The Rapid Origin of Reproductive Isolation
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailing-List: list [EMAIL PROTECTED]; contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 21:19:06 +0100 (CET) Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Htech] BIO: The Rapid Origin of Reproductive Isolation http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/290/5491/462 ECOLOGY: The Rapid Origin of Reproductive Isolation Nick Barton* The part that natural selection plays in the origin of species has long been debated. It is easy to see that if two populations are kept separate--by mountains or ocean, for example--they will eventually become so different that they can no longer interbreed successfully. Their differences may have evolved by natural selection, but their reproductive isolation is merely a side effect of changes that emerged for other reasons. This view seems unsatisfactory to those who emphasize the positive aspect of selection in evolution. Both Alfred Russell Wallace (1) and Theodosius Dobzhansky (2) argued that natural selection would reinforce reproductive barriers between diverging populations. There has been little evidence, however, that selection has in fact contributed directly to the formation of new species (speciation) in this way. Reports by Higgie et al. (3) and Hendry et al. (4), on pages 519 and 516 of this issue, provide examples from fruit fly and sockeye salmon populations showing that selection can produce the kind of isolation that separates species in the wild (3), and moreover, that it can do so within a very short time (a dozen or so generations) (3, 4). The best evidence that selection has reinforced mating barriers as an adaptation to reduce interbreeding has been indirect: Where two species encounter each other in nature, their preference for their own kind is typically stronger than for species whose ranges do not overlap (5). In their report, Higgie et al. (3) give the first direct evidence that such a pattern can be generated by selection, and that it can be generated very quickly. They worked with Drosophila serrata and Drosophila birchii, fruit flies that are almost indistinguishable in morphology and produce viable and fertile hybrid offspring in the laboratory. These sister species are found together in northeastern Australia, yet they rarely interbreed. Where their ranges do overlap, the two species differ in the mix of hydrocarbons on their cuticle (see the figure, below). The strong correlation between mate choice and hydrocarbon profiles in hybrid offspring, and in flies perfumed with hydrocarbons from the other species, shows that mate choice is largely due to the scent of these chemicals (6). Most important, in southeastern Australia, beyond the range of D. birchii where only D. serrata is found, the hydrocarbons of D. serrata change abruptly, and there is a corresponding weakening of its mating preference (3). In flagrante delicto. Gas chromatographic profile of hydrocarbons in the cuticle of the fruit fly Drosophila serrata. Individual hydrocarbons that are important for mate recognition are labeled 1 to 10. (Inset) Photograph of a male and female fruit fly (D. serrata) mating. CREDIT: HYDROCARBON PROFILE COURTESY OF M. HIGGIE; PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF A. O'TOOLE/UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND Higgie et al. (3) set up experimental populations containing D. birchii together with D. serrata from either the north or the south of its range. After nine generations, Higgie et al. compared the cuticular hydrocarbons of D. serrata with those of control populations in which only one species was present. Little change was seen in D. serrata taken from the north, within the range of D. birchii; in contrast, D. serrata taken from further south, where D. birchii is absent in nature, tended to evolve hydrocarbons more similar to those of the northern D. serrata. (Females from three replicate populations evolved in this direction, as did males from two replicates. However, males from the remaining replicate evolved in the opposite direction.) The investigators did not test the consequences for mate preferences, but the strong correlation between hydrocarbons and mate choice in previous experiments suggests that selection has acted so as to reduce cross-mating between the species. The interpretation is simple: D. serrata in the north had long been exposed to the presence of its sister species, and so did not evolve in response to the presence of D. birchii in the laboratory. In contrast, D. serrata from the south evolved in the laboratory in the same way as northern populations presumably had in the past. Selection for a shift in mate choice is strong: When D. birchii is present, the proportion of D. serrata males from the south that successfully inseminate females of their own species is reduced by nearly 50%, whereas there is no significant interference with insemination by males from the north. Thus, the speed of the response to selection is not
