MARSBUGS:  
The Electronic Exobiology Newsletter 
Volume 4, Number 1, 16 January, 1997.

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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

INDEX

1)	HYDROGEN ESCAPING FROM GANYMEDE HINTS OXYGEN LURKING AT 
SURFACE
	JPL press release

2)	LEARN WHAT TO SAY TO AN ALIEN...  ATTEND THE CONTACT XIV 
CONFERENCE

3)	DELAYS ASIDE, PATHFINDER IS ON ITS WAY
	By Diane Ainsworth

4)	MISSIONS BEGIN EARTH'S FRIENDLY INVASION OF MARS
	By Paula Shawa

5)	HEROINES AND HISTORY WELL REPRESENTED IN WORLDWIDE 
COMPETITION TO NAME ROVER

6)	MYSTERY OF MARS EVOLVES, LIVES ON IN POPULAR CULTURE 
	By Chuck Weirauch

7)	REGULATIONS ENSURE VISITORS FROM EARTH KEEP PLANETS CLEAN 
	By Susan Walsh

8)	NASA'S DISCOVERY PROGRAM SETS MARK FOR FUTURE OF LOW-COST 
MISSIONS

9)	ROVER DRIVER DREAMS OF PUTTING PEDAL TO METAL

10)	NEW MARS SCREEN SAVER AVAILABLE ON-LINE
	By Diane Ainsworth

11)	MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR FLIGHT STATUS REPORT
	JPL press release

12)	GALILEO MISSION STATUS
	JPL press release

13)	SOFTWARE FOR FIRST NEW MILLENNIUM MISSION CLOSEST YET TO 
"HAL 9000"
	NASA release 97-7

14)	CASSINI/HUYGENS:  YOUR SIGNATURE OR MESSAGE IN SPACE!
	ESA release 02-97
-----------------------------------------------------------------

HYDROGEN ESCAPING FROM GANYMEDE HINTS OXYGEN LURKING AT SURFACE
JPL press release

Atomic hydrogen found escaping from Ganymede implies Jupiter's 
largest moon has large amounts of oxygen hovering over or locked 
up in its icy surface, according to University of Colorado 
observations with NASA's Galileo spacecraft.

Senior Researcher Charles Barth of CU-Boulder's Laboratory for 
Atmospheric and Space Physics said observations made with a CU 
ultraviolet spectrometer on Galileo indicate UV radiation is 
breaking down Ganymede's rock-hard ice into atomic hydrogen and 
atomic oxygen.  Because atomic hydrogen is the lightest atom and 
Ganymede has a weak gravitational field, the hydrogen escapes 
while the atomic oxygen stays behind, said Barth.

Barth speculated the atomic oxygen forms molecular oxygen and 
ozone which may become trapped in the ice or form a very thin 
atmosphere above the surface of Ganymede.  "If this process has 
been occurring for the past four billion years since Ganymede was 
formed, then the moon should have as much oxygen on its icy 
surface as Earth has in its atmosphere," he said.

Galileo's ultraviolet spectrometer was designed and built at CU-
Boulder under the direction of LASP Senior Researcher Charles 
Hord.  Barth, a CU science team member on the spectrograph, 
presented the new results at the fall meeting of the American 
Geophysical Union in San Francisco Dec.  14 to Dec.  19.

With a diameter of 3,269 miles, Ganymede is the largest moon in 
the solar system and is about three-quarters the size of Mars.  
The moon, which has craters, basins and mountains, is believed to 
be made of rock and water ice.  The surface temperatures of 
Ganymede hover at a chilly minus 186 degrees F.

The CU-Boulder spectrometer was pointed at Ganymede during a June 
27 flyby, passing within 519 miles of the moon.  The approach was 
70 times closer than the approach of the Voyager 2 spacecraft to 
Ganymede in 1979.

The spectrometer data from the flyby was stored on a tape 
recorder onboard the spacecraft for about six weeks before being 
transmitted to Earth for analysis.

While previous observations with the Hubble Space Telescope have 
indicated there is oxygen at Ganymede, the direct observations of 
escaping hydrogen by the CU-Boulder team provide a mechanism for 
the presence of oxygen, Barth said.

A CU-Boulder team discovered atomic hydrogen escaping from Mars 
and ozone at its surface in 1969 using NASA's Mariner 6 
spacecraft, a finding essentially identical to the new Ganymede 
discoveries, Barth said.

"Mars is an analog to Earth and Ganymede is an analog to Mars," 
Barth said.  "Although the conditions on Ganymede are extremely 
cold, it would be interesting to see what processes might take 
place if there was a way to haul Ganymede into the orbit of 
Mars."
-----------------------------------------------------------------

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 exterrestrial 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.

Contact:	Jim Funaro, funaro@ucscb.ucsc.edu
Lynn Macias, (415) 852-3830
http://www.slip.net/~lmacias/conthome.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------

DELAYS ASIDE, PATHFINDER IS ON ITS WAY
By Diane Ainsworth
[From the JPL Universe]

Mars Pathfinder arced into a starlit sky, seemingly heading for a 
half-moon close on the horizon and the reddish sparkle of Mars 
itself, during a crystal clear night on Dec. 4 at NASA's Cape 
Canaveral Air Station, Fla. Launch occurred right on the mark at 
1:58 a.m.  Eastern time (10:58 p.m.  Pacific time on Dec.  3), 
sending the spacecraft on its way to Mars.  The fiery blast of 
six of the Delta's nine boosters could be seen as they were 
jettisoned over the Atlantic Ocean, twinkling orange and yellow 
as they fell through the atmosphere.

