MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 6, Number 38, 22 November 1999. Editors: Dr. David J. Thomas, Biology and Chemistry Division, Lyon College, Batesville, AR 72503-2317, USA. Dthomas@lyon.edu or marsbugs@aol.com 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 from the official Marsbugs web page at http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/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) IT'S THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH'S FIRST (AND ONLY) ATTEMPT TO PHONE E.T. Cornell University release 2) MARS PENETRATOR PROBES NAMED FOR PIONEERING POLAR EXPLORERS NASA release 99-135 3) ASTROBIOLOGISTS FLYING HIGH TO STUDY LEONID METEORS NASA Ames Research Center release 99-71 4) FIRST NIGHT OF LEONID MISSION SUCCESSFUL FOR ASTROBIOLOGISTS NASA Ames Research Center release 99-74 5) STORMY NIGHT FOR ASTROBIOLOGISTS STUDYING LEONID METEORS NASA Ames Research Center release 99-77 6) FIERY END FOR DINOSAURS? From BBC News 7) INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE TEAM TO EXAMINE ARCTIC OZONE NASA release 99-137 8) JUPITER'S MOON IO: A FLASHBACK TO EARTH'S VOLCANIC PAST JPL release 9) ANNUAL MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR GRAVITATIONAL PHYSIOLOGY By Frank Sulzman 10) THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 11) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORTS JPL releases 12) NEW MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGE By Ron Baalke 13) MARS POLAR LANDER MISSION STATUS JPL release 14) STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release ---------------------------------------------------------------- IT'S THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH'S FIRST (AND ONLY) ATTEMPT TO PHONE E.T. Cornell University release 12 November 1999 Twenty-five years ago next week, humanity sent its first and only deliberate radio message to extraterrestrials. Nobody has called back yet, but that's OK--we weren't really expecting an answer. The message was sent during the dedication of a major upgrade to the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico on the afternoon of Nov. 16, 1974, and contained some very basic information about the human race. It included representations of the fundamental chemicals of life, the formula for DNA, a crude diagram of our solar system and simple pictures of a human being and the Arecibo telescope. "It was strictly a symbolic event, to show that we could do it," explains Donald Campbell, Cornell University professor of astronomy, who was a research associate at the Arecibo Observatory at the time. Arecibo Observatory is operated by the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, managed by Cornell University for the National Science Foundation. The real purpose of the message was to call attention to the tremendous power of the radar transmitter newly installed at Arecibo and the ability of the telescope's 1,000-foot diameter dish antenna to project a powerful signal into space. But many of those present took the event seriously, according to Harold Craft, Cornell's vice president for services and facilities, who was then director of the Arecibo Observatory. "We translated the radio-frequency message into a warbling audio tone that was broadcast over speakers at the ceremony. When it started, much of the audience spontaneously got up and walked out of the tent and gazed up at the telescope." While the audience that had gathered beside the huge Arecibo dish was impressed by the idea of sending messages to space, others were critical. Some actually suggested that sending such a message was dangerous, because it might attract the attention of hostile aliens. They probably needn't have worried. The chance that the message might actually be detected by some extraterrestrial intelligence is extremely small. It was sent only once, over a period of about three minutes, on a narrow beam directed toward a group of about 300,000 stars called the Great Cluster in Hercules, Messier 13. The globular cluster is 25,000 light-years away in our galaxy, the Milky Way. So far, moving at the speed of light, the message has traveled only one thousandth of the distance, or about 147 trillion miles. There are stars closer to our solar system than that, but none of them is in the path of the message. Ironically, the globular cluster at which the signal was aimed won't be there when the message arrives. It will have moved well out of the way in the normal rotation of the galaxy. But "anyone" in the target area when the signal arrives, they could detect it with a radio telescope of similar size, and it would appear at 10 million times the intensity of the normal radio signals from our sun. From there, the message will continue on its course through outer space, ultimately, millions of years hence, reaching distant galaxies. Since the transmitter was installed in 1974, Arecibo radar has been used for extensive explorations of the solar system, including detailed mapping of the surfaces of the moon and Venus. The radar was upgraded to even higher power in 1997. No other formal messages have been sent, but many of the radar signals have continued on out of our solar system and if detected would clearly be seen as created by intelligent beings, Campbell says. In addition, a message, engraved on copper plate, accompanied the Pioneer 10 spacecraft launched in March 1972 and now is about 7 billion miles from Earth. Meanwhile, researchers constantly use the huge dish antenna to listen for signals from alien intelligence. One project, known as Phoenix, aims the telescope at specific stars; another, called Serendip, collects data on certain likely frequencies during all the telescope's other operations, and distributes the data to thousands of volunteers to process on personal computers. Project Phoenix is directed by the non-profit SETI Institute, based in Mountain View, CA. Serendip is a project of the University of California at Berkeley. The 1974 message was transmitted on a frequency of 2380 MHz and consisted of 1,679 binary bits representing ones and zeros, sent by shifting the frequency of the signal up and down over a range of about 10 Hz, a method similar to that used by computer modems to send binary code over a telephone line. If the ones are translated into