Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter
Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
Editor/Publisher: David J. Thomas, Ph.D., Science Division, Lyon College, Batesville,
Arkansas 72503-2317, USA. dthomas@lyon.edu
Marsbugs is published on a weekly to monthly basis as warranted by the number of articles and announcements. Copyright of this compilation exists with the editor,
except for specific articles, in which instance copyright exists with the author/authors. Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors, and are not
necessarily endorsed by the editor or by Lyon College. E-mail subscriptions are free, and may be obtained by contacting the editor. Information concerning the scope
of this newsletter, subscription formats and availability of back-issues is available at http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs. The editor does not condone "spamming"
of subscribers. Readers would appreciate it if others would not send unsolicited e-mail using the Marsbugs mailing lists. Persons who have information that may be of
interest to subscribers of Marsbugs should send that information to the editor.
Articles and News
Announcements
Page 1
Page 11
STUDENT SIGNATURES IN SPACE (S3) 2004
From Astronomylinks.com
Page 12
JIMO UPDATE
From the Lunar and Planetary Institute
Page 12
NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX
By David J. Thomas
Page 2
Page 2
Page 3
Page 5
Page 5
Page 7
Page 7
Page 8
NEW EVIDENCE SUGGESTS EARLY OCEANS BEREFT
OF OXYGEN FOR EONS; EARLY LIFE MAY HAVE
LIVED VERY DIFFERENTLY THAN LIFE TODAY
NSF release 04-028
SPACE STATION RESEARCH YIELDS NEW
INFORMATION ABOUT BONE LOSS
NASA release 04-084
MARS UNDERGROUND: THE HARSH REALITY OF LIFE
BELOW
By Robert Roy Britt
Mission Reports
Page 13
MARS: GOLDILOCKS' OASIS? THINKING LOCALLY,
BEFORE ACTING GLOBALLY
From Astrobiology Magazine
SCIENTISTS EXAMINE IMAGE OF MARS BEAGLE 2
LANDER
By Jane Wardell
Page 13
CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
NASA/JPL release
PRIVATE DETECTIVES INVESTIGATE MARS
By Leonard David
Page 14
MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATES
NASA/JPL releases
MARS HORIZON, THE BIG PLANS
From Astrobiology Magazine
Page 15
MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES
NASA/JPL/MSSS release
ADIOS ARECIBO: PROJECT PHOENIX MOVES ON
By Seth Shostak
Page 15
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
NASA/JPL/ASU release
LOOKING TOWARDS CREATION
Based on Hubble/STScI report
Page 15
ACTIVATING ROSETTA
ESA release
OUTBREAK ALERTS FROM SPACE
By Patrick L. Barry
Page 16
TWO ASTEROID FLY-BYS FOR ROSETTA
ESA release 15-2004
Page 9
CLUES TO LIFE IN THE MINES OF MURGUL
By Leslie Mullen
Page 11
WAR OF THE WORDS: SCIENTIST ATTACKS ALIEN
CLAIMS
By Robert Roy Britt
NEW EVIDENCE SUGGESTS EARLY OCEANS BEREFT OF
OXYGEN FOR EONS; EARLY LIFE MAY HAVE LIVED VERY
DIFFERENTLY THAN LIFE TODAY
NSF release 04-028
4 March 2004
As two rovers scour Mars for signs of water and the precursors of life,
geochemists have uncovered evidence that Earth's ancient oceans were much
different from today's. The research, published in this week's issue of the
journal, Science, cites new data that shows that Earth's life-giving oceans
contained less oxygen than today's and could have been nearly devoid of
oxygen for a billion years longer than previously thought. These findings may
help explain why complex life barely evolved for billions of years after it
arose.
The scientists, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and
affiliated with the University of Rochester, have pioneered a new method that
reveals how ocean oxygen might have changed globally. Most geologists
agree there was virtually no oxygen dissolved in the oceans until about 2
billion years ago, and that they were oxygen-rich during most of the last halfbillion years. But there has always been a mystery about the period in
between. Geochemists developed ways to detect signs of ancient oxygen in
particular areas, but not in the Earth's oceans as a whole. The team's method,
however, can be extrapolated to grasp the nature of all oceans around the
world.
"This is the best direct evidence that the global oceans had less oxygen during
that time," says Gail Arnold, a doctoral student of earth and environmental
sciences at the University of Rochester and lead author of the research paper.
Adds Enriqueta Barrera, program director in NSF's division of earth sciences,
"This study is based on a new approach, the application of molybdenum
isotopes, which allows scientists to ascertain global perturbations in ocean
environments. These isotopes open a new door to exploring anoxic ocean
conditions at times across the geologic record."
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
Arnold examined rocks from northern Australia that were at the floor of the
ocean over a billion years ago, using the new she had method developed by
her and co-authors, Jane Barling and Ariel Anbar. Previous researchers had
drilled down several meters into the rock and tested its chemical composition,
confirming it had kept original information about the oceans safely preserved.
The team members brought those rocks back to their labs where they used
newly developed technology—called a Multiple Collector Inductively
Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer—to examine the molybdenum isotopes
within the rocks.
The element molybdenum enters the oceans through river runoff, dissolves in
seawater, and can stay dissolved for hundreds of thousands of years. By
staying in solution so long, molybdenum mixes well throughout the oceans,
making it an excellent global indicator. It is then removed from the oceans
into two kinds of sediments on the seafloor: those that lie beneath waters,
oxygen-rich and those that are oxygen-poor.
Working with coauthor Timothy Lyons of the University of Missouri, the
Rochester team examined samples from the modern seafloor, including the
rare locations that are oxygen-poor today. They learned that the chemical
behavior of molybdenum's isotopes in sediments is different depending on the
amount of oxygen in the overlying waters. As a result, the chemistry of
molybdenum isotopes in the global oceans depends on how much seawater is
oxygen-poor. They also found that the molybdenum in certain kinds of rocks
records this information about ancient oceans. Compared to modern samples,
measurements of the molybdenum chemistry in the rocks from Australia point
to oceans with much less oxygen.
How much less oxygen is the question. A world full of anoxic oceans could
have serious consequences for evolution. Eukaryotes, the kind of cells that
make up all organisms except bacteria, appear in the geologic record as early
as 2.7 billion years ago. But eukaryotes with many cells—the ancestors of
plants and animals—did not appear until a half billion years ago, about the
time the oceans became rich in oxygen. With paleontologist Andrew Knoll of
Harvard University, Anbar previously advanced the hypothesis that an
extended period of anoxic oceans may be the key to why the more complex
eukaryotes barely eked out a living while their prolific bacterial cousins
thrived. Arnold's study is an important step in testing this hypothesis.
"It's remarkable that we know so little about the history of our own planet's
oceans," says Anbar. "Whether or not there was oxygen in the oceans is a
straightforward chemical question that you'd think would be easy to answer.
It shows just how hard it is to tease information from the rock record and how
much more there is for us to learn about our origins."
2
crewmembers. The crewmembers spent from four to six months onboard the
Station. The research suggests additional conditioning exercises and other
countermeasures may be necessary to prevent bone mineral loss.
"This study underlines the importance of continuing to develop
countermeasures to preserve musculoskeletal conditioning in long-duration
space travelers," said Guy Fogleman, director of Bioastronautics Research in
NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research, Washington. "Results of
this research, which may aid people on Earth who suffer for similar conditions
including osteoporosis, are being shared with the medical community," he
added.
This study is the first to use CT imaging to three-dimensionally quantify
spaceflight-related bone loss in the hip and to estimate changes in hipbone
strength. Previous studies used a two-dimensional imaging technology called
dual X-ray absorptiometry. The CT measurements in the hip were performed
pre- and post-flight to measure bone loss in the porous bone in the interior of
the hip and in the dense outer shell of the hipbone. On average, the Station
crew lost interior bone at a rate of 2.2 to 2.7 percent for each month in space
and outer bone at a rate of 1.6 to 1.7 percent per month.
"Our study demonstrates that bone loss occurs in the Space Station
crewmembers at a rate comparable to that observed almost a decade before in
the crew of the Russian Mir spacecraft," said Thomas Lang, UCSF associate
professor of radiology and principal investigator on the study. "The lack of
clear progress in the interval between Mir and Station missions indicates a
need for continued efforts to improve musculoskeletal conditioning regimens
during longer space missions, such as those proposed for the moon and Mars,"
Lang said.
The investigators used information from the CT images to estimate changes in
the strength of the hipbone. They found on average the hipbone strength
declined by 2.5 percent for each month of flight. Since the amount of bone
loss increases with mission length, crewmembers on multiyear explorations
may face increased risk of fracture upon return to Earth gravity. In addition,
those who do not recover the lost bone may be at increased risk of fracture as
they age.
The researchers also analyzed loss of density in vertebrae (back bones).
Vertebrae, along with the hip, are the skeletal sites associated most with
serious osteoporotic fractures in the elderly. The study found on average, the
Station crew lost vertebral bone at a rate of 0.8 to 0.9 percent per month,
which was consistent with data from earlier long-duration missions.
To view the study on the Internet, visit http://www.jbmr-online.org.
Figuring out just how much less oxygen was in the oceans in the ancient past
is the next step. The scientists plan to continue studying molybdenum
chemistry to answer that question, with continuing support from NSF and
NASA, the agencies that supported the initial work. The information will not
only shed light on our own evolution, but may help us understand the
conditions we should look for as we search for life beyond Earth.
Read the original news release at
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/newsroom/pr.cfm?ni=56.
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/early-earth-04a.html
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/early_oceans_little_oxygen.html
SPACE STATION RESEARCH YIELDS NEW INFORMATION
ABOUT BONE LOSS
NASA release 04-084
8 March 2004
A new NASA-funded study revealed how bone loss increases the risk of
injuries, highlighting the need for additional measures to ensure the health of
spacecraft crews. The study provides new information about bone loss caused
by prolonged spaceflight. The study is in the online version of the Journal of
Bone and Mineral Research.
The research team was from the University of California San Francisco
(UCSF) and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. The team used threedimensional X-ray computed tomography (CT) to study the effect of
prolonged weightlessness on the bone mineral density and structure of the hip
in a group of 14 American and Russian International Space Station
For information about space research on the Internet, visit
http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/.
For information about NASA on the Internet, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/formedia.
Contacts:
Dolores Beasley
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Phone: 202-358-1753
William Jeffs
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
Phone: 281-483-5111
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/bone_study_040315.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/spacetravel-04h.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0403/09boneloss/
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/bone_loss_space.html
MARS UNDERGROUND: THE HARSH REALITY OF LIFE BELOW
By Robert Roy Britt
From Space.com
8 March 2004
If there is life on Mars, it certainly hasn't jumped out and mugged for the Mars
rovers' cameras like many people had hoped. And most scientists agree it
probably won't. In fact, any critters that lurk on the red planet today would
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
almost certainly be part of an underground organization that has defied long
odds and the harsh realities of a very unfriendly world.
So why all the excitement last week over once soggy rocks at Meridiani
Planum? After all, scientists already knew Mars once held a lot of water. The
evidence is written all over the planet as scars of river erosion. All that's
really new is scientists now know of a specific location where water was
abundant.
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040308.html.