Ten days after launch, the spacecraft is currently about 2.6 
million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from Earth, traveling at a 
speed of about 3.2 kilometers per second (7,155 mph).  All 
spacecraft temperatures and electronics are performing at their 
expected levels for this early phase of the mission, said Brian 
Muirhead, Pathfinder flight system manager.  The cruise stage 
solar array, propulsion module and electronics are also 
performing at just the right temperatures.

Pathfinder is currently drawing power from two of the four 
segments of the solar array and producing approximately 250 watts 
of power, which is about 10 percent more power than was 
originally predicted.  The battery is charged at 75 percent of 
its full capacity and is showing a temperature of 9 Celsius (48 
degrees Fahrenheit), which is approaching the desired steady 
state of 8 Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit).  In addition, the 
telecommunications system is performing well within its predicted 
range, indicating that it will be able to maintain higher data 
rates throughout the mission.

A problem with one of the spacecraft's five sun sensors was 
resolved last week after a software patch was uplinked to 
compensate for a low voltage reading on one of the sensor heads, 
Muirhead said.  The problem sensor was unit #4, which sits on the 
spacecraft's spin axis and became obscured or contaminated enough 
that its data were not usable.  Unit #5, also located on the spin 
axis, was providing good sun orientation data, but at a lower 
voltage than was expected.  The other three sensor heads are 
equally spaced along the cruise stage and were working fine.

"The software modification allowed us to read the sun sensor's 
data, even though the output is lower than normal, and use the 
information to calculate the spacecraft's orientation in space," 
Muirhead said.  "Once the problem was solved, we began to plan 
for our spin-down maneuver, which will reduce the spacecraft's 
spin rate from 12.3 rpm to 2 rpm."  That maneuver was scheduled 
to take place on Friday, Dec. 13.

Pathfinder's next scheduled in-flight event is the first 
trajectory correction maneuver, planned for Jan.  4, 1997.  The 
latest orbital data from tracking operations at all three Deep 
Space Network stations suggest that the magnitude of TCM-1, if 
performed on that day, will be 29.5 meters per second (96 feet 
per second).

Mars Pathfinder, the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-
cost, highly focused spaceflight missions, is expected to have a 
relatively quiet cruise to the red planet.  In March 1997, the 
spacecraft will catch up and fly past Mars Global Surveyor on its 
faster track to the planet.  If all goes well, landing and the 
first photographs of the Martian surface in more than 20 years 
will be delivered to an eager audience on Earth on July 4, 1997.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

MISSIONS BEGIN EARTH'S FRIENDLY INVASION OF MARS
By Paula Shawa, Kennedy Space Center
[From the JPL Universe]

On Oct. 30, Orson Welles fans marked the 58th anniversary of his 
theater troupe's Halloween radio broadcast based on H.G. Wells' 
science fiction classic, "The War of the Worlds."  The Mercury 
Theater's realistic depiction of a Martian invasion that begins 
in Grovers Mill, N.J., panicked the nation and catapulted Welles 
to international fame.  As 1996 draws to a close, Planet Earth is 
turning the tables and launching its own "assault" on the Red 
Planet 81 million kilometers (50 million miles) away, although in 
this case the visitors are friendly.

Beginning with the Mars Global Surveyor liftoff Nov. 7 and 
continuing into the next century, spacecraft will sail toward the 
planet, sometimes passing each other en route.  Once they arrive 
at Mars, some of these remotely-controlled explorers will circle 
the planet while others will pierce the thin Martian atmosphere 
and descend to its rugged surface.  The bits and pieces of 
information they send back to Earth will be like pieces of a 
puzzle which will yield a comprehensive picture of the planet, 
its daily weather and its early history.

Mars Global Surveyor

First off the launch pad was Mars Global Surveyor, which is now 
speeding toward Mars.  For people like MGS project manager Glenn 
Cunningham, the mission holds a special urgency:  many of the 
same personnel who bore the shock of the Mars Observer failure in 
1993 are now working on Global Surveyor.  Six of the instruments 
flown on Mars Observer also are being flown on the Global 
Surveyor.

"We are really looking forward to this," Cunningham observes with 
quiet intensity.  He points out that the Global Surveyor will 
have a nearly identical mission to Mars Observer:  to map almost 
the entire surface of the planet.  Major design changes have been 
made to prevent a propulsion system failure suspected to have 
ended the Mars Observer mission.

The Global Surveyor will follow a loping, slow-moving trajectory 
to Mars.  Because the spacecraft is traveling at a slower 
velocity, it requires less propellant to slow down once it is 
ready to be captured in orbit around the destination planet.  The 
spacecraft should arrive at Mars on Sept. 12, 1997.  A 25-minute 
engine burn will be combined with an innovative technique known 
as aerobraking, first demonstrated during the Magellan mission to 
Venus, to achieve a final mapping orbit an average 234 miles (378 
kilometers) above the planet's surface.

The primary mapping mission is scheduled to begin in March 1998 
and last until January 2000-a period of one Martian year or 687 
Earth days.  Global Surveyor will complete one orbit around Mars 
about every two hours, each new orbit bringing the spacecraft 
over a different swath of terrain.  The spacecraft will pass over 
the Mars Pathfinder lander, which will have touched down months 
before.  The two Viking landers that arrived at Mars in 1975 also 
will be within the visibility range of the Global Surveyor 
instruments.

The Global Surveyor will map the topography, magnetism, mineral 
composition and atmosphere of Mars, returning more than 600 
billion bits of scientific data to Earth-more than that returned 
by all previous missions to Mars.

Mars Pathfinder

The complex scenario for the Mars Pathfinder mission is like 
Russian dolls that can be opened to reveal another doll inside, a 
process that repeats itself several times before the last doll is 
uncovered.  When it lifted off at 10:58 p.m. Pacific time on Dec. 
3, Pathfinder's configuration was a lander encased in a 
protective aeroshell attached to a cruise stage.