graphics characters and the zeros into spaces, the message forms a symbolic picture 23 characters wide by 73 long. The content of the message was developed by Frank Drake, then professor of astronomy at Cornell and now a professor in the Division of Natural Sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz and president of the SETI Institute; Richard Isaacman, then a Cornell graduate student and now working at Research and Data Systems Corporation in Greenbelt, MA; Linda May, another graduate student now professor of physical sciences at Wheelock College in Massachussetts, and James C. G. Walker, then a member of the Arecibo staff and now professor of physical sciences at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Others, especially the late Carl Sagan, who eventually became the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Cornell, contributed to the project. [Image: http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Nov99/Arecibo.message.ws.ht ml] A print-quality version of the graphic at upper left (plain black and white) is available at http://www.news.cornell.edu/photos/decoded.GIF A text file of the binary code in the message is at http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Nov99/Arecibocode.txt Related World Wide Web sites The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability. The Arecibo web site: http://www.naic.edu/ http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/research/facilities/arecibo.htm Cornell News Service coverage of the most recent Arecibo upgrade: http://www.news.cornell.edu/science/June97/Arecibo/newsweb.html The SETI Institute: http://www.seti-inst.edu/ http://www.seti-inst.edu/science/a-message.html Profile of Jill Tarter, director of Project Phoenix: http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/97/6.26.97/Tarter.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- MARS PENETRATOR PROBES NAMED FOR PIONEERING POLAR EXPLORERS NASA release 99-135 15 November 1999 NASA's Deep Space 2 microprobes, due to smash into the surface of Mars near the planet's south pole on December 3, have been named Amundsen and Scott in honor of the first explorers to reach the South Pole of Earth. Paul Withers, a graduate student at the University of Arizona in Tucson, wrote the winning essay, among a NASA-record 17,000 entries submitted in a public contest to name the ambitious space mission. "A century ago, Antarctica was the Earth's only unexplored continent. Then expeditions led by Amundsen and Scott landed there, striving to discover its secrets, seeking knowledge, and finding a land of stark beauty," wrote Withers, who studies the thin upper atmosphere of Mars. "Scott perished in Antarctica. His memorial's inscription reads: 'To strive, to seek, to find, not to yield.' These are aims of the Deep Space 2." Norwegian Roald Amundsen explored the Northwest Passage before leading the first successful expedition to the South Pole, reaching it on December 14, 1911. Robert Falcon Scott led an English team to the South Pole in January 1912, only to discover the national flag left during Amundsen's earlier arrival. Although blizzards and starvation claimed Scott and his entire team on their return trip, the search party found scientifically valuable diaries and notebooks. The main purpose of NASA's miniature probes is technical, not scientific: flight-testing advanced technology that could be used by future planetary surface microlanders. Constructed to survive an abrupt impact at 400 mph with the layered terrain common in the south polar region of Mars, the two Deep Space 2 probes also carry sensors to search for the presence of water ice about three feet below the surface, as a secondary goal. "Deep Space 2 joins Mars Polar Lander as the first missions to venture to the south pole of Mars, so it's only fitting to name the microprobes after the two explorers who first set foot on Earth's South Pole," said Deep Space 2 project manager Sarah Gavit. "Like Amundsen and Scott, Deep Space 2 will have to survive great odds, including not only braving the elements but also crashing into the terrain with unbelievable force." A gift certificate for CompUSA merchandise worth $4000 will go to the grand-prize winner. The prize, provided by Lockheed Martin Corporation, the Boeing Company and CompUSA, will go directly from the donating companies to the winner. The top 25 finalists will receive one copy each of a Deep Space 2 poster signed by project team leaders. Participants in the contest were instructed to choose two people from history (not living), characters from mythology or fiction, two places or things in some way associated with each other, or a combination of the above elements. Submissions had to be accompanied by a short written composition of up to 100 words explaining why the entries would make good names for the probes. This essay was used as the tiebreaker if more than one person submitted the same pair of names, which happened in the case of the winning submission. The Deep Space 2 probes are piggybacking on NASA's Mars Polar Lander spacecraft, which was launched on January 3. Each probe has an entry system consisting of a basketball-sized aeroshell with a grapefruit-sized probe inside. Released from the cruise stage of the Mars Polar Lander on December 3 before it enters the atmosphere of Mars, the probes will dive toward the surface with no braking system beyond their cone-shaped exterior surface. Unlike any spacecraft before them, the probes must endure impact forces up to 60,000 times the force of Earth's gravity as they hit the surface. Upon impact, the aeroshell will shatter and the forebody of each probe will bury itself up to about three feet (one meter) underground, while the aftbody remains on the surface to transmit data back to Earth through NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. If successful, Deep Space 2 will demonstrate innovative approaches to entering a planet's atmosphere, surviving a crash-like impact and penetrating below a planet's surface. