Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology NewsletterVolume 12, Number 33, 4 October 2005

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

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

Articles and News

Page 1 SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION MAY HAVE CAUSED MAMMOTH EXTINCTIONLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory release

Page 2 DECIPHERING MARS: THE FUTUREBy Jack Farmer

Page 3 MARS: A HISTORY OF FALSE IMPRESSIONSBy Robert Roy Britt

Page 4 INTELLIGENT DESIGN: BELIEF POSING AS THEORYBy Ker Than

Page 4 STATEMENT OF MARS SOCIETY POLITICAL COMMITTEE ON NASA'S NEW SPACE ARCHITECTUREMars Society release

Page 4 ESA SELECTS TARGETS FOR ASTEROID-DEFLECTING MISSION DON QUIJOTEESA release 41-2005

Page 6 ANTI-EVOLUTION ATTACKS ON THE RISEBy Ker Than

Page 6 METEORITES OFFER GLIMPSE OF THE EARLY EARTH, SAY PURDUE SCIENTISTSPurdue University release

Page 7 DESERT RATS TEST ROBOTIC ROVER By Henry Bortman

Page 8 NASA TAKES GIANT STEP TOWARD FINDING EARTH-LIKE PLANETSNASA/JPL release 2005-157

Page 9 SCIENTISTS POKE HOLES IN "SNOWBALL EARTH" HYPOTHESIS—REMAINS OF PHOTOSYNTHESIZING MICROBES IN PREHISTORIC ROCKS SUGGEST EARTH WAS NOT ICE-BOUNDNSF release 05-173

Page 10 WISE BED-REST STUDY: SECOND CAMPAIGN UNDER WAYESA release 43-2005

Page 10 TEST EQUIPMENT FINDS LIFE IN MARS-LIKE CONDITIONSFrom Space.com

Announcements

Page 10 EUROMARS SHIPS OUT FOR ENGLANDMars Society release

Page 11 SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY: STUDENT EXPERIMENT MODULE (SEM) SATCHEL INTEGRATION WEEK AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTERBy Jason Freeman

Page 11 NASA MAKES EXPLORING MARS FROM THE SKIES A CLASSROOM REALITYNASA/ARC release 05-51AR

Page 12 NASA'S ASTRO-VENTURE HELPS STUDENTS DESIGN HABITABLE PLANETSNASA/ARC release 05-52AR

Mission Reports

Page 12 CASSINI UPDATESNASA/JPL releases

Page 14 MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATESNASA/JPL release

Page 14 MARS EXPRESS MISSION EXTENDEDESA release

Page 15 MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGESNASA/JPL/MSSS release

SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION MAY HAVE CAUSED MAMMOTH EXTINCTIONLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory release23 September 2005

A distant supernova that exploded 41,000 years ago may have led to the extinction of the mammoth, according to research conducted by nuclear scientist Richard Firestone of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Firestone, who collaborated with Arizona geologist Allen West on this study, unveiled this theory September 24 at the 2nd International Conference, "The World of Elephants," in Hot Springs, SD. Their theory joins the list of possible culprits responsible for the demise of mammoths, which last roamed North America roughly 13,000 years ago. Scientists have long

eyed climate change, disease, or intensive hunting by humans as likely suspects.

Now, a supernova may join the lineup. Firestone and West believe that debris from a supernova explosion coalesced into low-density, comet-like objects that wreaked havoc on the solar system long ago. One such comet may have hit North America 13,000 years ago, unleashing a cataclysmic event that killed off the vast majority of mammoths and many other large North American mammals. They found evidence of this impact layer at several archaeological sites throughout North America where Clovis hunting artifacts and human-butchered mammoths have been unearthed. It has long been established that human activity ceased at these sites about 13,000 years ago, which is roughly the same time that mammoths disappeared.

Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 12, Number 33, 4 October 2005

They also found evidence of the supernova explosion's initial shockwave: 34,000-year-old mammoth tusks that are peppered with tiny impact craters apparently produced by iron-rich grains traveling at an estimated 10,000 kilometers per second. These grains may have been emitted from a supernova that exploded roughly 7,000 years earlier and about 250 light years from Earth.

Mastodons last roamed the Earth around 13,000 years ago.

"Our research indicates that a 10-kilometer-wide comet, which may have been composed from the remnants of a supernova explosion, could have hit North America 13,000 years ago," says Firestone. "This event was preceded by an intense blast of iron-rich grains that impacted the planet roughly 34,000 years ago."

In support of the comet impact, Firestone and West found magnetic metal spherules in the sediment of nine 13,000-year-old Clovis sites in Michigan, Canada, Arizona, New Mexico and the Carolinas. Low-density carbon spherules, charcoal, and excess radioactivity were also found at these sites.

"Armed with only a magnet and a Geiger counter, we found the magnetic particles in the well-dated Clovis layer all over North America where no one had looked before," says Firestone.

Analysis of the magnetic particles by Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis at the Budapest Reactor and by Neutron Activation Analysis at Canada's Becquerel Laboratories revealed that they are rich in titanium, iron, manganese, vanadium, rare earth elements, thorium, and uranium. This composition is very similar to lunar igneous rocks, called KREEP, which were discovered on the moon by the Apollo astronauts, and have also been found in lunar meteorites that fell to Earth in the Middle East an estimated 10,000 years ago.

"This suggests that the Earth, moon, and the entire solar system were bombarded by similar materials, which we believe were the remnants of the supernova explosion 41,000 years ago," says Firestone.

In addition, Berkeley Lab's Al Smith used the Lab's Low-Background Counting Facility to detect the radioactive isotope potassium-40 in several Clovis arrowhead fragments. Researchers at Becquerel Laboratories also found that some Clovis layer sediment samples are significantly enriched with this isotope.

"The potassium-40 in the Clovis layer is much more abundant than potassium-40 in the solar system. This isotope is formed in considerable excess in an exploding supernova, and has mostly decayed since the Earth was formed," says Firestone. "We therefore believe that whatever hit the Earth 13,000 years ago originated from a recently exploded supernova."

Firestone and West also uncovered evidence of an even earlier event that blasted parts of the Earth with iron-rich grains. Three mammoth tusks found in Alaska and Siberia, which were carbon-dated to be about 34,000 years old, are pitted with slightly radioactive, iron-rich impact sites caused by high-velocity grains. Because tusks are composed of dentine, which is a very hard material, these craters aren't easily formed. In fact, tests with shotgun pellets traveling 1,000 kilometers per hour

produced no penetration in the tusks. Much higher energies are needed: x-ray analysis determined that the impact depths are consistent with grains traveling at speeds approaching 10,000 kilometers per second.

"This speed is the known rate of expansion of young supernova remnants," says Firestone.

The supernova's one-two punch to the Earth is further corroborated by radiocarbon measurements. The timeline of physical evidence discovered at Clovis sites and in the mammoth tusks mirrors radiocarbon peaks found in Icelandic marine sediment samples that are 41,000, 34,000, and 13,000 years old. Firestone contends that these peaks, which represent radiocarbon spikes that are 150 percent, 175 percent, and 40 percent above modern levels, respectively, can only be caused by a cosmic ray-producing event such as a supernova.

"The 150 percent increase of radiocarbon found in 41,000-year-old marine sediment is consistent with a supernova exploding 250 light years away, when compared to observations of a radiocarbon increase in tree rings from the time of the nearby historical supernova SN 1006," says Firestone.

Firestone adds that it would take 7,000 years for the supernova's iron-rich grains to travel 250 light years to the Earth, which corresponds to the time of the next marine sediment radiocarbon spike and the dating of the 34,000-year-old mammoth tusks. The most recent sediment spike corresponds with the end of the Clovis era and the comet-like bombardment.

Radiocarbon peaks in Icelandic marine sediment samples, indicated by the black line, coincide with three supernova-caused events that Firestone and Wells believe led to the extinction of the mammoth.

"It's surprising that it works out so well," says Firestone.

Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California. Visit our web site at http://www.lbl.gov.

Read the original news release at http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/NSD-mammoth-extinction.html.

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1726.htmlhttp://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/supernova_kill_mammoths.html

DECIPHERING MARS: THE FUTUREBy Jack FarmerFrom Astrobiology Magazine26 September 2005

The Mars Science Laboratory, to be launched in 2009, is regarded as a keystone mission that marks the transition to the next decade of exploration. With this mission, to take our exploration for past or

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present habitable environments and life on Mars to the next level, we will need to respond to discoveries made by the present-decade missions. Under the existing strategy, after MSL, potential science pathways diverge, contingent on what we find out.

I'm going to run through several different scenarios described in a report entitled "Mars Exploration Strategy 2009-2020." This report, published last year by NASA's Mars Science Program Synthesis Group, headed by Dan McCleese, identified a number of alternative exploration pathways. The pathway we follow will come out of what we're learning now.

Continue the Search for Evidence of Past Life. This is an approach we might follow if the present-decade missions going on now confirm that ancient Mars was habitable for extended periods of time. By this time it is assumed we will have identified a whole bunch of places where we can go to look for fossil biosignatures in ancient rock sequences. I think we've already gotten indications that we might be, at least in part, on this pathway.

