MARSBUGS:  
The Electronic Exobiology Newsletter 
Volume 3, Number 16, 20 December, 1996.

Editors:

David Thomas, Department of Biological Sciences, University of 
Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83844-3051, 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 of this 
compilation exists with the 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.  Back issues may be 
obtained via anonymous FTP at:  ftp.uidaho.edu/pub/mmbb/marsbugs.

The purpose of this newsletter is to provide a channel of 
information for scientists, educators and other persons 
interested in exobiology and related fields.  This newsletter is 
not intended to replace peer-reviewed journals, but to supplement 
them.  We, the editors, envision MARSBUGS as a medium in which 
people can informally present ideas for investigation, questions 
about exobiology, and announcements of upcoming events.  
Exobiology is still a relatively young field, and new ideas may 
come out of the most unexpected places.  Subjects may include,  
but are not limited to:  exobiology proper (life on other  
planets), the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), 
ecopoeisis/ terraformation, Earth from space, planetary biology, 
primordial evolution, space physiology, biological life support  
systems, and human habitation of space and other planets.
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INDEX

1)	ASTEROID HIT AT DEADLY OBLIQUE ANGLE 65 MILLION YEARS AGO 
	The Brown University News Bureau

2)	UPDATE ON RUSSIAN SPACE PROBE
		USSPACECOM release 41-96

3)	MARS PATHFINDER MISSION STATUS
	JPL release

4)	MARS METEORITES SOLD AT AUCTION
	by Ron Baalke

5)	BOOK REVIEW:  THE CASE FOR MARS 
	by Julian Hiscox

6)	CONTACT XIV CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

7)	RECENT PUBLICATIONS 
	by Julian Hiscox
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ASTEROID HIT AT DEADLY OBLIQUE ANGLE 65 MILLION YEARS AGO 
The Brown University News Bureau

All asteroid-based extinctions great and small are not alike.

A new study says the asteroid that struck Earth 65 million years 
ago and wiped out the dinosaurs was particularly deadly to North 
America because it hit the Yucatan peninsula from the southeast 
at a 20- to 30-degree angle, spreading the devastating impact of 
its energy northwest.

The oblique angle of the asteroid's contact with Earth coupled 
its impact energy with that of the atmosphere and planetary 
surface to send waves of ground-hugging, vaporous fireballs 
onward, the study says.  This resulted in an extinction intensity 
most severe downrange of the impact in North America.

The study suggests one rationale for the dire consequences of 
such an impact:  The severity of extinctions that result from an 
object's impact on Earth may reflect the incoming object's angle.

"This finding may help us determine what other impacts did to 
Earth in the past and what they may do in the future," said Peter 
Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University.  
Schultz and Steven D'Hondt, professor of oceanography at the 
University of Rhode Island, are co-authors of the study in the 
November issue of the journal Geology.

The researchers suggest that the relatively low angle of the 
Yucatan impact propelled a ballistic fireball downrange into 
North America.  The fireball carried a two-mile-deep layer of 
vaporized rock and other material sheared off the Yucatan.  The 
killing zone of matter cascaded through the atmosphere at near 
orbital speed, across North America and eventually around the 
globe.

"It was like a nuclear explosion taken north on a jet-powered 
sleigh ride," Schultz said.  "This was indeed the day the Earth 
shook."

As evidence, the researchers show that the horseshoe-shaped 
Yucatan crater matches the structure of craters on the moon and 
Venus that were created when objects struck those heavenly bodies 
at oblique angles.

Venus's thick atmosphere holds in place gases emitted from a 
crater after an impact.  The researchers studied images of these 
corked-in Venusian vapors, which show that gaseous material is 
propelled in waves downrange after an object strikes a planetary 
surface at an oblique angle.

Schultz used a high-powered gun to recreate the dynamics of an 
object striking Earth's surface at a 20- to 30-degree angle.  The 
experiment produced horseshoe-shaped craters, while high-speed 
film captured gas and materials jettisoned downrange.

The researchers said that biological evidence appears to support 
their oblique-impact hypothesis.  North America, the first region 
to experience the fireball, had the most severe extinctions of 
plants.

After the devastation, ferns dominated the flora of central North 
America.  Ferns accounted for 70 to 100 percent of the spore- or 
pollen-producing plants in the region after the impact, compared 
with only 10 to 40 percent before it.  At the base of the food 
chain, plants are considered sensitive indicators of 
environmental devastation.  Because ferns reproduce through the 
use of hardy spores, the plants are regarded as key flora in 
colonizing the site of a natural disaster.

Plants in parts of the world not downrange from the impact took a 
lesser hit from the corridor of incineration.  For example, 
several ancient evergreen trees found in North America before the 
impact, but not after, still grow in parts of Australia and South 
America.  Modern relatives of these trees, often called 
"primitive conifers," include the Norfolk Island pine, Chilean 
monkey puzzle and Wollemi pine.

