MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 7, Number 13, 10 April 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) UNDERWATER SENSOR SNIFFS OUT CHEMISTRY AT DEEP-SEA VENT SITES University Of Delaware release 2) CYDONIA: TWO YEARS LATER By Ron Baalke 3) [AGRICULTURAL] SHUTTLE EXPERIMENT SET TO BLAST OFF By Brian Mattmiller (bsmattmi@facstaff.wisc.edu) 4) NASA AND NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE JOIN TO DEVELOP NANO- EXPLORERS FOR THE HUMAN BODY By Renee Juhans 5) THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 6) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORT JPL release 7) STARDUST STATUS REPORTS JPL releases --------------------------------------------------------------------- UNDERWATER SENSOR SNIFFS OUT CHEMISTRY AT DEEP-SEA VENT SITES University Of Delaware release http://www.udel.edu/PR/experts/sniff.html 30 March 2000 Researchers from the University of Delaware and Analytical Instrument Systems, Inc., have developed an electrochemical analyzer, a kind of underwater "snooper," that can detect the chemicals spewing out of super-hot vents over a mile deep on the ocean floor. The analyzer, which is mounted to the submarine Alvin, can be parked near a vent to provide readings of the sulfur-rich compounds rocketing out of the Earth's crust. Ironically, these toxic chemicals may serve as fingerprints, leading scientists to the locations of deep-sea organisms that may be beneficial to humankind. "This is the first time a system like this has been built to operate at such great depths and pressures," says UD chemist George Luther, who will report on the tool March 29 during the American Chemical Society meeting. "So far, the analyzer has been tested at a depth of 2,500 meters. At that depth, the pressure is more than 200 times what it is here on the surface," Luther notes. "The analyzer also has proven itself under a wide range of deep ocean temperatures, from just above freezing to 100 degree Celsius at the vents." The system consists of two units. The first is a foot-long wand that houses several gold/amalgam electrodes coated in a super-tough plastic. Luther and his team at the UD College of Marine Studies designed this portion of the system. The wand is attached to one of Alvin's highly maneuverable arms for placement near the vents. The wand also is connected to a 3-foot-long, 8-inch-diameter tube that houses the system's electronics. Designed by Donald Nuzzio, president of Analytical Instrument Systems, Inc., in Flemington, New Jersey, this component is mounted to the bottom of the sub. A 2- inch-thick anodized aluminum housing protects the electronics from imploding under the crushing weight of the deep sea. The analyzer can detect a number of chemical compounds simultaneously, such as iron monosulfide (the dissolved form of FeS), hydrogen sulfide, thiosulfate, polysulfide, and others. On a recent deep-sea expedition, the research team found that the presence of two compounds--hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and iron monosulfide (FeS)--may be an important indicator of the oldest microscopic vent life. These compounds react to form the mineral pyrite ("fool's gold") and hydrogen gas. The hydrogen provides the energy that the microbes need to grow. Based on this discovery, Luther hopes the "snooper" eventually will aid scientists in sniffing out ancient bacteria and yield important information about other vent life. "Learning more about the chemistry of the vents should help us better understand the biology of the vents, and why deep-sea organisms, such as heat-hardy Pompeii worms, live where they live," he says. "Some of these vent dwellers may possess enzymes useful in processing food and drugs and other important applications." The National Science Foundation and the UD Sea Grant College Program support the research. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CYDONIA: TWO YEARS LATER By Ron Baalke 5 April 2000 Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera MGS MOC Release #MOC2-222, 5 April 2000 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/4_5_00_cydonia/index. html [Image] FIGURE 1: Viking Orbiter mosaic showing landforms in Cydonia with popular, informal names. The recent motion picture, "Mission to Mars," takes as part of its premise that certain features in the Cydonia region of Mars were constructed as monuments by ancient martians. This idea--widely popularized in books, magazines, tabloids and other news/infotainment media--has its origin in the chance observation (in 1976) by one of the Viking Orbiter spacecraft of a face-like hill. The "face" and other nearby landforms are labeled in the above mosaic of Viking Orbiter images from the 1970s. On April 5, 1998, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft performed a specially-planned maneuver to photograph the "Face on Mars." Having successfully imaged the "Face" on its first attempt, two additional maneuvers were used to observe other purported "artifical" features: the "City" (a cluster of small mountains west-southwest of the "Face") and the "City Square" (a group of four small hills surrounded by the larger mountains of the "City"). These special observations occurred during the Science Phasing Orbits period of the MGS mission, while the spacecraft was in a 12 hour, elliptical