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ASTROBIOLOGISTS FLYING HIGH TO STUDY LEONID METEORS NASA Ames Research Center release 99-71 15 November 1999 To gain a better understanding of the way life may have evolved on Earth, a team of scientists has begun a multinational airborne mission to study the Leonid meteors. The Astrobiology mission began when two U.S. Air Force planes, the ARIA and the FISTA, lifted off from Edwards Air Force Base, Edwards, CA, on November 13 at 11:15 AM (PT) enroute to Royal Air Force Mildenhall Airbase in the United Kingdom. During the mission, an international cadre of scientists will point their instruments towards the sky to study the Leonid meteors from the unique vantage point of the aircraft. "The planes provide a perfect platform for viewing the meteors," said Peter Jenniskens, chief scientist for the Leonids mission. "They lift us above the weather to ensure a fantastic view. By flying over 35,000 feet in the air, we are above most of the atmospheric water vapor, and our instruments get the best data possible." The Leonid meteor showers occur each November when the Earth passes through the debris shed from periodic comet 55P/Temple- Tuttle. The meteors, named the Leonids because they appear to stream from the constellation Leo, are about the size of a grain of sand. Studying comets and meteors, which are made from ice and dust that existed when the universe was formed, may help scientists develop a better understanding of how life began on Earth. "Comets and meteors are fascinating to study because they are a frozen record from the time when the universe formed," explained astrobiologist Dr. Scott Sandford of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. "Due to geological activity, all of Earth's materials have been reformed several times over, and we must study comets, meteors and meteorites to get an early view of our universe." Most years, observers with ideal viewing conditions can see 10 to 20 meteors per hour during the Leonid showers. Every 33 years when the parent comet Temple-Tuttle passes particularly close to the Earth, as it did in 1998, meteor storms with hundreds or thousands of meteors per hour are possible. In 1998, following Temple-Tuttle's pass by Earth, counts of 250 meteors per hour were recorded. Predictive models have indicated that, in 1999, it may be possible to see 200 to 5000 meteors per hour around the longitudes of Europe and the Middle East. The 1999 Leonid Multi-instrument Airborne Campaign (MAC), a mission jointly funded by NASA and the United States Air Force, has been designed to fly over these longitudes for three consecutive observation nights, November 16-18. Both aircraft being used for the mission have been specially outfitted with a variety of instruments, including spectrometers and cameras, to study the meteors. The FISTA, an NKC-135 aircraft, has been modified with 20 upward-facing viewing ports. The ARIA, an EC-18 airplane, has telemetry equipment that will allow researchers to send images and near real time data regarding comet flux, or counts, to the ground. Research objectives for the mission involve taking many measurements that have never been done in airborne astronomy, including real-time meteor counts, spectroscopy (mid-infrared, near-infrared, ultraviolet and visible) and stereoscopic viewing of meteors using intensified high-definition television cameras. The stereoscopic view, obtained when instruments on both aircraft image a meteor, will provide the first-ever three- dimensional model of meteor trajectories. About half of the scientists on the current mission participated in the 1998 Leonid MAC mission that flew over Japan. That highly successful mission is credited with observing more than 3,200 meteors, obtaining the first differential spectrometry data from meteors as they burned through the sky, and obtaining the first stereoscopic images of a persistent meteor train. After departing Edwards Air Force Base November 13, the planes flew to Mildenhall Airbase in the United Kingdom. During the nighttime crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists tested and calibrated their instruments and completed initial observations, including taking measurements of the Aurora Borealis. The mission will begin November 16 when the planes depart England and fly the scientists overnight to Tel Aviv. The following night, November 17, during the expected peak of the storm, the scientists will fly from Tel Aviv to Lajes Air Base in the Azores. The final night, November 18, the planes will fly from the Azores to Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. The peak of the storm is expected to occur at 0200 (UT) Nov. 18 (9:00 PM ET, November 17) over Europe and the Middle East. While the best viewing of the storm will be in these locations, it may be possible to see the Leonid meteors in the United States, particularly in the predawn hours of November 17 and 18. For current information about the Leonid MAC Astrobiology mission, visit http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST NIGHT OF LEONID MISSION SUCCESSFUL FOR ASTROBIOLOGISTS NASA Ames Research Center release 99-74 17 November 1999 Astrobiologists began their first airborne observation night to study the Leonid meteors on November 16, as the Earth began to enter the debris train left by the periodic comet 55P/Tempel- Tuttle. At 21:50 GMT, on November 16, the ARIA and FISTA, two United States Air Force planes, departed from Mildenhall in the United Kingdom for Tel Aviv Israel. During the overnight flight to Israel, the two aircraft flew approximately 80-100 miles apart from each other and as high as 38,000 feet. The mission flight path took the scientists southwest of Mildenhall, over Lands End and out of the United Kingdom. The aircraft then turned south to fly over north central Spain, and then turned east to fly over Barcelona. The flight continued over Corsica, across the boot of Italy, over central Greece, and across the Mediterranean into Israel. ARIA and FISTA landed in Tel Aviv at 04:20 GMT November 17. The scientists and crew members aboard the FISTA and ARIA had a very successful first night of their Astrobiology mission. In addition to observing meteors, the team took measurements of air glow, observed and recorded lightning over Spain, and saw Jupiter and Saturn clearly in the night sky. They also successfully demonstrated that live images of the meteors could be sent from the plane, over the TDRS satellite, to the Internet. The science team on the FISTA was thrilled with the collected data. "By the end of this