Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 11, Number 13, 23 March 2004 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. Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by the editor or by Lyon College. 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 at http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs. 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. __________________________________________________________________________ Articles and News 1) CREATURE FEATURES: FOSSIL HUNTING ON MARS By Leonard David 2) SURVIVING WITH--AND WITHOUT--OXYGEN: AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER CHYBA By Henry Bortman 3) PAUL G. ALLEN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION FUNDS NEXT PHASE IN CONSTRUCTION OF THE WORLD'S NEWEST RADIO TELESCOPE ARRAY SETI Institute release 4) FROM LAVA LAKES ON JUPITER'S MOON, IO, COME IDEAS ABOUT WHAT EARTH MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE AS A NEWBORN PLANET University at Buffalo release 5) ASTEROID SCARE PROMPTS NASA TO FORMALIZE RESPONSE By Robert Roy Britt 6) OCEANS' ACIDITY INFLUENCES EARLY CARBON DIOXIDE AND TEMPERATURE LINK ESTIMATES Pennsylvania State University release 7) ANTIFREEZE IN COMET HALE-BOPP Paris Observatory release Announcements 8) NASA ANNOUNCES NEW MARS INTERACTIVE WEB FEATURE NASA release 04-097 9) NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas Mission Reports 10) CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 11) MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATES NASA/JPL releases 12) MARS EXPRESS: WATER AT MARTIAN SOUTH POLE ESA release 13) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES NASA/JPL/MSSS release 14) MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES NASA/JPL/ASU release 15) STARDUST: COMPOSITE AND STEREO IMAGES OF COMET WILD 2 NASA/JPL release __________________________________________________________________________ CREATURE FEATURES: FOSSIL HUNTING ON MARS By Leonard David From Space.com 16 March 2004 Those on-the-prowl Mars robots--Spirit and Opportunity--are sending back extraordinary images and science data about the red planet and its history of climate and water. Both rovers have found evidence of water at their respective landing sites. But the question remains open as to whether Mars was, or is today, a planet capable of supporting life. The tell-tale clues of water left behind hint that some spots on Mars did have a persistent wet look that might have been sociable to extraterrestrial creatures. While Mars scientists have their eyes focused on finding tiny microbes, the question remains: just how far along could martian biology, if any, have evolved? Yet answering this question is a difficult task to answer robotically and it might take rock-splitting fossil hunters, hammer in hand, to chronicle the true life on Mars saga. Read the full article at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_fossils_040316.html. __________________________________________________________________________ SURVIVING WITH--AND WITHOUT--OXYGEN: AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER CHYBA By Henry Bortman From Astrobiology Magazine 17 March 2004 Christopher Chyba is the principal investigator for The SETI Institute lead team of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Chyba formerly headed the SETI Institute's Center for the Study of Life in the Universe. His NAI team is pursuing a wide range of research activities, looking at both life's beginnings on Earth and the possibility of life on other worlds. Astrobiology Magazine's managing editor, Henry Bortman, spoke recently with Chyba about several of his team's projects that will explore the origin and significance of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Astrobiology Magazine: Many of the projects that members of your team will be working on have to do with oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Today oxygen is a significant component of the air we breathe. But on early Earth, there was very little oxygen in the atmosphere. There is a great deal of debate about just how and when the planet's atmosphere became oxygenated. Can you explain how your team's research will approach this question? Christopher Chyba: The usual story, with which you're probably familiar, is that after oxygenic photosynthesis evolved, there was then a huge biological source of oxygen on early Earth. That's the usual view. It may be right, and what's usually the case in these kinds of arguments is not whether one effect is right or not. Probably many effects were active. It's a question of what was the dominant effect, or whether there were several effects of comparable importance. SETI Institute researcher Friedemann Freund has a completely non- biological hypothesis about the rise of oxygen, which has some experimental support from laboratory work that he's done. The hypothesis is that, when rocks solidify from magma, they incorporate small amounts of water. Cooling and subsequent reactions leads to the production of peroxy links (consisting of oxygen and silicon atoms) and molecular hydrogen in the rocks. Then, when the igneous rock is subsequently weathered, the peroxy links produce hydrogen peroxide, which decomposes into water and oxygen. So, if this is right, simply weathering igneous rocks is going to be a source of free oxygen into the atmosphere. And if you look at some of the quantities of oxygen that Friedemann is able to release from rocks in well-controlled situations in his initial experiments, it might be that this was a substantial and significant source of oxygen on early Earth. So even apart from photosynthesis, there might be a kind of natural source of oxygen on any Earth-like world that had igneous activity and liquid water available. This would suggest that the oxidation of the surface might be something that you expect to occur, whether photosynthesis happens early or late. (Of course, the timing of this depends on oxygen sinks as well.) I emphasize that's all a hypothesis, at this point, for much more careful investigation. Friedemann's done only pilot experiments so far. One of the interesting things about Friedemann's idea is that it suggests there might be an important source of oxygen on planets completely independent of biological evolution. So there might be a natural driver towards the oxidation of the surface of a world, with all the ensuing consequences for evolution. Or maybe not. The point is to do the work and find out. Another component of his work, which Friedemann will do with the microbiolologist Lynn Rothschild of NASA Ames Research Center, has to do with this question of whether in environments associated with weathered igneous rocks and the production of oxygen, you could have created micro- environments that would have allowed certain microorganisms living in those environments to have pre-adapted to an oxygen-rich environment. They'll be doing work with microorganisms to try to address that question. AM: Emma Banks will be looking at chemical interactions in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. How does