MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 6, Number 22, 30 July 1999. Editors: Dr. David J. Thomas, Biology and Chemistry Division, Lyon College, Batesville, AR 72503-2317, USA. Marsbugs@aol.com or dthomas@lyon.edu Dr. Julian A. Hiscox, School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6AJ, United Kingdom. J.A.Hiscox@reading.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 at the official Marsbugs web page (http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/marsbugs/marsbugs.htm l). 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) GIS PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO MARS ATMOSPHERE By Kira Stout 2) SUN NEVER SETS, FOR LONG, ON FAST-SPINNING, WATER-RICH ASTEROID JPL release 3) A RICHTER SCALE FOR COSMIC COLLISIONS NASA Headquarters release 4) DEALING WITH THE IMPACT HAZARD: AN INTERNATIONAL PROJECT IAU release 5) LIVE FROM TUNGUSKA By Luigi Foschini 6) SCIENTISTS WARN OF RISK FROM "DOOMSDAY" ASTEROIDS By Deborah Zabarenko 7) NEW JPL DEEP SEA PROBE TO BE TESTED IN MONTEREY AQUARIUM KELP FOREST JPL release 8) ASTROBIOLOGISTS TO HUNT SMALL GAME IN SIBERIA--ARCTIC PERMAFROST MAY HOLD CLUES TO LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS By Dave Dooling 9) HOUSE SPACE SCIENCE CUTS MOST DEVASTATING IN HISTORY OF AMERICA'S SPACE PROGRAM Planetary Society release 10) ADMINISTRATOR CALLS CUTS TO NASA BUDGET "DEVASTATING" NASA release 99-86 11) BUDGET CUTS COULD SHUT JPL By Andrew Bridges 12) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORT JPL release 13) NEW MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES By Ron Baalke ---------------------------------------------------------------- GIS PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO MARS ATMOSPHERE By Kira Stout, Northern Arizona University (kas8@dana.ucc.nau.edu) 12 July 1999 While local meteorologists are keeping an eye on Earth's atmosphere, one Northern Arizona University professor is taking her research to the atmosphere of the red planet. Samantha Arundel, assistant professor of geography and public planning in the College of Ecosystems Science and Management, is working with scientists in the astrogeology team of the U.S. Geological Survey. The team received a $132,000 grant from NASA to study surface features and the atmosphere of Mars using data collected from the Mars Orbiter Camera on the Mars Global Surveyor, a spacecraft launched in 1996 by NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Arundel will help the team track changes in wind-blown surface features, like dunes and yardangs, eventually leading to information about shifting atmospheric circulation patterns. "Studying other atmospheres gives us more knowledge about our own atmosphere," she said. "Also, knowing how the surface changes aids in planning future landing sites." By examining the surface features of the planet, Arundel hopes to gather information about the atmosphere. Using a program called Geographical Information Systems, she will be able to analyze the surface and atmospheric features of the planet. Arundel also is using GIS in studying the last glacial cycle in the Colorado Plateau region. Arundel and scientists Ken Cole and Kathryn Thomas at the Colorado Plateau Field Station (also USGS), received a USGS Global Change Research Program combined grant of almost $1 million over the next five years. GIS will be used to model plant distributions during the last glacial cycle and the independent effects different climatic variables have on them. It also will be used to predict migration rates and future distribution patterns. This is important for maintaining a resource base during future climatic changes, Arundel said. GIS is a "computerized way of working with spatial data," Arundel said. "Anything you do with spatial data, you can use GIS to analyze and manage it," she said. Arundel said GIS has affected spatial data analysis in much the same way. On the Mars project, Arudel said, "We will probably be using GIS in atmospheric modeling, although we're not sure exactly how at this moment. Atmospheric modeling has traditionally been undertaken through sequential programming languages and not visualized until the end. I am hoping to use GIS during the process so that layers and various output can be visualized as we go." In addition to geographers, GIS also is used by city planners in deciding the best construction locations, by biologists in tracking animals, by 911 operators in deciding the quickest ambulance routes and a variety of other professions. The Geography and Public Planning department offers a Geographical Information Management emphasis in its geography program to students interested in the management of spatial data. "It is a comprehensive program, and there are more and more students interested in it," Arundel said. "Every GIM graduate I have advised has found a job in the field within six months of graduation." ---------------------------------------------------------------- SUN NEVER SETS, FOR LONG, ON FAST-SPINNING, WATER-RICH ASTEROID JPL release 22 July 1999 Spinning faster than any object ever observed in the solar system, a lumpy, water-rich sphere known as 1998 KY26, about the diameter of a baseball diamond, is rotating so swiftly that its day ends almost soon as it begins, NASA scientists report. Asteroid 1998 KY26, where the Sun rises or sets every five minutes, was observed June 2-8, 1998, shortly after it was discovered and as it passed 800,000 kilometers (half a million miles) from Earth, or about twice the distance between Earth and the moon. Publishing their findings in tomorrow's issue of Science magazine, Dr. Steven J. Ostro of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, and an international team of astronomers used a radar telescope in California and optical telescopes in the Czech Republic, Hawaii, Arizona and California to image the 30-meter (100-foot), water-rich ball as it twirled through space. It is the smallest solar system object ever studied in detail. "These observations are a breakthrough for asteroid science and a milestone in our exploration of the small bodies of the solar system," Ostro said. "Enormous numbers of objects this small are thought to exist very close to