MARS: GOLDILOCKS' OASIS? THINKING LOCALLY, BEFORE
ACTING GLOBALLY
From Astrobiology Magazine
10 March 2004
Locally, Earth has its habitable
extremes: Antarctica, the Sahara
desert, the Dead Sea, Mount Etna.
Globally, our blue planet is
positioned in the solar system's
habitable zone, or "Goldilocks"
region where the temperature and
pressure are just right to support
liquid water and life. Across the
borders from this goldilocks zone
orbit our two neighbors: the
runaway
greenhouse
planet,
Venus—which in Goldilocks'
terms is "too hot"—and the frigid
red planet, Mars, which is "too
cold".
Omar Pensado Diaz (OPD): I am looking forward to integrating the models,
rather focusing on their differences. Global terraforming, or warming a planet
with super greenhouse gases, is a strategy or model conceived from the
perspective of physics; while the model I propose is seen from a biological
point of view.
I am talking about a model called microterraforming, which will be possible
with a tool named the Minimal Unit of Terraforming (MUT). The concept of
a Minimal Unit of Terraforming is explained as an ecosystem running as the
fundamental unit of nature. A MUT comprises a group of living organisms
and their physical and chemical environment where they live, but applied to
the development of a biological colonization and remodeling process on Mars.
Technically speaking, it is a pressurized dome-shaped greenhouse that would
contain and protect an interior ecosystem. This complex would not be
isolated from the surroundings; on the contrary it would be constantly in
contact with it, but in a controlled way. What is important is gas exchange
between the MUT Units and the martian environment, so the ecosystem itself
has a dramatic role.
The objective of this process is to generate
photosynthesis. Here is where we must consider plants as covering the
surface and chemical factories processing the atmosphere.
AM: What would be the advantages of working locally, using your model of
an oasis in a desert? By biological analogy to a fundamental terraforming
unit, do you mean like how biological cells have an internal equilibrium, but
also exchanges with an external one that differs for the whole host?
Artist's conception of an early,
pre-terraforming outpost for
human visitors to Mars. Image
credit:
Mark
Dowman/
JSC/NASA.
With an average global temperature of -55°C, Mars is a very cold planet. The
standard models for warming Mars raise this average temperature with
greenhouse gases first, then plant cold-adapted crops and photosynthetic
microbes. This terraforming model includes various refinements such as
orbital mirrors and chemical factories which pour out fluorocarbons.
Eventually with the help of biology, industrialization, and time, the
atmosphere would begin to get thicker (the current martian atmosphere is 99%
thinner than the Earth's). To terraform Mars, depending on the choice and
concentration of greenhouse gases used, can take many decades to centuries
before an astronaut might begin to lift a visor and for the first time, breathe
martian air. Such proposals would initiate the first conscious effort at
planetary engineeering, and aim to change the global environment into one
less hostile to life as we know it terrestrially.
An artist's conception of how a
terraformed Mars, with an
ocean spanning most of its
northern hemisphere, might look
from orbit.
Mars, as
terraformed by Michael Carroll.
In 1991 this image was used on
the front cover of the "Making
Mars Habitable" issue of
Nature.
3
Another version to these global
changes is a local one familiar to
those who have trekked the Sahara.
Occasionally life blossoms into a
desert oasis. A local strategy to
change Mars, according to biologist
Omar Pensado Diaz, director of the
Mex-Areohab project, can best be
compared to transforming Mars one
oasis at a time. The minimum size of
the oasis extends to the diameter of a
dome-shaped plastic cover, much like
a greenhouse with a space heater. In
this way, microterraforming is the
smaller alternative for a planet that
otherwise is an open system leaking
to space. Diaz contrasts the way a
physicist might change Mars with
industrial tools to the hothouse
methods of a biologist. Diaz talked
with Astrobiology Magazine about
what it might mean to remodel Mars
with tiny stadiums, until they grow
into lush, desert oases.
Astrobiology Magazine (AM): Would it be correct to conclude that you are
studying the differences between a global and local terraforming strategy?
OPD: The advantages I find in this model are that we can initiate a
terraforming process faster, but in stages, that is why it is microterraforming.
But the major and most important advantage is that we can make plant life
begin to participate in this process with the help of technology. Life is
information and it processes the information around it, beginning an
adaptation process to the inner conditions of the unit. Here we maintain that
life has plasticity and that it not only adapts to the surrounding conditions, but
also it adapts the environment to its own circumstances. In the language of
genetics, this means that there are an interaction between the genotype and the
environment, producing the adaptation of phenotypical expressions to the
dominant conditions. Now, in a small environment such as a Unit with a
diameter of approximately 15 or 20 yards, we could have a much warmer
environment than outside the Unit.
AM: Describe what a Unit might look like.
OPD: A transparent, plastic-fiber, double-layered dome. The dome would
generate a greenhouse effect inside that would raise significantly the
temperature during the daytime and would protect the inside from low
temperatures at night. Furthermore, the atmosphere's pressure would be
higher inside by 60 to 70 millibars. That would be enough to allow the plants'
photosynthetic processes as well as liquid water.
In thermodynamic terms, we are now talking about a lack of equilibrium. In
order to reactivate Mars, we need to create a thermodynamic disequilibrium.
The Unit would generate what is needed first, like ground degassing from
temperature differences. Such process is an objective along with the path to a
global strategy. Strictly speaking, the Units would be like carbon dioxide
capturing traps; they would release oxygen and generate biomass. The
oxygen would then be released to the atmosphere periodically. A valve
system would release gases to the outside and once the inner atmospheric
pressure had decreased up to 40 or 35 milibars, the valves would close
automatically. And others would open and, by suction, gas would get inside
the Unit and the original atmospheric pressure would level off. This system
would not only allow the release of oxygen but also the release of other gases.
AM: In such an oasis model, it is an open system, but would it have no effect
on regional conditions. In other words, would local leakage get diluted, and in
those cases, how is microterraforming different from just operating
greenhouses?
OPD: The greenhouses—in this case the Minimal Unit of Terraforming—are
thought to begin a gradual change on Mars. The difference depends on its
range of action, since that's where the microterraforming process begins.
Besides, it depend on how you look at it, because with this method we are
trying to repeat the evolution pattern that once was successful on Earth, in
order to transform the planet's atmosphere into another and to make Mars
enter in a stage of thermodynamic disequilibrium.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
4
oxygen and carbonates, among others, so the release would begin to flow
gradually to the planet's atmosphere.
AM: The quickest method often cited for global terraforming is to introduce
fluorocarbons into the martian atmosphere. With small percentage changes,
big temperature and pressure changes follow. This relies on solar interaction.
Would a closed bubble have this mechanism available, for instance if
ultraviolet light is not penetrating into the domes?
View of transformed Mars as seen from a base on the martian
moon, Phobos. If North is at the top (where the Boreal Ocean
would be) then the Tharsis volcanoes and Olympus Mons should
be rotated roughly 90 degrees West. Image credit: NASA.
The major advantage is that we can control a terraforming process at a microscale; we can turn Mars into a similar place to the Earth faster and make it
interact with the surrounding environment at the same time. That is the most
important aspect of it: to get ahead with faster processes. As I said before, the
idea is to follow the same evolution pattern that developed on Earth soon after
photosynthesis appeared. There were terrestrial plants that remodeled and
terraformed the Earth, generating carbon dixoide from the surface and
distributing it to the atmosphere that existed at that time.
OPD: We are talking about an alternate way from that—not using
fluorocarbons and other greenhouse gases. The method we propose captures
carbon dioxide for biomass increase, liberates oxygen and inner heat storage,
all to generate a carbon dioxide degassing inside the Unit. Other gases
trapped in the ground today would be released to the martian atmosphere to
densify it gradually. Actually, the direct exposure of an ecosystem to
ultraviolet rays would be counterproductive for the carbon dioxide capture,
biomass formation and ground gas generation. Precisely, the dome functions
to protect an ecosystem from cold and ultraviolet radiation, as well as
maintaining its inner pressure.
Now, the dome would be an important heat trap and a thermal insulator.
Making the earlier cell analogy, the dome is like a biological membrane that
drives the local ecosystem to thermodynamic disequilibrium.
That
disequilibrium would allow life to develop.
Drs. Chris McKay and Robert Zubrin presented an interesting model that
proposes to co-locate three large orbital mirrors. The mirrors would reflect
the Sun's light to the south pole of Mars and sublimate the dry ice (carbon
dioxide snow) layer in order to increase the greenhouse effect and then
accelerate the planet's global warming. Such mirrors would be the size of
Texas.
I think that if the same infrastructure used in those mirrors were instead used
to build domes for a Minimal Unit of Terraforming over the martian surface,
we would be generating higher degassing rates and oxygenating the
atmosphere faster. In addition, part of the surface would be warmed anyway,
since the Units would hold solar heat, not reflect it from the surface.
The lack of liquid water for the ecosystems inside the Units is debatable;
however, a variant of a proposal by Dr. Adam Bruckner, from the University
of Washington, can be used. It consists on using a zeolite (mineral catalyst)
condenser; then, extracting water from the moisture of incoming air. Water
would pour inside daily. Again, we would be activating some stages of a
hydrological cycle, capturing carbon dioxide, releasing gases to the
atmosphere and making the surface a more fertile ground. We would be doing
an accelerated terraforming on a very small part of Mars, but if we put
hundreds of those Units, the degassing effects over the surface and
atmosphere will have planetary repercussions.
AM: When closed biospheres have operated on Earth like Biosphere 2,
problems arose with—for instance—oxygen loss due to combination with
rock to form carbonates. Are there examples today of large-scale, selfsustaining systems on Earth?
OPD: Large-scale, self-sustaining systems built by humans? I don't know
any, but life itself is a self-sustaining system that takes from the surrounding
environment what it needs to work. That was the problem of closed
biospheres, they were not able to make a feedback circuit as it happens on
Earth. Furthermore, the system I propose would not be closed; it would
interact with the environment of Mars in intervals, by releasing part of what
would have been processed by the action of photosynthesis while
incorporating new gases. The Minimal Unit of Terraforming will not be a
closed system.
If we take into account James Lovelock's "Gaia theory", we could consider
Earth as a large-scale, self-sustaining system, because the biogeochemical
cycles are active—a situation that is not happening today on Mars. A large
portion of its oxygen is combined with its surface, giving the planet an
oxidized character. In this sense, inside the Minimal Unit of Terraforming,
the biogeochemical cycles would be reactivated. These domes would liberate
Thin atmospheric layer above cratered terrain.
JPL/NASA.
Image credit:
AM: Would high local concentrations of greenhouse gases (like methane,
carbon dioxide or CFCs) be locally toxic before having any effects globally?
OPD: Life can adapt to conditions that are toxic for us; an elevated carbon
dioxide concentration can be beneficial for plants, and even increase their
production, or, as with methane, there are some methanogenic organisms that
require this gas for their subsistence.
Such gases are appropriate for raising the global temperature; on the other
hand, carbon dioxide is the most appropriate gas for plant life. The aim is to
reproduce evolutionary patterns leading to a gradual adaptation of these
organisms to a new environment, and the adaptation of the environment to
these organisms.
AM: Global terraforming on Mars has time ranges that vary between a
century to even long times. Are there ways to estimate whether local efforts
might accelerate habitability, using the oasis model you suggest?
