MARSBUGS: The Electronic Exobiology Newsletter Volume 4, Number 9, 23 June, 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, Division of Molecular Biology, IAH Compton Laboratory, Berkshire, RG20 7NN, UK. Julian.Hiscox@bbsrc.ac.uk or Marsbug@msn.com 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) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR TO AEROBRAKE IN MODIFIED CONFIGURATION NASA release 97-85 2) THEORY AND TECHNIQUES FOR EXTREMOPHILE RESEARCH Workshop announcement 3) NEWS ABOUT GREENHOUSE EFFECT -- NO WARMING? ADIABATIC THEORY OF THE ATMOSPHERE GREENHOUSE EFFECT. 0. G. Sorokhtin, S. A. Ushakov 4) THE FY96 NASA LIFE SCIENCES TASK BOOK NASA announcement 5) CASSINI LAUNCH ENDANGERED The Planetary Society 6) ZERO RISK, ZERO GAIN By Louis Friedman 7) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR FLIGHT STATUS REPORTS JPL releases 8) MARS PATHFINDER STATUS REPORT JPL release 9) ESA IS NOW A MAJOR PLAYER IN GLOBAL SPACE SCIENCE ESA information note 10) ARTICLES OF INTEREST by Julian Hiscox ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR TO AEROBRAKE IN MODIFIED CONFIGURATION NASA release 97-85 NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft can safely and successfully aerobrake into its final orbit around Mars this fall with its one partially deployed solar panel in a modified configuration, mission managers have decided. No special maneuvers will be conducted to attempt to force the array to latch, and the focus of the Surveyor engineering team now will turn to minor modifications to the critical aerobraking phase that will circularize the spacecraft's orbit for the beginning of two years of science operations. "After careful analysis of the situation, we've determined that the solar panel on Mars Global Surveyor that is not fully deployed presents very little risk to the mission," said Glenn E. Cunningham, Mars Global Surveyor project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA. The decision by NASA's flight team at JPL and its partners at Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO, was reached after several months of extensive analysis of spacecraft data, ground- based computer simulations and a series of very slight spacecraft maneuvers that were carried out in January and February to characterize the situation. "Thanks to an early launch that gave us an advantageous trajectory, we will not have to aerobrake into the Martian atmosphere as fast as we had originally planned to reach the mapping orbit, and that will reduce the amount of heating that the solar panels undergo during this gradual descent," Cunningham explained. "We will rotate the solar-cell side of the panel that is not fully deployed by 180 degrees, so that it faces into the direction of the air flow that exerts drag force on the spacecraft as it dips repeatedly into the atmosphere," he said. "This way, the unlatched panel will not be in danger of folding up onto the spacecraft's main structure, nor will the panel be at any greater risk of heating up too much." The solar panel in question is one of two 11-foot wings that were unfolded shortly after Surveyor's Nov. 7, 1996, launch from Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL. Data suggest that a piece of metal called the "damper arm," which is part of the solar array deployment mechanism located at the "elbow" joint where the entire panel is attached to the spacecraft body, probably was sheared off during deployment in the first day of flight. The lever that turns the shaft became wedged in a two-inch space between the shoulder joint and the edge of the solar panel, leaving the panel tilted at 20.5 degrees from its fully deployed and latched position. Although the situation was never considered a serious threat to accomplishing the science objectives of the mission, the tilted array caused the JPL/Lockheed Martin flight team to re-evaluate the aerobraking phase, in which the spacecraft must rely almost solely on its solar panels for the drag needed to lower it into a nearly circular mapping orbit over the poles of the planet. This phase of the mission will begin a week after Mars Global Surveyor is captured in orbit around Mars on Sept. 11, and will last approximately four months. Aerobraking was first tested in the final days of the Magellan mission to Venus in October 1994. The technique is an innovative method of braking which allows a spacecraft to carry less fuel to a planet and take advantage of the planet's atmospheric drag to descend into a low-altitude orbit. Mars Global Surveyor will use an aerobraking phase much like that used to circularize Magellan's orbit. The solar wings -- which feature a Kapton flap at the tip of each wing for added drag -- supply most of the surface area that will slow the spacecraft by a total of more than 2,684 miles per hour during the four-month phase. Surveyor's orbit around Mars will shrink during this phase from an initial, highly elliptical orbit of 45 hours to a nearly circular orbit taking less than two hours to complete. Engineers determined that the deployment springs currently holding the tilted solar panel in its nearly deployed position will not be strong enough to withstand the forces of aerobraking. To