Earth, but this is the first time we've been able to study one in detail. Ironically, this asteroid is smaller than the radar instruments we used to observe it." The asteroid's rotation period was calculated at just 10.7 minutes, compared to 24 hours for Earth and at least several hours for the approximately 1,000 asteroids measured to date. In addition to these findings, the minerals in 1998 KY26 probably contain about a million gallons of water, enough to fill two or three olympic-sized swimming pools, Ostro said. "This asteroid is quite literally an oasis for future space explorers," he said. "Its optical and radar properties suggest a composition like carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, which contain complex organic compounds that have been shown to have nutrient value. These could be used as soil to grow food for future human outposts. And among the 25,000 or so asteroids with very reliably known orbits, 1998 KY26 is in an orbit that makes it the most accessible to a spacecraft." The solar system is thought to contain about 10 million asteroids this small in orbits that cross Earth's, and about 1 billion in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. However, only a few dozen of these tiny asteroids have ever been found and, until now, hardly anything was known about the nature of these objects. Ostro and his colleagues used the 70-meter-diameter (230- foot) Goldstone, CA, antenna of NASA's Deep Space Network to transmit radar signals continuously to the asteroid and turned a 34- meter-diameter (112-foot) antenna on it to collect echoes bouncing back from the object. 1998 KY26's color and radar reflectivity showed similarities to carbonaceous chondrites, primordial meteorites that formed during the origin of the solar system, and unlike any rocks formed on Earth. They contain complex organic compounds as well as 10 percent to 20 percent water. Some carbonaceous chondrites contain amino acids and nucleic acids, which are the building blocks of proteins and DNA, and hence, are of interest to scientists trying to unravel the origins of life. A second team of astronomers used optical telescopes to track 1998 KY26, which was discovered by the University of Arizona's Spacewatch telescope, the world's first instrument dedicated to searching for near-Earth asteroids. Dr. Petr Pravec of the Czech Republic’s Academy of Sciences said collisions likely gave 1998 KY26 its rapid spin. But one way or another, Pravec said, this object's 10.7- minute "day" is the shortest of any known object in the solar system. "The motion of the sky would be 135 times faster than it is on Earth," he said. "Sunrises and sunsets take about two minutes on Earth, but on 1998 KY26, they would take less than one second. You'd see a sunrise or sunset every five minutes." Dr. Scott Hudson of Washington State University in Pullman found the asteroid's shape particularly surprising. Asteroids thousands of times larger have spherical shapes as a result of their large masses and strong gravitational fields, he said. 1998 KY26 is very unusual, however, because gravity and mass play no significant role in its shape. Instead, the spheroid shape is the result of collisions with other asteroids. While much larger near-Earth asteroids could pose a long- term collision hazard, 1998 KY26's size makes it harmless if it were on a collision course. The asteroid would most likely explode in the upper atmosphere and its fragments would fall harmlessly to Earth. Moreover, 1998 KY26 is in an orbit whose shape and low inclination with respect to the ecliptic plane make it unusually easy to intercept. Tracking of 1998 KY26 by Ostro and his colleagues in the international scientific community was supported by NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC, and by the Czech Republic's Academy of Sciences in Prague. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. ---------------------------------------------------------------- A RICHTER SCALE FOR COSMIC COLLISIONS NASA Headquarters release From NASA Science News [http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast22jul99_2.htm] 22 July 1999 Planetary scientists have developed a new means of conveying the risks associated with asteroids and comets that might collide with the Earth. A risk-assessment scale, similar to the Richter scale used for earthquakes, will assign values to celestial objects moving near Earth. The scale will run from zero to 10. An object with a value of zero or one will have virtually no chance of causing damage on Earth; a 10 means a certain global climatic catastrophe. The scale was created by Dr. Richard P. Binzel, professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA. It is named the Torino Impact Hazard Scale after the Italian city in which the scale was initially adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in June 1999. The scale is being endorsed officially today by the IAU in an announcement at the United Nations' UNISPACE III conference in Vienna, Austria. "These events have a small probability of occurring, but if they happen they can have severe consequences," said Binzel. "It is difficult to figure out what level of anxiety we should have about an approaching asteroid or comet. I hope the Torino scale will put in perspective whether a Near-Earth Object merits public concern, just as the Richter Scale does with earthquakes." "What I find especially important about the Torino impact scale is that it comes in time to meet future needs as the rate of discoveries of Near-Earth Objects continues to increase," said Dr. Hans Rickman, IAU Assistant General Secretary. The scale takes into account the object's size and speed, as well as the probability that it will collide with Earth. Scientists, science journalists and the public can use the scale at different levels of complexity. Close encounters, assigned Torino-scale values from two to seven, could be categorized as ranging from "events meriting concern" to "threatening events." Certain collisions would merit values of eight, nine or 10, depending on whether the impact energy is large enough to cause local, regional or global devastation. No asteroid identified to date has ever had a value greater than one, noted