MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 7, Number 10, 17 March 2000. Editors: Dr. David J. Thomas, Biology and Chemistry Division, Lyon College, Batesville, AR 72503-2317, USA. 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 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 from 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) SCIENTISTS REVEAL FINDINGS OF SUCCESSFUL MICROGRAVITY EXPERIMENTS FLOWN ON HISTORIC JOHN GLENN SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION NASA Marshal Space Center release 00-048 2) ASTEROID DEVASTATION COULD EVEN BE WORSE THAN FEARED By David Stauth 3) BAD ASTRONOMY REVIEW OF "CONTACT" By Phil Plait 4) TWO MARS REVIEW PANEL REPORTS RELEASED TODAY NASA release 5) DUST DEVILS AND LANDSLIDES ARE REARRANGING MARTIAN SCENERY JPL release 6) RESEARCHER FINDS SPACE FERTILE ARENA FOR GENE TRANSFERS By Beth Forbes 7) HAVE WE MISSED SIGNS OF LIFE ON MARS? By Jonathan Knight 8) SCIENTIFIC GOALS SHOULD DRIVE NASA'S "FASTER, BETTER, CHEAPER" APPROACH TO MISSIONS National Academy of Sciences release 9) SPACE-STATION DESIGN SOUND, BUT STEPS NEEDED TO IMPROVE LONG- TERM EFFICIENCY National Academy of Sciences release 10) TEAM PROBES MARS' SCIENCE AND FICTION By Billy Cox 11) THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 12) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORT JPL release --------------------------------------------------------------------- SCIENTISTS REVEAL FINDINGS OF SUCCESSFUL MICROGRAVITY EXPERIMENTS FLOWN ON HISTORIC JOHN GLENN SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION NASA Marshal Space Center release 00-048 8 March 2000 People on Earth will benefit from numerous microgravity experiments conducted during Senator John Glenn's historic return to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in October 1998. After a year's analysis of data collected during the STS-95 flight, scientists reported the mission's microgravity experiments are contributing information to such diverse fields as medicine, agriculture and manufacturing. The investigations were managed by NASA's Lead Center for Microgravity Research--the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. During the mission, Glenn--the subject of various life science experiments on the aging process--worked as a payload specialist, or scientist in orbit. In microgravity--the near-weightlessness of space--he and other crewmembers activated and monitored experiments aimed at improving life on Earth. Glenn worked with several experiments that may help improve treatments for life-threatening diseases. One result: treating solid tumors may become more effective using drugs enclosed in liquid-filled microcapsules that can be injected into arteries leading directly to the tumor. A new microencapsulation electrostatic processing system using microballoons was tested in space, and results are being used to refine the manufacturing process on Earth. STS-95 results from another commercial experiment are being evaluated by a biopharmaceutical company that is testing advanced cell separation technologies. These technologies could be used to produce hemoglobin products to replace whole human blood in transfusions. High-quality protein crystals were produced during the closely watched flight, and scientists obtained the best data ever collected on human recombinant insulin crystals. Using the crystal data, scientists can model the structure of this type of insulin more accurately, and pharmaceutical companies may be able to use the structural data to improve insulin treatments used to control diabetes. Other protein crystals grown during the mission could help pharmaceutical companies learn more about how to treat AIDS and Chagas' disease--a deadly parasitic disease that primarily attacks cardiac muscle. A portion of the microgravity experiments flown on STS-95 were funded and developed by commercial companies under NASA's Space Product Development Program, which encourages industry to investigate the commercial potential of space. Several research efforts involved independent, commercial firms. A number of other experiments were developed and flown through NASA's Commercial Space Centers--located in regions across the United States. These centers partner with companies to develop products using insight gained from space research. Investigators reported results from both life and microgravity experiments January 27-28 at the Symposium on the STS-95 Research Results, sponsored by NASA Headquarters' Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications and the National Institute on Aging. More detailed descriptions of the results presented on microgravity experiments can be found at http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/background/sts_95.html For an electronic version of this release, digital images or more information, visit Marshall's News Center on the web at http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTEROID DEVASTATION COULD EVEN BE WORSE THAN FEARED By David Stauth, Oregon State University 9 March 2000 Researchers say in a new report that if a huge asteroid were to hit the Earth, the catastrophic destruction it causes, and even the "impact winter" that follows, might only be a prelude to a different, but very deadly phase that starts later on. They're calling it, "ultraviolet spring." In an analysis of the secondary ecological repercussions of a major asteroid impact, scientists from Oregon State University and the British Antarctic Survey have outlined some of the residual effects of ozone depletion, acid rain and increased levels of harmful ultraviolet radiation. The results were just published in the journal, Ecology Letters. The findings are frightening. As a number of popular movies have illustrated in recent years, a big asteroid or comet impact would in fact produce enormous devastation, huge tidal waves, and a global dust cloud that would block the sun and choke the planet in icy, winter-like conditions for months. Many experts believe such conditions existed on Earth following an impact around the Cretaceous-Tertiary, or K-T boundary, when there was a massive extinction of many animals, including the dinosaurs. That's pretty bad. But