OPD: That will depend on the plants' photosynthetic efficiency and their
capability to adapt themselves to the environment while adapting the
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
5
environment. However, we can consider two appraisals: one local and one
global.
told SPACE.com. In the case of the Mars rovers, "a unique approach is
happening," he said.
In a more explicit way, those appraisals can be first measured on each
Minimal Unit of Terraforming through its photosynthetic efficiency,
oxygenation speed, carbon dioxide capture and degassing of the dome's
surface. This rate would depend on the solar incidence and the greenhouse
effect. At a global level, the speed of the planet's remodeling would depend
on how many Minimal Units could be installed all over the martian surface.
That is to say, if there exist more Minimal Units of Terraforming, the planet's
transformation would be completed faster.
Images are released to the general public almost as fast as they come in,
Frederick noted. In the past, there would have been an embargo for six
months or longer. "So the general public gets to see these at pretty much the
same time as the scientists working on them," he said.
I'd like to clarify something I think is important at this point. The major
achievement would be to turn Mars into a green planet before humans could
inhabit it in the way we do on Earth today. It would be extraordinary to see
how plant life responds, first inside the Minimal Unit of Terraforming and
then, when those machines had finished their cycle and life emerges as an
explosion to the exterior, to see the unstoppable speciation that would take
place, since life would respond to the environment and the environment would
respond to life.
And so, we may watch trees, such as pines that on Earth have a large and
straight timber. On Mars we may have a more pliable species, one strong
enough to resist low temperatures and blowing winds. As photosynthetic
machines, the pines would be fulfilling their role as planetary transformers,
keeping water, minerals and carbon dioxide for the accumulation of biomass.
AM: What future plans do you have for the research?
OPD: I want to initiate partial simulations of the martian conditions. This is
needed to probe and improve the operation of the Minimal Unit of
Terraforming, as well as the physiological response of plants in such
conditions—in other words, rehearsals.
This is a multidisciplinary and inter-institutional investigation, so the
participation of engineers, biologists and genetic specialists will be necessary
as well as other scientific organizations interested in the subject. I must say
this is just the first attempt; it is a theory of what could be done and one that
we could try on our own planet, for instance, by fighting against the
aggressive desert spreading, by rehabilitating grounds and creating obstacles
to stop its gradual advance.
Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article869.html.
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-base-04d.html
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/terraforming_mars_one_piece_tim
e.html
PRIVATE DETECTIVES INVESTIGATE MARS
By Leonard David
From Space.com
11 March 2004
The unmatched imagery being relayed from the two NASA Mars rovers—
Spirit and Opportunity have made it possible for amateur investigators to
explore the red planet as never before. Thanks to the Internet, various
software packages, and a generous helping of patience, the general public can
jump right in and scout out Mars for themselves.
No doubt, being a Mars devotee helps too. You need that and more to
describe the story behind all those images of martian rocks. Shall we say
"rockonteur"? For its part, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena,
California updates the daily catch of rover photos, putting them out as "raw
images".
One Mars detective that excitedly awaits the latest batch of images from Spirit
at Gusev Crater and Opportunity at Meridiani Planum is R.D. "Gus" Frederick
of Silverton, Oregon. He is an Instructional Technologist for the Oregon
Public Education Network and creates multi-media resources for Oregon
public educators.
"Being a long-time Mars enthusiast, I have always followed the progress of
each new mission, eagerly waiting to look at the latest pictures," Frederick
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mars_detectives_040311.html.
MARS HORIZON, THE BIG PLANS
From Astrobiology Magazine
11 March 2004
Based on Congressional Testimony, Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA Associate
Administrator for Science, March 10, 2004.
Since their arrivals on Mars, our two robotic wanderers have sent us
incredible images and data from one of our nearest neighbors in the Solar
System. The primary science objective of the Mars Exploration Rovers
(MERs) is to determine to what degree the past action of liquid water on Mars
has influenced the Red Planet's environment over time.
While there is no direct
evidence of liquid water
on the surface of Mars
today, the record of past
water activity on Mars can
be found in the rocks,
minerals, and geologic
landforms, particularly in
some specific, diagnostic
features that we believe
form only in the presence
of water. That is why both
Schematic of major MER mission events
MERs are equipped with
during entry, descent and landing. Image
special tools to enable
credit: NASA/JPL/ Cornell University/ Dan
them to study a diverse
Maas.
collection of rocks and
soils that may hold clues to past water activity on Mars and determine whether
the planet ever had the potential to harbor life in the long-distant past, or,
much less likely, today.
The information that NASA has gleaned in just the short amount of time that
Spirit and Opportunity have been on the surface of Mars has been incredibly
revealing. We have images that show rocks and surface structures in
unprecedented detail. We are seeing a side of Mars that is vastly different
from what we have encountered during past missions, because we targeted
these special rovers to explore places that we knew would be compelling.
While we are incredibly pleased with the data and images we have obtained
thus far and look forward to many more, we must not forget that traveling to
and exploring Mars is a very challenging endeavor. As I have said many
times before—both here on Capitol Hill and in the press—Mars is an
extremely exciting and compelling Solar System destination, but it is also an
incredibly difficult target, as history has often proven.
The landing and subsequent rollout of the two Rovers were practically picture
perfect, which is a daunting engineering feat in and of itself, and one which
makes me proud of NASA's talented and capable Mars team. However, lest
we became too confident about our Mars conquest, we were reminded of the
significant challenges that operating on the Red Planet entails when the Spirit
rover presented the Mars team with a serious technical challenge.
Spirit touched down in an area of Mars known as the Gusev Crater on January
4, 2004. After eighteen days of nearly flawless operation and after returning
significant scientific data, including striking pictures of distant hills—and a
rock affectionately dubbed "Adirondack"—the Spirit rover developed an
apparent communications problem that initially baffled the entire Mars team.
In the ensuing days, Spirit sent us intermittent signals, and we sent the
spacecraft numerous queries to try to diagnose the exact nature of the
problem.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
We were able to determine that the problem was related to software, and the
team at JPL developed the necessary procedures and protocols to get Spirit
back in business. Had Spirit's communication problem been a hardware issue,
we would be in much more dire straits for obvious reasons. Spirit is now
performing as it was intended and continuing to explore its martian
surroundings.
Having actual data transmissions from Spirit's descent to the martian surface
also provided significant benefits for the team planning the landing of the
second Mars rover, Opportunity. Actual descent data from the first spacecraft
were used to confirm our models of the behavior of the martian atmosphere
and weather—models which we depended on to plan Opportunity's descent.
The data from Spirit indicated that, while the descent was within the predicted
limits of our engineering model, it was close to edge of the anticipated
margins.
Armed with this new knowledge, NASA opted to open Opportunity's
parachute earlier to provide for a slower descent and a more gentle arrival on
the Red Planet. On January 25, 2004, Opportunity bounced onto the opposite
side of Mars—in an area called Meridiani Planum—from where its twin had
landed.
The new landing location was "a world away" from Gusev Crater in more
ways than just distance. The initial images transmitted later that day
fascinated the science team, revealing an area of dark soil and possible
bedrock—a feature we have long searched for but never seen before on any
planet's surface—interspersed with patches of the more familiar red martian
soil. This region of Mars particularly interested planetary geologists because
they believed it may contain abundant deposits of hematite, a mineral that,
when found on Earth, has usually formed in the presence of persistent liquid
water. We now know that their suspicions were correct.
On March 2, 2004, NASA announced that the Opportunity rover had found
strong evidence that the area called Meridiani Planum was once soaking wet.
Evidence found in an outcrop of rock led scientists to this important
conclusion. Clues from the rocks' composition, such as the presence of
sulfates and salts, and the rocks' physical attributes (e.g., niches where crystals
once grew) helped make the case for a watery history. This area is
scientifically compelling, and we intend to study it in further detail, hopefully
revealing more secrets of the Red Planet.
Missions to Mars are launched approximately every two years (26 months),
when the orbital alignments of the Earth and Mars allow the minimum amount
of fuel to be used on the long trip. At each of these launch opportunities,
NASA plans to send robotic spacecraft to Mars to continue searching for
evidence of water, studying the rocks and soil of the planet, and attempting to
answer the question, "Did life ever arise on Mars?" The Mars Exploration
Program will attack this question by seeking to understand, in a systematic
way, the current state and evolution of the atmosphere, surface, and interior of
Mars, the potential for life on Mars in the past or present, and develop
knowledge and technology necessary for future human exploration.
NASA's Mars program
This program is the result of an intensive planning process involving the broad
science and technology community. The program incorporates the lessons
learned from previous missions and builds upon, as well as responds to,
scientific discoveries from past and on-going missions. In addition to the
MERs, missions that comprise this systematic approach to Mars exploration
are:
1.
2.
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)—launched in 1996, this mission
continues to return an unprecedented amount of data regarding Mars'
surface features and composition, atmosphere, weather, and magnetic
properties. Scientists are using the data gathered from this mission both
to learn about the Earth by comparing it to Mars and to build a
comprehensive data set to aid in planning future missions. MGS also
serves as a telecommunications relay for the MER missions, as well as a
device for photographing landed spacecraft on the surface, such as the
rovers.
Mars Odyssey—launched in 2001, the Odyssey orbiter is presently
mapping the mineralogy and morphology of the martian surface while
achieving global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface
and the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. Its maps of
hydrogen have suggested vast amounts of near-surface water ice in the
3.
4.
5.
6
polar regions of the planet. It also serves as a telecommunications relay
for the MER missions.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)—scheduled for launch in 2005,
MRO will focus on analyzing the surface at unprecedented new scales in
an effort to follow tantalizing hints of water detected in images from the
MGS and Odyssey spacecraft and to bridge the gap between surface
observations and measurements from orbit. For example, MRO will
measure thousands of martian landscapes at 20- to 30-centimeter (8- to
12-inch) resolution, enabling observation of features the size of beach
balls, while also mapping their mineralogies. This will help NASA
target future landed laboratories to the best sites to search for evidence
of life.
Phoenix—scheduled to launch in 2007, this mission will conduct a
stationary, surface-based investigation of water ice contained within
martian soils, as well as searching for organic molecules and observing
modern climate dynamics. It aims to "follow the water" and measure
indicator molecules at high-latitude sites where Mars Odyssey has
discovered evidence of large water ice concentrations in the martian soil.
Phoenix was selected as the first of the competed Mars Scout missions.
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)—schedule to launch in 2009, this next
generation rover represents a major leap in surface measurements and
paves the way for future sample return and astrobiology missions. A
long-life power source is planned to allow the science laboratory to
conduct experiments for up to two years. Instruments for this surface
laboratory may provide direct evidence of organic materials, if any exist,
and will be able to search up to several feet beneath the surface. MSL
will also demonstrate technologies for accurate landing and hazard
avoidance in order to reach what may be very promising, but difficultto-reach, scientific sites. Its landing location will be based on
observations by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In the ensuing
decade, from 2011-2018, NASA plans additional science orbiters,
rovers, and landers, and the first mission to return the most promising
martian samples to Earth.
