Marsbugs Vol. 11, No. 37

Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004

Editor/Publisher: David J. Thomas, Ph.D., Science Division, Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas 72503-2317, USA. [email protected]

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 5 DRILLING FOR WEIRD LIFE: INTERVIEW WITH CAROL STOKER, PART I Page 1 HYDROCARBONS IN THE DEEP EARTH? By Henry Bortman Carnegie Institution of Washington release Announcements Page 2 NOW BOARDING: ZERO G FLIGHTS FOR THE PUBLIC By Leonard David Page 6 NASA MEANS BUSINESS STUDENT COMPETITION 2005 Program announcement Page 2 ANTARCTIC LIVING: A SPACE HOUSE FOR AN ICY LAND Page 7 NASA INVITES STUDENTS TO FLY HIGH FOR By Tariq Malik WEIGHTLESS SCIENCE NASA release 04-303 Page 2 THE OTHER MARTIAN METEORITE From Astrobiology Magazine Mission Reports

URANIUM/LEAD DATING PROVIDES MOST ACCURATE Page 7 CASSINI UPDATES DATE YET FOR EARTH'S LARGEST EXTINCTION NASA/ESA/JPL releases By Robert Sanders Page 10 GENESIS MISSION STATUS REPORT Page 3 HOW GENESIS CRASH IMPACTS MARS SAMPLE NASA release 2004-231 RETURN By Leonard David Page 10 MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES NASA/JPL/MSSS release Page 4 THE UNIVERSE: IT'S NOT AS VIOLENT AS WE THINK Australian National University release Page 11 MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES NASA/JPL/ASU releases Page 4 WATER AND METHANE MAPS OVERLAP ON MARS: A NEW CLUE? ESA release 51-2004

HYDROCARBONS IN THE DEEP EARTH? (HPCAT) at Argonne National Laboratory, and at Indiana University South Carnegie Institution of Washington release Bend—together with calculations performed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—to mimic conditions that occur in Earth's upper mantle, which 13 September 2004 underlies the crust at depths of about 12 to 37 miles (20 to 60 km) beneath the continents. In an era of rising oil and gas prices, the possibility that there are untapped reserves is enticing. Since the first U.S. oil well hit pay dirt in 1859, With a diamond anvil cell, the scientists squeezed materials common at commercially viable wells of oil and gas commonly have been drilled no Earth's surface—iron oxide (FeO), calcite (CaCO3) and water—to pressures deeper than 3 to 5 miles into Earth's crust. "These experiments point to the ranging from 50,000 to 110,000 times the pressure at sea level (5 to 11 possibility of an inorganic source of hydrocarbons at great depth in the Earth gigapascals). They heated the samples using two techniques—focused laser —that is, hydrocarbons that come from simple reactions between water and light and the so-called resistive heating method—to temperatures up to 2,700 rock and not just from the decomposition of living organisms," stated Dr. degrees F (1500 degrees C). The researchers found that methane formed by Russell Hemley of the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, and co- reducing the carbon in calcite over a wide range of temperatures and author of a study published in the September 13-17, early, on-line edition of pressures. The best conditions were at temperatures and pressures of about the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 1000 degrees F and less than 70,000 times atmospheric pressure.

Methane is the most abundant hydrocarbon in the Earth's crust and it is the Dr. Henry Scott, of Indiana University South Bend, related the significance of main component of natural gas. Often, gas reserves are accompanied by the experiments to conventional hydrocarbon resources: "Although it is well- liquid petroleum. However these reserves, at 3 to 5 miles beneath the surface, established that commercial petroleum originates from the decay of once- exist in relatively low-pressure conditions. Whether hydrocarbons exist living organisms, these results support the possibility that the deep Earth may deeper—and could even be formed from non-biological matter—has been the produce abiogenic hydrocarbons of its own." subject of much debate. As depth increases in the Earth, the pressures can become so crushing that molecules are squeezed into new forms and the "This paper is important," remarked Dr. Freeman Dyson, professor emeritus at temperature conditions are like an inferno making matter behave much the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton who reviewed the study. "Not differently. The team of scientists performed a series of experiments at because it settles the question whether the origin of natural gas and petroleum Carnegie, the Carnegie-managed High Pressure Collaborative Access Team is organic or inorganic, but because it gives us tools to attack the question Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 2 experimentally. If the answer turns out to be inorganic, this has huge Perhaps the most famous of the martian meteorites was discovered at Allen implications for the ecology and economy of our planet as well as for the Hills, Antarctica, and spawned a controversy about fossil-shapes and whether chemistry of other planets." Mars could once have supported more favorable conditions than today.

Contacts: "Most Mars meteorites studied in labs on earth," said Arizona scientist, Dr. Russell Hemley painter, and writer, Dr. William Hartmann, now working with the Mars Carnegie Institution Geophysical Laboratory Global Surveyor image team, "have clear evidence of having been exposed to Phone: 202-478-8951 moisture and salty water. One (named Lafayette) has enough weathered E-mail [email protected] minerals that they could be dated by two labs (California and Arizona) and the water exposure was found to have happened 670 million years ago." Dr. Henry Scott Indiana University South Bend Phone: 574-520-5527 E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Ho-kwang (Dave) Mao Carnegie Institution Geophysical Laboratory Phone: 202-478-8960 E-mail: [email protected]

