MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 5, Number 26, 12 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) LABORATORY UNDER CONSTRUCTION: NASA/MARSHALL BIOTECHNOLOGY MAY GET AN EARLY START ON SPACE STATION By Dave Dooling 2) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT OVERVIEW By the Mars Surveyor Operations Project Manager 3) 1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT By John McNamee 4) REVIEWS OF RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS By Julian Hiscox 5) PLANT BIOCHEMISTRY SUMMER COURSE By Michael Kahn ------------------------------------------------------------------ LABORATORY UNDER CONSTRUCTION: NASA/MARSHALL BIOTECHNOLOGY MAY GET AN EARLY START ON SPACE STATION By Dave Dooling From NASA Space Science News 10 December 1998 While astronauts assemble and activate the first portion of the International Space Station, scientists working with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are preparing experiments that will take advantage of the most extensive space-based laboratory ever devised. And although the U.S. Laboratory Module won't be attached until the year 2000, research on board the space station should start by the end of 1999. Their initial efforts will be modest, but eventually scientists will have tools that include everything but the kitchen sink. "Most of our current inventory of payloads can fly very early," said Patton Downey, NASA discipline scientist for microgravity biotechnology research, a discipline that has had great success with experiments aboard the Space Shuttle and Russia's Mir space station. Head start for biotechnology Biotechnology is likely to be one of the first microgravity science payloads aboard space station. "We've had requests for payloads that could fly on the early space station assembly missions before the crew mans the station," continued Downey. "The space station office is asking for payloads that can operate unattended for about two months." The biotechnology program has several science payloads that grow protein crystals. These are analyzed on Earth to determine the molecular structure so scientists can design drug therapies that target a specific problem with few or no side effects. It's a bit like safe-cracking at the atomic level. Most of the protein crystal growth hardware requires little of the space station's resources and crew support. They only need to be turned on, and days or months later, turned off. If crew time is available, some photo documentation may be requested. Tops on that list are payloads known as EGN and DCAM. Each grows large quantities of crystals by slightly different techniques. These experiments will be conducted in an EXPRESS rack designed to handle experiments with minimal complexity, or in whatever space is available inside the Unity (Node 1) module, Zarya (the Russian- built base module), and other elements as they are added. "After that, the rotating bioreactor experiments in cell science will start on one of the utilization flights," Downey continued. Bioreactor is more complex and will require some crew attention since the health and growth of the cell clusters inside must be monitored, and nutrient and waste bags replaced. The NASA Bioreactor is like a rotating culture dish with a mini- life support system attached. In it, scientists can culture cells for long periods of time so they can grow in lifelike assemblies that should yield clues to how both healthy and cancerous tissues grow. From that will come new knowledge of how to improve transplants and to fight cancer. "What we would fly is much like what we flew on Russia's Mir," Downey said. "It would be self-contained, with its own gas supply and other resources." The Bioreactor is anticipated to use the EXPRESS rack during its initial experiments, then expand to use a dedicated facility. Bioreactor is the key hardware element in NASA's cell science program, which is managed at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Extra elbow room Many of the microgravity experiments planned for space station got their start--or an important boost--from early work in the Middeck Glovebox, a tiny enclosure carried aboard the Space Shuttle and Mir. In the glovebox, astronauts were able to conduct experiments that are highly promising, but don't quite warrant a full-fledged facility of their own. They still need the personal touch. Aboard space station, a larger, more capable Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) will be installed soon after the Lab module is launched. "It's going to be a little like pulling up to one of the workbenches in the laboratory here," said Charlie Baugher the MSG project scientist. "It'll have everything but the kitchen sink." Services provided by the new glovebox will include electrical power, air conditioning (to clean the air and cool equipment), pressurized nitrogen, a vacuum vent, color video, connections to the space station's own network and - through communications satellites and the Internet - to scientists at universities and government labs. And lots of room. Scientists using the Middeck Glovebox had to cram experiments into containers about the size of a lunch pail, and then astronauts had to conduct the experiments in a volume just a little bigger than the lunch