Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 12, Number 32, 23 September 2005 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, but individual authors retain the copyright of specific articles. 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) KILLER "TRIPLE BURP" OF METHANE CAUSED MASSIVE GLOBAL WARMING Open University release 2) ADVOCATES OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN WOULD DUMB DOWN STUDENTS By Peter Ward 3) SPACE CYCLE TESTS ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY AS SOLUTION TO MUSCLE LOSS National Space Biomedical Research Institute release 4) DECIPHERING MARS: THE CURRENT DECADE By Jack Farmer 5) ASTEROIDS CAUSED THE EARLY INNER SOLAR SYSTEM CATACLYSM By Lori Stiles 6) MAUNA KEA GIANTS FIND COMMON NURSERY FOR COMETS National Astronomical Observatory of Japan release 7) DEEP IMPACT COMET MAY HAVE FORMED IN GIANT PLANETS REGION NASA/GSFC release 8) BY DESIGN: INTERVIEW WITH BROTHER GUY CONSOLMAGNO From Astrobiology Magazine 9) NASA RELEASES PLANS FOR NEXT GENERATION SPACECRAFT NASA release 05-266 10) THE LIVING WORLDS HYPOTHESIS (INTERVIEW WITH DAVID GRINSPOON) By Leslie Mullen Announcements 11) NASA AMES TO HOST SALLY RIDE SCIENCE FESTIVAL FOR GIRLS NASA/ARC release 05-47AR 12) ASTROBIOLOGY INTERPRETED IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK From the NAI Newsletter 13) NASA INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED CONCEPTS (NIAC) 2005 ANNUAL MEETING From the NAI Newsletter Mission Reports 14) CASSINI UPDATES NASA/JPL releases 15) MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATES NASA/JPL release 16) MARS EXPRESS UPDATES ESA releases 17) MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES NASA/JPL/MSSS releases 18) ORBITER'S LONG LIFE HELPS SCIENTISTS TRACK CHANGES ON MARS NASA/JPL release 2005-152 19) MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER MISSION STATUS NASA/JPL release 2005-146 20) SOLAR FLARE INTERACTS WITH ROSETTA (REPORT FOR PERIOD 26 AUGUST TO 16 SEPTEMBER 2005) ESA release _____________________________________________________________________ KILLER "TRIPLE BURP" OF METHANE CAUSED MASSIVE GLOBAL WARMING Open University release 14 September 2005 Open University researchers have uncovered startling new evidence about an extreme period of a sudden, fatal dose of global warming some 180 million years ago during the time of the dinosaurs. The scientists' findings could provide vital clues about climate change happening today and in the future. The OU Department of Earth Sciences team, PhD student Dave Kemp and supervisors Drs. Angela Coe and Anthony Cohen, along with Dr. Lorenz Schwark of the University of Cologne, discovered evidence suggesting that vast amounts of methane gas were released to the atmosphere in three massive "methane burps" or pulses. The addition of methane, a greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere had a severe impact on the environment, warming Earth about 10°C, and resulting in the extinction of a large number of species on land and in the oceans. Dr. Angela Coe says: "We've known about this event for a few years through earlier work by our team and others, but there's been a great deal of uncertainty about its precise size, duration, and underlying cause. What our present study shows is that this methane release was not just one event, but 3 consecutive pulses. Importantly, our data demonstrate that each individual pulse was very rapid. Also, whilst the methane release was very quick, we've found that the recovery took much longer, occurring over a few hundred thousand years". The methane came from gas hydrate, a frozen mixture of water and methane found in huge quantities on the seabed. This hydrate suddenly melted, allowing the methane to escape. The OU researchers based their findings on geochemical analyses of mudrocks that are preserved along the Yorkshire coast near Whitby, UK, and date from the Jurassic Period of geological time. Dave Kemp, whose PhD is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), says: "The methane was released because slight wobbles in the Earth's orbit periodically bring our planet closer to the Sun, warming the oceans sufficiently to melt the vast reserves of hydrate. We believe that this effect was compounded by warming from greenhouse gases from volcanoes. After the methane was released into the atmosphere from the seabed it reacted rapidly with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is also a powerful greenhouse gas that persists in the atmosphere for many hundreds of years, and it was this gas which caused such a massive global warming effect." Dr. Anthony Cohen adds: "One of the most important aspects of the study is that it provides an accurate timescale for how the Earth, and life, reacted to a sudden increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Today we are releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, primarily through the burning of fossil fuels. It is possible that the rate at which carbon dioxide is being added to the atmosphere now actually outstrips the rate at which it was added 180 million years ago. Given that the effects were so devastating then, it is extremely important to understand the details of past events in order to better comprehend present-day climate change. With this information, we are better informed about what action needs to be taken to mitigate or avoid some of the potential detrimental future effects." Read the original news release at http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/5/2005915_30835_nr.doc. Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1714.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/earth_wobble_burps.html _____________________________________________________________________ ADVOCATES OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN WOULD DUMB DOWN STUDENTS By Peter Ward From the Tacoma News Tribune 14 September 2005 I have a great idea. To improve the scholastic ability of our children, let's teach them that the Earth is flat. And let's be serious about it--really try to convince them the Earth is indeed flat as a pancake, and that all those laws of physics and pictures from space showing a round Earth have been misinterpreted by those arrogant scientists. To really get the point across, let's also tell our kids that hundreds of scientists and politicians support the view that the world is flat--even our president! If any kid questions this wonderful new theory, let's intimidate him or her into line and be sure to let our kids know those who oppose this new hypothesis are godless liberals intent on destroying America, just as U.S. Representative Tom DeLay (R-Texas) blamed the Columbine tragedy on those who teach evolution. Such seems to be the unintelligent approach of the so-called intelligent design movement. I say "so-called" because Stephen Meyer, Jonathan Witt and their cohorts at Seattle's Discovery Institute who make their living peddling this snake oil would have you believe there is a massive groundswell of scientists who have been won over to their cause. Read the full article at http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/insight/story/5100636p- 4645187c.html. _____________________________________________________________________ SPACE CYCLE TESTS ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY AS SOLUTION TO MUSCLE LOSS National Space Biomedical Research Institute release 14 September 2005 A bike-like centrifuge that creates artificial gravity may help astronauts combat muscle atrophy in space. Through a study at the University of California, Irvine, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) is exploring the concept of a Space Cycle for in-flight resistance-training exercise. "Even with onboard exercise, astronauts face the risk of losing muscle mass and function because their muscles are not bearing enough weight, or load," said Dr. Vincent J. Caiozzo, investigator on NSBRI's Muscle Alterations and Atrophy Team. "For exploration, it is important to find ways to increase load-bearing activity so astronauts can maintain strength." Caiozzo's team is researching whether squats executed under artificial gravity conditions greater than or equal to Earth gravity (1g) produce the same kind of muscle responses that occur when a person performs weight training on Earth. With long-term initiatives like the International Space Station and the proposed lunar and Mars missions, the rate of muscle loss in some areas might rise to 25 percent unless measures are taken to confront atrophy. The loss of muscle strength during an extended mission could pose dramatic problems in the event of an emergency situation upon landing. The Space Cycle, a human-powered centrifuge under testing in Caiozzo's lab, generates various levels of artificial gravity ranging from Earth gravity to five times Earth's gravity. The speed of rotation determines the level of gravitational force. Participants ride opposite one another--one on a bike and one on a platform. As one person pedals, the cycle moves in a circular motion around a centralized pole. The motion generates pressure on the rider, forcing him against the seat in a manner similar to the effect of gravity on Earth. On the platform, the other person performs squat exercises. Instruments on the device report the separate work rates of the participants. Caiozzo's team is determining the Space Cycle's effectiveness by comparing the participants' pre- and post- study muscle mass and strength, muscle fiber cross-sections from biopsies, and various cellular and molecular markers of growth. "The novelty of artificial gravity resistance training is that each element of the body is loaded proportionally. Leg muscles can be made to work against high loads without the need for external weights, which is important in light of the limited mass and space available on missions," said Caiozzo, professor in the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery, Physiology and Biophysics at UC Irvine. In collaboration with Caiozzo, UC Irvine researchers Dr. Joyce Keyak and Dr. Jim Hicks are gathering data from the participants to determine whether the Space Cycle is also effective in maintaining bone mass and cardiovascular fitness. "Space Cycle is an artificial gravity exercise gym," Caiozzo said. "The platform can be fitted with a treadmill, bike or any kind of exercise equipment and provides an environment for exercise under normal, Earth-like loading conditions." NSBRI, funded by NASA, is a consortium of institutions studying the health risks related to long-duration space flight. The Institute's research and education projects take place at more than 70 institutions across the United States. Related video and photos are available at http://www.nsbri.org/NewsPublicOut/20050914.html. Read the original news release at http://www.nsbri.org/NewsPublicOut/Release.epl?r=86. _____________________________________________________________________ DECIPHERING MARS: THE CURRENT DECADE By Jack Farmer From Astrobiology Magazine 15 September 2005 I want to review some of the highlights that have come from recent missions, starting with the Mars Global Surveyor mission. I'm going to focus on three instruments: the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), which is a high-resolution camera that maps at about 2 meters per pixel; the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), which has been capable of mapping the surface at a couple of meters' resolution; and the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES), which is a mid-infrared instrument, looking at the mineralogy of the surface. And those instruments have really contributed a lot to advancing our understanding of Mars and have affected a lot the way we're approaching subsequent missions. Images taken by the Mariner and Viking orbiters in the 1970s revealed extensive small-valley networks in the southern highlands of Mars, which we've pointed to for a long time now as potential evidence of water on the surface. With the higher-resolution Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbital Camera, we've been able to see much more detail, including features that look a lot like the canyon lands of northern Arizona. With the Mars Orbiter Camera we're also seeing layered rocks which could be sedimentary, or volcanic. We don't know for sure whether we're looking at original volcanic ash beds, lava flows, or recycled sedimentary materials. But there's layering all over Mars, layered sequences everywhere, which bodes well for anybody who's interested in looking for a sedimentary record, because hiding in there, there probably are sedimentary rocks. