MARSBUGS: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 10, Number 1, 8 January 2003. Editor/Publisher: David J. Thomas, Ph.D., Science Division, Lyon College, Batesville, AR 72503-2317, USA. dthomas@lyon.edu Contributing Editor: Julian A. Hiscox, Ph.D., 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 effectively 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. Information concerning the scope of this newsletter, subscription formats and availability of back-issues is available from the Marsbugs web page at http://welcome.to/marsbugs or http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/marsbugs/. _____________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS 1) THE TOP SCIENCE STORIES OF 2002 From Scientific American 2) RESEARCH FINDS LIFE 1,000 FEET BENEATH OCEAN FLOOR By David Stauth 3) CHINA'S SHENZHOU 4 WORKING WELL By Leonard David 4) THE TENTH MDRS CREW APPROACHES THE END OF ITS ROTATION By Judd Reed 5) GERMANS GET READY TO GO TO MARS From Agence France-Presse and SpaceDaily 6) HUNT FOR LIFE ON MARS DEALT ANOTHER BLOW University of Melbourne release 7) ANCIENT FOSSILS - OR JUST PLAIN ROCKS? By David Tenenbaum 8) FINDING LIFE AWAY FROM EARTH WILL BE TOUGH TASK, PALEONTOLOGIST SAYS University of Washington release 9) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas 10) CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 11) INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SCIENCE OPERATIONS STATUS REPORT NASA/MSFC release 03-001 _____________________________________________________________________ THE TOP SCIENCE STORIES OF 2002 From Scientific American 23 December 2002 It's been a productive year for science and technology. Researchers have sequenced key genomes, discovered an entirely new order of insect and probed the outer reaches of the solar system with surprising results, to name but a few advances. Of course, 2002 also had its low points, perhaps most notably two prominent cases of fraud in physics. But in all, the progress outweighs the setbacks. From the hundreds of stories that ScientificAmerican.com has featured over the past year, we have selected the 25 that most impressed us--some with their importance, others simply with their gee-whiz appeal. Get the full story, and links to the "top 25" at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID= 00077641-A3BF-1E03-8B3B809EC588EEDF. _____________________________________________________________________ RESEARCH FINDS LIFE 1,000 FEET BENEATH OCEAN FLOOR By David Stauth Oregon State University release 2 January 2003 A new study has discovered an abundance of microbial life deep beneath the ocean floor in ancient basalt that forms part of the Earth's crust, in research that continues to expand the realm of seemingly hostile or remote environments in which living organisms can apparently thrive. Scientists from Oregon State University and several other institutions conducted the research off the coast of Oregon near a sea-floor spreading center on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The findings will be published Friday in the journal Science [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/299/5603/120]. In 3.5 million-year-old crust almost 1,000 feet beneath the bottom of the ocean, researchers found moderately hot water moving through the heavily-fractured basalt. The water was depleted in sulfate and greatly enriched with ammonium, suggesting biological activity in a high-pressure, undersea location far from the types of carbon or energy sources upon which most life on Earth is based. It was one of the most precise biological samplings ever taken from deep under the ocean floor, scientists say. "This is one of the best views we've ever had of this difficult-to- reach location in the Earth's crust and the life forms that live in it," said Michael Rappe, a research associate at OSU. "Until now we knew practically nothing about the biology of areas such as this, but we found about the same amount of bacteria in that water as you might find in surrounding seawater in the ocean. It was abundant." According to Steve Giovannoni, an OSU professor of microbiology and one of the co-authors of the publication, the work represented a highly complicated "plumbing job," among other things. It took advantage of an existing hole and pipe casing that had been drilled previously in that area by the Ocean Drilling Program, through about 825 feet of sedimentary deposits on the ocean floor and another 175 feet of basalt, or hardened lava about 3.5 million years old. Using the existing casing, scientists were able to fit an experimental seal and deliver to the seafloor, for testing and characterization, the crustal fluids from far below. "People have wondered for a long time what types of organisms might live within Earth's crust," Giovannoni said. "This has given us one of the best looks we've ever had at that environment." The researchers found organisms apparently growing without the need to consume organic molecules, as does most life on Earth. Instead, they processed