solve that problem, they designed a new configuration in which the tilted solar panel, along with the deployment springs, will be rotated 180 degrees, using a motor- driven inner gimbal actuator, and held in position with force applied by an outer gimbal actuator. Sequencing software will be modified to turn the gimbal actuators on before each closest approach to the planet and off at the conclusion of each drag pass. As a consequence of the new aerobraking configuration, the more sensitive cell-side of the unlatched wing will be exposed directly to the wind flow of atmospheric entry, requiring that aerobraking be done in a more gradual, gentle manner. Ground tests have demonstrated that the unlatched solar panel will have more than adequate thermal margin to withstand additional heating as the spacecraft circularizes its orbit for the beginning of science mapping in March 1998. Meanwhile, Mars Global Surveyor continues to perform very well on its arcing flight path toward the red planet and its arrival in orbit. A third, very minor trajectory correction maneuver, planned for April 21, was deemed unnecessary and canceled. In addition, science instrument calibrations continue to go well, and plans are being prepared to take an approach image of Mars a few days before the July 4 landing of Mars Pathfinder, which passed Mars Global Surveyor enroute to Mars on March 14, 1997. Mars Global Surveyor is the first mission in a sustained program of robotic exploration of Mars, managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. ----------------------------------------------------------------- THEORY AND TECHNIQUES FOR EXTREMOPHILE RESEARCH Workshop announcement JULY 7-10, 1997 Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) , Baltimore, Maryland Co- sponsored by American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and the Maryland Biotechnology Institute (MBI) This four-day laboratory-intensive course will cover procedures, methodologies and up-to-date information about the Archaea, a group of organisms commonly found in what are considered harsh or extreme environments. This workshop provides introductory and intermediate level instruction in Archaeal laboratory techniques, including growth, biochemistry, and genetics. A basic knowledge of microbiology and nucleic acid laboratory procedures is helpful. The first day of the course will be devoted to a symposium on topics in Archaeal research with Methanogenic,(Hyper)Thermophilic and Halophilic Archaea, including: molecular biology, genetics and physiology, ecology, phylogeny, genome organization, genomic applications, consortia and bioremediation, virology, archaeal lipids and lipid biochemistry, and biotechnological applications. The following three days will be devoted to laboratory sessions, which will be preceded by a lecture on methodology and procedures for each of the Archaeal groups. The laboratory sessions will include three two-hour blocks of demonstration and hands-on experiments focusing on Methanogenic, Thermophilic, and Halophilic Archaea and includes media preparation, inoculation, growth, plating, counting, anaerobic biochemistry, transformation, virus induction, and transfection. The broad hands-on experience should give attendees the necessary background and information to conduct similar studies in their own laboratories. This workshop will benefit those with a foreseeable need to use Archaeal systems in their studies. "Archaea: A Laboratory Manual," published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, will be used as a framework for the experiments conducted in the workshop. Registration information and a complete Workshop Schedule are available in the WWW at: http://www.atcc.org/workshops/arch_sch.html PLEASE NOTE: This workshop will be conducted at the University of Maryland's Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) in the Columbus Center, located in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Faculty: Harold J. Schreier, Ph.D., University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (Workshop Co-director); Kevin R. Sowers, Ph.D., UMBI (Workshop Co-director); Frank T. Robb, Ph.D., UMBI; Alan A. Place, Ph.D., UMBI; Shiladitya DasSarma, Ph.D., Univ. Of Massachusetts, Amherst Fees: $195.00 - One day symposium - limited to 65 participants / 0.7 CEUs $1,195.00 - Symposium and a 3-day laboratory workshop - limited to 24 participants / 2.8 CEUs ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS ABOUT GREENHOUSE EFFECT -- NO WARMING? ADIABATIC THEORY OF THE ATMOSPHERE GREENHOUSE EFFECT. 