Even though it lifted off nearly a month after Global Surveyor, 
Pathfinder travels on a more direct trajectory to Mars, and will 
arrive on July 4, 1997.  Thirty-four minutes before touchdown, 
the cruise stage will separate.  As the lander hurtles through 
the upper atmosphere on a ballistic trajectory, a parachute will 
be deployed to slow the spacecraft and alter its flight path to a 
more vertical descent.  About 20 seconds after the parachute 
deploys, the heat shield side of the aeroshell is jettisoned and 
the lander, still attached by a bridle to the back shell and 
parachute, will continue its descent.  About eight seconds before 
touchdown, giant airbags are inflated.  Just two seconds before 
touchdown the bridle will be severed while the motors are still 
firing to pull the backshell and parachute away from the lander.  
The lander's radar altimeter will begin acquiring ground data 
when the spacecraft is barely one mile (1.6 km) above the 
planet's surface.

The dramatic sequence of events that unfold during entry, descent 
and landing constitute one of the riskiest phases of the mission, 
says Pathfinder Project Manager Tony Spear, and extensive 
preflight research was conducted to ensure success.  The entry 
velocity is 80 percent faster than that of the Viking landers; 
and spacecraft speed at touchdown is 35 mph (56 kilometers per 
hour) for the Pathfinder lander (cushioned by the airbags) 
compared to 5 mph (8 kilometers per hour) for the Viking landers.  
Once on the surface, the tetrahedral-shaped lander will right 
itself and the lander petals will unfold.

If everything proceeds as scheduled, just hours after landing the 
Sojourner rover will amble off the lander and onto the surface of 
Mars.  The small six-wheeled rover weighs a mere 22 pounds (10 
kilograms) and travels just 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) per second.  
Images taken by the lander will determine the rover's course and 
direction.  The rover is equipped with an alpha proton X-ray 
spectrometer to measure the elemental composition of rocks and 
soil.  The 12-color lander stereo camera will help to navigate 
the rover, provide mineralogy data on rocks and soil, and make 
opacity measurements of the atmosphere.  This data provides a 
ground truth for the orbital remote-sensing observations being 
obtained overhead by Global Surveyor.

The extreme temperature cycling on Mars-temperatures range from 
32 to minus 148 degrees Fahrenheit (0 to minus 100 degrees 
Centigrade) daily-may doom the rover to a relatively short life.  
The primary mission for the rover is seven Martian days and about 
30 Martian days for the lander; scientists are hoping both will 
last long enough for extended mission operations.

While the Pathfinder mission is sure to yield invaluable 
scientific data about Mars, its designers are just as eager to 
see how the hardware performs.  In an extended mission, program 
managers will be monitoring the performance of both the rover and 
lander's solar arrays in the dusty environment as well as their 
electronics in the Martian temperatures.

As the first wave of spacecraft to blaze a new trail to the Red 
Planet, Pathfinder and Global Surveyor will provide crosschecks 
and enrichment of the data gathered by each spacecraft.  The 
scientific data they gather will further supplement that of 
earlier missions to Mars and set the stage for subsequent 
explorers.  At the same time, the lessons learned from hardware 
performance will help insure the success of future missions.

Mars '96

The Mars '96 mission was launched Nov. 16 from the Baikonur 
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan but encountered problems early in its 
mission.  The last stage on a four-stage rocket failed to re-
ignite and propel the probe out of Earth orbit and onto Mars.  
The probe crashed into the Pacific Ocean Nov. 17, about 900 miles 
east of Easter Island.

The mission was designed to use two landers--known as small 
stations--to separate from the Mars '96 spacecraft and descend to 
the planet's surface.  Two penetrators were to have been deployed 
from the orbiter to actually pierce the Martian soil as much as 6 
meters (20 feet) below the surface.  The orbiter was to focus on 
performing orbital mapping and supporting operations on the 
ground.

Specific science goals included:  A topographic survey of the 
surface, including high-resolution studies of the terrain and 
mineralogical mapping; studies of Martian meteorology and 
climate; geophysical studies of the planet's crustal thickness, 
magnetic field and seismic activity; plasma investigations, 
including parameters of the Martian magnetic field; and 
astrophysical studies.

The small stations were designed to descend to the surface in a 
manner similar to the Mars Pathfinder lander, first braked by an 
aeroshell and then descending on a parachute.  Also like the 
Pathfinder lander, the stations were to have been protected from 
the impact of landing by airbags.  The scientific instruments of 
the small stations were enclosed in a protective structure that 
unfolded like the petals of a flower.

The Mars '96 probe also included two torpedo-like penetrators 
that were designed to slam into Mars at speeds of 80-100 meters 
per second (180-220 mph), lodging from 1 to 6 meters (3 to 20 
feet) below the surface.  Each probe contained equipment and 
sensors to study the geophysical and mechanical properties of 
Martian rocks.  Data were to be relayed back to Earth via the 
orbiter circling above.  The United States plans to send a pair 
of miniature probes, called the New Millennium microprobes, to 
Mars in 1998.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

HEROINES AND HISTORY WELL REPRESENTED IN WORLDWIDE COMPETITION TO 
NAME ROVER
[From the JPL Universe]

The Sojourner rover could have been named Marie Curie.  That was 
the second-place entry in a contest between students to name the 
compact vehicle scheduled to explore the surface of Mars.

The name Sojourner was chosen after a yearlong worldwide 
competition in which students up to age 18 were invited to select 
a heroine and submit an essay about her historical 
accomplishments.  The students were asked to address in their 
essays how a planetary rover named for their heroine would 
translate those accomplishments in the Martian environment.