orbit. A year later, in March 1999, MGS attained its final, circular, polar Mapping Orbit, from which it has now subsequently observed the planet for a year. During this year of mapping, the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) has continued to make observations within the Cydonia region whenever the MGS spacecraft has flown over that area. Narrow angle camera views of Cydonia [Image] FIGURE 2: Location of MOC images acquired during the past two years, April 1998 to April 2000. Click on ID numbers to browse the images. These are presented at 40% size with north approximately "up". For full-resolution images, see list below. The above figure shows the location of all high resolution (narrow angle) MOC images of the Cydonia region that have been obtained to date, including the first three taken in 1998. Images acquired during the Science Phasing Orbit period of 1998 slant from bottom left to top right; Mapping Phase images (from 1999 and 2000) slant from lower right to upper left. Owing to the nature of the orbit, and in particular to the limitations on controlling the location of the orbit, the longitudinal distribution of images (left/right in the images above) is distinctly non-uniform. An attempt to take a picture of a portion of the "Face" itself (M12-01787) in mid-February 2000 was foiled when the MGS spacecraft experienced a sequencing error and most of that day's data were not returned to Earth. Only the first 97 lines of M12-01787 were received; the image's planned footprint is shown as a dashed box. Wide angle camera views of Cydonia [Image] FIGURE 3: Wide Angle Color Image from May 1999. 100 m/pixel 1 MByte Version [Image] FIGURE 4: Wide Angle Stereo Anaglyph from May 1999. 100 m/pixel 1 MByte Version Although the resolution of the MOC wide angle cameras is too low to tell much about the geomorphology of the Cydonia region, the images from the red and blue wide angle cameras provide us with two types of information that is of interest in their own right: color and stereoscopic data. Above are a color view and a stereoscopic anaglyph rendition of Geodesy Campaign images acquired by MGS MOC in May 1999. To view the stereo image, you need red/blue "3-d" glasses. Additional information and views 40% Views Accessed Via Figure 2: Each of the high resolution, or narrow angle, views of the Cydonia region that can be accessed by clicking on the ID numbers in Figure 2 has been processed to remove the vertical striping that is caused by the non-uniform sensitivity of the MOC narrow angle camera; rotated so that north is approximately "up" and east is toward the right; linearly-stretched to show details/contrast, and reduced to 40% of its original size so that it can be viewed with most web-browsing software. Non-unity aspect ratios have not been corrected in these views. Full-Resolution Views Accessed by ID Numbers Below: The full-resolution views of each Cydonia image are provided in the list below. Each has been processed to remove the vertical striping that is caused by the non-uniform sensitivity of the MOC narrow angle camera. No additional processing has been applied. In particular, these images are usually not oriented with north to the top. Many also have aspect ratios greater than 1 (this means that craters will look "squished"). For those who want detailed information on these images that can be used to process them further, an ancillary data table is provided. Some of the full-resolution images are too large to be viewed in your web-browser; the "save this link as" option should be used to download the image to your desktop, then open it with your favorite image viewing or image processing software. All pictures are in GIF format. SP1-22003 (3.9 Mbytes) M02-04227 (3.6 Mbytes) M04-01903 (4.9 Mbytes) M09-05394 (2.5 Mbytes) SP1-23903 (4.2 Mbytes) M03-00766 (1.7 Mbytes) M08-04601 (0.6 Mbytes) M10-03053 (2.6 Mbytes) SP1-25803 (4.4 Mbytes) M03-04566 (4.0 Mbytes) M08-06460 (3.4 Mbytes) M12-01787 (60 Kbytes) Several Large views of Figure 2 without labels: 120 meter/pixel (0.3 MBytes) 60 meter/pixel (0.93 MBytes) 20 meter/pixel (6.7 MBytes) All images please credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems Malin Space Science Systems 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [AGRICULTURAL] SHUTTLE EXPERIMENT SET TO BLAST OFF By Brian Mattmiller (bsmattmi@facstaff.wisc.edu) University of Wisconsin release 6 April 2000 University scientists have a chance in April to build evidence that microgravity is fertile ground for crop improvement. The Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics, in partnership with the Indiana biotechnology company Producers' Natural Processing, will direct a research project aboard NASA's April 24 space shuttle mission, STS 101. The goal: demonstrate that genetic transformation of agricultural crops, an arduous and inefficient task on earth, has better odds in space. Weijia Zhou, director of WCSAR, says the research payload will start with 1,000 germinating soybean seeds. Once in orbit, shuttle astronauts will add a solution that contains Agrobacterium, which serves as a vector for enabling genes to enter plant cells and become integrated in the plant's genome. The target gene in this year's project could produce in soybeans an "edible vaccine" being developed by Producers' Natural