according to Andrew Blaustein, a professor of zoology at Oregon State University, there's more to the story. "Scientists have pretty well documented the immediate destruction of an asteroid impact and even the impact winter which its dust cloud would create," Blaustein said. "But our study suggests that's just the beginning of the ecological disaster, not the end of it." Blaustein and colleague Charles Cockell examined an asteroid impact of a magnitude similar to the one that occurred around the K-T boundary, which is believed to have hit off the Yucatan Peninsula with a force of almost one trillion megatons. The immediate results would be catastrophic destruction and an impact winter, with widespread death of plants and the large terrestrial animals-- including humans--that most directly depend on those plants for food. That's the beginning of an ugly scenario, the researchers say. As a result of the impact, the atmosphere would become loaded with nitric oxide, causing massive amounts of acid rain. As they become acidified, the lakes and rivers would have reduced amounts of dissolved organic carbons, which would allow much greater penetration of ultraviolet light. At first, of course, the ultraviolet rays would be blocked by the dust cloud, which sets the stage for a greater disaster later on. Many animals depend on some exposure to ultraviolet light to keep operational their biological protective mechanisms against it-- without any such light, those protective mechanisms would be eroded or lost. During the extended winter, animals across the biological spectrum would become weaker, starved and more vulnerable. Many would die. Then comes ultraviolet spring, shining down on surviving plants and animals that have lost their resistance to ultraviolet radiation and penetrating more deeply, with greater intensity, into shallow waters than it ever has before. "By our calculations, the dust cloud would shield the Earth from ultraviolet light for an extended period, with it taking about 390 days after impact before enough dust settled that there would be an ultraviolet level equal to before the impact. After that, the ozone depletion would cause levels of ultraviolet radiation to at least double, about 600 days after impact." According to their study, these factors would lead to ultraviolet- related DNA damage about 1,000 times higher than normal, and general ultraviolet damage to plants about 500 times higher than normal. Ultraviolet radiation can cause mutations, cancer, and cataracts. It can kill plants or slow their growth, suppressing the photosynthesis, which forms the base of the world's food chain. Smaller asteroid impacts, which have happened far more frequently in Earth's history, theoretically might cause similar or even worse problems with ultraviolet exposure, the researchers say. The ozone depletion would be less, but there would also be less of a protective dust cloud. "Part of what we're trying to stress here is that with an asteroid collision, there will be many synergistic effects on the environment that go far beyond the initial impact," said Cockell, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey who did some of this analysis while formerly working with NASA. "Effects such as acid rain, fires, the dust clouds, cold temperatures, ozone depletion and ultraviolet radiation could all build upon each other." During the K-T event, the scientists said, many of the animals may actually have been spared most of the ultraviolet spring they envision. That impact, oddly enough, hit a portion of the Earth's crust that was rich in anhydrite rocks. This produced a 12-year sulfate haze that blocked much of the ultraviolet radiation. But it was a lucky shot--that type of rock covers less than 1 percent of the Earth's surface. So when the next "big one" comes, the scientists said, the ecological repercussions may be more savage than any of those known in Earth's long history. The collision will be devastating, the "impact winter" deadly. But it will be the ultraviolet spring that helps finish off the survivors. --------------------------------------------------------------------- BAD ASTRONOMY REVIEW OF "CONTACT" By Phil Plait 9 March 2000 First things first: I loved "Contact." It was sweeping; it was interesting; it was thought provoking. When it came out, I got email from people that complained that nothing happened. I couldn't disagree more! Just because it wasn't a shoot-em-up sci-fi flick doesn't mean that there was not drama and excitement. I enjoy the odd over-the-top movie, but you can't live on cotton candy. Sometimes you need something [meatier]. "Contact" was a main course. The movie was based on the novel of the same name by the famous astronomer Carl Sagan. Sagan was a brilliant researcher, and found that he was even better at describing the wonders of the Universe. He explained science to people in a way that not only could they understand, but so that it also moved them and made them appreciate the awe and majesty of the sky around them. I could write reams about the man and his influence both on the public and astronomers, but that's already been done. Let's talk about the movie instead. "Contact" stands out from almost every other science fiction movie ever made in that it went to great pains to be accurate. Almost all of the plot line is based on either solid physics, or extrapolated from current theories. Some of the astronomers were slightly exaggerate in character, but it's safe to say that every stereotype depicted in the movie has seen its moment in real live astronomers. I'm glad that the Ellie Arroways outnumber the David Drumlins though! Mind you, some of the characters are based at least in part on real people: there is a blind SETI astronomer named Kent Cullers (in the movie the character was named Kent Clark). Despite her denials, I think Jill Tartar was in large part the inspiration for Ellie. If Sagan had an inspiration for Drumlin, he never said who it was. Those of you familiar with my reviews know that I take a dim view of science errors in movies. However, I loved "Contact" and so I am willing to give it more leeway. Does that sound unfair? Too bad!... Actually, I am willing to give it more leeway because [it] went to such lengths to be accurate. While there are some errors in it, most are small, and some of the parts it got right are so amazing that I am astonished at the level of detail. In light of that, this review will be a bit different than the others: along with the errors, I will point out little details that were correct. The next time you watch the movie, check them out! Get the whole movie review at http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/movies/contact.