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, which mapped the topography of Mars, has revolutionized our understanding of the geomorphology of the surface of Mars. For example, it revealed that the northern plains of Mars are probably the flattest surface in the solar system. The only thing comparable would be the abyssal plains of our ocean floors. Along with that has come the recognition of at least one continuous terrace, a bench that basically encircles the northern plains, which could be an ancient shoreline. This has added fuel to the claim that maybe Mars once had oceans. And this has helped us follow the water in a different way that wasn't expected early on. TES has been mapping the surface in the mid-IR, looking for compositional variations. One of the important discoveries was of coarse-grained hematite at a place called Meridiani Planum. That was a compelling enough finding to convince the community to want to go there with the Mars Exploration Rover mission, and Opportunity rover has been exploring that site for over a year and a half now. With regard to the question of subsurface water we have reasonable evidence that, early on in the history of Mars, water was abundant at the surface, carving channels, accumulating in basins and forming lakes and maybe even oceans. But over time, perhaps as early as 3.8 billion years ago, Mars began to lose its atmosphere. And with that, it lost the capability to sustain liquid water at its surface. If liquid water's around today, it may exist several kilometers below the surface as a global groundwater system. The question is, "How can we begin to address the idea of a subsurface hydrosphere on Mars?" Well, the Mars Global Surveyor, in particular the Mars Orbital Camera, has provided some compelling evidence: images of fluid seeps on the polar-facing slopes at high latitudes. Several years ago, Mike Malin and Ken Edgett first published data on about 140 such sites. There are even more now, and it turns out that the latitudinal distribution has expanded as well. One suggestion was that these seeps could have been sites for the escape of hydrothermal brines, or brines that were really saline and were able to maintain their fluidity, even at low temperatures. Recently, Phil Christensen, of Arizona State University, put on the table the idea that during low-obliquity periods a lot of ice and snow moved to these latitudes, that at the base of those snow accumulations there was the potential for basal melting and that the flow of water beneath the ice packs carved these features. Both hypotheses are still on the table right now, probably along with a few others. We don't know for sure what this is telling us, but one thing it does tell us is that probably there has been liquid water at the surface of Mars very recently in martian history. And where you've got water, you've got the potential for habitability. With the Odyssey mission, we've had another insight, which has come from the Gamma Ray Spectrometer. We've learned that large areas, across broad range of latitudes, show evidence for very high hydrogen concentrations in the upper 35 to 50 centimeters of regolith, implying the presence of either water or hydrated minerals. Probably most of this is ground ice. This is a really exciting find, because during obliquity changes that we know have occurred during martian history, these become potential environments for the melting of surface water, for the formation of habitable zones just beneath the surface. With the European Space Agency's Mars Express, we have the opportunity to advance the geomorphological views of Mars, through the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The HRSC is mapping the whole surface at 15 to 18 meters per pixel, but nested within that it can get resolution as good as 6 to 8 meters per pixel. It also has the OMEGA instrument, a near-IR spectrometer that is now mapping at 100 meters per pixel, and picking up interesting differences in surface composition. One finding was that there seems to be a lot of sulfate distributed around the planet. Mars Express has also detected methane in the martian atmosphere. That has gotten everyone talking about the possibility of organisms in the subsurface. Finally, there is MARSIS, a radar mapping instrument that can penetrate 3 to 5 kilometers below the surface and potentially detect cryosphere-hydrosphere interfaces. The recently launched Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a really exciting mission for us as well, because we're going to get another high-resolution camera, the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment), which will be mapping at a meter per pixel, and the CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars) instrument, which is a near-IR instrument, mapping at 18 meters per pixel. So you can see the potential here for getting not only a lot of astounding geomorphological evidence at high resolution, but also compositional information to lay over that. MRO also is carrying a radar instrument, SHARAD (Shallow Radar), which is going to fill the gap up to shallower depths of 10s of meters down to a kilometer, again looking for these interfaces between the cryosphere and the hydrosphere. We also have landed missions, the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which are asking more specific questions. Because we're on the surface we can better resolve surface composition. We can get much more detailed in our understanding of mineralogy, the potential for organic chemistry, and really begin to pin down past or present environments and their potential for supporting life from the standpoints of water, nutrients and energy. This basic rationale for undertaking surface missions to carry out this kind of definitive mineralogy and geochemistry (including isotopic chemistry and organic surveys), is to create a needed synergy between the orbital data that we've been getting and the ground truth. One bit of synergy that we've been able to achieve is particularly important. Remember the hematite signatures that the TES instrument spotted from orbit in Meridiani Planum, which was a compelling reason to go there in the first place? We've now been able to connect that to surface materials, the hematite blueberries that cover large areas of the plains of Meridiani. There's a whole story with water there, quite complex. We all had hypotheses about what the hematite signature meant initially. None of us got it right. Once we got onto the surface, we really started to get down to the nitty-gritty of what that signature meant. It still means water, but a much more complicated kind of aqueous history than we had expected. The Phoenix mission, which will launch in 2007, is a Scout mission. These are missions that NASA put into the program, cost-capped at about $350 million, that are designed to answer very focused questions, much more focused than the broader programmatic missions. In 2007, we'll launch Phoenix, which is going to include an in-situ volatile- and organic-chemistry lab that's going to analyze frozen soils and ices at a polar landing site. It will be our first attempt since Viking to look at organic chemistry on the surface of Mars. Finally, there's the Mars Science Laboratory, which will launch in 2009. This is going to be the next set of wheels on Mars (Phoenix will be a fixed lander). It's going to carry a diverse payload that will enable definitive chemistry. It will be able to do integrated mineralogy and geochemistry of martian surface materials, and will have advanced capabilities for the analysis of organic matter in rocks, soils and ices. Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1712.html. _____________________________________________________________________ ASTEROIDS CAUSED THE EARLY INNER SOLAR SYSTEM CATACLYSM By Lori Stiles 15 September 2005 University of Arizona and Japanese scientists are convinced that evidence at last settles decades-long arguments about what objects bombarded the early inner solar system in a cataclysm 3.9 billion years ago. Ancient main belt asteroids identical in size to present- day asteroids in the Mars-Jupiter belt--not comets--hammered the inner rocky planets in a unique catastrophe that lasted for a blink of geologic time, anywhere from 20 million to 150 million years, they report in the September 16 issue of Science. However, the objects that have been battering our inner solar system after the so-called Late Heavy Bombardment ended are a distinctly different population, UA Professor Emeritus Robert Strom and colleagues report in the article, "The Origin of Planetary Impactors in the Inner Solar System." After the Late Heavy Bombardment or Lunar Cataclysm period ended, mostly near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) have peppered the terrestrial region. Strom has been studying the size and distribution of craters across solar system surfaces for the past 35 years. He has long suspected that two different projectile populations have been responsible for cratering inner solar system surfaces. But there's been too little data to prove it--until now. Now asteroid surveys conducted by UA's Spacewatch, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Japan's Subaru telescope and the like have amassed fairly complete data on asteroids down to those with diameters of less than a kilometer. Suddenly it has become possible to compare the sizes of asteroids with the sizes of projectiles that blasted craters into surfaces from Mars inward to Mercury. "When we derived the projectile sizes from the cratering record using scaling laws, the ancient and more recent projectile sizes matched the ancient and younger asteroid populations smack on," Strom said. "It's an astonishing fit." "One thing this says is that the present-day size-distribution of asteroids in the asteroid belt was established at least as far back as 4 billion years ago," UA planetary scientist Renu Malhotra, a co- author of the Science paper, said. "Another thing it says is that the mechanism that caused the Late Heavy Bombardment was a gravitational event that swept objects out of the asteroid belt regardless of size." Malhotra discovered in previous research what this mechanism must have been. Near the end of their formation, Jupiter and the other outer gas giant planets swept up planetary debris farther out in the solar system, the Kuiper Belt region. In clearing up dust and pieces leftover from outer solar system planet formation, Jupiter, especially, lost orbital energy and moved inward closer to the sun. That migration greatly enhanced Jupiter's gravitational influence on the asteroid belt, flinging asteroids irrespective of size toward the inner solar system. Evidence that main belt asteroids pummeled the early inner solar system confirms a previously published cosmochemical analysis by UA planetary scientist David A. Kring and colleagues. "The size distribution of impact craters in the ancient highlands of the moon and Mars is a completely independent test of the inner solar system cataclysm and confirms our cosmochemical evidence of an asteroid source," Kring, a co-author of the Science paper, said. Kring was part of a team that earlier used an argon-argon dating technique in analyzing impact melt ages of lunar meteorites--rocks ejected at random from the moon's surface and that landed on Earth after a million or so years in space. They found from the ages of the "clasts," or melted rock fragments, in the breccia meteorites that all of the moon was bombarded 3.9 billion years ago, a true global lunar cataclysm. The Apollo lunar sample analysis said that asteroids account for at least 80 percent of lunar impacts. Comets have played a relatively minor role in inner solar system impacts, Strom, Malhotra and Kring also conclude from their work. Contrary to popular belief, probably no more than 10 percent of Earth's water has come from comets, Strom said. After the Late Heavy Bombardment, terrestrial surfaces were so completely altered that no surface older than 3.9 billion years can be dated using the cratering record. Older rocks and minerals are found on the moon and Earth, but they are fragments of older surfaces that were broken up by impacts, the researchers said. Strom said that if Earth had oceans between 4.4 billion and 4 billion years ago, as other geological evidence suggests, those oceans must have been vaporized by the asteroid impacts during the cataclysm. Kring also has developed a hypothesis that suggests that the impact events during Late Heavy Bombardment generated vast subsurface hydrothermal systems that were critical to the early development of life. He estimated that the inner solar system cataclysm produced more than 20,000 craters between 10 kilometers to 1,000 kilometers in diameter on Earth. Inner solar system cratering dynamics changed dramatically after the Late Heavy Bombardment. From then on, the impact cratering record reflects that most objects hitting inner solar system surfaces have been near-Earth asteroids, smaller asteroids from the main belt that are nudged into terrestrial-crossing orbits by a size-selective phenomenon called the Yarkovsky Effect. The effect has to do with the way asteroids unevenly absorb and re-radiate the sun's energy. Over tens of millions of years, the effect is large enough to push asteroids smaller than 20 kilometers across into the jovian resonances, or gaps, that deliver them to terrestrial-crossing orbits. The smaller the asteroid, the more it is influenced by the Yarkovsky Effect. Planetary geologists have tried counting craters and their size distribution to get absolute ages for surfaces on the planets and moons. "But until we knew the origin of the projectiles, there has been so much uncertainty that I thought it could lead to enormous error," Strom said. "And now I know I'm right. For example, people have based the geologic history of Mars on the heavy bombardment cratering record, and it's wrong because they're using only one cratering curve, not two." Attempts to date outer solar system bodies using the inner solar system cratering record is completely wrong, Strom said. But it should be possible to more accurately date inner solar system surfaces once researchers determine the cratering rate from the near- Earth asteroid bombardment, he added. The authors of the Science paper are Strom, Malhotra and Kring from the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, and Takashi Ito and Fumi Yoshida of National Astronomical Observatory, Tokyo, Japan. Journal reference: R. G. Strom, et al., 2005. The origin of planetary impactors in the inner Solar System. Science, 309(5742):1847-1850, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/309/5742/1847. Contact: Robert Strom Phone: 520-621-2720 E-mail: rstrom@lpl.arizona.edu Renu Malhotra Phone: 520-626-5899 E-mail: renu@lpl.arizona.edu David Kring Phone: 520-621-2024 E-mail: kring@lpl.arizona.edu Lori Stiles University Communications, UA Phone: 520-621-1877 Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1715.