carbon dioxide and inorganic molecules such as sulfide or hydrogen. DNA analysis of these microbes suggested they are closely related to known sulfate and nitrate "reducers" that are common in other environments. The level of biological activity was sufficiently high that ammonia levels in the subsurface samples were 142 times higher than those in nearby seawater. "As more research such as this is done, we'll probably continue to be surprised at just how far down we can find life within the Earth, and the many different environments under which it's able to exist," Rappe said. The deep ocean crust, the researchers said, is an immense biosphere in its own right that covers most of the Earth. Contacts: David Stauth Phone: 541-737-0787 Stephen Giovannoni Phone: 541-737-1835 Michael Rappe Phone: 541-737-0717 _____________________________________________________________________ CHINA'S SHENZHOU 4 WORKING WELL By Leonard David From Space.com 2 January 2003 China's unpiloted Shenzhou 4 continues to circle the Earth with the craft's reentry module likely to touch down on terra firma this coming weekend. Laden with experiments and housing a set of instrumented mannequins, the spaceship is fully-equipped with the gear and resources needed to support future Chinese space flyers. Boosted into orbit atop a Long March 2F rocket early Monday on December 30 (Beijing Time), Shenzhou 4 has begun maneuvering in space and is expected to finish a major aspect of its shakeout mission this Sunday. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft would appear ready for prime time piloting by a two or three-person crew later this year. The full article is available at http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/shenzhou_update_030102.html. Additional articles on this subject are available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2620915.stm http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/01/02/china.mission/index.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2002/030105161224.ufwzwnj9.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2002/030104042755.kb9b936x.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2002/021231080815.jixulkqd.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/china-03d.html http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0301/05shenzhou/ http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/after_shenzhou4_030105.html http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2003-01/05/content_679157.htm _____________________________________________________________________ THE TENTH MDRS CREW APPROACHES THE END OF ITS ROTATION By Judd Reed Mars Society release 3 January 2003 The tenth crew at the Mars Desert Research Station has nearly finished their rotation. This crew was commanded by Judd Reed, the director of software production at a medical imaging company. The crew also included Peter Detterline (astronomer), Jennifer Glidewell (geologist), Heather Smith (physicist/biologist), Gavin Whittle (safety officer), and Debi-Lee Wilkinson (physicist, capcom and greenhouse operations). The primary mission of this crew was the installation of the MDRS Observatory. This effort was ably lead by Peter Detterline with help from Debi-Lee Wilkinson, Gavin Whittle, and Judd Reed. Prior to our arrival, the observatory shelter and dome had been constructed. This small structure is located on top of the ridge just west of the MDRS habitat and has a concrete floor, lightweight composite walls and a movable dome. All of the components to the observatory were in boxes prior to our arrival except for the astro-pier which arrived a few days later. In the meantime the telescope was used on its tripod for testing. The Crew was treated to many celestial wonders as they peered through the instrument, but with success comes failure. Two programs needed to be ordered to allow the dome to rotate with the telescope, this overloaded the computer and some programs had to be shut down to allow others to operate. New computer components were ordered to solve the problem. At 1:42:09 AM on January 1, 2003 we received First Light. The Orion Nebula was the target--new birth for a New Year at the MDRS Observatory. The Crew celebrated in style and saluted the rising of Mars for the New Year at MDRS in spacesuits at 3:44 AM. We had first light, but there were still bugs in the system. Peter and Debi-Lee worked diligently night after night solving software problems, tracking problems, slew limit cut-offs, and imaging. In the end, it is the pictures that speak for themselves. With the end of our rotation the MDRS Observatory was ready for operation. May the light it captures in its optics also capture the hearts and minds of the people who will someday venture forth to the planet Mars. In addition to the construction of the MDRS Observatory, crew ten was forced to do a great many emergency repairs to the habitat. Indeed, they had barely arrived when a water line ruptured and flooded the pantry. The first few days were complicated by water