MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 5, Number 17, 18 August 1998. Editors: Dr. David Thomas, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83844-3051, USA. Marsbugs@aol.com or thoma457@uidaho.edu. Dr. Julian Hiscox, Division of Molecular Biology, IAH Compton Laboratory, Berkshire, RG20 7NN, UK. Julian.Hiscox@bbsrc.ac.uk 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. Article 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 and Word97 files suitable for printing may be obtained via anonymous FTP at ftp.uidaho.edu/pub/mmbb/marsbugs. Also, an official web page is under construction. Currently it is part of http://members.aol.com/marsbugs/dave.html (right now, the page simply points to the FTP site). 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. Astrobiology 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 and astrobiology (life on other planets), the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), ecopoeisis and terraformation, Earth from space, planetary biology, primordial evolution, space physiology, biological life support systems, and human habitation of space and other planets. ------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS 1) CHEMICAL REACTION BELIEVED TO SUPPORT UNDERGROUND MICROBES IS NOW UNLIKELY-- FINDINGS COULD HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR LIFE ON MARS AND OTHER PLANETS National Science Foundation release 98-43 2) MICROBES BENEATH OCEAN FLOOR COULD SIGNIFY LIFE ON MARS By Mark Floyd 3) IS "MARTIAN" METEORITE LUCKY 13? Planetary Science Research Institute release 4) A ROCK FROM THE RED PLANET: A NEW MARTIAN METEORITE FOUND IN THE SAHARA Max Planck Institute for Chemistry release 5) THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 6) 1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT By John McNamee ------------------------------------------------------------------ CHEMICAL REACTION BELIEVED TO SUPPORT UNDERGROUND MICROBES IS NOW UNLIKELY-- FINDINGS COULD HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR LIFE ON MARS AND OTHER PLANETS National Science Foundation release 98-43 13 August 1998 A critical chemical reaction previously thought to support microbial life deep below Earth's surface, and possibly on Mars, is in fact highly unlikely. The findings are reported in this week's issue of the journal Science by researchers funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Life in Extreme Environments (LeXeN) program and affiliated with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. "This is an important step forward in our continuing efforts to understand the processes that sustain life deep beneath the earth's surface," says Mike Purdy, director of NSF's LeXeN program. "Negative findings like this are as important as positive ones in their importance to our understanding of the processes that determine the limits to life." Scientists had generally accepted that hydrogen gas produced from rock could provide energy to support the growth of microorganisms living below Earth's surface, says U. Mass. microbiologist Derek Lovley. The hydrogen was thought to be produced when basalt, a common form of rock, reacts with water. However, a research team led by Lovley has found that this concept is incorrect. Although hydrogen gas can be produced from basalt under artificial laboratory conditions, there is no hydrogen production under the conditions actually found in Earth's subsurface. Lovley and his colleagues found that hydrogen could only be produced from the basalt when the rock was exposed to acidic conditions--but environments containing basalt are never acidic. "The idea that hydrogen produced from rocks could support large subsurface microbial ecosystems on Earth and possibly other planets was fascinating and was accepted by most microbiologists," Lovley says. "Unfortunately, this concept can not be supported by the available data." From analyses of chemical and microbiological data, Lovley and collaborators Robert Anderson, University of Massachusetts graduate student, and Francis Chapelle, a hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in South Carolina, suggest that the microorganisms are probably living on organic matter associated with the rock, not hydrogen. This is similar to the way that microorganisms grow in soil on Earth's surface. The scientists emphasized that even though the microorganisms living deep in the Earth may make a living in a manner similar to that of surface microorganisms, they may have other unique characteristics. For example, Lovley's recent research has demonstrated that microorganisms from the earth's subsurface can be used to remove radioactive metals, as well as hydrocarbons from polluted groundwater. ------------------------------------------------------------------ MICROBES BENEATH OCEAN FLOOR COULD SIGNIFY LIFE ON MARS By Mark Floyd, Oregon State University 13 August 1998 Scientists at Oregon State University have discovered evidence of rock eating microbes living nearly a mile beneath the ocean floor in conditions which suggest