first mission night we have already exceeded the number of meteors we observed with our mid- infrared instruments during the entire 1998 mission over Japan," said Peter Jenniskens, Leonid mission chief scientist. The mid-infrared spectrographs, contributed by the Aerospace Corporation, are being used to detect the unique fingerprint of complex organic matter--like that required for life--in meteors. The instruments are also expected to provide information on the formation of solid particles and the heat of the meteors as they enter the atmosphere. "A total of 10 meteors crossed the field of view of our spectrograph," reported George Rossano, a researcher on the FISTA aircraft. "I'm hopeful that these meteors will result in the first successful mid-infrared fingerprint of a meteor." On ARIA, the flux measurement team counted meteors without actually looking out the window to see them; researchers wore goggles that displayed images from cameras that were pointed out of the airplane's windows. The number of Leonid meteors and sporadic meteors counted by each team member was entered into a laptop computer. Jane Houston, a member of the flux measurement team and one of several amateur astronomers on the mission, explained how the team differentiated between Leonid and sporadic meteors. "The Leonid meteors radiate from the constellation Leo, while sporadic meteors fall randomly across the sky." Each of the team members' laptop computers was linked to a central laptop computer, and near real-time data indicating the total number of meteors counted was provided. "The methods developed to count meteors for this mission could revolutionize the way future meteor showers are monitored," claimed Kelly Beatty, another amateur astronomer on the flux measurement team. At the end of the night, the flux team reported observing approximately 14 sporadic meteors per hour and a Leonid zenith hourly rate of approximately 15 meteors per hour. The zenith hourly rate is the number of meteors an observer on the ground would see under perfect observing conditions. "These rates for Leonids are almost twice as high as those we would normally see the night before the expected peak," explained Dr. Jenneskins, "I'm optimistic this is an indication that we will see a good storm tomorrow night." The peak of the Leonid storm is expected at 02:00 GMT November 18 over Europe and the Middle East. The international science team studying the Leonids will be flying from Tel Aviv to Lajes Airbase during the storm peak. It may be possible to see the Leonid meteor storm in the United States on the night of November 17 (9:00 PM EST). However, best viewing may actually be in the predawn hours of November 18. The Leonid Multi-instrument Airborne Campaign is an Astrobiology mission from NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, CA. The campaign is jointly funded by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary field that studies the origin, evolution, distribution and destiny of life in the universe. For current information about the Leonid Multi-instrument Airborne Campaign, and to watch live Leonid coverage on the internet, visit http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/. ---------------------------------------------------------------- STORMY NIGHT FOR ASTROBIOLOGISTS STUDYING LEONID METEORS NASA Ames Research Center release 99-77 18 November 1999 Astrobiologists on a NASA mission to study the Leonid meteors were in the right place at the right time to study a rare natural phenomenon--a meteor storm. At the peak of the storm, which occurred at 02:10 GMT, November 18, the Leonid meteors were falling from the sky at a rate of 2,200 per hour. A meteor shower is classified as a storm when the rate exceeds 1,000 meteors per hour. "It's getting to the point where we can't click fast enough to keep up with the meteors!" exclaimed Dave Holman of the California Meteor Society, one of several amateur astronomers on the meteor-counting team. A total of 15,251 meteors were counted during the six-hour observation period on the overnight flight from Israel to the Azores. "That's a lot of meteors!" said Chris Crawford, the amateur astronomer responsible for compiling the data collected from each person counting the meteors. "I've seen just about as many meteors in one night as I've seen in over 34 years of meteor watching." Near real-time data on the number of meteors falling per hour was provided to NASA and the U.S. Air Force by a team of amateur astronomers who counted the meteors using virtual reality goggles and laptop computers. The meteor counting team was aboard the ARIA, one of two aircraft provided by the United States Air Force to support this mission. The data was sent from the ARIA, an EC-18 aircraft, to the ground via the TDRS satellite system. NASA and the Air Force are joint sponsors of the Leonid Multi-instrument Airborne Campaign. "I am ecstatic over how well this night went!" said Peter Jenneskins, chief scientist for the Leonid mission. "Our models proved to be right on for predicting where and when the meteor storm would take place. We gathered some fantastic images, and the data obtained should provide valuable insight into the role meteors may have played in the evolution of life on Earth." While viewing the horizon at one point during the storm, meteors, lightning and sprites could be seen from the planes. Sprites are lightning phenomena that rise from the ground to the sky. "For 10 minutes we had a view of the way the sky may have looked on Earth over 4 million years ago," Jenneskins said. "It was an awesome sight." The second observing night of the Leonid astrobiology mission began when the ARIA and FISTA aircraft left Tel Aviv at about 23:00 GMT, November 18. The flight crew of the ARIA reported seeing two meteors almost as soon as the wheels left the ground. Once the planes reached altitude, they began flying in 150 nautical mile flying patterns from east to west over Israel and the Mediterranean. These orbits provided a unique opportunity for scientists on the planes and scientists on the ground to collaborate. The data collected from the planes will be combined with visual, radar and radio observation data from Israeli scientists on the ground to form an extremely comprehensive data set regarding the Leonid meteors. The