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- TWO MARS REVIEW PANEL REPORTS RELEASED TODAY NASA release 13 March 2000 NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin praised the work of two review panels whose reports on NASA project management issues are being released today, noting that they have "done the Agency and the Nation a great service." The Phase II report by the Mars Climate Orbiter Mishap Investigation Board, led by Marshall Space Flight Center Director Arthur G. Stephenson, and the Faster, Better, Cheaper report by former Jet Propulsion Laboratory project manager Anthony Spear, are part of a top-to-bottom review of Agency programs Goldin chartered within the past few months. An additional report, from the Mars Independent Assessment Team chaired by Thomas Young, will be available by the end of March. That assessment and findings will be considered in planning for future Mars exploration missions. The reports released today are available at either of these URLs: http://www.nasa.gov/ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/news/reports.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- DUST DEVILS AND LANDSLIDES ARE REARRANGING MARTIAN SCENERY JPL release 13 March 2000 New images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have caught dust devils and landslides in the act of changing the surface of Mars, giving scientists more clues about how Mother Nature's vandals are leaving their mark on the changing martian landscape. Since Mars Global Surveyor arrived in September 1997, its high-resolution camera has been snapping pictures of puzzling dark streaks and lines that seemed to defy simple explanation--until now. In December 1999, scientists had their first solid evidence, a picture of a dust devil caught like a graffiti artist in the act of etching the surface of Mars. "Dust devils are spinning columns of air that move across the landscape and look somewhat like miniature tornadoes," said Dr. Ken Edgett, a staff scientist at Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, CA. "We've captured them in the midst of sweeping up dust and leaving behind a dark streak. This is the 'smoking gun' that explains the wild, sometimes twisted 'spaghetti' of dark streaks and trails we have been seeing. I get the feeling when I look at these pictures that something is 'moving'. These things send shivers down my spine." Dust devils are a common occurrence in dry and desert landscapes on Earth as well as Mars. They form when the ground heats up during the day, warming the air immediately above the surface. As the warmed air nearest the surface begins to rise, it spins. The spinning column begins to move across the surface and picks up loose dust. The dust makes the vortex visible and gives it the "dust devil" or tornado-like appearance. On Earth, dust devils typically last for only a few minutes and the same is probably true for Mars. "What is exciting about this dust devil finding is that we are witness to one of the processes that help explain cause of some of the seasonal variations in the bright and dark surfaces on Mars. The dust devils remove some of the bright dust and cause the surfaces to appear to darken in the spring and summer seasons. Each little dust devil that runs across the landscape makes the surface in that region just a little bit darker," Edgett explained. "This isn't happening everywhere, but it seems to be most common in the mid-latitudes of Mars. In recent weeks, we have seen as many as five to 10 devils at a time running across the floors of the giant impact basins of Hellas and Argyre." Scientists have known for decades that winds change the surface of Mars, but Global Surveyor has also captured other dark streaks that scientists now believe are the result of recent landslides. "This is the first time we have been able to detect from orbit a change caused by some other geologic process. Gravity is acting to move loose dust and sand down these crater slopes," said Edgett. "It's not a big surprise, but it is exciting to have captured the results of several new landslides that occurred in less than one martian year." Mars Global Surveyor's camera is observing how often these streaks form, which will provide scientists with some idea of the rate at which martian slopes are modified. "Knowing how long it takes for any process that changes the landscape to occur can tell us more about the how the planet came to look the way it does today," said Edgett. The new images can be seen at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/new and http://www.msss.com Edgett and imaging team colleagues Dr. Michael Malin, also at Malin Space Science Systems, and Drs. Robert Sullivan, Peter Thomas and Joe Veverka of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, are presenting these finding this week at the 31st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, in Houston, TX. Malin Space Science Systems built and operates the camera on board Mars Global Surveyor, which is 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, which developed and operates the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. --------------------------------------------------------------------- RESEARCHER FINDS SPACE FERTILE ARENA FOR GENE TRANSFERS By Beth Forbes, Purdue University 14 March 2000 Biotechnology may have found a new home in space, based on research that found genetic engineering in microgravity was 10 times more successful than on earth. Purdue University 's Richard Vierling is preparing to have his successful soybean DNA transplant experiments recreated on board a NASA space shuttle scheduled for launch April 13. Vierling's first microgravity experiments were conducted in late 1998 by the