MARSBUGS:  The Electronic Exobiology Newsletter
Volume 2, Number 12, 25 September, 1995.

Co-editors:

David Thomas, Department of Biological Sciences, University 
of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83843, USA, thoma457@uidaho.edu.

Julian Hiscox, Microbiology Department, BBRB 17, Room 361, 
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-
2170, USA, julian_hiscox@micro.microbio.uab.edu.

MARSBUGS is published on a weekly to quarterly basis as 
warranted by the number of articles and announcements.  
Copyright exists with the co-editors, except for specific 
articles, in which instance copyright exists with the 
author/authors.  E-mail subscriptions are free, and may be 
obtained by contacting either of the editors.  Contributions 
are welcome, and should be submitted to either of the two 
editors.  Contributions should include a short biographical 
statement about the author(s) along with the author(s)' 
correspondence address.  Subscribers are advised to make 
appropriate inquiries before joining societies, ordering 
goods etc.
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INDEX:

1)	NASA SELECTS UNIVERSITIES FOR LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH
	NASA Press release:  95-151.

2)	135 DAYS OF SCIENCE IN SPACE
	ESA Press release 18-95.

3)	MARS PATHFINDER UPDATE
	by Tony Spear.

4)	MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS
	From the Martian Chronicle.

5)	MARS ORBITING LASER ALTIMETER
	by Bruce Banerdt.

6)	OBSERVATIONS OF THE "FACE ON MARS" AND SIMILAR FEATURES 
BY THE MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR ORBITER CAMERA
	by Michael C. Malin.
------------------------------------------------------------

NASA SELECTS UNIVERSITIES FOR LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH
NASA Press release:  95-151.

NASA has selected three universities to serve as NASA 
Specialized Centers of Research and Training (NSCORTs) to 
increase scientists' understanding of the role that Earth's 
gravity plays in living things.  North Carolina State 
University, Rice University and Rutgers University were 
selected to serve as NSCORTs for the next five years.  The 
selections were made on the basis of merit as judged by peer 
review panels assembled by the American Institute of 
Biological Sciences.  NASA plans to award each of the 
universities approximately $1 million a year for five years.

North Carolina State University in Raleigh was designated a 
NSCORT in gravitational biology.  Eric Davies, Ph.D., head 
of the botany department, is the director of the new center.  
Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem is a collaborating 
partner.

Rice University in Houston, TX, also was designated a NSCORT 
in gravitational biology.  The center director is Larry V. 
McIntire, Ph.D., the chair of the university's Institute of 
Biosciences and Bioengineering.  NASA's Johnson Space Center 
in Houston is a partner with Rice.

Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, was designated a 
NSCORT in bioregenerative life support.  Harry W. Janes, 
Ph.D., professor of horticulture and forestry, is the 
director.  Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, is 
a collaborating partner.

The NSCORT program is an integral part of NASA's research 
and analysis activities to advance basic knowledge of the 
role of gravity in living systems and create effective 
methods for solving specific problems in the space life 
sciences.  This program is established exclusively to 
support ground research and analysis in various research 
specialties.

The addition of these universities brings the total number 
of NASA-funded NSCORTs to eight.  The previously selected 
institutions and their specialties include:

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, CA - Radiation Health.
Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL
(funded jointly by NIH) - Vestibular Research.
Ohio State University (funded jointly by NSF) - Plant 
Biology.
University of California, San Diego - Exobiology.
University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center - 
Integrated Physiology.

In addition, Germany is funding a NSCORT in radiation health 
at the University of Giessen.
------------------------------------------------------------

135 DAYS OF SCIENCE IN SPACE
ESA Press release 18-95.

The EUROMIR 95 mission will offer European scientists an 
unprecedented opportunity to study living and working 
conditions in space.  The record-breaking 135-day mission, 
scheduled for launch in early September, will be the second 
flight by an ESA astronaut aboard Russia's Mir space 
station.

Scientists from across Europe have devised an extensive 
program of experiments spanning the fields of life sciences, 
astrophysics, materials science and technology.  In total, 
41 investigations, taking 450 hours, are planned.

EUROMIR 95 astronaut Thomas Reiter and his colleague 
Christer Fuglesang, who is on stand-by for this mission, 
have completed the bulk of their training to perform the 
scientific program.

