Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 10, Number 34, 29 August 2003. Editor/Publisher: David J. Thomas, Ph.D., Science Division, Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas 72503-2317, USA. dthomas@lyon.edu 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 editor, except for specific articles, in which instance copyright exists with the author/authors. The editor does not condone "spamming" of subscribers. Readers would appreciate it if others would not send unsolicited e-mail using the Marsbugs mailing lists. Persons who have information that may be of interest to subscribers of Marsbugs should send that information to the editor. E-mail subscriptions are free, and may be obtained by contacting the editor. Information concerning the scope of this newsletter, subscription formats and availability of back-issues is available from the Marsbugs web page at http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/. [http://hubblesite.org/news/2003/22/] NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this close-up of the red planet Mars when it was just 34,648,840 miles (55,760,220 km) away. This color image was assembled from a series of exposures taken between 6:20 PM and 7:12 PM EDT August 26 with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The picture was taken just 11 hours before the planet made its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. Image credit: NASA, J. Bell (Cornell U.) and M. Wolff (Space Science Inst.) Additional image processing and analysis support from: K. Noll and A. Lubenow (STScI); M. Hubbard (Cornell U.); R. Morris (NASA/JSC); P. James (U. Toledo); S. Lee (U. Colorado); and T. Clancy, B. Whitney and G. Videen (Space Science Inst.); and Y. Shkuratov (Kharkov U.). ________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS 1) DUNE AND SALT HYBRIDS: GENETIC SUPER-COMBINATIONS, EXTREME LIFE? From Indiana University and Astrobiology Magazine 2) MARS: THE SOLVED AND UNSOLVED MYSTERIES By Robert Roy Britt 3) ALIEN INFECTION By Leslie Mullen 4) ASTRONOMERS HUNT MARTIAN WATER FROM EARTH Joint Astronomy Centre release 5) HOW TO DROP IN ON TITAN From ESA News 6) NASA TO HOST ANNUAL PLANETARY SCIENCES MEETING NASA/ARC release 03-66AR 7) 35TH LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE, FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT LPI release 8) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas 9) CONTINUING COVERAGE OF THE COLUMBIA DISASTER By David J. Thomas 10) CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 11) MARS EXPRESS STATUS REPORT ESA release 12) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES NASA/JPL/MSSS release 13) MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES NASA/JPL/ASU release ________________________________________________________________________ DUNE AND SALT HYBRIDS: GENETIC SUPER-COMBINATIONS, EXTREME LIFE? From Indiana University and Astrobiology Magazine 24 August 2003 Like the snap of a clothespin, the sudden mixing of closely related species may occasionally provide the energy to impel rapid evolutionary change, according to a new report by researchers from Indiana University Bloomington and three other institutions. A study of sunflower species that began 15 years ago shows that the sudden mixing and matching of different species' genes can create genetic super-combinations that are considerably more advantageous to the survival and reproduction of their owners than the gene combinations their parents possess. "This is the clearest evidence to date that hybridization can be evolutionarily important," said IUB biologist Loren Rieseberg, who led the research. "What's more, we were able to demonstrate a possible mechanism for rapid evolutionary change by replicating the births of three unusual and ecologically divergent species within an extremely short period of time--just a few generations." The finding comes a month after IUB biologist Jeffrey Palmer and colleagues suggested in a letter to Nature that genetic exchange between completely unrelated species has occurred more often than experts previously thought. There are many modern examples of hybridization in nature, some forced, some natural. Mules are bred by humans from horses and donkeys, are completely sterile, and represent an evolutionary dead-end. But there are other species-crossings that do just fine, such as offspring of the notoriously promiscuous oak tree species, which hybridize so often species-namers commonly joke about not being able to keep up. Still, cross-species matings usually result in sickness or sterility, if the offspring get that far--many naturally abort. Hybrid offspring that are fertile but sick or weak will not be able to compete with the purer offspring of either parent in passing on their genes to future generations. As a result, many evolutionary biologists have thought hybridization to be evolutionarily unimportant. But Rieseberg's new report suggests that even weak, hybrid offspring can acquire new, strong combinations of genes from their parents. As long as those offspring are just virile enough to transmit their useful genes to their own offspring, those genes may fight their way into populations of either or both parent species and become evolutionarily important. Hybridization has been used to great effect in the creation of successful crops and animal breeds, but many evolutionary biologists have resisted accepting hybridization's importance in a world before the appearance of modern humans. "We're all aware hybridization and intensive cross-breeding has produced better corn and better cows," Rieseberg said. "Yet there's been resistance in the evolutionary biology community to the notion that evolution might sometimes be facilitated by hybridization." Rieseberg and his team compared the physical, physiological and genetic traits of several sunflower species. Two