oldest man to ever fly in space, former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn. Those experiments, which tested whether DNA transfer could be conducted in microgravity, proved not only that it could be done, but also that it was more successful and efficient than DNA transfers in a control group here on earth. Of the soybean seedlings from the first space experiment, 9 percent exhibited the trait introduced. On earth, less than 1 percent of the control group showed the trait. "The rate of transient expression in a space environment was more than tenfold over the success rate of a comparable terrestrial experiment," Vierling says. Those experiments seem to indicate that space may be a better environment for conducting gene transfers. "Genes were transferred more efficiently to targeted cells in space than on earth. The results were so significant, we're going to improve our experiments and try them again," he says. Vierling, an adjunct associate professor of agronomy, is also director of the Indiana Crop Improvement genetics program. He is working on this project in conjunction with Stephen Goldman, a professor of biology at the University of Toledo. Their initial success was reported in the January 2000 edition of the journal, Chemical Innovation, produced by the American Chemical Society. Vierling says despite modern advances in biotechnology, genetic engineering is still a very inexact science. "Some plant species are easier to work with than others," he says. "Soybeans in particular are very inefficient to work with, and we're hoping to learn through these experiments ways that we can improve our odds of success even here on earth." The first space mission involved about 1,000 soybeans in what Vierling describes as "a crude experiment." "We didn't even know if you could do gene transfer in space," he says. "Some people had told us that it wouldn't be possible." He says some of the initial misgivings centered around the fact that the bacteria used to transfer the DNA must be mobile. "They have to 'swim' in a solution, and liquids are hard to control in zero gravity. You must keep the liquid in contact with the cells to be successful," Vierling says. However, the "floating" effect of space may be a benefit in this case, a hypothesis they hope to explore in this next round of experiments. Vierling already has applied for a patent based on the initial experiment results. Vierling says [that] commercial genetic transformation and regeneration of whole plants now is limited by the low success rates. "We hope to learn what makes space a more efficient environment for these experiments and then design equipment for use on earth to increase our efficiencies here," he says. The Purdue soybeans will have another Purdue Boilermaker connection while on board the space shuttle Atlantis this spring. Payload specialist Mary Ellen Webber, a Purdue chemical engineering graduate, will be among the crew at liftoff scheduled for 8:41 PM, April 13. PHOTO CAPTION: [http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/images/vierling.launch.jpeg] Purdue researcher Rick Vierling inspects soybean seedlings grown in the lab. Germinated soybean seeds will fly on board a space shuttle later this spring, to further test genetic engineering in microgravity. When the seedlings return from space, they should look much like those pictured here. (Purdue Agricultural Communications Photo by Tom Campbell) --------------------------------------------------------------------- HAVE WE MISSED SIGNS OF LIFE ON MARS? By Jonathan Knight, New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com 15 March 2000 The surface of Mars could be littered with the chemical residues of life. Previous missions to the planet were simply not equipped to detect them, researchers claim. The Viking spacecraft, which landed on Mars nearly 25 years ago, failed to find any signs of organic molecules, dashing hopes of detecting traces of life--modern or ancient--on the surface. Scientists have since assumed that the harsh oxidizing environment on the surface would destroy such molecules and that future missions will have to drill into the ground to find them. But the chemistry of Mars could have altered organic molecules in a number of complex ways, says Steven Benner, a chemist and Mars exploration consultant at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "There are some people who can look at music scores and see the chords," he says, "and there is a similar talent for guessing what the products of organic reactions will be under certain conditions." The martian surface is thought to be highly oxidizing because it is exposed to the Sun's ultraviolet rays. This high-energy bombardment splits water molecules into hydrogen, and hydroxyl radicals that can oxidize organic compounds directly or combine to form hydrogen peroxide, a powerful oxidizing agent. Far from destroying all organic molecules, however, these agents may react with some of them to form stable compounds, say Benner and his colleagues. They considered how hydroxyl radicals and peroxides would react with the five most abundant types of organic compound found in meteorites, including aromatic compounds such as naphthalene and kerogen, as well as alcohols and simple hydrocarbons. Although these compounds undergo different reactions, the researchers found that the first relatively stable product of each is a carboxylic acid. These could accumulate in the soil-acetic acid, for example, should oxidize 100 times more slowly than ethanol under the assumed martian soil conditions. Even complex carboxylic acids containing benzene rings should be much more stable than anything preceding them, they say. But even if carboxylic acids were abundant, the two Viking landers would not have detected them. To look for organics, the spacecraft heated a scoop of soil to 500 C for 30 seconds and ran the volatile products through a gas spectrometer. But carboxylic acids take longer to vaporize. "If they had heated it for 10 to 20 minutes, they would have seen what we are predicting is there," Benner claims. And if traces of organic compounds from non-living sources such as meteorites can survive on Mars, then so might traces of compounds created by life. "The question of organics is not closed," agrees Christopher McKay, a space scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California. Even if the missing Polar Lander had reached its destination safely, it would not have been able to heat its oven for much longer than Viking, he says. McKay says martian soil samples should be brought back to Earth so ideas like Benner's can be tested quickly. "I'm a big fan of bringing the dirt home." Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97:2425 (http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/6/2425) New Scientist issue: 18th March 2000 (http://www.newscientist.com) --------------------------------------------------------------------- SCIENTIFIC GOALS SHOULD DRIVE NASA'S "FASTER, BETTER, CHEAPER" APPROACH TO MISSIONS National Academy of Sciences release 15 March 2000 NASA should ensure that a broad range of missions--both small and large--are included in its portfolio, and that each is conducted to obtain the maximum scientific benefit, says a new report by the National Academies' National Research Council. The space agency's move toward "faster, better, cheaper" missions has spawned more efficient management techniques and ways to infuse state-of-the-art technology into its projects, but in some cases has compromised important scientific goals such as retrieving data and analyzing results. "The principles behind so-called 'faster, better, and cheaper' missions--for example, streamlining management and using proven technologies to cut costs--are generally sound," said committee chair Daniel Baker, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "But too often, the heavy emphasis on tight schedules and cost cutting is jeopardizing the scientific objectives of these missions." NASA's use of small-scale Earth and space science missions, which depend on already proven technologies and require fewer managers and staff, has been dubbed the "faster, better, cheaper" approach. In contrast to traditional missions, each of which may have cost as much as $1 billion and may have taken a decade or more to complete, these small missions typically run from $150 million to $350 million and take three or four years to complete. Because of the savings in time and cost, NASA might be able to launch 10 or more spacecraft a year. Several recent failures, however--including the Mars Polar Lander, the Mars Climate Observer, and the Wide-Field Infrared Explorer--have called this strategy into question. Low-budget missions are inherently riskier because they operate with fewer managers and staff, tighter schedules, and less- stringent program reviews, the committee said. And the loss of some spacecraft or the insufficient analyses of data collected on missions have introduced information gaps and impaired scientific investigations. NASA should ensure that desired scientific outcomes drive mission size selection and planning at all phases of design and execution, the committee said. Smaller and medium-sized missions are lauded by the research community for timely scientific benefit and for maintaining vitality in the research community itself. However, some scientific objectives, such as gathering samples from the martian surface, studying the outer limits of the solar system, and making long-term Earth observations, will call for larger projects. Therefore, a complement of small, medium, and large missions is needed for satisfactory Earth and space science programs. Making science a priority NASA should consider several factors in addition to budgets and schedules when planning the size and scope of a mission, the committee said. The site to be explored and its physical environment should determine the type of spacecraft and technologies that will be needed. And the types of data and frequency with which they need to be collected should dictate mission scope and duration. NASA's streamlined approach requires both readily available instruments and new technologies to keep up with more frequent flight opportunities and to deliver measurements and observations that meet high-priority science objectives in cost-effective ways. NASA should continue to fund the development of new spacecraft and instrument technologies, the committee urged. Using proven, commercial technologies can cut costs, but new technologies will continue to be needed to address new science goals. These technologies should be developed for missions of varying complexities and sizes to support a balanced mission portfolio. Forming partnerships Access to space at a reasonable cost is one of the biggest impediments to using a mix of small and large spacecraft, the committee noted. NASA should examine options for cutting the exorbitant costs entailed in launching spacecraft of any size. Currently, national policy requires all U.S. government research projects to be launched on vehicles manufactured in this country. This policy prevents the United States from taking advantage of lower-cost, foreign-launched vehicles, the committee said. Moreover, NASA should encourage international collaboration in all sizes of missions, which can help fill niches in NASA's space science and Earth science programs. The agency also should restore the use of separate, peer-reviewed opportunities for U.S. researchers to provide instruments or enhancements to foreign-led missions. This would allow future, foreign-led missions to be included in NASA's overall science and mission planning efforts. The appropriate roles for universities, NASA research centers, and industry in carrying out low-budget, small-scale missions also needs to be clarified, the committee said. Such missions can provide more opportunities for university and industry partners to participate in research. And access to high-quality educational opportunities should be improved across all space and Earth science missions. NASA funded the study. The National Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, nonprofit institution that provides science advice under a congressional charter. A panel roster follows. Copies of Assessment of Mission Size Trade-Offs for Earth and Space Science Missions are available from the National Academy Press, telephone (202) 334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242. The cost of the report is $29.75 (prepaid) plus shipping charges of $4.50 for the first copy and $0.95 for each additional copy. An executive summary of the report is available as a PDF file at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9796.