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Part 2 of Todays News Home Page 2002

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Today's Headline News From February. 2002

Past News Archives

March 31, 2002

NASA PINPOINTS WHERE RAIN COMES FROM AND WHERE IT GOES

A new NASA computer model can now tell exactly where in the world rain
or snow that provides local water originated. Scientists can use this
"water vapor tracer" to improve rainfall and drought forecasts and gain
a deeper understanding of climate change.

The model simulates water movement in the atmosphere around the world,
and traces it from the places where it evaporates to the places where
it falls back to Earth.

"If I see rain or snow in the central U.S., I can now tell you how much
of the moisture came from the Gulf of Mexico, how much came from the
tropical Atlantic Ocean and so on," said meteorologist Mike Bosilovich
of NASA's Data Assimilation Office at Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md. Bosilovich is lead author of the study being published
in the March-April issue of the Journal of Hydrometeorology. "The model
gives us a much clearer picture of how water moves in the atmosphere
than we have ever had before."

By identifying water vapor movement in the atmosphere, weather
forecasters will better understand how evaporation from a particular
place contributes to local and regional precipitation, leading to more
accurate weather forecasts. The model can actually pinpoint individual
regional sources of atmospheric moisture, rather than combining them.
Bosilovich said if scientists can understand how geographic sources of
atmospheric moisture fluctuate from year to year, they also will have a
clearer picture of how climate changes in the long term.

The atmosphere over North America receives moisture evaporated from
many different water sources. For example, while clouds above the West
Coast generally originate in the Pacific Ocean, those over the Midwest
are more likely to have come from the Gulf of Mexico. Water from
previous storms also evaporates from the land, contributing to the mix.

"You might visualize each region of a continent or ocean as having a
kind of 'smokestack,'" Bosilovich explained. "Each 'smokestack' sends
up a plume of water vapor that mixes with the air."

But what complicates matters is that these "smokestacks" send up
different-sized plumes of moisture at different times, and changes in
wind and temperature can push them in different directions depending on
the day or season. Until very recently, even the fastest computers had
trouble keeping track of all the variables.

Bosilovich and Siegfried Schubert, who works with Bosilovich, have
demonstrated the model's capabilities by analyzing the atmospheric
water cycles over India and North America. They chose to analyze the
cycles during the summer months over a period of six years, since both
regions experience monsoons from June through August, and provide a
great deal of moisture to track.

They found that while precipitation in India often comes directly from
the ocean, much of what falls on the United States in the summertime
can be "recycled" moisture -- water from previous storms that
evaporates from the ground and then falls again quickly nearby. "The
model could assess how strongly this recycling of water contributed to
floods like the devastating Mississippi River flood of 1993,"
Bosilovich said.

Bosilovich is currently applying the data from the 1993 flood to the
water-vapor tracer model, to gain a better insight into the processes
that generated the flood. Analyzing past weather events will help him
refine his model's operation, a necessity if it is ever to make
accurate predictions of future weather.

"Currently, the only hard data the model accounts for is sea surface
temperature; everything else is simulated. Our next big job is to work
more observational data into the model, so it can reflect actual global
atmospheric conditions," said Bosilovich. Such improvements will take
time, but could lead scientists to better understanding of both next
week's weather and the next century's climate.

The work is supported by grants from the joint NASA-NOAA Warm Season
Precipitation Initiative and NASA's Earth Science Enterprise.

Additional information is available at:

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020401watervapor.html

Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS)
Ganges Chasma Landslide (Released 1 April 2002)

This image shows a spectacular landslide along a portion of the southern
wall of Ganges Chasma within Valles Marineris. Landslides have very
characteristic morphologies on Earth, which they also display on Mars. These
morphologies include a distinctive escarpment at the uppermost part of the
landslide--called a head scarp (seen at the bottom of this image), a
down-dropped block of material below that escarpment that dropped almost
vertically, and a deposit of debris that moved away from the escarpment at
high speed. In this example, the wall rock displayed in the upper part of
the cliff is layered, with spurs and chutes created by iffering amounts of
erosion. Below the steep scarp is a smoother, steep slope of material with
small, narrow tongues of debris that have eroded off of the escarpment since
the landslide occurred (a talus slope). The actual landslide deposit,
visible in the upper half of this image, shows striations that form by
differences in the side-by-side motion during high velocity emplacement.
This immense landslide traveled some 70 km at speeds that probably exceeded
100 kilometers per hour (60 miles per hour) before coming to rest, forming
abrupt, terminal fronts (upper right corner of image). Even at these high
speeds, this massive landslide was moving for nearly an hour before it came
to rest.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: This image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated
for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to
remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the
cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary
motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released
through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a
later time.

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20020401a.html

NASA DRYDEN AIRCRAFT FLIES SIMULATED SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSION

NASA, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, and the
National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) have partnered for
a simulated search and rescue mission to take place in the
mountainous area of San Bernardino County, California, in early April.

NASA and NASAR signed an agreement on Nov. 1, 2001, to develop, test
and implement equipment that can facilitate search and rescue
missions within the United States. "We are very excited about the
mission and the project in general," said Mike Tuttle, president of
NASAR and a San Bernardino Sheriff's Department lieutenant. "Our
ultimate goal is to enable local search and rescue organizations to
locate missing aircraft in a more expedient time frame." NASAR is a
30-year-old, not-for-profit organization involved in the training and
education of search and rescue personnel.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is the agency's
Search and Rescue Mission Office and is coordinating the mission. The
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., designed and built the
Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) that flies on NASA's
Airborne Science DC-8 based at the Dryden Flight Research Center,
Edwards, Calif. The San Bernardino Sheriff's Office is supporting the
mission with placement of ground targets and other local coordination.

The DC-8 carrying the AIRSAR instrument is scheduled to fly
predetermined flight paths over the Lytle Creek area of San
Bernardino County. The AIRSAR is an all-weather, side-looking imaging
radar able to penetrate the trees and heavy underbrush of the area.
Targets for the flight will be eight trihedral corner reflectors and
several mock and actual aircraft crash sites.

David Imel, principal investigator for AIRSAR, explained that
"synthetic aperture radar high-resolution images are formed by
transmitting pulses from a moving aircraft or spacecraft and
receiving the reflected pulses back from a target area. The pulses
are added coherently to construct a 'virtual antenna' (or synthetic
aperture) which can be many miles long. The signals received by this
virtual antenna are processed by a computer workstation into imagery
of objects that would otherwise be obscured by things like clouds,
forest canopy, thin sand cover and dry snow pack."

March 31, 2002

http://www.spaceweather.com

COMET CONJUNCTION: Got dark skies? Can you see the western horizon? If
you answered "yes" to both these questions, then you could be in for a
treat just after sunset on April 4th. As the sky fades to black, Comet
Ikeya-Zhang and the great Andromeda Galaxy will meet about 10 degrees
above the western horizon. The pair will be dimly visible to the unaided
eye -- even so, binoculars are recommended. Visit spaceweather.com for
finder charts and other details...

AURORA WATCH: Meanwhile, our planet has entered a high speed solar wind
stream flowing from a coronal hole on the Sun; solar wind gusts could
trigger auroras. For as long as Earth remains inside the stream,
high-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for Northern Lights.

March 30, 2002

CHINA DUST DISASTER IMAGED BY NASA SPACECRAFT

Dust covered northern China earlier this week during some
of the worst dust storms to hit the region in a decade. The
dust obscuring China's Inner Mongolian and Shanxi Provinces on
March 24 is compared with a relatively clear day (October 31,
2001) in these images from the Multi-angle Imaging
SpectroRadiometer's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera aboard
NASA's Terra Earth Observing Spacecraft. Each image
represents an area of about 380 by 630 kilometers (236 by 391
miles).

The images are available at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/earth/asia .

In the image from late March, shown on the right, wave
patterns in the yellowish cloud liken the storm to an airborne
ocean of dust. The veil of particulates obscures features on
the surface north of the Yellow River (visible in the lower
left). The area shown lies near the edge of the Gobi desert,
a few hundred kilometers, or miles, west of Beijing. Dust
originates from the desert and travels east across northern
China toward the Pacific Ocean. For especially severe storms,
fine particles can travel as far as North America.

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer, built and
managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.,
is one of five Earth-observing experiments aboard the Terra
satellite, launched in December 1999. The instrument acquires
images of Earth at nine angles simultaneously, using nine
separate cameras pointed forward, downward and backward along
its flight path. The change in reflection at different view
angles affords the means to distinguish different types of
atmospheric particles, cloud forms and land surface covers.
More information is available at:

http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov .

NASA's Earth Science Enterprise is a long-term research
and technology program designed to examine Earth's land,
oceans, atmosphere, ice and life as a total integrated system.

JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.

March 29, 2002

LAST CHANCE TO SEE COMET IKEYA-ZHANG

Night owls and early birds can catch a glimpse of Comet
Ikeya-Zhang as it passes by Earth in the next few weeks on its
four-century journey around the Sun.

The comet passed closest to the Sun on March 18th, and is
now headed out of the solar system past Earth, passing closest
to us (just 37.5 million miles, or 60 million kilometers) on
April 29. To see the comet, look low in the western sky
during late evening twilight. The comet will get lower and
lower on the horizon until April 4; after that it will be
visible in the early morning sky in the east.

"The comet is bright enough to see with the naked eye,
but having binoculars or even a small telescope will help
pinpoint its location," said Dr. Don Yeomans, head of NASA's
Near-Earth Objects Program Office at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Among the comet-watchers will be Dr. Michael Hicks, a
comet scientist from JPL. Hicks will use a telescope to study
the dust from Ikeya-Zhang, dust that comes from the very edges
of the solar system and has a sharply slanted orbit, compared
to the planets. The information he hopes to gather includes
the dust particles' size, temperature and composition.

"Comet dust is some of the most pristine material from
the solar system's formation," said Hicks. "Studying comets
adds another little bit to the puzzle of how the solar system
came to be."

Comets, clumps of rock and ice, were made when the solar
system formed 4.5 billion years ago from the same material
that made the planets and Sun. When its orbit takes it far
from the Sun, the low temperature of deep space keeps the
comet frozen. As the comet comes close to the Sun, it heats
up, emitting gases and the dust that reflects the Sun's rays
and makes the comet visible from Earth.

Ikeya-Zhang, which was discovered in early February by a
Japanese and a Chinese astronomer, was likely seen in 1661 on
an earlier journey through the solar system.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of
Technology, manages the Near-Earth Objects program for NASA's
Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. More information is
available at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov and
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

University of Colorado hosts NASA exhibit
NASA's futuristic Starship 2040 experience touches down in Boulder April 2-3

NASA's Starship 2040 won't make a thunderous descent from the heavens when
it arrives in Boulder next week. This high-tech "spacecraft" hitches a ride
inside an Earthbound tractor and trailer rig, after all.

But officials from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.,
are confident the experience will send visitors' imaginations rocketing
straight into orbit when Starship 2040 visits the University of Colorado
Boulder campus April 2-3.

Housed in a 48-foot-long tractor and trailer rig, the Starship 2040 exhibit
is designed to share NASA's vision of what spaceflight might be like 40
years from now. Visitors board the "spaceship" and move through full-sized
control, passenger and engineering compartments. Audio effects -- engine
noises, computer and crew voices -- add to the realistic ambience of the
experience.

Starship 2040 will be parked at the University's Engineering Center at
Colorado Avenue and Regent Drive. The exhibit is open to the public from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 2, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 3. Admission
is free. Starship 2040 is handicapped accessible.

NASA and university officials also will host an evening presentation,
"Building the Highway to Space," April 2 at 5 p.m. in the Engineering Center
auditorium, room ECCR 245. NASA speaker Bill Pannell will discuss the
future of space travel now being realized by NASA and its partners in
industry and academia. The lecture is free and open to the public.

More about Starship 2040
While touring Starship 2040 and talking with NASA experts staffing the
exhibit, visitors will learn about technologies now being investigated by
NASA and its partner organizations to increase the safety and reliability of
space transportation systems while dramatically lowering costs -- making
space travel safe and affordable enough for routine flights just a few
decades from now.

All the innovations suggested aboard the exhibit -- automated vehicle health
monitoring systems, high-energy propulsion drive, navigational aids and
emergency and safety systems -- are based on concepts and technologies now
being studied at NASA Centers and academic and industry partner institutions
around the nation.

More about NASA Space Transportation Programs
NASA is the nation's premier agency for development of Space Transportation
systems, including future-generation reusable launch vehicles. Such systems
-- the keys to a real Starship 2040 -- require revolutionary advances in
critical aerospace technologies, from thermal, magnetic, chemical and
propellantless propulsion systems to new energy sources such as space solar
power or antimatter propulsion. These and other advances are now being
studied, developed and tested at NASA field centers and partner institutions
all over the nation.

NASA and its partners also seek innovative materials and processes
technologies, investigating ways to develop safer, stronger and more durable
engines, vehicles, structures and components to handle the immense power of
these futuristic propulsion systems.

The Marshall Center is a leader in all these efforts, aimed at enabling
dramatic improvements in the safety, cost and reliability of future space
transportation systems.

For more information, visit:
http://www.spacetransportation.com
http://www.slinews.com

Cassini Weekly Significant Events
for 03/21/02 - 03/27/02

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Wednesday, March 27. The Cassini spacecraft is in an
excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the
present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the
"Present Position" web page located at
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/ .

On board activities this week included a Radio and Plasma Wave Science
(RPWS) High Frequency Receiver calibration, the normalization of Visual
and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) flight software, clearing of
the Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) High Water Marks and an autonomous
CDS Solid State Recorder memory load partition repair.

The Preliminary Sequence Integration & Validation (PSIV) phase has begun
for C32. Inputs have been received from all participating instrument
teams and the Spacecraft Office, and the merged products have been
released for review.

VIMS analysis of in-flight flight software tests uncovered a software
error. The new capability of inserting the observation time into the
spectral data for return in telemetry is affected. The symptom is that
the spectral data becomes shifted from its proper location. Ground
testing did not detect the flaw because there is no Engineering Model
capable of simulating this aspect of the instrument. An Incident
Surprise Anomaly report will be written to document the error and
testing of the flight software will continue.

Final preparations were completed this week for next week's uplink of
Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) 18. The Maneuver Automation
Software set has been tested and delivered for operations, the
Integrated Test Laboratory (ITL) successfully tested the TCM-18 maneuver
block, and the SCO has completed simulation of the health and safety
check and go for the uplink process.

The TCM-18 maneuver is using many of the processes, software, and
personnel teams that are being developed for use during the Saturn
tour. The maneuver was produced using the new Maneuver Automation
Software (MAS) tool. This tool greatly reduces the time and personnel
required to generate and verify a maneuver. Maneuver execution will
begin and end Earth-pointed. Roll turns will be performed under
reaction wheel control, while yaw turns will be performed with the
reaction control system. Science data playbacks and real-time
Magnetospheric and Plasma Science (MAPS) data collection will be
performed
before and after the maneuver.

Cosmic Dust Analyzer personnel delivered an update to their instrument
flight software to the program software library. A delivery
coordination meeting will be held next week.

The System Engineering Office hosted a meeting this week to discuss
Solid State Recorder Carryover interaction with the Ground Data System,
held a delivery coordination meeting for the Navigation Ancillary
Information Facility (NAIF) toolkit, and supported a working group
focusing in on design and trades for proposed Science and Sequence
Uplink Process system-level Verification and Validation (V&V)
activities. The Mission Sequence Subsystem (MSS) version D8 Modules were
tested in the ITL. A total of 16 modules and approximately 80 test cases
were run, with only one test case failure, and that one attributable to
input values for the case. A revised test case has been submitted for
retest in ITL.

All except one MSS application has entered code hard freeze. The
exception is the Pointing Design Tool, which has taken longer to finish
unit testing than anticipated. PDT is scheduled to enter hard freeze
next week.

Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the
Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Cassini Outreach
Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

**********************************************************
Genesis Mission Outreach E-News, 28th Edition March 2002
**********************************************************
LANL Genesis Data Now Open to the Science Community

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Genesis mission data Web site http://genesis.lanl.gov is now open to the science community. The site presently contains solar-wind browse plots based on on-board calculated ion moments and electron spin angle plots from August 24, 2001 to present. Browse plots are generally posted within 1-3 days, allowing views of very recent solar-wind activity. Within the next two months The LANL Science Data Collection Team will begin adding ground-processed data files.

Genesis was launched August 8, 2001 and has been in an L1 halo orbit since November 19. It is a solar-wind sample return mission. The solar-wind collector arrays were deployed on December 3. Collection is to continue until April 2004, at which time the spacecraft will leave L1 for its Earth return phase. The samples will be returned via a re-entry capsule, which separates from the main portion of the spacecraft and re-enters Earth in September 2004. The main portion of the spacecraft, including plasma instruments, will be available at that time for re-targeting for further solar-wind observations if funding permits.

You can view a photo of the LANL Genesis Instrument Team at:
http://www.genesismission.org/science/index.html
**********************************************************
Where is the Genesis Spacecraft Now?

View the position of the Genesis spacecraft. Most images are updated every 10 minutes. http://www.genesismission.org/mission/live_shots.html
**********************************************************
Genesis Public Science Modules

Many of our Genesis e-news subscribers describe themselves as the "interested public," people who have a lifelong interest in, and love of, science. Are you one of them? The Science section of the mission Web site has a wealth of information in what we call "Public Modules." Topics range from the "Origins of the Solar System" to "Atoms, Elements, and Isotopes." Check them out at: http://www.genesismission.org/science/index.html

**********************************************************
An Apple for the Teacher

Middle school science teachers, are you looking for online professional development opportunities? Check out the Earth System Science course, a sixteen-week professional development course developed through NASA support at the Center for Education Technologies http://www.cet.edu/ and facilitated by educators at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL). Successful participants will earn three semester hours of graduate credit from the Colorado School of Mines. The course cost of $200 includes tuition and materials. http://www.mcrel.org/epo/essea.asp

**********************************************************
NSTA

The annual National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is now in progress in San Diego, and Genesis mission representatives are there to greet science educators, talk about the science of the mission, and distribute education materials that bring the science of the mission into the classroom. Check back next month for an NSTA update. http://www.genesismission.org/product/conferences&events.html

NEW IMAGE!!!
** SDSS 0836+0054, 1030+0524, & 1306+0356:
Chandra Finds Well-Established Black Holes In Distant Quasars
- Pushing further back toward the first generation of objects to form in
the Universe, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has observed the three
most distant known quasars and found them to be prodigious producers of
X-rays. This indicates that the supermassive black holes powering them
were already in place when the Universe was only about one billion years
old.
< http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/highzqso/index.html >

** Operations CXO Status Report (Friday 03/22/02)
Last week the observing schedule was interrupted due to high radiation
associated with solar flare activity. The loads were halted on March 18
at 9:51am EST through a ground command to execute the SI Safing SCS 107.
This ensured that the accumulated radiation dose for ACIS remained below
the allowed threshold. Loads were rebuilt for uplink on March 20, when
the radiation environment reached an acceptable level.
< http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/updates/update_032202.html >

MISSION STS-110 KSC BRIEFINGS AND EVENTS SET

News conferences and other events have been set for the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-110, the 109th launch in the Shuttle program. Mission STS-110 will launch between 2 - 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 4. The exact launch time will be announced 24 hours prior to the targeted liftoff time.

News conferences and events listed below will be carried live on NASA Television (unless otherwise noted) and originate from the KSC News Center.

The seven-member STS-110 crew will arrive at KSC early next week. The time of arrival will be disclosed once they are on the ground at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility and a taped replay of their arrival will be broadcast on NASA TV. Due to heightened security measures, live media coverage of the crew arrival will not be accommodated.

On launch day, the crew will depart their KSC living quarters and be driven to the launch pad. Again, due to heightened security, media will not be permitted at this event. The crew breakfast, suit-up and walkout activities will be taped and replayed during live launch commentary beginning approximately three hours prior to liftoff.

In addition to daily 9 a.m. countdown status briefings, a prelaunch press conference will be held two days before launch. The full briefing schedule is listed below.

NASA ADMNISTRATOR NAMES TASK FORCE TO REVIEW
BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe has selected an
independent task force to provide recommendations regarding
the research priorities of the agency's Office of
Biological and Physical Research (OBPR).

Designated the Research Maximization and Prioritization
Task Force, REMAP will serve as a follow on to the
International Space Station Management and Cost Evaluation
(IMCE) Task Force, which last year evaluated the budget and
management challenges facing the International Space
Station program.

REMAP is chartered to perform an independent review and
assessment of research productivity and priorities for the
entire scientific, technological and commercial portfolio
of OBPR and to provide recommendations on how best to
achieve its research goals within the President's budget
request.

Chaired by Dr. Rae Silver, an original member of the IMCE
panel and professor of Natural and Physical Sciences at
Columbia University, the REMAP task force will provide
important guidance on how to maximize the scientific
returns on many NASA programs, including the space station.

"The space station project should be driven by specific
research objectives and will be as integral a part of
NASA's future as any of our research centers here on
Earth," Administrator O'Keefe said. "When people look back
and ask what was important about the International Space
Station, it will be the scientific achievements that will
be remembered."

Dr. David Shirley, Director Emeritus of the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of
California, will serve as REMAP Vice Chair. He was a
protege of Dr. Glenn Theodore Seaborg, who worked on the
Manhattan Project and was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 1951.

Along with Dr. Silver, fellow IMCE task force members Dr.
Richard Roberts, 1993 Nobel Laureate and Research Director
of New England Biolabs in Massachusetts and Dr. Anthony
Acrivos, Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering,
City University of New York will be among the distinguished
members that make up the REMAP Task Force.

"The charter of this task force is important and will
literally help set the bar for NASA's future science and
research efforts on the International Space Station," said
Mary Kicza, newly appointed Associate Administrator of
OBPR. "Its contributions will have a profound impact and
will help the agency and our international partners realize
the full potential of this unique space laboratory."

The REMAP Task Force will convene its first session in
April. By June, the panel is expected to provide its report
to the NASA Advisory Council, which will review the
findings and formally present its recommendations to
Administrator O'Keefe.

The complete list of members follows. Detailed biographies
are available on the Internet at:

http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov

-end-

REMAP TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP

Rae Silver Behavioral Endocrinology Helene L. and Mark N.
(Chair) Kaplan Professor of
Natural and Physical
Sciences, Columbia
University, N.Y.

David Shirley Nuclear Physics Director Emeritus of
(Vice Chair) Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory
and
Professor Emeritus,
Univ. of California at
Berkeley

Andreas Acrivos Fluid Dynamics Einstein Professor of
Science and
Engineering,
City Univ. of New York

Roger Beachy Plant Genomics President, Donald
Danforth Plant Science
Center, St. Louis, Mo.

Raymond Bula Plant Physiology Former Director, Wisconsin
Center for Space
Automation and
Robotics,
Univ. of Wisconsin at
Madison

Noel Jones Structural Biology Formerly Eli Lilly and
Company

Harold Metcalf Atomic Physics Distinguished
Teaching
Professor, State
University
of
New York At
Stony Brook

Patricia Morris Materials Science Chemical Sensor
Technology Manager,
DuPont Company,
Wilmington, Del.

Elaine Oran Combustion Science Sr. Scientist,
Reactive Flow
Physics Naval
Research Laboratory
Washington, D.C.

Mary Jane Osborn Microbial Biology Professor and Head,
Univ. of
Connecticut
Health Center,
Farmington, Conn.

James A. Pawelczyk Cardiovascular Noll Physiological
Neurophysiology
Research Center,
Penn State
University

Frederick Pohland Environmental Engineering Professor
and Edward R.
Weidlein Chair of
Environmental
Engineering,
Univ. of
Pittsburgh, Pa.

Richard Roberts Biotechnology - Genomics Nobel Laureate
in Physiology or
Medicine, 1993;
Research Director,
New England
Biolabs,
Beverly, Mass.

Rhea Seddon Aerospace Medicine Former Astronaut,
Assistant Chief
Medical Officer,
Vanderbilt Medical
group,
Nashville, Tenn.

Gary Stein Cell Biology Haidak
Distinguished
Professor and Chair
Of Cell Biology,
Univ. of Massachusetts
Medical School,
Worcester, Mass.

Fred Turek Sleep and Professor,
Circadian Biology Northwestern University,
Evanston, IL

Raymond Viskanta Mechanical Engineering W.F.M. Goss
and Heat Transfer Distinguished
Professor of
Engineering,
Purdue University,
West Lafayette, Ind.

George Whitesides Nanotechnology Mallinckrodt
In Biomolecules Professor of
Chemistry, Harvard
University,
Cambridge, Mass.

Pierre Wiltzius Materials Sciences Director, Beckman
and Engineering Institute for
Advanced Science &
Technology,
Univ. of Illinois,
Urbana

Laurie Zoloth Bioethics NASA Advisory
Council;
Professor of
Ethics,
San Francisco State
Univ.

Mars Odyssey's THEMIS Begins Posting Daily Images

Need to get away to someplace exotic? Mars is now open for daily
sightseeing.

Beginning March 27, 2002, recent images of Mars taken by the Thermal
Emission Imaging System on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft will be available
to the public on the Internet. A new, "uncalibrated" image taken by the
visible light camera will be posted at 10 A.M. EST daily, Monday through
Friday. The pictures can be viewed and downloaded at
http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html .

The images will show 22 kilometer-wide strips of the martian surface at a
resolution of 18 meters. Though the images will not yet be fully calibrated
for scientific use, they give the public an unprecedented opportunity to get
a close look at many of Mars' unusual geological features. The visible light
camera's resolution is about eight to 16 times better than most of the
images taken by NASA's Viking missions, which completed the first global map
of the martian surface.

"We want to generate a steady flow of images so we can share some of the
excitement of what we're seeing with the public," said Greg Mehall, THEMIS
mission manager at Arizona State University. "We're seeing a lot of very
interesting things, since much of Mars has never been viewed so closely
before."

Though the posted images have undergone only minimal image processing, the
team wanted to share them with the public as soon as possible. "They're
still pretty spectacular to look at," Mehall said. . "And we want people to
feel they are getting a first look at the images with us."

THEMIS began mapping Mars from an orbit of 420 kilometers in mid-February,
taking images in both infrared and visible light The instrument is expected
to take as many as 15,000 visible light images through the course of the
mission.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's
Office of Space Science in Washington. Investigators at Arizona State
University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's Johnson
Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. Additional science
partners are located at the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and at Los
Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico.

Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the
project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are
conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL. Additional information
about the 2001 Mars Odyssey is available on the Internet at:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/

March 28, 2002

Chandra finds well-established black holes in distant quasars

Pushing further back toward the first generation of objects to form
in the Universe, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has observed the three
most distant known quasars and found them to be prodigious producers of
X-rays. This indicates that the supermassive black holes powering them were
already in place when the Universe was only about one billion years old.

"Chandra's superb sensitivity has allowed the detection of X-rays
from the dawn of the modern Universe, when the first massive black holes and
galaxies were forming," said Niel Brandt of Penn State University, leader of
one the teams involved. "These results indicate that future X-ray surveys
should be able to detect the first black holes to form in the Universe."

The three quasars were recently discovered at optical wavelengths by
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and are 13 billion light years from Earth,
making them the most distant known quasars. The X-rays Chandra detected
were emitted when the Universe was only a billion years old, about 7 percent
of the present age of the Universe.

Since X-rays reveal conditions in the immediate vicinity of
supermassive black holes, Brandt proposed that Chandra look at these objects
in three snapshots of about two hours each to see if they were different
from their older counterparts.

Since X-rays reveal conditions in the immediate vicinity of
supermassive black holes, Brandt proposed that Chandra look at these objects
in three snapshots of about two hours each to see if they were different
from their older counterparts. The observations on January 29, 2002 were
made public immediately and the four different teams quickly went to work on
them.

Brandt's team concluded that the quasars looked similar to ones that
were at least twice as old, so the conditions around the central black hole
had not changed much in that time, contrary to some theoretical
expectations. A team led by Smita Mathur of Ohio State University reached
a similar conclusion.

"These young quasars do not appear to be any different from their
older cousins, based upon our current understanding and assumptions," said
Mathur. "Perhaps the most remarkable thing about them may be that they are
so absolutely unremarkable."

Jill Bechtold of the University of Arizona and her colleagues
disagree. In addition to the three distant Sloan quasars, they observed 14
other quasars with distances between 12 and 12.5 billion light years.
Bechtold's group looked at their larger sample to determine that the
younger, more distant quasars were radiating a lower percentage of their
energy in X-rays.

"The X-ray data are consistent with predictions of some theories
that a hot gas atmosphere is associated with the accretion disk swirling
around a central supermassive black hole," said Bechtold, provided the
distant quasars have more massive black holes than nearby ones. "These
theories predict that large supermassive black holes should be relatively
weaker X-ray emittters than smaller ones, which is what we observed with
Chandra.

All groups agreed that the masses of the black holes producing the
X-rays are huge, given their relative youth. By various estimates, the
three quasars each weighed in at between one and 10 billion times the mass
of the Sun. By comparison, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is
believed to contain the mass equivalent to only about 3 million Suns.

Daniel Schwartz of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
took a different approach to the same data. In addition to looking at the
quasars themselves, he examined the space around them. His search paid off
with the discovery of a new X-ray source, which may be only about half a
million light years away from the quasar SDSS 1306+0356 "It's not clear what
the source is," said Schwartz. "One plausible explanation is that it is due
to a high energy jet of material ejected by the quasar over at least several
hundred thousand years." Chandra has detected a number of such jets, which
could be generated by the extraction of energy from the rotation of a
supermassive black hole.

In addition to SDSS 1306+0356, which has a cosmological redshift z =
5.99, the other distant Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars observed in this
study are SDSS 0836+0054 (redshift z = 5.82) and SDSS 1030+0524 (redshift z
= 6.28). The paper from Brandt et al has been published in The
Astrophysical Journal Letters, and Mathur et al and Schwartz et al will have
in separate papers appearing shortly in same publication; the Work of
Bechtold et al will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.

These observations were made with Chandra's Advanced CCD Imaging
Spectrometer, which was conceived and developed for NASA by Penn State and
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program, and TRW, Inc.,
Redondo Beach, Calif., is the prime contractor for the spacecraft. The
Smithsonian's Chandra X-ray Center controls science and flight operations
from Cambridge, Mass.

Images and additional information about this result are available
at:

http://chandra.harvard.edu
and
http://chandra.nasa.gov

NASA ENGINEERING TEST ALSO MAY YIELD CLUES TO PLANT GROWTH IN SPACE

The engineering test of a plant-growth system to be launched on next week's
space shuttle mission to the International Space Station also may reveal
important clues about plant development in space.

The Biomass Production System (BPS) is an engineering development unit for
a future International Space Station (ISS) plant habitat capable of
supporting long-term plant growth and botanical experimentation in space.
The STS-110 space shuttle mission, scheduled for launch April 4 from NASA's
Kennedy Space Center, Fla., will deliver the BPS for in-flight operations
aboard the ISS. The BPS and science samples will return to Earth on the
STS-111 mission, currently scheduled for launch in late May.

"The BPS will allow us to test how best to grow plants in space over
multiple generations," said Dr. Orlando Santos, chief scientist for the
Space Station Biological Research Project (SSBRP) at NASA Ames Research
Center in California's Silicon Valley. "The ability to carry out long-term
experiments is a unique characteristic of the ISS facility that is critical
for our understanding of the future of living things in the low-gravity
environments of spacecraft, the moon or Mars." The BPS is one of several
pieces of science hardware being developed by the SSBRP for use on the ISS.

The primary objective of the BPS is the technology validation test, which
will evaluate hardware performance on orbit in order to select the best
subsystems for design and development of a permanent plant research unit.
Once developed, the plant research unit will be capable of supporting the
continued growth and development of plant specimens and provide the
capabilities necessary to perform scientific investigations for 90 days or
more on orbit. The BPS also will support the Photosynthesis Experiment and
System Testing Operations (PESTO), a study of the effects of microgravity
on photosynthesis and metabolism in wheat plants. Some of the results from
this study also will be used as part of the technology validation test.

The BPS is a powered hardware system that includes four independent plant
growth chambers, a nutrient delivery system, a temperature/humidity control
system, airflow and atmospheric control systems, a video system and a
data-processing system. Each plant growth chamber has a growing area of
about 42 square inches (260 square centimeters) and a height of over 6
inches (15 centimeters). The BPS was developed for NASA by Orbital
Technologies Corp., Madison, Wisc.

The technology validation test will determine the ability of the BPS and
its environmental control subsystems to support plant growth and
development in microgravity. Researchers will study the health and growth
of the plants, facility temperature and humidity controls, nutrient
delivery, lighting, plant manipulation and sample retrieval, video and data
acquisition, and performance of other operations and support systems.

The testing process will use two types of plants -- Brassica rapa and
Apogee wheat. Brassica plants include such commonly grown vegetables as
broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, rutabaga and turnip. Brassica is a dicot, a
plant with two cotyledons, or leaf-like structures, per seed, and exhibits
multiple developmental stages (growth, flowering and seedpod production) in
a short time. The growth of Brassica rapa seedlings will test the ability
of the BPS to support the growth of a developmentally complex plant. Dr.
Robert Morrow, Orbital Technologies Corp., Madison, Wisc., is the principal
investigator.

Four-day-old Apogee wheat seedlings-- a monocot plant with one cotyledon,
or leaf-like structure, per seed -- also will be exposed to a variety of
temperature and humidity levels to test the ability of the BPS to control
temperature and humidity set points. In addition, water utilization and
plant photosynthesis will be measured. Plant tissue will be harvested and
frozen or fixed when the plants are 21 days old.

PESTO will study the growth, photosynthesis, gas exchange and metabolism of
Apogee wheat in microgravity. This experiment will determine the ability of
wheat seeds to germinate, develop and grow in microgravity conditions,
measure the growth of the seedlings, and determine the effects of
microgravity on photosynthesis and transpiration. The PESTO principal
investigator is Dr. Gary Stutte, Dynamac Corp., Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Understanding photosynthesis is a critical component of plant-based
atmospheric regeneration systems now under study for possible use in future
long-duration space missions. By generating oxygen, removing carbon dioxide
and purifying water, living plants could help maintain proper spacecraft
atmosphere, and reduce the costs of air and water resupply on long-duration
missions. This research also will have direct application to future
production of crops that the ISS crew could eat, such as radishes, lettuce
or onions.

