MARSBUGS:  
The Electronic Exobiology Newsletter
Volume 5, Number 6, 10 March, 1998.

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 and Word97 files suitable for 
printing 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)	LUNAR PROSPECTOR FINDS EVIDENCE OF ICE AT MOON'S POLES
NASA release 98-38

2)	LUNAR ICE:  PRIVATE COMPANY'S MISSION-IN-PROGRESS COULD LEAD 
TO RETURN OF SAMPLES
JPL release

3)	TAKING EUROPE TO THE MOON
ESA release Nr 09-98

4)	JPL RECRUITS TWO EXPERTS TO HELP HUNT FOR NEW PLANETS AND 
LIFE
JPL release

5)	NEW PLANETARY ENCYCLOPEDIA HAS DEFINITE JPL FLAVOR 
By Mark Whalen

6)	MARS SURVEYOR 98 PROJECT STATUS REPORT
by John McNamee

7)	GALILEO SOLID STATE IMAGING FULL DATA RELEASES
JPL release
------------------------------------------------------------------

LUNAR PROSPECTOR FINDS EVIDENCE OF ICE AT MOON'S POLES
NASA release 98-38

There is a high probability that water ice exists at both the 
north and south poles of the Moon, according to initial scientific 
data returned by NASA's Lunar Prospector.

The Discovery Program mission also has produced the first 
operational gravity map of the entire lunar surface, which should 
serve as a fundamental reference for all future lunar exploration 
missions, project scientists announced today at NASA's Ames 
Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.

Just two months after the launch of the cylindrical spacecraft, 
mission scientists have solid evidence of the existence of lunar 
water ice, including estimates of its volume, location and 
distribution.  "We are elated at the performance of the spacecraft 
and its scientific payload, as well as the resulting quality and 
magnitude of information about the Moon that we already have been 
able to extract," said Dr. Alan Binder, Lunar Prospector Principal 
Investigator from the Lunar Research Institute, Gilroy, CA.

The presence of water ice at both lunar poles is strongly 
indicated by data from the spacecraft's neutron spectrometer 
instrument, according to mission scientists.  Graphs of data 
ratios from the neutron spectrometer "reveal distinctive 3.4 
percent and 2.2 percent dips in the relevant curves over the 
northern and southern polar regions, respectively," Binder said.  
"This is the kind of data 'signature' one would expect to find if 
water ice is present."

However, the Moon's water ice is not concentrated in polar ice 
sheets, mission scientists cautioned.  "While the evidence of 
water ice is quite strong, the water 'signal' itself is relatively 
weak," said Dr. William Feldman, co-investigator and spectrometer 
specialist at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National 
Laboratory, NM.  "Our data are consistent with the presence of 
water ice in very low concentrations across a significant number 
of craters." Using models based on other Lunar Prospector data, 
Binder and Feldman predict that water ice is confined to the polar 
regions and exists at only a 0.3 percent to 1 percent mixing ratio 
in combination with the Moon's rocky soil, or regolith.

How much lunar water ice has been detected? Assuming a water ice 
depth of about a foot and a half (0.5 meters)--the depth to which 
the neutron spectrometer's signal can penetrate--Binder and 
Feldman estimate that the data are equivalent to an overall range 
of 11 million to 330 million tons (10-300 million metric tons) of 
lunar water ice, depending upon the assumptions of the model used.  
This quantity is dispersed over 3,600 to 18,000 square miles 
(10,000-50,000 square kilometers) of water ice-bearing deposits 
across the northern pole, and an additional 1,800 to 7,200 square 
miles (5,000-20,000 square kilometers) across the southern polar 
region.  Furthermore, twice as much of the water ice mixture was 
detected by Lunar Prospector at the Moon's north pole as at the 
south.

Dr. Jim Arnold of the University of California at San Diego 
previously has estimated that the most water ice that could 
conceivably be present on the Moon as a result of meteoritic and 
cometary impacts and other processes is 11 billion to 110 billion 
tons.  The amount of lunar regolith that could have been 
"gardened" by all impacts in the past 2 billion years extends to a 
depth of about 6.5 feet (2 meters), he found.  On that basis, 
Lunar Prospector's estimate of water ice would have to be 
increased by a factor of up to four, to the range of 44 million to 
1.3 billion tons (40 million to 1.2 billion metric tons).  In 
actuality, Binder and Feldman caution that, due to the inadequacy 
of existing lunar models, their current estimates "could be off by 
a factor of ten in either direction."