of the species, Helianthus annuus and H. petiolaris, are considered "parental," or more ancient. Another three species the scientists studied, H. anomalus, H. deserticola and H. paradoxus, are believed to have evolved somewhat recently, as hybrids of the two parental sunflower species, between 60,000 and 200,000 years ago. The three hybrid species are remarkable in being adapted to very extreme habitats: sand dunes, dry desert floor and salt marshes, respectively. The researchers also created their own hybrids of H. annuus and H. petiolaris. The researchers found that their synthetic hybrids quickly acquired the traits necessary to colonize the extreme habitats of their naturally evolved hybrid counterparts, suggesting that potentially useful traits can be created quickly. Rieseberg and his team also found that the traits were largely the same as those produced by natural selection during the evolution of the natural hybrid species. Through cross- breeding, the researchers were able to simulate the birth of three new species and the large and dramatic evolutionary changes that accompanied their origins. "It's often very easy to explain small differences we see within a species, but harder to account for larger differences between species that require changes in multiple traits or genes," Rieseberg said. "We have provided an explanation for how some of these more difficult changes might happen. Dramatic evolutionary changes are most likely to occur when parental species are very different from each other, creating a much broader array of gene and trait combinations." What's next? According to the World Wildlife Fund, the Earth is losing species at a rate not seen for 65 million years, since the extinction of the dinosaurs. The study of biodiversity and astrobiology share the common thread of viewing the planet as a whole and attempting to see its future by examining its past. The present moment in history has been characterized as the first time in which one species-- humans-- are in one way or another "responsible" for the entire biosphere: changing it, maintaining it, and of course, possibly extinguishing it. As Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, Andrew Knoll, remarked: " [For astrobiology] everything we know about life in the universe comes from life on Earth. In a sense, putting current diversity at peril for those who would like to understand biology as a planetary phenomenon is like burning a library." Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article568.html. Read the original IU news release at http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/1065.html. ________________________________________________________________________ MARS: THE SOLVED AND UNSOLVED MYSTERIES By Robert Roy Britt From Space.com 25 August 2003 More eyes are glued to Mars this week than has probably been the case since Orson Welles and his Mercury Players scared folks with his radio rendition of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds. This is a good week to take a look. Mars will be closer on Wednesday, August 27 than ever in recorded history. The buzz has been elevated to mania as all manner of media--from the New York Times to Entertainment Weekly--have latched onto a story first reported last November by SPACE.com. Telescopes are selling so fast there's a shortage at many stores. Great. Go out, gaze heavenward and soak up some red light from our planetary neighbor during this historical event. But don't kid yourself. The dusty world you'll see remains more mysterious than a North American power grid. Read the full article at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_mysteries_030825.html. ________________________________________________________________________ ALIEN INFECTION By Leslie Mullen From Astrobiology Magazine 25 August 2003 When diseases like SARS, mad cow disease and monkeypox cross the species barrier and infect humans, they dominate news headlines. Just imagine, then, the reaction if potentially infectious pathogens were found in rock samples from Mars. As we look toward exploring other worlds, and perhaps even bringing samples back to Earth for testing, astrobiologists have to wonder: could alien pathogens cross the "planet" barrier and wreak havoc on our world? Even though there is no proof of bacterial or viral pathogens anywhere except Earth, there is already a worried advocacy group called the International Committee against Martian Sample Return, and science fiction novels like The Andromeda Strain depict nightmare alien infection scenarios. The possibility of cross-planetary contamination has concerned NASA since the early days of the Apollo program, so, as a precaution, the astronauts were quarantined for three weeks after they left the moon. Chris Chyba, who holds the Carl Sagan Chair for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute, says there are two types of potential alien pathogens: toxic and infectious. Toxic pathogens act as a poison on other organisms. Infectious pathogens are viruses or bacteria that are passed between organisms, causing sickness. [All] viruses and [some] microbes rely on specific biological systems in order to replicate and infect their host, so not all pathogens affect all organisms the same way. Chicken farmers, for instance, can remain untouched by a disease that decimates their flocks. It could be that a martian microbe would enter the human body, but is rendered harmless because it is incompatible with human physiology. "After living in the dirt of Mars, a pathogen could see our bodies as a comparable host; they could treat us 'like dirt,'" says John Rummel, NASA's Planetary Protection Officer. "But, to quote Donald Rumsfeld, we're dealing with the unknown unknowns. It could be that even if the microbes lived inside us, they wouldn't do anything, it would just be this lump living inside you." The