MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 8, Number 6, 12 February 2001. 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) STUDENTS’ HANDS-ON SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS BOUND FOR INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION THIS WEEK NASA/MSFC release 01-035 2) CARBONATED MARS By P. L. Barry 3) HOP TO IT! “DOWN UNDER” RESEARCH HELPS INTERNATIONAL MARS EFFORT By Jennifer Laing 4) THE OLDEST LIFE ON LAND From the NASA Astrobiology Institute 5) IS EUROPA A WET IO? By Leonard David 6) SEARCHING FOR EXTRASOLAR PLANETS AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE SHORT COURSE From Universe Today 7) 2001 MARS ODYSSEY PHOTOS By Ron Baalke 8) GLOBAL WARMING ON MARS NASA Astrobiology Institute 9) THE 2001 MARS ODYSSEY MISSION EDUCATOR CONFERENCE JPL release 10) THE HESPERIAN PERIOD OF MARS’ HISTORY Symposium announcement 11) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas 12) CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS JPL release 13) THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 14) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORT JPL release 15) STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release --------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENTS’ HANDS-ON SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS BOUND FOR INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION THIS WEEK NASA/MSFC release 01-035 5 February 2001 Students from middle and high schools across America have prepared biological samples for an experiment that this week astronauts will place aboard the International Space Station when the Space Shuttle Atlantis returns to that unique, orbiting laboratory. Working side- by-side with university and NASA scientists, the students mixed and loaded about 200 of the 500 biological samples in small plastic tubes that were then frozen and placed in an experiment container. The crew will transfer the experiment from the Shuttle to the Space Station during the STS-98 mission set for launch this Wednesday, February 7. 222 students and teachers from 89 schools in six states—Alabama, California, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas—prepared the flight samples. Since the program began in 1999, students and teachers from 450 schools in states across the country have attended workshops where they grew crystals and learned about biological substances that carry out many important functions for humans, animals and plants. This hands-on education program is sponsored by the Biotechnology Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL—NASA’s lead center for flying payloads that take advantage of the low-gravity environment created as the Space Station orbits Earth. “This opportunity opens the students’ eyes to so much of the world beyond,” said LaVonda Popp, who teaches chemistry, physics and biology at Gatesville, Texas, High School, one of schools participating in the program. “Many of the students didn’t know much about space, and this educational opportunity exposes them to careers and different areas of science conducted in space.” The students and teachers mixed biological solutions and sealed the chemicals in small tubes or pipettes. The samples were frozen to - 321 degrees Fahrenheit (-196 degrees Celsius or 77.3 degrees Kelvin). Just before the Shuttle launch, scientists placed the samples in the Enhanced Gaseous Nitrogen Dewar—a vacuum-jacketed container, similar to a large thermos bottle, with an absorbent inner liner saturated with liquid nitrogen. Once in orbit, the liquid nitrogen will boil off inside the unpowered, unattended thermal enclosure, and the samples will begin to thaw. Before thawing is complete, the crew will move the dewar to the Space Station where crystals will slowly form for several weeks. When the Shuttle returns to the Station in March, the dewar will be brought back to Earth where scientists will retrieve and analyze the crystals to determine the structure of biological molecules. “It’s really thrilling that even students can be part of one of the first experiments on the International Space Station,” said Bobby Hill, a Gatesville freshman. Some of the crystals will be returned to the students so that they can compare them to crystals grown in their classrooms and at the NASA workshops. The students can view photos of the crystals grown during NASA workshops on a special Web site designed by Dr. Anna Holmes, a NASA scientist who helps conduct the workshops. The students can also monitor results as Dr. Alex McPherson—a biochemist at the University of California at Irvine and the lead scientist for the experiment—analyzes other crystals grown aboard the same flight. Often, higher quality crystals can be grown in the low-gravity environment created as the Space Station circles Earth. “There are many ways to grow crystals,” said McPherson. “The dewar allows us to fly hundreds of samples at once, so we can look at a variety of conditions and determine which ones produce the best crystals.” McPherson has been a leader of NASA-sponsored crystallization projects since 1984 and received NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1999. He has published numerous journal articles describing crystals grown on the Space Shuttle and the Russian space station Mir. His experiment sets the stage for more complex structural biology experiments to be flown in the U.S. Laboratory Destiny, which is being attached to the Space Station during this mission. The Boeing Corporation built Destiny at the Marshall Center in the same building where engineers assembled the Saturn V rockets that carried people to the Moon. “The Space Station is a unique space laboratory where we will be able to perform experiments for longer periods than ever before, in sophisticated facilities and under conditions that are more controlled,” said Ron Porter, manager of the Biotechnology Program at the Marshall Center. “We are pleased that students—the scientists and engineers of the future—were able to have a hands-on role in one of the first biotechnology experiments on the Space Station.” This pilot education program has been supported by the NASA Headquarters Education Office, the Marshall Center Biotechnology Program, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the University of