Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter
Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 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
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Articles and News
Page 1
RUSSIA PLANS 500-DAY MOCK MARS MISSION
By Tariq Malik
Page 1
A SLEEPY SCIENCE: WILL HUMANS HIBERNATE
THEIR WAY THROUGH SPACE?
By Tariq Malik
Page 2
SCIENTISTS PREPARE FOR SPACE PROBE'S PLUNGE
INTO TITAN'S ATMOSPHERE
By Robert Sanders
Page 3
DEBATING THE DINOSAUR EXTINCTION, PART 1
By Leslie Mullen
Page 4
IN EXTINCTION DEBATE, DINOSAURS AND SCIENCE
WRITERS ARE THE LOSERS
By Robert Roy Britt
Page 4
Page 4
Page 5
Page 5
Page 6
Page 6
EMOTICONS INVADE MARS—READING NATURAL
GRAFFITI
From Astrobiology Magazine
Page 7
MARS RECONSIDERED: NEW DATA RAISE FRESH
QUESTIONS
By Leonard David
Page 7
SCIENTISTS SAY COMET SMASHED INTO SOUTHERN
GERMANY IN 200 BC
From Agence France-Presse and SpaceDaily
Page 7
ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER PLANET BUILDING IS BIG
MESS
NASA/JPL release 2004-257
Mission Reports
Page 8
CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS FOR 7-13 OCTOBER
2004
NASA/JPL release
Page 10
DEEP IMPACT ARRIVES IN FLORIDA TO PREPARE FOR
LAUNCH
NASA/JPL release 2004-258
Page 11
NASA'S GENESIS MISHAP BOARD & RESEARCHERS
BOTH REPORT PROGRESS
NASA release 04-345
WHY THE SEARCH FOR LIFE DRIVES SPACE
EXPLORATION
By Seth Shostak
Page 11
MARS EXPRESS: PROMETHEI TERRA, SOUTHERN
HIGHLANDS OF MARS
ESA release
NEW PROPULSION CONCEPT COULD MAKE POSSIBLE
90-DAY ROUND TRIP TO THE RED PLANET
By Vince Stricherz
Page 12
MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES
NASA/JPL/MSSS release
Page 13
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
NASA/JPL/ASU releases
RED PLANET BOUND: MARS RECONNAISSANCE
ORBITER
By Leonard David
VIRGINIA TECH RESEARCHERS SUGGEST LIQUID
WATER MAY HAVE EXISTED ON MARS; FINDINGS
PUBLISHED IN NATURE
By Sally Harris
IN THE STARS: A TALE OF TWO PLANETS
From United Press International and SpaceDaily
RUSSIA PLANS 500-DAY MOCK MARS MISSION
By Tariq Malik
injuries. Volunteers will only be allowed to quit the experiment if the develop
a severe ailment of psychological stress.
11 October 2004
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/russia_500days_041011.html.
Russian space researchers will lock six men in a metal tube for more than year
in an effort to mimic the stresses and challenges of a manned mission to Mars.
The 500 Days experiment, under development by the Russian Institute of
Medical and Biological Problems, will isolate human volunteers in a mock
space station module for—as its namesake suggests—a complete 500 days to
study how a long mission to Mars might affect its human crew.
"Obviously, we're very interested in the results," NASA spokeswoman
Dolores Beasley said of the long-duration study during a telephone interview.
"It is a high priority for us."
During the 500 Days study, six volunteers will depend on a preset limit of
supplies, including about 5 tons of food and oxygen and 3 tons of water. A
doctor will accompany volunteers inside the module to treat illnesses and
A SLEEPY SCIENCE: WILL HUMANS HIBERNATE THEIR WAY
THROUGH SPACE?
By Tariq Malik
From Space.com
12 October 2004
In the future, bedtime for astronauts may be more than a few evening hours of
regular shuteye. It may help them reach other planets, though admittedly they
would have to sleep for quite a long time. European researchers, however, are
on the case, conducting hibernation experiments that will hopefully help them
understand whether humans could ever sleep through the multiple years it
would take for a spaceflight to the outer planets or beyond.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
"At the moment, the level of inquiry really is just speculative," said Mark
Ayre, of the European Space Agency (ESA), in an e-mail interview. "[Our]
interest in this topic is borne out of the realization that, if it were an effective
technology, it could be an enabler for deep-space manned missions."
What seems like science fiction is not completely far-fetched. Researchers
have been able to chemically induce a stasis-like state in living cells and have
moved on to small, non-hibernating mammals like rats.
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/scitues_hibernation_041012.html.
SCIENTISTS PREPARE FOR SPACE PROBE'S PLUNGE INTO
TITAN'S ATMOSPHERE
By Robert Sanders
University of California, Berkeley release
13 October 2004
On January 14, 2005, the Huygens probe will plow into the orange
atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan, becoming the first spacecraft to attempt
to land on a moon in our solar system since the Soviet Union's Luna 24
touched down on Earth's moon in 1976. Though scientists hope that Huygens
will survive the plunge, it will be flying blind through hydrocarbon haze and
methane clouds to a surface that could consist of seven-kilometer-high ice
mountains and liquid methane seas.
2
who wrote the introductory paper in the series and co-authored four of the
nine papers. The papers came out of a meeting De Pater hosted last
November at UC Berkeley to discuss what has been gleaned to date about the
moon from optical, infrared and radar telescopes, including the Hubble Space
Telescope and the twin Keck Telescopes in Hawaii.
Scientists expect the current sketchy picture of Titan's surface, totally
obscured by clouds and haze, will much improve when the Cassini spacecraft,
which is carrying the Huygens probe, starts an intense observation of Titan
later this month. While on-board infrared imaging cameras can pierce the
cloud cover, however, they can only reveal bright and dark spots on the
surface, which are difficult to interpret. What Huygens will encounter at
Titan's surface will remain a mystery until the probe plops into an ocean or
parachutes to solid ground.
"Based upon their spectral characteristics, the bright areas imaged by various
Earth-bound telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope could be a mixture of
rock and water ice," de Pater said. Such a mixture appears relatively bright in
comparison with substances like tar and liquid hydrocarbons, which absorb
essentially all sunlight at these wavelengths and hence appear very dark. "The
dark areas could contain liquid hydrocarbons," she said. "But they're all still a
mystery."
Some scientists have suggested that one large bright area, Xanadu, is a
mountain of rock and water ice that stands out because runoff (hydrocarbon
rain) has washed off the dark hydrocarbon particles. UC Berkeley graduate
student J. Taylor Perron and de Pater concluded in one of the papers that such
an ice continent, primarily composed of water ice, could be no higher than 3
to 7 kilometers—that is, at most, 23,000 feet, about the height of Mt.
Aconcagua in Argentina. That is even more impressive on a globe less than
half the diameter of Earth.
The Huygens probe, which will take from two to two and a half hours to float
to the surface, is aiming for a landing site in a dark area bordering a bright
area near the equator, so it could land instead in a gasoline-like hydrocarbon
brew of methane, propane or butane. Though the probe is designed to float,
its builders expect, at most, 45 minutes of data once it sets down. A few
minutes would be cause for celebration.
