MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 5, Number 24, 2 December 1998. Editors: Dr. David Thomas, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83844-3051, USA. Marsbugs@aol.com or davidt@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. While we cannot copyright our mailing list, our readers would appreciate it if others would not send unsolicited e-mail using the Marsbugs mailing list. The editors do not condone "spamming" of our subscribers. Persons who have information that may be of interest to subscribers of Marsbugs should send that information to the editors. 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 Adobe Acrobat PDF files suitable for printing may be obtained via anonymous FTP at ftp.uidaho.edu/pub/mmbb/marsbugs or at the official Marsbugs web page at http://members.aol.com/marsbugs/marsbugs.html. 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) NEW MARS PLAN TARGETS SAMPLE RETURN--INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO PAVE WAY FOR ROBOTIC COLONIES BY 2010 By Diane Ainsworth 2) UCLA GEOCHEMIST'S FOSSIL METEORITE PROVIDES STRONG EVIDENCE THAT ASTEROID CAUSED MASS EXTINCTIONS 65 MILLION YEARS AGO UCLA release 3) LEONIDS SAMPLE RETURN PAYLOAD HAS BEEN FOUND--SCIENTISTS ARE EXAMINING THE AEROGEL "COMET-CATCHER" FOR TRACES OF LEONID METEOROIDS From NASA Space Science News 4) GALILEO EUROPA MISSION STATUS REPORTS JPL releases 5) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT OVERVIEW By the Mars Surveyor operations project manager 6) 1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORTS By John McNamee ------------------------------------------------------------------ NEW MARS PLAN TARGETS SAMPLE RETURN--INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO PAVE WAY FOR ROBOTIC COLONIES BY 2010 By Diane Ainsworth From the JPL Universe 13 November 1998 A new architectural blueprint for international robotic exploration of Mars, resulting in the return of several samples of Martian material to Earth by 2008 and founding of the first permanent robotic colonies by the end of that decade, has been launched by NASA and its international partners in space exploration. "This plan paves the way for the return of as many as four samples of Martian material from four different sites by 2011, and will lead to the establishment of the first robotic outposts and, eventually, human colonies on Mars," said Norman Haynes, Mars Exploration Program director at JPL. Under a new plan drafted by NASA and its French, Italian and European counterparts, the consortium of spacefaring nations will begin development of affordable spacecraft and innovative new technologies to obtain in-situ measurements and samples of Martian material in preparation for human exploration of the planet. The plan calls for construction of a fleet of affordable launch vehicles, orbiters, landers, rovers and Mars ascent vehicles designed to wage an all-out effort to begin returning samples of the Martian regolith as early as April 2008. "This plan lays out the whole framework for our next quantum leap in Mars exploration," said Dr. Charles Elachi, JPL's Space and Earth Sciences Program director and head of the architecture study. "The establishment of the first permanent robotic colonies on Mars, capable of harnessing the planet's natural resources to build a technology base for space flight to and from the planet and biospheres for human settlements well within the lifetimes of our grandchildren, is the most exciting prospect awaiting us as a global community." The new Mars architecture plan, which is currently being refined by NASA and participating space agencies, underscores the roles and responsibilities of the four space agencies in formulating an integrated, international roadmap for the exploration of Mars. According to Haynes, the study focuses on robotic surface activities during the early launch opportunities beginning in 2001 through 2011. Many of the early missions will focus on studies of the Martian surface involving science payloads designed to conduct chemical analyses of rocks and soils, obtain rock core samples and tap subsurface water reservoirs and other natural resources that could be used to manufacture propellants to fuel sample-return vehicles. Work on the architectural redesign began in June. Eight "tiger teams" of experts from the international scientific community, led by Elachi and Dr. Frank Jordan, manager of JPL's Mars Program Planning and Architecture Office, were formed to address issues of spacecraft design, innovative technologies and science goals for missions beginning in 2003, as well as for achieving the overall goals of the long-range Mars Surveyor Program. Recommendations were presented to NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin on September 24 and, subsequently, approved for implementation. New requirements for the 2001 Mars missions, brought about earlier in the year by Congressional markups of the fiscal year 1999 NASA budget, prompted the redesign effort. The Mars 2001 project went to work to hammer out a compromise of scientific instruments on the proposed orbiter, lander and rover to meet new budget and spacecraft mass requirements. Under the current mission architecture, the Mars 2001 lander will be equipped with a robotic arm and descent camera to explore materials buried below the Martian surface. The spacecraft will also carry a panoramic camera and mini-thermal emission spectrometer, which was part of the originally proposed payload, and a Moessbauer spectrometer designed to study Martian materials. Three human exploration experiments developed under NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) Enterprise are also included in the lander payload: the Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment Project experiment, an instrument to investigate potentially hazardous atmospheric conditions that could affect human exploration; a Mars propellant production experiment to explore the feasibility of using atmospheric carbon dioxide to manufacture fuel for return vehicles; and a Mars radiation experiment to detect hazardous amounts of the substance in the Martian atmosphere. In addition, a simpler, lighter-weight rover modeled after Mars sophisticated and costly roving vehicle. The new rover, nicknamed Marie Curie, will carry an alpha proton X-ray spectrometer similar to the spectrometer carried on the Sojourner rover to study the chemical composition of rocks and surface soils and a second Mars radiation experiment to detect harmful levels of radiation on the Martian surface. NASA will begin the series of sample-return mission in 2003, with launch of a lander and a rover that will spend several months searching for and collecting rock and soil samples, said Dr. Daniel McCleese, chief scientist and manager of the Office of Strategy and Science Programs for JPL's Mars Exploration Directorate. The roving vehicle will return the sample to a new, low-cost, low-mass Mars ascent vehicle. Conceived by Brian Wilcox of the JPL Mars Exploration Technology Development Division, the Mars ascent vehicle is the centerpiece of the program's overarching, short-term goal to explore the Martian subsurface robotically. The vehicle is a simple rocket with a three-stage, spin-stabilized ascent system, solid-rocket motors, minimal onboard guidance and virtually no moving parts. The launcher, which weighs about 100 kilograms (220 pounds) or less than 30 percent of previous Mars ascent vehicle designs, will place soil and rock sample canisters into a low-Mars orbit, where they will await pick-up by orbiters arriving at Mars beginning in 2005. NASA will also provide a Boeing Delta 3-class launch vehicle and an Earth entry capsule comprised of a crescent-shaped heat shield and crushable foam material that will shield the Martian soil and rock samples when they plummet to the floor of a desert in Utah in spring 2008. In partnership with the French space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), NASA will also work toward developing a small "microspacecraft" weighing less than 200 kilograms (440 pounds) for delivery to Mars during this launch opportunity, Elachi said. CNES has agreed in principle to providing a piggyback ride to Mars on its Ariane 5 launch vehicle, which is capable of placing the Martian microspacecraft on a geosynchronous transfer orbit above Earth. If flown, the miniature spacecraft would use its own propulsion and gravity assists from the Moon and Earth to gain enough momentum to reach Mars. Another collaborative arrangement with the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spatiale Italiana, will add a drill and other robotic elements to the 2003 Martian lander and those following in its footsteps. Additional robotic elements will include radio relay equipment to support the European Space Agency's proposed “Mars Express” orbiter, which will be used for data transmission from landers arriving at Mars in future years. The European Space Agency also plans to supply a sounding radar for the mission. In 2005, a single Ariane 5 launch vehicle carrying a duplicate of the 2003 lander, rover, Mars ascent vehicle and French orbiter will be launched to Mars. The lander, with its companion rover and ascent vehicle, will land at a different location, collect a second sample of Martian rocks and soils and loft it into low-Mars orbit. The orbiter will be inserted into a highly elliptical Mars orbit, aerobrake to low-Mars orbit, rendezvous and dock with the 2003 orbiting sample container and then rendezvous and dock with the 2005 sample. After 11 months in orbit, the spacecraft will fire its rocket engines to inject itself and the two Earth entry capsules on an Earth-return trajectory. The orbiter will target the two entry capsules carrying Martian samples onto impact trajectories, deploy them and then deflect its own trajectory so that it does not crash into Earth. Two options are currently on the table with NASA and the French space agency for inserting the 2005 orbiter into Mars orbit. The first option would be to use propulsive maneuvers to lower and circularize the spacecraft's orbit. The second option would be to use a technique called "aerocapture," which is similar to aerobraking but would slow and directly capture the spacecraft in orbit in one step, rather than gradually slowing and lowering the spacecraft through a series of "walk-in" phases used in the aerobraking strategy. With aerocapture, the orbiter would be able to reach its final, circular mapping orbit within about one week instead of approximately nine months. If international participation and the budgetary outlook remain stable, a total of six samples from six separate locations on the surface of Mars will have been returned by 2013, Haynes said. To realize this scenario, another Delta 3-class launch vehicle would be used in 2007, carrying a lander, rover and Mars ascent vehicle. The samples collected would be cached on orbit to await pick-up by the 2009 orbiter. In 2009, two launches using Delta 3-class launch vehicles would follow suit. The orbiter would be the first vehicle to be launched, followed by a second lander, rover and Mars ascent vehicle. A French orbiter would collect the Mars samples from both the 2007 and 2009 landers and deploy them