"The basic point of the study is that we can determine the impact 
angle of this object and that the angle matters," D'Hondt said.  
Most scientists study the aftermath of collisions that caused 
Earth's craters as if objects struck the planet at 90-degree 
angles, or from directly overhead.  But such vertical impacts are 
very rare.

An oblique angle of impact may have more deadly global 
consequences than a vertical impact, because an oblique impact 
should release a greater fraction of impact energy to the 
atmosphere and surface target, said Schultz and D'Hondt.

"The study also underscores the point that regional repercussions 
can be expected from an Earth-object impact, something scientists 
have rarely considered in previous studies of this 65-million-
year-old event," D'Hondt said.

A link is provided for downloading the color transparencies in 
this release.  The URL is:
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1996-97/96-
041g.html
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UPDATE ON RUSSIAN SPACE PROBE
USSPACECOM release 41-96

November 29, 1996

Peterson AFB, COLO.-- U.S.  Space Command (USSPACECOM) has 
developed new information indicating that the Russian Mars '96 
spacecraft likely came down on Nov.  16 instead of Nov.  17 as 
earlier reported.  Any debris surviving the heat of this re-entry 
would have fallen over a 200-mile long portion of the Pacific 
Ocean, Chile, and Bolivia.  We now believe that the object that 
re-entered on Nov.  17, which we first thought to be the Mars '96 
probe, was in fact the fourth stage of the booster rocket.

Confusion has surrounded key events and times in this mission, 
including the last stages of the rocket burn, the separation of 
the Mars '96 probe from the rocket, and the final re-entry into 
the Earth's atmosphere of the booster and the probe.  USSPACECOM 
has now completed an extensive post-event analysis that has led 
to this new conclusion which supports Russian statements about 
when their Mars '96 probe re-entered the atmosphere.  The area 
where any debris surviving this re-entry could have fallen is 
located along an approximately 50-mile wide and 200-mile long 
path, oriented southwest to northeast.  This path is centered 
approximately 20 miles east of the Chilean city of Iquique and 
includes Chilean territory, the border area of Bolivia and the 
Pacific Ocean.

The following is a chronological version of this space mission as 
observed by USSPACECOM:

The Russians launched a SL-12 (Proton) four-stage rocket booster 
from the Tyuratam space launch facility at 3:49 p.m.  EST on Nov.  
16.  Aboard the booster was a spacecraft known as the Mars '96 
probe destined for the planet Mars.

The USSPACECOM Space Surveillance Network (SSN) tracked the 
rocket and boosters throughout the first three stages of launch, 
and observed, recorded, and reported an object re-entering the 
Earth's atmosphere at 7:49 p.m.  EST, Nov. 16.  Absent an 
indication at the time of any problems with the Mars '96 probe, 
U.S.  space observers ascribed the Nov.  16th event as the 
booster stage re-entry--which would be normal for a multistage 
rocket of this type.  The planned separation of the fourth stage 
booster from the Mars '96 probe was not observed because it 
occurred out of view of U.S. space sensors.  The USSPACECOM Space 
Surveillance Network did track a single object associated with 
this launch after monitoring the first three stages, which at the 
time was believed to be the booster's fourth stage still attached 
to the Mars probe.

On Nov. 17 it became apparent that the Mars '96 mission had not 
achieved its intended trajectory to Mars.  USSPACECOM continued 
to track in near-Earth orbit a single object thought then to be 
the probe attached to the fourth-stage booster.  On that morning, 
the Russians requested, through NASA, USSPACECOM assistance in 
locating the Mars '96 probe.  USSPACECOM impact predictions were 
forwarded to the Russians and Australians since initial 
predictions indicated that the re-entry would take place over 
Australia.  Updated analysis of tracking data and orbital 
parameters placed the final impact of any surviving debris in the 
Pacific Ocean 150-200 miles off the coast of Chile at 
approximately 8:30 p.m.  EST.

On Monday, Nov. 18, the Russians announced that a failure on 
board their spacecraft prevented the probe from achieving its 
intended trajectory.  The Russians also said their probe had 
likely re-entered the atmosphere on Nov. 16 between 7:30 and 8:30 
p.m. EST.  Based on this information, USSPACECOM analysts began a 
detailed review of all available data which ultimately led to our 
refined conclusions.

USSPACECOM is not able to estimate what portion, if any, of the 
Mars '96 spacecraft might have survived re-entry.  The United 
States' interest in providing this information is to clarify 
earlier preliminary U.S. reports that portions of the spacecraft 
re-entered over the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles off the 
Chilean coast.  We are now convinced that any impact of the probe 
that might have occurred on Nov.  16 would be within the area 
described which includes portions of Chilean and Bolivian 
territory.

