MARSBUGS:  
The Electronic Exobiology Newsletter
Volume 4, Number 9, 23 June, 1997.

Editors:

David Thomas, Department of Biological Sciences, University of 
Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83844-3051, USA, thoma457@uidaho.edu or 
Marsbugs@aol.com.

Julian Hiscox, Division of Molecular Biology, IAH Compton 
Laboratory, Berkshire, RG20 7NN, UK. Julian.Hiscox@bbsrc.ac.uk or 
Marsbug@msn.com

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)	MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR TO AEROBRAKE IN MODIFIED CONFIGURATION
	NASA release 97-85

2)	THEORY AND TECHNIQUES FOR EXTREMOPHILE RESEARCH
	Workshop announcement

3)	NEWS ABOUT GREENHOUSE EFFECT -- NO WARMING?  ADIABATIC 
THEORY OF THE ATMOSPHERE GREENHOUSE EFFECT.
	0. G. Sorokhtin, S. A. Ushakov

4)	THE FY96 NASA LIFE SCIENCES TASK BOOK
	NASA announcement

5)	CASSINI LAUNCH ENDANGERED
	The Planetary Society

6)	ZERO RISK, ZERO GAIN
	By Louis Friedman

7)	MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR FLIGHT STATUS REPORTS
	JPL releases

8)	MARS PATHFINDER STATUS REPORT
	JPL release

9)	ESA IS NOW A MAJOR PLAYER IN GLOBAL SPACE SCIENCE
	ESA information note

10)	ARTICLES OF INTEREST
	by Julian Hiscox
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MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR TO AEROBRAKE IN MODIFIED CONFIGURATION
NASA release 97-85

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft can safely and 
successfully aerobrake into its final orbit around Mars this fall 
with its one partially deployed solar panel in a modified 
configuration, mission managers have decided.  No special 
maneuvers will be conducted to attempt to force the array to 
latch, and the focus of the Surveyor engineering team now will 
turn to minor modifications to the critical aerobraking phase 
that will circularize the spacecraft's orbit for the beginning of 
two years of science operations.

"After careful analysis of the situation, we've determined that 
the solar panel on Mars Global Surveyor that is not fully 
deployed presents very little risk to the mission," said Glenn E. 
Cunningham, Mars Global Surveyor project manager at NASA's Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA.

The decision by NASA's flight team at JPL and its partners at 
Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO, was reached after 
several months of extensive analysis of spacecraft data, ground-
based computer simulations and a series of very slight spacecraft 
maneuvers that were carried out in January and February to 
characterize the situation.

"Thanks to an early launch that gave us an advantageous 
trajectory, we will not have to aerobrake into the Martian 
atmosphere as fast as we had originally planned to reach the 
mapping orbit, and that will reduce the amount of heating that 
the solar panels undergo during this gradual descent," Cunningham 
explained.

"We will rotate the solar-cell side of the panel that is not 
fully deployed by 180 degrees, so that it faces into the 
direction of the air flow that exerts drag force on the 
spacecraft as it dips repeatedly into the atmosphere," he said. 
"This way, the unlatched panel will not be in danger of folding 
up onto the spacecraft's main structure, nor will the panel be at 
any greater risk of heating up too much."

The solar panel in question is one of two 11-foot wings that were 
unfolded shortly after Surveyor's Nov.  7, 1996, launch from Cape 
Canaveral Air Station, FL.  Data suggest that a piece of metal 
called the "damper arm," which is part of the solar array 
deployment mechanism located at the "elbow" joint where the 
entire panel is attached to the spacecraft body, probably was 
sheared off during deployment in the first day of flight.  The 
lever that turns the shaft became wedged in a two-inch space 
between the shoulder joint and the edge of the solar panel, 
leaving the panel tilted at 20.5 degrees from its fully deployed 
and latched position.

Although the situation was never considered a serious threat to 
accomplishing the science objectives of the mission, the tilted 
array caused the JPL/Lockheed Martin flight team to re-evaluate 
the aerobraking phase, in which the spacecraft must rely almost 
solely on its solar panels for the drag needed to lower it into a 
nearly circular mapping orbit over the poles of the planet.  This 
phase of the mission will begin a week after Mars Global Surveyor 
is captured in orbit around Mars on Sept. 11, and will last 
approximately four months.