conditions on Mars are much different than those in the human body, so an inert pathogen seems the most likely scenario--especially since any life on Mars would have evolved without humans being present. Co- evolution is why some pathogens only affect certain organisms. Infectious pathogens evolve based on the reactions of their hosts. As the host develops defenses against a predatory pathogen, the pathogen has to devise new means of sustaining itself within the host (or risk its own extinction). Some toxins also developed through co-evolution. As predatory organisms seek food, their prey develop ever more sophisticated means to escape being eaten. Many organisms developed specially targeted toxins as part of this evolutionary arms battle. Rummel says that humans have evolved a complex defense system to prevent us from getting sick from a whole host of disease and pathogens. But non-specific microbes--where human physiology did not influence their evolution--may evade our defense mechanisms. The best way to understand the spread of potential alien pathogens is to examine the spread of such non-specific pathogens on Earth. One example of a non-specific toxic pathogen is cyanobacteria that produce hepatotoxins (toxins affecting the liver) and neurotoxins. According to Chyba, cyanobacteria living in lakes on the alpine pastures of Switzerland have been implicated in a hundred cattle poisonings over the past 25 years. Chyba says the cyanobacteria most likely did not develop their toxins in order to escape predation from cows (or to kill the cows in order to eat them!). "Rather, the susceptibility of cattle to these toxins seems simply to be an unfortunate coincidence of a toxin working across a large evolutionary distance," Chyba writes. An example of an infectious pathogen working across large evolutionary distances is the bacterium Serratia marcescens. It is found in a variety of animal species, and also can be found free-living in water and soil. Its transmission from human sewage has resulted in the decimation of Caribbean elkhorn coral. "The distance between humans and corals emphasizes the possibility that certain organisms may prove pathogenic across a wide evolutionary divide," Chyba writes. Of course, the evolutionary divide between humans and coral would not be as wide a gulf as between any martian organisms and human beings. Yet one theory for the origin of life on Earth is that it was transferred here from Mars by meteorites. This variant of the "Panspermia" [hypothesis] suggests that life on Earth and any life on Mars might be closely related. If Mars and Earth share the basis for life, this life would presumably have evolved well beyond the original form. Such a large evolutionary divide could provide protection from infection. But it could also mean that if infection does occur, it might be related closely enough to some Earth life to blaze through that population unchecked. Human infection is not the only concern of planetary protection. Life on Earth forms an interconnected, highly dependent web, so a pathogen affecting any life on Earth could have serious repercussions for the health and environment of our planet. Protecting the Earth is, of course, an international concern. The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council on Science, through consultation with the United Nations, makes recommendations to space-faring nations on planetary protection policy. The United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967 requires that the introduction of extraterrestrial materials must not adversely alter the Earth's environment. The treaty also says that we must not contaminate other planets as we explore outer space. Astrobiologists especially are concerned about inadvertently transmitting microbes from Earth. Bacteria can endure the cold, dry vacuum of space, so a long journey of months and even years may not be sufficient to ensure spacecraft sterilization. Our search for life elsewhere will be frustrated if we come across microbes on another planet, only to later find that we were the ones who brought them there. The previous Mars landers, from Projects Viking and Pathfinder, were constructed and handled in clean environments to prevent Earth microbes from hitching a ride to the Red Planet. The Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" that currently are headed for Mars followed similar "clean handling" guidelines. The MER missions will not bring samples of Mars back to Earth, but future mission proposals do include bringing samples back for testing. For instance, one recent Mars scout proposal suggests collecting atmospheric dust. The spacecraft would fly through the atmosphere, collect the dust, and then sterilize the dust as it flies back to Earth. This strategy follows the guidelines set by a 1997 US National Research Council report, which said sample returns must be either contained or sterilized. "Sterilization might present a problem for some samples, but it is well suited to atmospheric dust since you have a dry medium," says Rummel. "Sterilization involves heating, and that wouldn't alter the dry dust much." Fearing that containment or sterilization will not be adequate for protecting the Earth from potential pathogens in martian samples, some have suggested that the International Space Station (ISS) should be used to study samples. But Rummel doesn't agree. "A lot of time and resources are needed to keep the station where it is, but what goes up must eventually come down," says Rummel. "ISS has an orbital life of decades, not hundred of thousands of years. Knowing that, we need to ask if it is a good place to conduct biological research." "Containment is also a problem, since there's not much space to work with," Rummel adds. "What do you do if a person on board is exposed? The Earth, on the other hand, has ample space to deal with accidents, or