similar life could exist on Mars or other planets. The discovery was announced Friday in the journal Science. Microbial fossils were found in abundant quantities in miles of core samples taken during various research projects by the Ocean Drilling Program in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, according to Martin R. Fisk, an associate professor of oceanography at OSU and lead author on the study. Where the basalt was glassy, having quickly been cooled by seawater, the scientists found a series of tracks and trails. "Whenever we looked at those tracks for DNA, we found it," Fisk said. Fisk said he first became curious about the possibility of life after looking at the swirling tracks and trails that were etched into the basalt. The rocks have the basic elements for life including carbon, phosphorous and nitrogen, and needed only water to complete the formula. Groundwater seeping through the ocean floor could easily provide that, he pointed out. "Under those conditions, microbes could live beneath any rocky planet," Fisk said. "It would be no problem to have life inside of Mars, or within a moon of Jupiter, or even on a comet containing ice crystals that gets warmed up when the comet passes by the sun." Fisk said scientists know a lot about the interior of Mars from meteorites that have been blasted off the planet. "They've got everything you need for life," he said, including carbon, phosphorous, small amounts of nitrogen, and minerals that contain water, or evidence of water. The temperatures required to create life are less of a concern, he pointed out, as scientists find more and more evidence of life in some of Earth's most desolate and extreme conditions--from Antarctic ice to deep ocean vents. Microbes have been found near temperatures reaching 113 degrees C, and in freezing brines some 15 degrees below zero, Fisk pointed out. "The surface of Mars may be too cold to find life unless there is a hot spring bubbling up," Fisk said. "But every planet has a temperature gradient; they get hotter as you go down. Within the next few years, we'll probably find life on Mars. "But we may have to dig to find it," he added. Fisk said the evidence of microbial activity could be bacteria, or archea--which are the same size, but "as different from bacteria as humans." A third, more distant possibility, the scientists say, is that the tracks and trails are a new, undocumented chemical process. The glassy, outer inch of the basalt is the only place evidence of microbial activity was found. Fisk thinks the looser chemical structure of the quickly cooled rock makes it easier for the microbes to break it down than the more tightly bound inner rock, which cooled more slowly. "The microbes would make these little tubes, and inside them were germ-sized bodies," Fisk said. "They are either eating the rock or excreting some kind of acid that is doing it. One theory is that they are seeking micronutrients in the rock--iron, potassium or sulfur--which they need in small amounts. "They may also be dissolving the rock to get a certain chemical reaction to provide them energy." The researchers believe the microbes were originally carried beneath the ocean floor in seawater, seeping into the basalt and settling in fractures created by cooling. Inside of dying, however, the microbes found the necessary ingredients within the basalt to continue living. The DNA was found in the most far- reaching tubes within the fractures, Fisk said, indicating that the microbial activity took place on site, beneath the ocean floor. The researchers say the next step is to bring up fresh core samples and try to extract the microbes while they are still alive. The core samples were from drilling studies that were months, even years old, and had been stored at Columbia University, Texas A AND M and the Scripps Oceanographic Institute. Future drilling studies are being proposed that would include an effort to extract and preserve living bacteria. The project is funded by the Ocean Drilling Program and the National Science Foundation. Stephen Giovannoni, an associate professor of microbiology at OSU, says preserving live microbes from rocks found a few feet to nearly a mile beneath the ocean floor will not be easy. "It is possible, but it will be difficult," Giovannoni said. "Other scientists are working to provide better samples of the subsurface microbial world, and there are efforts under way to develop new 'clean' drilling techniques. The drill itself can be a source of contamination. "There also are huge pressure differences between the deep sea floor and the ocean surface," he added. "That makes it unlikely that these organisms will be cultured in a lab anytime soon." Researchers Paul Johnson, of the University of Washington, and Jim Cowen, of the University of Hawaii, are collaborating with the OSU researchers to collect samples from hot springs on the deep sea floor using the Alvin, a deep sea submersible. The scientists hope their discovery opens the doors to further research of potential living organisms beneath the ocean