MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 7, Number 36, 25 September 2000. Editors: Dr. David J. Thomas, Math and Science 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://welcome.to/marsbugs. 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) THE EUROPA ORBITER From JPL’s Europa Orbiter home page 2) NASA ENVISIONS HUMAN MISSIONS TO DEEP SPACE By Leonard David 3) CLIMATE CHANGE: NEW IMPRESSIONS FROM SPACE From ESA Science News 4) SEARCH FOR EARTH-LIKE HABITABLE PLANETS AND DETERMINING THE AGES OF STARS RECOMMENDED FOR INCLUSION IN THE PROGRAM OF THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY By Jean Schneider 5) MARS RESEARCHERS SPOT BIG ICE DEPOSIT By Leonard David 6) SHERRY L. CADY NAMED EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF NEW ASTROBIOLOGY JOURNAL TO BE LAUNCHED IN 2001 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. release 7) GENERATION MARS--THE MARS SOCIETY UK'S FLAGSHIP EDUCATION PROGRAM By Adrian Hon 8) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY, EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS AND TERRAFORMATION INDEX By David J. Thomas 9) CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS JPL release 10) THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 11) STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE EUROPA ORBITER From JPL’s Europa Orbiter home page http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ice_fire/europao.htm 24 August 2000 Europa, fourth largest satellite of Jupiter, has gained the rank of one of the highest priority targets for an outer Solar System exploration mission. If liquid water were to exist on Europa, it would not be unreasonable to speculate on the existence of life there, perhaps forming near undersea volcanic vents. Life on Earth has been discovered at great ocean depths, beyond the penetration of sunlight, thriving on upwelling chemical nutrients from the interior of the planet. NASA's Galileo spacecraft has recently sent back to Earth amazingly detailed images of the surface of Europa. Many scientists believe the pictures reveal a relatively young surface of ice, possibly only about 1 km (~3250 feet) thick in places. Internal heating on Europa due to Jupiter's tidal pull could melt the underside of the icepack, forming an ocean of liquid water underneath the surface. As part of NASA’s Outer Planets/Solar Probe Project, preliminary development has begun on a mission to send a spacecraft to Europa to measure the thickness of the surface ice and to detect an underlying liquid ocean if it exists. Using an instrument called a radar sounder to bounce radio waves through the ice, the Europa Orbiter science craft would be able to detect an ice-water interface, perhaps as little as 1 km below the surface. Other instruments would reveal details of the surface and interior processes. This mission would be a precursor to lander missions, which would make detailed studies of the surface characteristics, such as composition, seismology, and physical state. Such landers might themselves be precursors to sending “hydrobots” or remote controlled submarines that could melt through the ice and explore the undersea realm. --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA ENVISIONS HUMAN MISSIONS TO DEEP SPACE By Leonard David From Space.com 15 September 2000 The space agency has scripted a step-by-step plan to send astronauts to locales between Earth, the moon and the sun, to Mars and the asteroids, and even farther--to the moons of several outer planets. A set of far-out space missions beyond Earth's orbit is part of a new strategic plan for the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS)... ...While the HEDS crystal-ball look into the space future is welcomed, such NASA scheming still remains in the gravity-grip of today's reality, said Marcia Smith, a space analyst for the Congressional Research Service, a study arm of Congress. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/news/spaceagencies/nasa_astronaut_treks_000915.h tml. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIMATE CHANGE: NEW IMPRESSIONS FROM SPACE From ESA Science News http://sci.esa.int 20 September 2000 Are variations in the Sun's brightness an important cause of climate change? Could changes in the Sun's magnetism affect the Earth's clouds? Why do temperature trends in the lower atmosphere give a different impression of global warming from measurements at ground level? The latest results from spacecraft that observe the Sun and the Earth provoke many such questions. They will be debated next week on the Spanish island of Tenerife, where scientists who calculate climate change due to manmade greenhouse gases will meet others who argue that solar effects have been underestimated. The European Union and the European Space Agency are sponsoring the conference entitled “The Solar Cycle and Terrestrial Climate”, 24-29 September. It is hosted in Santa Cruz de Tenerife by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. More than 40 speakers from 15 countries will review the Sun's erratic behavior and its possible climatic effects, in the most comprehensive meeting on this subject for many years. “To