The Russians are in the best position to address the materials on 
board their spacecraft and whether any portion of the spacecraft 
might have survived the heat of re-entry.  On Nov. 27, U.S.  
officials shared this information with the Russians and provided 
information to the governments of Chile and Bolivia concerning 
the Nov.  16 Mars '96 re-entry over portions of their 
territories.

DIRECTORATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Headquarters, U.S.  Space Command, 
250 S. Peterson Blvd., Ste. 116, Peterson Air Force Base, CO 
80914-3190
Phone:  (719) 554-6889 FAX:  (719) 554-3165 DSN:  692-6889
E-Mail:  noussppa@spacecom.af.mil
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MARS PATHFINDER MISSION STATUS
JPL release

December 10, 1996


The Mars Pathfinder spacecraft continues to perform nearly 
flawlessly on its 203 million kilometer (126 million mile) flight 
path to Mars.  Currently the spacecraft is 1.8 million kilometers 
(1.1 million miles) from Earth, traveling at a speed of 3.2 
kilometers per second (7,155 miles per hour).  Temperatures and 
power utilization of the lander and cruise stage remain at 
predicted levels for this early phase of the mission.

The spacecraft's sun sensors are the only issue being
watched closely on an otherwise beautifully performing 
spacecraft, the flight team reported.  There are five sun sensor 
heads on board the spacecraft, two pointed along the craft's spin 
axis and three that are equally spaced around the circular cruise 
stage that look out at about 105 degrees from the spin axis.  Of 
the five sensor heads, unit #4 on the spin axis is obscured or 
contaminated to the point of not being useful.  Sensor #5, which 
is also on the spin axis, is providing good sun orientation data, 
but at a lower voltage than was expected.  The other three sensor 
heads are working fine.

The flight team at JPL uploaded a software modification to the 
spacecraft on Saturday, December 7, which allowed the on-board 
attitude control system to use the sun sensor data from sensor #5 
in its normal calculations of the spacecraft's orientation.  The 
software patch was successful and the team was exuberant to see 
the spacecraft's attitude control estimators operating properly.

The team then began to prepare for turning the spacecraft more 
toward Earth to improve the telecommunications link.  At the 
time, Pathfinder was about 58 degrees from the Earth, which is 
near the edge of the antenna's performance.  Since this was to be 
the first time flight controllers used the propulsion module, 
they planned a small turn of two degrees to verify that 
everything was working properly.  Thirty minutes later, they 
planned to turn the spacecraft an additional 20 degrees.

"The turn maneuvers were conducted successfully on Monday morning 
[December 12]," said Brian Muirhead, Pathfinder flight system 
manager.  "The propulsion and attitude control systems worked 
properly and the spacecraft's spin axis is currently pointed 
about 44 degrees from the Sun and 37 degrees from Earth.  The 
downlink performance improved as expected and we continue to 
communicate with Pathfinder at 1,185 bits per second."

The flight team is planning its next maneuver to spin the 
spacecraft down from 12.3 rpm to 2 rpm.  The maneuver will be 
performed in the next few days, Muirhead said.  Pathfinder's 
first trajectory correction maneuver remains on schedule, to take 
place on January 4, 1997.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

LIGHTNING RESEARCH IS CHARGED WITH FINDING A RAIN GAUGE IN SPACE
University of Washington release

If you are deep in the Amazon jungle, far north in the Arctic 
wastes or afloat in the mid Pacific Ocean, how can you know what 
the weather might be?  Will it rain, will it snow, or will it be 
dry? In the absence of weather stations in remote areas of the 
globe, monitoring rainfall would seem to be impossible.  But the 
solution may be lighting up the sky.

Lightning research was once the stepchild of atmospheric science 
because of the belief that it had no connection with climate 
study.  Now, thanks to new research at the University of 
Washington in Seattle, and to recent data from NASA's space-based 
lightning detector, scientists believe that lightning frequency 
might be a reliable surrogate for tracking precipitation in those 
regions where direct, ground measurements are not possible.  
"Lightning research could become very important in climate 
studies," says Marcia Baker, professor of geophysics at the UW.

The key to understanding lightning's connection with weather 
monitoring seems to be, curiously enough, ice.  A great puzzle in 
cloud studies was once:  where does the electric charge that 
creates lightning come from? Today it is widely believed that the 
charging occurs when fast-moving ice particles collide in clouds.

Small ice particles, produced in the updraft of moisture from the 
ground, crash into soft hail as it falls downward, and in the 
process transfer a negative charge of electricity.  It is, says 
Baker's fellow researcher, UW physics professor emeritus Gregory 
Dash, like "traveling at 25 miles an hour into a thick cloud of 
sleet and hail." The trillions upon trillions of ice-on-ice 
collisions, he says, rapidly build up a charge until the electric 
field gets high enough and the air breaks down into lightning.