Valerie Ambroise, 12, of Bridgeport, Conn., submitted the winning 
essay about Sojourner Truth, an African American reformist who 
lived during the Civil War era.  An abolitionist and champion of 
women's rights, Truth, whose real name was Isabella Van Wagener, 
made it her mission to "travel up and down the land," advocating 
the rights of all people to be free and the rights of women to 
participate fully in society.  The name "Sojourner" was selected 
because it means "traveler."

JPL scientists and engineers working on the Mars Pathfinder 
project and staff from the Planetary Society of Pasadena, who 
jointly initiated the contest in March 1994, reviewed the 3,500 
essays received from around the world, including India, Israel, 
Japan, Mexico, Poland and Russia.  Nearly 1,700 of the essays 
were submitted by students aged 5 to 18.

The second-place winner, Deepti Rohatgi, 18, of Rockville, Md., 
proposed naming the rover for Curie, a Polish-born chemist who 
won the Nobel Prize in 1911 for her discovery of the elements 
radium and polonium.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

MYSTERY OF MARS EVOLVES, LIVES ON IN POPULAR CULTURE 
By Chuck Weirauch, Kennedy Space Center
[From the JPL Universe]

Portrayed throughout history as everything from a mythical god of 
war to the source of the destruction of the Earth many times 
over, Mars has survived the apprehensions of humankind to be 
transformed as a focal point of hope and exploration for the 
human race.  Just why the Red Planet got off to a bad start with 
Earthlings is a mystery, since four other planets were visible to 
the first astronomers, the Babylonians, in approximately 1000 BC.  
Perhaps its blood-reddish color, coupled with the early belief 
that one's fate was influenced by celestial events, convinced the 
Greeks and Romans to perceive the planet as a symbol of violence 
and fear.  These sentiments were reflected as late as 1719, when 
widespread panic broke out because, as a result of its elliptical 
orbit, Mars swung closer to Earth than it had in nearly 300 
years.

Unlikely though it seems today, astronomers played a major role 
in continuing the myth that unknown forces or entities lurked on 
the surface of Mars.  Even though the Royal British astronomer 
Frederick Hershel correctly noted the polar ice caps and 
atmosphere of the Red Planet in 1784, he believed that dark flat 
areas of the planet's surface were oceans.  He also felt that all 
of the planets were inhabited.

Some astronomers in the mid-19th century gave further impetus to 
the concept of life on Mars by speculating that the dark areas 
were covered by vegetation, while others published detailed maps 
of continents and oceans.  In 1877, Italian astronomer Giovanni 
Schiaparelli unintentionally gave birth to the concept of Martian 
canals when he referred to streaks he observed on the surface as 
"canali," the Italian word for channels.

By the late 19th century, many scientists and authors already 
believed there was life on Mars.  H.G. Wells' classic novel "War 
of the Worlds," published in 1898, became the first and most 
famous tale of a Martian invasion of Earth.  Famed astronomer 
Percival Lowell believed that Martians had built an intricate 
system of irrigation canals and produced a famous globe of this 
system in 1901 based on his observations.  He also published 
"Mars and its Canals" in 1906 and "Mars as the Abode of Life" in 
1908.

Even though life was thought to be prevalent, observations of a 
dry climate and thin atmosphere indicated that whatever was alive 
must be in a desperate struggle to survive.  Edgar Rice 
Burroughs, better known as the creator of Tarzan of the Apes, 
incorporated this struggle into a series of 11 novels begun in 
1911 that featured a Civil War veteran hero who was transported 
to Mars to deal with a Martian race fighting for water.

In spite of growing evidence in the 1920s that conditions on the 
planet were even more tenuous for life as we know it, the Martian 
seeds had been firmly planted on Earth and continued to grow in 
the minds of the public and the prose of early science fiction 
writers.  With this type of literature gaining wider acceptance 
by the 1930s, it probably should have been no surprise that the 
1938 radio broadcast of an adapted version of "The War of the 
Worlds" by Orson Welles was perceived as reality by more than a 
million people.

The possibility of life not only on Mars but throughout the  
universe became entrenched in world culture perhaps forever when 
an ex-Air Force pilot reported the sighting of unidentified 
flying objects, or UFOs, over the Arizona desert in 1947.  Also 
that year, Dr. Wernher von Braun revealed "Das Mars Projeckt," 
his proposed human expedition to Mars.  His plan called for 10 
ships and their crews to travel to, land on, and explore the 
fourth planet from the sun, then return to Earth within 520 days.  
He was also involved with the first NASA robotic missions to the 
Red Planet, the Mariner spacecraft.

The hundreds of films, including such classics as "Invaders from 
Mars" in 1953, and thousands of science fiction novels featuring 
otherworldly creatures such as those in Ray Bradbury's "The 
Martian Chronicles" in 1951, since that time have only served to 
reinforce the now-popular belief that life could have evolved 
just about anywhere.  The 1996 television season, bolstered by 30 
years of Star Trek and two continuing Star Trek shows, has more 
scheduled science-fiction-themed programming than ever before.  
Science-fiction movies, including last summer's "Independence 
Day," have become blockbusters, whole walls of book stores 
display science-fiction novels and millions of science-fiction 
videos and computer games are played in homes in the United 
States every night.  At least one movie company is continuing the 
trend.  Warner Brothers is about to debut its latest Mars 
thriller, titled "Mars Attacks!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------

REGULATIONS ENSURE VISITORS FROM EARTH KEEP PLANETS CLEAN 
By Susan Walsh, Kennedy Space Center
[From the JPL Universe]

It sounds like the plot of a B-grade science fiction movie.  
Microscopic organisms from Earth are carried on board a probe 
sent to explore the Martian surface and its geology.  Despite the 
inhospitable climate-surface temperatures averaging minus 64 
degrees Fahrenheit and an atmosphere almost entirely composed of 
carbon dioxide-a few of the organisms survive and begin 
multiplying.  Soon, the Earth-borne spores taint all the 
geological samples and even find their way deep underneath the 
surface to ancient riverbeds where a primitive form of life still 
exists.  The organisms from worlds apart join, and a new, alien 
form of life begins to evolve.  Or, how about this?