supply, plumbing, heating and electrical repairs. Repair and upgrade of the Living Machine was concluding as crew ten arrived. GreenHab's Living Machine is an ongoing experiment of the University of Maryland. Regular and careful notation of system status and health across rotations is critical to evaluation of the gray water reclamation system. Debi-Lee dutifully recorded air and water temperatures, power interruptions and solar radiation and reported them nightly to mission support. After the failure of the GreenHab supply pump, she proposed that while the system is out, closed loop data can be collected. She also transplanted some plants from the previous crews which are growing very slowly and collected a few soil samples looking for base for growing plants. Since we use the Living Machine as a gray water recycling system only, no solid waste is allowed to enter any of the plumbed systems. Instead, an incinolet is used. The whole crew, and Gavin in particular, was impressed by the effectiveness of this system. Gavin is even considering adding (perhaps a gold plated) incinolet in his future home. The living machine does seem to have recovered to a large extent from the difficulty it suffered during past rotations. Despite the time consuming repairs and the installation of the new observatory, a great deal of scientific research and improvements to the habitat have been performed by crew ten. Commander Reed is particularly please with the outdoor lighting he added to illuminate the path to the observatory and the Mars Flag. He also modified one of the sortie suits to improve visibility by removing condensation, fixed the ignition switch mount on an ATV, rewired the habitats computer network, improved the potable water supply system, and made several other repairs. He recorded some critical images for an innovative navigation system he is developing the nature of which will be perfect for use on Mars where other techniques (GPS) are limited. Peter provided a radio telescope receiver and with the help of the crew, a large dual dipole antenna has been installed. Hopefully future crews will be able to use this radio telescope to monitor signals from Jupiter and the sun. Heather and Jennifer performed almost daily sorties including using the pressurized rover. These were often quite wide ranging. On a particularly rewarding sortie, Peter accompanied them to a meteor crater near Moab Utah. On many sorties they were able to witness a great expanse of sand dunes deposited over one hundred million years ago, glimpsed the fossil remains of life forms which thrived in ancient shallow seas, study petrified wood samples, and ponder how life's great force can find its way into the deserts intense environment to reside as a plant or, on a much smaller scale within the very rocks themselves. The Mars Desert Research Station and its surroundings offer a priceless vantage point for such pondering. All in all, we had a rewarding time on Mars. Just after landing we entered a crisis situation with the furnace going out and corresponding power problems. As a crew we pulled together and handled the crises admirably. The magnitude of the crisis was not unlike that which a Mars crew would encounter but the details were not. We feel more like we were a shakedown crew than a science mission. We all are coming to see the critical need for more technical support than the current mission criteria calls for. Personally, each and every one of us feels we have used all of our skills and even some we didn't know we had. We look forward to another opportunity on Mars! Returning from Mars--Crew 10: Judd Reed Debi-Lee Wilkinson Peter Detterline Heather Smith Gavin Whittle Jennifer Glidewell _____________________________________________________________________ GERMANS GET READY TO GO TO MARS From Agence France-Presse and SpaceDaily 4 January 2003 Twenty German men will spend eight weeks motionless in hospital beds as part of an experiment starting next month to simulate the effects of a trip to Mars, a university clinic said Saturday. Berlin's Free University will begin recruiting guinea pigs in the coming week, it said. Those selected will have to lie in bed practically without moving for eight weeks in the university medical department, so that researchers can observe effects similar to those on astronauts after a mission to Mars, 55 million kilometers (33 million miles) from Earth. The full article is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/2002/030104161509.ipessjdb.html. _____________________________________________________________________ HUNT FOR LIFE ON MARS DEALT ANOTHER BLOW University of Melbourne release 6 January 2003 An Australian geologist has identified what could be the first ever active flow of fluids through gullies on Mars. University of Melbourne geologist, Dr. Nick Hoffman, identified recent gully and channel development near the polar regions of Mars from images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. But contrary to the majority of scientific opinion, which suggests that such