MARSBUGS: The Electronic Exobiology Newsletter Volume 4, Number 7, 11 May, 1997. Editors: David Thomas, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83844-3051, USA, thoma457@uidaho.edu or Marsbugs@aol.com. 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 5) NEW EXTRA-SOLAR PLANET DISCOVERED; CIRCULAR ORBIT SUGGESTS IT FORMED LIKE PLANETS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 6) SHUTTLE EXPERIMENT TO STUDY MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF PLANTS NASA release: 97-62 7) NASA'S STARDUST TEAM STUDIES HALE-BOPP'S COMETARY COUSIN JPL release 8) NASA REVISES INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SCHEDULE NASA release: 97-65 9) NASA EXPLAINS HOW MOLECULAR-SIZED GEARS MIGHT WORK NASA release: 97-75 10) CHRONOLOGY OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION AVAILABLE 11) MICROGRAVITY SCIENCE LABORATORY MISSION SET FOR JULY; REMAINING 1997 SHUTTLE MANIFEST ADJUSTED SLIGHTLY NASA release: 97-81 12) STUDENT WINNERS TO BE HONORED IN WASHINGTON, DC NASA release: 97-84 13) NASA AWARDS 36 MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH GRANTS NASA release: 97-86 14) HUYGENS SPACE PROBE READY TO LEAVE EUROPE ESA press release 15) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR FLIGHT STATUS REPORTS JPL releases ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW MISSIONS SELECTED TO STUDY EARTH'S FORESTS AND GRAVITY FIELD VARIABILITY NASA release: 97-46 Small, lower-cost spacecraft to study the distribution of Earth's forests and the variability of its gravity field have been competitively selected by NASA for development under a new Office of Mission to Planet Earth program called Earth System Science Pathfinders (ESSP). The Vegetation Canopy Lidar (VCL) mission, led by Dr. Ralph Dubayah of the University of Maryland, College Park, seeks to provide the first global inventory of the vertical structure of forests across Earth using a multibeam laser- ranging device. VCL will enable direct measurement of tree heights, forest canopy structure, and derived parameters such as global biomass with at least ten times better accuracy than existing assessments. ----------------------------------------------------------------- GUIDELINES FOR THE PLANETARY SOCIETY'S NEAR-EARTH OBJECT GRANT PROGRAM OBJECTIVES The Planetary Society Near-Earth Object (NEO) Grant Program seeks to encourage the discovery and exploration of NEOs by supporting observation projects and related research around the world. The Society intends these grants to accelerate the NEO discovery rate, to improve and increase observations, and to encourage international cooperation in this field. CATEGORIES The Planetary Society invites applications in one or more of the following categories: 1. NEO Observational Programs. Projects in this category could include discovery programs and those projects that might increase the rate of discovery. For example, an observation program by an amateur or at a small observatory could provide follow-up to discoveries, and thereby free observers at larger telescopes for more discovery work. Such a program would qualify for a Planetary Society grant. 2. NEO Research Programs. The category will include all those fields relating to understanding NEOs and their roles in the evolution of Earth and the solar system. Spectroscopy measurements and analysis would be an example of a project in this category. 3. International Collaboration in NEO Observations. Projects in this category include those that develop international collaboration through cooperative research, or those that enable amateurs and researchers at smaller observatories to participate in NEO observations and data analysis. SELECTION CRITERIA The selection committee will consider how a project enables discoveries, advances knowledge, and/or enhances international scientific collaboration. Projects will also be judged on their feasibility, creativity, originality, significance and likelihood of completion. The committee will give special consideration to "seed" grants -- where a little help now can generate high leverage for future work. Amateurs and scientists and observers from developing countries will be given special consideration. AMOUNTS OF GRANTS The average grant will be $5,000 to $10,000, although the selection committee will consider a range from $1,000 to $25,000, depending on need and expected results. The amount available is made possible by the donations of Planetary Society members. ELIGIBILITY Anyone anywhere may submit an application for a Planetary Society Near-Earth Object grant. We will accept only one application per individual or group. An application submitted on behalf of a group must clearly indicate the person acting as the group's representative or principal investigator. That person must sign the application form. Should a group project be chosen, the grant will be presented to the group's representative or principal investigator. The Planetary Society will have no obligation to any other member of the group. APPLICATIONS Applications may be submitted at anytime. To be considered, an application must be neatly printed in English by letter, no more than three pages in length. Supporting documentation may be submitted or referenced. Send your application to: NEO Grant Program The Planetary Society 65 North Catalina Avenue Pasadena, CA 91106-2301 USA Applicants should send copies, not originals, of supporting documents, figures or photographs. No applications will be returned. Supporting materials must arrive with the application form unless prior arrangements are made. NOTIFICATION Grant recipients will be notified of their award as soon as a decision is made. No other notification will be sent by The Planetary Society before this date, except for requests by the selection committee for supplementary information. SELECTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE The selection advisory committee for the NEO grants will be composed of internationally renowned scientists. The final selection will be made by the Board of Directors of The Planetary Society. The committee's procedures and deliberations will be kept confidential. PUBLICATION OF AWARDS Winners of the Planetary Society NEO grants will be published in The Planetary Report and The NEO News. The Society reserves the right to publish summaries of the most interesting projects in either publication. The Society also encourages professional publications and other popular promotion and articles, so long as proper credit is given for any support. OBTAINING AN APPLICATION Write to The Planetary Society at the address noted above, or call (818) 793-5100. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASA ANNOUNCES LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH GRANTS NASA release: 97-57 March 27, 1997 NASA has selected 52 proposals to receive one- to four-year grants for conducting ground-based or space-borne life sciences research, totaling approximately $6.7 million. NASA Life Sciences grants provide investigators with the opportunity to study and characterize basic biological mechanisms in ways not possible on Earth. By utilizing access to space as a research tool, NASA-sponsored research will advance fundamental knowledge of the ways in which weightlessness, radiation, and other aspects of the space environment interact with biological processes. These grants also seek to further the application of this knowledge to procedures and technologies that enable humans to live, work, and explore in space and that benefit the health and well-being of people on Earth. The purpose of these grants is to enhance scientific and technological research in space life sciences. The grants selected for funding were submitted to NASA in May 1996 in response to formal research announcements. The announcements requested proposals for research on Earth and during spaceflight to address fundamental questions of the ways gravity influences fundamental biological processes. NASA received 443 proposals in response to these research announcements. The proposals were subjected to independent peer review through panels made up of external scientific and technical experts. The selected proposals represent the following areas: advanced life support (8), behavior and performance (2), space physiology and countermeasures (17), space human factors engineering (2), space biology (18), advanced technology development (1), advanced environmental monitoring and control (3), and environmental health (1). Sponsored by NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications in Washington, DC, these announcements offer investigators the opportunity to take advantage of NASA's research facilities. ----------------------------------------------------------------- PRECISION PHOTOMETRY TECHNIQUE TO AID SEARCH FOR EXTRASOLAR PLANETS Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics March 18, 1997 CAMBRIDGE, MA -- As astronomers continue to find evidence for planets outside our solar system, scientists from the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Mount Wilson Observatory, and Tennessee State University have discovered that those stars suspected of having planets may also share certain traits. With this knowledge, observers should be able to hone their searches and increase their chances of finding other planets. Using a robotic instrument, known as an automatic photoelectric telescope (APT), at the Fred Whipple Observatory near Amado, AZ, and the 60-inch (1.52-m) telescope at the Mt. Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles, the team of scientists was able to measure to new levels of precision both the surface magnetism and brightness variations of the seven stars identified to have orbiting companions. This is a crucial step toward detecting other possible planetary systems. Planets around distant stars are too small and too faint to see directly, as the light from the star simply overwhelms any planetary glow, so scientists must look for other evidence of their presence. One approach depends on the gravitational tug-of- war between a star and its companion which creates a measurable wobble in the star's velocity. Such velocity measurements, however, can only find planets the size of Jupiter or larger. According to Sallie Baliunas of the CfA who led the team of researchers, the APT's measurements of tiny variations of a star's brightness can reveal Earth-sized objects orbiting that star. This is possible by detecting a minute dimming in the light from a star as an Earth-sized planet crosses in front of it. While the seven suspected planetary systems Baliunas and her colleagues examined did not reveal any Earth-sized planets, the scientists remain hopeful their technique will reveal such objects. The task is not easy, since to detect a planet using this method, a planet would have to cross the face of a star almost exactly along our line of sight, an orientation that occurs only a fraction of the time. Fortunately, Baliunas and her colleagues found that those stars harboring planets share the trait of being "magnetically quiet," that is, they have little sunspot or other magnetic activity. In addition, the researchers determined that six of the seven stars with low-mass orbiting companions were about 5 billion years old, or about the same age as our Sun. This suggests astronomers can focus their investigations on the middle-aged, magnetically quiet stars, thus making searches for planetary systems more efficient. "This work not only helps support the suggestion of planets around Sun-like stars, but it tells us something about the properties of these stars," said Baliunas. "That gives better targets for the projects that are attempting to pick up radio signals from extra-terrestrial intelligence, since the older age of these stars suggests any life on surrounding planets might have had enough time to develop communications technology." The technique's unprecedented levels of photometric precision may have already helped defuse a possible controversy about the best known of the extra-solar planets objects -- the Jupiter-sized body thought to be orbiting the star 51 Pegasi. Discovered in late 1994, the object has served as a model for finding low-mass stellar companions using radial velocity observations. However, at least one critic has claimed that variations in the optical signal from 51 Pegasi might really be due to natural oscillations in the star itself. To test this theory, the research team observed the star with its high-precision photometry technique and found no evidence for cyclic brightness variations that should result from such oscillations. The research team includes Baliunas, Robert Donahue, Steven Saar, and Willie Soon of the CfA, and Greg Henry and Frank Fekel of the Center for Excellence in Information Systems at Tennessee State University, an HBCU (Historically Black College or University). This work was supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Richard C. Lounsberg Foundation, and was reported in the January 1, 1997 issue of The Astrophysical Journal and the January 15, 1997 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW EXTRA-SOLAR PLANET DISCOVERED; CIRCULAR ORBIT SUGGESTS IT FORMED LIKE PLANETS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics April 24, 1997 CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The notion that giant, Jupiter-like bodies may be a common occurrence around stars like the Sun has been bolstered by the discovery of such an object orbiting Rho Coronae Borealis, a star in the constellation Northern Crown. The newly discovered planet offers additional evidence for how such systems form, and bolsters the idea that other worlds like our own may be widespread throughout the galaxy. The discovery was made by a team of scientists from three institutions -- the Smithsonian Institution's Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, MA, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO, and the Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA -- based on observations made at the Smithsonian's Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. The scientific team includes Sylvain Korzennik, Martin Krockenberger, Peter Nisenson, and Robert Noyes of SAO; Harvard University graduate student Saurabh Jha; Timothy Brown and Edward Kennelly of NCAR; and Scott Horner of Penn State. Using a special instrument known as the Advanced Fiber Optic Echelle (AFOE) spectrograph located at the 1.5-meter Tillinghast Reflector of the Whipple Observatory, the scientists detected extremely small variations in the recession velocity of Rho Coronae Borealis that are thought to be caused by the presence of an orbiting companion. With the AFOE capable of measuring velocity variations smaller than 10 meters per second (about 22 miles per hour), the scientists found that the speed of Rho Coronae Borealis varied back and forth by about 67 meters per second, or 150 miles per hour, over a 40-day period. This led the team to conclude that the star has a companion in a 40-day orbit