MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 8, Number 43, 12 November 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 monthly 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) NEW CARL SAGAN CENTER SITE TO BE DEDICATED NOVEMBER 9 AT NASA AMES NASA/ARC release 01-81 AR 2) ASTROBIOLOGY IN RUSSIA--ASTROBIOLOGY EXPEDITIONS 2002 Workshop announcement 3) CLIMATE CHANGE, NOT HUMANS KILLED OFF NORTH AMERICAN MEGAFAUNA By Joel Schwarz 4) SKY SURVEY LOWERS ESTIMATE OF ASTEROID IMPACT RISK Princeton University release 5) FERMI'S PARADOX II: WHAT'S BLOCKING GALACTIC CIVILIZATION? OR ARE WE JUST BLIND TO IT? By Seth Shostak 6) HYDROTHERMAL VENTS--LIFE'S FIRST HOME? By Stephen Hart 7) EARLY CRITTERS IN MICROBIAL MATS: EVOLUTION OR JUST A STRANGE ENVIRONMENT? By Kara LeBeau 8) FINDING LIFE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM: A NEW SYNTHESIS By Kara LeBeau with Jack Farmer 9) DISCOVERY OF BURIED IMPACT CRATERS ON MARS WIDENS POSSIBILITY OF AN ANCIENT MARTIAN OCEAN By Kara LeBeau 10) EUROPA'S ICE CRUST IS DEEPER THAN 3 KILOMETERS, UA SCIENTISTS FIND By Lori Stiles, University of Arizona 11) NASA SELECTS 10 INVESTIGATIONS FOR 2005 MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER NASA release 01-220 12) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas 13) CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 14) THIS WEEK ON GALILEO NASA/JPL release 15) INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS NASA/JSC release 16) STARDUST STATUS REPORT NASA/JPL release _____________________________________________________________________ NEW CARL SAGAN CENTER SITE TO BE DEDICATED NOVEMBER 9 AT NASA AMES NASA/ARC release 01-81 AR The late internationally renowned astronomer Carl Sagan will be honored Friday, November 9, 2001, during a dedication ceremony starting at 10:30 AM (PST) at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, on the site of "The Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Cosmos" (The Carl Sagan Center). NASA officials will announce the dedication of the site, located on approximately seven acres of land in the planned NASA Research Park at Moffett Field, CA. The dedication will be particularly significant, coming as it will on the exact day that would have been the 67th birthday of the famed researcher. "As one of my last official acts as Administrator, I am thrilled to be dedicating the site for the new Carl Sagan Center at NASA Ames Research Center," said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. "Carl was an incredible visionary, and now his legacy can be preserved and advanced by a 2lst century research and education laboratory committed to enhancing our understanding of life in the universe and furthering the cause of space exploration for all time," Goldin said. "No honor would have meant more to Carl than this," said Ann Druyan, his wife and collaborator for 20 years. "He loved NASA, cherished his relationship with Ames, and dreamed that we, as a civilization, would turn our genius to the deep questions of life in the cosmos." "The Sagan Center will be a huge step forward toward our goal of developing a world-class, shared-use research and development campus in association with academia, industry and non-profits," said NASA Ames Center Director Dr. Henry McDonald. "I believe that, in retrospect, we will come to view this day as one of the most significant in the evolution of Ames Research Center and establishment of the NASA Research Park (NRP), one that set the tone for the next 20 to 30 years and beyond," he said. The Carl Sagan Center site dedication comes after months of work, according to officials. NASA Ames Research Center and Lockheed Martin representatives signed a historic agreement on March 22, 2001, after working for over 15 months on potential areas for research and technical collaborations. The agreement committed both sides to initiating the development of a collaborative research facility and office complex in the NRP in order to pursue collaborations with NASA and other NRP partners, especially the University of California. "We're delighted that, with this site dedication ceremony today, we move another step closer to making the Sagan Center a reality," said Donald Fulop, Vice President of Business Development, Lockheed Martin Space Operations, Houston. "It is fitting that this 21st century laboratory be named for the 20th century's most articulate and passionate advocate of space exploration. The Sagan Center, the product of an innovative public-private sector partnership, will attract and promote collaborative research and development among its partners in industry, academia and NASA." NASA Ames Associate Director and manager of the laboratory facility design, Nancy Bingham, agreed. "The lab represents an unprecedented, futuristic venue for scientific collaboration," she said. "It will be open to the broad scientific community and is specifically designed to increase the interplay of scientists in fields for which there is no obvious common ground. A modular design contains the planned laboratories but also provides flexibility for change and evolution," she added. As currently planned, the Sagan Center will consist of three 30,000- square-foot laboratory modules, with the potential to add a fourth at a later date, and a 30,000-square-foot public gallery exhibition area and a 500-seat auditorium. "The Carl Sagan Center will provide an exceptional opportunity for leading-edge, multi-disciplinary research in support of NASA's mission to understand 'are we alone in the universe?'" said NASA Ames Deputy Director for Research Scott Hubbard. "Scientists will conduct both basic and applied work that will further our understanding of life's origins, evolution and future. Researchers will integrate new findings in nanotechnology, biology and information technology to develop new miniature tools for sample analysis and data understanding," he said. "A genomics and microbiology laboratory will be used to understand the fundamental processes of living systems drawn from a variety of different environments," Hubbard added. "A new biosensors facility will enable development of devices to study the fingerprints of life, both here on Earth and on other planets. Tiny devices that mimic or replicate the processes in living systems will emerge from the nanotechnology laboratory," Hubbard predicted. "We are planning the UCSC Silicon Valley Center for research, education and community service to be located in the NRP," said University of California at Santa Cruz Chancellor MRC Greenwood. "We are very excited about becoming the primary research collaboration partner in the new Sagan Center facility with industry and NASA." The laboratory project is permitted under the Environmental Assessment conducted under Ames' 1994 Comprehensive Use Plan (CUP). As proposed, the project, including a new office complex, could include approximately 700,000 square feet of new construction in the NRP on more than 21 acres. The laboratory itself would comprise approximately 120,000 square feet. Other NRP partners are participating in an environmental entitlement process called an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that NASA is currently conducting. The EIS, once adopted, would permit new construction, in addition to that allowed by the 1994 CUP. Contact: Michael Mewhinney NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA Phone: 650-604-3937 or 650-604-9000 E-mail: mmewhinney@mail.arc.nasa.gov _____________________________________________________________________ ASTROBIOLOGY IN RUSSIA--ASTROBIOLOGY EXPEDITIONS 2002 Workshop announcement 6 November 2001 We are pleased to announce the "Astrobiology in Russia" workshop with special emphasis on astrobiological field studies in the Russian Federation