Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology NewsletterVolume 11, Number 29, 20 July 2004

Editor/Publisher: David J. Thomas, Ph.D., Science Division, Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas 72503-2317, USA. dthomas@lyon.edu

Marsbugs is published on a weekly to monthly basis as warranted by the number of articles and announcements. Copyright of this compilation exists with the editor, except for specific articles, in which instance copyright exists with the author/authors. Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by the editor or by Lyon College. E-mail subscriptions are free, and may be obtained by contacting the editor. Information concerning the scope of this newsletter, subscription formats and availability of back-issues is available at http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs. The editor does not condone "spamming" of subscribers. Readers would appreciate it if others would not send unsolicited e-mail using the Marsbugs mailing lists. Persons who have information that may be of interest to subscribers of Marsbugs should send that information to the editor.

Articles and News

Page 1 INVESTIGATING ENDURANCE CRATER—INTERVIEW WITH STEVE SQUYRESBy Henry Bortman

Page 3 NASA CREW GOES UNDER WATER TO STUDY OUTER SPACENASA release 2004-216

Page 4 NASA'S DAVID MORRISON WINS PRESTIGIOUS SAGAN MEDAL FOR 2004NASA/ARC release 04-65AR

Page 5 NEW MAP REVEALS HIDDEN FEATURES OF ICE-BURIED ANTARCTIC LAKE, MEASUREMENT SHOWS THAT TWO DISTINCT ECOSYSTEMS MAY EXISTNational Science Foundation release

Page 6 KEPLER PRIZE AWARD WINNER 2004 ANNOUNCEDMars Society release

Page 6 GET IN LINE TO FIND EXTRASOLAR PLANETSBased on UTA report

Page 7 TERRAFORMING MARS, THE NOBLE EXPERIMENT? INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT ZUBRINFrom Astrobiology Magazine

Page 8 MOON TO PROVIDE A STEPPING STONE TO MARS AND BEYONDBy Brian Berger

Page 8 THE SEARCH FOR MORE EARTHSFrom Universe Today

Page 9 LOS ALAMOS COMPUTERS PROBE HOW GIANT PLANETS FORMED Los Alamos National Laboratory release

Page 9 DOOM AND GLOOM BY 2100By Julie Wakefield

Page 9 ESA CONSIDERS THE NEXT STEP IN ASSESSING THE RISK FROM NEAR-EARTH OBJECTSESA release

Page 10 AMMONIA ON MARS COULD MEAN LIFEBy David Whitehouse

Page 10 NEW WORLDS OF WORDSFrom Astrobiology Magazine

Page 11 INFLATABLE SPACE OUTPOSTS: CASH DOWN ON HIGH HOPESBy Leonard David

Page 11 NEW MARTIAN METEORITE FOUND IN ANTARCTICANASA release 2004-232

Announcements

Page 12 DOWNSIZING THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEXBy David J. Thomas

Mission Reports

Page 12 CASSINI UPDATESNASA/JPL releases

Page 15 NASA'S MARS ROVERS ROLL INTO MARTIAN WINTERNASA/JPL release 2004-184

Page 16 MARS EXPRESS: NORTHERN RIM OF HELLAS BASINESA release

Page 16 MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGESNASA/JPL/MSSS release

Page 17 MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGESNASA/JPL/ASU release

INVESTIGATING ENDURANCE CRATER—INTERVIEW WITH STEVE SQUYRESBy Henry Bortman From Astrobiology Magazine

6 July 2004

For the past three weeks, Opportunity has been exploring a bedrock outcrop known as Karatepe inside Endurance Crater. Karatepe is of interest to scientists because it lies below a rock layer whose characteristics match those of Opportunity Ledge, a smaller outcrop in Eagle Crater. The rover spent the first months of its mission studying that outcrop. Because Karatepe lies lower stratigraphically than Opportunity Ledge, it is older; it represents an earlier era in Mars's history. Opportunity has been slowly working its way down the Karatepe outcrop; it has detected sulfates, salts that formed through a process involving liquid water, as far down as it has explored.

Astrobiology Magazine (AM): Have you found the bottom of the sulfates yet?

Steven Squyres (SS): No.

AM: How far down have you gone?

SS: We are I think about 7 meters (about 23 feet) now past the lip of the crater, as you would draw a ruler across the ground. So how deep down we have gone? To be honest with you, I haven't done the math, but it's 2 or 3 meters (7 to 10 feet) below the lip.

AM: And it's sulfates all the way down?

SS: It's sulfates all the way down. We haven't found anything that isn't sulfates. Not a trace.

Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 29, 20 July 2004

Left: Steve Squyres in front of Mars Exploration Rover test unit. Right: a feature called "Karatepe" within the impact crater known as "Endurance." Scientists believe this layered band of rock may be a good place to begin studying Endurance because it is less steep and more approachable than the rest of the crater's rocky outcrops, such as Burns Cliff. Image credits: NASA/JPL/Cornell University.

AM: And just for comparison, Opportunity Ledge, the outcrop in Eagle Crater, was how deep?

SS: Forty centimeters (16 inches).

AM: So 3 meters and counting versus 40 centimeters?

SS: I think we can extrapolate with some confidence over to Burns Cliff and we see that the section at Burns Cliff is at lest 4 meters (13 feet) high. So we have increased our estimate of the amount of sulfates here by an order of magnitude. And how deep it really goes, we don't know. There's a lot more of this stuff than I would have originally guessed.

AM: And water had to be present to form all that sulfate?

SS: Yes. And if we can get to the bottom of it, if we can find really how much sulfate there is, then we can perform a calculation, based on how much water you need to evaporate away to make that much sulfate, you can attach quantitative numbers to it. If we never get to the bottom of it, all we can say is, it must have been at least this much water and it could have been more. So we're trying to find the bottom.

There's one outcrop, named Namib, that has exposed in its lower portion some very dark rock that could be basaltic sandstone. We've tried to isolate it with Mini-TES, but we're so far away from it right now and it's such a narrow layer, it's very, very hard to isolate just the rock. If you look right downhill from the rock, there's this apron of dark sand. And we've looked at that with Mini-TES and that's a perfect basalt spectrum. So that's basaltic sand.

The question is, was that shed from the outcrop, or did it get blown down from above and funnel through cracks in the outcrop and spray out there? It turns out, because of the prevailing wind direction, that it could have gotten blown over the lip of the crater. So we can't tell. One of the things that we want to do when we finish up at Karatepe is try to get closer to that stuff.

Left: a feature called "Burns Cliff", part of the rocky outcrop in Endurance Crater. Right: overhead view of Endurance Crater. Image credits: NASA/JPL.

AM: This darker layer that you see on Namib, does it lie below layers of sulfate that correspond to what you're looking at on Karatepe?

SS: I believe that the darker rocks at Namib are at a stratigraphic level that corresponds to some of the stuff we're on at Karatepe and some of the stuff at the stuff we see at Burns Cliff. So, if it really is something different, if it's really not our old friends the sulfates, but it's some other basaltic sandstone, or

what have you, that means that not only do you have vertical variations in the stratigraphy over distances of centimeters and 10s of centimeters (about an inch or two to about a foot), but you've got lateral variations of the stratigraphy over distances on the order of 100 meters (about 300 feet). That would be very interesting, too. That's not uncommon in some kinds of sedimentary rocks. It's not at all uncommon in some kinds of sedimentary rocks to vary laterally over distance of 10s, 100s of meters.

AM: When you presented the results of your initial close-up look at Karatepe, you delineated several layers in the rocks and you were going to look for chemical differences among the layers. Have you found anything there yet?

SS: A few differences. But they're very subtle. It's much more homogeneous than I would have guessed. And that could be a hint that there's been some kind of stirring, some kind of mixing, that has taken place. If you lay down some sediments and they have some kind of compositional stratification, but then some process comes along—water flow, wind—and it just stirs it up and jumbles it—you put the whole thing in a blender and let it settle out again—it's going to have the same composition all the way through. So, it may be an indication that that's the case. We have seen some subtle variations in chemistry, but they're not major, they're not profound by any means.

AM: Not enough to reach conclusions about different processes that might have taken place?

SS: I think it's enough to reach conclusions that there's nothing like the [variations we saw at Eagle Crater]. For example, we saw this variation in the chlorine-to-bromine ratio over distances of 10s of centimeters (a few inches to a foot) back at Eagle Crater. And that's a clear indicator of an evaporative process, because the chlorides and the bromides have different solubilities and they precipitate out [under different conditions]. But if you took that section back at Eagle and put it in a blender and mixed it all up, then you would see a uniform chlorine-to-bromine ratio everywhere. And so this may be a hint that there has been some kind of stirring or mixing process that has gone on here. It could be water; it could be wind.

AM: You also said that you were going to look for evidence of large crossbeds in Endurance Crater.

SS: There is a massive, huge crossbed right at the base of Burns Cliff. And it's the kind of thing that you would expect from wind. So we see these 4 meters (13 feet) of sulfates at Burns Cliff, and we see tilted sediments underneath that. We don't think the sediments were laid down flat and then there was tectonic tilting. We think they were laid down at an angle. And when you see sediments laid down on a big scale—meters across - at an angle of 20 or 30 degrees, that says pretty unambiguously that it's a dune. So we think that the big thick sequence at Burns cliff was preceded by some stuff that was moved around by the wind.

Now, that could have been basaltic sand, but it could have been sulfate sand. And evaporative process is one where the water goes away; it dries out. So you can have an evaporative process that leaves a bed of sulfate sand grains behind, and those can be blown around by the wind. You can have dunes made of sulfate just like you can have dunes made of any other particles of the right size. And then they can cement later. So we think we have clear evidence for an aeolian episode at the base of Burns Cliff. We're looking through the stack of sediments [at Karatepe] that corresponds to Burns Cliff and trying to look for evidence of wind versus water there.

AM: How much farther down can you go at Karatepe?