Aerobraking was first tested in the final days of the Magellan 
mission to Venus in October 1994. The technique is an innovative 
method of braking which allows a spacecraft to carry less fuel to 
a planet and take advantage of the planet's atmospheric drag to 
descend into a low-altitude orbit.

Mars Global Surveyor will use an aerobraking phase much like that 
used to circularize Magellan's orbit.  The solar wings -- which 
feature a Kapton flap at the tip of each wing for added drag -- 
supply most of the surface area that will slow the spacecraft by 
a total of more than 2,684 miles per hour during the four-month 
phase.  Surveyor's orbit around Mars will shrink during this 
phase from an initial, highly elliptical orbit of 45 hours to a 
nearly circular orbit taking less than two hours to complete.

Engineers determined that the deployment springs currently 
holding the tilted solar panel in its nearly deployed position 
will not be strong enough to withstand the forces of aerobraking. 
To solve that problem, they designed a new configuration in which 
the tilted solar panel, along with the deployment springs, will 
be rotated 180 degrees, using a motor- driven inner gimbal 
actuator, and held in position with force applied by an outer 
gimbal actuator.  Sequencing software will be modified to turn 
the gimbal actuators on before each closest approach to the 
planet and off at the conclusion of each drag pass.

As a consequence of the new aerobraking configuration, the more 
sensitive cell-side of the unlatched wing will be exposed 
directly to the wind flow of atmospheric entry, requiring that 
aerobraking be done in a more gradual, gentle manner.  Ground 
tests have demonstrated that the unlatched solar panel will have 
more than adequate thermal margin to withstand additional heating 
as the spacecraft circularizes its orbit for the beginning of 
science mapping in March 1998.

Meanwhile, Mars Global Surveyor continues to perform very well on 
its arcing flight path toward the red planet and its arrival in 
orbit.  A third, very minor trajectory correction maneuver, 
planned for April 21, was deemed unnecessary and canceled. In 
addition, science instrument calibrations continue to go well, 
and plans are being prepared to take an approach image of Mars a 
few days before the July 4 landing of Mars Pathfinder, which 
passed Mars Global Surveyor enroute to Mars on March 14, 1997.

Mars Global Surveyor is the first mission in a sustained program 
of robotic exploration of Mars, managed by JPL for NASA's Office 
of Space Science, Washington, DC.
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THEORY AND TECHNIQUES FOR EXTREMOPHILE RESEARCH
Workshop announcement

JULY 7-10, 1997
Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) , Baltimore, Maryland Co-
sponsored by American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and the 
Maryland Biotechnology Institute (MBI)


This four-day laboratory-intensive course will cover procedures, 
methodologies and up-to-date information about the Archaea, a 
group of organisms commonly found in what are considered harsh or 
extreme environments. This workshop provides introductory and 
intermediate level instruction in Archaeal laboratory techniques, 
including growth, biochemistry, and genetics. A basic knowledge 
of microbiology and nucleic acid laboratory procedures is 
helpful.

The first day of the course will be devoted to a symposium on 
topics in Archaeal research with Methanogenic,(Hyper)Thermophilic 
and Halophilic Archaea, including:  molecular biology, genetics 
and physiology, ecology, phylogeny, genome organization, genomic 
applications, consortia and bioremediation, virology, archaeal 
lipids and lipid biochemistry, and biotechnological applications.

The following three days will be devoted to laboratory sessions, 
which will be preceded by a lecture on methodology and procedures 
for each of the Archaeal groups. The laboratory sessions will 
include three two-hour blocks of demonstration and hands-on 
experiments focusing on Methanogenic, Thermophilic, and 
Halophilic Archaea and includes media preparation, inoculation, 
growth, plating, counting, anaerobic biochemistry, 
transformation, virus induction, and transfection.

The broad hands-on experience should give attendees the necessary 
background and information to conduct similar studies in their 
own laboratories. This workshop will benefit those with a 
foreseeable need to use Archaeal systems in their studies.

"Archaea:  A Laboratory Manual," published by Cold Spring Harbor 
Laboratory Press, will be used as a framework for the experiments 
conducted in the workshop.