aircraft stopped the orbits after one hour and continued westbound towards the Azores, flying approximately 80-100 nautical miles apart at 37,000 feet. ARIA's path flew the scientists off the coast of Crete and over Sicily, while FISTA's path flew over mainland Greece and the boot of Italy. ARIA then flew over the top of Menorca and Majorca, crossed central Spain by Madrid, and continued over the top of Portugal down to the Azores. FISTA flew over Sardinia and Barcelona and out the northwest corner of Spain, and then down to the Azores. The planes landed at Lajes Airbase in the Azores at approximately 07:15 GMT, November 18. While over Spain and Portugal, scientists on the aircraft performed coordinated observations with a series of ground based observing teams. "The coordinated air and ground observations that were conducted during the flight are an invaluable part of this highly successful mission," stated Colonel S. Pete Worden, of the United States Air Force headquarters, Washington, DC. "Not only do we have a phenomenal set of data from the air, but we also have complimentary data from the ground that can be used to help us better understand and predict meteor storms and the impact they may have on space operations." Colonel Worden flew aboard the ARIA aircraft from Tel Aviv to the Azores. The Air Force operates more than 100 satellites that could be affected by a meteor storm. It takes the Earth a few days to get through the debris trail left by the periodic comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle that produces the Leonid meteors. Therefore, one more observation night is scheduled during a flight from the Azores to Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. The scientists and crew aboard the ARIA and FISTA are not the only people able to see the Leonid meteors from the unique vantage point of an airplane. Live video from the plane is being sent to the internet during the mission for people on the ground to watch. For current information about the Leonid Multi-instrument Airborne Campaign visit http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- FIERY END FOR DINOSAURS? From BBC News 18 November 1999 The dinosaurs may have been wiped out in a gas-fuelled firestorm, according to a new theory. A "hell on Earth" may have been triggered by vast quantities of trapped methane released from under the ground by a comet. A massive impact in the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago is thought to have changed the Earth's climate and driven the dinosaurs to extinction. But a team of American oceanographers believes this is only half the story. Full story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_525000/525724.s tm ---------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE TEAM TO EXAMINE ARCTIC OZONE NASA release 99-137 18 November 1999 NASA scientists are joining researchers from Europe, Russia, Canada and Japan to mount the largest field- measurement campaign ever to assess ozone amounts and changes in the Arctic upper atmosphere this winter. This collaborative campaign will measure ozone and other atmospheric gases using satellites, airplanes, heavy-lift and small balloons, and ground-based instruments. From November 1999 through March 2000, researchers will examine the processes that control ozone amounts during the Arctic winter at mid to high latitudes. "The combined campaign will provide an immense new body of information about the Arctic stratosphere," said program scientist Dr. Michael Kurylo, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. "Our understanding of the Earth's ozone will be greatly enhanced by this research." The Earth's ozone layer protects life below from the harmful ultraviolet radiation coming from the Sun. This radiation can damage DNA molecules, thereby leading to the formation of skin cancers. Very low levels of ozone were observed over the Arctic in several winters during the 1990s, raising concerns that an Arctic ozone hole might be forming. Recent modeling work has suggested that greenhouse gas warming might lead to larger-than- expected Arctic ozone losses in the future and also may delay the expected recovery of the ozone layer globally. For the first time, measurements of stratospheric composition over the Arctic will be made using a large suite of instruments aboard several European aircraft, as well as on NASA's DC-8 and ER-2, based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA. Balloons, carrying payloads ranging from several pounds to several thousand pounds and ground-based instruments will also take atmospheric readings. "Handling all the hardware and coordinating the personnel, aircraft, balloons, and ground observations involved in the campaign is an immense challenge," said project manager Michael Craig of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. More than 350 scientists, technicians and support workers are involved in the experiment. More than 15 years ago, scientists detected an "Ozone Hole" over the South Pole that has reappeared each year during the Southern Hemisphere winter and spring. Researchers from around the world recognized more than a decade ago that primarily man-made chlorine and bromine compounds cause the ozone depletion. The chlorine compounds have been produced for use as refrigerants, aerosol sprays, solvents and foam blowing agents, while bromine- containing halons have been used in fire extinguishing. Man- made production of chlorofluorocarbons ceased in 1996 in developed countries under the terms of the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments. Scientists also will take measurements that will be useful in validating data from an instrument called SAGE III aboard the Russian Meteor-3 satellite. Once the spacecraft is launched, SAGE III will measure the vertical structure of aerosols, ozone, water vapor and other trace gases in the Arctic upper troposphere and stratosphere. NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, manages the SAGE III project. Project scientists will be based above the Arctic Circle at the airport in Kiruna, Sweden. "Arena Arctica," a large hangar especially built for research, will house the aircraft and many of the scientific instruments. Balloons will be launched from Esrange, a balloon and rocket launch facility near Kiruna. Wintertime conditions can be very severe, with temperatures falling below 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The NASA-sponsored SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE) is being conducted jointly with the European Commission- sponsored Third European Stratospheric Experiment on Ozone (THESEO 2000). More information (including a list of participating institutions) can be found at (SOLVE) http://cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/solve/index.html and (THESEO 2000) http://www.ozone-sec.ch.cam.ac.