The BPS testing and research are supported by NASA's Office of Biological
and Physical Research, which promotes basic and applied research to support
human exploration of space and to take advantage of the space environment
as a laboratory. More information is available at:
http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/

For information about NASA's Space Station Biological Research Project, go
to: http://brp.arc.nasa.gov/

Details about the BPS are available at: http://lifesci.arc.nasa.gov/UF1

Here's what's new lately at http://spacescience.nasa.gov/ :

------------------

NASA scientists today announced the creation of amino acids, critical for
life, in an environment that mimics deep space. Similar amino acids have
been identified in meteorites. Raw materials for Earth's early
biota? http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2002/02_33AR.html

------------------

A new study attempts to explain why Mars' available water is almost
entirely locked up in its north polar
cap. http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-water-science-02c.html

------------------

A team of UK and Australian astronomers has discovered new, independent
evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Try to keep
up at http://www.ras.org.uk/press/pn02-06.htm

------------------

Debris cast off by giant stars could have survived and drifted long enough
to provide raw materials for planetary systems in the early universe. A
dust factory at http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/03/27/star.dust/index.html

------------------

Just in time for Sun-Earth Day, our HESSI spacecraft, launched February 5
and now renamed the Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager or
RHESSI, made its debut by observing a nice solar flare. Story and movies
at http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020320hessixray.html

------------------

Educational stuff:

Students Begin Exploring Mars with NASA's Mars Odyssey Spacecraft - some
kids decided where to point Odyssey's camera. Many kids have digital
cameras these days, but few have ever used one that's millions of
miles/kilometers
away. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2002/release_2002_72.html

New educational activities from Amazing Space: in "Galaxy Hunter," students
can go online and use actual data from the Hubble Space Telescope to study
galaxies in deep space. When students are finished hunting for galaxies,
they can try unscrambling the schedule for a Hubble telescope servicing
mission. Or send a comet smashing into Jupiter and watch what
happens. Nifty fun at http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/

How do they know it,s Easter? Ever wondered how the
exact dates of the Easter break are chosen? Easter Sunday
can fall anytime between 22 March and 25 April and, thanks
to European observations of the Sun that go back many centuries,
the exact date can be predicted as far ahead as 4099 AD.

Read more about this at:
http://spdext.estec.esa.nl/content/news/index.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&oid=29727

Sit. Speak. Good Photon!

Researchers have trapped a kilometers-long laser pulse inside a small
glass chamber --and released it again intact. Such extraordinary command
of light could lead to mind-boggling new technologies.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/27mar_stoplight.htm?list448368

Early European astronomers determined Easter dates

How do they know it,s Easter? Ever wondered how the
exact dates of the Easter break are chosen? Easter Sunday
can fall anytime between 22 March and 25 April and, thanks
to European observations of the Sun that go back many centuries,
the exact date can be predicted as far ahead as 4099 AD.

Read more about this at:
http://spdext.estec.esa.nl/content/news/index.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&oid=29727

ESA to test the smartest technique for detecting extrasolar planets from the ground

To see a dim planet around a bright star is like looking for
a candle flame next to a searchlight. To solve this problem,
scientists have developed the concept of nulling interferometry,
one of the smartest methods to date in the search for extrasolar
planets. The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European
Southern Observatory (ESO) are pooling their expertise to build
a new instrument to test this innovative technique from the
ground before ESA applies it in space.

Read more about this at:
http://sci.esa.int/content/news/index.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&oid=29705

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0203/26planetform/

Meteorites tell of shocking experience in planetary formation

CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON NEWS RELEASE

The search for Earths around other stars is one of the most pressing questions
in astrophysics today. To home in on what conditions are necessary for
Earth-like bodies to form, however, scientists must first solve the mystery of
how our own Earth arose. The formation of the dominant constituent of
meteorites -- tiny, millimeter-sized spheres of melted silicate rock called
chondrules may hold the clue to this puzzle. A new model published in this
month's journal, Meteoritics and Planetary Science, by Dr. Steven J. Desch of
the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
and a member of NASA's Astrobiology Institute, and Dr. Harold C. Connolly,
Jr., of CUNY-Kingsborough College in Brooklyn, NY, represents a huge step in
understanding chondrule formation and thus what went on in our early solar
system. And it answers a series of problems that have plagued theoreticians for
years. The model determines how chondrules melted as they passed through
shock waves in the solar nebula gas. As chondrules melted, they changed from
fluffy dust to round, compact spheres, altering their aerodynamic properties, and
enabling the growth of larger bodies. Because shocks would melt chondrules
early in the solar nebula's evolution, the results are consistent with the
common idea that chondrule formation was a prerequisite to the formation of
planets in general.

"This model may be the key that unlocks the secrets of the meteorites," says
Desch. "It is the first model detailed enough to be tested against the meteoritic
data, and so far it has passed every test. At the same time, it is providing a
physical context for all that meteoritic data, and is giving us fresh insight about
chondrule formation."

Researchers have long thought that the interstellar dust coagulated to form the
planets, but they have not understood what the physical conditions were that
led to centimeter-sized particles sticking together in the first place. Without
understanding the origin of chondrules, the data-rich meteoritic record could not
be used to assess the probability of Earth forming, which is essential
information in the search for other life-bearing planets.

"Astrobiology is about the progression from planetary 'building blocks' through
the formation of planets, their habitability, and the origin and evolution of life,"
adds Dr. Rosalind Grymes, Associate Director of the NASA Astrobiology
Institute, a research consortium that provided funding for the study. "This work
is at the early end of that progression, and is fundamental to understanding life
on Earth, and life beyond Earth."

Meteoriticists have determined a wide body of rules that models of chondrule
melting must obey. For instance, scientists know that chondrules reached peak
temperatures of 1800 to 2100 K for several minutes; that they almost melted
completely; and that they cooled through crystallization temperatures of 1400 to
1800 K at rates slower than 100 K/hr, which kept them hot for hours. To prevent
the loss of iron from the silicate melt, pressures had to be high -- greater than
0.001 atm -- which is orders of magnitude higher than the expected pressures
in the nebula. A few percent of the chondrules stuck together while still hot and
plastic. These "compound chondrules" tend to be more completely melted and to
have cooled faster than the average chondrule. Satisfying all of these conditions
simultaneously has been a challenge to theorists. In a 1996 review article by
Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, nine possible mechanisms
were reviewed, including lightning, shock waves, and asteroid impacts. More
recently, the "X-wind" model has been introduced by Dr. Frank Shu of UC
Berkeley, in which chondrules are melted near the protoSun. Even melting by a
nearby gamma-ray burst has been considered. None of these ideas, however,
has been developed to the point to calculate cooling rates precisely enough to
match what is known about meteorites.

The model proposed by Desch and Connolly is the most detailed physical model
yet of chondrule melting by any mechanism. It exactly correlates the cooling
rates of chondrules -- a key meteoritic constraint -- with physical conditions
in the solar nebula. The model includes several previously ignored effects, such
as dissociation of the hydrogen gas by the shock wave, the presence of dust,
and especially a precise treatment of the transfer of radiation through the gas,
dust, and chondrules. According to the model, chondrules experience their peak
heating immediately after passing through the shock front. Even though the gas
is slowed almost instantaneously, the chondrules continue to move at
supersonic speeds for minutes until friction slows them down. During this
stage, chondrules emit intense infrared radiation. This radiation is absorbed by
chondrules that haven't reached the shock front yet, and by chondrules that
have already passed through it. This transfer of radiation is important to be
calculated accurately, since the gas and chondrules cool only as fast as they can
escape the intense infrared radiation coming from the shock front. With this
effect included, typical cooling rates are 50 K/hr, which is exactly in line with
what is known about the average chondrule. Moreover, Desch and Connolly
predict a correlation with the density of chondrules: regions with more
chondrules than average will produce chondrules that are more completely
melted and cooled faster. This is because in dense regions radiation from the
shock front cannot propagate as far before being absorbed and chondrules can
escape the radiation from the shock front more rapidly. Compound chondrules
are overwhelmingly produced in regions with high chondrule densities, so the
extra heating and faster cooling of compound chondrules is easily explained by
this shock model. Since the time a chondrule spends in a semi-melted, plastic
state is also calculated by the model, even the frequency of compound
chondrules can be determined -- it is on the order of a percent, satisfying
another key constraint. Finally to satisfy another condition, shocks compress
the gas to pressures orders of magnitude higher than the ambient pressure.

The source of the shock waves is not specified by Desch and Connolly, but they
do identify gravitational instabilities as a likely candidate, assuming the solar
nebula protoplanetary disk was massive enough. And there are sound
theoretical reasons for believing it was. More importantly, observations of other
protoplanetary disks in which planets are forming today indicate that sufficiently
massive disks may be common. If shock waves triggered by gravitational
instabilities are taking place in other protoplanetary disks, then the odds of
chondrules melting and planets forming, including Earths around other stars are
greatly increased.

NASA SELECTS INVENTIONS OF THE YEAR

A miniature pump designed to help your heart beat and a
device that insures the safety of the International Space
Station and its crew have received NASA's commercial and
government invention of the year awards.

Receiving NASA's Commercial Invention of the Year is a
miniature ventricular-assist device (VAD). Initially called
the NASA/DeBakey heart pump, it is based in part on
technology used in Space Shuttle fuel pumps. It is intended
as a long-term "bridge" to a heart transplant, or as a more
permanent device to help patients toward recovery and a more
normal life.

The concept for the pump began with talks between Dr. Michael
DeBakey of Houston's Baylor College of Medicine and one of
his heart transplant patients, NASA engineer David Saucier.
Saucier, who worked at NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston, knew first-hand the urgency heart-failure patients
feel waiting for a donor heart. He also knew Space Shuttle
technology.

Six months after his 1984 heart transplant, Saucier was back
at work and arranged for fellow NASA engineers James
Akkerman, Bernard Rosenbaum, Gregory Aber and Richard Bozeman
to meet with Dr. DeBakey, Dr. George Noon and other Baylor
staff. The result was a remarkable battery-operated pump -
approximately 3 inches long, 1 inch in diameter and weighing
less than four ounces - that seems to be an answer to the
decades-long quest to develop an implantable VAD.

NASA, in keeping with its mission of transferring space-based
technology to the private sector, granted exclusive rights to
MicroMed Technology Inc., Houston, in 1996 after intense
competition. In European trials, the MicroMed/DeBakey VAD was
implanted in 115 persons without any incidence of device
failure. U.S. trials will involve 178 implants of which 21
have already been successfully performed.

The NASA Government Invention of the Year goes to a team from
the agency's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The team
invented a hollow cathode assembly that is the primary
component of the International Space Station's plasma
contactor system. This mission-critical system protects the
station and its crew from the dangers associated with
electrical charges.

As the space station floats through space in low-Earth orbit,
the surface of the structure builds up a static high-voltage
charge. The plasma contactor system safely grounds the
station from this high voltage protecting it from arcing,
which could severely damage its surface. This device is
unique in that it reduces the static charge in a self-
regulating manner to levels safe enough for astronaut
spacewalks.

The team of Michael Patterson, Timothy Verhey and George
Soulas developed the technology from a laboratory device to
flight qualified hardware, and manufactured the space flight
hardware for the orbiting research platform. The team's
efforts also resulted in increasing hollow cathodes lifetimes
from 500 hours to 28,000 hours, enabling their use on ion
thrusters, a key technology used for NASA spacecraft missions
such as Deep Space 1.

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20020327a.html

Mars 2001 Odyssey
Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS)

This THEMIS image shows a sinuous valley network channel with sharp bends
cutting across the cratered highlands of the southern hemisphere of Mars.
The channel is named Nirgal Vallis, which is from the Babylonian word for
"Mars". Nirgal Vallis is a channel with a total length of approximately 500
km. It is approximately 6 km wide in this region. Gullies and alluvial
deposits discovered by Mars Global Surveyor are clearly visible on the
polar-facing (south) wall and floor of Nirgal Vallis. These gullies appear
to emanate from a specific layer in the walls. There is a pronounced
sparsity of gullies on the equator-ward facing slopes. The gullies have been
proposed to have formed by the subsurface release of water. Patches of dunes
are also seen on the channel floor, notably along the edges of the channel
floor near the canyon walls. There is still debate within the scientific
community as to how valley networks themselves form: surface runoff
(rainfall/snowmelt) or headward erosion via groundwater sapping. This image
is approximately 22 km wide and 60 km in length; north is toward the top.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: This image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated
for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to
remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the
cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary
motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released
through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a
later time.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for
NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in
collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS
investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the
Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are
conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University

March 27, 2002

NASA SCIENTISTS CREATE AMINO ACIDS IN DEEP-SPACE-LIKE ENVIRONMENT

NASA scientists today announced the creation of amino acids, critical for
life, in an environment that mimics deep space. The research will be
published in the March 28 issue of the journal Nature.

In a laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon
Valley, the team of astrobiologists shone ultraviolet light on
deep-space-like "ices," simulating conditions that are commonplace in
interstellar space. Deep-space ice is common water ice laced with simple
molecules. The team subsequently discovered amino acids, molecules present
in, and essential for, life on Earth.

"This finding may shed light on the origin of life itself," said Dr. Max
Bernstein, the first author and chemist at NASA Ames and the SETI
Institute. "We found that amino acids can be made in the dense
interstellar clouds where planetary systems and stars are made. Our
experiments suggest that amino acids should be everywhere, wherever there
are stars and planets."

The amino acids they detected (glycine, alanine and serine) are the basic
parts of proteins from which all life is made. Proteins provide the
structure for, and do all the work in, living things.

The amino acids produced in the NASA Ames lab are similar to those found
previously in carbon-rich meteorites. Meteorites are pieces of asteroids or
comets that have fallen to Earth. The chemical similarities may indicate
that amino acids in meteorites were made in deep space, before the solar
system formed, the scientists say.

"This finding suggests that Earth may have been seeded with amino acids
from space in its earliest days," said Jason Dworkin of Ames and the SETI
Institute. "And, since new stars and planets are formed within the same
clouds in which new amino acids are being created, this increases the odds
that life also evolved in places other than Earth."

"Taken in combination, these results suggest that interstellar chemistry
may have played a significant part in supplying the Earth with some of the
organic materials needed to jump-start life," Dworkin concluded.

To conduct their experiments, the research team simulated space-like
conditions by freezing mixtures of molecules (such as wood alcohol and
ammonia) that are abundant in interstellar clouds. They then exposed the
resulting ice to ultraviolet light.

Previously, the team demonstrated that irradiating interstellar ice
'look-alikes' generated compounds called amphiphiles that can organize
themselves to form membranes; and molecules called quinones that play
important roles in the metabolism of all living organisms on Earth. The
next step, they say, will be to tackle the issue of left- and right-handed
amino acids. Both forms exist in space, but only the left-handed forms are
used by life on Earth.

In addition to the principals, other scientists on the team included Drs.
Louis Allamandola, George Cooper and Scott Sandford, all of Ames.

Astrobiology is the multidisciplinary study of the origin, evolution,
distribution and future of life in the universe. NASA Ames Research Center
is the location of the central offices of the NASA Astrobiology Institute
and serves as the agency's lead center for astrobiology.

More detailed information about these findings is available at:
http://web99.arc.nasa.gov/~astrochem/aanature.html

Here's what's new lately at http://spacescience.nasa.gov/ :

NASA scientists today announced the creation of amino acids, critical for
life, in an environment that mimics deep space. Similar amino acids have
been identified in meteorites. Raw materials for Earth's early
biota? http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2002/02_33AR.html

A new study attempts to explain why Mars' available water is almost
entirely locked up in its north polar
cap. http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-water-science-02c.html

A team of UK and Australian astronomers has discovered new, independent
evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Try to keep
up at http://www.ras.org.uk/press/pn02-06.htm

Debris cast off by giant stars could have survived and drifted long enough
to provide raw materials for planetary systems in the early universe. A
dust factory at http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/03/27/star.dust/index.html

Just in time for Sun-Earth Day, our HESSI spacecraft, launched February 5
and now renamed the Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager or
RHESSI, made its debut by observing a nice solar flare. Story and movies
at http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020320hessixray.html

Educational stuff:

Students Begin Exploring Mars with NASA's Mars Odyssey Spacecraft - some
kids decided where to point Odyssey's camera. Many kids have digital
cameras these days, but few have ever used one that's millions of
miles/kilometers
away. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2002/release_2002_72.html

New educational activities from Amazing Space: in "Galaxy Hunter," students
can go online and use actual data from the Hubble Space Telescope to study
galaxies in deep space. When students are finished hunting for galaxies,
they can try unscrambling the schedule for a Hubble telescope servicing
mission. Or send a comet smashing into Jupiter and watch what
happens. Nifty fun at http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/

March 26, 2002

The Next Four Weeks on Galileo
March 25 - April 21, 2002

Cruise activities continue for Galileo during our long, nearly 10 month
period between encounters. During this time, the distance from the
spacecraft to Jupiter increases from 290 to 320 Jupiter radii (20.7 million
to 22.9 million kilometers or 12.9 million to 14.2 million miles). This
breaks our previous distance record of nearly 290 Jupiter radii set in
September 2000 during our 28th orbit of the giant planet.

The third of five cruise sequences of commands will be transmitted to the
spacecraft on April 1, and these commands will control the activities on
the spacecraft until June 2.

Routine hardware maintenance activities for the spacecraft this month
include two exercises of the propulsion thruster system on March 29 and
April 19, and an exercise of the tape recorder on April 12.

Tape playback of the final bits of data recorded during the January Io
flyby and during the recent calibration activity should be complete by the
April 12 tape maintenance. At the end of this activity, the tape recorder
will be parked with the read/write heads near the center of the tape. This
minimizes the stress on the spring that maintains the correct tension on
the tape, and allows the tape to sit quietly and safely for long periods
without moving. Except for monthly exercises of the tape to check its
status, there are no further plans to use the tape recorder until the
November Amalthea flyby.

On April 3 a test of the on-board gyroscopes is performed. These gyroscopes
provide the spacecraft with information about its attitude in space when we
perform turns and maneuvers. The electronics associated with the gyros have
shown significant degradation over the years of exposure to the harsh
radiation environment near Jupiter. However, when the spacecraft spends
time farther away from Jupiter, the electronics have shown some tendency to
heal themselves somewhat from these radiation effects, or anneal. This test
will provide engineers with data about how much self-healing takes place
after 2-1/2 months far from the radiation damage.

On April 11 the spacecraft will turn in place by 2.4 degrees to keep the
communications antenna pointed towards the Earth.

With the spacecraft well outside the magnetosphere of Jupiter on the
sunward side of the planet, continuous data collection by the Magnetometer,
the Dust Detector, and the Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer instruments
provides scientists with information about the interplanetary medium during
this time.

For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter,
please visit the Galileo home page at one of the following URL's:

http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/features/airbags.html

How to Land Softly on a Hard Planet
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Just one of the many problems in landing on another planet, after it's been
determined where to land and the method to get there, is landing safely. For
JPL, a safe landing is "the name of the game," as engineers work to prepare
two rovers for the journey to Mars.

The Mars Exploration Rovers scheduled for launch in 2003 are using the same
type airbag landing system that Mars Pathfinder used in 1997. The airbags
must be strong enough to cushion the spacecraft if it lands on rocks or
rough terrain and allow it to bounce across Mars' surface at freeway speeds
after landing. To add to the complexity, the airbags must be inflated
seconds before touchdown and deflated once safely on the ground.

"The 2003 rovers have a different mass [than Sojourner, the Pathfinder
rover], so we've made changes in the airbag design," said John Carson,
cognizant engineer. "Our requirement is to be able to land safely on a rock
extending about a half-meter (about 18 inches) above the surface. Extensive
testing gives us a process for trial and error before the final design."

How to Build a Better Airbag

While most new automobiles now come with airbags, spacecraft don't. The
fabric being used for the new Mars airbags is a synthetic material called
Vectran that was also used on Mars Pathfinder. Vectran has almost twice the
strength of other synthetic materials, such as Kevlar, and performs better
at cold temperatures.

Denier is a term that measures the diameter of the thread used in the
product. There will be six 100-denier layers of the light but tough Vectran
protecting one or two inner bladders of the same material in 200-denier,
according to Dara Sabahi, mechanical systems architect. Using the 100-denier
means there is more actual fabric in the outer layers where it is needed,
because there are more threads in the weave.

Each rover uses four airbags with six lobes each, which are all connected.
Connection is important, since it helps abate some of the landing forces by
keeping the bag system flexible and responsive to ground pressure. The
fabric of the airbags is not attached directly to the rover; ropes that
crisscross the bags hold the fabric to the rover. The ropes give the bags
shape, which makes inflation easier. While in flight, the bags are stowed
along with three gas generators that are used for inflation.

Testing, Testing, Testing

Since the airbags are composed of many layers, some tearing in the outer
layers is acceptable and even expected. Engineers test the bags to make sure
there will be no catastrophic problems that would prevent a safe landing.

Mars airbag testing is done in world's largest vacuum chamber at the Plum
Brook Station of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio. "The Plum Brook
facility is pretty impressive, along with all the people who operate it,"
said Carson.

The test chamber used for the tests is a little over 30 meters (100 feet)
across and about 37 meters (120 feet) high -- big enough that three railroad
tracks go through it. A test spacecraft and airbag system weighing about 535
kilograms (about 1,180 pounds) are accelerated with a bungee cord system
onto a platform with rocks that approximate the Mars surface. The drop is at
landing speed, about 20 to 24 meters (yards) per second.

Tests are documented thoroughly with high-speed and video cameras, in
addition to visual inspections. Engineers even built a clear dome, studded
with rocks, that has a camera that documents tests from a rock's-eye view.
During testing, a crew from ILC Dover, the airbag's manufacturer, stands by
to make quick repairs and to note any changes required.

"We do extensive testing," said Tom Rivellini, deputy mechanical systems
architect. "We want to break the bag on Earth, not on Mars. If we see a tear
that is unexpected or goes too deep, we can make changes now [before the
final design]."

Carson added, "We'll go over all the data we've accumulated so far, do some
more testing, and decide on a design configuration."

And then on to Mars in 2003!

When Space Makes You Dizzy

Astronauts returning to Earth sometimes feel light-headed. It's been a
problem since the earliest days of human space exploration, but now
doctors may have a solution.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/25mar_dizzy.htm?list448368

DRYDEN F-15B SUPPORTS F-5 SHAPED SONIC BOOM DEMONSTRATION

NASA is part of a team seeking quieter sonic booms. NASA's F-15B
Research Testbed aircraft recently flew in the supersonic shock wave
of a U.S. Navy F-5E in support of the F-5 Shaped Sonic Boom
Demonstration (SSBD) project, part of the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency's (DARPA) Quiet Supersonic Platform (QSP) program.

The flights originated from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at
Edwards, Calif.

Four flights were flown in order to measure the F-5E's near-field
(close-up) sonic boom signature at Mach 1.4, during which more than
50 shockwave patterns were measured at distances as close as 100 feet
below the F-5E.

The F-15B's specially-instrumented noseboom recorded static pressure
measurements while flying behind and below the F-5E. This provided a
baseline measurement of the F-5E's sonic boom characteristics.
Differential Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers on both
aircraft yielded relative aircraft position.

Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems sector of El
Segundo, Calif., intends to modify the F-5E aircraft into a Shaped
Sonic Boom Demonstrator in an effort to reduce its sonic boom. The
U.S. Navy aircraft is based at Fallon Naval Air Station in Fallon,
Nevada. The data provided by Dryden's F-15B is assisting Northrop
Grumman's and DARPA's efforts, as well as helping assess SSBD flight
test techniques.

In addition to the airborne data collected by the F-15B, sonic boom
data was gathered on the ground by two Dryden-developed Boom
Amplitude and Direction Sensors (BADS) in order to obtain
ground-level sonic boom signature data. Twenty-five sonic booms from
the F-5E and F-15B were recorded.

Dryden has expertise in air and ground-based sonic boom measurement
techniques, having accomplished several sonic boom studies over the
years. In 1995, Dryden's F-16XL-1 aircraft probed the shockwave of
one of Dryden's SR-71 aircraft.

"The flight data show fine details unseen in the preflight
predictions," said Ed Haering, Dryden's principal investigator for
sonic boom studies. "Based on these details, the Computational Fluid
Dynamic (CFD) grid density was increased. Preliminary flight data
agree well with the CFD predictions over most of the region, with an
adjustment needed to the predictions in the region of the engine
inlet. These flight data allow the QSP team to validate prediction
tools to design aircraft with lower sonic booms," Haering said.

DARPA and Northrop Grumman plan to fly the F-5E in the fall with a
special fairing designed to reduce the aircraft's sonic boom.
Dryden's F-15B will again fly in the Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstrator's
shock waves to record changes produced by the F-5E modifications.

ANIMATED CHARACTER ON NASA WEB SITE TO EXPLAIN ROTORCRAFT

Teachers soon will preview NASA cartoon character Robin Whirleybird, who
'lives' in a new children's Internet storybook and will explain rotorcraft
to young children beginning next fall.

Rotorcraft are 'runway independent aircraft,' helicopters and tilt-rotor
airplanes, that get their lift and thrust from rotor blades. Educators will
learn about the web-based storybook in a presentation at the National
Science Teachers Association's (NSTA) national convention in San Diego,
Calif. on March 27-30. Teachers nationwide may see a preliminary version of
the web site at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/test/rotorcraft/

"The new web site tells about Robin Whirleybird, a young girl who visits a
NASA research center at which her mother works," said Melissa Maradiegue,
manager of the Educator Resource Center at NASA Ames Research Center
located in California's Silicon Valley. "This web site is a unique
classroom tool in the sense that, while the subject it discusses is
science-based, it uses an interactive story, strengthening language arts
and vocabulary skills."

The web site and its read-aloud, on-line book target Kindergarten through
fourth grade students, classroom teachers, home-schoolers and people
interested in rotorcraft.

"The site is designed to engage and capture the interest of young children,
not only through the story itself, but also through the interactive
elements found on every page," said Susanne Ashby. She is the site's
conceptual designer, its co-author and member of the team at NASA Ames that
developed 'Robin Whirleybird on her Rotorcraft Adventures.'

The web site includes a brief rotorcraft history, rotorcraft facts, photos
of rotorcraft types and what these aircraft are designed to do. The site
also involves the reader with Robin, the main character, in testing various
landing approaches for sound levels.

"Users are invited to explore using the buttons within the menu bar to
listen to the story being read aloud, and to learn lots of interesting
facts about rotorcraft," said Ashby. "It is a tremendous resource for
learning about aeronautics, and NASA's research in runway independent
aircraft."

Lesson plans will be on the web site in portable document format (PDF).
These lessons will feature hands-on science and technology activities that
correlate to national education standards for science, reading and language
arts.

The preliminary web site will move to its permanent URL --
http://rotored.arc.nasa.gov -- after May 1. The site is slated to remain at
that URL for its public debut in September.

Members of the NASA Ames Educational Technology Team will describe the web
site to teachers during a session, 'NASA Rotorcraft,' slated for 9:30 a.m.
to 10:30 a.m. PST March 29 at the NSTA San Diego convention. Information
about the web site also will be available at a NASA booth throughout the
convention from March 27-30. More information about the NSTA and its San
Diego convention is on the Internet at: http://www.nsta.org/

The team designed and created the web site with funding from NASA's
Rotorcraft Program, developers of the Rotorcraft Aircrew Systems Concepts
Airborne Laboratory (RASCAL) Project, a flying laboratory that tests new
rotorcraft equipment.

Mars Society Covered in New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer
March 24, 2002

The phenomenal press coverage of the Mars Society's Mars Desert
Research Station (MDRS) continued this weekend with a front page
article in the New York Times Saturday March 23, and a major feature
article in the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine March 24.
The articles can be accessed on the Internet at the URLs given below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/science/23MARS.html

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/special_packages/inquirer_maga
zine/2899954.htm

A special session with reports from numerous crew members on the
activities of the MDRS will be held at the 5th International Mars
Society Convention, which will be held August 8-11, 2002 at the
University of Colorado at Boulder. Registration for the convention is
now open at www.marssociety.org.

For further information about the Mars Society,visit our website at
http://www.marssociety.org,or contact info@marssociety.

March 25, 2002

Hyperactive galaxy NGC 7673 [heic0205]

The disturbed spiral galaxy NGC 7673 is ablaze with
the light from millions of new stars. Each of its infant
giant blue star clusters shines 100 times as brightly in
the ultraviolet as similar immense star clusters in our
own Galaxy. Scientists studying this object have two pressing
questions: "What has triggered this enormous burst of star
formation and how will this galaxy evolve in the future?"

Read more about this:
http://sci.esa.int/hubble/news/index.cfm?oid=29711

See a Comet Tonight

Cambridge, MA - The brightest comet since 1997's Hale-Bopp is currently
gracing the western skies of North America. Comet Ikeya-Zhang (pronounced
"ee-KAY-uh JONG") was discovered on February 1st by two amateur astronomers
in Japan and China, respectively. Calculations of the comet's orbit by Brian
Marsden of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics show that it was
last seen in 1661. This makes Ikeya-Zhang the first long-period comet (a
comet with a period longer than 200 years) to be identified on its return to
the inner solar system.

No telescope is necessary to look at this beautiful visitor as it swings
around the Sun and heads back to deep space. The comet has brightened to
naked-eye visibility, but is easiest to see through binoculars. A casual
glance will show the bright, starlike nucleus surrounded by a fuzzy cloud of
dust and gas called the coma. The comet's tail streaks away from the Sun,
pointing nearly straight up from the horizon.

To find Comet Ikeya-Zhang, look in the western sky shortly after sunset. A
red point of light about 18 degrees up in the sky is the planet Mars. (An
outspread hand at arm's length covers about 15 degrees, so Mars is a bit
higher than one hand-span.) To the right of Mars are two bright stars in a
nearly vertical line. The comet is at the same height as Mars, to the right
of the two bright stars about as far again as the distance from Mars to the
stars.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA
scientists organized into seven research divisions study the origin,
evolution, and ultimate fate of the universe.

Note to editors: An image of Comet Ikeya-Zhang on the evening of Thursday,
March 22, 2002, taken by the MicroObservatory telescope in Cambridge, is
available online at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/press/comet_image.html. The
MicroObservatory project, created by the Science Education group at the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, allows students and teachers
across the nation to use telescopes over the Internet to take pictures of
objects in the night sky.

NASA CELEBRATES SUN-EARTH DAY
WITH SOLAR X-RAY FIREWORKS

Just in time for Sun-Earth Day, a new NASA spacecraft,
complete with a new name, made its debut by observing a huge
explosion in the atmosphere of the Sun. The blast, called a
solar flare, was equal to one million megatons of TNT and
gave off powerful bursts of X-rays.

The solar fireworks were captured by what is now known as the
Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager
spacecraft, or RHESSI. The spacecraft launched last month as
HESSI was recently renamed in honor of Dr. Reuven Ramaty, who
died in 2001 after a long and distinguished career in the
Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics at the NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Ramaty was a pioneer in
the field of solar-flare physics, gamma-ray astronomy and
cosmic rays.

"We are thrilled to be making the first high-resolution
movies of flares using their high-energy radiation," said
Brian Dennis, the RHESSI mission scientist at Goddard. "We
want to understand how solar flares can explosively release
so much energy. RHESSI shows us the high-energy radiation
emitted by flares: their X-rays and gamma rays. This
radiation reveals the core of the flare -- the exact time and
place where the energy is released."

Today is the second annual Sun-Earth Day, which is sponsored
by NASA's Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum to provide an
opportunity to learn more about the Sun's connection to the
Earth through images, cultural parallels and activities.
Powerful events on the Sun, including flares, occasionally
disrupt satellites and communications and power systems.

Scientists believe solar flares are powered by the violent
release of magnetic energy, but how this happens is unknown.
A new movie features one of the first flares recorded by
RHESSI, which occurred Feb. 20 in the southern hemisphere of
the Sun, an active region designated "AR 9830."

It was a moderately powerful flare, classified as M2.4 by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The
most powerful flares, designated X-class by NOAA, can release
up to 1,000 times more energy.

During its planned two-year mission, RHESSI will study the
secrets of how solar flares are produced in the Sun's
atmosphere. Launched Feb. 5, RHESSI is now fully operational
after only six weeks in orbit. It is observing the Sun and
recording the high-energy radiation from solar flares as they
occur.

RHESSI is the first NASA Small Explorer mission being managed
in the "Principal Investigator" mode. The Principal
Investigator, Robert Lin of the University of California,
Berkeley, is responsible for most aspects of the mission,
including the science instrument, spacecraft integration and
environmental testing, and spacecraft operations and data
analysis.

The RHESSI scientific payload is a collaborative effort among
the University of California, Berkeley; Goddard; the Paul
Scherrer Institut in Switzerland; and the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory in Berkeley. The mission also involves
additional scientific participation from France, Japan, The
Netherlands, Scotland and Switzerland.

The Explorers Program Office at Goddard manages the RHESSI
mission for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington.
Spectrum Astro, Inc. of Gilbert, Ariz., constructed the
RHESSI spacecraft and provided integration support.

A movie of the flare recorded by the RHESSI spacecraft is
available on the Internet at:
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020320hessixray.html

RHESSI data are now available online to the general public
at:
http://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/hessi/

More information about Sun-Earth Day can be found on the
World Wide Web at:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov.sunearthday

March 24, 2002

Ice Continent on the Move

For the first time, radar satellites have mapped Antarctica, revealing a
continent whose frozen cloak is in constant and surprising motion.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/22mar_ice.htm?list448368

March 21-23, 2002

Parting Remarks of Mars Desert Research Station Crew 3

Bjoern Grieger, Nell Beedle, Tiffany Vora, Jon Dory, Erik Carlstrom,
Sybil Sharvelle, and Stacy Sklar
March 23, 2002

[editor's note. MDRS Crew 3 went on duty March 10 and will depart the
station March 24. They will then hand over station operations to Crew
4, commanded by Prof. Judith Lapierre of the University of Quebec at
Hull.]

We, Crew3, began our Mars Desert Research Station rotation with a
baptism by fire! But we feel our success clearly demonstrates that
the right team of individuals can be successful in reaching their
goals, even while operating in an extreme environment far from
logistical support. We believe these things highlight what makes
Crew3 unique:

- Bjoern Grieger is the first non-national to command MDRS, and he
commanded all all-American crew.

- We're the first Crew to have at least three women in a six-person
crew.

- Almost immediately, we experienced heavy media attention including:

- 3 camera crews and 4 days of continuous filming beginning on
our first full day of rotation

- 1 radio journalism crew recording over the course of a day

- print journalism attention for a total of 3 days of coverage.
We also had an overnight stay by a print journalist, and we believe
we were the first crew to take a journalist out on an EVA in full
simulation.

- Early on, we overcame major operational difficulties, many
resulting from a strong windstorm with recorded gusts of 93kph
(58mph).

- We're a heavily science oriented crew

- We had the first all-female EVA, although it wasn't planned- it
just happened which is remarkable in itself!

- Our ages range from 22 to 41 years.

- We range in height from 1.6 to 2 meters (5'2" to 6'7"), a true
test of the comfort and function of the Hab and EVA suits.

- We believe our diversity of life experience, from academic to
applied and commercial scientific and engineering knowledge, was
crucial to our success.

- Luckily, we are all excellent, experimental cooks.

- We had three birthdays on our rotation.

BJOERN GRIEGER, COMMANDER, PLANETARY SCIENTIST
My name is Björn Grieger; I am a physicist and work at the Max-Planck-
Institut für Aeronomie in Germany in the Planetary Science
Department. The main topic of my work is the preparation of data
evaluation for the Huygens probe, that will descent into the
atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan in January 2005. Besides this, I am
also involved in modeling long term climate changes on Mars.

Being born in 1961, I was very impressed when I saw Neil Armstrong
walking on the moon in 1969, and my childhood dream was to become an
astronaut. It has not completely become true, but I really appreciate
how much I am involved in space exploration considering my work on
planetary research, a cosmonaut training I obtained in Star City,
Moscow, in 1997, and, of course, being at the Mars Desert Research
Station in 2002. Having experienced how demanding it can be, I not
sure if I really would like to be an astronaut myself, but I am
pleased that I can contribute to the Mars Society's effort to pace
mankind's way to space.

