Key Space Missions Choose ONE of the following space missions and give an account of the mission describing the challenges it had to overcome and the mission's achievements. Describe in particular how it has influenced our understanding of the possibilities of past or present life in the solar system. The Viking dual orbiter/lander mission to Mars. The Galileo orbiter/probe mission to the Jupiter system. The Cassini/Huygens mission to the Saturn system. o The Mars Exploration Rover mission (Spirit and Opportunity rovers).Essays are due before midnight on Sunday January 25th (end of week 6). They should be submitted online through the submission box provided in the Assessments page on Moodle. You can submit in a range of file formats (MS Word, WordPerfect, PDF, Postscript, HTML, RTF and plain text). Essay Topics — Choose one of the following 1. History of Radio Telescopes Describe the development of single dish radio telescopes and advantages of radio interferometers. Discuss major discoveries that were possible after detection of radio waves from space and how they changed our understanding of Universe. 2. The Earliest Evidence for Life Review the earliest evidence for life on Earth. What form does the evidence take and where is it found. Discuss the controversies relating to some of this evidence and give your conclusion on the earliest date at which we can be confident that life was present on Earth. 3. Atmosphere Evolution on Rocky Planets Compare evolution of atmosphere on Earth, Venus and Mars, and explain differences in current atmospheric conditions on these planets. Describe how the Earth's atmosphere helped life to originate, survive and develop, and how has life affected the atmosphere over time. 4. Life in Extreme Conditions Explain what extremophile life forms are and where they are found on Earth. In view of what we have learnt about extremophiles discuss the possibility of extraterrestrial life in different places of our Solar system. 5. Key Space Missions Choose ONE of the following space missions and give an account of the mission describing the challenges it had to overcome and the mission's achievements. Describe in particular how it has influenced our understanding of the possibilities of past or present life in the solar system. o The Viking dual orbiter/lander mission to Mars. o The Galileo orbiter/probe mission to the Jupiter system. o The Cassini/Huygens mission to the Saturn system. o The Mars Exploration Rover mission (Spirit and Opportunity rovers). 6. Terraforming Mars Is it feasible to turn Mars into a habitable planet, as described, for example, in Kim Stanley Robinson's science fiction trilogy, Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars? If so, is this a goal we should pursue? 7. Rosetta Mission Explain why scientists study comets of the Solar system. Discuss the methods applied in such studies. Describe the Rosetta mission and argue its importance in understanding the history of our Solar system and development of life on Earth. 16 8. Space Weather Our Sun is an active star. Describe different types of solar activity. Explain how we can measure it and discuss its effects on life and human technology. What strategies can be implemented to avoid damaging effects of solar activity? 9. Inside stars Discuss internal composition of stars similar to our own Sun and compare it with composition of white dwarfs and neutron stars. Explain how helioseismology and solar neutrinos help to study interior of the Sun. 10. Star Formation Cycle Describe the life history of a star, beginning with its birth from a molecular cloud to its death. Define and explain the star formation cycle. Discuss its importance for enrichment of interstellar medium and the development of life, as we know it. 11. Formation of planetary systems Discuss the early ideas about the formation of our Solar system. Compare our solar system with other multi-planetary systems discovered in the last 20 years. Explain what we have learnt about formation of planets from these discoveries. Describe the concept of planetary migration. 12. Kepler and TESS Compare the strategy and objectives of the NASA Kepler mission and the new planned TESS mission. Choose one extra solar planet detected by the Kepler mission and discuss its importance for our understanding of other solar systems. 13. Habitability of Planets Explain what makes a planet habitable. In the context of currently known extra solar planetary systems discuss the likelihood of habitable planets in our Galactic neighbourhood. Describe some examples of recently discovered extra solar planets, which are suggested to be habitable and explain why. 14. Black Holes and Dead Stars Describe how the remnants of stellar evolution – black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs, supernova remnants and planetary nebulae – are created. Explain the best methods of detecting them by discussing one example for each class of object. 15. Dark Matter and Dark Energy Explain both concepts and the differences between them. Describe the observations that led to the hypothesis that dark matter is an important component of the Universe. Describe the suggested constituents of the dark matter. 16. The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Explain what is SETI and how it approaches the search for the ET. Explain why radio telescopes are particularly useful in such a search. If we make contact with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization discuss how likely it is that we will benefit from the encounter through, for example, the information they may provide on advanced technologies, or are we likely to suffer through the hostility of a species 17 that competes for our resources and perhaps our planet? Based on your assessment should we be advertising our presence by sending messages to the stars or would we be better keeping quiet? Factors you may wish to consider could include: Do we expect advanced intelligent species to be friendly or hostile to other species (based on evolutionary theory, and the requirements of survival of such a species)? Has the human race developed more or less tolerance of different peoples and cultures as civilization has developed? The historical record of encounters between colonial and indigenous peoples on Earth. Our record of treatment of closely related species such as the great apes. The vast distances between stars and the difficulty of physical contact with extraterrestrial neighbours.