those of us who observe it every day, the Sun is a wild beast, and no one doubts that its variations affect the climate to some degree,” says Brigitte Schmieder of the Observatoire Paris-Meudon, France, co-chairman of the scientific committee that planned the meeting. “The arguments in Tenerife will be about the mechanisms of the solar influence, and its importance compared with the human factor.” Claus Fröhlich of the Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium, Switzerland, will report the latest results from his VIRGO instrument on the ESA-NASA SOHO spacecraft. These show an increase of about 0.1 per cent in visible solar radiation since SOHO was launched in 1995, at the last sunspot minimum. But this is a cyclical variation and comparisons with results from earlier spacecraft show no overall increase since the 1980s. The relatively small variations in the Sun's brightness observed by satellites encouraged the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to propose in 1990 that global warming in the 20th Century was due mainly to carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases added to the air by human activity. It predicted severe global warming in the 21st Century as a result of this enhanced greenhouse effect. These opinions were reconfirmed in a later report, Climate Change 1995. A third major assessment is now in preparation. Sir John Houghton of the Intergovernmental Panel's science working group will report at the Tenerife meeting on the issues being addressed. One is a reconsideration of the historical role of other natural agents of climate change, including the Sun. There were no satellites in 1700, when the Sun was unusually inactive and Europe was very chilly, but many experts suppose that solar radiation has intensified since then. Two conference speakers, Marcel Fligge of the ETHZ Institut für Astronomie, Switzerland, and Sami Solanki of the Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie, Germany, have just published estimates that the average visible light increased by 0.2% during the past 300 years, and ultraviolet rays by 0.7%. “It requires precise space observations to detect the subtle solar brightening at the peak of the sunspot cycle,” Solanki notes. “To evaluate long-term climatic effects, we have to make the most of just two decades of space measurements and use models to reconstruct the larger changes in the past.” A discovery made with help from the ESA-NASA Ulysses spacecraft is that the Sun's magnetic field in the Earth's vicinity doubled in strength during the 20th Century. Mike Lockwood of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, will discuss this symptom of a more active Sun. It can be used to estimate increases in brightness, which were apparently greater in the first half of the century than in the second half. The intensifying magnetic field, carried by the solar wind, also reduced the number of cosmic rays reaching the Earth from the Galaxy. According to another speaker, Henrik Svensmark of the Danish Space Research Institute, the shortage of cosmic rays reduced the Earth's cloudiness, so enabling the world to warm up. In 1996, Svensmark found that cloudiness gauged from weather satellites such as Meteosat apparently varied according to the intensity of cosmic rays. Using improved data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, Svensmark and his colleague Nigel Marsh now link cosmic-ray variations chiefly with low clouds over the tropical oceans. Meteorologists have been sceptical about any effect of cosmic rays on cloud formation, but in April this year atmospheric chemists at the University of California, Los Angeles, suggested a mechanism. In clean oceanic air, cosmic rays may facilitate the formation at low altitudes of sulfuric acid particles, on which cloud droplets form. A proposed experiment at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory in Geneva, is intended to test mechanisms like that. Jasper Kirkby from CERN will explain how pulses of particles can simulate cosmic rays, in a purpose-built cloud chamber matching conditions in the atmosphere. Besides the atmospheric and particle physicists, space scientists from the UK's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have joined the team for this experiment, called CLOUD. Meanwhile, various combinations of natural influences and manmade emissions have been compared with the sequence of temperature changes of the 20th Century, in a computer model at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, UK. Simon Tett will describe the results at the Tenerife meeting. The warming in the early part of the century is best explained by changes in solar brightness, a scarcity of explosive volcanoes, and internal climate variability. On the other hand, the model indicates that the human influence was the chief cause of recent warming. “The effect of greenhouse gases was masked by the cooling effect of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols until the 1960s,” Tett comments. “This allowed the Sun and other natural forcings to play their part in climate change. Now we see the gases beginning to overcome the cooling effects of volcanoes and