Carl Sagan Center/SETI Institute Colloquium Series
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Attend a colloquium! They are FREE, open to the public and held from noon to 1pm, every Wednesday at the SETI Institute, 515 N. Whisman Road, Mountain View, California.
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Archive of past lectures, videos, slides: 2010, 2009, 2008/2007, By Topic
 poster
for month of July 2010
07/28/2010
Exploring Mars for evidence of habitable environments and life
Dave Des Marais, NASA Ames Research Center
Recent Mars missions have discovered fascinating landscapes as well as chemicals and minerals formed by the action of liquid water. Mars could have been habitable sometime in the past, and liquid water might persist in some subsurface environments today. Dr. Dave Des Marais, Chair of the Mars Exploration Program Advisory Group (MEPAG), will discuss recent discoveries that are helping to identify the most promising places to search for evidence of life.
poster
for month of August 2010
08/04/2010
Titan Unveiled
Ralph Lorenz, Applied Physics Laboratory
Saturn's giant moon Titan has been of considerable interest since the presence of an atmosphere was hinted at one century ago. The NASA-ESA-ASI Cassini-Huygens mission, at Saturn for the last 4 years, has transformed this curious dot in the sky into a remarkably diverse, complex and interesting world, which is in many ways more Earth-like than anywhere in the solar system. This talk will summarize some of Cassini's recent findings with emphasis on the interactions between Titan's surface, atmosphere, and interior. These include dune-covered sand seas, river channels that attest to violent but perhaps rare downpours and climate change, hydrocarbon lakes and possible cryovolcanic features. The rich inventory of organics on Titan makes it a particularly appealing target for astrobiological studies.
Titan's thick atmosphere and low gravity permit a wide range of exploration vehicle types, notably aircraft and balloons. The scientific goals and technical features of vehicles and instruments for future exploration of Titan, will be discussed.
08/11/2010
SETI REU Students Presentation
08/18/2010
From Earth to the Stars: Psychological Issues during Space Missions
Nick Kanas, Professor of Psychiatry, UC San Francisco
Recent studies on-orbit have provided information on important psychological and interpersonal issues that affect crewmembers and mission control personnel who are involved with near-Earth space missions. However, the extreme distances, communication delays, and increased crewmember autonomy that will characterize missions to Mars and beyond will introduce additional psychosocial stressors never before experienced. Professor Kanas will discuss these stressors and their impact on people traveling to the outer solar system and nearby stars, including those resulting from new technologies, such as traveling at a significant fraction of the speed of light, putting crewmembers in suspended animation, or creating giant self-contained generation ships of colonists who will not return to Earth. Professor Kanas is the author of two books:
Space Psychology and Psychiatry
and Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography.
08/25/2010
Beyond Kepler: Direct Imaging of Earth-like Planets
Ruslan Belikov, Space Science Division, NASA Ames
Is there another Earth out there? People have been asking this question for over two thousand years, and we finally stand on the verge of answering it. The Kepler mission (which was featured in several of the past SETI talks) will likely find the first ever Earth-sized planet around the habitable zone of another star. This talk is about the next step after Kepler, which might be a mission to directly image Earth-like planets and analyze their spectra for biomarkers such as oxygen, water, and atmosphere. The talk will cover the technology of direct planet imaging, focusing on the work done at NASA Ames, as well as the science we might get out of it and some repercussions.
09/01/2010
Free Electron Laser Communication with Exoplanets and Other Space Applications
Bill Colson, Distinguished Professor, Physics Department, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey CA
The U.S. Navy is developing a Free Electron Laser with MW-level average
output power, as reported in a recent National Academy
Report.* Several scientific space applications appear to be
interesting and feasible, including power beaming to satellites, space
stations, or space vehicles. New proposals also include
scientific investigation of the moon and nearby planets using an FEL
stationed on earth, but capable of illuminating small areas of these
objects with light spectrally brighter than the sun, permitting direct
observations at tunable, selectable wavelengths. It also
appears possible to use such an FEL to send detectable signals out to
50 light-years or more, conceivably providing communications capability
across such distances. Invoking the concept of reciprocity,
it could be we should be looking for such signals from intelligent
civilizations on exoplanets. A plan for such exploration is
suggested.
* Scientific Assessment of High-Power Free Electron
Laser Technology, National Academy of Sciences, Board on Physics and
Astronomy Report (2009)
09/15/2010
From the Earth to Mars: Lessons for Mars Science and Exploration from the Haughton-Mars Project, Devon Island, High Arctic
Pascal Lee, SETI Institute, Mars Institute, & NASA Ames Research Center
The Haughton impact crater site on Devon Island, High Arctic, is one of
the most Mars-like places on Earth. Since 1997, the Haughton-Mars
Project (HMP) has been conducting science and exploration research at
the site, and established the HMP Research Station, now the largest
privately operated polar research station in the world. Geology and
astrobiology investigations have led to the formulation of the
“Mars, Always Cold, Sometimes Wet” Model. Dr. Lee
will describe how Haughton is being used to conduct exploration
investigations which are helping pave the way towards the first human
mission to Mars.
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