SS: It's starting to look like we can go as far as we want and be able to climb back out. That remains to be seen. We're on a 25-plus-degree slope and just yesterday we went over a step about half a meter (a foot and a half) high that was at more than a 35-degree angle, and we climbed back up over it just to see if we could. And we did.

These vehicles have remarkable climbing capability. So we're going to proceed down this section at Karatepe until either we get to some topographic point of no return, which frankly may not exist—the vehicle climbing capability may be so good it's just not an issue—or until we run out of intact stratigraphy. If we get deep enough and we find out that we're just into a jumble of rocks that are not in place any more, then there's no point in treating it like stratigraphy, because it isn't. At that point, we have to start looking at other things that we should do, because you're always prioritizing science, and

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there are some very important high-priority science objectives out on the plains.

AM: You mentioned those before you went down into Endurance Crater and said you might decide to look at them before you entered the crater.

Layers A and E resemble the tilted, wavy lines predicted from sedimentation in water, and B-D layers may be either wind- or water-eroded/deposited Image credit: NASA/JPL/ Cornell University/Dan Maas.

SS: Getting out after we went in looked easy enough that we concluded that by going in we were not taking a significant risk that we'd never be able to get to these [targets out on the plains]. So the idea is [to] do the highest priority stuff at Karatepe, which is work our way down this intact stratigraphy, and then having done that, go on to the next high-priority item, which is some of the odds and ends out on the plains.

There are these little cobbles, these little fist-sized rocks, scattered out on the plains. We don't know what those are. We haven't looked at a single one of them yet. We just went blowing by them. So we think it's time to figure out what's going on with those things.

There's the heat shield. The heat shield is really interesting and important, both from an engineering perspective and from a science perspective. So there's that. We've got this tick list of things we want to do out on the plains. When we finish up at Karatepe, we'll probably go take care of those things.

Once we've done that, then we face a fundamental decision. At that point, the question is, do we go back into the crater, and try to do more work there, or do we say, we've done most of what we can do here, let's go someplace else? And that's a decision that we'll make a month, a month and a half from now.

AM: Are you having solar-energy-budget problems with Opportunity similar to those you're having with Spirit?

SS: It's not as bad, for two reasons. One is that we're not at nearly as extreme a latitude. Gusev is at 15 or 16 degrees south, whereas Meridiani is right close to the equator. So what that means is that it's just more favorable generally. And then, what we've been able to do at Meridiani—what we have not yet done at Gusev—is to find ourselves a slope that will tilt the solar arrays even more towards the sun. When we first looked at driving down into Endurance Crater, we had two possible ingress points. One was Karatepe, the other was Larry's Leap. One of the things that ultimately made us favor Karatepe was that Larry's Leap would have pointed the arrays south; Karatepe pointed them north. We got much more energy that way. And so right now Opportunity is definitely doing better energy-wise than Spirit is because of having that advantage.

AM: How long do you think this mission can go?

SS: I think it is entirely possible that we will make it through the martian winter with at least one of these vehicles. The depths of martian winter come in late September of this year. Then it starts to get better again. And if we can survive the deepest part of the winter in September, and the situation starts

to improve, conceivably we could go months beyond that. So it's not inconceivable that we could go into 2005.

Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1063.html.

NASA CREW GOES UNDER WATER TO STUDY OUTER SPACENASA release 2004-216

7 July 2004

Four NASA crewmembers will look to the deep seas this month to help prepare for journeys into deep space. They'll use an undersea laboratory to study what it may be like to live and work in other extreme environments, such as the Moon and Mars. Astronaut John Herrington will lead the crew in an undersea mission July 12-21 that will field-test equipment and technology for the International Space Station as part of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) project. Astronauts Doug Wheelock and Nick Patrick will join Herrington, a veteran space flier and spacewalker, and biomedical engineer Tara Ruttley in the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory off the coast of Key Largo, FL, for the mission.

The NEEMO 6 crew, from left, are Commander John Herrington and Mission Specialists Tara Ruttley, Nicholas Patrick, and Doug Wheelock.

University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) systems engineers Craig Cooper and Joe March will work side by side with the NASA crew in Aquarius. The facility is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), operated by UNCW and funded by NOAA's Undersea Research Program. The NEEMO missions are a cooperative project of NASA, NOAA and UNCW. Aquarius is similar in size to the International Space Station's (ISS) living quarters.

This will be the sixth NASA mission to Aquarius to practice long-duration life in space. It will study life in extreme environments in support of future human exploration beyond Earth orbit, evaluate equipment that may be used on the ISS and perform scientific research on the human body and coral reefs. The crew also will build undersea structures to simulate ISS assembly.

As the current NEEMO "aquanauts" conduct their mission, a former Aquarius aquanaut is living on the Space Station. Mike Fincke arrived April 21 for a six-month tour as Expedition 9 flight engineer and NASA science officer. Schedulers for both crews are looking for a ship-to-ship conversation opportunity.

"NEEMO is not a simulation. It's a real mission with real risks in a hazardous environment. If we're going to send humans back to the Moon and on to Mars, we're going to need economical ways to get our feet wet here on Earth," said NEEMO 6 Mission Director Marc Reagan. "With NEEMO we have an analog of such high fidelity that we can field-test equipment and procedures before we try them in space. On this mission we'll focus on exercise equipment, anti-microbial technology and wireless tracking technology that are likely to be found on the Space Station in the near future," he added.

Aquarius is the world's only underwater habitat and research laboratory. The 45-foot long, 13-foot diameter complex is three miles off Key Largo in the

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Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It rests about 62 feet beneath the surface. A buoy on the surface that provides power, life support and communications capabilities supports Aquarius. A shore-based mission control for the Aquarius laboratory in Florida and a control room at NASA's Johnson Space Center, known as the Exploration Planning Operations Center, will monitor the crew's activities.

Equipped with SCUBA gear, the NEEMO-6 crewmembers leave the Aquarius habitat to begin a two-hour underwater extravehicular activity (EVA). Their destination was a site about 900 feet from the Aquarius habitat to survey the area for future coral science operations. Astronaut/aquanaut John Herrington, commander, is leading the crew in the undersea mission July 12-21 that is field-testing equipment and technology for the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) project. From the left are astronauts Herrington and Doug Wheelock, biomedical engineer Tara Ruttley and astronaut Nick Patrick.

For additional information about the NEEMO project on the Internet, visit http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/support/training/neemo/neemo6.html. In addition to research and construction, the NEEMO crew will participate in six educational videoconferences and one webcast/web chat. Students across the U.S. will have the opportunity to participate in these events. More information is available at http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/5-8/features/F_NEEMO_6_Webcast.html. Video to accompany this release will air on NASA Television as part of the NASA Video File. NASA TV is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz.

The crew's schedule includes opportunities for media interviews during the undersea mission. Reporters should contact the Johnson Space Center newsroom at 281-483-5111.

Contacts:Allard Beutel NASA Headquarters, Washington, DCPhone: 202-358-4769

Kelly HumphriesNASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TXPhone: 281-483-5111

Fred Gorell National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, MDPhone: 301-713-9444 x181)

An additional article on this subject is available at http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0407/11neemo/.

NASA'S DAVID MORRISON WINS PRESTIGIOUS SAGAN MEDAL FOR 2004NASA/ARC release 04-65AR

7 July 2004

The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) has awarded its 2004 Carl Sagan Medal to NASA scientist Dr. David Morrison. The Sagan Medal is awarded annually by the DPS, the world's largest organization of planetary scientists, to an active member researcher for long-term excellence in communicating planetary science to the public. Morrison will receive the award at the organization's annual meeting to be held November 8-12, 2004, in Louisville, KY.

"We are honored by David's award," said G. Scott Hubbard, director of NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "A doctoral student of Carl Sagan, David is that rare breed of scientist who combines research depth with the ability to popularize technical topics to non-scientists."

2004 Sagan Medal winner, Dr. David Morrison.

Morrison is the senior scientist for the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), an international research consortium with central offices located at NASA Ames in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. Throughout his distinguished science career—as an expert on solar system small bodies and an as investigator for numerous spacecraft missions, including Voyager and Galileo, Morrison has enthusiastically dedicated himself to sharing the excitement of planetary exploration with the public. For two decades, he generated a highly praised, widely used series of educational slide and information sets, featuring the best planetary images available. He also authored popular books about the Voyager flybys of Jupiter and Saturn.

Morrison has given hundreds of public lectures and appeared on numerous radio and television broadcasts, explaining planetary science in everyday language. As president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) in the early 1980s, Morrison devoted himself to encouraging and supporting its educational work. He also chaired the ASP Long-Term Aims Committee, which conceived goals and activities for public outreach that are still followed today.

Morrison is a co-author of one of the first textbooks in planetary science, The Planetary System. He and several co-authors also are successors in the continuation and revision of the original George Abell series of astronomy textbooks. These books still reach students worldwide. For many college students, these texts have provided the basis for their only college science course.

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In addition, Morrison has been instrumental in illuminating the scientific basis for potential hazards due to asteroid and comet impacts, through refereed papers and popular articles and books. He is responsible for creating NEO News, an e-mail newsletter with about 800 subscribers. He created and implemented the impact hazard web site, http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/. In his role as NAI senior scientist, Morrison coordinates educational activities for the institute, paying special attention to the content of undergraduate astrobiology courses in this emerging, interdisciplinary field.

The DPS, a division of the American Astronomical Society based in Washington, is the largest organization of professional planetary scientists in the world. More information about the annual DPS meeting and this year's prizewinners, including a photographic image of Morrison, can be found on the DPS Web site at http://www.aas.org/~dps/dps.html. For more information about the NAI, please visit http://nai.arc.nasa.gov.