Explore for Ancient Hydrothermal Habitats. The discovery of modern or ancient hydrothermal environments in the present decade, might lead us to send missions to this very specific, and highly regarded environment.

Search for Present Life. If we discover modern habitat, say active hydrothermal systems capable of supporting life, we would have to start thinking seriously about in situ life detection and Mars sample return, which is perhaps the most reliable way of detecting life and understanding it. Of course, this discovery would also bring along important planetary protection issues to address: how to mitigate the risks of forward or back contamination.

Explore the Evolution of Mars. This is a pathway we might follow if in the present decade we failed to find evidence for past or present liquid water environments, at least long-lived environments that are capable of supporting life. I don't think we're on this pathway any more. I think we've obliterated this possibility with the results from recent missions.

The nice thing about this pathway analysis is that it was done considering cost constraints, to make it as realistic as possible. For example, for the "search for evidence of past life" pathway, there's a set of missions going out to 2020. This pathway has a Mars sample return in 2016. It's bounded on either side by Mars Scout missions, so that we can afford to do that, because this kind of initial sample return is going to be expensive. Under this scenario, deep drilling comes in 2020.

For the "explore for hydrothermal systems" pathway, there is an alternative set of missions. If we found hydrothermal systems, we'd have a mission in 2013, called the Astrobiology Field Laboratory, that would look for biosignatures in rocks. And out in 2018 deep drilling is identified as a possibility, particularly if we're trying to get into subsurface hydrothermal systems.

The discoveries that have been made just in the last year have somewhat outdated the pathways document. So the community is organizing to develop another set of scenarios that will take into account the discoveries that have occurred, so that the options that we have on the table are truly discovery-driven.

So, to summarize, what have we learned? Mars has had a prolonged aqueous history with widespread surface water during its early period, and hints of a subsurface hydrosphere through much of its younger history, possibly up to the present time. What do we need to know? We still have a lot to learn about the availability of basic nutrients and energy sources in both surface and subsurface environments, essential information for reliable assessment of habitability.

What are the steps we need to take to move toward extant life detection? Ultimately, that's what we're really shooting for. One vital step is to provide flight-ready instrumentation for definitive in-situ life detection at Mars. The astrobiology community is just starting to awaken to the need to develop new approaches to life detection and get them on the discussion table, and to mature those instruments very quickly for flight readiness. One study has shown that it takes about 8 years from concept to flight, to get an instrument to Mars. So if we want to be out there in

the middle of the next decade with a life-detection instrument, we have to be developing that instrumentation now!

Left: Man, machine, and making it on Mars. Image credit: ESA. Right: Liftoff of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on August 12, 2005 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Image credit: NASA/ KSC.

We also need to obtain a more thorough understanding of the potential for forward contamination of Mars and how to mitigate against false positives. Carrying some level of "bio-load" with us to Mars is probably unavoidable. We have to know how to deal with that. The whole idea of planetary protection, whether forward to Mars, or backward to the Earth, is still in its infancy as far as actual implementation is concerned.

We need to conduct the first in situ life detection surveys on the surface of Mars at locations that have proven to be past or present habitable environments. We're still identifying the places to go. Where we want to go may be very difficult to get to and missions will probably need to be specifically designed to go there. That's technology that needs to be developed as well. If we're going to the subsurface, we have to develop sterile drilling methods to search for subsurface ground water, biochemistry and life.

Eventually, we want to undertake targeted sample returns from high-priority sites where we think we may have detected life, so we can characterize that life in Earth-based labs. But that introduces another whole set of problems, because of the potential for planetary back contamination.

So these are things that have to be dealt with. Now, we have a new presidential initiative. The idea is to get humans to the moon by 2020 and use that as a stepping-stone for humans to Mars by 2030. We'll see what happens. But perhaps one of the most important scientific justifications for sending humans to Mars may be the exploration of the deep subsurface. It may simply prove impossible—it seems very difficult right now—to drill to multiple-kilometer depths with a robotic system. Maybe that will change, but there will need to be a lot of technology development. It may be much easier to send humans to Mars to run drilling rigs. But we have to be very careful about what we're doing, because the back-contamination issues are really a problem when you talk about human exploration. How do you decontaminate an astronaut?

So there are lots of things to consider for the second decade of exploration. But we're on a path, a phased program of exploration. We've had very interesting discoveries and I think we're going to have a lot more. MRO is going to open a lot of eyes with this new data that we're going to get, data complementary to Mars Express. So I'm very excited about the future of Mars exploration, and I hope you are too!

Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1724.html.

MARS: A HISTORY OF FALSE IMPRESSIONSBy Robert Roy BrittFrom Space.com26 September 2005

With Mars set to be closer to Earth in 2005 than anytime until the year 2018, skywatchers are gearing up for a great view. As the world prepares to gaze yet again at the red planet, it's a good time to reflect on the incredible history of false impressions surrounding the most Earth-like planet we know of. A lot has been learned since the days when Mars was roundly feared by the masses. The idea that Mars was criss-crossed with canals, for example—inaccurately popularized by

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astronomer Percival Lowell in the early 1900s—turned out not to be true.

Read the full article at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050926_mars_lore.html.

INTELLIGENT DESIGN: BELIEF POSING AS THEORYBy Ker ThanFrom LiveScience.com26 September 2005

A major source of public confusion in the escalating debate between intelligent design and evolution is the question of what a scientific theory actually is... The question of whether ID is a theory is also central to a spate of antievolution legislation cropping up across the country, some of which argue that students should be exposed to different theories about the origins of life.

But what exactly is a scientific theory? Is ID a theory? Isn't evolution only a theory? If both ID and evolution are scientific theories, why should one be taught and not the other? A large part of the confusion stems from the fact that there is a big difference between how the word "theory" is used in science and how it is used in ordinary conversation. A hunch, conjecture or an educated guess can become a hypothesis. But a theory is much more.

Read the full article at http://www.livescience.com/othernews/050926_ID_belief.html.

STATEMENT OF MARS SOCIETY POLITICAL COMMITTEE ON NASA'S NEW SPACE ARCHITECTUREMars Society release26 September 2005

To the Moon and Mars

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has taken an important step in the advancement of human space exploration with the release of the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS). The Mars Society applauds this study as the first rational plan for long-term human space exploration that the United States has produced since the Apollo Program. We hope this plan will mark the beginning of a new destination driven era at NASA, that will finally return us to the Moon and then on to Mars.

One of the most important components of this plan is the proposed heavy-lift launch vehicle. A heavy lift capacity is absolutely necessary to mount any serious Moon/Mars plan. This capability will reduce the number of required launches; thus simplifying the overall mission and lowing costs.

Another key element of this plan is the use of In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). We hope that NASA will maximize this capability, utilizing resources on the Moon and Mars as quickly as possible following the initial landings. Proper use of ISRU can greatly reduce mission mass and thus help create a much more efficient and economical program.

It is important, however, that ESAS remains flexible in the years ahead to help it react to ever changing circumstances. This is particularly important in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The rising costs incurred from these storms have caused some members of Congress to consider the possibility of recouping some of this money by canceling the Vision for Space Exploration or the Space Shuttle program.

If this unfortunate scenario should come to pass, it is vital that this money should not be taken from the Vision for Space Exploration, but from the Space Shuttle program, which is already being phased out over the next few years. While immediate cancellation the Space Shuttle would mean a temporary gap in our human space program (which we already have), cancellation of the Vision for Space Exploration would most likely mean the end of long-term human space flight at NASA for the foreseeable future. In addition, Space Shuttle cancellation could save over $30 billion over the next five to six years.

These savings could be used to both help pay for hurricane relief and to accelerate the development of the vehicles to replace the Space Shuttle. In fact, a portion of the funds made available would allow both the Crew Exploration Vehicle and the Shuttle-derived Heavy Lift Vehicle to be operational by 2010.

Even without this funding crisis, it would be advantageous to cancel the Space Shuttle sooner and begin development of the Heavy-Lift Vehicle. With the correct configuration, the HLV can better support the completion of the International Space Station, satisfying our agreement with our international partners. Additionally, some of the cost saving could be used to modify already constructed ISS hardware to launch on an HLV. Although this would delay near-term construction flights until the HLV was developed, the station would potentially be completed in the same time frame while allowing more components to be delivered on fewer flights. This move would also enable us to land humans on the Moon and Mars several years earlier than is now planned.

After nearly half a century, the United States will finally continue the voyage that began with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's footsteps in 1969. If, as a nation, we embrace these goals and don't waver, we will help begin a process that will make all previous exploration endeavors pale by comparison—and in so doing, honor and validate the contributions and sacrifices of all those who have worked on the space program for the last fifty years. This will help to guarantee our technological leadership and inspire our younger generations, just as Apollo did.

The Exploration Systems Architecture Study is a good beginning to make the Vision a reality.

For further information about the Mars Society, visit our web site at www.marssociety.org.

