MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 8, Number 25, 2 July 2001. Editors: Dr. David J. Thomas, 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, the biology of terrestrial extreme environments, planetary biology, primordial evolution, space physiology, biological life support systems, and human habitation of space and other planets. _____________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS 1) SUBGLACIAL VOLCANOES (AND LIFE?) ON MARS Geological Society of America release 01-22 2) WHERE THERE'S SOUP, THERE'S LIFE Geological Society of America release 01-24 3) BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON ISS MAY SUFFER SIGNIFICANT CUTBACKS By Patricia Russell 4) SIMULATING A MARTIAN COLONY IN THE ARCTIC By Leonard David 5) MASS EXTINCTION AT THE TRIASSIC-JURASSIC BOUNDARY From SpaceDaily 6) NASA GIVES STUDENTS "SHARP" EXPERIENCE NASA release 01-131 7) ESA AND NASA AGREE NEW MISSION SCENARIO FOR CASSINI-HUYGENS ESA release 39-2001 8) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas 9) CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 10) THIS WEEK ON GALILEO NASA/JPL release 11) STARDUST STATUS REPORT NASA/JPL release _____________________________________________________________________ SUBGLACIAL VOLCANOES (AND LIFE?) ON MARS Geological Society of America release 01-22 21 June 2001 The search for liquid water is key for finding habitable environments on Mars today--places where prebiotic chemistry and/or life could still be going on. Not surprisingly, the mantra, "Follow the Water," has become a primary driver in NASA's new Mars Program. Water in liquid form is regarded as essential for life. But how can we explore for life on Mars when liquid water is unstable at the surface today due to an atmospheric density that is only ~1/1000 of Earth's? This is a challenge we must overcome if we are to mount a successful search for life on Mars. While many scientists believe that liquid water could be present on Mars today at a depth of several kilometers beneath the surface, we simply do not yet have the technology to drill to those depths from the simple robotic platforms we will be sending. At best, we can hope to drill a few meters to perhaps tens of meters with current technologies. But what if there was shallow ground water on Mars within a few meters of the surface? Then small rovers and landers could probably drill and find it. This would better than having to postpone exploring for deep subsurface water (and life) until human astronauts could go to Mars and run deep drilling rigs. Humans will probably not go to Mars for at least another twenty years. That's a long time to wait! So can we do in the meantime? Scientists are confident that there's water on Mars' polar caps. But that water is perpetually frozen and unavailable for biology. But there could be special geological exceptions where that water could exist as a liquid and those potential "oases" (within the otherwise frozen deserts of the polar regions) are important targets for astrobiology in the next two decades. There is also speculation that very young channels and debris aprons found on many north-facing slopes at high latitudes formed when liquid water seeped out from the subsurface. To be liquid at those latitudes requires that near surface water be both saline and warm, but probably still within the range for life. Unfortunately all of the seep sites discovered so far are on slopes inaccessible to landers and rovers. One way to have liquid water under the polar caps at shallow depths would be through subglacial volcanism. Such volcano-ice interactions could be going on beneath the North polar cap of Mars today, or even within the adjacent permafrost around the margins of the ice cap. On Earth, subglacial volcanic eruptions are often associated with outbursts of water that create a variety of distinctive geological features. On Mars, such outbursts of liquid water could carry microbes and their byproducts to the surface where they could be incorporated into ground ice and preserved. Such deposits could be easily accessed by rovers in upcoming missions. Meredith Payne and Jack Farmer from Arizona State University have been focusing their recent research efforts on finding such environments on Mars. They have studied all available Viking and Mars Orbiter Camera images taken on and near the North polar cap searching for the telltale signs of subglacial volcanic eruptions. This search has produced several potential sites of probable recent volcano-ice interactions that will be reviewed and compared with similar features in Iceland during a poster presentation on Wednesday June 27 at Earth Systems Processes in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Geological Society of America and the Geological Society of London will co-convene the June 24-28 meeting. "We are presently working to merge all Viking, MOC and Mars Laser Altimeter (topographic) data into a spatially correlated base map for each area," Farmer said. "This effort will allow us to make detailed geologic maps and establish age relationships between major rock units and terrain types. We have been updating our mapping effort as new