Panspermia Articles - CCNet 122/2000 - 27 November 2000
From: Peiser Benny [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: cambridge-conference [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: CCNet, 27 November 2000 Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 11:43:27 - X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) CCNet 122/2000 - 27 November 2000 - "In like manner as a tree sheds its seed into the neighbouring fields and produces other trees; so the great vegetable, the world, or this planetary system, produces within itself certain seeds which, being scattered into the surrounding chaos, vegetate into new worlds. A comet, for instance, is the seed of a world; and after it has been fully ripened, by passing from sun to sun, and star to star, it is, at last, tossed into the uniformed elements which everywhere surround this universe, and immediately sprouts up into a new system." -- David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1779 "Still, a compelling case can be made for panspermia. A recent discovery indicates thatmicrobes can remain dormant for millions of years -- enough time to travel from planet to planet. An experiment suggests that microbes inside a meteor would not be incinerated during entry into the Earth's atmosphere. While NASA's astrobiology effort has certainly not come down on the side of panspermia, it has identified panspermia as worthy of serious investigation, along with more conventional ideas about the origin of life on Earth." -- NASA Ames Research Centre, 22 November 2000 (1) SCIENTISTS CLAIM DISCOVERY OF MICROBE FROM SPACE CNN, 24 November 2000 (2) SCIENTIST'S EXTRAORDINARY CLAIM: ALIEN MICROBE DISCOVERED NASA Ames Research Center, 22 November 2000 (3) SIGNATURE OF POSSIBLE EXTRATERRESTRIAL BACTERIA AT 83KM IN THE ATMOSPHERE Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology, 24 November 2000 (4) A BACTERIAL "FINGERPRINT" IN A LEONID METEOR TRAIN Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology, 24 November 2000 (5) AN ATMOPSHERIC TEST OF COMETARY PANSPERMIA http://www.panspermia.org/balloon2.htm (6) THE PANSPERMIA THEORY ACCORDING TO HOYLE WICKRAMASINGHE Chandra Wickramasinghe === (1) SCIENTISTS CLAIM DISCOVERY OF MICROBE FROM SPACE From CNN, 24 November 2000 http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/11/24/alien.microbe.claim/index.html By Richard Stenger CNN.com Writer (CNN) -- An international team of scientists claims it has recovered a microorganism in the upper reaches of the atmosphere that originated from outer space. The living bacteria, plucked from an altitude of 10 miles (16 km) by a scientific balloon, could have been deposited in terrestrial airspace by a passing comet, according to the researchers. Noted scientist Chandra Wickramasinghe, a participant in the study, said the microbe is unlike any known strain on Earth. The astrobiology team recovered the microorganism samples from different heights for about a year, but "want to keep the details under wraps until they are absolutely convinced that these are extraterrestrial," said Wickramasinghe, a professor at Cardiff University in Wales. NASA's Ames Research Center posted a cautious reaction to the report on its Astrobiology Web site. NASA said the finding is likely to meet considerable skepticism in the scientific community. "Aerobiologists might argue that 10 miles is not too high for Earth life to reside, a possibility that Wickramasinghe appears to accept," the statement said. However, NASA said, a compelling case can be made for the transport of microorganisms through space aboard comets and meteors. "A recent discovery indicates that microbes can remain dormant for millions of years -- enough time to travel from planet to planet," NASA said. Disputing critics who suggest that the balloon was contaminated on the ground, Wickramasinghe said the experiment took place with strict controls. He does acknowledge the possibility that terrestrial bacteria could be kicked up into the stratosphere. Living fungal spores have been discovered at altitudes of 7 miles (11 km). But observations from this and a related study suggest the presence of living bacteria far too high in the atmosphere to have originated from the surface of the planet, according to Wickramasinghe. "What is present in the upper atmosphere, critics will say it came from the ground. That is a serious possibility at 15 kilometers, but at 40 or 85 kilometers, you can forget about it," he said Friday. Wickramasinghe and colleague Sir Fred Hoyle published a draft report on the Cardiff University Web site Friday about evidence that they say strengthens the hypothesis that unusual microbes float through the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Looking at spectral data from the 1999 Leonid meteorite shower, they detected a bacterial "fingerprint" as the tiny space rocks streaked across the sky. In other words, the micrometeorites burned through the atmospheric edge in a manner that suggests they sizzled
Huygens Helps Cassini To Meet Galileo At Jupiter