for 2002. Astrobiology in Russia Astrobiology Expeditions 2002 St. Petersburg Russia March 25-29, 2002 Organized and hosted by the Russian Astrobiology Center. This workshop will bring together an international group of researchers in astrobiology and to inaugurate the Russian Astrobiology Center (RAC) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. The meeting will address topics in astrobiology, collaborative research between members of the RAC and international colleagues, as well as serve as a forum for the planning of future field excursions to areas of astrobiological interests within the confines of the Russian Federation. Scientific organizing committee Chairman: Anatoli K. Pavlov (RAC, Ioffe PTI, Russian Academy of Science, Russia) Alexander V. Blinov (RAC, Saint Petersburg Technical State University, Russia) Lev K. Levsky (RAC, Precambrian Institute Russian Academy of Science, Russia) Anvar M. Ahmetov (Russian Institute of Geology, Russian Academy of Science, Russia) Michael B. Simakov (RAC, Institute of Citology, Russian Academy of Science, Russia) Stephen J. Mojzsis (Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA) Juha Karhu (Department of Geology, University of Helsinki, Finland) Sherry Cady (Department of Geology, Portland State University, USA) James F. Kasting (Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, USA) Christopher P. McKay (NASA Ames Research Center, USA) Alexander A. Pavlov (Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA) Workshop topics Introduction of the Russian Astrobiology Center Introduction of the Research Groups and Collaborators of the RAC Ongoing Research Initiatives and Possible International Collaboration. Origin and Early Evolution of Planetary Atmospheres (Chairs: A. A. Pavlov, J. F. Kasting) Comparative studies of the evolutionary paths of the terrestrial planetary atmospheres. How unique is the Earth's atmospheric composition? Was it constant in the chemical composition over the Earth's history? Was Mars ever wet? Was Venus ever cool and had an ocean? Panspermia (Chairs: A. K. Pavlov, A. V. Blinov, M. B. Simakov) The possibility and effectiveness of the life transfer processes in the galaxy and Solar system and estimation of the effective distance of the life transfer by different "space carriers." Educational Outreach in Astrobiology (Chairs TBA) Scientific, educational and cultural exchange between the Russian Astrobiology Center, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the Center for Astrobiology in Madrid, Spain, and the Australian Center for Astrobiology. Early Earth--in Transition (Chairs: L. K. Levsky, S. Mojzsis, J. Karhu) Discussion of the fieldtrip to the Baltic shield scheduled for June 2002. Rock exposures to be investigated include critical samples overlapping in time with the Great Oxidation Event on Earth ca. 2.3 Ga: reduced paleosols, glacial diamictite, 2.48-2.45 Ga mantle plume event, highly mature quatzites atop of glacials, oxidized paleosols, carbonates with high carbon isotope values, organic-rich shales-- shungites, evidence for mantle plume at 2.22 and 2.1 Ga (the last one leading to supercontinent Kenorland breakup). Life in Extreme Environments (V. L. Kalinin, S. Cady, C. P. McKay) We will discuss survivability of life in the extremely cold, extremely hot environments. We also will address the topic of life adaptation to the extreme radiation fluxes. This session will be used as a sounding board for proposals to visit extreme habitats for life in Kamchatka, Russian Far East. Discussion and Planning of Future Fieldtrips (2003): a) The mystery of Tunguska event, newly identified point of impact and anomalous features in flora evolution within the Tunguska impact area. b) Trip to the Kamchatka peninsula with an emphasis on study of the modern hyperthermophilic habitats in geothermal hot springs, geysers and crater lakes of the Kamchatka peninsula. To indicate your interest in participating in this meeting, please contact Dr. Anatoli Pavlov. E-mail: Anatoli.Pavlov@pop.ioffe.rssi.ru We would like to welcome you to St. Petersburg! Please send your suggestions/requests regarding additional topics to Anatoli Pavlov. _____________________________________________________________________ CLIMATE CHANGE, NOT HUMANS KILLED OFF NORTH AMERICAN MEGAFAUNA By Joel Schwarz From SpaceDaily 6 November 2001 ...Scientists have been picking over the bones and evidence for more than three decades but cannot agree on what caused the extinction of many of the continent's large mammals. Now, in two new papers, a University of Washington archaeologist disputes the so-called overkill hypothesis that pins the crime on the New World's first humans, calling it a "faith-based credo" that bows to Green politics. "While the initial presentation of the overkill hypothesis was good and productive science, it has now become something more akin to a faith-based policy statement than to a scientific statement about the past," said Donald Grayson, a UW anthropology professor. Writing in the current issue of the Journal of World Prehistory and in a paper to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History, Grayson said there are dangerous environmental implications of using overkill hypothesis as the basis for introducing exotic mammals into arid western North America." ...If early humans didn't kill North America's megafauna, then what did? Grayson points to climate shifts, during the late Pleistocene epoch, which ended about 10,000 years ago, and subsequent changes in weather and plants as the likely culprits in the demise of North America's megafauna. Get the full story at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01zl.html. _____________________________________________________________________ SKY SURVEY LOWERS ESTIMATE OF ASTEROID IMPACT RISK Princeton University release 7 November 2001 The odds of earth suffering a catastrophic collision with an asteroid over the next century are about one in 5,000, which is less likely than previously believed, according to research published this month. Astronomers using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey found that the solar system contains about 700,000 asteroids big enough to destroy civilization. That figure is about one-third the size of earlier estimates, which had put the number at around two million and the odds of collision at roughly one in 1,500 over a one hundred-year period. The results were published in the November issue of the Astronomical Journal. "Our estimate for the chance of a big impact contains some of the same uncertainties as previous estimates, but it is clear that we should feel somewhat safer than we did before we had the Sloan survey data," said lead researcher Zeljko Ivezic of Princeton University. The new estimate draws on observations of many more asteroids, particularly small faint ones, than were available in previous impact risk estimates, said Ivezic. The ability to detect faint objects in large numbers is a hallmark of the Sloan survey, a multi- institutional collaboration that is mapping one-quarter of the sky. While its main purpose is to look at objects outside our galaxy, the survey also records images of closer objects that cross the view of its telescope, which is located at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. The survey data also allowed the astronomers to gauge the size of asteroids with improved accuracy, which required categorizing the objects by their composition. Asteroids with a surface of carbon-- looking like giant lumps of coal--are darker than those made of rock. A small rocky asteroid therefore looks just as bright as a much larger one made of carbon. "You don't know precisely the size of an object you are looking at unless you know what type it is," Ivezic said, noting