The earlier joint Defense Department-NASA Clementine mission to 
the Moon used a radar-based technique that detected ice deposits 
in permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole.  It is 
not possible to directly compare the results from Lunar Prospector 
to Clementine because of their fundamentally different sensors, 
measurement "footprints," and analysis techniques.  However, 
members of the Clementine science team concluded that its radar 
signal detected from 110 million to 1.1 billion tons (100 million 
to 1 billion metric tons) of water ice, over an upper area limit 
of 5,500 square miles (15,500 square kilometers) of south pole 
terrain.

There are various ways to estimate the economic potential of the 
detected lunar water ice as a supporting resource for future human 
exploration of the Moon.  One way is to estimate the cost of 
transporting that same volume of water ice from Earth to orbit.  
Currently, it costs about $10,000 to put one pound of material 
into orbit.  NASA is conducting technology research with the goal 
of reducing that figure by a factor of 10, to only $1,000 per 
pound.  Using an estimate of 33 million tons from the lower range 
detected by Lunar Prospector, it would cost $60 trillion to 
transport this volume of water to space at that rate, with unknown 
additional cost of transport to the Moon's surface.

From another perspective, a typical person consumes an estimated 
100 gallons of water per day for drinking, food preparation, 
bathing and washing.  At that rate, the same estimate of 33 
million tons of water (7.2 billion gallons) could support a 
community of 1,000 two-person households for well over a century 
on the lunar surface, without recycling.

"This finding by Lunar Prospector is primarily of scientific 
interest at this time, with implications for the rate and 
importance of cometary impacts in the history and evolution of the 
Solar System," said Dr. Wesley Huntress, NASA Associate 
Administrator for Space Science.  "A cost-effective method to mine 
the water crystals from within this large volume of soil would 
have to be developed if it were to become a real resource for 
drinking water or as the basic components of rocket fuel to 
support any future human explorers."

Before the Lunar Prospector mission, historical tracking data from 
various NASA Lunar Orbiter and Apollo missions had provided 
evidence that the lunar gravity field is not uniform.  Mass 
concentrations caused by lava which filled the Moon's huge craters 
are known to be the cause of the anomalies.  However, precise maps 
of lunar mass concentrations covering the moon's equatorial 
nearside region were the only ones available.

Lunar Prospector has dramatically improved this situation, 
according to co-investigator Dr. Alex Konopliv of NASA's Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.  Telemetry data from Lunar 
Prospector has been analyzed to produce a full gravity map of both 
the near and far side of the moon.  Konopliv also has identified 
two new mass concentrations on the Moon's nearside that will be 
used to enhance geophysical modeling of the lunar interior.  This 
work has produced the first-ever complete engineering-quality 
gravity map of the moon, a key to the operational safety and fuel-
efficiency of future lunar missions.

"This spacecraft has performed beyond all reasonable 
expectations," said NASA's Lunar Prospector mission manager Scott 
Hubbard of Ames.  "The findings announced today are just the tip 
of the iceberg compared to the wealth of information forthcoming 
in the months and years ahead."

Lunar Prospector is scheduled to continue its current primary data 
gathering mission at an altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers) for 
a period of ten more months.  At that time, the spacecraft will be 
put into an orbit as low as six miles (10 kilometers) so that its 
suite of science instruments can collect data at much finer 
resolution in support of more detailed scientific studies.  In 
addition, surface composition and structure information developed 
from data returned by the spacecraft's Gamma Ray Spectrometer 
instrument will be a crucial aspect of additional analysis of the 
polar water ice finding over the coming months.

The third launch in NASA's Discovery Program of lower cost, highly 
focused planetary science missions, Lunar Prospector is being 
implemented for NASA by Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, CA, with 
mission management by NASA Ames.  The total cost to NASA of the 
mission is $63 million.