Thirty years after two Viking landers drop to the Martian surface 
and less than a decade after the Sojourner rover was left to 
explore an ancient Martian flood plain, a robotic spacecraft sent 
to pick up soil and rock samples from Mars returns to Earth 
covered by a mysterious green gelatinous material.  A breach in 
containment protocol leaves a technician unprotected to the 
foreign matter.  Soon after, the technician and everyone he came 
in contact with begin to display symptoms of a new and 
debilitating disease.  As farfetched as it sounds--and most 
scientists agree it could never happen--NASA is taking every 
precaution to make sure that nothing like either of those two 
scenarios ever has a chance of occurring.

"We're taking a conservative approach," said Dr. Michael Meyer, 
NASA's planetary protection officer.  "We don't view outbound or 
inbound contamination as a problem, but we're going to do the 
right things to protect against it.  We have the means to prevent 
contamination and do it safely."

Planetary protection regulations date back at least to the 1960s 
when the United States and other space-faring countries signed 
the United Nations' Treaty of Principles Governing the Activities 
of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space.  Known as 
the Outer Space Treaty, the 1967 document states that the 
exploration and studies of outer space including the moon and 
other celestial bodies be done "so as to avoid their harmful 
contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the 
Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial 
matter."

NASA policy establishes basic procedures to prevent contamination 
of planetary bodies.  Different requirements apply to different 
missions, depending on which solar system object is targeted and 
the spacecraft or mission type-flyby, orbiter, lander, sample-
return, etc.  There are no outbound (from Earth to celestial 
body) contamination requirements for the Sun, Moon and Mercury 
since those celestial bodies have no biological history and, 
therefore, presumably cannot be contaminated by Earth material.

In the case of the recently launched Mars Global Surveyor, the 
NASA policy centers on an orbital lifetime requirement.  Surveyor 
is designed to remain in orbit for at least 50 years before 
entering the Martian atmosphere.  By then, any contaminants it 
may carry would be rendered harmless.  Also, to ensure that the 
spent third stage of the launch vehicle flies safely past Mars, 
the launch trajectory is biased away from the planet.

For the upcoming Mars Pathfinder mission, the cleanliness of the 
spacecraft is the primary concern.  Pathfinder's surfaces can 
contain only a maximum of about 250 spores per square yard (300 
spores per square meter).  The spacecraft was cleaned to a level 
consistent with the two Mars Viking landers in 1975 before they 
were sterilized.

Dr. Meyer said that sterilization is no longer considered a 
requirement for spacecraft which land on Mars.  In a 1992 report, 
the Space Studies Board concluded that there was no chance for an 
Earth organism to grow on the surface of Mars, but recommended 
that measures be taken to reduce the amount of matter which may 
be transported there and could contaminate any samples.  NASA now 
focuses its efforts on a continual cleaning of the spacecraft and 
monitoring of the spore count, reducing what's called the 
"bioburden."

For the Pathfinder mission, the samples were taken by JPL 
scientists Dr. Wayne Shubert and Dr. Roger Kern.  They processed 
the samples in NASA's Life Sciences Support Facility at Hangar L, 
Cape Canaveral Air Station.  A three-person KSC/Bionetics team 
led by Rudy Puleo, manager of medical programs, was given samples 
at various intervals to verify the procedures and spore counts.  
Throughout Mars Pathfinder processing, technicians continually 
cleaned the spacecraft and its components by wiping surfaces with 
an alcohol solution.  Large areas, such as the airbags and 
parachute, were baked for about 50 hours at 230 degrees 
Fahrenheit (110 degrees Celsius).

With its record low spore count, "the Pathfinder will be the 
cleanest spacecraft we have sent to Mars," Dr. Meyer declared.  
Other anti-contamination measures will be taken when NASA sends a 
robotic spacecraft to Mars on a sample return mission.

Prevention of inbound contamination centers on quarantine 
measures, Dr. Meyer said.  Although it is more important to 
ensure that the sample not contaminate Earth, steps also are 
taken to keep Earth from contaminating the sample.  If there was 
a problem with containment on the spacecraft, one of the 
possibilities would be to turn the spacecraft away from Earth and 
toward the Sun, where it could do no damage.

NASA is taking no chances, even though scientists dismiss the 
possibility that Earth could be infected by an organism from 
outer space, as depicted in "The Andromeda Strain" by Michael 
Crichton.  "We've been exchanging material with the planets for a 
long time through meteorites, for example.  If there is an 
andromeda-type thing out there, then it's already come to Earth," 
Meyer said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

NASA'S DISCOVERY PROGRAM SETS MARK FOR FUTURE OF LOW-COST 
MISSIONS
[From the JPL Universe]

The Mars Pathfinder mission is the second to be developed under 
NASA's Discovery Program, which emphasizes improved performance 
and lower cost through a series of management initiatives.  In 
1992 the Senate Appropriations Committee directed NASA to prepare 
a "plan to stimulate and develop small planetary or other space 
science projects, emphasizing those which could be accomplished 
by the academic or research communities."