on return trajectories to Earth. If successful, that mission scenario would be repeated in 2011 and 2013. ------------------------------------------------------------------ UCLA GEOCHEMIST'S FOSSIL METEORITE PROVIDES STRONG EVIDENCE THAT ASTEROID CAUSED MASS EXTINCTIONS 65 MILLION YEARS AGO UCLA release 18 November 1998 UCLA geochemist Frank T. Kyte has found a fossil meteorite believed to be from the huge asteroid that crashed to Earth 65 million years ago--the probable cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species worldwide. In the cover story of the November 19 issue of the journal Nature, Kyte presents his analysis of the sample and concludes that the cosmic impactor, some six miles in diameter, that broadsided Mexico's Yucatan peninsula was probably an asteroid, and not a comet. "The fossil meteorite strongly supports the idea that the impactor was an asteroid and not a comet," Kyte said. "There is a strong probability that this is a bullet from a smoking gun. That was one of the worst days the Earth had in the last billion years, and it is important to understand what happened." Kyte's analysis of the sample's texture and chemistry confirmed that the object is a meteorite. He considers it highly likely that the sample is from the asteroid that struck 65 million years ago, and if so, it is the first piece of the asteroid that is large enough to study and analyze. What is Kyte's evidence that the meteorite was from an asteroid? First, comets travel at much higher velocities than asteroids, most likely vaporizing themselves on collision, Kyte noted. Therefore, the mere fact that a sample survived the impact is evidence that the object was not a comet, he said. Second, Kyte's analysis suggests that the meteorite came from a typical, rocky carbonaceous chondrite--a description of objects in the asteroid belt--rather than the porous, fluffy type of interplanetary dust associated with icy comets. The fossil meteorite was encrusted in mud for 65 million years, buried beneath more than 50 yards of sediment in the North Pacific Ocean. It no longer has any of its original minerals, but its texture and shape remain the same, Kyte said. Kyte located the piece while studying a sediment layer from the Cretaceous/ Tertiary boundary--whose sediments are widely recognized to contain the record of a large asteroid or comet impact--and suspected right away that he found an important clue to the mystery of what happened 65 million years ago. "Although the fossil meteorite is only a tenth of an inch in size, it was 1,000 times bigger than anything else in the sediment, "Kyte said. "In this dark brown sediment, I saw this small white speck." In his National Science Foundation-funded research, Kyte analyzed the piece using UCLA's electron microprobe and neutron activation laboratories. He found it to be high in iridium--an element that is abundant in meteorites. "That's when I knew I had something special--a small chunk of the asteroid," Kyte said. Asteroids, which originate in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, are pieces of largely rocky material remaining from early in the evolution of the solar system. They did not form into planets, probably because of their close proximity to Jupiter. A typical asteroid travels at about 40,000 miles per hour, Kyte noted. Comets are from beyond Pluto, and travel about twice as fast, he said. Comets are believed to be composed of about half rocky material and half icy material. Some scientists think the destructive meteorite 65 million years ago is an example of comet showers that bombard the Earth every 25-30 million years, causing mass extinctions. If the impact was from an asteroid, as Kyte believes, such theories become harder to defend, he said. The impact 65 million years ago, at the end of what is known as the Cretaceous period, is believed to have had devastating effects on the world's climate, and has been implicated in the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other forms of life. Prior to the crash, a few thousand dinosaur species had thrived for 160 million years. Questions remain about how the asteroid affected the environment, how long it took for the extinctions to occur, and the exact size of the massive object. ------------------------------------------------------------------ LEONIDS SAMPLE RETURN PAYLOAD HAS BEEN FOUND--SCIENTISTS ARE EXAMINING THE AEROGEL "COMET-CATCHER" FOR TRACES OF LEONID METEOROIDS From NASA Space Science News 23 November 1998 The Leonids Sample Return payload has been recovered. It was pinpointed by amateur balloon trackers on November 18th, and rescued from a briar patch in Chatsworth, Georgia in good condition. Scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center launched the balloon on November 17th during the Leonids meteor shower. It carried a CCD video camera to record the shower for a live webcast, as well as a device designed to capture Leonid meteoroids and return them to Earth intact. The "Comet Catcher" is a matrix of aerogel-filled wells (similar to Petri dishes) that were fixed to the outside of the balloon package. The payload was carried to an altitude greater than 100,000 feet, above 98% of Earth's atmosphere, during a flight that lasted 1 hour 54 minutes. At its maximum altitude the balloon ruptured, according to plan, and the payload descended to Earth by parachute for a relatively gentle landing in Georgia. The aerogel sample collectors have been returned to scientists at the NASA Marshall Space Sciences Lab, where they are being examined with an environmental scanning electron microscope for evidence of meteoroids. Bill Brown (WB8ELK) contributed this account of the recovery. "Today (November 18th), Melody Johnson and pilot Don Henson flew over Chatsworth, Georgia and pinpointed Sign up for our the landing site by homing in on the 144.000 MHz tracking signal coming from the balloon. Melody used a ham radio unit supplied by Randy Ware, director of the technology center of Dalton Junior High School." "As soon as they landed, Melody drove to the area and homed in on the signal and stopped in front of Homer's Yarn and Textile Sales when the radio signal became very strong. After explaining the situation, owner Homer Dills walked behind his warehouse and found the payload lying in a briar patch just behind the building. The payload is in excellent condition and the strobe lamp was still flashing. The landing site is just off of Old Dalton Ellijay Road about 1.6 miles due west of downtown Chatsworth, Georgia. Coordinates: 34d 46.19m N, 84d 47.90m W." "Melody Johnson lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee and works at Al Johnson Volvo and Volkswagen in Dalton, Georgia. Her daughter Katie is a student at Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Melody has experience in tracking high altitude balloon experiments with Bill Brown WB8ELK for Project HALO (High Altitude Lift Off) flown by the Huntsville, Alabama chapter of the National Space Society's Project HALO and also for the Atlanta Balloonatics group. She organized today's tracking effort, which resulted in a speedy recovery. She has been awarded the title, 'Ace Balloon Tracker'." [For more information on this article, see http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast23nov98_1.htm] ------------------------------------------------------------------ GALILEO EUROPA MISSION STATUS REPORTS JPL releases 9 November 1998 The Galileo spacecraft has finished transmitting to Earth the bulk of the pictures and science information recorded onboard during the September 26 flyby of Jupiter's moon Europa. Among remaining data to be sent this week are a dozen images, including a mosaic of pictures taken near Europa's terminator, the dividing line between dayside and nightside. Three sets of images will be returned of the Agenor Linea, a bright area believed to be fairly young. Science data transmission by Galileo will be suspended twice this week, on Thursday and Friday, November 12-13, so the spacecraft can perform regular propulsion system maintenance and a standard gyroscope test. Preliminary results from a gyro test on Thursday, November 5, show no significant changes in performance. These activities are part of preparation for the spacecraft's next encounter with Europa on November 22. A final Europa flyby is on the calendar for early 1999, followed by four flybys of Jupiter's moon Callisto and one or two of Jupiter's moon Io, depending on spacecraft health. 22 November 1998 The majority of today's activity surrounds the spacecraft's close flyby of Europa. The flyby will occur at 3:38 am PST [See note 1] at an altitude of 2273 kilometers (1418 miles). Observations are also taken of Jupiter, Io and Ganymede. Galileo also passes within 2.35 million kilometers (1.46 million miles) of Callisto at about 6:00 PM PST today. The first of today's Europa observations is performed by the spacecraft camera, and consists of a series of images near the terminator of bright polar plains. Later in the morning, the camera also looks at a dark band formation known as Rhadamanthys Linea, as well as a series of elevated features, regions of pits and plateaus near Europa's north pole, and a region of transition from bright plains to dark plains. These observations are then followed by three performed by the near-infrared mapping spectrometer together with the ultraviolet spectrometer. The observations target a region of complex intersecting dark lines, a region of sharply defined dark lines, and Europa's northern polar region. The camera then returns to the observation schedule by taking a series of images, split between two observations, to capture a section of Europa's surface near the terminator from 30 degrees south of the equator to 60 degrees north of the equator. The camera will image Tegid, an impact crater with an unusual domed morphology. Two images will also be taken of a region in which mottled, possibly "chaos," terrain appears to be older than the ubiquitous ridges and bands that dominate the surface of Europa. Elsewhere, chaos type terrains appear to be younger than nearby heavily ridged and grooved plains. The photopolarimeter radiometer continues the observations of Europa with its second low resolution global scale map (the first map was collected yesterday). This is followed by another global observation of Europa performed jointly by the ultraviolet spectrometer and the near-infrared mapping spectrometer. Continuing with the global-scale observations, the camera then takes two more observations of Europa. Three observations of Jupiter are performed today. The first two are by the near-infrared mapping spectrometer and are snapshots of the composition and temperature of Jupiter's atmosphere. The third observation is performed by the ultraviolet spectrometer and provides information on long-term changes in the amount of hydrogen in Jupiter's atmosphere. These ultraviolet measurements will allow scientists to further their understanding of interactions between Jupiter's upper cloud layers, lower layers, and Jupiter's magnetosphere. Three observations of Io are performed late in the day, one each by the camera, near-infrared mapping spectrometer, and ultraviolet spectrometer. The observations are performed to detect changes