Additional information about the Lunar Prospector mission can be 
found on the Internet at URL http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov
------------------------------------------------------------------

LUNAR ICE:  PRIVATE COMPANY'S MISSION-IN-PROGRESS COULD LEAD TO 
RETURN OF SAMPLES
JPL release

6 March, 1998

Applied Space Resources, Inc.'s current engineering work for a 
September 2000 Lunar Sample Return Mission will provide framework 
for polar exploration

As NASA announced the Lunar Prospector's discovery of polar ice on 
the Moon, Applied Space Resources, Inc. (ASR) of Long Island, New 
York said the robotic sample return mission it is currently 
engineering will provide a proof of concept for low-cost 
commercial lunar sample retrieval missions.  ASR's lunar sample 
return mission, the Lunar Retriever, will retrieve lunar rock and 
soil to sell both to research organizations and, through 
commercial channels, to the general public.  ASR expects to launch 
Lunar Retriever by September 2000, the 30th anniversary of Luna 
16, the first robotic sample return mission to soft land on the 
moon.

"Based on the spacecraft designed for the Lunar Retriever mission, 
a follow-on mission to retrieve lunar soil and ice samples could 
be launched within six to twelve months after the initial mission 
at a cost well under $100 million," says Denise Norris, ASR's CEO.

When passed, the Commercial Space Act of 1997 will specifically 
instruct NASA to look to private companies like ASR to develop the 
In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technology critical to its 
plans for future space exploration and colonization.  And 
technology for using the newly-discovered lunar ice would give 
space exploration an immense boost.  Water is critical to human 
life support, and can also be separated into its chemical 
components of hydrogen and oxygen:  oxygen for breathing, and 
combinations of hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel.  But the cost 
of lifting the thousands of gallons of water into low Earth orbit 
alone, much less transporting it from there to the Moon, would be 
prohibitive.

The Lunar Prospector data suggests there is an immense amount of 
water on the Moon in the form of ice mixed in with lunar soil.  
But before space explorers can make use of the water, scientists 
and engineers will have to figure out how best to extract it from 
the lunar soil, in which it is sparsely scattered.  The Lunar 
Prospector's investigators, Dr. Alan Binder of the Lunar Research 
Institute in Gilroy, California and Dr. William Feldman of the Los 
Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, say the data suggests 
that water ice is confined to the polar regions and exists at only 
a 0.3 percent to 1 percent mixing ratio in combination with the 
rocky lunar soil.

Jay Manifold, ASR's Vice President of Research and Development, 
says, "The key to ISRU development, including research on how to 
extract and use lunar ice, is putting samples of lunar resources 
in the hands of scientists on Earth.  ASR's goal is to use 
existing technologies to deliver spacecraft to any destination 
with precision, and return resources and information with equal 
precision, for a profit.  Our Lunar Retriever, for example, will 
use the same Lockheed-Martin Athena 2 rocket as the Lunar 
Prospector.  A mission to collect samples of lunar polar ice, and 
return them in cryogenic storage, would be a logical next step for 
us."

ASR's principals stress the importance of entrepreneurs to opening 
near-Earth space to the resource development that will make 
possible fulfilling NASA's exploration goals.  ASR will make its 
services available to private and public concerns alike, but will 
take no subsidies.  "Humankind will only benefit from the 
resources of space when they are developed by private enterprises 
such as ours," says Denise Norris.  "We intend to use our 
knowledge, creativity, hard work and business vision to 
demonstrate the viability of market-driven space missions.  We 
will not go to the public asking them to send us into space.  We 
will go into space first, then come to the public with something 
to offer:  the productive utilization of the vast resources of 
near-Earth space."

More information about Applied Space Resources and its Lunar 
Retriever mission can be found at the ASR web site, 
http://www.appliedspace.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------

TAKING EUROPE TO THE MOON
ESA release Nr 09-98

5 March, 1998

In 1994 the European Space Agency (ESA) developed a phased Lunar 
program leading to the long-term goal of creating an 
infrastructure for utilizing and developing the Moon whilst 
preserving Lunar assets.

The first step in this ESA initiated program is a unique project 
called "Euromoon 2000" which is currently being studied by ESA 
engineers/scientists and key European Space Industries.  The 
project is intended to celebrate Europe's entry into the New 
Millennium; and to promote public awareness and interest in 
science, technology and space exploration.

Euromoon 2000 has an innovative and ambitious implementation plan.  
This includes a 'partnership with industry' and a financing scheme 
based on raising part of the mission's budget from sponsorship 
through a dynamic public relations strategy and marketing program.