Left: artist conception of Mars Odyssey scanning for subsurface. Middle:
artist conception of Mars long-range science laboratory. Right: small scout
landers are one consideration for future "scout" missions. The mission has
two goals. One is to study the geologic history of water, the key to unlocking
the story of past climate change. Two is to search for evidence of a habitable
zone that may exist in the ice-soil boundary, the "biological paydirt," waterice. Image credits: NASA/JPL.
Current strategies call for the first sample return mission to be launched by
2014. Options that would significantly increase the rate of missions launched
and/or accelerate the schedule of exploration are under study. Technology
development for advanced capabilities, such as miniaturized surface science
instruments and deep drilling to several hundred feet, will also be carried out
in this period.
NASA has developed a campaign to explore Mars that will change and adapt
over time in response to what is discovered and learned with each mission.
The plan is meant to be a robust, flexible, long-term program that will provide
the highest probability for success. We are moving from the early era of
global mapping and limited surface exploration to a much more intensive and
discovery-responsive approach. We will establish a sustained presence in
orbit around Mars and on the surface with long-duration exploration of some
of the most scientifically promising and intriguing places on the planet.
We plan to "follow the water," so that in the not-too-distant future we may
finally know the answers to the most far-reaching questions about the Red
Planet we humans have asked over the generations: Did life ever arise there,
and does life exist there now?
What's next?
On January 14, 2003, President Bush announced his new vision for NASA
and the Nation's space program, and just last month the President's FY 2005
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
budget was released. Both of those events support and indeed strengthen
NASA's vision for Mars exploration over the next decade and beyond.
NASA's comprehensive, robotic approach to exploring Mars and learning the
intricacies of its environment will not only seek to achieve the science goals
outlined in this testimony, it will also serve as a solid foundation for the
President's vision of eventually conducting a human exploration mission to
Mars.
7
seen by ground-based telescopes, or even in Hubble's previous faraway looks,
called the Hubble Deep Fields (HDFs), taken in 1995 and 1998.
Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article871.htm.
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-general-04j.html
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/nasa_future_plans_mars_explorati
on.html.
ADIOS ARECIBO: PROJECT PHOENIX MOVES ON
By Seth Shostak
From Space.com
11 March 2004
There are no good good-byes. Separations that warrant recognition are
inevitably edged with sadness. So it is with bittersweet poignancy that I, as a
member of the Project Phoenix team, now depart the Arecibo Observatory at
the conclusion of our final run.
Project Phoenix has had a long history. Observations began in Australia, at
the Parkes 210-foot radio telescope in 1995, and a year later we moved our
equipment and ourselves to the verdant hills of West Virgina to use the Green
Bank 140-foot antenna. For the last seven years, we've been systematically
examining nearby, Sun-like stars at the telescope in Arecibo. But on March
5th, this pioneering, exceptionally sensitive search came to an end. Our next
radio SETI observations will use the initial antennas of the Allen Telescope
Array, and are slated to begin later this year.
So it's adios Arecibo, and a rueful farewell. I’ll miss the ambience, for it’s
like none other in the world. For half my life, I’ve known this place and have
had the opportunity to work here—at first to study galaxies, and then as part
of the SETI Institute’s experiments. The sounds, smells, and vistas of the
Observatory are as familiar to me as Grand Central is to a Manhattan
commuter. Such sensual inputs, when tied to a place that has been a source of
pleasure, elicit what we call "nostalgia." Like the memory of a childhood
friend, the ambience of Arecibo causes me to smile inside. It always will.
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_arecibo_040311.html.
LOOKING TOWARDS CREATION
Based on Hubble/STScI report
From Astrobiology Magazine
Hubble Ultra-Deep Field. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble.
"Hubble takes us to within a stone's throw of the big bang itself," says
Massimo Stiavelli of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD,
and the HUDF project lead. The combination of ACS and NICMOS images
will be used to search for galaxies that existed between 400 and 800 million
years (corresponding to a redshift range of 7 to 12) after the big bang. A key
question for HUDF astronomers is whether the universe appears to be the
same at this very early time as it did when the cosmos was between 1 and 2
billion years old.
The HUDF field contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies. In ground-based
images, the patch of sky in which the galaxies reside (just one-tenth the
diameter of the full Moon) is largely empty. Located in the constellation
Fornax, the region is below the constellation Orion.
The final ACS image, assembled by Anton Koekemoer of the Space
Telescope Science Institute, is studded with a wide range of galaxies of
various sizes, shapes, and colors. In vibrant contrast to the image's rich
harvest of classic spiral and elliptical galaxies, there is a zoo of oddball
galaxies littering the field. Some look like toothpicks; others like links on a
bracelet. A few appear to be interacting. Their strange shapes are a far cry
from the majestic spiral and elliptical galaxies we see today. These oddball
galaxies chronicle a period when the universe was more chaotic. Order and
structure were just beginning to emerge.
11 March 2004
Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the million-second-long
exposure reveals the first galaxies to emerge from the so-called "dark ages,"
the time shortly after the big bang when the first stars reheated the cold, dark
universe. The new image should offer new insights into what types of objects
reheated the universe long ago. The Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) image
was produced by the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been orbiting Earth
since 1990 as a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency.
Several hundred orbits of telescope time were allocated this winter to produce
this new image, the deepest-ever of the universe, equivalent to an 11.5-daylong photographic exposure. The area of sky depicted in the HUDF is located
in the constellation Fornax. Previous Hubble images have led to important
discoveries about black holes, dark energy, the expansion of the universe,
quasars, and gamma-ray bursts. However, none of the previous images have
reached back so early into the beginnings of the universe, detecting light in
this case from just 500 million years after the Big Bang.
With the public release of these impressive data, astrophysicists worldwide
will scramble in the coming days to be the first to discover what the image,
more dense with data than any previous Hubble image, reveals. This historic
new view is actually two separate images taken by Hubble's Advanced
Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-object
Spectrometer (NICMOS). Both images reveal galaxies that are too faint to be
The NICMOS reveals the farthest galaxies ever seen, because the expanding
universe has stretched their light into the near-infrared portion of the
spectrum. "The NICMOS provides important additional scientific content to
cosmological studies in the HUDF," says Rodger Thompson of the University
of Arizona and the NICMOS Principal Investigator. The ACS uncovered
galaxies that existed 800 million years after the big bang (at a redshift of 7).
But the NICMOS may have spotted galaxies that lived just 400 million years
after the birth of the cosmos (at a redshift of 12). Thompson must confirm the
NICMOS discovery with follow-up research.
"The images will also help us prepare for the next step from NICMOS on the
Hubble telescope to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)," Thompson
explains. "The NICMOS images reach back to the distance and time that
JWST is destined to explore at much greater sensitivity." In addition to distant
galaxies, the longer infrared wavelengths are sensitive to galaxies that are
intrinsically red, such as elliptical galaxies and galaxies that have red colors
due to a high degree of dust absorption.
This will hold the record as the deepest-ever view of the universe until ESA,
together with NASA, launches the James Webb Space Telescope in
2011.Though ground-based telescopes have, to date, spied objects that existed
just 500 million years after the big bang (at a redshift of 10), they need the
help of a rare natural zoom lens in space, called a gravitational lens, to see
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
them. Even much larger ground-based telescopes with adaptive optics cannot
reproduce such a view. The picture required a series of exposures taken over
the course of 400 Hubble orbits around Earth. This is such a big chunk of the
telescope's annual observing time—observations began September 24, 2003
and continued through January 16, 2004.
8
number of stars in the visible universe. Compared to 70 sextillion, the cellular
capacity terrestrially is estimated to be what can be called one undecillion, or
ten raised to the power of 30.
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the Association
of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), for NASA, under
contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble
Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and
the European Space Agency (ESA).
Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article870.html.
OUTBREAK ALERTS FROM SPACE
By Patrick L. Barry
From NASA Science News
12 March 2004
Last year more than a million people died of malaria, mostly in Sub-saharan
Africa. Outbreaks of Dengue Fever, hantavirus, West Nile Fever, Rift Valley
Fever, and even Plague still occasionally strike villages, towns, and whole
regions. To the dozens or hundreds who suffer painful deaths, and to their
loved ones, these diseases must seem to spring upon them from nowhere. Yet
these diseases are not without rhyme or reason. When an outbreak occurs,
often it is because environmental conditions such as rainfall, temperatures,
and vegetation set the stage for a population surge in disease-carrying pests.
Mosquitoes or mice or ticks thrive, and the diseases they carry spread rapidly.
This close-up of the large galaxy cluster Abell 2218 shows how
this cluster acts as one of nature's most powerful "gravitational
telescopes" and amplifies and stretches all galaxies lying behind
the cluster core (seen as red, orange and blue arcs). Such natural
gravitational 'telescopes' allow astronomers to see extremely
distant and faint objects that could otherwise not be seen. A new
galaxy (split into two "images" marked with an ellipse and a
circle) was detected in this image taken with the Advanced Camera
for Surveys on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The
extremely faint galaxy is so far away that its visible light has been
stretched into infrared wavelengths, making the observations
particularly difficult. Image credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble.
For each of the 10,000 galaxies that appear in what would look like empty
space in the unaided view of the night sky, there are hundreds of billions of
stars. By some estimates, the number of stars having planets may range
between a quarter to half of those. To put the number of stars in the visible
universe in perspective, their total is estimated to be 70 sextillion, or
70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 [seven followed by twenty-two zeros].
Such a vast population can be compared in a list of the very biggest numbers
imaginable, with some terrestrial references borrowed from a combination of
science and poetry:

Ten times more than the number of grains of sand on Earth

Eleven times the number of cups of water in all the Earth's oceans

Ten thousand times the number of wheat kernels that have ever been
produced on Earth

One hundred million times more than the number of ants in all the world

One hundred million times the dollar value of all the market-priced
assets in the world

Ten billion times the number of cells in a human being

One hundred billion times the number of letters in the 14 million books
in the Library of Congress
In the realm of astrobiology, it may be said that most meaningful terrestrial
analogies to the number of stars in the known universe are indeed biological:
only a fertile biosphere can yield such large numbers. One may ask how
many living things the Earth itself can accommodate in its volume. If one
cubic inch can hold ten billion animal or plant cells, and if one stacked these
cells across both the land and oceans to a thickness of fifteen feet, the planet
would be a vast teeming mass of biology—literally, life as far as the eye could
see. The thickness of fifteen feet, while extreme overpopulation on the land,
is likely an underestimate given the depth of the more three-dimensional
ocean biosphere or the realms of winged species. In this way, the ceiling on
the carrying capacity of Earth for cellular life is vast, since about ten million
times the number of plant or animal cells could pack the planet than the
Mosquitoes and other pests are
often to blame for the sudden
outbreak of an infectious
disease. Image courtesy West
Nile Virus Prevention.
So
why
not
watch
these
environmental factors and warn when
conditions are ripe for an outbreak?
Scientists have been tantalized by this
possibility ever since the idea was
first expressed by the Russian
epidemiologist E. N. Pavlovsky in the
1960s.
Now technology and
scientific know-how are catching up
with the idea, and a region-wide early
warning system for disease outbreaks
appears to be within reach.
Ronald Welch of NASA's Global
Hydrology and Climate Center in
Huntsville, Alabama, is one of the scientists working to develop such an early
warning system. "I have been to malarious areas in both Guatemala and
India," he says. "Usually I am struck by the poverty in these areas, at a level
rarely seen in the United States. The people are warm and friendly, and they
are appreciative, knowing that we are there to help. It feels very good to
know that you are contributing to the relief of sickness and preventing death,
especially the children."