to build a new lab next door, if necessary." The only samples that have been returned to Earth so far have come from the moon. Astronauts on the Apollo missions returned 379 kilograms (835 pounds) of rock and soil from the Moon, and three Russian spacecraft (Luna 16, 20 and 24) also returned moon samples. The samples were kept in sealed containers until they arrived at their respective laboratories for study. Some might argue that the precautions of containment or sterilization are not necessary, since samples from other celestial bodies have been falling on Earth since its origin. Comets and asteroids are believed to have impacted the Earth frequently in its earliest years, seeding the young planet with water and organic chemicals. In addition, many meteorites have been identified as originating from Mars. A storm of controversy erupted when, in 1996, NASA researchers claimed to have found fossilized life forms in the martian meteorite ALH 84001. Although this claim is still hotly debated, some see it as evidence that martian microbes already have arrived on our planet. "There may indeed be a natural exchange of microbes between Earth and Mars," says Rummel. "But we're being cautious, and we will apply the appropriate controls. We can't make the risk zero, but we can make it very small. That's the reason why space exploration is so important--it allows us to start to address the sorts of questions we are asking." What's next? According to Rummel, there are no set plans to bring a Mars sample back to Earth. However, some proposals discuss having both the European Space Agency and NASA launch martian sample return missions by 2011, with samples returning to Earth by 2016. Sample return missions currently in progress include spacecraft designed to sample a comet, an asteroid, and the solar wind. Although life is not likely to be found in these places, the precursor chemicals that make life possible may be present. NASA's Stardust mission, launched in 1999, will reach comet Wild 2 in January 2004. Stardust will return to Earth with both cometary and interstellar dust particle samples in January 2006. NASA's Genesis mission was designed to collect solar wind samples. The spacecraft was launched in August of 2001 and is now collecting particles coming off the sun. The samples will be returned to Earth in September 2004. Japan's MUSES-C spacecraft, launched May 2003, is headed for asteroid 1998 SF36. After its arrival in June 2005, the spacecraft will gather up to one gram of material from a variety of sites on the asteroid. The samples are expected to arrive back on Earth by June 2007. Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article570.html. ________________________________________________________________________ ASTRONOMERS HUNT MARTIAN WATER FROM EARTH Joint Astronomy Centre release 26 August 2003 As Mars makes its closest approach in almost 60,000 years, two Australian astronomers have used the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii to look for signs that the planet once had liquid water--and so may have hosted life. Dr. Jeremy Bailey of the Anglo- Australian Observatory and the Australian Centre for Astrobiology (ACA) at Macquarie University in Sydney, and Sarah Chamberlain, a PhD student at the ACA, have produced what is Bailey says is "perhaps the sharpest image of Mars ever made from the ground." But the real gold lies in the spectral data they obtained. The scientists are applying the same remote-sensing technique that geologists use to map minerals on the Earth's surface. Minerals absorb some wavelengths from sunshine and reflect others. Each mineral has its own "spectral signature"--the set of wavelengths it reflects. "We're looking particularly for the signatures of minerals, such as hydrated clay minerals, that would indicate the past presence of liquid water," said Bailey. Similar prospecting by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has shown that there is a vast amount of hydrogen below the surface of Mars. The consensus has been that this is probably water ice. But did Mars ever have liquid water? And if so, how much? It's still contentious. NASA's Mars Global Surveyor has found sizeable deposits of a mineral called crystalline (grey) hematite, which forms only in the presence of liquid water. NASA's two Mars Exploration Rovers, due to land on the martian surface in January 2004, and the UK lander Beagle 2, due to land in December this year, will also be looking for signs that Mars has had liquid water. "While spacecraft can get up close, ground-based observations still have a role, as they allow us to use larger and more powerful instruments," said Bailey. UKIRT, with a 3.8-m diameter aperture, is the world's largest telescope devoted specifically to infrared observations. UKIRT is funded by PPARC, the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. The Anglo-Australian Observatory is funded by the UK Government, through PPARC, and the Australian Government. Read the original news release and view images at http://outreach.jach.hawaii.edu/pressroom/2003_mars/. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-water-science-03n.html. ________________________________________________________________________ HOW TO DROP IN ON TITAN From ESA News http://www.esa.int 27 August 2003 You need to have thought of almost every eventuality when landing on a distant moon in a remote corner of the Solar System. You must have tested your spacecraft to its limits to be sure it will withstand the extreme conditions expected on Titan, a moon of Saturn. Moreover, you have to gather in advance as much information as you can about the way your instruments will work in those conditions. It is only when the scientific instruments work properly that you can say your mission has been successful. Descending through poisonous gas In early 2005, ESA's Huygens probe will descend through the cloak of noxious gases surrounding Titan, Saturn's largest and most mysterious moon. An Italian-led team of European scientists and engineers have ingeniously tackled the challenges of testing the reliability, behavior, and response of some of the probe's instruments in actual operation--not simulations. Using a combination of balloon and parachute, the team had a creative way of testing a full-scale replica of the Huygens space probe--they dropped it from 33 kilometers above the Earth! The air we breathe on Earth is very different from the poisonous smog of Titan, but Jean- Pierre Lebreton, ESA Huygens Project Scientist, says that the way in which the properties of our atmosphere change are similar to the behavior of Titans atmosphere. On 6 June 2003, the scientists gathered at the Italian Space Agency's Trapani balloon-launch facility in Sicily. To launch the 500-kilogram gondola carrying the mock-up Huygens space probe, they used a helium balloon that fully inflated to a diameter of 100 meters (corresponding to a total volume of 400,000 cubic meters) at its maximum altitude. When the balloon reached a height of 33 kilometers, a release mechanism opened and dropped the probe. The on-board parachute deployed to slow the probe's fall from 40 meters per second to just 4 meters per second. At that speed, the probe floated gently back to Earth, taking about 30 minutes to complete its journey beneath the ten-meter-wide parachute. This parachute was designed to provide a fall speed very close to the one expected at Titan. "Altimeter 1, are you receiving me?" The flight allowed scientists to collect data under conditions which are as representative as possible in Europe of the future flight to millions of kilometers away from the Earth. In this way, they can really begin to understand the instrument characteristics very well. Scientists call this process calibration. Not only are these training exercises important to understand the behavior of the instruments and the data, they also contribute to building team spirit for when the real thrills start at Titan! This drop was the fourth test flight of the Huygens instruments on Earth (the first such test took place in Spain during 1995, the following two were done in Sicily). This flight was the first to have a fully equipped Huygens mock-up, including the complete Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (H-ASI) provided by Italy. Once on Titan, the purpose of H-ASI will be to study the temperature, pressure, electrical properties, and the winds in this exotic atmosphere. A mock-up of one of the two Huygens altimeters, mounted on the replica probe was also tested during this balloon flight. The altimeters measure the probe's height from the ground. "We are still analysing the data but, from what we have seen so far, the altimeter worked well," says Lebreton. "The test makes me very confident that the two altimeters on Huygens will work well at Titan." "One of the other exciting and comforting aspects of this test flight was to see how good the probe was at stabilizing itself during the descent when atmospheric turbulences disturbed the fall, thanks to its special parachute design. We can then confidently expect we will have a flawless drop through Titans atmosphere in early 2005," says Enrico Flamini, ASI Project Manager for Huygens, responsible for this test campaign. The scientists are now considering a final drop during 2004 over Antarctica. This location is the one on Earth that best resembles Titan's atmospheric conditions, in terms of pressure, electrical properties, and temperatures. Titan's temperatures can drop to about minus 180°C! Read the original article at http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMWNPYO4HD_index_0.html. ________________________________________________________________________ NASA TO HOST ANNUAL PLANETARY SCIENCES MEETING NASA/ARC release 03-66AR 28 August 2003 The origin of planets, the role of impacts on Mars' weather, Jupiter's atmosphere and recent results from the Mars Odyssey mission will be some of the topics that will be discussed at this year's American Astronomical Society/Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) meeting, hosted by NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. More than 500 planetary scientists will discuss the latest information technology, astrobiology and space science research results. The meeting will be held at the Doubletree Hotel and Monterey Conference Center in Monterey, CA. General topics will include new findings about Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter's moon Europa, asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt objects and extra-solar planets. Kuiper Belt objects are icy remnants left over from the formation of planets in our solar system. "NASA Ames Research Center's Space Sciences Division is pleased to host this year's 35th annual DPS meeting," said Dr. Ted Roush, DPS local organizing chairman and a planetary scientist at Ames. On Tuesday, September 2, NASA Ames Director G. Scott Hubbard will deliver opening remarks at 8:30 AM PDT. As the plenary session continues, guest speakers Dr. David Des Marais and Dr. Chris McKay, both of Ames, will speak about the climate and atmosphere of early Mars and early Earth. On Wednesday, September 3, at the 8:30 AM PDT plenary session, Dr. Phil Christensen of Arizona State University and Dr. William Boynton of the University of Arizona will discuss life science experiment results of the Mars Odyssey mission. At noon, Dr. Tony Colaprete of Ames will take part in a news conference discussing the modeling of torrential rains and floods following martian meteor impacts, some 4 billion years ago. On Thursday, September 5, at the plenary session at 8:30 AM PDT, scientists from the California Institute of Technology and the Southwest Research Institute