MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 8, Number 9, 5 March 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) MARS EXPRESS FORGES COLLABORATION WITH JAPANESE MARS MISSION From ESA Science News 2) NEW EVIDENCE STRENGTHENS CLAIMS OF ANCIENT LIFE ON MARS NASA/JSC release J01-17A, correction 3) TELESCOPES SEARCH FOR ET'S BEACON By William J. Cromie 4) NEW ANALYSIS OF METEORITE SHOWS KEY INGREDIENTS FOR LIFE ON EARTH MAY HAVE BEEN DELIVERED BY COMETS Scripps Institution of Oceanography release 5) STAYING SANE IN DEEP SPACE From SpaceDaily 6) EVIDENCE MOUNTS FOR PAST MICROBIAL LIFE ON MARS Mars Society release 7) EVIDENCE SEEN FOR WET PAST ON GANYMEDE, JUPITER'S LARGEST MOON JPL release 8) UI RESEARCHER FINDS NEW EVIDENCE FOR SMALL COMET THEORY From SpaceDaily 9) FIRST EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON EXO/ASTROBIOLOGY Meeting announcement 10) 2001 MARS ODYSSEY PHOTOS By Ron Baalke 11) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas 12) CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS JPL release 13) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORT JPL release 14) STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release --------------------------------------------------------------------- MARS EXPRESS FORGES COLLABORATION WITH JAPANESE MARS MISSION From ESA Science News http://sci.esa.int 26 February 2001 International collaboration between Europe and Japan took a step forward last month when scientists building instruments for ESA's Mars Express mission traveled to Japan for a meeting with their counterparts on Nozomi, the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science's (ISAS) mission to Mars. The two teams identified investigations they plan to do jointly and agreed that both senior scientists and young researchers from the other mission would join each instrument team. "There was a very fruitful atmosphere of cooperation and understanding between the scientists on the two teams, with members of both missions wanting to join the others' teams," said Agustin Chicarro, Mars Express Project Scientist. ESA's Science Programme and ISAS are of similar size and the hope is that the collaboration will be the first of many. "We're looking to the long term. We want to base our relationship on friendship and mutual trust. For too long Europe and Japan have been looking for partners across different oceans. Now we realise that we're sitting at different ends of the same landmass," said Chicarro. Nozomi already has significant international participation, with four of the mission's 14 scientific instruments having Principal Investigators from outside Japan. Only one of Mars Express's instruments has substantial involvement from outside Europe. Nozomi will go into near equatorial orbit around Mars shortly after Mars Express enters polar orbit in December 2003. The presence of the two spacecraft in complementary orbits makes them ideal for joint investigations, especially of the atmosphere. Those planned at the meeting include simultaneous observations of the weather on Mars from the two vantage points. Senior scientists and their post-graduate students are being chosen to join each instrument team. As the Mars Express instruments are now developed, the Japanese scientists will be involved in testing and calibration over the next few months and will contribute towards data analysis later on when Mars Express is in orbit. Nozomi has already been launched and is waiting in Earth orbit until it can make the journey to Mars in 2003. Hence European scientists on the Japanese teams will be largely involved with data reduction and processing after the spacecraft has arrived. The meeting agreed to hold a workshop once a year to discuss joint progress. However, to get the collaboration off to a good start, an additional technical meeting will probably be held later this year. Mars Express payload Nozomi payload HRSC -- Super high resolution NMS -- Neutral gas mass stereo colour imager spectrometer OMEGA -- Infrared mineralogical PET -- Probe for electron mapping spectrometer temperature MARSIS -- Sub-surface sounding TPA -- Thermal plasma analyser radar/altimeter PWS -- Plasma wave and sounder PFS -- Atmospheric Fourier experiment spectrometer LFA -- Low-frequency wave SPICAM -- IR and UV atmospheric analyser spectrometer OCLT -- Radio science experiment ASPERA -- Energetic neutral MIC -- Mars imaging camera atom analyser MDC -- Mars dust counter MaRS -- Radio science ISA -- Low-energy ion spectrum experiment analyser BEAGLE 2 -- Small lander with ESA -- Low-energy electron suite of imagers, spectrum analyser organic and mineral EIS -- High-energy electron & chemical analysers, ion spectrometer robotic sampling XUV -- Extreme ultraviolet devices and spectrometer meteorology sensors MGF -- Magnetic field measurement MELaCom -- Lander communications UVS -- Ultraviolet imaging package spectrometer IMI -- Ion mass imager Useful links for this story * The NOZOMI mission http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/nozomi/ * More about Mars Express http://sci.esa.int/marsexpress * Mars Express instrument descriptions http://sci.esa.int/content/news/index.cfm?aid=9&cid=32&oid=22780 Image captions [Image 1] http://sci.esa.int/content/searchimage/searchresult.cfm?aid=9&cid=12& oid=26227&ooid=26240 NOZOMI and Mars Express. [Image 2] http://sci.esa.int/content/searchimage/searchresult.cfm?aid=9&cid=12& oid=26227&ooid=26241 ISAS Headquarters at Sagamihara near Tokyo. Image courtesy of ISAS. --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW EVIDENCE STRENGTHENS CLAIMS OF ANCIENT LIFE ON MARS NASA/JSC release J01-17A, correction 27 February 2001 Researchers have found magnetic material in a 4.5-billion-year-old Martian meteorite that could only have been produced by bacteria. [These] new data strongly supports the primitive life on Mars hypothesis of David McKay and co-authors in 1996. "There are no known reports of any inorganic process that could produce such magnetites," said Kathie Thomas-Keprta, an astrobiologist at NASA's Johnson