The Cassini/Huygens spacecraft was launched from Kennedy Space Center in
1997, the product of an international collaboration between three space
agencies—the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space agency—involving contributions from 17
nations. It arrived at Saturn in July 2004, beginning a four-year mission to
photograph and collect data on Saturn, its rings and moons. This October 26,
it will get within 1,000 kilometers of Titan—closer than ever before—turning
its remote sensing instruments on that moon's surface and atmosphere.
Cassini will release the Huygens probe on Christmas Day, December 25.
The second largest moon in the solar system and the only one with a thick,
methane-rich, nitrogen atmosphere, Titan intrigues scientists because of its
resemblance to a young Earth. The atmospheres of both Titan and the early
Earth were dominated by nearly the same amount of nitrogen, and the
chemistry discovered on Titan could provide clues to the origins of life on our
planet.
Encircled in purple stratospheric haze, Titan appears as a softly glowing
orange sphere in this colorized image taken one day after Cassini's first flyby
of that moon. The orange ball is as our eyes see it, but the haze, imaged in the
ultraviolet, has been tinted purple. Two thin haze layers are visible. The
outer haze layer is detached and appears to float high in the atmosphere.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.
That's the picture that emerges from a series of articles—half of them by
University of California, Berkeley, researchers—published in the journal
Geophysical Research Letters last month and detailing what scientists know to
date about the surface, atmosphere and magnetic field of Titan. This view sets
the stage for an analysis of new data soon to arrive from the Cassini spacecraft
and Huygens probe.
"These (journal) papers really give a state-of-the-art picture of Titan, before
Cassini goes into orbit around Saturn and the Huygens probe goes into Titan's
atmosphere," said Imke de Pater, a professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley
De Pater and chemistry graduate student Mate Adamkovics have used the
adaptive optics on the Keck Telescope in Hawaii to image the hydrocarbon
haze that envelops the moon, taking snapshots at various altitudes from 150 to
200 kilometers down to the surface. In the movie they constructed from these
snapshots, haze is very evident in the atmosphere at about 30-50 kilometers
over the South Pole. Stratospheric haze at about 150 kilometers is visible over
a large area in the northern hemisphere but not the southern hemisphere, an
asymmetry observed previously.
And at the southern hemisphere's
tropopause—the border between the lower atmosphere and the stratosphere at
about 42 kilometers altitude—cirrus haze is visible, analogous to cirrus haze
on Earth.
These observations agree with a theory of haze formation whereby sunlight
creates haze particles at a high altitude—400 to 600 kilometers above the
surface - that are blown to the winter pole, where the haze accumulates as a
polar "hood." The haze particles start to settle out and are carried by a lowerelevation return flow to the summer hemisphere.
Laboratory experiments by Melissa Trainer of the University of Colorado,
Boulder, reported in the journal suggest that the haze particles could be
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
3
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons if the methane concentration in the
atmosphere is high—around 10 percent—though they would be primarily
long-chain hydrocarbons at low concentrations. The Huygens probe will
measure gas concentrations as it plummets through the atmosphere, hopefully
testing this connection between methane concentration and aerosol
composition.
Cassini's observations of Titan over the next four years should yield much
more information about the atmospheric haze and surface topography, as well
as raise new questions. De Pater urges ground-based astronomers to continue
to observe Titan's moon, "so the Cassini/Huygens data can be tied in with the
long-term data base on Titan's seasons," she wrote.
De Pater herself will be peering at Titan through the Keck Telescope on
January 15 when the Huygens probe disappears into the atmosphere.
"I'm skeptical that we'll see a meteor trail, as some have predicted, but our
observations will give us a good image of Titan at the time of probe entry,
which could be very relevant to calibrating Titan at entry time," de Pater said.
De Pater's research is supported by the National Science Foundation. The
November 17, 2003, workshop on Titan was sponsored by the Center for
Integrative Planetary Studies at UC Berkeley.
Read the original news release at
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/10/13_Huygens.shtml.
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1245.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zzzi.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0410/15huygens/
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/preparing_huygens_release.html
DEBATING THE DINOSAUR EXTINCTION, PART 1
By Leslie Mullen
13 October 2004
The dinosaurs dominated the landscape for 160 million years, living over a
thousand times longer than modern humans (Homo sapiens first evolved about
150 thousand years ago). During this vast stretch of time some dinosaur
species became extinct, but overall the impression is one of an immensely
tough class of animals that could endure whatever hardships the planet
managed to throw at it. When the end finally came, it came from beyond
Earth.
A meteorite impact 65 million years ago is the simple explanation for the
extinction of the dinosaurs. The exact details are much more complex, and
researchers are still trying to nail down exactly what happened. The
Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction event is like an ancient tapestry that has
become matted and soiled due to time and neglect. There are hundreds of
threads of evidence that need to be untangled, smoothed out, and put in their
proper place before a clear picture can emerge.
The first, most important thread of evidence is a strip of clay that runs through
rocks around the world. Known as the K-T boundary layer, this is the line no
dinosaur could cross (although their relatives, the birds, did survive). In 1980,
a team of researchers led by Luis Alvarez and his son, Walter, discovered that
the boundary layer contains a relatively high concentration of iridium.
Iridium is rare on the Earth's surface but is often found in meteorites. During
the molten phase of our planet's formation, most of the iridium of Earth
traveled down with iron to form the planetary core. The Earth does receive a
light surface dusting of iridium from the occasional meteorites, and some
volcanoes can release iridium if their lava comes from a deep enough source.
These events give the planet's surface a background iridium level of 0.02 parts
per billion (ppb) or less.
Depending on the location of the rocks, the K-T boundary layer has varying
amounts of iridium, but all are far above that background level. The section
analyzed by Alvarez had 9 ppb. Other sections have upwards of a million
times the background level. Luis and Walter Alvarez surmised that a large
meteorite rich in iridium must have hit the Earth, and the after-effects of the
impact led to the demise of the dinosaurs.
Artist's depiction of the Chicxulub asteroid impact event. Image credit:
NASA/Don Davis.
Later, a large impact crater underneath Mexico's Yucatan peninsula was
fingered as the smoking gun. When a meteorite punches the Earth's crust,
some rocks and minerals are vaporized, some are flash heated and become
molten, while others shatter, or become "shocked" in a distinctive pattern.
Samples of the Chicxulub crater had all these features of a meteorite impact.
The crater was dated to be about 65 million years old, the same age as the K-T
extinction.
The meteorite that made the Chicxulub crater was 10 to 15 kilometers in
diameter, or about the size of the island of Manhattan. It screamed to Earth
faster than a bullet, smashing open a vast cavern 40 kilometers deep and 100
kilometers across. This crater quickly collapsed under the force of gravity,
leaving a hole 180 kilometers wide and only 2 kilometers deep. The energy
released by this impact was equal to 100 million megatons of TNT. In
comparison, the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens released energy
equivalent to just 10 megatons of TNT. The atomic bomb that exploded over
Hiroshima released energy equivalent to about 10 kilotons of TNT (or 0.01
megatons). The impact obviously destroyed life in the immediate area, and
the shock wave likely generated huge tsunamis and earthquakes further away
from ground zero. Other, longer-lasting effects, such as dust and chemicals
from the vaporized rocks, dispersed around the world.