California at Irvine, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, the Alabama Space Grant Consortium, the Florida Space Grant Consortium, the Texas Space Grant Consortium, the Bell South Pioneers, Alabama Science in Motion, Sci-Quest, Bionetics Corp., the U.S. Air Force Civil Air Patrol, Raytheon Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., United Space Alliance, Spaceport Florida Authority, Florida Space Research Institute, Area Center for Educational Enhancement in Florida and SAP America. * Photos http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/photos/2001/photos01-035.htm * Microgravity Research http://microgravity.nasa.gov * Biological Crystal Growth http://crystal.nasa.gov/ * Student Program http://spacecrystal.nasa.gov Contact: Steve Roy Media Relations Department Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL Phone: 256-544-0034 steve.roy@msfc.nasa.gov --------------------------------------------------------------------- CARBONATED MARS By P. L. Barry From NASA Science News 5 February 2001 A common substance found in ordinary classroom chalk could hold the key to a puzzle of planetary proportions: the mysterious whereabouts of water on Mars. The brittle, white material in chalk—a form of carbonate—may seem rather ordinary, but finding carbonates on Mars would have some extraordinary implications. The discovery would provide strong evidence that liquid water once flowed on the Red Planet. Such carbonates might also harbor the fossils of ancient martian bacteria. “If you were lucky enough to find some carbonates in the layered terrains on Mars, scientists would get very excited about it,” said Ken Nealson, director of the Center for Life Detection at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “It would be just a zinger of a finding.” Carbonate rocks on Earth are formed in two ways: through a purely chemical process or via the action of living things. Both means require liquid water. The chemical pathway involves carbon dioxide gases that dissolve in surface waters. CO2 molecules combine with water to form carbonate ions, which in turn join with calcium or magnesium to create a solid that settles onto the sea floor. Limestone (CaCO3) is an example of such a carbonate. Geologic changes can later expose such deposits, revealing beautiful features such as the white cliff faces pictured above. Because Mars’s atmosphere contains mostly carbon dioxide, scientists would expect liquid surface waters (if they ever existed on Mars) to produce carbonate deposits in a similar fashion. Another way carbonates are formed on Earth is by marine organisms that produce carbonates for shells or other hard parts. When these organisms die, the shells sink to the bottom, where they accumulate and eventually form a carbonate deposit. Blackboard chalk is one example of this type of carbonate, which comprises the majority of carbonates in our planet’s crust. “Not only are carbonates often a product of life, they preserve the life that was in and around them very well,” Nealson continued. “The whole notion of looking for certain mineral types that... tend to harbor life here on Earth is an important part of the search strategy [for signs of life on Mars].” Roaming the entire surface of Mars searching for carbonate rocks would take a very long time. Fortunately, carbonates can be detected from orbit by looking at radiated heat. Like all substances, carbonates emit heat as infrared (IR) radiation. Carbonate compounds have a distinctive infrared signature when viewed through an IR spectrometer. NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, which is currently orbiting Mars, carries such an instrument—the “Thermal Emission Spectrometer” (TES)—which is able to read the infrared “fingerprints” of rocks on the martian surface below. Scientists had hoped this sensor would find regions of exposed carbonate among the martian landscape. So far, the TES has not discovered any carbonate deposits. “If they’re really not there, it’s very discouraging,” Nealson said. “But we may not have seen them just because we haven’t had the right instrument yet.” An improved version of the TES will be on its way to Mars soon. Called the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), this new instrument will take more detailed infrared images of the martian surface than the TES, enabling THEMIS to detect smaller carbonate deposits than TES can. THEMIS will fly on board NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch in April. While scientists wait for the results of THEMIS, it may be that evidence for carbonates on Mars has already been found here on Earth. A rock from Mars, which was apparently ejected from the Red Planet by an asteroid impact millions of years ago, came to rest in Antarctica about 13,000 years ago, where it was found by scientists in 1984. The “Mars Rock,” also known as the “Allen Hills meteorite,” caused a stir in 1996 when scientists announced that the rock contained signs of ancient martian microbial life. Other scientists have since criticized that conclusion, but [some] of evidence cited were small patches of carbonate mineral inside the rock. The location of the carbonate patches along with other clues suggested that the carbonate was there millions of years ago when the rock was still on Mars. This Allen Hills meteorite isn’t the only one to harbor carbonate. “We know there are carbonates (on Mars), because we see them as weathering products in a variety of martian meteorites,” said Everett Gibson, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. “The big question is, Where are the carbonates on the surface of Mars? Shouldn’t they be seen by some of the spectrometers that are looking at Mars now?” Tiny patches of carbonate like those found in the “Mars rock” would not be detected by the thermal emission spectrometer currently in orbit around Mars, Gibson continued. Even THEMIS’s 100-meter resolution isn’t likely to reveal such diminutive deposits. But if lakes or oceans once adorned the martian landscape, scientists expect that sooner or later their instruments will reveal carbonate deposits. Such a discovery would prove, once and for all, that Mars was not always the barren desert it is today. For more information on this article, see