Registration information and a complete Workshop Schedule are 
available in the WWW at:  
http://www.atcc.org/workshops/arch_sch.html

PLEASE NOTE:  This workshop will be conducted at the University 
of Maryland's Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) in the 
Columbus Center, located in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Faculty:  Harold J. Schreier, Ph.D., University of Maryland 
Biotechnology Institute (Workshop Co-director); Kevin R. Sowers, 
Ph.D., UMBI (Workshop Co-director); Frank T. Robb, Ph.D., UMBI; 
Alan A. Place, Ph.D., UMBI; Shiladitya DasSarma, Ph.D., Univ. Of 
Massachusetts, Amherst

Fees:
$195.00 - One day symposium - limited to 65 participants / 0.7 
CEUs

$1,195.00 - Symposium and a 3-day laboratory workshop - limited 
to 24 participants / 2.8 CEUs
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NEWS ABOUT GREENHOUSE EFFECT -- NO WARMING?  ADIABATIC THEORY OF 
THE ATMOSPHERE GREENHOUSE EFFECT.
0. G. Sorokhtin, S. A. Ushakov

The adiabatic theory of the greenhouse effect is discussed, 
according to which the mean temperature of the dense convicting 
planetary troposphere behaves according to the adiabatic low of 
distribution and is ruled by the intensity of the solar 
radiation, being subject to stabilizing role of the strong 
negative feedback through planet albedo. The additional heat 
emission in troposphere due to absorption of the heat radiation 
by carbon dioxide, like the influence of atmospheric moisture 
condensation, leads to the decrease in surface planet 
temperatures and temperature gradients in the troposphere. It is 
shown that the double increase in carbon dioxide in the earth's 
atmosphere does not change practically mean surface temperatures 
and does not influence the greenhouse effect at the planet.  The 
theory was checked on the basis of the model of the standard 
Earth atmosphere and temperature distribution in the Venus 
troposphere.

http://www.sio.rssi.ru/grh_e.htm (Web site of the Shirshov 
Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of
Science)
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THE FY96 NASA LIFE SCIENCES TASK BOOK
NASA announcement

The Life Sciences Division of the NASA Office of Life and 
Microgravity Sciences and Applications announces the release of 
the Life Sciences Program Tasks and Bibliography for FY 1996.  
The Task Book is now available via the Internet at:

http://peer1.idi.usra.edu/

Hardcopies can be obtained after June 16, 1997 by writing to:

Program Task Book
c/o John Nelson
Information Dynamics, Inc.
300 D Street, SW, Suite 801
Washington, DC 20024

or by sending e-mail to john.nelson@hq.nasa.gov
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CASSINI LAUNCH ENDANGERED
The Planetary Society

Testifying to the power of the World Wide Web and internet, a 
relatively small group of activists are having a big influence on 
the White House approval process for the launch of the 
Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and its large moon Titan this 
October. Rather than environomental or health issues, the 
activism is mostly motivated by an anti-nuclear agenda.  They are 
writing letters to the White House asking President Clinton to 
not give the required formal approval to the Cassini launch.

We believe than not launching Cassini would be an enormous 
financial, intellectual and exploratory loss. Just as with the 
Galileo mission, a fantastic group of worlds await us at Saturn 
with much to teach us and our children about the solar system, 
planets, the orgins and theories of life, and the processes which 
affect our environment. We urge those who agree -- who want this 
international mission combining talents over a dozen countries to 
be launched to write President Clinton (The White House, 
Washington DC, 20500) and voice their opinion, citing benefits 
and public interest in the mission.

The following is a op-ed essay about Cassini written by Planetary 
Society Executive Director, Louis Friedman, about the subject.  
Dr. Friedman was also interviewed by the CBS program 60 Minutes 
for a show in September which will feature the Cassini issue.  
Additional information about the Cassini mission and the 
scientific and exploratory benefits can be found on internet 
sites linked from here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

ZERO RISK, ZERO GAIN
By Louis Friedman

A small, but vociferous, group of anti-nuclear activists are 
fighting against the launch of the international Cassini mission, 
destined for Saturn, because they fear a potential release of 
plutonium from the on-board power supply.  While their concern is 
understandable, an examination of the issue shows the safety and 
environmental risks to be very small and the knowledge to be 
gained very large.