Contacts:Kathleen BurtonNASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CAPhone: 650-604-1731 or 604-9000E-mail: Kathleen.M.Burton@nasa.gov

Dr. Ellis D. MinerDivision for Planetary Sciences (DPS), Washington, DCPhone: 818-354-4450E-mail: ellis.d.miner@jpl.nasa.gov

NEW MAP REVEALS HIDDEN FEATURES OF ICE-BURIED ANTARCTIC LAKE, MEASUREMENT SHOWS THAT TWO DISTINCT ECOSYSTEMS MAY EXISTNational Science Foundation release

7 July 2004

Scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) at Columbia University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York State have developed the first-ever map of water depth in Lake Vostok, which lies between 3,700 and 4,300 meters (more than 2 miles) below the continental Antarctic ice sheet. The new comprehensive measurements of the lake—roughly the size of North America's Lake Ontario—indicate it is divided into two distinct basins that may have different water chemistry and other characteristics. The findings have important implications for the diversity of microbial life in Lake Vostok and provide a strategy for how scientists study the lake’s different ecosystems should international scientific consensus approve exploration of the pristine and ancient environment.

Michael Studinger, of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) at Columbia University, said that the existence of two distinct regions with the lake would have significant implications for what sorts of ecosystems scientists should expect to find in the lake and how they should go about exploring them.

"The ridge between the two basins will limit water exchange between the two systems," he said. "Consequently, the chemical and biological composition of these two ecosystems is likely to be different."

The National Science Foundation (NSF), an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, supported the work. NSF manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, which coordinates almost all U.S. science on the southernmost continent.

The new measurements are significant because they provide a comprehensive picture of the entire lakebed and indicate that the bottom of the lake contains a previously unknown, northern sub-basin separated from the southern lakebed by a prominent ridge. Using laser altimeter, ice-penetrating radar and gravity measurements collected by aircraft, Studinger and Robin Bell, of LDEO, and Anahita Tikku, formerly of the University of Tokyo and now at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, estimate that Lake Vostok contains roughly 5400 cubic kilometers (1300 cubic miles) of water. Their measurements also indicate that the top of the ridge dividing the two basins is only 200 meters (650 feet) below the bottom of the ice sheet. Elsewhere, the water ranges from roughly 400 meters (1,300 feet) deep in the northern basin to 800 meters (2,600 feet) deep in its southern counterpart.

Water that passes through the lake starts on one end as melted ice from the very bottom of the ice sheet, which refreezes at the other end. According to

the new measurements, the base of the ice sheet melts predominantly over the smaller northern basin, while the water in the lake refreezes over the larger southern basin. The researchers assert that water takes between 55,000 and 110,000 years to cycle through the lake.

An image of the contours of the bed of Lake Vostok from data obtained by gravity measurements. Image credit: Michael Studinger/National Science Foundation.

The arrangement of the two basins, their separation and the characteristics of the meltwater may, the scientists conclude, all have implications for the circulation of water within the lake. It is possible, for example, that if the water in the lake were fresh, meltwater in the northern basin would sink to the bottom of that basin, limiting the exchange of waters between the two basins. The meltwater in the adjacent basin likely would be different. The two lake basins, they argue, could therefore have very different bottoms.

The scientists also point out that the waters of the two basins may, as a result of the separation, have a very different chemical and even biological composition. Indeed, Lake Vostok, is also of interest to those who search for microbial life elsewhere in the solar system. The lake is thought to be a very good terrestrial analog of the conditions on Europa, a frozen moon of Jupiter. If life can exist in Vostok, scientists have argued, then microbes also might thrive on Europa.

The new measurements also indicate that different strategies may be needed to target sampling of specific types of lake sediments. Those released from the ice sheet represent the rocks over which the ice traveled, for example, and would be more prominent in the northern basin. Material in the southern basin would be more likely to represent the environmental conditions before the ice sheet sealed off the lake.

Scientists deciding whether and how to proceed with an exploration of Lake Vostok say a great deal of technological development would likely be needed before a device could be deployed to conduct contamination-free sampling.

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Currently, no scientific sampling of the lake is being carried out. The ultimate goal of any sampling would be to obtain water and sediment samples from the lake bottom.

The team published the new maps in the June 19 edition of Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union.

Read the original news release at http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/newsroom/pr.cfm?ni=10000000000113.

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1075.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/antarctic-04g.htmlhttp://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/two_ecosystems_vostok.html

KEPLER PRIZE AWARD WINNER 2004 ANNOUNCEDMars Society release

9 July 2004

The Mars Society announces that the first overall winner of The Kepler Prize for Mars Mission Design is team Daedalus, lead by Kent Nebergall. The judging panel decided that team Daedalus provided the best balance of material in answer to the criteria set in the request for proposal document. The prize award includes certificates for team members, a trophy for the team leader, and the chance to present their design to the assembled Mars Society conference in Chicago, IL.

The winner of the college division of the competition was The Personnel Earth Return Vehicle, a design submitted by an aerospace engineering design class at Penn State University. The team captain was Alicia Cole-Quigley. Team members will receive certificates, and the team leader will receive a trophy.

The competition required teams to develop a design for an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV), a critical portion of the Mars Direct mission architecture. The ERV lands on Mars without a crew, autonomously filling its propellant tanks. The crew arrives later and uses the ERV to return to Earth. The complicated power, landing, and deployment stages for the vehicle provided plenty of challenge for design groups.

A total of five teams submitted design documentation in time for judging: three independents (two from the U.S. and one from England) and two college teams. Teams were judged within their division first, followed by a second round of judging between the division winners for declaration of an overall winner. All teams have been invited to present their designs at 7th International Mars Society Convention this year as part of a half-hour session paper. The conference will take place at the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL, August 19-22. Registration is now open at www.marssociety.org.

Teams took radically different approaches to solve problems associated with the mission requirements. The difference in approaches made it difficult for judges to pick the winner that combined the best of new ideas and old technology to design a vehicle that would work while keeping development costs as low as possible.

Judging criteria included Technical Merit (25 points), Publicity (20 points), Innovation (15 points), Simplicity (15 points), Completeness (10 points), Reliance on Current Technology (10 points), and Team Size (5 points). As a public outreach project, publicity carried a lot of weight in the judging. At times a team's publicity efforts tilted the scales in their favor.

Currently, the release of reports is up to individual teams. If copies are desired, contact Tom Hill at the email address below, and he will connect interested parties with teams. Teams are encouraged to submit their reports to The Mars Society report archive, and inclusion in a future publication is possible, as Apogee Books will be publishing the convention proceedings in book form.

The Kepler Prize competition started in 2003, with a kick-off presentation to the assembled Mars Society convention. The goal of the design contest was to get more people thinking about Mars mission design, while in the process producing a workable design for the Earth Return Vehicle. Teams were required to submit a mid-term report of 10 or less pages in December and then a final report of no more than 100 pages on the 1st of June. Judges for The

Kepler Prize included Brian Enke, Dewey Anderson, and the project director, Tom Hill. Frank Shubert provided special support to the project.

There is no Kepler Prize contest scheduled as yet for the 2004-05 year, although others may be held in the future. For more information or to express interest in competing in future contests, contact Tom Hill (hillkid@earthlink.net).

GET IN LINE TO FIND EXTRASOLAR PLANETSBased on UTA reportFrom Astrobiology Magazine

9 July 2004

More than 100 planetary systems have already been discovered around distant stars. McDonald Observatory astronomers Bill Cochran, Michael Endl, and Barbara McArthur have exploited the Hobby-Eberly Telescope's (HET's) capabilities to find and confirm, with great precision, the giant telescope's first planet outside our solar system. The event serves as proof-of-concept that HET, combined with its High Resolution Spectrograph instrument, is on track to become a major player in the hunt for other worlds. The research has been accepted for publication in an upcoming edition of Astrophysical Journal Letters.

With a mass 2.84 times that of Jupiter, the newly discovered planet orbits the star HD 37605 every 54.23 days. HD 37605 is a little smaller and little cooler than the Sun. The star, which is of a type called "K0" or "K-zero," is rich in heavy chemical elements compared to the Sun. Of the approximately 120 extrasolar planets found to date, this new planet has the third most eccentric orbit, bringing it in close in to its parent star like a "hot Jupiter," and swinging it back out. The planet's average distance from its star is 0.26 Astronomical Units (AU). One AU is the Earth-Sun distance. The team used the "radial velocity" technique, a common planet-search method, to find the planet. By measuring changes in the star's velocity toward and away from Earth—its wobble—they deduced that HD 37605 is orbiting the center of mass of a star-planet system.

"In 100 days of observations—less than two full orbits—we were able to get a very good solution for this planet's orbit," Cochran said. The quick results were due to HET's "queue scheduling" system. Astronomers do not travel to the observatory to operate the telescope themselves. Rather, a telescope operator at McDonald Observatory has a list of all HET research projects and selects the ones best suited to any given night's weather conditions and Moon phase. This way, many targets for different research projects can be observed each night, and any particular target can be observed dozens of nights in a row.

According to Cochran, "queue scheduling is the ideal way to do planet searching. If the HET had a normal scheduling system, it would have taken us a year or two to confirm this planet."

Endl added that "with the queue scheduling mode, we can put every candidate star back into the queue at a high priority to secure follow-up telescope observations immediately."

Cochran added that the high precision of the team's radial velocity measurements "proves that the HET and the High Resolution Spectrograph have met their design specs." He explained that the total error (called "root-mean-square deviation") in the team's velocity measurements was 3 meters per second—state of the art for planet searching. Many of the team's measurements had even lower errors.

The HET contains the world's largest primary mirror, measuring 11 meters (433 inches) from edge to edge. Due to its innovative design, the HET was built and commissioned for $15 million, a fraction of the cost of other comparable telescopes. Because of the way the Hobby-Eberly Telescope is used, 9.2 meters (362 inches) of its surface are accessible at any given time. Thus, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope is effectively the third-largest telescope in the world, after the twin 10-meter (393-inch) Keck I and Keck II telescopes in Hawaii. The HET attained "first light" in December 1996 and "first spectrum" in September 1997. HET stands on Mount Fowlkes at McDonald Observatory in far West Texas, which has the darkest skies of any major observatory in the continental United States.

