MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 7, Number 45, 27 November 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) NEW MARS RESEARCH FACILITY TO INVOLVE SCIENTISTS, KIDS JPL release 2) EUROPE PLAYS A MAJOR PART IN FUTURE MARS EXPLORATION From ESA Science News 3) SCIENTISTS DISCOVER POSSIBLE MICROBE FROM SPACE By Richard Stenger 4) MICROSCOPIC STOWAWAYS ON THE ISS By Patrick L. Barry 5) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY, EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS AND TERRAFORMATION INDEX By David J. Thomas 6) A FORTNIGHT ON GALILEO JPL release 7) STARDUST SPACECRAFT ENCOUNTERS SOLAR FLARE JPL release --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW MARS RESEARCH FACILITY TO INVOLVE SCIENTISTS, KIDS JPL release 20 November 2000 Arizona State University and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, are creating a new NASA facility that will be used by scientists and students studying Mars. ASU and JPL will jointly fund the facility, with JPL providing $1.45 million in initial funding. The ASU Planetary Imaging Facility and Advanced Training Institute (PIF-ATI) is an expansion of a facility originally planned to support the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), a thermal infrared camera system that will fly on the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft and is directed by ASU Geological Sciences Professor Philip Christensen. According to NASA and ASU scientists, the facility is “a new model” for planetary research projects that will allow greater instrument and data access to scientists outside the project, as well as to university students and even to 5th through 12th grade educators and their students. Also in the planning stages is a graduate and undergraduate program where entry-level personnel can be trained in spacecraft operations and maintenance. “This is a new and creative way of looking at doing planetary research, and we hope it will open a number of doors,” said Jonathan Fink, ASU Vice Provost for Research. “Among other things, this will allow for the first time middle school and high school students to participate directly in the scientific exploration of another planet.” “At NASA and JPL we are looking for new ways to share the adventure of exploring Mars. This new facility is a great way of opening up opportunities for scientists and kids to participate in the excitement of our new Mars program,” said Dr. Firouz Naderi, Mars Program manager at JPL. The facility will offer a new process whereby scientists outside the instrument team can apply to NASA with specific research requests and also have free access to the archive of collected data. It will also allocate a significant fraction of the instrument’s use to 5th through 12th grade student use. Classes will submit brief proposals to take pictures of specific regions of Mars, explaining the scientific questions that they would like to answer with the data. They will then have the opportunity to come to ASU to participate in acquiring the image, analyze the data they receive and present their findings. It is expected that approximately 150 classes will be able to participate over the course of a year, with at least one school from every state sending representative students to campus to participate in capturing their requested image and data. “The student imaging facility is a cool idea—something that I always thought would be really neat to do when I was a kid,” said Christensen, the project’s principal investigator. “We talked to a lot of teachers, and one of the things that really excited them was the thought that ‘Wow, my class could actually be actively involved in exploring Mars rather than just standing on the outside watching!’“ “THEMIS is going to take tens of thousands, if not a hundred thousand, images. Making some fraction of those opportunities available to junior high and high school kids really only involves a tiny fraction of the data, but could have an incredible impact on education and student interest.” ASU and JPL will provide the expertise, curricular support and equipment required by the new educational program. ASU’s longstanding Mars K-12 Outreach Program has already developed a large library of curricular materials and has developed a significant national network of school and educator contacts through its extensive schedule of outreach activities in planetary science. “If we could reach a couple of hundred schools around the country with this, it could have a significant effect. It will give the kids a sense that science is about participating and exploring and discovering... it’s not about going to a museum and seeing things hanging on the wall. Science is about actually doing it yourself,” said Christensen. Christensen also plans to allow similar opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students interested in doing Mars research, with the depth of support and student involvement varying depending on the background and knowledge level of the student. The new facility plans to develop a program for undergraduate and graduate students aimed at providing training in operating spacecraft for planetary missions. Both engineering and science students will have the opportunity to receive training through both the real-time health monitoring of NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft and the sequencing of the Thermal Emission Spectrometer and THEMIS instruments, as well as through virtual technology