features were carved by liquid water, Hoffman says the flow is most likely frozen carbon dioxide. NASA is desperate to find signs of liquid water on Mars so they have a target for the next generation of Mars landers and rovers to go and search for life, but their search could prove fruitless if Hoffman's analysis of the images is correct. In the latest edition of the journal Astrobiology, Hoffman presents evidence for the flow events on Mars and demonstrates that there are substances other than water that can flow on Mars and that water is probably the least likely substance to do this. Hoffman says the channels he identified from the Surveyor images are more likely being carved by avalanches of carbon dioxide and associated debris. "The consequences of this for life on Mars are shattering. If similar mechanisms are responsible for all the recent gullies on Mars then the near surface life NASA is so desperately searching for may not exist," says Hoffman. "Without liquid water there cannot be life and despite recent reports of more and more ice on the Red Planet, NASA has yet to find liquid water," he says. Many NASA scientists are doubtful about Hoffman's observations, but at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union held last month, Hoffman says they struggled to find arguments against the evidence he presented. The Mars Gullies were discovered in 2001. Hoffman's analysis of the recent images shows that a patch of gullies near the South Pole shows signs of annual flow activity each martian Spring. "In itself the observation of active flows is a dramatic discovery since no movement has yet been seen on Mars, except for some dry dust avalanches. The gullies are thought to be the most promising candidates for liquid water flows on modern Mars and many NASA researchers are suggesting ways in which they might be formed by liquid water, but nobody has yet seen the gullies in action," says Hoffman. Hoffman suggests NASA researchers missed these most exciting events happening in the gullies as they have been focused on looking for liquid water in late summer. "In the martian Spring, when carbon dioxide frost and snow at temperatures of -130 degrees centigrade still fill the valleys, flow events are occurring. The flows cut through the frost at temperatures that would turn battery acid into building stone," he says. "Nothing based on water can flow at these temperatures, so the culprit must be defrosting carbon dioxide." "But carbon dioxide doesn't melt on Mars; it boils directly from the solid (a process called 'sublimation'). Instead of a trickle or gush of liquid pouring down the gully, the flow appears to be a flurry of boiling dry ice avalanching down the gully. The boiling dry ice acts like an armada of miniature hovercraft carrying a shower of sand, dust, and tumbling rocks down the slope, carving out the gullies as it goes." The original news release is available at http://www.unimelb.edu.au/ExtRels/Media/03media/03jan06.html. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-water-science-03a.html. _____________________________________________________________________ ANCIENT FOSSILS - OR JUST PLAIN ROCKS? By David Tenenbaum From Astrobiology Magazine 6 January 2003 A dispute over the identification of extremely ancient fossils is threatening to revise how scientists write the history of early life on Earth. In the journal Science, on April 30, 1993, J. William Schopf, a professor of paleobiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, described 3.5 billion-year-old specimens from Western Australia as fossilized bacteria [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036- 8075%2819930430%293%3A260%3A5108%3C640%3AMOTEAA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z]. The tiny organisms were encased in chert, a fine-grained sedimentary rock. On the basis of morphology (shape), Schopf sorted the bacteria into 11 taxa, or distinct groupings, and said 7 were probably early relatives of cyanobacteria, primitive photosynthetic organisms. Cyanobacteria are credited with the first large-scale production of atmospheric oxygen. By converting a reducing (oxygen-poor) atmosphere to an oxidizing (oxygen-rich) one, cyanobacteria permitted the evolution of more advanced, oxygen-breathing organisms. Yet the first geochemical evidence of significant atmospheric oxygen-- evidence preserved in the chemical makeup of ancient rocks--came from about 1 billion years later. Schopf's identification, which gained acceptance as the first evidence of oxygen-producing organisms, is now under bruising attack. Critics charge not only that the structures Schopf observed in the rocks are not fossilized cyanobacteria, but also that they are not biological fossils at all. Martin Brasier, professor of paleobiology at Oxford University, along with an international team, raised numerous counter-arguments in the March 7, 2002, edition of Nature [http://www.nature.com/cgi- taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v416/n6876/abs/416076a_fs.html] . Brasier says Schopf