The High Resolution Spectrograph that made this research possible was built by Phillip MacQueen, Robert Tull, and John Good of The University of Texas

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at Austin. The 9.2 meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope is a joint project of The University of Texas at Austin, The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Muenchen, and Georg-August-Universitat Goettingen. This planet detection research is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1069.html.

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0407/10planet/http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/ observatory_finds_first_planet.html

TERRAFORMING MARS, THE NOBLE EXPERIMENT? INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT ZUBRINFrom Astrobiology Magazine

12 July 2004

As a former Martin-Marietta aerospace engineer, prolific author and founder of the non-profit Mars Society (1998), Robert Zubrin is regarded as the driving force behind the proposed Mars Direct mission to reduce the cost and complexity of interplanetary travel. The flight plan calls for a return journey fueled by rocket propellant harvested in situ, from the martian atmosphere itself.

Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society and author of Mars Direct. Image credit: Zubrin.

As described in Zubrin's book, The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet, the Mars Direct concept eventually became a cornerstone of a frugal "living off the land" approach to travel in NASA's Design Reference Mission. The Design Reference Mission (DRM) covers Earth launch to Mars landing, Mars cruise to Mars launch, and Earth return. The mission entails sending cargo ahead, docking the crew at the space station, then meeting up with the stashed supplies once on Mars.

"For our generation and many that will follow, Mars is the New World," writes Zubrin. The New York Times Book Review (Dennis Overbye) indicated how such an outline initially was greeted as breaking conventional wisdom about martian mission plans: "Part history, part call to arms, part technical manual, part wishful thinking, The Case for Mars... lays out an ingenious plan. ...one of the most provocative and hopeful documents I have read about the space program in 20 years."

The Mars Society continues to grow across many countries with thousands of members interested in space advocacy, particularly how best to encourage the exploration and settlement of Mars. Notable among the Society's members are science-fiction author, Greg Benford, and Academy Award winning director, James Cameron.

Astrobiology Magazine had the opportunity to talk with Robert Zubrin about the possibilities for terraforming Mars.

Astrobiology Magazine (AM): First off, should Mars be terraformed?

Robert Zubrin (RZ): Yes.

AM: Does Mars contain all of the elements needed to make the planet habitable, or will we have to import gases, chemicals, etc., from elsewhere? If so, then will Mars always need constant inputs to achieve habitability, or do you think that given enough inputs Mars would reach a tipping point and planetary processes would create a self-sustaining feed-back loop?

RZ: It appears that Mars does have all the elements needed for terraforming. The one outstanding question is nitrogen, whose inventory remains unknown. However theory suggests that Mars should have had an initial supply of nitrogen comparable to the Earth, and it seems likely that much of this is still there.

AM: How long will terraforming take? When you envision a terraformed Mars, what do you see?

RZ: If one considers the problem of terraforming Mars from the point of view of current technology, the scenario looks like this: 1. A century to settle Mars and create a substantial local industrial

capability and population.2. A half century producing fluorocarbon gases (like CF4) to warm the

planet by ~10°C.3. A half century for CO2 to outgas from the soil under the impetus of the

fluorocarbon gases, thickening the atmosphere to 0.2 to 0.3 bar, and raising the planetary temperature a further 40°C. This will cause water to melt out of the permafrost, and rivers to flow and rain to fall. Radiation doses on the surface will also be greatly reduced. Under these conditions, with active human help, first photosynthetic microbes and then ever more complex plants could be spread over the planet, as they would be able to grow in the open. Humans on Mars in this stage would no longer need pressure suits, just oxygen masks, and very large domed cities could be built, as the domes would no longer need to contain pressure greater than the outside environment.

4. Over a period of about a thousand years, human-disseminated and harvested plants would be able to put ~150 mbar (millibars) of oxygen in the martian atmosphere. Once this occurs, humans and other animals will be able to live on Mars in the open, and the world will become fully alive.

That's the scenario, using current technological approaches. However technology is advancing, and 23rd Century humans will not conduct their projects using 21st Century means. They will use 23rd Century means and accomplish the job much faster than anyone today can suppose.

So if someone in the 24th Century, living on a fully terraformed Mars, should discover this interview, I believe that she will view it in much the same way as we today look at Jules Verne's lunar mission design. We today look at Verne's ideas and say "Amazing, a man living a hundred years before Apollo foresaw it—and not only that—launched his crew of three from Florida, and returned them in a capsule landing in the Pacific Ocean where they were picked up by a U.S. warship, all as things actually happened. But launching people with heavy artillery—how 19th Century can you get?" So our 24th Century Martian historian studying this interview will smile and say; "Incredible. Here are people 300 years ago talking about terraforming Mars. But doing it with fluorocarbon gases and green plants—how 20th century can you get?"

AM: Who should the first human colonists to Mars be and how should they be chosen? Since martian gravity is one-third of Earth's, wouldn't bone and muscle loss, along with radiation, make colonization a one-way journey? What are the implications of what, from an Earth-perspective, is exile?

RZ: Life is a one-way trip, and we are all permanently exiled from our past. In that sense Mars colonists, and all colonists, are no different from anyone else. It is just more apparent in their case, as in addition to leaving behind the time of their past, they also leave behind the place. But in so doing, they gain the opportunity to create a world where none existed before, and thus gain a form of immortality that is denied to those who are content to accept the world they are born in.

AM: If there's life on Mars, how do we balance the martian right to life with the human impulse to explore and extend our borders?

RZ: The basis of ethics needs to be of benefit to humanity. If there is life on Mars, it is microbial, and its interests can in no way be considered as commensurate with human interests. Those who argue otherwise strike a

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fashionable pose, but deny their arguments every day through their actions. If bacterial interests trump human interests, then mouthwash should be banned, chlorination of water supplies should be banned, and antibiotics should be banned. If bacterial interests trump human interests, then Albert Schweitzer and Louis Pasteur should be denounced for crimes against bacteria.

Laser altimeter data from Mars interpreted by color representing altitudes and what once may have provided more exotic martian landforms than visible today. Image credit: GSFC/NASA.

Now, in saying that ethics must be based in human benefit, we need not deny that preserving valuable environments in important. It is important to save the Amazon rain forest, for example, because a world without an Amazon rain forest would be a poorer inheritance for our descendants than one with one, and the degree of the impoverishment exceeds whatever value might be obtained in the short term from slash and burn agriculture. However, in the case of Mars, the calculation votes the other way, as a terraformed Mars, filled with life, cities, universities, used book stores, and yes, rain forests, would be a vastly richer gift to posterity than the current barren Red Planet. Clearly, just as anyone who proposed transforming the current Earth into a place like Mars would be considered mad, so those who, given the choice, would keep Mars dead rather than make it a place as wonderful as the Earth must have their sanity doubted.

There remains only the question of science. Surely we should avail ourselves of the opportunity to study native martian life before we terraform the place. We surely will. Terraforming Mars will be a long term project, and should native martian microbes exist, there will be ample opportunity to study it before terraforming takes place. There will also be opportunity to study how it adapts to warmer, wetter conditions and the presence of terrestrial microbes after terraforming takes place. Furthermore, if Mars actually is terraformed, there will be much more people on Mars to study every aspect of Mars, including both its native and immigrant life. So in fact, our knowledge of martian biota will be increased by terraforming, not decreased.

AM: Humans sent to live on Mars will bring with them ideas on how to govern themselves, rules of conduct for living in society, economic motivations, and personality conflicts. How should the colonization of Mars be managed, and how should Mars be governed? Should the colonization of Mars be a cooperative effort among every nation, or should only those that financial contribute be in charge of the operation?

RZ: The Founding Fathers of the United States called our infant republic a "Noble Experiment," a place where the grand liberal ideas of the Enlightenment could be given a run, and the idea of a government based on

the rights on man could be tested to see if it could succeed in practice. Their Noble Experiment did succeed, and as a result became the model for a new and better form of human social organization worldwide.

Mars can, should, and will be a place for numerous new Noble Experiments. The well of human social thought has not yet run dry, nor do I believe that we have yet discovered the ultimate and most humanistic form of society possible. In the 22nd Century, as in the 18th, there will always be people who think they have discovered a better way, and need a place to go where the rules haven't been written yet so they can give their ideas a try. For these, the martian frontier will beckon. Many of their ideas will prove impractical, and their colonies will fail. But some of those who really have a better idea will succeed, and in doing so, light the way forward for all humanity. So, to answer your question, I say that the colonization of Mars should not be managed at all, but be done through the joyful chaos of human freedom.

AM: Taking a leap into the future, let's assume the technology, biology, sociology, and politics have all combined to create a unique sub-race of humanity on Mars. Generations of human beings have now been born, grown, bred and died on Mars. Who are these Martians?

RZ: In 1893, the great historian Frederick Jackson Turner wrote: "To the frontier the American intellect owes its striking characteristics. That coarseness of strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things, lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends; that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism, working for good and evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance that comes from freedom—these are the traits of the frontier."

I think that says it all. The pioneers of the martian frontier will be the Americans of the future.

Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1074.html.

MOON TO PROVIDE A STEPPING STONE TO MARS AND BEYONDBy Brian BergerFrom Space.com

12 July 2004

Thirty-five years after the world watched three Americans leave Earth on a mission to be the first to land on the Moon, the United States is plotting a return to the lunar landscape. But while the destination is the same, the motives have changed. Then the goal was to prove to a divided world simply that it could be done and done best by a free society. Now the driving motivation is to demonstrate the technologies and hone the skills needed to venture beyond Earth’s own backyard. U.S. President George W. Bush, in dropping the exploration gauntlet during his speech at NASA headquarters in January, said the United States would return to the moon by 2020 "as a launching point for missions beyond."

Read the full article at http://www.space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_040712.html.

