MARSBUGS: The Electronic Exobiology Newsletter Volume 4, Number 3, 4 February, 1997. Editors: David Thomas, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83844-3051, USA, thoma457@uidaho.edu. Julian Hiscox, Microbiology Department, BBRB 17, Room 361, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-2170, USA, Julian_hiscox@micro.microbio.uab.edu. MARSBUGS is published on a weekly to quarterly basis as warranted by the number of articles and announcements. Copyright of this compilation exists with the editors, except for specific articles, in which instance copyright exists with the author/authors. E-mail subscriptions are free, and may be obtained by contacting either of the editors. Contributions are welcome, and should be submitted to either of the two editors. Contributions should include a short biographical statement about the author(s) along with the author(s)' correspondence address. Subscribers are advised to make appropriate inquiries before joining societies, ordering goods etc. Back issues may be obtained via anonymous FTP at: ftp.uidaho.edu/pub/mmbb/marsbugs. The purpose of this newsletter is to provide a channel of information for scientists, educators and other persons interested in exobiology and related fields. This newsletter is not intended to replace peer-reviewed journals, but to supplement them. We, the editors, envision MARSBUGS as a medium in which people can informally present ideas for investigation, questions about exobiology, and announcements of upcoming events. Exobiology is still a relatively young field, and new ideas may come out of the most unexpected places. Subjects may include, but are not limited to: exobiology proper (life on other planets), the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), ecopoeisis/ terraformation, Earth from space, planetary biology, primordial evolution, space physiology, biological life support systems, and human habitation of space and other planets. ----------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX 1) LIVE FROM MARS UPDATE #18 2) SAGAN PLAYED KEY ROLES IN JPL MISSIONS, FRIENDS RECALL From the JPL Universe 3) THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES SURROUNDING SPACE EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT Colloquium announcement 4) MARS PATHFINDER MISSION STATUS JPL release 5) FUTURE LIFE ON MARS NSS lecture announcement ----------------------------------------------------------------- LIVE FROM MARS UPDATE #18 January 23, 1997 PART 1: Upcoming WebChat PART 2: Mars Expert to Appear on Kids' TV Show PART 3: Next LFM Broadcast PART 4: Student Stumpers PART 5: Help From Other Teachers PART 6: Meeting LFM Teachers & Staff PART 7: Mars Global Surveyor Flight Status Upcoming WebChat ***Tuesday, January 28, 9 a.m., PST*** Next week's Live From Mars chat will feature Anita Dodson, a graphics communicator (also known as a graphic artist or graphic designer). Anita figures out the best way to put words, images and colors together so that it grabs your attention and sends a specific message. She does this by designing and producing brochures, flyers, mission decals, posters, presentations, exhibits, articles and even pages on the World Wide Web. She especially enjoys being creative and trying new things. Weekly WebChats offer an opportunity for your students to virtually meet the people on the front lines of the Mars exploration adventure. This includes the entire spectrum of people that it takes to make the Mars team work-- from scientists, engineers and programmers to data librarians, photographers and graphics communicators. Teachers have reported that the chats really enliven students' enthusiasm. To best prepare, please have your students read Anita's biography before the WebChat: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/team/dodson.html To join in the fun, point your Web browser to http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/events/interact.html to follow the links to the moderated chat room for experts. If you plan to in this event, please RSVP to Andrea by sending a brief e-mail note to andream@quest.arc.nasa.gov telling her that you plan to join the session. This RSVP is very important, as it will allow us to ensure that the chat room does not become overly crowded. Mars expert to appear on CBS kids' show LFM expert and WebChat guest Mary Urquhart will appear on a nationally broadcast CBS television show called "News for Kids" on Saturday morning February 1. Teachers, be sure to tape this segment for your students! Many of your kids "talked" with Mary during her January 15 WebChat. Mary is also featured on "The Team" page of the LFM Web site at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/team/urquhart.html Next LFM broadcast NASA-TV plans to broadcast the next Live From Mars broadcast, "Cruising Between the Planets," on April 24 from 1-2 p.m., EST. If you depend on your local PBS station you should check your local listings or call your local station for coverage information. Student Stumpers: Kid-Centered Challenge Questions http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/kids/stumpers.html Here is an easy activity that you could do with your students tomorrow! You may remember Challenge Questions, the series of puzzles we asked in the fall. They'll be back in March, before our live TV program. But for now, a great series of student-centered questions has risen to the top. Student Stumpers challenge