http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast04feb_1.htm?list52260. --------------------------------------------------------------------- HOP TO IT! “DOWN UNDER” RESEARCH HELPS INTERNATIONAL MARS EFFORT By Jennifer Laing From Universe Today 6 February 2001 As a keen student of early Australian history, Guy Murphy, National Coordinator of the Australian Chapter of the Mars Society doesn’t think it’s unusual that Australia should play a role in paving the way for human exploration of Mars. “I think Australians have a special fascination with Mars. We all have in the back of our minds a vision of an inaccessible, red, rock- strewn landscape, which is the outback, and there is a certain resonance when we view images from the Viking and Pathfinder probes. From a historic perspective, the exploration of harsh unknown frontiers is recent in our memory. Consider the exploration of the center of our continent in the 19th century and then Antarctica in the early part of the 20th century.” He points to other cogent reasons for Australia to get behind international efforts to send humans to Mars. “Most technologically advanced economies have some form of national space program. Australia is very much the odd one out in this respect. There are also issues of expertise. We have a lot to offer the world, building on our strengths in areas such as remote sensing and astronomy. The outback can provide some of the best testing environments for procedures and technologies destined for Mars as well as for studying fossils which could be used to identify evidence of past or present life on Mars. And this kind of involvement would provide a focus for achievement. We’re inclined to elevate sporting heroes and are not accustomed to seeing [scientific and technological achievement] as being so important. It is a different kind of ‘Olympics’. Australian researchers tend to be very good at getting the most from sometimes limited resources.” Get the full story at http://www.universetoday.com/html/articles/2001-0206a.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE OLDEST LIFE ON LAND From the NASA Astrobiology Institute 7 February 2001 Until recently, scientists believed that life on Earth did not emerge onto land until 1.2 billion years ago. In October 1999, Dr. Hiroshi Ohmoto of the NASA Astrobiology Institute pushed back that date a billion years by discovering 2.3 billion-year-old rock formations called laterites. Now, the discovery of 2.6 billion-year-old fossilized microbial mats intermixed with soil has pushed back that date even further. A team of scientists discovered the fossils in core samples taken from a mine in South Africa, which contained a layer of iron-rich soil combined with fossilized microorganisms. This mat-like layer was sandwiched between layers of rock, the lower one dated 2.7 billion years old, and the upper one 2.6 billion years old. “Therefore, the age of soil formation and of the development of soil was between 2.6 and 2.7 billion years, perhaps closer to 2.6 billion years,” says Ohmoto. The scientific team that made the discovery included Nick Beukes of Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, South Africa; Yumiko Watanabe, a Ph.D. student at Penn State Univeristy; Ohmoto, who is professor of geosciences and director of the Penn State Astrobiology Research Center; and other scientists. Microbial mats (or biomats) are aggregates of microorganisms composed mainly of bacteria and algae. They can grow in a number of environments: shallow seas, lakes, ponds, rivers—and on soils. Because soils form only on land, however, the presence of these microorganisms intermixed with soil means that life must have emerged from the sea onto the land at least 2.6 billion years ago. This finding is surprising because it contradicts what many scientists believe about when in Earth’s history the conditions arose that are considered necessary for life to have emerged onto land. It is generally agreed that life on land was not possible until oxygen had built up in the Earth’s atmosphere to create a protective layer of ozone. Ozone forms a protective screen against ultraviolet radiation, which can destroy land-based life. Many scientists believe that there wasn’t enough oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere to form an ozone layer until around 2.2 billion years ago, 400 million years later than the point in time when, according to Ohmoto, life was already flourishing on land. When microbial mats develop on soil, they often lead to the formation of laterites, which are soil layers enriched in iron oxides. These layers form when living things decay. The resultant organic acids leach iron from upper layers of soil and deposit them as oxides in the soil layers below. This process creates three distinct bands of soil—an iron-rich layer sandwiched between two iron-deficient layers. Modern-day laterites form mostly in the tropics, where large amounts of organic material decay rapidly. “The 2.6 billion-year-old fossilized biomats are not real laterites,” Ohmoto points out, “but they occur together with the iron-rich minerals that represent an early stage of laterite formation.” Laterites provide direct evidence of an oxygen-rich atmosphere, but only indirect evidence of the presence of land-based organisms. “Some people may argue that the leaching of iron may occur by processes not related to organisms and their products,” says Ohmoto. Likewise, microbial mats on soil provide direct evidence for the presence of land-based life, but only indirect evidence of an atmosphere rich enough in oxygen to produce a protective ozone layer. Some researchers suggest that microbial mats may be able to develop on land without an ozone shield. But, Ohmoto reasons, the combination of iron-rich minerals and fossilized microbial mats in rocks dated at 2.6 billion years old proves both that oxygen must have been present in the Earth’s atmosphere and that life must have been present on land at that time. “Of course, terrestrial life back then was more in the nature of bacterial mats than oak trees and mammals,” says Ohmoto. Ohmoto is not surprised to find evidence of land-based life so early in Earth’s history. “Like many other people, I was erroneously influenced by the concept accepted for the invasion of animals from the ocean to land,” says Ohmoto. “That is, bacterial mats moved from coast