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 19:14:47 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Huygens Helps Cassini To Meet Galileo At Jupiter Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; ESA Science News http://sci.esa.int 22 Nov 2000 Huygens helps Cassini to meet Galileo at Jupiter As the Cassini spacecraft starts its approach of Jupiter, the Huygens Probe and all its onboard instruments remain dormant. However, Huygens is not going to be totally passive. The role of Huygens in acting as a sunshield will be crucial in protecting Cassini's instruments from the heat of the Sun. Helped on its way by an Earth swing-by in August 1999, the Cassini Orbiter is now heading towards the outer Solar System for a final gravity-assisted manoeuver at Jupiter. This final planetary swing-by is vital in acquiring the velocity needed to reach Saturn, the final destination of the seven-year interplanetary cruise. The ESA/NASA Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is now approaching the giant planet. The closest approach to Jupiter will happen at the end of December this year at a distance of ten million kilometres. Even at such a vast distance the gravity of Jupiter will be sufficient to bend Cassini-Huygens' trajectory and re-direct it to Saturn. All the scientists involved in the Cassini-Huygens mission will remember 2000 as the year of the approach, observation and flyby of Jupiter. Moreover, for the first time ever, two spacecraft, namely Cassini and NASA's Galileo, will simultaneously observe Jupiter. Around the time of Cassini's closest approach, Galileo will be in the magnetosphere, while Cassini will be in the Solar Wind. Huygens will also play an important role in this encounter. The Huygens heat shield will be used to shade the Orbiter and its instruments from the Sun's heat. Huygens has happily been filling this role since early October 2000, as shown by the changes in temperature of key Huygens parts, monitored by the Orbiter, which are well within what the Probe is able to withstand (see Figure 2). Except for short periods during manoeuvres, the Probe has been shadowed by Cassini's High Gain Antenna, which until February 2000 had always been pointed towards the Sun. The Probe is equipped with a robust thermal subsystem, designed to maintain the temperature of the instruments within the allowed range throughout the mission. On the other hand, the Probe dissipates about 200 W of power during a Probe checkout, during which it gets pretty warm inside (about 35 C). Because of the super-insulation, it takes a few days for the Probe interior to cool down after a checkout. The overall temperature variations from early January until end of September 2000 of the monitored key points in the Probe are illustrated in Figure 3. Although the actual Jupiter flyby is scheduled for December 30 this year, the instruments onboard Cassini have been collecting data on the giant planet since early October. Prior to the closest approach, Cassini is outside Jupiter's magnetosphere and is providing reference measurements on the Solar Wind for Galileo, which in the meantime is flying inside Jupiter's magnetic field. Through simultaneous collection of data from both spacecraft, scientists will be able to observe, for the first time, both the environment outside and that within the planetary magnetic field of a giant gas planet. Jupiter's magnetosphere dynamics are believed to respond to changes in Solar Wind conditions. The combined data from the two spacecraft will bring a better understanding of how the Solar Wind interacts with Jupiter's magnetic field. However, Cassini and Galileo will not be close enough to see each other, even at the time of Cassini's closest approach to Jupiter they will be separated by more than seven million kilometers. Ground based telescopes will join Cassini and Galileo in studying Jupiter, in particular in observing the planet in the radio window, and in mapping the synchrotron emissions which are due to the interaction of energetic electrons with Jupiter's intense magnetic field. Furthermore, the ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope will be studying Jupiter's aurora in coordination with Cassini, starting 20 days before the closest approach until 20 days after the flyby. The results of all these studies will greatly improve our understanding of the largest planet in the Solar System, and for the second time after the Ulysses Jupiter flyby in 1992, a significant European participation is distinguishing itself in the observation of Jupiter and its environment. For now Huygens is just a helper in this important moment in the history of the mission, but the Probe is waiting patiently for it's big moment, which will be in four years time when it is released into the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's enigmatic moon. For further information please contact: Jean-Pierre Lebreton, ESA-Huygens Project Scientist Estec, Noordwijk The Netherlands Tel: +31 71 565 3600 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] USEFUL LINKS FOR THIS STORY *
