The Life in the Atacama (LITA) project seeks to develop technologies for robotic life detection and apply them to the investigation of the Atacama Desert. Its field investigation in 2005 will demonstrate highly autonomous robotic science and daily multi-kilometer traverses over several weeks. A key component is mission-level path planning, which combines large-scale route selection, path and ac...

Tree survival, early fruit production, vegetative growth and alternate bearing were examined in six different olive cultivars (Barnea, Biancolilla, Coratina, Empeltre, Koroneiki and Leccino) under intensive agronomic conditions in southern Atacama Desert, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. The cultivars were evaluated over four successive years and had a high survival rate (93%) confi rming their...

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) project is described. This multi-institution collaboration aims to produce arcminute-resolution and micro-Kelvin sensitivity maps of the microwave background temperature over 200 square degrees of the sky in three frequency bands. We give a brief overview of the scientific motivations for such a map, followed by a design outline of our six-meter custom tele...

A large fraction of the vital groundwater in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile is likely composed of "fossil" or "ancient" reserves that receive little or no recharge in today's hyperarid climate. Here, we present evidence for latest Pleistocene perennial streamflow in canyons from the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Fluvial terraces in the Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT) b...

Aquatic insect communities in inland waters of Chile are characterised by the presence certain species depending on water quality, but there is little information statistical ecology structure communities. The aim present study was to apply null models explain aquatic insects middle zone Loa River, Atacama Desert (Antofagasta Region, Chile; 23°S). results co-occurrence showed that associations ...

Perchlorate is known to be a minor component of the hyperarid Atacama Desert salts, and its origin has long been a subject of speculation. Here we report the first measurement of the triple-oxygen isotope ratios (18O/16O and 17O/16O) for both man-made perchlorate from commercial sources and natural perchlorate extracted from Atacama soils. We found that the delta 18O values (i.e., normalized 18...

Terrestrial mollusca are sparsely studied in Chile and, for the first time, a formal record of the diversity of land snails in northern Chile is reported. Coastal and desertic areas in the Region of Atacama, in the border of the Atacama desert and the Pacific Ocean, were surveyed with the aim to describe the presence and distribution of this poorly known fauna. Of the fourteen species recorded,...

A number of photonics techniques are being used for Local Oscillator (LO) generation and distribution for millimeter-wavelength radio astronomy. Many of these are being implemented or considered for use on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) project.