to inland like the crawl of amphibious animals. However, I now believe that the transport of microbes from the ocean to land, and vice versa, has been carried out mostly by the wind: the splash of ocean waves containing microbes and soil containing microbes are transported globally by the wind.” Because of this process, Ohmoto believes that microbial communities on all the continents would have similar characteristics. Microbial mats as old as 2.6 billion years can only be dated indirectly, by determining the age of the rocks positioned above and below them. “There is no way to directly date the fossil age of microbial mats older than a million years,” says Ohmoto. “The ages can, however, be determined on soil minerals that host biomats, or on the rocks that sandwich the soil horizon.” Dating microbial mats and early laterites is not as difficult as finding them. According to Ohmoto, one of the biggest problems in the dating process is finding such soil layers still intact between two layers of datable rocks. Because the Earth has such an active geology, it is extremely difficult to find these sandwiched layers undisturbed. “Because of the plate tectonics that cause subduction of crustal rocks into the mantle, the chance of finding older rocks, especially of those formed under a certain paleogeographical condition, diminishes exponentially” over time, says Ohmoto. Ohmoto and his team have already begun investigations of 2.7 billion- year-old paleosols (ancient layers of buried soil) in Australia and 2.9 billion-year-old paleosols in Ontario, Canada. Ohmoto hopes eventually to reconstruct an accurate history of the evolution of atmospheric oxygen and its relationship to the evolution of biosphere. “A long-term goal is to understand the connection between environmental evolution and biological evolution,” he says. Knowing the basic rules of evolution—such as how species develop or how the environment impacts a species over time—can help scientists study Precambrian fossils that have no known modern counterpart. Astrobiologists can also use this knowledge as a guide in the search for life on other worlds. What next? As we continue to search for life elsewhere in the Universe, new discoveries about the evolution of life on Earth will color our perceptions about astrobiology. While geologists still debate about exactly when significant amounts of oxygen appeared in the Earth’s atmosphere, these laterites suggest that oxygen was plentiful at least 2.6 billion years ago. Ohmoto thinks investigations of rocks older than 3.5 billion years could yield even more answers to that question in the future. For more information on this article, see http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/index.cfm?page=oldlifeland. --------------------------------------------------------------------- IS EUROPA A WET IO? By Leonard David From Space.com 8 February 2001 Its radiation-saturated surface is frozen, cratered, cracked and craggy. But Jupiter’s moon Europa may be living proof that life can thrive in a bizarre blend of environments. A unique “Europa focus group” of planetary scientists, sea-ice experts, chemists and astrobiologists met here February 1-2 at the NASA Ames Research Center to hail the Jovian natural satellite as a high priority target for exploration. The NASA Astrobiology Institute sponsored the gathering. Taking Europa just at face value tends to dishearten most biologists. Inspection of Europa’s crust by the Galileo spacecraft shows broken apart blocks that “rafted” into new positions. Images have bolstered the view that the moon has a subsurface ocean. However, below the moon’s icy facade is where the action is. Subsurface, a deep briny ocean may exist wherein chemistry, heat spewed up from undersea vents and the tugging of tidal forces from giant Jupiter could conspire to whip up the ultimate home brew—a biosphere for life. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/europa_wet_io_01020 8.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SEARCHING FOR EXTRASOLAR PLANETS AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE SHORT COURSE From Universe Today 8 February 2001 Swinburne Astronomy Online is offering a new short course on “Searching for Extrasolar Planets and Extraterrestrial Life”. This is a six-week internet-based course starting 23rd April 2001. There are no exams but plenty of lively discussion via newsgroups with the instructor and fellow students around the globe. The cost is $A275 (about $US150). For further information and free sample course material, go to http://www.swin.edu.au/astronomy/sao/shortcourse/?ut. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2001 MARS ODYSSEY PHOTOS By Ron Baalke 8 February 2001 44 photos of the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft have been added to the 2001 Mars Odyssey web site at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/2001/orbiter/images.html January 4 - Spacecraft arriving at Kennedy Space Center (8 Photos) January 5 - Spacecraft uncrated in SAEF-2 (12 Photos) January 9 - Solar arrays are unfolded (8 Photos) January 24 - Gamma ray spectrometer installed (8 Photos) January 29 - THEMIS instrument installed (8 Photos) The spacecraft arrived at the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 at Kennedy Space Center on January 4, 2001, where it is undergoing final checkout and assembly. The orbiter will carry three science instruments: THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). The GRS instrument will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The MARIE instrument will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation- related risk to human explorers. The 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta 7925 rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars on October 20, 2001, for insertion into an initial elliptical capture orbit. Its final operational altitude will be a 250-mile-high, Sun-synchronous polar orbit. Mars Odyssey will spend two years mapping the planet’s surface and measuring its environment. --------------------------------------------------------------------- GLOBAL WARMING ON MARS NASA Astrobiology Institute From NASA Science News 9 February 2001 To say that Mars is a chilly place would be an understatement. The Red Planet’s mean annual temperature is 55 