box. The new glovebox--with a large pull-out enclosure--will have openings 40 cm (16 in) wide to accommodate experiments as large as a carry-on bag, and more than enough room for astronauts to work around the apparatus. "The beauty of the MSG is that it is so much more powerful than the original gloveboxes that scientists used and so more complete science can be done," said Dr. Don Gillies, the materials science discipline scientist. On the rack(s) The MSG will be joined by the larger Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) which NASA/Marshall will develop and integrate. The MSRF is a modular facility comprising three autonomous Materials Science Research Racks (MSRR) for research in the microgravity environment on space station. It will house materials processing furnaces and common systems required to operate the furnaces. Each research rack will host on-orbit replaceable Experiment Modules, Module Inserts, investigation- unique apparatus, and other equipment to conduct a wide variety of scientific investigations. The research facility will accommodate the planned and evolving cadre of peer-reviewed science investigations. The facility will provide the apparatus for satisfying near-term and long-range materials science discipline goals and objectives to be accomplished in the U.S. Laboratory. "It will handle a wide range of research in electronic crystals and advanced alloys," said Dr. Frank Szofran, the MSRF project scientist at NASA/Marshall. The research facility will actually comprise three racks, each about 1 meter (40 inches) wide. Although they can be replaced in orbit, NASA envisions keeping the racks in place as long as possible and exchanging experiment systems within the racks. MSRR-1, scheduled for launch in October 2002, will host several modules developed by NASA and the European Space Agency, one of the major space station partners. The left side of the rack will be filled with experiments provided by NASA's Space Product Development Program, which is working with industry to develop commercial applications in space processing. The Space Product Development Experiment Module (SPDEM) being developed by the Consortium for Materials Development in Space at the University of Alabama in Huntsville will accommodate multiple furnace modules, including both transparent and opaque furnaces. The right side will be filled with research equipment provided by NASA and the European Space Agency, which is also building its own lab, the Columbus Orbital Facility. NASA and ESA are each working on two module inserts for the first MSRR. These will take turns using the rack. NASA and its partners are developing the full range of experiments and their schedules. They deliberately avoided locking the experiments in place because science usually moves at an unpredictable rate, and today's discoveries can redirect tomorrow's plans. Watch this space. We'll have more on space station science activities as they develop. [For more information on this topic, please see http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/msad10dec98_1.htm] ------------------------------------------------------------------ MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT OVERVIEW By the Mars Surveyor Operations Project Manager NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4 December 1998 Final signoff of the flight operations products for launch support of the Mars Climate Orbiter have been completed and the flight team is ready for the MCO launch on December 10th. Mars Global Surveyor continues to make excellent progress in its aerobraking activities with the orbital period having been reduced to 4.75 hours. The spacecraft and the aerobraking management team continue their excellent performance without any cause for concern. Approximately 9 minutes of positive margin exists against the baseline aerobraking plan. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT By John McNamee, Mars Surveyor 98 project manager 6 December 1998 Mars Climate Orbiter: Launch -4 days The NASA Launch Readiness Review was conducted. The orbiter was powered and a limited, accelerated countdown test was conducted successfully. After completion of the test during power down activities, an anomaly occurred resulting in the stoppage of the downlink object and the computer rebooting. The problem was repeated in the Spacecraft Test Laboratory (STL) and the cause determined to be a poorly configured command. A flight rule will be established to prevent recurrence of the problem - no change is required on the spacecraft. Mars Polar Lander: Launch -28 days No activity--day off for lander crew. For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, please visit our web site at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98 ------------------------------------------------------------------ REVIEWS OF RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS By Julian Hiscox 5 December 1998 Title: Fluid and electrolyte regulation in spaceflight Authors: Carolyn S. Leach Huntoon Anatoliy I. Grigoriev Yuri V. Natochin Publisher: American Astronautical Society/Univelt ISBN: 0-87703-442-7 (hard cover) 0-87703-443-5 (soft cover) Year: 1998 Pages: 219 Publisher address: Univelt Incorporated, PO Box 28130, San Diego, California 