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/asteroid-05q.html http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0509/15asteroids/ _____________________________________________________________________ MAUNA KEA GIANTS FIND COMMON NURSERY FOR COMETS National Astronomical Observatory of Japan release 15 September 2005 Coordinated observations of the collision of NASA's Deep Impact mission with comet 9P/Tempel 1 by the Subaru, Gemini and Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea delivered surprising new insights into the ancestry and life-cycles of comets. Specifically, materials beneath the comet's dusty skin shows striking similarities between two families of comets where no relationship had been suspected. When NASA's Deep Impact mission ploughed into comet 9P/Tempel 1 on July 4th of this year, the giant telescopes on Mauna Kea had a unique view of the massive cloud of dust, gas and ice expelled during the collision. A series of coordinated observations, made under ideal conditions by the world's largest collection of big telescopes, delivered surprising new insights into the ancestry and life cycles of comets. Specifically, materials beneath the comet's dusty skin reveal striking similarities between two families of comets where no relationship had been suspected. The observations also allowed scientists to determine the mass of material blasted out by the collision, which is estimated to be as much as 25 fully-loaded tractor trailer-trucks. The findings are based on the composition of rocky dust detected by the Subaru and Gemini 8-meter telescopes and ethane, water and carbon-based organic compounds revealed by the 10-meter W. M. Keck Observatory. The results from these Mauna Kea observations were made available today in a special segment in the journal, Science, highlighting results from the Deep Impact experiment. Comet Tempel 1 was selected for the Deep Impact experiment because it orbits the Sun in a stable orbit that allows its surface to be gently baked with solar radiation. As a result, the comet has an old weathered, protective layer of dust that covers the icy material beneath, much like a snowbank builds up dirt on its surface as it melts in the springtime sunlight. The Deep Impact mission was designed to dig deep beneath this crusty exterior to learn more about the true nature of the comet's dust and ice components. "This comet definitely had something to hide under its veneer of rock and ice and we were ready with the world's biggest telescopes to find out what it was," said Chick Woodward of the University of Minneapolis and part of the Gemini observing team. The combined observations show a complex mix of silicates, water and organic compounds beneath the surface of the comet. These materials are similar to what is seen in another class of comets thought to reside in a distant swarm of pristine bodies called the Oort Cloud. Oort Cloud comets are well preserved fossils in the frozen suburbs of the solar system that have changed little over the billions of years since their formation. When they are occasionally nudged gravitationally toward the Sun they warm up and release a profuse amount of gas and dust on a one-time visit to the inner solar system. Returning comets like Tempel 1 (known as periodic comets) were believed to have formed in a colder nursery distinctly different from the birthplaces of their cousins, the Oort Cloud comets. The evidence for two distinct "family trees" lies in their vastly different orbits and apparent composition. "Now we see that the difference may really be just superficial: only skin deep." said Woodward. "Under the surface, these comets may not be so different after all." This similarity indicates that both types of comets might have shared a birthplace in a region of the forming solar system where temperatures were warm enough to produce the materials observed. "It is now likely that these bodies formed between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune in a common nursery," said Seiji Sugita of the University of Tokyo and Subaru team member. "Another question that the Mauna Kea telescopes were able to address is the amount of mass ejected when the comet was impacted by the chunk of copper about the size of a grand piano from the Deep Impact spacecraft," Sugita commented. At the time of impact the spacecraft was traveling at about 23,000 miles per hour or nearly 37,000 kilometers per hour. Because the spacecraft was unable to study the size of the crater created after it was formed, the high-resolution Mauna Kea observations provided the necessary data to get a firm estimate of the mass ejection, which was about 1000 tons. "To release this amount of material, the comet must have a fairly soft consistency," Sugita said. "The splash from NASA's impact probe freed these materials and we were in the right place to capture them with the biggest telescopes on Earth," said W.M. Keck Director Fred Chaffee. "The close collaboration among Keck, Gemini and Subaru assured that the very best science was done by the best telescopes in the world, demonstrating that the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts." All three of Mauna Kea's largest telescopes observed the comet in the infrared part of the spectrum which is light that can be described as "redder than red." The Deep Impact spacecraft was not designed to observe the comet in the mid-infrared (or thermal infrared) part of the spectrum, which is what Subaru and Gemini were able to do. The Keck observations used a near-infrared, high-resolution spectrograph. Large instruments of this sort would have been impossible to fit on the Deep Impact spacecraft. "These observations give us the best glimpse yet at what's under the dusty skin of a comet," said David Harker who led the Gemini team. "Within an hour of impact, the comet's glow was transformed and we were able to detect a whole host of fine dusty silicates propelled by a sustained gas geyser from under the comet's protective crust. These included a large amount of olivine, similar in composition to what you would find at the beaches below Mauna Kea. This incredible data was really a gift from Mauna Kea!" Instruments that made these observations were: * MICHELLE (Mid-Infrared Echelle Spectrograph/Imager) on the 8-meter Fredrick C. Gillett (Gemini North) Telescope * NIRSPEC (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) on the 10-meter on the Keck II 10-meter telescope * COMICS (COoled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrograph) on the 8-meter Subaru telescope Journal reference: S. Sugita, et al., 2005. Subaru Telescope observations of Deep Impact. Science Express, DOI: 10.1126/science.1119091, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1119091v1. Read the original news release at http://subarutelescope.org/Pressrelease/2005/09/15b/index.html. Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1718.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/comet-05zm.html http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0509/15deepimpact/ http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0509/20deepimpact/ http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mauna_kea_giant_eyes_tempel1. html ____________________________________________________________________ DEEP IMPACT COMET MAY HAVE FORMED IN GIANT PLANETS REGION NASA/GSFC release 19 September 2005 Comet Tempel 1 may have been born in the region of the solar system occupied by Uranus and Neptune today, according to one possibility from an analysis of the comet's debris blasted into space by NASA's Deep Impact mission. If correct, the observation supports a wild scenario for the solar system's youth, where the planets Uranus and Neptune may have traded places and scattered comets to deep space. "Our observation is a definitive investigation revealing the composition of comet Tempel 1," said Dr. Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. Mumma and his team used the powerful Keck telescope on top of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to analyze in great detail light emitted by Tempel 1 gas ejected by the impact. Because each type of atom and molecule emits light at unique colors (frequencies), the team was able to determine the comet's chemical composition by separating its light into its component colors with an instrument called a spectrometer. Mumma is lead author of a paper on this research that appeared in Science Express on September 15, 2005. Comets are chunks of ice and dust that zoom around the solar system in elongated orbits. This "dirty snowball" is the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei are thought to be cosmic leftovers, condensed remains of the gas and dust cloud that formed the solar system. As a comet gets close to the sun, solar heat liberates gas and dust from the nucleus, forming the coma, which is an extensive, bright cloud around the nucleus, and one or more tails. Repeated solar heating can remove materials that have low freezing temperatures from the surface, giving the comet a crust that's different chemically from its interior. This makes it hard to discover a comet's true composition by simply looking at gas that's evaporating from the surface. NASA's Deep Impact mission crashed into comet Tempel 1 July 4, 2005, allowing scientists to test whether material ejected from its protected interior was closer to pristine. By observing Tempel 1 before, during, and after impact, the team was able to distinguish surface gas from the impact debris, and they discovered that the interior does indeed have a different chemistry. "The amount of ethane (C2H6) in the cloud around the comet was significantly higher after impact than before," said Mumma. There are two possible explanations for this. In the first, the surface crust is different from the interior due to solar heating. The interior, however, is all the same. In the second, the interior is a mix of regions with different compositions because the nucleus is actually composed of smaller "mini-comets" (cometesimals), each with a different chemistry. Deep Impact could have just so happened to hit one of these cometesimals, while the gas seen before impact might have came from a different region on the comet with different chemistry. Multiple impacts in different regions of the comet would be necessary to determine which scenario is correct, according to the team. If the first scenario is correct, the comet could have formed in the region now bounded by the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, based on its interior chemistry. Different chemicals get frozen into a comet depending on its location. A comet that forms farther from the sun will have greater amounts of ices with low freezing temperatures, like ethane, than a comet that forms closer to the sun. By measuring the relative amounts of each chemical, astronomers can estimate where a comet formed. Formation in this location supports a theory that the gas giant planets Uranus and Neptune formed closer to the sun than their current locations. The theory, proposed by Dr. Alessandro Morbidelli of the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, Nice, France, and his team, says that gravitational interaction between the gas giant planets and numerous small planets left over from the solar system's formation (planetesimals) brought the giant planets into an unstable orbital configuration. Neptune and Uranus were tossed outward and could have exchanged orbits. As they migrated outward, their gravity disrupted a large disk of comets that had formed in the region where Uranus and Neptune currently reside. Some were scattered into deep space, to a roughly spherical region called the "Oort cloud" that surrounds our solar system at about 10,000 times the earth-sun distance. Others were directed to the Kuiper belt, a region beyond Neptune that extends to several hundred times the Earth-sun distance. If some Kuiper belt comets have similar chemistry to some Oort cloud comets, it would support this model of the solar system's rowdy early days by showing that certain comets had a common origin despite very different final destinations. Tempel 1 shares certain orbital characteristics with the "ecliptic" comets, a group that likely comes from the "scattered" Kuiper belt. "The amount of ethane in Tempel 1, however, is similar to the amount in the dominant group of comets that come from the Oort cloud region," said Mumma. Its chemical similarity to Oort cloud comets supports the idea that some Kuiper belt and Oort cloud comets formed in the same place. This research was funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Research Council. The team includes scientists from NASA Goddard; Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ; University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio; Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD; University of Missouri, Saint Louis; and the W. M. Keck Observatory, Kamuela, Hawaii. Journal reference: M. J. Mumma et al., 2005. Parent volatiles in Comet 9P/Tempel 1: before and after impact. Science Express, DOI: 10.1126/science.1119337, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1119337v1. Read the original news release at http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/press/050919nasa.html. _____________________________________________________________________ BY DESIGN: INTERVIEW WITH BROTHER GUY CONSOLMAGNO From Astrobiology Magazine 19 September 2005 There has always been some conflict between science and religion. One famous example was when Galileo Galilei, by supporting the Copernican notion of the Earth orbiting the sun, was placed under house arrest by the Catholic Church. A more recent example has been seen in American classrooms--when the religious concept of intelligent design was suggested as a viable alternative theory to be taught alongside Darwinian evolution, it left the scientific community up in arms. Astrobiology Magazine had the opportunity to discuss the battle over intelligent design with Brother Guy Consolmagno, a person with a foot in both scientific and religious worlds. As a Jesuit priest and the Vatican's astronomer, he has a unique perspective on what this struggle between science and religion means to society today. Astrobiology Magazine (AM): From your perspective as both a priest and a scientist, what are your views of the recent controversy over intelligent design? Guy Consolmagno (GC): Intelligent design is one of these phrases that means something different to everybody. To part of the world, it's a code phrase for the worst sort of creationism. And to other people, it just means that you can't use science as a way to disprove God. (laughs) Obviously you can't. And you cannot use science to prove God. Science has to start with an assumption. Newtonian physics started with the assumption that everything is due to cause and effect. And, lo and behold, it seems to prove that everything is due to cause