ESA SELECTS TARGETS FOR ASTEROID-DEFLECTING MISSION DON QUIJOTEESA release 41-200526 September 2005

Based on the recommendations of asteroid experts, ESA has selected two target asteroids for its Near-Earth Object deflecting mission, Don Quijote. Don Quijote is an asteroid-deflecting mission currently under study by ESA's Advanced Concepts Team (ACT). Earlier this year the NEO Mission Advisory Panel (NEOMAP), consisting of well-known experts in the field, delivered to ESA a target selection report for Europe's future asteroid mitigation missions, identifying the relevant criteria for selecting a target and picking up two objects that meet most of those criteria. The asteroids' temporary designations are 2002 AT4 and 1989 ML. With this input and the support of ESA's Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) experts, the Advanced Concepts Team has now completed an extensive assessment of suitable mission architectures, launch strategies, propulsion system options and experiments.

Artist's impression of the Don Quijote Mission. Image credit: ESA.

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The current scenario envisages two spacecraft in separate interplanetary trajectories. One spacecraft (Hidalgo) will impact an asteroid; the other (Sancho) will arrive earlier at the target asteroid, rendezvous and orbit the asteroid for several months, observing it before and after the impact to detect any changes in its orbit. Industrial studies are now about to start; it will be down to European experts to propose alternative solutions for the design of the low-cost NEO precursor mission. This will be the first step towards the development of a means to tackle asteroid impacts—one of the few natural disasters that our technology can prevent.

A near miss?

While the eyes of the world were on the Asian tsunami last Christmas, one group of scientists were watching uneasily for another potential natural disaster—the threat of an asteroid impact. On 19 December 2004 MN4, an asteroid of about 400 m, lost since its discovery six months earlier, was observed again and its orbit was computed. It immediately became clear that the chances that it could hit the Earth during a close encounter in 2029 were unusually high. As the days passed the probability did not decrease and the asteroid became notorious for surpassing all previous records in the Torino and Palermo impact risk scales—scales that measure the risk of an asteroid impact just as the Richter scale quantifies the size of an earthquake.

Artist's impression on an asteroid impact with the Earth. Image credit: ESA.

Only after earlier observations of the object were found and a more accurate trajectory was computed did it become clear that it would not impact the Earth—at least not in 2029. Impacts on later dates, though unlikely, have not been totally ruled out. It is extremely difficult to tell what will happen unless we come up with a better way to track this or other NEOs and if necessary take steps to tackle them.

Most world experts agree that this capability is now within our reach. A mission like ESA's Don Quijote could provide a means to assess a threatening NEO and take concrete steps to deflect it away from the Earth. But every good performance needs rehearsing and in order to be ready for such a threat, we should try our hardware on a harmless asteroid first. Don Quijote would be the first mission to make such an attempt. The big question was: which asteroid and what should it be like?

Looking for the perfect target The NEO population contains a confusing variety of objects, and deciding which physical parameters are most relevant for mitigation considerations is no trivial task. But the NEOMAP experts took on the challenge and in February 2005 provided ESA with their recommendations on the asteroid selection criteria for ESA's deflection rehearsal.

People might wonder whether performing a deflection test, such as that planned for Don Quijote, represents any risk to our planet. What if things go wrong? Could we create a problem, rather than learn how to avoid one? Experts world-wide say the answer is no. Even a very

dramatic impact of a heavy spacecraft on a small asteroid would only result in a minuscule modification of the object's orbit. In fact the change would be so small that the Don Quijote mission requires two spacecraft—one to monitor the impact of the other. The second spacecraft measures the subtle variation of the object's orbital parameters that would not be noticeable from Earth.

Target objects can also be selected so that all possible concerns are avoided altogether, by looking into the way the distance between the asteroid's and the Earth's orbits changes with time. If the target asteroid is not an "Earth crosser," as is the case with NEOs in the "Amor" class (which have orbits with perihelion distance well in excess of 1 AU), testing a deflection maneuver represents no risk to the Earth.

This artist's impression shows how the families of asteroids follow the orbits of their prototypes. Amors cross Mars’ orbit but do not cross Earth’s. It is the Apollo asteroids that cross Earth’s orbit. There are also the Atens. These asteroids spend most of their time inside Earth’s orbit, crossing it briefly before disappearing back into the glare of the Sun. Image credit: ESA/Medialab.

Other considerations related to the orbit of the target asteroid are also important, especially the change of orbital velocity that is required by the spacecraft to catch up with the target asteroid—the so-called delta V. This should be sufficiently small to minimize the required amount of spacecraft propellant and enable the use of cheaper launchers, but high enough to allow the same spacecraft to be used with a number of possible targets.

Navigation and deflection measurements requirements set some heavy constraints on the target selection. The shape, density, and size are all important factors, but are often poorly known. A spacecraft orbiting an asteroid needs to know about the object's gravitational field in order to navigate. The impactor spacecraft must know the position of the center of mass to define the point it is aiming for. Asteroids come in all sort of flavors, but as far as composition is concerned two main types dominate. Our still rudimentary knowledge of the abundance of asteroids of different types in the near-Earth asteroid population indicates that the next hazardous asteroid is more likely to be a C-type, than an S-type. C-types have dark surfaces with a carbonaceous spectral signature, while S-types have brighter surfaces, their spectra matching closely that of silicates. The surface properties of the target asteroid—and in particular the percentage of light that it reflects—are a critical factor in the final phase of the impactor spacecraft navigation. The brighter it looks the easier it is to aim at. However for a rehearsal the target should not be too easy.

ESA has selected asteroids 2002 AT4 and (10302) 1989 ML as mission targets because they represent best compromise among all the (sometimes conflicting) selection criteria. A decision on which of the

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two will become the final destination of both Sancho and Hidalgo spacecraft will be made in 2007.  

Don Quijote—the knight errant rides again

The phase of internal studies on the Don Quijote mission is now over, and it is time for the space industry to suggest suitable design solutions. ESA has made an open invitation to European space companies to submit proposals on possible designs. The selection of the most promising ones will take place towards the end of the year. In early 2006, two teams should start working on their interpretations of this technology demonstration mission. A year later, once the results are available, ESA will select the final design to be implemented, and then Don Quijote will be ready to take on an asteroid!

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.

Read the original news release at http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEML9B8X9DE_index_0.html.

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://www.spacedaily.com/news/asteroid-05s.htmlhttp://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/esa_picks_asteroid_move.html

ANTI-EVOLUTION ATTACKS ON THE RISEBy Ker ThanFrom LiveScience.com27 September 2005

In 1925, the Tennessee State Legislature passed the Butler Act, a bill aimed squarely at evolution that made it illegal to teach any theory that denied the biblical account of creation. The bill was promptly challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and thus began the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. The plaintiff in the case was John T. Scopes, who was accused by the state of illegally teaching evolution to his high school biology class. In the end, Scopes was fined $100 by the judge, but a year later the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the decision on a technicality and the case never went any further.

Since then, Darwin's theory of evolution has been tried by American courts 10 times (including a trial in Pennsylvania that began yesterday). Two of those instances have been before the nation's Supreme Court.

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After each defeat, creationists have reinvented themselves in ever more sophisticated guises. First there was creationism, then creation science and now intelligent design, also known as ID.

On the heel of each reinvention came a rash of antievolution legislation. The same spate of activity has occurred with ID. This year alone, at least 17 bills challenging evolution's place in the public school curriculum have been considered in 13 states. Many of them also argue that a place be made in the classroom for ID.

Read the full article at http://www.livescience.com/othernews/050927_ID_cases.html.

METEORITES OFFER GLIMPSE OF THE EARLY EARTH, SAY PURDUE SCIENTISTSPurdue University release27 September 2005

Important clues to the environment in which the early Earth formed may be emerging from Purdue University scientists' recent study of a particular class of meteorites. By examining the chemistry of 29 chunks of rock that formed billions of years ago, probably in close proximity to our planet, two Purdue researchers, Michael E. Lipschutz and Ming-Sheng Wang, have clarified our understanding of the conditions present in the vicinity of the ancient Earth's orbit. Because direct evidence for these conditions is lacking in terrestrial samples, the scientists believe that the composition of these so-called enstatite chondrite (EC) meteorites could offer a window into the planet's distant past.

"What happened to these rocks most likely happened to the Earth in its early stages—with one great exception," said Lipschutz, a professor of chemistry in Purdue's College of Science. "Shortly after the early Earth formed, an object the size of Mars smashed into it, and the heat from the cataclysm irrevocably altered the geochemical makeup of our entire planet. These EC meteorites, however, are likely formed of matter similar to that which formed the early Earth, but they were not involved in this great collision and so were not chemically altered. They might be the last remaining pristine bits of the material that became the planet beneath our feet."

The research appears in today's (September 27) edition of a new journal, Environmental Chemistry, which solicited the paper. Lipschutz said the journal's editorial board includes F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, who received the Nobel Prize for their discovery that Earth's protective ozone layer was threatened by human activity.

Purdue University's Michael E. Lipschutz analyzed enstatite chondrite meteorites in a recent study of the materials near Earth at the dawn of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. Data from the study may offer clues into the conditions under which the Earth formed, evidence of which no longer exists in terrestrial stone. NASA photo/ID number S91-41199.