Much of that soft hail carrying the negative charge ultimately 
reaches the ground as precipitation.  Thus, says Baker, "if we 
could relate lightning frequency to charging frequency, and then 
calculate how long it's going to take those ice particles to fall 
to the ground, we would have some sort of predictor of rainfall." 
In other words, the more lightning there is, the more ice 
particles there are that will ultimately reach the ground as 
rain, sleet or snow.

The association between lightning and rainfall has already 
received some confirmation from the Optical Transient Detector, a 
sensor that was launched aboard a National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration satellite in April last year to detect and locate 
lightning flashes.  Early results from the sensor suggest a 
strong correlation between lightning flashes and heavy rainfall.

To make use of the lighting flash data, though, will require a 
greater understanding of the physical mechanism of lightning 
charges.  Why, asks Baker, do the ice particles produce the 
electric charge in the first place?  "You can take two rocks or 
two pieces of glass or anything else and collide them and 
charging won't happen on a reproducible basis," she says.

It is known, says Dash, that the charge transfer between two ice 
particles mainly occurs at temperatures between minus 5 C and 
minus 20 C (23 F and minus 4 F) and at an altitude of about six 
kilometers (3.72 miles) in temperate regions of the globe.  As 
the ice breaks apart after the collision, the small particles 
tend to carry a positive charge, and the hail a negative charge.  
What isn't known is why.  Baker and Dash theorize that in the 
collision, a thin layer of liquid carrying the electric charge is 
transferred from the small ice particle to the hail.

To test the charge transfer theory, Dash's doctoral student Brian 
Mason has for the past 3 1/2 years been creating artificial ice 
collisions in the laboratory.  Inside a copper cylinder, cooled 
to minus 20 C, Mason has created the kinds of conditions believed 
to occur in clouds, including temperature, pressure and humidity.  
He doesn't have hailstones.  Instead, he has an assembly 
consisting of a quartz crystal (the same as in a watch) and gold 
electrodes, or terminals.  This is placed inside the cylinder, 
and an identical assembly is placed upside down facing it, so 
that the gold terminals are a hundredth of an inch apart.

Ice is grown on both sets of terminals, and then a brief sound 
wave from a tiny loudspeaker causes one terminal to shudder and 
briefly tap the terminal on the assembly above it.

Mason is then able to measure both the mass transfer--of ice or 
liquid--and the charge transfer between the two electrodes.  He 
expects to have significant results in the next six months.  Says 
Mason:  "I am detecting charging.  And I am finding appreciable 
amounts of liquid or ice moving from one terminal to the other."

He is, says Baker, the first researcher to look at single ice 
collisions in such carefully controlled surroundings.  And from 
this may come one answer to the many puzzles about ice.  "Look," 
says Baker, "it's 1996 and we still don't fully understand 
everything that happens when water freezes in your freezer ice 
cube tray."

For additional information, contact:
Marcia Baker at (206)-685-3799 or at 
marcia@geophys.washington.edu Gregory Dash at (206)-543-2785 or 
at dash@phys.washington.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------

MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR FLIGHT STATUS REPORT
JPL release

Friday, 13 December 1996

This week, the Surveyor flight team conducted tests to collect
diagnostic data toward solving the spacecraft's solar array 
position discrepancy.  Both of Surveyor's solar arrays are 
deployed and generating full power, but the solar panel on the 
spacecraft's -Y side is out of position by 20.5 degrees.  The 
flight team performed one test per day on the mornings of
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

During each diagnostic test, the gimbal joint holding the -Y 
panel to the spacecraft was commanded to "wiggle" the panel back 
and forth several times over a time period of between 20 to 60 
seconds.  The flight team examined telemetry transmitted back to 
Earth to study the nature of the vibrations in the spacecraft 
that resulted from the "wiggling." This data will provide
valuable insight into determining the best method to clear the 
obstruction that is currently keeping the -Y solar panel 20.5 
degrees out of position.

Two more tests are scheduled for next week.  One test will occur
on Monday, December 16th and the other will occur on Tuesday, 
December 17th.  Both of these upcoming tests will involve a 
stronger "wiggle" than in the three tests that have already 
occurred.

After seven weeks of flight, Surveyor is 9.41 million kilometers
from the Earth and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a 
velocity of 32.74 kilometers per second.  This orbit will 
intercept Mars on September 12th, 1997.  All systems on the 
spacecraft continue to be in excellent condition.
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MARS METEORITES SOLD AT AUCTION
by Ron Baalke

Four Mars meteorites were up for auction at the Phillips auction
house in New York on December 14.  Three of the four meteorites 
were sold.  A bid of $11,000 was made on a 7.6 gram piece of 
Zagami, but it did not meet a predetermined minimum price, and so 
there was no sale on this particular meteorite.  No bids over the 
minimum suggested price were made for the larger Mars meteorites.