and effect. But it's not a proof, it's just recovering your assumption. Quantum theory says everything is chance. And by golly, you can show that according to quantum theory, everything is chance. No, you don't prove it; it's an assumption that allows you to get a handle on the universe. You can say that the universe works the way it does because of a beneficent creator--that's a perfectly reasonable way to start out looking at the universe, but it's no proof. It's your assumption. The trouble is that some people think they can use science to prove God. And that puts science ahead of God; that makes science more powerful than God. That's bad theology. In fact, some philosophers have said that's what led to atheism in the eighteenth century -- the fallacy of the God of the gaps. You say, "I have no idea how this could have happened. It must have been God's design." And then fifty years later, somebody explains how it did happen, and you say, "I don't need God anymore." If your faith is based on science, that's a very shaky kind of faith. My belief in God is not because of something I've seen in science. But I can turn it the other way around and say, "I believe in science because of my faith in God." If you're going to be a scientist, there are three things you have to believe. Number one, the universe really exists--I'm not just a butterfly dreaming I'm a scientist. Two, you have to believe that the universe makes sense. It's not chaotic; there really are underlying laws and we're able to find them. And the third and hardest thing, the most religious of the beliefs, is you have to believe it's worth doing. If your religion says that the goal of life is to meditate above this corrupting universe and reach out to the spiritual, you're not going to be a scientist. There are many great cultures in the East that had tremendous mathematics, philosophy, and ethics, but they never did natural science because they couldn't see the point of spending the time and money on it. The West, with Judaism, Islam and Christianity, accepted the idea of a creator God who looked at the universe and said, "This is good." Christianity even goes as far as to say that God loved the universe so much that he incarnated his only begotten son, as the phrase goes. It doesn't say that God loved people so much that he sent his son, but that God loved the world. If the universe is this good, then it's worth our while to spend the time and money studying it, even if it's not going to get me rich, even if it's not immediately going to give me better crops or fancier Teflon or any of those other excuses. It's the motivation behind why we're all here doing this stuff. It's because we're in love with the truth, it's because we're in love with this physical universe, and our love of the universe is what gives us the courage to spend our lives studying it. So, our science is based on our religion. You can't do it the other way around. AM: One of the ideas behind intelligent design is there might be ideal forms in nature. For instance, an octopus eye and a human eye ending up so similar and yet taking different paths to get there. Do you think this concept of convergence is more in tune with religious thought then other aspects of evolutionary theory? GC: No, I don't think religious thought gives you anything either way. AM: Even though it suggests a Platonic ideal, or God-imposed ideal, that there is a perfect form or design out there? GC: But I'm not convinced of that. Other eyes on some other planet may work in a far different way, and maybe even figured out a better design. We're not in a position to say. AM: You're going to have different forms on different planets, because you're going to have different environmental conditions. GC: Even if the conditions are the same, there could be forms we haven't even imagined. The trouble with this idea of "God's thumbprint" is, first of all, it denies the fact that it's all thumbprint. And so, I don't want to say that this is proof of God, but that over there was just accident. You also don't want to deny human freedom. If you say it's all God's design, then what about evil in the world? Well, you could answer that evil comes out of human freedom. But then what about tsunamis in the world? Where do you draw the line? At some point, God intended things. At some point, God gives the universe freedom to do what it's going to do. There is a line--and I don't know where it is--but if you're going to believe in human freedom and not pre- destination, then you have to believe that there is a huge chunk of the universe that God allows, rather than God controls. AM: Do you mean the idea of the Blind Watchmaker--that God created the universe and just sits back and lets it tick away? GC: I don't even like that analogy, because I think it has had so many accretions to it. I just want to step back and not make any judgments. My religion tells me that God created the universe, and it's worth studying. Now it's up to my science to tell me what it can do. AM: What do you think about the idea that you can have multiple universes with different laws governing them, very much in a Darwinian sort of way, each having evolved from initial conditions? GC: Well it's not very much in a Darwinian sort of way; it's very much in a Thomistic sort of way. Thomas Aquinas speaks about multiple worlds, which is really what multiples universes are. Medieval theologians went over this. And the bottom line is, you're never going to win if you bet God couldn't do something. Scientifically, you have to ask, "What does this theory get me? Where does this take me that I wasn't going to go before?" There is a horizon that we can't see--if you do cosmology, you have to admit to the possibility of things beyond the light-speed horizon. If you're trying to counter the anthropic principle, you can put this up as a counter-example. But frankly the anthropic principle isn't science, it's philosophy, and not particularly interesting philosophy as far as I'm concerned. So I'm not interested in that, one way or another. If there's fun science that comes out of it, then you can treat it as a science. If it's science fiction, treat it as science fiction. That's ok, I like science fiction. I just don't confuse the two. Dr. Consolmagno earned his bachelor of science in 1974 and master of science in 1975 in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona in 1978. From 1978-80 he was a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at the Harvard College Observatory, and from 1980-1983 continued as postdoc and lecturer at MIT. He has also spent several terms as a visiting scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and as a visiting professor at Loyola College, Baltimore, and Loyola University, Chicago. Views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the editorial staff or their sponsors. Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1716.html. _____________________________________________________________________ NASA RELEASES PLANS FOR NEXT GENERATION SPACECRAFT NASA release 05-266 19 September 2005 NASA Administrator Michael Griffin today released the results of the agency's exploration architecture study--a blueprint for the next generation of spacecraft to take humans back to the moon and on to Mars and other destinations. The study makes specific design recommendations for a vehicle to carry crews into space, a family of launch vehicles to take crews to the moon and beyond, and a "lunar mission architecture" for landing on the moon. It also recommends the technologies NASA should pursue in the near term. The study will assist NASA in achieving President Bush's Vision for Space Exploration, which calls for the agency to safely return the space shuttle to flight, complete the International Space Station, return to the moon, and continue exploration of Mars and beyond. America's next generation spacecraft will use an improved, blunt-body crew capsule, and will accommodate up to six people. "This spacecraft and its systems will build upon the foundation of the proven designs and technologies used in the Apollo and space shuttle programs, while having far greater capability," Griffin said. "It will be able to carry larger and heavier cargos into space and allow more people to stay on the moon for longer periods of time." The new spacecraft can be configured either to support human explorers or fly unpiloted to carry cargo. Its design allows the flexibility to ferry crews of three astronauts, plus additional supplies, to and from the International Space Station, take four crew members to lunar orbit, and eventually maintain up to six astronauts on a mission to Mars. Crews and cargo will be carried into orbit by a space shuttle-derived launch system, consisting of a solid rocket booster and an upper stage powered by a shuttle main engine that can lift 25 metric tons. The spacecraft also will be 10 times safer than the space shuttle because of its in-line design and launch-abort system. NASA chose the shuttle-derived option for its launch system due to its superior safety, cost and its availability. Specifically, the space shuttle's main engines and solid rocket boosters are reliable and rated for human space flight. Much of the industrial base and hardware to support this option are already in place, which will significantly lower development costs. Future lunar exploration missions will be supported by a heavy cargo launch vehicle consisting of five space shuttle main engines, and two five-segment shuttle solid-propellant rocket boosters. This combination yields a lift capability of 106 metric tons to low Earth orbit, and 125 metric tons, if it incorporates an Earth-departure stage. Although primarily designed to carry cargo, this system can be human-rated to carry crew into orbit. The study lays out a deliberate, milestone-driven journey to the moon for NASA. Returning to the moon and sustaining a presence there will demonstrate humans can survive on another world, and will build confidence that astronauts can venture still farther into space and stay for longer periods. NASA's return to the moon will open opportunities for fundamental science in astrobiology, lunar geology, exobiology, astronomy and physics. The journey will start with robotic missions between 2008 and 2011 to study, map and learn about the lunar surface. These early missions will help determine lunar landing sites and whether resources, such as oxygen, hydrogen and metals, are available for use in NASA's long-term lunar exploration objectives. All NASA field centers will participate in the new exploration initiative. For more information about the Exploration Systems Architecture Study and its results, visit www.nasa.gov/home. Dean Acosta or Michael Braukus NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC Phone: 202-358-1400 or -1979 Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1719.html http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050919_nasa_plans.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/lunar-05zza.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/lunar-05zzc.html _____________________________________________________________________ THE LIVING WORLDS HYPOTHESIS (INTERVIEW WITH DAVID GRINSPOON) By Leslie Mullen From Astrobiology Magazine 22 September 2005 Saturn's moon Titan is enveloped in a thick orange haze, and the organic particles that make up that smog have been raining out of the atmosphere and down onto the surface for millennia. This rich chemical brew is thought to be ripe for life's origin, similar in some aspects to Earth in its earliest days. Pre-biotic potential aside, a paper recently published in the journal, Astrobiology, by Dirk Schulze-Makuch and David Grinspoon investigates the possibility for organisms to exist on Titan today. Astrobiology Magazine's Leslie Mullen sat down with David Grinspoon to talk about life on Titan, what sort of food they could be dining on, and how they might make their presence known to us. Astrobiology Magazine (AM): You recently published a paper investigating the possibility of life on Titan, based on what we know about the moon today. David Grinspoon (DG): The paper looks at the requirements for life in the most basic sense, and what kind of planets you should look for, and then asks if Titan fits the bill. People have asked that question before, but now that we've had the first Cassini and Huygens results, and Titan's environment is emerging a little more clearly, we thought it would be worth re-examining it. People talk about Titan and astrobiology all the time, but it tends to be Titan as the laboratory for the pre-biotic Earth. It's got nitrogen, it's got organic chemistry. We've known that for a long time, and that was a large part of the motivation for sending these missions, Cassini and Huygens, to examine the pre-biotic chemistry. But people haven't talked much about the idea that something might be living on Titan today. I think mostly because it's so cold there, and chemical reactions just proceed too slowly. But Titan turns out to be an exceedingly active planet. We see evidence for cryovolcanism, and for active meteorology. So there's a lot going on there. There are energy sources, flows, gradients, things changing, and different chemicals coming into contact. I think the most basic requirements for life come down to needing a source of energy of some kind, needing liquids, and needing some basis for complex chemistry. And we conclude that Titan has all three. Obviously it has liquids--if you've got cryovolcanism, you've got liquid reservoirs of water, or water with ammonia antifreeze, near the surface that occasionally is erupting to form those flows. There are also liquid hydrocarbons silting the surface in places. What's really new in our paper is that we go into the question of energy sources. If there's life there, what's it going to eat? What kind of food is there? And it turns out there's abundant food because of all this photochemistry in the upper atmosphere, where methane is being turned into other organic molecules. Some of those organic molecules are very energy-rich, and one that we consider in the paper is acetylene. We know it's being made in the atmosphere, we