simulations. The 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida on April 7, 2001. If the launch is on schedule, the orbiter will arrive at Mars on October 20, 2001. The new research facility is expected to be completed in July 2001. ASU is notifying schools about opportunities for participation, with the first student participation in research expected in late 2001 or early 2002. Schools can contact Sheri Klug, ASU K-12 Mars Outreach Program director, for more information at 480-727-6495. Contacts: JPL, Mary Hardin 818-354-0344 ASU, James Hathaway 480-965-6375 --------------------------------------------------------------------- EUROPE PLAYS A MAJOR PART IN FUTURE MARS EXPLORATION From ESA Science News http://sci.esa.int 22 November 2000 Starting with Mars Express and Beagle 2 and ending with a possible Sample Return Mission, Europe will be making a major contribution to Mars exploration over the next two decades. Europe’s plans complement the new program recently announced by NASA in the wake of last year’s mission losses. “The European program looks very promising. Mars Express is the most complex remote sensing mission around—and Beagle 2 is the most sophisticated science lab in the whole bunch of missions so far approved or outlined,” says Risto Pellinen, director of the Geophysical Research Department at the Finnish Meteorological Institute and chairman of the International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG). The IMEWG met in Helsinki on 9-10 November to discuss the latest plans. With 40 attendees from 13 countries, it was the largest ever meeting of the group. Rather than act as a deterrent, the recent failures are opening up more opportunities for international collaboration. “Nobody can run their own Mars exploration program. I think the mishaps have taught us that,” says Pellinen. The new program is spread over more years than NASA’s earlier plans to allow time to develop the technologies needed for the climax, a sample return mission sometime after 2010. “The slower pace may also help get more people involved,” says Pellinen. Plans up to 2003 are firm. Those in 2005 and 2007 are reasonably secure. Beyond, however, they represent a preferred strategy rather than a definite program. In outline, they are as follows. Date; Mission and Agency; Highlights Present; Mars Global Surveyor, NASA; Orbiter producing imaging, altimetry, composition and magnetic field data. 2001; Mars Odyssey, NASA; Orbiter carrying gamma-ray spectrometer for mapping the chemical composition of the martian surface. 2003; Mars Express and Beagle 2, ESA; Orbiter for remote sensing of many aspects of the surface, subsurface and atmosphere of Mars, in particular, search for water. Beagle 2 lander for exobiology, geochemistry and atmosphere-surface interactions. 2003; Nozomi, ISAS (Japanese Space Agency); Orbiter to study the martian upper atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. Observations will be coordinated with relevant observations on Mars Express. 2003; Two large Mars Rovers, NASA; Robotic explorers able to track 100m/day. Geology and search for water. 2005; Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA. Atmospheric observations to recover the lost objectives of Mars Climate Orbiter. Very detailed imaging to identify potential landing sites. 2007; Orbiter plus four Netlanders, CNES (French Space Agency); Orbiter for remote sensing experiments plus telecommunications between the Netlanders and Earth. Netlanders will study the dynamics of the atmosphere and the internal structure of Mars by seismic sounding. 2007; TELEMARS, ASI (Italian Space Agency); Orbiter providing powerful telecommunications link for the Netlanders and other future landers. 2007; Lander, NASA; High precision landing. Long-range, long- duration mobile science lab in preparation for a future sample return mission. 2009; Orbiter, NASA; Synthetic Aperture Radar for detailed terrain and ASI mapping. 2011-2016; Sample Return Mission, NASA and CNES; NASA will retrieve samples from Mars and place them in orbit using a Mars Ascent Vehicle. A CNES orbiter will collect the samples and bring them back to Earth. NASA, DLR (the German Space Agency) and ESA are all considering possible supplementary missions to this plan. NASA is considering a small “Scout” mission for launch in 2007 and DLR may decide to send a microsatellite to Mars. Spares developed for Mars Express could possibly be used to build another mission to the red planet in 2005, when ESA has a gap in its science mission launch program. “The Mars Express platform is made for Mars. So it is worth seeing if there is any way of using this opportunity,” says Pellinen. How should the program look after 2010? This will be the subject of the next IMEWG meeting in Florida on 9-10 April, the launch date of Mars Odyssey. One issue for discussion will be the balance to be struck between conducting more in situ observations and really going for sample return. Useful links for this story * Mars Express homepage http://sci.esa.int/marsexpress * Beagle 2 homepage http://www.beagle2.com/ Image 1: [http://sci.esa.int/content/searchimage/searchresult.cfm?aid=9&cid=12 &ooid=13378] Artist’s impression of Mars Express with Fregat upper stage attached (ESA/Medialab). Image 2: [http://sci.esa.int/content/searchimage/searchresult.cfm?aid=9&cid=12 &ooid=13372] Model of the Beagle 2 lander. An additional article on this subject is available at http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0011/24marseurope/. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SCIENTISTS DISCOVER POSSIBLE MICROBE FROM SPACE By Richard Stenger From CNN.com 24 November 2000 An international team of scientists has recovered microorganisms in the upper reaches of the atmosphere that could have originated from outer space, a participant in the study said Friday. The living bacteria, plucked from an altitude of 10 miles (16 km) or higher by a scientific balloon, could have been deposited in terrestrial airspace by a passing comet, according to the researchers. The microorganisms are unlike any known on Earth, but the astrobiologists “want to keep the details under wraps until they are absolutely convinced that these are extraterrestrial,” said study participant Chandra Wickramasinghe, a noted scientist at Cardiff University in Wales. NASA’s Ames Research Center posted a cautious reaction to the report on its Astrobiology Web site. NASA said the finding is likely to meet considerable skepticism in the scientific community. Get the full story at http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/11/24/alien.microbe.claim/index.ht ml. An additional article on this subject is available at http://enn.com/news/wire- stories/2000/11/11222000/upi_alien_40377.asp. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MICROSCOPIC STOWAWAYS ON THE ISS By Patrick L. Barry From NASA Science News 26 November 2000 Long before the first humans boarded the International Space Station (ISS), something else was living there. Something unseen, but potentially dangerous. Something with an uncanny ability to survive and reproduce in even the most hostile environments. Something capable of attacking the Station’s crew and even the Space Station itself. Of course we’re not talking about some man-eating alien from a science fiction movie. These lurking, mischievous life forms aboard the Space Station are simply microbes: viruses, bacteria and fungi. “Microbes were the first inhabitants of the Space Station,” said Monsi Roman, chief microbiologist for the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) project at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The Space Station’s microorganisms are hitchhikers; they were carried there on ISS hardware and by the assembly crews themselves. “When the Station went up, microbes went with it,” says Roman. “Microbes will be the last ones in the Station, too.” Microbes are a fact of life anywhere that humans go. The majority are harmless, and several types are actually beneficial to humans. Nevertheless, certain microbes can pose a health threat to the Station’s crew and even attack the materials and hardware of the Station itself. Scientists and engineers at NASA must find ways to keep such microorganisms on the Space Station under control. In this third article in a series about the practical challenges of living in space (links below), Science@NASA takes a look at how microscopic inhabitants of the Space Station will be kept in check. Living in a microbial world Microbes are everywhere. “Just stand and breathe, and you’re releasing microbes,” Roman said. “You can wash and scrub and use antiseptic soap, and you’ll still have microbes on your skin. You have them everywhere: in your clothes, on your skin, in your hair, in your body—everywhere you could think of.” Many people may find the thought of microbes living on and in their bodies disturbing, but living with an entourage of stow-away microbes is natural. “Generally speaking, microbes are invisible, and so people just don’t think of them as much as you do some other things,” said Dr. Duane Pierson, director of microbiology at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “People need to be reminded that we live in a microbial world,” Pierson said. “They were here before us and they’ll probably be here afterwards. We co-exist with them very well.” In fact, bacteria in people’s intestines help to digest food, providing some otherwise unattainable nutrients, such as vitamin K. A person’s resident microbes also actually protect them from infection by competing with dangerous microbes looking for a place to grow. While it is natural for a person to live with a host of resident microbes, seven people—each with their own set of microbes—living in a small, air-tight can for months or years is certainly not. “When the crew goes up to the station, they’ll each have their own microbial flora, and when they return back, for the most part they’ve exchanged that flora with each other,” Roman said. Most of these exchanged microbes are fought off by the crew’s immune systems and their own resident microbes, Pierson noted, but the potential for infection is there. The first step in protecting the health of the crew is testing each crewmate for infection before launch. Only healthy crewmembers are allowed to fly into space, and they’re quarantined before launch to prevent them from contracting harmful germs at the last moment. Once on the Space Station, the air, water and surfaces with which the crewmembers interact must be kept clean. The air in the Space Station will be kept in constant motion, and all the air on the Station will pass through filters—called High Efficiency Particle Air (HEPA) filters—on its way to the temperature and humidity control systems. “The filters were originally designed to remove particulates,” Pierson said. “They’re very good at removing small particles,” such as microbes. Microbes can ride in the air on