The goals of the Discovery Program are to increase flight rates, 
substantially reduce total mission cost, improve performance 
through the use of new technology, broaden university and 
industry participation in solar system exploration missions, and 
to increase public awareness of solar system exploration.

Discovery missions are restricted to 36 months of development 
(consistent with many academic degree programs); will result in 
more spacecraft being built (providing opportunities for a larger 
number of industrial partners and small businesses); and must 
fall below a salary cap of $150 million for design and 
development and $35 million for data analysis.

The first two Discovery missions, the Near Earth Asteroid 
Rendezvous (NEAR) which launched Feb.  17, and Pathfinder, were 
picked by NASA from concepts already under study when the program 
was being organized.  The third mission, the Lunar Prospector, 
was selected in February 1995 and the fourth mission, Stardust, 
was selected in November 1995.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

ROVER DRIVER DREAMS OF PUTTING PEDAL TO METAL
[From the JPL Universe]

About 10 minutes before Sojourner makes its first historic move 
toward the Red Planet's surface, the rover's primary driver, 
Brian Cooper, will give it the commands to do so from a lab at 
JPL.  Cooper will don a set of 3-D goggles and, using a "space 
ball" instead of a computer mouse, will guide the rover's 
movements across an ancient flood plain.  Two cameras mounted on 
the lander spacecraft will give Cooper the "stereo vision" 
necessary to navigate Sojourner.

"It's more like virtual reality with delayed reaction than a 
remote control car," explains Cooper.  "I see the landscape and a 
cursor that is a scale image of the rover in my goggles and I 
move the cursor at a snail's pace."  Any road hazards not 
detected by Cooper will be picked up by Sojourner's sensors and 
the rover has the option to deny an unsafe command.

Cooper has worked for 11 years in JPL's rover program and 
designed much of the software and systems used on Sojourner's 
mission.  "I'm excited about being the first person to drive on 
Mars, but this is an important geological mission and 
demonstrating this technology prepares us for longer missions in 
the future."
-----------------------------------------------------------------

NEW MARS SCREEN SAVER AVAILABLE ON-LINE
By Diane Ainsworth
[From the JPL Universe]

A new computer screen saver made its debut earlier this month, 
showing the "Sojourner" rover, which was launched Dec.  4 on the 
Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, as it crisscrosses over or navigates 
around Martian boulders.  The screen saver display is free and 
available on the Internet for computer users with Windows 3.1 and 
'95 and Macintosh software.  It can be downloaded by accessing 
the JPL Mars home page at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mars/

The software was designed by JPL as part of an effort to educate 
the public about the Mars Pathfinder mission and NASA's decade-
long program of Mars exploration.  It depicts the 60-centimeter 
(23-inch) long Sojourner microrover that will drive out onto the 
surface of Mars to explore the composition of rocks and soil in 
July 1997.  Sojourner is able to hurdle small rocks and steer 
around those that are too large to scale.  The rover features 
several innovative new technologies, including miniaturized 
electronics and a six-wheeled "rocker-bogie" suspension system 
that allows it to climb over rocks almost as tall as itself.

The new screen saver also includes dramatic scenes of some 
geologically intriguing regions on Mars that will be photographed 
by the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, which was launched on Nov.  
7.  Surveyor, which will reach Mars on Sept.  12, 1997, will 
orbit the planet for one full Martian year, the equivalent of 687 
Earth days, taking new images of Mars and making scientific 
measurements of its atmosphere and surface.  JPL's new screen 
saver sequence depicts various dramatic images of Mars, showing 
increasing detail of some prominent features such as a towering 
volcano called Olympus Mons and a huge canyon known as Valles 
Marineris.  The closing sequence shows a Viking photograph of 
Pathfinder's targeted landing site on an ancient flood plain 
known as Areas Valles.

"The images of Mars were rendered here at JPL on our CRAY T3D 
parallel supercomputer," said Dr. Carl Kukkonen, manager of JPL's 
Supercomputing Project.  "Scenes like this helped the Mars 
Exploration Program Office at JPL to determine the most ideal 
landing site for the Pathfinder mission."

"This screen saver is another exciting tool that any Windows or 
Macintosh user can have to learn more about NASA's Mars 
exploration program," added Dr. Cheick Diarra, manager of the 
Mars Education and Public Outreach Office at JPL.

The screen saver is available in the Windows 3.1, Windows '95 and 
Macintosh formats to computer users with any version of the 
"After Dark" screen saver software produced by Berkeley Systems, 
Inc.  The screen saver was a joint effort of JPL and Berkeley 
Systems of Berkeley, Calif., developer of After Dark screen saver 
software, which can be downloaded from the Internet by using the 
following address:  http://www.berksys.com

The Mars Exploration Program and the Supercomputing Project at 
JPL supported development of the new Mars exploration screen 
saver with funding from NASA's Office of Space Science.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR FLIGHT STATUS REPORT
JPL press release
Friday, 20 December 1996

During the morning on Monday and Tuesday of this week, the 
Surveyor flight team conducted more tests to collect diagnostic 
data regarding the spacecraft's solar array position discrepancy.  
On each of the two test days, the gimbal joint holding the -Y 
solar panel to the spacecraft was commanded to wiggle the panel 
back and forth several times over a time period of 18 and 84 
seconds, respectively.  The strongest of these two tests occurred 
on Tuesday during which the wiggling caused the -Y panel to move 
by 8 degrees before returning to its pre-test position.

Engineering telemetry transmitted back to Earth during these 
tests will allow the flight team to analyze 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.