know it's raining down on the surface, and it's been detected at the surface with the Huygens probe. We calculated that, if acetylene is reacting with the hydrogen gas to turn it back into methane, quite a bit of energy is being released. So that's our basis for saying there is something to eat on Titan. We don't know if there are any customers, but there's something on the menu. AM: So there's acetylene rain from the sky that's produced by the breakdown of methane... DG: By ultraviolet light and also by interactions with Saturn's magnetosphere. There's a lot of energy up there. Then the acetylene is raining down and getting buried. Then, potentially, subsurface organisms use the acetylene, and in the process reconstitute the methane, which is going back up into the atmosphere. That's why we called our paper, "Biologically enhanced energy and carbon cycling on Titan," to give this idea that it's part of a cycle. It potentially solves the problem of why there's methane on Titan when we know it's being destroyed. AM: And the areas of cryovolcanism provide possible havens for life? DG: You've got to think about where are the places where it would be good to live on Titan. You would be overcoming the cold in part if you go to the hot springs. I like hot springs, and I think that Titan organisms would like them too. I think especially at a place like Titan, hot springs are going to be really nice if you're any kind of a carbon-based life form. AM: It seems such a world of extremes, because you have acetylene, which makes me think of acetylene torches that make these intensely hot flames, and then you have this frozen world. It's fire and ice. DG: Acetylene doesn't seem like something you'd want to eat, but on the other hand, the fact that we associate it with acetylene torches is an illustration that there's a lot of energy there. Because Titan is so cold, chemical reactions that we think of as explosive on Earth because they proceed so rapidly might proceed at a moderate pace on Titan. In order to have life, you want to have chemistry that's not so active that everything's just exploding and burning up, but not so unreactive that it's just sitting there. It's got to be within a certain range. And certain kinds of reactions that on Earth might be too active for biochemistry might be just right on Titan where it's colder. AM: There's no life on Earth that uses acetylene? DG: I don't believe there is, but that's not surprising because acetylene is not stable on Earth because of all the oxygen. That combination is explosive, so you don't have acetylene sitting around anywhere. On Titan, there's no free oxygen, so the acetylene could react with hydrogen to create methane. AM: Your paper also mentioned the chemistry of radicals as another possible source of energy on Titan. I know oxygen radicals are thought to be really bad for life on Earth. DG: Radicals are very reactive because they're chemicals that are out of electronic balance; they're missing electrons or they have too many electrons, so they're frantically looking around for anything to react with and in the process they can destroy things. We think of radicals as these things that cause cancer, because when you get them in your cells they'll react with anything. But that very reactivity, if it could be tamed, could be a powerful energy source for biology. One way to tame it might be to exploit it in a cold environment, where the chemistry is going to be much slower. This is separate from the acetylene argument, but we do point out that there are certain kinds of chemistry that could potentially, at the cold temperatures of Titan, proceed at appropriate rates to be good biological energy sources. AM: I get a sense that there's this whole spectrum of processes in biology, and some of them don't quite work right on Earth--they're too dangerous or energetic--but maybe part of that spectrum could work much better on a different world like Titan. DG: Exactly. I think that's the way we need to think, because otherwise we're just projecting our own preferences and our own type of life elsewhere. Then we're always going to look for worlds just like the Earth. Maybe that's the only kind of life out there, but I doubt it. If you think of life in the abstract, as just a controlled chemical reaction that breeds more complexity and then gets to be self-replicating and evolves, then there are probably lots of kinds of life. But you have to think outside the box about what would be the appropriate kinds of chemistry in other environments, and it's harder to do, because you can't just use terrestrial examples. AM: But at the same time, there might be clues within our own terrestrial examples. DG: There might well be, and thinking about this kind of thing is valuable because it forces us to consider which aspects of terrestrial life are likely to be universal, and which are peculiar to our own environment. But ultimately we're not going to find the answers to these questions by theorizing and writing papers and making models, we're going to find the answers by going out there and finding it. Science is fun and interesting and worthwhile, but we'll find the answers through exploration. AM: In searching for life, people often think clues can be found in the isotopes of elements like carbon, since some forms of life on Earth preferentially eat lighter carbon isotopes. But you've said that the isotopic compositions indicative of life are not necessarily going to be the same for Earth and Titan. DG: You've got to be careful there. I think it's likely that life will result in distinct isotopic signatures, and it's one of the kinds of clues that we should be looking for. At the end of our paper, we list some possible biosigns on Titan, and unusual isotopic fractionation is one of them. But we don't know what kinds of isotopic fractionations alien life will make. Also, we don't know what other fractionations are naturally occurring on Titan. Gases escaping from the atmosphere fractionates the carbon, but we don't know how much this process affects the isotopes. The problem is not well enough constrained to rule out life, or to prove life at present. AM: So how does Titan fit in with your idea about living planets? DG: Cassini saw that Titan has all these processes going on, mixing things up and releasing energy. The main point about the living worlds hypothesis, as I call it, is that planets that are geologically and meteorologically alive are much more likely to be biologically alive as well, especially if they have been continuously active throughout their history. An active surface is not a bio- indicator in the sense that it says, "Ah, there's life here." But sometime in the future, when we can do comparative astrobiology and we have lots of worlds with life and others that don't have life, I think we're going to find that the ones with life are all active planets. AM: The phrase "living world" reminds me of something you said before, that "A planet and its life will co-evolve." DG: Well, on Earth they certainly have. It's not just that Earth is a nice place to live and then life is here and isn't it lucky. Life has made Earth the way it is to a large extent. That's the Gaia hypothesis, and the living worlds hypothesis is closely related to the Gaia hypothesis, just trying to generalize it to other planets. AM: So life created Earth just as much as it created us, and therefore you might never find another planet exactly like Earth out there. And then I look at Titan, and I wonder whether life could be intertwined with any of the processes there. DG: I think it's possible. If there is all this energy being released by these powerful chemical reactions, with stuff raining out of the sky like acetylene and other compounds, some of that energy could be going into metabolism, the work that the organisms do to power themselves. Also, some of that energy is going to be waste heat released into the environment, but in a place like Titan, what we think of as waste heat might not be all that wasteful. Organisms can use it to melt their own little watering holes. Then you can even imagine a sort of Gaian mechanism where organisms are helping to create the environment that helps keep the organisms happy. Taken to an extreme, you could imagine that this large-scale melting we see on Titan is the result of organisms. I'm not claiming that we can confirm it, but imagine for an instant that Titan is loaded with organisms. I don't think we can rule this out. So imagine life is all over the place, and acetylene and other compounds are being turned back into methane and heat is being released... well, that could end up melting a lot of stuff. If acetylene is concentrated in certain geologic deposits, which no doubt it will be, maybe there are places where the collective action of that life is melting a lot of stuff and helping to lead to the high degree of activity on the surface. It's pretty "out there" as an idea, but I don't think it's impossible. If you go back to this living worlds hypothesis and look at a planet like Earth, where life has radically altered the planet, one possibility is that life always radically alters its planet. I think it's quite possible that we won't find life on planets that have not been radically altered by life. Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1720.html. Journal reference: D. Shulze-Makuch and D. Grinspoon, 2005. Biologically enhanced energy and carbon cycling on Titan? 5(4):560-564, http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2005.5.560. _____________________________________________________________________ NASA AMES TO HOST SALLY RIDE SCIENCE FESTIVAL FOR GIRLS NASA/ARC release 05-47AR 15 September 2005 Hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area girls, their parents and their teachers will join former NASA astronaut Sally Ride on a journey of scientific discovery in early October. On Sunday, October 2, 2005, the NASA Research Park at NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley, will host the Sally Ride Science Festival. The educational event, designed for girls in grades 5-8, runs from 11:00 AM to 4:15 PM PDT and features an inspirational talk by former astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space; workshops given by female professionals in fields ranging from astrobiology to veterinary medicine; and an interactive street fair with experiments, food and music. Attendees are required to preregister for the event. "It's an honor for Ames to host this exciting festival. We are truly pleased to contribute to Sally's quest to inspire young people, especially young girls, to get involved in science and engineering," said NASA Ames Research Center Director G. Scott Hubbard. "Women make up only 25 percent of the science, engineering and technology workforce," said Ride, founder of Sally Ride Science. "We are delighted to be working with NASA Ames to give Silicon Valley area girls a chance to explore and develop their potential in science at an age when many begin to drift away from their natural interest." The festival is designed to encourage girls and young women to pursue careers in math, science and engineering. Schedule of events 11:00 AM PDT: Interactive Street Fair 1:00 PM PDT: Featured Talk by Sally Ride 2:15 PM PDT: Discovery Workshop 1 3:30 PM PDT: Discovery Workshop 2 Girls will have the opportunity to attend two of the 19 workshops offered. Current workshop offerings include CSI: Silicon Valley; DNA Rules!; A Hands-on Experiment to Isolate DNA from Strawberries; Introduction to Circuits: Where Does the Current Go?; Balloon Rockets and Newton's Third Law; Here Today; Gone to Mars!; Doing NASA Fieldwork in Extreme Environments; How Being a Detective and a Gardener Can Help Us Understand Life on Earth and other Planets; Bottle Rocket Madness!; Space in Your Face: Star Explorers; Flies in Space; and From Asthma to Zits: Biomedical Research Discovery and Cures. Ride founded Sally Ride Science to support the large numbers of girls and young women who are, or might become, interested in science, math and technology. The company creates science experiences for girls that empower them, engage them and encourage their interests. Current programs include Sally Ride Science Festivals, Sally Ride Science Camps, TOYchallenge, and the Sally Ride Science Club. Upcoming Sally Ride Science events include the Delaware Valley Festival on October 9 at West Chester University, West Chester, PA, and the 2006 TOYchallenge. For a detailed schedule of events and more information about the Sally Ride Science Festival at NASA Ames, visit http://www.sallyridefestivals.com/. To preregister for the Sally Ride Science Festival, call 800/561-5161 or visit: http://www.sallyridefestivals.com/05nasaames1002/register.shtml Contacts: Jonas Dino NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Phone: 650-604-5612 or 650-604-9000 E-mail: Jonas.Dino@nasa.gov Toni DiMartino Sally Ride Science Phone: 858/638-0960 E-mail: tonidimartino@hotmail.com _____________________________________________________________________ ASTROBIOLOGY INTERPRETED IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK From the NAI Newsletter 16 September 2005 The NAI NASA Ames Research Center Team has recently completed work on their WaySide Exhibit project with Yellowstone National Park. These exhibits will be located Park-wide at sites that best illustrate the most compelling aspects of astrobiology research in Yellowstone. They will describe how the Park's hydrothermal features are extreme habitats for amazing life forms that may help explain the history our biosphere, and also provide clues to assist our search for life on other planets. Installation of the eight exhibits will begin this month. This project is one aspect of the multi-faceted, long term collaboration the Ames team shares with Yellowstone National Park; they now move on to designing astrobiology exhibits for Yellowstone's new Old Faithful Visitor Education Center. _____________________________________________________________________ NASA INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED CONCEPTS (NIAC) 2005 ANNUAL MEETING From the NAI Newsletter 16 September 2005 The NIAC 7th Annual Meeting will be held