Binzel, who has been working on the scale for five years. Several asteroids that had initial hazard scale values of one have been reclassified to zero after additional orbit measurements showed that the chances of impact with the Earth were essentially zero. "Nobody should lose sleep over an asteroid in the zero or one category," Binzel said. "Scientists haven't done a very good job of communicating to the public the relative danger of collision with an asteroid. The Torino Scale should help us clearly inform but not confuse the public." Increasingly sophisticated equipment, partially funded by NASA, such as the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research project at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA, is used to detect and track a growing number of an estimated 2,000 Near-Earth Objects larger than about a half-mile (one kilometer) in diameter. The project uses technology originally developed for the surveillance of Earth-orbiting satellites. It has detected almost 250,000 asteroids to date, more than any other source. Of these, 228 are newly discovered Near-Earth Objects. Large asteroids are rarely a threat to the Earth. An asteroid bigger than a mile across might hit once every 100,000 to one million years on average. On the other hand, tiny meteorite fragments as big as grains of sand bombard Earth constantly, and objects the size of a small car hit a few times a year. Once an asteroid is detected, scientists use tracking data from a tiny section of its orbit to calculate where it will be in 10, 15 or 100 years. There is some uncertainty in this prediction because the orbit measurements are not perfect and the path of an object may be altered by gravity if it passes close to Earth or another planet. As more information is gathered about a particular asteroid, its placement on the scale can be adjusted. "The Torino scale is a major advance in our ability to explain the hazard posed by a particular object," said Dr. Carl Pilcher, science director for Solar System exploration in NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. "If we ever find an object with a value greater than one, the scale will be an effective way to communicate the resulting risk." A more detailed explanation of the points on the Torino for Cosmic scale and related graphics are available on the internet at http://impact.arc.nasa.gov. ---------------------------------------------------------------- DEALING WITH THE IMPACT HAZARD: AN INTERNATIONAL PROJECT IAU release 22 July 1999 The Earth is constantly sweeping up particles of various sizes as it travels on its orbit around the Sun. We often see some of them burning in the atmosphere as meteors. From time to time, penetrating objects that are many meters across may cause major explosions in the air. Recently, public concern has been raised over much less frequent but devastating impacts by km-sized asteroids or comets. It has now been realized that the risk of fatality as a result of such impacts is comparable to that of well-perceived hazards like airplane crashes. Possibly hazardous objects in the solar system can be discovered by astronomical observations, e.g., when they are recorded as faint streaks of light in long telescopic exposures because of their motions. Astronomers therefore have a special mission relating to the impact hazard, namely, that of discovering and characterizing the dangerous objects, and, hopefully, by verifying the expectation that no major impact is going to occur during the next centuries. The vast majority of these "dangerous" objects have as yet escaped discovery and, since we do not know their orbits, they may hit at any time. For the time being, only statistical calculations can be made. They show that the risk of the Earth being hit by a km-sized object during the next couple of centuries is one-in-a-thousand. The risks are low but the consequences are large enough to cause concern. In fact, astronomers have now put in place efficient search programs that are already resulting in a fast stream of new discoveries of such objects. When the newly discovered objects are investigated with regard to future encounters with the Earth, it is sometimes found that, due to the necessarily imprecise, initial orbit determinations, the risk of a collision cannot be entirely ruled out. The likelihood of such a possible disaster may also be estimated. If it is found to be significant when compared to the combined risk posed by all the unknown objects, then the asteroid or comet in question will become subject of careful monitoring. The expectation is that improved knowledge of its orbit will sooner or later show that the impact will not occur. This is at least the outcome of all monitoring programmes so far. This type of observational work is now occupying a small group of astronomers worldwide. It is an international effort, since the impact hazard is obviously of concern to the entire world. Possible impacting objects are best studied by means of international observing campaigns and there must be an efficient exchange of information among all scientists involved. This is also why the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has engaged itself as co-sponsor of a very well attended workshop in Torino, Italy, on June 1-4. Among the other main co-sponsors were NASA and ESA. Many related issues were debated during this meeting. For instance, how to secure a fast, efficient search such that nearly all the potentially hazardous asteroids get discovered and safely catalogued before too long; how to collaborate in order to measure their most important physical properties by means of ground-based as well as space-based observations; how to speed up and widen the data channels for an optimal use of the world's combined observational facilities, and, not least, how to inform both the public and political authorities--if ever needed--about calculations that point towards sinister events. Even though US national agencies, i.e., NASA and the US Air Force, are presently carrying a major part of the burden of these observations and calculations and may possibly increase their efforts further, the participants in the Torino meeting decided to make a strong recommendation