Preliminary results from this week's tests and the three tests 
that occurred last week support the theory that the obstruction 
is a broken shaft from the solar array's deployment mechanism.  
The flight team believes that the shaft broke sometime during the 
launch phase, or during solar array deployment, and then wedged 
itself in a position to keep the -Y panel from deploying into its 
proper position.  However, both arrays are generating full power 
and the position discrepancy does not pose a threat to the 
mission.

Other activities this week included a test of the Mars Orbiter 
Laser Altimeter.  Early Thursday morning, shortly after midnight 
Pacific Standard Time, Surveyor turned to point the laser 
altimeter at the Earth.  Over the course of one hour, the laser 
fired pulses of light toward a receiving station at NASA's 
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.  
Unfortunately, snow storms and low-level clouds prevented the 
station from detecting the laser's pulses.  The flight team may 
consider attempting another test next year if time permits.

After eight weeks of flight, Surveyor is 10.90 million kilometers 
from the Earth and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a 
velocity of 32.48 kilometers per second.  This orbit will 
intercept Mars on September 12th, 1997.  All systems on the 
spacecraft continue to be in excellent condition.

The flight team would like to extended our best wishes to 
everybody for safe and happy holiday season.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

GALILEO MISSION STATUS
JPL press release
December 26, 1996

Data from last week's successful flyby of Jupiter's moon Europa 
by NASA's Galileo spacecraft are being radioed back to Earth on 
schedule, project officials report.

"Everything is going normally on the spacecraft, and the return 
of the high-resolution images of Europa started on schedule 
yesterday," said Galileo Project Manager Bill O'Neil at JPL.  
Imaging data will be collected and processed over the coming days 
and weeks.  Processing of the first of the images should be 
completed early in January and the images will be released 
shortly thereafter, O'Neil said.

Galileo flew past Europa at an altitude of only 692 kilometers 
(about 430 miles) from Europa on December 19 at 0653 Universal 
Time (December 18 at 10:53 p.m.  Pacific Standard Time).  Galileo 
flew more than 200 times closer to Europa than the Voyager 
spacecraft came to that moon in 1979.

Europa is especially intriguing because scientists believe it may 
have an ocean beneath its icy crust.

Throughout last week, Galileo made scientific observations of 
Europa and the other satellites, and gathered data on Jupiter and 
its magnetosphere through December 22.  The observations included 
the closeup images, nighttime and daytime temperature 
measurements, searches for auroral activity, the magnetic field, 
atmospheric studies and investigations of the charged-particle 
environment in Europa's vicinity.  Playback of data stored on 
Galileo's tape recorder will continue through mid-February, 
concluding just before Galileo's next Europa encounter.

The next Europa flyby will be even closer at an altitude of a 
mere 587 kilometers (364 miles) on February 19.  The spacecraft's 
third flyby of Europa will occur on November 6, 1997, at an 
altitude of 1,125 kilometers (699 miles).
----------------------------------------------------------------

SOFTWARE FOR FIRST NEW MILLENNIUM MISSION CLOSEST YET TO "HAL 
9000"
NASA release 97-7

As the fictional birth date for the HAL 9000 main computer from 
the landmark science fiction tale "2001:  A Space Odyssey" 
approaches, NASA is preparing the most advanced spacecraft 
artificial intelligence software yet developed for launch aboard 
the New Millennium program's Deep Space One (DS1) spacecraft.

According to the 1968 book by highly acclaimed author Arthur C.  
Clarke, Hal "became operational" on January 12, 1997, in Urbana, 
IL, home of the University of Illinois.  It then served as the 
"brain and nervous system" of the 400-foot-long spaceship 
Discovery that carried astronauts on a thought-provoking voyage 
to the planet Saturn (changed to Jupiter in the movie version).

The robotic DS1 spacecraft carries no crew and is much smaller 
than the spaceship of "2001," at a total mass of 945 pounds, but 
its computer artificial intelligence program, known as the Remote 
Agent, shares the same basic goal of operating and controlling a 
spacecraft with minimal human assistance.

"We don't want to give the impression that Remote Agent is an 
artificial lifeform," said Kanna Rajan, a DS1 computer scientist 
at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA.  "However, the 
software will logically reason about the state of the spacecraft, 
and the Remote Agent will consider all of the consequences of its 
actions."

Following its scheduled July 1998 launch, DS1 will fly by the 
asteroid McAuliffe in 1999, and the comet West-Kohoutek- Ikemura 
and the planet Mars in 2000.  DS1 is the first scheduled mission 
in NASA's New Millennium program, which is designed to test and 
validate cutting edge technology for the systems and instruments 
on-board future NASA science spacecraft.  The Remote Agent is 
being developed in a collaborative effort between Ames and the 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA.

"The goals of the Remote Agent development are two-fold:  to 
reduce the cost of exploration, and to extend exploration to 
realms of space where no ground-controlled craft could
venture," said Dr. Bob Rasmussen, a computer autonomy expert at 
JPL.

"Remote Agent should enable future spacecraft software to be more 
easily designed," said Dr. Barney Pell, another DS1 computer 
scientist at Ames.  "The first version of Remote Agent will be 
the hardest to write.  After that, we can copy it for the next 
mission and make improvements in it rather than developing the 
software from scratch."

"This is made possible by model-driven software," Rasmussen 
explained.  "Models of the spacecraft's components and 
environment are given to the Remote Agent and it figures out the 
necessary detailed operating procedures on its own.  Only the 
models need to be updated for each new spacecraft."

Given NASA's continuing efforts to develop many smaller, less 
expensive science spacecraft, "we also need to perform each 
mission with less than a dozen ground controllers instead of the 
hundreds of people now needed to run a major planetary science 
mission," said Dr. Brian C. Williams, DS1 team leader for the 
development of the Remote Agent fault protection software.  "The 
large distances inherent in planetary exploration result in 
communications that can be too slow during emergencies," Pell 
added, "and sometimes your communication pathway is blocked when 
a planet is between the spacecraft and Earth."