Life sciences

The majority of EUROMIR 95 experiments will investigate the 
effects of 'weightless' conditions on the human body.  Since 
the first manned flight in space, scientists have documented 
significant changes in the way the body behaves in 
microgravity, but have yet to understand fully why these 
happen.  Learning more about how the body reacts in space 
will benefit future space travelers and may also inform and 
improve medical practice on Earth.  By removing gravity from 
the equation, scientists can learn more about important 
processes that take place inside our bodies.

The areas under research include the body's cardiovascular 
pressure sensor system, a network of biological sensors that 
measure and regulate blood pressure.  In space, these 
receptors adjust the blood pressure to compensate for the 
lack of gravity.  When some astronauts return to the gravity 
of Earth their blood pressure falls, which can cause 
fainting and other problems.  Understanding how these 
receptors work will lead to advances which may benefit the 
millions of people who suffer health problems related to 
blood pressure.

Loss of bone mass has been well documented on previous space 
flights.  The EUROMIR 95 scientists hope to reduce the 
extent of bone mass loss in the lower body by simulating the 
effects of walking.  This will be done by striking an 
astronaut's heel bone 500 times over a ten-minute period on 
a daily basis, mimicking the stress the bone endures as the 
heel strikes the ground repeatedly during walking on Earth.  
The scientists are hoping this will make the bone cells 
maintain bone mass during the flight.  The difference in 
bone density between the left and right heels will be 
monitored during the flight by an ultrasonic device called 
the bone densitometer (or BDM).

Scientists also hope to learn more during the mission about 
the excretion of fluids by the kidneys and how the body 
maintains its blood balance.  The quantity and sodium 
content of the astronauts' urine will be measured over a two 
day period, three times during the course of the mission.  
The results of the experiment may eventually have important 
implications for the treatment of diseases associated with 
the balance and excretion of fluid in the human body.

Other life science experiments will study the role gravity 
plays in the functioning of our lungs, radiation levels 
inside and outside the space station will be measured and 
changes in the body's natural reflexes will be investigated.  
An ESA-designed respiratory monitoring system (RMS- II) will 
be used by several experiments to study the astronauts' lung 
function and blood flow through the heart and lung system.  
Changes and degradation in muscle function caused by 
extended exposure to weightlessness will also be studied 
during this space flight.  These measurements are conducted 
before an after flight.  Other experiments will be conducted 
related to the functioning of the balance system and how the 
reflex connection between the eyes and the balance is 
adapted in low gravity.

Astrophysics

One of the highlights of this mission will be a five-hour 
space walk to start an astrophysics experiment that aims to 
capture tiny particles of cosmic dust.  Reiter's task during 
the space walk will be to install four experiments in the 
European Space Exposure Facility (ESEF) attached to the 
exterior of the Spektr module, which docked with Mir in 
June.  The experiments are designed to study the natural and 
man-made particles found in low earth orbits.

The ESEF experiments will be housed in special airtight 
containers that can be opened by remote control to expose 
them to space.  Three are simple collectors, designed to 
trap particles that enter them, while the fourth contains 
sensors to measure the number of particle impacts, their 
velocity, mass and distribution.

The boxes will be opened when the Earth passes through a 
meteor stream, a trail of dust left behind by comets 
orbiting the Sun.  When this dust enters the atmosphere it 
burns up and is seen as a shooting star.  Dust particles 
entering ESEF collectors will either fragment or be slowed 
and stopped, depending on their velocity.  The first 
collection is planned in October 1995 when the Earth 
encounters the Draconids meteor stream, associated with 
Comet Giacobini-Zinner.

At the end of the experiment, the containers will be 
returned to Earth for analysis.  Scientists hope the results 
will improve our understanding of the cosmic dust in our 
Solar System and the amount of man-made space debris in low 
Earth orbit.  The results will also help engineers design 
spacecraft to survive battering by natural and artificial 
debris.

Material science

Material science experiments will include processing of 
semiconductors, alloys and glass.  Material processing in 
microgravity conditions benefits from the lack of convection 
so that processes such as growth and solidification of 
materials can be investigated more precisely.

Material science experiments will benefit from a six-zone 
tubular furnace, known as TITUS.  This furnace provided by 
the German Space Agency (DARA) is capable of achieving 
temperatures up to 1250 degrees Celsius.

Technology

Technology experiments include: radiation monitoring to 
study the effects of the space environment on electronic 
components; methods of measuring microbial contamination 
aboard the space station; and a robotic arm to evaluate 
microgravity disturbances caused by its movements.