CCNet 124/2000 - 30 November 2000
From: Peiser Benny [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: cambridge-conference [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: CCNet, 30 November 2000 Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 10:45:35 - X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) CCNet 124/2000 - 30 November 2000 - "Our work shows that the organic matter in this soil very probably represents remnants of microbial mats that developed on the soil surface between 2.6 and 2.7 billion years ago. This places the development of terrestrial biomass more than 1.4 billion years earlier than previously reported." -- Hiroshi Ohmoto, The Penn State Astrobiology Center, 29 November 2000 "Does Panspermia fly? Can micro-organisms really be transported from one planet to another or even one planetary system to another. Probably, stranger things have happened. The evidence is mounting that Panspermia may be a viable. [...] Are comets involved in Panspermia? Probably not." --Matthew Genge, The Natural History Museum, UK "... rocks splashed into space by large impacts could harbour live microbes and return themto Earth later, when conditions had settled down. In this manner, Earth would have been re- colonised many times. Indeed, even today microbe-laden terrestrial rocks could return ancient bacteria to Earth after an extended sojourn in space. The same mechanism would haveworked even better on Mars due to its lower surface gravity, thus re-seeding the Red Planet with life through the Late Heavy Bombardment period." -- Paul Davies, 29 November 2000 (1) ANCIENT SOUTH AFRICAN SOILS POINT TO EARLY TERRESTRIAL LIFE Andrew Yee [EMAIL PROTECTED] (2) SOIL PROVIDES CLUES TO LIFE'S ORIGINS MSNBC News, 29 November 2000 (3) FROM PANSPERMIA TO BIOASTRONOMY F. Raulin-Cerceau et al. (4) ASTROBIOLOGY: EXPLORING THE ORIGINS, EVOLUTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE D.J. Des Marais et al. (5) COMETARY ORIGIN OF THE BIOSPHERE A.H. Delsemme (6) NANOBIOLOGY: LIFE INTELLIGENCE IN THE UNIVERSE S. Santoli (7) TEACHING THE ORIGIN OF THE FIRST LIVING SYSTEMS C.M. Graz (8) PREBIOTIC SYNTHESIS OF ADENINE AMINO ACIDS UNDER EUROPA-LIKE CONDITIONS M. Levy et al. (9) CHRONOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN DATING EARLY LIFE A.P. Nutman AP et al. (10) ORIGIN OF LIFE: AN ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL M. Vaneechoutte (11) IN SUPPORT OF PANSPERMIA: AN ANTAGONISTS VIEW Matthew Genge [EMAIL PROTECTED] (12) LIFEBOATS IN SPACE Michael Paine [EMAIL PROTECTED] (13) OUTER SPACE AS A REFUGE FOR EARLY LIFE DURING LATE HEAVY BOMBARDMENT Paul Davies [EMAIL PROTECTED] = (1) ANCIENT SOUTH AFRICAN SOILS POINT TO EARLY TERRESTRIAL LIFE From Andrew Yee [EMAIL PROTECTED] Pennsylvania State University Contacts: A'ndrea Elyse Messer, (814) 865-9481(o), [EMAIL PROTECTED] Vicki Fong, (814) 865-9481(o), [EMAIL PROTECTED] November 29, 2000 Ancient South African Soils Point To Early Terrestrial Life University Park, Pa. -- Remnants of organic matter in ancient soil more than 2.6 billion years old may be the earliest known evidence for terrestrial life, according to a team of Penn State astrobiologists. "Our work shows that the organic matter in this soil very probably represents remnants of microbial mats that developed on the soil surface between 2.6 and 2.7 billion years ago," says Dr. Hiroshi Ohmoto, professor of geochemistry and director of The Penn State Astrobiology Center. "This places the development of terrestrial biomass more than 1.4 billion years earlier than previously reported." Evidence that microorganisms flourished in the oceans since at least 3.8 billion years ago exists, but when these microorganisms colonized on land is not clear. The oldest undisputed remnants of terrestrial biomass have been 1.2 billion-year-old microfossils found in Arizona. Examining samples taken from Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, using a variety of geochemical methods, the researchers report in this week's issue of Nature, that a paleosol dating to between 2.6 and 2.7 billion years ago contains organic carbon that was neither created by high temperature fluids nor is the remnant of later petroleum migration, but is in-situ biological in origin. A paleosol is a layer of ancient soil, in this case buried and preserved where it formed. Because the 55-foot thick layer of soil found at Schagen is located between a layer of 2.7 billion-year-old serpentine and a 2.6 billion-year-old quartzite bed, the researchers can date the soil to between 2.6 and 2.7 billion years ago. Showing that the carbon in the soil is biological in origin and that it accumulated during soil formation is much more difficult. The researchers, who include Ohmoto; Yumiko Watanabe, Ph.D. candidate at Penn State and at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan; and Jacques E.J. Martini, Geological Survey of South Africa, evaluated three possibilities for the formation of reduced