that the Sloan survey provides information about the color of objects, which allows astronomers to distinguish between carbon and rock. Based on observations of 10,000 asteroids, the researchers estimated that the asteroid belt contains about 700,000 that are bigger than one kilometer (six-tenths of a mile) in diameter, which is the minimum size thought to pose a catastrophic risk to humans and other species. The asteroid belt is the source for a smaller group of asteroids called "near- earth objects," which have broken from the belt and have the potential to collide with earth. Although they did not specifically observe near earth objects, the researchers believe that their census of main belt asteroids reveals the likelihood of collisions with similarly sized near-earth asteroids. Ivezic noted that the new impact risk estimate, like most previous ones, relies on assumptions about a single event 65 million years ago when a 10-kilometer asteroid collided with earth and killed the dinosaurs. The researchers assumed that such impacts occur on roughly 100 million-year intervals and used that statistic to calculate the impact odds for the more common asteroids of smaller sizes. This calculation required knowing how much more common one- kilometer asteroids are than 10-kilometer ones, which was hard to measure before the Sloan data was available. "There is a lot of uncertainty when you have a sample of only one event," Ivezic said, referring to the dinosaur-killing impact. "But this is the best information we have." Previous studies could detect only asteroids five kilometers or larger, so astronomers had to extrapolate to estimate the number of smaller ones, said Ivezic. The Sloan researchers found that this approach produced high estimates. When they could actually observe them, the small asteroids were not as plentiful as had been expected from observations of large ones. The reason for this reduced number of smaller asteroids is an open question, which, if answered, may offer important clues about the history of the solar system and the factors that shaped the asteroid belts, said team member Serge Tabachnik of Princeton. Another valuable piece of information for scientists is the observation that the rock and carbon asteroids are separated into two bands, said co-author Tom Quinn of the University of Washington. The heart of the rocky asteroid belt is 260 million miles from the sun, while the other is 300 million miles from the sun. The sun and earth, by comparison, are 93 million miles apart. The astronomers attribute much of the success of the study to software that automatically identifies asteroids from among the millions of images observed by the Sloan survey. Independent tests by Mario Juric from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, have shown that the Sloan software finds at least nine of every ten asteroids. "We have only five minutes to follow the motion of an asteroid as it passes in front of the telescope," said Robert Lupton, a Princeton researcher who developed the software for automatic detection of asteroids. "But we have found that we detect them very efficiently and reliably." Lupton said the team benefited greatly from software for finding the positions and relative movements of objects, developed by Jeff Pier, Jeff Munn, Robert Hindsley and Greg Hennessy of the U.S. Naval Observatory. "The Sloan study is a major advance in our understanding of the gross asteroid belt structure," said Robert Jedicke, an asteroid expert at the University of Arizona. "Their determination of the Earth impact rate for killer asteroids agrees with soon-to-be-published results based on data from the Spacewatch Project at the University of Arizona." The Arizona team based its risk estimate on a study of near-earth objects, rather than main belt asteroids. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (www.sdss.org) is a joint project of the University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, the Johns Hopkins University, the Max- Planck-Institute for Astronomy, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics, New Mexico State University, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory and the University of Washington. Funding for the survey has been provided by the Alfred E. Sloan Foundation, the participating institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, The National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho and the Max Planck Society. Contact: Steven Schultz Princeton University E-mail: sschultz@princeton.edu Phone: 609-258-5729 Additional information on this article is available at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-11/pu-ssl110701.php http://www.sdss.org/news/releases/20011108.asteroid.html An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/asteroid_risk_01110 8.html. _____________________________________________________________________ FERMI'S PARADOX II: WHAT'S BLOCKING GALACTIC CIVILIZATION? OR ARE WE JUST BLIND TO IT? By Seth Shostak From Space.com 8 November 2001 Could galactic empires exist? In a previous article, we noted that there has been plenty of time for aliens keen on colonizing the Milky Way to pull it off. However, we see no signs of galactic federation ("Star Trek" aside). Why does the cosmos look so untouched and unconquered? What is keeping advanced extraterrestrials from claiming every star system in sight? ...One possible explanation is that interstellar travel is just too costly. Consider how expensive it would be for us to populate another star system. Imagine sending a small rocket to Alpha Centauri, one that's the size of the Mayflower (180 tons, with 102 pilgrims on board). Your intention is to get this modest interstellar ark to our nearest stellar neighbor in 50 years, which requires about 150 billion billion joules of energy. ... But even if the aliens can afford colonization, maybe they haven't got the stamina to see it through. Subduing the Galaxy takes more than sending a ship full of restless nomads to the next star. The nomads have to settle that star, and then spawn pilgrims of their own. And those émigrés have to produce yet more settlers. And so on. ...Some researchers suggest that the Galaxy is colonized, but we just don't notice. Arthur C. Clarke pointed out that truly advanced engineering projects would be indistinguishable from magic. Perhaps the evidence of alien presence is so beyond us that we simply don't recognize it (somewhat like mice in The Louvre checking out the Mona Lisa). Get the full story at http://www.space.com/searchforlife/shostak_fermi2_011108.html. _____________________________________________________________________ HYDROTHERMAL VENTS--LIFE'S FIRST HOME? By Stephen Hart From the NASA Astrobiology Institute 8 November 2001 In early 1977, John B. Corliss and John M. Edmond rode the deep-sea submersible Alvin to a discovery that would revolutionize biology. Gliding just above a moonlike landscape nearly devoid of life, they crested a slope. Suddenly, Alvin's headlights illuminated a thriving multi-hued community of organisms biologists never suspected - six- foot, red-tipped tubeworms; large, white clams; yellow mussels and pale crabs - all living thousands of feet below the surface of the sea. Scientists later dubbed the site The Rose Garden. The most significant color, however, was the one the two scientists didn't see: green. This community, occupying a 100-meter-wide area where volcanically heated water seeped up through the sea floor, relied not on sunlight for its energy but on decomposition of sulfur compounds pumped from deep underground by the rising hot water. The organisms that carry on this process are no ordinary bacteria, but members of a vast group of single-celled organisms even more primitive than