that tie into understanding oxygen on early Earth? CC: Emma's looking at another abiotic way that might be important in oxidizing a world's surface. Emma does chemical computational models, all the way down to the quantum mechanical level. She does them in a number of contexts, but what's relevant to this proposal has to do with haze formation. On Titan--and possibly on the early Earth as well, depending on your model for the atmosphere of the early Earth--there's a polymerization of methane [the combination of methane molecules into larger hydrocarbon-chain molecules] in the upper atmosphere. Titan's atmosphere is several percent methane; almost all the rest of it is molecular nitrogen. It's bombarded with ultraviolet light from the sun. It's also bombarded with charged particles from Saturn's magnetosphere. The effect of that, acting on the methane, CH4, is to break the methane up and polymerize it into longer- chain hydrocarbons. If you start polymerizing methane into longer and longer carbon chains, each time you add another carbon onto the chain, you've got to get rid of some hydrogen. For example, to go from CH4 (methane) to C2H6, (ethane) you have to get rid of two hydrogens. Hydrogen is an extremely light atom. Even if it makes H2, that's an extremely light molecule, and that molecule's lost off the top of Titan's atmosphere, just as it's lost off the top of the Earth's atmosphere. If you bleed hydrogen off the top of your atmosphere, the net effect is to oxidize the surface. So it's another way that gives you a net oxidation of a world's surface. Emma's interested in this primarily with respect to what takes place on Titan. But it's also potentially relevant as a kind of global oxidizing mechanism for the early Earth. And, bringing nitrogen into the picture, she's interested in the potential production of amino acids out of these conditions. AM: One of the mysteries about early life on Earth is how it survived the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation before there was enough oxygen in the atmosphere to provide an ozone shield. Janice Bishop, Nathalie Cabrol and Edmond Grin, all of whom are with the SETI Institute, are exploring some of these strategies. CC: And there are a lot of potential strategies there. One is just being deep enough below the surface, whether you're talking about the land or the sea, to be completely shielded. Another is to be shielded by minerals within the water itself. Janice and Lynn Rothschild are working on a project that is examining the role of ferric oxide minerals in water as a kind of UV shield. In the absence of oxygen the iron in water would be present as ferric oxide. (When you have more oxygen, the iron oxidizes further; it becomes ferrous and drops out.) Ferric oxide could potentially have played the role of an ultraviolet shield in the early oceans, or in early ponds or lakes. To investigate how good it is as a potential UV shield, there are some measurements you might want to make, including measurements in natural environments, such as in Yellowstone. And once again there's a microbiological component to the work, with Lynn's involvement. This is related to the project that Nathalie Cabrol and Edmond Grin are pursuing, from a different perspective. Nathalie and Edmond are very interested in Mars. They are both on the Mars Exploration Rover science team. In addition to their Mars work, Nathalie and Edmond explore environments on Earth as Mars analog sites. One of their topics of investigation is strategies for survival in high-UV environments. There's a lake six kilometers high on Licancabur (a dormant volcano in the Andes). We now know there's microscopic life in that lake. And we'd like to know what are its strategies for surviving in the high-UV environment there? And that's a different, very empirical way of getting at this question of how life survived in the high-UV environment that existed on early Earth. These four projects are all coupled, because they have to do with the rise of oxygen on early Earth, how organisms survived before there was substantial oxygen in the atmosphere, and then, how all this relates to Mars. Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article878.html. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/origin_oxygen_earth.html. __________________________________________________________________________ PAUL G. ALLEN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION FUNDS NEXT PHASE IN CONSTRUCTION OF THE WORLD'S NEWEST RADIO TELESCOPE ARRAY SETI Institute release 18 March 2004 Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen has committed $13.5 million to support the construction of the first and second phases of the Allen Telescope Array (the ATA-32 and ATA-206), the world's newest multiple use radio telescope array. The ATA will eventually consist of 350 6.1-meter dishes (ATA-350), when construction is completed late in the decade. The announcement was made today by Thomas Pierson, chief executive officer for the SETI Institute, a leading astrobiology institution with the mission of exploring the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe. The ATA is a partnership between the SETI Institute and the Radio Astronomy Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley (RAL). Today's announcement follows the successful completion of a three-year research and development phase which was originally funded by an $11.5 million gift from the Allen Foundation. The R & D proved that one of the primary advantages of the array design--its scalability--makes it possible for the ATA to conduct scientific investigations as soon as the first 32 dishes are installed. Pierson also announced that the ATA-32 is scheduled to begin conducting scientific investigations by the end of 2004, significantly earlier than the 350 element array can be completed. The ATA will be a general-purpose radio telescope that will provide fundamentally new measurements and insights into the density of the very early universe, the formation of stars, the magnetic fields in the interstellar medium, and a host of other applications of deep interest to astronomers. At the same time, this 21st Century radio telescope will also have the capability to search for possible signals from technologically advanced civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy. "I am very excited to be supporting one of the world's most visionary efforts to seek basic answers to some of the fundamental question about our universe and what other civilizations may exist elsewhere," said Paul G. Allen, primary funder of the ATA. "I am a big proponent of leveraging revolutionary technology and design and applying it to important problems in science. The developments taking place with this new instrument will not only enables us to realize a lot of bang for our research and development buck, but it will also change the landscape of how telescopes will be built in the future. An instrument of this magnitude, which will result in the expansion of our understanding of how the universe was formed, and how it has evolved, and our place therein, is the reason I