Lipschutz and Wang initially set out to increase our knowledge of EC meteorites, one of many different meteorite classes. Meteorites come from many different parts of the solar system, and a scientist can link one with its parent object by determining the different isotopes of oxygen in a meteorite's minerals. Chunks of the moon, the Earth and EC meteorites, for example, have very similar isotopic "signatures," quite different from those of Mars and other objects formed in the asteroid belt. The variations occurred because different materials condensed in different regions of the disk of gas and dust that formed the sun and planets. Bits of these materials orbit the sun, occasionally falling to earth as meteorites. But there is one place on our planet that meteorites accumulate and are preserved in a pristine fashion—the ice sheet of Antarctica.

"Over the millennia, many thousands of meteorites have struck the Antarctic ice sheet, which both preserves them and slowly concentrates them near mountains sticking through the ice, much as ocean waves wash pebbles to the shore," said Lipschutz. "These stones have come from many different parts of the solar system and have given us a better picture of the overall properties of their parent objects."

By examining their mineralogy, scientists have determined that about 200 of these Antarctic stones are EC meteorites that formed from the same local batch of material as the Earth did more than 4.5 billion years ago. But there is additional information that the chemistry of these ECs can offer on the temperatures at which they formed. To obtain this information, however, required Lipschutz to analyze chemicals in the meteorites called volatiles—rare elements such as indium, thallium and cadmium.

"Volatiles in meteorites can give unique information on their temperature histories, but only 14 of them had ever been analyzed for these elements," Lipschutz said. "Naturally, we want to know the story behind the formation of objects in our own neighborhood, so we set out to increase that number."

In this study, the researchers gathered samples taken from another 15 EC meteorites that had, for the most part, landed in Antarctica tens of thousands of years ago. Using a unique method involving bombardment of the samples with neutrons, chemically separating the radioactive species and counting them, the researchers were able to determine the amounts of 15 volatiles that together offered clues to each rock's heating history.

"Volatiles can act like thermometers," Lipschutz said. "They can tell you whether the temperature was high or low when the rock formed. We tested two different kinds of ECs, and the oldest, most primitive examples of each kind had very similar volatile contents, which means their temperature at formation was similar. These rocks have essentially recorded the temperature at which the early Earth formed, and we now know that this was much lower than 500 degrees Celsius."

The two different kinds of EC meteorites, known as ELs and EHs, were found in the Purdue study to have condensed at low temperatures like the Earth. However, the two groups are controversial because scientists have not been able to agree on whether they originated from a single parent object or two different ones. Unfortunately, Lipschutz said, the data from the 29 ECs they analyzed were insufficient to settle the issue.

"There are still quite a few unanswered questions about the earliest periods of the Earth's history, and this study only provides one piece of the puzzle," he said. "But aspects of this study also show that ECs differ substantially from other meteorite types that came from much farther out in the disk, in the region of the asteroid belt."

For Lipschutz, who had an asteroid named for him on his 50th birthday in honor of his many studies of meteorites, their parent bodies and the early history of the solar system, deeper answers may lie farther away than Antarctica.

"If we understand how our solar system formed, we might be better able to understand the processes at work in other solar systems, which we are just beginning to discover," he said. "Probing the asteroid belt could give us clues to these processes."

This research was funded in part by NASA.

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Journal reference:Ming-Sheng Wang and Michael E. Lipschutz, 2005. Thermal metamorphism of primitive meteorites—XII. The enstatite chondrites revisited. Environmental Chemistry, 2(3):215-226, http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/188/paper/EN04075.htm.

Contacts:Michael E. LipschutzPhone: 765-494-5326E-mail: rnaapunl@purdue.edu

Purdue News ServicePhone: 765-494-2096E-mail: purduenews@purdue.edu

Read the original news release at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2005/050927.Lipschutz.meteorites.htm.

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0509/28meteorite/http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/meteorites_shared_early__history.html

DESERT RATS TEST ROBOTIC ROVER By Henry Bortman29 September 2005

Until earlier this year, when President Bush announced an ambitious blueprint for space exploration, NASA had no plans to send humans back to the moon, or to Mars. But that didn't stop an intrepid group of scientists, based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, from investigating technologies that would be needed for such a mission. Every year for nearly a decade, they have trekked out to remote desert locations to conduct research on equipment and procedures that might some day be used by off-world explorers. The skunkworks project, known as Desert RATS (Research and Technology Studies), has just completed its eighth field season, on a barren cattle ranch near the rim of Meteor Crater, some 40 miles outside Flagstaff, Arizona.

Small scout landers are one consideration for future "scout" missions. The mission has two goals. One is to study the geologic history of water, the key to unlocking the story of past climate change. Two is to search for evidence of a habitable zone that may exist in the ice-soil boundary, the "biological paydirt." Image credit: NASA/JPL.

It's hard to find places on Earth that simulate martian conditions. But the Arizona high desert comes close enough for the experiments the Desert RATS team conducted during the first two weeks of September. According to Joe Kosmo of Johnson Space Center, who has led the

Desert RATS effort since its inception, Meteor Crater is an ideal test site because if you "strip away the vegetation, put the atmospheric pressure at 100,000 feet, and put the sun a little farther away, essentially you're encountering the kind of terrain you'd see on Mars," Rough, slightly hilly desert hard pack, with an assortment of rocks and boulders strewn about. And dust (red, of course). Dust everywhere, blowing around in heavy gusts, making dust devils and coating everything in site.

This year's two-week field test focused on the interaction between a pair of "astronauts" (actually, space-suited scientists) and a rover named SCOUT (Science Crew and Operations Utility Testbed). When astronauts travel to the moon or Mars, they will be going to do pretty much the same things a geologist does when exploring a field site on Earth: walking around, observing land formations, taking pictures and collecting rock and soil samples. But unlike on Earth, where even at the most remote locations, help is usually not far away, off-world explorers will have severely limited resources. Moreover, they will want to investigate as much terrain as possible, so conserving energy to focus on scientific tasks will be important.

"We're trying to augment the human-machine cooperative working relationship so that the machines can do a lot of the tedious tasks," says Frank Delgado, project lead for SCOUT. For example, by using SCOUT to drive explorers "to the location where they need to do their science, when they get there, they're a lot fresher."

SCOUT looks like an oversized dune buggy. Its design is loosely based on the Moon Buggy used by astronauts on the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions back in the 1970s. Its seats are built to accommodate two passengers wearing bulky spacesuits. Its joystick and computer touch screen are optimized for easy use by heavily gloved hands. And it is tricked out with an eclectic array of cameras, speakers and a host of communications gear. Its maximum ground speed: 6 miles per hour.

SCOUT had its first real-world test during the 2004 Desert RATS field season, but in that initial shakedown it was driven under manual control. "We basically focused on having somebody drive it from onboard," says Delgado. "So if you needed to get to a crater or somewhere to collect some rocks, they would jump onboard, and they'd drive it."

This year the RATS team tried out several automated modes of operation, including tele-operation, voice commands and gesture recognition. The field tests, which were highly successful, were the first ever that involved such complex interaction between humans and a semi-autonomous robotic assistant.

One type of tele-operation involved operating the rover in real- or near-real-time from a remote location. The operators used a joystick and a set of switches, knobs and buttons to control the rover as though they were onboard. Delgado's team was able to tele-operate SCOUT in this way both from a Desert RATS command center located about a half-mile from the test site and from a control center about 1200 miles away at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

This is a feasible approach for operating a robotic rover on the moon from a lunar base or even from Earth. It could also be used by humans operating a rover from a local command base on Mars. It wouldn't be possible to tele-operate a Mars rover from Earth in real-time, however, because it takes too long for radio-command signals to get from one planet to the other.

Earth-based scientists could tele-operate a rover on Mars using batch commands, however. For example, "You can say, Go to waypoint 1, take a picture; go to waypoint 2, take a panorama; go to waypoint 3; and then come back home.' And it will do that automatically," says Delgado. This is similar to the way in which mission controllers operate the Spirit and Opportunity rovers currently exploring Mars. But sending commands to Spirit and Opportunity requires first going through a laborious process of translating science-team requests into a sequence of arcane commands in a specialized language that the rovers can understand. SCOUT can understand direct voice commands.

Perhaps the most intriguing mode of operation that Delgado's team successfully tested was a procedure known as "human following," in which the rover followed one of the scientists as he explored on foot. To initiate human following, the scientist stood in front of the rover and

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said, "SCOUT, follow me." Onboard the rover, Delgado explains, is a pair of stereo cameras and a computerized shape-recognition system that knows "what a person should look like. It locks onto them and as they walk around in front of the vehicle, the cameras will swivel to that direction. If they walk away from the vehicle, the vehicle actually follows them, like a pack mule. So if they're doing some sort of geological expedition and they're going to go out a half mile or a mile, the vehicle will be right there for them to get back on, instead of them having to walk all the way back."

Delgado's engineers also got SCOUT to respond to commands issued in the form of gestures. One of the scientists stood in front of the rover and put out his arm, as though signaling for a left turn. SCOUT recognized the gesture and turned on its lights. When the scientist bent his arm at a 90-degree angle, SCOUT turned the lights back off. This was only a proof of concept, but it holds great promise. For example, says Delgado, an astronaut could point to an interesting rock and say, "Take a picture of that.' [The rover] will see where their finger's pointing and it'll turn the cameras in that direction and take a picture."