THE SEARCH FOR MORE EARTHSFrom Universe Today

12 July 2004

When astronomers first realized that the stars in the sky were like our Sun, only more distant, they wondered if those stars had planets too. And if they have planets, is there life? Intelligent life? There's an answer—yes or no—but we don't know it yet. NASA and the European Space Agency are working on a series of space and ground-based observatories that may help get an answer soon. In just a decade, you could gaze into the night sky, locate a star, and know that there's life there. Life could be everywhere.

Read the full article at http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/search_for_more_earths.html.

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LOS ALAMOS COMPUTERS PROBE HOW GIANT PLANETS FORMED Los Alamos National Laboratory release

13 July 2004

Nearly five billion years ago, the giant gaseous planets Jupiter and Saturn formed, apparently in radically different ways. So says a scientist at the University of California's Los Alamos National Laboratory who created exhaustive computer models based on experiments in which the element hydrogen was shocked to pressures nearly as great as those found inside the two planets.

Working with a French colleague, Didier Saumon of Los Alamos' Applied Physics Division created models establishing that heavy elements are concentrated in Saturn's massive core, while those same elements are mixed throughout Jupiter, with very little or no central core at all. The study, published in this week's Astrophysical Journal, showed that refractory elements such as iron, silicon, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are concentrated in Saturn's core, but are diffused in Jupiter, leading to a hypothesis that they were formed through different processes.

Saumon collected data from several recent shock compression experiments that have showed how hydrogen behaves at pressures a million times greater than atmospheric pressure, approaching those present in the gas giants. These experiments—performed over the past several years at U.S. national labs and in Russia—have for the first time permitted accurate measurements of the so-called equation of state of simple fluids, such as hydrogen, within the high-pressure and high-density realm where ionization occurs for deuterium, the isotope made of a hydrogen atom with an additional neutron. Working with T. Guillot of the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, France, Saumon developed about 50,000 different models of the internal structures of the two giant gaseous planets that included every possible variation permitted by astrophysical observations and laboratory experiments.

"Some data from earlier planetary probes gave us indirect information about what takes place inside Saturn and Jupiter, and now we're hoping to learn more from the Cassini mission that just arrived in Saturn's orbit," Saumon said. "We selected only the computer models that fit the planetary observations."

Jupiter, Saturn and the other giant planets are made up of gases, like the sun. They are about 70 percent hydrogen by mass, with the rest mostly helium and small amounts of heavier elements. Therefore, their interior structures were hard to calculate because hydrogen's equation of state at high pressures wasn't well understood. Saumon and Guillot constrained their computer models with data from the deuterium experiments, thereby reducing previous uncertainties for the equation of state of hydrogen, which is the central ingredient needed to improve models of the structures of the planets and how they formed.

"We tried to include every possible variation that might be allowed by the experimental data on shock compression of deuterium," Saumon explained.

By estimating the total amount of the heavy elements and their distribution inside Jupiter and Saturn, the models provide a better picture of how the planets formed through the accretion of hydrogen, helium and solid elements from the nebula that swirled around the sun billions of years ago.

"There's been general agreement that the cores of Saturn and Jupiter are different," Saumon said. "What's new here is how exhaustive these models are. We've managed to eliminate or quantify many of the uncertainties, so we have much better confidence in the range within which the actual data will fall for hydrogen, and therefore for the refractory metals and other elements.

"Although we can't say our models are precise, we know quite well how imprecise they are," he added.

These results from the models will help guide measurements to be taken by Cassini and future proposed interplanetary space probes to Jupiter.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission. Los Alamos develops and applies science and technology to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent; reduce the threat of weapons of

mass destruction, proliferation and terrorism; and solve national problems in defense, energy, environment and infrastructure.

Contact: Jim DanneskioldPhone: 505-667-1640E-mail: jdanneskiold@lanl.gov

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1080.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/extrasolar-04t.html

DOOM AND GLOOM BY 2100By Julie Wakefield From Scientific American

13 July 2004

Death and destruction are not exactly foreign themes in cosmology. Black holes can rip apart stars; unseen dark energy hurtles galaxies away from one another. So maybe it's not surprising that Sir Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal, sees mayhem down on Earth. He warns that civilization has only an even chance of making it to the end of this century. The 62-year-old University of Cambridge astrophysicist and cosmologist feels so strongly about his grim prognostication that last year he published a popular book about it called Our Final Hour.

The book (entitled Our Final Century in the U.K.) represents a distillation of his 20 years of thinking about cosmology, humankind and the pressures that have put the future at risk. In addition to considering familiar potential disasters such as an asteroid impact, environmental degradation, global warming, nuclear war and unstoppable pandemics, Rees thinks science and technology are creating not only new opportunities but also new threats. He felt compelled to write Our Final Hour to raise awareness about both the hazards and the special responsibilities of scientists.

Read the full article at http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=30&articleID=0009D5CA-C218-10CF-BCE683414B7F0000.

ESA CONSIDERS THE NEXT STEP IN ASSESSING THE RISK FROM NEAR-EARTH OBJECTSESA release

14 July 2004

On 9 July 2004, the Near-Earth Object Mission Advisory Panel recommended that ESA place a high priority on developing a mission to actually move an asteroid. The conclusion was based on the panel’s consideration of six near-Earth object mission studies submitted to the Agency in February 2003. Of the six studies, three were space-based observatories for detecting NEOs and three were rendezvous missions. All addressed the growing realization of the threat posed by Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and proposed ways of detecting NEOs or discovering more about them from a close distance.

A panel of six experts, known as the Near-Earth Object Mission Advisory Panel (NEOMAP) assessed the proposals. Alan Harris, German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Berlin, and Chairman of NEOMAP, says, "The task has been very difficult because the goalposts have changed. When the studies were commissioned, the discovery business was in no way as advanced as it is now. Today, a number of organizations are building large telescopes on Earth that promise to find a very large percentage of the NEO population at even smaller sizes than visible today."

As a result, the panel decided that ESA should leave detection to ground-based telescopes for the time being, until the share of the remaining population not visible from the ground becomes better known. The need for a space-based observatory will then be re-assessed. The panel placed its highest priority on rendezvous missions, and in particular, the Don Quijote mission concept.

"If you think about the chain of events between detecting a hazardous object and doing something about it, there is one area in which we have no experience at all and that is in directly interacting with an asteroid, trying to alter its orbit," explains Harris.

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Artist's impression of the Don Quijote Mission.

The Don Quijote mission concept will do this by using two spacecraft, Sancho and Hidalgo. Both are launched at the same time but Sancho takes a faster route. When it arrives at the target asteroid it will begin a seven-month campaign of observation and physical characterization during which it will land penetrators and seismometers on the asteroid’s surface to understand its internal structure. Sancho will then watch as Hidalgo arrives and smashes into the asteroid at very high speed. This will provide information about the behavior of the internal structure of the asteroid during an impact event as well as excavating some of the interior for Sancho to observe. After the impact, Sancho and telescopes from Earth will monitor the asteroid to see how its orbit and rotation have been affected.

Harris says, "When we do actually find a hazardous asteroid, you could imagine a Don Quijote-type mission as a precursor to a mitigation mission. It will tell us how the target responds to an impact and will help us to develop a much more effective mitigation mission."

Hidalgo impacts with the asteroid while Sancho, with an attitude appropriate to its name, retreats to a safe distance to observe the impact without taking unnecessary risk. Image credit: ESA/Deimos Space.

On 9 July, the findings were presented to the scientific and industrial community. Representatives of other national space agencies were also invited in the hope that they will be interested in developing a joint mission, based around this concept.

Andrés Galvez, ESA’s Advanced Concepts Team and technical officer for the NEOMAP report says, "This report gives us a solid foundation to define programmatic priorities and an implementation strategy, in which I also hope we are joined by international partners". With international cooperation, a mission could be launched as early as 2010-2015.

Read the original news release at http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMZO8M26WD_index_0.html.

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1082.htmlhttp://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/scitues_don_quijote_040713.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/deepimpact-04k.html

AMMONIA ON MARS COULD MEAN LIFEBy David Whitehouse From BBC News Online

15 July 2004

Ammonia may have been found in Mars' atmosphere, which some scientists say could indicate life on the Red Planet. Researchers say its spectral signature has been tentatively detected by sensors on board the European Space Agency's orbiting Mars Express craft.

Ammonia survives for only a short time in the martian atmosphere so if it really does exist it must be getting constantly replenished. There are two possible sources: either active volcanoes, none of which have been found yet on Mars, or microbes.

Read the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3896335.stm.

An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/upi/2004/WWN-UPI-20040715-23154100-bc-mars-ammonia.html.

NEW WORLDS OF WORDSFrom Astrobiology Magazine

15 July 2004

The Oxford English Dictionary announced this week the latest new terms to bolster its role as the classic overseer of the English language. As sandwiched between the new additions for "arborist" (a tree surgeon) and the Indian term "batchmate" (a classmate) is a new word hardly a decade old. Accepted this week to the dictionary is "astrobiology", defined as "the branch of biology concerned with the discovery or study of life on other planets or in space." Derivative forms are the adjective, "astrobiological" and noun, "astrobiologist".

Counted among the Oxford entries in what has "long been considered the ultimate reference work in English lexicography," the 20-volume compendium has declared officially that "the search for life elsewhere" needs a definition. Since astrobiology came into its own from the earliest international science gatherings, the usage of the term has been discussed.

One group of advocates considered whether astrobiology needed to be distinct from exobiology, an antecedent field that has occasionally been used as a synonym. Exobiology journals existed already and conferences discussed the origin of life or how microbes might survive in space. One distinction between the prefixes "exo-" and "astro-" centered on whether exobiology treated extraterrestrial life only and not broader issues of terrestrial climate or evolution on Earth as precursors to understanding life elsewhere. So would exobiology consider new methods of planet discovery, for instance, as being biological enough for their journals? Astrobiology journals seemed willing to fill any gaps, if a topic was somehow linked to the discovery of life elsewhere.