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------- JUPITER'S MOON IO: A FLASHBACK TO EARTH'S VOLCANIC PAST JPL release 19 November 1999 Jupiter's fiery moon Io is providing scientists with a window on volcanic activity and colossal lava flows similar to those that raged on Earth eons ago, thanks to new pictures and data gathered by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The sharp images of Io were taken on Oct. 11 during the closest-ever spacecraft flyby of the moon, when Galileo dipped to just 611 kilometers (380 miles) above Io's surface. The new data reveal that Io, the most volcanic body in the solar system, is even more active than previously suspected, with more than 100 erupting volcanoes. "The latest flyby has shown us gigantic lava flows and lava lakes, and towering, collapsing mountains," said Dr. Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson, a member of the Galileo imaging team. "Io makes Dante's Inferno seem like another day in paradise." Ancient rocks on Earth and other rocky planets show evidence of immense volcanic eruptions. The last comparable lava eruption on Earth occurred 15 million years ago, and it's been more than 2 billion years since lava as hot as that found on Io, reaching 1,482 degrees Celsius or 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit, flowed on Earth. "No people were around to observe and document these past events," said Dr. Torrence Johnson, Galileo project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA. "Io is the next best thing to traveling back in time to Earth's earlier years. It gives us an opportunity to watch, in action, phenomena long dead in the rest of the solar system." The new data focus on three of Io's most active volcanoes--Pele, Loki and Prometheus. The vent region of Pele has an intense high-temperature hot spot that is remarkably steady, unlike lava flows that erupt in pulses, spread out over large areas, and then cool over time. This leads scientists to hypothesize that there must be an extremely active lava lake at Pele that constantly exposes fresh lava. Galileo's camera snapped a close-up picture showing part of the volcano glowing in the dark. Hot lava, at most a few minutes old, forms a thin, curving line more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) long and up to 50 meters (150 feet) wide. Scientists believe that this line is glowing liquid lava exposed as the solidifying crust breaks up along the caldera's walls. This is similar to the behavior of active lava lakes in Hawaii, although Pele's lava lake is a hundred times larger. Loki, the most powerful volcano in the solar system, consistently puts out more heat than all of Earth's active volcanoes combined. Two of Galileo's instruments--the photopolarimeter radiometer and near-infrared mapping spectrometer--have provided detailed temperature maps of Loki. "Unlike the active lava lake at Pele, Loki has an enormous caldera that is repeatedly flooded by lava, over an area larger than the state of Maryland," said Dr. Rosaly Lopes-Gautier of JPL, a member of the spectrometer team. Observations of Prometheus made early in the Galileo mission showed a new lava flow and a plume erupting from a location about 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of the area where the plume was observed in 1979 by NASA's Voyager spacecraft. New Galileo data clarify where lava is erupting, advancing, and producing plumes. The most unexpected result is that the 75 kilometer- (50 mile-) tall plume erupts from under a lava flow, far from the main volcano. The plume is fed by vaporized sulfur dioxide- rich snow under the lava flow. Mountains on Io are much taller than Earth's largest mountains, towering up to 16 kilometers (52,000 feet) high. Paradoxically, they do not appear to be volcanoes. Scientists are not sure how the mountains form, but new Galileo images provide a fascinating picture of how they die. Concentric ridges covering the mountains and surrounding plateaus offer evidence that the mountains generate huge landslides as they collapse under the force of gravity. The ridges bear a striking resemblance to the rugged terrain surrounding giant Olympus Mons on Mars. Scientists hope to learn more about dynamic Io when Galileo swoops down for an even closer look on November 25 from an altitude of only 300 kilometers (186 miles). Because Io's orbit is bathed in intense radiation from Jupiter's radiation belts, there is a risk of radiation damage to spacecraft components. In fact, several spacecraft systems sustained damage during the October flyby. Given these radiation risks, the Io flybys were scheduled near the end of the spacecraft's two-year extended mission. New Io images taken by the spacecraft are available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/io or http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Galileo entered orbit around Jupiter and its moons on December 7, 1995, for a two-year prime mission. JPL manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. The California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, operates JPL for NASA. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ANNUAL MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR GRAVITATIONAL PHYSIOLOGY By Frank Sulzman 15 November 1999 The Annual Meeting of the International Society for Gravitational Physiology (ISGP) will be held in Nagoya, Japan from 3-8 April, 2000. The meeting will consist of a series of half-day symposia, and free paper sessions. For more information, visit the ISGP web site (http://www.isgp.org) where you will find the Final Announcement and Call for Abstracts. Additionally, you can contact the President of ISGP, and organizer of the meeting, Dr. Tadaaki Mano (mano@riem.nagoya- u.ac.jp), the Chair of the ISGP Council of Trustees, Dr. Peter Norsk, (pnorsk.damec@post.uni2.dk), or Dr. Charles Fuller, (cafuller@ucdavis.edu). ---------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 15-21 November 1999 Data return continues this week as Galileo zips toward the Jupiter system and its next daring encounter with Jupiter's volcanic moon Io. The data are stored on the spacecraft's onboard tape recorder and will be overwritten during the upcoming Io encounter. The Solid-State Imaging camera (SSI) returns most of this week's data, with only minor participation by the Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) and the Fields and Particles instruments (F&P). No interruptions to data playback are scheduled this week. Galileo's playback this week comes mainly from a fourth pass through the data stored on board. Additional passes through the tape recorder allow replay of data lost in transmission to Earth, reprocessing of data using different parameters, and return of additional new data. Some of the images being returned by SSI are likely to be corrupted. They are being returned with the expectation that careful processing will allow important scientific information to be gleaned from some of the images. NIMS returns the first observation of this week containing a regional resolution scan of Io. The data will be used to study surface composition and thermal emissions on Io's surface. SSI returns the next five observations on this week's schedule. The first captures the Pele volcanic region while on Io's night side. The night images were taken with the hope of seeing hot glowing lava near Pele's volcanic vent. Next, SSI returns images of the Pillan volcanic region. The view provided for the observation is somewhat oblique, and provides good low-sun illumination. Observations of Colchis Mons and the Zamama volcanic vent are next on the data playback schedule, followed by an observation of Prometheus. Comparison of clear and green filter images of Prometheus are expected to reveal unresolved lava and allow scientists to determine surface temperatures. Also this week, the Fields and Particles instruments return residual portions of a high-resolution recording made during the Io flyby. The 65-min recording was performed as the spacecraft flew past Io, allowing the instruments to acquire measurements describing the plasma, dust, and electric and magnetic fields surrounding Io. The data will aid scientists in their quest to understand the interaction between Io and Jupiter's magnetosphere. SSI returns to the playback schedule with another observation of the Colchis Montes region. This observation contains a wider, lower resolution view of the region providing context for the higher resolution images returned earlier. Next on the schedule is the return of an observation of Tohil Mons, followed by a return of a second series of images of Prometheus. NIMS also returns spectral scans of the Prometheus region. The instruments pair up again in the return of observations of the Zamama region, before SSI alone returns an observation of Dorian Mons. The Dorian, Tohil and Colchis features are mountains, whose geological structure, origin and history are presently unknown. Greenish colored deposits characterize Dorian Mons. SSI returns the final two observations of the week. In the first, the camera captures moderate resolution images of the Amirani, Skythia, and Gish Bar regions. The second observation contains a look at a region of Io's surface near the terminator (or line dividing night from day). http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo http://galileo.ivv.nasa.gov ---------------------------------------------------------------- MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORTS JPL releases 11 November 1999 Launch / Days since Launch = Nov 7, 1996 / 1100 days Start of Mapping / Days since Start of Mapping = April 1, 1999 / 224 days Last Orbit Covered by this Report = 3032 Total Orbits = 4714 Total Mapping Orbits = 3032 Recent events The mm008 sequence continues executing nominally and will continue execution through November 17. Development of the mm009 sequence has begun. Work has also begun on the development and validation of the mini-sequences required for MR commanding in support of the DS2 microprobes mission on December 3. The change approved last week to update the sampling rate for critical spacecraft telemetry, that will allow us to more fully characterize and ascertain the cause of the HGA position error counts, has been uplinked to the spacecraft. At this time we have not had a repeat of the event with the new telemetry in place. HGA anomaly The HGA inner gimbal angle continues to decrease and is currently at 70.7degrees. The inner gimbal angle will continue decreasing, reaching the location of the gimbal obstruction at 41.5 deg in early February. Work continues on the design and implementation of a new mapping data collection and return plan that will maximize the science data return for the remainder of the nominal mapping mission. The updated mapping command blocks have been generated and will be released to JPL early next week so they can begin implementing them in the sequencing software. This will support the start of system level validation in the STL in the next few weeks. Spacecraft health All other subsystems continue to report nominal status. Uplinks There have been 26 uplinks to the spacecraft during the last week, including new star catalogs and ephemeris files, and instrument command loads. Total command files radiated to the spacecraft since launch is 4082. Upcoming events 1) Validation and uplink of the mm009 sequence November 15. 