Although future missions to the moon and Mars will utilize vehicles with SCOUT-like capabilities, SCOUT was built as a testbed, and not as a prototype of a rover for a future mission. "There's a lot of basic functionality in the vehicle," Delgado explains, "that's there to support some of the concepts that we're trying to develop - the autonomous operations, tele-operations, obstacle avoidance, human following." But features like rubber tires with air in them, or the rover's aluminum frame "would never be flown to the moon or to Mars." Moreover, the computer systems on SCOUT are built from off-the-shelf components. Hardware used on vehicles intended for spaceflight have to be specially designed for protection against dust, intense radiation and other severe conditions.

Still, the lessons learned in testing SCOUT will no doubt be applied to designing whatever rovers do get built to accompany humans on their return to the moon, and eventually to Mars.

Mars Odyssey recently detected water ice near the surface in the high latitudes, and in 2007 the Phoenix Mars Lander will investigate those regions. This August, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched. What it discovers will determine the fate of the Mars Science Laboratory, which is scheduled for launch in 2009 or 2011.

Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1727.html.

NASA TAKES GIANT STEP TOWARD FINDING EARTH-LIKE PLANETSNASA/JPL release 2005-15729 September 2005 Are we alone in the universe? Are there planets like Earth around other "suns" that might harbor life? Thanks to a recent technology breakthrough on a key NASA planet-finding project, the dream of answering those questions is no longer light-years away.

On a crystal clear, star-filled night at Hawaii's Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, NASA engineers successfully suppressed the blinding light of three stars, including the well-known Vega, by 100 times. This breakthrough will enable scientists to detect the dim dust disks around stars, where planets might be forming. Normally the disks are obscured by the glare of the starlight. Engineers accomplished this challenging feat with the Keck Interferometer, which links the observatory's two 10-meter (33-feet) telescopes. By combining light from the telescopes, the Keck Interferometer has a resolving power equivalent to a football-field sized telescope. The "technological touchdown" of blocking starlight was achieved by adding an instrument called a "nuller." This setup may eventually help scientists select targets for NASA's envisioned Terrestrial Planet Finder missions. The success of those potential future missions, one observing in visible light and one in infrared, depends on being able to find Earth-like planets in the dust rings around stars.

The W. M. Keck Observatory.

"We have proven that the Keck Interferometer can block light from nearby stars, which will allow us to survey the amount of dust around them," said Dr. James Fanson, project manager for the Keck Interferometer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. That survey will begin in late 2006 after the team refines the nuller's sensitivity level.

Combined information from all of NASA's planet-hunting missions will provide a complete picture of possible Earth-like planets: how big they are, whether they are warm enough for life, and if their atmospheres and surfaces show chemical signatures of current life.

"People have been talking about whether there are other earths out there for 2,500 years. Only now are we developing the technology to go find out," said Michael Devirian, manager of NASA's Navigator Program at JPL, which is investigating potential planet-exploring missions.

So far, scientists around the world have found 150 planets orbiting other stars. Most are giants, like Jupiter; none is as small as Earth. Scientists believe the best odds of finding life outside our solar system are on Earth-sized planets, particularly those with the right temperature, density and chemistry.

More information on NASA's planet-finding missions, including the Keck Interferometer and Terrestrial Planet Finder is at http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov. JPL manages the Keck Interferometer and the Terrestrial Planet Finder missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The W. M. Keck Observatory is funded by California Institute of Technology, the University of California and NASA, and is managed by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, Kamuela, Hawaii.

Contact:Jane Platt Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CAPhone: 818-354-0880

SCIENTISTS POKE HOLES IN "SNOWBALL EARTH" HYPOTHESIS—REMAINS OF PHOTOSYNTHESIZING MICROBES IN PREHISTORIC ROCKS SUGGEST EARTH WAS NOT ICE-BOUNDNSF release 05-173

"Snowball Earth" proponents, who say that Earth's oceans were long ago covered by thick ice, explain the survival of life by hypothesizing the existence of small warm spots, or refugia. On the other side, supporters of a "Slushball Earth" say the planet included large areas of thin ice or open ocean, particularly around the equator. Now, scientists who applied innovative techniques to previously unexamined rock formations have turned up strong evidence to support the "Slushball Earth" side of the decades-long scientific debate. The study appears in the September 29 online Science Express.

The debate has tended to revolve around the same rock samples and analytical techniques, said Alison Olcott, an earth scientist at the University of Southern California. So she and her team focused on a drill core of little-known black shale deposits from southeastern Brazil

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and applied lipid biomarker techniques to identify prehistoric organisms based on the fatty remains of their cell membranes.

"This evidence for life in parts of the global oceans requires a revision of our interpretations related to this period of low-latitude glaciation," said Enriqueta Barrera, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the research.

The team, which included scientists from USC, Caltech, the University of Maryland and a Brazilian mining company, identified a complex and productive microbial ecosystem, including photosynthesizing organisms that could not have existed under a thick layer of ice.

"If there were ice, it had to have been thin enough that organisms could photosynthesize below it or within it," Olcott said.Frank Corsetti of USC, a co-author on the study, said "this is the first real evidence that substantial photosynthesis occurred in the Earth's oceans during the extreme ice age 700 million years ago, which is a challenge for the snowball theory."

The evidence does not prove large parts of the ocean remained free of sheet ice during the pre-Cambrian glaciation. Although unlikely, Olcott said it is possible one of the tiny "refugia" under the "Snowball Earth" hypothesis allowed such marine life to exist.

But, she said, "finding the one anomalous spot would be quite unlikely," adding that the samples she studied came from an extensive formation of rocks with similar characteristics. "At what point does an enormous refugium become open ocean?" she asked.

Skeptics also may argue that the rocks do not necessarily date to a glacial era, Olcott said. But the team found evidence of glacial activity in the samples, such as dropstones (continental rocks dropped by melting glaciers into marine deposits) and glendonites (minerals that only form in near-freezing water).

Was Earth once a snowball or a slushball? Scientists hope to find out. Image credit: NASA.

"Geologists don't necessarily think of looking for traces of microbes left in the rocks. This is the first direct look at the ecosystem during this time period," said Olcott, who credited USC's geobiology program, one of a handful in the country, with influencing her thinking.

Journal reference:A. N. Olcott et al., 2005. Biomarker evidence for photosynthesis during Neoproterozoic glaciation. Science Express, 29 September 2005, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1115769v1.

Contacts:Cheryl L. Dybas, NSF Phone: 703-292-7734 E-mail: cdybas@nsf.govCarl Marziali, USC Phone: 213-740-4751 E-mail: marziali@usc.edu

Read the original news release at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104484&org=NSF&from=news.

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://cl.exct.net/?ffcd16-fe6817747766007d7712-fe28167073670175701c72-ff3310707762http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/ever_snowball_earth.html

WISE BED-REST STUDY: SECOND CAMPAIGN UNDER WAYESA release 43-20054 October 2005

As of 1 October, the second 2005 campaign of the Women's International Space Simulation for Exploration (WISE) study has been fully under way. All 12 female participants are now lying in bed tilted head down at an angle of 6º below horizontal, so that their heads are slightly lower than their feet. The participants will undertake all activities in this position for 60 days. Remaining in this head-down, tilted position results in physiological changes that also occur in astronauts during spaceflight. The study will assess the roles of nutrition and combined physical exercise in countering the adverse effects of extended gravitational unloading through bed rest.

The participants in this second campaign started moving in pairs into the study location, the MEDES Space Clinic at the Rangueil Hospital in Toulouse, France, on 6 September. Prior to the start of the 60 days of bed-rest, there was a 20-day period during which physiological data were collected for use for comparative purposes throughout the study. The first participants to arrive were thus in bed in the head-down, tilted position by 26 September.

The second campaign attracted responses from women across Europe. From among these candidates, a planned dozen were chosen to take part in the study. Seven of these come from France, three come from Finland, one from Switzerland and one from the United Kingdom. The test subjects have been divided into three groups of four. One group will be the so-called control group, receiving no extra stimulus over the course of the bed-rest period. The second group will undertake an exercise program whilst in bed. The third will receive a nutritional supplement throughout the 60 days.

"I am glad to see the second campaign under way," said Peter Jost, ESA's project manager for the WISE study. "Although it is too early to draw firm conclusions, initial findings from the first campaign do indicate that the countermeasures tested had beneficial effects for the health of the volunteers. The combined exercise regime seemed to maintain the capacity to carry out a certain degree of endurance exercise (aerobic exercise capacity) and helped at the end of the bed-rest period to preserve orthostatic tolerance, i.e., the ability to change posture to an upright stance without feeling faint. Both countermeasures appeared to diminish insulin resistance. And a surprising result was that the nutritional countermeasure seemed to have protective effects for the cardiovascular system. However, we need the results of this second campaign before we can make valid statements, also for the other research objectives of the 12 different experiment protocols. These conclusions must be based on statistical significance and will be published in scientific journals."