am the primary supporter of its development, design and construction." Allen's $13.5 million funding, structured as a challenge grant, will allow construction and operation of the first phase of 32-dishes by the end of the year. It will also support construction of the second phase of 174 additional dishes (the ATA-206), which is contingent upon fulfilling the Foundations' challenge grant, in response to which the Institute will raise $16 million in additional support. It is especially thrilling to see the Allen Telescope Array approach its first significant milestone, said SETI Institute CEO Tom Pierson. We are grateful for the additional support from the Allen Foundation that is making this new facility--and further discovery--possible. Mr. Allen and his Foundation have set the bar high. Mr. Allen's support of this worthwhile project, when matched by other supporters of radio astronomy and SETI, will quickly bring this project to fruition. The ATA is the result of a multi-faceted private-public partnership between the SETI Institute and the RAL. It differs in practice, appearance, and cost from traditional radio telescopes currently in use. When completed, the ATA-350 will be among the world's largest and fastest observing instruments. Rather than a single enormous dish or several large dishes, the ATA will be constructed using hundreds of specially produced small dishes. The telescope will incorporate innovative technologies and modern, miniaturized electronics in concert with increasingly affordable computer processing. These new technologies, combined with the ability to conduct continuous observations, will increase SETI search speed by 300 times over previous efforts and simultaneously allow astronomers to conduct complex radio astronomy projects requiring long-term observations. And the instrument will achieve these goals at one-fifth the cost of traditional radio telescopes of comparable collecting area and complexity. In its first phase, the ATA-32 will have more antennas than any of the world's other centimeter-wavelength radio telescopes. The individual antennas will be linked by fiber optics. The fiber, power, and air distribution systems will be installed in ten-antenna "nodes," an efficient way to maintain the cool operating temperature required by the equipment. The ATA-32 will observe in the direction of the galactic anti-center to detect primordial deuterium, study dark matter in nearby dwarf galaxies, generate maps of polyatomic molecules in molecular clouds, and conduct a SETI survey of the inner galaxy. "I am eager to begin observing on the ATA," commented Dr. Jill C. Tarter, ATA project leader and Director of the Center for SETI Research at the Institute. "Conducting observations 24/7 is a dream come true for any astronomer, and it is particularly exciting for the Institute's astronomers, who have been constrained by limited time on other large centimeter wavelength telescopes. Finally, our tools are becoming commensurate with the size of our task." Scientists believe that radio waves, such as those commonly produced by a variety of technologies on Earth and traveling at light-speed through interstellar space, may offer the easiest way to detect evidence of a technologically sophisticated civilization elsewhere in the galaxy. With sufficient collecting area, it is possible to detect signals from a distant technology that are no more powerful than those produced on Earth today. Dr. Leo Blitz, professor of astronomy and director of the Radio Astronomy Laboratory at UC Berkley said, "The ATA will revolutionize radio astronomy, making it possible to provide answers to the two biggest questions in astronomy: How did we get here? Are we alone?" Blitz went on to say, "The ATA's ability to make radio images over large swaths of sky, to make measurements over an unprecedented range of radio wavelengths, and its ability to do several kinds of observations at once, provide a power and flexibility that will allow astronomers to address whole areas of astronomy that are currently inaccessible. Because of the telescope's unique capabilities, I expect that we'll discover things we don't even know are out there." Construction of the ATA is underway at the Hat Creek Observatory, 290 miles northeast of San Francisco on a site operated by the RAL. The Hat Creek Observatory is located in an area that is "radio quiet," thereby reducing the level of interfering signals from man-made sources. For further information or to make a donation to the ATA, please contact The SETI Institute at 650-961-6633 or e-mail: membership@seti.org. Read the original news release at http://www.seti.org/about_us/info_for_media/press_releases/paul_allen_next _phase.html. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/paul_allen_funds_seti.html. __________________________________________________________________________ FROM LAVA LAKES ON JUPITER'S MOON, IO, COME IDEAS ABOUT WHAT EARTH MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE AS A NEWBORN PLANET University at Buffalo release 19 March 2004 Investigations into lava lakes on the surface of Io, the intensely volcanic moon that orbits Jupiter, may provide clues to what Earth looked like in its earliest phases, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "When I look at the data, it becomes startlingly suggestive to me that this may be a window onto the primitive history of Earth," said Tracy K. P. Gregg, Ph.D., assistant professor of geology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences. "When we look at Io, we may be seeing what Earth looked like when it was in its earliest stages, akin to what a newborn baby looks like in the first few seconds following birth," she added. Gregg and Rosaly M. Lopes, Ph.D., research scientist at JPL, gave a presentation about Io's volcano, Loki, on Tuesday (March 16, 2004) at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston. Scientists have been interested in Loki, considered the most powerful volcano in the solar system, because of debate over whether or not it is an active lava lake, where molten lava is in constant contact with a large reservoir of magma stored in the planet's crust. Using models developed to investigate temperature changes on active lava lakes on Earth, Gregg and Lopes have concluded that Loki behaves quite differently from terrestrial lava lakes. Gregg suggests that Loki and other lava lakes on Io might be more similar volcanologically to fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges on Earth, like the Southern East Pacific Rise. According to Gregg, plate tectonics on Earth make these features long--as in thousands of kilometers--and narrow--as in less than 10 kilometers wide. Io, on the other hand, has no plate tectonics and a similar release of heat and magma would be circular, like Loki. "These lava lakes could be an Ionian version of mid-ocean ridges," functioning the way these ridges do on Earth, spilling huge amounts of lava on its surface, thus generating new crust, she said. During the most intense periods of its eruption cycle, Gregg said, Loki churns out about 1,000 square meters of