Space Center and the lead researcher on the study. The Martian magnetites are identical to those found in a bacteria strain on Earth called MV-1. "This group of magnetite deeply embedded in the Mars meteorite is so similar to the ones produced by the Earth bacteria that they cannot be told apart by any known measurement," said David McKay, a geologist at JSC and a co- author on the paper. "We considered that perhaps earth bacteria or earth magnetite had gotten into the Mars meteorite," McKay continued, "but extensive examination and testing by both our team and many other investigators eliminated that possibility." Scientists generally agree that ALH84001 is a member of the group of 16 meteorites found on Earth that originated on Mars. The potato- sized igneous rock is the oldest of them - about 4.5 billion years. It lay in Antarctic ice for more than 13,000 years. But the biogenic-type magnetite crystals are embedded in 3.9-billion-year-old carbonates within ALH84001. Previous work by co-author Chris Romanek, of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory has shown that these carbonates formed on Mars; thus the magnetite crystals must also have formed on Mars. Using electron microscopy, team members examined the Martian magnetites still embedded in the carbonate and also removed about 600 crystals and examined the individual particles to determine their chemical composition and crystal geometry. "These crystals are so tiny, ranging from 10 to 200 nanometers, that nearly a billion of them would fit on the head of a pin," said Thomas-Keprta. The authors found that about a quarter of the Martian magnetites from ALH84001 are identical to magnetites produced on Earth by the magnetotactic bacteria strain MV-1, which has been extensively studied by co-author Dennis Bazylinski, a geobiologist and microbiologist at Iowa State University who has developed many ways of culturing these difficult to grow microorganisms. No one has found terrestrial inorganic magnetites, produced either naturally or in the laboratory, that mimic all the properties displayed by biogenic magnetites. "There is currently no known inorganic chemical means of producing these magnetite crystals with their unique morphologies," he said. Magnetite (Fe3O4) is produced inorganically on Earth. But the magnetite crystals produced by magnetotactic bacteria are different- they are chemically pure and defect-free. Their size and shape [are] distinct. Magnetotactic bacteria arrange these magnetite crystals in chains within their cells. These characteristics make the magnetite crystals very efficient compasses, which are essential to the survival behavior of the bacteria by helping them locate sources of food and energy. "Mars is smaller than Earth and it developed faster," co-author Simon Clemett of Lockheed-Martin at JSC noted. "Consequently, bacteria able to produce tiny magnets could have evolved much earlier on Mars." "The process of evolution has driven these bacteria to make perfect little bar magnets, which differ strikingly from anything found outside of biology," added, Joe Kirschvink, a geobiologist at Caltech and a co-author of the paper. "In fact, an entire industry devoted to making small magnetic particles for magnetic tapes and computer disk drives has tried and failed for the past 50 years to find a way to make similar particles. A good fossil is something that is difficult to make inorganically, and these magnetosomes are very good fossils." Mars has long been understood to provide sources of light energy and chemical energy sufficient to support life. Early Mars, the authors note, may have had even more chemical energy produced by active volcanism and hydrothermal activity. Also, when the team asserted in 1996 that Martian meteorite ALH84001 showed signs of life existing on Mars, that planet was not known to have ever had a strong magnetic field. But since then, the Mars Global Surveyor has observed magnetized stripes in the crust of Mars that show a strong magnetic field existed early in the planet's history, about the same time as the carbonate containing the unique magnetites was formed. Surface features also suggest that early Mars had large oceans and lakes. These attributes, coupled with a CO2-rich atmosphere, provided the necessary environment for the evolution of microbes similar to the fossils found in ALH84001. A team of 10 researchers collaborated on the four-year study, which was published February 27 in a special Astrobiology issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. The team, led by Thomas-Keprta of Lockheed Martin at Johnson Space Center, was funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Co-authors of the study are Simon Clemett and Susan Wentworth of Lockheed Martin at the JSC; Dennis Bazylinski of Iowa State University (funded by the National Science Foundation); Joseph Kirschvink of the California Institute of Technology; David McKay, Everett Gibson and Mary Fae McKay of JSC; and Christopher Romanek of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. For a more technical discussion of this paper please see http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/astrobiology/biomarkers/recentnews.html Contact: Catherine E. Watson Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (Phone: 281/483-5111) --------------------------------------------------------------------- TELESCOPES SEARCH FOR ET'S BEACON By William J. Cromie From SpaceDaily 22 February 2001 Every morning Paul Horowitz checks his e-mail to see if he has any messages from E.T. The professor of physics at Harvard University has his office computer wired to telescopes that scan the skies seeking radio and light signals from advanced civilizations beyond Earth. So far, he and his colleagues have found some possibilities. To speed up the search, Harvard has broken ground for a new telescope to look for extraterrestrial beacons. This instrument will be capable of covering a million times more celestial space than the present instrument the University uses for its alien search. "A high-intensity pulsed