particles of dust or in tiny clumps of bacteria or fungi. On Earth, there might be a couple hundred or thousand microbes in each cubic meter of air. Water will be disinfected by a machine called a “catalytic oxidator,” which heats the water to as much as 265°F. The organic molecules in microbes are oxidized by this process, which kills nearly all of them. Just to be sure, the water is then treated with iodine. After this disinfection, the water should have less than 100 microbes in 100 milliliters of water. “The water is extremely clean if you compare it to the water that you drink at home,” Roman said. “The water on the Station is many, many times cleaner.” For the health of the crew as well as the Station’s hardware, microbes must also be kept from growing on surfaces and in nooks and crannies. “The biggest threat to the Station from the microbes is degradation of the materials,” Roman said. “They’ll eat pretty much anything.” “As they grow on surfaces, (fungi) produce an acid which will eventually corrode the material,” Roman continued. “They start using most materials as a source of food. Have you seen bathroom tile that’s been overgrown by mold? Over time, you will notice that the mold has kind of eaten the tile and grout.” As exemplified by the now-famous problems with mold and other fungi aboard the Russian space station Mir, microbes can not only survive in the metallic world of a space station, they can thrive. Considering the inhospitable environments in which microbes live on Earth, this should come as no surprise. “They can live in the driest deserts on Earth; they live in Antarctica and also in these deep sea vents and in that boiling water out at Yellowstone. They are very adaptable, and they can grow just about anywhere as long as they have their basic requirements met,” Pierson said. Growth of microbes on the Station’s hardware will be controlled in several ways. First, all materials used in the Space Station are tested for resistance to fungi, such as mold. Paint with a fungus- killing chemical is also used. Controlling the humidity of the air in the Station is also an effective way of discouraging microbe growth. “If you reduce the humidity to 65 to 70 percent—which is what the Space Station is doing—it’s harder for microbes like fungus to grow,” Roman said. “They like higher humidities.” And finally, the Space Station crew will keep surfaces clean the old- fashioned way: they’ll clean them. Housekeeping duties will include regularly wiping down surfaces with a cloth containing an antiseptic solution. All of these measures to minimize microbes in the air and water and on surfaces should allow the Station and its crew to conduct their mission in good health. “We have a healthy crew going up there, their food (contains very few microbes), and their water is very clean,” Roman said. “So the chance of them getting sick from an infection is very low.” For more information on this article, see http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast26nov_1.htm?list52260. --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY, EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS AND TERRAFORMATION INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/astrobiology.h tml 27 November 2000 Astrobiology, exobiology and terraformation articles http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s1.html S. Clark, 2000. Europe’s space programs place more emphasis on Mars. Spaceflight Now. R. Stenger, 2000. Scientists discover possible microbe from space. CNN. United Press International, 2000. Scientists report ‘alien’ life. Environmental News Network. Articles on human space exploration and the microgravity environment http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s3.html P. L. Barry, 2000. Microscopic stowaways on the ISS. NASA Science News. SpaceDaily, 2000. Can space experiments help find treatment for diseases? SpaceDaily. --------------------------------------------------------------------- A FORTNIGHT ON GALILEO JPL release 20 November – 3 December 2000 During the next two weeks Galileo completes weeks four and five of the 14-week long continuous survey of the Jovian magnetosphere being performed by the spacecraft’s Fields and Particles instruments. In addition, in the latter of the two weeks, the spacecraft will start playing back data that were recorded earlier in the survey period on Galileo’s onboard tape recorder. Galileo also performs a pair of engineering activities in the coming days. On Friday, November 24, the spacecraft performs standard maintenance on its onboard tape recorder. On Saturday, December 2, the spacecraft performs standard maintenance on its propulsion systems. The Fields and Particles instruments are the Dust Detector, Energetic Particle Detector, Heavy Ion Counter, Magnetometer, Plasma Detector, and Plasma Wave instrument. Their survey is part of a dual- spacecraft observation campaign with the Cassini spacecraft, which will pass by Jupiter in December on its way to arrival at Saturn in 2004. Cassini instruments will measure the characteristics of the solar wind during this period, while Galileo’s flight path takes it from the solar wind, into the depths of the Jovian magnetosphere, and back out into the solar wind. Scientists will be able to use both data sets to study how changes in the solar wind (Cassini’s measurements) affect the outer edges of the Jovian magnetosphere and its interior (Galileo’s measurements). The continuity of Galileo’s survey is