Read the original news release at http://carnegieinstitution.org/news_releases/news_040913.html. Left: the ALH Meteorite, about the size of a softball and one of more than two dozen Mars samples available for study on Earth today. Right: close-up of An additional article on this subject is available at famous shapes measuring 20 to 200 nanometers across in Allen Hills http://www.spacedaily.com/news/earth-04q.html. meteorite [ALH84001], found at Allen Hills, Antarctica. Around 28 Mars meteorites have been identified so far. Image credits: NASA/JSC. NOW BOARDING: ZERO G FLIGHTS FOR THE PUBLIC By Leonard David The Lafayette sample is named after Lafayette, Indiana, where in 1935 it was From Space.com identified in a Purdue geological collection. The two pound (800 g) mass is shaped like a truncated cone that measures between four and five centimeters 14 September 2004 (about 2 in) across. The rock's conical shape is consistent with its melting and solidification as it ablated upon entry through the Earth's atmosphere. Parts of The Zero Gravity Corporation has been given the thumbs up by the Federal its surface began to flow into a smooth veinous crust. At first glance, the Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct "weightless flights" for the general meteor might be mistaken for a mushroom cap. public, providing the sensation of floating in space. Tickets are on sale for around $3,000. A specially modified Boeing 727-200 aircraft, called G-Force In 1992, the water found in Lafayette was determined to be extraterrestrial and One, will be used during a nationwide tour September 14-24. still contained the most [0.387 %] water of any martian meteor. More interestingly, its composition was enriched in heavy water, or deuterium, as "We kick off a two-week tour with Zero-G flights in New York City, Los measured when the rock was step-wise heated. After it formed initially as an Angeles, Reno, Dallas, Atlanta, Detroit and Florida," Peter Diamandis, iron-rich, volcanic rock, Lafayette was apparently altered by water. The Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of the company, told SPACE.com. mineral olivine, which generally does not stay around unmodified for long when water is present, was also found to be the most altered of all the iron- The kick-off flights will carry "select consumers and guests," the company rich minerals in the sample. When examined in thin sections, the meteor announced today. The first flight was slated today to depart from Newark showed rusty-red grains surrounded by black veins, sometimes called a Airport in New Jersey, across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Trips fibrous structure. available for everyone else start in October. This volcanic makeup had changed remarkably while Lafayette was still on Read the full article at Mars—where many had presumed rock changes were not likely to be http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/zero_g_040914.html. identified with water. The conclusion of mineralogists soon became surprisingly definitive. Many hundreds of millions of years ago, Lafayette ANTARCTIC LIVING: A SPACE HOUSE FOR AN ICY LAND had once resided in salt-water. And about one part in 300 remained locked up By Tariq Malik as water still in the meteor. From Space.com The timeline proposed for Lafayette showed a lineage that began around 700 15 September 2004 million years ago on Mars, when some saline began to seep into it and change the rock's mineral content. About 11 million years ago, the fragment blasted A new research station at the bottom of the world may give future Antarctica off of Mars as debris and then landed on Earth [originally in Illinois] about researchers some special treats, like the ability to live above ground and look 2,900 years ago. Or put another way, Lafayette arrived relatively recently on out a window. German scientists are adapting a habitat designed by the Earth, sometime after the Egyptian pyramids were completed. European Space Agency (ESA) to replace the shifting, disappearing and aging Neumayer II Research Station, a pair of metal tubes buried amongst the snow In 2000, scientists concluded that the "salts" identified in the Lafayette of the Ekstrom Ice Shelf in Antarctica's Atka Bay. ESA's insect-like alteration (based mainly on the mineral, iddingsite) formed by fractional SpaceHouse habitat is designed to be nearly earthquake-proof to deal with evaporation of an acid brine on Mars. When combined with recent surface shifting ice floes. It borrows materials and energy technologies originally evidence for sulfur-rich brines once "soaking" the Opportunity rover site, an developed for the agency's space missions. intriguing picture begins to frame what earlier seemed to be surprising, but still isolated, Lafayette discoveries that otherwise might not have had much Read the full article at http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/ context to place it in a martian geological timeline. spacehouse_techwed_040915.html. These contextual questions will occupy comparisons of the world's meteorite collections with what the Mars' rovers are chemically analyzing on the surface THE OTHER MARTIAN METEORITE this year. If Allen Hills is the oldest and Lafayette is the wettest, then in this From Astrobiology Magazine remarkable meteor traffic between the red planet and Earth, our planetary neighbor seems to have left behind more than a few intriguing clues about its 15 September 2004 geological history. Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 3

Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1197.html. URANIUM/LEAD DATING PROVIDES MOST ACCURATE DATE YET FOR EARTH'S LARGEST EXTINCTION By Robert Sanders University of California, Berkeley release

16 September 2004

A new study by geologists at the Berkeley Geochronology Center and the University of California, Berkeley, improves upon a widely used dating technique, opening the possibility of a vastly more accurate time scale for major geologic events in Earth's history. In a paper published this week in Science, geochemist Roland Mundil of the Berkeley Geochronology Center (BGC) and his colleagues at BGC and UC Berkeley report that uranium/lead (U/Pb) dating can be extremely accurate—to within 250,000 years—but only if the zircons from volcanic ash used in the analysis are specially treated. To date, zircons—known to many as a semiprecious stone and December's birthstone—have often produced confusing and inaccurate results.

A secondary electron microscopy image of a zircon from volcanic ash, about four thousandths of an inch (100 microns) across. The zircon has been cut and polished, then treated with high-temperature annealing and chemical abrasion with hydrofluoric acid. The crystal interior parts affected by lead loss have been "mined out" in the process, allowing uranium/lead dating to provide a more accurate measure of its age. Image courtesy of Josh Feinberg, UC Berkeley.

"Zircons have produced complicated data that are hard to interpret, though people have pulled dates out," said Mundil, a former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow now at the BGC, a non-profit scientific research institute dedicated to perfecting dating techniques for establishing the history of Earth and life on Earth. "Many of these studies will now have to be redone."

The U/Pb isotopic dating technique has been critical in dating geologic events more than 100 million years old, including volcanic eruptions, continental movements and mass extinctions.

"The beauty of this new technique is that we now can analyze samples we previously could not get an accurate date for," Mundil said. "This will have a big impact on radio-isotopic dating in general."

Mundil and his colleagues, including BGC director Paul Renne, adjunct professor of earth and planetary science at UC Berkeley, used this improved U/Pb technique to establish a more accurate date for the end of the Permian period and the beginning of the Triassic period—252.6 million years ago, plus or minus 200,000 years. This boundary coincides with the largest extinction of life on Earth, when most marine invertebrates died out, including the well- known flat, segmented trilobites.