floor. "For the moment, the problem remains providing even stronger evidence, including gene sequences, that would conclusively prove there are living organisms down there," Giovannoni said. ------------------------------------------------------------------ IS "MARTIAN" METEORITE LUCKY 13? Planetary Science Research Institute release 10 August 1998 Open University researchers will announce on Monday if meteorite samples flown to the UK for analysis this week did originate from Mars. If authenticated, it could provide the next breakthrough in the search for evidence of life on the red planet and will almost certainly make its prospector finder a millionaire. Out of the worldwide collection of 20,000 meteorites, only 12 have been proven to come from Mars. Museums or the US Government owns all of the dozen. A private prospector who, if his find is proved genuine stands to earn US $1000 (or 620 English pound), found the meteorite being analyzed by the Open University in the Sahara Desert a gram on the commercial market from the 2.2kg rock. The Sahara Desert find was announced at a Meteoritical Society conference in Dublin last week. A specimen was dispatched immediately to the Planetary Sciences Research Institute (PSRI) at the Open University who are able perform the definitive test of authenticity, a sort of geochemical version of DNA typing involving oxygen isotopes. The experiment involves heating a sample with pulses of a laser beam in the presence of fluorine containing gas to displace oxygen from the silicate for measurement in a mass spectrometer. There is global scientific interest in the test results. An affirmative report would pave the way for further analysis that could unlock the secrets of Martian climatic history and provide evidence of conditions capable of supporting life. PSRI are the UK's leading research group on meteorites and Mars. They are championing the idea of Beagle 2, a British-built robot explorer that would be flown to Mars in 2003, carry out soil and rock analysis on the planet surface and transmit data back to Earth. Beagle 2 is being designed by an international consortium led by the Open University's Professor Colin Pillinger, and a full-scale model of the lander vehicle will be on display at Monday's media conference. Further information about the Beagle 2 project is available from the Web site at http://beagle2.open.ac.uk/ 150 mg of the new martian meteorite was made available for analyses at the PSRI. Less than 1% of this material is used for an oxygen isotope analysis. ------------------------------------------------------------------ A ROCK FROM THE RED PLANET: A NEW MARTIAN METEORITE FOUND IN THE SAHARA Max Planck Institute for Chemistry release 14 August 1998 The discovery of a new Martian meteorite was announced by Dr. Jutta Zipfel from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz. Members of the institute' staff classified this meteorite based on results from mineralogy, chemistry, and inert gas analyses. An official announcement was made during the 61st Meteoritical Society meeting in Dublin 1998, which took place two weeks ago. Several observations make this finding exciting news and are an enrichment of meteoritical sciences. This meteorite is the first Martian meteorite found in the hot desert climate of the Sahara. It is the first one found since 1994 and also the first since the discussion whether there is life on Mars began two years ago. Now, the number of Martian meteorites has increased to a total of 13, a small number if compared to the total of more than 20,000 meteorite specimens known so far. A private finder gave a fragment of the meteorite to the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz for scientific purposes. The rock weighs a little over 2 kg and is shaped like a loaf of bread. During a five-minute speech, Zipfel presented results from inert gas, chemical and mineralogical studies. The inert gas inventory of the atmosphere of Mars is very characteristic and well known from the Viking mission measurements on the surface of Mars in 1976. This is, so far, the strongest evidence that meteorites having this inert gas fingerprint must come from Mars. Inert gases present in this meteorite clearly put it in the group of Martian meteorites. Typical elemental ratios obtained by bulk chemical analyses of a chip of the new meteorite soon confirmed this finding. In addition, mineral chemistry and petrographic observations, such as the presence of feldspathic glass, rounded out the picture. 