The debate about the K-T extinction was contentious before Alvarez's
hypothesis, and the discovery of Chicxulub seems to have done little to stem
the often emotional arguments about the extinction event. At first, some
doubted that Chicxulub even was an impact crater. The structure is buried 1
to 2 kilometers under ground—half under land and half under the sea floor—
and was only discovered by gravitational and magnetic anomalies from
readings taken at the Earth's surface. However, samples from drill cores
helped confirm that Chicxulub was formed by a meteorite impact.
While most scientists now agree that Chicxulub is an impact crater, not
everyone believes it caused the K-T extinction. For instance, some wonder if
the Chicxulub impact occurred at the right time. Gerta Keller of Princeton
University argues that its true age pre-dates the dinosaur's demise by 300,000
years. However, other scientists contend that Keller's sampling method was
flawed, and resulted in an inaccurate date.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
Among scientists who agree that Chicxulub was the cause of the extinction,
there are disagreements about the tangible effects of the impact. Some
scientists think so much dust was sent flying high into the air that the skies
darkened for years, halting photosynthesis and killing plants worldwide.
Others contend that the dust wouldn't have been so long lasting, since rain
would have soon cleared the air. Some have suggested that red-hot impact
debris raining back down would have ignited forest fires worldwide,
darkening the skies with black soot. Another theory suggests that so much
sulfur was sent up into the stratosphere that the rains became like battery acid,
poisoning land and sea.
Finally, there are some who believe that while Chicxulub played a role in the
extinction, it was not the primary cause. They are seeking answers beyond
Chicxulub, wondering if anything else could have contributed to the loss of
species. The dinosaurs weren't the only creatures to suffer death and
destruction, after all. The K-T mass extinction event killed at least 50 percent
of the entire world's species. Could a single meteorite impact—even one as
large as Chicxulub—have dealt such a fatal blow to life?
Part 2 of this series will discuss whether Earth was hit by more than one
meteorite 65 million years ago. Part 3 will look at a controversial crater off
the coast of India. Part 4 will cover the debate over whether the K-T
extinction was the result of global warming.
Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1243.html.
IN EXTINCTION DEBATE, DINOSAURS AND SCIENCE WRITERS
ARE THE LOSERS
By Robert Roy Britt
From Space.com
14 October 2004
Ever since a huge crater was discovered off Mexico's Yucatan Penninsula in
the early 1990s, scientists have grown increasingly confident that an asteroid
impact 65 million years ago wiped out the dinosaurs. Science journalists have
dutifully reflected this view.
A pocket of skeptics has never quite bought the scenario, however. Other
environmental factors—perhaps increased volcanic activity or long-term
climate change—likely played a role, many experts figure. A handful of
researchers think the impact and the extinction were only minimally related.
Science journalists and headline writers make much of these stories, too.
Now in two separate papers revealed this week, researchers looked at the
extinction of dinosaurs from two different viewpoints and drew completely
opposite conclusions. The polarization of scientific views on the topic—and
its flip-flopping reportage—achieved an extreme not unlike last night's
presidential debate.
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/dinosaur_debate_041014.html.
RED PLANET BOUND: MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER
By Leonard David
From Space.com
13 October 2004
The next spacecraft destined for Mars is rapidly coming together here on
Earth—an interplanetary probe that carries the most powerful instruments
ever sent to the red planet. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO
for short, is being readied for sendoff next year. The huge spacecraft carries a
suite of instruments, including a camera system able to provide ultra-close-up
images of Mars' surface, and a sounder to probe for water that might linger
subsurface on the planet. MRO is a crucial link to a wave of upcoming
robotic landers slated to dot Mars in coming years. But more so, MRO stamps
the passport for human visitation rights, road mapping Mars to help resolve
where expeditionary crews can best land, sustain their presence, and continue
the quest to unravel the past and present state of affairs on Mars.
Read the full article at http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/
mro_tech_041013.html.
4
VIRGINIA TECH RESEARCHERS SUGGEST LIQUID WATER MAY
HAVE EXISTED ON MARS; FINDINGS PUBLISHED IN NATURE
By Sally Harris
Virginia Tech release
14 October 2004
A Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech has research published this week in Nature
that shows Mars probably had liquid water at some point, but likely for only a
short time, geologically speaking. Megan Elwood Madden, of Jacksonville,
IL, a graduate student in geosciences in the College of Science, along with
Robert Bodnar, University Distinguished Professor and Clifton C. Garvin
Professor of Geosciences, and Donald Rimstidt, professor of geosciences,
both in the College of Science, published "Jarosite as an indicator of waterlimited chemical weathering on Mars" in the October 14 issue of Nature
according to a press release from Nature.
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity recently found the mineral jarosite and
possibly gypsum on Mars' surface, further adding to the speculation that water
existed there in the past because those minerals "generally form in a wet
environment," according to a Nature news release.
It was already well known from previous Mars research and meteorites that
basalt is likely a common rock type on Mars, Elwood Madden said. Scientists
are interested in the history of water on Mars since life as we know it cannot
survive without liquid water. Ice can be found on Mars today; however,
liquid water likely froze or evaporated some time in the past.
Using a computer-modeling program that uses thermodynamic data to
determine the types of minerals that form from reactions between rocks and
water, Elwood Madden looked at the way basalts weather, or react with water,
under the conditions found on Mars and used the results to interpret how
jarosite and gypsum might have formed. "We predicted jarosite likely did
form from a reaction of basalt with liquid water," Madden said.
According to the press release from Nature, "On Earth, jarosite forms in acid
mine drainage environments as sulphide minerals oxidize—it has been found
in Idaho or California, for example. It also forms while volcanic rocks are
being altered by acidic, sulphur-rich fluids near volcanic vents. As such,
jarosite formation is thought to need a wet, oxidizing and acidic environment."
However, it is preserved only in arid regions. The reason, Elwood Madden
and Rimstidt said, is that jarosite forms when only a small amount of reaction
has occurred and completely decomposes if more water is available. "This
shows that the reaction on Mars ran out of water," Elwood Madden said.
"Either there was not enough water to begin with or it disappeared quickly,"
Rimstidt said.
Elwood Madden, Bodnar, and Rimstidt showed "that the water in which the
minerals formed either evaporated or soaked into the ground after a short
time," according to Nature.
Because water is important for life, the discovery could have implications of
how long water was present on Mars and the likelihood of finding living
organisms there now. "There's probably no likelihood of living organisms
today, but we can't say there wasn't enough water a long time ago," Rimstidt
said.
As to how much water was on Mars, the researchers do not know if there was
a great deal for a short time or a little for a longer period. However, they can
say there was a geologically short window in which liquid water was present,
suggesting there also was a limited time period when conditions may have
been hospitable for life, Rimstidt said.
The researchers will present the results of their work in November at the
Geological Society of America meeting in Denver.
Contacts:
Megan Elwood Madden
Phone: 540-250-5833
E-mail: melwood@vt.edu
Dr. Donald Rimstidt
Phone: 550-392-8913
E-mail: JDR02@vt.edu
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
5
Robert Bodnar
Phone: 540-231-7455
E-mail: rjb@vt.edu
Read the original news release at
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?itemno=375.
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-water-science-04k.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0410/14marswater/
WHY THE SEARCH FOR LIFE DRIVES SPACE EXPLORATION
By Seth Shostak
From Space.com
14 October 2004
They don't wear coonskin caps, but they're traipsing the wilderness
nonetheless, working the margins of the Final Frontier.
