Medford High, Tufts Team “Head to Mars”
At right, NASA’s Phoenix Lander collects soil from Mars’ surface in June. Photo courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M.
Group to Spend Week at NASA Science Center Studying Mars
Story Updated 7:50PM, Thursday, August 7, 2008Â
– Allison Goldsberry
Following months of training and anticipation, Medford High School physics teacher Michael Wadness and 2008 Medford High graduates Ngawang Choney and Terence Tran are heading out to NASA’s Science Operations Center in Tucson, AZ, to spend a week there working with Tufts University scientists as part of the Phoenix Mars Lander project.
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission is studying the history of water on the Red Planet and is searching for complex organic molecules in the ice-rich soil of the Martian arctic. The Mission’s work is starting to bear fruit, as NASA announced yesterday that lab tests aboard the lander discovered water in a soil sample, touching off excitement in the space community as water is a critical element in supporting life.
Tufts chemistry professor Sam Kounaves is spearheading the “wet chemistry” analysis of the Martian soil that will help determine the potential of the Martian environment to support microbial life. The Medford High team of Wadness, Choney, and Tran will work with Kounaves, fellow Tufts scientist Suzanne Young, and other Tufts researchers in analyzing the Martian soil for signs of life.
Wadness says they have been preparing for the research by creating calibration curves to help analyze the data coming in from the Lander. An electric current is sent through Martian soil mixed with water from Earth in an experiment to determine what is in the soil.
Wadness and the students have also been charged with public outreach and have done several public presentations about the project over the past several months, including at the high school and at the Medford Public Library.
The Phoenix Mars craft launched in August 2007 and touched down on Mars on May 25 of this year. The Medford High School team has been following Phoenix’s progress closely and has gone through “practice runs” with the Tufts team.
Wadness says that their exact assignments in Tucson haven’t yet been determined, but he and his students are eager to work hands-on with a project whose discoveries have already made headlines worldwide.
“How many times do you get this kind of opportunity?” asks Tran, who has dreamed of becoming an astronaut and has decided to become a Jumbo in the fall because of his experience working side by side with Tufts scientists on the project.
Choney is heading to Emerson in the fall.
Working on the Phoenix Mars project is quite an honor for the Medford High team, as it is one of only a dozen school teams selected by NASA from across the country. Medford is working alongside a team from Belmont, NH, that is also being mentored by Tufts University scientists.
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