degrees C below zero— that’s about the same as the temperature of Earth’s south pole during winter. If humans ever build communities on Mars, they might want to find a way to turn up the global thermostat. At a recent NASA- sponsored conference, “The Physics and Biology of Making Mars Habitable”, scientists discussed ways that future colonists might make the frigid planet a little more comfortable. One solution might be to pump enough greenhouse gases into the martian atmosphere to create a runaway greenhouse effect. Here on Earth, the idea of a runaway greenhouse sets off alarm bells. But on Mars it could be a plus. Scientists at the conference speculated how it might be possible to warm Mars just enough to evaporate the planet’s available carbon dioxide (CO2 trapped in ices and frost) into the atmosphere, where such gases could contribute to keeping the planet warm. But there are two problems. First, even if all of Mars’s available CO2 were coaxed into the atmosphere, it wouldn’t necessarily warm the planet enough to make it a comfortable place for humans, because no one knows just how much CO2 is there. Second, the best way to get Mars to release its CO2 spontaneously is, well... to warm it up. It’s a “Catch-22” situation! Margarita Marinova, an undergraduate student at MIT, believes she has an answer to both problems: use artificially created perfluorocarbons (PFCs) to initiate the planetary warming process. Marinova has been studying the warming effects of PFCs, in collaboration with Chris McKay, a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the Ames Research Center. McKay was one of the organizers of the terraforming conference where Marinova presented her research. PFCs have several advantages. First, they are super-greenhouse gases. A little bit does a lot of warming. Second, PFCs have a very long lifetime. This causes serious problems on Earth, but their longevity would be a positive factor on Mars. Third, they do not have any negative effects on living organisms. Finally, unlike their chemical cousins, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), PFCs don’t deplete ozone. Ozone in Earth’s atmosphere provides protection against ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which is harmful to life. On Mars, building up an ozone layer in the atmosphere would be an important goal of terraformers. “You don’t want to destroy ozone,” says Marinova, “because it’s a UV protector.” The sunlight that hits a planet’s surface arrives primarily as visible and ultraviolet light. The planet absorbs this solar energy, and then re-radiates warming infrared energy back out into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere work as a global layer of insulation, trapping that infrared radiation and preventing it from escaping into space. CO2 and water are good at trapping some of this infrared energy, but not all of it. On Earth, there’s so much CO2 and water in the atmosphere that it doesn’t matter if some infrared radiation escapes back into space. But on Mars, terraformers will want to trap every bit of heat they can. A carefully chosen combination of PFCs could do the job quite handily. “When we first start warming Mars,” explains Marinova, “we’ll want to cover the whole spectrum” of thermal infrared radiation. “Once CO2 is released, it will take over” part of the job, and PFCs will only need to be used to plug the gaps. And how fast can Mars be heated up? “That depends,” says Marinova, “on how fast we make the gases.” According to rough calculations, “if you had 100 factories, each having the energy of a nuclear reactor, working for 100 years, you could warm Mars six to eight degrees.” At that rate, to increase the average martian temperature to the melting point of water—it’s about minus 55 degrees Celsius now—would take about eight centuries. Actually, it wouldn’t take quite that long, Marinova points out, because her calculation doesn’t include the feedback effect of the CO2 that would be released as Mars got steadily warmer. “Devising more efficient artificial super-greenhouse gases will also make it faster,” Marinova adds. Human habitation of Mars is a long way off. NASA’s current plan for exploring the Red Planet, which spans the next two decades, does not include even a pioneering human mission to Mars. By the time a permanent settlement is established there—one that might begin the task of terraforming the planet—technological advances may make it possible to warm its atmosphere far more efficiently than is possible using the techniques being studied today by scientists like Marinova. For more information on this article see http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast09feb_1.htm. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE 2001 MARS ODYSSEY MISSION EDUCATOR CONFERENCE JPL release 9 February 2001 Dates: Friday, April 6, 2001 - Saturday, April 7, 2001 Place: Cocoa Beach, Florida The next spacecraft in NASA’s Mars Exploration Program of the Red Planet is 2001 Mars Odyssey. Carrying three primary experiments, this orbiter will allow scientists to build on the ongoing Mars Global Surveyor mission and the work of Mars Pathfinder. 2001 Mars Odyssey will also help pave the way for the two Mars Exploration Rovers, which will arrive on the surface of Mars in early 2004. Join your K-12 education colleagues, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Arizona State University Mars education specialists, and the Mars scientists, engineers and managers from the Odyssey mission team in an educator conference to learn about the Mars Exploration Program, the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission, and how to use Mars mission science in your classroom. There will be educational materials for grades K-12. Schedule Thursday, April 5 Arrive at Doubletree Hotel, Cocoa Beach, FL Friday, April 6 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM - Workshop Registration at Doubletree Hotel 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Teacher workshop at hotel (lunch included) 4:00 PM - Conclude for the day. (Dinner on your own.) Saturday, April 7 8:00 AM - Morning - Bus to launch viewing area, observe launch at 11:32 AM EST* Afternoon - Tour Kennedy Space Center Early Evening - Return to hotel, conference concludes (dinner on your own). Sunday, April 8* Morning - Launch scrub contingency day* Early Afternoon - Return to hotel. * Important note: the educator conference is being planned to coincide with the launch of the spacecraft as scheduled at the time of this announcement. But launches frequently slip for a variety of reasons. The conference sponsors make no claim that attendees will see a launch. * The Sunday morning time is reserved in case of a one day launch slip. The conference will take place regardless of the launch schedule. If we know of a launch slip in advance, additional activities will be planned for the morning of the 7th. This workshop is focused on K-12 educators and is limited to 80 educators. Family members can not be accommodated on the bus to the viewing site and private vehicles are not allowed. Information on an excellent viewing site for the general public will be provided. Travel logistics for the conference must be arranged for participants to arrive on April 5th and not depart until after the workshop concludes on April 7th. The return time to the hotel on the 7th can not be determined with accuracy so please do not assume that we will be back prior to 7:00 PM (at the latest). Upon receipt of application (fax, mail, or e-mail) the ASU Mars Program will contact you with the hotel logistics and contact numbers. Hotel reservations must be made early to ensure room availability. A block of rooms is being reserved for this conference, but since this date coincides with spring break, there will not be many other accommodations available. Lodging for this event will be guaranteed until February 13th. After that date, rooms will be “as-available”. Costs Conference Fee: $40 (includes catered lunch and refreshments during workshop and a mini-Mars globe.) Lodging: Doubletree Hotel $85/night + 10% tax for single room $95/night + 10% tax for double room (You can indicate on your application if you would like to share a room to split lodging expenses and we will try to match people together. However, there are no guarantees that this will be possible in all cases.) Other exhibits or attraction costs: (These will be available as possible alternative destinations in case the launch is scrubbed. All entrance costs will be the responsibility of the workshop participant in addition to the Conference Fee.) Kennedy Space Center entrance Fee - $25.95/adult MarsQuest Exhibit at the Orlando Science Center - $11.00/adult Application Please complete the following information for the Registration form. Name: Address: School: Grade level or specialty you teach: Phone: Fax: E-mail: Please fax, mail, or e-mail this information to: Sheri Klug Arizona State University ASU Mars K-12 Education Program P.O. Box 871404 Moeur Building, Room 101 (Fed-Ex only) Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 sklug@asu.edu 480-727-6495 (voice) 480-965-1787 (fax) Upon confirmation of acceptance for the conference and to guarantee your reservation, the $40.00 workshop fee must be mailed to Arizona State University at the above address. Please make checks out to ASU. Space is limited. Please be sure of your enrollment prior to making nonrefundable travel plans. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE HESPERIAN PERIOD OF MARS’ HISTORY Symposium announcement http://www.planetary.brown.edu/planetary/international.html 9 February 2001 Vernadsky Institute - Brown University Microsymposium 33: The Hesperian Period of Mars’ History March 10-11, 2001 Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA The Hesperian is a critical time period in the history of Mars. During this time significant volcanism occurred in the Tharsis, Elysium, Alba, Hesperia, and other regions, significant planet-wide tectonic activity occurred in the form of wrinkle ridges and other structures, the outflow channels were emplaced and Valles Marineris came into prominence, the northern lowlands were resurfaced by the Vastitas Borealis Formation, and candidate glacial deposits were emplaced in the south polar regions. In spite of this wealth of geologic activity, the time boundaries and duration of this period are very poorly known. Any significant understanding of the geology and geodynamics of Mars must provide a better definition of the activity during this period, its relations, timing and absolute chronology. Data from the Mars Global Surveyor Mission has put new emphasis on many questions related to the Hesperian Period on Mars. Thus, it is an opportune time to examine some of the basic ideas about the geologic history of Mars and how these new data relate to these questions. The purpose of this workshop is to provide an opportunity for presentation and extensive discussion of many of the key questions about this period of history on Mars. As in the past, the workshop format ensures ample time for informal discussion of many of these issues. Themes of the workshop include the geological activity and processes occurring during this period, and geochronologic studies aimed at providing a better definition of the cratering chronology and the absolute time scale. The structure of the workshop includes several keynote presentations that will identify critical assumptions and key findings that are central to these themes. This will provide the basis for detailed discussion by workshop participants on these topics. Contributed posters will provide detailed presentations and discussion of data on which the summary talks are based. Please reply to this e-mail address (below) if you are interested in attending. Contact: Anne C. Cote, Coordinator (Anne_Cote@Brown.edu) Planetary Geosciences Group Department of Geological Sciences Brown University, Box 1846 Providence, Rhode Island 02912 USA Phone: 401-863-2436 Fax: 401-863-3978 --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/astrobiology.h tml 12 February 2001 Articles about astrobiology, exobiology and terraformation http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s1.html P. L. Barry, 2001. Carbonated Mars. NASA Science News. L. David, 2001. Is Europa a wet Io? Space.com. J. Laing, 2001. Hop to it! 'Down Under' research helps international Mars effort. Universe Today. NASA Astrobiology Institute, 2001. Global warming on Mars. NASA Science News. Articles about the biology of extreme environments (on Earth) http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s2.html J. Long, 2001. Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. Articles about human space exploration and the microgravity environment http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s3.html F. B. Salisbury, J. I. Gitelson and G. M. Lisovsky, 1997. Bios-3: Siberian experiments in bioregenerative life support. Bioscience 47(9). Astrobiology and extreme environments book list http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/astrobiology_b ooks.html J. Long, 2001. Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS JPL release 1-7 February 2001 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Tuesday, February 6. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. The speed of the spacecraft can be viewed on the “Present Position” web page at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/. The Probe Relay Test mini-sequence completed this week after executing the remaining four tests. During the first 2 1/2 days of the test, the overall Es/No, Delta F, and Pt (Bit transition probability) parameter space for the two channels A and B was globally mapped. This included two configurations for channel A (TCXO and RUSO). By analyzing the test data from one day to the next, Huygens personnel were able to update their test plan for the last 2 1/2 days enabling them to focus on further detailed regions of interest identified from the global maps. Special test data for selected cases were also identified and acquired. The overall data set is complete and will take some time to analyze. The Huygens team expressed them selves as “very delighted with the results” and offered thanks to the C24 team. More information may be found on the Huygens web site at http://sci.esa.int/huygens/. After the completion of the Probe Relay Test, all instruments were returned to active mode and the Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) Ka-band was powered on. Commands were uplinked to continue the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) High Frequency Receiver (HFR) calibrations with the first calibration occurring on Tuesday. Phase F Post Jupiter Activities resumed beginning with two RPWS calibration activities, and Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) atmosphere observations. Additional activities included CDS-A and CDS-B automatic SSR repairs, and clearing of the CDS error logs. RPWS has taken a preliminary look at the data from the two calibrations and everything looks fine so far. The Cassini Instrument Operations (IO) Team and the Multi Mission Image Processing Laboratory have produced and delivered 22,149 ISS images—15,164 from the NAC and 6,985 from the Wide Angle Camera—and 4,823 Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) cubes since Jupiter encounter began. The Spacecraft Operations Office held a Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM)-17 strategy meeting this week. A main engine maneuver of approximately 0.5 meters per second will be performed on February 28. The primary purpose of the maneuver is to flush the oxidizer lines in the bi-propellant system. Additionally, the maneuver will clean up the small dispersions from the Jupiter flyby. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) team held a kick- off meeting regarding the next round of flight software upgrades in preparation for an in-flight test in C27. The first of two C26 Science Planning Virtual Team (SPVT) product delivery ports occurred on Monday. Science Planning has merged the instrument team files and delivered them to AACS for running Kinematic Prediction Tool/Inertial Vector Propagator (KPT/IVP) to perform an end-to-end pointing check on the planned sequence. The Project Science Group (PSG) Atmospheres Working Group (AWG) held a telecon on Friday to work on science and orbit priorities for Tour. The AWG is planning to hold weekly telecons over the next month to work Tour plans. A Delivery Coordination Meeting (DCM) was held for Mission Sequence Subsystem (MSS) 4.7 delivery. Included was a patch for revision of a Main Engine TCM block (METCM) for use in TCM-17. Due to an increased number of requests over the last several weeks, System Engineering has established a secure process to provide selected data files from the Ops Project Software Library (PSL). A special area controlled by the Configuration Management Engineer was established in AFS space, allowing access for both Operations and Development networks. Outreach has arranged with NASA CORE (Central Operation of Resources for Educators) for a cost-recovery approach to distributing the Saturn Educator Guide and Ways of Seeing CD-ROM. Cassini has supplied an initial inventory of paper and CD-ROM copies. CORE will charge about $15 for these materials, which will cover the cost of reproducing additional copies when stock is depleted. The Saturn Educator Guide should stay in print indefinitely with this approach. This represents a significant change from the way published materials were handled in the past. Outreach supported an AAUW career day, encouraging young women to pursue careers in math and science. Cassini Jupiter flyby results were displayed as part of the presentation. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, manages the Cassini mission for NASA’s Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 5-11 February 2001 This week sees the conclusion of Galileo’s collaboration with the Cassini spacecraft. On Monday, the spacecraft’s Fields and Particles instruments (Dust Detector, Energetic Particle Detector, Heavy Ion Counter, Magnetometer, Plasma Detector, and Plasma Wave instruments) stop collecting continuous data. At the start of the campaign, which began in late October of last year, the Galileo spacecraft was preparing to enter Jupiter’s magnetosphere, the region of space, which is dominated by Jupiter’s magnetic field. The Cassini spacecraft was approaching Jupiter, but was still out in the ‘upstream’ solar wind, a region dominated by streams of protons, electrons, and magnetic fields flowing outward from the Sun. By comparing the measurements made by the two spacecraft, one inside and one outside the magnetosphere, it will be possible to see how changes in the solar wind have an influence on the structure of the Jupiter magnetic environment. This has been a truly unique opportunity to study this