The
accomplishments, plans, and dreams of today's space industry are showcased
every year at a mammoth event known as the International Astronautics
Congress (IAC). For an entire week, thousands of rocket engineers, space
agency types, and satellite builders swarm like psychotic ants within the IAC's
cavernous convention halls, seeking the most exciting panels and plenaries.
Furry fedoras and Bowie knives are out, while Italian suits and cell phones are
in. Fact is—sartorial distinctions aside—exploration today is not much
different than when the pioneers slogged the west: difficult, dangerous, and
oddly seductive.
Since 1971, SETI has been part of the IAC, and is usually celebrated with an
entire day of presentations on the latest data, the technology, and the social
implications of the search for intelligent life beyond Earth. This year's
Congress was in Vancouver, a Canadian city that crouches like a spangled
jewel caught hard in the grip of mountains and sea. Appropriately enough,
Vancouver bears the name of one of the 18th century's most accomplished
explorers.
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_pioneer_041014.html.
NEW PROPULSION CONCEPT COULD MAKE POSSIBLE 90-DAY
ROUND TRIP TO THE RED PLANET
By Vince Stricherz
University of Washington release
14 October 2004
A new means of propelling spacecraft being developed at the University of
Washington could dramatically cut the time needed for astronauts to travel to
and from Mars and could make humans a permanent fixture in space. In fact,
with magnetized-beam plasma propulsion, or mag-beam, quick trips to distant
parts of the solar system could become routine, said Robert Winglee, a UW
Earth and space sciences professor who is leading the project. Currently,
using conventional technology and adjusting for the orbits of both the Earth
and Mars around the sun, it would take astronauts about 2.5 years to travel to
Mars, conduct their scientific mission and return.
"We're trying to get to Mars and back in 90 days," Winglee said. "Our
philosophy is that, if it's going to take two-and-a-half years, the chances of a
successful mission are pretty low."
Mag-beam is one of 12 proposals that this month began receiving support
from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Institute for
Advanced Concepts. Each gets $75,000 for a six-month study to validate the
concept and identify challenges in developing it. Projects that make it through
that phase are eligible for as much as $400,000 more over two years.
Under the mag-beam concept, a space-based station would generate a stream
of magnetized ions that would interact with a magnetic sail on a spacecraft
and propel it through the solar system at high speeds that increase with the
size of the plasma beam. Winglee estimates that a control nozzle 32 meters
wide would generate a plasma beam capable of propelling a spacecraft at 11.7
kilometers per second. That translates to more than 26,000 miles an hour or
more than 625,000 miles a day.
In this artist's conception, a plasma station (lower left) applies a magnetized
beam of ionized plasma to a spacecraft bound for Jupiter. Image credit: John
Carscadden, U. of Washington.
Mars is an average of 48 million miles from Earth, though the distance can
vary greatly depending on where the two planets are in their orbits around the
sun. At that distance, a spacecraft traveling 625,000 miles a day would take
more than 76 days to get to the red planet. But Winglee is working on ways to
devise even greater speeds so the round trip could be accomplished in three
months. But to make such high speeds practical, another plasma unit must be
stationed on a platform at the other end of the trip to apply brakes to the
spacecraft.
"Rather than a spacecraft having to carry these big powerful propulsion units,
you can have much smaller payloads," he said.
Winglee envisions units being placed around the solar system by missions
already planned by NASA. One could be used as an integral part of a research
mission to Jupiter, for instance, and then left in orbit there when the mission is
completed. Units placed farther out in the solar system would use nuclear
power to create the ionized plasma; those closer to the sun would be able to
use electricity generated by solar panels.
The mag-beam concept grew out of an earlier effort Winglee led to develop a
system called mini-magnetospheric plasma propulsion. In that system, a
plasma bubble would be created around a spacecraft and sail on the solar
wind. The mag-beam concept removes reliance on the solar wind, replacing it
with a plasma beam that can be controlled for strength and direction.
A mag-beam test mission could be possible within five years if financial
support remains consistent, he said. Winglee acknowledges that it would take
an initial investment of billions of dollars to place stations around the solar
system. But once they are in place, their power sources should allow them to
generate plasma indefinitely. The system ultimately would reduce spacecraft
costs, since individual craft would no longer have to carry their own
propulsion systems. They would get up to speed quickly with a strong push
from a plasma station, then coast at high speed until they reach their
destination, where they would be slowed by another plasma station.
"This would facilitate a permanent human presence in space," Winglee said.
"That's what we are trying to get to."
More details on advanced propulsion concepts can be found at
http://www.ess.washington.edu/Space/propulsion.html.
The Web site for the Research Institute for Space Exploration is
http://www.ess.washington.edu/RISE/.
Contacts:
Vince Stricherz
Phone: 206-543-2580
E-mail: vinces@u.washington.edu
Robert Winglee
Phone: 206-685-8160
E-mail: winglee@ess.washington.edu
Read the original news release at
http://www.uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=5817.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/rocketscience-04zh.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0410/16marspropulsion/
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/
mag_beam_propulsion_system.html
IN THE STARS: A TALE OF TWO PLANETS
From United Press International and SpaceDaily
15 October 2004
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, as the storyline begins.
Shifted to a planetary context, the classic Dickens phrase also can be applied
to Earth and Mars. The two worlds, created at about the same time in the
history of the solar system, and similar in size and composition, both started
along the path to a livable environment. The findings by NASA's twin Mars
exploration rovers this year have made that assumption clear. Spirit and
Opportunity have been exploring the surface of the red planet now about three
times longer than their designers expected, and the more they look, the more
evidence of past liquid water they discover.
6
The latest entry in this game of reading geological hieroglyphs is notable
however, in actually spelling out a message: "Hi". Although one might argue
that most of the "i" is missing, and part of the "h" has been eroded away, the
October 12th image of "Hi" glyphs was photographed from orbit, by the Mars
Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC). The image shows
light-toned sedimentary rock outcrops in northern Sinus Meridiani that almost
seem to spell out the word, "hi". This natural graffiti is all that remains of a
suite of sedimentary rock that once covered the area shown here. Is this a case
of the internet serving up its first interplanetary versions of emotional icons,
or "emoticons"?
No longer must one speculate about the intentions of a secret, subterranean
fortress operating beneath an ancient Mars' face. Now the intentions are clear
(at least assuming the hieroglyph is communicating to an English-speaking
terrestrial audience). No longer must one wonder if the intention is friendly or
hostile. The rocks on Mars are welcoming our cameras. The "Hi" rock
formation joins the "Happy Face" crater and the circular Inca City—each a
view from above that shows a whimsical side to remote sensing.
Read the full article at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers04zzzzzzzn.html.
EMOTICONS INVADE MARS—READING NATURAL GRAFFITI
From Astrobiology Magazine
15 October 2004
Light and shadow can play tricks with any geological formation, particularly
in cropped imagery that can make any terrain eventually look like some kind
of "smiley face". The Cydonia region on Mars—and its accompanying Face
on Mars image—is legendary in this regard; it has been compared to a martian
face eroded over time like an Egyptian Sphinx and has even become a
troublesome diversion in the earliest science targeting for the Mars Global
Surveyor.
View of crater ring, sometimes whimsically called the "Happy Face" crater.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS.