still a high priority during the next couple of weeks. As described in previous editions of “This Week on Galileo,” the spacecraft is using its onboard tape recorder to store the contents of a data buffer when insufficient communications time is scheduled for use by Galileo. Without recording the contents of the data buffer, the survey data would be lost. However, Galileo also starts to play back some of the survey data that were recorded during the earlier weeks of the survey. You might be asking, “What happened to not being able to do playback during the same time period that data are being recorded?” The answer is that Galileo has been recording the buffered data in a relatively narrow region of its tape. As a result, the tape will be commanded to move back and forth from unrecorded portions (where new buffer dumps can be laid down) to the previously recorded area (where data are being played back). By allowing the two activities of playback and recording to “take turns,” Galileo is able to maximize its usage of the available communications to Earth, and make its survey of the magnetosphere more extensive. 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 SPACECRAFT ENCOUNTERS SOLAR FLARE JPL release 21 November 2000 Quick-thinking NASA engineers and scientists helped the Stardust spacecraft survive a close encounter with a storm of high-energy particles from the Sun after a recent solar flare. Stardust, a NASA mission to return samples of a comet, was only 1.4 AU (130 million miles) from the Sun on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 9. It was flying at about 20,000 kilometers per hour (over 12,000 miles per hour). Engineers from the Stardust team were a little worried, since they had heard that the fourth largest solar flare since 1976 was heading toward Earth. This monster cloud of energized particles was 100,000 times more intense than usual, and it was heading toward Stardust. The engineers’ fears came to pass in the middle of the night, when the solar wind’s stream of high-energy protons hit the spacecraft. Its two star cameras, which it uses to control the spacecraft’s orientation, got a large dose of energy. Protons from the solar wind electrified pixels in the star cameras, producing dots that the camera interpreted as stars. The 12 brightest images, the ones the spacecraft relied on to point its way, were electrified pixels, which showed up as false stars. Hundreds of these star-like images inundated the star camera’s field of view, which meant it could not recognize its attitude in space. The spacecraft did the safest thing it could—it went into standby mode, turning its solar panels toward the Sun and waiting for communication from Earth. While it was waiting, the spacecraft tried again to determine its attitude by using two different sets of cameras. It repeatedly turned up hundreds of bogus star-like images. It also switched between electronics systems on either side of the spacecraft. So Stardust began to slowly rotate in place, pointing its solar panels at the Sun. The flight team didn’t hear from Stardust when they tried to communicate with it the next morning. They deduced that the solar flare had caused it to go into standby mode, and they knew that meant the spacecraft would send a signal within 24 hours. Scientists confirmed their theory when they reviewed data from the spacecraft that verified that the problems had begun when the solar flare occurred. The influence of the proton stream would diminish over the next few days but still posed some danger, so the team left the spacecraft in standby mode until the threat passed. On Saturday, November 11th, the flight team reset the first star camera and turned it back on. They used another method of orienting the spacecraft, called inertial measuring units, while they inspected the cameras. Engineers retrieved the last images the camera took before the spacecraft reset itself and saw hundreds of false star images. Although the camera normally uses a circular area in the middle to take pictures, the proton hits were so strong they even penetrated parts of the camera usually hidden from the light. On Monday, the Stardust flight team commanded the spacecraft to leave its safe mode. The star camera was back on the job, controlling the orientation of the spacecraft perfectly. The engineers retrieved more data from Stardust to ensure the entire spacecraft had not been affected by the solar flare. An image taken days after the solar flare subsided shows that the camera had completely recovered from the proton hits. All the bright objects in the picture can be identified as stars, Jupiter or Saturn. Stardust was launched onto a perfect flight path on February 7, 1999 from Cape Canaveral, FL. The spacecraft is headed for an encounter with Comet P/Wild 2 in 2004. Stardust’s mission is to collect samples of dust flying off the comet nucleus, and to collect interstellar particles flowing through our solar system. Stardust will fly back toward Earth in 2006 to drop off the samples in a parachute-equipped return capsule. Stardust, part of NASA’s Discovery Program of low-cost, highly focused science missions, is managed by JPL for NASA’s Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. For more information on the Stardust mission and images from the recent encounter, go to http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov. --------------------------------------------------------------------- End Marsbugs, Volume 7, Number 45.