0. G. Sorokhtin, S. A. Ushakov The adiabatic theory of the greenhouse effect is discussed, according to which the mean temperature of the dense convicting planetary troposphere behaves according to the adiabatic low of distribution and is ruled by the intensity of the solar radiation, being subject to stabilizing role of the strong negative feedback through planet albedo. The additional heat emission in troposphere due to absorption of the heat radiation by carbon dioxide, like the influence of atmospheric moisture condensation, leads to the decrease in surface planet temperatures and temperature gradients in the troposphere. It is shown that the double increase in carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere does not change practically mean surface temperatures and does not influence the greenhouse effect at the planet. The theory was checked on the basis of the model of the standard Earth atmosphere and temperature distribution in the Venus troposphere. http://www.sio.rssi.ru/grh_e.htm (Web site of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Science) ----------------------------------------------------------------- THE FY96 NASA LIFE SCIENCES TASK BOOK NASA announcement The Life Sciences Division of the NASA Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications announces the release of the Life Sciences Program Tasks and Bibliography for FY 1996. The Task Book is now available via the Internet at: http://peer1.idi.usra.edu/ Hardcopies can be obtained after June 16, 1997 by writing to: Program Task Book c/o John Nelson Information Dynamics, Inc. 300 D Street, SW, Suite 801 Washington, DC 20024 or by sending e-mail to john.nelson@hq.nasa.gov ----------------------------------------------------------------- CASSINI LAUNCH ENDANGERED The Planetary Society Testifying to the power of the World Wide Web and internet, a relatively small group of activists are having a big influence on the White House approval process for the launch of the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and its large moon Titan this October. Rather than environomental or health issues, the activism is mostly motivated by an anti-nuclear agenda. They are writing letters to the White House asking President Clinton to not give the required formal approval to the Cassini launch. We believe than not launching Cassini would be an enormous financial, intellectual and exploratory loss. Just as with the Galileo mission, a fantastic group of worlds await us at Saturn with much to teach us and our children about the solar system, planets, the orgins and theories of life, and the processes which affect our environment. We urge those who agree -- who want this international mission combining talents over a dozen countries to be launched to write President Clinton (The White House, Washington DC, 20500) and voice their opinion, citing benefits and public interest in the mission. The following is a op-ed essay about Cassini written by Planetary Society Executive Director, Louis Friedman, about the subject. Dr. Friedman was also interviewed by the CBS program 60 Minutes for a show in September which will feature the Cassini issue. Additional information about the Cassini mission and the scientific and exploratory benefits can be found on internet sites linked from here. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ZERO RISK, ZERO GAIN By Louis Friedman A small, but vociferous, group of anti-nuclear activists are fighting against the launch of the international Cassini mission, destined for Saturn, because they fear a potential release of plutonium from the on-board power supply. While their concern is understandable, an examination of the issue shows the safety and environmental risks to be very small and the knowledge to be gained very large. The Cassini spacecraft is slated for liftoff from Cape Canaveral in October of this year. It's designed with a power system that has been employed on 23 planetary missions over the past three decades. It uses plutonium to generate heat, which is converted to electricity to operate the probe. To protect against an accident, the plutonium is encased in special containers that can withstand high impact and temperatures. Cassini will execute two gravity-assist flybys of Venus, then one each of the Earth and Jupiter, arriving at Saturn in July 2004. It will circle the ringed planet some five dozen times during its four-year mission. In late 2004, the European-built Huygens probe will detach from the main spacecraft and descend through the dense atmosphere of Titan, one of Saturn's 18 known moons. Titan, the largest body, boasts organic chemistry that may hold clues to how life formed on Earth. The Cassini mission is an exciting adventure with high public interest. We will be exploring new worlds to gain fundamental new information about our solar system. Six years of work and two billion dollars have been invested by the U.S. and our European partners, and now a small band of activists are trying to derail the project by promoting fear and exaggerating the risk of an accident. To be sure, plutonium is radioactive and toxic. There is a measurable, but small danger from Cassini's plutonium. The probability of an accident during launch in which there could be a release of plutonium is one in 1, 500. The chance that there could be a release after the craft clears the gantry tower until it reaches orbit is about one in 450. When the probe swings by Earth in a gravity assist two years after launch, the likelihood there could be a release from an accidental re-entry is less than one in a million. Put together, the total probability of a plutonium release is estimated at about one in 350 -- a little less than the chance of someone being murdered. Assuming that the one chance in 350 does happen, the probability that it would lead to any serious health effect (e.g. even