MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 8, Number 10, 12 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) SETI SLEUTHS: ARE YOU A FUTURE SETI SCIENTIST? By Edna DeVore 2) 32ND LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE STORY OPPORTUNITIES NASA/JSC release J01-26 3) ANCIENT EARTH HAD MUCH STRONGER MAGNETIC FIELD From SpaceDaily 4) MARS LECTURE By Geoffrey A. Landis 5) MUTANT BACTERIA NEXT THREAT FROM MIR? From CNN 6) SETI@ARECIBO: SCIENTISTS WILL BE SLOW TO CELEBRATE ANY CONTACT By Seth Shostak 7) WILL FUNDING EUROPA BUST THE BANK? By Bruce Moomaw 8) THE SCIENCE OF SPACE STATION ALPHA: FOLLOWING BUDGET CUTS WILL IT REMAIN WORLD CLASS? By Andrew Chaikin 8) COSMIC IMPACT ENCOURAGES LIFE TO GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY By Robert Roy Britt 9) SETI@ARECIBO: HOW DO WE KNOW THE DARN THING WORKS? By Seth Shostak 10) CHINA PLANS FIRST MANNED MISSION NEXT YEAR By Stephen Clark 11) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas 12) THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release --------------------------------------------------------------------- SETI SLEUTHS: ARE YOU A FUTURE SETI SCIENTIST? By Edna DeVore From Space.com 28 February 2001 I am often asked, “How can I become a SETI scientist and find ET?” Students are excited by the SETI searches and want to participate. Diverse academic pathways lead to career as a scientific sleuth seeking evidence for ET. Most of the time, students assume that they should train as scientists. True, but this is only one avenue to working on major scientific research projects. SETI—the search for extraterrestrial intelligence—plies the sky for signals from distant civilizations by using ground-based technology. SETI scientists use the world’s largest radio telescopes to eavesdrop on ET. Additionally, new searches have started looking for very short but extremely bright pulses of visible light—flashing beacons that announce ET’s presence in our galaxy. These searches use cutting-edge technology and telescopes, and the people who run these projects have knowledge and skills from many disciplines. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/searchforlife/devore_seti_sleuths_010228.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 32ND LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE STORY OPPORTUNITIES NASA/JSC release J01-26 6 March 2001 More than 1100 papers will be presented at the 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 12-16, 2001, at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. Oral presentations will begin at 8:30 AM Monday, March 12 and continue through Friday morning, March 16, at JSC's Gilruth Center. News media can register for the conference at the Gilruth Center March 12-16. “Astrobiology, the possibility of ancient bacteria in Martian meteorites” and “The logistics involved in bringing home a sample of Martian soil” are just two of the highlights of these sessions that will take place from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM Thursday in Room A and 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM Friday in Room A. “Asteroids: a year near Eros.” The near earth asteroid rendezvous mission capped off its 5-year, 2-billion-mile mission this year with a spectacular landing on Eros. Scientists have only begun to dig through the plethora of data its instruments collected. This special session begins at 1:30 PM Tuesday in Room C. “Europa, Jupiter: a special session.” An ocean may lie beneath the surface of the Jovian moon, Europa. This fascinating possibility will be discussed in detail, as well as what a mission to Europa would require in order to prove whether or not an ocean exists there. Oral presentations will begin at 1:30 PM Thursday in Room A. “Extraterrestrial life: a panel discussion.” A panel of scientists will have an open discussion on Societal Connections of Planetary Exploration and the Search for Life Elsewhere at 5:30 PM Thursday in Room A. “Ganymede and Io, Jupiter: are there oceans beneath the surface of Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter?” What sort of geologic processes control its surface? Researchers discuss these and other details of Ganymede and the other moons of Jupiter from 2:45 to 5:30 PM Monday in Room D. Researchers will focus on Io from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM Wednesday in room B. “Martian glaciers.” Using data from the Mars Global Surveyor and Global Orbiter spacecraft, scientists are working to determine the age of Martian glaciers and how they formed. With these data, scientists hope to better understand the ancient climate of Mars and perhaps determine whether Mars still has sources of liquid water. Oral presentations will take place from 2:45 to 5:30 PM Monday in Room C. “Martian volcanoes.” Researchers will discuss the history of Martian volcanic eruptions and the possibility that these eruptions occurred more often and with greater ferocity than previously thought. This explosively hot topic will be discussed from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM Monday in Room C. “Martian water.” Using data from the Mars Global Surveyor and Global Orbiter spacecraft, scientists are tackling the vital questions of whether ancient Mars had oceans and flowing water, as well as whether present-day Mars harbors water beneath its barren surface. The latest results of this research will be presented all day Wednesday in Room C, beginning at 8:30 AM and from 8:30 AM to 12:30 AM Thursday in Room C. “Mercury: an Earth in Moon's clothing?” (Harold Masursky Lecture) Dr. Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, DC will discuss the two missions to Mercury that are scheduled for this decade, and why he thinks Mercury has languished as an exploration site. This lecture will begin at 1:30 PM Monday in Room C. “Tagish Lake meteorite.” The Tagish Lake meteorite, which fell to Earth in northern British Columbia in January 2000, may contain the most primitive solar system materials yet found. Several hundred meteorite samples have been recovered from the original 200,000- kilogram (441,000-pound) meteoroid. The analyses of these unique samples will be discussed in detail from 8:30 AM to 12:30 AM Monday in Room A. “Venus.” Volcanoes and meteorite impacts have heavily scarred the surface of Venus. Researchers will discuss how these processes have affected the surface of Venus, and how our understanding of the effects of both volcanoes and meteorite impacts relates to Earth. Presentations will take place from 2:45 to 5:30 PM Monday in Room B. News media with additional questions, or those who wish to schedule interviews with conference participants, should contact Pam Thompson at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Thompson can be reached by phone at 281-486-2175 or by e-mail at thompson@lpi.usra.edu. Additional information about conference events, including the texts of abstracts, can be found at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference web site at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2001/. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ANCIENT EARTH HAD MUCH STRONGER MAGNETIC FIELD From SpaceDaily 6 March 2001 A new technique for measuring the Earth's magnetic field back to the days of the dinosaurs and beyond has revealed that the magnetic field was as much as three times stronger in ancient Earth than previous techniques suggested. The new method could help scientists better understand ancient Earth, including how its molten core behaved in its early days. The results of the first field test of the new technique appear in the March 2 issue of Science. Get the full story at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/earth-magnetic- 01b.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MARS LECTURE By Geoffrey A. Landis 6 March 2001 Author and scientist Geoffrey A. Landis will be presenting a lecture at the Berea Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library on Thursday, March 22, at 7:00 PM. Dr. Landis will discuss the NASA Pathfinder mission to Mars and present NASA's future missions for Mars exploration. The lecture will be followed by a book signing where he will autograph copies of his recent novel Mars Crossing. Landis was one of the scientists on the Mars Pathfinder mission, where he had an experiment on the Sojourner rover, and is now involved in developing instruments for future missions to Mars. His SF novel Mars Crossing makes extensive use of the geology and landscape of Mars as imaged by the Pathfinder mission. The next Mars mission, the Mars 2001 “Odyssey” spacecraft, is scheduled to be launched on April 7. More information about Dr. Landis can be found on his web page, http://www.sff.net/people/geoffrey.landis. Reviews and information about Mars Crossing can be found at http://www.sff.net/people/Geoffrey.Landis/marsreview.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MUTANT BACTERIA NEXT THREAT FROM MIR? From CNN 6 March 2001 Forget the danger of heavy debris raining down from space when Russia sends the Mir space station to a watery grave this month—the real threat could be mutant fungi, a researcher said Tuesday. Yuri Karash, an expert on the Russian space program, said there was a possibility microorganisms that have spent the last 15 years mutating in isolation aboard Mir, could present a threat if they survived the fall to Earth. “I wouldn't overstate it... but a realistic problem exists,” Karash told a news conference. Karash, who has undergone cosmonaut training and is an aerospace adviser, said his conclusions were based on research carried out by Russia's Institute of Medical and Biological Problems. Researchers have said that the fungi could be especially virulent if mixed with Earth varieties that attack metal, glass and plastic. Get the full story at http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/03/06/mir.fungus.reut/index.html. Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.msnbc.com/news/533923.asp http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010306/sc/space_fungus_dc_1.