The Cassini spacecraft is slated for liftoff from Cape Canaveral 
in October of this year. It's designed with a power system that 
has been employed on 23 planetary missions over the past three 
decades. It uses plutonium to generate heat, which is converted 
to electricity to operate the probe. To protect against an 
accident, the plutonium is encased in special containers that can 
withstand high impact and temperatures.

Cassini will execute two gravity-assist flybys of Venus, then one 
each of the Earth and Jupiter, arriving at Saturn in July 2004.  
It will circle the ringed planet some five dozen times during its 
four-year mission. In late 2004, the European-built Huygens probe 
will detach from the main spacecraft and descend through the 
dense atmosphere of Titan, one of Saturn's 18 known moons. Titan, 
the largest body, boasts organic chemistry that may hold clues to 
how life formed on Earth.

The Cassini mission is an exciting adventure with high public 
interest.  We will be exploring new worlds to gain fundamental 
new information about our solar system. Six years of work and two 
billion dollars have been invested by the U.S. and our European 
partners, and now a small band of activists are trying to derail 
the project by promoting fear and exaggerating the risk of an 
accident.

To be sure, plutonium is radioactive and toxic. There is a 
measurable, but small danger from Cassini's plutonium.  The 
probability of an accident during launch in which there could be 
a release of plutonium is one in 1, 500. The chance that there 
could be a release after the craft clears the gantry tower until 
it reaches orbit is about one in 450.  When the probe swings by 
Earth in a gravity assist two years after launch, the likelihood 
there could be a release from an accidental re-entry is less than 
one in a million.

Put together, the total probability of a plutonium release is 
estimated at about one in 350 -- a little less than the chance of 
someone being murdered.  Assuming that the one chance in 350 does 
happen, the probability that it would lead to any serious health 
effect (e.g.  even a single cancer case) is about one in a 100. 
The expected radiation dosage a person might receive is only one 
millirem (unit of radioactivity).  To put this in perspective, we 
receive an average 360 millirems each year just by living on 
Earth.

So while Cassini's launch is not risk-free, the chance of a 
serious accident is slim. Even most opponents of the Cassini 
launch agree with this point. Still, the activists are not 
willing to concede.  They argue that even though the 
probabability is small, the number of people affected could be 
large.  If we define a catastrophe as an accident with population 
effects as big as a hurricane hitting Florida (hundreds of 
deaths), then there is less than one in one million chance of 
having one. This is less than the danger of Earth suffering a 
catastrophic impact from a comet or asteroid in the next year. 
Some asteroid fear-mongers want us to spend billions of dollars 
on space weapons to defend against such a risk.  In the Cassini 
case, the activitists want us to waste two billion dollars by 
cancelling the entire launch.

NASA has already spent millions of dollars to file and publicize 
Environmental Impact Statements on the Cassini mission and to 
take extra safety precautions -- including a multi-layered, 
multi-shelled cannister to house the plutonium and prevent any 
escape.. Alternative technologies were examined, but the expense 
proved prohibitive and would have caused years of delay.

It's worth noting that mainstream or significant environmental 
groups have not opposed the launch. The Planetary Society called 
a meeting of public interest environmental groups, and learned, 
for the most part, it was not on any of their agendas. As 
mentioned, only a handful of shrill activists are carrying the 
opposition banner.  In large part, they are using the Cassini 
mission as a means to pursue other agendas, including a ban on 
all nuclear material and anti-space weapons. They say allowing 
the Cassini spacecraft to use plutonium for its power system is 
the same as giving carte blanche authority to the military to 
introduce nuclear weapons in space, or to approve nuclear 
reactors for Earth orbiters. But these are entirely different 
issues and most space nuclear weapons opponents (including 
myself) have no fear from the Cassini mission.

In the late 1980s, some of the same anti-Cassini protestors tried 
to stop the Galileo mission to Jupiter.  Aren't we glad they 
failed?  Consider what we are now learning about Jupiter's moons 
Europa, Io, Ganymede and the gaseous planet itself.  The Galileo 
mission is generating a gold mine of scientific data. On Europa, 
we've discovered what appears to be an underground ocean that 
could harbor life.