NELL BEEDLE, GEOLOGIST.
I'm very impressed that our crew, with our diverse backgrounds and
experiences, were able to pull together as a team so that we could
solve any problem, and have a great time doing it! As a field
scientist, I was reminded that I've trained to use all five-senses
while doing field work. Clearly, humans will have to make adjustments
when exploring Mars where we can't expose ourselves to the hostile
environment. I think the work at MDRS will contribute to developing
new techniques for successful human exploration of Mars. But the real
joy will be in walking up to a rock that has been remotely, digitally
mapped at very high resolution from Earth, and simply picking it up
and turning it over to see what's underneath!

ERIK CARLSTROM, GEOPHYSICIST
I have done planetary science, optical oceanography, and geophysical
research and spent a short stint in the military. I feel that I have
never gotten along with a group of people this size so quickly before
in my life. I feel that we all have strong personalities and
opinions, but we have amazingly been able to mesh these into a
coherent working group. Our diverse backgrounds have allowed us to
come even closer together than I thought was possible. I feel that I
have bonded with my fellow crewmembers to the point that I have found
new people that will be my friends for a long time to come. I think
that this experience is important in the endeavor to send humans to
Mars, because it tells me that the right crew can go through hardship
and problems together yet stay close during the duration of the
mission.

JONATHAN DORY, SPACE HABITATION ENGINEER
I work as a Human Factors Analyst for SPACEHAB Inc. at the Johnson
Space Center. I support NASA by planning the internal layout and
configuration of systems, payloads, and hardware to accommodate
operations and habitability onboard the International Space Station.
Naturally, my interest in the MDRS program has been to better
understand how humans live and work in an enclosed volume with
specific objectives; how do people share one small habitat in which
they must perform science, prepare meals, sleep, and perform all of
the routines of daily life? One of the greatest lessons that I'll
take out of this program is how important it is to prepare for a
mission as complex as a long duration stay on Mars in an integrated
fashion like at MDRS. It is not enough to simply study humans in
enclosed environments, performing field science, or operating
payloads. The difficulty comes in determining the conflicts between
these operations in the real working environment. While humans can
adapt to just about any environment for a short period, it is
critical that a long duration space habitat be designed to
accommodate the needs of the crew, both for morale and productivity.

SYBIL SHARVELLE, GRADUTE STUDENT, CIVIL ENGINEERING, CU BOULDER
As I sat in the "living room" of the hab, trying to recollect my
thoughts to write this summary, I found it difficult to concentrate
because I was too busy enjoying my time with my crewmates. I went
into my stateroom to get some privacy and concentrate and the first
thing I remembered was the skepticism I had about coming here.
Living in an enclosed environment with 5 other people in the middle
of Nowhere, Utah, did not exactly sound fun. I could not have been
more wrong. Not only has this been the most fun experience I've had
in the last year, but also the most valuable. This environment has
worked very well for a Mars simulation, both in the sense of a living
environment and a physical environment that looks and feels alien and
like Mars. The most important and rewarding part of this experience
is having worked with an extremely diverse and multidisciplinary
group of people to put all of our knowledge together for the goal of
understanding and overcoming the hurdles it will take to send humans
to Mars.

TIFFANY VORA - GRADUATE STUDENT, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, PRINCETON
UNIVERSITY.
I will always carry the memory of cresting Hab Ridge on pedestrian
EVA with a media crew. I shuffled up the hill, keeping a sharp eye
on my path for sinkholes. The path leveled out, I lifted my eyes ...
and gazed across an expanse of mounds stretching to the horizon. My
companions vanished; I was transported to the top of a grand desolate
world. I surveyed the red and purple hills to the whir of my pack
fan. This was not my home, my Earth; this was Mars, a land to
explore, understand, and perhaps even shape to our needs. Suddenly I
was aware of my companions, and my vision of Mars vanished. I was
once again a member of a team, one of many who share a dream. I have
journeyed far and still have far to go. We all do. But our feet are
on the path, and with perseverance, vision, and yes, fun, we will
succeed in our lifetimes. There will be humans on Mars, and we will
have contributed to the triumph.

STACY SKLAR, GEOCHEMIST
I am a geochemistry student currently attending NAU (Northern Arizona
University) and aspire to be a Mars Vulcanologist. I am active with
the Mars Desert Research Station with Logistics, Exploration, and
Research. In my spare time I am an avid outdoorswomen. My experience
at the MDRS was incredible, learning about the geological processes
occurring in this area and imaging that these processes could
possible occur on Mars as well as in simulation was the next best
thing to actually being on Mars! However, it was the Human Factors
issue that leaves the best impression on me. The bonding that
occurred between my crewmembers and myself was remarkable. Within a
day of meeting each other we realized that in order not only to do
basic fieldwork but for survival as well, we must work as a team.
Due to a rather unexpected wind storm damage to the hab as well as
our generator tripping on/off several times we learned to "work the
problem" and most of all laugh about the situation.

to find out more about the Mars society, wisit our website at
www.marssociety.org. Or contact info@marssociety.org.

Cassini Weekly Significant Events
for 03/14/02 - 03/20/02

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Wednesday, March 20. The Cassini spacecraft is in an
excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the
present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the
"Present Position" web page located at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/ .

Activities this week included two Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS)
High Frequency Receiver calibrations, and the Imaging Science Subsystem
(ISS) Narrow and Wide Angle Cameras (NAC and WAC) going to sleep mode.
Both the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) and RPWS instruments
were successfully loaded with new flight software, and the final round
of tests for the new command system took place, with the Canberra Deep
Space Communications Complex (DSCC) successfully uplinking a series of
test commands to the Cassini spacecraft.

The Sequence Team has continued with the C32 sequence development
process, with the Subsequence Generation Sequence Change Request meeting
being held this week. No major changes have been identified for the C32
background sequence, and the detailed sequence generation is proceeding
normally.

The C33 Science Planning Team cruise sequence development kicked off on
Monday, March 18. This sequence starts the Space Science Cruise period.

In support of Saturn Tour planning, the Titan Orbiter Science Team
(TOST) met last week to finish up the detailed integration of the
Titan-9 encounter. The TOST also held a half-day meeting later in the
week to resolve the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS)
issues arising out of the Titan-6/7 swap, which was a result of the
latest Tour modifications made in order to manage Saturn ring plane
crossings.

Mission Assurance presented a paper, "Managing Risk for Cassini During
Mission Operations and Data Analysis" at a well-attended session of the
IEEE Aerospace Conference, in Big Sky, Montana. In addition, Mission
Assurance supported a JPL workshop entitled "Ensure Mission Success."
This workshop brought together the various JPL flight projects in a
discussion of operations practices to successfully manage mission risks.

Cassini Jupiter science was featured again recently on the CNN Space
website, at
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/03/16/jupiter.mystery.ap/index.html

Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the
Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Cassini Outreach
Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

In this issue:
*** LORD CAMROSE MAKES MAJOR DONATION TO MARS SOCIETY
*** PRESS MISREPORTS SIGNIFICANCE OF MARS ODYSSEY RADIATION RESULTS
*** HUGE PRESS COVERAGE OF MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION CONTINUES

LORD CAMROSE MAKES MAJOR DONATION TO MARS SOCIETY

Lord Camrose, a Peer of the English Realm, has made a donation of
£19,000 (about $27,000) to support the work of the Mars Society.
Camrose, who wrote under the name of Adrian Berry for 19 years as
Science Correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, has also written
several books about space travel, all of which have been published in
the US. The most recent of these is ``The Giant Leap: Mankind Heads
for the Stars'', published by Tor Books. He was one of the
journalists in the press room at Houston when Neil Armstrong walked
on the Moon.
Commenting on his donation, Camrose said; "My main interest was
always space. I have attended two annual meetings of the Mars
Society, and I was enormously impressed by the energy and enthusiasm
of the speakers (and the audience), particularly by you, Robert.
"My reason for making my donation of £19,000 was the
feeling that if someone makes a significant donation (particularly a
foreigner!) then other people will feel encouraged to make even
bigger ones. And then, with luck, the Mars Society might eventually
become rich enough to put its wonderful ideas into practice."
Camrose's donation to the Mars Society marks a historic
first, extending the proud tradition of the British aristocracy in
supporting exploration on Earth to the new frontier of space.
The Mars Society is entirely privately funded. We welcome further
donations from everyone. The message here is that there are people,
in fact hundreds of millions of people, in every walk of life who
share the common vision of the necessity of human expansion into
space. If we pool our resources, together we can make
it happen.
Join Lord Camrose in enabling the work of the Mars Society.
You can do it by going to the donations link at www.marssociety.org.
If you make your donation through PayPal, PayPal founder Elon Musk
will match your donation, dollar for dollar. An appropriate link to
PayPal is provided. All contributions are tax-deductible. The Mars
Society's Tax ID number is 31-1585646.

PRESS MISREPORTS SIGNIFICANCE OF MARS ODYSSEY RADIATION RESULTS

The non-scientific press is indulging in wild misreportage of the
significance of the results of the MARIE radiation detection
instrument on the Mars Odyssey probe. An example of such misreportage
is cited below.

>Mars Odyssey finds dangerous radiation; much hydrogen
By ALEXANDRA WITZE
Knight Ridder Tribune
HOUSTON -- NASA's latest mission to Mars has confirmed that
astronauts won't be visiting there any time soon. Even Val Kilmer
couldn't survive the deadly radiation he would encounter on the way
to the Red Planet.
Last week, scientists announced new measurements of the radiation
hazard, taken by the robotic Mars Odyssey spacecraft. On the way to
Mars, a person would be blasted with more than twice the radiation
experienced by astronauts in the relatively protected environment of
Earth's orbit.
"This is bad news. This is a real problem for getting humans out
there," said Tim Cleghorn, a radiation expert at NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston, last week at a gathering of planetary scientists.
>

In fact, it was known long in advance that the cosmic ray dose in
Earth-Mars interplanetary space would be twice that in low Earth
orbit (LEO), because in LEO the Earth blocks out half the sky. (The
Earth's magnetic field is not effective in shielding against high
energy cosmic radiation. It only shields against comparatively low-
energy solar flare particles, which on a Mars mission could also be
easily protected against through the use of a solar flare storm
shelter utilizing onboard consumables for shielding materials.)

Thus an astronaut on a six-month outbound voyage to Mars would be
expected to receive about 16 rem in radiation, the same as some
cosmonauts have already received in 1-year sojourns on the Mir space
station. No incidents of radiation sickness from such doses would be
expected to occur, and none have been observed.

In providing hysterical quotes like those above to the press about
the MARIE data, radiation researchers seeking funding for their
own ricebowls are doing a major disservice to the American space
program.

For a competent discussion of the radiation hazards of a Mars
mission, readers are directed to "The Case for Mars," by
Robert Zubrin and Richard Wagner, chapter 5, pp. 114-121, Simon
and /Schuster, 1996.

The press however, has accurately reported the very significant
results Mars Odyssey has returned showing abundant water on Mars.
Continuing with the above cited article by Alexandra Witze:

> [University of Arizona Professor William] Boynton's
instrument has already accomplished Odyssey's major science result so
far -- the identification of large amounts of hydrogen in Mars'
southern hemisphere. The hydrogen, scientists think, must be bound
with oxygen in frozen water, thus confirming the long-standing idea
that Mars has lots of water on or near its surface. Water is
considered a prerequisite for the origin and evolution of life.
Odyssey's gamma ray spectrometer measures hydrogen indirectly, by
studying neutrons and other particles coming from Mars' surface.
Neutrons are created when cosmic ray particles strike Mars. The
neutrons can then be absorbed by hydrogen in the soil. So if
scientists observe few neutrons, as Boynton's team did, they conclude
that lots of hydrogen must be present.
And just how much hydrogen is there? "It's somewhere between whopping
and gobs," Boynton said. (In scientific terms, Mars contains several
percent water by volume near its south pole.)
This makes it far richer in water than the moon, said William
Feldman, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in
New Mexico. In 1998, reports of water frozen in craters at the moon's
south pole sparked excitement about whether the water could serve as
a resource for interplanetary travelers.
>
Indeed. A complete report on all the latest results from NASA's
Mars probes and their significance for future human Mars exploration
will be presented at the 5th International Mars Society Convention,
to be held August 8-11th 2002, at the University of Colorado at
Boulder.
There is currently an open call for papers for the convention on all
matters concerning robotic or human Mars exploration or settlement.
Abstracts should be sent by email to pheydon@pioneerastro.com.
Registration may be accomplished on the Mars Society website at
www.marssociety.org.

HUGE PRESS COVERAGE OF MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION CONTINUES

Over the past week, huge press coverage of the Mars Society's
Mars Desert Research Station has continued worldwide, with
broadcasts on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, Der Spiegel TV in
Germany, and the BBC Worldwide Radio. Major stories in the New York
Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and German Focus TV are expected
shortly. Through these and other outlets, we have been able to reach
hundreds of millions of people with the vision of human exploration
and settlement of space, more than all other space advocacy groups
have done collectively in their history.

We must use the opportunity presented by this publicity to grow the
Mars Society into a force that can make a humans to Mars program a
reality. The best way to do that is to invite people who hear about
us to join us in doing important work towards out goal. Chapters need
to become more active. Right now the campaign in the US is Operation
Congress 2002 (See Special Bulletin#58 for details). Every US chapter
or unaffiliated Mars Society member should contact their local
congressional office and arrange to go and talk to their congressman
when he or she is in town. Our message is a two point program:

1. That the United States should make humans to Mars the central
long term goal of our space program.
2. That as a first step in this direction, 1% of NASA's budget
(or about $140 million per year) should be set aside as a line item
to support technology development to enable human Mars exploration.

Some materials that can be of help have been posted at the Operation
Congress link (under "Projects") on the Mars Society website
at www.marssociety.org. Chapters or individuals who would like
further guidance in how to conduct this campaign should contact Mars
Society Outreach Task Force Director Brian Frankie,
brianf5070@aol.com. Reports on all meetings should also be sent to
Brian.

International Chapters should formulate and implement their own
campaigns, adjusted for local or national circumstances.

For further information about the Mars Society, visit our website at
www.marssociety.org. Or contact info@marssociety.org

NASA AMES CELEBRATES WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

NASA's Ames Research Center is recognizing and celebrating National Women's History Month and the contributions of female scientists, researchers and managers to the space program.

Media representatives will have the opportunity to speak with Ames researchers and administrators, who will share their experiences at NASA and discuss contributions made by women to NASA's aeronautics and space programs. Participants also will address issues related to education and career opportunities for young girls and women.

"We want to let the world know about the great research and innovations NASA women have made and continue to make," said NASA Ames community relations coordinator Sheila Johnson.

"What NASA does affects not only astronauts in space, but also people here on Earth," said Winifred Huo, NASA Ames' computational chemistry group lead. "Women should realize that the research we have done and technologies we continue to develop may improve their health and lifestyle."

"One day, instead of going through traumatizing biopsy, women will go through a painless breast cancer detection procedure using the NASA Smart Surgical Probe," said NASA Ames chief scientist Stephanie Langhoff. "During pregnancy, our daughters could swallow a NASA pill transmitter that will allow them to monitor the fetus. NASA cares about women's welfare, and there are incredible women who help the agency to succeed in its mission," she added.

The official celebration of women's accomplishments began in 1978 when the Sonoma County, Calif., government sponsored Women's History Week to promote the teaching of women's history. In 1981, Congress passed a resolution making the week a national celebration, and in 1987 Congress expanded the celebration to the full month of March, making it National Women's History Month.

More information about NASA's women's outreach initiative is available at:
http://www.nasa.gov/women/

March 20, 2002

STARCHASER INDUSTRIES MAKES MAJOR DONATION TO BEGIN FABRICATION OF THE EUROPEAN MARS ANALOGUE RESEARCH STATION

The Mars Society / Mars Society UK are pleased to announce that
Starchaser Industries Ltd., have made a major donation of some
$90,000 (£63,405) towards the Society's European Mars Analogue
Research Station (EuroMARS) project.

"We are delighted to have been able to play a part in helping this
donation to happen," Bo Maxwell, President of the Mars Society UK
added. "Over the last 12 months, the Mars Society UK and Starchaser
Industries have been able to forge ever closer ties in the promotion
of the human exploration of space. Now, with this generous donation,
Starchaser Industries is helping to propel the Mars Society into a
new era of European research that will greatly contribute to our goal
of sending humans to Mars."

The EuroMARS station will be the third in a series of four research
units that form the Mars Society's international chain of Mars
Analogue Research Stations (MARS). Two of these units are already
operational, one in the Canadian Arctic (the Flashline Mars Arctic
Research Station, or FMARS) and one in the southern Utah desert (the
Mars Desert Research Station, or MDRS). Like the planned Euro-MARS,
each of these units provides a base from which a wide range of
science and research can be carried out to help us better understand
and plan for human missions to Mars. At its core, each unit comprises
a "Mars habitat unit", an analogue of the kind of vehicle that will
act and both a spacecraft to get a crew of up to 6 individuals to
Mars, and as a day-to-day home and laboratory / workshop for the 18
months they will spend of the surface of Mars.

Operational since the summer of 2000, the FMARS unit on Devon Island
in the Canadian Arctic has already proved to be an invaluable
learning centre for future human missions on Mars. In February 2002,
the research performed at the FMARS was augmented by the first
operational crew rotation at the MDRS in Utah. For up to 9 months a
year, both the FMARS and MDRS will provide teams of 6 people the
opportunity to live and work and conduct research in environments
that closely mimic those of the surface of Mars. This work will allow
scientists and engineers to test and refine much of the technology
that will be used when we send humans to Mars, and to develop many of
the protocols and procedures necessary for the safe execution of such
missions. Due to become operational in 2003, the European Mars
Analogue Research station will further add to the MARS programme by
providing a facility that will allow selected teams from across
Europe to carry out Mars-related scientific study and technology /
protocol development in a unit that further builds on the strengths
of the FMARS and MDRS designs.

Commenting on the decision to commit funds to the MARS project, Steve
Bennett, the CEO of Starchaser Industries, commented: "We are
delighted to be helping to make this project happen. We share the
philosophy that by privately funding real technical projects we will
be able to achieve our respective aims. The British are a nation of
adventurers and explorers, it is our belief that support in this
country for the exploration of space will grow as people see that
real hardware is being developed."

The EuroMARS habitat will be constructed in April / May 2002 in the
United States using the donation from Starchaser Industries and money
raised in the USA and elsewhere. The unit will then be placed on
display at a major public venue in the United States through the
summer where members of the public will be able to visit it and learn
about what it will be like to live and work on Mars. Following the
public exhibition, the unit will be shipped to Europe ready for
deployment to its operational site in early 2003. Currently,
three "mars analogue" sites are under consideration for the Euro-
MARS. These are in Iceland, Sweden and southern Spain. A final site
selection will be made later in
2002 by the European Chapters of the Mars Society that are
contributing to the project. Once operational, the Euro-MARS will be
managed and operated by a consortium of European Chapters of the
Society which includes the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands,
Germany, Poland, Belgium, and Spain, with participation by citizens
of many other European countries as well.

Said Peter Loftus Resources Director for The Mars Society UK; "The
financial windfalls for any space capable nation are enormous, I
believe it is vital for the UK as a nation to begin to develop a
serious manned space programme. The opportunities for industry are
incredible, either to use off-Earth resources or to develop and
showcase technologies for use in space for the global market. The
EuroMARS project will give a number of companies the opportunity to
showcase their products to a wide audience. We are always looking to
work with companies that have the foresight to help to bring our
increasingly ambitious and highly visible projects to reality." *

Commenting on the Starchaser donation, international Mars Society
president Robert Zubrin said; "We are grateful, and I believe the
future will be eternally grateful, to Starchaser for this generous
grant. This is a breakthrough that will allow us to immediately begin
fabrication of the European Mars Analogue Research Station, and make
it operational by the summer of 2003. The EuroMARS will be a dynamic
center for Mars exploration research open to participation from the
European Space Agency, national space agencies, industry,
universities, and individuals from many walks of life. Through press
coverage of its activities, it will also serve as a beacon for
awakening Europeans to the vision of human exploration and settlement
of Mars. For the past four decades, Europe's participation in
humanity's reconnaissance of the solar system has been much less
than
what it could and should be. The EuroMARS will change that. The great
challenge of the human exploration and settlement of space cries out
for the talents and skills that the genius of European civilization
has to offer. For this reason the launching of the EuroMARS is not
just a great event for Europeans, but humanity as w hole. As an
American patriot, and as a world citizen, I welcome this development
with all my heart. The international Mars society will do everything
it can to make this program a success. Let's go to Mars
together!"

ABOUT THE MARS SOCIETY

The Mars Society is an international organisation spanning some 50
countries worldwide, and dedicated to the exploration and settlement
of the planet Mars. Members are drawn from all walks of life -
science, engineering, astronomy, astronautics, academia and the
general public. Since its inception in 1998, the Society has proven
itself an innovative and forward-thinking organisation that is taking
practical steps towards the human exploration of Mars. Further
information about the international Mars Society can be found at its
website at www.marsosicety.org. Further information about the Mars
Society UK can be found at www.marssociety.org.uk

ABOUT STARCHASER INDUSTRIES

Starchaser began life as an experimental rocket test programme set up
by Steve Bennett back in 1992. The goal had been to develop an
inexpensive means of delivering small scientific payloads to high
altitudes.

This research was funded through a variety of sponsorship deals and
by the mid nineties the project had grown into a team effort. In 1996
the team successfully launched a 22 foot rocket called Starchaser 2
which qualified as the largest private civilian rocket ever to be
built and flown in Europe. Later the same year the programme was re-
launched as the Starchaser Foundation before relocating to the
Physics Department at Salford University, England where Mr Bennett
now serves as Director of the Space Technology Laboratory.

Twelve out of fourteen launches have been successful, as Starchaser
has become internationally recognised as a leader in its field. The
programme has enjoyed considerable news media coverage and is rapidly
becoming a household name.

The team officially entered the $10,000,000 X-Prize competition in
1997 and has recently been ranked joint #1 seed by Future
Publishing's 'Frontiers' magazine.

Starchaser Industries was incorporated as a private limited company
on 16th December 1998, its primary goal being to win the X-Prize by
September 2003.

This year saw the flight of NOVA, which completed all mission
objectives before returning safely via parachute.

WEBSITES:

The Mars Society: http://www.marssociety.org
The Mars Society UK: http://www.marssociety.org.uk
The MARS project: http://www.marssociety.org.uk/sections.php?
op==viewarticle&artid=%

Starchaser Industries: http://www.starchaser.co.uk

NASA FLIGHT TESTS VALIDATE UAV COLLISION-AVOIDANCE TECHNOLOGIES

Test pilots and engineers reached a milestone over New Mexico March
13 that they hope will help bring uninhabited aircraft safely into
the national airspace.

A test airplane remotely piloted from the ground detected another
approaching airplane, enabling the ground controller to successfully
maneuver the remote aircraft away from a collision course.

"We believe this is the first time a remotely piloted airplane has
been maneuvered away from a collision course based on onboard sensors
detecting a collision potential," said NASA project manager Jeff
Bauer.

The New Mexico test flights used the futuristic Proteus aircraft as
the remotely piloted vehicle as several other test airplanes,
including a high-speed NASA F/A-18 jet, approached from various
angles to give sensors on Proteus the opportunity to detect the
presence of aircraft on collision courses. Proteus relayed
information to the ground controller at the Las Cruces, N.M.,
airport, who had sufficient data displayed on a computer screen to
enable him to pick a safe new course for Proteus.

NASA, New Mexico State University, the U.S. Navy, and commercial
partners Scaled Composites and MTSI, Inc., ran the tests as part of a
program intended to make uninhabited aerial vehicles - UAVs - safe
and compatible in skies shared with airplanes that have pilots
onboard. The partners, working under the Environmental Research
Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program, are developing
technologies for a series of UAVs that could one day provide low-cost
telecommunications relay services, environmental monitoring, and even
remote border surveillance in ways that are impractical or impossible
for piloted aircraft today.

During the New Mexico tests, all the aircraft carried pilots for an
additional safety margin, but Proteus was operated by a remote
controller on the ground. In about 18 approach scenarios singly or in
converging groups of two, airplanes approached Proteus from a variety
of angles and altitudes, providing the ground controller with
sometimes-complex problems to solve to keep his aircraft out of
harm's way. In all cases, the ground controller was able to safely
maneuver Proteus. In reality, the approaches had a built-in safety
margin of separation, but the sensors on Proteus were calibrated to
treat these as genuine airspace threats to validate the equipment.

The primary sensor used is the Skywatch HP traffic advisory system, a
radio-based device that relies on common transponder radio signals
from other aircraft to detect collision potential. Other sensors on
Proteus used infrared or radar technology to pick out aircraft
without transponder signals. Bauer says an optimized detect, see and
avoid (DSA) suite for operational UAVs would probably rely on a
combination of radio and non-radio sensors.

Another expected benefit of this research is a reduction in the cost
of DSA equipment to make it practical to use in more aircraft,
whether piloted or remote, Bauer says.

The introduction of UAVs into the national airspace must be approved
by the Federal Aviation Administration. The UAV testers gathered in
New Mexico believe they are a step closer to achieving that approval
as a result of these tests.

NASA TV PROGRAM AND 'WEBCAST' CELEBRATE SUN-EARTH DAY

NASA will mark the first day of spring with a satellite telecast about the
sun led by an astronomer and some 100 student guests from the San Francisco
Bay area. The March 20 broadcast from 10 a.m. to noon PST (1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
EST) also will be distributed via the Internet as a 'webcast.' Webcasts
enable students to watch live video, listen to audio and interact in real
time on the Internet with experts.

Host Paul Mortfield, an astronomer with the Stanford Solar Center,
Stanford, Calif., will be joined by students at NASA Ames Research Center,
located in California's Silicon Valley, to share their observations of the
sun. Classrooms around the world can do the same grade-specific activities
and share their results before and during the broadcast, according to
broadcast organizers.

"I've been involved in astronomy all my life. I started educating people
about astronomy and about what they could see in the sky when I took my
first telescope to class to show the other students the sun when I was 10
years old. Since then I've built my own telescopes, taken photographs of
outer space and talked about astronomy on TV news," Mortfield said. "The
exciting thing is to share my passion for astronomy with people of all
ages, and (to make) a complex subject fun and interesting so that
everyone can understand. It's also pretty challenging (and fun) trying to
create intelligent educational content that teachers and students will use."

Sun-Earth Day is a national celebration of the sun, the space around the
Earth (geospace), and how the sun affects life on our planet. NASA Ames is
producing the broadcast in collaboration with Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md., and the Stanford Solar Center.

"Paul Mortfield's energy inspires kids to learn about the sun," said Linda
Conrad of the NASA Quest program at NASA Ames. "I think the importance of
the broadcast of his program via satellite and by Internet webcast is that
guest students will be sharing the results of their solar observations."

The theme for 2002 is 'Celebrate the Equinox.' This year's programming will
place traditional star knowledge side by side with NASA knowledge of space
science and astronomy. The webcast will begin with an explanation of the
Lakota celebration of the equinox at Harney Peak, S.D. This introduction
will include Lakota cultural parallels to the science of the sun. The
program also will feature a discussion with astronaut John Young about the
effects of the sun on space travel.

"We're going to have students from the American Indian Charter School in
Oakland, Calif., visit Ames and participate in the live programs," said
Thomas Clausen, educational specialist at NASA Ames. "The students who will
participate in the TV show have been working with astronomers in
classrooms, learning the physics of the solar system, the reasons for
Earth's seasons and the connection between Earth and sun."

Student experiments will include use of ultraviolet-sensitive beads that
change color when exposed to sunlight, and the building of a spectroscope
will use to analyze the colors of light. Young people also will determine
the rotation rate of the sun by using images from the SOHO spacecraft.
Students can participate in the NASA-sponsored Internet events without
pre-registering.

Students in distant remote classrooms can ask questions live as NASA Quest
simulcasts the program via webcast technology. Guest scientists will be on
hand to help answer questions during the event. The two-hour televised
webcast will feature discussions about the sun's connection to the Earth
through images, cultural parallels and activities that Native Americans
have used to share sun-Earth science through several generations.

The Sun-Earth Day webcast can be found on the Internet at:
http://quest.nasa.gov/calendar/#sunearth

This website has additional activities for K-12 students.

The televised program will be on NASA Television, which is available on
GE-2, transponder 9C at 85 degrees west longitude, with vertical
polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0 megahertz, with audio on 6.8
megahertz. For questions about the satellite distribution of the program,
broadcasters may call NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.: Fred Brown,
202/358-0713. Any changes to the line-up will appear on the NASA video file
advisory on the web at:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/

Nearly every NASA center and NASA educator resource center has planned an
event for science teachers and students or for the public in conjunction
with Sun-Earth Day. Specifically, more than 4,500 science teachers have
been invited to education workshops related to the science of the sun-Earth
connection.

Another activity will be 'Telescopes in Education,' in which participants
will turn solar telescopes toward the sun and explore the only star that
can be studied up close. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif., will host more than 60 children from Eliot Middle School. Via the
Internet, the students will operate a telescope located at Mount Wilson
Observatory, high above the Los Angeles basin in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The Telescopes in Education program allows educators and students around
the world to remotely control research-quality telescopes and cameras
created at JPL and located at the Mount Wilson Observatory. All they need
is a computer with a modem and special astronomy software.

More information about Sun-Earth Days events in other communities is
available at:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/

SPACE SHUTTLE TO LAUNCH FIRST SPACE RAILROAD IN APRIL

Expanding the new frontier just as they did the old,
railroads will take flight next month as the first space
railroad is launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Circling Earth aboard the International Space Station, the
car on this railway will have a top speed of only 300 feet
per hour, but the entire line -- tracks and all -- will
travel almost nine times faster than a speeding bullet, over
17,000 miles per hour, in orbit. The rail line eventually
will stretch almost 100 yards along the structural backbone
of the station, serving as a mobile base from which the
station's Canadian-built robotic arm can assemble and
maintain the complex.

"To build the rails that linked the east and west coasts of
the United States, thousands of workers endured desert heat,
frigid mountains and countless obstacles. These rails in
space will run in temperatures far hotter than any desert and
far colder than any mountain," said NASA Mobile Transporter
Subsystem Manager Tom Farrell at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston. "And just like the transcontinental rails pulled
together our country, these rails pull together 16 nations
around the world, cooperating in orbit."

Atlantis will launch the railcar, called the Mobile
Transporter, and an initial 43-foot section of track as it
delivers the first segment of the International Space
Station's exterior truss. Designated "S0 (S-zero)," the first
section of truss will be carried aloft by Atlantis on shuttle
mission STS-110 in April. More sections of track will be
added during the next two years as eight segments of the
girder-like truss are launched aboard the shuttle. By the end
of this year, the tracks already will stretch more than 130
feet. When completed, the truss will stretch over 360 feet,
the longest structure ever built in space.

An additional base system will be attached atop the flatcar-
like Mobile Transporter during a shuttle flight in May, but
the space train will leave the depot for its inaugural run
during Atlantis' April mission. After spacewalkers loosen
launch restraints and attach electrical and computer cable
reels, Mission Control will command the Mobile Transporter
railcar to inch its way up and down the 43-foot section of
track.

"It's built for precise positioning and smooth velocity
control; it's not built for speed," said Randy Straub,
subcontract technical manager for the system with The Boeing
Company in Huntington Beach, Calif.

The operation of the railway is critical for continued
assembly of the station. It will allow the station's
Canadarm2 robotic arm to carry future truss segments and
solar arrays down the tracks to install them. Part flatcar
and part locomotive, the Mobile Transporter weighs 1,950
pounds and is a horse made of aluminum, not iron. The Mobile
Transporter was built by TRW Astro in Carpinteria, Calif.,
for Boeing, the prime contractor for station construction. It
measures three feet high, nine feet long and eight feet wide
and moves along two parallel rails attached to the station
truss at speeds varying from one-tenth of an inch to one inch
per second. Although driven by dual electric motors that
generate only about a hundredth of one horsepower, the
transporter can move 23 tons of cargo down the rails.

What is the hardest part about building a zero-gravity
railroad?

"We've done a lot of work to make certain it can't jump the
tracks," said Farrell. "We have to be sure it will be safe
during all the station's activities, like reboosting its
orbit or having visiting vehicles dock."

The transporter stays on track with three sets of wheels, one
set that propels it and two sets in roller suspension units,
spring-loaded units that have rollers on both sides of the
track to ensure the transporter can't float loose. The
railcar will have 10 stops, specific locations called
worksites where it can be locked down with a 7,000-pound
grip, allowing the robotic arm to safely maneuver cargo.
Although it can be driven from the station or from the
ground, the engineers for NASA's space railroad will normally
reside in Mission Control, Houston, driving the train from
thousands of miles away and hundreds of miles below.

Although the Mobile Transporter will be a freight train and
not a passenger train, space- walking astronauts will have
their own form of personal rail transportation aboard the
station. Astronauts will operate a small handcar to maneuver
up and down the rail line, a car that they will pull along
the zero-gravity railway by hand to move themselves and their
gear from place to place. Called the Crew and Equipment
Translation Aid, two such carts will be delivered to the
station before the end of the year.

March 19, 2002

NASA HISTORY VOLUME TO RECEIVE EMME AWARD

A recent NASA history of the Soviet human space flight
program will receive the Emme Award for Astronautical
Literature at the March 20 luncheon of the Goddard Memorial
Symposium, sponsored by the American Astronautical Society.

The pathbreaking study, titled "Challenge to Apollo: The
Soviet Race to the Moon, 1945-1974," by Asif A. Siddiqi, is
the first comprehensive history of the Soviet human space
flight program since the opening of the archives in the early
1990s. In the volume the author goes beyond the basic facts
and weaves together broad themes, including a challenge to
Western conventional wisdom that the Soviets always tended
toward incremental -- rather than revolutionary --
technological innovation.

Named in honor of the first NASA Historian, Eugene Emme, the
Emme award was created in 1982 to annually recognize an
outstanding book that increases public understanding of the
past and potential impact of the field of astronautics.

Details on ordering the book can be found at:
http://history.nasa.gov/gpo/order.html

March 18, 2002

Mars Society Members Survive Plane Crash, Mountain Ordeal
March 18, 2002

Mars Society members Frank Schubert and Matt Smola narrowly survived
a plane crash in Utah March 15.

The two had rented a Cesna to go skiing and then drop off some
supplies at the Mars Desert Research Station. They refueled in
Roosevelt, Utah and were heading for Heber City when the plane lost
power and was hit by a strong downdraft.

According to Matt, the plane lost 4,000 ft in 10 seconds. Frank
managed to do a half circle to bring the plane toward a patch of open
ground, and then turn the aircraft so its tail hit first. Then they
smashed into the snowy side of a mountain and slid. Matt was less
severely injured and managed to pull Frank out of the plane. He put a
warm coat on Frank and kept him awake to keep him alive through the
night, during which temperatures dropped to -6 F. Matt used the
plane's lights for a signal beacon, and was able to attract the
attention of a helicopter at 5:30 AM March 16.

The two were taken to University of Utah hospital in Salt Lake City.
Matt was treated and released with a sprained ankle, a broken bone in
his foot, and cuts on his head. Frank was admitted to the orthopedic
wing with a broken wrist and leg. The wrist will be set on Tuesday,
and it is expected that Frank will be released from the hospital on
Wednesday.