The mission begins in earnest with the small (approx. 100 kg) 
LunarSat orbiter satellite, to be designed and built by 50 young 
scientists and engineers from across Europe.  Scheduled for launch 
in 2000 as a secondary payload on a European Ariane 5 rocket, it 
will then orbit the Moon, mapping the planned landing area in 
greater detail in preparation of the Euromoon Lander in 2001.  The 
lander's 40 kg payload allocation will accommodate amongst others 
scientific instrumentation for in-situ investigation of the unique 
site.  Elements of specific support to the publicity and fund-
raising campaign will also be considered.

The Lander will aim for the "Peak of Eternal Light" on the rim of 
the 20 km-diameter, 3 km-deep Shackleton South Pole crater--a site 
uniquely suited for establishing a future outpost.  This location 
enjoys almost continuous sunlight thus missions can rely on solar 
power instead of bulky batteries or costly and potentially 
hazardous nuclear power generation.  As a consequence of the 
undulating South Pole terrain there are also permanently shadowed 
areas--among the coldest in the Solar System resulting in 
conditions highly favorable for the formation of frozen volatiles 
(as suggested by the Clementine mission in 1994).

Earlier this year (7 January 1998), NASA launched its Lunar 
Prospector satellite which is currently performing polar lunar 
orbits surveying areas of the moon's surface rarely documented in 
previous missions.  The data now being received back from 
Prospector strongly suggests the presence of the suspected 
volatiles (water ice?).  Understandably the presence of billions-
of-years-old frozen water in proximity to Euromoon's planned 
landing site would provide a tremendous boost for the 
implementation of the Euromoon project now in its 10th month of 
study.  The in-situ analysis of such rare substances will provide 
an invaluable scientific window back in time (the Moon is believed 
to have been formed over 3.5 billion years ago from elements of 
the earth's mantel).  The water's constituent elements of hydrogen 
and oxygen have also the possibility of offering an essentially 
free supply of rocket propellant and oxygen for exploitation 
during future activities.  Euromoon is the only mission being 
studied that can investigate this ice in-situ, while the US 
satellite will remain in a orbit.

The mission is particularly challenging because of the required 
landing precision (within 100 squared meters) in terrain varying 
between +6 km and -5 km in altitude.  Achieving the required 
pinpoint touchdown capability would allow the future exploitation 
of other interesting sites.  One such site is the 6 km-high 
Malapert Mountain, 120 km from the pole from which the Earth can 
always be seen thus allowing continuous communications with the 
home planet for any future outpost in the region.  The "Peak of 
Eternal Light" (described above) is in direct view of Malapert, 
the twin peaks offer the tantalizing possibility of both of 
uninterrupted power and communications.

Euromoon can be seen as be the initial step in founding the first 
extraterrestrial outpost, founding the infrastructure for a 
"robotic village" controlled by a "virtual community" of Earth-
based operators using telescience.  This would indeed mark the 
beginning of an expansion of the human domain beyond Earth without 
the risk or cost of manned space travel.  This concept also forms 
an essential element of the fund-raising campaign, which will 
create an exciting media opportunity involving all levels of 
society.

Mission costs will be minimized by using existing hardware and a 
rapid schedule.  Industrial partners would share risk and 
responsibility of realizing the mission by forming the Euromoon 
Company.  A new marketing and advertising consortium has been 
formed with the specific task of raising funds through diverse 
commercial activities.

Euromoon 2000 was chosen by ESA's Long-term Space Policy Committee 
as the candidate for the Millennium Celebration and presented to 
the Agency's Council in December 1997.  A progress report, as well 
as a program proposal will be presented to the March Council and a 
final decision is expected in June next.
------------------------------------------------------------------

JPL RECRUITS TWO EXPERTS TO HELP HUNT FOR NEW PLANETS AND LIFE
JPL release

5 March, 1998

Two newly-arrived scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory will play a key role in the search for planets around 
other stars and the hunt for life beyond Earth.  The appointments 
highlight a new JPL initiative to unite scientists from various 
disciplines, such as biology and astronomy, to study the evolution 
of planets and life in the universe.

