MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 7, Number 38, 9 October 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) HOMEGROWN MOVEMENT TO SAVE SCRAPPED PROBE By Andrew Bridges 2) MARS SAMPLE RETURN: HERE'S THE SCOOP By Leonard David 3) NASA SPACE SCIENCE EDUCATION RESOURCE DIRECTORY AVAILABLE ONLINE NASA release 00-161 4) INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION CREW READY FOR FIRST EXPEDITION NASA note N00-48 5) ASTROBIOLOGISTS ZERO IN ON SEARCH TO CLUES FOR LIFE NASA Ames release 00-67AR 6) CHINA PLANS LUNAR LANDING, MARS EXPEDITION Associated Press 7) SPACE SCHOOLS 2000 From Space.com 8) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY, EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS AND TERRAFORMATION INDEX By David J. Thomas 9) CASSINI MISSION STATUS JPL release 10) CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS JPL release 11) GLOBAL SURVEYOR CAPTURES POSTCARD VIEW OF MARTIAN VALLEYS JPL release 12) STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release --------------------------------------------------------------------- HOMEGROWN MOVEMENT TO SAVE SCRAPPED PROBE By Andrew Bridges From Space.com 1 October 2000 The mothballed Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander has found itself a torchbearer in Harrison Quigley. Along with a small group of friends, the Connecticut aerospace engineer has launched www.savethemarslander.org, a grass-roots attempt to get NASA to salvage the earthbound martian probe. “All were saying is you built and tested it, now fly it,” Quigley said. NASA scrapped the Lockheed Martin Astronautics-built probe as part of a massive reorganization effort sparked by the back-to-back losses of the Mars Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander spacecraft last year. The Mars 2001 lander was cancelled in the wake of the loss of the Polar Lander. For now, the estimated $100 million-plus spacecraft sits—all but finished—at Lockheed in Colorado. It’s a fate that floors Quigley, who saw the canned lander during a visit to the factory last winter. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/news/spaceagencies/mars_torchbearers_000929.html . --------------------------------------------------------------------- MARS SAMPLE RETURN: HERE'S THE SCOOP By Leonard David From Space.com 2 October 2000 It's like bringing home the bacon, martian style. For decades, high on NASA's wish list has been rocketing back to Earth clumps of Mars soil and rock via robot spacecraft. One big problem: any NASA U-Haul plan for Mars sample return is expensive. More than a decade ago, space agency engineers blueprinted such a Red Planet project. That scheme went nowhere fast after its price tag of some $5 billion produced sticker shock. More recently, experts at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, scripted a $1.5 billion international undertaking for 2003 and 2005. It involved France and Italy, special rovers, landers and a Mars orbiter that lobs back to Earth two beer-can-sized containers of martian turf. The Mars 2001 Lander was cancelled in the wake of the loss of the Polar Lander. In that concept, the first batch of Mars would have nose-dived into Utah in April 2008. But the recent back-to-back Mars failures forced NASA to overhaul its exploration plans for the Red Planet. Likely to be pushed downrange in time is a costly, but scientifically important, Mars sample return effort. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/mars_samplereturn_00092 9.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA SPACE SCIENCE EDUCATION RESOURCE DIRECTORY AVAILABLE ONLINE NASA release 00-161 2 October 2000 NASA's Office of Space Science today announced the release of the Space Science Education Resource Directory, an Internet on-ramp to top-quality educational resources produced by NASA's Space Science Education and public Outreach programs. The web-based directory provides easy access to high-quality, online space science educational resources for teachers and students from kindergarten through high school. “Sharing the wonders of our universe with educators and the public is the responsibility of every space science endeavor funded by NASA,” says Ed Weiler, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science. “It's our way of investing in the future scientific talent of our nation. The Space Science Education Resource Directory will help teachers bring the exciting new discoveries of space science into their classrooms.” This first release of the directory contains more than 100 electronic resources, including lesson plans, educator guides, student activities, web sites, and spectacular space science imagery such as auroras, comets, the birthplace of stars, and colliding galaxies. Educators, resource developers, and space scientists have worked together to design a system that is scientifically accurate and easy to use. “This is a significant effort by the Office of Space Science to ensure that the results from their education programs are widely available,” says Frank Owens, Director of NASA's Education Division. “We look forward to adapting and integrating this model broader use within NASA's Education Program. Science educators can locate science lessons and activities for their classrooms by searching by keyword or browsing by subject, grade level, and topics that align with National Science Education Standards. One middle school teacher who reviewed the directory is impressed with its variety of resources. “Wow, this is