During the 20-day rehabilitation period following bed-rest, the test subjects will undergo tests similar to those before the bed-rest period, for comparison with the baseline data. The data collected by WISE will be used to draw conclusions about such aspects as muscle condition, blood parameters, cardiovascular condition, coordination of movements, changes in immune system, bone formation and psychological well-being.

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Results expected from the WISE study will prove valuable in planning long-duration human missions. This research will also have clinical significance on Earth, advancing knowledge and pointing to improved methods of assisting recovery by bedridden patients. Studying the early effects of reduced activity on a molecular level is also expected to provide further evidence of the benefits of regular exercise in the prevention of conditions like type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

The WISE study is a joint scientific venture between the European Space Agency (ESA), the French Space Agency (CNES), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The experiment protocols have been put together by a group of international scientists. MEDES, the French Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology, organised the selection of the volunteers and provided medical, paramedical and technical staff to support these experiments.

For additional information ESA has created a web site on the WISE study at http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/wise.

Contact: Franco BonacinaESA Media Relations DivisionParis, FrancePhone: +33 1 5369 7155Fax: +33 1 5369 7690

Dieter IsakeitErasmus User Centre and Communication Office Directorate of Human SpaceflightMicrogravity and Exploration Programmes Noordwijk, The NetherlandsPhone: +31 71 565 5451Fax: +31 71 565 8008

TEST EQUIPMENT FINDS LIFE IN MARS-LIKE CONDITIONSFrom Space.com4 October 2005

In a test of equipment that might one day be used to search for biological activity on Mars, researchers discovered life tucked deep inside a frozen Norwegian volcano. The test region is said to have geology similar to that of Mars.

"We tested equipment that we are developing to look for life on Mars and discovered a rare and complex microbial community living in blue ice vents inside a frozen volcano," Hans Amundsen of the University of Oslo said today. "The instruments detected both living and fossilized organisms, which is the kind of evidence we'd be searching for on the Red Planet."

Read the full article at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/051004_mars_like.html.

EUROMARS SHIPS OUT FOR ENGLANDMars Society release25 September 2005

The European Mars Arctic Research Station (EuroMARS) has been taken out of storage in Chicago, and is on its way to England. The EuroMARS was conceived as the third of the Mars Society's Mars analog research stations. Destined for a Marslike region of volcanic terrain on the north coast of Iceland, the station will allow greatly expanded European participation and European-North American collaboration on Mars analog research activities. Together with the Mars Society's other analog station, the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS), which is located in the cratered polar desert on Canada's Devon Island, and the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), located in the fossiliferous sedimentary terrain of southern Utah, the three stations will enable year round Mars exploration operations research activity in three of the primary geologic types of interest. A fourth station, in a desert area of Australia containing stromatolite fossils of the oldest known life on Earth is also planned.

Funds to allow fabrication of the EuroMARS were raised in 2001-2002, and the station was placed on display at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago during the summer of the latter year. There it was manned by Mars Society volunteers who explained the station and its purpose to over 50,000 visitors. However, as a result of the internet crash, further funding necessary for deployment field deployment in Iceland was not forthcoming, and the station was placed in storage for three years.

Now however, as a result of successful fundraising activity by the Mars Society UK, funds have been raised allowing the transportation of the station to England, where it will be placed on exhibit throughout the winter at the scientific centre in Swindon. European Mars Society leaders report that further funding is now being negotiated that should allow deployment of the EuroMARS to Iceland following the exhibit during the spring of 2006.

The EuroMARS will be erected at the science centre during October, and will be available for inspection by attendees of the Fifth European Mars Society Conference, EMC5, which will be held at Alexandra House in Swindon, England, November 4-5, 2005. Some further information about the conference is given below. The Fifth European Mars Society Conference (EMC5) "From Earth to Mars," November 4-6, 2005 Alexandra House Conference Centre, Wroughton, Swindon, England. A weekend of guest talks, panels, debates, workshops and events featuring some of the world's leading experts in Mars exploration and featuring an opportunity to visit the Mar Society's newest Mars Analogue Research Station: Euro-MARS.

Featured Guests: Charles Cockell (BAS), Mars Polar BaseAdam Hawkey (U of Wolverhampton), Mobility on Mars Piero Messina (ESA), Aurora Exploration ProgramPat Norris (LogicaCMG), ExoMars Rover Jens Ormo, Wearable Astrobiology Computer Robert Zubrin, Options for Human Mars Missions

To register for the conference, go to http://www.marssociety.co.uk/.

SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY: STUDENT EXPERIMENT MODULE (SEM) SATCHEL INTEGRATION WEEK AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTERBy Jason FreemanNASA/HQ release27 September 2005

Student-designed experiments to be flown aboard the ISS are now being accepted. At least one of the spaces in this opportunity is being reserved for the informal education community. Museums, science centers, afterschool and community groups, and all other informal educators are encouraged to apply.

The SEM Satchel carrier provides the opportunity to place student developed experiments in the environment of the ISS. Students place different types of materials in NASA provided vials to conduct a "fly and compare" type of investigation. Each experiment consists of up to 5 vials. The current opportunity will launch 60 SEM Satchel experiments on the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) mid year 2006.

For additional information about SEM Satchel, go to http://www.wff.nasa.gov/efpo/satchel/index.html.

An integration workshop will be conducted at KSC in support of flight preparation of experiments. Two students and one educator from 10 groups across the US will be provided transportation to KSC for integration of their experiments and to participate in facility tours. For informal education, the program is open to partners working with youth in grades 6 - college undergraduate. Winning teams will be selected on a competitive basis.

Apply on-line at http://www.wff.nasa.gov/efpo/main/apply.html. Under the pull down menu, select NESC- KSC Satchel Integration Workshop (Space Station).

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Relevant dates

Applications due: December 23, 2005Selections announced: January 23, 2006KSC workshop for 10 teams (30 people): March 26-28, 2006 (travel 3/25 & 3/29) Launch to ISS, on European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), on schedule for 2007. Return to earth 3-6 months after arriving at ISS.

Contact:Jason FreemanNASA Office of EducationInformal Education DivisionEducation Program SpecialistPhone: 202-358-3720

NASA MAKES EXPLORING MARS FROM THE SKIES A CLASSROOM REALITYNASA/ARC release 05-51AR29 September 2005

As NASA prepares for the future exploration of Mars, students on Earth can now let their imagination and curiosity soar though the canyons of Valles Marineris and over the top of Olympus Mons on the red planet. On 1 October 2005, NASA will release the latest classroom tool to excite students in grades 5 to 8 about NASA's bold goal of a human mission to Mars. "Wings Over Mars," developed by the educational technology team at NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley, is an interactive Web site that will introduce the promising concept of planetary flight on Mars.

"This exciting new project highlights the contribution aircraft can play in NASA's human exploration mission," said Christina O'Guinn of the NASA Ames educational technology team. "The project exposes students to the benefits of planetary flight and engages them in the engineering challenges of planetary flight on Mars."

"Mars aircraft can give scientists a perspective that is different than that provided by rovers and orbiters, giving scientists a more complete view of Mars," O'Guinn added.

The site includes background videos and animations that introduce students to the engineering challenges of developing an airborne Mars explorer, including the differences between flight on Earth and on Mars and an introduction to aircraft design. To help support students, the site has articles for additional information and a section that will allow teachers to incorporate the information into their classroom curriculum.

These resources will support future online NASA Quest Web challenges in which students, with the help of NASA experts, explore various engineering problems associated with designing a Mars airplane. During these challenges, students tackle a design problem relating to an actual NASA mission. Students work in teams on preliminary solutions or designs as NASA experts answer questions and provide "real-time" critiquing. The interaction with scientists occurs via question-and-answer sessions, chats, interactive Webcasts, and posted feedback on the Web site.

"Wings Over Mars" is funded by NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, Washington, DC, through the Aeronautics Education Coordinating Committee to support the nation's Vision for Space Exploration.

For more information about the Wings Over Mars Web site, visit http://wingsovermars.arc.nasa.gov. For more information about NASA Quest, visit http://quest.nasa.gov/.

Contact:Jonas DinoNASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CAPhone: 650-604-5612 or 650-604-9000E-mail: jonas.dino@nasa.gov

NASA'S ASTRO-VENTURE HELPS STUDENTS DESIGN HABITABLE PLANETSNASA/ARC release 05-52AR4 October 2005

If you could design your own planet, would it be habitable? Through NASA's Astro-Venture Web site, students can find out. On 1 October 2005, the educational technology team at NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley, added the eagerly awaited "Design a Planet" and "Biology Mission" modules to the Astro-Venture Web site. Astro-Venture is an interactive, multimedia-enhanced learning environment, in which students in grades 5 to 8 role-play NASA careers as they search for and design a planet habitable to humans.

"This multi-year project has developed a large following of teachers and students who have long been awaiting these final two multimedia modules," said Christina O'Guinn of the NASA Ames educational technology team. "This is now a complete interactive educational package that will engage students in the exciting topic of astrobiology."