A first consignment of the ESA facilities and experiments 
(350 kg) was flown to Mir aboard a Progress vehicle which 
docked with the station on 23 July.  Two further Progress 
vehicles, in September and November, and the Soyuz carrying 
ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter and cosmonauts Avdeev and 
Ghidzenko, will complete the ESA upload to the Mir orbital 
facility.

For detailed descriptions of each of the experiments, 
contact ESA Public Relations in Paris.

Background Notes

The two EUROMIR missions were approved by the ESA Council at 
a ministerial level meeting in November 1992.  It was a 
major challenge to prepare for these complex missions at 
such a short notice.

EUROMIR 94 was launched on 3 October 1994.  ESA astronaut 
Ulf Merbold spent four weeks aboard Mir performing a variety 
of experiments spanning the fields of life and material 
science and technological research.  The successful flight, 
the longest ESA manned mission to date, ended with a landing 
on 3 November 1994.

The Mir space station was launched into orbit on 20 February 
1986.  Since then it has expanded into a space complex 
weighing over 130 tons.  Four modules packed with research 
equipment have been added to the station.  A fifth and final 
module is scheduled to join the station before the end of 
the year.

In June the US Shuttle Atlantis made the first in a series 
of regular missions to dock with Mir.  The second is 
scheduled to take place during the course of EUROMIR 95.

Beginning in late 1997, utilization of Mir will be slowly 
reduced as activities shift to the International Space 
Station, a program of Russia, the United States, ESA, Japan 
and Canada, as it is assembled.
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MARS PATHFINDER UPDATE
Tony Spear, Mars Pathfinder Project Manager
[From the Martian Chronicle]

September 1995

We started flight system Assembly, Test, and Launch 
Operations (ATLO) at JPL on June 1, 1995, 18 months before 
launch on December 2, 1996. Our first ATLO phase from June 
through December 1995 starts with initial subsystem 
integration, including the rover and the science 
instruments, and ends with system test of the launch, 
cruise, Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) and surface 
operations phases of the mission. We work ATLO one shift per 
day, 5 days per week and use extra shifts and weekends to 
catch up if we fall behind. In addition, we have 36 workdays 
of schedule reserve built into the Phase 1 schedule to 
ensure we complete everything we set out to do before we 
start ATLO Phase 2.

In Phase 1, everything is laid out in a "2-dimensional 
configuration". For instance, the cruise and lander stages 
sit side by side, electrically connected through jumper 
cables so that we can easily get to a piece of equipment in 
case of a problem. Both engineering and flight model 
subsystems are used in Phase 1 which is like a dress 
rehearsal, problem shakeout period for Phase 2, the formal 
space qualification phase. This begins in January 1996 with 
all flight model equipment now on board. Here we assemble 
the flight system for the first time, and it goes together 
sort of like "Russian nested dolls": the lander folded up 
around the rover which is in turn enclosed inside the 
aeroshell/backshell cocoon.

It is in Phase 2 that we do our system environmental tests: 
acoustic vibration, cruise solar/thermal vacuum, surface 
solar thermal/Mars atmosphere, pyro shock, electromagnetic 
compatibility, weight and center of gravity, and spin 
balance with system tests inserted before and after each 
major environmental test. In addition, we practice all the 
assembly and test steps that are conducted at the launch 
site.

We have 33 days of workday schedule reserve built into Phase 
2, the end of which culminates ATLO activities at Pasadena 
with completion of a final system test, a partial 
disassembly of the flight system for packing and its 
shipping with support equipment to the Eastern Test Range 
(ETR) at Cape Canaveral, Florida for launch preparations and 
launch: ATLO phase 3.

In Phase 3, September 1996 to launch, final flight system 
assembly is accomplished including installation of the 
flight aeroshell, parachute, air bags, rockets, pyro firing 
devices, and propellant. Flight representative models and 
referee propellant were used in Phase 2.

At completion of assembly, the final system test 
accomplished in Pasadena is repeated to verify that all 
subsystems remain ready for launch. A final set of cruise 
and entry spin balance tests are accomplished-then launch 
vehicle mate, launch day practice, a final end to end data 
flow test with Flight Mission Operations in Pasadena, 
countdown and launch!