Frank Schubert is Project Manager for the Mars Desert Research
Station. Together, Frank and Matt were the cutting edge of the ad-hoc
team of Mars Society volunteers and Inuits who sucessfully built the
Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island after the
destruction of the crane and the ensuing desertion of the paid
construction crew during the sumer of 2000.

Those wishing to send messages to Frank can do so by email at
therub9@aol.com.

A story with more information about the crash appeared in the Denver
Post. It can be accessed at
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E467897,00.html?
search=filter

http://www.eso.org/messenger/

It is full of interesting information about science and technology at
ESO. It begins with a review of the successful installation and first
observations with the first Adaptive Optics facility at the VLT,
NAOS-CONICA, followed by a thorough presentation of the ALMA project.
It features a major article on Chilean astronomy and several others on
individual research projects, e.g. about the Crab Nebula. There is
also information about the VLT Science Verification Policy and related
procedures, and details about the release of scientific data from VLTI
commissioning. Some educational items are presented.

SCIENTISTS SAY "GRACE" AS WATER-SENSING SATELLITES LIFT OFF

NASA and the German Center for Air and Space Flight today
successfully launched the Gravity Recovery and Climate
Experiment, or "Grace," mission into Earth orbit at 1:21:27
a.m. Pacific time from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The
mission, comprised of identical twin satellites, will
precisely measure Earth's shifting water masses and map their
effects on Earth's gravity field.

The five-year Grace mission -- the first launch of NASA's
Earth System Science Pathfinder program -- will be a scientific
boon to researchers who study Earth with space-based
instruments. The monthly gravity maps generated by Grace will
be up to 1,000 times more accurate than those currently in
use, substantially improving the accuracy of many techniques
used by oceanographers, hydrologists, glaciologists,
geologists and other scientists to study phenomena that
influence climate. These phenomena range from shallow and
deep ocean currents, water movement on and beneath Earth's
surface, and the movement and changing mass of ice sheets, to
sea-level heights, sea-level rise and changes in the structure
of the solid Earth.

Under partly cloudy, cold skies, the Grace twins lifted
off on a Russian Rockot launch vehicle. Riding nearly 160,000
kilograms (approximately 350,000 pounds) of thrust, the rocket
headed northward over the Arctic Ocean and Alaska, then south
across the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica before heading north
again over Africa and Europe. At 85 minutes, 38 seconds into
the mission -- or 2:47 a.m. Pacific time -- the satellites separated
from the launch vehicle's third stage above Africa into a
polar orbit 500 kilometers (311 miles) above Earth.

Ground controllers successfully acquired the spacecraft's
signal from the German Space Operations Center's ground
tracking station in Weilheim, Germany at 2:49 a.m. Pacific
time. Initial telemetry reports received by the Grace team
show both satellites to be in excellent health.

Following separation, the leading Grace satellite began
pulling away from the trailing satellite at a relative speed
of about 0.5 meters (1.6 feet) per second. Over the course of
the next four days, the satellites will be spaced 220
kilometers (137 miles) apart -- a little more than the distance
between Los Angeles and San Diego.

As they race around the globe 16 times a day, the
satellites will sense minute variations in Earth's surface
mass below and corresponding variations in Earth's
gravitational pull. Regions of slightly stronger gravity will
affect the lead satellite first, pulling it slightly away from
the trailing satellite. By measuring the constantly changing
distance between the two satellites using an extremely
sensitive microwave ranging system and combining that data
with precise positioning measurements from Global Positioning
System instruments, scientists will be able to construct a
precise Earth gravity map.

During the next two and a half weeks, basic satellite
operations will be established. During a subsequent three-
week commissioning phase, Grace's science instruments and
supporting systems will be powered up, evaluated and
calibrated. The performance of the Grace system for measuring
Earth gravity will then be validated over the following six
months. The mission then enters its observational phase,
during which routine operational data products will be made
available to scientists.

Additional information about the Grace program is
available on the Internet at:

http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace .

Grace is a joint partnership between NASA and the German
Center for Air and Space Flight (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft
und Rumfahrt, or DLR). NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., manages the U.S. portion of the project for
NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington. Science data
processing, distribution, archiving and product verification
are managed under a cooperative arrangement between JPL and
the University of Texas' Austin-based Center for Space
Research in the United States and Germany's Earth Research
Center (or GeoForschungsZentrum).

JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.

Stardust is the first-ever comet sample return mission.

Launched on February 7, 1999on a Delta 2 rocket, Stardust is currently on its way to Comet Wild 2. When Stardust encounters the comet in 2004, the particles from the comet will be
traveling up to 6 times the speed of a rifle bullet. Using an extraordingary
substance called aerogel, Stardust will fly through the comet's coma to capture
the dust particules, and bring the samples back to Earth in 2006. Also, Stardust
will collect interstellar dust particles during its journey.

Additional information about the mission is available online
at: http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov .

March 17, 2002

Space Weather News for March 17, 2002
http://www.spaceweather.com

AURORA WARNING: An explosion on the Sun hurled a coronal mass ejection
toward Earth late on Friday, March 15th. The CME could sweep past Earth as
early as Sunday night and trigger auroras. High-latitude sky watchers --
e.g., those in northern Europe, Canada, and the northern tier of US states
-- should remain alert for Northern Lights after sunset on Sunday and
perhaps again on Monday. It's possible that auroras might extend to lower
latitudes as well; the crescent Moon will not overwhelm faint auroras. No
matter where you live, the best times to watch will be during the hours
around local midnight. Stay tuned to SpaceWeather.com for updates.

PHOTOGENIC COMET: In recent weeks star gazers have enjoyed watching Comet
Ikeya-Zhang, whose faint blue color and turbulent tail have made it one of
the most photogenic comets in years. On March 18th the comet's orbit will
bring it only 0.5 AU from the Sun -- its closest approach to our star in
nearly four centuries. Solar heating could further brighten the comet,
which glows now like a 4th magnitude star, and cause more dusty debris to
evaporate from its icy nucleus. March 18th will be a good day to look as
the comet lines up in the western sky with 3 planets and a crescent Moon.

Visit SpaceWeather.com for details....

Two new ESO Press Releases have been published. The first is
about a major educational programme, jointly organised
by the seven EIROS and known as "Sci-Tech - Couldn't be
without it?" Look at:

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2002/pr-05-02.html

The other is about a binary stellar system of two white dwarf stars
that rotate around each other in only 5 min - the fastest orbital
period known so far for such a system, cf.

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2002/pr-06-02.html

Information about the Ground based European Nulling Interferometer
Experiment (GENIE) is now available in an ESA/ESO information letter,
cf.

http://www.eso.org/projects/vlti/instru/Genie/ESA-ESO-genie.pdf

The VLT Unravels the Nature of the Fastest Binary Star
Two Hot White Dwarfs Perform a Tight Dance
Summary

Observations with ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile and the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) on the Canary Islands during the past two years have enabled an international group of astronomers [1] <#note1> to unravel the true nature of an exceptional binary stellar system.

This system, designated RX J0806.3+1527, was first discovered as an X-ray source of variable brightness - once every five minutes, it "switches off" for a short moment. The new observations have shown beyond doubt that this period reflects the orbital motion of two "white dwarf" stars that revolve around each other at a distance of only 80,000 km. Each of the stars is about as large as the Earth and this is the shortest orbital period known for any binary stellar system.

The VLT spectrum displays lines of ionized helium, indicating that the presence of an exceedingly hot area on one of the stars - a "hot spot" with a temperature of approx. 250,000 degrees. The system is currently in a rarely seen, transitory evolutionary state.

PR Photo 10a/02: U- and R-band images of RX J0806.3+1527.
PR Photo 10b/02: Spectrum of RX J0806.3+1527

An amazing stellar binary system

ESO PR Photo 10a/02

[Preview - JPEG: 800 x 400 pix - 440k]
[Normal - JPEG: 1600 x 800 pix - 1.1M]

Caption: PR Photo 10a/02 shows U and R filter images of the sky field around RX J0806.3+1527 (at centre of circle), obtained with the FORS2 multi-mode instrument on VLT KUEYEN. The object is brightest at the shorter wavelength (U-band) - reflecting its very high temperature. Technical information <#techinfo> about the photo is available below.

One year is the time it takes the Earth to move once around the Sun, our central star. This may seem quite fast when measured on the scale of the Universe, but this is a snail's motion compared to the the speed of two recently discovered stars. They revolve around each other 100,000 times faster; one full revolution takes only 321 seconds, or a little more than 5 minutes! It is the shortest period ever observed in a binary stellar system.

This is the surprising conclusion reached by an international team of astronomers led by GianLuca Israel of the Astronomical Observatory of Rome [1] <#note1> , and based on detailed observations of the faint light from these two stars with some of the world's most advanced telescopes. The record-holding binary stellar system bears the prosaic name RX J0806.3+1527 and it is located north of the celestial equator in the constellation Cancer (The Crab).

The scientists also find that the two partners in this hectic dance are most likely a dying white dwarf star, trapped in the strong gravitational grip of another, somewhat heavier star of the same exotic type. The two Earth-size stars are separated by only 80,000 kilometers, a little more than twice the altitude of the TV-broadcasting satellites in orbit around the Earth, or just one fifth of the distance to the Moon.

The orbital motion is very fast indeed - over 1,000 km/sec, and the lighter star apparently always turns the same hemisphere towards its companion, just as the Moon in its orbit around Earth. Thus, that star also makes one full turn around its axis in only 5 minutes, i.e. its "day" is exactly as long as its "year".
The discovery of RX J0806.3+1527
The visible light emitted by this unusual system is very faint, but it radiates comparatively strong X-rays. It was due to this emission that it was first detected as a celestial X-ray source of unknown origin by the German ROSAT space observatory in 1994. Later it was found to be a periodically variable source [2] <#note2> . Once every 5 minutes, the X-ray radiation disappears for a couple of minutes. It was recently studied in greater detail by the NASA Chandra observatory.

The position of the X-ray source in the sky was localised with sufficient accuracy to reveal a very faint visible-light emitting object in the same direction, over one million times weaker than the faintest star that can be seen by unaided eye (V-magnitude 21.1). Follow-up observations were carried out with several world class telescopes, including the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, and also the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), the Italian 4-m class observatory at the Roche de Muchachos Observatory on La Palma in the Canary Islands.
The nature of RX J0806.3+1527

ESO PR Photo 10b/02

[Preview - JPEG: 756 x 400 pix - 168]
[Normal - JPEG: 1512 x 800 pix - 368k]

Caption: PR Photo 10b/02 shows the spectrum of RX J0806.3+1527, obtained with the FORS1 multi-mode instrument on VLT ANTU. Many emission lines of ionized helium (He II) and some of doubly ionized carbon (C III) and nitrogen (N III) are seen. They testify to the very high surface temperature of the stars in this system. Technical information <#techinfo> about the photo is available below.

The observations in visible light also showed the same effect: RX J0806.3+1527 was getting dimmer once every 5 minutes, while no other periodic modulation was seen. By observing the spectrum of this faint object with the FORS1 multi-mode instrument on the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope, the astronomers were able to determine the composition of RX J0806.3+1527. It was found to contain large amounts of helium; this is unlike most other stars, which are mainly made up of hydrogen.

"At the outset, we thought that this was just another of the usual binary systems that emit X-rays", says Gianluca Israel. "None of us could imagine the real nature of this object. We finally solved the puzzle by eliminating all other possibilities one by one, while we kept collecting more data. As the famous detective said: when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!".

Current theory predicts that the two stars, which are bound together by gravity in this tight system, produce X rays when one of them acts as a giant "vacuum cleaner", drawing gas off its companion. That star has already lost a significant fraction of its mass during this process.

The incoming matter impacts at high speed on the surface of the other star and the corresponding area - a "hot spot" - is heated to some 250,000 °C, whereby X rays are emitted. This radiation disappears for a short time during each orbital revolution when this area is on the far side of the accreting star, as seen from the Earth.
A very rare class of stars
Our Sun is a normal star of comparatively low mass and it will eventually develop into a white dwarf star. Contrary to the violent demise of heavier stars in a glorious supernova explosion, this is a comparatively "quiet" process during which the star slowly cools while losing energy. It shrinks until it finally becomes as small as the Earth.

The Sun is a single star. However when a solar-like star is a member of a binary system, the evolution of its component stars is more complicated. During an initial phase, one star continues to move along an orbit that is actually inside the outer, very tenuous atmospheric layers of its companion. Then the system rids itself of this matter and develops into a binary system with two orbiting white dwarf stars, like RX J0806.3+1527.

Systems in which the orbital period is very short (less than 1 hour) are referred to as AM Canis Venaticorum (AM CVn) systems, after first known binary star of this rare class. It is likely that such systems, after having reached a minimum orbital period of a few minutes, then begin to evolve towards longer orbital periods. This indicates that RX J0806.3+1527 is now at the very beginning of the "AM CVn phase".
Gravitational waves
With its extremely short orbital period, RX J0806.3+1527 is also a prime candidate for the detection of the elusive gravitational waves, predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. They have never been measured directly, but their existence has been revealed indirectly in binary neutron star systems.

A planned gravitational wave space experiment, the European Space Agency's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) that will be launched in about 10 years' time, will be sufficiently sensitive to be able to reveal this radiation from RX J0806.3+1527 with a high degree of confidence. Such an observational feat would open an entirely new window on the universe.
More information
The results described in this Press Release were announced in IAU Circular 7835 and will shortly appear in print in the European research journal Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters ("RX J0806.3+1527: a double degenerate binary with the shortest known orbital period (321 s)" by G.L. Israel and co-authors), cf. astro-ph/0203043. The 5-min optical modulation was detected independently by another group led by G. Ramsay, cf. astro-ph/0203053.
Note
[1]: The team consists of GianLuca Israel and Luigi Stella at the Astronomical Observatory of Rome (Italy), Stefano Covino and Sergio Campana at the Astronomical Observatory of Brera (Milan, Italy), Wolfgang Hummel, Gianni Marconi and Gero Rupprecht at the European Southern Observatory, Immo Appenzeller and Otmar Stahl at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), Wolfgang Gassler and Karl-Heinz Mantel at the University of Munich (Germany), Christopher Mauche at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (USA), Ulisse Munari at the Astronomical Observatory of Padua (Italy), Ignacio Negueruela at the Astronomical Observatory of Strasbourg (France), Harald Nicklas at the University of Göttingen (Germany), and Richard Smart at the Astronomical Observatory of Turin (Italy).

LAUNCH OF GRACE MISSION POSTPONED

The launch of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or
Grace, mission for NASA and the German Center for Air and Space
Flight aboard a Russian Rockot launch vehicle has been postponed
at least 24 hours to no earlier than March 17 due to high winds at
the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. The launch window on
March 17 is from 1:21 to 1:31 a.m. PST.

NASA intends to cover the launch with live audio via NASA
Television. Audio coverage of the launch on NASA Television
will begin Sunday morning at 1 a.m. PST and conclude at
approximately 3 a.m. PST following spacecraft separation.

NASA TV is carried on GE-2, transponder 9C located at 85
degrees west longitude, vertical polarization, frquency 3880.0
megahertz, audio 6.8 megahertz.

Launch audio will also be available via a webcast at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/webcast/gracelaunch.html .

A webcast will also be available from the German Center for
Air and Space Flight site at:

http://www.dlr.de/DLR-Homepage .

If launch takes place March 17, an archive of the launch
will be available at the JPL site on Monday, March 18.

March 16, 2002

Planets Gather in Evening Sky

Griffith Observatory Press Release
March 15, 2002

The five naked-eye planets gather in the west in the evening sky during the last half of April and the first three weeks of May, and this is a rare opportunity to see five planets simultaneously. The moon joins them on May 13, 14, and 15.

The planets orbit the sun, each at its own speed, and from earth they appear to move around the sky against the background of stars. Generally one or two planets are visible at any given time, but seldom can you see five at once. The last time all five naked-eye planets were visible together in the evening sky was in December, 1997, and the next time will not be until March and April of 2004. The much-publicized grouping of planets that happened in May 2000, and that some announced would cause the earth to fall over, was not visible because the sun was in the same part of the sky.

The most interesting nights are May 13 through 15 when the five planets plus the moon are strung out in a line in the western sky.

Illustrations follow at the end of the text.

8.2-kilogram Manitoba meteorite is second largest of its kind in Canada

A large rock that a Manitoba man found while grading a road has been
identified as Canada's newest meteorite by the Prairie Meteorite Search,
a national project led by the Universities of Calgary, Regina, and
Western Ontario.

The Elm Creek meteorite, weighing 8.2 kilograms, is the second-largest
stony meteorite ever found in Canada and is Manitoba's largest. It is
the fifth meteorite to be recovered in Manitoba (Manitoba is now tied
with Quebec for recoveries), and is the 61st Canadian discovery. It is
also the first time that a meteorite has been found in Canada with a
road grader.

Tom Wood (right) unearthed the big rock while grading a dirt road to
the southeast of Elm Creek, Manitoba during late August 1997. "It
seemed to be too heavy to be a normal stone," Wood recalls. "I thought
then that it might be a meteorite, but I was half kidding when I told
my wife so later that day."

The recovered stone is a broken piece with scrape marks on it,
presumably from road grading. The other half of the meteorite,
estimated to weigh about five kilograms, is thought to be still
embedded in the dirt road. Mr. Wood is not sure exactly where he
recovered the first piece, so the recovery of the remainder is in
doubt.

Dan Lockwood, a U of C student, was the Prairie Meteorite Searcher for
the summer of 2001. The Elm Creek meteorite was his second discovery
among about 600 samples of possible meteorites that he looked at. He
was holding a rock identification clinic in the Co-op store in Carman,
Manitoba, when Mr. Wood brought the rock in.

"The rock was covered in dirt, but its density made it deserving of
a wash and a closer look," Lockwood (left) says. "After washing I had
suspicions that the rock was indeed a meteorite, but I flip-flopped
back and forth for more than three weeks over whether or not it was
genuine."

The meteorite was eventually confirmed when Lockwood returned to the
University of Calgary at the end of his field season. It is a well-
weathered rock and probably fell to Earth thousands of years ago.
Most of its fusion crust is weathered off revealing an interior that
shows cracks from the shattering of its parent asteroid.

Dr. Alan Hildebrand, holder of a Canada Research Chair in Planetary
Sciences at the U of C and one of the project leaders, praises Mr.
Wood for his efforts in bringing the specimen to the attention of
scientists. "I am frankly amazed at Mr. Wood's perceptiveness in
noting that this dirt-covered rock was unusual. It goes to show
what a lifetime of experience and healthy curiosity can do to one's
perceptions," Hildebrand says. Research will help classify the stone
and determine if it was part of a larger fall.

The Prairie Meteorite Search field campaign locates meteorites by
encouraging Prairie farmers to have rocks identified that they
suspect may be meteorites. The project consists of local publicity
and visits by the searcher to towns to show meteorite specimens and
to identify possible meteorites. The project relies on people having
seen meteorites and the possibility of immediate identification to
make discoveries.

"More than a dozen unconfirmed new meteorites are thought to be in
the hands of farming families across the prairies," says Lockwood,
who is now back studying at the University of Calgary. "The Prairie
Meteorite Search found two new meteorites during each of the summers
of 2000 and 2001, but a better means of reaching farmers who have
rocks to be identified should be able to increase the recovery rate."

The Prairie Meteorite Search project leaders are Dr. Alan Hildebrand,
University of Calgary; Dr. Peter Brown, The University of Western
Ontario, and Dr. Martin Beech, University of Regina. They are all
members of the Meteorites and Impacts Advisory Committee to the
Canadian Space Agency. This is Canada's volunteer group charged with
the investigation of fireballs and the recovery of meteorites.
Project funding for the summer project of 2001 came from the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council's Undergraduate Student
Research Award Program, the international Meteoritical Society, and
other grants held by the project leaders.

Potential meteorites may be identified by contacting:

* in Manitoba -- George Clark at Dept. of Geological Sciences,
University of Manitoba (204) 474-8857
* in Saskatchewan -- Martin Beech at Campion College, University of
Regina (306) 359-1216.
* in Alberta -- Alan Hildebrand at Dept. of Geology and Geophysics,
University of Calgary, (403) 220-2291.

Additional contact information for the project is located at this Web
address: www.geo.ucalgary.ca/PMSearch/

For Media:

[NOTE: Images supporting this release are available at
http://www.fp.ucalgary.ca/unicomm/news/March_02/meteorite.htm]

Asteroid buzzes Earth from "blind spot"
New Scientist
March 15, 2002

One of the largest asteroids known to have approached the Earth zipped past
about 450,000 kilometres away on March 8 - but nobody recorded it until four
days later.

The object, now called 2002 EM7, was hard to spot because it was moving
outward from the innermost point of its orbit, 87 million km from the Sun.
When it passed closest to the Earth - just 1.5 times the distance to the
Moon - it was too close to the Sun to be visible.

Asteroids approaching from this blind spot cannot be seen by astronomers. If
a previously unknown object passed through this zone on a collision course
with Earth, it would not be identified until it was too late for any
intervention.

Full story here:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992052

NASA SELECTS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CONCEPT FOR TEST FLIGHT

NASA's New Millennium Program has selected two
organizations to lead the work on sensor and thrust-producing
technologies to control a space vehicle's flight path so the
payload responds only to gravitational forces.

The Disturbance Reduction System technology is scheduled to
fly in 2006 as the Space Technology 7 project. Space
Technology 7 is designed to test and validate advanced
technologies for future use on NASA missions that have never
been flown in space.

The total NASA funding for Space Technology 7 is $62.6
million. The technology providers are Stanford University,
Stanford, Calif., and Busek Company Inc., Natick, Mass.
Stanford University will provide a highly sensitive
gravitational reference sensor that will measure the position
of a spacecraft with respect to an internal free-floating
mass. The Busek Company will provide a set of miniature ion
thrusters capable of controlling spacecraft position with
extremely fine precision.

"The Disturbance Reduction System is a promising new
technology that will pave the way for future space
observations of gravitational waves, giving us a whole new
eye on the universe," said Anne Kinney, Director of the
Astronomy and Physics Division, Office of Space Science, NASA
Headquarters.

The New Millennium Program was created in 1994 to identify,
develop and flight-validate advanced technologies that can
lower costs and enable critical performance of science
missions in the 21st century. The program is managed by the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's
Office of Earth Science and Office of Space Science,
Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information on New Millennium is available at:
http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov

NASA PICKS LANDSAT DATA PROPOSALS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

NASA, in partnership with the United States Geological
Survey, has selected two proposals for further development in
response to a solicitation to provide the government with
Landsat-type data that will continue the rich 30-year
heritage of the Landsat series of Earth-observing missions.

The companies selected for further proposal development are
Resource 21, Englewood, Colo., and DigitalGlobe, Longmont,
Colo.

NASA is required by public law to continue the gathering of
these important scientific data. NASA requires digital-image
data products that provide seasonal coverage of the global
landmass to meet the government's needs.

"These data will enable us to assess the role of Earth's
ecosystems in the cycling of carbon in the overall Earth
system, a matter of national scientific importance that has
profound international implications," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar,
Associate Administrator for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise,
Washington. "In addition, these data also can be used for a
variety of applications, such as urban planning, and
inventory and management of natural resources, such as
America's forests."

During the first phase of this full and open competition,
proposers will have approximately nine months to further
develop their technical and business plans, as well as a
preliminary design of their system for providing future
Landsat-quality data. During this formulation phase,
proposers will conduct activities such as trade studies and
analyses.

At the end of this formulation phase other proposals that
meet the formulation requirements and provide a business plan
and system-level preliminary design review acceptable to the
government may also be submitted to NASA for consideration.
NASA will announce a second solicitation for all qualified
proposers late in the first phase.

NASA is providing approximately $5 million in funding to each
of the two selected proposers for this formulation phase. The
agency expects to finalize the award for the Landsat Data
Continuity Mission in mid-2003, with data delivery to the
government in 2005.

NASA, together with the United States Geological Survey, is
working to guarantee that Landsat-type and -quality data are
available to the science and applications communities well
into the future, while ensuring and protecting commercial
opportunities arising from the availability of those data.

This activity is being conducted by NASA's Earth Science
Enterprise, NASA Headquarters, Washington. NASA is dedicated
to understanding our home planet so as to improve life for
all Americans.

For more information about the Landsat Data Continuity
Mission, please see:

http://ldcm.usgs.gov/

For information about the Landsat 7 mission, please see:

http://landsat7.usgs.gov/

For information about NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, please
see:

http://earth.nasa.gov

Mars Society Special Bulletin #58
March 15, 2002
Reproduce or pass on as desired
For further information, visit our website at www.marssociety.org. Or
contact info@marssociety.org

In this Issue
*** POPULAR SCIENCE CALLS FOR HUMANS TO MARS
*** MARS SOCIETY LAUNCHES OPERATION CONGRESS 2002

POPULAR SCIENCE CALLS FOR HUMANS TO MARS

In a powerful manifesto, the April 2002 issue of Popular Science
calls upon NASA Administrator O'Keefe and the US political class
to launch a humans to Mars program.

The piece, written as an 8-page cover story by the magazine's
noted Science Editor Dawn Stover, identifies a 7-point agenda to
revive America's lagging space program. Point number 1 is commit
to sending humans to Mars.

We quote sections of the article below. The full article may be found
in Popular Science on the newsstand or on the internet at
www.popsci.com.

"Go Somewhere!
Seven ideas that will correct NASA's trajectory and get Americans to
love the space program again
by Dawn Stover
Houston, you have a problem. It's a problem that isn't fixable with
duct tape and a carbon dioxide filter. And the problem isn't just
with Houston; it also affects Cape Canaveral, Cleveland, Huntsville,
Pasadena, Washington, D.C."especially Washington, D.C."and
other NASA centers around the country.

At age 43, America's space agency is having a midlife crisis. In its
youth, NASA put men on the moon and inspired the nation's
schoolchildren to study science, mathematics, and engineering. Today,
like many middle-age Americans, NASA is struggling to get back in
shape and find meaning in its life. The agency's main focus, the
international space station, is mired in cost overruns that have
driven the estimated price from $17.4 billion to more than $30
billion"and nobody believes even those numbers. Moreover, two of
the past three missions to Mars have ended in disaster. In 1999 the
Mars Polar Lander, which was supposed to gently touch down and search
for ice, crashed into the planet's surface instead. That same year
the Mars Climate Orbiter, intended to be a Martian weather satellite,
was an even bigger embarrassment. It burned up in the atmosphere
because of what seems a ludicrously careless mistake: The engineers
neglected to convert navigation figures from English units to metric.

NASA lacks a mission"in the larger sense of that word. If the
agency does not act soon, it stands to become a relic of the 20th
century.
After interviewing dozens of experts"including NASA officials,
astronauts, space policy analysts, and leaders in the private
sector"Popular Science has come to the conclusion that to recover
its authority, NASA needs to go somewhere: namely, Mars. The "M-
word," as some people within the agency refer to it. A destination
that is only whispered behind closed doors, when it should instead be
proclaimed as the foremost target of the world's greatest space
agency.

A recent changing of the guard at NASA makes this a fitting time to
reevaluate the agency's goals.
NASA has lost its hold on the public imagination. The agency
must reassert its primacy"which shouldn't be hard, given that
it's the only government agency with the entire universe as its
domain.
And it must be willing to take risks.

Administrator O'Keefe joins the agency at an exciting juncture. Here
are our recommendations for change.
1. Send astronauts to Mars

"The logical next step is a mission to Mars, but America's probably
not ready for that yet," says former Administrator Goldin, now a
senior fellow at the Council on Competitiveness. We respectfully
disagree. Why is it time to go to Mars? For the same reason we went
to the moon: to be first, and to see what's there. Without
exploration, the United States itself wouldn't exist. "If you don't
think humans are born to explore, watch a 1-year-old learning to
walk," says Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for space
science.

Admittedly, there are plenty of places left to explore here on Earth.
We've mapped the moon better than our own oceans, for example. But to
understand our place in the universe, we must continue to explore
outer space. Mars, the planet in the solar system most like our own,
is the obvious next destination. Conditions on most other large
objects within reach are too inhospitable for even a short visit, let
alone permanent habitation.

It isn't as though NASA hasn't talked about going to Mars"even
drawn up preliminary plans and forecast launch dates. But the agency
has yet to demonstrate a serious commitment to a manned Mars mission,
and has therefore been unable to build the public support and
political will necessary to make it happen. We're probably further
from Mars today than we were in 1989, when President George Bush Sr.
called for a manned mission to Mars by 2019, the 50th anniversary of
the Apollo landing. No subsequent administrations, including his
son's, have carried the torch.

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special
joint session of Congress the goal of sending an American to the moon
before the end of the decade. Eight years later, Neil Armstrong
stepped off the Lunar Module's ladder and onto the moon's
surface.

Once NASA establishes that its overarching goal is to reach
Mars"say, within a generation"then other pieces of the space
program
will begin to fall into place. Research on the space station will
focus on learning the biological effects of long-duration space
travel.
Unmanned probes will lay the groundwork for a future manned landing.
And engineers will have a likely destination for the next-generation
space vehicle. A commitment to Mars will refocus the agency and give
it a sense of mission...

NASA's troubles have been brewing for many years. In the cover story
of our July 1989 issue, we marked the 20th anniversary of the Apollo
landing by asking experts inside and outside NASA whether the agency
was "lost in space." The issues facing NASA then, particularly the
question of whether the space station and shuttle should dominate the
space program, are still pressing. And NASA hasn't taken the advice
it got 13 years ago"to set clear long-term goals for space
exploration.

NASA still has the potential to inspire, advance, and protect
humanity. It's time for the space agency to get itself back on the
proper trajectory."

Well said!
With a readership of 7 million, Popular Science is the largest
circulation general interest science magazine in the world.

MARS SOCIETY LAUNCHES OPERATION CONGRESS 2002

With NASA's future plans currently in a state of flux, and the
endorsement of our message by America's leading general interest
science magazine, now is the time for Mars Society chapters and
members to mobilize to put humans to Mars on the nation's agenda.
Accordingly, the Mars Society is launching operation congress 2002.

The plan is simple, Mars Society chapters or unaffiliated members
should call up the offices of their local congressmen, and schedule a
visit when their representative is in town. Then go with as many
people as you can gather and sit down and talk with your
representative. The message that you need to convey consists of two
points.

1.That the United States should make humans to Mars the central
long term goal of our space program.

2.That as a first step in this direction, 1% of NASA's budget
(or about $140 million per year) should be set aside as a line item
to support technology development to enable human Mars exploration.

Mars Society chapters who have engaged in political activity before
should start work on this campaign immediately. Some materials that
can be of help have been posted at the Operation Congress link
(under "Projects") on the Mars Society website at
www.marssociety.org. Chapters or individuals who would like further
guidance in how to conduct this campaign should contact Mars Society
Outreach Task Force Director Brian Frankie, brianf5070@aol.com.
Reports on all meetings should also be sent to Brian. Volunteers who
wish to join the Outreach Task Force or assist in this campaign in
any capacity, from arranging meetings to creating materials, should
contact Brian as well.

History is not a spectator sport. If you want a humans to Mars
program to happen, you need to help make it happen. Join the campaign!

A full report on Operation Congress 2002 and a planning session for
future Mars Society's other political activities will occur at
the Fifth International Mars Society Convention, August 8-11, 2002 at
the University of Colorado at Boulder. Registration is now open at
www.marssociety.org.

For further information visit our website at www.marssociety.org or
contact info@marssociety.com

NASA'S AMAZING GRACE TWINS SET TO SING PRAISES OF GRAVITY

The launch of two spacecraft that make up the Gravity
Recovery and Climate Experiment, or "Grace," mission aboard a
Russian launch vehicle is scheduled for Saturday, March 16,
from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The 10-minute launch
window extends from 4:23 a.m. to 4:33 a.m. EST.

Grace is a joint NASA/German Center for Air and Space Flight
(Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Rumfahrt, or DLR) mission
that will track how water is transported and stored within
Earth's environment. The mission will precisely measure
Earth's shifting water masses and map their effects on
Earth's gravity field.

NASA Television coverage of the launch will begin at 3 a.m.
EST and conclude at 6:30 a.m. EST. Coverage is expected to be
audio only from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. EST, during rocket ascent.
Live televised coverage will resume from Germany at 6 a.m.
EST and run until 6:30 a.m. EST to confirm successful
spacecraft separation.

NASA TV is carried on GE-2, transponder 9C located at 85
degrees West longitude, with vertical polarization. Frequency
is on 3880.0 megahertz with audio on 6.8 megahertz.

The Grace mission is managed by the NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif. A webcast of the launch
will be available on the Internet through JPL at:

http://www-onlab.jpl.nasa.gov/webcast/gracelaunch.html

Webcasting also will be available from the German Space
Program (DLR) site at:

http://www.dlr.de/DLR-Homepage

Cassini Weekly Significant Events
for 03/07/02 - 03/13/02

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Tuesday, March 12. The Cassini spacecraft is in an
excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the
present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the
"Present Position" web page located at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/ .

Activities this week included the successful deregistration of the D7.4
and registration of the D7.6 on-board modules, uplink of a Visual and
Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) mini-sequence, and uplink and start
of execution of the C31 background sequence. On-board activities for
the end of C30 included a memory readout of online string statistics, a
Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI) Low Energy Magnetospheric
Measurement Subsystem (LEMMS) exercise, and a Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA)
noise evaluation.

Initial activities for C31 included a clearing of the Attitude Control
Subsystem (ACS) high water marks, and participation in a commanding test
over DSS-65.

After the conclusion of C30, the Sequence Team lead and deputy will
generate the sequence as-flown products.

The Sequence Team Kick-off meeting for C32 was held this week.

The repeat of a DSN firmware test to verify the Block V receiver
firmware upgrade originally performed in January was conducted this week
over DSS-25. The demo was successful.

Mission Planning met with Program Management to present the plan for the
Space Science subphase, which covers the period from 1 July 2002 through
1 January 2004. Cruise and tour sequence boundaries were one of the
topics of discussion at this week's Mission Planning Forum. Proposed
boundary changes for the Huygens Mission were discussed along with what
is known of science and spacecraft restrictions on Revs B and C.

At this month's Instrument Operations Working Group, presentations were
made by the Science Archive working group and E-Kernel working group.
Topics included product lists, schedule updates, Software Interface
Specification (SIS) and Operations Interface Agreement (OIA) status, and
changes to be implemented in the E-kernel system as a result of the
recent design review. Additional status was reported on C-Kernel
generation, and Science Operations and Planning Computers (SOPC), Remote
Terminal Interface Unit (RTIU), Navigation Ancillary Information
Facility (NAIF) toolkit, and Spacecraft, Planet, Instruments, C-matrix,
and Events kernels (SPICE) server status.

Cassini held a dry run for its Educational Outreach Design Review. The
final design review will be March 22.

In February outreach personnel gave a workshop at TechEd02. The workshop
focused on bridging the gap between science and literacy learning
through the use of Cassini science materials. Participants also learned
about some of the exciting new education opportunities that will be
available soon. Thirty-five high school and community college educators
attended the workshop held in Long Beach, California.

Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the
Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Cassini Outreach
Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

RECENT SHIFTS IN PACIFIC WINDS MAY SUPPORT El NIÑO FORMATION

Wind data for the Pacific Ocean obtained by NASA's Quick
Scatterometer spacecraft -- also know as Quikscat -- are documenting
episodes of reversed trade winds that are responsible for
unseasonable cyclone conditions in the northwest and southwest
Pacific, and which may be a precursor of a future El Niño.