In the "Design a Planet" module, students can create their very own habitable planet by choosing from various planet and solar system characteristics such as star type, planet mass and the presence of active volcanoes and liquid water. Based on these characteristics, a planet is "created" with feedback about whether it is habitable for humans, for extremophiles, or is uninhabitable. Extremophiles are microbes on Earth that live in extreme environments where humans and other animals could not survive, such as the hot springs in Yellowstone, or the ice in Antarctica.

After designing their planet, students and educators can submit their solutions and interact with astrobiologists through a one-hour NASA Quest Webcast on November 17, 2005 at 11:00 AM PST. Funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute at NASA Ames, scientists from the Virtual Planet Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, will answer student questions and show students how scientists are using computer modeling to search for habitable planets outside our solar system.

The Biology Mission module shifts the focus from the needs of humans, to the needs of other types of living creatures, allowing students to study organisms that serve as models in scientists' search for life elsewhere in the universe. The students join three NASA researchers as they study microbes that live in extreme environments such as the bottom of the ocean, within Antarctic ice, and in one of the world's highest lakes.

Astro-Venture highlights NASA careers and astrobiology research in the areas of astronomy, geology, biology and atmospheric sciences. Students play the roles of NASA scientists and researchers and use scientific inquiry to learn about the conditions that make human life on Earth possible and how to identify those conditions on other worlds.

Launched in early 2002, Astro-Venture has been updated with new modules and revised educator guides based on the results of a nationwide pilot test of 24 classrooms representing nearly 1,000 students. Now completed, Astro-Venture offers nine multimedia modules, four educator guides and more than 50 career fact sheets. Astro-Venture is co-funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the Virtual Planet Laboratory, the NASA Education Technology and Products Office and the NASA Explorer Schools Program.

For more information about Astro-Venture, visit http://astroventure.arc.nasa.gov/. For more information about educational products and NASA Quest challenges developed by the Ames educational technology team, visit http://quest.nasa.gov/. For more information about the NASA Astrobiology Institute at NASA Ames, visit http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/. For more information about the Virtual Planetary Laboratory, visit http://vpl.ipac.caltech.edu/.

Jonas DinoNASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CAPhone: 650-604-5612 or 650-604-9000E-mail: jonas.dino@nasa.gov

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CASSINI UPDATESNASA/JPL releases

Cassini Significant Events for 15-21 September 2005NASA/JPL release, 23 September 2005

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday, September 21, from the Madrid tracking stations. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" web page located at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm.

Thursday, September 15 (DOY 258):

Yesterday Cassini passed apoapsis and the start of orbit #15. During this near-apoapsis period, the Magnetospheric and Plasma Science (MAPS) instruments will conduct a campaign to locate dawn-side magnetospheric boundaries and to observe plasma waves on the magnetospheric boundary at various radial distances, as well as continuing to survey the magnetosphere.

As was reported last week, science data was lost as the result of an improperly set flag preventing the spacecraft from writing to or reading from the A side of the solid state recorder (SSR). Commands were sent to the spacecraft today to re-enable SSR-A data recording. Telemetry confirmed that the files were received by the spacecraft. Now we wait for a normal data collection period and confirmation that all is well when that data is played back over tomorrow's pass.

Friday, September 16 (DOY 259):

A press release with Radar images displaying an apparent shoreline on Titan has been issued. Hints are evident that this area was once wet, or currently has liquid present. For the full press release and access to the images go to http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

The Spacecraft Operations Office (SCO) sent commands to the spacecraft to load Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) flight software Version 4.0 into the non-default partitions of both SSRs. Checkout of this software is planned for mid October. SCO reported that they were able to verify that SSR-A was the prime SSR during last night's observation. This means that we are able to successfully command a swap to SSR-A to record data, and we have regained the use of both SSRs.

The flight team is gearing up for Orbit Trim Maneuver (OTM) #33. The preparation meeting was held last Wednesday, and a go ahead was given at an approval meeting today. The OTM files have been merged with the S14 background sequence and all have been released for use by the flight team. The maneuver will execute next Monday.

The official port occurred today for the S17 Science Operations Plan (SOP) Update process. The merged products are currently being run through the end-to-end pointing validation software by ACS. The Project Briefing and Waiver Disposition Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 28. The SOP Update product is handed off to the sequence leads on Friday, September 30.

Monday, September 19 (DOY 262):

On Friday, a kickoff meeting was held for a Live Update to execute on DOY 266-269. A final orbit determination solution was released on Sunday, and today at the Go/No Go meeting it was decided that the update was still necessary but only for three Tethys vectors for DOY 266 and 267. When approved, the files will be uplinked to the spacecraft on Thursday, September 22.

A Hyperion and Tethys science preview meeting was held to present the instrument observation plans and science for the upcoming flybys.

Orbit trim maneuver #33 (OTM-33) was successfully completed today. This apoapsis maneuver sets up Cassini's trajectory for the flyby of Hyperion on September 26. The main engine burn began at 11:00 am PST. A "quick look" immediately after the maneuver showed the burn

duration was 176.3 sec, giving a delta-V of approximately 27.8 m/s. All subsystems reported nominal performance after completion of the burn.

At a Delivery Coordination Meeting SCO delivered version 11.1 of the Inertial Vector Propagator (IVP) software. This update was specifically released to fix issues related to the LIVE_IVP_UPDATE features. There are four outstanding test reports written against the released IVP software version V11.0 for problems encountered during Live IVP Update activities.

Tuesday, September 20 (DOY 263):

The OTM-34 preparation meeting was held today. Cassini Outreach presented a poster on "Reading, Writing, and Rings" at the annual conference for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific meeting in Tucson, Arizona. The meeting was held September 14-16, 2005. Approximately 350 members of the astronomy education community attended.

As part of the science observation activities this week, the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) performed a number of mosaics of Saturn's inner magnetosphere. In addition, the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) took images of Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, and Iapetus to continue to map the various satellite longitudes at various phase angles. The other Optical Remote Sensing (ORS) instruments acquired data on these satellites as well.

Wednesday, September 21 (DOY 264):

The final sequence products for S15 have been posted to the Program file repository and are available for review. The sequence approval meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 27, with uplink of the background sequence and Instrument Expanded Blocks (IEB) beginning on October 3.

A Radar image of a shoreline on Titan was Astronomy Picture of the Day today. An encounter strategy meeting was held for OTMs 35-37, and flybys Hyperion 1 and Dione 1.

Cassini Significant Events for 22-28 September 2005NASA/JPL release, 30 September 2005

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday, September 21, from the Goldstone tracking stations. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" web page located at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm.

Thursday, September 22 (DOY 265):

A decision was made today to cancel Orbit Trim Maneuver (OTM) #34.Originally planned for Friday, September 23, the OTM was determined to be unnecessary because it wasn't required to stay on tour, and its cancellation actually resulted in a delta-V savings through OTM-36.

OTM-34 was intended to be the final "targeting" maneuver for the Hyperion flyby. In place of the OTM, a live update will be performed updating two instances of the same Hyperion Inertial Vector Propagator (IVP) vector to adjust the spacecraft pointing to accommodate the slightly different than planned trajectory. The update will be uplinked to the spacecraft on Saturday.

Uplink operations sent commands to the spacecraft this evening to perform a Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) bias to adjust the RWA spin rates. This command is normally included in the OTM mini-sequence. Since the OTM was cancelled, the commands were sent separately.

Additional files uplinked today included a Live IVP update for Tethys, RADAR commands in support of the live update, and commands to change the configuration of the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer after the Hyperion flyby.

Instrument Operations (IO) Multi-Mission Image Processing Laboratory (MIPL) personnel supported an optical navigation image downlink

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designated as critical, in support of the Hyperion flyby. This involved insuring that the images got to the Navigation team within 20 minutes of receipt. Special staffing by both Cassini and multi-mission personnel was used to monitor the automated system and perform a parallel contingency process. The automated system again flawlessly delivered the data within minutes.

Friday, September 23 (DOY 266):

Non-targeted flybys of Calypso, Mimas, Prometheus, and Tethys occurred today. The Tethys flyby was at 1500 km, closer than most non-targeteds.

Amongst the many exciting activities at the end of this week are the two most hazardous dust crossings of the tour as the spacecraft passes through the E Ring. Neither of these crossings is considered to be particularly risky, but they are the two "dustiest" that the spacecraft will experience.

Spacecraft Operations will have Cassini assume a protective attitude by pointing the High Gain Antenna in the ring particle ram direction and will command the main engine cover to be deployed or "closed" to protect the engines.

Cassini's first passive RADAR observations of Saturn's atmosphere are taking place today near Saturn periapsis, both pre- and post- Tethys flyby. These observations will probe the deepest atmospheric levels yet. The Tethys and Hyperion flybys were the subject of a StarDate radio broadcast today.

Saturday, September 24 (DOY 267):

The new Hyperion live IVP update was uplinked to the spacecraft today. It will begin execution on DOY 268/2216. A non-targeted flyby of Titan occurred today.

Sunday, September 25 (DOY 268):

Cassini performed a targeted encounter of Hyperion today. This is the only close flyby of this satellite in the tour.