In Phase 3, we have 24 workdays of schedule reserve, 
commonly called "beach time" for unused portions. In Phases 
2 and 3, the Flight Mission Operations team trains with the 
flight system during system tests, commanding the spacecraft 
and processing its telemetry data. Actual flight sequences 
of events planned for use in flight are used and checked 
out. Just prior to launch, a final software update is 
loaded.

Flight system operations is handed over to the Mission 
Operations Team by the ATLO Team immediately after launch.

The Martian Chronicle is available on the World Wide Web: 
http://mpfntas.jpl.nasa.gov/MARTIANCHRONICLE/MARTIANCHRON3/
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MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR STATUS
[From the Martian Chronicle]
September 1995

The Mars Global Surveyor Project (MGS) has completed three 
very important milestones during May in its path toward 
launch in November 1996.

First, we have completed the Spacecraft Critical Design 
Review, a three day presentation of all of the details of 
the spacecraft design and the final plans to build and test 
it, presented by our industrial partner, Lockheed Martin 
Astronautics. Second, we completed the Project Critical 
Design Review, in which we examined all parts of the project 
(spacecraft, science instruments, mission design) and how 
they will work together for launch and in flight to Mars.  
Finally, we had an Independent Readiness Review in which a 
group of experts from NASA examine items that pose 
significant risks in our ability to reach the launch date 
with everything ready.

The special groups of experts that assessed the results of 
each of the reviews found that MGS was progressing well on 
its plan of work to be ready for launch on time. Everyone 
working on the project was very pleased with these results 
of their hard work.

We are getting very close to the start of what is called 
ATLO ( pronounced AT-low), the assembly, test and launch 
operations of the spacecraft. Assembly of the spacecraft 
begins in September followed by electrical then 
environmental testing in later months. Testing of much of 
the already built spacecraft electronics and structural 
pieces is already underway. Many of the new electronics for 
the spacecraft and the science payload are in the middle of 
their assembly processes.

The first science instrument, the Ultra Stable Oscillator, 
which is used to conduct Radio Science experiments, will be 
ready in July.

We have been spending a lot of time developing the 
aerobraking capability that will use the drag of the upper 
Martian atmosphere to help put the spacecraft into the 
proper orbit for making the science observations of the 
planet. We recently made changes to the spacecraft design to 
add a small extra wing - which we call "flaps" - to the end 
of each of the two solar panels. The backside of the solar 
panels provide most of the area against which the atmosphere 
acts to provide the drag we need. The extra area provided by 
these new "flaps" gives us more resiliency against 
unexpected changes in the atmosphere and gives us much more 
confidence that aerobraking will work as predicted. 
Aerobraking is very important to MGS because it allows us to 
change our orbit at Mars without have to take a lot of fuel 
with us for our on-board rocket engines.

In another innovation, we are about to begin putting our 
engineers at JPL in Pasadena, CA, closer to our industrial 
partners at Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, CO, by 
means of a "virtual" working environment using small TV 
cameras connected to our computers. Computers in Pasadena 
and Denver are in turn connected to each other through the 
Internet. This lets engineers who are sitting a thousand 
miles apart work like they are sitting across the table from 
each other. Their computer screens will not only show the 
information that they are working on, but their computers 
will now be able to show their colleagues and allow voice 
communication between them at the same time.

The Martian Chronicle is also available on the World Wide 
Web:  
http://mpfntas.jpl.nasa.gov/MARTIANCHRONICLE/MARTIANCHRON3/
------------------------------------------------------------

MARS ORBITING LASER ALTIMETER
Bruce Banerdt

September 1995

One of the top objectives for Mars exploration since the 
Viking mission has been the mapping of the planet's 
topography, or the elevation of its surface.  The instrument 
chosen to address this objective on Mars Global Surveyor 
(MGS) is the Mars Orbiting Laser Altimeter, or MOLA.

MOLA is the first of a new generation of orbital laser 
altimeters. It was first built for the Mars Observer 
mission, and instruments with similar designs have since 
been flown on the Clementine mission to the Moon and planned 
for missions both in Earth orbit (on the space shuttle) and 
to other bodies in the solar system (such as Mercury and an 
asteroid). The measurements made by this instrument will 
contribute immensely to our understanding of Mars.