bacteria, called archaea. The discovery began a dramatic shift in the thinking of biologists and geochemists studying the origin of life. Within three years, Corliss and colleagues had published a suggestion that life on Earth may have arisen in or near hydrothermal systems such as The Rose Garden. The soup versus the factory The suggestion that life may have arisen in hydrothermal systems raises a number of questions. What about the warm, prebiotic soup we all learned about in school? What about experiments by Stanley Miller and others in the 1950's that replicated an early Earth atmosphere, zapped it with simulated lightning, and succeeded in forming some of the building blocks of the molecules of life? Shock points out, however, that "the starting conditions for those experiments are now thought to be highly inappropriate, unlikely, virtually implausible for the early Earth. Actually, geologists and geochemists all along have been saying that, but it has taken decades to get the point across." The experiments began with a supposed early Earth atmosphere containing ammonia and methane. But researchers now know that these compounds, irradiated by the sun and reacting with water vapor in the atmosphere, would quickly have broken down into relatively inert carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas. And ammonia and methane likely didn't enter the atmosphere from volcanic process on Earth either, Shock adds. "Volcanic gases do not have methane and ammonia in them to any appreciable extent." With no ammonia and no methane there would be no prebiotic soup, no inventory of organic molecules for early cells to arise from and to eat. "It's like everything we knew was wrong," says Shock. If life did arise near the surface of the ocean, many researchers believe, it probably didn't survive there without interruption. Continued violent collisions with asteroids and even small planetoids, similar to those that formed the Earth, continued after the planet's formation. The largest of these, although rare, would have heated surface waters to boiling, wiping out any cells or prebiotic molecules that had gained a foothold. Hydrothermal systems lying under tons of water, on the other hand, may have provided a continuous haven for emerging life. Furthermore many biologists think that the microbes (both bacteria and archaea) that convert sulfate to hydrogen sulfide in hydrothermal communities use biochemical processes similar to those used by the planet's first organisms. Finally, hydrothermal systems as the location for the emergence of life require no "special case" arguments. "They are probably one of the most common features throughout the entire history of the Earth," Shock says. Tiny bubbles A few years ago Shock turned from theoretical work to field work at the hydrothermal systems in Yellowstone National Park. He hopes that by studying present-day hydrothermal life, he can determine what geochemical signatures to look for in the most ancient rocks. An international group of researchers, including Hugh Rollinson, of the Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education in the UK, Peter Appel, of Geological Survey of Denmark, and Jacques Touret, of Vrije Universiteit, in Amsterdam, claims to have found what looks like just such a signature. Isua, on the on the edge of Greenland's ice cap, holds an outcrop of rock that appears to be 3.7 to 3.9 billion years old, only about half a billion years younger than the Earth itself. "When basalt erupts under water," Rollinson says, "it forms what we call a pillow lava, a rounded blob of basalt about half a meter across." Greenstone results from geochemical changes occurring to basalt over eons. The geologists combed the Isua greenstone belt for undistorted pillow formations, blobs that had remained undisturbed for billions of years. After slicing the rocks with a diamond saw, Touret studied the slices using a specially fitted microscope. He saw tiny "bubbles" in the quartz crystals, and the bubbles, like minute glass globes, contained a fluid, Rollinson says. "You see this half-filled inclusion, half water vapor, half liquid water, sort of wobbling under the effect of heating it up with the microscope lamp," Rollinson says. By systematically heating or cooling the tiny vessels and zapping them with a laser, the team worked out the composition of the fluid and gas inside. "These things froze at a very, very low temperature, around minus 90 [degrees Celsius], indicating that they had methane in them," Rollinson says. The fluid turned out to be salt water, similar to the water found spewing from hydrothermal vents. Other researchers have studied tiny carbon grains embedded in different rocks found in the Isua formations. By measuring the ratio of carbon isotopes, these researchers determined that the grains contained carbon of biological origin. Two common and stable isotopes of carbon, carbon 12 and carbon 13, occur in a mixture in the Earth's atmosphere. Biological processes build organic molecules with a higher carbon 12:13 ratio than abiotic processes. And because both isotopes are stable, the ratio remains in all of life's products, even after billions of years. Rollinson and his colleagues cannot yet perform carbon 12:13 analyses on the contents of their bubbles, however; they're just too small. He admits that using his Isua evidence alone as evidence that life originated in hydrothermal systems--or even that their evidence points to early life--is a leap. "We're making quite a big leap in linking what we find with early life. But there are other arguments from other geological localities that make it look a sensible thing to say." "Quite a big leap" may be putting it mildly, asserts Christopher M. Fedo, a geologist at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Fedo has extensively studied the rocks of the Isua formation. "Saline fluid inclusions are common in geology and not all are from sea water... There is absolutely no proof that the rocks in question formed at a hydrothermal vent, near a hydrothermal vent, or in association with a hydrothermal vent. Further, there has been no evidence presented that these rocks host life of any sort, nor can previous reports of potential life be correlated with the studied samples. Lastly, the extreme deformation state of the samples studied [changes induced by approximately one billion years of subsequent intense tectonic activity], coupled with major geochemical changes, renders any conclusions about sea water or life entirely speculation." Rollinson, agrees, to a point. "We agree that our rocks may have been much modified, but still argue that the inclusions we describe are primary. We have shown, from the textures preserved in our quartz grains, that some grains preserve some primary features. Further, the inclusions we describe are very rare, implying, perhaps, that the original inclusion population was almost entirely obliterated, but not quite." Rollinson realizes the challenges to his team's ideas are strong. "We have to be very careful that we distinguish between later water that got into these rocks when they were reheated and original water that was there when they first formed. And we think that we can do this." The group's findings are in press and expected to be available soon in Precambrian Research. What's next "I think what will happen when our paper comes out and other people get interested, is that people with access to probably more sophisticated techniques than we have had will want samples," Rollinson says. "And we'll probably collaborate with people in trying to get some of these gasses extracted so that we can actually look at them isotopically. That would be very important... The discovery of life at Isua implies, I think, that life was existing on Earth long