Dr. Didier Queloz, a Swiss astronomer who co-discovered the first 
known planet around a star similar to our Sun, is a distinguished 
visiting scientist at JPL for the next year and a half.  Dr. 
Kenneth Nealson has joined JPL as a senior researcher in 
astrobiology, a new field whose goal is to understand how planets 
and life co-evolve.

While at JPL, Queloz will continue his search for planets and help 
the Lab develop sophisticated search technologies.  His work will 
benefit NASA's Origins Program, a series of planned missions to 
study the formation of galaxies, stars, planets and life.  The 
program has gained momentum from discoveries by Queloz and, 
subsequently, other astronomers, of several planets orbiting stars 
beyond our Sun.  Many scientists believe this raises the odds that 
an Earth-like planet exists with suitable conditions for life.

Queloz, a Swiss citizen, received his degree in physics in 1990 
from the University of Geneva and worked on his doctoral thesis at 
Geneva Observatory with Professor Michel Mayor from 1991 to 1995.  
Using the French Elodie telescope in Haute Provence, France, they 
looked for signs of a Doppler shift in nearby stars.  As a star 
moves closer and then farther away from Earth, the star's color 
shifts from red to blue.  By detecting this motion, astronomers 
can infer that the star is being tugged by gravity from an 
orbiting planet.

"Back then, these experiments were considered a bit nutty," 
recalled Queloz.  When Queloz and Mayor first detected a Doppler 
shift from the star 51 Pegasus, Queloz said their first reaction 
was, "We'd better check our instruments."

Even after they verified the instruments' accuracy, Queloz and 
Mayor spent several weeks monitoring 51 Pegasus to confirm the 
discovery.  In July of 1995, they were confident enough to buy a 
large cake and hold a celebration party in the south of France for 
family and friends.  Queloz and Mayor formally announced their 
discovery, a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting 51 Pegasus, at an 
October 1995 scientific meeting in Florence, Italy.

Queloz has received several honors, including the Swiss Society 
for Physics' Balzers Award, the Bioastronomy Medal from the 
International Astronomical Union, Commission 51, and a Best Thesis 
in Science honor from a Swiss corporation, Vacheron Constantin.

Queloz is continuing his hunt for new planets with the Elodie 
telescope and its twin, Coralie, a Swiss telescope in La Silla, 
Chile.  But he and other astronomers face great challenges in 
finding new and better ways to detect planets more like Earth.  
Current techniques allow only for the detection of giant, Jupiter-
sized planets, which are considered unlikely candidates for life.

While at JPL, Queloz will share his planet-finding experience with 
engineers who are designing more advanced technologies.  Queloz is 
using a testbed interferometer at Caltech's Palomar Observatory to 
run tests on stars and prepare for an observing program.  This 
work will help pave the way for other Origins projects, including 
the W. M. Keck Observatory interferometer in Hawaii, the Space 
Interferometry Mission, and the Terrestrial Planet Finder, all 
being planned by NASA.

Interferometry combines and processes light from several 
telescopes to simulate a much larger telescope, and holds great 
promise as a tool in the search for Earth-sized planets.  "I'd 
like to play a role in future exploration by helping to define 
interferometry techniques," Queloz said.  During his stay at JPL, 
Queloz is living in Pasadena with his wife and their two children.

Until very recently, an astronomer like Queloz would have had 
little if any interaction with a biological scientist like Dr. 
Kenneth Nealson.  But various disciplines, such as astronomy, 
geology, biology and chemistry, are joining forces to study the 
development of life on Earth and the prospects of life elsewhere.  
Therefore, the work of scientists like Nealson and Queloz is 
converging to form a broad, interdisciplinary approach.

"After all," said Nealson, "life is not a simple system and no 
science operates in a vacuum.  Younger students are studying 
several disciplines to gain a more comprehensive view."

Nealson is part of this new wave of scientific training, as a 
geobiology teacher and faculty associate in Caltech's geology and 
planetary sciences division.  At JPL, a division of Caltech, 
Nealson has been appointed to head a new astrobiology unit.  
Nealson said over the next few years, his astrobiology group will 
develop an understanding of the way life and planets have evolved, 
and will define the signatures of life.