The basic principles behind its operation are simple. A very 
short burst of light (about eight billionths of a second 
long) is shot from the laser toward the surface of the 
planet. At the same time, an extremely accurate timer starts 
counting. The pulse is reflected from the planet, and this 
very weak reflected light is collected by a half-meter (20 
inch) diameter telescope on the spacecraft about two 
thousandths of a second later. When the telescope's detector 
senses the arrival of the returned beam, the timer is 
stopped. The distance from the spacecraft to the surface (or 
range) is then simply one-half the round trip travel time of 
the pulse divided by the speed of light. The timing within 
this instrument is accurate enough to resolve difference in 
range of less than 1 meter! This operation is done ten times 
a second, and the motion of the spacecraft over the surface 
results in a line of measurements that circles the globe as 
the orbit progresses.

Of course the details of carrying out this procedure can get 
quite complicated.  For example, if the ground is not 
perfectly flat, the light that reflects from the high spots 
will arrive slightly before the light that reflects from the 
low spots. This would not be a problem if the beam remained 
its initial size (about the diameter of a soda straw), as 
the variation in height would be much less than the 
precision of the measurement. But by the time it has 
traveled the roughly 400 kilometers (about 240 miles) to the 
surface, it illuminates a spot about the size of two side-
by-side football fields. Large variations in elevation 
across this "footprint" results in a phenomenon called 
"pulse broadening", in which the initially short pulse that 
was sent down comes back much more stretched out in time. 
This makes it harder to detect the signal above the 
background infrared noise, since the energy is spread over a 
longer time, and it is also more difficult to decide exactly 
where in this long pulse the actual "arrival" is. For this 
reason, MOLA employs four separate detector channels that 
are optimized for different pulse widths. This increases the 
probability that the returned pulse will be detected even 
over regions with steep terrain. This technique also may 
allow the detection of diffuse reflections from the tops of 
ground fogs such as were seen in some Viking Orbiter images.

Even though the range is measured extremely accurately, 
there is still a much larger uncertainty in the elevation. 
This is because the elevation is defined as the distance of 
the surface above or below a reference that is fixed to the 
planet (sea level on the Earth, and an equivalent imaginary 
surface on Mars defined by its gravity field), but the range 
is measured with respect to the spacecraft position. So in 
order to calculate the elevation, one must first determine 
the spacecraft's orbital position very accurately. This is a 
difficult task, but techniques of spacecraft navigation 
using the ranging and Doppler velocity determination 
capability of the Deep Space Network tracking system should 
allow the position of the spacecraft with respect to the 
center of Mars to be determined to an accuracy of better 
than 30 meters (100 feet).

In order to save cost, MOLA has borrowed designs and 
technology from several earlier programs. It uses an 
infrared laser derived from technology developed for 
military applications by the SDI program. These are not the 
"killer" lasers of course, but rather very small devices 
developed for determining the range to targets. The actual 
amount of power in the laser beam is only about a fiftieth 
of that in your refrigerator light. This laser uses solid-
state diodes for its initial light source, giving it a much 
longer lifetime than earlier pulsed lasers, which used 
relatively short-lived flash lamps. With this technology, 
laser lifetimes of over a billion shots are now achievable, 
making possible operation over the entire two-year mapping 
mission envisioned for MGS. The telescope of the original 
MOLA built for Mars Observer was a spare unit from the 
Voyager IRIS instrument. When the instrument was rebuilt for 
MGS, it was necessary to find another source. It turned out 
that the Cassini project was building an instrument that 
uses a telescope with very nearly the same specifications, 
so MOLA was able to adopt their design with a minimum of 
modification.

Why is measuring topography such an important goal? There 
are a number of reasons, and they come from many different 
scientific disciplines. To get an idea of the magnitude of 
the advance that we are anticipating, consider that the 
current knowledge of topography on Mars is uncertain by as 
much as 3 kilometers, compared to the 30-meter accuracy 
expected from MOLA. Thus we should see a hundred-fold 
improvement in our knowledge of heights on Mars.

One of the basic uses of topographic information is in the 
construction of accurate maps which can be used both for 
scientific research and for mission planning of future 
landings on Mars. When a camera records an image, the 
apparent horizontal locations of features within that image 
are distorted by elevation variations (unless the camera is 
pointed precisely vertically). These distortions can easily 
be removed if the topography is known. And of course it 
helps to know when a lander can expect to meet the surface 
with an uncertainty of less than a few miles!