Cassini and Huygens promise to be just as exciting and valuable.  
Saturn's fascinating and complex system of rings and satellites, 
not to mention the planet itself, awaits exploration with a 
likely similar treasure trove of new discoveries.  The search for 
understanding our solar system, the planets, the chemical and 
physical conditions and processes that shape our environment, and 
the origin and evolution of life are the greatest adventures in 
our lifetimes.  The launch of spacecraft cannot be made 
completely risk-free.  But the public can take satisfaction in 
knowing we are being careful, prudent, and smart as we move 
forward and outward beyond Earth.

Dr. Louis Friedman is Executive Director of The Planetary 
Society, the largest space organization with more than 100,000 
members worldwide.
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MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR FLIGHT STATUS REPORTS
JPL releases

Friday, 2 May 1997

No major activities took place this week. For the past three 
weeks, few activities have occurred because the Surveyor 
spacecraft has been configured in a quiet state for a search 
campaign to detect gravity waves. According to theoretical 
physics, these waves are gravitational disturbances emitted by 
all objects in the universe. However, because gravity is a 
relatively weak force, detection of these waves is almost 
impossible unless they are generated by massive objects such as 
black holes and matter at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

To date, nobody has ever detected a gravity wave. If Surveyor 
encountered these waves, the spacecraft would experience an 
extremely small jolt. This tiny bumping motion would cause a tiny 
shift in the frequency of the spacecraft's radio signal 
transmitted to Earth. Analysis of the data generated by this 
experiment will take six months or more.

After a mission elapsed time of 176 days from launch, Surveyor is 
92.74 million kilometers from the Earth, 37.03 million kilometers 
from Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun with a 
velocity of 23.89 kilometers per second. This orbit will 
intercept Mars 132 days from now, slightly after 6:00 p.m. PDT on 
September 11th (01:00 UTC, September 12th).  The spacecraft is 
currently executing the C7 command sequence, and all systems 
continue to be in excellent condition.

Friday, 9 May 1997

At 4:30 a.m. PDT on Thursday, the flight software onboard Mars 
Global Surveyor commanded the spacecraft into safe mode. Entry 
into this operational mode placed the spacecraft in a safe power, 
thermal, and communications configuration. This precautionary 
measure is taken if the spacecraft detects an unexpected event in 
one or more of its subsystems.

The chain of events that resulted in safe mode began Wednesday 
night. At that time, the flight team was finishing the second of 
two calibrations of Surveyor's gyroscopes. These calibrations 
involved commanding the spacecraft to rotate in various 
directions in order to ascertain the performance of the 
gyroscopes. Surveyor had just completed the calibration that 
involved a +Z-axis rotation when the flight software commanded 
the spacecraft into contingency mode. This mode is similar to 
safe mode, but involves fewer precautionary measures taken to 
safe the spacecraft.

Entry into contingency mode was triggered when the direction to 
the Sun as measured by Surveyor's Sun sensors disagreed with the 
predicted direction to the Sun as calculated by the onboard 
flight software. This discrepancy in Sun position was 
approximately 5 degrees. Entry into safe mode occurred about five 
hours later when a flight software task timed out and failed to 
report back Surveyor's central processor. At this time, the 
flight team is identifying the software task that timed out.

The entry into contingency and safe mode resulted in the flight 
software terminating the execution of the current command 
sequence, powering off the science payload and non-essential 
components, and turning the spacecraft toward the Sun to 
guarantee adequate power.  Analysis of telemetry transmitted from 
Surveyor over the last 24 hours indicates that all systems are 
healthy. After the exact cause of safe- mode entry is identified 
and resolved, the flight team will command the spacecraft back 
into its normal operational mode. This process will consume at 
least the next few days.

Late Thursday night, the flight team transmitted a series of 
commands to Surveyor for thermal maintenance purposes. One set of 
commands shut off the secondary set of heaters to avoid 
overheating the spacecraft's 12 attitude-control thruster 
rockets. The other set of commands changed Surveyor's pointing 
orientation from high-gain antenna pointed directly toward the 
Sun to antenna pointed 10 degrees away from the Sun. This 
orientation change allowed for more sunlight to maintain warm 
temperatures on the science instruments.