in the surface of Io, and to use in planning for the scheduled Io flybys late in 1999. The camera will examine the potential source of a new intense volcanic hotspot first observed during Galileo's May encounter. The ultraviolet spectrometer, in conjunction with the extreme ultraviolet spectrometer, also takes a remote look at Io's plasma torus. A single observation of Ganymede is performed during this encounter. In it, the photopolarimeter radiometer gathers polarimetric measurements from a portion of Ganymede's surface that was not completely covered during Galileo's primary mission. Late today, after all recorded observations have been completed, Galileo begins processing and transmitting science information stored on its onboard tape recorder during the encounter period. First on the playback schedule are two observations performed by the photopolarimeter radiometer. Both observations contain polarimetric measurements, which provide information on the texture and composition of the target bodies (Io and Europa). The encounter period ends tomorrow and with it comes the return of This Week on Galileo. Come back to this URL for details on this week's exciting plans! Note 1. All times listed correspond to the Pacific Time zone (currently standard time) and spacecraft event time. Radio signals indicating that an event has occurred on the spacecraft reach the Earth 33 to 50 minutes later, depending on the time of year. Currently, this time is 38 minutes. The current correction between Pacific Standard Time and Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) is 8 hours. For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter, please visit the Galileo home page at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo ------------------------------------------------------------------ MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT OVERVIEW By the Mars Surveyor operations project manager 13 November 1998 The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft continues Phase 2 aerobraking operations in excellent health. Progress continues per plan as 17 minutes of orbit period have been removed over the past 11 drag passes. The 6-orbit running mean is currently 0.268 N/m2, which is above the 0.23 corridor control trigger limit. The project has elected to gain a little orbit period margin and allow the overshoot to occur for a short period. The 2 minute deficit from the baseline plan has now been erased. One corridor control maneuver was executed on the apoapsis of orbit 710. An operational readiness test was conducted for the Mars Polar Lander launch and initial acquisition activities. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORTS By John McNamee, Mars Surveyor 98 project manager 14 November 1998 Mars Climate Orbiter: Launch -27 days Final weighing of the orbiter--a healthy 1393.7 lbs. Mars Polar Lander: Launch -51 days Yesterday, The flight Pyro Initiation Unit (PIU) was removed and returned to Denver for re-re-work. 20 November 1998 Mars Climate Orbiter: Orbiter launch processing activities are proceeding on schedule in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility (SAEF-2) facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) with launch vehicle 3rd stage mate 4 days away and launch 20 days away. Final blanket installation and other vehicle closeout activities were accomplished. Final weight and spin balance was completed. The orbiter final weight is 1394.67 lbs. Rework of the flight Pyro Initiation Unit (PIU) to eliminate the potential for latchup was completed successfully and the PIU is scheduled for reinstallation on the orbiter on November 21. Final cleaning of the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) and Pressure Modulator InfraRed Radiometer (PMIRR) optics was accomplished. Final vehicle cleaning and final vehicle walkdown by all cognizant engineers and independent mechanical experts was completed in preparation for 3rd stage mate. Mars Polar Lander: Lander launch processing activities are proceeding on schedule in the SAEF-2 facility at KSC with launch vehicle 3rd stage mate 25 days away and launch 44 days away. Rework of the flight Pyro Initiation Unit (PIU) to eliminate the potential for latchup was completed successfully and the PIU was reinstalled on the lander on November 19. Flight software build 8.1 (the final planned software build) was loaded on the lander. Mission system testing of the cruise/trajectory correction maneuver and entry, descent, and landing (scripted attitude) phases was completed successfully. A full up launch rehearsal was conducted successfully on November 17 with the vehicle powered and exercised in a flight like manner. 21 November 1998 Mars Climate Orbiter: Launch -19 days Final closeout activities are progressing on schedule. The reworked flight Pyro Initiation Unit (PIU) was reinstalled, the interface and all functionality reverified. Mars Polar Lander: Launch -43 days The fault protection Mission Systems Test (MST) and PIU reverification was conducted successfully. For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, please visit our website at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98 The following photos have been added to the Mars Surveyor 98 home page [courtesy of Ron Baalke]. Installation of the Deep Space 2 microprobes on the Mars Polar Lander http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/images/ksc981110.html Delta II Rocket Arriving At Launch Pad 17A At Kennedy Space Center http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/images/delta981030.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ End Marsbugs Vol. 5, No. 24