Other examples to distinguish the two branches might show themselves on an invited speakers list. An astrobiologist might be an invited speaker if they could reference geological research to determine the age of the Earth or track planetary evolution if it might help quantify the probability of finding another Earth-like world. An exobiologist seemed less likely to be a geologist or astrophysicist by training.

At those early meetings, another group questioned the literal interpretation of "astrobiology" as meaning "the biology of stars". Was astrobiology about stellar reproduction? The question was posed half in jest, but might prove semantically troublesome, particularly if the Greek prefix "astro", or "stars", might mislead an international scientific community just being introduced to controversial issues in such a nascent and cross-disciplinary field. Few could

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argue that a fiery star itself was ever habitable, so labeling astrobiology as "the biology of stars" had literal implications for introductory teachers, students and dictionary editors.

Academic writers, including a few now published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), have bandied around the term, astrobiology, as formally including "the scientific search for life in the universe, and the current level of scientific understanding of how life begins, grows, and becomes intelligent in our Solar System and beyond." The jacket cover on a 2002 OUP publication called astrobiology, "one of the most exciting new fields in science."

Whether the relation between the rising number of astrobiology courses— and the textbooks to support those graduates—has a bearing on its now popular usage is not clear, but as the oldest English-speaking university in the world, Oxford now seems willing to survey the field from the ground up. Ever since the European university system formally divided departmental responsibilities in science to the big three—physics, chemistry and biology—many cross-fertilizations like astrophysics and earth science have arisen to confound those divisions.

But few of these candidate disciplines can count such a wide array of practitioners as can the broad cadre of astrobiologists. Among them are included cosmologists, computer theorists, engineers, robotocists, geologists, radio astronoomers, organic and biological chemists. Given the rapid advances in the frontiers of genetics, no shortage of microbiologists and DNA experts have broadened their view of their own fields to include consideration of how the primordial soup might have been stirred elsewhere in the universe. One question in defining astrobiology remained: exactly what disciplines did it exclude?

A picture may help. Each scientific branch has its defining image. Physicists split the atom, chemists built the periodic table, and biologists have the DNA molecule. Should astrobiologists have a logo? Conducting a survey on the street might link astrobiology to alien searches. But as a discipline, astrobiology seemed less slanted towards a particular humanoid shape of an alien lifeform or even an enormous radio dish pointed skywards.

If such a vast field could be reduced to a single picture, then one candidate might be a picture of an ocean on another world. Just finding a great sea would imply biology to many, since as ingredients go, liquid water has preeminence in defining conditions suitable for life. Indeed, in looking back at our own planet from space—the "Pale Blue Dot"—Carl Sagan used the Voyager probe's photograph of Earth from over 3 billion miles to highlight both the vastness of space and the relative importance of water for life here.

In 1998, NASA's Associate Administrator Wesley Huntress, Jr., stated, "Wherever liquid water and chemical energy are found, there is life. There is no exception." A working definition for astrobiology therefore might evolve in practice to mean: wherever a source of water is found outside Earth, a curious astrobiologist is likely to be found lurking.

An alternative but less pictorial view of how a branch of science gets its definition relies on knowing its particular tools. In this view, a carpenter is known by his hammer and saw, not by the house he builds. Among the sciences, do astrobiologists have a characteristic method of measurement? Astrobiology of course inherits all the rich scientific timeline of instrument developments, but critics have wondered if any search for life could ever pass a statistical test. On a planetary scale, only one example of an inhabited world is known to us or even available to scientific conjecture.

This criticism is blunted if more new planets around other stars reveal themselves and as more extreme environments for life on Earth prove fertile. One hundred such new worlds have been identified just since the term astrobiology came into NASA usage. If any natural phenomenon can be measured, it can safely be bet on to enter the wider halls of science. So the argument goes according to advocates and pioneers in the field, astrobiology has too many things to measure, not too few. After all, if twenty-five percent of all stars also host a larger solar system of their own, then current estimates for the number of planets just in our own galaxy may top one billion yet undiscovered worlds. Beyond the semantics, few would argue the search for life lacks frontiers to explore.

One key to taking the next step in measurement for astrobiologists in fact is another of this week's new entries in the Oxford English Dictionary: the word, "bioindicator". The term refers formally to an organism used as an indicator of the quality of an ecosystem. So coincidentally, the roots of astrobiology

may deepen as a discipline if more bioindicators are explored on Earth and elsewhere.

This week's entry of the term "astrobiology" in the Oxford English Dictionary is laudable to scientists who debated its earliest boundaries. Few students may actually rely on a dictionary to describe a branch of science, but the event itself symbolizes a coinage that is likely to outlast just a single generation of graduates. As with any working science, ultimately the field is defined by the topics of research treated in its journals and conferences. Indeed a popular topic among SETI researchers addresses how best to communicate with another civilization, when we cannot assimilate each other's meanings—or even new usages of shared Greek roots like astro- and -biologia. In the world of new words, astrobiology appears poised this week to become another word for finding new worlds.

Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1079.html.

INFLATABLE SPACE OUTPOSTS: CASH DOWN ON HIGH HOPESBy Leonard DavidFrom Space.com

16 June 2004

For this desert gambling town it could become an odds-on favorite: inflatable space modules. With company facilities spread out across some 50 acres here in North Las Vegas, Bigelow Aerospace is bankrolling big-time the private development of large space habitats. Extensive work is underway in designing and building partial and full-scale inflatable modules, fabricated to serve a range of users, from bio-tech firms and educational institutions to other groups wanting to churn out made-in-microgravity products.

While not the firm’s top-of-the line business pursuit, inflatable space modules could become an Earth orbiting stopover for spaceliner tourists. That’s not too much of a stretch given who is backing the endeavor—businessman Robert Bigelow, owner of the Budget Suites of America Hotel Chain.

Read the full article at http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/techwed_bigelow_hotels_040714.html.

NEW MARTIAN METEORITE FOUND IN ANTARCTICANASA release 2004-232

20 July 2004

While rovers and orbiting spacecraft scour Mars searching for clues to its past, researchers have uncovered another piece of the red planet in the most inhospitable place on Earth—Antarctica. The new specimen was found by a field party from the U.S. Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET) on December 15, 2003, on an ice field in the Miller Range of the Transantarctic Mountains, roughly 750 km (466 miles) from the South Pole. This 715.2-gram (1.6-pound) black rock, officially designated MIL 03346, was one of 1358 meteorites collected by ANSMET during the 2003-2004 austral summer. Discovery of this meteorite occurred during the second full field season of a cooperative effort funded by NASA and supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to enhance recovery of rare meteorite types in Antarctica, in the hopes new martian samples would be found.

Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History involved in classification of Antarctic finds said the mineralogy, texture and the oxidized nature of the rock are unmistakably martian. The new specimen is the seventh recognized member of a group of martian meteorites called the nakhlites, named after the first known specimen that fell in Nakhla, Egypt, in 1911.

Like the other martian meteorites, MIL 03346 is a piece of the red planet that can be studied in detail in the laboratory, providing a critical "reality check" for use in interpreting the wealth of images and data being returned by the spacecraft currently exploring Mars. Following the existing protocols of the U.S. Antarctic meteorite program, scientists from around the world will be invited to request samples of the new specimen for their own detailed research.

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View of MIL 03346 showing black fusion crust with vugs as well as lighter interior exposed on the left side.

Nakhlites are significant among the known martian meteorites for several reasons. Thought to have originated within thick lava flows that crystallized on Mars approximately 1.3 billion years ago, and sent to Earth by a meteorite impact about 11 million years ago, the nakhlites are among the older known martian meteorites. As a result they bear witness to significant segments of the volcanic and environmental history of Mars.

The U.S. Antarctic Meteorite program is a cooperative effort jointly supported by NSF, NASA and the Smithsonian Institution. Antarctic field work is supported by grants from NASA and NSF to Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland; initial examination and curation of recovered Antarctic meteorites is supported by NASA at the astromaterials curation facilities at Johnson Space Center in Houston; and initial characterization and long-term curation of Antarctic meteorite samples is supported by NASA and the Smithsonian Institution at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington.

Plane polarized view of MIL 03346, 2 showing clinopyroxene crystals and dark mesostasis.

Details concerning initial characterization of the specimen and sample availability are available through a special edition of the Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter, to be immediately released on the Web at http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/curator/antmet/amn/amn.htm. The edition also will be mailed to researchers worldwide.

Contacts:Donald SavageNASA Headquarters, Washington, DCPhone: 202-358-1727

Leslie FinkNational Science Foundation, Arlington, VAPhone: 703-292-5395

Paul TaylorSmithsonian Institution, Washington, DCPhone: 202-357-2627

Jeffrey BendixCase Western Reserve University, ClevelandPhone: 216-368-6070

DOWNSIZING THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEXBy David J. Thomas

20 July 2004

The Astrobiology Index, Marsbugs' sister site, will be downsized somewhat starting this week. As the field of astrobiology continues to grow, keeping up with the number of available publications has become almost impossible. Thus, links to individual articles will no longer be available on the Index. Links to astrobiology-related internet sites, journal and other publications will remain available. I apologize for any inconvenience, but it simply has become unmanageable.

Visit The Astrobiology Index at http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/.

CASSINI UPDATESNASA/JPL releases

Cassini Significant Events for 1-7 July 2004NASA/JPL release, 9 July 2004

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, July 7. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" web page located at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm.

On-board activities this week included the successful completion of the Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) Critical Sequence, playback of all SOI telemetry and science data, Cassini's first Titan flyby, and acquisition of temperature and composition data for validation of the Titan atmospheric model to be used by the Huygens probe when released in December 2004.

Solar Conjunction occurs when the Sun is between the spacecraft and Earth. This year it will last from July 5 through July 11, and is a time of reduced commanding and downlink capability. During this period the project will uplink a command file consisting of 10 no-op commands sent every 5 minutes, 10 to 20 times daily. The purpose of the test is to accumulate statistics for uplink reliability at decreased separation angles.