In some ways, the high-jinx centers on finding a Goldilocks' balance between
vivid language and precise scientific terms. Arizona planetary scientist and
painter, Bill Hartmann, put some historical perspective on the discussion, "I
think the mania for "neutral" and often "cute" names is beginning to be more
destructive than helpful."
Hartmann said, "As my archaeologist wife commented recently, the appealing
story about Mars is that it is so Earth-like, but the proliferation of strange
sounding geologic names for surface textures, like 'chaotic terrain,' 'fretted
terrain,' and so on, leads the public to perceive Mars as ever more alien and
non-understandable."
"This was started with a vengeance during the the Mariner 9 imaging team
interpretations in the early 1970s, in which I was involved," continued
Hartmann. "But it's gotten out of hand! Not to mention the 25 year absurdity
of the "'face on Mars,' a whimsical name that got completely out of control,
with the 'face on Mars' buffs claiming NASA purposely aborted the Mars
Observer mission to hide the truth, and later requiring our Mars Global
Surveyor team to drop its science plan, reorient the spacecraft, and waste tax
dollars to get images of the 'face' as one of the first activities of the mission."
There is a serious question buried somewhere in the hieroglyphic
interpretations. How does one approach a biological signature when visual or
instrumental ambiguities cloud the data? As the principal science investigator
on the European Beagle 2 mission, Colin Pillinger, described earlier biological
experiments, "It wasn't that Viking didn't find life, it was that they thought the
conditions were just so horrid, so harsh, nobody anticipated that life could
exist there."
Mars Says "hi"! MGS MOC Release MOC2-877, 12 October 2004.
The 400 meter scale bar is about 437 yards long. The features are
located near 1.8 degrees N, 357.2 degrees W. Sunlight illuminates
the scene from the upper left. Image credit: Mars Global
Surveyor, Malin Space Systems.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
7
craters that stretch from the town of Altoetting to an area around Lake
Chiemsee, the scientists said in an article in the latest issue of U.S. magazine,
Astronomy. Colliding with the Earth's atmosphere at more than 43,000 km
per hour, the space rock probably broke up at an altitude of 70 km, they
believe. The biggest chunk smashed into the ground with a force equivalent
to 106 million tons of TNT, or 8,500 Hiroshima bombs.
Read the full article at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/comet-04l.html.
ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER PLANET BUILDING IS BIG MESS
NASA/JPL release 2004-257
Cydonia region, showing the effects of sun position on shadows cast
across the "Mars Face". Left: 1976 Viking image, right: 2001 MGS
image. Image credits: NASA/JPL/MOC.
The Mars program has structured a series of missions to take on the major
questions of water history first, continuing with later follow-ups to make a
comprehensive investigation of how water might interact with any remnant
biochemistry. Harvard's Andy Knoll described this staged approach to
Astrobiology Magazine as a methodic testing of hypotheses against each
other: "A couple of years ago, NASA embarked on a funding campaign to
essentially try and anticipate any kind of suggestively biological signature that
might be found in any kind of exploration of another planet so that we
wouldn't be seen to be scratching our heads. But the plain fact is that you
can't anticipate anything you might see... I actually like the whole architecture
of NASA's plan to go one step at a time, do each step carefully, and in step
two build on what you learned in step one. It makes sense."
18 October 2004
Planets are built over a long period of massive collisions between rocky
bodies as big as mountain ranges, astronomers announced today. New
observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal surprisingly large
dust clouds around several stars. These clouds most likely flared up when
rocky, embryonic planets smashed together. The Earth's own Moon may have
formed from such a catastrophe. Prior to these new results, astronomers
thought planets were formed under less chaotic circumstances.
The 2009 Mars Science Laboratory is planned as the first set of biological
experiments in the current exploration strategy. As the NASA Office of
Space Science noted however, there has been considerable debate about when
to time a sample return: "We note with concern that there appears to be a
growing division within the Mars community between scientists seeking early
Mars Sample Return and those who believe it is best to delay it."
As principal investigator Steve Squyres described the team's public profile:
"We're letting the science hang out there for everyone to see. We risk letting
people think we're confused, but hey, science is really like that. It's exciting
and we don't have all the answers. That's why we do it."
Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1247.html.
MARS RECONSIDERED: NEW DATA RAISE FRESH QUESTIONS
By Leonard David
15 October 2004
There is mounting evidence of the role of water in Mars' evolution. That fact
appears to have been favorable to the development of life—and the leftover
calling card of past biology may be preserved in that world's geologic record.
Scientists from around the world have gathered here to present what is known,
as well as agree on need-to-know essentials, at The Second Conference on
Early Mars: Geologic, Hydrologic, and Climate Evolution and the
Implications for Life. Even more compelling is the thought that life may well
have taken a beating and kept on ticking over time. And if so, where on the
planet is it today? Scientists are admittedly awash in new data. Mars is being
scrutinized daily by the largest contingent of sensor-laden orbiters and rovers
ever sent there. But teasing out the planet's secrets is a daunting, long-term
task. A crossbreeding of research talents to investigate Mars has proven
essential.
Read the full article at
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_reconsidered_041015.html.
SCIENTISTS SAY COMET SMASHED INTO SOUTHERN
GERMANY IN 200 BC
From Agence France-Presse and SpaceDaily
15 October 2004
A comet or asteroid smashed into modern-day Germany some 2,200 years
ago, unleashing energy equivalent to thousands of atomic bombs, scientists
reported on Friday. The 1.1-kilometer (0.7-mile) diameter rock wacked into
southeastern Bavaria, leaving an "exceptional field" of meteorites and impact
This artist's concept illustrates how planetary systems arise out of massive
collisions between rocky bodies. New findings from NASA's Spitzer Space
Telescope show that these catastrophes continue to occur around stars even
after they have developed full-sized planets, when they are as old as one
hundred million years. For reference, our own Sun, at 4.5 billion years old, is
far past this late stage of planet formation. In this image, a young star is
shown circled by full-sized planets, and rings of dust beyond. These rings,
also called "debris discs" arise when embryonic planets smash into each
other. One of these collisions is illustrated in the inset above. Spitzer was
able to see the dust generated by these collisions with its powerful infrared
vision. Image credit: NASA/JPL/CalTech/T. Pyle.
"It's a mess out there," said Dr. George Rieke of the University of Arizona,
Tucson, first author of the findings and a Spitzer scientist. "We are seeing
that planets have a long, rocky road to go down before they become full
grown."
Spitzer was able to see the dusty aftermaths of these collisions with its
powerful infrared vision. When embryonic planets, the rocky cores of planets
like Earth and Mars, crash together, they are believed to either merge into a
bigger planet or splinter into pieces. The dust generated by these events is
warmed by the host star and glows in the infrared, where Spitzer can see it.
The findings will be published in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical
Journal. They mirror what we know about the formation of our own
planetary system. Recent observations from studies of our Moon's impact
craters also reveal a turbulent early solar system. "Our Moon took a lot of
violent hits when planets had already begun to take shape," Rieke said.
According to the most popular theory, rocky planets form somewhat like
snowmen. They start out around young stars as tiny balls in a disc-shaped
field of thick dust. Then, through sticky interactions with other dust grains,
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
they gradually accumulate more mass. Eventually, mountain-sized bodies
take shape, which further collide to make planets.