terrific! I can find exciting, current, and accurate space science lessons and activities for my students so easily,” says Susan Higley, the 1999 Maryland Teacher of the Year from Cherry Hill Middle School in Elkton, Maryland. “It's evident that teachers helped develop this Internet site-I find resources I can use in my classroom!” The directory will be updated continually with new top-quality resources. Future plans include providing access to printed materials, CD-ROMS, videos, and posters. The University of California at Berkeley, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Space Telescope Science Institute developed the resource directory in close consultation with the U.S. Department of Education's Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM). The resulting directory is compatible with national educational databases that are familiar to, and widely used by, teachers. David Lankes, director of GEM, believes that this directory will help educators access accurate space science information. “We're thrilled to have GEM and NASA hook up. It's a natural combination of excellent education technology and outstanding space science content,” Lankes says. “Through our partnership, it will be easier and easier for teachers to find the materials they need. It's also exciting to see NASA adopt emerging education technology standards as it continues its education mission.” To review the directory's collection, visit the web site at http://teachspacescience.stsci.edu. Contacts: Don Savage Headquarters, Washington, DC Phone: 202-358-1547 Sonja Alexander Headquarters, Washington, DC Phone: 202-358-1761 --------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION CREW READY FOR FIRST EXPEDITION NASA note N00-48 3 October 2000 Just weeks away from its historic launch to begin the permanent habitation of the new International Space Station (ISS), the Expedition One crew will hold a pre-launch news conference at 9 AM EDT, Monday, October 9, at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. The news conference will be broadcast live on NASA Television, but questions will be limited to reporters in attendance at Star City. The Expedition One crew, comprised of American Commander Bill Shepherd, Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev, is scheduled to launch October 30 on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, from the same launch pad Yuri Gagarin was launched almost 40 years ago to become the first human to fly in space. The crew will dock to the ISS on November 1. Shepherd, Gidzenko and Krikalev will spend about 4 months aboard the ISS, activating critical station systems, conducting the first scientific experiments on the research facility and welcoming three visiting shuttle crews. They will return to Earth with the STS-102 astronauts next February on the same mission that will bring their replacements to the ISS for the second Expedition flight. The Expedition One news conference will take place following a meeting of Russian officials to review the crew's flight readiness. A final news conference involving the crewmembers will occur at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the eve of their launch and will also be broadcast live on NASA TV. NASA Television is available on GE-2, Transponder 9C at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio of 6.8 MHz. Contacts: Debra Rahn Headquarters, Washington DC Phone: 202-358-1638) Eileen Hawley Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX Phone: 281-483-5111 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTROBIOLOGISTS ZERO IN ON SEARCH TO CLUES FOR LIFE NASA Ames release 00-67AR 4 October 2000 A team of interdisciplinary astrobiologists from NASA and other agencies is homing in on recognizing the microbial biosignatures for life, making it easier someday to identify life on other planets. A scientific paper analyzing the team's research results, titled “Modern Freshwater Microbialite Analogues for Ancient Dendritic Reef Structures,” will be published in the magazine Nature on October 5. The paper focuses on the study of mounded microbialite deposits— layers of living and non-living organisms—found at Pavilion Lake in Canada. Microbialites are organic sedimentary mineral deposits covered by a thin layer of microbes that become entombed in the mounds as they grow outward. “These unique and rare microbialite formations are important to NASA's astrobiology effort because they are big, macroscopic evidence of microscopic life,” said Dr. Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and one of the paper's authors. “They are helping us understand one of the big astrobiology questions—how early life took hold and began to flourish on Earth. These fossils are like seeing a billion-year-old footprint in the sand and comparing it to a modern human foot,” he said. NASA scientists and others began studying the mounded deposits growing in Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada, in 1998. The microbialites were formed layer by layer with the oldest on the bottom. This structure provides a record of growth and yields important clues about the organisms that once lived there. The odd-looking mound formations, discovered by recreational divers in 1997, are unique, scientists say, and differ from the Earth's oldest known structures called stromatolites, 3.5-billion-year-old formations in Western Australia, which show no direct evidence of life. The microscopic organisms at Pavilion Lake created large visible structures that