Based on the improved U/Pb technique, the team also established that the argon/argon (Ar/Ar) isotopic dating technique that Renne employed for an earlier study of the Permian-Triassic boundary consistently gives younger dates, by about 1 percent. Renne ascribes this to a lack of a precise measurement of the decay constant of potassium. The technique is based on Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 4 the fact that the naturally occurring isotope potassium-40 decays to argon-40 The Genesis probe, along with the homeward bound Stardust spacecraft with a 1.25 billion year half-life. Comparison of the amount of argon-39 carrying bits of a comet and interstellar particles, serve as precursor missions produced in a nuclear reactor to the amount of argon-40 gives a measure of to snag, bag, and lug back to Earth select pieces of martian real estate. NASA the age of the rocks. Uranium, on the other hand, is so well studied that its engineers and scientists have been grappling for decades with methods, decay constant is much better known, making the U/Pb Dating technique more procedures, and the price tag for robotically returning Mars samples. accurate, Mundil noted. U/Pb dating relies upon the decay of naturally occurring uranium and different isotopes of lead. Read the full article at http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/mars_genesis_040916.html. "Further application of Mundil's approach will make the geologic time scale more accurate, letting us calibrate extinctions and important events in Earth's THE UNIVERSE: IT'S NOT AS VIOLENT AS WE THINK history, ranging from 100 million to several billion years ago, with Australian National University release unparalleled accuracy," Renne added. 17 September 2004 The new U/Pb date, though about 2.5 million years older than Renne reported nine years ago based on Ar/Ar dating, nevertheless confirms his conclusion The universe has experienced far fewer collisions among galaxies than that the Permian extinction occurred at the same time as a major series of previously thought, according to a new analysis of Hubble Space Telescope volcanic eruptions in Siberia. This is strong evidence that these eruptions data by an ANU researcher. Astronomer Dr. Alister Graham, from the caused, at least in part, the global die-off, which some scientists have ascribed Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, analyzed a sample of to a meteor impact. galaxies located 100 million light years away—and discovered that the number of violent encounters between large galaxies is around one-tenth of Mundil noted that in 1998, one group used U/Pb dating to assign a date of the number earlier studies had suggested. Although theoretical models predict 251.4 million years ago for the main pulse of the Permian extinction, in that fewer collisions were involved in the evolution of the universe, Dr. apparent conflict with the new U/Pb age. That 'age,' however, "is based on Graham's observations are the first that confirm these theories. interpretation of a very complicated data set," Mundil said.

Mundil and his colleagues set out to resolve the issue, using a new zircon pretreatment invented by UC Santa Barbara isotope geologist James M. Mattinson. The problem with using microscopic zircons, which are prevalent in volcanic ash, is that the decay of uranium to lead is so energetic that the lead atoms smash through and destroy the zircon crystal structure, which apparently allows some lead to leak out of the crystal, throwing off the analysis. Geologists have tried various zircon treatments, including abrading the outer surfaces of the crystals, which are typically a tenth of a millimeter across, or leaching the crystals with strong acid. Despite these treatments, the U/Pb method still produced a wide range of dates for zircons from the same layer of ash. These two galaxies will pass by each other this time, but millions Mattinson's idea was to first heat or anneal the zircons, sealing off the least of years from now, they will collide to form a much larger galaxy. damaged areas of the crystal, then using a strong reagent, hydrofluoric acid, to ANU astronomer, Dr. Alister Graham, has shown there are far eat away the heavily damaged areas. When Mundil used this treatment, the fewer galactic collisions than past observations have led us to zircon dates were much more consistent, requiring no selective interpretation believe. Image credit: NASA, STSci. of the data. The calculated uncertainty is about a quarter of a million years, which means the extinction took place over a very short time, the researchers "The new result is in perfect agreement with popular models of hierarchical concluded. The zircons were obtained from ash layers located in central and structure formation in our universe," Dr Graham said. "Galactically speaking, southeastern China. The Meishan section in the latter region is accepted as things appear to be a little safer out there." the type locality for the Permian/Triassic boundary. For years, astronomers have known the collision and merger of galaxies Whereas the U/Pb method yields ages which are more accurate, "Ar/Ar is still resulted in the formation of larger galaxies. The biggest of these galaxies king in dating rocks younger than 100 million years and is about as precise as appear largely devoid of stars at their cores, a phenomenon believed to result U/Pb methods, though we need to get better data for the decay constants to from the damage caused by "supermassive" black holes—from the smaller establish an absolute calibration," Renne said. "As soon as that calibration is galaxies—as they merge near the centre of the new galaxy. However, rather put in place, the Ar/Ar method could become as accurate as U/Pb." than requiring multiple mergers to clear away the stars from the heart of a galaxy, Dr Graham has shown just one collision between two galaxies is The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Australian sufficient. Research Council and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Kenneth R. Ludwig of the BGC and Ian Metcalfe of the University of New England in Using images from Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, Dr Graham was Armidale, Australia, also participated in the study. able to examine galaxies 100 million light years away, whose cores had not been depleted of stars, providing an important insight into star distributions Read the original news release at before any major collisions occurred. By considering the overall galaxy http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/09/16_uranium.shtml. structure, he was able to more accurately measure the sizes of the depleted cores in the galaxies built by collision. The result: the mass of the deficit of HOW GENESIS CRASH IMPACTS MARS SAMPLE RETURN stars at the galaxies centers equaled rather than exceeded the mass of the black By Leonard David hole. From Space.com "If there had been 10 mergers, we would have found a star deficit 10 times the 16 September, 2004 mass of the central black hole. Many galaxies have large central black holes but no depleted cores. It is therefore not the case that every black hole is NASA's Genesis sample capsule not only stirred up dust and dirt when it crash formed by gobbling up its surrounding stars. Instead, we're observing the landed in Utah last week, but also debate concerning the return to Earth of demolished cores of galaxies after the union of two massive cosmic wrecking future extraterrestrial samples—specifically from Mars. While the high-speed balls." impact of the return canister was not planned, the capsule's design did permit the survival of some samples. However, due to a breach of the science Although small satellite galaxies have been captured by our galaxy, the Milky canister caused by the crash, the space specimens were contaminated once Way, it has not experienced a recent major merger. If it had, the plane of its exposed to Earth's atmosphere. disk, visible as a faint wide ribbon in the night sky, would have been scattered and dispersed across the heavens. Such a fate is expected in about three Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 5 billion years when the Milky Way collides with a neighboring spiral galaxy, that the areas of highest concentration of methane overlap with the areas Andromeda. where water vapor and underground water ice are also concentrated. This spatial correlation between water vapor and methane seems to point to a The research was conducted during Dr. Graham's tenure at the University of common underground source. Florida and was funded by NASA via a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. Dr. Graham's research will appear in the September 20 edition of Astrophysical Journal Letters. Thanks to University of Florida News & Public Affairs for their assistance.