interaction at a major outer planet by two spacecraft simultaneously. Though the full collaborative effort with Cassini has concluded, and Galileo once again is back outside the magnetosphere and in the solar wind, the Galileo Magnetometer and Dust Detector instruments will still be collecting data about the Jupiter environment, to study the long-term history and changes. Surprises are always possible, so it’s a good idea to keep our ears open! Also on Monday, Galileo begins to play back data that were stored on the on-board tape recorder during the last close satellite flyby of Ganymede in late December. First up will be some of the Fields and Particles data that were collected in mid-December when communication with the ground in real-time was not possible. This should complete Galileo’s contribution to the Cassini collaboration leading up to our flyby. Next come data from our closest approach to Ganymede on December 28. The report “Today on Galileo - December 28, 2000”, available off the Galileo home page (http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/) describes these closest approach and chorus observations as they were made. For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter, please visit the Galileo home page at one of the following URL’s: http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo --------------------------------------------------------------------- MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORT JPL release 7 February 2001 Launch / Days since Launch = November 7, 1996 / 1554 days Start of Mapping / Days since Start of Mapping = April 1, 1999 / 678 days Total Mapping Orbits = 8,575 Total Orbits = 10,258 Recent events The spacecraft continues to operate nominally in performing the beta- supplement daily recording and transmission of science data. The mm110 sequence executed successfully from 01-032 (2/1/00) through 01- 034 (2/3/01). The mm111 sequence has performed well since it started on 01-035 (2/4/01). It terminates on 01-038 (2/7/01). The mm112 sequence, successfully uplinked on 01-037 (2/6/01), begins executing on 01-039 (2/08/01). Another successful DDOR experiment was performed on 01-034 (2/3/01) as part of the mm110 background sequence. Spacecraft health All subsystems report nominal health. Investigation into the root cause of the X-axis Reaction Wheel failure continues. Although we are confident that a short circuit within the RWA-X electronics caused the failure, isolating the exact piece-part that failed seems unlikely. Work continues in identifying operational impacts associated with using RWA-S for attitude control. We are also investigating methods of protecting the spacecraft against a second RWA failure. Uplinks There have been 16 uplinks to the spacecraft during the past week, including new star catalogs and ephemeris files, instrument command loads, and the background sequences cited above. We also increased the Momentum Unload Give Up Timer to 120 minutes so that manually induced momentum unloads do not terminate prematurely due to worst- case phasing errors. (See the 1/24/01 MGS Status Report) Finally, we reset the Audit Queue Counter to a value consistent with the Audit Queue activity that occurred since the counter reached its maximum value of 255. This particular counter does not rollover automatically and must be reset with a ground command when it reaches its maximum value. There have been 5,113 command files radiated to the spacecraft since launch. Upcoming events The mm113 background sequence will be uplinked on 01-040 (2/09/01). Development of the mz072 Roll Only Targeted Observation (ROTO) Demonstration mini-sequence will commence on 01-043 (2/12/01). --------------------------------------------------------------------- STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release 9 February 2001 February 7 was the second anniversary of the Stardust launch on a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida. Photos and animations of the launch are on the Stardust home page at http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/news/status/990207.html There were twelve Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking passes in the past week, and the flight team at Lockheed Martin Astronautics (LMA) reports that all subsystems are performing normally. The spacecraft transitioned from transmitting on the Low Gain Antenna (LGA) to the Medium Gain Antenna (MGA). This transition marks the conclusion of the Earth Gravity Assist (EGA) mission phase. We are now in Cruise Phase 2. The change to the MGA was performed to provide higher data transmission rates and to return Stardust to its normal cruise configuration. Before February 3, communications using the MGA were not practical since the solar panels would have been shaded due to the large angle (greater than 60 degrees) between the Sun and the panels. Therefore, between the EGA on January 15 and February 3, the spacecraft was placed in an attitude that had the Sun at a 45 degree angle to the panels. During this time period, communications were done with the LGA on the opposite side of the spacecraft. The Max Planck Institute’s Cometary Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) was successfully commanded to perform the first of three checkout activities. CIDA has been off since October 2000 to help keep the spacecraft cool during EGA. Next month CIDA will begin its second observation sequence to analyze interstellar dust particles impacts as the spacecraft heads into this dust stream. During the first sequence, five impacts were analyzed. CIDA is expected to be fully operational by the end of next week. The project held its quarterly review with JPL and NASA management and was able to report that the project status was excellent. An additional two-hour briefing was held with David Jarrett, Discovery Program Manager, Paul Hertz and Mark Dahl from the NASA Office of Space Science, the Principal Investigator, Dr. Donald Brownlee, and flight team members from LMA participating with the group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Stardust mural crafted by students from the Meadow Creek Christian School in Minnesota is on display in the Great Hall of NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. 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 8, Number 6.