anthropogenic sulfate aerosols. Since the 1963 eruption of Agung the cooling from volcanic aerosols has offset the small warming from increases in solar irradiance and this cooling has been overwhelmed by warming from greenhouse gases.” Another puzzle from the satellites remains. John Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville will report that in 1999-2000 the lower atmosphere over the tropics is cooler than at any other time in the past 22 years. He will cite data from US weather satellites that detect temperature-sensitive microwave emissions from oxygen in the air, and independent confirmation by balloon-borne thermometers. “This is curious,” Christy says. “According to the climate models used to calculate the enhanced greenhouse effect, the warming should have been particularly rapid in the air over the tropics.” Europe will join in the watch on atmospheric temperatures from space, when the first Metop satellite, being developed by ESA for Eumetsat, goes into a polar orbit in 2002. Its instruments will include an advanced microwave sounding unit provided by the USA. The climate conference in Santa Cruz de Tenerife is accompanied by other meetings about the Sunday Sessions organized on 29 September by the Joint Organization for Solar Observations will review data handling, instruments, and the August 1999 solar eclipse. On 30 September, the European Solar Magnetometry Network will convene. In the following week, 2-6 October 2000, helioseismologists of SOHO and the ground-based GONG project will gather for a workshop on “Helio- and Asteroseismology at the Dawn of the Millennium”. Paal Brekke of ESA will give a popular talk on “The Sun through the eyes of SOHO” on 29 September at 20:00 in the Cajacanarias Conference Center. ESA will publish the proceedings of “The Solar Cycle and Terrestrial Climate” conference in a few months' time. Useful links for this story * Euroconference: The Solar Cycle and Terrestrial Climate http://www.iac.es/proyect/solspa/ * JOSO (Joint Organization for Solar Observations) http://joso.oat.ts.astro.it/ * ESMN (European Solar Magnetometry Network) http://www.astro.uu.nl/~rutten/tmr * SOHO-GONG workshop http://www.iac.es/proyect/sogo/ Image captions [Image 1: http://sci.esa.int/content/searchimage/searchresult.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&o oid=24616] Sun and Earth. [Image 2: http://sci.esa.int/content/searchimage/searchresult.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&o oid=24615] Cycles in the Sun's brightness as measured by a series of space instruments. Irradiance 1979-99: Fröhlich compilation. [Image 3: http://sci.esa.int/content/searchimage/searchresult.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&o oid=24617] The solar cycle and terrestrial climate. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SEARCH FOR EARTH-LIKE HABITABLE PLANETS AND DETERMINING THE AGES OF STARS RECOMMENDED FOR INCLUSION IN THE PROGRAM OF THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY By Jean Schneider From http://laog.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr/~listserv/exoplanets/0162.html 20 September 2000 At its meeting on 15th September the Space Science Advisory Committee of the European Space Agency (ESA) recommended that the Eddington space mission be included in the package of ESA scientific missions for the 2008-2013 time frame. This recommendation will considered for endorsement in October by ESA's highest scientific policy body, the Science Programme Committee. Then if endorsed as a “reserve mission”, Eddington will be implemented if programmatic schedules allow. The Eddington mission has two major goals: the detection of planets around other stars, especially Earth-like habitable planets, and measuring the oscillations of stars so that their interiors can be “observed” thus allowing astronomers to accurately determine the age of components of the Universe. Eddington is, in effect, a very sensitive camera that can measure to exquisite accuracy very small changes in the brightness of hundreds of thousands of stars over a five-year lifetime. Eddington's mirror is half the diameter of that of the Hubble Space Telescope, but by making the design very simple, the mission can be implemented at very low cost. By measuring the variations in the light from a star, Eddington will detect their small oscillations, enabling scientists to work out what stars are like inside--just as the structure of the inside of the Earth can be derived from measuring the properties of waves produced by earthquakes. This will allow astronomers to understand the evolution of stars and to determine their ages, and so to use stars as clocks to determine the age of different components of our galaxy and hence of the formation of structure in the Universe. By studying the inside of stars like the Sun astronomers will learn how the Sun has changed in the past and how it will change in the future, and therefore how it affects the climate on the Earth. Planets will be detected by the decrease in light from the parent star as the planet passes in front of it; thousands of planets of all sorts will be detected, including small rocky planets like the Earth. Eddington