to all governments to establish "National Spaceguard Centers" and to support these financially. In this way, a proper sharing of responsibilities may be realised, so that this important work can be enhanced and reach maximum efficiency. Another urgent action item is the setting up of an expert committee, under the auspices of the IAU, that will check impact predictions and advise about their publication. Perhaps the most visible and immediately practical result was the adoption of the so-called "Torino impact scale". It was worked out by Prof. Richard Binzel of MIT (Cambridge MA, USA) as a tool for communicating the issues of impact prediction outside the professional circuit. With some superficial similarities to the Richter scale for earthquake intensity, it divides the predictions into classes 0-10. All events that have no likely consequences belong to class 0 and higher numbers correspond to progressively more probable, and/or more serious impacts. At the present time, no single asteroid is known that has been assigned an impact prediction in a class higher than 0. This is of course fortunate and this is expected to be the normal state of affairs. However, it is also likely that initial uncertainties in the calculation of an orbit of a newly discovered asteroid may temporarily place it in a higher category. This is not a cause for immediate concern, but merely signals the need for more accurate observations, leading to a better determination of the orbit. With the increased rate of discoveries of asteroids and the efficient schemes of orbital computations now in use, the new Torino Scale will most certainly become of great use and will be frequently cited as reference. For further information, contact: Hans Rickman (IAU Assistant General Secretary) Uppsala Astronomical Observatory, Uppsala, Sweden Email: hans@astro.uu.se Tel: +46-18-513522 Fax: +46-18-527583 ---------------------------------------------------------------- LIVE FROM TUNGUSKA By Luigi Foschini [http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/press2407_en.htm] 24 July 1999 The exploration of Ceko lake goes on successfully. We have obtained a bathymetry, that shows a funnel-shaped lake with a depth between 54 and 56 meters. Even though there are on the bottom large accumulations of trees, these accumulations are sufficiently concentrated and leave free wide zones of the bottom, allowing the core boring. We have seen, with a submarine tv camera, a strewn vegetation till great depth. We have investigated, with a seismic-acoustic profile-maker, sediments under the bottom of the lake untill 100 m depth. Today and tomorrow we will make first core boring. Still today, we will begin the aerophotographic survey in order to verify some hypotesis about the explosion mechanism of the 1908 event and to give to the "Tunguska Natural Reserve" some informations about the development of the vegetation in the zone. Yesterday a large group of participants moved, by helicopter, to the explosion epicenter and walked for about one dozen kilometers in marshes and forests, making measurements of geographical coordinates by means of GPS. See some photos from Tunguska! (http://www- th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/tu99foto.htm) ---------------------------------------------------------------- SCIENTISTS WARN OF RISK FROM "DOOMSDAY" ASTEROIDS By Deborah Zabarenko 27 July 1999 The good news: there are fewer potential "doomsday" asteroids than previously believed that could cause an earthly catastrophe if they struck the planet, scientists said Tuesday. The bad news? A big one could smack into Earth in the coming century, they said. A "doomsday" asteroid is defined as one with a diameter greater than 0.6 mile (1 km), which could cause global climatic catastrophe if it collided with Earth. Debris from such a collision would be predicted to cause worldwide clouding and cooling, with possibly disastrous effects on crops and animals. Read the full story at http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/sc/story.html?s=v/nm/199907 27/sc/space_doomsday_1.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- NEW JPL DEEP SEA PROBE TO BE TESTED IN MONTEREY AQUARIUM KELP FOREST JPL release 26 July 1999 A new aluminum deep sea probe, the prototype of one designed to withstand crushing pressures and extreme temperatures, is set to be lowered to depths of 9 meters (30 feet) in Monterey Bay Aquarium's giant kelp forest July 28 as part of NASA's hunt for clues to life's origins. Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, will sink the new package of underwater cameras, temperature sensors, optics and a spectrometer into the emerald waters of a controlled aquatic environment to test the capabilities of more advanced instruments to explore the interior of volcanic vents. These cracks in the sea floor, occurring at depths of between 500 meters and 4,000 meters (1,650 feet and 13,200 feet), are known to nurture a pageantry of macabre bottom-dwellers such as salps, siphonophores, crustaceans and gelatinous animals only recently discovered at such depths. "These instruments will be able to record water temperatures in the throat of a vent, capture video and low- and- high- resolution still images of the walls of the vent, and record spectral or fluorescent signatures of minerals and bioluminescent life dwelling in these crevices," said Dr. Arthur Lane, manager of the Underwater Volcanic Vent Mission probe at JPL. "The experiment will demonstrate a more sophisticated set of instruments that will be used in late August and September to probe the Pitcairn, McDonald and Teahitia seamounts near Tahiti, where hydrothermal vents range from 900 meters to 3,600 meters (2,970 feet to 11,880 feet) in depth." The mission will gather preliminary data and serve as a stepping stone in the development of technology and instrument housing required in the search for evidence of life in extreme, high- pressure liquid environments. This information will aid in NASA's proposed efforts to develop technologies capable of exploring more extreme liquid and ice environments, such as Lake Vostok in Antarctica, and eventually, to send instrumented probes to the Martian polar caps and frozen oceans on