8
JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate. Artist's concepts and additional information about the Spitzer
Space Telescope is available at http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu.
Contacts:
Donald Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Phone: 202-358-1727
Whitney Clavin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Phone: 818-354-4673
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/extrasolar-04zm.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0410/18planet/
CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS FOR 7-13 OCTOBER 2004
NASA/JPL release
15 October 2004
This graph shows the extent of planetary debris discs around nearby stars of
various ages, as measured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Disc
brightness or size (vertical axis) is plotted against the age of the stars
observed by Spitzer (horizontal axis). The data show that there can be huge
amounts of debris from collisions between large asteroid-like bodies around
young stars, up to ages of 100 to 200 million years. However, even around
some of the youngest stars, there is no detectable debris, indicating that the
collision rate shows a large range of properties from star to star. Planets are
built up as a result of rocky objects smashing into each other and merging to
make larger bodies. The violence of these collisions causes immense clouds
of dust to escape and spread out into rings, or "debris discs." These discs are
warmed by the star, which allows Spitzer to detect them with its infrared
vision. Image credit: NASA/JPL/CalTech/G. Rieke.
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Wednesday, October 13. 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://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/presentposition.cfm.
Previously, astronomers envisioned this process proceeding smoothly toward
a mature planetary system over a few million to a few tens of millions of
years. Dusty planet-forming discs, they predicted, should steadily fade away
with age, with occasional flare-ups from collisions between leftover rocky
bodies.
Rieke and his colleagues have observed a more varied planet-forming
environment. They used new Spitzer data, together with previous data from
the European Space Agency's Infrared Space Observatory and the joint
NASA, United Kingdom and the Netherlands' Infrared Astronomical Satellite.
They looked for dusty discs around 266 nearby stars of similar size, about two
to three times the mass of the Sun, and various ages. Seventy-one of those
stars were found to harbor discs, presumably containing planets at different
stages of development. But, instead of seeing the discs disappear in older
stars, the astronomers observed the opposite in some cases.
"We thought young stars, about one million years old, would have larger,
brighter discs, and older stars from 10 to 100 million years old would have
fainter ones," Rieke said. "But we found some young stars missing discs and
some old stars with massive discs."
This variability implies planet-forming discs can become choked with dust
throughout the discs' lifetime, up to hundreds of millions of years after the
host star was formed. "The only way to produce as much dust as we are
seeing in these older stars is through huge collisions," Rieke said.
Before Spitzer, only a few dozen planet-forming discs had been observed
around stars older than a few million years. Spitzer's uniquely sensitive
infrared vision allows it to sense the dim heat from thousands of discs of
various ages. "Spitzer has opened a new door to the study of discs and
planetary evolution," said Dr. Michael Werner, project scientist for Spitzer at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
"These exciting new findings give us new insights into the process of
planetary formation, a process that led to the birth of planet Earth and to life,"
said Dr. Anne Kinney, director of the universe division in the Science Mission
Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington. "Spitzer truly embodies
NASA's mission to explore the universe and search for life," she said.
On-board activities this week featured more varied Imaging Science
Subsystem (ISS) observations than in previous weeks. In addition to movies
of Saturn's rings, ISS performed a global color map of Iapetus, numerous
observations of small satellites used for orbit determination, diffuse ring
images, and Phoebe spectrophotometry.
The Ultraviolet Imaging
Spectrograph (UVIS) observed a stellar occultation interior to the B ring,
which provided a high-resolution study of low optical depth regions.
Commands were approved and uplinked to the spacecraft this week to
perform a live update for Iapetus, to turn off the Magnetospheric Imaging
Instrument collimator, perform a Cosmic Dust Analyzer decontamination, and
clear a global variable as part of the scheduled cleanup after the Attitude
Control Subsystem (ACS) 8.7.1 flight software update and ACS flight
computer swap. The Iapetus live update will execute on October 15, with
closest approach on October 17. The S04 background sequence will then
conclude on October 18.
The Spacecraft Operations Office ran a successful test of the Iapetus Live
Inertial Vector Propagator (IVP) Update in the Integrated Test Laboratory
(ITL) this week. The Flight Software Development System (FSDS) run also
completed successfully. The ACS data from the test was reviewed and the
files were verified for uplink. The pointing difference, during the Iapetus
observation, between the FSDS C-Kernel and the Preliminary Sequence
Integration and Validation (PSIV) 2 C-Kernel is 4.1 mrads. This is consistent
with known ephemeris differences.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
9
occurred on Friday of last week. The next delivery in support of SOP
Implementation occurs on November 10.
The official port for the S08 SOP Update process occurred this week. The
products were merged and delivered to the ACS team for end-to-end pointing
validation. The Titan Orbiter Science Team (TOST) and Satellite Orbiter
Science Team (SOST) met to begin to re-integrate the Titan b, Titan 3, and
Enceladus-4 flybys.
A Program internal science talk was given this week on recent ISS satellite
discoveries. The presentation covered why instrument teams are interested in
locating additional satellites, and the process used by the imaging team to find
them.
Gazing beyond Saturn's magnificent rings, Cassini spotted the cause of the
dark gap visible in the foreground of this image: Mimas, which is 398
kilometers (247 miles) wide. The gravitational influence of Mimas is
responsible for the 4,800 kilometer- (2,980 mile-) wide Cassini division,
which stretches across the lower left portion of this view. The little moon is at
a nearly half-full phase in this view. A small clump of material is visible in
the narrow F ring, beyond the edge of the main rings. The image was taken in
visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on August 25,
2004, at a distance of 8.9 million kilometers (5.5 million miles) from Mimas
and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 88 degrees. The image
scale is 54 kilometers (34 miles) per pixel. The image was magnified by a
factor of four to aid visibility.
This Cassini image shows beautifully the complex eddies and wave patterns in
Saturn's cloud bands. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft
narrow angle camera on September 7, 2004, at a distance of 8.9 million
kilometers (5.5 million miles) from Saturn, through a filter sensitive to
wavelengths of infrared light centered at 727 nanometers. The image scale is
53 kilometers (33 miles) per pixel. The image was magnified by a factor of
two and slightly contrast-enhanced to improve visibility of features in the
atmosphere.
S05 development had the tightest time constraints for modifications as a result
of the release of the new reference trajectory. Last week the Sequence Team
(ST) participated in a Sequence Change Request (SCR) approval meeting,
command approval meeting for the Instrument Expanded Blocks to be
uplinked to the spacecraft, and a final sequence approval meeting. In the last
week, stripped subsequences were produced for use in the final FSIV merge,
the merge was produced, products generated, and the Sequence of Events
listing and Spaceflight Operations Schedule were generated. All this was
done with no slip to the development schedule. An unexpected benefit of the
new reference trajectory was the determination made by Science Planning that
a live IVP update would not be necessary during S05, and thus, no ITL testing
for those additional products would be required. The ST Lead has expressed
much appreciation for all the hard work everyone put in to get this sequence
out on time. S05 begins execution on Monday, October 18.
In this image, Dione, a moon of Saturn, exhibits some of the interesting bright
and dark markings for which it is renowned. From Voyager images, Dione is
known to have bright wispy markings, some of which may be visible here.