and, from the size of the velocity variation and the mass of the star (almost identical to the Sun), they calculated that the companion must be slightly more massive than the planet Jupiter. The short orbital period means the planet must lie only about 1/4 of an Astronomical Unit from the star -- closer than Mercury orbits the Sun (an AU is the distance of the Earth from the Sun). This also implies its temperature would be about 300 degrees C, or more than 500 degrees F -- much too hot for liquid water to exist, and hence not a likely place for life to form. According to the researchers, the circular nature of the orbit suggests that the planet was formed like the planets in our own solar system, that is, through the slow coalescence of dust and gas from the circularly rotating disk that is thought to surround all newborn stars. A more eccentric, or highly elliptical orbit, could imply that the companion object was a failed star, the unsuccessful second partner in a potential binary star system. "This discovery helps show that giant planets like Jupiter may be reasonably common around ordinary stars," says Robert Noyes of SAO. "Moreover, they can be found at a variety of distances from their parent stars, ranging from very close in, like the companion to 51 Pegasi, to very far away, like Jupiter relative to the Sun. The planet around Rho Coronae Borealis, like several others, is in between. "It is exciting to think that there may be many smaller planets much more like the Earth in orbit around these stars, as in our own Solar System," says Noyes. Timothy Brown, of NCAR, carried out the design and fabrication of the AFOE spectrograph's optics. He added, "All the giant planets found so far orbit Sun-like stars. The star Rho Coronae Borealis is another one of these, but it appears to be about 10 billion years old -- twice as old as the Sun." Scott Horner, of Penn State, designed and built the AFOE's iodine cell (a precise velocity-reference device). "It was the star's solar similarity that led us to target it for study in the first place," he agreed. "Soon after we began to look at it, we thought that its radial velocity was varying. Now, after 11 months of monitoring, we're sure." As one of the stars forming the "crown" of the constellation, Rho Coronae Borealis is visible from February through September to naked-eye observers in the Northern Hemisphere . It is about 50 light years from Earth. A scientific paper describing the discovery has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. A pre- publication version of the paper has also been made available, along with other details about the AFOE program, on the World- Wide Web at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/afoe. NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. For more information, contact: James Cornell, Public Affairs, SAO -- 617-495-7462; jcornell@cfa.harvard.edu Anatta, Public Affairs, NCAR --303-497-8604; anatta@ucar.edu Barbara Kennedy, College Communications, Penn State -- 814-863- 4682; bkk1@psu.edu Figure available upon request from SAO Public Affairs, 617-495- 7461; or, as an anonymous ftp at: ftp://cfa- ftp.harvard.edu/pub/afoe/np.ps Caption: Graphic representation of variations in the velocity of the star Rho Coronae Borealis observed at the Smithsonian Institution's Whipple Observatory in Arizona, showing a 40-day period indicative of a Jupiter-sized companion. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SHUTTLE EXPERIMENT TO STUDY MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF PLANTS NASA release: 97-62 April 1, 1997 Studies of plants on the next Space Shuttle mission may someday lead to the production of life- saving medicines and other important compounds. The experiments conducted by Dr. Gerard Heyenga at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, will be part of the 16-day STS-83 mission, scheduled for launch this week. "A fundamental objective of this research is to evaluate whether microgravity may be used to alter specific metabolic pathways in plants, and ultimately apply this technology for Earth-based benefits," Heyenga said. Heyenga hypothesizes that extended exposure of plants to microgravity may reduce their expenditure of energy on structural components, thereby increasing flow through other metabolic pathways, many of which produce materials of important medicinal value. Of even greater significance is the possibility that corresponding changes may occur at a genetic level, he said. A comparison between space- and Earth-grown plants would give a unique opportunity to obtain a greater understanding of how these pathways are controlled at the gene level, Heyenga said. In turn, "such knowledge would allow us to manipulate or genetically engineer plants with desired metabolic traits," he added. "For example, this information could be applied to the lumber industry in the production of trees with a low lignin content, greatly reducing the cost of paper production both economically and environmentally." Conversely, it might be applied to improving timber quality in fast-growing softwoods, reducing the need to harvest slow-growing hardwoods, he said. "If this hypothesis is correct and achievable, it obviously represents the basis for a multi-billion dollar industry and certainly highlights the value of space-related research and such facilities as the Space Station." A critical requirement in the investigation is the ability to maintain well-characterized and high- quality plant-growth conditions during space flight and corresponding Earth experiments. "To achieve a meaningful understanding of the effects of microgravity on plants, it is essential that we minimize or avoid additional factors that may cause any stress and that complicate the evaluation," Heyenga said. To this end, the flight experiment will involve the use of a new, advanced plant growth facility known as the Plant Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (PGBA), built by BioServe, a NASA Commercial Space Center located at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The chamber was first flown on the Space Shuttle in 1996. "While it was essentially a hardware verification test, the PGBA produced a particularly high quality of plant material over the ten-day mission, which provided a good basis for further research," Heyenga said. The PGBA chamber maintains a highly controlled environment, supplying appropriate light, temperature and gas exchange conditions. The chamber will utilize the new modular "nutrient pack system" designed by Heyenga to supply plants with water and nutrients throughout the mission. Thirty packs will be used to support the growth of nine plant species. The packs offer several advantages over existing systems. Depending on the type of supporting substrate used, packs may reabsorb water from the chamber's condensate recovery system, closing the water loop and presenting an important opportunity for long-term plant cultivation. A number of packs will utilize a gel matrix that will allow the examination of the roots' spatial orientation. Since the matrix is safely encapsulated in a protective membrane, the nutrient pack system has been certified for the first radiolabelling tracing experiment of higher plants in space. "This technology will open an entirely new area of space plant physiology, allowing the study of issues not previously possible," Heyenga said. "It is likely to lead to some very exciting results." The plant species chosen for the flight experiment include a member of the black pepper family. This choice was based on a collaborative effort with a research group in Brazil. "I believe it is highly important that we utilize every possible means to expand our understanding in space research," Heyenga said. "The use of such tropical species, with their unique and specific metabolic pathways, hopefully will provide us with an early indicator of whether our hypothesis is correct while the plants are exposed to the relatively short period of microgravity experienced during a typical Space Shuttle mission." Despite the complexity of the research program, Heyenga is pleased with progress so far. "The work has involved a particularly broad multidisciplinary effort by a number of organizations. As a visiting scientist on a National Research Council fellowship, it is unique to find a place like Ames that can support this type of activity," he said. "Earlier work by Dr. Robert MacElroy and Dr. Mark Kliss at Ames in the area of enclosed plant growth systems has provided important support for the present flight experiment." ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASA'S STARDUST TEAM STUDIES HALE-BOPP'S COMETARY COUSIN JPL release April 3, 1997 Just as Comet Hale-Bopp continues its journey across the nighttime sky, another currently visible comet, Wild 2, is capturing the attention of NASA's Stardust Project for a vitally important reason. Stardust, a spacecraft with a planned 1999 launch, will capture samples of comet dust from Wild 2 in 2004 for return to Earth in 2006. This current appearance by Wild 2 (pronounced "Vilt 2"), offers the Stardust team a prime opportunity to prepare for the spacecraft's historic journey by gathering data on the comet's brightness and the size and quantity of its gas and dust particles. The spacecraft is protected from oncoming cometary particles with a front "Whipple Bumper," a shield named for renowned astronomer Fred Whipple, with a composite structure that includes metals and several curtains of the same material as bullet-proof vests. However, the bumper does not offer unlimited protection against a barrage of numerous, large particles. "We want to study the dust envelope of Wild 2 so we'll know how close we can fly without jeopardizing the spacecraft," said Stardust Project Manager Dr. Kenneth Atkins. "These current observations will help us significantly reduce the risk." By observing Wild 2 in both visible and infrared light, the Stardust team will be able to fine-tune models of the comet environment and mission logistics. Final trajectory adjustments may be made up to a few hours before encounter, using observations made by Stardust en route to Wild 2. That encounter will take place on January 2, 2004, about 98 days after the comet's perihelion, or closest pass by the Sun. During Wild 2's current visit, scientists will study the comet's activity at a comparable post-perihelion point, gathering data crucial to the success of the Stardust mission. Wild-2 studies are being conducted at numerous observatories, including Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ; the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson; the W.M. Keck Observatory and other major telescopes atop Mauna Kea, HI; and the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego, CA. Amateur astronomers can see Comet Wild 2 with a relatively small telescope through August, with the best viewing before the end of May. With an apparent magnitude of 9.6, Wild 2 is currently visible almost directly overhead about one hour after sunset and is located in the constellation of Cancer close to the Praesepe open star cluster. Comet Wild 2, a short-period comet with a six-year orbit, was discovered in 1978 by the Swiss astronomer Paul Wild, after its close encounter with Jupiter in 1974. This may have been the comet's first journey to the inner solar system in recent centuries, which means it is in a more pristine state than other comets which have been "around the block" more often. For this and several other reasons, Wild 2 was chosen as the destination comet for Stardust. As Atkins explained, "Wild 2's orbit presents attractive features for doing a sample return. The comet will be in the right place at the right time so that when Stardust encounters it, Wild 2 will have a relatively low flyby speed of 6 kilometers per second (3.7 miles). This makes the task of catching the comet dust as it whizzes by much easier. In addition, the orbital geometry of Wild 2 enables us to save money by launching Stardust on a Delta rocket and designing an efficient trajectory." To capture the comet dust without harming it, Stardust will use aerogel, a spongy, silica-based solid with 99 percent empty space. The tiny cometary particles will bury themselves in the transparent aerogel, awaiting retrieval by scientists on Earth. On its way to Wild 2, Stardust will loop twice around the Sun and collect interstellar dust particles. By returning these space and cometary materials to Earth, Stardust will mark the first space sample return mission since the Apollo missions collected moon rocks in the 1960s and 1970s. Stardust co-investigator Ray Newburn said comets are apparent leftovers from the formation of the solar system and may unlock many cosmic secrets. As he put it, "Comets are a different sort of beast. They've been in a cosmic deep-freeze for most of the solar system's 5-billion-year history. Many scientists believe comets added complex organic molecules to the primordial soup of oceans that helped form life. Stardust should give us some hard facts about Wild 2 and other comets, including chemical composition and age." Stardust is one of NASA's Discovery missions, which team the agency with industry and universities to launch low-cost spacecraft in a short time frame with highly-focused science goals. Stardust's principal investigator is Dr. Don Brownlee of the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. The Stardust spacecraft and sample return capsule are being built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, CO. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is also developing the aerogel and the spacecraft's navigational camera, also to be used for scientific imaging. Stardust's cometary and interstellar dust analyzer instrument is provided by Jochen Kissel through the Max Planck Institute in Germany; the University of Chicago, IL, is building a Whipple Shield dust impact counter. Additional information is available on the Stardust home page on the World Wide Web at: http://pdc.jpl.nasa.gov/stardust/home.html. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASA REVISES INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SCHEDULE NASA release: 97-65 April 9, 1997 NASA will begin its on-orbit assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) no later than October 1998, and is looking at options that will allow the Agency to work around the delay caused by the late arrival of a key station module. "We knew from the outset that building an International Space Station was going to be tremendously challenging. Space exploration is not easy or predictable," said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. "We will work through this schedule issue, and we undoubtedly will face additional problems in the future. But we are well on our way to the realization of this world-class facility," he said. The on-orbit assembly of the International Space Station originally was scheduled to begin in November 1997 with the launch of the NASA-financed/Russian-built and launched Functional Cargo Block (FGB). Inadequate funding by the Russian government to the Russian Space Agency (RSA) and its contractors for building another key station element -- the Service Module (SM) - - has put construction up to eight months behind schedule. NASA managers and engineers have been reviewing various options to mitigate the impact to the ISS program of the current schedule slip of the Service Module, and to begin the steps necessary to mitigate the impact of potential additional Russian delays. RSA has been a joint participant in the effort to identify these steps. Options under consideration are: -Modify the FGB to allow for on-orbit refueling and upgrade of its avionics capability. These changes will give the FGB the capability to augment the early control and reboost capabilities to protect for a Service Module delay. -Develop an Interim Control Module (ICM) in conjunction with the Naval Research Laboratory to provide reboost capability and attitude control in the event that the SM experiences further delays, or propellant storage/reboost capability if the SM is launched on time. -Consider the installation of life support systems in the U.S. lab to allow early human presence on the ISS. -Define options involving the ICM to provide the functions of a permanent propulsion module in order to complement Russian logistics capability and to provide roll control to replace or complement the Russian Science Power Platform functions. NASA will determine the timing for decisions which need to be made in the event that Russia is unable to provide its agreed contributions to the ISS program. These decision points will be selected to allow for the timely provision of an alternative capability. NASA has begun initial steps at the working level to accommodate changes to the Space Shuttle manifest. NASA has reassigned the Space Shuttle Endeavour to fly the September 1997 STS-86 mission to the Mir space station instead of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This change will allow Atlantis to begin its scheduled orbiter maintenance down period several months earlier, while permitting Endeavour a mission prior to flying the first ISS assembly flight in July 1998. Additional adjustments to the remainder of the assembly sequence will be worked in consultation with the other International Partners and research community over the next several weeks. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASA EXPLAINS HOW MOLECULAR-SIZED GEARS MIGHT WORK NASA release: 97-75 April 21, 1997 A technical paper sponsored by NASA and recently accepted by the journal "Nanotechnology" explains how molecular-sized gears might work. "Thanks to simulation of molecular-sized gears by a NASA supercomputer, hope is growing that products made of thousands of tiny machines that could self-repair or adapt to the environment can ultimately be constructed," said Al Globus, a co-author of the paper. Authors are Jie Han, Al Globus, Richard Jaffe and Glenn Deardorff of NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA. Researchers have simulated attaching benzyne molecules to the outside of a nanotube to form gear teeth, explained Globus. Nanotubes are molecular-sized pipes made of carbon atoms. "You also need a cooling system for gears. We used a supercomputer to simulate successful cooling of molecular-sized gears with helium and neon gases," he explained. To "drive" the gears, the computer simulated a laser that served as a motor. "The laser creates an electric field around the nanotube. We put a positively charged atom on one side of the nanotube, and a negatively charged atom on the other side. The electric field drags the nanotube around like a shaft turning," he said. "These gears would rotate best at about 100 billion turns per second or six trillion rotations per minute (rpm)," he added. The gears that Globus and others have simulated with computers would be about a nanometer across. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. One practical use of nanotechnology would be to build a "matter compiler," said Creon Levit, a Globus colleague at Ames. "We would give this machine, made of nano parts, some raw materials, like natural gas, for example. A computer program would specify an arrangement of atoms, and the matter compiler would arrange the atoms from the raw materials to make a macro- scale machine or parts," Levit added. "A matter compiler is not just science fiction. In the biotechnology industry, there are already 'peptide synthesizers' in use. You give them a sequence of amino acids you want produced, and the machine will create those peptides. But you can't make rockets out of peptides," he said. A peptide is a sequence of amino acids. "A step along the way to make an aerospace matter compiler is an even smaller hypothetical machine, the 'assembler/replicator,'" said Globus. "The replicator can make a copy of itself, just as a living cell can duplicate itself. "We would like to write computer programs that would enable assembler/replicators to make aerospace materials, parts and machines in atomic detail," he said. "Such materials should have tremendous strength and thermal properties." Further information on these materials can be obtained on the researchers' Internet page at URL: http://www.nas.nasa.gov/nanotechnology. An image of the nanogear from a computer simulation is available at the following URL: http://ccf.arc.nasa.gov/dx/basket/storiesetc/Nanopix.html A long range goal, according to Globus, is to make materials that have radically superior strength-to-weight ratio. Diamond, for example, has 69 times the strength-to-weight ratio of titanium. A second goal is to make "active" or "smart" materials. "There is absolutely no question that active materials can be made," Globus explained. "Look at your skin. It repairs itself. It sweats to cool itself. It stretches as it grows. It's an active material," he said. Globus strongly emphasized that making real nanomachines may be decades away, but he said that computer simulations suggest the tiny machines are possible after engineers learn to build nanoparts and to assemble nanomachines. The nanogear and other related Ames research is a collaboration between the Ames Numerical Aerospace Simulation Systems Division and the Ames Computational Chemistry Branch. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CHRONOLOGY OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION AVAILABLE NSSDC has made available a Chronology of Lunar and Planetary Exploration on the Web at: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chrono.html The chronology is in the form of a timeline, with information on all lunar and planetary missions attempted, successfully or unsucessfully, by all countries over the last 40 years. Links lead to more detailed descriptions and information on each spacecraft and mission from the NSSDC Master Catalog. If you wish further information about this or other planetary information and data available at NSSDC, please contact Dr. David R. Williams (dwilliam@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov). ----------------------------------------------------------------- MICROGRAVITY SCIENCE LABORATORY MISSION SET FOR JULY; REMAINING 1997 SHUTTLE MANIFEST ADJUSTED SLIGHTLY NASA release: 97-81 April 25, 1997 Columbia's Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL) mission will fly again in early July to complete the mission cut short earlier this month because of a fuel cell problem. The remaining Space Shuttle flights in 1997 have been adjusted