a single cancer case) is about one in a 100. The expected radiation dosage a person might receive is only one millirem (unit of radioactivity). To put this in perspective, we receive an average 360 millirems each year just by living on Earth. So while Cassini's launch is not risk-free, the chance of a serious accident is slim. Even most opponents of the Cassini launch agree with this point. Still, the activists are not willing to concede. They argue that even though the probabability is small, the number of people affected could be large. If we define a catastrophe as an accident with population effects as big as a hurricane hitting Florida (hundreds of deaths), then there is less than one in one million chance of having one. This is less than the danger of Earth suffering a catastrophic impact from a comet or asteroid in the next year. Some asteroid fear-mongers want us to spend billions of dollars on space weapons to defend against such a risk. In the Cassini case, the activitists want us to waste two billion dollars by cancelling the entire launch. NASA has already spent millions of dollars to file and publicize Environmental Impact Statements on the Cassini mission and to take extra safety precautions -- including a multi-layered, multi-shelled cannister to house the plutonium and prevent any escape.. Alternative technologies were examined, but the expense proved prohibitive and would have caused years of delay. It's worth noting that mainstream or significant environmental groups have not opposed the launch. The Planetary Society called a meeting of public interest environmental groups, and learned, for the most part, it was not on any of their agendas. As mentioned, only a handful of shrill activists are carrying the opposition banner. In large part, they are using the Cassini mission as a means to pursue other agendas, including a ban on all nuclear material and anti-space weapons. They say allowing the Cassini spacecraft to use plutonium for its power system is the same as giving carte blanche authority to the military to introduce nuclear weapons in space, or to approve nuclear reactors for Earth orbiters. But these are entirely different issues and most space nuclear weapons opponents (including myself) have no fear from the Cassini mission. In the late 1980s, some of the same anti-Cassini protestors tried to stop the Galileo mission to Jupiter. Aren't we glad they failed? Consider what we are now learning about Jupiter's moons Europa, Io, Ganymede and the gaseous planet itself. The Galileo mission is generating a gold mine of scientific data. On Europa, we've discovered what appears to be an underground ocean that could harbor life. Cassini and Huygens promise to be just as exciting and valuable. Saturn's fascinating and complex system of rings and satellites, not to mention the planet itself, awaits exploration with a likely similar treasure trove of new discoveries. The search for understanding our solar system, the planets, the chemical and physical conditions and processes that shape our environment, and the origin and evolution of life are the greatest adventures in our lifetimes. The launch of spacecraft cannot be made completely risk-free. But the public can take satisfaction in knowing we are being careful, prudent, and smart as we move forward and outward beyond Earth. Dr. Louis Friedman is Executive Director of The Planetary Society, the largest space organization with more than 100,000 members worldwide. ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR FLIGHT STATUS REPORTS JPL releases 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. Friday, 9 May 1997 At 4:30 a.m. PDT on Thursday, the flight software onboard Mars Global Surveyor commanded the spacecraft into safe mode. Entry into this operational mode placed the spacecraft in a safe power, thermal, and communications configuration. This precautionary measure is taken if the spacecraft detects an unexpected event in one or more of its subsystems. The chain of events that resulted in safe mode began Wednesday night. At that time, the flight team was finishing the second of two calibrations of Surveyor's gyroscopes. These calibrations involved commanding the spacecraft to rotate in various directions in order to ascertain the performance of the gyroscopes. Surveyor had just completed the calibration that involved a +Z-axis rotation when the flight software commanded the spacecraft into contingency mode. This mode is similar to safe mode, but involves fewer precautionary measures taken to safe the spacecraft. Entry into contingency mode was triggered when the direction to the Sun as measured by Surveyor's Sun sensors disagreed with the predicted direction to the Sun as calculated by the onboard flight software. This discrepancy in Sun position was approximately 5 degrees. Entry into safe mode occurred about five hours later when a flight software task timed out and failed to report back Surveyor's central processor. At this time, the flight team is identifying the software task that timed out. The entry into contingency and safe mode resulted in the flight software terminating the execution of the current command sequence, powering off the science payload and