                     Suggested          Actual Bid
Meteorite   Weight   Price              Price

Zagami      7.6 g    $14,000-$18,000    $11,000 (no sale)
Zagami      0.1 g    $275-$350          $550
Zagami      1.3 g    $2,500-$3,500      $2000
Nakhla      2.57 g   $4,000-$5,000      $4000

It is interesting to note that the suggested price for Zagami and
Nakhla were both at around $2000/gram, which is quite remarkable 
because Nakhla is clearly the rarer of the two meteorites.  The 
0.1 gram Zagami was the only one to sell above the minimum 
suggested price, but it only consisted of meteorite crumbs in a 
vial.  The 1.3 gram Zagami was sold at $1538/gram.  The 7.6 gram 
Zagami's bid was at $1447/gram though as noted before, there was 
no sale.  The Nakhla meteorite sold at the minimum suggested  
price, which translated to $1556/gram, and this was a steal 
compared with the Zagami prices.
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BOOK REVIEW:  THE CASE FOR MARS 
by Julian Hiscox

Title:		The Case for Mars.
Subtitle:		The plan to settle the red planet and why we must.
Author:		Robert Zubrin (with Richard Wagner).
Pages:		328.
Publisher:	The Free Press (A division of Simon & Schuster 
Inc.).
ISBN:		0-684-82757-3
Price:		$25.00 (US).  Hard Bound.

The planet Mars has always held a special place in the 
imagination of mankind throughout recorded history.  The ancient 
Greeks associated the planet Mars with their god Ares and the 
Iliad refers to Ares as a chieftain of valour.  The Roman people 
believed that the father of their empire was Mars, the god of 
war.  After the onset of Christianity the belief in multiple Gods 
went underground (at least in Europe) and the Dark Ages began.  
Mars resurfaced when in 1609 Johannes Kepler arrived at his first 
two laws of planetary motion by observing the motion of Mars.  
With the advent of optical astronomy in 1695 the Dutch 
Astronomer, Christiaan Huygens, observed dark markings on Mars 
(called Syrtis Major) and by tracking the reappearance of this 
feature he calculated the Martian day was close to 24 hours (the 
exact time is 24 hours 37 minutes and 22 seconds).

Modern mythology of Mars began just before the turn of the 
century in 1892 when Camille Flammarion published a review of all 
observations of Mars entitled Le Planete Mars.  The American 
philanthropist Percival Lowell, based upon his observations and 
misunderstandings of the writings of the Italian astronomer 
Giovannie Schiaparelli, offered visions of a dying, cold, 
dehydrated planet, populated by intelligent Martians who lived in 
cities at the equator and transported water from the polar caps 
to these cities via a network of canals on a global scale.  
Intelligent life on Mars remained a popular motion even though 
the co-founder of the theory of natural selection, Alfred 
Wallace, showed that at the distance of Mars from the Sun 
climatic conditions would be far too cold to support the type of 
life Lowell proposed.

Many of these ideas were shattered in the 1960s and 1970s when 
the United States sent the Mariner and Viking space probes to 
Mars.  The results of these studies showed that present day Mars 
is completely inhospitable to terrestrial life.  The surface of 
Mars is thought to be composed of oxidants and is bathed in 
lethal levels of ultraviolet radiation.  The primary atmospheric 
constituent is carbon dioxide with a pressure that is 
approximately one hundredth that of the Earth's.  However, 
geological features indicated that several billion years ago, 
Mars was more similar to Earth, in that large bodies of liquid 
water might have been stable over long periods of time.  This led 
many planetary scientists to speculate that if ancient Mars and 
Earth were similar, life might also have arisen on Mars.  
Recently tantalizing, but circumstantial data has been presented 
that would appear to support this hypothesis (in the very least 
that the ancient climate of Mars contained liquid water).  Not 
only might ancient (and perhaps present day Mars) have harboured 
life, the Viking missions also indicated that sufficient 
resources may be available on Mars to support perhaps a 
burgeoning Martian civilisation.

Why therefore haven't we gone to Mars?  Well the answer appears 
to be the cost involved and a narrow thinking on mission 
architecture.  Previous proposals to send humans to Mars, and in 
the words of President John F.  Kennedy "to return them safely 
home" have concentrated on gargantuan space craft, assembled in 
Earth orbit and composed mostly of propellant.  The latest 
proposal conceived for President Bush's ill fated space 
exploration initiative put a price tag around $540 billion and 30 
years.  How can we get there under the bold new NASA philosophy, 
quicker, cheaper, faster.