is the only project--among the ones currently planned--that can search for “Earths” at the right temperature to have liquid water and an atmosphere: a “habitable planet.” Eddington therefore will allow astronomers to assess whether habitable planets are common in our Galaxy, and prepare for future missions in the search for extra- terrestrial life, for example ESA's Darwin mission, which will look for signs of active life on these other Earths. Observations from the ground can only detect large gaseous planets--similar in size to Jupiter--but Eddington will detect planets with a wide range of properties that will help astronomers to understand the formation of planets and the solar system. A color brochure about the Eddington project is available at http://sci.esa.int/pdf/eddington.pdf while additional information about the project can be obtained at http://astro.esa.int/SA- general/Projects/Eddington and from the Eddington Project Scientist, Dr. Fabio Favata (ffavata@astro.estec.esa.nl, +31-71-5654665). The full text of the announcement by ESA's Space Science Advisory Committe is available seen at http://www.sci.esa.int/content/news/index.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&oid=24601. The programmatic context of the Eddington mission is described in full at http://sci.esa.int/structure/content/index.cfm?aid=1&cid=2304. Information on ESA's Darwin mission is at http://astro.esa.int/SA- general/Projects/IRSI. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MARS RESEARCHERS SPOT BIG ICE DEPOSIT By Leonard David From Space.com 20 September 2000 Mars appears to have a huge underground ice reservoir that could serve as a “watering hole” for future human explorers trekking across the Red Planet. Researchers have spotted what they suggest is a near-surface ice reservoir, about the size of Arizona, located in the Solis Planum region, south of Mars’ Valles Marineris. “I’d say it’s probably fairly large,” said Nadine Barlow, director of the University of Central Florida’s Robinson Observatory in Orlando. “This is a very promising site, one that we need to get more information about,” she told SPACE.com... ...Much of the water that appears to have existed on the planet is likely still there. The challenge still facing any humans-to-Mars effort is identifying where water and ice reservoirs are located, determining how much water is available in these reservoirs, and devising strategies by which future astronauts to Mars can obtain such resources for their use. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/mars_ice_000920.htm l. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SHERRY L. CADY NAMED EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF NEW ASTROBIOLOGY JOURNAL TO BE LAUNCHED IN 2001 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. release 22 September 2000 Sherry L. Cady, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology of Portland State University, Portland, OR, has accepted the post of Editor-in-Chief of an innovative new peer-reviewed journal, Astrobiology, which will be published in 2001 by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). “Astrobiology, in its broadest sense, is developing as an area of distinct academic endeavor,” said Mary Ann Liebert. “This journal will provide a home for multidisciplinary studies and play an important role in the growth of the field. It will be published both in print and online.” Astrobiology brings together research scientists from around the world to advance theories and methodologies that provide a better understanding of biodiversity, and the ways in which life interacts with its environment, particularly those considered extreme by human standards. Spurred by the search for life beyond Earth, astrobiology focuses on a common goal: discovering the thread of life in the universe. A new wave of technological innovations in space and life sciences promises to bring us closer to determining whether evidence of life can be found on other planets. As a new field of study, astrobiology promises to make inroads into other critical disciplines, such as proteomics, evolutionary biology, paleobiology, biogeochemistry, planetary geology, meteoritics, cosmochemistry, gravitational biology, ocean science, and relevant space technology. “Because of its connection to the most fundamental questions about the origins, evolution, and distribution of life as we know it,” explained Dr. Cady, “scientists are intrigued by the questions posed by astrobiology and its implications for addressing complex environmental and possible health concerns in this new millennium. Advances in biomedical research, including molecular biology, biotechnology, genomics, and bioinformatics will make contributions to this field.” Dr. Cady, Assistant Professor and head of the Geomicrobiology Electron Microscopy Laboratory in the Department of Geology at Portland State University, earned both her bachelor’s degree and doctorate in geology from the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Cady was a research associate for the National Research Council at the National Aeronautics & Space Administration’s Ames Research Center for two years and a principal