kids to make riddles for other kids to solve. Whether students create a question or e-mail the author with a proposed answer, Student Stumpers can be a terrific way for students to meet like-minded kids all over the world. This activity includes safe e-mail tips for students and teachers. Real examples include Taylor, who queries: > Can Mars be viewed from Earth with the naked eye? > When is the best time to look for it? Or Thabet from Egypt, who asks a really hard one: > Within a couple of million of years, Mars the Red Planet might have another name, maybe the 5th ringed planet in the Solar System or the "asteroid-like" planet. Why will it be called these uncommon names? Please consider involving your students in the Student Stumper festival happening now. Help from other teachers http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/news/mentors.html A favorite part of Live From Mars is meeting the wonderful teachers who are doing this project. Many people who are currently active in LFM have done similar projects here before. They know the ropes and have learned how to make these projects work in real classrooms. So if you are a bit confused or feeling alone or struggling to make LFM work, please consider our Live From Mars mentors. Their friendly experience can help you over the hump. As well, we welcome additional LFM mentor volunteers. Please visit the LFM mentors' page for more details. Other ways to meet teachers & LFM staff Live From Mars is special because of the connections that form between people. Not only connections between students and NASA experts, but bonds between teachers and LFM staff. If you are not a part of these conversations, you may be missing something of great value. Not only can other teachers help you figure out things, they can be a sounding board for your brainstorms. As well, the LFM team is easily influenced. Your ideas may sway the entire direction of the project (as past history demonstrates). There are two different ways to participate: chats and discuss- lfm. Every week, two, hourly chats are scheduled. Each Thursday at either noon or 3:00 p.m., Pacific (schedule alternates), folks gather in the chat room for an hour. Also, each Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. Pacific, a special home-school forum is hosted by master home schooler Gayle Remisch, from London, Ontario, Canada. For more info, see the WebChat section of http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/events/interact.html In addition, discuss-lfm offers teachers an opportunity to send more composed messages. Last month, LFM people contributed over 120 gems in the vigorous discussion. Many people channel this information directly to their mailboxes. If 200+ messages are too many for you, an option exists for a digest. The digest sends just one daily message with all of the day's traffic gathered together. To participate, send an e-mail message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, choose one of the lines below to send: subscribe discuss-lfm subscribe discuss-digest-lfm If you prefer, you may also take part in the discuss-lfm group via the Web. In that case, point your browser to: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/discuss-lfm-lwgate.html Please do consider joining us. You may learn a bit and make some new friends. [LFM Editor's note: This status report on the Mars Global Surveyor mission was prepared by the Office of the Flight Operations Manager, Mars Surveyor Operations, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.] Mars global surveyor flight status report Friday, 17 January 1997 On Monday of this week, Surveyor's flight team activated the Mars Orbiter Camera in preparation for four days of star imaging. Once per afternoon from Tuesday through Friday, the spacecraft turned to point the camera at a cluster of stars called the Pleiades. Over the course of one hour on each imaging day, the camera observed stars within the cluster in order to perform focus checks. Communications with the spacecraft during star imaging was not possible because the star-pointed orientation resulted in pointing the high-gain antenna away from the Earth. Consequently, all of the data from the camera were stored on Surveyor's solid-state recorders. These data were transmitted back to Earth approximately three hours after the conclusion of each day's imaging. The daily playback of camera data required 49 minutes. During that time, Surveyor transmitted 250 megabits of data at a downlink rate of 85,333 bits per second. Next week, the onboard flight computer will activate heaters in the camera that will bake the epoxy structure of the camera to remove residual moisture. A set of four more star images will be taken after the bakeout period ends in late March. The star images taken this week will serve as a reference to assess the focusing capability of the camera after the bakeout. Other activities this week included a two-hour radio-science calibration that occurred late in the evening on Wednesday. This test involved using the spacecraft's ultra-stable oscillator to control the frequency or "tone" of Surveyor's radio transmissions to the Earth. Normally, the spacecraft listens to a signal transmitted from the Earth as a reference to set the tone of the signal transmitted to Earth. The oscillator functions as an electronic clock that can precisely control the tone of Surveyor's signal without listening to the Earth- based