"Not many foolhardy souls have ventured into this area," Nealson 
said.  "After all, how can you find life if you don't know what 
you're looking for?  This is a very, very important problem to be 
solved because right now we're not sure how to distinguish life 
from non-life.  Our goal is to develop tools to make that 
distinction clearly."

In recent years, microbiologists have made startling discoveries 
about the hardiness of life on Earth, studying living organisms in 
thermal vents, acid lakes and other unlikely environments.  
Nealson pointed out, "This has opened the eyes of scientists to 
the notion that life could exist under seemingly inhospitable 
conditions on other planets."

Astrobiologists will also study changes in Earth's chemical 
composition over billions of years.  They will then apply this 
knowledge to other planets to look for "chemical signatures" that 
might indicate that life has existed or could exist there.

Nealson said astrobiology will be useful for numerous space 
missions, including the Mars sample return mission, scheduled to 
bring back Martian rocks in the middle of the next decade.  
Astrobiology will also benefit the Origins Program's Terrestrial 
Planet Finder, which will look for Earth-like planets around other 
stars and hunt for signs of life-sustaining chemicals.  Nealson 
said astrobiological studies may prove valuable in the study of 
Jupiter's moon, Europa, which may have liquid oceans under its 
frozen surface.  This icy moon is currently being studied by 
NASA's Galileo Europa Mission, and a new Europa Orbiter has a 
planned launch in 2003.

Originally from West Liberty, Iowa, Nealson got his bachelor of 
science degree in biochemistry in 1965 from the University of 
Chicago.  He earned his Ph.D.  in microbiology from the University 
of Chicago and did postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.  
Nealson taught at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, 
CA, and at the Center for Great Lakes Studies, University of 
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI.  His honors include the Guggenheim 
Fellowship for Sabbatical Leave in 1981, and an appointment as an 
elected fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology, which he 
received in November 1993.  Nealson and his wife live in South 
Pasadena, CA.
------------------------------------------------------------------



NEW PLANETARY ENCYCLOPEDIA HAS DEFINITE JPL FLAVOR 
By Mark Whalen
from the "JPL Universe"

6 February, 1998

JPL scientist Jim Shirley and colleagues have completed a 
comprehensive reference book that is being noted among the best in 
its class.  The volume, Encyclopedia of Planetary Sciences, is 
part of publisher Chapman & Hall's "Earth Science" series.  It is 
close to 1,000 pages in length and is packed with almost 500 
articles submitted by 214 contributors, bolstered by numerous 
maps, planetary images, charts and tables.

Of note is the fact that more than 30 of those authors are 
current, former or retired JPL scientists, all of whom have 
extensive experience in authoring scientific articles for 
publication.

"We included a diversity of viewpoints, and some difference of 
opinion," said Shirley, the book's co-editor, who works on 
Galileo's Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS).  He noted 
that separate articles cover all major lunar and planetary 
missions since the days of JPL's Lunar Orbiter, Ranger and 
Surveyor missions of the 1960s.

Although the book's manuscript was submitted for publication prior 
to Galileo's Jupiter orbit insertion in late 1995, there are major 
articles on both the Galileo and Cassini missions.

According to Shirley, the difference between his work and prior 
encyclopedic efforts to chronicle planetary science is the large 
number of articles.  Most other books include only a few dozen 
articles at most, he said.

"We have limited the length of the major articles to about 5,000 
words," Shirley said.  "This allowed us to provide at least 10 
times more content than any previous book that looks at the solar 
system or planetary science as a whole." He pointed to the book's 
comprehensive coverage of asteroids, meteorites, fields and 
particles; processes such as impact cratering and planetary 
accretion; and of techniques of remote sensing, image processing 
and celestial mechanics.

The standard articles are about 2,000 words in length.  A third 
category in the encyclopedia covers definitions of geological, 
astronomical, physical and meteorological terms that range up to 
about 500 words.  Also in this category are nearly 100 
biographical entries on pioneering scientists.

Shirley, who noted with humor that the effort was a "hellishly 
time-consuming project," wanted to reach a wide readership, not 
just scientists.  For example, he said, "We tried to make the book 
accessible for a high school student who might wonder how JPL 
produces such amazing images of planets."

The volume has been favorably reviewed in science journals.  New 
Scientist magazine noted that the book "provides comprehensive and 
concise coverage of the whole gamut of planetary science in a form 
that will be of great use to professionals, students and 
interested general readers.