MOC and MOLA data become available." These correlated data sets will allow Payne and Farmer to refine hypotheses concerning the origin of these features and test them through comparisons with remote sensing of analogous landforms in Iceland of known origin. "Discoveries in the last two decades have greatly extended the known range of terrestrial habitats where life survives," Farmer explained. "Viable microbial communities have been found living in deep (-2800 m) geothermal groundwater at 349 K and pressures >300 bar. Furthermore, microbes have been postulated to exist in basaltic rocks in rinds of altered volcanic glass. All of these conditions could exist in polar regions of Mars today where subglacial volcanism has occurred." Payne and Farmer will soon begin fieldwork in Iceland to better understand the processes associated with subglacial volcanism and the habitats for life created by such processes. The abstract for this presentation is available at http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001ESP/finalprogram/abstract_7445.htm. Post-meeting contact information: Meredith C. Payne Geological Sciences Arizona State Univ P.O. Box 1404 Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 USA +01 480 965 0833 mcpayne@asu.edu Jack D. Farmer Geological Sciences Arizona State Univ P.O. Box 871404 Tempe CA 85287-1404 USA +01 480 965 6748 jfarmer@asu.edu Ted Nield Geological Society of London +44 (0) 20 7434 9944 ted.nield@geolsoc.org.uk Ann Cairns Geological Society of America +01 303 447 2020 ext. 1156 acairns@geosociety.org An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-volcano-01b.html. _____________________________________________________________________ WHERE THERE'S SOUP, THERE'S LIFE Geological Society of America release 01-24 21 June 2001 But we're talking gourmet soup. That is, gourmet geochemical "primordial soups" in hot springs and hydrothermal springs in the oceans that support novel chemolithotrophic thermophiles. If we can understand these heat-loving little critters, then we may confirm what microbial ecologist Anna-Louise Reysenbach suspects--they were the earliest ancestors of all life. Early Earth was a hot environment, and it's possible that some of the life that we see today in hot springs in places like Yellowstone National Park and at deep-sea hydrothermal springs along mid-ocean ridges may share some common metabolic features with their early Earth ancestors. So determining what life exists in hot springs today is one of the first steps to define what early life on a hot planet may have been like. These thermophiles "living in hot springs are microscopic, and are hard to identify just by looking at them under the microscope," explained Reysenbach from Portland State University. She uses biogeochemical, molecular, and microbiological approaches to study the ecology of thermophiles. "Essentially there are two ways to identify these microbes; either by trying to grow them, or by using molecular techniques that identify an evolutionarily conserved gene, a sort of fingerprint, of the organism. Using a combination of these approaches, we have been able to grow a very prevalent and important member of hydrothermal ecosystems. "This group of organisms are chemolithoautotrophs, they use inorganic energy and carbon sources, and are the deepest lineage within the universal tree of life," she explained. "Although the trunk and base of the tree of life are much debated, these few pieces of evidence suggest that this group of organisms may be a good proxy for studying early Earth life. Understanding how these organisms fossilize, what remaining biological signatures they may leave behind, how they precipitate minerals etc. will perhaps help us interpret the rock record here on Earth and other planets more effectively." The important member of this group is the Aquificales, a deeply- rooted lineage that is common in both terrestrial and deep-sea hydrothermal systems. Reysenbach looks forward to receiving the genome of one of the isolates, Persephonella marina, which will be available in a few months. "I think it will definitely show what type(s) of carbon fixation pathways this organism has, how it gets some of it's essential elements, N, C, P, etc.," she said. "What I am also very interested in is how different or similar it is to its relative Aquifex. When the genome sequence of Aquifex was released, it rocked the boat a little, since it showed that this organism is a very modern organism... and not what some thought would be typical of a 'primitive'-ancestral organism." Reysenbach will present her research "Gourmet Geochemical "Primordial Soups" at Hydrothermal Vents Support Novel Thermophilic Chemolithotrophs: Implications for the Evolution of Life on Early Earth" on Wednesday, June 27, at the Earth Systems Processes conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Geological Society of America and the Geological Society of London will co-convene the June 24-28 meeting. The abstract for this presentation is available at http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001ESP/finalprogram/abstract_8352.htm. Post-meeting contact information: Anna-Louise Reysenbach