non-essential components, and turning the spacecraft toward the Sun to guarantee adequate power. Analysis of telemetry transmitted from Surveyor over the last 24 hours indicates that all systems are healthy. After the exact cause of safe- mode entry is identified and resolved, the flight team will command the spacecraft back into its normal operational mode. This process will consume at least the next few days. Late Thursday night, the flight team transmitted a series of commands to Surveyor for thermal maintenance purposes. One set of commands shut off the secondary set of heaters to avoid overheating the spacecraft's 12 attitude-control thruster rockets. The other set of commands changed Surveyor's pointing orientation from high-gain antenna pointed directly toward the Sun to antenna pointed 10 degrees away from the Sun. This orientation change allowed for more sunlight to maintain warm temperatures on the science instruments. After a mission elapsed time of 183 days from launch, Surveyor is 101.43 million kilometers from the Earth, 33.90 million kilometers from Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a velocity of 23.58 kilometers per second. This orbit will intercept Mars 125 days from now, slightly after 6:00 p.m. PDT on September 11th (01:00 UTC, September 12th). Although the spacecraft is currently operating in safe mode, all systems are functioning properly, there are no spacecraft hardware problems, and there is no threat to the mission. Status reports prepared by: Office of the Flight Operations Manager Mars Surveyor Operations Project NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 91109 ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARS PATHFINDER STATUS REPORT JPL release 13 June 1997 The spacecraft remains in good health and is currently about 160 million kilometers from Earth (10 million km from Mars). The total flight time since launch is now 190 days, and we have 21 days until Mars arrival. The Operations Team completed the final Operational Readiness Test in preparation for Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) and surface operations. This test simulated activities from two days before landing through two days after landing and was very successful. Major activities completed during this ORT included a simulated Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM)-5, a nominal EDL, a series of simulated press conferences for Sol 1 & Sol 2, a successful rover deployment of Sol-1, and extended rover traverses over the course of the following two days. For more information, please visit our website at http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov. Status report prepared by: Office of the Flight Operations Manager Mars Pathfinder Project NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 91109 ----------------------------------------------------------------- ESA IS NOW A MAJOR PLAYER IN GLOBAL SPACE SCIENCE ESA information note In 1997 spacecraft built by the European Space Agency are opening new windows on our Universe and offering new prospects for scientific discovery. * Results from the star-fixing satellite Hipparcos, released this summer to the world's astronomers, give the positions and motions of 118,000 stars a hundred times more accurately than ever before. * Every day the Infrared Space Observatory, ISO, examines 45 cosmic objects on average at many different wavelengths never observable before, giving fresh insights into cosmic history and chemistry. * Invaluable new knowledge of the Sun comes from SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, which is the first spacecraft able to observe the Sun's deep interior as well as its stormy surface and atmosphere. Besides these missions making present headlines, several other spacecraft are helping to fulfil ESA's scientific objectives. * The launch in October 1997 of ESA's probe Huygens, aboard the Cassini spacecraft bound for Saturn, foreshadows a breakthrough in planetary science in 2004. That is when Huygens will carry its scientific instruments into the unique and puzzling atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. * Ulysses, also built in Europe, is exploring hitherto unknown regions of space, after making the first-ever visit to the Sun's polar regions in 1994-95. It will return to the Sun in 2000-2001, to observe the effects of the climax of solar activity due at that time. * The Cluster 2 mission, announced in April 1997 and to be launched in 2000, will explore the Earth's space environment far more throughly than ever before. ESA's decision to replace the four Cluster satellites lost in a launch accident in 1996 ensures that Europe will continue as the leader in solar-terrestrial research in space. * An example of the three unique 58-mirror X-ray telescopes for the XMM mission was unveiled for the press in May 1997. When it goes into orbit in 1999 XMM will make, in seconds, observations of cosmic objects that took hours with previous X-ray astronomy missions. * The Hubble Space Telescope, in which ESA is a partner, continues to deliver the sharpest pictures of the cosmos after its February 1997 refurbishment. Europe's astronomers make outstanding use of their right to make observations with