Carl Sagan Center/SETI Institute Colloquium Series

Special notice regarding lecture locations: SETI Institute is on the move and our weekly lectures will be held at locations nearby. Please see the lecture listings for location of the week.

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• Archive of past lectures, videos, slides: 2010, 2009, 2008/2007, By Topic

 Lectures available on YouTube

poster for month of September 2010

09/01/2010 [location: conference room adjacent Symantec Cafe at 360 Ellis St. Mountain View, CA.]

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)

09/08/2010 [location: Clocktower Cafe Conference Room, 425 N. Whisman Rd, Mountain View]

NASA's Flexible Path Architecture Study for Human Missions

David Korsmeyer, Chief of the Intelligent Systems Division, NASA Ames Research Center

NASA supported the "Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans" (HSF) Committee during the Summer of 2009 by performing a study and analysis of a novel Flexible Path concept. The Flexible Path architecture for human spaceflight calls for incrementally more aggressive human missions out into the inner solar system. Exploration of the Moon, Lagrange points, Near Earth Objects, leading to the exploration of the Martian moons. All of these missions would have broad technical and scientific merit as precursors to the future exploration of the Mars surface. Dr. Korsmeyer lead the Flexible Path Architecture Study for NASA in support of the HSF Committee.

09/15/2010 [location: Clocktower Cafe Conference Room, 425 N. Whisman Rd, Mountain View]

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.

09/22/2010 [location: conference room adjacent Symantec Cafe at 360 Ellis St. Mountain View, CA.]

Titan: Past, Present and Future

Chris McKay, Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center

09/29/2010 [location: new SETI Headquarters at 189 N. Bernardo Ave. Mountain View]

Lakes on Mars: Their Past, Present, and Future Exploration

Nathalie Cabrol

Lakes are time capsules. On Earth, they are considered sentinels of climate change and may have played the same role on early Mars. Their basins capture the record of geological and environmental fluctuations over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Terrestrial lakes host a diversity of habitats where life’s adaptability can be pushed to the edge in often unstable environments. They preserve the evidence of ancient life as sedimentation rapidly entombs dead organisms and generates anoxic conditions favoring the formation of fossils. This makes them prime candidates for exploration. The existence of lakes on ancient Mars is now widely accepted but that was not always the case. The history of science shows that knowledge on any scientific question is shaped by the means of exploration and those means are molded by what we think the world is. Prior to Mars Global Surveyor, the relatively low resolution of orbital imagery made it difficult to confirm Martian paleolakes by direct observations, though their existence was inferred because valley networks had already been identified on Viking and Mariner 9 images. Interpretation rested on ambiguous morphological evidence at 200 m/pixel on average with only localized coverage at higher resolution. Today, high-resolution imagery, morphology, geology, and mineralogy converge to support the existence of ancient standing bodies of water on Mars. This evidence is collectively examined by 33 authors and co-authors in the first monograph on the subject entitled /Lakes on Mars/, a book to be published by Elsevier, September 3, 2010 (Nathalie A. Cabrol and Edmond A. Grin, Eds). Here, Dr. Nathalie Cabrol will discuss the evidence presented in the book, its environmental significance in terms of climate and habitability, and the questions it still raises.

10/06/2010

The Mars dichotomy: Brought to you by a mega impact

Margarita Marinova, Ames

10/13/2010

The Chicken and Egg problem of the Origin of Life

Nick Woolf, ASU

10/27/2010

New Search Strategies for SETI

Seth Shostak, SETI Institute

11/03/2010

Computer simulations of convection and magnetic field generation in planets

Gary Glatzmaier, UCSC

11/10/2010

A Statistical Equation for the distribution of habitable planets in our galaxy

Claudio Maccone, IAA

11/17/2010

Status of the James Webb Telescope and its Capabilities for Exoplanet Science

Mark Clampin, Goddard