Contacts: Tim Winkler, Media Liaison Phone: 02-6125-5001 E-mail: [email protected]

Amanda Morgan, Media Liaison Phone: 02-6125-5575 E-mail: [email protected]

Read the original news release at http://info.anu.edu.au/mac/Media/Media_Releases/_2004/September/_170904 Galaxies.asp.

An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/ early_universe_not_so_violent.html.

WATER AND METHANE MAPS OVERLAP ON MARS: A NEW CLUE? ESA release 51-2004 Arabia Terra is one of the three equatorial regions where the PFS instrument detected both water vapor and methane concentration. The other two areas 20 September 2004 are Elysium Planum and Arcadia Memnonia. Image credits: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems. Recent analyses of ESA's Mars Express data reveal that concentrations of water vapor and methane in the atmosphere of Mars significantly overlap. Initial speculation has taken the underground ice layer into account. This This result, from data obtained by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS), could be explained by the "ice table" concept, in which geothermal heat from gives a boost to understanding of geological and atmospheric processes on below the surface makes water and other material move towards the surface. Mars, and provides important new hints to evaluate the hypothesis of present It would then freeze before getting there, due to the very low surface life on the Red Planet. temperature (many tens of degrees Celsius below zero). Further investigations are needed to fully understand the correlation between the ice table and the presence and distribution of water vapor and methane in the atmosphere.

In other words, can the geothermal processes that "feed" the ice table also bring water vapor and other gases, like methane, to the surface? Can there be liquid water below the ice table? Can forms of bacterial life exist in the water below the ice table, producing methane and other gases and releasing them to the surface and then to the atmosphere?

This map shows the concentration of water vapor close to the soil around the equatorial region of Mars. The areas of least concentration are in purple, the highest in green. Image credits: ESA/ASI/PFS team.

PFS observed that, at 10-15 kilometers above the surface, water vapor is well mixed and uniform in the atmosphere. However, it found that, close to the surface, water vapor is more concentrated in three broad equatorial regions: Arabia Terra, Elysium Planum and Arcadia-Memnonia. Here, the concentration is two to three times higher than in other regions observed. This "spectrum" was recorded in the areas where the methane concentration These areas of water vapor concentration also correspond to the areas where is higher. The black line shows the measured spectrum, compared to the NASA's Odyssey spacecraft has observed a water ice layer a few tens of computed methane spectrum (red line) and indicating 35 parts per billion of centimeters below the surface, as Dr. Vittorio Formisano, PFS principal methane in the atmosphere. In other areas, the measured average of methane investigator, reports. at Mars is only 10 parts per billion. Image credits: ESA/ASI/PFS team.

New in-depth analysis of PFS data also confirms that methane is not uniform The PFS instrument has also detected traces of other gases in the martian in the atmosphere, but concentrated in some areas. The PFS team observed atmosphere. A report on these is currently under peer review. Further studies Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 6 will address whether these gases can be linked to water and methane and help that ecosystem is there: drilling into where we think it is and sampling the answer the unresolved questions. In situ observations by future lander rock to determine whether we can find subsurface life. missions to Mars may provide a more exhaustive solution to the puzzle. Our location is on the rim of this pit crater on the Piña del Hierro. We drilled These results were reported on 20 September, by Dr. Vittorio Formisano at the there because we could actually see the stratigraphy. It's exposed in the wall International Mars Conference (19-23 September), organized by the Italian of the pit crater and we could see a place where there were massive sulfides Space Agency (ASI) in Ischia, Italy. The objective of the PFS instrument is remaining, even though most of it was dug out. Geology, until it gets folded the study, with unprecedented spectral resolution, of temperature fields in the or faulted, starts out as layer cake. Things get piled on top of each other. But atmosphere, dust, variation and cycle of water and carbon monoxide, vertical massive sulfides don't end up following that rule because they come up in distribution of water, soil-atmosphere interactions and minor gaseous species. plumes, chimneys really; they are little localized towers. So we chose this site From this, hints of extant life can be extracted (in terms of the presence of because we could see that there was massive sulfide there, and also because it "biomarker" gases and chemical study of atmospheric environmental was geographically related to where these seeps come out of the ground. conditions). The PFS is an Italian Space Agency instrument, developed by the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), in the framework of ESA's Mars Express mission.

Contact: ESA Media Relations Division Phone: 33-0-1-53-69-7155 Fax: 33-0-1-53-69-7690

Vittorio Formisano, Mars Express PFS Principal Investigator

IFSI-CNR, Rome, Italy Left: sulfide minerals on surface of ponded water, Rio Tinto region of Spain, Phone: 39-06-4993-4362 July 2002. Image credit: Carol Stoker, NASA/ARC. Right: a view of the iron E-mail: [email protected] stromatolites during the summer. Image credit: Dr. Ricardo Amils.