Dione is 1,118 kilometers (695 miles) wide. The image was taken in visible
light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on September 15,
2004, at a distance of 8.8 million kilometers (5.4 million miles) from Dione
and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 83 degrees. The image
scale is 53 kilometers (33 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a
factor of four and contrast-enhanced to aid visibility.
Science Planning has adjusted the schedule for Science Operations Plan (SOP)
Implementation deliveries. The decision to modify the schedule was made in
order to provide relief to the flight team as they support additional workload
on the sequence development process as a result of last week's update of the
Cassini reference trajectory. The only deliveries affected are for the last five
sequences of the tour, S37 through S41. Preliminary port 2 for S37/S38
The Instrument Operations and Multi Mission Image Processing Laboratory
have begun preparations to support the display of Titan-a ISS and VIMS data
in near real-time. Interaction with Media Relations, JPL Audio/Visual, and
Cassini Outreach are underway.
Mission Planning has released a Titan-a mission description. It is a brief,
concise description of the Titan-a encounter events, including an estimated
playback schedule for all instruments.
Delivery meetings were held this week for Maneuver Automation Software
(MAS) 4.5, MDT V8.1, and MAPDF_GEN V8.1. In addition, a delivery
coordination meeting was held to review RADAR build-5 ground software to
be used to process the Ta data. The software has been tested and is ready for
use. The Mission Support & Services Office (MSSO) reported that last week
the Flight Control Team supported 7 DSN passes, and uplinked 21 command
files to the spacecraft.
Laminated images representing the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft during Saturn
Orbit Insertion, a map of participating countries, and a selection of images
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
will be included in a time capsule celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
North Museum of Natural History and Science in Lancaster, PA. The capsule
information will be displayed at the museum October 16-17. The selected
images
are
on
the
Cassini
Multimedia
webpage
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/mission/index.cfm.
Cassini
Science Planning presented "Cassini-Huygens: The Real Lord of the Rings"
during DePaul University's Space Sciences symposium for 150 K-12
educators, and again at the Swift Art Gallery, Los Angeles, for 40 members of
the public.
10
Network. Professional and amateur astronomers on Earth will also be able to
observe the material flying from the comet's newly formed crater, adding to
the data and images collected by the Deep Impact spacecraft and other
telescopes. Tempel 1 poses no threat to Earth in the foreseeable future.
Excerpts from the North Museum of Natural History and Science time
capsule set.
Cassini Science Planning participated in "Journey Week" in Menominee,
Michigan. During the week-long event, 1727 students and 72 teachers and
adults from 8 different elementary, middle and high schools learned about the
Cassini-Huygens mission and its exciting science results. This is the second
year Cassini has participated in this program. Science Planning and Huygens
Probe Science & Engineering staff co-led a Solar System Ambassador
Training class. This two-part training session focused on Titan and the Probe
Mission. Over 50 members of the Ambassador network were trained on these
materials. For the most recent Cassini information, press releases, and
images, go to http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.
The Cassini-Huygens mission 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, manages the
Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington, DC. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1248.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zzzh.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zzzj.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/041011mimas.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0410/17saturn/
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/
new_insights_saturns_magnetosphere.html
DEEP IMPACT ARRIVES IN FLORIDA TO PREPARE FOR
LAUNCH
NASA/JPL release 2004-258
18 October 2004
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has arrived in Florida to begin final
preparations for a launch on December 30, 2004. The spacecraft was shipped
from Ball Aerospace & Technologies in Boulder, CO, to the Astrotech Space
Operations facility located near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"Deep Impact has begun its journey to comet Tempel 1," said Rick Grammier,
Deep Impact project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
CA. "First to Florida, then to space, and then to the comet itself. It will be
quite a journey and one which we can all witness together."
The Deep Impact spacecraft is designed to launch a copper projectile into the
surface of comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 133.6 million
kilometers (83 million miles) from Earth. When this 372-kilogram
(820-pound) "impactor" hits the surface of the comet at approximately 37,000
kilometers per hour (23,000 miles per hour), the 1-by-1 meter projectile (39by-39 inches) will create a crater that could be as large as a football field.
Deep Impact's "flyby" spacecraft will collect pictures and data of the event. It
will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space
In the clean room at Astrotech Space Operations near Kennedy Space Center,
the Deep Impact spacecraft is lifted off its movable stand. It will be moved to
another stand. The spacecraft will undergo functional testing to verify its
state of health after the over-the-road journey from Ball Aerospace and
Technologies Corp. in Boulder, CO. This will be followed by loading updated
flight software and beginning a series of Mission Readiness Tests. Deep
Impact, a NASA Discovery mission, will probe beneath the surface of Comet
Tempel 1 and reveal the secrets of its interior. Image credit: NASA/KSC.
Today at Astrotech, Deep Impact is being removed from its shipping
container, the first of the numerous milestones to prepare it for launch.
Later this week, the spacecraft will begin functional testing to verify its state
of health after the over-the-road journey from Colorado. This will be
followed by loading updated flight software and beginning a series of mission
readiness tests. These tests involve the entire spacecraft flight system that
includes the flyby and impactor, as well as the associated science instruments
and the spacecraft's basic subsystems.
Next, the high gain antenna used for spacecraft communications will be
installed. The solar array will then be stowed and an illumination test
performed as a final check of its performance. Then, Deep Impact will be
ready for fueling preparations. Once this is complete, the 976-kilogram
spacecraft (2,152 pounds) will be mated atop the upper stage booster, the
Delta rocket's third stage. The integrated stack will be installed into a
transportation canister in preparation for going to the launch pad in midDecember. Once at the pad and hoisted onto the Boeing Delta II rocket, a
brief functional test will be performed to re-verify spacecraft state of health.
Next will be an integrated test with the Delta II before installing the fairing
around the spacecraft.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
Deep Impact mission scientists are confident that an intimate glimpse beneath
the surface of a comet, where material and debris from the formation of the
solar system remain relatively unchanged, will answer basic questions about
the formation of the solar system and offer a better look at the nature and
composition of these celestial wanderers.
Launch aboard the Boeing Delta II rocket is scheduled to occur on December
30 from Launch Complex 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The
launch window extends from 2:39 to 3:19 PM Eastern Standard Time (11:39
AM to 12:19 PM Pacific Standard Time)
The overall Deep Impact mission management for this Discovery class
program is conducted by the University of Maryland, College Park, Md.
Deep Impact project management is by JPL. The spacecraft has been built for
NASA by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, Boulder, CO. The
spacecraft/launch vehicle integration and launch countdown management are
the responsibility of the Launch Services Program office headquartered at
Kennedy Space Center.
Photos of Deep Impact's arrival and processing can be found at the following
URL. Additional photos will be added to the page as they are available:
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=126.
Contacts:
D. C. Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Phone: 818-393-9011
George Diller
NASA Kennedy Space Center, FL
Phone: 321-867-2468
Donald Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Phone: 202-358-1727
NASA'S GENESIS MISHAP BOARD & RESEARCHERS BOTH
REPORT PROGRESS
NASA release 04-345
14 October 2004
As scientists begin to unpack more than 3,000 containers of samples of the
sun brought to Earth by NASA's Genesis mission, the Mishap Investigation
Board (MIB) has identified a likely direct cause of the failure of Genesis'
parachute system to open. The parachute system failed to deploy when
Genesis returned to Earth September 8, 2004. The MIB, analyzing the
Genesis capsule at a facility near Denver, said the likely cause was a design
error that involves the orientation of gravity-switch devices. The switches
sense the braking caused by the high-speed entry into the atmosphere, and
then initiate the timing sequence leading to deployment of the craft's drogue
parachute and parafoil.