at the Omni Interlocken Resort located between Denver and Boulder, Colorado on October 10-11, 2005. Confirmed keynote speakers include Courtney Stadd, Dr. Paul MacCready, and Dr. Fred Adams. NIAC Phase I, Phase II and Student Fellows will present their work. Please register for the meeting by October 3. This is an open meeting with no fee. For more meeting information http://www.niac.usra.edu/. _____________________________________________________________________ CASSINI UPDATES NASA/JPL releases Cassini Radar Images Show Dramatic Shoreline on Titan NASA/JPL release 2005-151, 16 September 2005 Images returned during Cassini's recent flyby of Titan show captivating evidence of what appears to be a large shoreline cutting across the smoggy moon's southern hemisphere. Hints that this area was once wet, or currently has liquid present, are evident. "We've been looking for evidence of oceans or seas on Titan for some time. This radar data is among the most telling evidence so far for a shoreline," said Steve Wall, radar deputy team leader from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. The new radar images can be seen at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The images show what looks like a shoreline dividing a distinct bright and dark region roughly 1,700 kilometers long by 170 kilometers wide (1,060 by 106 miles). Directly to the right of a bright and possibly rough area is one that is very dark and smooth. "This is the area where liquid or a wet surface has most likely been present, now or in the recent past, said Wall. "Titan probably has episodic periods of rainfall or massive seepages of liquid from the ground." The brightness patterns in the dark area indicate that it may once have been flooded with liquid that may now have partially receded. Bay-like features also lead scientists to speculate that the bright- dark boundary is most likely a shoreline. "We also see a network of channels that run across the bright terrain, indicating that fluids, probably liquid hydrocarbons, have flowed across this region," said Dr. Ellen Stofan, Cassini associate radar team member from Proxemy Research, Laytonsville, MD. Taken together with the two other radar passes in October 2004 and February 2005, these very high resolution images have identified at least two distinct types of drainage and channel formation on Titan. Some channels in images from this pass are long and deep, with angular patterns and few tributaries, suggesting that fluids flow over great distances. By contrast, others show channels that form a denser network that might indicate rainfall. Dr. Larry Soderblom with the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, AZ, said, "It looks as though fluid flowed in these channels, cutting deeply into the icy crust of Titan. Some of the channels extend over 100 kilometers (60 miles). Some of them may have been fed by springs, while others are more complicated networks that were likely filled by rainfall." Titan has an environment somewhat similar to that of Earth before biological activity forever altered the composition of Earth's atmosphere. The major difference on Titan, however, is the absence of liquid water, and Titan's very low temperature. With a thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere, Titan was until recently presumed to hold large seas or oceans of liquid methane. Cassini has been in orbit around Saturn for a year and has found no evidence for these large seas. Cassini encountered an anomaly with one of two solid-state recorders during the September 7 close flyby, resulting in some data not being recorded. Half of the data from the flyby was received, much to the delight of anxious scientists. The spacecraft team is troubleshooting the cause, and early indications point to a software problem that would be correctable with no long-term impacts. This was Cassini's eighth out of 45 Titan flybys planned in the nominal four-year tour. The next radar pass will be October 26 when the team will focus on the Huygens probe landing site close to the equator. Cassini Significant Events for 8-14 September 2005 NASA/JPL release, 16 September 2005 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Tuesday, September 14, from the Madrid tracking stations. 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. Thursday, September 8 (DOY 251): All teams and offices supported the Cassini Monthly Management Review. Friday, September 9 (DOY 252): A meeting was held today to determine if Orbit Trim Maneuver (OTM) #32 could be cancelled. It turned out that this maneuver would provide a maximum pointing improvement of only ~8 microradians, or, according to a member of the Spacecraft Operations Office, "It's teeny." Science representatives at the meeting agreed. Other factors discussed included some additional delta-V farther along in the tour if the OTM was cancelled, around 200 to 250 mm/s, and the fact that navigation accuracy requirements are met without doing the maneuver. With this information, the Project decided not to perform the maneuver. A Delivery Coordination Meeting for Ck-compare Version 2 was held today. The biggest change in the software involves allowing comparisons of C-Kernels produced by a number of different tools. Another new feature is the capability to turn on or off the Autoscaling feature of Gallery Plot. All proposed science and engineering changes were submitted today as part of the Aftermarket process for S19. The process will kick-off next Wednesday with a meeting to assess the list of changes. Saturday, September 10 (DOY 253): A Reaction Wheel Assembly bias command was uplinked to the spacecraft today. This commanding was necessary as a result of the cancellation of OTM-32, which otherwise would have included the biasing as part of the maneuver sequence. A three-day procedure to perform a fuel-side re-pressurization on board the spacecraft began today. This is the first of two fuel-side re-pressurizations planned for the tour. One was performed previously during the Cruise phase between Trajectory Correction Maneuvers 9 and 10. The timing of the re-pressurization optimizes the mixture ratio for maximum mission delta-V. A Cassini Image of Jupiter was Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) today. This is an encore of an image that was first APOD in July of 2000. Our outreach folks did some research and it turns out that Cassini images have been selected for encores five times. Monday, September 12 (DOY 255): The S17 SOP Update preliminary port occurred today. The products were merged and the reports published for review. Official port is scheduled for Friday, September 16. The S18 Aftermarket process concluded today with the Target Working Teams and Orbiter Science Teams completing their re-work of the sequence. S18 is now being prepared for SOP Update, which will kickoff Monday, September 26. Tuesday, September 13 (DOY 256): A significant amount of science data was lost during the recent Titan flyby as a result of an operational problem at the DSN tracking station, and a software error on the spacecraft. The software error was the larger contributor of the two causes, and the data loss resulted from an improperly set flag preventing the spacecraft from writing to or reading from the A side of the solid state recorder, so the result was performing the encounter with only half of the expected data storage volume. Commands will be sent on September 15 to reset the flag to its proper value, and normal operation is expected after this. The nature of the code error is now fully understood and has been reproduced in the spacecraft test bed. A decision will be made in the near future whether to correct the flight code or to implement workarounds to prevent the conditions that led to execution of the faulty code. Wednesday, September 14 (DOY 257): An Assessment meeting was held today to review all of the requested changes to the S19 sequence. At this point it looks like all of the changes can be accommodated. If there are no alterations to the recommendations of the Target Working Teams and Orbiter Science Teams, there will be no need to hold the decision meeting on September 27. Cassini Outreach addressed 85 attendees at the NASA Education Professional Development Conference last week. The presentation focused on how the Saturn Observation Campaign members throughout the US could be tapped for Cassini programming and Saturn observing events. Most attendees were Aerospace Education Services Program specialists who deliver NASA's education products and services to different regions of the country. Check out the Cassini web site at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov for the latest press releases and images. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument team is based at JPL, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. Contacts: Carolina Martinez Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Phone: 818-354-9382 Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1717.html http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050915_cassini_spokes.html http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050917_titan_shore.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-05zzzj.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/saturn-titan-05za.html http://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/050917spokes.html http://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/050916titanshoreline.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/monitoring_fensal-aztlan.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/ghostly_spokes_at_rings.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/dramatic_titan_shoreline.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/sweeping_view_rings.html _____________________________________________________________________ MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATES NASA/JPL release 22 September 2005 Spirit has continued observations on the top of "Husband Hill," using the microscopic imager, alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and Mössbauer spectrometer on a target informally called "Irvine." Spirit has also completed three complicated drive sols. It is in position for doing work with the tools on the robotic arm in upcoming sols. During two nights, Spirit observed the moons Phobos and Deimos. Also this week, Spirit performed two tests to validate the ability to send commands to Spirit via the Mars Odyssey orbiter through the rover's UHF (ultra-high frequency) radio. Downlink through the Odyssey UHF relay has been the principal means for getting data from Spirit. The new tests are for communicating the other direction: sending commands to Spirit via Odyssey UHF relay. The first test was similar to a 1-sol plan; the second contained multiple sequences that simulated a more complicated 3-sol planning day. The team sent old sequences and confirmed that the commands made it onboard the rover, and then the team deleted the files. The first test was successful, and the team is anticipating data to come down from the second test. Opportunity is healthy and continuing its drive toward "Erebus Crater." Images taken this week show the interior of the crater. Plans for the next few sols are to get closer to the crater's edge and do extensive imaging. The team is also planning to use the tools on the robotic arm to examine a dark area of outcrop located on the way to the edge of the crater. Read the latest MER updates at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html. Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050920_science_tuesday.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-05zzzx.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-05zzzza.html _____________________________________________________________________ MARS EXPRESS UPDATES ESA releases Mars Express Instrument under Investigation ESA release, 13 September 2005 ESA has started a technical investigation into the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) on board Mars Express, after a problem developed in the instrument a few months ago. Vibration effects (induced by spacecraft activities) have been suggested as a cause for the observed behavior. However no source has yet been identified and other causes internal to the instrument cannot be fully ruled out. In order to establish the exact cause of the problem, ESA's Mars Express team is setting up an investigations board involving experts from the Mission Science Working Team, ESA, industry and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). This could lead to resuming scientific observations using modified procedures but, until all existing data and a number of additional measurements currently being planned have been examined, it is too early to draw a conclusion on the operational status of the PFS instrument. The PFS instrument has performed without any such problems for almost two years, following the launch of Mars Express in June 2003. In this period, the instrument has provided much new information on the global composition and movement of the Martian atmosphere. Even if it is found that PFS is no longer fully functional, it is only one element in the scientific package on board Mars Express. The other six instruments (HRSC, OMEGA, ASPERA, SPICAM, MARSIS, MaRS) are all currently working well and are providing new insights into the Red Planet and its evolution. These remaining instruments will continue the scientific success of the Mars Express mission. Read the original news release at http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMSEK7X9DE_0.html. Insight into Marsis Radar Data Analysis ESA release, 19 September 2005 Following completion of its deployment on 17 June, MARSIS, the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding onboard the ESA Mars Express spacecraft, has started collecting scientific data from the surface, the subsurface and the ionosphere of Mars. The major scientific goals of this ground penetrating radar experiment are to characterize the subsurface layers of sediments and possibly detect and map underground water or ice, to characterize the radar properties of the surface and to provide data on the planet's ionosphere. Part