Processing. A second "reporter gene," which gives off a green fluorescent color, is used so scientists can detect whether the transfer occurred. This test will build on the qualified success of WCSAR's first gene transfer experiment in November 1998. That experiment produced a 10- fold increase in transformation compared to a control group of soybean seeds on earth. Normally, transferring desirable genes into soybeans has success rates of only about one in 1,000. However, the experiment fell short because the virulence of the Agrobacterium overwhelmed the seeds and ended up killing them. Zhou says the group made improvements to this year's experiment to improve the survival rates of seeds. "Gene transformation is a game of numbers," says Bratislav Stankovic, a WCSAR scientist and investigator on the project. "When the odds are this low, it takes a lot of effort and money to get transformed plants. If we improve the odds by a couple orders of magnitude, we could see real benefits for agriculture." Gene transfer is being employed for a variety of goals in agriculture, with one of the most common being improving the natural pest resistance of crops. Other developments include improving frost resistance and adaptability to extreme climates, and expressing vaccines or other nutritional benefits in foods. It's an exceedingly inefficient process for many crops, such as corn, soybeans, sugar beets or bananas. Why microgravity seems to improve this process is still up in the air, the researchers say. The prevailing theory is that the increased buoyancy or suspension time of the genetic material allows more time for genes to be integrated. Sponsored by NASA, WCSAR pursues commercialization of space technology and utilization of space to enhance product development. The organization developed a series of plant growth technologies that paved the way for numerous controlled studies aboard the space shuttle. This marks the ninth space shuttle mission for WCSAR. --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA AND NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE JOIN TO DEVELOP NANO-EXPLORERS FOR THE HUMAN BODY By Renee Juhans NASA note N00-15 6 April 2000 To treat symptoms of the common cold, most people take a gel capsule containing hundreds of granular pieces of medicine as a remedy for coughing, sneezing and a runny nose. Now, imagine ingesting a capsule of similar size, containing microscopic sensors to detect, diagnose and treat disease inside the human body. It sounds like science fiction. However, NASA, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), is working to turn this vision into "science fact." To mark the unique partnership, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director Dr. Richard Klausner will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to develop new biomedical technologies that can detect, diagnose and treat disease here on Earth and in space. The development of such technologies will improve life on Earth and one day revolutionize medicine and space travel. The signing will begin at 1 p.m. EDT on April 13, in Room SD-138 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. Goldin and Klausner will discuss their visions of bio-molecular technologies and present video concepts of such future technology. Media representatives are invited to attend the signing and should contact Renee Juhans at (202) 358-1712, by COB April 11, to confirm attendance. The joint collaboration comes as NASA and NCI each move forward with historic initiatives requiring major advances in available technology. NCI is attempting to define cancer for the first time based on the unique molecular characteristics of tumors. NASA is seeking to develop a new form of patient care--"microscopic explorers"--that would travel through the human body looking for disease. This technology will allow NASA to monitor astronaut health and treat conditions in space, where medical test capabilities and communication with Earth will be limited. Additional information on NASA and NCI technology programs can be found on the internet at http://search.nci.nih.gov/search.nci.nih.gov/s97is.vts and http://www.sverdrup.com/nasa/sensors.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 3-9 April 2000 Galileo continues to play back science data stored on its onboard tape recorder as the spacecraft flies through apojove and starts its return to the heart of the Jupiter system. Apojove occurs on Thursday and is the point at which the spacecraft is farthest from Jupiter in a given orbit. The current orbit's apojove distance is 154 Jupiter radii (11 million kilometers, or 6.9 million miles). Data playback is interrupted twice this week. On Friday, the spacecraft executes a small flight path adjustment. Late Sunday night, Galileo performs standard maintenance on its propulsion system. The maintenance is performed regularly to prevent debris from accumulating in Galileo's propellant lines and blocking them. The Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) is first to return data this week. A continuation of data playback from last week, the data contain a regional scan of Io's surface. The scan will provide context information for other high-resolution observations. The Photopolarimeter Radiometer (PPR) returns the next observation, which consists of a view of the