lava--about the size of a soccer field--per second. "All planets start out hot and spend their 'lifetimes' trying to get cold," explained Gregg. This effort by planets to "chill," she explained, is an attempt to attain a similar temperature to that of outer space, which is 4 Kelvin, or minus 269 degrees Celsius. On Earth, she explained, the shifting of the planet's tectonic plates, which focus the eruption of volcanoes at their boundaries, function to cool down the planet's surface. Io never developed plate tectonics because it is stuck in an incessant orbit between Jupiter and Europa, another of the Jovian planet's moons. "Io just never grew up," she said, "since it's continually being pushed around by Jupiter and Europa." But, she added, Earth only developed plate tectonics after it had been in existence for perhaps 200 to 500 million years. Gregg and Lopes analyzed data obtained by the Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter for 14 years, finally disintegrating in Jupiter's atmosphere last fall. The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. Contact: Ellen Goldbaum Phone: 716-645-5000 ext 1415 Fax: 716-645-3765 E-mail: goldbaum@buffalo.edu Read the original news release at http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast- execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=66290009. Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article883.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/jupiter-io-04a.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/io_early_earth.html __________________________________________________________________________ ASTEROID SCARE PROMPTS NASA TO FORMALIZE RESPONSE By Robert Roy Britt From Space.com 22 March 2004 An asteroid flew past Earth last week so close that it nearly entered an orbital halo where weather satellites roam. Scientists spotted it March 15 and watched it zoom by just three days later. It posed no threat, but there are hundreds of thousands more where that one came from. And while asteroid 2004 FH, as it is known, was watched calmly by astronomers, a more frightening scenario unfolded two months earlier. An unprecedented asteroid scare in January had astronomers worried for a few hours over a rock that had a 1-in-4 chance of hitting Earth during the next few days. At the time, some of the scientists were unsure who should be notified. The event has prompted NASA to set up a formal process for notifying top officials in the future of any impending impacts, SPACE.com has learned. Read the full article at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/asteroid_warning_040322.html. __________________________________________________________________________ OCEANS' ACIDITY INFLUENCES EARLY CARBON DIOXIDE AND TEMPERATURE LINK ESTIMATES Pennsylvania State University release 22 March 2004 An international team of geoscientists believes that carbon dioxide, and not changes in cosmic ray intensity, was the factor controlling ancient global temperatures. The new findings resulted from the researchers' inclusion of the ocean's changing acidity in their calculations. "Reviewing the geologic records of carbon dioxide and glaciations, we found that carbon dioxide was low during periods of long-lived and widespread continental glaciations and high during other, warmer periods," says Dana L. Royer, research associate in geosciences at Penn State. "Previous suggestions that cosmic ray flux correlated better with ancient temperatures than carbon dioxides do not appear true. While cosmic ray flux may be of some climatic significance, it is likely of second-order importance on a multimillion year timescale." The researchers looked at climate changes that occurred over the past 570 million years. A direct record of global temperature and carbon dioxide exists for the past 100 years and ice cores provide carbon dioxide information for the past 400,000 years. However, for the remainder of the years, there are no direct measurements. "A close correspondence between carbon dioxide and temperature has generally been found for the past 570 million years," says Royer. Scientists typically use proxies to determine carbon dioxide and temperatures in the distant past. Oxygen isotope ratios in shallow marine carbonate fossils were used by some researchers to determine surface water temperatures, and this indicated that carbon dioxide and temperature were not correlated, but that cosmic ray fluxes were correlated to temperature. Other proxies can determine carbon dioxide concentrations in both the atmosphere and the oceans. Royer, working with Robert A. Berner, The Alan M. Bateman professor of geology and geophysics, Yale University; Isabel P. Montanez, professor of geology, University of California Davis; Neil J. Tabor, research associate, Southern Methodist University; and David J. Beerling, professor of animal and plant sciences, University of Sheffield, U.K., compared the results of a variety of carbon dioxide proxies to a model, GEOCARB III, that predicts carbon dioxide over time by tracking carbon entering and leaving the atmosphere. "Proxy estimates of paleo carbon dioxide agree, within modeling errors with GEOCARB model results," the researchers reported in the March issue of GSA Today. The researchers also found good correlation between low levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the presence of extensive continental glaciations. However, the proxy for temperature obtained from shallow oceanic carbonate deposits did not correlate well with the other temperature proxies or the carbon dioxide estimates. "The acidity of the oceans changes depending on the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the amounts of calcium and calcium carbonate in the water," says Royer. "When corrected for acidity, the temperature curve matches the glacial record much better." The researchers applied correction factors for changes in acidity due to changes in carbon dioxide alone, changes in calcium ions in the water and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and also for changes in calcium ions, carbon dioxide and calcium carbonate saturation of the water. The corrected temperature curves correctly predicted two major glaciations, one around 300 million years ago and one 30 million years ago. The cosmic ray flux does predict these glaciations, but also predicts cold temperatures when there is no evidence for ice. "The global temperatures inferred from the cosmic ray flux model do not correlate with the temperature record determined from oxygen isotopes in shallow marine carbonate fossils, when these estimates were corrected for past changes in oceanic acidity," says the Penn State researcher. The U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation supported this research. Read the original news release at http://live.psu.edu/story/6011. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oceans-04f.html. __________________________________________________________________________ ANTIFREEZE IN COMET HALE-BOPP Paris Observatory release 22 March 2004 From the analysis of archive spectra, some astronomers from Paris Observatory and their collaborators have discovered ethylene glycol in comet Hale-Bopp. This is the most complex organic molecule identified to date in a comet. The apparition of comet Hale-Bopp in 1997, an exceptionally bright comet, was an opportunity to discover many new cometary molecules, from radio and infrared spectroscopic observations. A further study of its radio spectra just resulted in the identification of another molecule, ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol, whose chemical formula is HOCH2CH2OH, is a diol (i.e., this molecule has two alcohol functions). It is commonly used as antifreeze in coolant fluids for car engines. It was recently identified in interstellar clouds in the Galactic Center. Ethylene glycol was identified from about ten lines in spectra of comet Hale-Bopp observed in spring 1997 with the radio telescopes of the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM) (30-m radio telescope in Spain and Plateau de Bure interferometer in the French Alps) and the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) (10-m radio telescope at Hawaii). From the same set of spectra, seven new molecules were previously identified, including formic acid (HCOOH), formamide (NH2CHO), methyl formate (HCOOCH3) and acetaldehyde (CH3CHO). The identification of ethylene glycol was possible only after the frequencies of the radio lines of this molecule were accurately known, from laboratory measurements and theoretical modelling. With ten atoms, ethylene glycol is now the most complex molecule identified in cometary atmospheres. Indeed, the space exploration of Halley's comet indicated the presence of complex molecules composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, especially in the organic mantles coating cometary dust particles. But their very nature could not be precised. Observations show that there are almost three molecules of ethylene glycol for one thousand molecules of water. Among organic molecules made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, ethylene glycol is the most abundant after methyl alcohol (CH3OH) and formaldehyde (H2CO). This suggests that still more complex species could be present in a significant amount. This discovery [supports] the analogy between interstellar matter and cometary material, which could have formed following similar processes. Ethylene glycol and all other cometary molecules are indeed present in interstellar ices or in the hot molecular cores of interstellar clouds. When impacting the early Earth at a sustained rate, comets could have brought many constituents: part of the oceans' water, but also complex organic molecules, whose presence in comets is attested by ethylene glycol. This seeding could have played a crucial role in the origin of life. Additional information concerning organic compounds in comet Hale-Bopp is available at http://www.obspm.fr/actual/nouvelle/comet00.en.shtml. Read the original news release at http://www.obspm.fr/actual/nouvelle/mar04/glycol.en.shtml. __________________________________________________________________________ NASA ANNOUNCES NEW MARS INTERACTIVE WEB FEATURE NASA release 04-097 22 March 2004 NASA's M2K4 Web site launched an interactive program giving any citizen of cyberspace the chance to drive NASA's Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, across the red planet. "This experience gives visitors to NASA's Web site the chance to explore Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum, without having to make the 300-million- mile trek," said Dennis Armstrong, NASA's Kennedy Space Center Public Web Information Manager. "We're hoping users will count on this feature as a great source to find out about Mars Exploration Rover discoveries. A lot of people already have. During the first 10 days of program operation, we received more than 210,000 page views," Armstrong said. The interactive experience is frequently updated with the latest pictures and data from the Mars Rover missions. Drivers of the digital martian duo can examine the same points of interest investigated by the real rovers. M2K4 is a multimedia experience that gives Web users the chance to explore the Mars Exploration Rover missions up close. Interactive features include animations of the mission, martian trivia, and the chance to virtually drive across the surface of Mars. "Interactive features like this are what the NASA Web Portal is all about," said Brian Dunbar, Internet Services Manager in NASA's Office of Public Affairs. "They convey the excitement of exploration to the public and fulfill NASA's mission to inspire the next generation of explorers as only NASA can." "Drive the Mars Rovers!" is available on the Internet at http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/m2k4/driverover/frameset.html. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov. Contacts: Brian Dunbar NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC Phone: 202-358-0873 Amber Marek or Dennis Armstrong Kennedy Space Center, FL Phone: 321-867-2468 __________________________________________________________________________ NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/ 23 March 2004 Astrobiology and planetary engineering articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles1.html L. David, 2004. Creature features: fossil hunting on Mars. Space.com. United Press International, 2004. Probing Europa ice will take a new class of plantary exploration tools. SpaceDaily. SETI articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles4.html SETI Institute, 2004. Paul Allen funds next stage of SETI project. Universe Today. Evolution (biological, chemical and cosmological) articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles5.html H. Bortman, 2004. Surviving with--and without--oxygen: an interview with Christopher Chyba. Astrobiology Magazine. Pennsylvania State University, 2004. Oceanic acidity influenced early carbon dioxide estimates. SpaceDaily. United Press International, 2004. DNA tests refute neanderthal ancestry theory for modern humans. SpaceDaily. University at Buffalo, 2004. Io's lava lakes like early Earth? Astrobiology Magazine. Planetary protection articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles6.html R. R. Britt, 2004. Asteroid scare prompts NASA to formalize response. Space.com. __________________________________________________________________________ CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 11-17 March 2004 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Monday, March 15. 