of the primary objective is the search for water and ice reservoirs, aimed at addressing key issues in the hydrological, geological, and climatic evolution of Mars. These include the current and past global inventory of water, mechanisms of transport and storage of water, the role of liquid water and ice in shaping the landscape of Mars, and the stability of liquid water and ice at the surface as an indication of climatic conditions. The MARSIS instrument MARSIS is a multi-frequency, coherent pulse, synthetic aperture radar sounder. Frequencies are selectable in order to adapt the experiment to the Mars environment. Lower frequencies are best suited to probe the deep subsurface and the highest frequencies are used to probe shallow subsurface depths, while all four frequency channels (1.8, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 MHz) are suited to study the surface and the upper atmospheric layer of Mars. The two 20-meter long antenna booms (dipole) are sending radio signals towards the Martian surface and are receiving echoes back. The secondary, receive-only, 7-meter long monopole antenna is to be used in conjunction with the MARSIS dipole, to correct for off-nadir surface roughness effects. The monopole will, therefore, find its best use during the investigations of areas where the surface roughness is higher, that is where it can minimize the effects of surface "clutter" on subsurface feature detection. The MARSIS scientific data collection MARSIS has a unique capability of sounding the Martian environment with coherent long-wavelength wide-band pulses that allow the collection of a large amount of significant data about the subsurface, surface and ionosphere. For subsurface probing, MARSIS must operate under 800 kilometers altitude from the Martian surface, while for ionospheric sounding MARSIS provides acceptable results from a distance of up to 2000 kilometers. The radar vertical depth resolution is 150 meters (in the free space), while echo profiles of the subsurface are acquired at a lateral spacing of about 5 to 9 km, depending on the spacecraft altitude. The MARSIS radar is designed to operate around the pericenter of the orbit, when the spacecraft is closer to the planet's surface. In each orbit available to MARSIS, the radar is switched on for 36 minutes around this pericenter point, dedicating the central 26 minutes to subsurface observations and the first and last five minutes of the slot to active ionosphere sounding. Nighttime is the environmental condition favorable to subsurface sounding, as the ionospheric plasma frequency is lowest. The ionosphere is more energized during the daytime and disturbs the radio signals used for subsurface observations. Although even during the daytime, the MARSIS instrument can detect signals from the surface and subsurface after proper ionospheric corrections are made. The radar is for the first time making measurements of the ionosphere in the sub-solar and night side regions that were not accessible to previous Mars missions. MARSIS will probe the Martian plasma environment for electron densities in the range from 30 to 3.5×106 electrons per cm3, with increased spatial resolution of vertical profiles. The active sounding ionospheric mode consists of transmitting sinusoidal pulses with a nominal duration of 91.4 ms in 160 frequency steps from 0.1 MHz to 5.5 MHz. Such measurements, with the aim of global coverage, will explore the relationships between the neutral atmosphere and ionosphere, and the interactions of the solar wind with the planet. The MARSIS data processing goals Regarding the ground processing, the main goals of the analysis of the MARSIS scientific data sets include: * Identify and isolate those echoes that come from the surface, subsurface, or ionosphere. * Extract information on electrical properties of the reflecting surface for the purpose of constraining its composition. * Estimate large-scale topography, roughness and reflectivity of the surface. * Pick out layers of rocks interspersed with ice, which are more likely to exist close to the Martian surface than liquid water. * Look for signatures or indications of water possibly locked into frozen or liquid underground reservoirs or aquifers, up to 5 km below ground. * Measure the thickness of sand deposits in sand dune areas, and determine the existence of layers of sediments or volcanic flows. * Build up a three-dimensional picture of the south polar cap and surrounding layered terrains of the upper Martian crust. * Measure the electron density in the ionosphere and quantify the effect of charged particles streaming out from the Sun (solar wind) on the upper atmosphere. * Produce global high-resolution ionospheric profiles for day and night times. Subsurface and surface data investigation An essential objective of the data processing is to detect, map and characterize subsurface material distribution and dielectric discontinuities in the upper portions of the crust of Mars. These features may include boundaries of liquid water-bearing zones, icy layers, geologic units and geologic structures. The process used to obtain the surface returns is standard to any terrestrial ground penetrating radar, but the application to Mars is unique with respect to subsurface investigations. The first surface reflection echoes of MARSIS operating as a sounder are processed to give estimates of the average height, roughness and reflection coefficient of the surface layer. The processing scheme of the MARSIS data sets involves the in-depth analysis, at each frequency, of a set of parameters that are consolidated into a database for interpretation of local and regional behavior and comparison with other data sets and simulations: * The sounding parameters, which can be tuned in response to variations in topography and solar illumination conditions, and be used in the planning of future measurements. * Confidence criteria pointing to subsurface interface detection. The MARSIS team has started screening all data received on ground in order to make sure that signals that could be interpreted as coming from different underground layers are not actually produced by surface irregularities. The presence of weaker signals after the first strong surface return enables the detection of subsurface interfaces. Also, echo profiles collected at different frequencies can be processed to enhance the discrimination of subsurface reflections, which are strongly dependent on the frequency, from the surface reflections, which are less dependent on the radar frequency. * The intensity of surface and subsurface reflection(s). The peak value of the average echo waveform can be used to estimate the backscattering coefficient. In conjunction with the roughness value, the determination of the Fresnel reflection coefficient of the surface can be made. * The echo dispersion at the surface. This gives indications of surface roughness. * The dielectric constants. Observed discontinuities may indicate the presence of water/ice or dry/ice interfaces. * The time delay to subsurface reflector(s) and related surface elevation. The time delay between the first strong echo and secondary subsequent signals allows approximate measurement of the depth of the interfaces assuming an average dielectric property. Measurement of the time delay of the echo leads to estimates of the average distance of the radar from a reference flat surface level, while the duration of the waveform leading edge is proportional to the large-scale surface roughness. Subsurface and surface MARSIS data analysis is expected to yield significant new insights into the subsurface structure and lithology of the Martian crust, including the nature of the polar-layered deposits. Among the potential outcomes of radar sounding data processing is the detection of shallow reservoirs of liquid water, perhaps associated with thermal anomalies or an insulating upper stratigraphy. The discrimination of ground-ice boundaries should be within reach of the MARSIS detection capabilities. Other stratigraphic and structural boundaries could be identified, providing a view of the vertical dimension of the Martian geology. For a number of regions of interest, modeling of the electrical properties of the layers and interfaces will be performed to estimate the thickness of layers, the depth to interfaces, the composition and dielectric properties of the materials. With respect to instrument performance, one challenge that must be overcome is the presence of radar scattering from the surface of Mars, which will be simultaneously detected with the echoes from subsurface interfaces. To solve this problem, the monopole signal will be used in conjunction with predictions of the scattering behavior that may be expected from Martian surface topography, through simulations and comparisons with existing theoretical scattering models. Ionospheric sounding data investigation MARSIS ionospheric measurements are performed in both passive and active mode. In passive mode, the thermal emission line at the local electron plasma frequency is used to measure the local electron density. The active technique uses radar soundings to measure the vertical range to the ionospheric reflection point as a function of frequency. The various parameters and factors to be investigated as part of the ionospheric sounding data processing are: * Vertical profiles of the plasma electron frequency (hence, the electron density). * Temperature profiles. * Effects associated with magnetic merging, plasma clouds, and plasma streams. * Effects from dust storms and precipitations of solar wind ions in cusp-like magnetic regions. * Effects from the excitation of hydrodynamic waves by the interaction of the ionosphere with the solar wind. Notes The MARSIS instrument was developed within the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA. Alenia Spazio developed it under ASI management and the scientific supervision of the University of Rome La Sapienza, in partnership with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and the University of Iowa. JPL provided the antenna manufactured by Astro Aerospace. It is the first instrument designed to actually look below the surface of Mars. The Italian-American MARSIS team is also largely involved on the SHARAD radar, a facility instrument provided by ASI for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), launched on 12 August 2005. MARSIS and SHARAD are two radars designed to provide complementary information about the Martian subsurface. MARSIS can penetrate to an average depth of five kilometers, while SHARAD will concentrate on layers closer to the surface. Read the original news release at http://sci.esa.int/science- e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=37917. Mars Express Mission Extended ESA release, 22 September 2005 ESA's Mars Express mission has been extended by one Martian year, or about 23 months, from the beginning of December 2005. The decision, taken on 19 September by ESA's Science Program Committee, allows the spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet to continue building on the legacy of its own scientific success. Coordinated from the beginning with the Mars science and exploration activities of other agencies, Mars Express has revealed an increasingly complex picture of Mars. Since the start of science operations in early 2004, new aspects of Mars are emerging day by day, thanks to Mars Express data. These include its present-day climate system, and its geological activity and diversity. Mars Express has also started mapping water in its various states. In building up a global data set for composition and characteristics of the surface and atmosphere, Mars Express has revealed that volcanic and glacial processes are much more recent than expected. It has confirmed the presence of glacial processes in the equatorial regions, and mapped water and carbon dioxide ice, either mixed or distinct, in the polar regions. Through mineralogical analysis, it found out that large bodies of water, such as lakes or seas, might not have existed for a long period of time on the Martian surface. Mars Express has also detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. This, together with the possible detection of formaldehyde, suggests either current volcanic activity on Mars, or, more excitingly, that there are current active biological processes. This hypothesis may be reinforced by the fact that Mars Express saw that the distribution of water vapor and methane, both ingredients for life, substantially overlap in some regions of the planet. Furthermore, the mission detected aurora for the first time on the Red Planet. It has made global mapping of the density and pressure of the atmosphere between 10 and 100 kilometers altitude, and studied atmospheric escape processes in the upper layers of the atmosphere. This is contributing to our understanding of the weather and climate evolution of the planet. There is still much to be discovered by the extraordinary set of instruments on board Mars Express. First, the 23-month extension will enable the Mars Express radar, MARSIS, to restart Martian night- time measurements in December this year. MARSIS will continue its subsurface studies mainly in the search for liquid and frozen water. By combining subsurface, surface and atmospheric data, Mars Express will provide an unprecedented global picture of Mars and, in particular, its water. So far, the High Resolution Stereo Camera has imaged only 19% of the Martian surface at high resolution. In the extended phase, it will be able to continue the 3D high-resolution color imaging. After the Viking missions, Mars Express is building today's legacy of Mars imagery for present and future generations of scientists. Thanks to the extension, Mars Express will also be able to study for a second year the way the atmosphere varies during different seasons, and to observe again variable phenomena such as frost, fog or ice. Finally, Mars Express will be able to revisit those areas where major discoveries, such as new volcanic structures, sedimentary layering, methane sources, nightglow and auroras, have been made, thus allowing to confirm and understand all aspects related to these discoveries. ESA's Mars Express mission was successfully launched on 2 June 2003 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on board a Russian Soyuz rocket with a Fregat upper stage. Besides being Europe's first mission to Mars, Mars Express is the first fully European mission to any planet. Following the Mars Express spacecraft commissioning at Mars in January 2004, most experiments on board began their calibration and testing phase while already acquiring scientific data. This phase lasted until June 2004 when all the commissioned instruments started their routine operations. The MARSIS radar antenna deployment was postponed for technical reasons until May 2005, and it became operational in July 2005. Further to providing an impressive wealth of scientific results on its own, Mars Express has also successfully co-operated with NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, in terms of coordinated scientific observations and to test Mars Express in relaying the rover data to Earth. Further scientific collaboration between Mars Express and both rovers and Mars Odyssey is expected during the remainder of the nominal mission and the extended mission, and with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission during the extended mission. Read the original news release at http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMUB08X9DE_0.html. Contacts: Fred Jansen ESA Mars Express Mission Manager E-mail: fjansen@rssd.esa.int Agustin Chicarro ESA Mars Express Project Scientist E-mail: agustin.chicarro@esa.int Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/marsexpress-05zb.