'We had no doubt that this was a Martian meteorite,' said Zipfel, who made the announcement at the MSM in Dublin. During the meeting, Zipfel gave British scientists from the Open University a 150 mg sample for analysis of the oxygen isotopic composition of the meteorite. These measurements were carried out one week after the Dublin announcement and their results are consistent with findings obtained by the Max Planck scientists. Inert gas analyses show that this meteorite was ejected from Mars about 1 million years ago, marking an ejection event unknown from other Martian meteorites, said Zipfel in her presentation. After that, the meteorite took its time to travel through space before it was captured by the gravity of the Earth and landed in Northern Africa. It was collected there in May of this year and immediately brought to the German Max Planck Institute for classification. The meteorite is the first find of its group in a hot desert environment. Clearly, it carries along with it its desert history, in that veins filled with terrestrial weathering products penetrate it throughout. "The search for past evidence of life in this meteorite will be severely impeded because it was lying in the hot desert for probably thousands of years and not in a relatively sterile environment such as Antarctica," said Zipfel. However, it will give scientists the opportunity to gain further knowledge about geochemical processes on Mars and new insights into its evolution as a planet. The chemical study of Martian meteorites and their implications for the bulk composition of Mars has a long tradition with scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz. Their development of the APXS instrument was selected by NASA's Mars "Pathfinder Mission". Measurements with this instrument made it possible for the first time to analyze rocks sitting on the surface of Mars. PHOTO CAPTION: [http://www.mpg.de/news25_98.htm] Bread-loaf shape of the new Martian meteorite. Clearly visible the sandblown surface crosscut by cracks. [NOTE: Two images showing the sample given to the Open University are available at http://psri.open.ac.uk/News/NewMarsIMAGES.html . Below are the image captions: (Image 1) 150 mg of the new martian meteorite was made available for analyses at the PSRI [Planetary Sciences Research Institute]. This is shown on the small square of foil on the left of the image. A one pound coin (22mm diameter) is shown for scale. Less than 1% of this material is used for an oxygen isotope analysis. (Image 2) A close up of the largest chip above (top left corner of the foil square) is shown below. The chip is approximately 5mm across.] ------------------------------------------------------------------ THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 17-23 August 1998 Several activities are on Galileo's to do list this week as the spacecraft reaches the farthest distance from Jupiter for this orbit and starts heading back closer to Jupiter again. Playback of science pictures and other information stored on the spacecraft's onboard tape recorder continues this week, but is interrupted twice to perform engineering activities. On Monday, the spacecraft performs a turn to keep its antenna pointed toward Earth. In addition, regular maintenance of the tape recorder is scheduled for Sunday. This week's playback schedule continues with data gathered during Galileo's May encounter with Jupiter's icy moon Europa. The near- infrared mapping spectrometer returns two observations of Io that target the volcanic regions of Pele, Marduk and Reiden. A regional map of Europa obtained by the spacecraft camera follows these and a part of a global map of Europa also performed by the near-infrared mapping spectrometer. The final observation of the week was obtained by the spacecraft camera and looks at a region of Europa that is unusually rugged, containing a series of pits and mounds. The observed area is located just east of the Tyre Macula region. Concurrent with playback, data is collected by the spacecraft's six fields and particles instruments which provides a second look at the deep magnetotail region of the Jovian magnetosphere. The first survey of this region was conducted during Galileo's primary mission in July and August, 1997, approximately one year ago. Information obtained during the current orbit will add to our understanding of how plasma escapes from the inner portions of the magnetosphere, and will help identify changes in the magnetosphere over the period of a year. For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter, please visit the Galileo home page. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT By John McNamee, Mars Surveyor 98 project manager 14 August 1998 Mars Climate Orbiter Orbiter integration and test activities continue to proceed on schedule. The repaired optical chopper assembly for the Pressure Modulator Infrared Radiometer (PMIRR) has been reinstalled on the instrument and is operating nominally on the orbiter. The orbiter pre-ship review was conducted successfully on August 14 and the spacecraft will be shipped to Kennedy Space Center on September 10 as scheduled. Mars Polar Lander The flight entry, descent, and landing sequence ran successfully during lander mission system testing. The lander is on schedule to begin cruise thermal vacuum testing on September 3. The lander pre-ship review is planned for September 15. For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, please visit our website at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/ ------------------------------------------------------------------ End Marsbugs Vol. 5, No. 17