laser, teamed with a moderate sized telescope, forms an efficient interstellar beacon," Horowitz says. "To a distant observer in the direction of its slender beam, it would appear as a brief pulse a thousand times brighter than our sun. We've had such technology for years, so we presume anyone interested in contacting us would also have it." The project, known as Optical Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (OSETI), has been going on since October 1998 with the use of a 61-inch telescope located about 40 miles west of Boston at the Harvard-Smithsonian Oak Ridge Observatory. Harvard astronomers David Latham and Robert Stefanik use the same instrument to look for planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system. Both the 61-inch and the new 72-inch telescopes are limited to looking for light signals. OSETI doesn't have a budget (or permission from the United Nations) to send beacons into outer space. Get the full story at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/seti-01a.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW ANALYSIS OF METEORITE SHOWS KEY INGREDIENTS FOR LIFE ON EARTH MAY HAVE BEEN DELIVERED BY COMETS Scripps Institution of Oceanography release http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/scripps_news/releases2001/bada_comet.html 27 February 2001 An object that fell to Earth more than 136 years ago has revealed new clues about the origin of meteorites in space and new information about how life may have started on early Earth. The new study by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and their colleagues shows that the Orgueil meteorite, which fell in France in 1864, may be the first meteorite traced to a comet, rather than from an asteroid, the source widely believed to produce meteorites. The contents within Orgueil, the study says, may have been just the type of fundamental ingredients necessary to help generate life on Earth. Scientists have generally believed that a wide variety of amino acids were required for the origin of life on Earth. "Recent research suggests, however, that only a few types of simple amino acids may have been required, and that is exactly what we have found to be present in Orgueil," said Jeffrey Bada, a professor of marine chemistry at Scripps. The study appears in the February 27 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is authored by Bada, Daniel Glavin, and Oliver Botta of Scripps; Pascale Ehrenfreund of the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands; and George Cooper of the NASA Ames Research Center. Although the Orgueil meteorite, named after the French town near where it fell in 1864, had been analyzed decades ago, Bada and his colleagues conducted a new study using sophisticated techniques and instruments aimed at detecting trace levels of amino acids. Amino acids are the fundamental components of proteins and are synthesized in living cells. After obtaining a pristine piece of the interior portion of Orgueil, the researchers found that it contained a relatively simple mixture of amino acids, consisting primarily of glycine and beta-alanine. They also analyzed the sample's carbon isotope concentration and found that the amino acids were not derived from earthly contamination. "We found that the amino acids in Orgueil are abiotic. They were formed without the help of biology, only chemical reactions," said co-author Botta. "We think these amino acids were synthesized in space." The research team then compared their results with three other meteorites: Murchison and Murray, which have been studied extensively, and Ivuna, a meteorite that fell in Tanzania, Africa, in 1938 that had not been analyzed for amino acids. The research team broke the meteorites down into two classes. The Murchison and Murray meteorites were placed in a category containing a complex mix of amino acids made up of more than 70 different types of amino acids. Orgueil and Ivuna, however, were categorized with a much simpler composition made up primarily of just two amino acids. Based on the unique amino acid composition within Orgueil, the researchers were able to deduce information about the meteorite's past. Murchison and Murray are widely believed to be pieces of an asteroid, as are virtually all meteorites scientists have studied. However the paper suggests Orgueil and Ivuna show evidence that they are likely derived from a comet. The amino acid signatures within Orgueil and Ivuna suggest that these compounds were likely synthesized from components such as hydrogen cyanide, which have been recently observed in the comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. "This suggested to us that what we may be seeing in Orgueil and Ivuna are the products of reactions that once took place in the nucleus of a comet," said Bada. "If it's true, this would be the first time that a meteorite from the nucleus of a comet has been identified," said co-author Glavin. "There is really a lot we don't understand about the chemistry of a comet nucleus and this would be our first insight." Thus, the paper suggests, the amino acids that helped generate life on Earth may have been delivered by meteorites that were derived from the remnants of comets. The study was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Specialized Center of Research and Training in Exobiology at Scripps, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at the University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest, and most important centers for global science research and graduate training in the world. The National Research Council has ranked Scripps first in faculty quality among oceanography programs nationwide. The scientific scope of the institution has grown since its founding in 1903 to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical, and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. More than 300 research programs are under way today in a wide range of scientific areas. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $100 million, from federal, state, and private sources. Scripps operates the largest U.S. academic fleet with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. Scripps Institution of Oceanography on the World Wide Web: scripps.ucsd.edu Scripps News on the World Wide Web: scrippsnews.ucsd.edu Image available upon request or available at http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/scripps_news/releases2001/bada_comet.html. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01g.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- STAYING SANE IN DEEP SPACE From SpaceDaily 28 February 2001 Brown University recently received a three-year, $638,000 grant to develop a system to monitor the cognitive abilities of astronauts during a proposed NASA manned mission to Mars in 2020. Prolonged exposure to cosmic rays may damage regions of the brain responsible for cognition, decision-making and language comprehension, a significant danger when the trip to Mars is expected to take six months, said Philip Lieberman, professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences and the study's lead researcher. A computer system that could remotely monitor the cognitive functioning of astronauts by using acoustic measures of their speech would allow NASA to respond to changes during a mission. The current available technology for speech analysis is an interactive testing system that cannot be used for online monitoring, said Lieberman. The grant is one of 86 awarded by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (www.nsbri.org), a consortium of leading research institutions working toward the goal of reducing health concerns related to space missions. Get the full story at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-manned- 01a.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- EVIDENCE MOUNTS FOR PAST MICROBIAL LIFE ON MARS Mars Society release 1 March 2001 NASA announced on Monday that a team of scientists led by Dr. Imre Friedman has determined that small magnetite crystals in the now- famous ALH84001 Martian meteorite were almost certainly produced by living organisms-organisms that must have lived on Mars. According to the researchers: "these crystals are interpreted as Martian magneto fossils and constitute evidence of the oldest life yet found." Dr. Imre Friedman will give a special plenary presentation on August 24th at the Mars Society Convention on his teams new results. Comments by Dr. Chris McKay, NASA Ames The recent paper by Imre Friedman and co-authors in PNAS (PNAS Volume 98:2176, 2001) reports finding chains of magnetite that are consistent with a biological origin. This agrees with the results on the size and shape of the individual magnetite grains as published in the same issue of PNAS by Kathie Thomas-Keptra and co-authors (PNAS Volume 98:2164, 2001). The size and shape is also consistent with a biological origin. In the original publication (1996) of the ALH84001 paper by David McKay and co-authors they listed 4 lines of evidence suggesting biological origin 1) microfossils, 2) PAH organics, 3) carbonate isotopes, 4) magnetite crystals. At the time it seemed to me that of these four only the magnetite crystals provided a credible link to biogenic origin. Since then it has been widely recognized that the magnetite had the only possibility of providing good evidence for biogenic origins. The present papers therefore follow up on this important lead. At the present time then there are two lines of evidence that indicate biological origin of the magnetite in the ALH84001: 1) the size and shape of each individual magnetite crystal 2) the presence of chains of magnetite. To me this evidence is now strong enough that we should begin to consider the implications of a biological origin for this magnetite on Mars 3.9 Gyr ago. These implications include: 1) What was the O2 level on Mars at the time these magnetotactic bacterial were present? (On Earth magnetotactic bacteria use their magnetitic navigation to position themselves with respect to a O2 gradient.) 2) What were the sources of magnetic fields? 3) What would be the expected density of magnetotactic bacteria such that their remnants are widespread enough that they are found in volcanic rocks? 4) Is there any biological origin of the magnetic fraction of the current martian soil? Related links Scientists Finds Evidence of Ancient Microbial Life on Mars, NASA ARC. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=3942 NASA Announces New Evidence Regarding Past Life on Mars (SpaceRef). http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=293 Case For Life on Mars Withstands Criticism, Gains Scientific Support, NASA JSC. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=3939 Photographic Comparison of Terrestrial and Martian Magnetite Crystal Chains, NASA ARC. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=3948 New Evidence Strengthens Claims of Ancient Life on Mars - Study of Martian Meteorite Reveals Magentic Fossils, NASA JSC. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=3937 NASA JSC Background Information on PNAS ALH84001 Magenetite Paper, NASA JSC. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=3938 Truncated Hexaoctahedral Magnetite Crystals in ALH84001: Presumptive Biosignatures, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/98/5/2164 Chains of magnetite crystals in the meteorite ALH84001: Evidence of biological origin, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/98/5/2176 NSF official describes hunt for antarctic meteorites related to new meteorite evidence of primitive life on Mars, NSF. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=3946 Background information New report links meteorite to possibility that microscopic life existed on Mars, NSF. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=3343 British Researchers Try to Challenge Evidence of Mars Meteorite Fossils-But Don't Make Their Case, SpaceRef. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=195 Search for Past Life on Mars: Possible Relic Biogenic Activity in Martian Meteorite ALH84001, D. S. McKay, E. K. Gibson Jr., K. L. Thomas-Keprta, H. Vali, C. S. Romanek, S. J. Clemett, X. D. F. Chillier, C. R. Maechling, R. N. Zare, Science, Volume 273, Number 5277. http://www- curator.jsc.nasa.gov/curator/antmet/marsmets/SearchForLife/ SearchForLife.htm An additional article on this subject is available at http://spacedaily.com/news/010227190026.dryxj2fd.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- EVIDENCE SEEN FOR WET PAST ON GANYMEDE, JUPITER'S LARGEST MOON JPL release 1 March 2001 Bright, flat terrain in long swaths on the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Ganymede may testify that water or slush emerged there about a billion years ago, say planetary scientists who have combined stereo images from NASA's Galileo and Voyager missions to examine provocative features on that moon. This bright terrain, long since frozen over, lies uniformly in troughs about one kilometer (a little over a half mile) lower than Ganymede's older, darker, cratered terrain. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system and larger than the planet Mercury. The roles that volcanism and various forms of tectonics have played in molding its complex topography have been hotly debated over the years. But the newly created images, taking advantage of the large quantity of Voyager images and the higher resolution of Galileo's, point to volcanism as the main impetus behind the troughs. "What we think we're seeing is evidence of an eruption of water on the surface of Ganymede," said Dr. William B. McKinnon, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of the study published in Nature on March 1, 2001. "We see these long, smooth troughs that step down up to a full kilometer. They're really very much like rift valleys on the Earth and they're repaved with something pretty smooth. The material in the troughs is more like terrestrial lava in terms of its fluidity than relatively stiff glacial ice." He said the material is banked up against the edges of the walls of the trough and appears to have been more fluid than solid ice would have been, even if it were relatively warm ice. These features support the idea that they were created by volcanism. The report's other authors are Dr. Paul Schenk of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas; Dr. David Gwynn of the University of California, Los Angeles; and Dr. Jeffrey Moore of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA. Images from the report are available online from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/jovianmoons. The researchers used stereo imaging-a method where three-dimensional objects are reproduced by combining two or more images of the same subject taken from slightly different angles-to reconstruct the physical topography of Ganymede's terrains. Maps were then generated from the stereo images. "This is a new kind of stereo topographical information over hundreds of kilometers across Ganymede," McKinnon said. The images provide new clues about what happened on Ganymede long ago and how that moon reworks its older, darker material. One trough extends an estimated 900 kilometers (about 600 miles), the approximate distance between St. Louis and New Orleans. "The long trough is probably a billion years old, but it's actually one of the younger volcanic features," McKinnon said. "It's the last gasp of the process that made the bright terrain." According to McKinnon, the geological explanation for such long lanes of flatness is that they occurred by the extending and opening up of Ganymede's crust. And then that portion of the crust became flooded with some sort of lava. The high-resolution Galileo images show that material that flooded the lanes is "no less liquid than a slush," said McKinnon. "But it is not glacial ice, which would have big moraines and big round edges like a flowing glacier does." Moreover, the images reveal depressions that resemble volcanic calderas along the edges of the bright terrains. On Earth, calderas are large, more-or-less circular craters usually caused by the collapse of underground lava reservoirs. "The caldera-like features make a pretty good circumstantial case for volcanism causing this topography," McKinnon said. "We think these particularly bright terrains were formed by volcanism, which means that most or all the other bright terrains started out this way, and became fractured or grooved over time through tectonic forces." Galileo has been orbiting Jupiter since 1995. Its 12 scientific experiments have enhanced researchers' understanding of Jupiter's atmosphere, large moons and vast magnetic field. It carried the first atmospheric probe to enter Jupiter's atmosphere. In other firsts, it was the first mission to discover a satellite of an asteroid (Ida's satellite Dactyl), the first to go into orbit around Jupiter, the first to make a close flyby of an asteroid (Gaspra), and the first to provide direct observations of a comet hitting a planet (Shoemaker-Levy 9). Galileo has also provided extensive information about active volcanism on the moon Io and the possibility of a subsurface ocean on the moon Europa. Later this year, it will make close approaches to the moons Callisto and Io. The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft each passed near Jupiter in 1979 and then explored more distant parts of the solar system. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Galileo and Voyager missions for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Contacts: Washington University/Tony Fitzpatrick 314-935-5272 JPL/Guy Webster 818-354-6278 NASA Ames Research Center/Kathleen Burton 650-604-1731 Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/galileo-01c.html. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/ganymede_volcanoes_ 010301.