Read the original news release at AM: How far down do you plan to drill? http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEML131XDYD_0.html. CS: Last year we drilled 160 meters (525 feet). That got us to where we could An additional article on this subject is available at see the mass of sulfide started and once we were in it we just kept drilling http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/ until we went all the way through it and back out below it. methane_water_overlap_mars.html. AM: How many meters deep is the sulfide layer? DRILLING FOR WEIRD LIFE: INTERVIEW WITH CAROL STOKER, PART I CS: At the site where we drilled, it starts at about 50 meters (164 feet) below By Henry Bortman the surface. From Astrobiology Magazine AM: And it goes down how far? 20 September 2004 CS: Almost another 100 meters (328 feet). We popped out of it at about 150 Carol Stoker is the principal investigator for the Mars Analog Research and meters (492 feet). Technology Experiment (MARTE). MARTE has just begun its second field season drilling into the subsurface near the headwaters of the Río Tinto in AM: Did you extract material and analyze it? Spain, searching for novel forms of microbial life. In a four-part interview with Astrobiology Magazine Managing Editor, Henry Bortman, conducted CS: We brought core out. It was a coring-drill operation, and the cores came just before Stoker left for Spain, she explained what MARTE hopes to out in 3-meter (10-foot) lengths. They were then put into a glove box, accomplish. In this first part, Stoker describes the field site and discusses designed to be an anaerobic [oxygen-free] chamber. The idea was to get those some of the research team's early results. cores into an environment that was like the underground environment as quickly as possible, with the assumption being that there wasn't free oxygen in Astrobiology Magazine (AM): You're heading up a project that is going to be the underground environment. Then we sampled the cores at 1-meter (3-foot) drilling into the subsurface near the Río Tinto in Spain, looking for microbial intervals. For every meter of core we put into the anaerobic chamber we took life. Where exactly is the drill site? some sub-samples out of it and then subjected that sub-sample to a suite of biological analyses. Carol Stoker (CS): We're drilling in a massive pyrite deposit in southwestern Spain, in a site called the Iberian Pyrite Belt, which is this massive sulfide AM: So you did this 160 times? deposit, probably the biggest in the world. We're drilling at the headwaters of the Río Tinto. Río Tinto is "river of red wine." "Tinto" is both the color and a CS: Right. More, actually, because in the interesting places we took more brand of red wine in southern Spain. The place where we're drilling is a site than one subsample. called the Peña del Hierro, which is Iron Mountain. It's the site of a major mine that was mined from Phoenician times—actually Paleolithic times— AM: And you looked for organisms in these cores? there were miners there in the Stone Age, mining for copper. It was mined through Roman times and then in the early part of the 20th century it was pit- CS: Right. mined, so the Peña del Hierro, which was a mountain, is now a pit. AM: And...? AM: What is it about this site that interested you? CS: We found organisms in these cores. Not in all of them; they were CS: We wanted to go into the subsurface at the source of the Río Tinto, localized. We are still in the process of characterizing their life styles, because the Río Tinto is coming out of the ground there in little seeps. The pit figuring out exactly what kind of organisms we have. But we found a number crater is filled with water at its base and that water is acidic. To the south of of locations, or hot spots, as we called them—hot in the sense that they had a the pit crater there are little seeps coming out of the ground, at a pH of 2 or 1. microbial signature. And there was also a mineralogical signal associated And the process that makes the acidity is thought to be a microbial process. with those locations as well. Microbes are eating sulfide minerals and excreting sulfuric acid and protons as a byproduct. AM: The mineralogical signal was the result of their metabolism?

Our project was based on the hypothesis that that kind of chemistry was being CS: Presumably. created by an underground ecosystem. So our project is about proving that Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 7

NASA INVITES STUDENTS TO FLY HIGH FOR WEIGHTLESS AM: So you don't know yet anything about the nature of these organisms, SCIENCE whether they're novel organisms or similar to ones that have been found other NASA release 04-303 places? 20 September 2004 CS: We don't know anything yet about the specific identities. At least, I don't know anything yet. It's possible that my colleagues do because a lot of the NASA is looking for a few adventurous students, willing to test their science microbial analysis is being done in Spain. The first was sort of a quick look, experiments, while floating aboard the agency's famous "Weightless Wonder" yes-no, is-there-life-or-not sort of analysis, using fluorescent in situ aircraft. The Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program at hybridization. Then on the basis of what we saw we did a number of other NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, annually gives undergraduate types of hybridizations to try to key down the organism. student teams the opportunity to research, design, fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment. The student teams follow much the same path as In addition to that, cultures were grown up. Some of those cultures were scientists who develop experiments that fly in space. started in the field last year. A lot of things that you would find in soil, you couldn't grow in pure culture. The fact that you can grow pure cultures [from your samples] gives you a lot more confidence that what you're seeing is real and really came from your location.

Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1204.html.

NASA MEANS BUSINESS STUDENT COMPETITION 2005 Program announcement

15 September 2004

NASA and the Texas Space Grant Consortium are pleased to announce NASA Means Business Student Competition 2005. The program is open to teams of graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in accredited U.S. institutions of higher education. Particularly encouraged are student teams with members representing both the traditional "space disciplines" (engineering, natural sciences, etc.) plus some not normally associated with space exploration, like advertising, marketing, journalism, survey research, sociology/psychology, radio-TV-film, communication, fine arts, performing arts, and other similar disciplines. The formation of multidisciplinary teams is strongly encouraged. The teams test their designs during a roller coaster-like ride that produces Competition topics brief periods of microgravity, similar to what astronauts experience during spaceflight. A NASA C-9 aircraft, the military version of a McDonnell Fall Semester 2004 Open Competition: Proposals containing draft Douglas DC-9 jet airliner, flies a series of carefully choreographed maneuvers Promotional Video storyboards with description of audience(s) targeted and to achieve the weightless effect. The "hill climbs and freefalls" create supporting data. Goal: Help NASA and its International Space Station (ISS) weightlessness for 25 seconds. Students will experience how the human body partners tell their story to everyday people in new and more effective ways. reacts during the 30-freefall periods during each flight.

