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Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 30, 3 August 2004
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter
Volume 11, Number 30, 3 August 2004
Editor/Publisher: David J. Thomas, Ph.D., Science Division, Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas 72503-2317, USA.
Marsbugs is published on a weekly to monthly basis as warranted by the number of articles and announcements. Copyright of this compilation exists with the editor, except for specific articles, in which instance copyright exists with the author/authors. Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by the editor or by Lyon College. E-mail subscriptions are free, and may be obtained by contacting the editor. Information concerning the scope of this newsletter, subscription formats and availability of back-issues is available at 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.
At 20 times the size of Earth, the largest sunspot observed since the November 2003 series of solar storms is now pointed directly at Earth. Its unusually large size also means that it is now visible to the naked eye (although you should never look at the Sun without a proper filter). The implications of this spot have scientists on the edge of their seats—if the active region generates coronal mass ejections (CMEs), massive explosions with a potential force of a billion megaton bombs, it will be a fairly direct hit to Earth and its satellites and power grids. The last large solar events occurred in the fall of 2003 when seventeen major flares erupted on the Sun. Currently, sunspot group AR 10652 has generated several medium-sized flares and CMEs over the past three and a half days. This view is from the SOHO spacecraft’s Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument from July 23, 2004, at 16:00 UTC. Over the next few days, the region has the potential for unleashing more and larger solar storms. The SOHO is located in an orbit approximately one million miles from Earth in order to gain an unobstructed view of the Sun. It carries 12 instruments and is a joint NASA/ESA mission. More information is available at
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Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 30, 3 August 2004
Articles and News
Page 2BOEING DELIVERS JIMO SPACECRAFT DESIGN PROPOSAL
Boeing release
Page 3INSIDE THE GIANTS: PUZZLING DIFFERENCES IN JUPITER AND SATURN
By Robert Roy Britt
Page 3UNIQUE OBSERVATIONS OF NEWBORN STAR PROVIDE INFORMATION ON SOLAR SYSTEM'S ORIGIN
Vanderbilt University release
Page 4ET FIRST CONTACT "WITHIN 20 YEARS"
By Marcus Chown
Page 4RESEARCHERS REVIEW EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF MODERN ALGAE
Texas A&M University release
Page 4SCRIPPS RESEARCHERS DOCUMENT SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE DEEP SEA—CLIMATE AND FOOD SUPPLY FLUCTUATIONS MAY HOLD MAJOR CONSEQUENCES FOR LIFE IN THE ABYSS
Scripps Institution of Oceanography release
Page 5EAVESDROPPING ON OLYMPUS—LET THE GAMES BEGIN
From Astrobiology Magazine
Page 6SPINNING BRAINS
By Patrick L. Barry and Tony Phillips
Page 7DOUBLE WHAMMY: ASTEROIDS DELIVERED ONE-TWO PUNCH
By Robert Roy Britt
Page 7ANALYSIS: BUSH STANDS BY HIS SPACE PLAN
By Frank Sietzen
Page 7SPACE SCIENCE PIONEER VAN ALLEN QUESTIONS HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT
By Leonard David
Page 7CHINA TO LAUNCH SECOND MANNED SPACE MISSION IN 2005
From Agence France-Press and SpaceDaily
Page 7THE SPILLPROOF EARTH—ELECTRONS TO PASS THE "WHITE GLOVE" OVER A SPACEPROBE
From Astrobiology Magazine
Page 9NASA PLAYS KEY ROLE IN LARGEST ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERIMENT IN HISTORY
NASA/GSFC release 2004-242
Page 10HOWLING AT THE MOON: SPACE ENTREPRENEURS SEE RED OVER MARS FAVORITISM
By Leonard David
Page 10METEORITE FROM OMAN RECORDS ITS LUNAR LAUNCH SITE AND DETAILED HISTORY
By Lori Stiles
Page 11NASA INVITES PUBLIC TO EXPLORE "RED PLANET" VIA INTERNET
NASA/ARC release 2004-74AR
Page 12THE DARKENING EARTH: LESS SUN AT THE EARTH'S SURFACE COMPLICATES CLIMATE MODELS
By David Appell
Page 12HOW SPECIAL IS THE SOLAR SYSTEM?
