The Sort of Status Report People Might Send Back From Mars

Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 28 November 2018: Dive Hole Melting Issues

"The hole melter was returned, but unfortunately it still does not work properly and we are unable to use it to make a dive hole or melt out the light sensors we left in the water column last year. And while I am disappointed we will not be working underwater, we have moved on to other important areas of work that will occupy our time during the next two weeks. Over the last several days we drilled additional holes in the south basin as part of an effort to increase the accuracy of the bathymetry map for the lake, and to make measurements of ice-thickness; the ice-thickness data are to be used to model variations in ablation across the lake. We also used one hole to obtain samples with an Ekman dredge from the deepest point (100 m) in the south basin. These samples are currently having DNA and RNA extracted and preserved for genomic studies that will take place in the coming months and other subsamples are being preserved for additional geochemical analyses as well."

Keith's note: Dale Andersen and I worked together at the old NASA HQ Life Science Division in the 1980s. He and I have been reporting from/about remote polar and alpine regions for more than 30 years - Dale much more than I. Indeed, we think that we may well have had the first webserver in the U.S. directly updated from Antarctica back in 1997 - that website is still online here. You might find "How We Built This Website" of interest given the way such things are done today. Alas, other than my Astrobiology.com website and the SETI Institute, NASA's Astrobiology outreach people totally ignore this on-going research.

- 2018 reports
- 2017 reports

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