misunderstood the geology of the supposed microfossils, which were preserved not in marine sediments, but rather in a hydrothermal vent--or even in volcanic glass. "The context for the Apex Chert 'microfossils' can be reconstrued as the subsurface feeder dyke to a submarine (possibly quite deep) hydrothermal vent, closely associated with volcanicity." (In other words, they formed in association with hot fluids near a volcanic structure.) The hot, low-oxygen conditions may have been "excellent for the prebiotic synthesis" of organic compounds, Brasier adds, but at several tens of meters below the vent, were "not a happy habitat for oxygen-producing cyanobacteria." In an e-mail, Brasier also charged that Schopf overstated or misinterpreted the regularity in the shape of his specimens. "Eleven fossil taxa (the greatest diversity in the fossil record until the Gunflint chert, some 1600 million years younger) were based upon structures that are much more chaotic and inconsistent than shown and described." This business of shape is important because Schopf used physical appearance as the basis of his original identification. Brasier says his examination of the specimens revealed structures "indistinguishable from graphitic mineral growths that occur alongside [the purported fossils]--they frequently branch chaotically in the same way and intergrade continuously with the shapes of inanimate matter." Appearance is a poor guide to biogenic origin, Brasier concludes. "This provides a clear warning to all astrobiologists that complex, microfossil-like structures can easily arise from simple, abiogenic causes." Only by carefully comparing non-biological and biological structures, he says, will it be possible to distinguish structures made by biology. Schopf is having none of this. For starters, he calls the argument over cyanobacteria a "red herring. I have referred to these specimens as 'cyanobacterium-like,' 'possible cyanobacteria,' and even 'probable cyanobacteria,' but I have never, ever claimed that they were cyanobacteria per se. Nobody goes to look at the literature. I defined these taxa as being of uncertain systematic position. I said they were prokaryotes [microorganisms without cell nuclei], and still think they are, but I didn't know for sure then, and I don't know now, precisely what kinds of bacteria they are." As for Brasier's contention that fossils could not be found in a hydrothermal or volcanic structure, Schopf says that, while the conditions of deposition remain contentious, "It's perfectly fine for there to be organisms in hot springs. Hot springs today are teeming with life; think of Yellowstone. If there was life around [3.5 billion years ago], it would be astounding that it was not present in such a hot-spring environment." Schopf says his scientific approach is similar to that of Georges Cuvier, a founder of paleontology who first applied the Linnaean classification system to fossils. "Cuvier said that the way you solve the problem [of determining whether or not a specimen is biogenic] is that you identify a suite of traits that are unique to life, as a suite, and that not exhibited by inanimate matter, but are exhibited by living organism and the fossils." The Apex chert specimens satisfy critical criteria for fossils, Schopf continues. "Every test that can be applied has been applied, and the Apex fossils meet them all, a suite of traits that taken together are simply unknown in nonbiologic materials." Here's his argument: Morphology: 200 specimens from the Apex rocks and numerous specimens from other rocks of similar age show the characteristic shapes of bacteria. Consistency: The fossils make sense in the context of other information about the epoch, and are not, for example, unduly advanced or retarded compared to other evidence from the same period. "There are hundreds of Precambrian fossil-bearing chert units like the Apex, and they have the same sorts of fossils," he says. Isotopic analysis: 10 analyses of the Apex cherts, and 125 analyses on other fossil units of about the same age "all show the same distinctive biological [carbon isotope] signal." Composition: Raman imagery of 15 specimens from the Apex and other cherts of the same age, Schopf says, show the remains of organic matter. (Raman imagery is an analytical technique that can map the distribution of a particular chemical throughout a sample. It enables one to compare the location of specific chemical signals to visible shapes within the sample. But not everyone is convinced by Schopf's data. At a recent Geological Society of America conference, Jill Pasteris, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University who has used Raman spectroscopy for 20 years, presented a poster showing that Schopf's conclusion about kerogen was "erroneous." Kerogen is a grab-bag description of the remains of organic matter as it gradually decomposes, says Pasteris. She and Brigitte Wopenka, also of Washington University, presented Raman spectra from non- biogenic carbon material at the GSA "that looked just like the