A modest flat on the Isle of Cumbrae is being used as a base for a mission to find life on Mars.<\/p>\n
The seafront flat in Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, North Ayrshire, is being used as a command hub for a mock-up operation to help prepare for the ExoMars mission being run by the European Space Agency which will launch next year and land in 2023.<\/p>\n
Professor John Parnell, 64, a geologist at the University of Aberdeen, turned his living room in the flat into a base using just a laptop. <\/p>\n
He logs on to video-link with a quarry in Leicester being used to simulate the surface of Mars, and will analyse rocks and minerals to look for evidence when the mission starts.<\/p>\n
Scientists need to practice interpreting data that will be sent back 400 million kilometres by a rover, to be analysed in Millport.<\/p>\n
Although he doubts they will find any life on Mars now, he believes it may have existed in the past.<\/p>\n
Professor Parnell, who got involved through his job, said: \"The mission ExoMars is primarily organised by the European Space Agency and is due to fly to Mars next year and its intention is to look for evidence of life.<\/p>\n
\"That probably means life on Mars in the distant past - the surface of Mars is not at all conducive to life now.<\/p>\n
\"I would be very surprised if there was any living right now.<\/p>\n
\"As to the past, I think it's probably 50\/50.<\/p>\n
\"Even if it had been there, we're going to have to try very hard.<\/p>\n
\"If you landed a spacecraft on many parts of the Earth, you might find it difficult to prove there was life there - the evidence is there but actually finding it is not easy.\"<\/p>\n
He was teaching students remotely from the flat he bought in 2014 when he realised he could run the base from there.<\/p>\n
Professor Parnell said: \"The mission involves a number of different scientific instruments, most of which will be on a rover which will trundle slowly over the planet's surface.<\/p>\n
\"These include a camera, a drill, several different instruments which can undertake chemical analyses of the rocks there to work out what the rocks are made of in terms of their chemical and mineral elements.<\/p>\n
\"At the site of the field trip, the people who at the site have multiple screens - ones showing the rocks, a simulation of getting a signal back from Mars.<\/p>\n
\"They also have a screen that has me on the other end and I am giving them guidance as to what they are looking at.<\/p>\n
\"There is also a close up camera, allowing them to focus on specific rocks.<\/p>\n
\"We're trying to avoid them actually walking up and touching rocks, they're looking at a screen to simulate them seeing the rocks from another planet and then getting real-time guidance from me.<\/p>\n
\"Part of this is training young people, whose experience is not as great as mine.\"<\/p>\n
Last month scientists trialled a Raman spectrometer - which helps identify minerals - in preparation for the mission but more people need to be trained to use it.<\/p>\n
He added: \"We need to make sure that is thoroughly calibrated and tested on the kinds of minerals we're expecting to look for.<\/p>\n
\"If you imagine how this will work on Mars, they are in a mission control room somewhere in Europe and they need to make decisions about how to deploy the instrument and interpret the data in a completely remote manner.\"<\/p>\n
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond. Sign up to our daily newsletterhere.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More here:<\/p>\n
Flat in tiny Scots town used as a base for mission to find life on Mars - Daily Record<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A modest flat on the Isle of Cumbrae is being used as a base for a mission to find life on Mars. The seafront flat in Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, North Ayrshire, is being used as a command hub for a mock-up operation to help prepare for the ExoMars mission being run by the European Space Agency which will launch next year and land in 2023. Professor John Parnell, 64, a geologist at the University of Aberdeen, turned his living room in the flat into a base using just a laptop Continue reading