The detailed analysis of the three-dimensional shapes of 
geologic features can yield a greater understanding of the 
processes that formed and later modified them. Volcanic 
slopes and volumes reflect the viscosity of the lavas from 
which they formed (which is related to their temperature and 
composition) and the speeds with which they erupted. The 
depths of craters and the heights of their rims provide 
insight into the mechanics of crater formation and the 
strength of crustal materials.

Weather patterns are strongly affected by elevation on Mars. 
Regions of elevated topography affect atmospheric 
circulation by acting as barriers to flow and by affecting 
the thermal budget of the surface. Mars global circulation 
models, which will help us to understand the basic 
atmospheric processes that drive the weather on Earth as 
well as on Mars, require an accurate global map of the 
topography in order to be fully utilized.  The density and 
structure of planetary interiors provide information on the 
basic processes of planetary formation and evolution. The 
most powerful tool we now have for exploring the interior of 
a planet from orbit is analysis of the fluctuations in the 
gravity field which originate from density variations below 
the surface. But in order to identify the effects of deep 
structure, it is necessary first to remove the gravity 
effects due to the topography itself, which is often the 
strongest single contributor to the field. Topography also 
reflects the response of the crust to forces within the 
planet, which can offer important clues to the origins of 
those forces and the mechanical properties of the outer 
layers of the planet. The thickness of the crust itself can 
most easily be determined from an analysis of the ratio of 
gravity to topography.

Topography figures into many of the fundamental questions we 
are trying to answer about the history of Mars and about the 
processes that are active on it today. MOLA will finally 
bring our quantitative knowledge of topography to a level at 
which we can begin to address these questions. By applying 
insight gained at Mars to the similar processes occurring on 
Earth, we will be able to better understand our own planet.

The Martian Chronicle is also available on the World Wide 
Web:  
http://mpfntas.jpl.nasa.gov/MARTIANCHRONICLE/MARTIANCHRON3/
------------------------------------------------------------


OBSERVATIONS OF THE "FACE ON MARS" AND SIMILAR FEATURES BY 
THE MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR ORBITER CAMERA
Michael C. Malin
Principal Investigator
Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera

There is some interest concerning whether or not the Mars 
Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera (MOC) will observe the "Face 
on Mars" and other features in the Cydonia region on Mars. 
This page will describe why there is interest and what the 
MOC plans are for photographing the features described 
below.

Background

For those not familiar with the topic, several Viking images 
show features on the surface of Mars that, in the eyes of 
some people, resemble "faces," "pyramids," and other such 
"artifacts." The most famous of these is the "Face on Mars" 
and associated features "The City," "The Fortress," "The 
Cliff," "The Tholus," and "The D&M Pyramid." A fairly 
substantial "cottage" industry has sprung up around these 
features, with several books having been written about them, 
newsletters published, public presentations, press 
conferences, and, of course, "supermarket tabloid" published 
reports. The basic premise of these people is that the 
features are artificial, and are messages to us from alien 
beings. Their tack is to say, "These should be 
rephotographed by Mars Global Surveyor, since with high 
resolution we should be able to prove that they are 
artificial. If they are in fact artificial, this would rank 
as one of the greatest discoveries in history and thus every 
effort should be made to acquire images." Evidence cited as 
presently "proving" these are unnatural land forms include 
measurements of angles and distances that define "precise" 
mathematical relationships. One of the most popular is that 
"The D&M Pyramid" is located at 40.868 degrees North 
Latitude, relative to the control network established by 
Merton Davies (the RAND scientist who has been more or less 
singularly responsible for establishing the 
longitude/latitude grids on the planets) to an accuracy 
(actually, a precision) of order 0.017 degrees. They point 
out that 40.868 equals arctan (e / pi); alternatively, one 
of the advocates notes that the ratio of the surface area of 
a tetrahedron to its circumscribing sphere is 2.72069 (e = 
2.71828), which, if substituted for e in the above arctan 
equation gives 40.893 degrees, which is both within the 
physical perimeter of the "Pyramid" and within the above 
stated precision. Other mathematical relationships abound. 
The advocates of this view argue that "no scientific study 
of these features has been conducted under NASA auspices" 
and that NASA and the conservative science community are 
conspiring to keep the "real" story from the American 
public.