investigator and research scientist for the SETI Institute in Menlo Park, also in California, before moving to Oregon. She has worked on various projects connected to the search for life on Mars and the investigation of how microorganisms leave their biosignatures in extreme environments like the thermal springs in Yellowstone National Park. She received the National Science Foundation’s National Research Council Associateships Program Award from 1994 through 1996 and was elected a member of the International Committee of Environmental Biogeochemistry in 1999. “I am delighted that Dr. Cady has accepted the position of Editor-in- Chief of this important new journal,” Ms. Liebert said. “She is an acknowledged leader in Astrobiology and has both the scientific knowledge and the vision that is essential to move the field forward.” Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., a privately held, fully integrated media company based in Larchmont, NY, publishes Genetic Engineering News (GEN), the most widely read biotechnology publication worldwide. Peer-reviewed journals include Human Gene Therapy, Cloning, and Microbial & Comparative Genomics. For more information about the company and a full list of its publications, visit www.liebertpub.com or call (914) 834-3100. Contact: Esther Bicovny Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2 Madison Avenue, Larchmont, NY 10538 914-834-3100 extension 623 mliebert@liebertpub.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------- GENERATION MARS--THE MARS SOCIETY UK'S FLAGSHIP EDUCATION PROGRAM By Adrian Hon Mars Society UK 25 September 2000 Traditionally, there has been a lack of interest and apathy on the part of the government and more importantly, the general population, about space science in the United Kingdom. The Mars Society UK will be setting out to remedy this in January 2001 with its new flagship educational program, Generation Mars. Generation Mars is an educational competition aimed at the 11-18 year olds of this country--and not just the ones who are interested in space and science. Unlike similar space/science competitions in the past, Generation Mars is specifically targeted at the youth who aren't interested in space, because these are the people who really have to reached; Generation Mars' main aim is not to preach to the converted. With the slogan, “Dare to Dream, Explore and Discover,” Generation Mars is split up into three categories. “Dream” will appeal to the artistically-minded by challenging students to produce artwork, music, poems and sculpture on a Mars related theme. “Explore” follows up this creative theme by being a science fiction writing section. Finally, “Discover” will stimulate minds by asking students to write on Mars-related scientific topics. Peter Loftus, Resources Director for the Mars Society UK comments, “As a father of three kids, I strongly believe our children deserve an education that gives them more than literacy, numeracy and a head filled with facts. If we are to produce tomorrow’s leaders and thinkers we must help them to gain an education that gives them time to dream, space to explore, and room to discover.” The competition will be backed up by a large amount of original educational information including interviews with leading scientists, interactive Mars atlases, videos and Mars art and science fiction. Generation Mars will be judged by a panel of judges including: top science fiction writer Stephen Baxter (author of 'Voyage'), Professor Colin Pillinger (Beagle 2 Mars Lander) and science fiction illustrator Danny Flynn. Several other judges of similar importance are still to be announced. Adrian Hon, the Mars Society Chair of Youth Outreach who conceived the idea of Generation Mars (or “GenMars” as it is quickly becoming known) with Katherine Harris in Canada said, “GenMars has a real potential to inspire and motivate the youth of Great Britain to realize what Mars and space exploration really mean.” The message of Generation Mars will be sent via mailshots to every single secondary school in the United Kingdom (roughly 6000); these mailshots will contain posters, leaflets, multimedia CDs and information sheets. The Mars Society will complement this campaign with a series of talks and presentation at venues across the country and appearances on all forms of media. A Generation Mars web site will hold much of the content that is on the CD, making it accessible by the entire world. The web site will also be the primary method of entry to the competition (the work-in-progress web site is online at http://www.genmars.com) Executive Director of the Mars Society UK, Bo Maxwell, said, “This is an important milestone in the development of the Mars Society here in the UK. The key to our future development, not just on Mars, but in space as whole, is our ability to capture the hearts and minds of our young people and provide for them the kind of environment where career opportunities in space research, science and technology are a reality. In order to achieve that, it is essential educators across the country are empowered to promote greater interest and awareness of space activities for students and adults alike.” Generation