The answers can be found in Robert Zubrin's new book The Case for 
Mars.  Pitched at the educated layman this book provides an 
excellent account of how Martian resources could be exploited for 
both the exploration and colonisation of Mars.  Zubrin is well 
qualified to write such a book.  He was formerly a senior 
engineer at Lockheed Martin, and is the founder of Pioneer 
Astronautics, a space-exploration research and development firm.  
He is also chairman of the executive committee of the National 
Space Society, a grass roots space organisation.  Robert Zubrin 
has authored more than one hundred articles on space propulsion 
and exploration and is widely regarded as one of the US's leading 
theorists of Mars travel.  Zubrin's co-author is Richard Wagner 
the former editor of Ad Astra, the journal of the National Space 
Society.  The Case for Mars is named after a series of 
conferences held at the University of Colorado every three years 
since 1980.  These conferences have demonstrated that the goal of 
Martian exploration is practical and Zubrin's book is a flag-ship 
for these proposals.

If we gaze back over the past five hundred years of exploration, 
then the lesson that history teaches us, and one that Zubrin 
drums in, is that the best way to go and stay somewhere is to 
utilise the resources that might be found along the way, rather 
than taking everything along.  In terms of space travel this is 
especially true as the cost to low Earth orbit (LEO) using 
current technology is prohibitive.  It would be far simpler 
therefore to send the minimum payload into LEO, thus ending 
reliance upon Earth based launch systems and infra-structure.

Zubrin discusses space transportation systems that have been 
optimised for use in conjunction with in situ produced 
propellants, using materials available on Mars.  He shows that by 
using such systems right from the start of the Mars programme, 
flight system development costs can be reduced by about an order 
of magnitude compared with those required for creating a 
transportation system that only utilises terrestrial propellants.  
In addition, the use of in situ produced propellants can cut 
ongoing operations costs by a factor of two to three, and makes 
possible simpler and safer mission modes.

Zubrin describes two mission plans, Mars Direct and Semi-Direct, 
which he formulated in collaboration with David Baker (formally 
of Lockheed Martin) and David Weaver (of Johnson Space Centre) 
respectively.  These missions are accomplished with tandem 
launches of payloads to Mars using the upper stages of a heavy 
lift booster used to lift payloads into orbit.  No in-orbit 
assembly of large interplanetary spacecraft are required.  In 
situ-propellant production of methane/oxygen and water on the 
Martian surface is used to reduce return propellant and surface 
consumable requirements and thus total mission mass and cost.  
Zubrin has demonstrated the feasibility and reliability of this 
propellant production system in his laboratory.  Chemical 
combustion powered ground vehicles are employed to afford a high 
degree of mobility required for an effective surface exploration 
programme.  Zubrin explains what trajectories are optimal for 
piloted missions and presents his analysis on what technologies 
are optimal for each of the missions primary manoeuvres.  The 
crew size and composition for initial piloted Mars missions is 
presented, along with a proposed surface systems payload 
manifest.  Such payloads include long range pressurised rovers 
powered by in situ produced propellants.  Zubrin suggests that 
the optimum crew size for the initial Mars missions is four, 
composed of two engineers and two scientists, or as he suggests, 
two Spocks and two Scotties.

During the Apollo programme and previous manned Mars missions the 
abort philosophy has always been to return to the Earth.  Zubrin 
argues that for a Mars mission this would be impractical and 
dangerous for the crew.  Zubrin suggests that the default abort 
should be to the Martian surface and this illustrates the 
robustness of Zubrin's thinking and proposal.  Abort to the 
Martian surface can be accomplished because an unoccupied habitat 
would be landed on Mars prior to the manned mission launching 
from Earth.  Zubrin concludes, and the reader would be inclined 
to agree, that both the Mars Direct and Semi-Direct plans offer 
viable options for robust piloted Mars missions employing near-
term technology.

Zubrin demonstrates that using this mission scenario a modular 
central Mars base can be gradually built up, consisting of linked 
habitats, ensuring multiple redundancy.  From this central base 
much of Mars can be explored in the detail that would be required 
for a full survey of Mars.  This is especially true when 
searching for elusive signs of life, either preserved deep down 
in polar deposits, or several kilometres underground.  Zubrin 
then describes how many of the day to day materials that we use 
such as plastics and steel can be manufactured from Martian 
resources.  Thus larger habitats can be constructed and hence 
pave the way for a burgeoning civilisation.  Zubrin details his 
work with Christopher McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames, 
on how the climate of Mars can be made more habitable for 
terrestrial life (see "Planetary Engineering," Science Spectra, 
Issue 6, 1996).  Zubrin ends his book by explaining why the 
Martian "frontier" is essential for the continuation of human 
progress, the price tag for the first mission?  Five to twenty 
billion dollars depending on the mission scenario.  Zubrin points 
out this price is in the same range as the money given by the 
United States government to Mexico one afternoon in the summer of 
1995, or the same price as a single major military procurement 
for a new weapons system.  The international space station will 
cost approximately twelve billion dollars, plus two billion 
dollars a year for its operation.