The conventional view is that this is all nonsense. The 
Cydonia region lies on the boundary between ancient upland 
topography and low-lying plains, with the isolated hills 
representing remnants of the uplands that once covered the 
low-lying area. The features seen in these mesas and buttes 
(to bring terrestrial terminology from the desert southwest 
to bear on the problem) result from differential weathering 
and erosion of layers within the rock materials. The area is 
of considerable importance to geologists because it does 
provide insight into the sub-surface of Mars, and to its 
surface processes. The measurement of angles and distances 
seems so much numerology, especially when one understands 
the actual limitations in the control network (of order 5-10 
km, or 0.1-0.2 degrees) and the imprecision of our 
corrections of the images (neglecting, for example, 
topography when reprojecting data for maps) on which people 
are trying to measure precise angles and distances. For 
example, using the latest Mars Digital Image Mosaic and the 
U. S.  Geological Survey control network, the aforementioned 
"Pyramid" is located at 40.67 N, 9.62W. Using the Viking 
spacecraft tracking and engineering telemetry, the position 
is 40.71 N, 9.99 W. The difference, 0.04 deg latitude and 
0.37 deg longitude, represents nearly 17 km on the ground, 
or 7X the size of the Pyramid. These positions differ from 
the e/pi position by a similar number. Even given accurate 
data, however, most science does not depend solely on 
planimetric measurements, even when using photographs. There 
are many other attributes used to examine features, 
especially those suspected of being artificial, and the 
Martian features do not display such attributes. No one in 
the planetary science community (at least to my knowledge) 
would waste their time doing "a scientific study" of the 
nature advocated by those who believe that the "Face on 
Mars" artificial.

Things limiting MOC observations

Before discussing the observations MOC will attempt to make 
of "The Face" and other such features, some facts about the 
camera and its ability to look at specific locations are 
needed.

* THE MOC IS BODY-FIXED TO THE SPACECRAFT
It has no independent pointing capability. It makes pictures 
the same way a fax machine does (i.e., the scene is moved 
past the single line detector).

* THE MOC HAS A LIMITED CROSS-TRACK FIELD OF VIEW (FOV)
The MOC has a very small field of view (0.44 degrees), which 
is about 3 km from the 400 km orbital altitude. It typically 
takes very small images at very high resolution (lots of 
data). Anything wider than 3 km cannot be imaged in its 
entirety.

* THE MOC HAS A LARGE BUT NOT "INFINITE" ALONG-TRACK FIELD 
OF VIEW The MOC's downtrack field of view is limited by the 
amount of data that will fit in its buffer (about 10 MB). If 
one uses the entire buffer (which is not likely to be 
completely empty unless it's planned to be) and 2:1 real-
time predictive compression, this translates to a downtrack 
image length of about 15 km. The camera has been designed to 
be able to average pixels together to synthesize poorer 
resolution, which frees up data. Under the best case buffer 
availability, an 8X summed image would be 3 km wide (but 
only 256 pixels across) by about 78,000 pixels long which, 
at 12 m/pxl (8 X 1.5) would be over 800 km long. One of the 
big uncertainties in taking pictures of specific places on 
Mars is the uncertainty in when the spacecraft will pass 
over that place: the timing uncertainty of 40-120 seconds 
translates to 120 to 360 km uncertainty in position.

* THE SPACECRAFT HAS LIMITED POINTING CONTROL
The spacecraft uses infra-red horizon sensors for in-orbit 
pointing control. Owing to variations in the IR flux of the 
horizon with latitude, season, surface topography, 
atmospheric dust content, cloudiness, and other 
meteorological and climatological conditions, the control 
capability is about 10 mrad (0.6 degrees = 4 km), which is 
larger than the MOC field of view.

* THERE WILL BE A SUBSTANTIAL UNCERTAINTY IN THE PREDICTED 
INERTIAL POSITION OF THE SPACECRAFT (AND HENCE, THE CAMERA)
The position of the spacecraft is determined by radio 
tracking for 8 hours (roughly 4.5 hours of actually seeing 
the spacecraft) a day, and by computing the position of the 
Earth, Mars, and the spacecraft in an inertial coordinate 
system. It takes a few days to do this, and to use it to 
determine where the spacecraft will be a few days later. By 
that time, gravity perturbations, atmospheric drag, and 
autonomous momentum unloadings will have changed the orbit. 
Error studies suggest that the uncertainty seven days after 
the end of a given period of tracking can be represented as 
(at best)a 40 second uncertainty in the time the spacecraft 
will be at a specific point in its orbit. This translates 
(at the orbital rate of the spacecraft projected on the 
ground of 3 km/s) to 120 km downtrack and (because Mars 
rotates at 0.24 km/s at the equator) 9.6 km crosstrack. At 
40 degrees latitude, the crosstrack uncertainty is 7.4 km, 
over twice the size of the MOC field of view. At some times 
in the mission, when the orbit geometry is unfavorable, 
predictions will be worse.