Monday, September 26 (DOY 269):

IO/MIPL successfully transitioned to the MIPL D34 Operations system that had been delivered back in August. To avoid undue disruptions and operational risk, the implementation date was delayed until after the recent critical OPNAV images were obtained, after the Tethys and Hyperion fly-bys, and at the end of a carry-over segment. Besides changing pointers, a hardware configuration was changed to eliminate two servers in order to lower FY 06 costs.

Science Planning hosted the S18 Science Operations Plan Update process kickoff meeting. Cassini Radio Science conducted a Hyperion Mass Determination experiment on DOY 268-269, Sunday and Monday. This Hyperion targeted flyby was the only opportunity during the Cassini tour to conduct such an observation. The observation consisted of two segments: an "inbound" segment, which was covered by Goldstone's DSS-25 and DSS-26 stations, and an "outbound" segment, which was covered by Madrid's DSS-55. Hyperion Closest Approach (C/A) occurred around 269/03:44 ERT/UTC. The first segment completed approximately 6 hours before C/A, and the second started approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes after C/A. For the first segment, approximately 2 hours of coherent Doppler X-up/X-down and X-up/Ka-down were expected, and all data were successfully acquired.

Monopulse was enabled at both antennas throughout the observation, and performed nominally. A Track Level Compensation (TLC) table, which corrects for track unevenness, was used at DSS-25. For the second segment, about 1 hour and 20 minutes of coherent Doppler data were expected, but unfortunately, all data were lost due to a hardware failure at Madrid. Attempts were made by the station personnel to fix the problem, but up until the end of the pass, the complex was still down.

Tuesday, September 27 (DOY 270):

The S15 background sequence was given final approval today. The sequence and associated Instrument Expanded Blocks will be sent to the spacecraft beginning on October 3.

During today's DSS-14 70m playback of Hyperion data, a telemetry outage occurred between 16:41:46 and 16:53:50 UTC ERT, during which an outbound RADAR scatterometry observation was being played back. The data still exists on board the SSRs, so Mission Planning, Science Planning, SCO, and the sequence leads are looking into possible options for getting the data down. UPDATE: It was decided to uplink commands to the spacecraft to move the SSR-B pointers to enable the team to downlink the data. Those commands will be sent Thursday. (Actually, as I write this it IS Thursday, so I can tell you more.) Telemetry indicates that the pointers moved to the correct location. Now all we have to do is wait for the playback, which won't occur for a few days.

Wednesday, September 28 (DOY 271):

Orbit trim maneuver #35 (OTM-35) was successfully completed today. This "cleanup maneuver" both corrects small trajectory errors due to the Saturn periapsis passage and Hyperion-1 flyby, as well as targets to the moon Dione for a 500 km altitude flyby on October 11. The reaction control system burn began at 10:30 am PDT. A "quick look" immediately after the maneuver showed the burn duration was 321.3 seconds, giving a delta-V of approximately 294 mm/s. All subsystems reported nominal performance after the maneuver.

On Monday of this week, the teams addressed the possible cancellation of OTM-36. It was determined that if OTM-35 was successful, then OTM-36 would not be necessary. The current spacecraft trajectory is accurate enough that the decision was made to go ahead and cancel this maneuver.

A command approval meeting was held today for the eight IEBs to be uplinked to the spacecraft in support of S15. All were approved to go.

A member of the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) instrument team gave a Tour Science Talk today. The presentation covered recent CAPS science results.

A Delivery Coordination Meeting was held for the Maneuver Automation Subsystem version 5.1. The S17 Science Operations Plan Update Project Briefing and Waiver Disposition Meeting was held today. The close-out product is being prepared for this process and will be handed off to the sequence leads on Friday. This sequence will now pass on to the Science and Sequence Update Process that will kick off next Monday.

The Satellite Orbiter Science Team held a Tethys and Hyperion science data review to discuss the first look at the science data from these flybys and to discuss the press release plans.

Check out the Cassini web site at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov for the latest press releases and images.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050930_saturn_moons.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-05zzzk.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-05zzzl.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-05zzzm.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-05zzzn.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-05zzzo.htmlhttp://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/051002hyperion.htmlhttp://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/view_spongy_hyperion.html

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MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATESNASA/JPL release3 October 2005

Spirit is healthy and has provided a spectacular view from the top of "Husband Hill." The rover has acquired numerous panoramas from both the navigation camera and panoramic camera. Spirit took coordinated observations with the panoramic camera and the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and observed the moons Phobos and Deimos at night. Spirit has reached the true summit, which is in the eastern portion of the nearly level hilltop crest that Spirit reached in late August. Plans are to drive to a good imaging location. From the new location, Spirit will acquire a panorama of the plains and valleys below.

Opportunity suffered a warm reboot last week. After the flight computer rebooted, the spacecraft went into "safe mode." This error caused the team to miss two Odyssey passes. The evening pass was missed because the reboot occurred during the Odyssey pass. The morning pass was missed because safe mode enforces the deep sleep behavior.

Real-time commands were sent on sol 597 in order to access the state of the vehicle. Opportunity was healthy and the team regained control of the vehicle. A "lite" master sequence was loaded and sol 597 became a stand down day. On sol 598, the initial system recovery steps were taken and subsystems were tested. All subsystems look good. This is the first time this fault has been seen on Opportunity. It was seen twice before on Spirit, in May and August of 2004. The decision at that time was to not fix the software bug that causes this problem, and accept the rare interruptions in operations. The bug allows a 51 microsecond window where two different requests to write to a memory area can collide. When the writes collide, the software protects itself and the vehicle by terminating activities. This week Opportunity will continue with nominal operations. The rover will continue to move west around Erebus Crater.

Get the latest MER updates at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html.

Additional articles on this subject are available at:http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050928_opportunity_update.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-05zzzzc.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-05zzzzd.htmlhttp://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-05zzzze.html

MARS EXPRESS MISSION EXTENDEDESA release28 September 2005

Overall Mission and Payload Status

At the end of May 2005, a mass memory (SSMM) software upload was performed successfully prior to the second and third MARSIS booms deployments, with no impact on science return. Following successful and complete MARSIS deployment in the May-June time period, routine science operations of all of the Mars Express orbiter instruments were resumed on 4 July.

The MARSIS dipole post-deployment commissioning activities have ended in July. Additional commissioning activities, such as the calibration of the monopole, will be performed before or during the next nighttime optimal observing opportunity (starting in December 2005).

The Mars Express spacecraft and almost all of its payload instruments are in good condition. ESA has started a technical investigation into the anomalous behaviour of the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS), after a problem first developed in the instrument a few months ago. PFS operations were suspended from 30 August, and a test campaign is being implemented as an attempt to resolve the problem and later possibly return PFS to nominal operations.

Mars Express payload operations continued to run smoothly overall throughout the summer, with the execution of the planned Medium-Term Plans (MTP) 15 and 16. Each MTP covers 4 weeks of scientific data acquisition. Recent observing conditions have been optimum for the optical imaging instruments HRSC and OMEGA, with the

observations covering the equatorial region and the pericentre moving into the Southern Highlands. ASPERA and SPICAM performed their expected observations. Two successful BSR (Bi-Static Radar) radio science experiments were conducted in late August. Following the commissioning, MARSIS has continued gathering ionospheric data, as subsurface data will only be obtained again in December 2005 when pericenter passes reach the next night time period.

The 19th Mars Express Science Working Team (SWT) meeting was held on 1 September at ESTEC. The next SWT meeting will take place around the end of the year or at the beginning of 2006. The first data acquired by MARSIS are being analyzed, both for the ionosphere and for the subsurface. MARSIS has measured very clean echoes from the surface of Mars, and first indications about the ionosphere have been collected.

Science Planning Status

Mars Express is currently following a free-drift orbit that is the consequence of MARSIS deployment-related spacecraft activities. The decision was made in July to return to a frozen orbit in order to accommodate the HRSC coverage requirements with at least 10% overlap in the HRSC swaths. The corresponding manoeuvre will be conducted on 22 October 2005.

Planning has been finalized up to MTP19. MTP18 and MTP19 include the planning for a period with long eclipses (90 minutes). Science operations during this period are limited by power constraints, as well as illumination constraints. The next MTP (#20) is already part of the extended mission. The Mars Express mission has been extended for one martian year (687 days). The extended mission will run from 1 December 2005 until 31 October 2007.

Science Data Archiving

The second Mars Express data delivery to the Planetary Science Archive (PSA) of ESA was planned for June 2005. This data release contained data from the second half of 2004 of the HRSC and ASPERA-NPI instruments. SPICAM data from the first half of 2004 were released after a successful review.

Read the original news release at http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=38057.

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MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGESNASA/JPL/MSSS release22-28 September 2005

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

South Polar Details (Released 22 September 2005)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/22

Devilish Details (Released 23 September 2005)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/23

Pits on Ascraeus (Released 24 September 2005)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/24

Loire Dust Devil (Released 25 September 2005)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/25

High Latitude Polygons (Released 26 September 2005)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/26

Mars at Ls 288 Degrees (Released 27 September 2005)

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/27

Gully in the North (Released 28 September 2005)http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/28 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.

End Marsbugs, Volume 12, Number 33.

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