A research team led by Dr. W. Timothy Liu, a senior
research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif., used wind speed and direction data from
Quikscat to detect a shift in the trade winds on February 25.
The winds shifted from their normal easterly direction to a
westerly direction, blowing from Indonesia toward the Americas
along the equator. This trade wind shift, which lasted for
about a week, contributed to the spawning of twin cyclones--
Super Typhoon Mitag, which threatened the Philippines; and
Tropical Cyclone Des, which passed through New Caledonia.

"In addition to unusual cyclonic activity, such trade
wind reversals typically trigger Kelvin waves of warm water,
which can be an early indicator of future El Nino conditions,"
said Liu. "During periods of reversed trade winds, which
typically last from a few days to a week or more, equatorial
westerly winds generate a counterclockwise vortex in the
northern hemisphere and a clockwise vortex in the southern
hemisphere. Once spawned, the resulting Kelvin waves may
travel across the Pacific and reach the coastline of the
Americas in approximately one to two months, warming the
waters of the eastern Pacific and creating El Niño conditions
when the effects are accumulated."

Sustained Kelvin wave activity could have a major impact
on global weather patterns according to JPL oceanographer Dr.
William Patzert. "If trade wind patterns continue to
experience reversals through the spring and summer, the
resulting strong, warm Kelvin waves will cross the Pacific
like a conveyor belt, depositing warm water near South America
where the ocean is normally cold," he said. "Such a 'warm
pool' could alter weather all over the planet, with rains that
would normally soak the western Pacific shifting toward the
Americas, and places such as Indonesia and India becoming
drier. We're really in a 'wait and see' situation at this
point."

A similar westerly wind flow and twin cyclones were
documented by Liu and his team using Quikscat data last
December. The wind reversal at that time, which lasted 10
days, triggered a Kelvin wave that just recently reached South
America, as revealed by NASA's Topex/Poseidon satellite.

The Quikscat images are available at:

http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3 .

More details of the two westerly winds events can be
found at:

http://airsea-www.jpl.nasa.gov/enso .

Launched June 19, 1999, the Quikscat spacecraft operates
in a Sun-synchronous, 800-kilometer (497-mile) near-polar
orbit, circling Earth every 100 minutes, taking approximately
400,000 measurements over 93 percent of Earth's surface every
day.

In recent years, data from JPL's Quikscat scatterometer
have proven useful in improving forecasts of extreme wind
events, such as hurricanes, and in monitoring longer-term
climatic effects such as El Niño. Quickscat's SeaWinds
scatterometer instrument is a specialized microwave radar that
continuously measures both the speed and direction of winds
near the ocean surface in all weather conditions.

JPL manages Quikscat for NASA's Office of Earth Science,
Washington, D.C. JPL also built the scatterometer instrument
and provides ground science processing systems. NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., managed
development of the satellite, designed and built by Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.

More information on Quikscat is available at:

http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/quikindex.html .

The U.S.-French Topex/Poseidon mission has been making
precise measurements of ocean surface topography since 1992.
These data are used to map ocean currents, improve the
understanding of ocean circulation, measure global sea level
change and improve global climate forecasts. Topex/Poseidon's
ability to measure sea-surface height has made it an
invaluable tool for studying ocean events such as El Niño, its
little sister La Niña and the much larger and longer-lasting
ocean event called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
Topex/Poseidon is managed by JPL for NASA's Earth Science
Enterprise, Washington, D.C.

More information on Topex/Poseidon is available at:

http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/ .

NASA's Earth Science Enterprise is a long-term research
and technology program designed to examine Earth's land,
oceans, atmosphere, ice and life as a total integrated system.

PL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.

USING 'NATURE'S TOOLBOX,' A DNA COMPUTER SOLVES A COMPLEX PROBLEM

A DNA-based computer has solved a logic problem that no person could complete by hand,
setting a new milestone for this infant technology that could someday surpass the electronic digital computer in certain areas.

The results are published in the online version of the journal Science on March 14 and will also run in the print edition.

The new experiment was carried out by USC computer science professor Dr. Leonard
Adleman, who made headlines in 1994 by demonstrating that DNA -- the spiraling molecule that holds life's genetic code -- could be used to carry out computations.

The research was partially supported by grants from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., and NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., as part of the Comput Information and Communication Technology Program.

The idea was to use a strand of DNA to represent a math or logic problem, and then generate
trillions of other unique DNA strands, each representing one possible solution. Exploiting the way DNA strands bind to each other, the computer can weed out invalid solutions until it is left with only the strand that solves the problem exactly.

Although they are still nowhere near primetime, "DNA computers do have several attractive
features," said Adleman, distinguished professor of computer science and biological sciences and holder of the Henry Salvatori Chair in Computer Science in the USC School of Engineering. "They are massively parallel, compute with extremely high energy-efficiency and store enormous quantities
of information."

Adleman's first experiment proved that computing with molecules was possible. But the
problem solved -- to find the shortest route among seven cities -- could easily have been solved by a person with a pencil and paper. Adleman's new experiment solves a problem requiring the evaluation of more than one million possible solutions -- too complex for anyone to solve without the aid of a computer.

It required a set of 20 values that satisfy a complex tangle of relationships. Adleman's chief
scientist, Nickolas Chelyapov, offered this illustration: Imagine that a fussy customer walks onto a million-car auto square and gives the dealer a complicated list of criteria for the car he wants.

"First," he said, "I want it to be either a Cadillac or a convertible or red." Second, "if it is a
Cadillac, then it has to have four seats or a locking gas cap." Third, "If it is a convertible, it should not be a Cadillac or it should have two seats."

The customer rattles off a list of 24 such conditions, and the salesman has to find the one car in stock that meets all the requirements. (Adleman and his team chose a problem they knew had exactly one solution.) The salesman will have to run through the customer's entire list for each of the million cars in turn -- a hopeless task, unless he can move and think at superhuman speed. This serial method is the way a digital electronic computer solves such a problem.

In contrast, a DNA computer operates in parallel -- with countless molecules shimmying
around together at once. This is equivalent to each car having a valet inside who will listen to the customer read his list over a PA system and will drive off the lot the moment his car fails one of the conditions. By the time the customer finishes his list, his dream car will be waiting alone on the lot.

While the time needed to solve problems of this class (called "NP-complete problems")
increases exponentially (2, 4, 8, 16 ... ) for serial computers, it increases only linearly (2, 4, 6, 8 ... ) for parallel computers.

In principle, then, the DNA computer should outstrip the electronic computer on savagely
complex combinatorial problems -- breaking encryption schemes, for example. Unfortunately, Adleman said, the DNA computer currently is too error-prone to achieve its great potential.

"In the past century we've become really good at controlling electrons," he said. "It would take a breakthrough in the technology of working with large biomolecules like DNA for molecular computers to beat their electronic counterparts."

Still, even if no one finds a way to beat electronic computers on very complex problems,
Adleman said, DNA computers might find applications in other areas. "It's possible that we could use DNA computers to control chemical and biological systems in a way that's analogous to the way we use electronic computers to control electrical and mechanical systems," he said.

Adelman suggested, for example, that such systems might someday be engineered into living cells, allowing them to run precise digital programs that would interact with their natural biochemical processes. "We've shown by these computations that biological molecules can be used for distinctly non-biological purposes," he said. "They are miraculous little machines. They store energy and information, they cut, paste and copy.

"They were built by 3 billion years of evolution, and we're just beginning to tap their potential to serve non-biological purposes. Nature has given us an incredible toolbox, and we're starting to explore what we might build."

Other co-authors of the Science paper were Ravinderjit S. Braich, a post-doctoral student; Cliff Johnson, a neurobiology Ph.D. graduate student and Paul W.K. Rothemund, who received his Ph.D. and is now at Caltech. The research was also supported by grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration, the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.

JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

March 15, 2002

Unveiling Planet Ocean

NASA's soon-to-launch GRACE mission will reveal some of what lies hidden
beneath the surface of Earth's oceans by measuring tiny changes in
gravity.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/14mar_grace_oceans.htm?list448368

NASA TECHNOLOGY HELPS INDUSTRIAL LEADERS BUILD FACILITIES

Virtual reality software, originally developed by NASA engineers to help explore Mars, now is being used by a leading petrochemical company to build and plan operations for a complex industrial facility in 'virtual world' simulations.

The Mars Map virtual reality software, developed at NASA Ames Research Center in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, guided scientists through the agency's very successful 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission. The tool allows mission scientists and operations personnel to command and control remote robotic spacecraft within a virtual environment. Recently, Reality Capture Technologies (RCT), Inc. of San José, Calif., was granted a license for further development of the platform. RCT now is deploying this productivity- and life-cycle information-management tool at a new Shell Chemicals process plant currently under construction in Geismar, La.

"Our product, based on NASA technology, will allow Shell to create and validate start-up procedures, in addition to a construction-feasibility review, and commence training in a virtual environment months before the plant is fully built," said Reality Capture Technologies' Chief Executive Officer Dr. Ted Blackmon.

RCT's software enables engineers to simulate a plant environment in order to review its 'constructability,' a process of evaluating the design, scheduling, cost and resource planning to assess the possibility of implementing such a design. The software also allows engineers to create operating procedures, training and documentation. Similar to pilot training on flight simulators, this technology enables plant operators to get the training they need in a virtual environment.

"What makes this software even more unique is how simple it is," said Blackmon. "It is almost like a video game where you hold a joystick and walk around making sure that everything is working right. Only in this case, you walk around a not-yet-built Shell plant," he added.

By fusing software systems used during the design stage with those used during construction, the software provides virtual access to a construction site and permits project personnel to manage, assess, control and respond more effectively to changes in the plant's complex construction. Like space explorers who use Mars Map to learn how to get around the red planet, facility operators can use the new tool to learn how to better 'pilot' the sophisticated and expensive industrial-plant asset.

"Operators can now easily access and understand engineering information that is critical to operations, which makes their job much easier and safer," said Blackmon.

An Ames science team originally developed Mars Map to create a photographic-quality rendering system. Mars Map allowed researchers to better understand the surface of Mars and perform more effective science by providing an accurate visual representation of the planetary terrain.

"The Mars Pathfinder mission was the first test of this new class of photo-realistic, virtual-reality systems," said Dr. Michael Sims of Ames, who managed the Mars Map development team. "Mars Map made a big difference in our understanding of Mars during Pathfinder, and made us realize that this technology could be an extremely powerful tool for the rendering of the world."

"RCT uniquely addresses the link between various stages of a facility's life cycle, leveraging information generated during the design stage through construction and subsequently into operations and maintenance," said Blackmon. "By leveraging advanced software, originally developed at NASA for the space program, we are able to effectively 'bridge the islands of automation' that exist in the engineering/construction/operations industry today, and interconnect traditionally stand-alone software systems into an end-to-end distributed computing platform."

"This company is a resident of the Ames Technology Commercialization Center, a technology incubator located in San José," said Phil Herlth of the Ames Commercial Technology Office. "Their commercial partnership with a major chemical company is another example of a successful transfer of a space technology that is now benefiting people here on earth. "

NASA TECHNOLOGY HELPS INDUSTRIAL LEADERS BUILD FACILITIES

Virtual reality software, originally developed by NASA
engineers to help explore Mars, is now being used by a
leading petrochemical company to build and plan operations
for a complex industrial facility in 'virtual world'
simulations.

The Mars Map virtual reality software, developed at NASA Ames
Research Center in the heart of California's Silicon Valley,
guided scientists through the agency's very successful 1997
Mars Pathfinder mission. The tool allows mission scientists
and operations personnel to command and control remote
robotic spacecraft within a virtual environment.

Recently, Reality Capture Technologies (RCT), Inc. of San
Jose, Calif., was granted a license for further development
of the platform. RCT is now deploying this productivity- and
life-cycle information-management tool at a new Shell
Chemicals process plant currently under construction in
Geismar, La.

"Our product, based on NASA technology, will allow Shell to
create and validate start-up procedures, in addition to a
construction-feasibility review, and commence training in a
virtual environment months before the plant is fully built,"
said Reality Capture Technologies' Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Ted Blackmon.

RCT's software enables engineers to simulate a plant
environment in order to review its 'constructability,' a
process of evaluating the design, scheduling, cost and
resource planning to assess the possibility of implementing
such a design. The software also allows engineers to create
operating procedures, training and documentation. Similar to
pilot training on flight simulators, this technology enables
plant operators to get the training they need in a virtual
environment.

"What makes this software even more unique is how simple it
is," said Blackmon. "It is almost like a video game where
you hold a joystick and walk around making sure that
everything is working right. Only in this case, you walk
around a not-yet-built Shell plant," he added.

By fusing software systems used during the design stage with
those used during construction, the software provides virtual
access to a construction site and permits project personnel
to manage, assess, control and respond more effectively to
changes in the plant's complex construction. Like space
explorers who use Mars Map to learn how to get around the Red
Planet, facility operators can use the new tool to learn how
to better 'pilot' the sophisticated and expensive industrial-
plant asset.

"Operators can now easily access and understand engineering
information that is critical to operations, which makes their
job much easier and safer," said Blackmon.

An Ames science team originally developed Mars Map to create
a photographic-quality rendering system. Mars Map allowed
researchers to better understand the surface of Mars and
perform more effective science by providing an accurate
visual representation of the planetary terrain.

"The Mars Pathfinder mission was the first test of this new
class of photo-realistic, virtual-reality systems," said Dr.
Michael Sims of Ames, who managed the Mars Map development
team. "Mars Map made a big difference in our understanding of
Mars during Pathfinder, and made us realize that this
technology could be an extremely powerful tool for the
rendering of the world."

"RCT uniquely addresses the link between various stages of a
facility's 'life-cycle,' leveraging information generated
during the design stage through construction and subsequently
into operations and maintenance," said Blackmon. "By
leveraging advanced software, originally developed at NASA
for the space program, we are able to effectively 'bridge the
islands of automation' that exist in the
engineering/construction/operations industry today, and
interconnect traditionally stand-alone software systems into
an end-to-end distributed computing platform."

"This company is a resident of the Ames Technology
Commercialization Center, a technology incubator located in
San Jose," said Phil Herlth of the Ames Commercial Technology
Office. "Their commercial partnership with a major chemical
company is another example of a successful transfer of a
space technology that is now benefiting people here on earth.
"

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Mars Odyssey Mission Status
March 13, 2002

Flight controllers for NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft
report the martian radiation environment experiment began
gathering science data today after their troubleshooting
efforts successfully reestablished communications with the
instrument.

Engineers have been working since late February, trying a
variety of techniques to communicate with the instrument,
which stopped working in August. The results of their tests
indicate the problem may be related to a memory error in the
onboard software of the radiation instrument.

"This is very exciting. We have been carefully working
this issue, and establishing communication means we now have
the entire payload working," said Roger Gibbs, Odyssey's
project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif.

The team established initial communication with the
instrument late last week and has spent several days
evaluating its health. Controllers returned the radiation
monitor to its science collection mode this afternoon.

Odyssey's camera system and gamma ray spectrometer suite
are continuing to collect data and are working well. Science
team members reported this week that the camera's infrared and
visible image data are providing "new eyes" to see the makeup
of martian surface materials. Current targets for the camera
include the candidate landing sites for the twin 2003 Mars
exploration rovers. The neutron detectors in the gamma ray
spectrometer suite are refining the detail in maps of near-
surface hydrogen and are tracking changes in the surface as
the martian northern winter comes to an end.

JPL manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's
Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Principal
investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the
University of Arizona in Tucson, and NASA's Johnson Space
Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. Additional
science investigators are located at the Russian Space
Research Institute and Los Alamos National Laboratories, New
Mexico. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime
contractor for the project, and developed and built the
orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from
Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

CHURNING WHIRLPOOL STARS IN ULTRAVIOLET JUPITER MOVIE

A dark patch of hydrocarbon haze, wider than Earth,
develops and swirls in a new movie clip from ultraviolet
images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft of Jupiter's upper
atmosphere, or stratosphere.

Observations in the ultraviolet part of the light
spectrum reveal features in Jupiter's stratosphere that are
transparent in the visible-light portion of the spectrum. One
surprise is the dark vortex whose birth and migration can be
seen during the 11-week span of the movie taken while Cassini
was approaching Jupiter in late 2000. Development of this
feature resembles development of ozone holes in Earth's
stratosphere in that both processes appear to occur only
within confined masses of high-altitude polar air. The
similarity may help scientists understand both processes
better.

The movie clip and a still image mapping all 360 degrees
of Jupiter in ultraviolet are available online from NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., at

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/jupiter

and from the Cassini imaging team, based at the Boulder,
Colo., campus of the Southwest Research Institute, at

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ .

A video file related to this release will air on NASA
Television March 13 and 14 during the NASA TV video file feed
scheduled for noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m., and midnight EST.
NASA TV is broadcast on GE-2, transponder 9C, C-Band, located
at 85 degrees West longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz.
Polarization is vertical and audio is monaural at 6.8 MHz. For
general questions about NASA video files, contact Fred Brown,
NASA TV, Washington, D.C. (202) 358-0713.

Cassini made its closest pass to Jupiter on Dec. 30,
2000, gaining a gravitational boost for reaching its main
destination, Saturn, in 2004. More information about the
mission is available at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . Cassini
is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency
and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the Cassini and
Galileo missions for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena.

March 14, 2002

VIMOS - a Cosmology Machine for the VL

ESO, with its partners in France and Italy, is pleased to announce that
"First Light" has been successfully achieved for VIMOS, the next major
astronomical instrument to be mounted on the ESO Very Large Telescope
(VLT). The main task of this extremely powerful facility will be
3-dimensional mapping of the distant universe from which we can learn
its large-scale structure.

The full text of the related ESO Press Release, issued jointly with
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France, and
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) and Istituto Nazionale di
Astrofisica (INAF) in Italy, and with fifteen photos and all weblinks,
is now available at:

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2002/pr-04-02.html

Technology for growing plants in space leads to device that destroys
pathogens, like anthrax

Building miniature greenhouses for experiments on the International Space
Station has led to the invention of a device that annihilates anthrax -- a
bacteria that can be deadly when inhaled.

"Space-based greenhouses may seem to have little to do with the war against
terrorism," said Mark Nall, director of the Space Product Development
Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "Yet
this invention shows how commercial space research can benefit people on
Earth in unexpected ways."

The anthrax-killing air scrubber, AiroCide Ti02, is a tabletop-size
metal box that bolts to office ceilings or walls. Its fans draw in airborne
spores and airflow forces them through a maze of tubes. Inside, hydroxyl
radicals (OH-) attack and kill pathogens. Most remaining spores are
destroyed by high-energy ultraviolet photons.

"Spores that pass through the box aren't filtered -- they're fried,"
said John Hayman, president of KES Science & Technology Inc., the Kennesaw,
Ga.-company that manufactures AiroCide Ti02. "That's appealing because you
don't have to change an anthrax-laden air filter."

The technology to build the anthrax killer emerged from another product,
Bio-KES, which is used by grocers and florists to remove ethylene and thus
extend the life of vegetables, fruits and flowers. Ethylene (C2H4) is a gas
released by the leaves of growing plants -- but too much of it can build up
in an enclosed plant growth chamber or produce storage facility.

Too much ethylene causes plants to mature too quickly, fruit to ripen
prematurely, and it even accelerates decay. This hinders researchers'
efforts to harvest healthy plants grown in space and would also be
undesirable when space travelers build larger space-based greenhouses for
growing fresh food.

The research that led to the invention of Bio-KES started with a crucial
discovery made in the early 90's by scientists at the Wisconsin Center for
Space Automation and Robotics - a NASA Commercial Space Center at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. These scientists collaborated on the
discovery with Dr. Marc Anderson, a professor and chemist who also works at
the university.

The research team found that ultra-thin layers of titanium dioxide (TiO2)
exposed to ultraviolet light converted ethylene into carbon dioxide (CO2)
and water (H2O) -- substances that are good for plants. Subsequently, they
developed a coating technology that applies TiO2 layers to the surfaces of
many materials.

The Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics, which specializes in
developing robotics/automation technologies for agriculture and
biotechnology research in space, used the TiO2 coating technology to design
an ethylene scrubber. This first-generation ethylene scrubber was used
effectively inside the ASTROCULTURE(tm) plant growth unit, which grew potato
plants during Space Shuttle mission STS-73 in 1995. Over the years,
scientists refined the ethylene scrubber, and currently, the
third-generation scrubber is being used successfully inside the ADVANCED
ASTROCULTURE(tm) for plant experiments on the International Space Station.

This Space Station experiment and the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation
and Robotics are part of NASA's Space Product Development Program, which
encourages the commercialization of space by industry. There are 17
Commercial Space Centers across America, each specializing in a variety of
areas such as agriculture, materials and biotechnology.

"Through our program, companies invest resources to do experiments in space
that can benefit their businesses," said Nall. "This results in new and
improved products and services for the American public."

Commercial Space Centers and their industry partners also explore how
technologies, like the ethylene scrubber, created to conduct space-based
research can be used for a variety of purposes, like killing anthrax, on
Earth. In this case, KES Science and Technology licensed the TiO2 coating
technology from the University of Wisconsin, which allowed them to develop
an ethylene scrubber and an anthrax-killing scrubber for use on Earth.

The first product the company developed for Earth-use was the Bio-KES --
used to remove ethylene in the air of produce and floral storage rooms and
warehouses, thus increasing the shelf life of flowers, fruits and
vegetables. The device, nominated as Discover Magazine's Product of the Year
in 1998, is used across the globe by grocers, warehouse owners, and
florists.

"Our tests showed that Bio-KES not only removed ethylene, but also
killed airborne dust mites," said Hayman.

When the ultraviolet light strikes the TiO2 tubes inside Bio-KES, it creates
positive and negative electrical charges. These charges tear apart nearby
water molecules (H2O) and produce hydroxyl radicals (OH-).

"This hydroxyl by-product disrupts organic molecules and is thus deadly to
dust mites, anthrax and many other pathogens," said Hayman. "We put
higher-powered ultraviolet lamps in the AiroCide TiO2, so more hydroxyl
radicals are produced, giving it an extra kick."

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin tested the AiroCide TiO2
with a non-virulent cousin of anthrax. During a typical experiment, a cloud
of approximately 1,000 spores was sucked into the chamber and only 100 or so
spores emerged. Spores spend at least 5 to 10 seconds traveling through the
device's jumbled tubes and often become trapped by turbulent airflow. They
linger and are attacked by the hydroxyl radicals, or are zapped by the
germ-killing ultraviolet light.

"The longer pathogens stay inside, the more likely they are to die," said
Hayman. "Tests showed that as many as 93 percent of anthrax spores that
enter the device are destroyed. Survivors are usually drawn back in on later
passes through the reactor bed and are killed."

This is not the first serendipitous discovery to come out of the Wisconsin
Center for Space Automation and Robotics program. The light source used to
help grow plants in the ASTROCULTURE(tm) hardware has been adapted for use
in a variety of medical treatments. Quantum Devices Inc., a Barneveld, Wis.
company, makes light emitting diodes for the plant chambers. The company has
been collaborating with NASA and the Medical College of Wisconsin in
Milwaukee to study the benefits of using a similar light source to treat
brain and skin cancer, and heal wounds. Preliminary results from human
clinical trials have been encouraging.

Commercial activity through Commercial Space Centers, such as the Wisconsin
Center for Space Automation and Robotics, has resulted in the development of
numerous products and new technologies, licensing agreements and patents.

NASA has scheduled several more commercial experiments for upcoming Space
Station expeditions. To learn more about Space Station experiments and
science operations, visit
<http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/>

The Web

Media Advisory
http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/releases/2002/02-056.html

Photos
<http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/releases/2002/02-056.html>

Space Commercialization
<http://www.commercial.nasa.gov/>

Space Product Development
http://www.spd.nasa.gov/

Office of Biological and Physical Research
<http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/>

Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics
http://wcsar.engr.wisc.edu/

KES Science and Technology, Inc.
<http://www.kes-pro.com/>

Twin quasars tango and it's no mirage

Scientists have unraveled a longstanding mystery about a rare double
quasar system 11 billion light years from Earth using NASA's Chandra X-ray
Observatory. These "twin" quasars, previously thought to be an optical
illusion, were instead probably created by merging galaxies and may have
been more common in the dense Universe soon after the Big Bang.

"When galaxies interact or merge, they become more active and
luminous and can excite quasar activity in their centers," said Paul Green
of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass., who
led the research team. "The quasars that make up these nearly identical
twins appear to have been hatched in the same nest."

The Chandra data show that the quasars - luminous galaxies powered
by central supermassive black holes - are not mirror images caused by a
cosmic phenomenon known as a "gravitational lens." Rather, these two
quasars are distinct objects that were probably spawned when their host
galaxies collided, energizing the flow of gas onto their central black
holes.

Quasar pairs that are seen close to one another on the sky and are
at the same distance from Earth often turn out to be an illusion as part of
a gravitationally lensed system. In these cases, the image of a single
quasar has been split into two or more images as its light has been bent and
focused on its way to Earth by the gravity of an intervening massive object
like a galaxy, or a cluster of galaxies.

Usually, the intervening mass shows up as a fainter galaxy or
cluster of galaxies seen between or among the quasar images, confirming the
cause of the illusion. The quasar pair Q2345+007 A, B was thought to be such
an illusion because of the remarkably similar patterns of the light, or
spectra, from the pair at both optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.

However, almost two decades after its discovery by optical
astronomers, the identification of enough intervening material to "split"
the image of a single quasar into an apparent double has proved fruitless.
This led to the speculation that the gravitation light-bending might be
caused by a new type of cluster that contained hot gas and dark matter, but
failed to ever make stars or galaxies. Such a "dark cluster" would be
invisible to optical and ultraviolet telescopes, but would be detectable in
X-rays.

The Chandra images, the most sensitive ever taken for this type of
search, showed no evidence for a massive dark cluster. Further, the X-ray
spectra of the two quasars were distinctly different.

"This may mean that the pair Q2345+007A,B actually consists of two
separate quasars," said Green. "However, a mystery remains. How can two
quasars have identical optical spectra - every bump and wiggle? The
coincidence seems improbable."

One possible explanation is that the quasars are formed close by
each other grow up to look alike at optical wavelengths, but that X-rays
which probe closer to their central black holes, bring out the individual
differences.

Chandra observed Q2345+007 on May 26, 2000, for 65,000 seconds using
the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer instrument. Scientists from the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the National Optical
Astronomy Observatory were also members of the research team.

The ACIS camera was developed for NASA by Pennsylvania State
University, University Park, Pa., and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the
Chandra program. TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif., is the prime contractor
for the spacecraft. The Smithsonian's Chandra X-ray Center controls science
and flight operations from Cambridge. The National Optical Astronomy
Observatory is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in
Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under a cooperative Agreement with the National
Science Foundation.

Images and additional information about this result are available
at:

http://chandra.harvard.edu

and

http://chandra.nasa.gov

The Web

News release
http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/releases/2002/02-052.html

Photos
http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/photos/2002/photos02-052.htm

Fact Sheet
http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/background/facts/axaf.htm

March 12, 2002

SPACE-GREENHOUSE TECHNOLOGY RE-UPS FOR FIGHT AGAINST
BIOTERRORISM

Building miniature greenhouses for experiments on the
International Space Station has led to the invention of a
device that can destroy Anthrax -- a bacteria that can be
deadly when inhaled.

The Anthrax-killing air scrubber, called AiroCideTiO2
(titanium dioxide), is a tabletop-size metal box that bolts to
office ceilings or walls. Its fans draw in airborne spores
and airflow forces them through a maze of tubes. Inside,
hydroxyl radicals attack and kill pathogens. Most remaining
spores are destroyed by high-energy ultraviolet photons.

The technology to build the device emerged from another
product called Bio-KES, which today is used by grocers and
florists to remove ethylene and thus extend the life of
vegetables, fruits and flowers. Ethylene is a gas released by
the leaves of growing plants -- but too much of it can build
up in an enclosed plant-growth chamber or produce storage
facility.

Too much ethylene causes plants to mature too quickly and
fruit to ripen prematurely; it even accelerates decay. This
hinders researchers' efforts to harvest healthy plants grown
in space and would also be undesirable when space travelers
build larger space-based greenhouses for growing fresh food.

The research that led to the invention of Bio-KES started with
a crucial discovery made in the early 90s by scientists at the
Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics - a NASA
Commercial Space Center at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison. These scientists collaborated on the discovery with
Dr. Marc Anderson, a professor and chemist also at the
university.

The research team found that ultra-thin layers of titanium
dioxide exposed to ultraviolet light converted ethylene into
carbon dioxide and water -- substances that are good for
plants. Subsequently, they developed a coating technology that
applies titanium-dioxide layers to the surfaces of many
materials.

The Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics used
the titanium-dioxide coating technology to design an ethylene
scrubber. This first-generation ethylene scrubber was used
effectively inside a plant-growth unit, which grew potato
plants during a space shuttle mission in 1995. Over the years,
scientists refined the ethylene scrubber, and currently the
third-generation scrubber is being used successfully inside
for plant experiments on the International Space Station.

"Space-based greenhouses may seem to have little to do with
the war against terrorism," said Mark Nall, director of the
Space Product Development Program at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "Yet this invention shows
how commercial space research can benefit people on Earth in
unexpected ways."

KES Science and Technology, Kennesaw, Ga., licensed the TiO2
coating technology from the University of Wisconsin, which
allowed them to develop the Bio-KES ethylene scrubber and the
Anthrax-killing scrubber for use on Earth. When the
ultraviolet light strikes the titanium-dioxide tubes inside
the devices, it creates positive and negative electrical
charges. These charges tear apart nearby water molecules and
produce hydroxyl radicals.

"This hydroxyl by-product disrupts organic molecules and is
thus deadly to dust mites, Anthrax and many other pathogens,"
said John Hayman, president of KES Science and Technology, the
company that manufactures the devices. "We put higher-powered
ultraviolet lamps in the Anthrax-killing device, so more
hydroxyl radicals are produced, giving it an extra kick."

More information on space station experiments and science
operations is available at:

http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/
http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov

MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION ROTATION 3 BEGINS

The third crew rotation of the Mars Desert Research Station has
begun. The rotation, which started March 10, will run through March
24. During this time, the crew will continue the MDRS's program
of sustained field exploration of the Utah desert while operating
under many of the same constraints that a human crew would in an
expedition to Mars. The purpose of this work is to learn how to
explore on the Red Planet.

The commander of the third rotation is Dr. Bjoern Grieger, of the Max
Planck Institute for Aeronomy, Katlenburg-Lindau. Dr. Grieger has a
background in physics, astronomy, and paleoclimatology and has had
cosmonaut training in Star City.
Nell Beadle, a professional field geologist with Fugro Seafloor
Surveys, Seattle, Washington, will serve as chief geologist for the
crew.
Other crew embers include Tiffany Vora of the Department of Molecular
Biology of Princeton University, Jon Dory an engineer with Spacehab
Inc. at NASA Johnson Space center, Erik Carlstrom a geologist who is
president of the Oregon Mars Society, Stacy Sklar, a geologist with
Northern Arizona University, and Sybil Sharvelle, an engineer with
the university of Colorado at Boulder. Grieger, Beadle, Vora,
Carlstrom, and Dory will all serve the full two-week crew rotation.
Sklar and Sharvelle will share a crew slot, with Sklar serving March
10-17 and Sharvelle serving March 17-24.

Rotation 3 is the first MDRS crew to be composed of equal numbers of
men and women and is the first to be commanded by someone who is not
an American national.

Complete reports on the progress of the MDRS crew can be found at the
Mars Society website at www.marssociety.org.

MDRS ROTATION 4 AND 5 CREWS SELECTED.

The crews for the 4th and 5th rotations of the Mars Desert Research
Station have been selected.

Rotation 4, which will run March 24-April 7, will be commanded by Dr.
Judith LaPierre. Dr. LaPierre is a professor of psychology at the
University of Quebec in Hull. She has participated in space human
factors simulation work in Russia in conjunction with the Russian and
Canadian Space Agencies. She is both the first woman to command the
MDRS and the first French Canadian.

Other members of the rotation 4 crew include Shannon Rupert, a
professor of biology with the Department of Physical Sciences at
Miracosta College near San Diego, Andrew Hoppin a space entrepreneur
from New York with a degree in geology from Brown University, Joel
McKinnon, a Bay Area information sciences professional with a
background in geology, Jennifer Knowles, a mission operations
engineer at NASA Johnson Space Center, Alexander Kazerooni, a
biomedical researcher working with Lockheed Martin and NASA JSC on
EVA issues, and Matt Lowry a physics teacher and Mars Society leader
from Chicago. LaPierre, Rupert, McKinnon, Hoppin, and Knowles will
all serve the full 2-week rotation. Lowry and Kazerooni will split
their crew slot, with Lowry serving the first week and Kazerooni the
second.

The fifth MDRS crew rotation will run from April 7 to 21 and be
commanded by Dr. Bill Clancey of the NASA Ames Research Center. Dr.
Clancey is a professional space exploration human factors researcher
who has taken part in Mars Society and NASA Haughton Mars Project
joint expeditions to the Arctic in 1999 and 2000, and who was a
member of the crew of the Mars Society's Flashline Mars Arctic
Research Station during the summer of 2001.

Also participating in the 5th crew rotation is Dr. Vladimir Pletser.
Pletser, a Belgian national, is a geophysicist and astronaut trainee
working with the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, Holland. Like
Clancey, Pletser was a member of the crew of the Flashline Mars
Arctic Research Station during the summer of 2001.

Other members of the rotation 5 crew include Dr. Nancy Wood, Senior
Scientist at the Department of Microbiology-Immunology at
Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Jan Osburg, a
doctoral candidate and lecturer at the Space Systems Institute of the
University of Stuttgart, Andrea Fori, an aerospace engineer and
planetary geologist with Lockheed Martin in San Jose, and David Real
a freelance journalist who has written extensively for the Dallas
morning news and other publications.

The fifth crew rotation will be followed by a 6th which will run from
April 21 to May 4. After may 4, the MDRS will cease simulation
operations for the summer, during which time Mars Society simulation
research will continue at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station
on Devon Island and the MDRS will be used for public outreach and
educational activities.

The MDRS will then resume operations in October for its second field
season which will run until May 2003.

The crews of the Mars Desert Research Station are all volunteers who
serve without any pay from the Mars Society. The current crews have
been selected from a pool of over 400 applicants who responded to the
Mars Society's open call for volunteers issued in October of
2001.
Applications from new volunteers are always welcome.

A complete report on the activities and future plans for the Mars
Desert and Flashline Mars Arctic Research Stations will be given at
5th International Mars Society Convention, which will be held August
8-11 at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Registration for the
convention is now open at www.marssociety.org.

Chandra Digest (Mar 13): Twin Quasars

NEW IMAGE!!!
** Quasar Pair Q2345+007A,B: Twin Quasars Tango And It's No Mirage
The Chandra image of the twin quasars Q2345+007 A, B shows that they are
not identical twins. This means that it is unlikely that they are an
optical illusion, rather, they were probably created by merging galaxies.
< http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/1273/index.html >

** Operations CXO Status Report (Friday 03/08/02)
During the last week the observing schedule was replanned to include an
observation of the Seyfert Galaxy NCG 4388 that was accepted as a Target
Of Opportunity (TOO) on 3 March following its detection in outburst. An
observation of NCG 1265 was impacted by the TOO and will be rescheduled
in a later load.
< http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/updates/update_030802.html >

NEW & NOTEWORTHY!