* THE NON-INERTIAL POSITION OF THE SPACECRAFT WILL ALSO BE 
UNCERTAIN The position of the spacecraft is determined 
inertially. As noted above, the position of the 
longitude/latitude grid is also uncertain to about 5-10 km.

* THE SPACING OF ORBITS WILL BE UNCERTAIN
If, in spite of the preceding, orbits were equally spaced, 
then the average spacing of orbits at the equator for the 
687 day mission would be about 2.5 km, which means that each 
spot on the equator would fall within the MOC field of view 
in (possibly) two images. In fact, the repeat distance is 
just over 3.1 km, again assuming equal spacing, and it is 
more than likely that each spot on the equator will only be 
seen once. At 40 degrees latitude, the spacing is roughly 
2.4 km, and any location will be seen, at most, twice. Given 
Items 1-6 (above), it is most likely that some places will 
be overflown twice, and others not at all, and that our 
ability to predict this is very limited.

The MOC team is attempting to address some of these issues 
with, for example, optical navigation. This could reduce the 
spacecraft position uncertainty by perhaps a factor of five 
or more. An attempt will be made to generate a new control 
grid with higher precision (perhaps as good as 1 km). But 
nothing can be done about the orbit spacing or the pointing 
control or the width of the MOC field of view. Thus, hitting 
anything as small as a specific 3 km piece of the planet is 
going to be very difficult.

This discussion doesn't address the variability of the 
Martian atmosphere, which is very dynamic. Given the 
occurrence of dust storms during some seasons, and polar 
clouds during others, there is no guarantee that, even when 
the spacecraft flies over a specific area, the ground will 
actually be visible.

Plans for observing the "Face on Mars"

Despite providing a number of people involved with the 
"private" studies of the "Face of Mars" with exactly the 
same information presented above, there appears to be a 
continuing view that MOC will purposefully avoid taking 
pictures of the "Face" and other features. Much of their 
focus is on "conspiracies" they feel exist to keep 
information from the public.  This, of course, isn't the 
case: if an image of the "Face" is acquired, it will most 
definitely be released. The "Face on Mars," "City," 
"Fortress," "Cliff," "Tholus," "D&M Pyramid," etc. are in 
the MOC target database. Image acquisitions will be 
scheduled each time the spacecraft is predicted to pass over 
each target. This is done automatically. Given the factors 
noted above, however, there is no certainty that the images 
will actually include the features of interest.

Bottom line

It is planned to try to acquire images of the "Face" and 
other features in Cydonia. Contrary to what some people have 
said and written, this has been the plan d taking 
pictures of the "Face" and other features. Much of their 
focus is on "conspiracies" they feel exist to keep 
information from the public.  This, of course, isn't the 
case: if an image of the "Face" is acquired, it will most 
definitely be released. The "Face on Mars," "City," 
"Fortress," "Cliff," "Tholus," "D&M Pyramid," etc. are in 
the MOC target database. Image acquisitions will be 
scheduled each time the spacecraft is predicted to pass over 
each target. This is done automatically. Given the factors 
noted above, however, there is no certainty that the images 
will actually include the features of interest.

Bottom line

It is planned to try to acquire images of the "Face" and 
other features in Cydonia. Contrary to what some people have 
said and written, this has been the plan for some time. This 
plan was not established in response to outside pressure; 
rather, there are two reasons for acquiring these images. 
First, given the interest in the general public about the 
"Face," it is appropriate to acquire such images for public 
relations purposes, especially since the public interest has 
been generated in no small way by the people who claim there 
is a conspiracy at NASA to withhold information from the 
public. Second, there are valid scientific reasons to 
examine land forms in the area (which, after all, is why the 
Viking spacecraft were photographing the area in the first 
place).


World Wide Web: http://barsoom.msss.com/education/facepage/
face_discussion.html
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End Marsbugs Vol. 2, No. 12