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- SPACE-STATION DESIGN SOUND, BUT STEPS NEEDED TO IMPROVE LONG-TERM EFFICIENCY National Academy of Sciences release 15 March 2000 Nothing in the design of the International Space Station should adversely affect long-term operations once construction is complete, but NASA should take steps to ensure that astronauts will have sufficient time to conduct the scientific experiments for which the station was intended, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. The report questions whether daily maintenance on the assembled station will leave crews little time for research, a problem that plagued the Russian space station Mir. At the request of Congress, the Research Council formed an expert committee to evaluate NASA's plans for supporting the space station after it is assembled. For the most part, the committee found the engineering behind the station's design to be sound. However, it expressed concern that NASA's focus on the assembly of the space station still leaves the need for important planning on how best to conduct research, operate the station, upgrade equipment, and make repairs, once the space station is functional. At the time of the committee's study, construction of the space station was scheduled for completion in November 2004, after which it would be operational for 15 to 20 years. "The long-term mission of the space station presents NASA with challenges quite different from those faced during the short-term manned space flights of the past four decades," said committee chair Thomas Kelly, retired president of Grumman Corporation's Space Station Integration Division, now living in Cutchogue, NY. "NASA needs to look beyond the assembly phase, and develop plans now to maximize efficiency once the space station is operational." Most of the engineering deficiencies in the design of the space station can be corrected with procedural changes and equipment or software upgrades and can be addressed in time to meet the scheduled completion, the committee said. In the meantime, NASA should conduct a rigorous analysis of typical crew activities to determine if crews will have enough time to conduct research. The space agency also should take advantage of the long stints that flight crews will experience aboard the space station--as well as the ingenuity crews have historically shown--by delegating responsibility for much of the day-to-day scheduling to them. Communicating and returning to Earth NASA should allow the astronauts carrying out experiments on the space station to exchange data and instructions directly with the principal investigators in charge of those experiments on the ground, a practice that saved time for the crew aboard Mir. Researchers on Earth should be able to use advanced communication techniques to control some of their experiments remotely with little assistance from the crew. Because many experiments will require attention from a crewmember, however, NASA should consider including a payload specialist with research expertise as part of the seven-person crew. For researchers controlling on-board experiments and mission-control staff to transmit communications to the space station at the same time, NASA needs to give high priority to efforts aimed at broadening the bandwidth--the capacity for carrying data along a communications channel--for messages sent from Earth to the station. Likewise, the space station antennas need to be relocated in a configuration that would allow uninterrupted communications between the station and Earth, the committee said. NASA also should evaluate how real-time video transmissions could facilitate repairs on board the space station, the report says. And the space agency should explore reducing the number of staff on duty at mission control by turning to experts who would be on call and have ready access to data. With the safety of the crew and the success of experiments depending, in part, on secure, privileged communications, NASA should accelerate efforts to upgrade its encryption technology as well. Because crew safety comes first, the crew-return vehicle (CRV) is an essential part of the long-term planning process, the committee noted. In the event of an emergency, the CRV will be used to return to Earth. NASA must give higher priority to obtaining an appropriate vehicle, since the CRV needs to be in place by 2003 and a contractor has not yet been selected to build it. In addition, NASA should consider a remote-control return flight of the CRV from the space station to Earth to gain experience with its systems and flight characteristics. The committee also reviewed plans for decommissioning the space station. At present, NASA plans to return the station to Earth by conducting a controlled re-entry over the Pacific Ocean, but the U.S. propulsion module, as presently designed, does not have the power to make such a maneuver. The committee agreed that this re-entry plan is the best way to decommission the station, but the propulsion module will have to be upgraded to provide the requisite power. And because of the potential hazards associated with re-entry of an object as large as the space station, safety requirements should be more stringent than for other NASA re-entry operations. Russia's role In light of the political and economic situation in the former Soviet Union, NASA is concerned about Russia's ability to fulfill its role in the station's assembly. NASA described to the committee the agency's options for addressing these uncertainties, which involve providing short-term funding to keep assembly of the space station on track, while also seeking the necessary funds to eliminate American dependence on Russian participation. The committee urged NASA to carefully compare the costs of these options. It may turn out to be cheaper to continue providing funds to Russia rather than to transfer the cost of