++ Match the Chandra Images
If you missed the "Name that Image" contest last fall, here's your
chance to see what the buzz was all about. Figure out the images in
this colorful Chandra collage.
< http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/games/match/ >

++ All recent New & Noteworthy features are available at
< http://chandra.harvard.edu/new.html >

DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR NOMINATION WITHDRAWN

The following is a statement by NASA Administrator Sean
O'Keefe after being advised of a White House decision to
withdraw the nomination of Major General Charles F. Bolden,
U.S. Marine Corps, as the agency's next Deputy Administrator.

"We are disappointed that General Bolden isn't able to join
NASA at this time. His impeccable credentials as an astronaut
and military aviator made him an excellent selection. However,
at this critical juncture in our nation's history, we must
understand how vital it is for America to focus all its
military resources on the immediate national security
imperatives.

"Senior military leaders of General Bolden's caliber are a
rare and precious resource. The Marines are very fortunate to
be able to keep him among their ranks. Given the ongoing war
on terrorism and the imperative expressed by the Secretary of
Defense that all uniformed military personnel serve to advance
the President's objectives to win the war, we fully support
the President's decision."

Bolden, 55, currently serves as the Commanding General, 3rd
Marine Aircraft Wing in San Diego.

As a NASA astronaut, Bolden piloted Space Shuttles on STS-61C
in 1986 and STS-31 in 1990. He commanded two missions, STS-45
in 1992 and STS-60 in 1994. Over the course of his four space
flights, Bolden logged more than 680 hours in orbit, assisted
in deploying the Hubble Space Telescope and commanded the
first mission that included a Russian cosmonaut.

Martian spots warrant a close look

Are dark spots that appear near the south pole of Mars in early
spring, a sign of life on the Red Planet? No-one can say for sure,
according to a group of scientists who met at ESTEC, ESA's technical
centre in the Netherlands. But the spots are certainly fascinating,
the meeting agreed, and well worth a detailed look by Mars Express,
the European Space Agency's Mars mission, when it goes into orbit
around the Red Planet in late 2003.

Read more about this:
http://sci.esa.int/content/news/index.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&oid=29618

Translife Mission Teams Hold Design Review

Four university-based teams competing for the honor of building the
Mars Society's Translife mission met for a design review Feb 28 at
NASA Ames Research Center. The Translife mission will test the effect
of Mars gravity by flying a group of mice for 50 days in a rotating
spacecraft in low Earth orbit. The mice will be allowed to reproduce
and the young to grow up in 3/8 g. the experiment will thus provide
the first data on both the effect of Martian gravity on mammals born
and raised on Earth and those born and raised on Mars. This
information is key for planning future human Mars exploration
missions and for determining the prospects for the settlement of Mars
with higher life from Earth.

The four team competing were MIT, the University of Colorado, the
University of Washington, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. A
downselect to a team or set of teams to do the mission is expected
within 2 weeks.

The summary design reports submitted by the teams may be accessed
through the links at www.marssociety.org.

A complete report on the progress of the Translife Mission will be
presented at the 5th International Mars Society Convention. You can
register for it now at .

SENTRY - An Automatic Near-Earth Asteroid Collision Monitoring System

NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov)
announces the arrival of the Sentry automatic impact monitoring
system. In development for nearly two years, Sentry is a highly
automated, accurate, and robust system for continually updating the
orbits, future close Earth approaches, and Earth impact probabilities
for all Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs).

When interpreting the Sentry Impact Risks Page
(http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/), where information on
known potential NEA impacts is posted, one must bear in mind that
an Earth collision by a sizable NEA is a very low probability event.
Objects normally appear on the Risks Page because their orbits can
bring them close to the Earth's orbit and the limited number of
available observations do not yet allow their trajectories to be
well-enough defined. In such cases, there may be a wide range of
possible future paths that can be fit to the existing observations,
sometimes including a few that can intersect the Earth.

Whenever a newly discovered NEA is posted on the Sentry Impact Risks
Page, by far the most likely outcome is that the object will eventually
be removed as new observations become available, the object's orbit is
improved, and its future motion is more tightly constrained. As a
result, several new NEAs each month may be listed on the Sentry Impact
Risks page, only to be removed shortly afterwards. This is a normal
process, completely expected. The removal of an object from the Impact
Risks page does not indicate that the object's risk was evaluated
mistakenly: the risk was real until additional observations showed
that it was not.

While completely independent, the Sentry system is meant to be
complementary to the NEODyS CLOMON impact monitoring system operated
in Pisa, Italy. Personnel from both the Sentry and NEODyS systems are
in constant communication, cross checking each other's results and
providing constructive feedback to continuously improve the efficiency,
accuracy, and robustness of both systems.

The Sentry system was developed largely by Drs. Steve Chesley and Alan
Chamberlin with significant technical help from Dr. Paul Chodas. Ron
Baalke provided our web site updates.

Today the Red Planet is dry and barren, but what about tomorrow? New data
suggest that the long story of water on Mars isn't over yet.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/12mar_waterplanet.htm?list448368

March 11, 2002

NASA SELECTS PURDUE TEAM TO HELP DEVELOP
LIFE-SUPPORTING ECOSYSTEM IN SPACE

NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research has
selected Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, for a
five-year grant totaling $10 million to lead a NASA
Specialized Center of Research and Training (NSCORT) for
Advanced Life Support (ALS) that will develop technologies to
enable long-duration planetary missions and sustain human
space colonies.

This ALS NSCORT will consist of a consortium of institutions
that includes Purdue and two historically black universities,
Alabama A&M University in Normal, Alabama, and Howard
University in Washington. Scientists and engineers from all
three institutions will work together to conduct research on a
number of self-sustaining technologies required for long-
duration space missions, including solid-waste processing,
water recovery and air revitalization, and food processing and
food safety.

"I'm very pleased with the outstanding proposal received from
Purdue and look forward to a rich and productive scientific
return that can help substantially reduce the cost of
supporting humans on future long-duration space missions,"
said Dr. Guy Fogleman, Acting Director for the Bioastronautics
Research Division and lead for the Advanced Human Support
Technology Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The team of investigators will work to design a self-
sustaining environment for future space colonies where the
inhabitants will live inside fully enclosed structures; grow
their own food; and constantly process, recycle and purify all
wastes. Plants will provide a source of food and oxygen,
microbes will be used to break down wastes, and other
technologies will be needed to remove impurities from the air
and water.

The ALS NSCORT was established to advance fundamental
knowledge in life-support technologies with the ultimate
application of enabling human space flight and long-term
planetary missions. This NSCORT is expected to enhance NASA's
base of scholarship, skills and performance in space
biological and biomedical sciences and related technological
areas. The effort also will expand the pool of research
scientists and engineers trained to meet the challenges ahead
as NASA prepares for human space exploration missions.

NASA received four proposals from universities in response to
the research solicitation released in July 2001. Proposals
were peer-reviewed by scientific and technical experts from
academia and government before a selection was made.
Evaluation of proposals also included review by NASA program
scientists and managers for programmatic relevance and cost.

Additional information about the NASA Office of Biological and
Physical Research is available on the Internet at:

http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/la_best.html

Students Get the Best from JPL

Ray Garcia had to stay after school, but not to clean blackboards. Garcia is
an engineer at JPL who returned to his grade school, Albion Elementary in
Los Angeles, 44 years after he left, to involve students in a balloon
rocketry experiment. The December 2001 visit was part of a collaboration
between JPL and the Los Angeles Unified School District's after school
enrichment program, LA's Best. Created in 1988, LA's Best is a nationally
recognized model that now serves over 13,500 students in 78 elementary
schools.

For about a half dozen years, JPL employees have been volunteering to bring
space and science to L.A. classrooms. Two years ago, the union expanded with
the launch of JPL Daze at LA's Best. The program begins with an orientation
and training session for JPL employees who, like Garcia, then go out en
masse to local L.A. Unified schools.

To demonstrate the trial and error nature of the scientific method, Garcia,
a thermal engineer, engaged the children at Albion in an entertaining and
informative experiment. Students ultimately determined which balloon size
traveled the farthest using their own breath, yardsticks and Garcia's laptop
computer. After choosing a round or oblong balloon, children inflated them,
held them up and then let go. After following the sometimes-winding path of
the balloons, students measured that distance and entered it into the
computer.

To balance the left-brain activity, Garcia threw in a bit of entertainment.
In the spirit of the holiday season, he donned an elf hat, grabbed his
guitar and encouraged the children to join him in song.

Garcia, whose brothers and sister also attended Albion decades ago, feels it
is important to provide role models to young students.

"It makes students aware of what they can expect in their future," Garcia
said. "I want to motivate, I just want to give them a little hope."

Yvonne Garcia (no relation to Ray Garcia), LA's Best site coordinator for
Griffin Elementary, saw her students' eyes light up when the model of 1997's
Mars Pathfinder rover, Sojourner, took center stage in their school
cafeteria.

"Kids are just generally enthused about space," Yvonne Garcia said. "After
seeing the rover and video animation, they wanted to know what else goes on
at JPL and if they can come visit."

A JPL electronic publisher, Susan Braunheim-Kalogerakos, brought 3-D glasses
to Griffin Elementary so students could experience the stereo images that
Sojourner sent back from Mars. When she asked who wanted to see the images,
every hand went up, including those of the on-site staff.

Galileo project manager, Dr. Eilene Theilig really got her hands dirty with
students from First Street School. To teach them about volcanoes on Io, one
of Jupiter's moons, she brought along flour, water and food coloring. In
order to demonstrate the viscosity of lava flow, each group of students
mixed different amounts of flour and water. Students observed that thin
mixtures flowed farther and thick mixtures piled up, hindering flow.

"The kids got to learn about a different world and really think about it,"
said Theilig. "They were really curious and excited by the topic. They were
sharing their experiences with volcanoes on Earth."

JPL research scientist Dr. Robert Treuhaft has visited three schools to give
students an introduction to Einstein's theory of special relativity. He
conducted a thought experiment, urging the children to ponder the question,
"how do you know you are moving?"

Treuhaft wanted to get the students thinking the way physicists think. He
told them to imagine that they were moving down the highway in a truck with
no windows at 55 miles per hour. He then asked how they would prove they are
moving. After eliminating options like the sound of the motor (Treuhaft told
them to imagine it was a "soundless" motor), students ultimately concluded
that you don't really know you are moving unless you see something or
someone else moving.

"It was a challenge for them but more than half of each class said they
could go and explain it to others," Treuhaft said. "They were very
inquisitive and excited; I wish the discussions at some science conferences
were that enthusiastic."

Linda Long, Director of education for LA's Best, is excited about her
organization's partnership with JPL and the feeling is mutual.

"LA's Best has had an extremely successful relationship with JPL," Long
said. "JPL employees have taken an active role in our science program and we
are definitely going to continue the collaboration."

Most JPL employees who participated in JPL Daze at LA's Best plan to visit
schools again. Ray Garcia is already planning a new experiment and has his
eye on the piano in the corner of the auditorium for an encore holiday
performance. As Treuhaft reminds us, "we can not just be here. It is our
responsibility to do this. It is the best chance we have at changing the
world and the schools are just a few miles away. There's no reason not to do
this."

DIGITAL PHOTOS FROM SOLAR AIRPLANE TO IMPROVE COFFEE HARVEST

Thanks to recent NASA research, digital pictures taken from a remotely
piloted, solar-powered airplane will help growers harvest better coffee and
provide support during future natural disasters.

To test their aerial imaging system, researchers used remote control to
take digital images of coffee fields on the Island of Kauai from a piloted,
light plane. They provided these images to the harvest manager on the
ground. By viewing the color patterns in the images, the manager could tell
which fields were ripest, and where to send harvest machines. Choosing the
fields with the highest percentage of ripe coffee cherries is crucial
because harvest machines shake off all the coffee cherries in each field,
whether they are ripe or not.

"There is a significant difference in the value of ripe coffee cherries
compared to unripe and overripe cherries," said Stanley Herwitz, professor
of Earth sciences at Clark University, Worcester, Mass, who now is based at
NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. Herwitz also is
the principal investigator for the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) coffee
project. "The main variety of coffee grown on this particular plantation,
the largest in the U.S.A., ripens to a yellow color," he said. The color of
coffee cherries, which contain coffee beans, indicates the degree of
ripeness.

"Fields ripen very unpredictably, and independently of each other," Herwitz
said. "We can take very high-resolution pictures flying over the fields,
locate the ripest fields and help the harvest manager decide where to send
his harvest machines to obtain the most profitable harvest."

"The current method of determining field ripeness involves limited sampling
of branches and counting ripe cherries versus unripe and overripe
cherries," Herwitz said. "Our method provides a view of the entire
plantation. For some pictures, we use filters to image only the wavelengths
of interest. In that way, we can obtain imagery that emphasizes the yellow
color of the ripest coffee fields," Herwitz said.

"The imagery provided us with a new perspective in our effort to detect
ripe coffee fields," the harvest manager at the Kauai Coffee Company, a
research partner said. "We plan to continue to refer to this readily
accessible imagery over the next several months as we conclude our harvest
operation and focus our efforts on irrigation and weed control," he added
during last year's post-harvest season.

Digital aerial images also can aid growers by showing the location of vines
that can jam coffee-harvesting machines. In addition, one of the cameras
takes digital pictures of infrared light, which is invisible to human
beings. Scientists represent infrared light with visible, bright colors in
pictures. This aerial infrared imagery helps researchers detect fungal
disease, water stress and insect infestation in many types of plants.

In the tropics, clouds and their shadows often pass over the fields, even
on typically sunny days, preventing completely clear views in single aerial
pictures. To overcome this problem during the 2002 Hawaiian coffee harvest,
the research team will fly the Pathfinder Plus, a remote-controlled,
solar-powered airplane, which can circle as long as 16 hours.

The unique loitering ability of the airplane will enable it to acquire
enough images so they can be assembled into a mosaic of cloudless imagery
of the entire plantation. Eventually, designers hope to fly solar-powered
UAV aircraft for weeks to months at a time without landing.

"Our immediate objective is to demonstrate the commercial potential of a
solar UAV airplane to linger over fields for as long as it takes to acquire
cloudless imagery, as well as watch the fields ripen during the 2002 Kauai
harvest season," said Herwitz. Field ripeness can change dramatically in a
few days, he said.

During the 2001 Hawaiian coffee harvest season, the research team tested
the imaging systems they will use on the solar airplane for the 2002
harvest. Scientists on the ground used wireless technology to control their
digital cameras on a piloted light aircraft and transmitted large,
20-megabyte images to their ground station in as little as 35 seconds. "We
were in Kauai for three weeks, and we acquired more than 2,000 images,"
Herwitz said.

"Our long-term goal is to develop the imaging technology aboard
solar-powered UAV airplanes to help people to cope with natural and other
disasters, as well as to assist farmers who grow a wide variety of crops,"
said Herwitz.

"Corn and wheat are candidates for this kind of precision agriculture
research because the scale of production is so huge," Herwitz said. "The
goal is to help growers manage their fields at a high level of efficiency.
Real-time imaging can help those farmers who may need quick updates of
ripeness conditions of crops or any other treatments such as fertilizers,
irrigation and pest control."

Using their imaging system aboard the solar-powered airplane, the research
team will obtain much higher resolution images than are available from
satellites. "The solar-powered UAV will fly much closer to the Earth than
orbiting satellites, and the result will be much sharper imagery. In the
near future, the solar-powered UAV will be used for multitasking jobs such
as precision agriculture, communications, weather observation, disaster
monitoring and emergency response," Herwitz said. Another advantage of the
solar airplane is that it can land, and scientists can easily upgrade the
plane's sensors, unlike a satellite that stays in orbit.

The NASA UAV Science Demonstration Program is funding the $3.76 million UAV
Coffee Project, which includes a team of about 15 researchers. Scientists
selected the project after reviewing more than 40 UAV science proposals.
The project is scheduled to run from June 2001 to June 2004. More
information about the coffee project is on the Internet at:
http://www.clarku.edu/faculty/herwitz -- and:
http://www.clarku.edu/research/access/geography/herwitz/herwitzD.shtml

Publication size images are available at:
http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2002/02images/coffee/coffee.html

Administration Seeks To Maintain Essential Fish Habitat While Proposing To Withdraw And Revisit Its Critical Habitat Designations

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National
Marine Fisheries Service today announced that it is seeking judicial
approval of a consent decree withdrawing its current critical habitat
designations for 19 salmon and steelhead populations. The move is in
response to litigation challenging the process by which its critical
habitat designations were established. NOAA Fisheries will undertake a
new, more thorough analysis consistent with a recent decision of the United
States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and will proceed to re-issue critical
habitat designations after that analysis is completed. NOAA is an Agency of
the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act, NOAA Fisheries is
required to analyze the economic impacts on affected businesses,
communities and individuals when designating critical habitat for salmon
and steelhead trout populations.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the analysis of
economic impacts for such designations must be much more specific than the
current approach. While that case, New Mexico Cattle Growers Association
v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, involved a different species - the
Southwestern willow flycatcher - the type of analysis reviewed by the court
was similar to that used by NOAA Fisheries in its salmon and steelhead
critical habitat designations.

NOAA Fisheries expects this action will not significantly affect the
protection of these 19 populations of chinook, chum and sockeye salmon nor
steelhead populations whose ESA status remains unchanged. The authorities
of the Endangered Species Act (sections 4,7, 9, and 10) that NOAA primarily
relies on for its enforcement and protective actions remain in effect.

Salmon habitat also will remain protected by the essential fish habitat
provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Federal managers believe that
properly functioning habitat is an essential part of recovering listed
species. While NOAA Fisheries re-evaluates critical habitat designations,
the agency also is actively developing on recovery plans for all Pacific
Coast salmon and steelhead populations.

The essential fish habitat provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act were
developed to minimize both fishing and non-fishing effects on essential
fish habitat. The provisions were developed to prevent future habitat
problems so that salmon, steelhead and other fish and shellfish stocks that
depend on healthy habitats avoid further declines.

On Feb. 16, 2000, NOAA Fisheries designated critical habitat for 19
Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) of chinook, chum and sockeye salmon
as well as steelhead trout in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California. On
Sept. 27, 2000, NOAA Fisheries approved Amendment 14 to the Pacific Coast
Salmon Fishery Management Plan designating marine and freshwater essential
fish habitat for Pacific Salmon.

Shortly after these designations, the National Association of Homebuilders
in association with a group of Washington, Idaho and Oregon counties filed
suit challenging NOAA Fisheries' designation of Essential Fish Habitat for
Pacific Coast Salmon and critical habitat designations for the 19 ESUs of
Pacific salmon and steelhead. Additionally the Association of California
Water Agencies (ACWA) filed suit against NOAA Fisheries challenging the
critical habitat designations for 19 ESUs of Pacific salmon and steelhead.
These lawsuits allege, among other things, that NOAA Fisheries failed to
adequately evaluate the economic impacts associated with the designation of
critical habitat.

NOAA Fisheries is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation=s
living marine resources through scientific research, management,
enforcement and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected
marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries,
please visit http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov

NEW MEXICO EXPERIMENTS AID AIRSPACE SAFETY

An alliance of teams from NASA, the U.S. Navy, New Mexico
State University, and industry converges on Las Cruces, N.M., this
week to demonstrate how remotely piloted aircraft can operate safely
in the National Airspace System (NAS). Critical to gaining access to
the skies shared by piloted aircraft is the requirement for remotely
flown airplanes to be able to detect and avoid collision courses with
all types of aircraft.
Using three detection systems, the teams working as part of
NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST)
program will fly up to three aircraft on simulated collision courses,
while onboard technology automatically detects the threat and
proposes a flight path to keep the aircraft out of danger. While all
the aircraft in the tests this week will have pilots onboard, the
instrumented test airplane will use equipment intended to permit
future uninhabited aircraft to avoid other airplanes in flight.
This new sensor technology may also benefit commercial airliner
safety.
Central to the tests is the unorthodox Proteus aircraft built
by Scaled Composites in Mojave, Calif. Proteus will carry
see-and-avoid electronic devices that will detect incoming NASA and
Scaled Composites airplanes. For high-speed closure, an F/A-18 jet
from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., will be
used; Dryden's T-34C and Scaled Composites' Beech Duchess business
aircraft will make lower-speed approaches to Proteus to help validate
its avoidance capabilities over a wide speed range.
Aircraft manufacturers are devising a variety of unpiloted
aircraft capable of performing long-duration missions supporting
environmental monitoring and telecommunications distribution. But
before these uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) can fly routinely in
the national airspace along with traditional airplanes with pilots
onboard, technologies must be validated to enable UAVs to mingle
safely in the skies.
"The ERAST alliance has the opportunity to significantly
increase the utility of remotely piloted aircraft by developing
systems that enable UAVs to detect and avoid other aircraft," said
NASA ERAST program manager Jeff Bauer. "The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) must certify remotely piloted aircraft before
they will be allowed to fly in the National Airspace System," Bauer
explained. "Our allied efforts, exemplified by these flights in New
Mexico, can help open the door to airspace use by innovative UAVs.
We can recommend certification and regulatory procedures to the FAA
based on actual flight verification of remotely piloted aircraft
safety systems."
The goals of this week's flights over southwestern New Mexico
are to demonstrate see-and-avoid equipment capabilities, and to show
how a remotely piloted aircraft can be in constant communication with
its ground pilot, even at distances over the horizon, by relaying
signals via satellites. The Proteus aircraft, capable of being
piloted from the ground after making a conventional takeoff with an
onboard pilot, will serve as the UAV this week, with the onboard
pilot providing an additional level of safety while the see-and-avoid
equipment is being tested.
Bauer says the integration of UAVs into the National Airspace
System can have great positive impact on quality of life. Low-cost
UAVs can be used to monitor wildfires, study environmental phenomena,
relay cellular phone service, and keep an eye on high-cost and
high-risk items like petroleum pipelines and remote borders.
The Las Cruces flight tests mobilize the resources of NASA's
Dryden Flight Research Center and ERAST partners including the New
Mexico State University Technical Analysis and Applications Center
(TAAC), Scaled Composites, the Navy, and Modern Technology Solutions,
Inc. (MTSI). FAA observers plan to witness the operations at Las
Cruces airport. These flights are one of four test projects the
ERAST alliance will undertake in an effort to achieve access to the
airspace for UAVs.
For the tests, Proteus has been fitted with a Skywatch HP
traffic advisory system, a radio-based device for detecting other
aircraft. Additionally, Proteus carries two "non-cooperative"
sensors -- devices that don't require signals or transmissions from
any other source -- to detect the presence and course of other
aircraft. These sensors are an Engineering 2000 infrared sensor and
an Amphitech radar, both mounted in the nose of Proteus.
Bauer says success over Las Cruces will be measured by the
effectiveness of the "cooperative" Skywatch system to alert Proteus'
ground controller of flight path conflicts to enable the ground
controller to alter Proteus' flight out of harm's way. Skywatch will
help corroborate the "non-cooperative" systems' effectiveness, and
could lead to their further development in detect, see and avoid
(DSA) applications, he said. Their use this week will help the U.S.
Navy evaluate these two types of sensor.
Flight scenarios include having one or more aircraft approach
Proteus from a variety of angles and airspeeds, allowing Proteus to
discriminate between those aircraft that constitute a collision
threat and those that do not. For safety, the various aircraft will
maintain an actual vertical or lateral separation during the
approaches; the detection equipment can be calibrated to perceive
this as a simulated threat at the same place as Proteus will be
flying.

March 10, 2002

OFF-THE-SHELF CAMERA DEVICE TO HUNT FOR DISTANT PLANETS

It could fit on your desk, and it's made mostly from
parts bought at a camera shop, but two scientists believe
their new instrument will help them find a slew of large
planets orbiting stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

"An amateur astronomer could do this, except maybe for
the debugging of the software, which requires several people
working 10 hours a day," said Dr. David Charbonneau of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "But it's
easy to understand what's going on and cheap to build the
equipment. That's why everyone thinks it's an ideal project,
if it works."

The assembly of the new instrument is a cooperative
effort between Charbonneau and Dr. John Trauger of NASA'S Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, which is managed by Caltech.
"David's approach promises to locate new planets orbiting distant
stars. The instrument is simple and straightforward, taking advantage of
spare parts and computer code we already have on hand at JPL,
and we hope to have it up and running in a few months,"
Trauger said.

Charbonneau and his colleagues will soon use their gizmo
to begin a three-year survey for extra-solar planets at
Palomar Observatory in San Diego County. The instrument is
based on a standard telephoto lens for a 35-millimeter camera.
It will sweep the skies, looking for "hot Jupiters," or large,
gaseous planets, as their fast orbits take them in front of
other stars, into the line of sight between a star and Earth.
Astronomers will watch for the "wink" from the star as an
orbiting planet partially blocks its light.

Charbonneau, a recent import to the Caltech astronomy
staff from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,
Cambridge, Mass., is a leading authority on the search for
such "transiting planets."

The new instrument uses a standard 300-millimeter Leica
camera lens, with a charge-coupled device, or CCD. The CCD, which costs $22,000,
will be mounted in a specially constructed camera housing to
fit at the back of the lens. The entire device will be fitted
onto an inexpensive equatorial mount, available at many stores
carrying amateur astronomical equipment.

"Basically, the philosophy of this project is that, if we
can buy the stuff we need off the shelf, we'll buy it,"
Charbonneau said. The project costs $100,000, a fraction of
the cost of most large Earth and space-based telescopes.

The Palomar staff will provide a small dome for the
instrument, and the system will be automated so it can be
operated remotely. The new telescope will be linked with an
existing weather system, which will monitor atmospheric
conditions and determine whether the dome should be opened.

Charbonneau will be able to photograph a single square of
sky about five degrees by five degrees. About 100 full moons
or an entire constellation could fit in that field of view.
With special software Charbonneau helped develop at Harvard-
Smithsonian and the National Center for Atmospheric Research,
he will compare many pictures of the same patch of sky to see
if any of the thousands of stars in each field has "winked."

If the software reveals a star has dimmed slightly, it
could mean a planet passed in front of the star between
exposures. Repeated measurements will allow Charbonneau to
measure the orbital period and size of each planet. Further
work with the 10-meter (33-foot) telescopes at Keck
Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, will provide spectrographic
data, and thus, will infer more detailed information about the
planet.

Weather permitting, Charbonneau will gather up to 300
images a night. With 20 good nights per month, about 6,000
images would be gathered each month for computer analysis.
The ideal time will be in the fall and winter, when the Milky Way
is in view, and an extremely high number of stars can be squeezed
into each photograph.

"It's estimated that about one in three stars in our
field of view will be like the Sun, and one percent of Sun-
like stars have a hot Jupiter, or a gas giant that is so close
to the star that its orbit is about four or five days,"
Charbonneau said. "One-tenth of this 1-percent will be
inclined in the right direction so that it will pass in front
of the star, so maybe one in 3,000 stars will have a planet we
can detect. Or if you want to be
conservative, about one in 6,000."

Vehicle/Payload Atlas IIA (AC-143) / TDRS-I
Location: SLC 36A

Launch Weather Officer: Jim Sardonia, 45 WS Range Weather Operations
Synoptic Discussion:
Ideal weather conditions are expected for launch today as strong high
pressure aloft has brought dry and stable air into the local area. At
launch time, skies will be clear to partly cloudy and winds at the surface
will be easterly and light. These favorable weather conditions are expected
to remain in the area on Saturday and Sunday in the event of a 24 or 48-hour
delay. The only slight concern for launch day will be the chance of an
isolated coastal rainshower developing over the waters east of the launch
pad and moving back towards Cape Canaveral.

Clouds Coverage Bases (feet) Tops (feet)
Cumulus FEW 1/8 3000 5000

Visibility: 7 MI +

Winds: 070/08 G 15 KTS (90 ft Peak winds at SLC 36)

Temperature: 70 - 72 F RH: 75 %

Weather: None

Solar Activity: Low

Overall probability of violating weather constraints: < 10 %
Primary concern(s): Slight Chance of an Isolated Coastal Rainshower

Overall probability of violating weather constraints for 24 hour delay: <
10 %
Primary concern(s): Slight Chance of an Isolated Coastal Rainshower

Overall probability of violating weather constraints for 48 hour delay: 10
%
Primary concern(s): Slight chance of Thick Layered Clouds and Isolated
Rainshowers

Sunrise: 8 Mar 02 / 0639 EST Moonrise: 8 Mar 02 / 0409 EST

Sunset: 8 Mar 02 / 1828 EST Moonset: 8 Mar 02 / 1442 EST
Illumination: 17 %

Next forecast will be issued: As Needed

October 4-6, 2002 Nashville's BSAS Club will host its annual
StarParty. Our normal attendance over the course of the weekend is
approx. 125 participants with another 100 or so visitors. This year
we are moving to a larger camp facility which will support 300-500
participants. Our theme this year will be Robotic Telescopes which
will fit in with our project. I have asked Orville's permission to
host an ISS-AT Session that will announce to the world our progress.
We are considering a Alpha Telescope tent that will be connected in-
field. Demonstrations of its capabilities and requests could be
processed on the spot. Other seminars that are held during the TNSP
are - Astronomy 101 (participants learn how to use a planisphere,
assemble a 6" dob kit and their new skills on Saturday Night. Each
participant takes his dob home), Beginning CCD Imaging, Advanced CCD
(the classes will teach people the techniques to do photometry and
spectroscopy), Cosmology for Beginners, and much more.

The camp is a great place with a 200 acre non-dusty field (for those
of you have been to the Texas Star Party or RTMC). It is situated on
a lake with a large meeting place that is on the national historic
register. The cabins are rustic, just bunks with no heat and tent
camping or RV. There are also hotels 8-10 miles away.

I know this is very early but we intend to make this a big event for
the ISS-AT Project and the Tennessee StarParty and for. Hopefully we
can arrange some good press for the project update and in-field
demonstrations.

Please consider participating in this event and contact me if you
have further questions. I will announce updates as they develop.

The Galileo spacecraft was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1989.
After a long journey to Jupiter, Galileo began orbiting the huge planet on
Dec. 7, 1995, and successfully completed its two-year primary mission in 1997.

NASA has repeatedly extended Galileo's original two-year
mission in orbit. Galileo has operated in orbit more than three
times longer than its originally planned mission. The resilient
spacecraft has survived about three and a half times as much exposure to
radiation from Jupiter's radiation belts as it was designed to
withstand. In its 33 loops around Jupiter, Galileo has flown near the
volcanically-active Io and near the other three of Jupiter's
planet-sized moons - Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

However, the propellant supply needed for steering the
spacecraft and keeping its antenna pointed toward Earth is now
nearly exhausted. To avoid even a slim chance that Galileo
could crash into Europa after its mission ends, NASA has
decided to send the spacecraft to a controlled demise in the crushing
pressure of Jupiter's dense atmosphere in September 2003.
Galileo had earlier found evidence that Europa has a deep ocean of melted
saltwater under its frozen surface, heightening interest in
keeping Europa pristine for later studies of its potential for
harboring extraterrestrial life. The intentional collision course
with Jupiter was chosen as a way to end the mission before losing
control of the spacecraft.

Before its final plunge, Galileo will make the first close flyby of
Amalthea, a small, inner moon of Jupiter, in November 2002.

Additional information about the mission is available online
at: http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov .

March 9, 2002

JPL ASTROPHYSICIST RECEIVES PRESIDENTIAL AWARD

Dr. James Bock, an astrophysicist at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has received the
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S.
government on outstanding scientists and engineers who are
beginning their independent careers. The program is sponsored
by the National Science and Technology Council, which
implements the President's science and technology policy
across the federal government.

Dr. Michael Werner, JPL senior research scientist and
principal scientist for the Space Infrared Telescope Facility,
nominated Bock for the award.

"It is important that the world know that JPL has world-
class scientists," said Werner. "Bock provided the key
detector elements for two experiments that have put our
understanding of the early universe on solid footing and have
set the stage for further exploration."

Bock builds detectors and instruments for far infrared
millimeter wave astrophysics. Bolometer instruments developed
by Bock were used in a recent balloon-borne experiment called
Boomerang to detect minute fluctuations in the cosmic
microwave background, showing the geometry of the universe is
essentially flat. Bolometers sense thermal radiation in the
same way humans can feel the warmth from sunlight with their
hands, but are many times more sensitive.

A ceremony in Washington, D.C. will honor Bock and other
awardees. They will each receive $500,000 over a five-year
period for research. Bock plans to use the funding to develop
a new experiment to study the polarization, or the specific
light properties, of the cosmic microwave background. A relic
of the Big Bang, the cosmic microwave background arose when
the Universe was 1,000 times hotter and denser than it is
today. It gives us a snapshot of the Universe when it was
just 300,000 years old, a tiny fraction of its current age of
15 billion years. The physical properties of the Universe at
that time imprinted signatures in the structure and
polarization of the cosmic microwave background that we detect
today.

Bock received his bachelor's degree in physics and math
from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and his
doctorate in physics from the University of California,
Berkeley. He has been at JPL since 1994.

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.

TDRS-I SATELLITE SAFELY REACHES ORBIT

TDRS-I, the second in a series of three advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, launched this afternoon at 5:59 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Spacecraft separation occurred 30 minutes later at 6:29 p.m. EST.

NASA controllers made initial contact with the spacecraft as it passed over a tracking station located on the island of Diego Garcia at 6:35 p.m. EST.

"The entire TDRS team did an outstanding job preparing for and conducting today's launch," said TDRS Project Manager Robert Jenkens, Jr. of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "I'm very happy to report that we have received telemetry indicating that we have a healthy spacecraft. "

Controllers at Boeing Satellite Systems' Mission Control Center in El Segundo, Calif. will command TDRS-I using NASA's Deep Space Network/Ground Network from the point of spacecraft separation through completion of transfer orbit maneuvers, appendage deployments, acquisition of Earth pointing in geostationary orbit and on-orbit testing. These series of maneuvers will be performed over a 10-day period, boosting the spacecraft into a geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth's equator. NASA's White Sands (New Mexico) Complex will then assume satellite commanding for payload on-orbit acceptance testing, to be performed at 150 degrees West longitude.

Upon successful completion of on-orbit testing, NASA will formally accept ownership of the spacecraft, renaming it TDRS-9.

TDRS-J is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. aboard an Atlas IIA rocket sometime this fall. Boeing Satellite Systems designed and built the enhanced series of satellites for NASA under a firm-fixed price contract.

For detailed information about TDRS-H, -I and -J, go to:

http://tdrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Tdrsproject/

Cassini Weekly Significant Events
for 02/28/02 - 03/06/02

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Wednesday, March 6. The Cassini spacecraft is in an
excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the
present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the
"Present Position" web page located at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/ .

Instrument activities this week include two Radio and Plasma Wave
Science High Frequency Receiver calibrations and a Visual and Infrared
Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) timing test. Initial indications showed that
all commands from the VIMS Instrument Expanded Block (IEB) mini-sequence
for this test were executed with good response.

A series of real-time commands was uplinked to the spacecraft this week
to clear the Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) high-water marks, perform
a Command & Data Subsystem (CDS) Memory Readout of sequence statistics,
clear the CDS online string reset counter, power on the Imaging Science
Subsystem (ISS) decontamination heater, and change the Command Detector
Unit (CDU) rate to change the uplink bit rate from 250 bps to 500 bps.