spectra that Schopf et al produced in Nature. In other words, the spectra in Nature are the spectra that one gets from disordered carbonaceous material, whether or not it's biogenic in origin." Can Raman spectroscopy "really distinguish this kerogen from some other yucky carbon material? The answer is no," Pasteris told Astrobiology News. In other words, says Pasteris, the fact that Schopf was able to match up the spectral signatures of certain carbon compounds with visible shapes within his samples doesn't prove their biological origins, because the spectral signatures themselves were inconclusive. Fossil claims, Brasier writes in his e-mail, "are better tested by falsification rather than by justification. To that end, our research group urges that future studies (older than, say, 3.0 billion years) should explore the following null hypothesis: that very ancient/alien microfossil-like structures should not be accepted as of biological origin until all possibilities of their non-biologic origin have been tested and can be falsified." The debate does highlight a need for clearer standards of evidence for matters paleontological and astrobiological. Ironically, despite more data, improved techniques, and increased focus on the field, scientists are finding that one of the most difficult questions to answer is also one of the most basic: "How do we really know?" The original version of this article is available at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article350.html. _____________________________________________________________________ FINDING LIFE AWAY FROM EARTH WILL BE TOUGH TASK, PALEONTOLOGIST SAYS University of Washington release 7 January 2003 Earth's most ancient fossils are hard to find. Some scientists think a few of the earliest fossils might still be preserved in Earth rocks blasted to the moon by an asteroid or meteor. Others believe much of the evidence has been erased forever by the constant heat and pressure of plate tectonics. But learning as much as possible about the earliest life on Earth is probably the best starting point for trying to find life somewhere else, said Roger Buick, a paleontologist who became the first faculty member hired specifically for the University of Washington's pioneering graduate program in astrobiology. He also is an associate professor of earth and space sciences. "The earliest organisms were presumably very simple, both in their structure and their chemistry," he said. "The evidence we're used to seeing for modern life may not be a good guide for what to look for in earliest life." As a doctoral student nearly two decades ago, Buick discovered stromatolites, or mounds of sedimentary rock, formed by microbes 3.5 billion years ago in western Australia. Those mounds remain the oldest visible evidence of life on Earth. Buick suggested that using basic techniques to search for the simplest evidence of ancient life on Earth is the best approach to finding evidence of life elsewhere. That is a message he delivered today at the American Astronomical Society's annual meeting in Seattle during a session called "The Biology of Astrobiology for Astronomers." There are a variety of difficulties associated with searching for early life based on what we know of biology and geology, he said, yet both disciplines must be involved if we are to be successful in the search for life elsewhere. "We have to go from what we know, but we also must have an open mind because we might be surprised by what we find," he said. "We have to be hypercritical so that we're not misled by superficial resemblances to what we know." It will be a tough chore for astrobiologists to turn their field into a self-sustaining endeavor because for so long science fiction has made the idea of life away from Earth a fanciful notion of all sorts of intelligent aliens, Buick said. "It will take a lot of work to turn it from science fiction into science, and because it is so interdisciplinary it's going to require a rethinking of how science is done," he said. The UW started the first graduate program in astrobiology four years ago with a National Science Foundation grant for graduate education and research. That later was supplemented by a major award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Astrobiology Institute and money from the UW. The curriculum involves 11 degree programs--including astronomy, microbiology, chemistry and oceanography--and graduates receive degrees from one of those programs with an endorsement certificate in astrobiology. Graduates will have broad, interdisciplinary knowledge, the kind many of their professors are just starting to gain now. Buick said fossil evidence of early life, whether from Earth or somewhere else, could be so tiny that it is at the limits of--or beyond--current capabilities in optic microscopic resolution. Those life forms might have existed without hard bodies, so fossil evidence would be exceedingly difficult to find and might consist only of poorly preserved organic polymers. He noted there are three instances--two