilucent Cloud on the Edge of Space –
Shedding Light on the Atmosphere

ABSTRACT:
The discovery of noctilucent (night shining) clouds in 1885 revealed an atmosphere which extended far higher than expected. Since then, these clouds have challenged scientists around the world to find out why they form and vary. Because they scatter solar light, they shimmer at altitudes far above the typical cloud (~51 miles) which makes them an excellent tool to find out more about upper atmospheric processes. Dr. Bodil Karlsson explore how variations in these clouds has revealed new information about the structure and behavior of that thin layer of gas that protects us from outer space.

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The 2013 MAVEN Mission to Mars

ABSTRACT:
The next Mars mission under development for NASA is the Mars
Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission (MAVEN), to be launched in 2013. MAVEN will explore the upper atmosphere of Mars in detail for the first time. MAVEN will help scientists determine the rate of escape of gases from the upper atmosphere to space today and extrapolate backward in time to determine the total loss to space throughout Martian history. MAVEN will help answer the question: What role has atmospheric escape played in the history of Mars’ climate? The answer will provide us with a history of liquid water on Mars, and ultimately, potential planetary habitability over time. Dr. Jakosky will discuss the scientific drivers behind the mission and the details of the technical implementation. Launch is scheduled for Nov. 18, 2013; detailed planning and design is just beginning.

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Kepler: Progress in the Detection of Earth-size Planets in the Habitable Zone of Solar-like Stars

ABSTRACT:
Dr. Bill Borucki, principal investigator of the Kepler mission, will describe how the Kepler telescope is returning data on possible life in our galaxy by determining the number of terrestrial planets in a habitable zone.

Launched on March 6, 2009, and operated by LASP, Kepler is now monitoring the brightness of 150,000 solar-like stars to determine the planet radius, orbital distance and location. This lecture will also give you insight into several new planets discovered with the data obtained during the first 43 days of Kepler’s mission.

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Probing Our Atmosphere from High Altitude
and Long Duration Balloons

ABSTRACT:
In 1783, a lighter than air balloon enabled us to make some of the first direct measurements of our atmosphere above the surface of Earth. Since then, scientific ballooning has given us a window into the structure and composition of our atmosphere and continues to be an invaluable tool to study everything from ozone depletion to climate change. Dr. Kalnajs will discuss the history and evolution of scientific ballooning and the important role it still plays in understanding our atmosphere. He will also talk about future directions for scientific ballooning, including an upcoming long duration balloon mission by LASP and other institutes to study the formation of the Antarctic ozone hole from the inside.

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