before Isua times. But we don't have any geological record, so we can't go back any farther to look for that. We may be able to use biological fingerprinting." These fingerprints, the chemical signs left by life, may exist in the abundant rocks from in or near hydrothermal systems, Shock says, and his current field research is aimed at learning how to dust for these prints. Shock hopes to find chemical traces left by archaea and bacteria living in extremely hot environments, such as Yellowstone. Similar heat-loving organisms also live in deep-sea hydrothermal vent systems. Shock thinks these organisms may have left a detectable fossil record. But in this case, the fossils are chemical traces. "What are you going to look for? This is the question right now. By studying the active systems that are supporting hyperthermophiles [heat-loving organisms] you might have a better idea of what to go after in a fossil record that's hydrothermal. "It's quite plausible to me, I've made this argument," Shock continues, "that there's another fossil record of microbial life that's going to be perhaps preserved in some of these hydrothermically altered rocks." This fossil record may hold more clues to how life arose on Earth. More information on this article is available at http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/index.cfm?page=first_home. _____________________________________________________________________ EARLY CRITTERS IN MICROBIAL MATS: EVOLUTION OR JUST A STRANGE ENVIRONMENT? By Kara LeBeau Geological Society of America release 01-53 8 November 2001 For many billions of years, the only life that existed on Earth was microbial, that is, microscopic organisms that we generally call bacteria. These were commonly so abundant that microbial mats basically covered much of the Earth's ocean seafloors. Then during the Cambrian, a little more than a half billion years ago, animals evolved and burrowed into the microbial mats and took advantage of this rich food source. Of course, that means they eventually ate up the mats. Many Cambrian animals have a seemingly strange morphology, and have been thought by many to represent early "evolutionary experiments." Among these are the helicoplacoids--the earliest known echinoderms and ancestors of modern animals like the starfish. Shaped like a football, a helicoplacoid had "armor" that was essentially small, mineralized plates formed into spirals. Even its food-gatherng organ was a spiral that wound around its body. David Bottjer, of the University of Southern California, does not agree with the "evolutionary experiment" interpretation of how these animals came about. He will outline a different approach to understanding these strange morphologies on Thursday, November 8, at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Boston. "Many early animals were well-adapted, via evolutionary processes, to the unusual (and now usually non-existent) microbial-mat-covered seafloor environments that were typical for the Cambrian. So, rather than the animals being particularly unusual, we are saying that the environments were!" explained Bottjer. "And, being evolutionarily well-adapted to an unusual environment gives an animal a strange morphology, to our modern eyes. So we are suggesting a different evolutionary explanation than what has been offered before, and, in that sense, are breaking from tradition." This discovery provides a piece for the ongoing puzzle work of understanding how animal life first evolved on Earth. The abstract for this presentation is available at http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001AM/finalprogram/abstract_24298.htm Post-meeting contact information: David Bottjer Department of Earth Sciences University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740 E-mail: dbottjer@usc.edu Phone: 213-740-6100 Ann Cairns Director of Communications Geological Society of America Phone: 303-357-1056 Fax: 303-357-1074 E-mail: acairns@geosociety.org _____________________________________________________________________ FINDING LIFE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM: A NEW SYNTHESIS By Kara LeBeau with Jack Farmer Geological Society of America release 01-51 8 November 2001 Astrobiology is a new interdisciplinary science with cosmic import. It incorporates such disciplines as biology, microbiology, ecology, molecular biology, biochemistry, geology, paleontology, space and gravitational biology, planetology, and astronomy. Its mission to find extraterrestrial life even captured the government's attention when Jack Farmer (Department of Geological Sciences at Arizona State University) testified about NASA's efforts to explore for extraterrestrial life before the Committee on Science in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 12, 2001. Farmer will present a new synthesis of ideas on how the burgeoning field of geobiology is playing a key role in our search for life in the Solar System on Thursday, November 8, at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting. His synthesis will include part of his testimony recorded in the Congressional Record. A number of dynamic factors have led to the rise of astrobiology as a science. Scientists have realized that most of Earth's biodiversity is microbial and that large complex microbial ecosystems found in hydrothermal environments can exist entirely on chemical energy. One intriguing hypothesis (with obvious importance for astrobiology) is that life got started in hydrothermal environments. Could hydrothermal environments have been cradles for life on other planets? Discoveries of new forms of life on Earth that thrive in extreme environments broadened the possibilities that similar forms of life might also exist under similar extreme conditions beyond the Earth. Research on other planets and their moons are revealing the presence of environments that compare well with discoveries on Earth, and so there is even more reason to think that they could also sustain life. "As a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute and Director of ASU's Astrobiology Program, I have continually come into contact with wonderfully visionary scientists who are helping expand the horizons of astrobiology," Farmer said. "This has been my main source of inspiration. I guess at the bottom line, it's just an exciting time to be in science." The abstract for this presentation is available at http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001AM/finalprogram/abstract_24965.htm. Contact information: Jack D. Farmer Geological Sciences Arizona State University E-Mail: jfarmer@asu.edu Phone: 480-965-6748 Fax: 480-965-8102 Ann Cairns Director of Communications Geological Society of America Phone: 303-357-1056 Fax: 303-357-1074 E-mail: acairns@geosociety.org _____________________________________________________________________ DISCOVERY OF BURIED IMPACT CRATERS ON MARS WIDENS POSSIBILITY OF AN ANCIENT MARTIAN OCEAN By Kara LeBeau Geological Society of America release 01-56 8 November 2001 Soon after Mars was formed, it was bombarded by numerous large meteorites and asteroids. Scientists have discovered an unexpectedly large grouping of impact basins buried under Mars' northern plains that resulted from this pounding. They used Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) topographic data to find them, because they can't be seen in images of the Martian surface. Above these basins are thin young plains, but the lowland crust beneath them is actually extremely old and was formed very, very early. According to Herbert Frey of the Geodynamics Branch of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, this is a radical departure from the popular belief that the northern lowlands were formed later in Martian history, perhaps by plate tectonic style