A highly successful Critical Design Review (CDR) of the Uplink Mission
Operations System for the tour phase was held on February 27 and 28.
Areas reviewed included science planning updates, sequence generation,
pointing ops, real time commanding, SSR management, optical navigation,
maneuver design and support imaging. This is the third of four CDRs to
be held for tour operations.

A successful demonstration for Cassini use of the new command system,
CMD v26.3.1, was conducted this past Tuesday using the Goldstone Deep
Space Communication Center (DSCC). This test was the culmination of a
series of acceptance tests for the new system. Four commands were
radiated from the Goldstone DSCC, and were verified as having been
received and executed aboard the spacecraft. Two more demonstrations are
planned, one each for the Canberra and Madrid DSCCs.

The C31 Preliminary Sequence Integration and Validation (PSIV) approval
meeting was held and the sequence approved for uplink. The sequence will
be radiated to the spacecraft Thursday March 7, and will begin
execution Sunday March 10. The command approval meeting held to prepare
for the sequence uplink also approved the uplink of a second VIMS IEB
replacement mini-sequence.

Cassini participated in a test of new DSN firmware late this week. The
spacecraft was commanded to transition to the 35Kbps telemetry mode and
downlink data so that DSS-25 could exercise the new firmware. All
initial Cassini indications showed the test proceeding smoothly.

A detailed Planetary Data System (PDS) data archiving schedule has been
created and sent out for review by the Cassini instrument teams. PDS
imaging personnel will be traveling to Tucson in the next month to meet
with VIMS team members and work the details of developing the PDS
archive for their instrument.

Cassini Jupiter magnetosphere science was included in an article in the
Los Angeles Times this week, viewable online at
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000016151mar04.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dscience
.

March 8, 2002

GRACE SPACE TWINS SET TO TEAM UP TO TRACK EARTH'S WATER AND GRAVITY

NASA and the German Space Agency are preparing to launch
the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace), a
scientific pathfinder mission that will test a novel approach
to tracking how water is transported and stored within the
Earth's environment.

The mission, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., will precisely measure the planet's shifting
water masses and map their effects on Earth's gravity field,
yielding new information on effects of global climate change.

The twin Grace satellites are set to launch March 16,
2002, from Russia on a five-year mission that will
revolutionize understanding of changes in the Earth's gravity
field over time and space. The mission will provide
measurements of the gravity field that are far more accurate
and sensitive than any that can be obtained by ground-based
observations or single remote-sensing spacecraft.

"Grace marks the first launch of NASA's Earth System
Science Pathfinder program, designed to develop new
measurement technologies for studying our Earth system," said
Dr. Ghassem Asrar, associate administrator for NASA's Earth
Science Enterprise, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
"Through NASA's continuing investment in technology
development, we've been able to create an innovative mission
at a fraction of the cost of missions formulated just a decade
ago. Grace will provide us with a new view of our home planet
and help us to better understand climate change and its global
impacts such as changes in sea level and the availability of
water resources," Asrar said.

A more precise gravity map of Earth is expected to
increase the accuracy of many techniques used by scientists
who study Earth with space-based instruments. These techniques
-- ranging from satellite altimetry and radar interferometry
to digital terrain models covering large land and ice areas --
provide critical input to many scientific models used in
oceanography, hydrology, glaciology, geology and related
disciplines.

As they race around the globe 16 times a day, the
satellites will sense minute variations in the Earth's surface
mass below and corresponding variations in the Earth's
gravitational pull. Regions of slightly stronger gravity will
affect the lead satellite first, pulling it slightly away from
the trailing satellite. By measuring the constantly changing
distance between the two satellites and combining that data
with precise positioning measurements from Global Positioning
System instruments, scientists will be able to construct a
precise Earth gravity map.

Grace is the first Earth-monitoring mission in the
history of space flight whose key measurement is not derived
from electromagnetic waves bounced off the Earth's surface.
Instead, the mission will use a microwave ranging system to
accurately measure changes in the speed and distance between
two identical spacecraft flying in a polar orbit about 220
kilometers (137 miles) apart, 500 kilometers (311 miles) above
Earth. The ranging system is so sensitive it can detect
separation changes as small as 10 microns -- about one-tenth
the width of a human hair over a distance of 220 kilometers.

An additional instrument aboard the satellites called an
atmospheric limb sounder will measure the amount by which the
Global Positioning System satellite signals are distorted by
Earth's atmosphere. Scientists will use these data to improve
the accuracy of key atmospheric observations, which serve as
input for weather forecast models.

Grace is a joint partnership between NASA and the German
Center for Air and Space Flight (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft
und Rumfahrt). The U.S. portion of the project is managed for
NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington D.C., by JPL.
Science data processing, distribution, archiving and product
verification are managed under a cooperative arrangement
between JPL and the University of Texas' Austin-based Center
for Space Research in the United States and Germany's Earth
Research Center (or GeoForschungsZentrum).

More information about the Grace program is available at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/grace/ or
http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace .

Information on NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder
Program is available at: http://essp.gsfc.nasa.gov .

March 7, 2002

NASA'S FUSE SATELLITE LIT AGAIN

Like spacewalking astronauts performing open-heart
surgery on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope this week, an
ingenious team of engineers re-awakened another orbiting
observatory earlier this month -- without ever leaving the
ground.

NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE)
spacecraft, which some had given up for dead in December
after critical guidance components failed, was returned to
full operations when the team developed an innovative new
guidance system. The system uses a complex new set of
procedures that lets controllers use electromagnets in the
satellite to push and pull on the Earth's magnetic field.
Experts had speculated about such an approach as a fallback
for failing satellite guidance systems, but it had never been
employed to steer a satellite with the exacting accuracy
needed for scientific observations.

"When FUSE lost two reaction wheels, I would have bet good
money that it was end of life for the mission," said Dr. Paul
Hertz, FUSE Program Executive at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. "I am thrilled that the FUSE team pulled off a
miracle and proved me wrong."

The guidance system problems involved FUSE's reaction wheels.
FUSE is equipped with four reaction wheels -- three primary
and a backup. Controllers use reaction wheels to steady and
point the satellite, but to work the wheels must be spinning.
One reaction wheel in FUSE stopped spinning in November, and
a second stopped in December, leaving FUSE with only two
working reaction wheels. This automatically put the satellite
into a pre-programmed "safe mode" configuration on December
10, 2001.

Scientists and engineers at The Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,
Md.; Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Va.; and Honeywell
Technology Solutions, Inc., Morristown, N.J., worked for
several weeks to develop a solution. FUSE is operated for
NASA by Hopkins.

To make up for the missing reaction wheels, scientists and
engineers developed new sets of procedures and software that
let them use equipment known as magnetic torquer bars in a
new way. Controllers can generate local magnetic fields by
running electric current through FUSE's three torquer bars,
and can flip the polarity of these fields by changing the
direction of current flow.

"By actively changing the electricity flow to the torquer
bars with revised software, we can use the Earth's magnetic
field to help point the satellite," explained Bill Blair,
chief of observatory operations at Hopkins. "The 'control'
aspects come from the interplay between these locally
generated magnetic fields and the magnetic field of the
Earth."

Jeff Kruk, deputy chief of observatory operations at Hopkins,
remembered the key moment when scientists and engineers
turned on the new guidance systems. "We could scarcely
believe our eyes when sub-arcsecond pointing stability was
achieved within seconds of enabling the new software. The
performance was even better than we had hoped. We knew then
and there that FUSE was back in business."

Engineers have demonstrated pointing capability to less than
1/4000th of a degree, which allows the team to lock on to
guide stars and point FUSE steadily to make science
observations. The team is still fine-tuning the new guidance
systems.

FUSE was launched on June 24, 1999, on a three-year primary
science mission to probe several fundamental aspects of the
universe, including the conditions shortly after the Big
Bang, the creation and dispersal of chemical elements, and
the properties of gas clouds that form stars and planetary
systems. NASA has since recommended an additional two-year
extension beyond the prime mission. FUSE's international
partners are the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the French
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).

"I am very excited to have FUSE back," said George Sonneborn,
FUSE project scientist at Goddard. "This remarkable recovery
will enable NASA to complete the remaining year of the FUSE
prime mission, and perhaps two additional years of science."

"FUSE was in its prime when the anomaly happened," said
Professor Warren Moos, FUSE principal investigator at
Hopkins, "and so much remains to be done. We are proud of the
superb teamwork that has gotten us back to doing science, and
we look forward to more years of exciting discoveries from
the new FUSE."

Additional information is on the Internet at:
http://fusewww.gsfc.nasa.gov/fuse/

Mars Desert Research Station Second Crew Rotation Nears Completion
Dr. Greg Delory
MDRS Rotation 2 Commander

The tour of duty for the second crew of the Mars Desert Research
Station (MDRS) is coming to a close, formally ending on March 7th,
2002. The past two weeks of activities has marked an exciting,
stimulating, and at times challenging environment for everyone here.
Overall I would call our time here a great success, as we maintained
a mindset of living on "analog Mars" while engaging in
various
scientific and technical investigations geared toward the future
exploration of the red planet.

Located in Southeastern Utah, MDRS (affectionately called
"Hab" by
crew members) exists in a geologist's dream of exposed sediments
from
the Cretaceous and Jurassic ages. Looking out the portholes of the
Hab, there is little doubt you are on Mars; the red landscape is
shaped by a combination of rounded hills, buttes, sharp ridgelines
and jagged rocks, formed by a history of receding and advancing
oceans as well as natural erosion over millions of years. Five of us
arrived here almost two weeks ago, joining an existing crew member
who was already here and overlapping from the last rotation. As I am
sure will be the case with many future MDRS crews, our group is
diverse; Andy De Wet, the carry-over member from the first rotation,
is a professor of geology. Jon Rask is a Lockheed engineer working on
building incubators for the laboratories of the International Space
Station (ISS). Don Barker, from the NASA Johnson Space Center, also
works with the ISS as a controller and planner for station
activities. Gilles Dawidowicz is a Geomorphologist from France. Fred
Janson is our resident biologist, and I round out the crew, being a
space and planetary scientist from the University of California at
Berkeley. Midway into our tour, Andy De Wet was replaced by John
Putman, a neuro-feedback expert, here to study our brain activity
during MDRS operations.

The central purpose of the MDRS is to learn and demonstrate
techniques for accomplishing scientifically valid field research and
experiments while under the constraints of living on the surface of a
planet with a hostile environment in this case Mars. The
emphasis
for this simulation or "sim" as we call it are
the ergonomic
factors associated with what a real Mars crew would have to endure
while exploring the surface. This includes six people learning how to
live and work within the confines of the Hab, monitoring and
controlling our food and water intake, limiting communication to a
single satellite link, and performing all field work outside using
bulky, prototype space suits, complete with backpacks and functioning
air hoses. All-Terrain Vehicles are used to get around the area. Each
day, we all meet at 9am to discuss the next planned Extra-Vehicular
Activity (EVA). Selected crewmembers suit up, exit the airlock
following a depressurization protocol, and get on with the day's
work. Members staying behind at the Hab engage in EVA radio support
as well as Hab upkeep and maintenance, clearly another important
activity to practice for a real mission to Mars.

The science and technology investigations carried out during our time
here were as varied as the crew. Gilles brought a unique rover called
the "Cliff Reconnaissance Vehicle" (CRV), which scales down
the sides
of cliffs with the help of a human operator at the top. A camera
pointed at the cliff walls during the descent obtains detailed, high
resolution images of the rock strata, aiding in the interpretation of
the geologic history of the area. Fantastic demonstrations of this
rover concept were performed in "Candor Chasma," a deep
canyon a few
kilometers Southeast of the Hab. One of my pet projects involves
techniques to find subsurface water on Mars, using electromagnetic
sounding techniques. Materials buried beneath the surface such as
ores, water, and natural gas can distort ambient electromagnetic
fields in predictable ways, detectable from hand-held instruments
used by scientists in walking surveys. This type of technology may be
an important part of future Mars expeditions, as the crew attempts to
scout for resources that may be locked beneath the surface
resources that may be key for the mission's very survival. The
team
that picked the MDRS site as an analog Mars may have done their job
too well my sounder results showed a very uniform subsurface,
and
only detected a few possible faults beneath some sandstone. Fred
engaged in research on extremophiles a unique class of bacteria
able to live in extreme environments. Modified versions of
extremophiles may be able to someday live and proliferate on Mars,
aiding in the successful biotransformation of that planet as part of
a larger a terraforming effort. Microbes found living in a water-ice
mixture in a shadowed region of White Rock Canyon, ~4.5 km Southeast
of the Hab, may fall into this category. Our geologist Andy has
studied the area from a comprehensive point of view, attempting to
relate how the search for past of present life on Mars would fit in
with the known geology, emphasizing cooperational efforts between
geologists and biologists. Andy's replacement John has measured
our
brain waves some of us may have some signs of fatigue, if the
larger than normal signals in the 1-2 Hz range are any indicator.
Clearly, crew mental health is going to be an issue for any long term
Mars exploration mission. Our most recent investigation here was in
the utility of adding sensitive external microphones to the Mars
surface suits, in an attempt to enhance the suit user's ability
to
hear and interpret natural sounds outside, normally muffled by the
helmet or obscured by the suit fans. The initial tests of this system
were remarkably successful, increasing the communication and safety
factors during our last EVA. Such a system should also work on Mars;
despite the thin atmosphere, sounds are not below what standard
microphones and audio amplifiers can detect.

Not all of our investigations our complete to date, and some
won't be
for some time. The operation of MDRS is an evolving process, as is
our quest to understand and explore Mars. Our experience here has
only whetted our appetites; understanding Mars today may yield the
secrets of our history and origin, while exploring and ultimately
modifying the red planet may hold the key to our prosperity and
perhaps even the very survival of the human race. Some might consider
MDRS a small step but with the dedication of each successive
crew,
our knowledge of how to perform meaningful scientific exploration in
environments like these will grow with time. If we are fortunate,
there may come a time when such knowledge is desperately needed.

On to Mars!

A complete report on the activities the Mars Desert Research Station
will be presented at the 5th International Mars Society convention,
which will be held August 8-11, 2002 at the University of Colorado at
Boulder. For further information visit the Mars Society website at
www.marssociety.org

HUBBLE EYES BOW SHOCK NEAR A YOUNG STAR

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have
found a bow shock around a very young star in the nearby Orion
nebula, an intense star-forming region of gas and dust.

A picture, from the Hubble Heritage team, is available at
http://heritage.stsci.edu or
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2002/05 or
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wfpc . It was taken in
February 1995 as part of the Hubble Orion Nebula mosaic by
Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, designed and built
by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Named for the crescent-shaped wave a ship makes as it
moves through water, a bow shock can form in space when two
gas streams collide. In this case, the young star, LL Ori,
emits a vigorous wind, a stream of charged particles moving
rapidly outward from the star. Our own Sun has a less
energetic version of this wind that is responsible for auroral
displays on the Earth.

The material spewed from LL Ori collides with slow-moving
gas evaporating away from the center of the Orion nebula,
located to the lower right of the image. The surface where the
two winds collide is seen as the crescent-shaped bow shock.

Unlike a water wave from a ship, this interstellar bow
shock is three-dimensional. The filamentary emission has a
distinct boundary on the side facing away from LL Ori, but is
diffuse on the side closest to the star, a trait common to
many bow shocks.

A second, fainter bow shock can be seen around a star
near the upper right-hand corner of the image. Astronomers
have identified numerous shock fronts in this complex star-
forming region and are using this data to understand the
complex phenomena associated with star birth.

The Orion nebula is a close neighbor in our Milky Way
galaxy, at only 1,500 light-years from Earth. The filters used
in this color composite represent oxygen, nitrogen, and
hydrogen emissions.

Image Credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Acknowledgment: C. R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University)

the Honourable German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Joschka Fischer,
has just visited the Paranal Observatory, cf. ESO PR 02/02 at:

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2002/pr-02-02-en.html

and

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2002/pr-02-02-de.html

(English and German versions, respectively).

A Call for Observing Proposals for Period 70 (October 1, 2001, to
March 31, 2003) has been announced:

http://www.eso.org/observing/proposals/

Information from the European Southern Observatory

7 March 2002
For immediate release

Deutsche Fassung

German Foreign Minister Visits Paranal Observatory

ESO PR Photo 07a/02

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ESO PR Photo 07b/02

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ESO PR Photo 07c/02

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ESO PR Photo 07d/02

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Caption: PR Photo 07a/02: Minister Fischer (left) is received at the entrance to the Observatory by the ESO Representative in Chile, Daniel Hofstadt. PR Photo 07b/02: During the visit to the observing platform at the top of Paranal: from left to right, the Minister, VLT-Program-Manager Massimo Tarenghi and Observatory Director Roberto Gilmozzi. PR Photo 07c/02: The Minister, seated at the control console for the VLT ANTU telescope (Roberto Gilmozzi and Massimo Tarenghi in the background). PR Photo 07d/02: Massimo Tarenghi explains the VINCI instrument in the Interferometric Laboratory; to the left of the Minister, the German Ambassador in Chile, Mr. Georg CS Dick.

During his current tour of countries in South America, the Honourable Foreign Minister of Germany, Mr. Joschka Fischer, stopped over at the ESO Paranal Observatory Wednesday night (March 6 - 7, 2002).

Arriving in Antofagasta, capital of the II Chilean region, the Foreign Minister and his suite was met by local Chilean officials, headed by Mr. Jorge Molina, Intendente of the Region, as well as His Excellency, the German Ambassador to Chile, Mr. Georg CS Dick and others. In the afternoon of March 6, the Foreign Minister, accompanied by a distinguished delegation from the German Federal Parliament as well as by businessmen from Germany, travelled to Paranal, site of the world's largest optical/infrared astronomical facility, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT).

The delegation was welcomed by the Observatory Director, Dr. Roberto Gilmozzi, the VLT Programme Manager, Professor Massimo Tarenghi, the ESO Representative in Chile, Mr. Daniel Hofstadt and ESO staff members, and also by Mr. Reinhard Junker, Deputy Director General (European Co-operation) at the German Ministry for Education and Research.

The visitors were shown the various high-tech installations at this remote desert site, some of which have been constructed by German firms. Moreover, most of the large, front-line VLT astronomical instruments have been built in collaboration between ESO and European research institutes, several of these in Germany.

One of the latest arrivals to Paranal, the CONICA camera (cf. ESO PR 25/01), was built under an ESO contract by the Max-Planck-Institutes for Astronomy (MPIA, in Heidelberg) and Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE, in Garching).

The guests had the opportunity to enjoy the spectacular sunset over the Pacific Ocean from the terrace of the new Residencia building (Photos 05/02). At the beginning of the night, the Minister was invited to the Control Room for the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) from where this unique new facility (ESO PR 23/01) is now being thoroughly tested before it enters into service later this year.

In his expression of thanks, Minister Fischer enthusiastically referred to his visit at Paranal. He said he was truly impressed by the technology of the telescopes and considered the VLT project a model of European technological and scientific cooperation.

Later in the evening, the Minister was invited to perform an observing sequence at the console of the MELIPAL telescope.

AEROSPACE SAFETY ADVISORY PANEL PRESENTS REPORT TO NASA

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) gives its
annual report to NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe at 1:00
p.m. EST today.

The report will be presented to the Administrator in the
Program Review Center, room 9H40, NASA Headquarters, 300 E
Street SW, Washington, DC.

Each year, the panel reviews and evaluates current and
future NASA programs and activities and reports its findings
to the Administrator in a public session. Priority is given
to programs that involve the safety of human flight.

"While we have significant concerns for the longer term, at
present safety is being well served by both NASA and its
contractors," said Richard D. Blomberg, Chair of the Panel.

Following the Apollo spacecraft fire on Jan. 27, 1967,
Congress enacted legislation to establish the ASAP as a
senior safety advisory panel to NASA.

The ASAP report will be available at 1:00 p.m. via the World
Wide Web at:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/codeq-1.htm

European Faint Object Camera on Hubble sets world record

When the new Advanced Camera for Surveys was installed on the
ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope Thursday noon (European time)
it replaced the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera (FOC).
FOC has spent a record-breaking 4340 days (nearly 12 years)
in space. Throughout its 12-year lifetime FOC has celebrated a
number of successes. Most notable are the first direct image
of the atmosphere of a star, the first sighting of surface
details on the planet Pluto, and the first image of an 'exposed'
black hole.

Read more about this at:
http://sci.esa.int/hubble/news/index.cfm?oid=29660

GRACE SPACE TWINS SET TO TEAM UP
TO TRACK EARTH'S WATER AND GRAVITY

NASA and the German Space Agency are preparing to launch
the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), a
scientific pathfinder mission that will test a novel approach
to tracking how water is transported and stored within the
Earth's environment. The mission will precisely measure the
planet's shifting water masses and map their effects on
Earth's gravity field, yielding new information on effects of
global climate change.

The twin GRACE satellites are set to launch March 16, 2002,
from Russia on a five-year mission that will revolutionize
understanding of changes in the Earth's gravity field over
time and space. The mission will provide measurements of the
gravity field that are far more accurate and sensitive than
any that can be obtained by ground-based observations or
single remote-sensing spacecraft.

"GRACE marks the first launch of NASA's Earth System Science
Pathfinder program, designed to develop new measurement
technologies for studying our Earth system," said Dr. Ghassem
Asrar, associate administrator for NASA's Earth Science
Enterprise, NASA Headquarters, Washington. "Through NASA's
continuing investment in technology development, we've been
able to create an innovative mission at a fraction of the
cost of missions formulated just a decade ago. GRACE will
provide us with a new view of our home planet and help us to
better understand climate change and its global impacts such
as changes in sea level and the availability of water
resources," Asrar said.

A more precise gravity map of Earth is expected to increase
the accuracy of many techniques used by scientists who study
Earth with space-based instruments. These techniques --
ranging from satellite altimetry and radar interferometry to
digital terrain models covering large land and ice areas --
provide critical input to many scientific models used in
oceanography, hydrology, glaciology, geology and related
disciplines.

As they race around the globe 16 times a day, the satellites
will sense minute variations in the Earth's surface mass
below and corresponding variations in the Earth's
gravitational pull. Regions of slightly stronger gravity will
affect the lead satellite first, pulling it slightly away
from the trailing satellite. By measuring the constantly
changing distance between the two satellites and combining
that data with precise positioning measurements from Global
Positioning System instruments, scientists will be able to
construct a precise Earth gravity map.

GRACE is the first Earth-monitoring mission in the history of
space flight whose key measurement is not derived from
electromagnetic waves bounced off the Earth's surface.
Instead, the mission will use a microwave ranging system to
accurately measure changes in the speed and distance between
two identical spacecraft flying in a polar orbit about 220
kilometers (137 miles) apart, 500 kilometers (311 miles)
above Earth. The ranging system is so sensitive it can detect
separation changes as small as 10 microns -- about one-tenth
the width of a human hair over a distance of 220 kilometers.

An additional instrument aboard the satellites called an
atmospheric limb sounder will measure the amount by which the
Global Positioning System satellite signals are distorted by
Earth's atmosphere. Scientists will use these data to improve
the accuracy of key atmospheric observations, which serve as
input for weather forecast models.

GRACE is a joint partnership between NASA and the German
Center for Air and Space Flight (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft
und Rumfahrt, or DLR). The U.S. portion of the project is
managed for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, by
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.
Science data processing, distribution, archiving and product
verification are managed under a cooperative arrangement
between JPL and the University of Texas' Austin-based Center
for Space Research in the United States and Germany's Earth
Research Center (or GeoForschungsZentrum).

More information about the GRACE program is available on the
GRACE web site at:

http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace

Information on NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program
may be found at:

http://essp.gsfc.nasa.gov

NASA's 9th Great Moonbuggy Race has record number of entries; 77 teams to compete in April

High school and college students work on human-powered machines for
competition

Students from across the United States and as far away as Puerto Rico and
South America will come to Huntsville, Ala., for the 9th annual Great
Moonbuggy Race at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, April 12-13.

Seventy-seven teams -- representing high schools and colleges from 21
states, Puerto Rico and Colombia - will race human powered vehicles over a
lunar-like terrain. But the competition requires more than physical
endurance because students must use a wide range of skills as a team to
design, engineer and build their vehicle.

The Great Moonbuggy Race is inspired by development some 30 years ago of the
lunar roving vehicle (LRV), a program managed by NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville. The LRV team had to design a compact,
lightweight "all-terrain vehicle" that could be transported to the Moon in
the small Apollo spacecraft. The Moonbuggy race challenges students to
design and build a human-powered vehicle and in the process overcome
engineering problems similar to those faced by the original Marshall Center
lunar rover team.

For instance, the students must design a vehicle that occupies a space no
more than 4 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet before it is assembled prior to the
race. During the race, two team members -- one male and one female - power
and drive each vehicle over a half-mile obstacle course of simulated
moonscape terrain.

Winners in each category - high school and college - are determined by the
fastest vehicle assembly time, plus time through the course. An additional
prize is awarded to the team with the best technical approach to solving the
engineering problem of navigating the lunar surface.

"This is the greatest participation we've ever had for the races," said Jim
Pruitt manager of the education programs department at the Marshall Center.
"We have teams that have participated for several years and we have new
teams that will be here for the first time. We expect to see some innovative
designs and fantastic competition."

The annual event is sponsored by several Huntsville organizations: the
Marshall Center, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics Alabama-Mississippi Section, the Aerospace
Development Center of Alabama, Sci-Quest North Alabama Science Center and
television station WAFF.

Event details, a full listing of the competing teams, race rules,
information on the course and photos from previous competitions can be found
at the Great Moonbuggy Race Web site at:

http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov

Note to Editors: You have received this news release because a high
school, technical school, college or university from your area has
registered to compete in the 9th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race. In some
instances there may be multiple entries from your area. To get the name of
the contact at your area school for pre-race coverage e-mail:
jerry.berg@msfc.nasa.gov or judy.pettus@msfc.nasa.gov

BRAINY ROBOTS ARE SUBJECT OF FREE LECTURES

How do you teach a robot to avoid obstacles, map its
surroundings and go where you want it to go?

Robert Hogg of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., and colleagues have done just that. Hogg
will share their work during two free lectures entitled,
"Autonomous Navigation for Urban Robots," on Thursday, March
14 at JPL and Friday, March 15 at Pasadena City College.

Hogg works on "Urbie," an urban robot designed to
navigate city terrain without any help from humans. This
research on self-navigation, stereoscopic vision and
locomotion holds promise for a variety of applications,
including search and rescue missions, unmanned reconnaissance
and the exploration of distant planets.

Both lectures are open to the public and will start at 7
p.m. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Thursday's lecture will be in JPL's von Karman Auditorium,
located at 4800 Oak Grove Drive in Pasadena, off the Oak Grove
Drive exit of the 210 (Foothill) Freeway. Friday's lecture
will be at the Pasadena City College Forum, located at 1570 E.
Colorado Blvd.

Thursday's lecture will be Webcast starting at 7 p.m. at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures/mar02.html .

For more information, call (818) 354-0112 or go to
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures.html .

JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.

March 6, 2002

NASA STUDY LINKS EL NINO AND SOUTHERN OCEAN CHANGES

NASA researchers have found strong relationships between
El Niño episodes and changes in climate and sea ice cover
around Antarctica.

Identifying these relationships is important because it
provides new insights into the changing characteristics of the
Antarctic region and their role in Earth's climate system.

The findings, published in the March 1 issue of the
American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, show
that although the total ice coverage of the southern ocean has
not changed significantly over the last 20 years, the El Niño
and its related Southern Oscillation appear to affect regional
ice distributions. The oscillation is a recurring warming and
cooling of the surface ocean in the central and eastern
Pacific. El Niño refers to the warm phase of the oscillation.

"Understanding the connection between the Southern
Oscillation and southern ocean climate and the sea ice cover
will substantially improve our understanding of global
climate," said Dr. Ron Kwok, a senior research scientist at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Our study
concludes that the southern ocean's climate and ice cover is
somehow connected to climate in the tropical latitudes. While
we don't know yet the cause-and-effect relationship between
the two, we do know the changes in sea ice cover cannot be
explained by local climate variations alone and are instead
linked to larger scale climate phenomena."

The study was conducted by scientists at JPL and NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. It is based on
data from 1982 to 1999. The NASA scientists also noted changes
in sea ice cover in regions not normally associated with El
Niño, such as the Weddell Sea east of the Antarctic peninsula.

The strongest links were observed in the Amundsen,
Bellingshausen and Weddell seas of the west Antarctic, where
the connections are localized and well defined. Within these
sectors, higher sea level pressure, warmer air temperature and
warmer sea surface temperature are generally associated with
the El Niño phase.

A number of observations in the scientific literature can
be explained by this El Niño Southern Oscillation connection.
Examples include a record decrease in sea ice coverage in the
Bellingshausen Sea from mid-1982 through early 1999; the
reduced sea ice concentration in the Ross Sea; and the
shortening of the ice season in the eastern Ross, Amundsen and
far western Weddell seas. Four El Niño episodes over the 17
year period occurred at the same time as ice cover retreats in
the Bellingshausen and Amundsen seas, showing unique
associations between the Southern Oscillation and this region
of the Antarctic.

"The study shows that the impact of El Niño is global and
that processes as remote as those in the polar regions are
affected," said co-author Dr. J. Comiso, senior research
scientist from Goddard. "The effect can be profound since
these El Niño episodes affect the Weddell and Ross seas.
These areas are regarded as key sources of cold and dense
bottom water that influences global ocean circulation. Also,
the ice cover in the Bellingshausen Sea is the habitat for a
wide variety of marine life and is crucial to their survival."

Data for the study were acquired from several sources,
including satellite data from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, Washington, D.C.; climate data
from the joint data set of the National Centers for
Environmental Prediction, also in Washington, and the National
Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.; sea ice data
from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder; and sea
ice motion data from JPL's Remote Sensing Group.

The complete paper, "Southern Ocean Climate and Sea Ice
Anomalies Associated with the Southern Oscillation," is
available to journalists from Alan Buis at (818) 354-0474.

The American Meteorological Society is the nation's
leading professional society for scientists in the atmospheric
and related sciences. The study was funded by the Cryospheric
Sciences Program within NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a
long-term research effort dedicated to understanding how
human-induced and natural changes affect our global
environment.

JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.

GRACE MEDIA BRIEFING SET FOR MARCH 7

In preparation for the launch of the Gravity Recovery
And Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission, NASA has scheduled a
science briefing at 2 p.m. EST Thursday, March 7, in the
James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The twin GRACE satellites are scheduled to be launched
Saturday, March 16, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia on
a five-year mission to precisely map Earth's gravity field.

Participants in the GRACE briefing are expected to include:

* Dr. Ghassem R. Asrar, Associate Administrator for Earth
Science, NASA Headquarters
* Dr. John L. LaBrecque, manager, Solid Earth and Natural
Hazards Program, NASA Headquarters
* Dr. Byron Tapley, GRACE principal investigator, Center for
Space Research,
* University of Texas
* Dr. Michael Watkins, GRACE project scientist, NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.
* Ralf Huber, head, Washington Office, Deutsches Zentrum fur
Luft und Rumfahrt (DLR) -- German Aerospace Center
* Dr. Christoph Reigber, GRACE co-principal investigator,
DLR-GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ)

The briefing will be carried live on NASA Television with
two-way question-and-answer capability for reporters covering
the press conference from participating NASA centers.

GRACE -- the inaugural flight in NASA's Earth System Science
Pathfinder program -- is a joint U.S./German mission that
will measure minute variations in Earth's surface mass. These
variations cause corresponding variations in gravitational
pull that affect the orbital motion of the twin satellites
flying 220 kilometers (137 miles) apart in the same polar
orbit. From these measurements, monthly maps of Earth's
gravity field will be constructed.

The precise gravity mapping provided by GRACE, in concert
with other NASA missions, will significantly enhance science
return in the areas of oceanography, hydrology, glaciology,
geology and related disciplines. The mission will also create
more accurate profiles of atmospheric pressure, temperature
and humidity, leading to improved weather forecasts.

NASA TV is broadcast on satellite GE-2, transponder 9C, C
band, 85 degrees west longitude, frequency 3880.0 MHz,
vertical polarization, audio monaural at 6.8 MHz.

The briefing also will be available on the Internet at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/ntvweb.html

More information about the GRACE mission can be found at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/grace

FUTURE VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS MAY CAUSE OZONE HOLE OVER ARCTIC

An 'ozone hole' could form over the North Pole after future major volcanic
eruptions, according to the cover story by a NASA scientist in tomorrow's
edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Since the 1980s, a seasonal ozone hole, characterized by severe loss of
ozone, has appeared over the continent of Antarctica. However, scientists
have not yet observed, on an annual basis, as severe a thinning of the
protective ozone layer in the atmosphere over the Arctic. The ozone layer
shields life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. A northern ozone
hole could be significant since more people live in Arctic regions than
near the South Pole.

"A 'volcanic ozone hole' is likely to occur over the Arctic within the next
30 years," said Azadeh Tabazadeh, lead author of the paper and a scientist
at NASA's Ames Research Center,
located in California's Silicon Valley. Her co-authors are: Katja Drdla,
also of Ames; Mark R. Schoeberl of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md.; Patrick Hamill of San Jose State University, Calif.; and O.
Brian Toon from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

"If a period of high volcanic activity coincides with a series of cold
Arctic winters, then a springtime Arctic ozone hole may reappear for a
number of consecutive years, resembling the pattern seen in the Antarctic
every spring since the 1980s," Tabazadeh said.

"Unlike the Antarctic, where it is cold every winter, the winter in the
Arctic stratosphere is highly variable," Tabazadeh said. NASA satellite and
airborne observations show that significant Arctic ozone loss occurs only
following very cold winters, according to Tabazadeh.

Large volcanic eruptions pump sulfur compounds into the Earth's atmosphere.
These compounds form sulfuric acid clouds similar to polar stratospheric
clouds made of nitric acid and water. The clouds of nitric acid and water
form in the upper atmosphere during very cold conditions and play a major
part in the destruction of ozone over Earth's poles. Following eruptions,
volcanic sulfuric acid clouds would greatly add to the ozone-destroying
power of polar stratospheric clouds, said Drdla.

-more-
-2-

"Volcanic aerosols also can cause ozone destruction at warmer temperatures
than polar stratospheric clouds, and this would expand the area of ozone
destruction over more populated areas," Tabazadeh said. "Nearly one-third
of the total ozone depletion could be a result of volcanic aerosol effects
at altitudes below about 17 kilometers (11.5 miles)," said the researchers.

"Volcanic emissions can spread worldwide," said Schoeberl. "Our Mt.
Pinatubo computer simulation shows that the volcanic plume spread as far
north as the North Pole in the lowest part of the stratosphere within a few
months after the eruption."

Between about 15 and 25 kilometers (9 to 16 miles) in altitude, volcanic
Arctic clouds could increase springtime ozone loss over the Arctic by as
much as 70 percent, according to Drdla. "The combination of thick volcanic
aerosols at lower altitudes and natural polar stratospheric clouds at
higher altitudes could greatly increase the potential for ozone destruction
over the North Pole in a cold year," Tabazadeh said.