to accommodate Columbia's mission, which will fly as STS-94. Air Force Lt. Col. Jim Halsell and the rest of the STS-83 crew will fly this mission and will conduct proficiency training until the flight. Space Shuttle Program managers today formally baselined the STS- 94 mission to follow Atlantis' sixth docking with the Russian space station Mir next month. Astronaut Jerry Linenger will return home on STS-84 following a four-month stay on Mir, and Mike Foale will replace him as a station crew member. Managers will formally select the launch date following the Flight Readiness Review on April 30. "While shortening STS-83 was disappointing, we now are in a position to do everything possible to complete the MSL mission with minimal impact to downstream flights," said Space Shuttle Program Manager Tommy Holloway. "Also, it provides us with a unique opportunity to demonstrate our ability to respond to challenges such as this one." Reflying Columbia in July dictated that downstream flights for the remainder of the year change slightly. Following STS-94, Discovery will fly in early- to mid-August on the STS-85 mission to deploy and retrieve a science satellite to study Earth's atmosphere. The flight also will demonstrate the use and operational capability of a robot arm that will be deployed outside the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station. The seventh Shuttle-Mir docking mission on Atlantis is targeted for mid- to late-September. STS-86 will include the return of Foale from Mir and delivery of his replacement, astronaut Wendy Lawrence. The eighth and final mission scheduled in 1997 will be the STS-87 flight of Columbia slated for mid- to late-November. The 16-day mission includes the conduct of science experiments associated with the fourth flight of the U.S. Microgravity Payload and the deployment and retrieval of a science satellite. ----------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT WINNERS TO BE HONORED IN WASHINGTON, DC NASA release: 97-84 April 29, 1997 Twenty-seven students from public and private schools across the United States have won national recognition in NASA's 17th annual Space Science Student Involvement Program competition. The students will be honored along with their teachers at the National Space Science Symposium, May 3-7, at the Marriott Hotel at Metro Center, 775 12th St., NW, Washington, DC. The competition, co-sponsored by NASA and the National Science Teachers Association, is an interdisciplinary program designed to address the need for greater literacy in the areas of science, critical and creative thinking, mathematics and technology. Over 10,000 students in elementary, junior high, and high school competed in five competition categories using their skills in mathematics, science, technology, art and creative writing. The National Space Science Symposium brings together the 27 national winners and their teachers to recognize their academic achievement in an environment designed to further challenge their talents. The trip to the symposium includes formal presentations of their entries by the students. In addition to their recognition in Washington, other awards include opportunities to intern at a NASA field center for a week during the summer, Space Camp scholarships, medals, ribbons and certificates. Winners of the Interplanetary Art competition will have their artwork displayed at the Marriott Metro Center Hotel during the symposium. Interested persons can view the display in Salons A, B and C through Tuesday, May 6. After the symposium, artwork will be on display in museums, schools and other public sites throughout this year. On Monday, May 5, all events will be open to the press. Beginning at 8:30 a.m. EDT, the national winners of four of the competitions will present their winning proposals in Salons A,B and C. At 1 p.m., eight national semi-finalist high school student winners will present proposals for a Mars science experiment project to a panel of scientists. On Tuesday, May 6, students will tour the Capitol and meet their members of Congress. At 6:30 p.m. on May 6, the students and their teachers will be honored at a banquet at the Marriott Metro Center Hotel. The banquet speaker will be Dr. Robert Parker, a former astronaut who is currently Director, Space Operations Utilization Program, Office of Space Flight, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. Following is the list of competitions and winners. Mars Science Experiment Students in grades 9 -12 planned and developed a trip to Mars and proposed an experiment to be conducted along the way. Students were required to follow scientific research guidelines when designing the study. The following regional winners will compete for first place during the Symposium: Faisal Reza, Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, NY Marja Matthews, Anacostia High School, Washington, DC Elisabeth Grove, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC Mark Adams, Brussels American School, Brussels, Belgium Greg Hammel, Appleton East High School, Appleton, WI Katie Griffin, Shawnee Mission High School, Overland Park, KS Andrew Wong, Diamond Bar High School, Diamond Bar, CA Amy Frost, Laramie High School, Laramie, WY Interplanetary Art Competition Students in grades 3 - 12 expressed their talents in science and art by creating a two-dimensional illustration depicting a scene from interplanetary space and writing an essay describing the picture. The art work will be displayed for public viewing. Crystal Reiff, McCray-Dewey School, Troy, IL Aja Gibson, Southern Regional Middle School, Manahawkin, NJ Ariel Overstreet, Big Timber Grade School, Big Timber, MT Future Aircraft/Spacecraft Design Competition Students in grades 3 - 5 worked in teams to design a futuristic aircraft or spacecraft. The students created three illustrations and wrote an essay describing the spacecraft. Taylor Gray, Lindsay Hauge, Amber Overstreet, Big Timber Grade School, Big Timber, MT Mission To Planet Earth Students in grades 6 - 8, worked in three-person teams to create an interdisciplinary project using satellites to study the effects of human activity on the Earth's ecosystem. They used research methods and an understanding of technology to search for solutions to society's ecological problems. *Steve Gold, Evan Volkman, Jonathan Jaffe, Michael Haendler, Bi- Cultural Day School, Stamford, CT Aerospace Internship Competitions Students in grades 9 - 12 competed for a one-week internship with their teacher/advisor at a NASA facility. Students were chosen on the basis of a written proposal of an experiment that could theoretically be performed at one of the facilities. Supercomputer Internship * Tomoya Ohno, Montgomery Blair H.S., Silver Spring, MD, will intern at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, with scientists and engineers working on a Cray Computer. Space Station Internship * Maureen Morgan, Parma Senior H.S., Parma, OH, will intern at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, with scientists and engineers working on the Space Station. Wind Tunnel Internship * Leslie Shope, Montgomery Blair H.S., Silver Spring, MD, will intern at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, with scientists and engineers conducting research in aerodynamics using wind tunnels. Microgravity Internship * Eric Shang, Montgomery Blair H.S., Silver Spring, MD, will intern at NASA's Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH, with scientists performing microgravity experiments in a drop tube. Spacelab