Mars represents a nationwide effort that will target the true cause of Britain's less-than-stellar space record by stimulating a grassroots revival of the real excitement and potential that space holds among the youth. Funding for Generation Mars is expected to come principally from a PPARC grant, but the Mars Society UK will also raise a significant portion directly. For this reason, Generation Mars needs all the funding help possible. If you believe in increasing Britain's role in space exploration, then by making a donation towards the costs of Generation Mars you could make a significant difference to our future in space. If you are interested in making a donation to Generation Mars, please contact Adrian Hon at adrian@genmars.com. It is hoped that Generation Mars (UK) will be run concurrently with a similar competition named Generation Mars (Canada) run by Katherine Harris, which will increase public outreach and media opportunities world wide. Generation Mars is being coordinated by the Mars Society UK Education Taskforce, directed by Adrian Hon, Mars Society Chair of Youth Outreach. All enquiries about Generation Mars should be directed to adrian@genmars.com. Contacts: Adrian Hon Mars Society Chair of Youth Outreach adrian@vavatch.co.uk ICQ: 2526383 http://www.marssociety.org http://www.vavatch.co.uk http://www.genmars.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY, EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS AND TERRAFORMATION INDEX By David J. Thomas 25 September 2000 Astrobiology, exobiology and terraformation articles online http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s1.html J. A. Hiscox, 2000. Titan: a primordial Earth in our solar system. SpaceDaily. Articles on human space exploration and the microgravity environment http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s3.html L. David, 2000. NASA envisions human missions to deep space. Space.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS JPL release 14-20 September 2000 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, 9/20. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. The speed of the spacecraft can be viewed on the “Where is Cassini Now?” web page at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/today/. Extensive activities were performed this week beginning with the uplink of the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) Narrow-Angle Camera/Wide-Angle Camera (NAC/WAC) power on and Flight Software (FSW) Load sequence. Both the NAC and WAC successfully loaded their Instrument Expanded Blocks (IEB) and placed themselves in sleep mode, awaiting Fomalhaut activities later this week. Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS), Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA), and Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (UVIS) FSW loads were also successfully completed with UVIS configured for Magnetospheric and Plasma Science (MAPS) data collection. On Sunday the spacecraft maneuvered to point at the star Fomalhaut for Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS)/ISS/UVIS observations. The spacecraft completed this activity nominally and the data from these three instruments are being analyzed. ISS received all 30 images of Fomalhaut, (21 NAC and 9 WAC). The NAC and WAC are operating nominally and show the star positioned near the center of the field-of-view (FOV). VIMS images of Fomalhaut showed the star seen in both the Infrared (IR) and Visible channels near the center of the FOV. The final instrument activity for this week was the ejection of the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) telescope cover. This activity completed successfully and was followed with a twelve-hour mini-sequence to generate science data and test the instrument. CIRS personnel report that “Everything looks good so far.” Last week it was reported that real time commands were sent to the spacecraft to optimize dust stream measurements made by CDA. This enhanced their ability to observe a dust storm first detected in early September. During the storm more than 250 impacts were recorded on one day. Many of the signals are high quality allowing determination of the chemical composition of the dust particles. The origin of the particles is suspected to be Jupiter although it was not in the direct field-of-view of the instrument. Submicron particles with speeds on the order of 100 km/s (62.2 mi/s) originating from the Io-Jupiter system follow bent trajectories by coupling to the Jovian and interplanetary magnetic field. This is the first time that Cassini has observed a dust storm on approach to the Jovian system. Science Planning published an updated plan to the Project Science Group (PSG) on the proposed next steps in the development of the Tour Science Operations Plan (SOP). This plan outlines at a high-level the steps and PSG support required to create the SOP prior to Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI). RADAR completed Pointing Design Tool (PDT) designs for the C25 sequence. For this sequence the instrument will acquire data while the High Gain Antenna (HGA) is targeted at eight different targets. This will provide the RADAR team with a