The vision and practicalities that Zubrin meticulously presents 
in The Case for Mars for utilising Martian resources is 
absolutely essential for the exploration of Mars.  Without such 
technology, built and manufactured using Martian resources, the 
exploration, colonisation and terraforming of Mars which is of 
profound importance to the continuation of human and terrestrial 
life, will forever remain a thought experiment.  I would 
recommend this book to anyone who wishes to move one step closer 
to this reality.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

CONTACT XIV CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

Learn What to Say to an alien.  Attend the CONTACT XIV Conference

With increasing signs of life on Mars flooding the media, the 
prospect of contact with extraterrestrial beings is more likely 
now than it ever has been in human history.  Will you be ready?

Join some of the world's foremost social and space scientists, 
science fiction writers and artists at CONTACT:  Cultures of the 
Imagination from March 7-9, 1997 at the Sunnyvale Hilton in 
Sunnyvale, CA, U.S.A.

CONTACT is a unique interdisciplinary conference held each year 
to promote the integration of human factors into space age 
research and policy, emphasize the interaction of the Arts and 
Sciences and their technologies, and explore the connections 
between anthropologists who study alien cultures and science 
fiction writers who create them.

Conference activities include the exchange of new ideas and 
perspectives; serious, creative speculation about humanity's 
future, on-world and off-world; as well as the development of 
ethical approaches in cross-cultural contact, whenever and 
wherever it occurs.  We welcome those of similar mind to 
participate in CONTACT.  We believe that our conference is 
enriched by new colleagues and new ideas.

Conference participants will have the opportunity to engage in 
several projects including the Bateson Project, a special yearly 
project in the memory of anthropologist Gregory Bateson; Cultures 
of the Imagination (COTI), an experiment in creation; The Solar 
System Simulation (SolSys) intercollegiate curriculum where 
student teams represent colonies in a simulated future human 
community in space, communicating by computer in virtual reality; 
and hear about The CONTACT Consortium, an organization which 
integrates science and technology to build communities in virtual 
space.

Research which has resulted from past CONTACT conferences has 
been presented at several scientific meetings, published in 
professional journals, featured in the national media and 
nonfiction books, and documented in a PBS video.  Our educational 
curricula have been funded by NASA and Smithsonian and received 
national recognition.  Over the years, CONTACT has evolved into 
an international and professional organization and nonprofit 
scientific and educational corporation.

We are proud of the distinguished professionals in the sciences 
and arts who have devoted their time and energy to CONTACT over 
the past decade.  CONTACT participants have included writers Poul 
Anderson, Peter Beagle, Greg Bear, Michael Bishop, David Brin, C.  
J. Cherryh, Alan Dean Foster, James Hogan, Larry Niven, G. David 
Nordley, Jerry Pournelle, Rudy Rucker and William Tenn.

Everyone's a participant!  CONTACT welcomes professionals, 
students and enthusiasts in the sciences, science fiction, and 
the arts.  Come and be part of our 14th annual gathering in an 
informal and synergistic atmosphere with plenty of opportunities 
for interaction.  Join us for three days of hard work and hard 
play.

The pre-registration cost is $60 for individuals ($90 at the 
door) and $40 for students and seniors ($60 at the door).  
Payment should be made via check or credit card.  Mail a check or 
credit card information to CONTACT XIV, AWIT, 1012 Morse Avenue, 
#15, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.

For more information, please call Lynn Macias at (415) 952-8436 
(evenings).
-----------------------------------------------------------------

RECENT PUBLICATIONS 
by Julian Hiscox

Aburto, 1996.  SETI detection ranges.  SETIQuest v2, n4, 4-5.

Beckwith and Sargent, 1996.  Circumstellar disks and the search 
for neighbouring planetary systems.  Nature v383, 139-144.

Canfield and Teske, 1996.  Late proterozoic rise in atmospheric 
oxygen concentration inferred from phylogenetic and sulphur-
isotope studies.  Nature v382, 127-132.

Ekland and Bartel, 1986.  RNA-catalysed RNA polymerisation using 
nucleoside triphosphates.  Nature v382, 373-376.

Ferris et al.  1996.  Synthesis of long prebiotic oligomers on 
mineral surfaces.  Nature.  v381, 59-61.

Finn et al.  1996.  Utilisation of Martian atmosphere 
constituents by temperature-swing adsorption.  Journal of the 
British Interplanetary Society v49, 423-430.

Fogg, 1996.  The utility of geothermal energy on Mars.  Journal 
of the British Interplanetary Society v49, 403-422.

Grotzinger and Rothman, 1996.  An abiotic model for stromatolite 
morphogenesis.  Nature v383, 423-425.

Hart, (Ed.) 1996.  Biotic recovery from mass extinction events.  
ISBN 1-897799-45-4.

Hansson, 1996.  Towards living spacecraft.  Journal of the 
British Interplanetary Society v49, 387-390.