Internship * Anne Lee, Montgomery Blair H.S., Silver Spring, MD, will intern at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, conducting experiments with scientists and engineers in the pressurized Spacelab module. Space Telerobotics Internship * Eric Schewe, Montgomery Blair H.S., Silver Spring, MD, will intern at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, and work with engineers conducting research in the microrover laboratory for lunar and planetary surface exploration. Space Astronomy Internship * Mary Dombrowski, Glastonbury H.S., Glastonbury, CT, will intern at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, and work with astronomers conducting research in observational and theoretical astronomy and solar physics. Launch Operations * Christine Hwang, Montgomery Blair H.S., Silver Spring, MD, will intern at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL, and work with engineers on launch operations. Atmospheric Flight Internship * Jai Xu, Montgomery Blair H.S., Silver Spring, MD, will intern at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, and work with engineers on flight research programs. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASA AWARDS 36 MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH GRANTS NASA release: 97-86 May 1, 1997 NASA has selected 36 researchers from 19 states and the District of Columbia to receive four-year grants worth $2.8 million for microgravity biotechnology research. This ground-based research will continue to build the foundation for research on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. Sponsored by NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space Enterprise, through the Office of Life and Microgravity Science and Applications in Washington, DC, and managed by the Microgravity Research Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, this research is aimed at improving the understanding of physical and chemical processes in the areas of protein crystal growth, cell science and fundamental biotechnology. This selection adds to the 49 researchers already associated with the program managed by Marshall. Involved in microgravity biotechnology research since the early 1970s, Marshall administers the national microgravity biotechnology effort, providing the scientific, technical and management expertise to successfully conduct spaceflight research. Ronald F. Porter, manager of NASA's Biotechnology Program at Marshall, said "Researchers selected for funding will have NASA's microgravity research facilities -- drop-tubes, drop-towers, and aircraft flying parabolic trajectories -- at their disposal. Their work may eventually lead to flight experiments in space." A number of the studies involve cellular growth, a key field that is fundamental to medical science. To support cell science, researchers can simulate the microgravity conditions of space in NASA's bioreactor, using rotation to suspend cell cultures in a growth medium. This technique -- successfully used to study cancer growth -- improves our ability to grow cells and tissues outside the human body. Some researchers believe the best environment for growing cells is in space, where the lack of gravitational effects makes it easier to maintain a suspension of growing cells. NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, leads the support of cellular growth studies for Marshall. Protein crystal growth research supported by NASA has important applications in medicine, drug design and agriculture. Proteins are complex biochemicals that serve a variety of purposes in living organisms. Crystallized proteins allow scientists to learn the molecular structure of proteins. Determining that structure will lead to a greater understanding of how organisms function. Knowledge of the structure also helps the pharmaceutical industry develop disease-fighting drugs. NASA received 130 proposals in response to its microgravity biotechnology research announcement. These proposals were reviewed by scientific and technical experts outside NASA, including reviewers associated with the National Institutes of Health. A list of the grant recipients is available on the World Wide Web at URL: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1997/97-086a.txt ----------------------------------------------------------------- HUYGENS SPACE PROBE READY TO LEAVE EUROPE ESA press release Paris, 12 March 1997 The European Space Agency s Huygens probe is ready to be shipped to the Kennedy Space Center. On arrival, it will undergo special tests and then be mated with the Cassini Saturn orbiter for launch in October 1997 on a Titan IVB/Centaur rocket. Over the past year, the Huygens probe has been integrated and extensively tested at the facilities of Daimler Benz Aerospace Dornier Satellitensysteme in Ottobrunn near Munich. It was designed and developed for ESA by a European industrial consortium led by Aerospatiale (F) as prime contractor. Background facts about the Cassini Huygens mission Huygens is a medium-sized mission of ESA s Horizons 2000 programme for space science, and a contribution to the joint NASA ESA Cassini mission. Christiaan Huygens discovered Saturn s moon Titan in 1655, and the mission named after him aims to land a 343 kilogram probe on Titan carrying a package of scientific instruments through the atmosphere. Six sets of instruments will analyse the chemical composition of the atmosphere, observe the weather and topography of Titan, and examine the nature of its surface. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury, and its unique atmosphere, rich in nitrogen and hydrocarbons, may resemble the atmosphere of the primitive Earth, before life began. Nominal dates for the Huygens mission are as follows: * launch, 6 October 1997 * arrival at Saturn, 1 July 2004 * release of Huygens, 6 November 2004 * entry into Titan's atmosphere, 27 November 2004. The Saturn Orbiter, the other element in the Cassini mission, will relay the signals from Huygens to the Earth, before settling down to prolonged observations of Saturn and its rings and moons. European and American scientists are partners in all the experiments, both in the Orbiter and in the Huygens Probe. Farthest out for Europe Huygens will travel to a greater distance from the Sun than any previous ESA mission, out to the orbit of Saturn at 1400 million kilometres, or nearly ten times the Sun Earth distance. For comparison, the farthest ranging mission at present is Ulysses, orbiting over the poles of the Sun and out to the orbit of Jupiter, 800 million kilometres from the Sun. As no other mission planned or contemplated by ESA at present will go as far as Saturn, Huygens is likely to hold the European record for many years. ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR FLIGHT STATUS REPORTS JPL releases Friday, 21 March 1997 On Wednesday, the flight team transmitted the C6 sequence to Surveyor. This sequence contains commands that will control the spacecraft for the next four weeks. C6 became active on Thursday at 6:00 a.m. PST. The first major event in C6 occurred at 10:00 a.m. PST on Thursday. At that time, the onboard flight computer commanded the spacecraft's main rocket engine to fire for six seconds in order to make minor corrections to Surveyor's flight path. During this trajectory correction maneuver, the main engine burned a propellant combination of hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer. In total, the spacecraft expended approximately 1.4 kilograms of propellant. Immediately before the six-second burn was performed, Surveyor ignited eight of its 12 attitude-control thrusters for 20 seconds. These tiny thruster rockets are normally used to stabilize the spacecraft during main engine firings. The initial, 20-second thruster firing settled the liquid in the spacecraft's tanks to ensure a smooth flow of propellant to the more powerful main rocket engine that was used to perform the correction maneuver. At this time, the navigation team is busy analyzing the accuracy of yesterday's trajectory correction maneuver. However, preliminary results from the accelerometer onboard the spacecraft show that the engine firing provided a velocity change of 3.875 meters per second. This value was within 0.5% of the predicted change of 3.857 meters per second. Yesterday's maneuver was the second in a series of four trajectory correction maneuvers that are designed to refine the spacecraft's flight path to Mars. The first maneuver occurred shortly after launch last November. The third and fourth are currently scheduled for April 21st and August 25th, respectively. After a mission elapsed time of 134 days from launch, Surveyor is 47.69 million kilometers from the Earth, 63.84 million kilometers from Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a velocity of 26.27 kilometers per second. This orbit will intercept Mars on September 12th, 1997. The spacecraft is currently executing the C6 command sequence, and all systems continue to be in excellent condition. Friday, 28 March 1997 No major activities occurred onboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft this week. Meanwhile, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Surveyor's navigation team has completed their preliminary assessment of the trajectory correction maneuver that took place on March 20th. This short firing of the spacecraft's main rocket engine resulted in a velocity change of 3.875 meters per second and refined Surveyor's flight path to Mars. Initial analysis provided by the navigation team indicates that the spacecraft performed the maneuver with an accuracy of greater than 99%. Consequently, the spacecraft is now on a flight path that will come within 630 kilometers of the Martian surface at the point of closest approach on September 12th. Additional trajectory correction maneuvers scheduled for April 21st and August 25th will reduce this approach altitude to 500 and 380 kilometers, respectively. After a mission elapsed time of 141 days from launch, Surveyor is 54.12 million kilometers from the Earth, 58.29 million kilometers from Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a velocity of 25.82 kilometers per second. This orbit will intercept Mars on September 12th, 1997. The spacecraft is currently executing the C6 command sequence, and all systems continue to be in excellent condition. Friday, 18 April 1997 No major mission activities occurred this week onboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. Back at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the project management has made a decision not to attempt any more efforts to free debris that is currently keeping the -Y-side solar array slightly out of position. This solar panel is currently deployed and fully functional, but is 20.5 degrees from its proper position. The flight team believes that the position discrepancy was caused when a damper shaft in the array's deployment mechanism broke shortly after launch. This damper is a device that was installed to minimize the mechanical shock of deployment by slowing the motion of the array during deployment. The flight team theorizes that the broken shaft caused the damper arm to wedge into the hinge joint connecting the solar panel to the spacecraft. An important aspect of this position discrepancy is that the solar panels will be used at Mars not only to produce electrical power, but also to help the spacecraft attain its final mapping orbit. Over the course of a four-month period following Mars orbit insertion, Surveyor will be dipped into the upper Martian atmosphere on every orbit. During these atmospheric passes, air resistance generated by the solar panels will slow the spacecraft and gradually lower its orbit. Surveyor will use this "aerobraking" technique to lower the high point of its orbit from an initial 56,000 kilometer altitude to just under 400 kilometers. For the last few months, the flight team has been considering several options to free the debris and allow the panel to latch and lock into its proper position. One idea involved a short firing of Surveyor's main rocket engine to provide a small force to dislodge the damper arm. However, such efforts will not be necessary because an extensive analysis has indicated that aerobraking with the -Y solar panel slightly out of position is feasible with a few minor modifications to the original plan. One of the minor changes involves rotating the panel into a position where the front side will face into the air flow instead of the back side. This orientation will keep the unlatched panel from folding up on itself when it encounters the air flow during aerobraking. Because the front side contains the silicon cells that produce electricity, it is more fragile than the back side and cannot tolerate as much heating from the air flow. As a result, the flight plan will be modified so that Surveyor aerobrakes at a slightly slow pace than previously planned. After a mission elapsed time of 162 days from launch, Surveyor is 76.20 million kilometers from the Earth, 44.32 million kilometers from Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a velocity of 24.59 kilometers per second. This orbit will intercept Mars 146 days from now, slightly after 6:00 p.m. PDT on September 11th (01:00 UTC, September 12th). The spacecraft is currently executing the C6 command sequence, and all systems continue to be in excellent condition. Friday, 2 May 1997 No major activities took place this week. For the past three weeks, few activities have occurred because the Surveyor spacecraft has been configured in a quiet state for a search campaign to detect gravity waves. According to theoretical physics, these waves are gravitational disturbances emitted by all objects in the universe. However, because gravity is a relatively weak force, detection of these waves is almost impossible unless they are generated by massive objects such as black holes and matter at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. To date, nobody has ever detected a gravity wave. If Surveyor encountered these waves, the spacecraft would experience an extremely small jolt. This tiny bumping motion would cause a tiny shift in the frequency of the spacecraft's radio signal transmitted to Earth. Analysis of the data generated by this experiment will take six months or more. After a mission elapsed time of 176 days from launch, Surveyor is 92.74 million kilometers from the Earth, 37.03 million kilometers from Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a velocity of 23.89 kilometers per second. This orbit will intercept Mars 132 days from now, slightly after 6:00 p.m. PDT on September 11th (01:00 UTC, September 12th). The spacecraft is currently executing the C7 command sequence, and all systems continue to be in excellent condition. Status report prepared by: Office of the Flight Operations Manager Mars Surveyor Operations Project NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 91109 ----------------------------------------------------------------- End Marsbugs, Vol. 4, No. 6.