"When it comes to the planets, their characteristics, 
interrelations and environment, this is the book of the decade," 
declared the review's author.

Although the manuscript was completed more than two years ago, 
Shirley is not overly concerned that the book will rapidly become 
out of date.  "The users of encyclopedia articles need a clear 
summary of the basic facts, together with a good list of 
references for further study.  The latest interpretations, on the 
other hand, may become stale with time.  Encyclopedia articles 
should help move the reader rapidly up the learning curve."
------------------------------------------------------------------

MARS SURVEYOR 98 PROJECT STATUS REPORT
by John McNamee, Mars Surveyor 98 Project Manager

6 March, 1998

Orbiter and lander integration and test activities are proceeding 
on schedule with no significant probleMs. Orbiter electromagnetic 
compatibility testing is in process and will be completed next 
week.  Mechanical integration of the lander to the cruise 
configuration is in process.  The lander vehicle will be 
encapsulated within the aeroshell on Mar 9.  The lander spacecraft 
in full cruise configuration will be transported to the acoustics 
lab at Lockheed Martin on Mar 18.

The Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) flight instrument 
integration is complete.  Testing and calibration of the TEGA is 
in process at the University of Arizona.

For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, please visit 
this website:  http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/
------------------------------------------------------------------

GALILEO SOLID STATE IMAGING FULL DATA RELEASES
JPL release

All images obtained by the Galileo Solid State Imaging (SSI) 
system during the spacecraft's first four orbits (G1, G2, C3 and 
E4) of Jupiter are now
validated and available.

Images and data obtained by NASA/JPL's Galileo mission have been 
available on an ongoing basis during the spacecraft's journey 
through the Jovian system in order to share with the public the 
excitement of exploration and new discoveries being made via the 
NASA/JPL Galileo spacecraft.  Galileo scientists have a one year 
period set aside for the process of calibrating and validating the 
data.  The full digital images necessary for scientific analysis 
are released within one year of receipt of an orbit's last data.

* Some of the BEST of the IMAGE PRODUCTS from the ongoing public 
releases are available now in multiple formats on the Planetary 
PhotoJournal web pages.



G1 IMAGE PRODUCTS
G2 IMAGE PRODUCTS
C3 IMAGE PRODUCTS
E4 IMAGE PRODUCTS

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo/fulldata.html

* ALL IMAGES from the first four orbits (G1, G2, C3 and E4) are 
merged and validated and available via the Planetary Data System.
* Primary Mission (6/96 - 12/97) Release Schedule for validated 
data sets 
* ALL Galileo Cruise Phase (10/89 - 12/95) Data

ALL IMAGING DATA from G1, G2, C3 and E4 is available via the 
Planetary Data System (PDS) Imaging Node at http://www-
pdsimage.jpl.nasa.gov/PDS/

The PDS offers a simple query interface to access all available 
G1, G2, C3 and E4 data.  It allows the user to search by various 
parameters such as target name, spacecraft clock, 
latitude/longitude, filter, phase angle, exposure, gain, and 
compression ratio.  PDS will continue to expand and improve this 
interface to include queries for any label parameters and, by the 
end of 1997, a format to select data via a map interface.

To accommodate the various needs of the scientific community, the 
archived files are raw data files which merge the multiple 
downlinks of data to provide the best final version of an image.  
Supporting data such as calibration files are available now and 
will be available through PDS within a few weeks.  Such files 
include dark currents, radiometric calibrations, blemishes, hot 
pixels, etc..

Galileo Primary Mission (6/96-12/97)
Solid State Imaging Orbital Data Sets
Public Release Schedule

Orbit 1 (G1)	September 06, 1997
Orbit 2 (G2)	November 04, 1997
Orbit 3 (C3)	December 19, 1997
Orbit 4 (E4)	February 20, 1998
Orbit 6 (E6)	April 05, 1998
Orbit 7 (G7)	May 07, 1998
Orbit 8 (G8)	June 25, 1998
Orbit 9 (C9)	September 17, 1998
Orbit 10 (C10)	November 06, 1998
Orbit 11 (E11) & GEM Schedules will be posted when available.
------------------------------------------------------------------

End Marsbugs Vol. 5, No. 6.