processes. Frey will discuss these findings on Thursday, November 8, at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. This discovery is a crucial piece to one of the greatest unsolved puzzles about Mars-why does its surface have two distinct hemispheres: one that is high and heavily cratered and one that is low and sparsely cratered? The origin of this fundamental "crustal dichotomy" is uncertain both in terms of how and when it formed. But this recent discovery of the numerous buried craters may pin down the answer to when the lowlands first formed. "The ancient age of the lowlands means whatever process produced them occurred both early and relatively quickly," explained Frey. "Things like plate tectonics may not work. Another ramification is that there have been lowlands in the northern parts of Mars for essentially all of Martian history. That means that at whatever early time conditions permitted liquid water to exist on Mars, there was a northern lowland into which that water could drain. So it is quite possible that a shallow ocean may have existed on Mars very early in its history, as some have suggested based on completely different data." "The origin of the crustal dichotomy on Mars has been one of the main areas of my own research for a long time, so anything that could tell us how old the lowlands really were naturally was of interest," Frey said. "And of course, the discovery aspects of 'seeing' (in elevation data) things that no one else had ever seen or even guessed might be there is intrinsically intoxicating. Not only has this work turned out to be very important, but it's also been fun!" The abstract for this presentation is available at http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001AM/finalprogram/abstract_25358.htm. Contact information: Herbert Frey Geodynamics Branch Goddard Space Flight Center Code 921 Greenbelt, MD 20771, E-Mail: frey@core2.gsfc.nasa.gov Phone: 301-614-6468 Fax: 301-614-6522 Ann Cairns Director of Communications Geological Society of America Phone: 303-357-1056 Fax: 303-357-1074 E-mail: acairns@geosociety.org An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-surveyor-01e.html. _____________________________________________________________________ EUROPA'S ICE CRUST IS DEEPER THAN 3 KILOMETERS, UA SCIENTISTS FIND By Lori Stiles, University of Arizona 8 November 2001 Impact craters on Europa--the jovian satellite that scientists say may hide a subsurface liquid ocean--show that the moon's brittle ice shell crust is more than 3 to 4 kilometers (1.8 to 2.4 miles) thick, two University of Arizona planetary scientists report in Science (November 9 issue). The thickness of Europa's hard ice shell is a hot scientific debate. Some argue the crust must be only one or two kilometers (six-tenths mile to 1.2 miles) thick, given ridges, cycloid cracks and other geological features. Others contend the ice crust must be 10 times thicker, and that it includes a warm convecting ice layer that shapes observed surface features. Beyond geology, the wider fascination with Europa is the possibility that it conceals a liquid water ocean, and, potentially, life. Instruments proposed for a future Europa orbiter mission include radar and other instruments to detect and explore the possible ocean. To explore an ocean--if it does indeed exist--scientists have to know the thickness of the overlying ice. Elizabeth P. Turtle and Elisabetta Pierazzo of the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory numerically simulated impacts powerful enough to produce central peaks in impact craters imaged by the Galileo spacecraft. At least six of 28 impact craters observed by Galileo and Voyager have well defined central peaks, Turtle said. They are found in craters larger than 5 kilometers (3 miles) in diameter. Images of the six craters are online at http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/~turtle/craters_europa/. "There aren't many impact craters on Europa, but those that exist can tell us a lot because we understand the cratering process better than we understand many of the other processes that shape Europa's surface," Turtle said. "The morphologies (structure) of some craters indicate that these impacts didn't completely vaporize or melt through a cold, brittle ice layer on Europa. So based on this observation, our impact simulations demonstrate that the ice crust must be more than 3 to 4 kilometers thick," Turtle said. "I should emphasize that what we've done is put a lower limit on the thickness of the ice. These simulations do not put an upper limit on ice thickness." Central peak craters are observed on Earth, the moon, and Mars, Turtle said. "We have geologic evidence from Earth and the moon that shows that the material that collapses up into the central peak is material that was previously buried, but has been uplifted and broken up. Central peaks are deep bedrock that has been uplifted," much like a splash that results from dropping something into water, Turtle said. "What we're seeing here on Europa appear to be standard central peaks. Since central peaks are deep material that's been uplifted, that means these impacts could not have penetrated through Europan ice to water. Water would not have been able to form and maintain a central peak." Researchers also have hypothesized that Europa might have a thick ice shell composed of a thin brittle layer over warm convecting ice. But Turtle's and Pierazzo's research shows that the impacts couldn't have even penetrated to warm ice. Europa's largest known central peak impact crater, the 24-kilometer (14-mile) diameter Pwyll, for example, contains a central peak roughly 5 kilometers (3 miles) in diameter and about 500 meters (three-tenths mile) high. Turtle calculated that if there were warm convecting ice beneath Pwyll's peak, the peak would have disappeared in less than a year. This work is the first step in a multi-stage modeling project to determine ice thickness and better understand the geology and evolution of Europa, the UA scientists say. The very sophisticated code that Pierazzo applied in this research to simulate the passage of the impact shock wave through water ice is very time consuming. It took two weeks to produce simulations of shock waves that occur in fractions of a second. The next step is to use a less detailed and less time consuming code to simulate crater excavation and collapse to put further limits on the ice thickness, Turtle said. In future research the team plans to simulate the temperature distribution during impacts for insight into structure of the solid ice, and to use information on temperatures and ice strength to model how long Europa's central impact peaks might exist. Contact: Elizabeth Turtle Phone: 520-621-8284 E-mail: turtle@lpl.arizona.edu Elisabetta Pierazzo Phone: 520-626-5065 E-mail: betty@lpl.arizona.edu Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/jupiter-europa-01d.html http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0111/09europa/ _____________________________________________________________________ NASA SELECTS 10 INVESTIGATIONS FOR 2005 MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER NASA release 01-220 9 November 2001 NASA today announced the selection of 10 scientific investigations as part of the 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission. The 2005 MRO will carry six primary instruments that will greatly enhance the search for evidence of water, take images of objects about the size of a beach ball, and search for future landing sites on the Martian surface. The investigations selected include two Principal Investigator (PI) Instrument Investigations and eight Facility Team Leader or Member Investigations. The two PI Instrument proposals selected by Dr. Edward Weiler, Associate Administrator for Space Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, were judged to have the highest science value among the 26 proposals submitted to NASA in August 2001 in response to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 2005 Announcement of Opportunity. "A new generation of reconnaissance instruments on MRO with unprecedented capabilities will pave the way for identifying the most compelling sites on Mars for sample return and ultimately for human exploration," said Weiler. The two PI instruments selected are: HiRISE, an ultra-high resolution, multi-color, stereo imaging system. Principal Investigator is Dr. Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson, in partnership with Ball Aerospace Corp., Boulder, CO, at a total developmental cost of $31 million. The HiRISE instrument will provide color stereo images of the Martian surface at six times higher resolution than any existing images, and is expected to improve understanding of surface processes related to water and to help identify future landing sites. CRISM, a hyperspectral imaging spectrometer for mineralogical mapping. Principal Investigator is Dr. Scott Murchie of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, at a total cost of $17.6 million. The CRISM instrument will provide extremely high-resolution hyperspectral images of areas on Mars in wavelengths from 0.4 to 4.0 micrometers (visible to shortwave infrared) for identifying key mineralogical indicators of water and hydrothermal systems at spatial scales smaller than a football field. Such data will be vital for targeting future landed missions. The other selected investigations, described below, involve the analysis of data from mission-provided facility instruments and spacecraft engineering systems. Facility Science team scientists affiliated with the Italian Space Agency facility's shallow-subsurface sounding radar (SHARAD) are: Dr. Roger Phillips of Washington University, St. Louis, MO; Dr. Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, Pasadena; and Dr. Bruce Campbell of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Facility Science team member scientists associated with gravity measurements that can be achieved with the MRO spacecraft are: team leader Dr. Maria T. Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and team members Dr. Frank Lemoine of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, and Dr. Alex Konopiliv of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology. Facility science team members selected for the accelerometer science team are: team leader Dr. Gerald Keating of The George Washington University, Washington, DC, and NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, and Dr. Stephen Bougher of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Other instruments on board MRO, not solicited by this opportunity, constitute reflights of experiments lost with the failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter mission. The specific scientific objectives of the MRO mission include: researching the processes of present and past climate change on Mars, searching the surface and shallow-subsurface for sites that show evidence of water-related activity, investigating the processes that are responsible for the formation of the ubiquitous layers that have been observed on Mars, and probing the shallow-subsurface to identify regions where three-dimensional layering could indicate the presence of ice or possibly lenses of liquid water. The 2005 MRO mission represents an integrated scientific-observation platform that will bring together teams from universities, industry, NASA centers, and other organizations. The spacecraft will be developed by Lockheed-Martin Astronautics, Denver, and is scheduled for launch to Mars in August 2005. NASA's Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration, Dr. Jim Garvin, said, "NASA views the MRO mission as the essential 'scientific gateway' to the future of landed and sample return missions in its core Mars Exploration Program, as well as an incredible mission of scientific discovery." The MRO mission is managed by the Mars Exploration Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA's Office of Space Science. Mars Program Director is Orlando Figueroa; the Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration is Dr. Jim Garvin; the MRO Program Executive is Dr. Ramon Depaula; and the MRO Program Scientist is Dr. Dave Senske. The Mars Program Manager at JPL is Dr. Firouz Naderi; the Project Scientist is Dr. Richard Zurek; and the Project Manager is James Graf. Contact: Donald Savage NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC Phone: 202-358-1727 Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars2005-01b.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-water-science-01p.html _____________________________________________________________________ NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/astrobiology.h tml 12 November 2001 Articles about the biology of extreme environments (on Earth) http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s2.html J. Farmer and L. Mullen, 2001. The invasion of the deep-sea microbes. SpaceDaily. Articles about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s4.html S. Shostak, 2001. Fermi's paradox II: what's blocking galactic civilization? Or are we just blind to it? Space.com. Articles about evolutionary biology and chemistry http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s5.html L. Mullen, 2001. The three domains of life. SpaceDaily. J. Schwarz, 2001. Climate change, not humans killed off North American megafauna. SpaceDaily. _____________________________________________________________________ CASSINI WEEKLY SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 1-7 November 2001 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, November 7. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. "Present Position" web page, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/. The C28 sequence has completed execution, and the C29 sequence was uplinked last week and began execution on Sunday November 4. Recent instrument activities include two Radio and Plasma Wave Science High Frequency Receiver calibrations, Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) scattered light characterization and dark frame observations, a RADAR Periodic Instrument Maintenance activity, a Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument Ion and Neutral Camera collimator plate test, and the beginning of the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) radiator test. Engineering activities taking place onboard the spacecraft this week include a transition from Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) to Reaction Control Subsystem control, an RWA unload, and transition back to RWA control for the VIMS Radiator test. The C30 sequence activity kicked off this week with the beginning of the Subsequence Generation Phase. This sequence is planned to have lower levels of activity, such that Cassini personnel can focus on tour planning. The C30 sequence is planned to contain an ISS mini- sequence with a VIMS ride-along, and a turn to point the Cosmic Dust Analyzer in the spacecraft ram direction to increase their science return. The Instrument Operations (IO)/ISS team returned the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) support images, dark frames, and scattered light test data. The support images were processed and have been sent to ISS and CIRS for analysis. The IO/ISS team continued its camera haze anomaly investigation based on the C28 decontamination results. The Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) Flight Software (FSW) team has delivered version A8.4.0 of ACS FSW to the test labs as scheduled. The