Department of Biology Portland State University Portland, OR 97201 USA reysenbacha@pdx.edu Ted Nield Geological Society of London +44 (0) 20 7434 9944 ted.nield@geolsoc.org.uk Ann Cairns Geological Society of America +01 303 447 2020 ext. 1156 acairns@geosociety.org An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01w.html. _____________________________________________________________________ BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON ISS MAY SUFFER SIGNIFICANT CUTBACKS By Patricia Russell, ASGSB Executive Director American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology release 26 June 2001 On June 14, 2001, Dr. Kathie Olsen, Acting Associate Administrator for NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Sciences (OBPR) presented a restructured International Space Station (ISS) Research Program option consistent with the FY 2002 President's Budget to the Biological and Physical Research Advisory Committee (BPRAC) chaired by Dr. Ken Baldwin. The picture is bleak, at best. Attached is a "before and after" slide of the Centrifuge Accommodation Module (CAM). Although the CAM, Centrifuge Rotor, and Life Sciences Glovebox are to be provided by NASDA, the Japanese Space Agency, the launch date for the CAM has been postponed from 2006 to 2008. There are many questions about the probability of even this dismal schedule being sustained. You can see on the Fundamental Biology: FY 2002 PBS slide that all facilities in dotted lines are "gone." There is no Advanced Animal Habitat. There is no Cell Culture Unit. There is no Plant Research Unit, etc. If our International partners change their minds, given what NASA is proposing, there will be little or no fundamental biological research on ISS. Although 40% of the FY 2002 ISS research budget is redirected to accommodate US core facilities, the Biological Research Project has been cut nearly 80%. The cancellation of the Crew Return Vehicle ensures that only 3 crew members will live aboard ISS, with only a maximum total of 20 hours a week available for research. Now is the time to contact your Members of Congress and write to NASA Administrator Dan Goldin (NASA HQ, Washington, DC 20546). Tell them that the plans are unacceptable! Currently, the House of Representatives plans to mark up the NASA budget on July 10, and the Senate will do so on July 18. Your words can be critical for saving the opportunity to conduct scientific research on the ISS (and don't forget to mention the value of ground-based research in gravitational and space biology). Below is a draft statement prepared by the BPRAC for presentation to the NASA Advisory Council. Other scientific disciplines have had projects restored because of the out-cry from their constituent community. We must do the same! Finding: The construction of the International Space Station (ISS) was, and continues to be, driven on the premise that cutting-edge, revolutionary (world class) research will be conducted on this platform in order to advance NASA's overarching science mission in the new Millennium. Research conducted via the new Enterprise managed by the Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) was considered the under-pinning in justifying this research initiative for ISS. With the current budget over-runs for ISS construction amounting to ~$4 Billion, Code M has chosen to solve its problem by eliminating funding that amounts to 40% of the ISS research budget that must be redirected to buffer the over-runs. This translates to a decrease of $981 Million in the realignment of the Code U (OBPR) ISS-driven research initiative. The Biological and Physical Research Advisory Committee (BPRAC) views this budgeting strategy as being totally unrealistic, and, in essence, blatantly undermines the primary rationale for constructing ISS in the first place because, such a re-budgeting strategy guts the OBPR ISS research initiative to the brink of extinction. The budget cuts proposed, and their impact on the realignment of NASA's research in biological, biomedical, and physical sciences research on ISS translates to greater than 75% loss in the research capability that could be conducted across the interrelated programs comprising the OBPR research enterprise. In other words, the enterprise of OBPR would no longer exist. Unless alternative strategies are taken to maintain the integrated research mission in OBPR, NASA can no longer justify to the citizens of the United States a) the completion of space station build out, and b) the maintenance of such a structure and its present operational facilities on its current "house of cards" strategy. Recommendation: NASA must reassess its strategy to eliminate the core of its research mission for ISS via the cut backs that target the OBPR research facilities and program infrastructure. The BPRAC recommends that NASA reassert its leadership, commitment, and sense of mission to research on ISS. _____________________________________________________________________ SIMULATING A MARTIAN COLONY IN THE ARCTIC By Leonard David 26 June 2001 Once again, an island in the Canadian high arctic, a polar desert of a world, will serve this summer as a little bit