Royal Astronomical Society release
Page 12LIFE ON MARS LIKELY, SCIENTIST CLAIMS
By Leonard David
Announcements
Page 12NASA SELECTS FUTURE MISSION CONCEPTS FOR STUDY
NASA/JPL release 2004-186
Page 13NASA INVESTIGATORS SELECTED FOR HUMAN AND ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY
NASA release 2004-248
Page 13NASA RELEASES BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR EXPLORATION
NASA release 2004-249
Page 14NASA ANNOUNCES SPACE RADIATION MATERIALS RESEARCH GRANTS
NASA release 2004-255
Page 14ESA IS LOOKING FOR FEMALE VOLUNTEERS FOR A BED-REST STUDY IN TOULOUSE NEXT YEAR
ESA release 45-2004
Mission Reports
Page 14CASSINI UPDATES
NASA/JPL releases
Page 17MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATES
NASA/JPL releases
Page 18MARS EXPRESS IMAGES
ESA releases
Page 19MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES
NASA/JPL/MSSS releases
Page 19MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
NASA/JPL/ASU releases
Page 20ROSETTA: MONITORING NEW AVIONICS SOFTWARE
ESA release
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Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 30, 3 August 2004
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Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 30, 3 August 2004
BOEING DELIVERS JIMO SPACECRAFT DESIGN PROPOSAL
Boeing release
19 July 2004
Boeing delivered its conceptual design proposal Friday, July 16, for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO), a spacecraft that could become the nation’s first nuclear-fission-powered exploration vehicle with technologies applicable to future Mars and lunar missions. The JIMO reactor would provide more than 100 times more usable onboard power than has been available to previous science probes and demonstrate nuclear reactors can be operated safely and reliably in space to provide electrical power needed for propulsion and scientific exploration.
A Boeing-led team of engineers and program planners is working with JPL on a groundbreaking initiative that heralds a new era in space science and exploration. The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) spacecraft would be the nation’s first nuclear fission reactor-powered scientific spacecraft. It is part of NASA’s Project Prometheus, the space agency’s endeavor to develop safe nuclear power and high-efficiency electric propulsion to open the solar system. With the planet Jupiter as its backdrop, this artist's rendering shows JIMO orbiting the ice-covered Jovian satellites Callisto, Ganymede and Europa. One purpose of the mission is to begin studying the subsurface water ocean suspected to exist on Europa, which could harbor simple extraterrestrial life. JIMO would be the first probe to have the power to orbit multiple planetary objects for weeks at a time. John J. Rankin, artist.
"Through Project Prometheus, NASA is developing space nuclear power and electric propulsion technologies that have the potential to revolutionize space exploration. As envisioned, JIMO would change how humans explore the solar system," said Mike Mott, Boeing NASA Systems vice president and general manager. "The Boeing team has the large-scale systems integration capability and experience to make it a success."
Boeing submitted the proposal in conjunction with its ongoing $11.8 million Phase A study contract with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), one of three awarded last year to study options for the reactor, power conversion, electric propulsion and other JIMO subsystems. The orbiter’s proposed mission is to explore Jupiter’s three ice-covered Galilean moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa and would launch no earlier than 2015, as outlined in the national Vision for Space Exploration.
Boeing’s analysis of the proposed mission would have the JIMO spacecraft embark on a direct five- to eight-year interplanetary journey to reach the icy moons avoiding the time intensive gravity assists often used to sling chemically propelled space probes toward their final destinations. Once at Jupiter, the available power and propulsion systems would give JIMO the capability to explore each icy moon extensively for 30 days or more, providing unprecedented science data about the frozen worlds. The spacecraft would extensively explore the moons’ composition, history and potential for sustaining life. The venture supports the Vision for Space Exploration and NASA’s main goal to explore the universe and search for life.
"Boeing believes that the prudent use of nuclear power is one key to safely and reliably conducting the exploration initiatives NASA is undertaking for America’s future," said Joe Mills, Boeing vice president leading the company’s JIMO efforts. "The Boeing team has a long heritage of successful nuclear power programs and brings technical and management expertise to support the government in this critical area."
The Boeing JIMO program is being led by Phantom Works in partnership with Boeing NASA Systems along with support from Electron Dynamic Devices Inc., for electric propulsion research; Boeing Satellite Systems for spacecraft engineering; and Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power for power conversion and management technologies.
Boeing’s partners include BWX Technologies Inc., Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., and General Dynamics Electric Boat. A JIMO spacecraft contractor is expected to be selected in the fall of 2004. Phase B would include the development of system requirements and a preliminary design of the spacecraft. Phase C/D would follow next for the full-scale design, fabrication, integration and test of the space system. Phase E would include launch and post-launch operations. NASA may then contract for up to three additional spacecraft for missions to other outer planet destinations.
Phantom Works is the advanced research and development unit and catalyst of innovation for Boeing. Through its Integrated Defense Advanced Systems group, it provides leading edge systems and technology solutions to Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS), one the world's largest space and defense businesses.
For more information about the Boeing JIMO initiative, visit
Contacts:
Tanya E. Deason-Sharp
Boeing NASA Systems
Phone: 281-226-6070
E-mail:
Glen Golightly
Boeing Phantom Works
Phone: 714-372-4742
E-mail:
Regina W. Carter
BWX Technologies, Inc.