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- UI RESEARCHER FINDS NEW EVIDENCE FOR SMALL COMET THEORY From SpaceDaily 1 March 2001 In a paper published in the March 1, 2001 issue of the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research, University of Iowa Physics Professor Louis A. Frank, says that he has found new evidence to support his theory that the water in Earth's oceans arrived by way of small snow comets. Frank reports that he obtained pictures of nine small comets among 1,500 images made between October 1998 and May 1999 using the Iowa Robotic Observatory (IRO) located near Sonoita, AZ. In addition, he says that the possibility of the images being due to "noise," or electronic interference, on the telescope's video screens was eliminated by operating the telescope in such a manner as to ensure that real objects were recorded in the images. Get the full story at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/comet-01a.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON EXO/ASTROBIOLOGY Meeting announcement 2 March 2001 21-24 May 2001 ESRIN, Frascati (near Rome), Italy http://www.estec.esa.nl/conferences/01C17/index.html Background and purpose The multidisciplinary area of exo/astrobiology has recently experienced a tremendous surge of interest within the wide scientific community involving both space and non-space disciplines. This includes such diverse fields as the chemical origin of life on Earth, the persistence of life in extreme conditions, interplanetary transport mechanisms and search for life strategies in the Solar System and beyond. The European Exobiology Network is an association of European scientists active in this field and dedicated to bringing together and strengthening European scientific and intellectual resources to ensure a leading role for Europe in this field. Since the 1980's the ESA microgravity life sciences activities have involved exobiology research concentrated on the effects of low Earth space conditions such as solar and cosmic radiation and low gravity on organic and life forms. The program intends to extend these activities to search for life strategies in the Solar System. Recently the activities of the ESA Space Science program have been extended to include exo/astrobiology as a cross-fertilized discipline which can benefit from a number of ESA missions such as Huygens- Cassini, Mars Express, Rosetta, Eddington and IRSI-Darwin. Jointly these two programs aim to work together to promote an integrated and coordinated European approach in order to optimize the use of space-related resources and ensure a lead role for European Science in this important, emerging field. This is the first of an intended series of workshops aimed at bringing together European scientists to review the status of the field and develop future plans and perspectives. Objectives of the workshop Based on interactive dynamic discussions, the workshop aims to: * Identify the European potential in exo/astrobiology * Foster European cooperation through joint projects in exo/astrobiology * Strengthen the European Network in exo/astrobiology * Encourage young scientists to participate in exo/astrobiological research in Europe. * Promote a constructive research interface between exobiological expertise in Europe and the rest of the world for the benefit of the discipline and the planet. * Develop a perspective for longer-term exobiology research, especially in relation to human missions to Mars. Topics to be covered by the workshop * Initial conditions and environment for the emergence of Life on Earth (evolution of planets and their satellites, atmosphere and hydrosphere, conditions necessary for life). * Chemistry of the origin of life on Earth (ingredients, extraterrestrial organic chemistry, theories of the origin of life, prebiotic chemical evolution, early life, last common ancestor). * Life in the extremes and terrestrial analogues for extraterrestrial habitats. Signatures of microbial life. * Prospects for life beyond the Earth (planets/moons of the Solar System, extrasolar planets, extra solar life). * Strategy for search of life with emphasis on "in situ" analysis vs. sample return, respective roles of humans and robots. * Societal aspects. Location of the workshop ESA's European Space Research Institute, known as ESRIN, is based in Frascati, a small historic town 20 km South of Rome (see http://www.hurricane.it/castelliromani/frascati/). For information on ESRIN's main functions, activities and how it works see http://www.esrin.esa.it. Mail: ESA/ESRIN, Via Galileo Galilei, Casella Postale 64, 00044 Frascati (RM), Italy Organization of the workshop The workshop will offer four distinct events: * Plenary Sessions highlighting the exo/astrobiological achievements reached by the different groups in Europe. * Group discussions on hot topics: - How did life start on Earth? - What was the chemistry of the origin of life on Earth? - How does life adapt to the extremes? - Are we alone in the Universe? - How can we search for life in the Solar System? * Poster sessions with the purpose to give background details for the more general presentations in plenary sessions or discussion groups. * Network sessions to foster the European Network in exo/astrobiology. ESA will publish the Proceedings of the Workshop as an ESA Special Publication (ESA SP). Submission of abstracts Abstracts will be accepted on the basis of 600-800 words and may be submitted preferably by using the on-line web form or as an e-mail attachment (in MS-Word or pdf) to confburo@esa.int. Authors are requested to indicate in which of the events they intend to present their paper: * plenary session (one abstract per group) * discussion groups * posters Abstracts sent by e-mail should also contain the following information: * Title of workshop * Topic (see list) * Title of paper (centered) * Author(s) name(s) and affiliations The full address of the contact (and/or presenter), including telephone/fax numbers. Numbers and e-mail address should be given separately. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 15 March 2001. Requests for Financial support Limited amounts of funds will be available for students and others with limited funding. Applicants should preferably be authors or co- authors of abstracts submitted for presentation at the Workshop. In all cases, a justification for claims on grounds of research commitment will be needed. The deadline is 15 March 2001 for receipt of applications. Requests to be sent to both Drs. P. Clancy and M. Coradini at the following E-mails: Paul.Clancy@ESA.int and Marcello.Coradini@ESA.int. Deadlines to remember Abstracts: 15 March 2001 Financial support requests: 15 March 2001 Registration: (first come, first served approach) For more information, see http://www.estec.esa.nl/conferences/01C17/index.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2001 MARS ODYSSEY PHOTOS By Ron Baalke 2 March 2001 Seven photos of the illumination testing of the solar panels of the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft have been added to the 2001 Mars Odyssey web site at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/2001/orbiter/ksc010209.html. 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: Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/astrobiology.h tml March 2001 Articles about astrobiology, exobiology and terraformation http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s1.html R. E. Blake, J. C. Alt and A. M. Martini, 2001. Oxygen isotope ratios of PO4: an inorganic indicator of enzymatic activity and P metabolism and a new biomarker in the search for life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2148-2153. E. I. Friedmann, J. Wierzchos, C. Ascaso and M. Winklhofer, 2001. Chains of magnetite crystals in the meteorite ALH84001: evidence of biological origin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2176-2181. M. F. Gerstell, J. S. Francisco, Y. L. Yung, C. Boxe and E. T. Aaltonee, 2001. Keeping Mars warm with new super greenhouse gases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2154- 2157. B. Lobitz, B. L. Wood, M. M. Averner and C. P. McKay, 2001. Use of spacecraft data to derive regions on Mars where liquid water would be stable. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2132-2137. J. D. Rummel, 2001. Planetary exploration in the time of astrobiology: protecting against biological contamination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2128- 2131. SpaceDaily, 2001. New proof of life on Mars: report. SpaceDaily. K. L. Thomas-Keprta, S. J. Clemett, D. A. Bazylinski, J. L. Kirschvink, D. S. McKay, S. J. Wentworth, H. Vali, E. K. Gibson Jr., M. F. McKay, and C. S. Romanek, 2001. Truncated hexa-octahedral magnetite crystals in ALH84001: presumptive biosignatures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2164- 2169. Articles about the biology of extreme environments (on Earth) http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s2.html SpaceDaily, 2001. Meteorite analysis suggests comets delivered life's key ingredients. SpaceDaily. M. Summit and J. A. Baross, 2001. A novel microbial habitat in the mid-ocean ridge subseafloor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2158-2163. Articles about human space exploration and the microgravity environment http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s3.html SpaceDaily, 2001. Staying sane in deep space. SpaceDaily. Articles about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s4.html W. J. Cromie, 2001. Telescopes search for ET's beacon. SpaceDaily. Articles about primordial evolution and prebiotic chemistry http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s5.html G. C. Dismukes, V. V. Klimov, S. V. Baranov, Y. N. Kozlov, J. DasGupta and A. Tyryshkin, 2001. The origin of atmospheric oxygen on Earth: The innovation of oxygenic photosynthesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2170-2175. P. Ehrenfreund, D. P. Glavin, O. Botta, G. Cooper and J. L. Bada, 2001. Extraterrestrial amino acids in Orgueil and Ivuna: tracing the parent body of CI type carbonaceous chondrites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2138-2141. F. Freund, A. Staple and J. Scoville, 2001. Organic protomolecule assembly in igneous minerals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 98(5):2142-2147. SpaceDaily, 2001. UI researcher finds new evidence for small comet theory. SpaceDaily. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS JPL release 22-28 February 2001 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, February 28. 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 primary event this week was the uplink and execution of Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) 17. As an alternative to sending up TCM files that required an activate command to execute, Spacecraft Office (SCO) personnel used this opportunity to use the TCM process that will be performed regularly as part of tour. This course correction was a Main Engine burn of 5.4 seconds duration and executed at 059/1730 UTC (28 February 2001, 17:30:00 UTC) Spacecraft Event Time. At the start of the keep-out zone for the TCM, Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS), Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA), Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), Magnetometer Subsystem (MAG), Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI), Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) and Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instruments were either put into sleep mode or powered off. The Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) KABAND (KEX & KA-TWTA) was also powered off. At the Quick Look meeting held four hours after the burn, SCO announced that the maneuver had executed normally, with all subsystems reporting expected results. After the event, all instruments except VIMS were returned to active mode. VIMS will be reactivated in C25 per plan. Post Jupiter science operations continued this week with the spacecraft alternating between Optical Remote Sensing (ORS) and Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI) magnetospheric data collection. Additional activities included High Water Mark clears and the execution of the RPWS EZ sensor change for dust impact detection. The first Science Archive Working Group (SAWG) meeting was held this week. Ten of the twelve instrument teams were able to attend as well as representatives from most