of Mars on Earth. Starting this week, new arrivals take up residence in the Mars Society's Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station for the second summer in a row. The site at Devon Island also serves as home-away- from-home for members of the NASA-led Haughton-Mars Project. This cosmic campsite is prepared to trial run off-world technologies and research strategies. And it is another type of proving ground: a site to hone the esprit-de-corps needed to open up the frontier of Mars to human exploration. Get the full story at http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/devon_return_010627.htm l. _____________________________________________________________________ MASS EXTINCTION AT THE TRIASSIC-JURASSIC BOUNDARY From SpaceDaily 27 June 2001 Who did it? Who pulled the trigger, or rather, what pulled the trigger at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary that wiped out 20% of all marine families in Earth's oceans, and, on land, most non-dinosaurian archosaurs, most therapsids, and the last of the large amphibians? Whatever it was, it shot down much of the competition so dinosaurs could later dominate the Earth. "The Triassic-Jurassic boundary extinction event is one of the 'big five' mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic Eon, profoundly affecting life on land and in the oceans," explained Lawrence Tanner, a Professor of Geography and Geoscience at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. Tanner presented his ideas on the various extinction theories Wednesday at the "Earth System Processes" meeting in Edinburgh Scotland. Get the full story at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01t.html. _____________________________________________________________________ NASA GIVES STUDENTS "SHARP" EXPERIENCE NASA release 01-131 28 June 2001 NASA and Modern Technology Systems, Inc., Riverdale, MD, have selected 208 students to participate in hands-on research at various NASA field installations. NASA's 2001 Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program, or SHARP, not only allows the students to actually participate in research but pays them a salary as well. An intensive science and engineering apprenticeship program, SHARP is specifically designed to attract and increase underrepresented students' participation and success rates in mathematics, science, technology and engineering courses. SHARP also is used to encourage career paths that help build a pool of underrepresented science and engineering professionals in the work place. SHARP apprentices are selected from an applicant pool of approximately 1,200 students nationwide. During their eight-week apprenticeships, students can conduct meaningful research and participate in a variety of educational and professional development activities. Since its inception in 1980, approximately 3,114 students have participated in the program and more than 3,400 NASA employees have served as SHARP mentors. Although the program is for underrepresented groups, NASA seeks diversity in all student support programs. Consequently, all eligible high school students are encouraged to apply to the program. SHARP is sponsored by NASA's Education Division and participating NASA field installations. Modern Technology Systems, Inc. manages the program. More information is available at www.mtsibase.com/sharp. Contact: Sonja Alexander Headquarters, Washington, DC Phone: 202-358-1761 James M. Strandquist Modern Technology Systems, Inc., Riverdale, MD Phone: 301-985-5171) _____________________________________________________________________ ESA AND NASA AGREE NEW MISSION SCENARIO FOR CASSINI-HUYGENS ESA release 39-2001 29 June 2001 A new mission scenario has been identified in order to solve the Huygens radio communications problem and fully recover the scientific return from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and its giant moon Titan. After six months of investigations and analysis by a joint ESA/NASA Huygens Recovery Task Force (HRTF), senior management from the two space agencies and members of the Cassini-Huygens scientific community have endorsed several modifications to the mission. These will ensure a return close to 100% of the Huygens science data, with no impact on the nominal prime Cassini tour after the third Titan encounter. The modifications have been introduced because of a design flaw in the Huygens communication system. This problem meant that the Huygens receiver was unable to compensate for the frequency shift between the signal emitted by the Probe and the one received by the Orbiter, due to the Doppler shift*. This would have resulted in the loss of most of the unique data returned from the Probe during its descent through Titan's dense atmosphere. To ensure that as much data as possible is returned from the pioneering Probe, the HRTF proposed a new schedule for Cassini's first orbits around Saturn. The agreed scenario involves shortening Cassini's first two orbits around the ringed planet and adding a third which provides the required new geometry for the Huygens mission to Titan. In the new scenario, the arrival at Saturn on 1 July 2004 remains