considerable amount of data that is required to calibrate the instrument in preparation for Tour planning. RSS personnel began formal training on the new Radio Science Receiver (RSR). Three members of the IO-RSS ops team will receive in-depth training from the Deep Space Network (DSN) over the next several months. The Emergency Control Center (ECC) in Goldstone, California was tested for operations readiness this week. The purpose was to confirm software and hardware configurations prior to Jupiter flyby activities. It was determined that a few changes were desirable. After reconfiguration a second evaluation will be scheduled. Outreach held the first of two training sessions for Solar System Ambassadors on the Jupiter flyby. Via teleconference and materials available on the web, participating ambassadors conversed with project members from Cassini, Galileo, and the Goldstone Antelope Valley Radio Telescope projects. A web chat site for ambassadors preferring that training method is scheduled to be utilized next week. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 18-24 September 2000 Galileo becomes selective in its playback schedule this week, returning bits and pieces from different observations stored on its onboard tape recorder. Data return is uninterrupted as the Deep Space Network antennas receive parts of three observations taken in February during an Io flyby, and three observations taken in May during a Ganymede flyby. The Io flyby was the lowest-altitude flyby of Io ever, with the spacecraft passing only 198 kilometers (123 miles) above the surface. By comparison, the space shuttle typically flies at an altitude of 320 kilometers (200 miles) above the Earth's surface. The Ganymede flyby was Galileo's fifth flyby of Ganymede, and its second closest. The spacecraft passed within 808 kilometers (502 miles) of Ganymede's surface. First on the playback schedule are the Io observations. Two of these observations are returned by the Solid-State Imaging camera (SSI) and one by the Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS). SSI starts with the return of portions of a 12-frame mosaic covering the Camaxtli Patera hot spot, and nearby regions to the west, including the Chaac Patera region. The remaining SSI observation and the NIMS observation both focus on the Amirani volcanic region. This region was previously known as Amirani-Maui, and was thought to contain two separate volcanoes. Galileo data have now shown that Maui is the leading edge of a lava flow that originates at the Amirani volcanic vents. The lava flow is more than 250 kilometers (160 miles) long! The SSI observation consists of color imaging of the region, while NIMS returns spectral maps. The Fields and Particles (F&P) instruments initiate the return of data from the Ganymede flyby. The F&P instruments return portions of a 60-minute high-resolution recording of the plasma, dust, and electric and magnetic fields surrounding Ganymede. Ganymede is the only planetary moon that is known to have its own internally- generated magnetic field, and thus, its own magnetosphere. The Plasma Wave instrument (PWS) is next on the playback schedule with the return of an observation dedicated to the detection of chorus emissions within Ganymede's magnetosphere. A chorus signal is caused by a particular type of interaction between plasmas and magnetic fields and has been observed in Earth's magnetosphere. Scientists hope to understand more about Ganymede's unique magnetosphere by detecting and analyzing chorus emissions. Finally, SSI returns one of five observations of Ganymede designed to provide scientists with information regarding how different features and terrains came to exist on Ganymede's surface. The mosaic of images returned this week captures smooth bright terrain and grooved terrain that may be partially surrounded or engulfed by the surrounding terrain. The younger terrain types examined in this set of five observations are believed to have been created by processes internal to Ganymede, but the roles of volcanic versus tectonic processes are not yet clear. If some of these observations sound familiar, it is because portions of them have previously been returned to Earth. This additional pass through the data stored on the tape recorder allows for the return of additional data, replay of data lost in transmission to Earth, and/or reprocessing of data using different parameters. 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release 22 September 2000 There were two Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking passes during the past week. All subsystems onboard the spacecraft are performing normally. The two DSN passes, both on Wednesday September 20, were used to return the remaining Navigation Camera (NavCam) images that were taken on September 12. The five images are being analyzed to determine if any performance improvement resulted from last month's weeklong CCD heater test. Plans are being considered for additional NavCam calibration images and possibly another heater test. The next Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-4) is scheduled for November 14. 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 36.