Just prior to the start of conjunction, a relative timed IDAP to modify the telemetry mode was uplinked to the spacecraft. This allowed theInstrument teams to obtain real-time instrument "house keeping" data to confirm the state of their instruments. The spacecraft is in a normal state and will remain Earth pointed and quiescent throughout conjunction.

Preliminary port#2 of Science Operations Plan (SOP) Implementation of tour sequences S31/S32 occurred this week. The delivered products were merged and reports delivered to the implementation team.

The SOP Update process for S05 began this week, and the process for S04 completed. A handoff package was delivered to Uplink Operations. A kick-off meeting was then held as part of the S04 Science and Sequence Update Process, and the Sub-Sequence Generation integrated sequence products were released to the Sequence Team (ST).

The integrated sequence products and DSN keyword file for S03 were released to the ST for review, and the instrument teams delivered their instrument expanded block spacecraft activity sequence files to the file repository. The final sequence products for S03 will be available next week,

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and the sequence approval meeting held the week after. S03 will go active on board the spacecraft on July 30.

As reported last week, the Cassini Team successfully executed the SOI burn on June 30, 2004. This main engine burn slowed the spacecraft by 626.17 meters per second or about 2254.2 kilometers per hour and allowed the spacecraft to be captured by Saturn's gravity field. Unlike delta-V burns executed by other JPL spacecraft, Cassini's SOI burn was the first and only burn designed to achieve a change in the specific energy of the spacecraft, instead of a change in the spacecraft velocity. The "energy" algorithm used was proposed, developed, coded, and flight-tested by the SCO and Navigation teams.

This maneuver was also unique in the history of JPL in that the burn direction was changed continuously with time. The SOI "steering" rate was about 0.008 degrees per second, for a total steering angle of about 46 deg. This is very close to the rotation rate of the hour hand of a clock. By "steering", the main engine thrust tracked approximately the Saturn-relative velocity of the spacecraft, and the efficiency of the SOI burn was improved. Less propellant was used as a result. Following SOI, the decision was made to cancel both Orbital Trim Maneuvers (OTM) 001 and 001a. It was determined that there was no significant propellant savings or mission benefits to be gained by performing these maneuvers.

Raytheon, Cassini Outreach, and the Instrument Operations (IO) Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) team located at JPL were involved in the rapid development and deployment of the public web site for Cassini raw ISS images. The site was rolled out on SOI day. IO/ISS supplied design expertise, image data and metadata, testing, and site documentation.

Mission Assurance conducted a pair of Risk Team meetings to reassess risk to the probe mission. As a result, three new items were added to the Significant Risk List (SRL). There are no red risks in the SRL. All continue to be mitigated to either yellow or green. In addition, all risks related only to the Cruise portion of the mission and SOI were officially retired.

The flight team continues to be excited and energized by the number of articles appearing regarding Cassini, and the interest and enthusiasm of the public. During 64 hours surrounding the SOI period the total number of web site hits were as follows:Total for Cassini traffic = 261,216,092Mission web site (saturn.jpl.nasa.gov) = 136,595,464Portal (nasa.gov/cassini) = 124,620,628

Cassini-Huygens Mission Status ReportNASA/JPL release 2004-174, 12 July 2004 The Cassini spacecraft emerged from behind the Sun today after being in solar conjunction since July 5. The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Deep Space Network's Goldstone tracking station near Barstow, CA, today. The spacecraft is in excellent health and operating normally.

Details observed in Saturn’s south polar region demonstrate that this area is far from featureless. Lighter colored clouds dot the entire region, which is dominated by a central, sharply-defined circular feature. Movie sequences in which these features are captured and followed will allow wind speeds in the polar region to be measured.

Just before Cassini began its transit behind the Sun, it snapped pictures of Saturn's moons Mimas, Tethys, Rhea and Iapetus. These and other new pictures from Saturn can be found as raw images at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/index.cfm.

Solar conjunction occurs when the Sun is between the spacecraft and Earth. During this time, the spacecraft conducts only limited science observations.

Command and downlink capability is reduced to a minimum, with an uplink command file consisting of 10 commands sent every five minutes, 10 to 20 times a day. The purpose of this test is to assess the spacecraft's ability to receive commands from Earth when the signal path goes so close to the Sun.

Cassini Exposes Saturn's Two-Face MoonNASA image advisory 2004-182, 15 July 2004

The moon with the split personality, Iapetus, presents a perplexing appearance in the latest images snapped by the Cassini spacecraft. One hemisphere of the moon is very dark, while the other is very bright. Scientists do not yet know the origin of the dark material or whether or not it is representative of the interior of Iapetus.

The moon with the split personality, Iapetus, presents a puzzling appearance. One hemisphere of the moon is very dark, while the other is very bright. Whether the moon is being coated by foreign material or being resurfaced by material from within is not yet known.

Iapetus (pronounced eye-APP-eh-tuss) is one of Saturn's 31 known moons. Its diameter is about one third that of our own moon at 1,436 kilometers (892 miles). This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on July 3, 2004, from a distance of 3 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Iapetus. The brightness variations in this image are not due to shadowing, they are real. During Cassini's four-year tour, the spacecraft will continue to image Iapetus and conduct two close encounters. One of those encounters, several years from now, will be at a mere 1,000 kilometers (622 miles).

Iapetus was discovered by the Italian-French astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini in 1672. He correctly deduced that the trailing hemisphere is composed of highly reflective material, while the leading hemisphere is strikingly darker. This sets Iapetus apart from Saturn's other moons and Jupiter's moons, which tend to be brighter on their leading hemispheres. Voyager images show that the bright side of Iapetus, which reflects nearly 50 percent of the light it receives, is fairly typical of a heavily cratered icy satellite. The leading side consists of much darker, redder material that has a reflectivity of only about 3 to 4 percent.

One scenario for the outside deposit of material has dark particles being ejected from Saturn's little moon Phoebe and drifting inward to coat Iapetus. One observation lending credence to an internal origin is the concentration of material on crater floors, which is suggestive of something filling in the craters.

Iapetus is odd in other respects. It is in a moderately inclined orbit, one that takes it far above and below the plane in which the rings and most of the moons orbit. It is less dense than many of the other satellites, which suggests a higher fraction of ice or possibly methane or ammonia in its interior.

Cassini Significant Events for 8-14 July 2004NASA/JPL release, 16 July 2004

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, July 14. 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

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Position" web page located at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm.

Cassini exited the Solar Conjunction period this week. Telecommunications performance was limited as expected due to the position of the Sun between the spacecraft and Earth. Full communications capability was restored once a 2-degree Sun-Earth-Probe separation angle was achieved. After conjunction all instruments were once again configured for science acquisition.

On or about July 13, Cassini exited Saturn's magnetosphere and the Magnetospheric and Plasma Science instruments began to monitor the solar wind. The unique geometry of this period of high altitude and phase angles of ~100 degrees will allow the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph to simultaneously measure Saturn's aurora and magnetosphere.

On-board activities this week included a reaction wheel assembly bias, uplink of a ram flight software patch and table load for the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, Probe Checkout (PCO) #14, and a test of the Probe Mission Timer Unit (MTU). This is the first checkout of the probe since Saturn Orbit Insertion. All probe instruments and the MTU are functioning properly. In preparation for probe release and relay, the checkout was utilized by members of the ground system to practice the generation of 30 minute IDRs and the monitoring of the data flow to the Huygens Probe Operations Center.

The icy, cratered surface of Saturn's moon Dione shows more than just its sunlit side in these two processed versions of the same image.

Members of the Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) instrument team escorted an engineering model of the instrument to JPL where it was connected to a test bed in the Integrated Test Laboratory for flight software testing. Next week the ITL will resume Probe Relay testing.

Official port#2 of Science Operations Plan (SOP) Implementation of tour sequences S31/S32 occurred this week. The products were merged and delivered to ACS for end-to-end pointing analysis. Preliminary port#1 of SOP Implementation of tour sequences S33/S34 also occurred this week. The files were merged and a report was delivered identifying issues to be worked.

The S05 SOP Update process began this week, and an assessment meeting to review requested changes to S07 was held as part of the Aftermarket process.

Initially it appears that all requested changes can fit within available resources. The Target Working Teams and Orbiter Science Teams will be reviewing the requests over the next two weeks and provide their recommendations at the decision meeting scheduled for July 27.

The first artificial satellite in the Saturn system, the Cassini spacecraft, returned images of the natural moons following a successful insertion into orbit. This is an unmagnified view of the moon Rhea. With a diameter of 1,528 kilometers (950 miles) across, Rhea is Saturn's second largest moon. The Voyager spacecraft found that like Dione, Rhea has one of its hemispheres covered with bright, wispy streaks which may be water frost.

The Huygens Probe Mission Risk Review was held on Wednesday, July 14. This was an external review convened to assess the risks and risk mitigation measures associated with the probe mission. The board was comprised of independent reviewers from JPL, other NASA centers, and industry. The review was very successful with positive closing comments from the board. All teams and offices supported this month's Cassini monthly management review.