11
"We cheered the news from the science team about the recovery of a
significant amount of the precious samples of the sun," said Dr. Ghassem
Asrar, deputy associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. "Despite the hard landing, Genesis
was able to deliver. However, we await the final report of the Mishap Board
to understand what caused the malfunction, and to hear the Board's
recommendations for how we can avoid such a problem in the future," he
added.
The recovered remains of the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) are undergoing
engineering inspections and tests at the Waterton, CO, facility of Lockheed
Martin Astronautics (LMA). The Genesis spacecraft and SRC were built at
Waterton. Lockheed Martin is supporting the MIB both to examine the
recovered hardware and in assembling documentation relevant to the
development of the space system.
"Both Lockheed Martin and JPL have been providing every possible support
to our investigation. All of the people from both organizations who were
involved in the Genesis project have been extremely professional and
cooperative in helping the Board do its work," said Dr. Ryschkewitsch.
The safety critical pyrotechnic devices and the damaged lithium sulfur dioxide
battery have been secured to allow safe operations. The battery has been
transported to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (JPL), CA, to begin
detailed evaluation. The MIB is evaluating the recovered hardware, pertinent
documentation, impact site recovery activities and interviewing people from
development teams. The MIB is using a fault tree as its guide. A fault tree is
a formal method for determining, organizing and evaluating possible direct
causes for a mishap and to trace them to root causes. The Board's charter is to
examine every possible cause and to determine whether it was related to the
mishap. The Board expects to complete its work by late November.
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit
http://www.nasa.gov.
Contact:
Donald Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Phone: 202-358-1727
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1246.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/genesis-04v.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0410/14genesis/
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/
potential_cause_genesis_crash.html
MARS EXPRESS: PROMETHEI TERRA, SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS
OF MARS
ESA release
12 October 2004
"This single cause has not yet been fully confirmed, nor has it been
determined whether it is the only problem within the Genesis system," said
Dr. Michael G. Ryschkewitsch, the MIB chair. "The Board is working to
confirm this proximate cause, to determine why this error happened, why it
was not caught by the test program and an extensive set of in-process and
after-the-fact reviews of the Genesis system."
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board
ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, show a part of the southern highlands of
Mars, called Promethei Terra. The images were taken during orbit 368 in
May 2004 with a ground resolution of approximately 14 meters per pixel. The
displayed region is centered around longitude 118° East and latitude 42°
South.
Meanwhile, scientists unpacking samples at NASA's Johnson Space Center
(JSC), Houston, curation facility remain upbeat in their assessment of the
prospects for obtaining useful science from the recovered samples. The
facility counted more than 3,000 tracking numbers for the containers that hold
pieces of wafers from the five collector panels. The panels secured samples of
atoms and ions from the solar wind that were collected during Genesis' nearly
three- year mission in deep space. Some of the containers hold as many as 96
pieces of the wafers. The team has been preparing the samples for study since
the science payload and recovered samples arrived at JSC October 4.
The images show an area in the Promethei Terra region, east of the Hellas
Planitia impact basin. The smooth surface is caused by a layer of dust or
volcanic ash that is up to several tens of meters thick. This layer has covered
all landforms, and even young impact craters have lost their contours due to
in-fill and collapse of their fragile crater walls. This layer has been removed
by the wind at some ridges and crater walls. Although the above close-up
image was taken at high resolution and shows very fine detail like the dunes
seen in the close-up image at right, this dust covering layer leads to a slightly
fuzzy appearance.
Planning is under way for preliminary examination of the samples to prepare
for allocation to the science community. The samples eventually will be
moved to the JSC Genesis clean room where they will be cleaned, examined
and then distributed to scientists, promising researchers years of study into the
origins and evolution of the solar system.
The large impact crater in the southern part of the image is 32 kilometers wide
and up to 1200 meters deep. The dark crater floor is most likely the result of
"deflation", the geological term for the lifting and removal of loose material.
The dust removed here has accumulated in the southern part of the crater,
forming a thick layer. The numerous dark tracks to the north-western and
west are "dust devil" tracks. These atmospheric "eddies", like tornadoes on
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
12
Earth, remove the uppermost dust layers which have a slightly different color
to the now-exposed surface. The tracks can be more than 20 kilometers long
and contrast prominently with the lighter-colored surroundings. Dust devil
tracks provide short-lived evidence of the ongoing geological and atmospheric
activity on Mars, which consists mainly of the transport of dust by wind.
Read the original news release at
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEM95XMKPZD_0.html.
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/marsexpress-04zh.html
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/dust_obscured_martian_landscape.
html
MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES
NASA/JPL/MSSS release
7-13 October 2004
The following new images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the
Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available.
Rock Outcrops near Hellas (Released 7 October 2004)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/10/07/index.html
Bedforms in Maja Valles (Released 8 October 2004)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/10/08/index.html
Schiaparelli's Sedimentary Rocks (Released 9 October 2004)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/10/09/index.html
Rippled Dune (Released 10 October 2004)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/10/10/index.html
Cerberus Fossae Troughs (Released 11 October 2004)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/10/11/index.html
Mars Says "hi"! (Released 12 October 2004)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/10/12/index.html
The Flows of Olympus (Released 13 October 2004)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/10/13/index.html
Another sign for this "aeolian" (wind-related) activity in the area is the
existence of small dune fields that have formed in some of the depressions.
They can be seen in the crater in the north and in its surroundings (see lower
close-up view). The dust devils are not limited by geomorphological
boundaries: for example, their tracks cross the crater rim. Dust devil tracks
can also be seen on the thick dust layer in the southern part of the crater. Due
to the thickness of the dust layer, no darker material is exposed here. The dust
devil tracks show two distinct directions of movement: east to west and southeast to north-west.
The color images have been processed using the nadir (vertical view) and
three color channels, and the perspective views have been calculated from the
digital terrain model derived from the stereo channels. The 3D anaglyph
image has been created from the nadir and one stereo channel.
All of the Mars Global Surveyor images
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/index.html.
are
archived
at
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.
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 41, 19 October 2004
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
NASA/JPL/ASU releases
4-8 0ctober 2004
Chaotic Candor Chasma (Released 4 October 2004)
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041004a.html
Layered Candor Chasma (Released 5 October 2004)
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041005a.html
Candor Chasma (Released 6 October 2004)
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041006a.html
Candor Chasma (Released 7 October 2004)
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041007a.html
Valles Marineris Mosaic (Released 8 October 2004)
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041008A.html
11-15 October 2004
Tyrrhena Patera (Released 11 October 2004)
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041011a.html
Tyrrhena Patera (Released 12 October 2004)
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041012a.html
Tyrrhena Patera (Released 13 October 2004)
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041013a.html
Tyrrhena Patera (Released 14 October 2004)
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041014a.html
Tyrrhena Patera Mosaic (Released 15 October 2004
http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20041015A.html
All of the THEMIS images are archived at http://themis.la.asu.edu/latest.html.
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.
End Marsbugs, Volume 11, Number 41.
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