92198, USA. Human space flight has consisted of a series of gradual steps towards a desired goal. For example, the Apollo mission to the Moon first commenced with Project Gemini, the goal of which was to demonstrate and investigate many of the technologies and procedures required for successful lunar missions. One of the principal objectives was to investigate whether humans could operate in space for the time required for a round trip to the Moon. Launched on 4th December, 1965 the 13 day, 18 hour and 35 minute Gemini 7 mission commanded by Frank Borman and piloted by James Lovell clearly demonstrated that this was feasible. Although with the advent of Skylab and the Salyut and Mir space stations has shown that micro-gravity has a pronounced effect on human physiology. Some humans have spent over a year in orbit. The effect of micro-gravity on human physiology has been studied in great detail and myriads of changes occur. Much of this work is comprehensively presented in Fluid and Electrolyte Regulation in Spaceflight. The authors have been intimately associated with their respective nations human space-flight programs since the inception of the space program. The book is divided into a number of sections, presented in a clearly defined logical order. The first section covers how the human body responds to a micro- gravity environment, the differing effects of short and long duration space-flights are then covered, followed by simulations and animal experiments. The book concludes with various countermeasures currently and historically used to mitigate the effects of micro-gravity. Although of a technical nature, the book provides a fascinating insight into the research that has been conducted on human space flight. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in this subject. Title: Orbital mechanics: Theory and Applications Authors: Tom Logsdon Publisher: Wiley-Interscience Year: 1998 ISBN: 0-471-14636-6 Pages: 268 On first inspection understanding orbital mechanics can cause severe headaches. As Tom Logsdon points out in his preface to Orbital Mechanics if you are in a one hundred nautical-mile circular orbit and you press the accelerator, your space craft will immediately begin to speed up. Seemingly without a grasp of complex mathematics and physics, to readers such as myself, understanding these processes can appear insurmountable. This is a shame really because the principals behind these process govern the procession of the planets and indeed the universe. Many books have been published which make an attempt at explaining orbital mechanics but none have presented these processes in a clear and simple manner. Fortunately with his book Orbital Mechanics, Logsdon succeeds where some others have failed. Not only are the principals themselves clearly explained, but also numerous examples are given. The book is divided into ten chapters, followed by a comprehensive bibliography. The book begins with an overview of orbital mechanics, illustrating the observations and contributions of a historical who’s who of orbital mechanic history. This list includes Galileo, Kepler and of course Newton. Logsdon then proceeds to describe satellite orbits and the orbital environment. Various orbital change manoeuvres are covered including the Hohmann transfer maneuver. The practical implications of these for space flight are also illustrated. Orbital Mechanics also describes various boosters currently in use and future concepts such as solar sails and so called skyhooks. In today’s era of global communications Logsdon describes how many communication satellites are needed for global coverage in a variety of orbits. It is easy to recommend this book because the subject matter is so clearly presented, almost as if Logsdon is lecturing in front of you. Title: Managing Martians Author: Donna Shirley (with Danielle Morton) Publisher: Broadway Books ISBN: 0-7679-0240-8 Year: 1998 Pages: 276 Managing Martians by Donna Shirley revolves around the robotic exploration of Mars, but more specifically is a clever intertwining of the management practices used by Shirley to successfully send a new generation rover, called Sojourner to Mars on what several years ago would be considered a shoe-string budget. Shirley begins the book by recounting the day, July 4th 1997, when Mars Pathfinder successfully touched down on Mars and the jubilation that was apparent in mission control. She conveys those exciting times very clearly and I found myself rapidly getting into the book. Much of Shirley’s career has been spent at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Shirley recounts how in 1987 she started leading the research into martian rovers that culminated in Sojourner. She briefly describes the history of rovers that have previously been used in exploring and returning samples from the surface of the Moon. The later half to one third of the book focuses on Shirley’s management style and the ins and outs of how to get a piece of hardware from the design stage to the actually flying. Interestingly, according to Shirley, there was a battle to avoid putting a rover of any description on the Pathfinder lander in preference to other instruments, and secondly she had to fight to get her rover on the spacecraft. In fact Shirley pulls no punches