"Both the 1982 El Chichon and 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruptions were sulfur-rich,
producing volcanic clouds that lasted a number of years in the
stratosphere," Tabazadeh said. The Pinatubo eruption, as observed by NASA
spacecraft, widely expanded the area of ozone loss over the Arctic.

Both of these eruptions did have an effect, however, over the South Pole,
expanding the area and the depth of the ozone hole over the Antarctic,
according to Tabazadeh. Computer simulations have shown that the early and
rapid growth of the Antarctic ozone hole in the early 1980s may have been
influenced in part by a number of large volcanic eruptions, she added.

"In 1993 the Arctic winter was not one of the coldest winters on record,
and yet the ozone loss was one of the greatest that we've seen," Tabazadeh
said. "This was due to the sulfurous Pinatubo clouds facilitating the
destruction of additional ozone at lower altitudes where polar
stratospheric clouds cannot form."

"Climate change combined with aftereffects of large volcanic eruptions will
contribute to more ozone loss over both poles," Tabazadeh said. "This
research proves that ozone recovery is more complex than originally
thought."

More information is available at:
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020304volcano.html

NASA ADMINISTRATOR SELECTS NEW BIOLOGICAL
AND PHYSICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR

Mary E. Kicza today was named Associate Administrator
for Biological and Physical Research at NASA Headquarters in
Washington, effective March 11. Kicza is currently Associate
Center Director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md.

At Goddard, she is the senior manager responsible for
coordinating and integrating all Goddard space science, Earth
science, and enabling technology programs and activities.

In making the selection, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe
praised Kicza's extensive management experience. "For two
decades, Mary has managed an extremely diverse scientific
community. She has the leadership skills and the management
expertise to bring NASA's fields of physics, chemistry and
biology together into a truly dynamic and successful
program."

As Associate Administrator, Kicza will manage an office
dedicated to conducting basic and applied research to support
human exploration of space, and to taking advantage of the
space environment as a laboratory for scientific,
technological and commercial research.

She began her NASA career in 1982 at the Kennedy Space Center
in Florida, where she was lead systems engineer for the
Centaur Engineering Support Group and test coordinator for
computer systems supporting the program's tests and launches.

From 1994 to 1996, she was the Assistant Associate
Administrator for Technology for the Office of Space Science
at NASA Headquarters in Washington. From 1992 to 1994, she
held two positions at the same time, serving as Deputy
Division Director for the Office of Space Science's Solar
System Exploration Division and working as Program Manager
for the newly formed Discovery Program, which included the
highly successful Mars Pathfinder mission.

Prior to her current assignment at Goddard, Kicza was
Associate Center Director for Space Science Programs, where
she was the senior person responsible for management of all
of the center's space science programs. While in the
position, she also served as co-chair of the team performing
independent annual reviews of the International Space Station
and its research programs.

"In leading this office, you have to be able to juggle a lot
of disciplines at the same time," added Administrator
O'Keefe. "Mary will work closely with our new Chief
Scientist, Dr. Shannon Lucid, in identifying and implementing
this agency's scientific research goals and objectives in
space.

Kicza is the recipient of NASA's Exceptional Performance
Award and in 1998 was conferred the rank of Meritorious
Executive in the Senior Executive Service for sustained
superior accomplishment in the management of programs of the
United States government. She has a bachelor's degree in
Electrical and Electronics Engineering from California State
University, Sacramento, and a master's degree in Business
Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology.

She replaces Dr. Kathie Olsen, who has been serving as both
Acting Associate Administrator and Chief Scientist for the
agency. The President has announced his intention to nominate
Olsen as the Associate Director of the Office of Science and
Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the
President.

Additional information about the NASA Office of Biological
and Physical Research is available on the Internet at:

http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/

FIRST STUDENTS TREK TO KSC FOR REGIONAL COMPETITION THIS WEEK

A stampede of high school student inventors will take over Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex March 7-9 for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Southeast Regional Robotics Competition.

The 2002 competition is expected to be the largest ever with more than 600 teams from Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and nearly every state in the U.S. taking part in various regional competitions. Thousands of these students, grouped into nearly 50 teams, will compete against each other at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to get recognition for their designs.

"We are once again excited to host the FIRST Robotics Competition here at KSC. This event showcases the talents of students through math and science, and displays their creativity and enthusiasm," said Roy Bridges, KSC Director. "We are proud of these students and hope some will decide to become our future engineers and scientists."

Students use the first day for practice, inspection and final machine work, with the following two days featuring the fierce, action-packed robotics competition and an awards ceremony.

Thirteen of the 28 Florida teams are co-sponsored by NASA at KSC. Local competing teams include students from Astronaut, Bayside, Cocoa Beach, Merritt Island, Palm Bay, Rockledge, Satellite, Titusville, and West Shore high schools.

With the hope of winning part of the $1.7 million in scholarships from leading educational institutions and companies, students spend six weeks before the regional contests working with professional mentors to design and construct a robot until it reaches perfection. FIRST provides the teams with a standard set of rules and a kit of assorted parts to assemble their creations.

Zone Zeal, this year's theme, calls for students to design the robots to race around a playing field gathering balls, putting the balls into goals, and placing those goals in their scoring zone in less than two minutes.

The winning teams, from 17 regional competitions, will meet at the Championship Event to be held at EPCOT Center in Orlando, Fla., April 25-27.

The goal of FIRST is to introduce professional mentors from schools, businesses and universities to the students in the hopes of providing an exchange of resources and talent while exposing students to new career.

Information is also available at the FIRST Web site: www.usfirst.org <http://www.usfirst.org>.

ADVANCED NASA COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE
GIVES BROADBAND ACCESS NEW MEANING

NASA is ready to launch the second in a series of three
advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, known as TDRS-I.
This latest addition to the fleet of seven on-orbit Tracking
and Data Relay Satellites will provide high data-rate
communication links with the Space Shuttle, International
Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and a host of other
spacecraft, as well as tracking services for expendable
launch vehicles.

TDRS-I is scheduled to launch Friday, March 8, at 5:39 p.m.
EST, the beginning of a 40-minute launch window, which
extends until 6:19 p.m. EST.

"We're very excited about the new capabilities the advanced
TDRS will provide the international space program," said
Robert Jenkens Jr., TDRS Project Manager at NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Together, the new trio of satellites will help replenish and
maintain the specialized space communications capabilities of
the current TDRS constellation, which has served numerous
national and international space missions since 1983.

TDRS-I features the following capabilities:

* S-band Single Access: Two 15-foot diameter steerable
antennas, used at the 2.0 to 2.3 GHz (Giga Hertz) band,
supply robust communications to user satellites with smaller
antennas and receive telemetry from expendable launch
vehicles during launch.

* Ku-band Single Access: The same two antennas, operating
from 13.7 to 15.0 GHz, provide higher bandwidth for user
satellites, provide high-resolution digital television for
Space Shuttle video communications and can quickly transfer
large volumes of data from tape or solid-state data recorders
aboard NASA scientific spacecraft.

TDRS-I also features these new capabilities:

* Ka-band Single Access: This new higher-frequency service,
operating from 22.5 to 27.5 GHz, increases data rate
capabilities to 800 Megabits per second to provide
communications with future missions requiring high
bandwidths, such as multi-spectral instruments for Earth
science applications.

* Multiple Access: Using a phased-array antenna, operating
in the 2.0 to 2.3 GHz range, the system can receive and relay
data simultaneously from five lower data-rate users, while
transmitting commands to a single user.

Transfer orbit operations, which will boost the 7,033-pound
spacecraft into a geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the
Earth, are scheduled to occur during the two-week period
following the launch. Upon completion of on-orbit testing and
acceptance, TDRS-I will be renamed TDRS-9. Goddard's
Operations Services Project will oversee operations of TDRS-
9, using controllers at the White Sands Complex in New
Mexico.

The TDRS replenishment program costs approximately $840
million, which includes the three satellites, launch
vehicles, White Sands Complex modifications and NASA program
costs. Boeing Satellite Systems of El Segundo, Calif.,
designed, built and tested the three satellites under a
fixed-price contract with NASA.

Additional information about TDRS-I, as well as NASA's
complete Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, is
available on the following Websites:

http://tdrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Tdrsproject/
http://nmsp.gsfc.nasa.gov/tdrss/tdrsshome.html

A Curious Pacific Wave

A massive swell of warm water is buffeting South America. Is it the first
sign of a new El Niño -- or just another "Kelvin wave?"

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/05mar_kelvinwave.htm?list448368

FEMALE 'PLANET HUNTER' TO REVEAL SOLAR SYSTEM SEARCH SECRETS

'Planets Beyond: The Search For Other Solar Systems' will be the
topic of a free, non-technical talk at 7 p.m. PST on Wednesday, March
6, at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, Calif. The public is
invited.

Astronomer Dr. Debra Fischer of the University of California,
Berkeley, will discuss the latest research about planetary systems
around other stars. Fischer is part of a team of astronomers, led by
Dr. Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley and Dr.
Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who have found
most of the planets around stars other than our sun. Over 80 such
planets are now known.

"The Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series is an important resource
for the community, bringing the latest scientific research in
astrobiology and astronomy to a general audience," said NASA Ames
Center Director Dr. Henry McDonald. "NASA Ames is proud to be a
partner in these efforts."

Fischer was instrumental in the discovery of the first system of
planets outside the solar system, around the star Upsilon Andromedae.
Her discovery marked the first time researchers found more than one
planet around the same star, and established that there are other
planetary systems - not just single planets - in the cosmos. Her
discussion will include the possibility that there are not just
Jupiter-sized 'gas giants' around other stars, but possibly
Earth-sized planets as well.

Currently, Fischer is actively engaged in the search for other such
systems. She will discuss what the latest discoveries tell us about
the origin and abundance of planets. In addition, she will preview
new plans for finding even smaller planets that are more like the
Earth than our present instruments are capable of sensing. A
question and answer period will follow her talk.

Fischer's talk comes during March, which has been designated as
National Women's History Month, to showcase women and their
accomplishments in all fields of endeavor. NASA is conducting
numerous national programs to honor the accomplishments of women in
aerospace and to raise awareness of the importance of education to
future careers. Details about NASA's women's outreach initiative are
available at:
http://www.nasa.gov/women/welcomeWHM.html

This is the fourth talk in this year's Silicon Valley Astronomy
Lecture Series, co-sponsored by NASA Ames, Foothill College's
Division of Physical Science, Mathematics and Engineering, the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute.

The lecture series is held at Foothill College's Smithwick Theater in
Los Altos Hills. From interstate 280, exit at El Monte Road and
travel west to the campus. Visitors must purchase a one-day
campus-parking permit for $2. Admission is free and the public is
invited. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Children
over the age of 13 are welcome. More information is available by
calling the series hotline at 650/949-7888.

Hubble's solar arrays - behind the scenes [heic0203]

The power for Hubble's scientific discoveries comes from solar cells.
Designing and constructing Hubble's first two sets of solar cell arrays
constituted a huge technological achievement for the European Space Agency
and European industry. After an in-orbit life of more than 8 years, this
example of pioneering space technology was this morning (European time)
replaced by new, more powerful arrays.

Read more about this at:
http://sci.esa.int/hubble/news/index.cfm?oid=29641

The Next Four Weeks on Galileo
February 25 - March 24, 2002

Galileo operations have returned to normal after recovery from an
unexpected safing event on the spacecraft last week. A Command and Data
System computer reset occurred on Saturday, February 1, which caused the
spacecraft to shut down operations and phone home for help. We believe that
similar resets, which have occurred since 1998, are due to accumulated
radiation effects, so we were somewhat surprised that this one occurred so
far out from Jupiter and its intense radiation field. At the time of the
reset, the spacecraft was nearly 180 Jupiter radii (12.9 million kilometers
or 8 million miles) from the planet. This most recent event may be more
similar to anomalies that occurred during Galileo's interplanetary cruise,
prior to arrival at Jupiter in 1995. This just goes to show that space
exploration is unpredictable at best!

The flight team continues to look for new methods of making the spacecraft
more robust and resistant to these resets. During our final flyby of
Amalthea coming up in November, Galileo will experience a radiation
environment many times more intense than any we have yet seen.

On Thursday, March 7, routine maintenance of the spacecraft propulsion
system is performed. On Friday, March 15, routine maintenance of the tape
recorder is performed.

Playback of the tape recorded data from the January 17 flyby of Io
continues. In addition, data remaining on the tape from the October flyby
is still available for playback. Continuous data collection by the
Magnetometer, the Dust Detector, and the Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer
instruments also occupies our attention.

Plans are also being made to perform a final set of calibrations for the
Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer and the Solid State Imaging camera.
These calibrations will take place Monday night, March 18. They will
provide a final measurement of the sensitivity of the instruments against
which we can compare recent science measurements.

For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter,
please visit the Galileo home page at one of the following URL's:

http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo

March 5, 2002

NASA ADMINISTRATOR NAMES GREGORY
ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR SPACE FLIGHT

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe today named Frederick D.
Gregory as the Associate Administrator for Space Flight,
placing him permanently in charge of the agency's Human
Exploration and Development of Space Enterprise.

Gregory, 60, has served as Acting Associate Administrator for
the office since December, when he replaced Joseph H.
Rothenberg, who retired.

"I am pleased Fred agreed to make this commitment to what is
one of the most important positions within NASA," said
Administrator O'Keefe. "He brings great experience and
leadership to this office, and his commitment to safety is
vital as our human space flight program moves forward."

Astronaut William F. Readdy will remain in the critical
senior leadership position of Deputy Associate Administrator
for Space Flight with expanded responsibilities over major
programs, operations and management of the Human Exploration
and Development of Space Enterprise.

Before accepting his appointment in the Office of Space
Flight, Gregory was the Associate Administrator for Safety
and Mission Assurance. The veteran astronaut was the senior
executive responsible for the safety and reliability of all
NASA programs.

Gregory was selected as an astronaut in 1978, after a
distinguished career with the U.S. Air Force. He logged
nearly 7,000 hours in 50 types of aircraft, including 550
combat missions over Vietnam. At NASA, Gregory logged more
than 455 hours in space during three Space Shuttle missions.
In 1985, he served as pilot on board Challenger during STS-
51B. Gregory was mission commander for STS-33 in 1989 and
STS-44 in 1991.

"This is an exciting time for the Office of Space Flight and
this agency," said Gregory. "I deeply appreciate
Administrator O'Keefe's confidence in me, and I will work to
meet his objectives to make space exploration safe and more
affordable, and to involve the public in the benefits and
excitement of human space flight."

Gregory has been awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal,
two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Defense Meritorious
Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, 16 Air Medals,
The Air Force Commendation Medal and three NASA Space Flight
medals.

His honors also include the NASA Distinguished Service Medal,
the NASA Outstanding Leadership Award, the National Society
of Black Engineers Distinguished National Scientist Award,
the George Washington University Distinguished Alumni Award
and an "Ira Eaker Fellow" by the Air Force Association.

Additional information about Gregory is available on the
Internet at:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/gregory-fd.html

March 4, 2002

AN EARLY NASA PIONEER STILL ON THE JOB IN DEEP SPACE

It took a little extra effort, but NASA this weekend
bridged a nearly seven-and-a-half billion mile span to make
contact with Pioneer 10, a plucky space probe that first left
Earth's gravitational pull more than 30 years ago.

On Friday, scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's
(JPL) Deep Space Network in Goldstone, Calif., sent a signal
to the spacecraft, which is still hurtling toward the fringes
of the solar system. Twenty-two hours later, at 1:47 p.m.
EST, researchers at the network's facility in Madrid, Spain,
carefully monitoring a 70-meter dish antenna, heard Pioneer's
response.

"We are overjoyed that we still have the spacecraft," said
Robert Hogan, chief of NASA Ames Research Center's Space
Projects Division, where the Pioneer project is managed.

"As an eternal optimist, I was confident it would succeed.
Pioneer 10 has been discounted in the past, but somehow it
always manages to land on it feet," recalled Pioneer 10
Project Manager Dr. Larry Lasher of Ames, located in
California's Silicon Valley. "This success is a testament to
good solid design."

"From Ames Research Center and the Pioneer Project, we send
our thanks to the many people at the Deep Space Network and
JPL who made it possible to hear the spacecraft signal
again," said Pioneer 10 Flight Director David Lozier.

NASA previously lost contact with Pioneer 10 in August 2000,
but made contact again in April of last year by switching the
spacecraft to a different communications mode. NASA most
recently made contact with the spacecraft on July 9, 2001.

Launched on March 2, 1972, Pioneer 10, built by TRW Inc.,
Redondo Beach, Calif., is now 7.4 billion miles from Earth.
Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to pass through the
asteroid belt and the first to make direct observations and
obtain close-up images of Jupiter. During its tour of the
Jovian system, Pioneer 10 also charted Jupiter's intense
radiation belts, located the planet's magnetic field, and
established that Jupiter is predominantly a liquid planet.

In 1983, it became the first man-made object to leave the
solar system when it passed the orbit of Pluto, the most
distant planet from the Sun.

The spacecraft continued to make valuable scientific
investigations in the outer regions of the solar system until
its science mission ended on March 31, 1997. Pioneer 10's
weak signal continues to be tracked by the Deep Space Network
as part of an advanced concept study of communications
technology. The probe was also used to help train flight
controllers how to acquire radio signals from space.

Pioneer 10 is headed toward the constellation Taurus, where
it will pass the nearest star in the constellation in about
two million years.

"Pioneer 10 has performed much better than expected," added
Hogan, who is also a member of the original launch team for
the spacecraft. "It's amazing that it's lasted this long."

Scientific data received from Pioneer 10's Geiger-Tube
Telescope instrument is analyzed by original principal
investigator Dr. James Van Allen of the University of Iowa,
who discovered the Earth's radiation belts bearing his name.
Based on the previous data received, Van Allen concluded that
galactic cosmic radiation is being moderated by the Sun's
influence, meaning Pioneer 10 has not yet crossed the
boundary into interstellar space.

Further information about Pioneer 10 is available on the
Internet at:

http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNho
me.html

March 2, 2002

UM Built Sensor on Cassini Spacecraft Reveals
Huge Cloud of Volcanic Gas Surrounding Jupiter

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- A huge cloud of gas, spewed from volcanos on one of
Jupiter's moons, extends into space to a distance that is almost equal to
that of the earth from the sun, says a new report published in the journal
Nature.

A sensor on board the Cassini spacecraft built by scientists at the
University of Maryland and one developed by the Applied Physics Laboratory
of Johns Hopkins University detected ionized and non-ionized atoms of this
cloud during Cassini's recent flyby of Jupiter. The authors write that
information from these sensors suggest that volcanic gases from Io -- one of
Jupiter's largest moons and the most volcanically active body in the solar
system -- escape Jupiter's magnetic field and populate the interplanetary
environment around the planet.

"The University of Maryland-built CHEMS sensor detected ions of this cloud
out to a distance of almost one astronomical unit [the distance between the
Earth and the Sun]," said co-author Douglas C. Hamilton, a professor of
physics at the University of Maryland and leader of the space physics team
that designed and built the CHEMS (CHarge Energy Mass Spectrometer) sensor.

"ACHEMS, which provides detailed measurements of the composition of ions,
was also able to show that a significant portion of the particles in the
cloud were sulfur and oxygen with sulfur dioxide likely present as well,"
Hamilton said. "Sulfur dioxide is the chief gas emitted by volcanos,
indicating Io as the likely origin for much of the gas cloud that Cassini
detected."

From Atom to Ion and Back Again

According to Hamilton the cloud is the result of various processes in the
region around Jupiter that change some atoms derived from volcanic gas,
first into ions, then back to atoms and, in some cases, back to ions again.
Ions are atoms that have lost one or more electrons. The first step of a
volcanic gas atom's journey from Io to interplanetary space is when it
becomes ionized and energized in Jupiter's magnetosphere. This ion now has
the speed it needs to fly away from Jupiter, but because of its electrical
charge, it remains held within the magnetosphere by the planet's magnetic
field. However, such energetic ions can pick up electrons from other atoms
or molecules and once again become "normal" or electromagnetically neutral
atoms. These energetic neutral atoms are no longer bound within Jupiter's
magnetosphere and can zoom into interplanetary space.

Once in space some of these neutral particles are again converted into ions,
this time through photoionization, a process by which electrons are knocked
away from atoms by the impact of high energy ultraviolet photons from the
sun. The gas cloud extending far out beyond Jupiter's magnetosphere is thus
a mixture of energetic atoms and ions that are flowing away from the planet.

On board Cassini, Maryland's CHEMS sensor detects ions, while atoms are
imaged by the APL-developed INCA sensor. INCA stands for Ion and Neutral
Camera. During the flyby of Jupiter, INCA provided images showing some
structural detail of Jupiter's magnetosphere, while also detecting atoms in
the nebulous cloud that stretches away from the planet. Detection of ions
and determination of specific types of particles in the gas cloud were made
by the CHEMS sensor.

On to Saturn

Of course the primary target for Cassini is Saturn, which it will reach in
2004. Cassini, which is carrying the European Space Agency's Huygens Probe
spacecraft, is the best-instrumented mission ever sent to another planet.

On Cassini, INCA and CHEMS are linked together by a central computer "brain"
together with the LEMMS (Low Energy Magnetospheric Measurement System)
sensor. The three sensors and their computer form Cassini's Magnetospheric
Imaging Instrument, known as MIMI. MIMI is one of one of 12 science
instruments on the main Cassini spacecraft and one of six instruments
designed primarily to investigate the space environments around Saturn and
its satellites. The Huygens probe will investigate Saturn's largest moon,
Titan.

According to Maryland's Hamilton, the flyby of Jupiter was important
scientifically because it has revealed new information about Jupiter's
magnetosphere, its interaction with the solar wind and its surrounding
nebula. However, it was also an important step on the road to Saturn. "This
flyby has provided us an excellent test of the capabilities of MIMI and has
allowed us to make important refinements to some of the software running on
MIMI's micro-processing unit," he said.

"A nebula of gases from Io surrounding Jupiter" by Stamatios M Krimigis et
al. (Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University), Douglas C Hamilton and
George Gloeckler (Department of Physics, University of Maryland), Jannis
Dandouras (CNES), Thomas P. Armstrong (Fundamental Technologies), Scott J
Bolton (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), K C Hsieh (Department of Physics,
University of Arizona), Norbert Krupp et al. (MPI fur Astronomie), Louis J
Lanzerotti (Bell Labs), Nature vol. 415, no. 994-996.

NASA'S MARS ODYSSEY UNVEILS EARLY SCIENCE RESULTS

Initial science data from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which began
its mapping mission last week, portend some tantalizing findings by the
newest Martian visitor, including possible identification of
significant amounts of frozen water.

"We are delighted with the quality of data we're seeing," said Dr.
Steve Saunders, Odyssey project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif. "We'll use it to build on what we've
learned from Mars Global Surveyor and other missions. Now we may
actually see water rather than guessing where it is or was. And with
the thermal images we are able to examine surface geology from a new
perspective."

"These preliminary Odyssey observations are the 'tip of the iceberg' of
the science results that are soon to come, so stay tuned," said Dr. Jim
Garvin, Lead Scientist of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA
Headquarters in Washington.

New images taken by the thermal-emission imaging system show the
temperature of the surface at a remarkable level of clarity and detail
during both the Martian day and night.

Odyssey's camera system is studying Mars' surface mineralogy to reveal
geologic history. The thermal infrared images are thirty times sharper
than previously available, and the camera's visible-light images will
fill a gap in resolution between Viking Orbiter and Mars Global
Surveyor pictures.

Initial measurements by the gamma-ray spectrometer instrument suite
show the presence of significant amounts of hydrogen in the south polar
region of Mars. The high hydrogen content is most likely due to water
ice, though the amount of ice cannot be quantified yet. Further
analysis will be conducted to confirm the interpretation.

The detection of hydrogen is based both on the intensity of gamma rays
emitted by hydrogen, and by the intensity of neutrons that are
moderated by hydrogen. The neutron intensity was observed by the high-
energy neutron detector and the neutron spectrometer.

"The preliminary assessment of the gamma-ray spectrometer data
indicates the likely presence of hydrogen in the upper few feet of the
Martian surface, as sampled at spatial scales approximately 400 miles
across. Further analysis and another month or so of mapping will permit
more quantitative assessment of these observations and allow for a
refined interpretation," added Garvin.

Measurements made by the Martian radiation-environment experiment
during Odyssey's cruise phase suggest that the daily dose of radiation
experienced by astronauts on their way from Earth to Mars would be more
than twice the dose endured by astronauts on the International Space
Station. Investigators are in the process of troubleshooting the
radiation experiment to determine why the instrument stopped
communicating. It was turned off in August 2001.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space
Science in Washington. Investigators at Arizona State University in
Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's Johnson Space
Center, Houston, operate the science instruments.

Additional science partners are located at the Russian Aviation and
Space Agency, which provided the high-energy neutron detector, and at
Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico, which provided the
neutron spectrometer.

Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the
project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are
conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL.

The latest images from Mars Odyssey are available on the Internet at:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey

http://themis.asu.edu/latest

Additional information about the spacecraft's neutron detector and
neutron spectrometer is available online at:

http://grs.lpl.arizona.edu/results/presscon1/

Cassini Weekly Significant Events
for 02/21/02 - 02/27/02

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Tuesday, February 26. The Cassini spacecraft is in
an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on
the present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on
the "Present Position" web page located at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/ .

Instrument activities this week include upload of a Visual and Infrared
Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) mini-sequence to reload corrected Instrument
Expanded Blocks (IEB), and the successful execution of an Imaging
Science Subsystem (ISS) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) and Wide Angle Camera
(WAC) power cycle and flight software reload. These activities
successfully reset an on-board CCD sensor that caused a CCD performance
heater to power-on last week. With the successful reset of the sensor,
ISS personnel now plan to continue with decontamination activities
scheduled for next week.

The Spacecraft Operations Office and Mission Planning successfully
completed a two and one half day design and risk review of the Saturn
Orbit Insertion mission scenarios and critical sequence. The board
consisted of JPL, NASA, and independent reviewers. Also supporting the
review were European Space Agency and
NASA observers.

The C31 Preliminary Sequence Integration &Validation (PSIV) approval
package update was generated and distributed this week.

The second and final Science Planning Team input port for the C32 cruise
sequence closed this week. In addition, the majority of the Target
Working Teams (TWTs) and Orbiter Science Teams (TOST & SOST) met their
next delivery milestone for tour orbits 11 through 15. The few
outstanding inputs will be delivered
next week.

All Cassini Offices participated in a two day Uplink Critical Design
Review.

The topic at this week's Mission Planning Forum was an overview of
science requests for the Space Science Subphase. The meeting was of
particular interest to Science Planning, Spacecraft Office, and Uplink
Operations teams. The Program briefing for this subphase will be held
in early March.

Mission Assurance supported the SOI Design/Risk Review and presented
charts illustrating the status of Cassini compliance with the JPL Design
Principles as well as In-Flight Problem Failure Reports (PFR) to date.

The online Operations Interface Agreement (OIA) approval process is
continuing its validation testing. Macintosh platforms have been a
particular challenge, as the Remedy tool was not designed to work with
this platform. Cassini SOS has designed an update to the tool, which
will allow users to "iterate" OIAs. Plans to implement this update are
to be scheduled.

Cassini has been requested to participate in the NASA Annual Security
Evaluation. The security engineer will be coordinating with Laboratory
personnel as to when this will occur and what systems will be checked.

The Cassini Outreach staff has begun preparations for the Cassini Public
Outreach review to be held March 22nd. Scientific American's February
issue contained an article on planetary rings, written by three members
of the Cassini science team. "Bejeweled Worlds" may be obtained from
the publications archive at
http://www.sciam.com/2002/0202issue/0202currentissue.html

Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the
Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Cassini Outreach
Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

COMPUTER SOFTWARE UPGRADE SETS
STAGE FOR SPACE STATION EXPANSION

The International Space Station is ready for assembly of its next major
components -- a football field-sized structural backbone supporting
power, cooling and mobile robotics systems -- now that a new generation
of computer software is "booted up" and on the job.

The product of years of planning, months of testing and the transfer of
about 2,500 files to and within the station, the new software is in use
aboard the orbiting laboratory today following a carefully coordinated
12-hour process that was finished last Friday.

The software prepares the space station for its new configuration with
its main truss, which will support the station's solar arrays,
radiators, mobile base system for the robotic arm and other equipment.
The first element of the truss, the S0 (or S-zero), is to be launched
aboard Atlantis on STS-110 in April. The successful software upgrade had
to be completed before Atlantis could be launched.

One of the major new capabilities the new software provides allows
activation of equipment on the S0 truss that will use Global Positioning
System (GPS) data in the station's attitude control system. The new GPS
capability will provide the primary guidance, navigation and control
system of the station, transitioning Russian attitude-determination
systems to a backup role.

"This software upgrade fits in well with what has been a very productive
Expedition," said Sally Davis, lead flight director for this stage of
station operations. "We have demonstrated our ability to add major new
capabilities to hardware and software, while we keep the International
Space Station fully operational."

"The upload involved software for five American and Canadian computer
systems and affects their companion Russian systems," said Robert C.
Dempsey, one of the International Space Station flight controllers at
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, who has been working for months
to choreograph the new software installation and activation. Some 150
people in the United States, Russia and Canada participated in the
software upload, from planning and testing to Friday's initialization.
Just the procedures for the initialization of the computers with the new
software were 106 pages long.

The technical name for the software package is the 8A Integrated Flight
Load, named for the space station assembly-sequence flight for which
it's required.

Friday's process was similar to restarting a personal computer network,
including its servers and workstations, after a major operating system
upgrade. However, it was vastly more complicated, and had to be
carefully coordinated among the computers on board, including those in
the station's Russian-built modules. Each of the system computers had to
be loaded with the latest software and brought back on line one-by-one
so that at least two computers in each system were available to support
day-to-day operations while the other was initializing its new software.

The work had to be done while Expedition Four Commander Yury
Onunfrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz were awake,
because the station crew had to install new hard drives -- sent up on a
previous shuttle flight -- into their laptop computers and follow along
as the software was initialized. The software upload also was expected
to trigger caution and warning alarms, which would have awakened a
sleeping crew. In addition, some of the work had to be done over Russian
ground stations, as computers in Mission Control Moscow introduced their
computers to the new U.S. software.

The process had to be completed expeditiously because of the possibility
of glitches in computers with the new software trying to work with
others still using the old software.

"It's been a heck of a lot of work," Dempsey said, of his full-time job
for about nine months. "It's probably the most challenging thing I've
done in my career." He likened the process to a climber finally reaching
the top of a difficult mountain. "I've really enjoyed it."

The next major software upgrade will not take place until April 2003 in
preparation for
STS-115. That mission will deliver the second truss segment for the port
side of the station and the second set of large U.S. solar arrays,
doubling the power generating capacity of the station.

JASON 1 READY FOR SERVICE, RELEASES FIRST DATA

Following an in-depth performance review by NASA and the
French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, the Jason 1
oceanography satellite has been declared ready for operational
service.

With the initiation of its operations phase, Jason has
begun to generate its first science products on its mission to
monitor global climate interactions between the sea and the
atmosphere. Initial maps of sea-level anomalies, significant
wave height and ocean wind speed confirm the health of the
spacecraft science instruments and the mission's ability to
meet its data turnaround requirements.

Team managers from the French Space Agency's Satellite
Control Center in Toulouse, France, and NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., report Jason's satellite,
payload and ground segment are all functioning properly. This
declaration paves the way for the start of the mission's
scientific validation phase.

"Our first assessments show a surprising level of
accuracy, exceeding that of Jason's predecessor,
Topex/Poseidon," said Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu, Jason project
scientist at JPL. "The mission's ambitious goal of
determining the satellite's altitude with one-centimeter (.39
inches) accuracy therefore appears within reach. The first
altimetry products also show a close match with measurements
acquired by Topex/Poseidon."

Launched December 7, 2001, from Vandenberg Air Force
Base, Calif., Jason will continue Topex/Poseidon's
observations of ocean surface topography for monitoring world
ocean circulation, studying interactions of the oceans and
atmosphere, improving climate predictions and observing events
like El Niño.

The excellent results of Jason's on-orbit checkout mean
the next phase of the mission can now begin. Science data
will be distributed to the mission's science team, and work
will begin to conduct a precise scientific assessment of
product quality and to cross-calibrate Jason and
Topex/Poseidon products. Following completion of this six-
month scientific validation phase, science data products will
be released to the public.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena, manages the U.S. portion of the mission for
NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, D.C.

March 1, 2002

European astronomers get their first chance to detect rocky planets around other worlds

Astronomers from ESA's Member States are preparing to take
part in a French-led mission to be the first to search for
rocky planets around other stars. The mission, COROT, is an
important stepping stone in the European effort to find
habitable, Earth-like planets around other stars

Read more about this at:
http://sci.esa.int/content/news/index.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&oid=29385

Mars Global Surveyor gains AOL Attention

With exciting results streaming in from Mars Global Surveyor, the
public interest in Mars is once again at a high point. Even the most
conservative of email providers, AOL, has jumped on the Mars rocket,
offering a poll for AOL members to express their views on Mars
exploration.

The results so far are terrific, reflecting what Mars Society members
already know to be true Americans want to know more about Mars and
are more than willing to fund the journey.

Here are the results in the four categories so far:

Will you see a human landing on Mars in your lifetime?
Yes 1994 72.1%
No 772 27.9%
Total votes: 2766

Would you want to go?
Yes 1741 63.1%
No 1019 36.9%
Total votes: 2760

Should taxpayer dollars be spent to fund missions to Mars?
Yes 2094 76.2%
No 655 23.8%
Total votes: 2749

What politician would you like to send to Mars?
Al Gore 1017 39.0%
George W. Bush 794 30.4%
Pat Buchanan 422 16.2%
Ralph Nader 378 14.5%
Total votes: 2611

Note, the majority would send a mainstream politician rather than
someone they simply want to punish for extremist views going to
Mars is a privilege, not a punishment.

Although the voting numbers are small so far, the poll was only added
in the last hour or so. Let's keep a watch on this poll to see how
the results stack up over the day.

But more importantly, this is a great opportunity for our voices to
be heard. The first step is to go to the front page of aol and take
this poll or use this link -

http://polls.aol.com/ifs/poll/research/vote545.adp

from any internet provider.

If the final results follow the same trend as the early voting, we
will have a strong statement to take to the politicians and financial
decision makers. For years we have been whispering among ourselves
and quietly spreading the message. We have known that Mars has
universal appeal, that everyone from the most dedicated exo-
biologist, to the hard working sheet metal worker, to the curious
middle school student fervently believes that humans should one day
stand on the surface of the red planet.

Through the timely help of America's number one internet provider,
the politicians will no longer be able to ignore the will of the
people. 76% is one hell of a voting block!

GENESIS MISSION STATUS UPDATE
February 27, 2002
Things have been relatively quiet with the spacecraft over the last week. All subsystems are performing normally.

The two software patches are in the final stages of development and testing. They are scheduled to be uplinked on March 12th.

The propulsion system is nominal; 1.1 kg of fuel have been used since the start of the science collection, 12.4 kg of fuel has been used since launch.

Science collection continues as usual. Plans are being finalized to perform tests every three months on the concentrator rejection grid to confirm its capability.

Background sequence gs015, which goes active on March 12th, will include a retransmit block, instead of line-by-line retransmit commands. With this addition, the background sequences can now last 28 or more days. Also, a station keeping maneuver block has been developed to allow SKM's to be more autonomous