A Software Review/Certification Requirements meeting was held for CDA flight software (FSW) version 9.2.4. Two bug fixes were previously approved for this "patch" delivery. The next full delivery of this FSW is scheduled for Dec 2004, with uplink planned for post-Probe mission.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. For the latest images and more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

Contacts:Carolina Martinez Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CAPhone: 818-354-9382

Heidi Finn Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OperationsSpace Science Institute, Boulder, COPhone: 720-974-5859

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1057.htmlhttp://www.astrobio.net/news/article1058.htmlhttp://www.astrobio.net/news/article1059.htmlhttp://www.astrobio.net/news/article1077.htmlhttp://cl.extm.us/?fe8c1c727162077e7c-fe28167073670175701c72http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/03/saturn.cassini.ap/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/08/rings.update/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/16/saturn.cassini.ap/index.htmlhttp://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/09jul_hailstorm.htm?list52260http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/titan_upclose_040703.htmlhttp://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/saturn_rings_040708.htmlhttp://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/cassini_dust_040712.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/040712southpole.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/040712status.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zu.html

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http://www.spacedaily.com/news/saturn-titan-04o.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zv.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zw.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zx.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zy.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zza.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/040701science.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/040702magnetosphere.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/040702puzzles.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/040703titanpix.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/040707ringsuv.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/040715iapetus.htmlhttp://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/saturns_southern_atmosphere.htmlhttp://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/first_view_rhea.html

NASA'S MARS ROVERS ROLL INTO MARTIAN WINTERNASA/JPL release 2004-184

16 July 2004

As winter approaches on Mars, NASA's Opportunity rover continues to inch deeper into the stadium-sized crater dubbed "Endurance." On the other side of the planet, the Spirit rover found an intriguing patch of rock outcrop while preparing to climb up the "Columbia Hills" backward. This unusual approach to driving is part of a creative plan to accommodate Spirit's aging front wheel.

Spirit, with an odometer reading of over 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles), has already traveled six times its designed capacity. Its right front wheel has been experiencing increased internal resistance, and recent efforts to mitigate the problem by redistributing the wheel's lubricant through rest and heating have been only partially successful.

The pointy features in this image may only be a few centimeters high and less than 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) wide, but they generate major scientific interest. Dubbed "Razorback," this chunk of rock sticks up at the edge of flat rocks in "Endurance Crater." Based on their understanding of processes on Earth, scientists believe these features may have formed when fluids migrated through fractures, depositing minerals. Fracture-filling minerals would have formed veins composed of a harder material that eroded more slowly than the rock slabs. Possible examination of these features using the instruments on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity may further explain what these features have to do with the history of water on Mars. This false-color image was taken by the rover's panoramic camera. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell.

To cope with the condition, rover planners have devised a roundabout strategy. They will drive the rover backward on five wheels, rotating the sixth wheel only sparingly to ensure its availability for demanding terrain. "Driving may take us a little bit longer because it is like dragging an anchor," said Joe Melko, a rover engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "However, this approach will allow us to continue doing science much longer than we ever thought possible."

This image taken by the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the layers of bedrock that line the walls of "Endurance Crater." Opportunity has been inching down the crater walls, investigating distinct layers of rock for clues to Mars' buried past. The various layers are labeled here as "A" through "F." Targets within these layers, including millstone, are also indicated. Using its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, Opportunity has discovered that the element chlorine increases in concentration dramatically with deepening layers. Opportunity will continue to roll deeper into Endurance to see if this puzzling trend continues. Scientists hope the new data will help them figure out how the presence of chlorine fits into the history of water at Endurance Crater. This image was taken on sol 134 (June 9, 2004). Image credit: NASA/JPL.

On Thursday, July 15, Spirit successfully drove 8 meters (26 feet) north along the base of the Columbia Hills backward, dragging its faulty wheel. The wheel was activated about 10 percent of the time to surmount obstacles and to pull the rover out of trenches dug by the immobile wheel.

Along the way, Spirit drove over what scientists had been hoping to find in the hills—a slab of rock outcrop that may represent some of the oldest rocks observed in the mission so far. Spirit will continue to drive north, where it likely will encounter more outcrops. Ultimately, the rover will drive east and hike up the hills backward using all six wheels.

"A few months ago, we weren't sure if we'd make it to the hills, and now here we are preparing to drive up into them," said Dr. Matt Golombek, a rover science-team member from JPL. "It's very exciting."

For the past month, the Spirit rover has been parked near several hematite-containing rocks, including "Pot of Gold," conducting science studies and undergoing a long-distance "tune-up" for its right front wheel.

Driving with the wheel disabled means that corrections might have to be made to the rover's steering if it veers off its planned path. This limits Spirit's accuracy, but rover planners working at JPL's rover test facility have come up with some creative commands that allow the rover to auto-correct itself to a limited degree.

As Spirit prepares to climb upward, Opportunity is rolling downward. Probing increasingly deep layers of bedrock lining the walls of Endurance Crater at Meridiani Planum, the rover has observed a puzzling increase in the amount of chlorine. Data from Opportunity's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer show that chlorine is the only element that dramatically rises with deepening layers, leaving scientists to wonder how it got there. "We do not know yet which element is bound to the chlorine," said Dr. Jutta Zip Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany.

Opportunity will roll down even farther into the crater in the next few days to see if this trend continues. It also will investigate a row of sharp, teeth-like features dubbed "Razorback," which may have formed when fluid flowed

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through cracks, depositing hard minerals. Scientists hope the new data will help put together the pieces of Meridiani's mysterious and watery past. "Razorback may tell us more about the history of water at Endurance Crater," said Dr. Jack Farmer, a rover science-team member from Arizona State University.

Rover planners are also preparing for the coming martian winter, which peaks in mid-September. Dwindling daily sunshine means the rovers will have less solar power and take longer to recharge. Periods of rest and "deep sleep" will allow the rovers to keep working through the winter at lower activity levels. Orienting the rovers' solar panels toward the north will also elevate power supplies. "The rovers might work a little bit more every day, or a little bit more every other day. We will see how things go and remain flexible," said Jim Erickson, project manager for the Mars Exploration Rover mission.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Images and additional information about the project are available on the Internet at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov and http://athena.cornell.edu.

Daily MER updates are available at:http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spirit.htmlhttp://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_opportunity.html

Contacts:Whitney ClavinJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CAPhone: 818-354-4673

Donald SavageNASA Headquarters, Washington, DCPhone: 202-358-1727

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1060.htmlhttp://www.astrobio.net/news/article1061.htmlhttp://www.astrobio.net/news/article1062.htmlhttp://www.astrobio.net/news/article1063.htmlhttp://www.astrobio.net/news/article1070.htmlhttp://www.astrobio.net/news/article1076.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzzzi.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzzzj.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzzzk.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzzzo.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzzzq.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzzzr.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzzzs.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzzzt.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzzzu.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040716status.html

MARS EXPRESS: NORTHERN RIM OF HELLAS BASINESA release

8 July 2004

These images of the rim of the Hellas basin on Mars were obtained by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft. The scenes show a portion of the northern region of the Hellas basin at 29°S latitude and 68°E longitude. They were taken during orbit 488 with a resolution of 18.3 meters per pixel. North is to the right.

The Hellas basin is located in the martian southern hemisphere, and is actually a giant impact crater. It is about nine kilometers deep and has a rim diameter of about 2300 kilometers, which makes it one of the largest impact craters in our Solar System. The basin floor is frost-covered in the martian winter and appears bright even in Earth-based telescope observations.

These HRSC images show the basin rim, which is strongly dissected by elliptical and concave features, running north-west to south-east, as well as several small impact craters. The elongated smaller basins have most likely been shaped by wind erosion (aeolian processes). A small valley network in the north-western part of the region suggests fluvial activity, meaning possibly action by water.

Color image of Hellas basin rim.

Perspective view of Hellas basin rim.

The 3D anaglyph image was created using one stereo channel and the nadir (vertical view) channel of the HRSC. The color image was created from the nadir and three color channels. The perspective view was calculated from the digital terrain model derived from the stereo and color information of the image data. Image resolution has been decreased for use on the internet. The 3D images require stereoscopic glasses to view. For more information on Mars Express HRSC images, you might like to read our updated "Frequently Asked Questions" (http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMJBQXLDMD_0.html).

Read the original news release at http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMB5UL26WD_0.html.

An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/marsexpress-04q.html. MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGESNASA/JPL/MSSS release

1-14 July 2004

The following new images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available.

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Dunes in Noachis (Released 01 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/01/index.html

South Polar Layers (Released 02 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/02/index.html

Sulci Gordii (Released 03 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/03/index.html

Small Dunes in Hellas (Released 04 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/04/index.html

Exhumed Craters (Released 05 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/05/index.html

Dark Mesas of Aram Chao (Released 06 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/06/index.html

Carbon Dioxide Landscape (Released 07 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/07/index.html

Concentric Crater Floor (Released 08 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/08/index.html

Wind Erosion in Tithonium (Released 09 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/09/index.html

Coprates Outcrop (Released 10 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/10/index.html

Nili Buttes and Mesas (Released 11 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/11/index.html

Exposed Crater (Release d12 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/12/index.html

Medusae Sulci Yardangs (Released 13 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/13/index.html

Martian Gullies (Released 14 July 2004)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/07/14/index.html

All of the Mars Global Surveyor images are archived at http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/index.html.

Mars Global Surveyor was launched in November 1996 and has been in Mars orbit since September 1997. It began its primary mapping mission on March 8, 1999. Mars Global Surveyor is the first mission in a long-term program of Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program that is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the

MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO.

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGESNASA/JPL/ASU release

6-16 July 2004

Dust Devil Days (Released 6 July 20044)http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040706a.html

Kaiser Crater Dust Devils (Released 7 July 2004)http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040707a.html

Plentiful Dust Devils (Released 8 July 2004)http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040708a.html

Southern Dust Devils (Released 9 July 2004)http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040709a.html

Wind Streaks (Released 12 July 2004)http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=64oEDSAIgLlO-3BCLCXxIg

Windstreaks in Daedalia (Released 13 July 2004)http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=H16BNmD-S4BO-3BCLCXxIg

Yardangs in Gusev (Released 14 July 2004)http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=vj3tykELXy5O-3BCLCXxIg

Ejecta Yardangs (Released 15 July 2004)http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=hj0XGbqusLxO-3BCLCXxIg

Yardang Development (Released 16 July 2004)http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=itxr2m_2TMpO-3BCLCXxIg

All of the THEMIS images are archived at http://themis.la.asu.edu/latest.html.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

End Marsbugs, Volume 11, Number 29.

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