will discuss the Kuiper Belt. On Saturday, September 6, at the 8:30 AM PDT plenary session, researchers from Ames and the University of California, Santa Cruz will explore the formation and evolution of extra-solar planets. Each day's plenary sessions will be held from 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM PDT. News conferences will be held from noon to 1:00 PM PDT, Wednesday through Saturday. For details of news conference and plenary topics or a meeting agenda and schedule, please visit http://dps03.arc.nasa.gov/. Hard copy news releases will be available at the meeting. News releases are embargoed for publication until they are presented at the meeting. The Doubletree Hotel is located at 2 Portola Plaza, Monterey, CA. Telephone: 831/649-4511. For further information and directions, please visit http://www.doubletreemonterey.com. In addition to the daytime sessions, on Friday, September 5 at 7:00 PM PDT, The Planetary Society will sponsor a free public lecture in the Steinbeck Forum of the Monterey Conference Center. Featured speakers will be Dr. Marcia McNutt, director, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and Dr. David Stevenson, a professor of planetary sciences at the California Institute of Technology. They will discuss "Oceans Here and Abroad." There are 300 free tickets available to the public on a first come, first served basis, starting on Friday, September 5 at 6:00 PM PDT. For information, contact The Planetary Society at 626/793-5100 or visit http://www.planetary.org/. Contacts: John Bluck/Kathleen Burton NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Phone: 650-604-5026, 650-604-1731 or -9000 E-mail: Kathleen.M.Burton@nasa.gov ________________________________________________________________________ 35TH LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE, FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT LPI release 28 August 2003 35th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 15-19, 2004, League City, Texas Conveners: Dr. Stephen Mackwell, Lunar and Planetary Institute Dr. Eileen Stansbery, NASA Johnson Space Center Sponsored by: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lunar and Planetary Institute NASA Johnson Space Center We are pleased to invite your participation in the 35th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference to be held at the South Shore Resort and Conference Center in League City, Texas, March 15-19, 2004. This conference brings together international specialists in petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, geology, and astronomy to present the latest results of research in planetary science. Special sessions You are encouraged to submit ideas and suggestions for plenary or special sessions to Mary Cloud (cloud@lpi.usra.edu) by October 10, 2003, so they can be considered, planned, and publicized. Organizers of these sessions should be prepared to serve on the Program Committee, or to have a fully empowered delegate serve on the Program Committee, if requested by the Conference Chairs. Authors of invited talks for special sessions must meet the same deadline for abstracts as authors of contributed papers (see below). Organizers who wish to have invited talks represented in the conference abstract volume should make the invited speakers aware of the deadline restrictions when inviting their presentation. Meeting format Participants may indicate a preference for oral, poster, or print-only presentation. The Program Committee will make all decisions on the mode of presentation to ensure a balance of as many important new research results as possible. Selection criteria will be based on the relevance of the subject matter to the conference and the quality of the science. The 4.5-day conference will be organized by topical symposia and problem-oriented sessions. Abstract deadline To allow sufficient time and personnel to prepare for the program committee meeting, we will have TWO separate deadlines for electronic submission of abstracts. The deadline for electronically submitting abstracts in PDF format will be 5:00 PM (CST) Tuesday, January 13, 2004. Authors who are unable to produce PDF files must submit their abstracts electronically by 5:00 PM (CST) Tuesday, January 6, 2004. Authors who are unable to submit electronically will have to request special instructions (phone: 281-486-2142; fax: 281-486-2125; e-mail: publish@lpi.usra.edu). Hard-copy submissions will be due at the LPI no later than January 6, 2004. Non-PDF submissions or hard-copy submissions that arrive after January 6, 2004, will not be considered for the conference. Detailed information regarding abstract preparation and submission will be available via the meeting Web page and will be included in the second announcement, to be posted on the conference Web site by the middle of November. Submission restrictions There will again be a limit of TWO abstracts per first author for oral or poster presentation requests. If you submit two abstracts, you will be asked to rank them in order of preference. As was the rule last year, print-only abstracts will be allowed, but only from those authors who are not submitting an abstract for oral or poster presentation. In other words, if you're requesting a print-only abstract, you cannot submit an abstract for any other type of presentation. Authors are limited to one print-only request. The program committee will strictly enforce the above policies. Abstracts submitted in violation of these policies will be rejected. The only exception will be for those who are invited to give a talk at a special session (e.g., the Masursky Lecture, or a special topical session). Those abstracts will not be counted against authors as one of the two abstracts they are allowed to submit. Future announcements More detailed information will be available in future announcements posted