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Press Releases
April 11, 2002
Contact:
SETI Institute: Karen Randall, krandall@seti.org, (650) 960-4537
SpaceRef: US: Keith Cowing, keith@spaceref.com, 703-787-6567
SpaceRef: Canada: Marc Boucher, marc@spaceref.com, 250-920-7222
NASA Haughton-Mars Project: Dr Pascal Lee, pclee@earthlink.net, 408-666-2001
Greenhouse For a Red Planet
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—SpaceRef Interactive Inc. today announced the donation of an experimental greenhouse to the SETI Institute’s Center for the Study of Life in the Universe. The donation supports research activities on Devon Island, Nunavut, in the Canadian high Arctic, conducted under the auspices of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project.
Named after and dedicated to Sir Arthur C. Clarke, originator of communications satellites, author of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and almost 100 other books, the “Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse” will support research activities that increase our understanding of life in the universe and help pave the way for the human exploration of Mars. “Look out, Mars - here we come!” said Clarke, about the greenhouse.
The NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) is an international, interdisciplinary planetary-analog field research project led by Dr. Pascal Lee, planetary scientist, of the SETI Institute. Pending acquisition of all necessary resources, the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse will be deployed and equipped in two stages, the first in Summer 2002, the second in Summer 2003. The 2002 field season will be dedicated to installation and monitoring of the environmental characteristics of the greenhouse. Research operations involving selected plant growth would begin in 2003.
The assembled greenhouse is 24 feet long, 12 feet wide, and has a maximum height of 10 feet along its center spine. The greenhouse will undergo test assembly at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA, and is displayed at the Second Astrobiology Science Conference 7-11 April, 2002. Installation on Devon Island is expected to occur in July, 2002 at the earliest.
The Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse is being donated by SpaceRef to the SETI Institute so as to allow the growth and harvesting of selected plants in support of basic and applied research in the fields of astrobiology, space biology, life support systems studies, information technologies, and human factors relating to the human exploration of Mars.
“It is one thing to talk about doing complex technical operations in a remote, potentially hazardous location. It is another thing altogether to actually go there and try to make it work” said Marc Boucher, SpaceRef CEO and HMP-2000 field season veteran.
The Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse initiates an experimental testbed that supports field research with the goal of understanding the operational challenges faced by future astronauts on the surface of Mars. “We hope that our contribution will lead - indeed stimulate - the deployment of high fidelity simulations of potential Mars greenhouses in the years to come” said SpaceRef President Keith Cowing.
Ultimately, this greenhouse, and the scientific research that is conducted within, is intended to further the prospect of sending humans to Mars.
“The Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse will help us plan the human exploration of Mars and teach us more about the possibilities and requirements of life in extreme environments on Earth, Mars and beyond” said Lee.
About SETI Institute, HMP and SpaceRef:
The NASA HMP Principal Investigator is Dr. Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist with the Center for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute. Lee is based at NASA Ames Research Center. SpaceRef’s Greenhouse Project Manager is Keith Cowing, President of SpaceRef Interactive, Inc., and former NASA space biologist and payload integration manager. Once deployed, research in the greenhouse will be overseen by a science team under the auspices of the NASA HMP.
About SpaceRef Interactive Inc.
SpaceRef Interactive Inc. (http://www.spaceref.com) is an international Internet content and database firm specializing in scientific and technical websites with offices in Reston, Virginia USA, and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Among SpaceRef’s products are SpaceRef.com, SpaceRef.ca, and Astrobiology.com which provide a daily collection of news stories, press releases and status reports housed in the world’s largest online searchable database of space news items; a directory of space-related websites; and a series of dedicated search engines for both broad and specialized areas of space research and exploration. SpaceRef also believes in giving something back to the audience and community that utilize its resources and has made a practice since its founding in 1999 of providing monetary, hardware, and personnel support to research efforts such as the Haughton-Mars Project.
Further information about the greenhouse is available at http://research.spaceref.com
About the NASA Haughton-Mars Project
The NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) (http://www.marsonearth.org) is an international interdisciplinary field research project centered on the scientific study of the Haughton impact crater and surrounding terrains, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian high Arctic, viewed as a possible Mars analog. The rocky polar desert setting, geologic features and biological attributes of the site offer unique insights into the evolution of Mars, the effects of impacts on Earth and other planets, and the possibilities of life in extreme environments. Scientific field studies at Haughton also support exploration research, allowing for investigations of the technologies, strategies, humans factors and hardware designs relevant to the future exploration of Mars and other planetary bodies by robots and humans. HMP-2002 will be the 6th field season of the HMP. The HMP is managed by the SETI Institute at the Institute’s Center for the Study of Life in the Universe.
About the SETI Institute
The SETI Institute was incorporated as a 501 © (3) non-profit California corporation on November 20, 1984. The purpose of the Institute, as defined at that time and still true today, is to conduct scientific research and educational projects relevant to the origin, nature, prevalence, and distribution of life in the universe. This work includes two primary research areas: 1) the scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and 2) Life in the Universe research. Concurrent with its research focus, the Institute strives to contribute to both formal and informal science education related to these fields of interest. Over its seventeen year history, the Institute has administered over $150 million of funded research.
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