Russia's responsibilities to the United States. NASA is relying on Russian spacecraft as well as the U.S. space shuttle fleet to resupply the space station and change crews. The report says that because Russian and U.S. spacecraft could be grounded simultaneously, NASA should carefully reconsider its contingency plan. Currently, the plan calls for returning the space station crew to Earth and increasing the station's altitude, which will conserve energy and keep the station in orbit until one of the shuttles arrives, or until space vehicles owned by the European Space Agency or Japan can reach it. But the committee said NASA should identify other viable options, and should consider new launch vehicles that may become operational during the lifetime of the space station. Working outside the space station NASA's plans for how astronauts will walk in space and use robotic arms outside the station should be augmented to enhance the efficiency of crewmembers and ensure their safety, the report says. While the extravehicular mobility unit--the suit and life-support system used for space walks--is a proven system that can be expected to meet most of the demands of space-station astronauts, improvements are needed. For example, efforts should be made to reduce the time astronauts must spend in a depressurized chamber and the time spent breathing pure oxygen, both of which are done in preparation for space walks to prevent decompression sickness afterward. And NASA should ensure that the emergency propulsion system which astronauts rely on if detached from the space station can continue to function despite the failure of any one critical component. NASA and its international partners should incorporate improved technology to increase the precision with which robotic arms can be manipulated outside the space station, the committee said. This is especially important since significant time may elapse between when astronauts are trained to perform tasks using the robotic arms and when they actually operate them in space, which could be several months later. NASA funded the committee's report. The National Research Council is the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, nonprofit organization that provides advice on science and technology under a congressional charter. A committee roster follows. Copies of Engineering Challenges to the Long-Term Operation of the International Space Station are available from the National Academy Press, telephone (202) 334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242. The cost of the report is $18.00 (prepaid) plus shipping charges of $4.50 for the first copy and $0.95 for each additional copy. The full report is available for online viewing at http://books.nap.edu/catalog/9794.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- TEAM PROBES MARS' SCIENCE AND FICTION By Billy Cox, Florida Today 16 March 2000 Although Brian DePalma's "Mission to Mars" opened last weekend with a box office-leading $23 million gate, most critics are dissing the sci-fi epic as a cliche-ridden yawner. Attempting to accent the positive, Stephen Corrick says, "I think you can safely say that Tim Robbins plays a better frozen dead guy than Leonardo DiCaprio." Corrick isn't connected with the movie, but as a member of the Society for Planetary SETI Research, he isn't complaining about the timing of its release. Last weekend also marked the debut of the Chicago literary agent's most recent project, Dead Mars, Dying Earth (The Crossing Press, $26.95), written by plasma physicist John Brandenburg and co-author Monica Rix Paxson... ...Dead Mars, Dying Earth theorizes the comet responsible for gouging Mars' 120-mile wide Lyot impact crater 500 million years ago also blasted organic seed debris onto Earth, which in turn hastened the evolution of primitive aquatic life. Get the full story at http://www.floridatoday.com/news/people/stories/2000/mar/peo031600a.h tm --------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 13-19 March 2000 Celebrating the news of official approval of a new mission extension, Galileo continues to return science data acquired during its most recent flyby of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io. During the flyby, the spacecraft flew over the surface of Io at an altitude of 198 kilometers (123 miles), or about the same distance as between Los Angeles and San Diego. This week's data return contains observations made the Photopolarimeter Radiometer (PPR), the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS), the Solid-State Imaging camera (SSI) and the Fields and Particles instruments. Data playback is interrupted once this week. On Thursday, the spacecraft performs a test to determine the status of the Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) instrument. UVS has been turned off for Galileo's past three encounters. The instrument's electronics appear to have been damaged by some combination of Jupiter's severe radiation environment and over a decade spent in the harsh space environment. Engineers are hoping that time will allow the damaged electronics to anneal, restoring the instrument to a working state. Annealing is the process in which defects in a material (in this case, radiation damage to a semiconductor) migrate toward the edges of the affected component, thus restoring the material to something nearer to its original, undamaged state. In this week's playback, the Fields and Particles instruments continue to return parts of an 82-minute high resolution recording of the plasma, dust, and electric and magnetic fields surrounding Io. The data will allow scientists to better understand the interaction between Io, the Io torus, and the Jovian magnetosphere. PPR follows next on the playback schedule with the return of two observations of the Loki volcano. The observations contain temperature measurements that will allow scientists to study the flow of heat on Io's surface. Next, NIMS returns an observation of the Pele volcano region designed to map thermal emissions at very high spatial resolutions, allowing dectection of features as small as 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in size. The observation contains a view of Pele while it is on Io's