Pioneer 6 and 10 Status Reports for December 13, 2000
http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat.html STATUS UPDATED: 13 December 2000 Pioneer 10 Launched 2 March 1972 Distance from Sun (1 December 2000): 76.61 AU Speed relative to the Sun: 12.24 km/sec (27,380 mph) Distance from Earth: 11.31 billion kilometers (7.025 billion miles) Round-trip Light Time: 20 hours 56 minutes There was a successful contact of Pioneer 6 for about two hours on 8 December 2000 to commemorate its 35th anniversary. The control room at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA, was manned by Project Manager: Larry Lasher, Flight Director: Dave Lozier, Chief Flight Controller: Ric Campo, and Flight System Engineer; Larry Kellogg, with Network Operations Project Engineer: Ida Millner at JPL. Some 35 years from the launch date of 12/16/65, Pioneer 6 telemetry data were received expeditiously as spacecraft lockup occurred on the first attempt on Day 344 UT :45 (local time 4:00:45 PM PST) at DSS-14 at Goldstone. Pioneer 6 was 83 million miles distant from Earth. The track lasted approximately 2.5 hours. The Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)=9 dB and signal strength (AGC)=-164 remain at approximately the same levels as the last previous contact in October 6, 1997 demonstrating the stability and durability of NASA's oldest extant spacecraft. Viva la Pioneer! http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNhist.html Pioneer 6 will be featured on the Star Date radio broadcast by the University of Texas McDonald Observatory on December 16 - the 35th anniversary of its launch. Pioneer 6 is the oldest NASA spacecraft extant. http://stardate.utexas.edu/ Pioneer 10 - "The Spacecraft That Will Not Die" - is featured in the Winter 2001 issue of the American Heritage of Invention Technology magazine. The article written by Mark Wolverton follows the concept of the spacecraft born in the 1960s through its enduring legacy to this day and into the future. http://www.americanheritage.com/ "Pioneer Lives up to its Name" was a lead article about Pioneer 10 in the Baltimore Sun in its December 10 issue written by Michael Stroh. http://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archivepagename=story; storyid=1150520209023 The latest Pioneer 10 activity was on September 10, when DSS 63 tracked the spacecraft. The station was not able to acquire the downlink. However, there was a report of two momentary receiver glitches at the Pioneer 10 frequency. This report was encouraging, since it means that the spacecraft signal is there, but it is still off Earth point. The Earth lookangle (ELA) is estimated to be over 1.4 degrees. The downlink signal strength drops off rapidly after 1.0 degree. The Earth is just starting to go back towards the PN 10 spin axis. As the year continues, the Earth will be closer in alignment with the spacecraft pointing and the tracking stations should be able to regain lock. We anticipate this to be about the middle of December. Our latest calculation of the ephemeris yields: Right Ascension = 76.27 degrees, Declination = 25.91 degrees. Since Pioneer 10 is over 75 AU distant and its telemetry signal is virtually at the limit of overall communication system's link margin, the spacecraft was chosen as a convenient test vehicle for the new methodology of Chaos theory. Chaotic.com has been testing the applicability of new methods in semi-blind signal estimation and noise reduction using Pioneer 10 signals. From the latest progress report by Richard. R. Holland of chaotic.com, there are two main areas of development: algorithm development and data analysis. Currently NASA and JPL are working with chaos.com to resolve issues regarding the data analysis. Keep tuned to this web-site for future progress reports on chaos theory and Pioneer 10. Larry Lasher, Pioneer Project Manager Pioneer 10 will continue into interstellar space, heading generally for the red star Aldebaran, which forms the eye of Taurus (The Bull). Aldebaran is about 68 light years away and it will take Pioneer over 2 million years to reach it. Pioneer 11 Launched 5 April 1973 The Mission of Pioneer 11 has ended. Its RTG power source is exhausted. The last communication from Pioneer 11 was received in November 1995, shortly before the Earth's motion carried it out of view of the spacecraft antenna. The spacecraft is headed toward the constellation of Aquila (The Eagle), Northwest of the constellation of Sagittarius. Pioneer 11 may pass near one of the stars in the constellation in about 4 million years. Question: How far will Pioneer travel and on what path? Answer: Pioneer 10 will be in galactic orbit for billions of years. It is moving in a straight line away from the Sun at a constant velocity of about 12 km/sec. Until Pioneer 10 reaches a distance of about 1.5 parsec (309,000 AUs) - about 126,000 years from now - it will be dominated by the gravitational field of the Sun. After
NASA SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR PLUTO MISSION;PLANS TO RESTRUCTURE OUTER PLANET PROGRAM