at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2004/lpsc2004.1st.html. To be added to the mailing list to receive electronic reminders or special announcements via e-mail, please return the electronic Indication of Interest form by October 24, 2003. (It is important that you provide us with a valid e-mail address.) Contact information For further information regarding conference logistics, contact: Mary Cloud Phone: 281-486-2143 Fax: 281-486-2125 E-mail: cloud@lpi.usra.edu ________________________________________________________________________ NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/astrobiology.html 29 August 2003 Astrobiology and planetary engineering articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles1.html NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2003. Mars, oceans away. Astrobiology Magazine. Terrestrial extreme environments articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles2.html Y. Xu, G. Feller, C. Gerday and N. Glansdorff, 2003. Moritella cold- active dihydrofolate reductase: are there natural limits to optimization of catalytic efficiency at low temperature? Journal of Bacteriology, 185(18):5519-5526. Evolution (biological, chemical and cosmological) articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles5.html Indiana University, 2003. Dune and salt hybrids: genetic super- combinations, extreme life? Astrobiology Magazine. Planetary protection articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles6.html L. Mullen, 2003. Alien infection. Astrobiology Magazine. ________________________________________________________________________ CONTINUING COVERAGE OF THE COLUMBIA DISASTER By David J. Thomas 29 August 2003 The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) released its findings on Tuesday, 26 August 2003. The CAIB's findings and their ramifications have once again increased the amount of news concerning the Columbia tragedy. I have included (below) a non-exhaustive list of links to recent articles on the subject. CAIB full report and excerpts: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_details_030826.html http://www.space.tv/caib-03a.pdf http://spaceflightnow.com/columbia/report/006boardstatement.html http://spaceflightnow.com/columbia/report/009execsumm.html http://spaceflightnow.com/columbia/report/225recommendations.html http://spaceflightnow.com/columbia/report/allfindings.html Other CAIB-related articles: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/nasa_budget_030823.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/bush_caib_030823.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_shortage_030823.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_report_030826.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_timeline_030826.html http://www.space.com/news/nasa_next_030825.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_react_030826.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_crew_030826.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_deal_030828.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_ksc_030828.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_okeefe_030827.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/shuttle-03zb.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030825162939.tsikpfs8.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030826195909.u0uo3dm1.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030826182235.2vhfm58e.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030826181728.8bhixpcf.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030826164832.iz3w6cwz.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030826144110.8dlenfvw.html http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030827190823.mshusvsp.html http://spaceflightnow.com/columbia/report/030826report/ http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/030825sts114/ http://spaceflightnow.com/columbia/report/030826repair/ ________________________________________________________________________ CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 20-27 August 2003 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, August 27. 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 regularly scheduled Backup ALF Injection Loader maintenance, and clearing of the ACS high water marks. Instrument activities included a Cassini Plasma Spectrometer flight software checkout, a Composite Infrared Spectrometer remote sensing pallet heater test, a Magnetometer Subsystem SSR library load test, a Probe mute test, and several Radio and Plasma Wave Science High Frequency Receiver calibrations. August 18 marked the 4-year anniversary of Cassini's Earth flyby. Earth was the third in a four-planet gravity assist trajectory--Venus, Venus, Earth, Jupiter--that has been utilized by the spacecraft to enable it to reach Saturn in July of 2004. A kick-off meeting was held for the C40 cruise sequence. Stripped spacecraft activity sequence files to be used in this process were released to the teams. C40 is the last sequence in the Cassini Space Science Subphase. The next subphase, Approach Science, contains C42, C43, and C44. These will be followed by the first tour sequences beginning with S1. Last week's Live Update Verification and Validation (V&V) activity concluded successfully. Products from that exercise are currently being run in Cassini's Integrated Test Laboratory. This facility allows simulation of exact conditions on board the spacecraft, and enables commands to be tested without any operational risk. Uplink Verification and Validation (V&V) is now concluded. A wrap up review was held covering action items and lessons learned from the Science Operations Plan (SOP) Update, Science and Sequence Update, and Live Update V&V activities. Products were delivered for official input port #1 for Science Operations Plan implementation of tour sequences