After a mission elapsed time of 183 days from launch, Surveyor is 
101.43 million kilometers from the Earth, 33.90 million 
kilometers from Mars, and is moving in an orbit around the Sun 
with a velocity of 23.58 kilometers per second. This orbit will 
intercept Mars 125 days from now, slightly after 6:00 p.m. PDT on 
September 11th (01:00 UTC, September 12th).  Although the 
spacecraft is currently operating in safe mode, all systems are 
functioning properly, there are no spacecraft hardware problems, 
and there is no threat to the mission.

Status reports prepared by:

Office of the Flight Operations Manager
Mars Surveyor Operations Project
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91109
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MARS PATHFINDER STATUS REPORT
JPL release

13 June 1997

The spacecraft remains in good health and is currently about 160 
million kilometers from Earth (10 million km from Mars).  The 
total flight time since launch is now 190 days, and we have 21 
days until Mars arrival.

The Operations Team completed the final Operational Readiness 
Test in preparation for Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) and 
surface operations.  This test simulated activities from two days 
before landing through two days after landing and was very 
successful.

Major activities completed during this ORT included a simulated 
Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM)-5, a nominal EDL, a series 
of simulated press conferences for Sol 1 & Sol 2, a successful 
rover deployment of Sol-1, and extended rover traverses over the 
course of the following two days.

For more information, please visit our website at 
http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov.

Status report prepared by:
Office of the Flight Operations Manager
Mars Pathfinder Project
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91109
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ESA IS NOW A MAJOR PLAYER IN GLOBAL SPACE SCIENCE
ESA information note

In 1997 spacecraft built by the European Space Agency are opening 
new windows on our Universe and offering new prospects for 
scientific discovery.

* Results from the star-fixing satellite Hipparcos, released this 
summer to the world's astronomers, give the positions and motions 
of 118,000 stars a hundred times more accurately than ever 
before.

* Every day the Infrared Space Observatory, ISO, examines 45 
cosmic objects on average at many different wavelengths never 
observable before, giving fresh insights into cosmic history and 
chemistry.

* Invaluable new knowledge of the Sun comes from SOHO, the Solar 
and Heliospheric Observatory, which is the first spacecraft able 
to observe the Sun's deep interior as well as its stormy surface 
and atmosphere.

Besides these missions making present headlines, several other 
spacecraft are helping to fulfil ESA's scientific objectives.

* The launch in October 1997 of ESA's probe Huygens, aboard the 
Cassini spacecraft bound for Saturn, foreshadows a breakthrough 
in planetary science in 2004. That is when Huygens will carry its 
scientific instruments into the unique and puzzling atmosphere of 
Saturn's moon Titan.

* Ulysses, also built in Europe, is exploring hitherto unknown 
regions of space, after making the first-ever visit to the Sun's 
polar regions in 1994-95. It will return to the Sun in 2000-2001, 
to observe the effects of the climax of solar activity due at 
that time.

* The Cluster 2 mission, announced in April 1997 and to be 
launched in 2000, will explore the Earth's space environment far 
more throughly than ever before. ESA's decision to replace the 
four Cluster satellites lost in a launch accident in 1996 ensures 
that Europe will continue as the leader in solar-terrestrial 
research in space.

* An example of the three unique 58-mirror X-ray telescopes for 
the XMM mission was unveiled for the press in May 1997. When it 
goes into orbit in 1999 XMM will make, in seconds, observations 
of cosmic objects that took hours with previous X-ray astronomy 
missions.

* The Hubble Space Telescope, in which ESA is a partner, 
continues to deliver the sharpest pictures of the cosmos after 
its February 1997 refurbishment. Europe's astronomers make 
outstanding use of their right to make observations with Hubble, 
guaranteed by ESA's participation.

ESA's table d'hJte for space scientists

To provide world-class opportunities in space for Europe's 
scientific community is one of ESA's primary duties. The 
successes summarized here are not a matter of luck, but of 
decades of sustained planning and effort. Although ESA's science 
budget is small as compared with NASA's equivalent programme, and 
is even being squeezed, yet every one of ESA's missions is first 
in its class.