The approach employed by Welch and others combines data from high-tech
environmental satellites with old-fashioned, "khaki shorts and dusty boots"
fieldwork. Scientists actually seek out and visit places with disease outbreaks.
Then they scrutinize satellite images to learn how disease-friendly conditions
look from space. The satellites can then watch for those conditions over an
entire region, country, or even continent as they silently slide across the sky
once a day, every day.
In India, for example, where Welch is doing research, health officials are
talking about setting up a satellite-based malaria early warning system for the
whole country. In coordination with mathematician Jia Li of the University of
Alabama at Huntsville and India's Malaria Research Center, Welch is hoping
to do a pilot study in Mewat, a predominantly rural area of India south of New
Delhi. The area is home to more than 700,000 people living in 491 villages
and 5 towns, yet is only about two-thirds the size of Rhode Island.
"We expect to be able to give warnings of high disease risk for a given village
or area up to a month in advance," Welch says. "These 'red flags' will let
health officials focus their vaccination programs, mosquito spraying, and
other disease-fighting efforts in the areas that need them most, perhaps
preventing an outbreak before it happens."
Outbreaks are caused by a bewildering variety of factors. For the mosquito
species that carries malaria in Welch's study area, for example, an outbreak
hotspot would have pools of stagnant water where adult mosquitoes can
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
9
deposit their eggs to mature into new adults. These could be lingering puddles
on dense, clay-like soil after heavy rains, swamplands located nearby, or even
rain-filled buckets habitually left outside by villagers. A malaria hotspot
would be warmer than 18°C, because in colder weather, the single-celled
"plasmodium" parasite that actually causes malaria operates too slowly to go
through its infection cycle before the host mosquito dies. But the weather
mustn't be too hot, or the mosquitoes would have to hide in the shade. The
humidity must hover in the 55% to 75% range that these mosquitoes require
for survival. Preferably there would be cattle or other livestock within the
mosquitoes' 1 km flight range, because these pests actually prefer to feed on
the blood of animals. If all of these conditions coincide, watch out!
Documenting some of
these factors, such as soil
type and local bucketleaving habits, requires
initial groundwork by
researchers in the field,
Welch notes.
This
information is plugged
into
a
computerized
mapping system called a
Geographical Information
Systems database (GIS).
Fieldwork is also required
to characterize how the
In the Mewat region of India, livestock are
local species of mosquito
an important part of the predominantly
behaves.
Does it bite
rural, subsistence economy. The presence
people indoors or outdoors
of livestock facilitates the spread of malaria
or both? Other factors,
and other mosquito-borne diseases,
like the locations of cattle
because the insects prefer to feed on the
pastures
and
human
animals' blood.
dwellings, are inputted
into the GIS map based on
ultra-high resolution satellite images from commercial satellites like Ikonos
and QuickBird, which can spot objects on the ground as small as 80 cm
across. Then region-wide variables like temperature, rainfall, vegetation
types, and soil moisture are derived from medium-resolution satellite data,
such as from Landsat 7 or the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite.
(MODIS stands for MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectrometer.) Scientists
feed all of this information into a computer simulation that runs on top of a
digital map of the landscape. Sophisticated mathematical algorithms chew on
all these factors and spit out an estimate of outbreak risk.
Countries affected by endemic malaria are indicated in yellow.
courtesy CDC.
Image
The basic soundness of this approach for estimating disease risk has been
borne out by previous studies. A group from the University of Nevada and
the Desert Research Institute were able to "predict" historical rates of deermouse infection by the Sin Nombre virus with up to 80% accuracy, based only
on vegetation type and density, elevation and slope of the land, and hydrologic
features, all derived from satellite data and GIS maps. A joint NASA
Ames/University of California at Davis study achieved a 90% success rate in
identifying which rice fields in central California would breed large numbers
of mosquitoes and which would breed fewer, based on Landsat data. Another
Ames project predicted 79% of the high-mosquito villages in the Chiapas
region of Mexico based on landscape features seen in satellite images.
Perfect predictions will likely never be possible. Like weather, the
phenomenon of human disease is too complicated. But these encouraging
results suggest that reasonably accurate risk estimates can be achieved by
combining old-fashioned fieldwork with the newest in satellite technologies.
This pair of NOAA/AVHRR satellite images shows Kenya and surrounding
areas on December 1996 (A) and December 1997 (B). The greening reflects
an increase in rainfall, which created conditions for an outbreak of Rift Valley
Fever in December 1997.
"All of the necessary pieces of the puzzle are there," Welch says, offering the
hope that soon disease outbreaks that seem to come "from out of nowhere"
will catch people off guard much less often.
Read the original article at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/12mar_disease.htm.
An additional article on this subject is available at
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/tracking_diseases_space.html.
CLUES TO LIFE IN THE MINES OF MURGUL
By Leslie Mullen
From Astrobiology Magazine
15 March 2004
The Mine of Murgul sounds like an ominous place in The Lord of the Rings, a
dark cavern filled with menacing orcs and trolls. But, in fact, this copper
mine in Turkey may help shed light on life's origin. The mine contains pyrite,
a form of iron sulfide (FeS2) also known as "Fool's Gold." This iron sulfide
mineral may have acted as a template for the early chemical reactions that led
to amino acids, proteins, and other building blocks of life.
Left: pyrite, a form of iron sulfide (FeS2) also known as "Fool's Gold."
Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dept. of Geology and
Geophysics. Right: although the right combination of chemicals and
energy for life's origin could have been present at hydrothermal vents,
skeptics say that such a hot environment would have endangered the
formation of delicate proteins and RNA strands. Image credit: University
of Victoria, Canada.
Pyrite has been the focus of theories regarding the origin of life since 1988,
when a German patent lawyer named Gunter Wächtershäuser suggested that
pyrite may have acted as a catalyst for the chemistry of living cells. In
Wächtershäuser's scenario, chemical reactions occurred on positively charged
pyrite located at hydrothermal vents. These chemical reactions eventually led
to the generation of oily compounds called lipids. The lipids formed a bubble
around the prebiotic system, and this bubble "cell" then drifted free of the
surface on which it was generated. Although the right combination of
chemicals and energy for life's origin could have been present at hydrothermal
vents, skeptics say that such a hot environment would have endangered the
formation of delicate proteins and RNA strands.
Another possible birthplace may be at the interface between land and sea.
Charles Darwin thought that life could have originated "in some warm little
pond, with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity,
etc. present." John Desmond Bernal expanded on this idea, suggesting that
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
life could have begun in tidal regions, where molecules faced alternating wet
and dry periods. The wet period would dissolve chemicals and allow them to
react with each other, while the dry periods would allow the chemicals to
condense, spurring further reactions.
Yet the danger of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun prompted others to
suggest that an ever-present layer of water would be necessary for protection.
Matthew Edwards of the University of Toronto thinks shallow ocean waters
were more likely sites for life's origin than evaporative pools. His model for
the origin of life requires ocean waters at least a few meters deep.
"Wetting-drying is important in prebiotic 'soup' models, since it is hard to get
dissolved charged molecules like amino acids to combine otherwise," says
Edwards. "In my model, amino acids are formed in situ in a developing
metabolic complex. The basic ingredients are just simple substrates like
carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide."
10
The Photosystem proteins developed at least 2.7 billion years ago, and
possibly even earlier. A recent study by Danish researchers Minik Rosing and
Robert Frei suggests oxygen-producing photosynthesis—which needs both
Photosystems in order to work—already could have been in place as early as
3.7 billion years ago. Life is thought to have originated 3.8 billion years ago,
soon after the Earth stopped being bombarded by the many meteorites that
still cluttered the early solar system.
Photosynthesis could have developed at hydrothermal vents, but it only would
have been able to work at the low infrared light levels generated from the vent
heat. Green sulfur bacteria living off infrared light have been found living at
the vents, but it is possible that rather than originating there, these bacteria
migrated downwards from the ocean surface and adapted to the infrared light
conditions. It seems most likely that photosynthesis developed in a region
that had regular access to the sun's light.
Shining a light on life
Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide were major components of the Earth's
atmosphere before the rise of oxygen-producing photosynthesis. In Edward's
model, these ingredients, along with energy from the sun, induced prebiotic
chemical reactions on submerged pyrite. When pyrite absorbs sunlight, a
weak electrical current is generated. In the Earth's early anoxic environment,
this effect would have been further enhanced. This photoelectric quality could
have led to carbon and nitrogen fixation. A primitive metabolism would then
have developed around these fixation sites. Edwards says this process would
have been very fast, occurring in a few weeks or less.
The inspiration for his model came from Helmut Tributsch and colleagues at
the Hahn-Meitner Institüt in Berlin, who were looking at pyrite for solar cell
research. After Edwards told them about the evolutionary aspect of their
work, they tested natural pyrite samples from 13 different ore sites. Not all
pyrite is created equal, and the chemical properties and crystal structures of
the mineral determine how well the pyrite reacts to light. Pyrite samples from
the Murgul mine in Turkey showed the best evidence of photocurrent voltage,
perhaps indicating the type of pyrite most likely to play a role in life's origin.
The Tributsch study also determined that the amino acid cysteine would have
played a vital role in life's origin, because cysteine is able to provide the
chemical energy of pyrite in a form that can be utilized by primitive
organisms. Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidan, for instance, uses cysteine to
dissolve pyrite in order to acquire iron and sulfur.
"This chemical energy may have already been relevant during the early stage
of biological evolution," they write.
In addition to Acidithiobacillus, other microorganisms have evolved to extract
chemical energy from pyrite. Leptospirillum ferrooxidans, for instance,
induces electrochemical corrosion on pyrite to recover iron. Although these
organisms do not use light-driven reactions, the use of pyrite in such primitive
metabolisms may indicate a relationship that stretches far back in time.
These bacteria use pyrite in a process called chemosynthesis—or the
production of food from chemicals. The earliest forms of life are thought to
have been chemosynthetic. But the development of photosynthesis—the
production of food from sunlight—was not far behind, and even may have
emerged at the same time as chemosynthesis. By receiving energy from the
Sun, pyrite could have set the stage for the origin of photosynthesis. It is
perhaps no coincidence that many of the enzymes in modern photosynthetic
organisms are metal proteins with iron-sulfur clusters.
The early Earth did not have an ozone layer, so UV radiation from the sun
would have been 100 times today's levels. While the delicate molecules of
life's beginning would have deteriorated under this light intensity, Edwards's
model avoids this problem because his pyrite is submerged, with water acting
as a protective barrier against UV.
But even if the molecules on the pyrite were periodically exposed to UV,
Tributsch says it still may not have been a problem. Molecules within 10
nanometers from the surface of pyrite are protected against UV radiation (10
nanometers is about five times the dimension of a typical organic molecule).
When a molecule absorbs UV radiation, electrons become excited for a short
time. The extra energy of the excited electrons can damage the molecule. But
if the excitation happens within approximately 10 nanometers of a material
like pyrite, the pyrite will absorb the extra energy and release it as heat. This
diffuses the energy and averts any potential damage.