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/marsexpress-05zc.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/marsexpress-05zd.html http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0509/14marsexpress/ http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mars_express_under_investigat ion.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mars_express_extended.html _____________________________________________________________________ MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES NASA/JPL/MSSS releases 8-21 September 2005 The following new images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available. Aram Chaos Rocks (Released 8 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/08 MOC Imaging Resumes (Released 9 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/09 Inverted Valley (Released 10 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/10 Flows of Ascraeus (Released 11 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/11 Celebrating 8 Years at Mars: Repeated Weather Events (Released 12 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/12 Mars at Ls 288 Degrees (Released 13 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/13 Lonely Butte (Released 14 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/14 Rippled Valley Floor (Released 15 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/15 Meridiani Rocks (Released 16 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/16 Wind-Eroded Terrain (Released 17 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/17 Inverted Channels (Released 18 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/18 Huygens Wind Streak (Released 19 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/19 8 Years at Mars #1: New Dune Gullies(Released 20 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/20/dunegullies/ 8 Years at Mars #2: New Crater Might Have Formed During The 1980s http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/20/ulysses_crater/ 8 Years at Mars #3: Rolling Stones Make New Boulder Tracks http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/20/bouldertracks/ 8 Years at Mars #4: Four Mars Years of South Polar Cap Scarp Retreat http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/20/spolar4years/ 8 Years at Mars #5: Repeated Weather -- Arsia Mons Spiral Cloud http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/20/arsia_cloud/ 8 Years at Mars #6: Fossil Delta in Eberswalde Crater http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/20/eberswalde/ 8 Years at Mars #7: Big Chasma Boreale cPROTO Mosaic http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/20/boreale/ Mars at Ls 288 Degrees (Released 21 September 2005) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/21 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. _____________________________________________________________________ ORBITER'S LONG LIFE HELPS SCIENTISTS TRACK CHANGES ON MARS NASA/JPL release 2005-152 20 September 2005 New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune. That's just one of the surprising discoveries that have resulted from the extended life of NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which this month began its ninth year in orbit around Mars. Boulders tumbling down a Martian slope left tracks that weren't there two years ago. New impact craters formed since the 1970s suggest changes to age-estimating models. And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress. "Our prime mission ended in early 2001, but many of the most important findings have come since then, and even bigger ones might lie ahead," said Tom Thorpe, project manager for Mars Global Surveyor at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. The orbiter is healthy and may be able to continue studying Mars for five to 10 more years, he said. Mars years are nearly twice as long as Earth years. The orbiter's longevity has enabled monitoring of year-to-year patterns on Mars, such as seasonal dust storms and changes in the polar caps. "Mars is an active planet, and over a range of timescales changes occur, even in the surface," said Dr. Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, principal investigator for the Mars Orbiter Camera on Mars Global Surveyor. "To see new gullies and other changes in Mars surface features on a time span of a few years presents us with a more active, dynamic planet than many suspected before Mars Global Surveyor got there," said Michael Meyer, Mars Exploration Program chief scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington. Two gullies appear in an April 2005 image of a sand-dune slope where they did not exist in July 2002. The Mars Orbiter Camera team has found many sites on Mars with fresh-looking gullies, and checked back at more than 100 gullied sites for possible changes between imaging dates, but this is the first such find. Some gullies, on slopes of large sand dunes, might have formed when frozen carbon dioxide, trapped by windblown sand during winter, vaporized rapidly in spring, releasing gas that made the sand flow as a gully-carving fluid. At another site, more than a dozen boulders left tracks when they rolled down a hill sometime between the taking of images in November 2003 and December 2004. It is possible that they were set in motion by strong wind or by a "marsquake," Malin said. Some changes are slower than expected. Studies suggest new impact craters might appear at only about one-fifth the pace assumed previously, Malin said. That pace is important because crater counts are used to estimate the ages of Mars surfaces. The camera has recorded seasonal patterns of clouds and dust within the atmosphere over the entire planet. In addition, other instruments on Mars Global Surveyor have provided information about atmospheric changes and year-to-year patterns on Mars as the mission has persisted. Daily mapping of dust abundance in Mars' atmosphere by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer has shown dust over large areas during three Mars southern hemisphere summers in a row. However, the extent and duration of dust storms varied from year to year. Mars Global Surveyor was launched November 7, 1996; entered orbit around Mars September 12, 1997; and returned the first Mars data from its science instruments September 15, 1997. Beyond its own investigations, the orbiter provides support for other Mars missions, such as landing-site evaluations, atmospheric monitoring, communication relay and imaging of hardware on the surface. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft. For newly released images on the Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mgs-092005- images.html and http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/20/. For more information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov/home. Contacts: Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Phone: 818-354-6278 Dolores Beasley NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC Phone: 202-358-1753 Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050920_mgs_update.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-surveyor-05c.html http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-surveyor-05d.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mars_gullies_brand_new.html _____________________________________________________________________ MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER MISSION STATUS NASA/JPL release 2005-146 14 September 2005 Three cameras on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter worked as expected in a test pointing them at the moon and stars on September 8. "We feel great about how the camera performed and can hardly wait to see what it will show us at Mars," said Dr. Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The test also checked operation of the spacecraft's Context Camera and Optical Navigation Camera, plus the spacecraft's high-gain antenna and systems for handling and distributing data from the instruments. "The instruments and the ground data system passed this test with flying colors," said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Manager Jim Graf of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. "We received 75 gigabits of data in less than 24 hours, which is a new one-day record for any interplanetary mission." The spacecraft was about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) from the moon when it turned to slew the cameras' fields of view across that test target. At that distance, the moon would appear as a single star-like dot to the unaided eye. In the test images by the high-resolution camera, it is about 340 pixels in diameter and appears as a crescent about 60 pixels wide. The tests also included imaging of the star cluster Omega Centauri for data to use in calibrating the camera. During its primary science mission at Mars, the spacecraft will orbit within about 300 kilometers (186 miles) of that planet's surface. From that distance, the high-resolution camera will discern objects as small as one meter or yard across. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched on August 12, will reach Mars and enter orbit on about March 10, 2006. After gradually adjusting the shape of its orbit for half a year, it will begin its primary science phase in November 2006. The mission will examine Mars in unprecedented detail from low orbit, returning several times more data than all previous Mars missions combined. Scientists will use its instruments to gain a better understanding of the history and current distribution of Mars' water. By inspecting possible landing sites and by providing a high-data-rate relay, it will also support future missions that land on Mars. More information about the mission, including new test images of the moon by the high-resolution camera, is available online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, prime contractor for the project, built both the spacecraft and the launch vehicle. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, CO, built the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment instrument for the University of Arizona to provide to the mission. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, CA, provided the Context Camera. JPL provided the Optical Navigation Camera. Contact: Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Phone: 818-354-6278 Read the original news release at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2005-146. Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mro_orbiter_mission_status.ht ml _____________________________________________________________________ SOLAR FLARE INTERACTS WITH ROSETTA (REPORT FOR PERIOD 26 AUGUST TO 16 SEPTEMBER 2005) ESA release 19 September 2005 The reporting period covers three weeks of passive cruise, with no major activities planned and weekly ground contact with the spacecraft. Apart for routine monitoring activities and the upload of a software patch to the Star Tracker B (on 8 September), a major unexpected event was a solar flare on 8 and 9 September, which hit the spacecraft at the beginning of the weekly non-coverage period. When the signal was acquired for the weekly contact on 15 September the spacecraft was found with the active Star Tracker crashed in INIT mode, and the second Star Tracker (not used for attitude control) in Standby mode. AOCS had determined the attitude over a period of 6 days using gyroscopes only, and accumulated therefore a drift of about 0.7 degrees, of which 0.3 degrees offset in the High Gain Antenna pointing direction, small enough to allow the RF signal to be received on ground. The recovery activities took most of the ground station pass on 15 September. At the end both Star Trackers were back in Tracking mode and the nominal attitude reacquired. No payload operations were carried out in the reporting period, and all instruments are switched off, except for SREM which is kept active in the background for radiation monitoring. A total of 3 New Norcia passes of maximum 10 hours commanding duration were taken over the reporting period. At the end of the reporting period (DOY 259) Rosetta was at 188.9 million km from the Earth (1.23 AU; one-way signal travel time was 8 min 07 sec). The distance to the Sun was 245.5 million km (1.64 AU). Read the original news release at http://sci.esa.int/science- e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=37921. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/rosetta-05d.html. _____________________________________________________________________ End Marsbugs, Volume 12, Number 32.