unchanged. However, Cassini's first flyby of Titan will now occur on 26 October, followed by another on 13 December. The Huygens Probe will be released towards Titan on 25 December, for an entry into the moon's atmosphere 22 days later, on 14 January 2005, seven weeks later than originally planned. To reduce the Doppler shift in the signal from Huygens, the Cassini Orbiter will fly over Titan's cloud tops at a much higher altitude than originally planned--65,000 km instead of 1,200 km. This higher orbit has the added advantage that Cassini will be able to preserve the four-year baseline tour through the Saturn system, by resuming its original orbital plan in mid-February 2005. "In any complex space mission problems may arise," said John Credland, Head of ESA's Space Science Projects Department. "The measure of an organization is the manner in which it recovers." The new mission scenario will have some impact on Cassini's propellant supply, consuming about a quarter of the Orbiter's reserve fuel by the end of the four-year mission. It also involves several modifications to ensure maximum efficiency of the Huygens communications system. These include pre-heating the Probe to improve tuning of the transmitted signal, continuous commanding by the Orbiter to force the receiver into non-Doppler mode, and changes in the Probe's on-board software. "I am very happy that we have found a good engineering solution," said Kai Clausen, ESA's Integral Project Manager and co-chairman of the HRTF. "But a lot more work still needs to be done. Now we need to complete the detailed design, implementation, validation and testing over the next few years." "There are still some uncertainties, for example the exact definition of the landing site, but these are minor problems," said Jean-Pierre Lebreton, ESA's Huygens Project Scientist. "What is important is that we have found the solution. It is now time for fine tuning." The ESA Director of Science, David Southwood, and the NASA Associate Director for Space Science, Edward Weiler, have jointly agreed to the new mission approach and have asked the HRTF to hand over to the project teams in July for implementation of the joint recommendations. Cassini-Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA mission with the participation of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) launched by a Titan IVB/Centaur launch vehicle on 15 October 1997, that will reach Saturn in 2004. It consists of NASA's orbiter Cassini and ESA's probe Huygens. While Cassini continues to explore Saturn and its rings, the Huygens probe will be released to parachute through the atmosphere of Titan. Shrouded in an orange haze that hides its surface, Titan is one of the most mysterious objects in our Solar System. It is the second largest moon (only Jupiter's Ganymede is bigger), and the only one with a thick atmosphere. It is this atmosphere that excites scientific interest, since it is thought to resemble that of a very young Earth. *The Doppler shift is a measure of the difference in tone between an emitted and a received wave (e.g. radio) when the transmitting source and the receiver move one with respect to the other. Contact: ESA Communication Department Media Relations Office Phone: +33(0)1.53.69.7155 Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690 John Credland, ESA, Head of Space Science Projects Department Phone: +31 71 565 3430 Email: John.Credland@esa.int Dolores Beasley, NASA Headquarters, Washington DC Phone: +1 202-358-1758 Guy Webster, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Phone: +1 818-354-6278 An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/010629155652.qm520zkd.html. _____________________________________________________________________ NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/astrobiology.h tml 2 July 2001 Articles about astrobiology, exobiology and terraformation http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s1.html SpaceDaily, 2001. Subglacial volcanoes on Mars. SpaceDaily. Articles about human space exploration and the microgravity environment http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s3.html L. David, 2001. Simulating a Martian colony in the Arctic. Space.com. Articles about evolutionary biology and chemistry http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s5.html SpaceDaily, 2001. The Goldilocks effect: how other Earths form just right. SpaceDaily. SpaceDaily, 2001. Mass extinction at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. SpaceDaily. SpaceDaily, 2001. Where there's soup, there's life. SpaceDaily. _____________________________________________________________________ CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 21-26 July 2001 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Madrid tracking station on Wednesday, June 27. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the spacecraft's position and speed can be viewed on the "Present Position" web page at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/. Recent spacecraft activities included a Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) high frequency receiver calibration and an automatic repair of solid state recorder B. An additional test of the Huygens Probe B- chain S-band carrier signal was performed this week; Huygens personnel are currently analyzing the data returned from this activity. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) was powered on and initialized with flight software and an Instrument Expanded Block (IEB) load in preparation for the start of the C27 background sequence. Additionally, a minisequence was uplinked to provide a revised IEB load for the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) in preparation for its next observation. The Cassini Project Science Group (PSG) meeting was held in Oxford, England. The PSG endorsed a scenario that permits full retrieval of Huygens Probe data. The details of this scenario, which includes a Titan flyby at 50,00 to 70,000 km for probe release, will be worked in the coming months. Cassini science teams presented science results from the Jupiter flyby in December of last year. Plans are under way for publication of these results in scientific journals. Saturn planning was a key focus of the meeting. Highlights included discussions of the first 10 Titan flybys and numerous icy satellite flybys, and the formation of Target Working Teams. These teams will address more detailed tour issues such as synergistic observation strategies, data volume, and other aspects of planning that are needed for the development of the Science Operations Plan. Additionally, personnel from the Uplink Operations Team provided the PSG with an overview and led a discussion on science planning tools. The C27 Sequence Virtual Team worked with Integration Test Laboratory personnel to perform a system test of instrument muting capabilities in support of the C27 Huygens Probe mute test. All results were nominal. The Spacecraft Operations Office began a series of meetings to update the Main Engine Trajectory Correction Maneuver block for TCM-18 and for Tour. A dedicated test network has been implemented by the Mission Support & Services Office, which allows testers and system administrators to troubleshoot problems, test new software installations, and monitor performance. A series of five student workshops on Cassini were given in workshops co-sponsored by Sandia National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. A public lecture was also given at the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. This outreach activity was targeted at students throughout the state of New Mexico. 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 NASA/JPL release 25 June - 1 July 2001 This week the Galileo spacecraft peeks back out from behind the Sun. For about the last three weeks, Jupiter, with Galileo in orbit around it, has been blocked from view by the Sun. During this period of solar conjunction, the radio signal from the spacecraft must pass through the turbulent atmosphere of the Sun, and interference from solar plasma garbles the information, making it unintelligible. But now the angle between Galileo and the Sun as seen from Earth is greater than seven degrees, the noise level has subsided, and the ones and zeroes of telemetry can once again be captured successfully by the ground communications antennas. Normal cruise operations for the spacecraft can now continue. This past Saturday, routine maintenance was performed on the on-board tape recorder, and the playback of the stored data resumed. These data were acquired during the May 25 flyby of Callisto. On Tuesday, routine maintenance of the propulsion system is performed. The Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EUV) instrument continues its two-month-long study of the interplanetary medium. Scheduled for playback this week are high-resolution Solid State Imaging (SSI) pictures of Callisto, taken just a few minutes after the closest approach to that satellite. Stereo images of a domed crater on Callisto are also slated to be returned. For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter, please visit the Galileo home page at one of the following URL's: http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo _____________________________________________________________________ STARDUST STATUS REPORT NASA/JPL release 29 June 2001 There were two Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking passes this week, on June 21 and 27. The spacecraft continues in excellent health, and all subsystems are performing normally. The Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) instrument continues to observe the interstellar dust stream with an optimal attitude when the spacecraft is not in communication with Earth. The interstellar collection will end on August 13, when CIDA's target will no longer be oriented into the dust stream. The remaining guide star images, taken with the Navigation Camera on June 8, are still being downlinked. With the downlink rate getting lower, it will take the next three DSN passes to complete the replay. At the weekly Stardust planning meeting, the decision was made to not take the Navigation Camera image on July 3. The guide star image quality is excellent--there is no sign of re-contamination. 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 25.