Tributsch suggests that chlorophyll, the light-sensitive pigment that drives
modern photosynthesis, may have originated within this 10-nanometer
protected region on pyrite.
The chlorophyll would have become
photochemically active when pushed outside this region. By remaining in
contact with the still-protected organic layer, chlorophyll could have started to
provide energy to primitive cells.
But could this process have happened in a tidal region? In Edwards' model,
there would appear to be nothing to stop waves from washing away chemicals
reacting on the submerged pyrite, and diffusing them out into the open ocean.
Yet Edwards says that the molecules were at first anchored directly to the
mineral surface, and a "boundary layer" would have protected the molecules
bound to the pyrite. "In any situation where a liquid or gas flows by a solid
body, the speed of the flow falls off progressively the closer you get to the
body," he says. The boundary layer is the space where the speed of flow
drops to zero.
"In the origins of life situation, the point is that even under quite wavy
conditions, the boundary layer would have protected the developing
biomolecules from being washed away," says Edwards.
If lipids were generated, these also would have prevented the molecules from
washing away. "Hydrophobic molecules would have preferentially adhered to
the mineral surface rather than diffused away," says Edwards. "Think of how
hard it is to clean up submerged rocks after an oil spill."
Tracking down photosynthesis
A modern-day photosynthetic cell harnesses light energy by using two kinds
of proteins. Photosystem I protein molecules use sunlight to convert carbon
dioxide into carbon and oxygen, producing food in the form of carbohydrates.
Photosystem II protein molecules use light to split water into hydrogen and
oxygen for plant respiration.
Some early organisms used Photosystem I, while others used Photosystem II.
The earliest, non-oxygen producing photosynthetic organism is thought to be
purple bacteria, which relies on Photosystem I for energy. Studies suggest
that modern photosynthesis developed as a result of gene transfer, where
genes are swapped between different organisms.
This allowed the
Photosystems to come together, creating the oxygen-producing photosynthesis
we are familiar with today.
Tributsch adds that when modern bacteria interact with metal sulfides, slimy
organic biofilms cover the sulfide surface. He says these films, which are not
easily dissolved by water, form through molecular interactions between
organic molecules. Chemicals bound within these films diffuse very slowly
into water, yet inorganic nutrients such as phosphate can penetrate the films.
"Such an organic film may be imagined as a reaction phase, confining
chemicals and supporting organic evolution on pyrite," says Tributsch.
While many scientists favor hydrothermal vents as the location for life's
origin, the work of Tributsch and Edwards suggests life also could have
originated closer to the ocean's surface. Could the clues found in the Mines of
Murgul point to a final answer? Perhaps only Gandalf would know for sure.
Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article876.html.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
WAR OF THE WORDS: SCIENTIST ATTACKS ALIEN CLAIMS
By Robert Roy Britt
From Space.com
15 March 2004
Astronomer Philip Plait is tired of radio personality Richard Hoagland's
claims. He's had enough of Hoagland's assertions that NASA is covering up
evidence of extraterrestrial life, that the infamous Face on Mars was built by
sentient aliens and, of late, that otherworldly machine parts are embedded in
the red planet's dirt. And then there's the mile-long translucent martian worm.
On Hoagland's web site, there are several images from various space probes
said to possibly show evidence for ET. Recent Mars rover photos include not
just rocks, Hoagland and other contributors maintain, but common objects that
might tell of alien civilization—a bowl, a stove, a piston.
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040315.html.
STUDENT SIGNATURES IN SPACE (S3) 2004
From Astronomylinks.com
8 March 2004
A centerpiece to the Space Day program is the Student Signatures in Space
(S3) project, which gives elementary school students the opportunity to send
their personal signatures into space. The S3 program is sponsored jointly by
both NASA and Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Participating schools are sent giant posters for their students to sign on Space
Day (held the first Thursday each May), along with supporting educational
materials and program memorabilia. Participants return the posters to
Lockheed Martin, and the posters are individually photographed. NASA
packages the negatives and includes them in the manifest of a U.S. Space
Shuttle mission. The mission selected for S3 is always one that is launched in
the fall of that year's project. This ensures that most schools are back in
session during the mission, providing another great teaching opportunity for
educators from participating schools as the students follow "their" mission.
When school resumes in the fall, S3 participants receive ongoing e-mailings
of space-related lesson plans and S3 mission status reports and teaching
information. After the mission, the posters are returned to the schools for
display, along with an official NASA certification verifying that the signatures
flew in space, as well as a photo of the crew that took the signatures up.
The first signatures project was held to celebrate Space Day 1997. Then, over
96,000 signatures from more than 220 U.S. elementary schools traveled
aboard Shuttle-Mir docking mission STS-86 in September 1997. In 1998, the
program was expanded to include 537 schools (418 domestic and 119
international), as well as 71 children's museums and 100 domestic and
international Girl Scout councils. In 1998, the program reached over 500,000
students, with their signatures flying on STS-95, the historic mission that
returned John Glenn to space in October that year. In 1999, the program
included 548 schools. Signatures went to space aboard STS-103, the exciting
Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Space Day 2000 included another
540 schools, with the International Space Station assembly mission STS-92
taking participants' signatures to space. For Space Day 2001, the signatures
flew on STS-108, another Station assembly mission, which launched in
December. This mission marked the two millionth signature flown through
the S3 program. Signatures collected in the 2002 program were flown on
mission STS-113, which launched in November, 2002. Signatures for the
2003 program were collected on Space Day and are awaiting assignment of a
flight pending NASA's return to flight following the tragic Columbia accident
in February 2003.
Although NASA's Space Shuttle fleet has been temporarily grounded, we
have not grounded our student education programs. Thus, Space Day
continues to be held (scheduled for May 6 this year), and schools are being
registered to participate in Student Signatures in Space 2004. The signatures
from this year's program will be included on a Space Shuttle flight to be
determined when NASA resumes its Space Shuttle program (tentatively
scheduled for the spring of 2005).
Schools are selected for participation in a variety of ways. Many are selected
by representatives from Lockheed Martin or Space Day Partner companies
throughout the world. These representatives "sponsor" one or more of their
11
local schools, often providing additional Space Day activities to support the
signature festivities. Sponsors conduct such events as space trivia contests
and spelling bees, field trips, guest speakers, poster and essay contests, handson displays, space-related experiments and lesson plans, model rocket
building and launchings, and countless other events.
School names are also often submitted by representatives from various NASA
centers and international space agencies, as well as representatives from the
U.S. Congress and Senate. Many schools hear about the project on their own
and sign up by contacting the S3 program coordinator directly (see sign-up
information below). The goal is to ensure that all states are represented in the
program each year. Thus, there are also a few schools that are randomly
selected each year from Internet web sites to cover states from which only a
small number of school names were submitted.
S3 does not cost schools anything to participate. All costs (including shipping
both ways) are paid for by Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Having signatures flown on the Space Shuttle is a rare treat as space is
extremely limited on each mission. Space requirements limit us to only
approximately 500 schools per year, and we try to sign up as many schools as
possible that have never participated before. Once we reach our quota, we
create a wait list for participation the following year. Thus, to ensure that as
many students as possible are able to participate, the following participation
rules apply.

Schools are allowed to participate only once every six years time (this
ensures that students have cycled through the elementary school before
the school can participate again, thus ensuring a new batch of students
every time a school participates). Past participants that are eligible to
participate in the 2004 program are schools that participated in the 1997
or 1998 programs.

Schools must include their entire school in the project (i.e., it would not
be fair to have to turn down a school that wanted all 1,200 of their
students to participate because the slot had been taken by a school that
was having only one class of 15 students participate).

Home schools may participate as an organized local group (i.e., rather
than having the two students who make up the "Smith family home
school" take up the slot for an entire school, the Smith family can
register their local home school group/organization and participate with
all other home school families within that organization).

Scouting troops/packs/dens may participate as part of their regional
council group.

Although a few middle schools are included as participants each year,
S3 is designed for elementary schools. Materials such as lesson plans
and launch updates are written on the elementary school level; however,
middle schools are welcome to participate.
We are currently accepting participants for the S3 2004 program. The
deadline for sign-up is March 12, 2004. Schools that would like to participate
should e-mail signatures@mindspring.com and provide the following
information:
1. Name of school
2. Physical/FedX-deliverable address of school, including street address,
city, state, and zip code (no P.O. boxes, please)
3. School's phone number
4. Name of school's principal
5. Name and job title of person who will be coordinating project at school
(if different from principal)
6. E-mail address of person in #5 above (Note: E-mail address is essential
for participation. If school does not have an e-mail address, please
supply a home e-mail address of the coordinator or a staff member at the
school.)
7. How did you hear about the S3 program?
8. Please write "per Yohan" on the sign-up submission.
If you are a school sponsor (e.g., Lockheed Martin, space agency, Space Day
Partner company, etc.) and would like to be listed as the school's sponsor,
please also include the following information:
9. Your name
10. Your job title
11. Your company's name (if Lockheed Martin, please identify which LM
company)
12. Your work mailing address
13. Your work phone number
14. Your e-mail address
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
12
For more information on Space Day, please visit Lockheed Martin's Space
Day web site at www.spaceday.org.
Human space exploration articles
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles3.html
JIMO UPDATE
From the Lunar and Planetary Institute
L. David, 2004.
Space.com.
NASA goes lunar: robot craft, human outpost plans.
9 March 2004
T. Malik, 2004.
Space.com.
Bone loss still a challenge for space station crews.
Recently the Science Definition Team (SDT) for the Jupiter Icy Moons
Orbiter (JIMO) mission submitted their final report to NASA. This report is
available on the JIMO website at http://ossim.hq.nasa.gov/jimo. The report
describes the SDT's science recommendations for the proposed mission.
NASA, 2004. Space station research yields new information about bone loss.
SpaceDaily.
The SDT was chartered by NASA in February 2003 immediately after the
JIMO mission was announced. The primary responsibility of the SDT has
been to provide guidance to NASA that can be used to optimize the scientific
return from the JIMO mission within programmatic constraints. The SDT was
also charged with ensuring that this guidance reflects the current state of
understanding of the Jupiter system and the needs of the science community.
Reuters, 2004. No "showstoppers" for humans on Mars. CNN.
University of California, San Francisco, 2004. New method measures bone
loss in astronauts. Spaceflight Now.
SETI articles
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles4.html
The SDT met these responsibilities by composing a prioritized set of science
objectives, investigations, and measurements for the mission. In addition, the
SDT and the JIMO Project Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory worked
closely together to begin deriving the requirements necessary to ensure that
the spacecraft and mission design can accomplish these recommendations.
These requirements form the Payload Accommodation Envelope, and it is also
described in the SDT Report.
Astrobiology Magazine, 2004. Questioning the prime directive. Astrobiology
Magazine.
The proposed JIMO mission will enable a new class of scientific instruments
never before possible on a planetary mission. These high capability
instruments will utilize the unique aspects of the JIMO mission to accomplish
the defined scientific objectives. NASA commissioned a study by the
Aerospace Corporation on this new class of instruments in Spring 2003. The
results of this study are contained in the High Capability Instrument
Feasibility Study Final Report and are also available on the website.
Associated Press, 2004.
Space.com.