night side. SSI also returns several nightside images of Pele in an attempt to observe hot, glowing lava in the Pele caldera. PPR follows with the return of a polarimetry observation from the Mulungu Patera region. With the measurements contained in this observation, scientists are hoping to learn more about the particle sizes, textures, and composition of sulfur frost. SSI returns the remainder of this week's observations. The first is of a feature that appeared to have been affected by "sapping" in an observation that was made in June 1999. Sapping is the natural process of erosion along the base of a cliff by which soft layers are worn away. The erosion removes the support of the upper part of the cliff, which then breaks off in large blocks and falls from the cliff face. SSI's next observation contains images of a new hot spot identified during Galileo's November 1999 flyby of Io and designated Chaac Patera. In this very high-resolution observation, surface features as small as 9 meters (30 feet) should be detectable. SSI's final observation is a set of high-resolution images of the Prometheus region. At a resolution of 13 meters (43 feet), the observation is expected to capture Prometheus' plume source and active lava flow. For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter, please visit the Galileo home page at one of the following URL's: http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo --------------------------------------------------------------------- MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORT JPL release 8 March 2000 Launch / Days since Launch = Nov 7, 1996 / 1220 days Start of Mapping / Days since Start of Mapping = April 1, 1999 / 342 days Total Mapping Orbits = 4476 Total Orbits = 6158 Recent events The spacecraft continues to operate nominally in performing the beta supplement daily recording and transmission of science data. The mm018 sequence executed successfully from 00-62 (3/2/00) through 00- 65 (3/5/00). The mm019 sequence (i.e. first fixed-HGA sequence) began execution on 00-65 (3/5/00) and will run through completion of 00-68 (3/8/00). The mm019 sequence contains 12 orbits of MOLA off-nadir polar scans followed by three consecutive days of eight hour fixed-HGA Earth pointed periods, designed to allow radio science Earth occultation egress data, which is prohibited during beta supplement operations due to HGA boom and EMI interference constraints. Two incidents have occurred on the spacecraft during the execution of this sequence, as described below. The next sequence mm020 (another beta supplement sequence), scheduled to execute from 00-69 (3/9/00) through 00-72 (3/12/00), has been successfully uplinked to the spacecraft. The first incident of the mm019 sequence was with star processing during the MOLA off-nadir Polar scans. The first 12 orbits of the mm019 sequence flew with a -17.1° nadir off-point angle for 45 minutes centered about the South Pole and a 14.4° nadir off-point angle for 45 minutes centered about the North Pole. This left about 30 minutes of star processing time per two-hour orbit. Anticipating that the limited star processing might be problematic, based on the previous MOLA polar scans performed last year, two things were done to ensure that the spacecraft would not lose inertial reference and enter contingency mode fault protection. First a commanded bias reset was issued two hours before the first MOLA scan to coincide with the IMU swap to high rate mode and second the lost logic limit, the number of unidentified stars allowed before an autonomous bias reset, was raised to 60 stars. Twice during the 12-orbit scan sequence, the lost logic limit was exceeded and an autonomous reset was commanded. After each reset the spacecraft successfully converged attitude. Three consecutive cumulative resets are required to actually cause entry into contingency mode. Prior to slewing the spacecraft to the first fixed-HGA Earth pointed attitude following the MOLA scans, the spacecraft attitude was nominal and star processing was properly converged. In spite of the star processing problems, the spacecraft successfully executed all of the slews and returned the data back to Earth, during the subsequent eight-hour fixed-HGA Earth pointed period. The second incident occurred when the MOLA laser temperature approached the 35° upper flight allowable limit, during the last orbit of the second eight-hour fixed-HGA Earth pointed period. The increased temperature was expected but the actual temperatures were about four degrees higher than that predicted by the thermal model. Real-time telemetry was not available for the flight team during the Earth pointed period, which is used for playback of the recorded data. The greater than expected temperature increase was noticed in the playback data on the third and last fixed-HGA Earth pointed period. The Spacecraft Team is currently reassessing the monthly MOLA off- nadir polar orbit scans and the fixed-HGA Earth periods for radio science egress data, to determine what changes are required to ensure the safety of all the instruments and robustness of the spacecraft in performing these special events. Options will be presented to the Project at the 3/14 Mission Planning meeting. The next fixed-HGA sequence is scheduled for 00-076 (3/16/00) and will most likely be replaced with a beta supplement sequence. Spacecraft health All subsystems are reporting nominal health. As expected the battery DOD was greater during the four fixed-HGA Earth pointed orbits due to the additional transmitter on time associated with performing the radio science occultation egress event. As a result battery 2 autonomously switched to the VT 1 curve. Upon completion of the fixed-HGA sequence, battery 2 will be commanded back to VT 2. Uplinks There have been 15 uplinks to the spacecraft during the last week, including new star catalogs and ephemeris files, instrument command loads, and the mm020 sequence. Total command files radiated to the spacecraft since launch is 4495. Upcoming events Planning has begun for a focus calibration of the MOC to be performed in late March. --------------------------------------------------------------------- End Marsbugs Volume 7, Number 10