Jupiter's moon, Europa, and Saturn's moon, Titan. The discovery of gelatinous material in underwater volcanic vents has opened a new chapter in the search for life and organisms that can survive in extreme environments. Hydrothermal vents and the biological communities thriving in these remote pockets of the sea floor are found primarily at tectonic plate junctions at temperatures ranging from nearly 80 to almost 400 degrees Celsius (170 to 750 degrees Fahrenheit) and at pressures as high as 6,000 pounds per square inch. Typical water temperatures inside the vents range from 200 to more than 350°C (392 to 662°F) and drop quickly to ambient temperatures of about 4°C (39°F) outside of the vents. To date, organisms living near the vents are known to inhabit only the waters outside of the vents. Layers of gelatinous material attached to the vents are presumed to be organic and the product of living organisms. Researchers have reported that on at least one occasion the gel appeared to emanate directly from a vent throat. "If there are indeed life forms present inside these vents, their presence may challenge accepted notions of the temperature ranges at which life can function," Lane said. Last year, Lane and colleague Lloyd French of JPL, in collaboration with Dr. Gary McMurtry of the University of Hawaii, developed and deployed an instrumented probe into the Forbidden Vent Fields near the summit of the Loihi seamount, an underwater Hawaiian volcano. That probe was tested last year in Monterey aquarium's kelp tank before its deployment in Hawaii. "The probe was capable only of limited visual imaging and temperature determination at depths of approximately 1,500 meters (4,950 feet)," French said. "Since that time, we've been able to increase the depths at which these instruments can operate to more than 4,000 meters (13,200 feet). The free- standing package of instruments will be able to acquire temperature data, video imaging and high-resolution digital stills. This year we're also testing a new light source and spectrographic instrument to see if we can gather more information about the bacterial growth--what looked like thin veils of jellyfish-like material--we observed last year around the Loihi vent." During the mission this August and September, scientists will use the French research vessel L'Atalante to test their instrument probe in several deep ocean volcanic vents in the South Pacific. Using a deep submersible called Nautile, equipped with a robotic arm, they will place the 142-centimeter (56-inch) titanium tube housing the instruments inside several vents in the area to investigate the presence and nature of organic matter. Once the technology has been developed and demonstrated to work at depths of 4,000 meters (13,200 feet), the probe's external shell will be modified for use in sub-glacial lakes like Lake Vostok, an ancient freshwater lake that appears to extend about that deep beneath Antarctic's surface. The design may also become a prototype for a probe that could penetrate Mars' icy polar caps and search for microbial life, or explore a liquid ocean thought to lie 7 kilometers to 8 kilometers (about 4 miles to 5 miles) below the icy surface of Europa. The Tahiti underwater volcanic vent mission is a collaboration of the international POLYNAUT campaign in the South Pacific, conducted by the French Institute of Research and Exploitation of the Sea, with involvement from the University of Hawaii and NASA/JPL. JPL's work on the project is conducted for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ASTROBIOLOGISTS TO HUNT SMALL GAME IN SIBERIA--ARCTIC PERMAFROST MAY HOLD CLUES TO LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS By Dave Dooling From NASA Science News [http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast27jul99_1.htm] 27 July 1999 Sleeping on the permafrost and drilling for ice doesn't sound like the ideal way to spend your summer. It's remote, it's cold, and the very name carries unpleasant memories of prison camps. But it's also an ideal place to look for life forms that have learned survival tricks that might be in use on the permafrost and polar caps of Mars, Europa, Callisto and other icy moons of the solar system. Richard Hoover, of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, is headed to North Siberia for a two-month trek to hunt cryophiles, microbial extremophiles that love extreme, cold conditions like the Siberian permafrost. Already, he carries around a reminder that interesting things await: a vial of growing moss that remained alive yet dormant while frozen for 40,000 years in the permafrost of the Kolyma Lowlands of Beringia in northeastern Siberia. It is in Kolyma that Hoover, solar physicist turned astrobiologist, will become a roughneck. "I'll be turned into a driller's helper," Hoover explained, "after David Gilichinsky trains me. We'll be using aseptic drilling techniques to obtain deep permafrost and ice samples for microbiological research. We will examine the cores for viable and fossil diatoms, bacteria, cyanobacteria, yeast, fungi, Game in Siberia actinomycetes and other microbial life- forms." Gilichinsky, a member of the Institute of Soil Science and Photosynthesis of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is one of Hoover's partners in the Joint U.S./Russian Research in Space Science (JURRISS) Program. NASA selected their proposal in May. In collaboration with Professor Elena Vorobyova of Moscow State University, they proposed to conduct an in situ study of permafrost as a microbial habitat. Now that Siberia's brief summer is about to end, it's time for Hoover and Gilichinsky to go hunting for small game. To understand where to look, Hoover and Professor Elena A. Vorobyova will study the microbial content of permafrost and the structure of the interface between the soil and ice. This research is important to astrobiology for the development of techniques that could be used in exploring Mars, Europa, Callisto, Io, comets, asteroids, and other icy worlds of our solar system. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, distribution and limitations of life in the cosmos. It seeks to answer these fundamental questions. How does life begin and develop? Does life exist elsewhere in the universe? What is life's future on earth and beyond? A major element of the NASA Astrobiology Program is studying how life, in the form of microbes, survives on Earth under extreme conditions. These microbes are called extremophiles. "The microorganisms found in the permafrost, glaciers, and polar ice caps of Earth are of profound significance to astrobiology," Hoover said. His peer-reviewed article entitled "Significance to Astrobiology of Microorganisms in Permafrost and Ice" has just been accepted for publication by Kluwer in a new book on permafrost. It also was the topic of a paper he delivered at the SPIE Astrobiology Conference held by the Society of Photo- Optical Instrumentation Engineers in Denver on July 21, 1999. "Dormant ancient microbes, and even higher plants such as moss, can remain viable by cryopreservation, resuming metabolic activity upon thawing after being frozen in glacial ice or permafrost for thousands to millions of years," Hoover explained. "The microbial extremophiles in the Arctic and Antarctic glaciers and permafrost represent analogs for cells that might be encountered in the permafrost or ice caps of Mars or other icy bodies of the solar system." Despite its harsh environment, Siberia is a natural resource that has been barely explored. Hoover, Gilichinsky, and other scientists count the permafrost-- soil that remains frozen year-round--to be one of those resources. Hoover said three types of life-forms are found in permafrost: active ones that eke out a living in thin water films between grains of soil and ice, viable but inactive forms that are frozen in suspended animation (deep anabiosis) until things get better, and the frozen carcasses of microbes that simply gave up and died. "We're very excited about the living microbes and plants that we have found in permafrost and on ice wedges and glaciers and the viable but long dormant, ancient microorganisms that can be cultured from permafrost, glaciers and deep ice cores," Hoover said. " Even dead microbes from ancient permafrost and deep ice are tremendously important due to their perfect state of preservation, with intact cell membranes, organelles, proteins, DNA and RNA. They make possible an entirely new field of research that may be designated molecular paleontology." In Siberia, Hoover is particularly interested in patterned ground ice wedges and volcano-shaped pingos. "The ice wedges form when the ground freezes and breaks into large exposed polygonal cracks," he explained. "Water fills the cracks during warm weather, refreezes and expands the crack in the winter." The cycle repeats endlessly. Some of the permafrost ice wedges have very ancient ice at the center. This also means that any life forms caught deep in the ice of ancient glaciers and permafrost are extremely old. Vorobyova brought to NASA/Marshall ancient ice samples from Beacon Valley, Antarctica, and has cultured actinomycetes and bacteria from this ancient glacial ice. Studies of the Beacon Valley ice and permafrost at NASA/Marshall's Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) revealed the presence of large numbers of ancient bacteria, mycelial fungi and intact diatoms with extracellular polysaccharides, indicating the diatoms were stillalive when frozen. Exact dating of the samples is under way, but these ancient and still viable microbes may be of Miocene age, possibly more than 8 million years old. "I am also very interested in pingos," Hoover continued. "We have seen evidence of pingos in images of Mars from near the polar ice caps." Pingos are soil covered ice mounds that resemble volcanoes. They are formed as ice freezes on solid permafrost between ice wedge boundaries. "Pingos can be very big, very tall," Hoover explained, "with some reaching heights of tens of meters." "If we can find a suitable pingo, I hope to obtain samples of the interior ice. What kinds of microorganisms are in there? Are there rocks that get trapped and form cryoconite holes?" Cryoconite holes can be temporary glacial micro-Edens. Cryoconite holes occur in glacial ice when dark rock on the surface of the ice get heated by sunlight and melt the ice. The water and rock dust is ideal for the growth of cyanobacteria, diatoms, bacteria, fungi, and even mosses. "I found orange mosses covered with black films of cyanobacteria growing on the ice of the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska. Rock debris broken from mountains and rock surfaces by the moving ice and may also be captured in the ice and promote ice bubble ecosystems. Tracking down an astrobiologist on the move "It may be a cyanobacterium," Richard Hoover said as the electron microscope showed what most of us would pass up as a meaningless blob. Interviewing Hoover sometimes means talking with him on the fly. He's rarely still in one place for very long, unless it's in a chair just behind a NASA engineer who operates the Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM). That's where Science@NASA caught up with Hoover to talk with him about his trip to Siberia. The ESEM is a sophisticated tool that NASA/Marshall acquired for detailed analysis of the broken edges of failed materials. As part of his astrobiology investigation, Hoover uses it for [Image] the designer's original purpose, studying microbes without the damage that comes with most electron microscope techniques. Hoover sat with Professor Elena A. Vorobyova and Professor Sabit S. Abyzov (the discoverer of deep ice microorganisms at Vostok Station, Antarctica) as they examined microscopic objects in ice from just above the surface of Lake Vostok in the Antarctic. Hoover and Abyzov have studied Vostok ice before, but this sample is the deepest yet, 3,611 meters (2.3 miles) under the snow-swept surface and just a few dozen meters above where scientists expect to hit the liquid surface of a body as large as Lake Ontario and about 400,000 years old. "We have reached a deep layer at 3,623 meters," Abyzov said, "and stopped because to go deeper we need the permission of an international commission for research on Lake Vostok to avoid contamination of a very ancient lake." Meanwhile, selected ice samples from just above the "lake surface" are being