The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter is one of the most ambitious robotic missions
NASA has ever undertaken. NASA recognizes input from the scientific
community is vital to the program's success and looks forward to the
continued participation of the science community as a whole and the SDT in
particular as the Outer Planets Program and JIMO continue. If you have any
questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Curt Niebur,
JIMO Program Scientist, at Curt.Niebur@nasa.gov.
S. Shostak, 2004. Adios Arecibo: Project Phoenix moves on. Space.com.
Evolution (biological, chemical and cosmological) articles
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles5.html
L. Mullen, 2004.
Magazine.
Report says asteroid did not kill dinosaurs.
Clues to life in the mines of Murgul.
National Science Foundation, 2004.
oxygen. Universe Today.
Astrobiology
Early oceans might have had little
National Science Foundation, 2004. New evidence suggests early oceans
bereft of oxygen for eons. SpaceDaily.
L. Sage, 2004. Silicate found in a meteorite. Universe Today.
Space Telescope Science Institute, 2004.
Astrobiology Magazine.
Looking towards creation.
NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX
By David J. Thomas
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/
University of Lund, 2004. The fungi revived damaged Earth. Astrobiology
Magazine.
16 March 2004
V. Vajda and S. McLoughlin, 2004. Fungal proliferation at the CretaceousTertiary boundary. Science, 303(5663):1489.
Astrobiology and planetary engineering articles
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles1.html
Astrobiology Magazine, 2004.
Magazine.
R. R. Britt, 2004.
Space.com.
Mars: Goldilocks' oasis?
Astrobiology
Mars underground: the harsh reality of life below.
Planetary protection articles
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles6.html
Universe Today, 2004. Asteroid bill passes. Universe Today.
Extrasolar planets articles
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles7.html
D. Fortin, 2004. What biogenic minerals tell us. Science, 303(5664):15181519.
R. R. Britt, 2004.
Space.com.
E. Weiler, 2004. Mars horizon, the big plans. Astrobiology Magazine.
Astrobiology and extreme environments book list
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/astrobiology_books.html
Terrestrial extreme environments articles
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles2.html
National Research Council, 2004. Future Needs in Deep Submergence
Science: Occupied and Unoccupied Vehicles in Basic Ocean Research.
National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
Hidden worlds: dusty stars shroud newborn planets.
National Research Council, 2004. Future Needs in Deep Submergence
Science: Occupied and Unoccupied Vehicles in Basic Ocean Research.
National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
13
SCIENTISTS EXAMINE IMAGE OF MARS BEAGLE 2 LANDER
By Jane Wardell
From Associated Press and Space.com
A preliminary port 1 delivery was made for Science Operations Plan (SOP)
Implementation of tour sequences S25 and S26. The SOP update process was
begun for S02.
8 March 2004
Cycle 1 products and the most recent sequence merge products for the C44
Preliminary Sequence Integration and Validation2 Science and Sequence
Update Process (SSUP) have been released for review. C44 is the final
sequence in the Approach Science subphase.
European scientists said Monday they are examining an image of its Beagle 2
Mars lander, taken moments after it separated from its mothership and later
was lost, that also shows an unidentified object. The mysterious blot on the
photograph is being scrutinized as one of several potential reasons for the
failure of the mission—Europe's first attempt to land a probe on the Red
Planet.
Mission controllers said they were also considering the possibility that Beagle
2 simply crashed onto the surface of Mars because its atmosphere was less
dense than expected. Scientists said they are examining photographs of the
landing site that show four bright spots, dubbed the "string of pearls," that
might be the remains of Beagle 2.
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/beagle_update_040308.html.
An additional article on this subject is available at
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/08/mars.beagle.reut/index.html.
CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
NASA/JPL release
4-10 March 2004
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Monday, March 8. The Cassini spacecraft is in an
excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the present
position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the "Present
Position" web page located at http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=PSGgn6RX_oFO3BCLCXxIg.
SOP Update of the S01 sequence concluded this week. A hand-off package
was transferred from Science Planning to Uplink Operations. A kick off
meeting was then held for the S01 SSUP, and stripped SASF subsequence
products were released to all teams. S01 is the first tour sequence.
This week's Tour Science Plan presentation to the flight team covered plans
for the flybys of Saturn's icy satellites. The Navigation Team reported that 75
images containing 117 satellites have been processed from between the start
of optical navigation on February 6 through February 27. In addition, the
convergence of spacecraft and satellite ephemerides is as expected. Regular
processing of radiometric tracking data has begun and the quality is very
good. A preliminary reference trajectory using the latest satellite ephemeris
has been developed. A final version will be released in the May timeframe.
Delivery coordination meetings were held for Mission Sequence Subsystem
(MSS) D10.2, and for the Electronic Command Request Form tool V1.2.
MSS D10.2 will be used to support the start of the S02 SOP Update process.
The Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) at JPL announced
a "SPICE" Tutorial class that will be held at a hotel near Pasadena, California
on May 4-6, 2004. SPICE is an ancillary information system that provides
scientists and engineers access to spacecraft orbit, attitude and similar
information needed to determine observation geometry used in planning and
analyzing space science observations, and to conduct mission engineering
planning and analysis. Check http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=dAtWnnEuejBO3BCLCXxIg for further information about SPICE. The class is open to all
JPL and contractor personnel, and is also offered to JPL/NASA colleagues—
domestic and foreign—who are now participating, or may participate in the
future, in any NASA space exploration endeavor where SPICE capabilities
could be useful. There are no ITAR restrictions on the material to be
presented.
Outreach provided an opportunity for the flight team to attend a Cassini
Mission overview for a general, non-technical audience. The presentation was
given to acquaint the flight team with the Cassini Speakers and the types of
presentations that are given to the public. Sample presentation materials were
available for checkout for those interested in joining the Speakers
organization.
Outreach hosted a group of informal educators from the Chabot Space and
Science Center in Oakland California and the Los Angeles County Museum of
Natural History. The attendees were briefed on Cassini science objectives,
worked with some of the hands-on education activities available, and were
introduced to "Reading, Writing, and Rings."
Cassini has resumed approach science activities following last week's probe
checkout. Images of Saturn continue to be taken that will be used to make
approach movies to study the planet's atmosphere and its temporal variations,
determine wind speeds and cloud properties, and to build up global
temperature and composition maps. A map of Saturn's magnetosphere in the
ultraviolet will create a 3-dimensional map of the distribution of atomic
hydrogen and other atomic species. Cassini continues to monitor the solar
wind as it approaches Saturn, including looking for upstream ions and
upstream wave phenomena.
Additional activities include the uplink of a Visual and Infrared Mapping
Spectrometer mini-sequence containing flight software version 8.1 and
instrument expanded blocks, uplink of a Cosmic Dust Analyzer denoising
relative timed direct packet, and clearing of the ACS high water marks.
The following data release was posted Friday March 5, 2004.
Methane Image (single filter) of Saturn from ISS NAC: PIA 05381
The image scale is 397 kilometers (247 miles) per pixel. Image details reveal
a high, thick equatorial cloud and a relatively deep or thin haze encircling the
pole, as well as several distinct latitude bands with different cloud height
attributes. It also shows a high atmospheric disturbance, just south of the
equator, which has persisted throughout the 1990s in images returned by
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
For more information go to
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=8-wjdRG2OJ1O-3BCLCXxIg..
81.jpg&type=image
and
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=JBnv2hW040dO3BCLCXxIg.
Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, manages the Cassini
mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
14
MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATES
NASA/JPL releases
Spirit Looks Down into Crater after Reaching Rim
NASA/JPL release 2004-083, 11 March 2004
NASA Rovers Watching Solar Eclipses by Mars Moons
NASA/JPL release 2004-085, 8 March 2004
NASA's Spirit has begun looking down into a crater it has been approaching
for several weeks, providing a view of what's below the surrounding surface.
Spirit has also been looking up, seeing stars and the first observation of Earth
from the surface of another planet. Its twin, Opportunity, has shown scientists
a "mother lode" of hematite now considered a target for close-up
investigation.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers have become eclipse watchers. Though the
Viking Landers in the 1970s observed the shadow of one Mars' two moons,
Phobos, moving across the landscape, and Mars Pathfinder in 1997 observed
Phobos emerge at night from the shadow of Mars, no previous mission has
ever directly observed a moon pass in front of the sun from the surface of
another world. The current rovers began their eclipse-watching campaign this
month. Opportunity's panoramic camera caught Mars' smaller moon, Deimos,
as a speck crossing the disc of the sun on March 4. The same camera then
captured an image of the larger moon, Phobos, grazing the edge of the sun's
disc on March 7.
On the 66th martian day, or sol, of its mission, the Mars Exploration Rover
Spirit finished a drive and sent back this navigation camera image mosaic
revealing "Bonneville" crater in its entirety. Image credit: NASA/JPL.
"It's been an extremely exciting and productive week for both of the rovers,"
said Spirit Mission Manager Jennifer Trosper at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
Dr. Chris Leger, a rover driver at JPL, said, "The terrain has been getting
trickier and trickier as we've gotten close to the crater. The slopes have been
getting steeper and we have more rocks." Spirit has now traveled a total of
335 meters (1,099 feet).
Spirit's new position on the rim of the crater nicknamed "Bonneville" offers a
vista in all directions, including the crater interior. The distance to the
opposite rim is about the length of two football fields, nearly 10 times the
diameter of Opportunity's landing-site crater halfway around the planet from
Spirit.
Rover controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA,
are planning to use the panoramic cameras on both Opportunity and Spirit for
several similar events in the next six weeks. Dr. Jim Bell of Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY, lead scientist for those cameras, expects the most
dramatic images may be the one of Phobos planned for March 10.
"Scientifically, we're interested in timing these events to possibly allow
refinement of the orbits and orbital evolution of these natural satellites," Bell
said. "It's also exciting, historic and just plain cool to be able to observe
eclipses on another planet at all," he said.
Depending on the orientation of Phobos as it passes between the sun and the
rovers, the images might also add new information about the elongated shape
of that moon. Phobos is about 27 kilometers long by about 18 kilometers
across its smallest dimension (17 miles by 11 miles). Deimos' dimensions are
about half as much, but the pair's difference in size as they appear from Mars'
surface is even greater, because Phobos flies in a much lower orbit.
The rovers' panoramic cameras observe the sun nearly every martian day as a
way to gain information about how Mars' atmosphere affects the sunlight.
The challenge for the eclipse observations is in the timing. Deimos crosses
the sun's disc in only about 50 to 60 seconds. Phobos moves even more
quickly, crossing the sun in only 20 to 30 seconds. Scientists use the term
"transit" for an eclipse in which the intervening body covers only a fraction of
the more-distant body. For example, from Earth, the planet Venus will be
seen to transit the sun on June 8, for the first time since 1882. Transits of the
sun by Mercury and transits of Jupiter by Jupiter's moons are more common
observations from Earth.
From Earth, our moon and the sun have the appearance of almost identically
sized discs in the sky, so the moon almost exactly covers the sun during a total
solar eclipse. Because Mars is farther from the sun than Earth is, the sun
looks only about two-thirds as wide from Mars as it does from Earth.
However, Mars' moons are so small that even Phobos covers only about half
of the sun's disc during an eclipse seen from Mars.