reference signal. Future tests of the oscillator will occur approximately every other week until the spacecraft reaches Mars. These tests are important because a stable radio signal as controlled by the oscillator will be critical toward the collection of scientific data at Mars. After a mission elapsed time of 71 days from launch, Surveyor is 16.05 million kilometers from the Earth, 136.00 million kilometers from Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a velocity of 30.85 kilometers per second. This orbit will intercept Mars on September 12, 1997. All systems on the spacecraft continue to be in excellent condition. If this is your first message from the updates-lfm list, welcome! To catch up on back issues, please visit the following Internet URL: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/updates To subscribe to the updates-lfm mailing list (where this message came from), send a message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write these words: subscribe updates-lfm Conversely... To remove your name from the updates-lfm mailing list, send a message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write these words: unsubscribe updates-lfm If you have Web access, please visit our "continuous construction" site at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars ----------------------------------------------------------------- SAGAN PLAYED KEY ROLES IN JPL MISSIONS, FRIENDS RECALL From the JPL Universe Dr. Carl Sagan and his long history of contributions to space missions conducted by JPL were remembered by his scientific colleagues following his death December 20. Sagan had key roles in shaping the course of exploration of the planets with robotic spacecraft since the 1960s to the present. At the time of his death, he was an interdisciplinary scientist on JPL's Galileo mission to Jupiter. JPL Director Dr. Edward Stone, who also served as project scientist on the Voyager mission, commented, "The world's science community, and the field of planetary exploration in particular, have lost one of its most gifted minds and eloquent voices in the passing of Dr. Carl Sagan. As a team member on various planetary missions, Carl repeatedly demonstrated a special capability to understand the significance of a finding and place it in context. His contributions to the Voyager program, over some 20 years, were significant in making it the very successful exploration of the outer planets that it was. I personally shall miss his wise counsel. "The entire JPL staff joins me in mourning his loss and extending our deepest sympathies to the Sagan family." Dr. Torrence Johnson, Galileo Project Scientist, who also worked with Sagan as a fellow member of the science team on the Voyager missions to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, recalled, "Carl was one of the greatest intellects behind the genesis of space exploration generally and specifically the Galileo mission. He was part of the original group that got together to promote the mission to NASA and he served as an interdisciplinary scientists on the mission team from the beginning. He was a great human being who shared with everyone his excitement about the exploration of the universe." Galileo Project Manager Bill O'Neil expressed the team's grief at Sagan's passing, "The Galileo mission team is heartbroken with the loss of Carl Sagan. Carl was one of our most esteemed interdisciplinary scientists on the Galileo Project Science Group. But more than that, Carl was a wonderful colleague and dear friend to us all. Carl is very well known for his tremendous success in engaging the public in space exploration. Not so well known is that Carl was extremely effective in helping save Galileo from the budget ax many times in the early years of the project. We are greatly indebted to Carl for his support and inspiration through the years." Dr. Carolyn Porco of the University of Arizona heads the imaging team for JPL's Cassini mission to Saturn. She attributes much of her success in science to early mentoring she received from Sagan, "Of all the people I have met in the course of my scientific career, no one was more gracious, understanding, respectful and encouraging towards me than Carl. From my very first professional presentation at the age of 21, to my current position as the Cassini imaging team leader, Carl was there, always, with a kind, gentle word of support. I believe that he cared for people, genuinely, in that special way that distinguishes great humanitarian leaders. And I believe that underlying his life's work was a bedrock faith in the fragile dignity and goodness of all humankind. "His passing is a heartbreaking loss-for his family, for the community of scientists that he walked among, and for the world. We who remain on Earth have lost our guardian angel. He is part of the cosmos now." ----------------------------------------------------------------- THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES SURROUNDING SPACE EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT Colloquium announcement New York University's Environmental Law Journal is sponsoring a colloqium on Friday, February 21 entitled "The Environmental Issue Surrounding Space Exploration and Development." It will be held at NYU School of Law, located at 40 Washington Square South, NYC, beginning at 9:00 am and ending at 6:00 pm. Students and faculty with valid ID will be admitted free. Three panels will be held: "Space Debris and Other Objects Cluttering Space" at 10:30 am; "Satellites: An Environmental Tool" at 1:30 pm; and "Allocation of Space Resources and the Environment" at 3:30 pm. The colloquium will provide a forum for discussion of the environmental law and policy questions created by human activity in outer space. For more information, please contact Jessica Cooper at (212) 998-6560 or at the e-mail address listed above. ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARS PATHFINDER MISSION STATUS JPL release 31 January 1997 The spacecraft continues to be in excellent health, and is now about 16 million km from Earth. Key activities completed this week include successful completion of the K=15, R=1/6 convolutional code tests and resolution of the attitude control software glitch detected last week. Attitude control software has been re-enabled and is currently operating nominally. In addition, we verified that the noise seen during ASI/MET health checks is due to the Propulsion Drive Electronics. This noise appears to be radiative in nature, and will not be an issue for surface operations because the PDE is located on the cruise stage. The Uplink Problem Tiger team has developed a plausible explanation for the majority of the command rejections and the CDU In Lock conditions. It involves harmonics from the uplink sweep locking up the CDU and pulling it away from the nominal command frequency. The team is developing a test plan to confirm this hypothesis and is also gathering information about the incidents where the CDU went into lock while we were not tracking. An Operational Readiness Test (ORT) of the Sol 1-2 sequences was run on January 27 and 28. The sequences used were identical to the last pre-launch surface ORT. The ORT was successful in that all of the sequences were executed properly by the simulated lander and rover. However, a number of relatively minor problems were logged during the test. These problems were reviewed and action has been assigned in all cases for problem resolution. Nineteen investigators have been selected by NASA Headquarters in response to the Announcement of Opportunity for selection of Mars Pathfinder Participating Scientists and a Facility Instrument Science Team for the Atmospheric Structure Instrument/Meteorology Package. An "All Hands" Pathfinder Science Team meeting has been set up for February 5-7, 1997 at JPL to begin integrating the new investigators into the Experiment Operations Team. For further information, please visit our web site at http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov. ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR MISSION STATUS JPL release 27 January, 1997 All systems onboard Mars Global Surveyor continue to operate normally. Last Wednesday (January 22), the spacecraft's flight computer activated a 53-watt heater in the Mars Orbiter Camera to begin "baking" the instrument and removing residual moisture. Without this 14-day bakeout period, the moisture in the camera's tube-like structure would leak into space at a slow rate and cause a gradual shift in the camera's focus. The bakeout will remove all of the moisture at once and stabilize the focus of the camera. Flight controllers also performed a series of very slight maneuvers on Jan. 22, 23 and 24 to attempt to manipulate Surveyor's solar array and characterize the exact condition of the debris that is preventing the panel from fully deploying. On January 22, the maneuver was performed with the solar panels in normal cruise orientation. On the following days, the maneuvers were performed with the solar panels rotated to a position that is used during an engine firing and during an aerobraking procedure. The maneuvers did not free the debris, but data from the tests will be studied to determine the best method to clear the broken damper arm that is wedged in the hinge joint holding the solar panel to the spacecraft. Currently, the solar array is tilted about 20.5 degrees from its fully deployed position. The situation poses no immediate problems for the mission and represents only minor adjustments in the long run if the panel is not fully deployed. Today Mars Global Surveyor is about 18 million kilometers (11 million miles) from Earth, traveling at a velocity of about 30 kilometers per second (67,000 miles per hour) with respect to the Sun. The orbiter will intercept Mars on September 12. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FUTURE LIFE ON MARS NSS lecture announcement National Space Society Lecture series: Thursday, February 6, 7:30pm "Future Life on Mars" What might it be like to build a settlement on Mars? Bruce Mackenzie explains if it can be done without bringing everything from Earth. Come see photos of dozens of real buildings which could be built on Mars, using local materials. Lecture will be held at MIT Lab for Computer Science, 8th floor, room NE43-800, 545 Tech. Square, on Main St. at railroad tracks, Cambridge. (617)258-2828, or e-mail reply. Free, A/C, refreshments. These meetings are sponsored by the Boston Chapter of the National Space Society (NSS); together with the MIT chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS). NSS sponsors lectures on space related topics, usually on the first Thursday of every month at the location listed above. Tom Baker tombaker@world.std.com for information ----------------------------------------------------------------- End Marsbugs Vol. 4, No. 3.