Solar System Social #5
Woodhouse Brewing Co. presents the latest round of Solar System Social, Toronto's planetary science speaker series.
"Impact events on Early Mars: the Crucible of Life?" (Christy Caudill)
Early in Mars' history, massive astroidal impacts tore through the planet's crust to catastrophic environmental consequences. However, these impact events generated new clay substrates on and near the surface, and accompanied by hydrothermal fracture systems which were likely active for hundreds of millennia, provided ideal habitats for life. Here, we explore the geologic evidence in the debate regarding the conditions on early Mars and the implications for current rover-based investigations in pursuit of extraterrestrial life.
Christy is currently a PhD Candidate at Western University. A former geologist and Deputy Section Chief at the Arizona Geological Survey, Christy has a background in terrestrial as well as planetary geology. Spacecraft operations experience includes Downlink Team ops for HiRISE, a camera aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Christy was also the Science Team Lead for the 2016 CSA #CanMars Mars Sample Return (MSR) analogue mission deployment, and she aspires to continue Earth-Mars analogue work throughout her career.
"The OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter: Behind the Scenes" (Leif Bloomquist)
Have you ever wondered what is involved in creating an instrument for space? Come learn about NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to map and retrieve a sample from an asteroid, Canada's contribution to the mission, and the Canadian engineering behind the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter instrument.
Leif Bloomquist P.Eng. is a Senior Software Systems Engineer in the Space Missions group at Macdonald, Dettwiler, and Associates (MDA) in Brampton, Ontario. He holds a B.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering from the University Waterloo, with a focus in Intelligent Systems. Since joining MDA he has been involved in the development of the meteorological instruments aboard the Phoenix Mars Lander, the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (SPDM) on the International Space Station, the Next Generation Canadarm R&D project, and most recently the Canadian-built OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) instrument aboard the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission, which launched in September 2016.
"What can we learn from lasers on Mars?" (David Hamilton)
We've sent laser-based scientific instruments to Mars and lots more are headed there in the near future. What have we learned so far and what do we hope to learn from the next generation of these instruments?
David Hamilton is the founder and host of Solar System Social. He is a space physicist who loves The X-Files, Star Trek: TNG, and working with new laser-based instruments to explore planetary bodies. He received his M.Sc. from York University under the supervision of Dr. Mike Daly (OSIRiS-REx laser altimeter, DEXTRE, Phoenix Lander). His graduate research focused on Raman spectroscopy for biosignature detection on the Martian surface. This was supporting a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) study. His undergraduate research focused on instrumentation to develop models of asteroid material reflectance distribution. This work was background science for the Osiris-Rex mission currently en route to the asteroid Bennu.
Who can attend: 19+
Fee: $10
Tickets: At the door
Organized by: Solar System Social and Woodhouse Brewing Co.
Location: The Dock Ellis, 1280 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON M6J 1X7