Spring Semester 2005 Finalist Competition: An ISS Promotion Plan and Student teams have until October 20, 2004, to send their proposals to NASA flagship promotion projects in the form of two digital Promotional Videos. for evaluation on technical merit, safety, and an outreach plan. Selections will be announced December 6, 2004, with flights beginning in the spring of 2005. Dates Each team will have the opportunity to choose a journalist to fly with them and document their experience. For information about the Reduced Gravity Fall 2004 Semester (All teams) Student Flight Opportunities Program on the Web, visit http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov. For information about NASA 11/5/04 - Deadline for Submission of Letters of Intent to Compete education programs on the Internet, visit http://www.education.nasa.gov. For (encouraged, not mandatory) information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit 11/19/04 - Deadline for Submission of Proposals (mandatory) http://www.nasa.gov. 12/10/04 - Announcement of 5 Finalist Teams Contacts: Spring 2005 Semester (Finalist Teams) Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 1/19-21/05 – International Space Station Orientation (Houston, TX) Phone: 202-358-1726 Week of 3/7/05 - Midpoint Videoconferences 5/2-4/05 - Seventh Annual NASA Customer Engagement Conference Laura Rochon (Houston, TX) NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX Phone: 281-483-0229 Awards CASSINI UPDATES Finalist Team Cash Award: $1,000 per team - Upon selection as a Finalist NASA/ESA/JPL releases Team Travel Expenses Cash Award: To each Finalist Team—one to attend the International Space Station Orientation and two to attend the Customer Cassini Significant Events for 1-8 September 2004 Engagement Conference NASA/JPL release, 10 September 2004 Grand Prize Cash Award: Trip to present work—to the team with the best overall performance, based on criteria set forth in the Competition Guidelines. The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone Destination to be determined, but is likely to be Washington, DC (NASA tracking station on Wednesday, September 8. The Cassini spacecraft is in an Headquarters). 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 The Competition Guidelines have been posted at Position" web page located at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present- http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/nmb/. position.cfm. Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 8

meters per second. This was the shortest duration main engine maneuver performed to date. As with OTM-2, a special ranging procedure was used during this maneuver. The transmitter was left on and ranging disabled until the spacecraft came back to Earth-point. A Magellan acquisition (MAQ) was performed while the transmitter was still on. This was done in order to obtain range points after the maneuver as well as before.

ACS FSW version 8.7.1 end-to-end testing in the ITL was completed this week. The test exercised the uplink and checkout of the Probe and Tour mission flight software that will execute onboard the spacecraft starting September 28.

The European Space Operations Center (ESOC) conducted a Huygens Probe Operations Center (HPOC) Readiness Review on September 2. HPOC is located at the ESOC facility in Darmstadt, Germany. The review board was composed of members of the Cassini-Huygens Project and ESOC and European Space Agency personnel. The board was unanimous in its conclusions that HPOC was well prepared to support the Huygens mission and that preparations for the science teams were appropriate.

Preliminary and Official port 2 deliveries were made this week for the Science Operations Plan (SOP) Implementation process for tour sequences S35/S36. The team files were merged and a report was delivered identifying any issues or problems. A waiver approval meeting was also held in support of this process.

The Project Briefing and Waiver Disposition meeting was held as part of the SOP Update process for S06. This process completed on Friday, September 3 with a handoff package delivered to the Uplink Operations Team. The Aftermarket processes for S08 and S09 completed this week. SOP Update will begin on September 20 for S08, and on September 23 for S09.

Development for S04 concluded this week with the publication of the final sequence products for review, Command Approval Meetings held for 16 Instrument Expanded Block (IEB) load files, the background sequence, and three additional files, and the uplink of 7 of the 16 IEB files. This sequence goes active on the spacecraft on Saturday.

A presentation was given on Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph ring science results at the weekly Science Planning Tour Science Talk. A delivery coordination meeting was held for Spacecraft Operations Office ground software tools Kinematic Prediction Tool 10.3.6 and Inertial Vector Propagator 10.3.4.

Two new press releases have appeared on the Cassini Web Site. One gives the details of the discovery of one small body, possibly two, orbiting in the F ring region, and a ring of material associated with Saturn's moon Atlas. The Saturn's moon Mimas hangs in the sky above Saturn's rings in this Cassini other gives information on data taken by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer spacecraft narrow angle camera image from August 3, 2004. Saturn's while entering Saturn's orbit showing the cool and relatively warm regions of shadow stretches across the rings at bottom right, while several bright clumps the rings. in the F ring orbit the planet. Mimas is 398 kilometers (247 miles) wide. The image was taken in visible light with the narrow angle camera at a distance of Strings of Shadowy Rings Drape Saturn 8 million kilometers (5 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 48 NASA/JPL image advisory 2004-230, 16 September 2004 kilometers (30 miles) per pixel. Contrast was slightly enhanced to aid visibility.

Science activities this week included optical remote sensing (ORS) scans and movies of Saturn's south pole to observe waves and storms at southern latitudes, ultraviolet mosaics of Saturn's magnetosphere, and mosaics of the rings and Saturn's south pole. The Magnetospheric and plasma science (MAPS) instruments continue observations of the solar wind, and the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) performed a solar wind beam calibration.

Additional on-board activities included the successful uplink and execution of an Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer flight software (FSW) checkout mini- sequence, uplink and execution of a file for CAPS that will run for five days containing time-of-flight setting changes for solar wind calibrations, Orbital Trim Maneuver-3 (OTM), and uplink of an Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) FSW patch. The memory patch will alter the response to a 'machine error' to be such that operations are not halted. The patch was tested on the ISS test bed and in the Integrated Test Laboratory (ITL). Unless a power cycle occurs, no further action is needed until a new version of the FSW is ready next year.