The scientists of ESA's member states draw up the table d'hJte, 
with a balanced menu of
research opportunities in Solar System exploration and in 
astronomy. ESA coordinates the technological and scientific 
efforts across Europe needed to accomplish the missions, after 
many years of preparation and sometimes adversity. One of ESA's 
strengths is that it sticks to its promises, and maintains a 
balance with several small missions, remaining alert to new tasks 
for short-term projects.

Besides the spacecraft mentioned earlier, ESA is actively working 
on:

* Rosetta. As the successor to the very successful comet mission 
Giotto, which intercepted Halley's Comet in 1986 and Comet Grigg-
Skjellerup in 1992, Rosetta will confirm ESA's role as the world 
leader in comet science. To be launched in 2003, Rosetta will 
rendezvous with Comet Wirtanen, and fly in close orbit around it 
as it makes its closest approach to the Sun ten years later.

* Integral. Adapted from the XMM spacecraft to save money, 
Integral will go into orbit in 2001 and renew ESA's role in 
gamma-ray astronomy, pioneered in its COS-B mission some twenty 
years ago. Gamma-rays reveal the most violent events in the 
Universe, including the gamma-ray bursts that are exciting 
astronomers greatly at present.

* FIRST and Planck Surveyor. FIRST is a long-standing major 
project to extend the scope of infrared space astronomy to 
wavelengths longer than ISO's. Planck Surveyor was recently 
selected as a medium-scale project, to chart the cosmic microwave 
background carefully enough to trace the origin of the galaxies. 
ESA is now examining the option of combining these two missions 
in a single spacecraft, for launching in 2005.

Prominent among other enticing possibilities is Mars Express, a 
high-level, low-cost mission that could set off for the Red 
Planet in 2003. It would give Europe an important stake in the 
exploration of Mars, by remote sensing from an orbiter and by 
experiments in landers. The latter can exploit ESA's experience 
in preparing for the Huygens mission to Titan.  Some of the Mars 
experiments should be readily adaptable from instruments prepared 
for other missions.

ESA is also considering SMART missions, using small satellites to 
test key technologies. Solar-electric propulsion, long seen as a 
much-needed advance in spacecraft engines, could take a small 
spacecraft to the Moon and then onwards to an asteroid. A second 
candidate for a SMART mission would develop "drag free" 
technologies for testing Einstein's theory of gravity.

Other possibilities under review include participation in a 
replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope, and opportunities for 
science associated with the International Space Station. In 
addition, three major projects have been selected by Europe's 
space scientists as long-term goals.

A spacecraft to orbit the hot planet Mercury, barely explored 
till now, will shed new light on the history of the Solar System. 
An astronomical interferometric mission using two or more 
telescopes in combination will observe the stars and galaxies 
more accurately by visible or infrared light. And a novel kind of 
astronomy is promised by an ambitious gravitational-wave mission 
to detect radiation predicted by Einstein's theory of gravity, 
which supposedly stretches and squeezes space itself.

In short, ESA is delivering superb space science and, if future 
funding allows, has exciting ideas for the new millennium.

A picture is available of a huge cloud of hydrogen gas around 
Comet Hale-Bopp. This image illustrates two areas of space 
science where ESA leads:  comet research and solar research.  The 
image is from SOHO's SWAN instrument, the primary task of which 
is to chart the solar wind.

Note:  To learn more about ESA, visit the ESA homepage on the 
World Wide Web at the new address:
http://www.esa.int
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ARTICLES OF INTEREST
by Julian Hiscox

This is just a quick note to those of you interested in the 
biological aspects of planetary engineering.  There are a couple 
of interesting papers in this week's Science (6th June) that 
might be worth noting:

Manuel de la Fuente et al.  1997.  Aluminum tolerance in 
transgenic plants by alteration of citrate synthesis.  Science. 
v276.  p1566-1568.

And perhaps less relevant, but illustrative of the remarkable 
versatility of microorganisms (who knows perhaps there is a CFC 
producing bug out there!):

Maymo-Gatell et al.  1997.  Isolation of a bacterium that 
reductively dechlorinates tetrachloroethane to ethene.  Science. 
v276.  p1568-1571.

And a comment on the above by McCarty.  1997.  Breathing with 
chlorinated solvents. Science.  v276.  p1521-1522.
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End Marsbugs Vol. 8, No. 9