S01, S02, S03, and S04. The input files for S01 an S02 are currently being merged and will be delivered to ACS for end-to-end pointing analysis. ACS analysis is complete for files from S03 and S04. Last week it was incorrectly reported that RPWS had produced a pre-peer review volume of archive data, and a peer review volume of Gravitational Wave Experiment 1 data for Planetary Data System (PDS) review. The correct statement is that RPWS produced a pre-peer review volume of archive data for the PDS review, and the Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) produced a peer review volume of Gravitational Wave Experiment 1 data for PDS review. Apologies to these instrument teams for last week's incorrect report. As a result of their participation in the recent Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) demonstration, the RSS group has submitted a report to the Cassini Program on support of real-time visibility into events that will occur during SOI. The Navigation Team has released an update to the Cassini Navigation Plan. This version contains the navigation strategy and predictions for approach, SOI, tour, and Huygens probe delivery. Cassini Outreach gave a presentation on the Cassini mission to 40 educators from Astrocamp. In early 2005, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Huygens probe will descend through the cloak of gases surrounding Titan, Saturn's largest and most mysterious moon. An Italian-led team of European scientists and engineers has ingeniously tackled the challenges of testing the reliability, behavior, and response of some of the probe's instruments in actual operation--not simulations. Scientists gathered at the Italian Space Agency's Trapani balloon-launch facility in Sicily to launch a 500-kilogram gondola carrying the mock-up Huygens space probe. A helium balloon that fully inflated to a diameter of 100 meters at its maximum altitude raised the gondola to a height of 33 kilometers, at which point a release mechanism opened and dropped the probe. The on-board parachute deployed to slow the probe's fall from 40 meters per second to just 4 meters per second. At that speed, the probe floated gently back to Earth, taking about 30 minutes to complete its journey beneath the ten-meter-wide parachute. This parachute was designed to provide a fall speed very close to the one expected at Titan. For more information link to ESA News (http://www.esa.int). Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. ________________________________________________________________________ MARS EXPRESS STATUS REPORT ESA release 25 August 2003 Now in interplanetary cruise more than 20 million kilometers from Earth, the Mars Express spacecraft platform subsystems (thermal, power, attitude and orbit control, on-board data handling) continue to behave in a nominal manner. Near-Earth spacecraft commissioning has been successfully completed, and spacecraft activities are now focusing on the preparations for lander ejection and Mars Orbit Insertion. Analysis of the power situation at Mars and the impact on both the recently selected orbit and the payload operations is being assessed. Near-Earth payload commissioning, including the Beagle-2 lander checkout, was successfully completed in July. The Interplanetary Cruise payload checkout is under preparation by the scientific and operations teams. ________________________________________________________________________ MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES NASA/JPL/MSSS release 21-27 August 2003 The following new images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available. Daedalia Planum Wind Streaks (Released 21 August 2003) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/08/21/index.html Banded Terrain in East Hellas (Released 22 August 2003) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/08/22/index.html Crater and Wind Streak (Released 23 August 2003) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/08/23/index.html Hephaestus Fossae (Released 24 August 2003) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/08/24/index.html Crumbled Mesa (Released 25 August 2003) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/08/25/index.html Summertime Dust Devil (Released 26 August 2003) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/08/26/index.html Cerberus Fossae Trough (Released 27 August 2003) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/08/27/index.html All of the Mars Global Surveyor images are archived at http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/index.html. Mars Global Surveyor was launched in November 1996 and has been in Mars orbit since September 1997. It began its primary mapping mission on March 8, 1999. Mars Global Surveyor is the first mission in a long-term program of Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program that is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. ________________________________________________________________________ MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES NASA/JPL/ASU release 25-29 August 2003 Cross-Cutting Relationships (Released 25 August 2003) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20030825a.html Sirenum Fossae (Released 26 August 2003) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20030826a.html Alpine glaciers (Released 27 August 2003) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20030827a.html Upside-down craters (Released 28 August 2003) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20030828a.html Thaumasia Crater (Released 29 August 2003) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20030829a.html All of the THEMIS images are archived at http://themis.la.asu.edu/latest.html. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. ________________________________________________________________________ End Marsbugs, Volume 10, Number 34.