Shakuru region of Io to determine temperatures of sulfur frost. The Solid-State Imaging camera (SSI) in next on the data return schedule with the playback of a global image of Io. Toward the end of the week, Galileo begins returning data from a second pass through the observations stored on the tape recorder. This additional pass is primarily for the return of additional data, but it also allows replay of data lost in transmission to Earth, or reprocessing of data using different parameters. To start off this second pass, PPR returns an observation of Jupiter's atmosphere designed to allow scientists to learn more about the vertical cloud structure of Jupiter, including cloud particle shape and size. The Fields and Particles instruments are next on the playback schedule with the return of portions of a 23/4-hour high- resolution recording of the Io torus. The torus is a ring-shaped region of intense plasma and radiation activity, which is actively maintained by Jupiter's strong magnetic field and Io's constant supply of volcanic particles. The Fields and Particles instruments also return portions of a high-resolution recording made during the closest 82 minutes of Galileo's February flyby of Io. NIMS and SSI take to the playback stage next with the return of observations of Io's Pele volcano. The observations were performed with Pele on Io's night side. The NIMS data are designed to provide a map of thermal emissions surrounding Pele's caldera. SSI contributes by returning several images of the hot glowing lava in the caldera. SSI also returns this week's final observation. The observation contains a feature that was seen to have been affected by sapping in an observation 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 for the upper part of the cliff, which then breaks off in large blocks and falls from the cliff face. 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 29 March 2000 Launch / Days since Launch = Nov 7, 1996 / 1241 days Start of Mapping / Days since Start of Mapping = April 1, 1999 / 363 days Total Mapping Orbits = 4734 Total Orbits = 6337 Recent events The spacecraft continues to operate nominally in performing the beta supplement daily recording and transmission of science data. The mm024 sequence executed successfully from 00-83(3/23/00) through 00- 86 (3/26/00). The mm025 sequence also successfully executed from 00- 87 (3/27/00) through 00-89 (3/29/00). The mm026 sequence was successfully uplinked on 00-88 (3/28/00) and will begin execution on 00-89 (3/29/00). The mm027 sequence is scheduled to be uplinked on 00-92 (4/1/00) and will execute from 00-94 (4/3/00) through 00-96 (4/5/00). The mz049 mini-sequence, containing four MOC star scans for the purpose of improving the camera focus, was also uplinked successfully on 00-89 (3/29/00). The first star scan will occur on 00-90 at 14:35:56 GMT on the spacecraft. The mm028 and mm029 sequences are currently in development. A fifth and final MOC focus star scan will be included in the mm028 sequence. It is intended to repeat the MOC focus scans every six months. Also included in the mm028 sequence is the next MOLA North and South Pole off-nadir scans. The MOLA polar scans will begin at approximately 12:00 GMT on 00-99 (4/8/00). --------------------------------------------------------------------- STARDUST STATUS REPORTS JPL releases 31 March 2000 There were two Deep Space Network (DSN) passes during the past week. All subsystems onboard the spacecraft are performing normally. The remainder of the Navigation Camera images were transmitted to Earth. An analysis of the images is in progress. The aerogel grid was successfully moved another 10 degrees in the open direction. This will ensure the grid remains perpendicular to the interstellar dust stream. The Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) team participated in the NASA/JPL Solar System Exploration Program Teachers Workshop, involving over 30 teachers nationwide. This was the first meeting after combining the E/PO efforts of STARDUST, Galileo and Cassini. Data Management and Archive made its first formal delivery of data to the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS) for permanent archive and distribution to the NASA science community. This first delivery included all pre-launch Navigation Camera calibration data, over 2 gigabytes of data, provided on the new DVD media. Stardust is the first project to use the new DVD media for data delivery to PDS. 7 April 2000 There were two Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking passes during the past week. All subsystems onboard the spacecraft are performing normally. Interstellar dust collection continues. A sequence of 30 Navigation Camera images has been identified, including bright stars seen using the mirror and through periscope and using the mirror only as well as images with the calibration lamp on. Multiple exposures through multiple filters will be taken with only the central 350 x 350 pixels of the 1024 x 1024 image being transmitted to earth to reduce downlink time. These images will be taken after Trajectory Correction Maneuver #3 (TCM-3). The project is preparing for the NASA Discovery Program retreat next week that will include all past and current Discovery projects. 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, Volume 7, Number 13