2) Validation and uplink of the DS2 MR mini-sequences. Wednesday, November 17, 1999 Launch / Days since Launch = Nov 7, 1996 / 1106 days Start of Mapping / Days since Start of Mapping = April 1, 1999 / 230 days Last Orbit Covered by this Report = 3105 Total Orbits = 4787 Total Mapping Orbits = 3105 Recent events The mm008 sequence continues executing nominally and will continue execution through November 17. The mm009 sequence has been uplinked to the spacecraft and will begin execution Nov 18 at 00:00:00 UTC. Spacecraft Test Lab (STL) validation of the mini-sequences, which will command the Mars Relay (MR) in support of the DS2 microprobes mission on December 3, will begin Nov 18. HGA anomaly The HGA inner gimbal continues to decrease and is currently at 69.1 degrees. The inner gimbal angle will continue decreasing, reaching the location of the gimbal obstruction at 41.5 deg in early February. Work continues on the implementation of the new mapping data collection and return plan that will maximize the science data return for the remainder of the nominal mapping mission. The updated mapping command blocks have been released to JPL. Work is also proceeding well on the development of the automated mapping sequence generation tool. System level validation in the STL should begin in the next couple of weeks. Spacecraft health All other subsystems continue to report nominal status. Uplinks There have been 15 uplinks to the spacecraft during the last week, including new star catalogs and ephemeris files, and instrument command loads. Total command files radiated to the spacecraft since launch is 4097. Upcoming events 1) Power on of the MR is scheduled for November 29. 2) Validation of the DS2 MR mini-sequences, with uplink scheduled for early next week. ---------------------------------------------------------------- NEW MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGE By Ron Baalke 15 November 1999 The following new image taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft is now available: Patterned Ground of the Martian Antarctic The image resides on the Mars Global Surveyor web site at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/index.html The image caption is 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 Patterned Ground of the Martian Antarctic MGS MOC Release #MOC2-189, 15 November 1999 Remnant frost from the retreating south polar ice cap, trapped in cracks, enhances the visibility of polygonal patterns in this new picture of Malea Planum in the far southern regions of Mars. This scene, taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) in October 1999 shows a relatively smooth portion of Mars (a plain) that is covered with polygons both at large and small scales. Smaller polygons are mostly found on the surfaces of old, mantled impact craters (e.g., top and lower center), while larger polygons are evident on the surfaces between the craters. (Note: The polygons are too small to see in the icon--click on it to see the full-resolution image and the polygons). It is spring in the southern hemisphere of Mars, and the region shown here has recently emerged from beneath a winter coating of frost. Patches of frost (bright material) remain in the cracks that make up the edges of each polygon in the picture. The image covers a narrow strip of martian terrain only 1.5 km (0.9 mi) across at a resolution of 3 meters (10 ft) per pixel. Polygons such as these are common in Earth's arctic and antarctic regions (see descriptions of Antarctic research and Antarctic pictures), and they usually indicate the presence of ice (i.e., frozen water) in the ground. Polygons form from the cycle of freezing and thawing of ground ice over the course of years, decades, and centuries. The fact that polygons are found on all surfaces in the Malea Planum scene shown here indicates that the ice is not too deeply buried because only a thin veneer (a few meters--or yards) of material appears to have covered the crater at the top of the scene. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems ---------------------------------------------------------------- MARS POLAR LANDER MISSION STATUS JPL release 19 November 1999 NASA's Mars Polar Lander team has spent this week testing and training for the entry, descent and landing operations of the mission that will take place two weeks from today. This week's test has involved a detailed simulation of the landing using the spacecraft simulator at Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, CO. Teams at JPL, Lockheed Martin Astronautics and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have also been practicing for the early surface mission. The next thruster firing to adjust the spacecraft's flight path is scheduled for November 30. Flight navigators have been using additional tracking data to help them calculate the spacecraft's path at it approaches Mars. The spacecraft remains in good health, and the team is not working any spacecraft problems. Today the lander is 5.8 million kilometers (3.6 million miles) from Mars traveling at a speed of 4.86 kilometers per second (about 10,870 miles per hour) relative to the planet. Mars Polar Lander is part of a series of missions in a long-term program of Mars exploration managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. ---------------------------------------------------------------- STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release 19 November 1999 The Stardust spacecraft continues to perform normally in cruise. Minimal housekeeping activities were performed by the Flight Team at Lockheed Martin Astronautics, with some of the planned Deep Space Network communications sessions with the spacecraft being released for use by Mars Polar Lander project. The Flight Team was successful in resending a Flight Software patch that was not successfully received by the spacecraft last week. This second try worked perfectly. All ground testing of the command and software patch showed no problems. It is suspected that there may have been noise in the signal received at the spacecraft during the attempt last week to load the software patch. The Education/Public Outreach (E/PO) team participated in the Disney Innovative Teachers Award Ceremony where Mr. Paul Crips, a Stardust Teacher Fellow, was one of only 39 educators selected from 11,000 nominees for his innovative approach to education. He was nominated by his students and received a grant of $5,000. Also, the E/PO team participated in the Riverside County California School District Meeting, demonstrating aerogel particle collection and showing how classrooms can incorporate teaching about Stardust using areo "jello". For more information on the Stardust mission--the first ever comet sample return mission--please visit the Stardust home page at http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov ---------------------------------------------------------------- End Marsbugs Vol. 6, No. 38