Hayes, 1996.  The earliest memories of life on Earth.  Nature 
v384, 21-22.

Hiscox, 1996.  Planetary engineering:  The science of genesis.  
Science Spectra n6, 70-74.

Hiscox, 1996.  Planetary engineering, habitable zones and the 
relevance for extraterrestrial civilisations.  SETIQuest v2, n3, 
13-18.

Irvine et al.  1996.  Spectroscopic evidence for interstellar 
ices in comet Hyakutake.  Nature 383, 418-420.

Jiang et al.  1996.  Structural basis of RNA folding and 
recognition in an AMP-RNA aptamer complex.  Nature v382 183-186.

Kargel and Strom, 1996.  Global climatic change on Mars.  
Scientific American v275, 80-88.

Kerr, 1996.  Martian rocks tell divergent stories (life on Mars).  
Science v274, 918.

Kiedrowski, 1996.  Primordial soup or crepes? Nature v381, 20-21.

Kleinrock and Humphris, 1996.  Structural control on sea-floor 
hydrothermal activity at the TAG active mound.  Nature v382, 149-
153.

Knoll, 1996.  Breathing room for early animals.  Nature v382, 
111-112.

Lawler, 1986.  Building a bridge between the big bang and 
biology.  Science, v274, 912.

Lazcano and Miller, 1996.  The origin and early evolution of 
life:  Prebiotic chemistry, the pre-RNA world, and time.  Nature 
v85, 793-798.

LePage, 1996.  Project BETA.  SETIQuest v2, n3, 1-9.

LePage, 1996.  Extrasolar planet update.  SETIQuest v2, n4, 6-11.

LePage, 1996.  The case for ancient life on Mars.  SETIQuest v2, 
n4, 14-18.

Marshall, 1996.  Biological particles over Antarctica.  Nature, 
v383, 680.

Masood, 1986.  British scientists seek recognition of role in 
"life on Mars" debate..as NASA's claims win few converts.  Nature 
v384, 3-4.

Matloff, 1996.  The impact of nanotechnology upon interstellar 
solar sailing and SETI.  Journal of the British Interplanetary 
Society v49, 307-312.

Mautner.  1996.  Space-based genetic cryoconservation of 
endangered species.  Journal of the British Interplanetary 
Society v49, 319-320.

McKay, 1996.  To directly go:  book review of "The Case for Mars" 
by Robert Zubrin.  Nature, v383, 780.

Mileikowsky, 1996.  How and when could we be ready to send a 1000 
KG research probe with a coasting speed of 0.3 C to a star.  
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society v49, 335-344.

Mojzsis et al.  1996.  Evidence for life on Earth before 3,800 
million years ago.  Nature v384, 55-59.

Marino, 1996.  Bioastronomy in Capri:  Replacing the terms in the 
Drake equation with tangible data.  SETIQuest v2, n4, 1-3.

Noble, 1996.  Radioisotopic electric propulsion for robotic 
science missions to near-interstellar space.  Journal of the 
British Interplanetary Society v49, 322-328.

Parsons, 1996.  Dusting off panspermia.  Nature v383, 221-222.

Potter and Matloff, 1996.  Light sail propulsion using thin-film 
photovoltaic technology.  Journal of the British Interplanetary 
Society v49, 329-334.

Rasio and Ford, 1996.  Dynamical instabilities and the formation 
of extrasolar planetary systems.  Science v274, 954-956.

Russell, 1996.  Black smokers and the origin of life.  Science 
Spectra n4.

Sarbu et al.  1996.  A chemoautotrophically based cave ecosystem.  
Science v272, 1953-1955.

Sridhar, 1996.  Mars sample return mission with ISPP.  Journal of 
the British Interplanetary Society v49, 435-440.

Tarter, 1996.  Alternative models for detecting very advanced 
extra-terrestrial civilisations.  Journal of the British 
Interplanetary Society v49, 291-295.

Vallee, 1996.  The potential of SETI for existential models.  
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society v49, 283-290.

Walter, 1996.  Old fossils could be fractal frauds.  Nature v383, 
385-386.

Williamson, 1996.  Aptly named aptamers display their aptitude.  
Nature v382, 112-113.

Yang and Scott, 1996.  Possible contribution of a metal-rich 
magmatic fluid to a sea-floor hydrothermal system.  Nature v383, 
420-423.

Zubrin, 1996.  Detection of extraterrestrial civilisations via 
the spectral signature of advanced interstellar spacecraft.  
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society v49, 297-302.

Zubrin, 1996.  The significance of the Martian frontier.  Journal 
of the British Interplanetary Society v49, 365-370.

Zubrin, 1996.  Athena:  A possible first step in a programme of 
human Mars exploration.  Journal of the British Interplanetary 
Society v49, 431-434.