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://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=rW- 7O8iQqRRO-3BCLCXxIg. Instruments continue to monitor the solar wind as it approaches Saturn, and to take images that will be used to make approach movies. The Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) continues to obtain data to produce a map of Saturn's magnetosphere. Additional onboard activities include loading of Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument expanded blocks (IEB) and flight software (FSW) version 8.1, loading the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer build 3-4 FSW to the SSR and build 4 FSW to RAM, uplinks of a Cosmic Dust Analyzer parameter update, Probe Mission Timer Unit test mini-sequence, Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI) parameter update, lowering of MIMI collimator voltages and collimator off, uplink of Cassini Plasma Spectrometer commands to power on and perform high voltage sensor testing, and clearing of the ACS high water marks. A series of Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) engineering activities took place this week. They included an Ultra Stable Oscillator (USO) characterization test, a High Gain Antenna (HGA) Boresight Calibration, and a Ka-band Translator recovery attempt. The USO test and Boresight Calibration were nominal except for some unexpected signal strength variation during the boresight activity over DSS-25. All data were successfully acquired. The Ka-band Translator (Kat) has been powered OFF since October 6, 2003. The recovery procedure consisted of sending real- time commands that were timed for execution after the completion of the USO test and Boresight calibration. After the first KaT power ON, the free running signal was observed to be approximately 17.75 MHz above the nominal frequency, which is higher than previously observed "bad regions." The RADAR team successfully tested the Titan A (Ta) encounter Instrument Expanded block. Except for a few missing frames, all data were recovered from the downlink and processed through Level 0 and Level 1A software. A procedure for retrieving the data within 1 hour of the last radar data arriving at the ground worked well; there were no differences between this quickly retrieved data and "final" data three days later. This will be very beneficial during Ta in giving the processing team an additional five hours to work with the data before a press conference compared to the previously planned retrieval procedure. Science Operations Plan (SOP) Implementation for tour sequences S23/S24 wrapped up this week. The sequences have been archived and will be dusted off again in May 2006. The Official Port 1 delivery for S25/S26 was met, and a kick-off meeting was held for SOP Implementation of sequences S27/S28. As part of continuing development of the S01 sequence, a waiver request was approved to open Latch Valves 20 and 30 earlier than usual for TCM-20, a meeting was held to discuss VIMS IEB loads during S01 sequence execution, and five sequence change requests (SCR) were approved at an SCR approval meeting. Tour Science Plan presentation #3 to the flight team was on the Saturn Target Working Team (TWT) plans for tour. These weekly presentations are proving extremely valuable to the flight team in building understanding of activities and events that will begin in the next few months. All teams and offices participated in this month's Cassini Monthly Management review, and in a walkthrough of the presentations to be given at the Tour Operations Readiness Review in early April. An abstract has been submitted on an X-ray measurement of Titan's atmospheric extent from its transit of the Crab Nebula. Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, transited the Crab Nebula on 5 January 2003. This astronomical event was observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. An "occultation shadow'' has clearly been detected and is found to be larger than the diameter of Titan's solid surface. The difference gives a thickness for Titan's atmosphere of 880 km + 60 km. This is the first measurement of Titan's atmospheric extent at X-ray wavelengths. The value measured is consistent with or slightly larger than those estimated from earlier Voyager observations at other wavelengths. For more information go to http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=XNdsc9onxSlO-3BCLCXxIg. Formal Education attended a one-day workshop in conjunction with the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. This workshop was dedicated to examining the challenges and possibilities of building high school and community college science programs using actual data collected on JPL missions. Outreach supported a science fair at Barnhart School in Arcadia, California. Over 100 students in grades 1-6 submitted science fair projects. The latest images taken by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft show clumps seemingly embedded within Saturn's narrow, outermost F ring. The narrow angle camera took the images on February 23, 2004, from a distance of 62.9 million kilometers. The two images taken nearly two hours apart show these clumps as they revolve about the planet. NASA's two Voyager spacecraft that flew past Saturn in 1980 and 1981 were the first to see these clumps. The Voyager data suggest that the clumps change very little and can be tracked as they orbit for 30 days or more. No clump survived from the time of the first Voyager flyby to the Voyager 2 flyby nine months later. For more information go to http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=PZ5WHt_ebNxO-3BCLCXxIg. 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. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/saturn_cassini_blue_filter.html. __________________________________________________________________________ MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATES NASA/JPL releases Mineral in Mars "Berries" Adds to Water Story NASA/JPL release 2004-088, 18 March 2004 A major ingredient in small mineral spheres analyzed by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity furthers understanding of past water at Opportunity's landing site and points to a way of determining whether the vast plains surrounding the site also have a wet history. The spherules, fancifully called blueberries although they are only the size of BBs and more gray than blue, lie embedded in outcrop rocks and scattered over some areas of soil inside the small crater where Opportunity has been working since it landed nearly two months ago. Individual spherules are too small to analyze with the composition-reading tools on the rover. In the past week, those tools were used to examine a group of berries that had accumulated close together in a slight depression atop a rock called "Berry Bowl." The rover's Moessbauer spectrometer, which identifies iron-bearing minerals, found a big difference between the batch of spherules and a "berry-free" area of the underlying rock. "This is the fingerprint of hematite, so we conclude that the major iron- bearing mineral in the berries is hematite," said Daniel Rodionov, a rover science team collaborator from the University of Mainz, Germany. On Earth, hematite with the crystalline grain size indicated in the spherules usually forms in a wet environment. Scientists had previously deduced that the martian spherules are concretions that grew inside water-soaked deposits. Evidence such as interlocking spherules and random distribution within rocks weighs against alternate possibilities for their origin. Discovering hematite in the rocks strengthens this conclusion. It also adds information that the water in the rocks when the spherules