melted to see what traces of early life are buried with them. "The fundamental problem is we're seeing things that we have never seen before and therefore they are very difficult to identify," Hoover said. They have found very large white filaments that are similar to filaments Hoover discovered in an ancient frozen thermokarst pond in the Cold Regions Research and Environmental Laboratory (CRREL) Permafrost Tunnel in Fox, Alaska. These white filaments may be heterotrophic cyanobacteria, which could live in total darkness by eating organic material (called heterotrophic nutrition) rather than photosynthesis. "This is very important for studying the history of biology on [Image] our planet," Abyzov continued, "and for the future of astrobiology. We are interested in using Vostok Lake to develop methods for searching for life on Europa and Ganymede and Callisto," Jupiter's ice-covered moons. "We really want to do a spectrum on that filament before we get away from it," Hoover interrupted. In addition to making nice pictures, the ESEM can do a chemical assay by analyzing X-rays emitted by outer electrons of atoms in the sample. "Look at the nickel!" Hoover exclaimed a few minutes later as a mineral particle was analyzed. "We have a nice nickel peak, lots of zinc, calcium, titanium. It's a mineral. We're seeing nickel that's not inconsistent with a tiny speck of meteorite or cosmic dust." A few microns away on the same mote, the signature changed: "It looks like you're examining a different object." And so it went as the trio explored new microterrain and developed new lessons that will help refine the search for life elsewhere in the solar system. "Wow!" Hoover exclaimed. "That's interesting. Look at that. Elena found a beautiful Pinnularia diatom in the ancient ice from Beacon Valley." ---------------------------------------------------------------- HOUSE SPACE SCIENCE CUTS MOST DEVASTATING IN HISTORY OF AMERICA'S SPACE PROGRAM Planetary Society release [http://planetary.org] The House Appropriations Subcommittee this evening voted to slash $1.3 billion from NASA's FY 2000 budget, which, could will cripple the agency and force the termination of many critical space science missions, according to Dr. Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society. "The House action gives new meaning to 'deep impact'", said Friedman. "The space science cuts are the most devastating in NASA's history and effectively curtail space exploration after 2001. It's an irresponsible budget that does terrible harm to America's future." "NASA's budget has been reduced every year since 1992, and the proposed cuts would be the coup de grace," Friedman added. "In the last decade NASA has led the federal government in accomplishing more for less. Now, these gains will be lost." The Congressional action ironically occurs as NASA astronauts are in orbit launching Chandra, a new great observatory. The House $1.3 billion cutback is about 10 percent of NASA's total funding ($13.665 billion). But the cut to the space science program, now $2.2 billion, is $640 million--29 percent! If the full Congress passes this action, the planetary missions that would probably be terminated include: ? All missions to Mars after 2001, including the international sample return mission in 2005. ? All Discovery missions after Stardust ? The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) ? The Europa orbiter ? Missions to the outer planets ? Explorer Program missions Additional space and Earth science missions would also be cancelled. "The House cuts fly in the face of recent Congressional studies that recommend investing more--not less--in science and technology," Friedman said. The full House recently passed the NASA authorization bill, which boosts spending above the Administration's request. "If the House is truly serious about these cutbacks, it should hold hearings to allow for public comment," Friedman said. "At a minimum, a full and open debate about alternatives to ending the American role in space exploration should be held." For more information, contact Louis Friedman at (626) 7935100 or by email: tps.ldf@planetary.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ADMINISTRATOR CALLS CUTS TO NASA BUDGET "DEVASTATING" NASA release 99-86 27 July 1999 "The NASA team just launched Chandra, the world's most powerful space telescope," NASA Administrator Dan Goldin said. "Today, we will have to turn it back on Washington to see what remains of the NASA budget." Last night, a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee passed a funding bill that cuts NASA's budget about 11 percent below the President's request for Fiscal Year 2000. "Year after year, NASA is touted for doing more and more with smaller budgets and held up as a model of good government," said Goldin. "The NASA employees get up every day to achieve what most think is impossible. They have risen to the challenge of smaller budgets. And this is the reward the NASA team gets? Not only is this cut devastating to NASA's programs, it is a knife in the heart of employee morale. "It is a shame that in the same week that we are celebrating the legacy of the space program--and we are building on it by sending the first woman to command the Space Shuttle--we could be effectively smashing one of America's crown jewels," Goldin said. "NASA continues to deliver amazing scientific discoveries and reach new heights of exploration. To many Americans, NASA is a cornerstone of our national pride. But there is nothing to be proud of in this budget. "Over the past five years, NASA has restructured the Agency, done more with less, reduced government employees by one-third without forced layoffs, and still significantly increased productivity. Up until now, NASA has always stepped up to the budgetary challenge. This time the NASA team plans to fight. These cuts would gut space exploration. They may force the closure of one to three NASA centers, and significant layoffs would most certainly follow," said Goldin. The Administrator noted other implications for the budget as well. ? For the past seven years, the NASA budget has declined and, because of inflation, the Agency's buying power is already down by one-third. ? While the subcommittee's