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- SETI@ARECIBO: SCIENTISTS WILL BE SLOW TO CELEBRATE ANY CONTACT By Seth Shostak From Space.com 6 March 2001 If extraterrestrials are out there, signals that would prove their existence are cascading over your body right now. Needless to say, you don’t notice. The challenge for SETI researchers is to build an instrument that will. Rising to the challenge, the SETI Institute and others are developing new search strategies and telescopes, encouraging some scientists to speculate that a signal detection will occur in the next decade or two. If that happens, then the “Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence” [http://www.seti.org/post-detection.html] described in our last article and analyzed by Doug Vakoch will give general guidance regarding what the discoverers should do. But it’s important to understand that we could very well trip over ET’s signals without immediately knowing we’ve done so. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_surety_010301.html. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.msnbc.com/news/540710.asp. --------------------------------------------------------------------- WILL FUNDING EUROPA BUST THE BANK? By Bruce Moomaw From SpaceDaily 7 March 2001 The funding issue now facing a Pluto flyby is only one aspect of a bigger problem to which NASA's Solar System Exploration Subcommittee devoted much time at its meeting last week. Michael Drake, the committee's chair, described the situation to SpaceDaily as a “reality check”—adding that it's now quite clear that NASA simply has no way to fly most of the sophisticated Solar System missions it had planned over the next 15 years at the funding levels that it can now reasonably expect to be available... ...Despite much talk about a “Cryobot” submersible that would melt its way down through kilometers of ice into Europa's ocean itself, this would be a tremendously difficult project. Drake went so far as to say he thinks it will never be done—and while this may be overly pessimistic, it is certainly decades away. Get the full story at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/outerplanets- 01b1.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE SCIENCE OF SPACE STATION ALPHA: FOLLOWING BUDGET CUTS WILL IT REMAIN WORLD CLASS? By Andrew Chaikin From Space.com 7 March 2001 There is more than modules at stake as NASA struggles to contain the growing cost of building the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists hoping to use the station as a cutting-edge research platform are suddenly unsure how much science the ISS will be able to accomplish. The uncertainty arose last week when the agency announced that several key elements of the station—including the U.S. habitation module and the crew return vehicle—would be removed from the station's “blueprint” until further notice. If these deletions stick—and NASA still hopes to reinstate them at a later time—the station will not be able to accommodate more than three people at a time. What this means to NASA's plans for scientific research on board the space station is still largely unknown, but with the ongoing program originally tailored for an eventual crew of six people difficulties, and alterations, will inevitably crop up. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/news/spacestation/iss_science_impact_010307.html . --------------------------------------------------------------------- COSMIC IMPACT ENCOURAGES LIFE TO GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY By Robert Roy Britt From Space.com 8 March 2001 A discovery that earthly flora and fauna rebound and advance rapidly after catastrophic collisions by space rocks highlights the resourcefulness of life and bolsters a growing suspicion that evolution does its best work in extreme crises. When a comet or asteroid smacked Earth 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs bid farewell. They could not adapt to a world remade by the extreme ecological violence. They were not alone. Roughly two-thirds of all life on Earth vanished. But new species sprang forth from the catastrophe, evolving quickly to fill new niches of climate, water and soil conditions. A new study examined extraterrestrial dust to pin down just how quickly. In a mere 10,000 years—the blink of an eye on a geologic time scale— the planet was repopulated by newly evolved versions of tiny critters that had been mostly wiped out by the impact, according to a study published in the March 9, 2001 issue of the journal Science. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/impact_rebound_0103 09.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SETI@ARECIBO: HOW DO WE KNOW THE DARN THING WORKS? By Seth Shostak From Space.com 9 March 2001 Sometimes I envy the folks who figure they can establish extraterrestrial contact by standing in the backyard waiting for spacecraft to land. After all, the required infrastructure is pretty simple: one—count ‘em, one—backyard. Project Phoenix demands a bit more. To begin with, you need a large radio telescope—a mammoth assemblage of steel and aluminum. The Arecibo antenna amply fills that role. But the list of necessary equipment continues. A low-noise amplifier poised at the focus, a series of intermediate amplifiers to boost the incoming cosmic static to useful levels, digitizers to convert the static to handy ones and zeroes, spectral analyzers to break up the band into 56 million channels, signal-detection algorithms, massive arrays of hard disks…the checklist is long and wearisome. But if you don’t expect aliens in the backyard, this is what you need. It’s complex work, and it involves complicated equipment. What’s worse, every link in the chain has to function. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/searchforlife/phoenix_diary_010309.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CHINA PLANS FIRST MANNED MISSION NEXT YEAR By Stephen Clark From Spaceflight Now 11 March 2001 China plans to launch its first astronauts in late 2002 following more unmanned test flights of the Shenzhou test capsule, according to Japanese news reports. The Daily Yomiuri and The Yomiuri Shimbun credit a senior official at the state-run Chinese General Company of Aeronautics Industry, Dai Zhing Liang, with the information. Dai reportedly told interviewers that the schedule calls for up to three more unmanned test flights of the Shenzhou design before moving on to manned missions. It is still unclear if any changes in the spacecraft will be made to improve performance or safety after lessons learned during the unmanned missions. Get the full story at http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0103/11china/. --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/astrobiology.h tml 12 March 2001 Articles about astrobiology, exobiology and terraformation http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s1.html B. Moomaw, 2001. Will funding Europa bust the bank? SpaceDaily. Articles about the biology of extreme environments (on Earth) http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s2.html Reuters, 2001. Mutant bacteria next threat from Mir? CNN. Articles about human space exploration and the microgravity environment http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s3.html A. Chaikin, 2001. The science of space station Alpha: following budget cuts will it remain world class? Space.com. S. Clark, 2001. Report: China plans first manned mission next year. Spaceflight Now. Articles about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s4.html E. DeVore, 2001. SETI sleuths: Are you a future SETI scientist? Space.com. S. Shostak, 2001. SETI@Arecibo: How do we know the darn thing works? Space.com. S. Shostak, 2001. SETI@Arecibo: scientists will be slow to celebrate any contact. Space.com. Articles about primordial evolution and prebiotic chemistry http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s5.html R. R. Britt, 2001. Cosmic impact encourages life to go forth and multiply. Space.com. SpaceDaily, 2001. Ancient Earth had much stronger magnetic field. SpaceDaily. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK ON GALILEO JPL release 5-11 March 2001 This week sees the Galileo spacecraft execute two routine maintenance activities and pass a geometrical milestone. On Wednesday, the spacecraft performs a calibration of its gyroscopes, which help to determine which way the spacecraft is pointed. Over the past five years, exposure to the intense radiation environment near Jupiter has caused the electronic components that operate and measure the gyros to degrade and report incorrect data to the spacecraft computers. This calibration provides information that allows engineers to calculate numerical corrections to load into the spacecraft software so that the erroneous signals sent out by the gyros are seen as correct. On Thursday, routine maintenance on the spacecraft propulsion system is performed. On Sunday, the spacecraft reaches its most distant point from Jupiter during this orbit. This point, called apojove, is at a distance of 216.6 Jupiter radii, or nearly 15.5 million kilometers (9.6 million miles). This is about 40 times the separation between the Earth and the Moon. At this distance, it takes light 51 seconds to travel between the giant planet and the spacecraft! This week's playback of the data stored on the tape from the December 28 flyby of Ganymede continues the series of observations begun last week. The Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) will complete the playback of its observation of Jupiter's south polar aurora and return an observation of a White Oval storm in Jupiter's atmosphere. The White Oval is the last remnant of three such ovals that have merged over the past two years. A portion of a global mosaic of Jupiter will also be returned. This mosaic will be compared with data from the Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, which was observing Jupiter at the same time. The last in a series of three observations of Io will complete the infrared monitoring of that satellite's volcanic activity during this orbit. The Solid State Imaging camera (SSI) will continue returning global color images of Io, in cooperation with the Cassini imaging experiment. Pictures taken of Jupiter's main ring system will provide information on the ring's vertical structure and patchiness, and will provide an interesting comparison to Cassini pictures taken at the same time, but from a different viewpoint. This should give scientists a unique stereo view of these fascinating features. 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- End Marsbugs, Volume 8, Number 10.