were forming carried iron, said Dr. Andrew Knoll, a science team member from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. "The question is whether this will be part of a still larger story," Knoll said at a press briefing today at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. Spherules below the outcrop in the crater apparently weathered out of the outcrop, but Opportunity has also observed plentiful spherules and concentrations of hematite above the outcrop, perhaps weathered out of a higher layer of once-wet deposits. The surrounding plains bear exposed hematite identified from orbit in an area the size of Oklahoma--selected as Opportunity's landing site. "Perhaps the whole floor of Meridiani Planum has a residual layer of blueberries," Knoll suggested. "If that's true, one might guess that a much larger volume of outcrop once existed and was stripped away by erosion through time." Opportunity will spend a few more days in its small crater completing a survey of soil sites there, said Bethany Ehlmann, a science team collaborator from Washington University, St. Louis. One goal of the survey is to assess distribution of the spherules farther from the outcrop. After that, Opportunity will drive out of its crater and head for a much larger crater with a thicker outcrop about 750 meters (half a mile) away. Halfway around Mars, NASA's other Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, has been exploring the rim of the crater nicknamed "Bonneville," which it reached last week. A new color panorama shows "a spectacular view of drift materials on the floor" and other features, said Dr. John Grant, science team member from the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Controllers used Spirit's wheels to scuff away the crusted surface of a wind drift on the rim for comparison with drift material inside the crater. A faint feature at the horizon of the new panorama is the wall of Gusev Crater, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) away, said JPL's Dr. Albert Haldemann, deputy project scientist. The wall rises about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) above Spirit's current location roughly in the middle of Gusev Crater. It had not been seen in earlier Spirit images because of dust, but the air has been clearing and visibility improving, Haldemann said. Controllers have decided not to send Spirit into Bonneville crater. "We didn't see anything compelling enough to take the risk to go down in there," said JPL's Dr. Mark Adler, mission manager. Instead, after a few more days exploring the rim, Spirit will head toward hills to the east informally named "Columbia Hills," which might have exposures of layers from below or above the region's current surface. The main task for both rovers is to explore the areas around their landing sites for evidence in rocks and soils about whether those areas ever had environments that were watery and possibly suitable for sustaining life. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Images and additional information about the project are available from JPL at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov and from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, at http://athena.cornell.edu. NASA Announces Major Mars Rover Finding NASA note N04-044, 22 March 2004 NASA will announce a major scientific finding at a Space Science Update (SSU) Tuesday at 2:00 PM EST, in the headquarters Webb Auditorium, 300 E Street SW, Washington. The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity is exploring the martian Meridiani Planum and recently discovered evidence rocks at the landing site have been altered by water. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe will make opening remarks. SSU panelists: * Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA's Associate Administrator, Office of Space Science * Professor Steve Squyres, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and MER Principal Investigator * Professor John Grotzinger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and a MER Co-investigator * Dr. Dave Rubin, U.S. Geological Survey Sedimentologist at the Pacific Science Center in Santa Cruz, CA * Dr. Jim Garvin, NASA Lead Scientist for Mars and the Moon, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters The SSU will be carried live on NASA TV with two-way question-and-answer capability for reporters covering the event from participating NASA centers. NASA TV is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. For audio only of the broadcast call 321-867-1220/1240/1260. For a live webcast of the briefing and information about NASA TV on the Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. Daily updates on MER activities are available at: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_opportunity.html http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spirit.html Contacts: Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Phone: 818-354-5011 Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC Phone: 202-358-1726 Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article873.html http://www.astrobio.net/news/article884.html http://www.astrobio.net/news/article886.html http://www.astrobio.net/news/article888.html http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/17/creature.features/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/17/mars.drift.ap/index.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/mars_blueberries_040317.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/rovers_speed_040318.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzd.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzze.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzf.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzg.html http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040315pan.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/rover_sees_ufo.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/minerals_martian_spherules.html __________________________________________________________________________ MARS EXPRESS: WATER AT MARTIAN SOUTH POLE ESA release 17 March 2004 Thanks to ESA's Mars Express, we now know that Mars has vast fields of perennial water ice, stretching out from the south pole of the Red Planet. Astronomers have known for years that Mars possessed polar ice caps, but early attempts at chemical analysis suggested only that the northern cap could be composed of water ice, and the southern cap was thought to be carbon dioxide ice. Recent space missions then suggested that the southern ice cap, existing all year round, could be a mixture of water and carbon dioxide. But only with Mars Express have scientists been able to confirm directly for the first time that water ice is present at the south pole too. Mars Express made observations with its OMEGA instrument to measure the amounts of sunlight and heat reflected from the martian polar region. When planetary scientists analyzed the data, it clearly showed that, as well as carbon dioxide ice, water ice was present too. The results showed that hundreds of square