cuts total $1.325 billion, if these figures are projected out five years, the cuts would total approximately $5.3 billion. ? Over the past five years, NASA's streamlining efforts have saved the taxpayer $35 billion. "This cut destroys the technology base built by NASA," Goldin said. "Our ability to further reduce costs and increase scientific productivity would end. NASA is one of only a few investments our nation makes to ensure a bright future, a strong economy and the technology base to achieve it. As a result of the cuts, we would be forced to eat our seed corn, and in the long-term it would weaken America's technological and defense sectors. Perhaps most sadly, we will lose the opportunity to inspire a future generation of children." "I won't feel better until every nickel is restored," said Goldin. ---------------------------------------------------------------- BUDGET CUTS COULD SHUT JPL By Andrew Bridges From the Pasadena Star-News 28 July 1999 A Republican push to slash NASA's $2.2 billion space science budget by nearly a third could lead to massive layoffs at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or even closure of the facility and cancellation of its Mars, Pluto and other missions. A House subcommittee voted late Monday to cut about 11 percent of the President's proposed budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. However, the proposed cuts leave the Space Shuttle program and international space station largely unscathed, leaving the brunt to fall on the agency's Earth and space science programs. In JPL's case, the cuts would be devastating, said Larry Dumas, the lab's deputy director. Combined NASA funding for Earth and space science programs alone makes up $953 million of JPL's roughly $1.2 billion annual budget. NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said the cuts could lead to the closure of one to three of the agency's 10 centers around the country. Dumas said JPL could be among those closed. Read the full story at http://www.newschoice.com/WebNews/LaxPsdFpg1/99-07- 28_tfront.asp?GPC=LaxPsd. ---------------------------------------------------------------- MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORT JPL release 22 July 1999 Last Orbit Covered by this Report = 1661 Total Orbits = 3343 Total Mapping Orbits = 1661 Recent events The mm005 sequence continues execution in performing the mapping sequence data collection and return. Work has begun on the development of the next 28 -day mapping sequence, mm006, which will begin execution on July 29. The MOLA North/South Pole off-nadir observation sequence has been successfully uplinked to the spacecraft and will begin execution July 28 at 12:23 UTC. A formal change request has been approved by the project to stop SA auto-tracking and implement a solar tracking scheme, where the solar arrays are commanded to fixed positions at three different points in the orbit. A 24° SA rate would be utilized for the commanded "catch up" periods. This change is scheduled for implementation on the spacecraft August 10. HGA anomaly The HGA gimbal is currently operational with full redundancy on side-A. The fault protection threshold for HGA stuck gimbal is at 25 seconds (50 counts). Spacecraft health All subsystems continue to report nominal status. Uplinks There have been 9 uplinks to the spacecraft during the last week, including new star catalog and ephemeris files, and instrument command loads. Total command files radiated to the spacecraft since launch is 3799. Upcoming Events 1. MOLA North and South Pole off-nadir observations on July 28 and 29. 2. Implementation of new Solar Array tracking scheme on August 10. ---------------------------------------------------------------- NEW MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES By Ron Baalke 26 July 1999 The following new images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available. ? Winter Frosts of the Retreating South Polar Cap The images reside on the Mars Global Surveyor web site at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/index.html The image captions are appended below. Mars Global Surveyor was launched in November 1996 and has been in Mars orbit since September 1997. It began its primary mapping mission on March 8, 1999. Mars Global Surveyor is the first mission in a long-term program of Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program that is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera Winter Frosts of the Retreating South Polar Cap MGS MOC Release #MOC2-164, 26 July 1999 July 1999--Spring is rapidly approaching for the martian southern hemisphere. Over the past month, much of the high southern latitudes of Mars have emerged from nearly 5 months of wintertime darkness, revealing a bright, frost-covered surface that presently extends from about 57°S to the south pole. Frosts at this time of year can consist of both frozen carbon dioxide ("dry ice") and frozen water. The above images are interpreted to show surfaces covered by water frost, because the temperature of the surface at the time the images were acquired was about -184°F or -120°C (visit the Thermal Emission Spectrometer to see an example of their data). This temperature is above the freezing point of carbon dioxide (around -200°F = - 130°C). The pair of Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images presented here show a snow-covered surface located on Malea Planum, south of the giant Hellas impact basin. These pictures were taken simultaneously on July 18, 1999. The first image (left) is a MOC red camera wide angle context view showing the location of the higher-resolution narrow angle camera view (right). The white box in the context image indicates the location of the high-resolution view. Small black dots in the narrow angle image (right) are boulders and other surfaces from which the snow has been defrosted. The large crater in the wide angle (left) image is about 36 km (22 mi.) across. The narrow angle (right) image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide at a resolution of 3 meters (10 feet) per pixel. Illumination in each image is from the upper left. ---------------------------------------------------------------- End Marsbugs Vol. 6, No. 22