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 11:00:12 -0500 (EST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NASA SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR PLUTO MISSION;PLANS TO RESTRUCTURE OUTER PLANET PROGRAM Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; Donald Savage Headquarters, Washington, DC December 20, 2000 (Phone: 202/358-1727) RELEASE: 00-201 NASA SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR PLUTO MISSION; PLANS TO RESTRUCTURE OUTER PLANET PROGRAM NASA announced today that the agency is seeking proposals from principal investigators and institutions around the world to develop the first mission to Pluto. This Announcement of Opportunity marks the first time the Office of Space Science has solicited proposals for a mission to an outer planet, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, to be selected on a competitive basis similar to the agency's Discovery Program. That program features lower cost highly focused missions with rapid development of the scientific spacecraft. The proposals are due to NASA Headquarters by March 19, 2001. "Competition has worked quite well in other NASA space science programs, and I expect that, through this approach, we will see a number of creative ideas from innovative thinkers and organizations that have not been able to participate in outer planet exploration before," said Dr. Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator for Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. "In the past decade a number of organizations outside NASA have gained the expertise to successfully fly deep space missions, and in the past few months we have heard the calls from many in the scientific community in favor of open competition in our outer planet program," Dr. Weiler added. "I think it's time to try this new approach. We hope that opening these missions to competition will greatly benefit science and space exploration." Dr. Colleen Hartman, currently the Deputy Director of the research Division for the Office of Space Science, has been selected as Outer Planets Program Director, and will be the single point of contact at NASA Headquarters for budget, content and policy direction. The decision to solicit proposals comes three months after unacceptably large cost increases on the Pluto/Kuiper Express (PKE) mission led NASA to issue a stop-order on the project Sept. 12 to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. Dr. Weiler made the decision earlier this week to open the Pluto mission to competition. The Europa Orbiter mission will continue to be developed at JPL. The Announcement of Opportunity will solicit proposals for investigations that require the development of a complete mission to the Pluto-Charon system and the Kuiper Belt beyond, including expendable launch vehicle and spacecraft, its bus and systems, and the science instrumentation package. Following peer-review, NASA will select two or more of the top proposals for more detailed study and will "downselect" the winning proposal in August 2001. There are no restrictions on the launch date but there is a goal to reach Pluto by 2015. NASA will cap the cost of the Pluto mission at $500 million in FY 2000 dollars. NASA is sponsoring a two-and-a-half-day workshop for scientists, engineers, technologists, and others from academia, NASA centers, federal laboratories, the private sector, and international partners to be held in early February. The workshop will provide an open forum for presentation, discussion, and consideration of various concepts, options, and innovations associated with a strategy for Outer Planet exploration to encourage new ideas, including use of in-space propulsion, technical soundness, timeliness of science return, and science merit. The Pluto/Kuiper Express mission will be the first mission to explore the Solar System's most distant planet and it's moon Charon, and go on to study smaller icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of space encircling the Sun beyond Pluto. The PKE mission will study the composition of the planet's surface and thin atmosphere. The Europa Orbiter mission will probe the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa to determine whether there is in fact a liquid ocean beneath a deep icy crust. Recent evidence from NASA's Galileo mission suggest there may be water under the ice, perhaps at a distance of a few miles. If the existence of such an ocean can be proven, and if there are organic materials and a source of energy available under the surface, Europa could be a prime location to look for signs of life on future missions. The draft Announcement of Opportunity will be available after Dec. 26 at: http://spacescience.nasa.gov/research.htm - end * * * NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words
Pioneer lives up to its name