kilometers of "permafrost" surround the south pole. Permafrost is water ice, mixed into the soil of Mars, and frozen to the hardness of solid rock by the low martian temperatures. This is the reason why water ice has been hidden from detection until now--because the soil with which it is mixed cannot reflect light easily and so it appears dark. However, OMEGA looked at the surface with infrared eyes and, being sensitive to heat, clearly picked up the signature of water ice. The discovery hints that perhaps there are much larger quantities of water ice all over Mars than previously thought. Using this data, planetary scientists now know that the south polar region of Mars can be split into three separate parts. Part one is the bright polar cap itself, a mixture of 85% highly reflective carbon dioxide ice and 15% water ice. The second part comprises steep slopes known as "scarps", made almost entirely of water ice, that fall away from the polar cap to the surrounding plains. The third part was unexpected and encompasses the vast permafrost fields that stretch for tens of kilometers away from the scarps. The OMEGA observations were made between 18 January and 11 February this year, when it was late summer for the martian southern hemisphere and temperatures would be at their highest. Even so, that is probably only - 130 degrees Celsius and the ice that Mars Express has observed is a permanent feature of this location. During the winter months, scientists expect that carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will freeze onto the poles, making them much larger and covering some of the water ice from view. Mars Express and OMEGA will now continue looking for water ice and minerals across the surface of the planet. In May, another Mars Express instrument, the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS), will begin collecting data, looking for water underground. It will be particularly exciting when MARSIS looks at the south pole because, once planetary scientists know how deep the ice reaches, they will be able to calculate exactly how much water there is. Knowing this is very important to understand how Mars evolved and if it ever harbored life. Read the original news release at http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMYKEX5WRD_0.html. Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article885.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/marsexpress-04h.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mars_express_south_pole_ice.html. __________________________________________________________________________ MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES NASA/JPL/MSSS release 11-17 March 2004 The following new images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available: Layered Rock in West Candor (Released 11 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=iF5fNX7J_vhO-3BCLCXxIg Winter Clouds over Mie (Released 12 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=y3LtN0LwLLRO-3BCLCXxIg Dark Slope Streaks (Released 13 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=977bXD22xW9O-3BCLCXxIg Terby's Layered Rocks (Released 14 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=6gfEleXUGIJO-3BCLCXxIg Crater in Elysium Planitia (Released 15 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=mwcRl0YldzxO-3BCLCXxIg Kaiser Dunes (Released 16 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=HcyCh3CXyoxO-3BCLCXxIg Mid-Latitude Gullies (Released 17 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=BuUHLixubllO-3BCLCXxIg All of the Mars Global Surveyor images are archived at http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=K8qekiu20lFO-3BCLCXxIg. 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 15-19 March 2004 Pinwheel Crater at Night (Released 15 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=cznzhPzfdmZO-3BCLCXxIg Craters in Meridiani (Released 16 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=TFKxkLiXLadO-3BCLCXxIg Exhumed Crater (Released 17 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=wwyB0Np23bhO-3BCLCXxIg Young Channel, Old Crater (Released 18 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=hvlvHsMcb6FO-3BCLCXxIg Typical Crater (Released 19 March 2004) http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=BnE0FddUaAdO-3BCLCXxIg All of the THEMIS images are archived at http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=7VqvhL_LWzVO-3BCLCXxIg. 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. __________________________________________________________________________ STARDUST: COMPOSITE AND STEREO IMAGES OF COMET WILD 2 NASA/JPL release 17 March 2004 On 2 January 2004, NASA's Stardust spacecraft successfully survived flying through the coma (dust and gas cloud) surrounding comet 81P/Wild 2, captured thousands of fresh cometary dust particles released from the surface just hours before, and is now on its way home for Earth return set for January 2006. During the flyby, the highest resolution images ever taken of a comet's nucleus were obtained and have been the subject of intense study since the flyby. A short exposure image showing tremendous surface detail was overlain on a long exposure image taken just 10 seconds later showing jets. "This spectacular composite image shows a surface feature unlike any other planetary surface see to date in our solar system", says Professor Donald Brownlee, the Stardust Principal Investigator from the University of Washington. "Other than our sun, this is currently the most active planetary surface in our solar system, jetting dust and gas streams into space and leaving a trail millions of km long." Two other images are shown as a stereo pair and also as a red/green stereo anaglyph. "The overall shape of the nucleus resembles a thick hamburger patty with a few bites taken out", says Thomas Duxbury, the Stardust Project Manager from JPL. "The surface has significant relief on top of this overall shape that reflects billions of years of resurfacing from crater impacts and out gassing". Preliminary scientific results obtained from the Wild 2 encounter are being presented at the Lunar and planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas by the Stardust science team. Stardust will bring samples of comet dust back to Earth in January 2006 to help answer fundamental questions about the origins of the solar system. Additional information about the mission is available online at http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colorado, built and operates the Stardust spacecraft. The principal investigator is astronomy professor Donald E. Brownlee of the University of Washington in Seattle. Stardust is a part of NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, highly focused science missions. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Read the original news release at http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news97.html. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/stardust_results_040319.html. __________________________________________________________________________ End Marsbugs, Volume 11, Number 13.