version for the Flight Software Development System was also released. The team is exercising the standard test set on the new delivery, which closes seven flight software changes. Mission Planning and the Spacecraft Operations Office completed a study of the Cassini hydrazine propellant budget, with results showing a margin of 60 kg of hydrazine at the end of the four-year nominal mission. Science Planning will reassess their propellant usage strategy in the coming months in light of this study. The final report for the Titan Science Uplink Verification activity was published, and a full suite of Target Working Team meetings was held last week to continue with the integration of the tour. Cassini Information Management System (CIMS) developers from Southwest Research Institute met with the Cassini Uplink Operations/ Mission Sequence Subsystem (MSS) and Science Planning representatives, and have agreed to plans for the next several deliveries of CIMS in support of the Science Operations Plan development. A discussion was held with Mission Support & Services Office (MSSO) representatives to review CIMS performance and compatibility issues with the MSSO proposed mid-tier architecture. Cassini staff supported the NASA Quarterly Program Review, which was attended by personnel from NASA Headquarters and line management. 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 5-11 November 2001 Another uneventful week on the engineering front leaves the Galileo spacecraft time to focus its attentions on playback of the recorded data from the October 15 flyby of Io. From the Photopolarimeter Radiometer instrument (PPR) we expect to see two observations of Io, the main focus of this orbit. First up is data from thermal maps of the dark side of Io taken while the spacecraft was still six hours away from its closest approach. This is followed by a more detailed study of the temperatures of the Colchis caldera taken while that feature was in the dark. These dark-side measurements allow scientists to determine the intrinsic temperatures of the features, uncomplicated by any warming from the Sun's rays. The Solid State Imaging camera will provide us with our highest- resolution view of the massive volcano Loki, which was taken while that feature was near the terminator, or day-night boundary, of Io. This view stretches the shadows, and allows scientists to gauge the relative heights of the features they see. Again, the bulk of the week is dedicated to the return of a two-and- a-half-hour-long recording by the suite of instruments that measure the electromagnetic fields and energetic particles that encircle Jupiter. These instruments are the Energetic Particle Detector, the Heavy Ion Counter, the Magnetometer, the Plasma Subsystem, and the Plasma Wave Subsystem. While last week's recording was made of the turbulent transition from the background magnetosphere into the Io Torus, this week's focus is on the relatively more quiescent depth of the Torus itself. The torus is a doughnut-shaped area of increased radiation and particle density that nearly coincides with the orbit of Io. The Magnetometer and Dust Detector instruments continue their measurements of the immediate environment of the spacecraft, and the Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer instrument also continues an 11- week-long study of the solar variation in the interplanetary hydrogen and helium abundances. 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 _____________________________________________________________________ INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS NASA/JSC release 7 November 2001 The Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, continue to make preparations for the third and final space walk of their mission to be conducted on Monday, the fifth space walk to take place from the International Space Station (ISS). During the spacewalk Monday, which is scheduled to begin around 3:00 PM CST, Culbertson and Dezhurov will complete the exterior outfitting of the Russian docking compartment Pirs that was begun by Dezhurov and Tyurin on their initial spacewalk October 8. They also will inspect one solar array panel on the Zvezda Service Module which failed to deploy after launch in July 2000, but which has had no impact on station operations. During two previous Expedition Three spacewalks, conducted by Dezhurov and Tyurin, the pair linked Pirs' data and power cables to Zvezda, to which Pirs is docked. The two also mounted experiments on Zvezda's exterior. On Monday, Dezhurov will wear a spacesuit bearing red stripes. It will be the eighth spacewalk of his career. Culbertson will wear a blue-striped suit and be making his first spacewalk. Tyurin will monitor the spacewalk from inside the ISS and will operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm to provide lighting for the spacewalkers and television views for flight controllers. The Expedition Three crew is scheduled to return to Earth in December on shuttle mission STS-108, which will launch their replacements, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and flight engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch. The space shuttle Endeavour is targeted to lift off on STS-108 November 29. A firm launch date will be established late next week following a Flight Readiness Review by shuttle and station managers. The STS-108 and Expedition Four crews are at KSC this week conducting a dress rehearsal of the launch countdown. In addition to bringing the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with equipment and supplies to the ISS on STS-108, two of Endeavour's astronauts will do a spacewalk to place thermal blankets around bearing assemblies on the station's P6 truss. Bearings in these assemblies, which allow the station's solar arrays to rotate while tracking the sun, have experienced electrical power spikes. Engineers believe the thermal blankets will eliminate this occurrence. In addition to preparing spacesuits and equipment for their Monday spacewalk, the Expedition Three crew continued scientific investigations aboard the station this week. These investigations include measuring space radiation aboard the ISS and growing crystals that may help researchers better design drugs to fight diseases such as diabetes. Oversight of ISS science investigations is the responsibility of the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. Johnson Space Center manages the Human Research Facility. Details on ISS science operations can be found on the Web at http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov. With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (395 km). For additional information on station activities, including sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, visit the Web at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/. The next ISS status report will be issued on Monday, November 12 following the Expedition Three spacewalk, or earlier, if events warrant. _____________________________________________________________________ STARDUST STATUS REPORT NASA/JPL release 9 November 2001 There were two Deep Space Network tracking passes in the past week, and all subsystems are normal. Stardust is currently 2.47 AU (230 million miles) from the Sun. The Stardust Outreach team provided printed and video educator materials to the Challenger Center, Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, the Young Astronauts Club, the Hawaii Educators Conference, and Ambassadors Program participants. Film Oasis, Inc. completed its show "Science on the Edge," featuring Stardust, which is slated to air on the Discovery Channel next March. In support of the Ambassador Program Board, 35 applicants were reviewed. 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 43.