Hubble, guaranteed by ESA's participation. ESA's table d'hJte for space scientists To provide world-class opportunities in space for Europe's scientific community is one of ESA's primary duties. The successes summarized here are not a matter of luck, but of decades of sustained planning and effort. Although ESA's science budget is small as compared with NASA's equivalent programme, and is even being squeezed, yet every one of ESA's missions is first in its class. The scientists of ESA's member states draw up the table d'hJte, with a balanced menu of research opportunities in Solar System exploration and in astronomy. ESA coordinates the technological and scientific efforts across Europe needed to accomplish the missions, after many years of preparation and sometimes adversity. One of ESA's strengths is that it sticks to its promises, and maintains a balance with several small missions, remaining alert to new tasks for short-term projects. Besides the spacecraft mentioned earlier, ESA is actively working on: * Rosetta. As the successor to the very successful comet mission Giotto, which intercepted Halley's Comet in 1986 and Comet Grigg- Skjellerup in 1992, Rosetta will confirm ESA's role as the world leader in comet science. To be launched in 2003, Rosetta will rendezvous with Comet Wirtanen, and fly in close orbit around it as it makes its closest approach to the Sun ten years later. * Integral. Adapted from the XMM spacecraft to save money, Integral will go into orbit in 2001 and renew ESA's role in gamma-ray astronomy, pioneered in its COS-B mission some twenty years ago. Gamma-rays reveal the most violent events in the Universe, including the gamma-ray bursts that are exciting astronomers greatly at present. * FIRST and Planck Surveyor. FIRST is a long-standing major project to extend the scope of infrared space astronomy to wavelengths longer than ISO's. Planck Surveyor was recently selected as a medium-scale project, to chart the cosmic microwave background carefully enough to trace the origin of the galaxies. ESA is now examining the option of combining these two missions in a single spacecraft, for launching in 2005. Prominent among other enticing possibilities is Mars Express, a high-level, low-cost mission that could set off for the Red Planet in 2003. It would give Europe an important stake in the exploration of Mars, by remote sensing from an orbiter and by experiments in landers. The latter can exploit ESA's experience in preparing for the Huygens mission to Titan. Some of the Mars experiments should be readily adaptable from instruments prepared for other missions. ESA is also considering SMART missions, using small satellites to test key technologies. Solar-electric propulsion, long seen as a much-needed advance in spacecraft engines, could take a small spacecraft to the Moon and then onwards to an asteroid. A second candidate for a SMART mission would develop "drag free" technologies for testing Einstein's theory of gravity. Other possibilities under review include participation in a replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope, and opportunities for science associated with the International Space Station. In addition, three major projects have been selected by Europe's space scientists as long-term goals. A spacecraft to orbit the hot planet Mercury, barely explored till now, will shed new light on the history of the Solar System. An astronomical interferometric mission using two or more telescopes in combination will observe the stars and galaxies more accurately by visible or infrared light. And a novel kind of astronomy is promised by an ambitious gravitational-wave mission to detect radiation predicted by Einstein's theory of gravity, which supposedly stretches and squeezes space itself. In short, ESA is delivering superb space science and, if future funding allows, has exciting ideas for the new millennium. A picture is available of a huge cloud of hydrogen gas around Comet Hale-Bopp. This image illustrates two areas of space science where ESA leads: comet research and solar research. The image is from SOHO's SWAN instrument, the primary task of which is to chart the solar wind. Note: To learn more about ESA, visit the ESA homepage on the World Wide Web at the new address: http://www.esa.int ----------------------------------------------------------------- ARTICLES OF INTEREST by Julian Hiscox This is just a quick note to those of you interested in the biological aspects of planetary engineering. There are a couple of interesting papers in this week's Science (6th June) that might be worth noting: Manuel de la Fuente et al. 1997. Aluminum tolerance in transgenic plants by alteration of citrate synthesis. Science. v276. p1566-1568. And perhaps less relevant, but illustrative of the remarkable versatility of microorganisms (who knows perhaps there is a CFC producing bug out there!): Maymo-Gatell et al. 1997. Isolation of a bacterium that reductively dechlorinates tetrachloroethane to ethene. Science. v276. p1568-1571. And a comment on the above by McCarty. 1997. Breathing with chlorinated solvents. Science. v276. p1521-1522. ----------------------------------------------------------------- End Marsbugs Vol. 8, No. 9