in Greenland and one in Australia--in which evidence for life on Earth was discovered that was as old or older than what he found. But in two of the cases the evidence is not clear-cut and there are ongoing scientific disputes about the meaning of the data. To resolve these arguments, he said, it is important for scientists to understand how signatures for biological life can be altered or erased from rocks, primarily by heat and pressure. To sort out the terrestrial evidence and to apply it to the search for simple extraterrestrial life will involve many, if not most, of the existing scientific disciplines, each adding bits of knowledge to crystallize the science of astrobiology, Buick said. "The bottom line is that we don't know much yet, but it's going to be a huge amount of fun finding it out," he said. "And everyone has something to contribute." Contacts: Vince Stricherz Phone: 206-543-2580 E-mail: vinces@u.washington.edu Roger Buick Phone: 206-543-1913 E-mail: buick@ess.washington.edu _____________________________________________________________________ NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/astrobiology.h tml 8 January 2003 Astrobiology, exobiology and terraformation articles http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s1.html University of Melbourne, 2003. CO2 flows could carve Mars gullies. SpaceDaily. Terrestrial extreme environments articles http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s2.html J. P. Cowen, S. J. Giovannoni, F. Kenig, H. P. Johnson, D. Butterfield, M. S. Rappé, M. Hutnak, and P. Lam, 2003. Fluids from aging ocean crust that support microbial life. Science, 299(5603):120-123. Human space exploration and microgravity effects articles http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s3.html Agence France-Presse, 2003. China begins countdown to manned mission after return of craft. SpaceDaily. Agence France-Presse, 2003. China could send a human into space in second half of 2003. SpaceDaily. Agence France-Presse, 2003. Chinese spaceship successfully completes its missions: report. SpaceDaily. Agence France-Presse, 2003. Germans get ready to go to Mars. SpaceDaily. Agence France-Presse, 2003. Giant leap for China after safe landing of unmanned spaceship. SpaceDaily. BBC News, 2003. China plans manned spaceflight in 2003. BBC News. S. Clark, 2003. Chinese Shenzhou 4 capsule returns to Earth. Spaceflight Now. CNN, 2003. China to put man in space this year. CNN. L. David, 2003. After Shenzhou - China's space plans boosted following successful mission. Space.com. L. David, 2003. China's Shenzhou 4 working well. Space.com. M. Jones, 2003. Shenzhou pace to pick up as first manned mission approaches. SpaceDaily. Xinhuanet, 2003. China's unmanned spaceship lands. Xinhua News Agency. Evolutionary biology and chemistry articles http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/astrobiology/online_article s5.html R. Stenger, 2002. Meteorite "ready-made home" for life. CNN. _____________________________________________________________________ CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 19 December 2002 - 1 January 2003 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, January 1. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" web page located at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm. On-board activities this week included Radio and Plasma Wave (RPWS) High Frequency Receiver calibrations, checkout of the new RPWS flight software, execution of the RPWS looper program #2, and an RPWS periodic instrument maintenance. Spacecraft activities included clearing of the ACS high water marks, and an autonomous Solid State Recorder Memory Load Partition repair. The Radio Science Gravitational Wave Experiment #2 continues successfully after four weeks of operations. It was previously reported that there was a drop-off in Ka-band transmitter uplink power when the X-band transmitter tripped off. The cause has been narrowed down to a common motor-generator power supply that both transmitters share. When the X-band transmitter fails and is brought back up, the Ka-band transmitter gets thrown out of calibration. This problem showed up again on DOY 356, when the Ka-band and X-band transmitters were turned on. The Ka-band transmitter uplink power was 240 Watts instead of the nominal 600 Watts, due to X-band transmitter problems noted in the last report. Both transmitters were turned off. At the request of Radio Science, only the Ka-band transmitter was turned back on after it was calibrated. Since then, and typically during the last two weeks, both Ka-band uplink and X- band uplink operations have been normal. The third and final input port for science operations plan development of tour sequences S13/S14 was completed. The merged product was delivered to ACS for their final end-to-end pointing checks for these sequences at this stage of development. S13/S14 development completes on January 14. After reviewing statistics for the month of November, Cassini outreach reported that the total number of unique visitors to the Cassini Web site had almost doubled from its previous high, going from 49,110 visitors in October to 93,325 in November. The increase is apparently due to the release of the first Cassini image of Saturn on November 1. 