of the Planetary Data System (PDS) discipline nodes. Discussion focused on defining data formats, Software Interface Specifications (SIS), and adopting a data level nomenclature. Some Cassini personnel attended a 3-day Spacecraft, Planet, Instruments, C-matrix, and Events kernels (SPICE) workshop this week. This event was hosted by the Navigation Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) and exposed participants to the ancillary information system currently available to the International Space Science community. The Cassini Instrument Operations (IO) Team and the Multi Mission Image Processing Laboratory have produced and delivered 24,469 ISS images-17,304 from the NAC and 7,165 from the WAC-and 5,048 Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) cubes since Jupiter observations began. The Preliminary Sequence Integration & Validation (SI&V) approval meeting was held this week for C25. Final products for SI&V have been released for review. RADAR team members have received confirmation that "Cassini RADAR/Radiometer and VLA Observations of Jupiter's Synchrotron Emission" will be presented at the 5th International Workshop on Planetary and Solar Radio Emissions in Graz, Austria in April of this year. This will be the first presentation of RADAR's most recent data gathered during the Jupiter flyby period. CDA Flight Software version 8.4.0 was accepted at a Delivery Coordination Meeting (DCM) this week and has been submitted to SCO for testing in the Integrated Test Laboratory (ITL). A patch for the Cassini Information Management System (CIMS) was also accepted this week. Mission Assurance hosted a series of Risk Management Training sessions this week. The purpose was to train Cassini team members in the Risk Management Process, and to solicit inputs. Results from this activity will be consolidated into an initial Significant Risk List (SRL). After the workshops, a draft Risk Management Plan was completed and distributed to team members for comment. The Cassini Risk Management planning process is on schedule for completion by the end of March. Cassini's Jupiter Millennium Flyby web site has been nominated "Editors Choice" in the March 2001 Issue of Popular Science Magazine. To access the Popular Science Web Site, link to http://www.popsci.com/webwatch/. To access the Jupiter Millennium site directly link to http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiterflyby/. 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS REPORT JPL release 28 February 2001 Launch / Days since Launch = November 7, 1996 / 1575 days Start of Mapping / Days since Start of Mapping = April 1, 1999 / 699 days Total Mapping Orbits = 8,836 Total Orbits = 10,519 Recent events The spacecraft continues to operate nominally in performing the beta- supplement daily recording and transmission of science data. The mm116 sequence executed successfully from 01-053 (2/22/00) through 01-055 (2/24/01). The mm117 sequence has performed well since it started on 01-056 (2/25/01). It terminates on 01-059 (2/28/01). The mm118 sequence, successfully uplinked on 01-058 (2/27/01), begins executing on 01-060 (3/01/01). MGS performed five Roll Only Targeted Observations since the last status report, bringing the total number of ROTOs to six. Spacecraft health All subsystems report nominal health. Uplinks There have been 9 uplinks to the spacecraft during the past week, including instrument command loads, the background sequences cited above, and ROTO mini-sequences mz073 and mz074. There have been 5,144 command files radiated to the spacecraft since launch. Upcoming events A flight software patch to the Safe Mode code will be uplinked on 01- 060 (3/01/01). The purpose of this patch is to prevent the HGA from entering the HGA exclusion zone during a Safe Mode entry. Presently, when the S/C enters Safe Mode, the HGA automatically slews directly to a predetermined target position. Unfortunately, this type of slew poses a risk in some cases due to the HGA gimbal obstruction. It is possible that the HGA could drive through the HGA exclusion zone on its way to the target position. The project has mitigated this risk to date by building background sequences that avoid commanding the HGA into potentially hazardous positions. The unfortunate trade-off has been reduced communications time each orbit. The HGA Safe Mode software patch causes the HGA to "freeze" its position upon Safe Mode entry. Consequently, the project regains communications time every orbit by moving the risk mitigation from nominal sequencing to the Safe Mode fault response. The mm119 background sequence will be uplinked on 01-061 (3/02/01). ROTO mini-sequences mz075 and mz076 will be uplinked and executed this next week. --------------------------------------------------------------------- STARDUST STATUS REPORT JPL release 2 March 2001 There were eleven Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking passes in the past week and all subsystems are performing normally. The Stardust spacecraft is currently over 25 million kilometers from Earth, and has travelled over 1.5 billion kilometers since its launch in February 1999. On Monday, February 26, the first of two mirror calibrations was successfully performed. The mirror was moved in ten-degree increments, from 0 to 180 degrees, and took an image at each stop. The resulting pointing data will be compared with calibration data taken before launch. This calibration will be used to provide data to the software that determines the Comet Wild 2 nucleus position during the upcoming encounter in 2004. The Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA), an instrument developed by the Max-Planck Institute in Garching, Germany, will begin its next collection period on March 16. CIDA will collect particles of interstellar dust to determine their composition. Bob Saxton has submitted a song he wrote titled "Stardust", which is now on our home page for your listening pleasure (http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/fanmail.html). 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 9.