OTM-3, the periapsis raise cleanup maneuver, was successfully completed on the spacecraft on September 7. A "quick look" immediately after the maneuver showed the burn duration was 3.6 sec, giving a delta-V of 0.49 Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 9

Saturn's ring shadows appear wrapped in a harmonious symphony with the Huygens carries 5 non-rechargeable LiSO2 batteries which will provide planet in this color view from the Cassini spacecraft. Saturn and its rings power after separation from the Orbiter. The Huygens batteries have been would nearly fill the space between Earth and the Moon. Yet, despite their inactive for more than 7 years. The purpose of the battery depassivation great breadth, the rings are a few meters thick and, in some places, very activities is to remove the thin passivating chemical layer that forms within translucent. This image shows a view through the C ring, which is closest to the lithium battery cells, on the surface of their electrodes, when no current Saturn, and through the Cassini division, the 4,800-kilometer-wide gap flows. This layer, which builds up naturally over time, enables the cells to (2,980-miles) that arcs across the top of the image and separates the optically retain their charge during the long Cassini-Huygens cruise phase but would thick B ring from the A ring. The part of the atmosphere seen through the gap prevent to use the full capacity of the batteries if it were not removed before appears darker and more bluish due to scattering at blue wavelengths by the use. cloud-free upper atmosphere. In principle, depassivation is achieved by simply discharging each battery The different colors in Saturn's atmosphere are due to particles whose against a sufficiently high load for a short period of time. In practice, it first composition is yet to be determined. This image was obtained with the requires the Probe and its instruments to be powered-on using the Cassini bus, Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on July 30, 2004, at a distance of 7.6 via its Solid State Power Switches (SSPSs), in order to establish a sufficiently million kilometers (4.7 million miles) from Saturn. high load on the Probe's bus. Each of the Probe's five power sections, as illustrated in the figure, is then configured individually to connect the associated battery to supply the Probe bus in parallel to one of the Cassini power lines for a period of 5 minutes. The sequence ends once all five battery modules have, in turn, been depassivated. A second battery depassivation sequence is planned end of November.

The battery depassivation sequence has been fully tested before launch and recently re-validated using the Huygens Probe Engineering Model located at HPOC/ESOC. A report on the outcome of the battery depassivation activity will be published early next week.

Cassini Significant Events for 9-15 September 2004 NASA/JPL release, 17 September 2004

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Madrid tracking station on Wednesday, September 15. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" web page located at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present- position.cfm.

The Cassini spacecraft captured this artistic view of elegant waves and ribbons of clouds near Saturn's south pole on August 10, 2004. The image was taken with the narrow angle camera at a distance of 8.6 million kilometers (5.3 million miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light. The image scale is 51 kilometers (32 miles) per pixel.

15th Huygens Probe Checkout ESA release, 17 September 2004

The fifteenth Probe In-Flight Checkout was successfully executed on Tuesday 14 September 2004. As it is the last but one in-flight checkout planned before separation, it included some specific activities that are intended to prepare for Probe separation around Christmas this year. The checkout consisted of two parts: A nominal type 1b checkout (as run during the 13th checkout), followed —in the same power cycle—by a Mission Timer Unit (MTU) Redundant Load Test. The checkout included specific payload activities as required to configure instruments before separation. The MTU Load Test checked the triply-redundant alarm-clock that will get the most important job of waking- up Huygens a few hours before entry in Titan's atmosphere at the end of the 3- The final activities in tour sequence S03 included a Reaction Wheel Assembly week coast phase following separation from the Cassini Orbiter. (RWA) bias, uplink of the S04 background sequence and remaining Instrument Expanded Block (IEB) files, and uplink of three mini-sequences; The checkout was carried out live, with Cassini transmitting the data to Earth RSP heater commands for probe activities, Ion and Neutral Mass in real-time. The data took nearly 80 minutes to travel to Earth due to the Spectrometer (INMS) mini-sequence for flight software checkout, and the S04 large distance between Saturn and the Earth, giving the One-Way-Light-Time Probe Checkout F15. of 1 hour 19 minutes 28 seconds. The data were received on Earth via DSS- 15 at Goldstone (34m antenna) and transmitted directly to the Huygens Probe S04 began execution on Sunday, September 12. Initial on-board activities Operations Centre (HPOC) at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany, over NASA's Jet included loading of the IEBs and execution of the INMS flight software Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, USA, using a dedicated JPL-HPOC checkout. The key activity for this week was Probe Checkout #15. The data line. As usual, the data were also recorded on board Cassini for later checkout performed as expected which will allow the Probe battery playback for redundancy reasons. The real-time data-stream indicated that the depassivation activity scheduled for this weekend to proceed. S04 continues Huygens Probe System remains in good health, after its 7-year journey many instrument observation campaigns from the S03 sequence. This through space from Earth to Saturn, riding on the Cassini Orbiter. The includes a near-global Saturn atmospheric campaign, which observes wave preliminary analysis of the real-time data set, performed within 24 hours after propagation, spot merges, and eruption and evolution of convective storms. the test, indicates that the checkout was nominal, the MTU load test was Ultraviolet imaging is also being used to examine polar hazes and to look for successful, and that all instruments performed as expected. possible lightning on the night side of Saturn. Optical Navigation (OPNAV) Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 10 images have recently been taken twice a day to refine Cassini's trajectory and Applications for membership, and a worldwide map can be found at improve knowledge of the satellites' orbits. http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm.

In the last week, 1421 Imaging Subsystem (ISS) images arrived along with 88 Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) cubes. Since Approach Science began in January of this year, 20910 ISS images and 5239 VIMS cubes have been returned.

A preliminary port 1 delivery was made this week for the Science Operations Plan (SOP) Implementation process for tour sequences S37/S38, and the preliminary port delivery was made as part of the S07 SOP Update process. The team files have been merged for both deliveries and a report published identifying any issues. An assessment meeting to scope out the proposed Aftermarket changes for S10 was held.

Sequence development continued for S05 this week with IEB files processed and published to the program file repository. An Integrated Test Laboratory (ITL) procedure walk-through for the Ta-Radar test was held. Locations of Saturn Observation Campaign members. The test was designed to verify ACS and other commands needed for the Radar observations on October 26 during the Titan flyby, and verify that Reading, Writing and Rings, Cassini Education's K-4 Literacy Program was Radar data will be correctly obtained. A kick-off meeting, Science Allocation recently selected as one of the top four educational programs by NASA. Panel meeting, and a waiver request disposition meeting for the S06 Science This means special training sessions will be offered for NASA Education and Sequence Update Process were held last week. A full merge of sequence Center Personnel, NASA-wide. The material can be downloaded from products has been performed and a subsequence generation integrated product http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/edu-k4.cfm. produced. 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 Science Mission Directorate, Washington, DC. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO.