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. _____________________________________________________________________ INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SCIENCE OPERATIONS STATUS REPORT NASA/MSFC release 03-001 3 January 2003 The International Space Station science team successfully completed the first Expedition Six research with the Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG) experiment on Wednesday. The second 15-day sample run is scheduled to begin on Friday. The experiment was developed by the Center for Advanced Microgravity Materials Processing at Northeastern University in Boston. Zeolites are used in many manufacturing processes on Earth. Virtually all the world's gasoline is produced or upgraded using zeolites. Improving zeolites could make gasoline production more efficient or lead to ways of storing clean-burning hydrogen for fuel. Zeolites can also be applied to detergents, optical cables, gas and vapor detectors for environmental monitoring. The microgravity environment of the Space Station allows scientists to grow higher-quality crystals that are 100 to 500 times larger than normal for analysis and test the crystallization process in "slow motion" without being rushed by the effects of gravity. On December 20, the station crew and ground controllers successfully installed and checked out a new High rate Communications Outage Recorder (HCOR), significantly upgrading the Station's research capabilities. The HCOR replaces the Medium rate Communications Outage Recorder (MCOR). The purpose of these two payload recorders is to store science data during periods when the Station is not in communications contact via satellite with the ground. The new HCOR can store 220 gigabits of data, record from up to eight input sources simultaneously and playback two channels of data simultaneously. The MCOR could store 75 gigabits of data, record two input sources, and playback one channel at a time. The new HCOR is also more resistant to radiation-induced errors that require ground controllers to reboot the recorder. On Tuesday, December 24, Bowersox performed the first FOOT/Ground Reaction Forces During Space Flight (FOOT) research, collecting nine hours of data with this human life science experiment. FOOT is designed to characterize the stress on the lower extremity bones and muscles in microgravity. Bowersox downlinked the data to the ground on December 26. The next FOOT session is planned for January 6, 2003. Also on December 24, Expedition Six Science Officer Don Pettit relocated part of the Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) experiment inside the Destiny lab module. On Friday, December 27, he relocated the Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller and its associated Gas Supply Module. All transfers were in preparation to support new experiments arriving on the Utilization and Logistics Flight-1 mission. On Monday, December 30, the crew conducted their regular monthly data collection with the EVA Radiation Monitoring (EVARM) experiment dosimeter badges. Also Monday, Pettit conducted a science conference with Expedition Six Lead Payload Operations Director Lamar Stacy on possible ways to maximize use of the Microgravity Science Glovebox once it is repaired and reactivated. On Tuesday, Pettit reviewed the procedures for using the Human Research Facility (HRF) Ultrasound imaging system in preparation for today's (Thursday's) checkout of the device. Ultrasound provides medical imaging of the heart and other organs, muscles and blood vessels for a variety of research and diagnostic applications. The crew during the week also continued to perform daily status and maintenance checks on Station science payloads and equipment. Among the Crew Earth Observation (CEO) photography subjects for this week were protected forests of the Ganges River Delta, Rangoon, Burma, coastal changes in the Irrawaddy River Delta, Bangkok, Thailand, Karachi, Pakistan, Bombay, India, Dakar, Senegal, the Great Barrier Reef, New Zealand, human development in the Congo near the Ubangi and Congo Rivers, the Limpopo River Delta, the Cape Town region of South Africa, the northern part of South America, the Grand Canyon, and vegetation patterns in Costa Rica. The Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, manages all science research experiment operations aboard the International Space Station. The center is also home for coordination of the mission-planning work of a variety of international sources, all science payload deliveries and retrieval, and payload training and payload safety programs for the Station crew and all ground personnel. Contact: Steve Roy MSFC, Huntsville, AL Phone: 256-544-0034 _____________________________________________________________________ End Marsbugs, Volume 10, Number 1.