scientists need to explore further, according to McKay. The mounded structures are relatively young in geological terms, he added, being only about 12,000 years old. “At spring-fed Pavilion Lake, we studied the rock textures in the mounds that reflect the different roles played by the living microbes that created the microbialites versus the natural environmental mineral precipitation activity there,” said Dr. Sherry L. Cady, assistant professor of geology at Portland State University and editor of the journal Astrobiology. “It's a unique natural laboratory,” she said. Cady analyzed the microbialites using electron microscopy to determine if the mounds were of organic (biological) or inorganic origin. “Teasing out which components of the mounds were biological is key,” Cady said. According to McKay, the first to dive and view the mounds, they are especially interesting to astrobiologists because their shape changes as the lake gets deeper. “The stuff on top was soft like cauliflower, while the stuff on the bottom was hard like artichokes. I had never seen anything like this before in the world, especially in a freshwater lake,” he said. Research is still ongoing about the different types and textures of mounds that formed in different parts of the lake, he added. The research is also important because scientists may find similar structures on Mars, McKay said. “One goal of this work is to help us better understand and recognize carbon-based microbial biosignatures for life on Mars.” This research will help target future Mars landing sites where life is most likely to be found and help researchers fine-tune tools for Mars sample return missions, he said. “When we walk on Mars, it'll be hard to spot a microscopic-sized fossil. But if we see stromatolities or microbialites, we can send a rover there, and it may turn out to be a marker for Mars life.” Pavilion Lake is located in a box canyon, similar to some of the canyon features on Mars, according to McKay. Scientists say future research at the site will include a winter dive under the ice and studying the formations for a full year, under seasonal conditions. Other members of the research team included Dr. Bernard Laval, University of Western Australia; Dr. John Pollack, Nelson Forest Region, British Columbia; Dr. John Bird, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia; Dr. John Grotziner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Derek Ford, McMaster University, Ontario and Dr. Harry Bohm, Burnaby Ocean Project, British Columbia. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe. Ames Research Center is NASA's Center of Excellence for astrobiology and manages the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Contact: Kathleen Burton NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Phone: 650-604-1731/650-604-9000 kburton@mail.arc.nasa.gov --------------------------------------------------------------------- CHINA PLANS LUNAR LANDING, MARS EXPEDITION Associated Press From CNN.com 4 October 2000 China's budding space program plans to explore the moon for commercially useful resources and hopes one day to take part in an international expedition to Mars, members of the secretive program said Wednesday. Speeches at a bland forum by the head of the State Aerospace Bureau and a key researcher gave rare glimpses into the military-dominated program. Although details were few, one thing the experts made clear: China sees manned space flight as key to securing its international stature and economic survival. Get the full story at http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/10/04/china.space.ap/index.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SPACE SCHOOLS 2000 From Space.com 6 October 2000 Where are the most cutting edge space campuses in the North America? Check out SPACE.com's Flash list of space colleges and universities. Whether you're itching to be an astronaut or simply looking for a good astronomy class, this page will guide you to top undergraduate, academic experiences. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/colleges/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY, EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS AND TERRAFORMATION INDEX By David J. Thomas 9 October 2000 Astrobiology, exobiology and terraformation articles online http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s1.html A. Bridges, 2000. Homegrown movement to save scrapped probe. Space.com. L. David, 2000. Mars sample return: here’s the scoop. Space.com. Articles on human space exploration and the microgravity environment http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s3.html Associated Press, 2000. China plans lunar landing, Mars expedition. CNN.com. Astrobiology and extreme environments book list http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/astrobiology_b ooks.html L. Bergreen, 2000. Voyage to Mars: NASA’s Search for Life Beyond Earth. Riverhead Books, New York. J. C. Flores, G. A. Lemarchand and J. Or (eds.), 2000. Astrobiology: Origins from the Big-Bang to Civilisation (Proceedings of the Iberoamerican School of Astrobiology, Caracas, Venezuela, 28 November – 8 December 1999). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CASSINI MISSION STATUS JPL release 5 October 2000 NASA scientists are extremely pleased with the first image of Jupiter, received yesterday, from the Cassini spacecraft, which is closing in on a fly-by of the huge planet. The image, first in a series of images and other measurements of Jupiter which Cassini will be making over the next several months as it flies by Jupiter, clearly shows the exceptional resolving power of the imaging system even at the distance of more than 84 million kilometers (52 million miles). Clouds, storms and latitudinal bands are clearly seen in the image. Color images will be processed in coming days. A steady stream of ever-closer color and black-and-white images will be released in the weeks ahead. The new image of Jupiter is available from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/cassinijupiter. It is also available from the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu. “This has been our first opportunity to exercise the Cassini flight and ground systems in a mode very similar to how we expect to operate at Saturn, and I'm extremely pleased with how it is working,” said Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. “The spacecraft is steadier than any spacecraft I've ever seen,” said Dr. Carolyn Porco of the University of Arizona, team leader for the camera on Cassini. “It's so steady, the images are unexpectedly sharp and clear, even in the longest exposures taken and most challenging spectral regions.” At the same time, mission engineers at NASA are working with their counterparts at the European Space Agency (ESA) on a concern with the communication system on ESA's Huygens probe, which is attached to the Cassini spacecraft. Huygens is to drop from the Cassini spacecraft in late 2004 onto the large moon of Saturn called Titan as the Cassini orbiter begins its own exploration of the ringed planet and its system of moons. The concern, which was identified in early September with tests at ESA's Operations Center at Darmstadt, Germany, involves the radio receiver supplied by ESA to receive signals from the Huygens probe as it descends through Titan's atmosphere. According to the tests, the signal sent to Cassini from Huygens will change in frequency as both spacecraft rapidly change position in relation to each other, much as a train whistle appears to change in pitch as it passes by a person standing alongside the tracks (called the Doppler effect). The ngineering test found that the ESA-supplied receiver carried on the U.S. Cassini main spacecraft could not receive all the data from the Huygens probe. “Cassini has given us the first tantalizing taste of its enormous scientific potential,” said Dr. Jay Bergstralh, Cassini Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. “The spacecraft has operated perfectly since its launch three years ago, so we can look forward to even greater things in the coming months. We are, of course, concerned about communications with the Huygens probe, but the best minds in the business are working on solutions.” ESA and NASA mission scientists and engineers are developing options to address the situation, including changing the trajectory of Cassini during the Huygens probe's entry into Titan's atmosphere. A plan of action is expected to be ready by next summer for review and approval by officials of ESA and NASA. Cassini is a joint mission of NASA, ESA, and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). JPL manages the Cassini program for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Information on the Huygens probe is available from ESA at http://sci.esa.int/. The Cassini-Huygens home page is at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS JPL release 28 September – 4 October 2000 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, 10/04. 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/english/where/. Activities this week included a Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) Friction Test, Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) power on, Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) articulation correction, Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI) Low Energy Magnetospheric Measurement Subsystem (LEMMS) platform rotation, and a repeat of the Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) X-up, Ka-down activity from ICO-1. RADAR powered on and warmed up nominally in preparation for an on board simulation of Titan encounters. The GENMOS_R module was used for the first time in flight for this activity to obtain rasters of Jupiter and the Sun. Initial plots show very good results. This week saw the start of execution of the “repeating template” designed for Jupiter observations. The template is five days in duration, contains a specific set of observations, and will repeat continuously until ten days into the C23 sequence when a change in observations is desired. The first Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) Jupiter downlink contained 383 images and was supported by Instrument Operations (IO) and the Multi Mission Image Processing Laboratory (MIPL). The data files were automatically delivered to the ISS Team Leader at University of Arizona and preliminary analysis shows excellent quality data. CDA personnel proudly reported that 91 mass spectra were obtained within the first 3 days of the template. The spectra were predominantly detected when the instrument was pointing toward Jupiter. Altogether around 2700 events were obtained. Instrument status is nominal. The CDA team thanks everyone involved who helped obtain these great results. Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) personnel reported that the instrument came through the first 3 days of the Jupiter template in excellent shape. The RPWS portion of the sequence appears to have executed flawlessly. For the first time, internal data management tools were used to count packet production, compare actuals to modeled usage, and decide on board to execute a high rate observation near the end of the Goldstone observation period using some of the difference between allocation and actual usage. The RPWS team is extremely happy with the first template results and commends the entire flight team for a job well done! Science Planning is now in the process of creating the products required to hand off the C24 sequence to the Sequence Virtual Team (SVT). Additionally, the first product delivery occurred for the C25 SPVT implementation activity. The C25 sequence is the last sequence that contains Jupiter-related observations. A Satellite Orbiter Science Team (SOST) meeting was held to continue the discussion and integration of the icy satellite flybys for Tour. Mission Planning hosted a Working Group Teleconference discussing the Saturn dust particle model and its affect on the Cassini main engines. This past week was a period of high daily support for the Mission Support and Services Office (MSSO). Over the next sequences the team will be supporting about 2-3 tracks per week, with very intense data collection. The MSSO Requirements and Design Review was held this week. The review went smoothly with valuable contributions made by presenters and attendees. Cassini's public web site has a new look. It can be visited at www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini. The Jupiter Millennium Flyby web site is making good progress towards its public launch within the next week. --------------------------------------------------------------------- GLOBAL SURVEYOR CAPTURES POSTCARD VIEW OF MARTIAN VALLEYS JPL release 5 October 2000 At the beginning of its fourth year in orbit, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has snapped a picture-postcard view of three martian valleys that is now available on the Internet and on NASA Television. The three major valley systems are located east of the Hellas plains. They are Dao Vallis, Niger Vallis and Harmakhis Vallis. These valleys are believed by some to have been formed—at least in part—by large outbursts of liquid water some time far back in the martian past, though there is no way to know exactly how many hundreds of millions or billions of years ago this might have occurred. In each valley, water would have flowed toward the area seen at the bottom of the image. Although their dimensions vary along their courses, the valleys are all roughly 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) deep and range in width from about 40 kilometers (25 miles) down to about 8 kilometers (5 miles). The image is located at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/mars or http://www.msss.com or http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs. The images are also available on NASA Television during today's video file, October 5, at noon Eastern (3 PM Pacific time). NTV is broadcast on GE-2, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees West longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical and audio is monaural at 6.8 MHz. See the schedule at ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/tv-advisory/nasa-tv.txt. JPL manages the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Contact: Mary Hardin Phone: 818-354-0344 --------------------------------------------------------------------- STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release 6 October 2000 During the only scheduled Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking pass on Wednesday October 4th, the signal from the Stardust was suddenly lost at 16:37:40 (UT) when it entered safe mode. The following day at 16:48:23 (UT), the signal from the spacecraft was re-acquired, as anticipated, when the spacecraft started its daily safe mode transmission. Early analysis of the data showed the safe mode cause was due to attitude knowledge loss. Based on the real time telemetry that showed all systems performing normally, the decision was made to exit safe mode prior to the end of the three hour communication pass. At 19:20 (UT) the command to exit safe mode was executed by the spacecraft. By the end of the Deep Space Network (DSN) pass (21:30 UT), the preliminary estimate for the safe mode entry remained the same. The safe mode entry has the characteristics of the Payload Attitude Control Interface (PACI) board reset that caused two previous safe mode entries last July/August. However, the data indicates that there was no PACI reset this time during the entire episode. Investigation into the root cause is ongoing and will require some time to determine. The spacecraft was configured at the end of yesterday's DSN pass to use the Medium Gain antenna to point at Earth in a six degree deadband, with the Telecommunications Subsystem powered on, and using Gyro Based attitude determination (Inertial Measuring Units are powered on). During the DSN pass today (Friday October 6th) commands were sent to restart the current flight sequence, return the spacecraft to Sun point and power off the Telecommunications Subsystem to return the spacecraft to its normal operation. The IMUs will remain on until a better understanding of the root cause of the safe mode entry is known. The current flight sequence will command the spacecraft to communicate at the next regularly scheduled time on Wednesday October 11th. 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 38.