For the most recent Cassini information, press releases, and images, go to http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Contacts: Jean-Pierre Lebreton Huygens Mission Manager/Project Scientist ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands Phone: 31-71-565-3600

Claudio Sollazzo Huygens Mission Operations Manager Huygens co-located Team JPL, Pasadena, USA Phone: 818-393-3811

Joe Wheadon Huygens Local Operations Manager ESOC/HPOC Darmstadt, Germany Phone: 49-0-6151902233

Carolina Martinez Cassini caught this glimpse of Saturn's second largest moon, 1,528 kilometer Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA (949 mile) wide Rhea on August 16, 2004. Notable in the image is a Phone: 818-354-9382 brightening near the terminator. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera at a distance of 8.5 million Heidi Finn kilometers (5.3 million miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations phase, angle of 86 degrees. The image scale is 51 kilometers (32 miles) per Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO pixel. The image has been enhanced and magnified by a factor of four to aid Phone: 720-974-5859 visibility. Additional articles on this subject are available at: Cassini Information Management System (CIMS) developers discussed and http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1203.html demonstrated the new features delivered in CIMS 3.2 that are of interest to the http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zzza.html Instrument Teams at an ad hoc Tour Process meeting this week. An engineering delivery of Navigation software version T1.5 was made internally GENESIS MISSION STATUS REPORT to the NAV team. The operational version will be delivered later in NASA release 2004-231 September. All teams and offices supported this week's Cassini Monthly Management Review. 16 September 2004

The Saturn Observation Campaign welcomed new members from New Genesis team scientists and engineers continue their work on the mission's Mexico, Alaska and Ireland this week. There are now 354 members, who sample return canister in a specially constructed clean room at the U.S. Army present year-round worldwide Cassini outreach and observing programs. Proving Ground in Dugway, Utah. As more of the capsule's contents are Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 11 revealed, the team's level of enthusiasm for the amount of science obtainable continues to rise.

At present, the science canister that holds the majority of the mission's scientific samples is lying upside down on its lid. Scientists are very methodically working their way "up" from the bottom portion of the canister by trimming away small portions of the canister's wall. The team continues to extract, from the interior of the science canister, small but potentially analyzable fragments of collector array material. One-half of a sapphire wafer was collected Tuesday—the biggest piece of collector array to date.

The mission's main priority is to measure oxygen isotopes to determine which of several theories is correct regarding the role of oxygen in the formation of the solar system. Scientists hope to determine this with isotopes collected in the four target segments of the solar wind concentrator carried by the Genesis spacecraft. The condition of these segments will be better known over the next few days, after the canister's solar wind concentrator is extricated. At this time, it is believed that three of these segments are relatively intact and that the fourth may have sustained one or more fractures.

There are no concrete plans regarding the shipping date of the Genesis capsule or its contents from Dugway to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The team continues its meticulous work and believes that a significant repository of solar wind materials may have survived that will keep the science community busy for some time.

The Genesis sample return capsule landed well within the projected ellipse path in the Utah Test and Training Range on Sept. 8, but its parachutes did not open. It impacted the ground at nearly 320 kilometers per hour (nearly 200 miles per hour).

For more information regarding the recovery and analysis of Genesis samples please contact Bill Jeffs of NASA Johnson Space Center at 281-483-5035 or via email at [email protected]. News and information about Genesis is available on the Internet at http://www.nasa.gov/genesis. For background information about Genesis, visit http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/. For information about NASA on the Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov/.

Contacts: D. C. Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Phone: 818-354-5011

Bill Jeffs NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX Phone: 281-438-5035

Donald Savage NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC Phone: 202-358-1547

Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://spaceflightnow.com/genesis/040916update.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/genesis_recovery_going_well.html

MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES NASA/JPL/MSSS release

2-15 September 2004

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

Wind Streak Changes (Released 2 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/02/index.html

Apollinaris, Gusev, and Spirit (Released 3 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/03/index.html

Cracked Plain, Buried Craters (Released 4 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/04/index.html

Dunes in Noachis Terra (Released 5 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/05/index.html Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 37, 20 September 2004 12

Cerberus Fossae Pits (Released 6 September 2004) Lycus Sulci (Released 31 August 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/06/index.html http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040831a.html

North Polar Cap (Released 7 September 2004) Hebes Chasma (Released 1 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/07/index.html http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040901a.html

September Dust Devil (Released 8 September 2004) Olympia Undae (Released 2 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/08/index.html http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040902a.html

Northeast Arabia Terra (Released 9 September 2004) Ius Chasma Landslide (Released 3 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/09/index.html http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040903a.html

Zephyria Channel System (Released 10 September 2004) Ius Chasma Debris (Released 7 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/10/index.html http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040907a.html

Sedimentary Rocks of 8 deg N, 7 deg W (Released 11 September 2004) Ius Chasma Ridge (Released 8 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/11/index.html http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040908a.html

Mars Global Surveyor: 7 Years in Orbit! (Released 12 September 2004) Ius Chasma in False Color (Released 9 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/12/index.html http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040909a.html

Exhuming Craters (Released 13 September 2004) Old Landslide in Ius Chasma (Released 10 September 2004) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/13/index.html http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040910a.html

Marte Vallis Channel (Released 14 September 2004) 13-17 September 2004 http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/14/index.html Ius Chasma Ridge (Released 13 September 2004) Wind Streaks Near Schiaparelli (Released 15 September 2004) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040913a.html http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/15/index.html Hebes Chasma (Released 14 September 2004) All of the Mars Global Surveyor images are archived at http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040914a.html http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/index.html. Ophir Chasma Dunes (Released 15 September 2004) Mars Global Surveyor was launched in November 1996 and has been in Mars http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040915a.html 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 Hebes Chasma Mosaic (Released 16 September 2004) Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program that is managed by http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040916A.html JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the Ophir Chasma Rim (Released 17 September 2004) MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040917a.html the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global All of the THEMIS images are archived at http://themis.la.asu.edu/latest.html. Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. The Thermal MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State NASA/JPL/ASU releases University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at 30 August - 10 September 2004 Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Cerberus Fossae (Released 30 August 2004) Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040830a.html JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

End Marsbugs, Volume 11, Number 37.