Initial images from Spirit's navigation camera do not reveal any obvious
layers in "Bonneville's" inner wall, but they do show tantalizing clues of rock
features high on the far side, science-team member Dr. Matt Golombek of JPL
said at a news briefing today. "This place where we've just arrived has opened
up, and it's going to take us a few days to get our arms around it."
Scientists anticipate soon learning more about the crater from Spirit's higherresolution panoramic camera and the miniature thermal emission
spectrometer, both of which can identify minerals from a distance. They will
use that information for deciding whether to send Spirit down into the crater.
From the crater rim and during martian nighttime earlier today, Spirit took
pictures of stars, including a portion of the constellation Orion. Shortly before
dawn four martian days earlier, it photographed Earth as a speck of light in the
morning twilight. The tests of rover capabilities for astronomical observations
will be used in planning possible studies of Mars' atmospheric characteristics
at night. Those studies might include estimating the amounts of dust and ice
particles in the atmosphere from their effects on starlight, said Dr. Mark
Lemmon, a science team member from Texas A&M University, College
Station.
Opportunity has been looking up, too. It has photographed Mars' larger moon,
Phobos, passing in front of the Sun twice in the past week, and Mars' smaller
moon, Deimos, doing so once.
Opportunity's miniature thermal emission spectrometer has taken upwardlooking readings of the atmospheric temperature at the same time as a similar
instrument, the thermal emission spectrometer on NASA's Mars Global
Surveyor orbiter, took downward-pointed readings while passing overhead.
"They were actually looking directly along the same path," said science team
member Dr. Michael Wolff of the Martinez, GA, branch of the Space Science
Institute, Boulder, CO. The combined readings give the first full t/emperature
profile from the top of Mars' atmosphere to the surface."
When pointed at the ground, Opportunity's miniature thermal emission
spectrometer has checked the abundance of hematite in all directions from the
rover's location inside its landing-site crater. This mineral, in its coarsegrained form, usually forms in a wet environment. Detection of hematite from
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
orbit was the prime factor in selection of the Meridiani Planum region for
Opportunity's landing site.
East Arabia Layers (Released 06 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=Pkdh3u2PJy1O-3BCLCXxIg
"The plains outside our crater are covered with hematite," said Dr. Phil
Christensen of Arizona State University, Tempe, lead scientist for the
instrument. "The rock outcrop we've been studying has some hematite.
Parts of the floor of the crater, interestingly enough, have virtually none." The
pattern fits a theory that the crater was dug by an impact that punched through
a hematite-rich surface layer, he said. One goal for Opportunity's future work
is to learn more about that surface layer to get more clues about the wet past
environment indicated by sulfate minerals identified last week in the crater's
outcrop.
West Candor Layers (Released 07 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=5kmenwEJPmNO-3BCLCXxIg
Christensen said that before Opportunity drives out of the crater in about 10
days, scientists plan to investigate one area on the inner slope of the crater that
he called "the mother lode of hematite."
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages
the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington. Images and additional information about the project are
available from JPL and Cornell University at:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20040308a.html
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov
http://athena.cornell.edu
Daily updates on the Mars Rovers are available at:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_opportunity.html
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spirit.html
Contacts:
Donald Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Phone: 202-358-1547
Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Phone: 818-354-5011
15
Large Boulders in a Trough (Released 08 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=LXjPOxk8Q95O-3BCLCXxIg
Schiaparelli's Wind Streaks (Released 09 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=vlez8cmVgx1O-3BCLCXxIg
Isidis Dust Devil (Released 10 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=7ofaLFlDBvxO-3BCLCXxIg
All of the Mars Global Surveyor images are archived at
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=FaRCKxfRHHNO-3BCLCXxIg.
Mars Global Surveyor was launched in November 1996 and has been in Mars
orbit since September 1997. It began its primary mapping mission on March
8, 1999. Mars Global Surveyor is the first mission in a long-term program of
Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program that is managed by
JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Malin Space
Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the
MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates
the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global
Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics,
from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO.
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
NASA/JPL/ASU release
8-12 March 2004
South Polar Cap (Released 8 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=G0X8xxRAt0lO-3BCLCXxIg
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article865.html
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article872.html
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article873.html
http://cl.extm.us/?fe8211767c670c7b7d-fe28167073670175701c72
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/11/mars.deserts.ap/index.html
http://www.space.com/marsrover/
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/deimos_transit_040305.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_stinks_040308.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/discovery_story_040309.html
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/rovers_update_040311.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_earth_040311.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzw.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzx.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzza.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzb.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/status.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040308eclipse.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040311status.html
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/bunny_on_mars.html?932004
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/opportunity_mars_transits.html?93
2004
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/spirit_sees_earth.html
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/spirit_edge_bonneville_crater.html
South-Pole Swiss Cheese (Released 9 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=vfOjVIdeIixO-3BCLCXxIg
MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES
NASA/JPL/MSSS release
ACTIVATING ROSETTA
ESA release
4-10 March 2004
8 March 2004
The following new images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the
Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available.
Summary
South Polar Polygons (Released 04 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=UQVsmN3PcQ5O-3BCLCXxIg
The spacecraft and ground segment continue to operate well. All activities
planned for the initial, critical phase after launch have been successfully
completed ahead of schedule. In the early morning of 5 March the Mission
Control Team at ESOC has moved from the Main Control Room to the
Cerberus Fossae Trough (Released 05 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=LgjBJWHgd7RO-3BCLCXxIg
Korolev Crater in Infrared (Released 10 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=K73v1dz2PShO-3BCLCXxIg
Northern Polar Spring in IR (Released 11 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=evejJBegKYRO-3BCLCXxIg
Southern Spring in False Color (Released 12 March 2004)
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=pyxn9i01sSNO-3BCLCXxIg
All of the THEMIS images are archived at
http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=9e2NLhPWWp1O-3BCLCXxIg.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. The Thermal
Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State
University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote
Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at
Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the
prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter.
Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 12, 16 March 2004
Rosetta Dedicated Control Room to commence the spacecraft and payload
commissioning.
TWO ASTEROID FLY-BYS FOR ROSETTA
ESA release 15-2004
This early relocation of the team, just 3 days after launch, is a record at ESOC
and it is seen as remarkable, considering the complexity of the Rosetta
spacecraft. The 5-day launch delay, from 26 February to 2 March, has been
largely recovered and the early commissioning activities are now scheduled to
within 1 or 2 days of the original plan. The New Norcia ground station in
Australia (35 m antenna) will support the daily operations, while the support
from the ESA Kourou and NASA Deep Space Network Madrid and
Goldstone ground stations has been released with the termination of the
critical phase. By midday on 8 March Rosetta is already 2 million km from
the Earth. The signal round-trip light-time is almost 14 seconds.
11 March 2004
Spacecraft activities
Initial activation of S-band transmission, using the 2.2 m large dish antenna,
commenced at 23:16 on 3 March. Successful commissioning of the S-band up
and downlinks on the low and high gain antennas took place throughout the
night. Following on from this, configuration of the X-band, also using the
high gain antenna, took place with a downlink signal received at both the
Kourou and Madrid ground stations at 13:07 UT.
Termination of the S-band uplink occurred at 13:20 and X-band uplink
established at 13:35. The X-band uplink was then terminated at 14:30 and
uplink communications were re-established via the High Gain Antenna at Sband. By 7 March, tests of the X-band communications had been completed.
These activities successfully demonstrated the nominal performance of the
major communication systems, which will be critical for the mission. Due to
the rapidly increasing distance between the spacecraft and the Earth, the
possible data rate using the low gain antenna is already limited to 7.8 bits per
second and this link will soon vanish. Using the High Gain Antenna the
maximum data rate of 22 kbits per second is sustainable.
The attitude control system has undergone several characterization tests, such
as gyroscope calibrations and determination of the friction in the reaction
wheel system. This included, for the first time, switching on all four reaction
wheels simultaneously.
Substantial disturbance torques acted on the
spacecraft during its first few days in orbit. Over the following days these
torques gradually decreased to nominal levels. The phenomenon, attributed to
the outgassing of the spacecraft, diminishes with time because the spacecraft
is in the high vacuum of space.
Full configuration of the 25 Gbit solid-state mass memory took place on 4
March in order to support routine operations: creating data stores for all
instruments and storing redundant files of application software. Activation of
all memory modules for the mission is now complete.
16
Today the Rosetta Science Working Team has made the final selection of the
asteroids that Rosetta will observe at close quarters during its journey to
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Steins and Lutetia lie in the asteroid
belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Rosetta's scientific goals always included the possibility of studying one or
more asteroids from close range. However, only after Rosetta's launch and its
insertion into interplanetary orbit could the ESA mission managers assess how
much fuel was actually available for fly-bys. Information from the European
Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Germany enabled Rosetta's Science
Working Team to select a pair of asteroids of high scientific interest, well
within the fuel budget.
The selection of these two excellent targets was made possible by the high
accuracy with which the Ariane 5 delivered the spacecraft into its orbit. This
of course leaves sufficient fuel for the core part of the mission, orbiting Comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for 17 months when Rosetta reaches its target
in 2014.
Asteroids are primitive building blocks of the Solar System, left over from the
time of its formation about 4600 million years ago. Only a few asteroids have
so far been observed from nearby. They are very different in shape and size,
ranging from a few kilometers to over 100 kilometers across, and in their
composition.
The targets selected for Rosetta, Steins and Lutetia, have rather different
properties. Steins is relatively small, with a diameter of a few kilometers, and
will be visited by Rosetta on 5 September 2008 at a distance of just over 1700
kilometers. This encounter will take place at a relatively low speed of about 9
kilometers per second during Rosetta's first excursion into the asteroid belt.
Lutetia is a much bigger object, about 100 kilometers in diameter. Rosetta
will pass within about 3000 kilometers on 10 July 2010 at a speed of 15
kilometers per second. This will be during Rosetta's second passage through
the asteroid belt.
Rosetta will obtain spectacular images as it flies by these primordial rocks. Its
onboard instruments will provide information on the mass and density of the
asteroids, thus telling us more about their composition, and will also measure
their subsurface temperature and look for gas and dust around them.
Rosetta began its journey just over a week ago, on 2 March, and is well on its
way. Commissioning of its instruments has already started and is proceeding
according to plan.
Commissioning of the power subsystem took place at the end of the Madrid
pass on 4 March. All checks were successful and the power subsystem
behaved as expected. The drive mechanisms of the solar array are being
exercised during the early days of the flight in order to keep the solar cells
perpendicular to the Sun as the spacecraft rotates. The azimuth and elevation
drives, enabling the High Gain Antenna to track the Earth, have been
extensively characterized. These mechanical functions are critical to the
mission and they are working nominally.
"Comets and asteroids are the building blocks of our Earth and the other
planets in the Solar System. Rosetta will conduct the most thorough analysis
so far of three of these objects," said Prof. David Southwood, Director of
ESA’s Science Programme. "Rosetta will face lots of challenges during its
12-year journey, but the scientific insights that we will gain into the origin of
the Solar System and, possibly, of life are more than rewarding."
Read the original release at http://sci.esa.int/sciencee/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34822.
Contact:
ESA Media Relations Division
Phone: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article874.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/rosetta-04l.html
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/rosetta_asteroid_targets_decided.h
tml
End Marsbugs, Volume 11, Number 12.