Three parts of Remote Agent will work together to demonstrate 
that it can autonomously operate a spacecraft:  High Level 
Planning and Scheduling, Model-based Fault Protection (also 
called Livingstone) and Smart Executive.  "Some estimates show a 
60 percent reduction in mission costs using Remote Agent.  The 
software would replace a large section of the human spacecraft 
control team back on Earth," said Dr. Nicola Muscettola, team 
leader for the planning software.

The High Level Planning and Scheduling part of Remote Agent will 
constantly look ahead to the schedule for several weeks of 
mission activities.  "Planner is mostly concerned about 
scheduling spacecraft activities and distributing resources such 
as electrical power," Muscettola said.  "The Planner allows a 
small spacecraft control team on Earth to command the spacecraft 
more effectively by sending goals instead of detailed 
instructions to DS1."

"After DS1 we want to work on even more autonomous spacecraft 
that could reconfigure themselves.  If some part of such a 
spacecraft performed differently during the mission than 
expected, the craft would be able to detect this and change 
software models and algorithms to self-adapt," Muscettola added.

"Future systems also should be able to learn about their 
environment and act in partnership with scientists to find and 
analyze new discoveries," said Dr. Guy Man, the co-leader of the 
New Millennium Autonomy Integrated Product Development Team at 
JPL.

The fault protection portion of the Remote Agent, known as 
"Livingstone," functions as the mission's virtual chief engineer, 
according to Dr. P. Pandurang Nayak of Ames.  "If something 
should go wrong with the spacecraft, Livingstone would use the 
computer model of how the spacecraft should be behaving to 
diagnose failures and suggest recoveries," Nayak said.

Livingstone was named for David Livingstone (1813-1873), the 19th 
century medical missionary and explorer.  "Like David 
Livingstone, the Livingstone computer program is concerned with 
exploration and the health of explorers," Nayak said.

The third part of the Remote Agent software, Smart Executive, 
will act like an "executive officer" of the mission, issuing 
general commands to fly DS1.  "The Executive has to be able to 
execute the plans that are produced by the Planner and 
Livingstone," said Pell.  "If the Planner had to worry about 
every single detail, it would be hard pressed to produce a plan.  
So, the Executive takes care of the details."

The Executive also can receive a plan directly from ground 
controllers.  "However, if the ground's plan won't work, the 
Executive can say, 'Sorry, Ground, I can't do that,' " Pell said, 
comparing Remote Agent to Hal.  "This can actually be a big help 
to ground controllers who must currently spend enormous effort 
double-checking every command," said Rasmussen.

"In the event that the Remote Agent won't cooperate under some 
unusual circumstance, we will be developing a surgery mode where 
ground control can really get into Remote Agent and do a 
lobotomy," Pell added.  "Remote Agent may someday lead to 
software that would be incorporated into a space robot that would 
be as intelligent as HAL 9000."

The New Millennium program "has accelerated technology 
development in spacecraft automation by at least ten years," Man 
said.  "The Remote Agent will open up new exploration 
opportunities for us, allowing us to really begin the in-situ era 
of space science."

The ultimate goal of the New Millennium program, according to 
Wesley Huntress, Associate Administrator for Space Science at 
NASA Headquarters, is to generate and validate technology "to 
allow us to build a fleet of these smart spacecraft, called 
spacecraft constellations or armadas, and let them explore 
different places, share their findings, and even divide amongst 
themselves the work of achieving complex scientific goals.  
Systems like the Remote Agent will be crucial supporting 
components of this vision."
-----------------------------------------------------------------

CASSINI/HUYGENS:  YOUR SIGNATURE OR MESSAGE IN SPACE!
ESA release 02-97
Paris, 9 January 1997

Cassini/Huygens, a joint ESA/NASA mission, will be launched in 
October 1997.  After a journey lasting almost 7 years, which will 
take the spacecraft to an orbit around Saturn, ESA's Huygens 
probe will be released over Titan, Saturn's largest moon, and 
will examine its environment and surface.

On the occasion of this unique scientific mission, ESA is 
planning to fly a CD-ROM aboard Huygens, on which all the 
signatures and messages contributed by Europeans will be borne 
away to Titan.  These will be collected by ESA on a special 
Internet site, whose address is:  http://www.huygens.com

ESA and the media are linking up for this unusual operation, 
making arrangements for sending a token of human life into deep 
space.  This is an idea that goes back to the 1970s, when the 
Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes were fitted with metal plates 
carefully engraved with information about life on Earth.  Today's 
digital storage technology enables a large number of signatures 
and messages to be recorded on a single CD-ROM for dispatch into 
space.

ESA is proposing cooperation with the media in two ways:

1.	Information on Huygens.  ESA will provide the media with all 
the information they need about the Huygens program, including 
written, photographic and video material (request form attached).

2.	Collection of signatures.  The media will announce the 
operation and ask their readers, listeners and viewers to send 
messages and signatures via the Internet, either using their own 
sites, in which case they will need to create hypertext links 
with the ESA/Huygens site, or directly to the special ESA/Huygens 
site that has been set up.

Signatures and messages will be accepted until 1 March 1997, 
though the Huygens site will remain active after that date.  The 
information it provides on the Cassini/Huygens mission will be 
regularly updated, at least until the spacecraft is launched in 
October 1997.  This operation, the first of its kind in the 
world, will enable ESA and its media partners to bring European 
space activities to the notice of readers, listeners and viewers 
from all countries in an original and spectacular way.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
End Marsbugs Vol. 4, No. 1