Phone: 434-522-5158
E-mail:
Emilia Reed
Ball Aerospace Technologies & Corp
Phone: 303-939-6551
E-mail:
Neil Ruenzel
General Dynamics Electric Boat
Phone: 860-433-8556
An additional article on this subject is available at
INSIDE THE GIANTS: PUZZLING DIFFERENCES IN JUPITER AND SATURN
By Robert Roy Britt
From Space.com
20 July 2004
Scientists aren't sure what the interiors of Jupiter and Saturn look like or how the planets formed. But a new study of their insides suggests they took different paths to giant status. Researchers modeled 50,000 what-ifs of internal structure using real data from the two planets and lab experiments that show how material behaves under extreme pressure. They found Saturn has a huge core and Jupiter may have none.
"Heavy elements are concentrated in Saturn's massive core, while those same elements are mixed throughout Jupiter, with very little or no central core at all," said Didier Saumon of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The result, published last week in the Astrophysical Journal, agrees with similar studies but is far more comprehensive. "These conclusions are now very firm," Saumon said in a telephone interview.
Read the full article at
UNIQUE OBSERVATIONS OF NEWBORN STAR PROVIDE INFORMATION ON SOLAR SYSTEM'S ORIGIN
Vanderbilt University release
21 July 2004
A new study has caught a newborn star similar to the sun in a fiery outburst. X-ray observations of the flare-up, which are the first of their kind, are providing important new information about the early evolution of the sun and the process of planet formation. The study, which was conducted by a team of astronomers headed by Joel Kastner of the Rochester Institute of Technology and included David Weintraub from Vanderbilt, is reported in the July 22 issue of the journal Nature.
Last January, Jay McNeil, an amateur astronomer in West Kentucky, discovered a new cloud of dust and gas in the Orion region. Previously the cloud, now named the McNeil nebula, was not visible from earth. But a new star inside the dark cloud had flared up in brightness, lighting up the surrounding nebula. Looking back at the images taken of this part of the sky revealed that a young star about the size of the sun had burst into visibility last November. Despite the fact that hundreds of telescopes scan the sky nightly, the discovery of a new star is an extremely rare event, having occurred only twice in the last century. What made this star even more special was the fact that it appears to be an extremely young star-far less than a million years old-that is about the same mass as the sun. Astronomers know of fewer than a dozen of these stars, which they call FU-Orionis-type. Although this is the third FU-Orionis that has been caught in the act of flaring, it is the first that has occurred in modern times when its behavior could be monitored not only in visible light, but also in radio, infrared and X-ray wavelengths.
"In FU-Orionis stars, these outbursts are very brief," says Weintraub, associate professor of astronomy. "They brighten by as much as 100 thousand times in a few months and then fade away over a number of months."
In this X-ray image taken with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in early March, the small orange object near the center is v1647. Photo courtesy of David Weintraub.
Knowing that time was short, Kastner and Weintraub submitted an emergency request for viewing time on the orbiting Chandra X-ray observatory. Because X-rays are generated by extremely violent events, they provide a critical window for observing extreme stellar flare-ups of this sort. The astronomers were granted two viewing times in early and late March. Using Chandra, the astronomers discovered that the star, which has been officially named V1647 Ori, was a very bright X-ray source in early March, but its X-ray brightness had decreased substantially by the end of the month before the star disappeared from view behind the sun. At the same time, the new star was fading in visible and infrared wavelengths.
In addition, the astronomers learned that Ted Simon from the Institute for Astronomy in Hawaii had taken some serendipitous X-ray images of the same area in 2002 for another purpose. These showed no X-rays coming from the V1647 Ori's location at that time, supporting the idea that the recent X-ray production was directly associated with the star's flare-up. Kastner and Weintraub propose a novel mechanism to explain their observations. Many stars, including the sun, produce X-rays by a mechanism that depends on the star's rotation rate and convection depth. But the astronomers calculate that the temperature of the gas that is producing the X-rays at V1647 ORI is substantially higher than can be explained by this traditional mechanism.
Observations of V1647 Ori indicate that it possesses a "protoplanetary" disk-a thin disk extending out from a star's equator that contains dust and gas left over from the star's formation and from which planets form. Kastner and Weintraub argue that the flare was touched off by a sudden avalanche of disk material falling onto the surface of the star and that this was the source of the intense X-rays as well as the other forms of radiation. If their hypothesis is correct, X-ray observations may help discriminate between young stars that possess protoplanetary disks and those that don't, Weintraub says.
There is a disagreement among astronomers about whether FU-Orionis stars undergo outbursts of this sort only once, several times or dozens of times before they settle into maturity. Other astronomers who have looked further back in the astronomical records for V1647 Ori have found that it also flared up in 1965, which provides added support for the multiple outburst theories.
Other participants in the study were Michael Richmond at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Nicolas Grosso and H. Ozawa at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, A. Frank at the University of Rochester, Kenji Hamaguchi at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Arne Henden at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Kastner and Weintraub have been awarded time to conduct additional observations on Chandra so that they can measure the X-ray activity of the new star beginning in October when it becomes visible once again.
Read the original news release at
An additional article on this subject is available at
ET FIRST CONTACT "WITHIN 20 YEARS"