in describing the run-ins. A careful balancing act between the rover being a technology demonstrator platform versus scientific instrument was required. One of the conclusions that is brought home at the end of the book, is that science and engineering involved in planetary exploration have to excite the public, after all it is they who ultimately foot the bill. I would recommend this book to those people who are interested not only in finding out about Mars exploration but also long hard slog it takes to get there. ------------------------------------------------------------------ PLANT BIOCHEMISTRY SUMMER COURSE By Michael Kahn 10 December 1998 [While this is not space biology, per se, it may be of interest to people who are interested in space-related plant science. -DJT] DOE/NSF/USDA is sponsoring an Advanced Plant Biochemistry Course to be held at Washington State University, Pullman, WA from July 11-24, 1999. For more information about registration, see http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~ibc/pbrtc/99biochem.html or contact Karen Maertens at maertens@mail.wsu.edu The course is fairly inexpensive and is an excellent review of topics in plant biochemistry for faculty wishing to update their lectures and for graduate students, post-docs, and industrial scientists wanting an overview of this field. The 1997 course included lectures by a number of outstanding plant scientists (listed below). A list for the 1999 course should be available early next year. "Plant Biochemistry--Then", Paul Stumpf, Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California-Davis "Plant Biochemistry IS Different: Some Examples", Eric E. Conn, Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California-Davis "Angiosperm Relationships Inferred from Gene Sequence Data", Doug and Pam Soltis, Department of Botany, Washington State University "Membrane Transport (Channels and Translocators)", William J. Lucas, Section of Plant Biology, University of California-Davis "Plasmadesmata (Intercellular Transport)", William J. Lucas, Section of Plant Biology, University of California-Davis "Mechanisms and Regulation of Membrane Transport", Leon Kochian, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory, Cornell University "Photosynthesis Light Reactions", David Kramer, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "C" Photosynthesis and Photorespiration", David J. Oliver, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Iowa State University "C4 Photosynthesis", Maurice Ku, Department of Botany, Washington State University "Starch Structure and Enzymology", Jack Preiss, Biochemistry Department, Michigan State University "Metabolic Regulation and Cross-Talk", Bob Buchanan, Department of Plant Biology, University of California-Berkeley "Inositol Metabolism", Frank Loewus, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "Biosynthesis of Lipids", John Ohlrogge, Department of Botany, Michigan State University "Structure/Function of Lipids", John Browse, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "Synthesis of Cutins and Cuticular Waxes", Pappachan Kolattukudy, Biotechnology Center, Ohio State University "Overview of the Plant Cell Wall", Paul Bolwell, Department of Biochemistry, Royal Holloway Bedford New College, University of London, United Kingdom "Biosynthetic Pathway of Cell Wall Carbohydrates", Malcolm Brown, Department of Botany, University of Texas "Nitrate Reductase/Nitrate Assimilation", Robert L. Warner, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University "Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation", Michael L. Kahn, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "Amino Acid Metabolism in Plants", Robert Last, Boyce Thompson Institute Cornell University "Iron, Sulfate, and Phosphate Metabolism", Mary Lou Guerinot, Biological Sciences Department, Dartmouth College "Introduction/Phenylpropanoids", Norman G. Lewis, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "Flavonoids/Isoflavonoids", Rick Dixon, Plant Biology Division, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation "Alkaloid Biosynthesis", Vincenzo (Vince) De Luca, Institut Botanique, University of Montreal "Plant Isoprenoids: Structure, Function, and Biosynthesis", David McCaskill, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "Protein Localization", John C. Rogers, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "Protein Transport", James C. Carrington, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "Gibberellic Acid", Russell Jones, Department of Plant Biology, University of California-Berkeley "Abscisic Acid Biosynthesis, Metabolism, and Biological Activity", M.K. Walker-Simmons, USDA-ARS, Washington State University "Auxin Biosynthesis, Conjugation, and Metabolism", Terri Lomax, Department of Botany and Pathology, Oregon State University "Polypeptide Hormones: Animals, Yeast, and Plants", Gregg Howe, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "Signaling Pathways for Plant Defensive Genes", Clarence A. Ryan, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University "Disease Resistance Genes of Plants", Greg Martin, Department of Horticulture, Purdue University ------------------------------------------------------------------ End Marsbugs Vol. 5, No. 26