To view this story on the web go to http://www.sunspot.net/content/cover/story?section=coverpagename=storystor yid=1150520209023 -- Headline: Pioneer lives up to its name Subhead: Probe: Almost three decades after its launch, Pioneer 10 dutifully sends data back from the fringes of the solar system to a handful of loyal listeners on Earth. By Michael Stroh SUN STAFF This weekend, Larry Lasher will hover around an antiquated NASA control panel, eagerly waiting for a small red light to wink. When it does, the 63-year-old scientist can breathe easy once again: His old pal Pioneer 10 is still alive. The Volkswagen-sized probe was once a space-age celebrity. In the 1970s, it became the first man-made object to venture beyond Mars and explore the gassy giant Jupiter before soaring toward the stars. The craft carried a gold plaque of a naked man and woman and a diagram of our solar system - a cosmic business card in case Pioneer bumped into an alien. Today the geriatric craft has been largely forgotten by the public and officially mothballed by NASA brass. But Lasher and a small group of agency old-timers have quietly refused to abandon the probe, which continues to faithfully transmit a dribble of scientific data back home even after 28 years in space. They come in on their days off and in the dead of night to tune in to its signal. "You don't want to let it go," says Lasher, who coordinates the project from the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. "Why put Pioneer out to pasture when it could still be out there offering valuable information?" They know the clock is ticking. Careening through space at 27,700 mph, the craft is 7.12 billion miles from Earth and will soon sail beyond the range of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's most sensitive deep-space antennas. Before its faint signal disappears for good in the next few months, the nostalgic Pioneer groupies, many of them near or past retirement age themselves, are quietly hoping their spacecraft might pull off one last scientific coup: becoming the first craft to send back data from interstellar space beyond our solar system. Launched from Cape Kennedy on March 2, 1972, the spacecraft was designed to last for 21 months. Three hundred and forty-five later, the probe and its plutonium power supply have outlived many of its creators. "It just keeps on going and going," says Lasher with a hint of engineer's awe. "It's lasted much longer than its warranty." Despite Pioneer's long list of accomplishments, a budget-strapped NASA decided in 1997 that the millions of dollars it cost to operate the probe was siphoning too much cash from newer missions. One month after Pioneer's 25th anniversary party, NASA pulled the plug. "As far as headquarters are concerned, it's considered dead," says James Van Allen, who has been involved with the Pioneer 10 mission for more than 30 years. Van Allen is no stranger to space. He helped design the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, and discovered the radiation belts around Earth that now bear his name. Yet the 86-year-old astrophysicist says Pioneer 10 holds a special place in his heart. "It's been my old friend all these years, the most important part of my professional life since 1969," he says. Each day he comes into the office at the University of Iowa and pores over data from Pioneer's Geiger Tube telescope, the only one of Pioneer's 11 original scientific instruments still working. Over the years, he says, the spacecraft has provided fodder for numerous groundbreaking research papers, not to mention dissertations for his students. Not long before the project was canceled, Van Allen gave a eulogy for Pioneer 10 at the National Air and Space Museum, chronicling its extensive list of accomplishments. Soon after, Van Allen says, he began "working the halls" trying to keep Pioneer 10 alive. In Ames, Larry Lasher did the same. Lasher bought Pioneer some time by convincing NASA that the distant craft would provide good training for controllers prepping for the 1998 Lunar Prospector mission to the moon. Last summer, Lasher, Van Allen and the other Pioneer supporters got another lucky break. Glenn Mucklow, a physicist at NASA's headquarters in Washington, wanted to use the spacecraft to study weak signals. "It's the only thing we've got out there and it took us 28 years to get it there," says Mucklow. That made it the perfect choice. The craft's transmitter broad casts at 8 watts, equivalent to the power of a night light. By the time it reaches Earth, nearly 11 hours later at the speed of light, the signal "is almost science-fiction weak," says Lasher - less than a millionth of a trillionth of a watt in strength. Mucklow says that learning how to extract data from such a faint signal would be valuable not just for future NASA missions but also
2001 Image Gallery
Photo Gallery - 2001: A Space Odyssey The year 2001 is finally upon us but the fiction has yet to become reality. But we may be closer than you think. Check out these images and decide for yourself. [Well, we do have two probes studying Jupiter right now. - LK] http://www.space.com/imagegallery/gallery/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Re: Dah, dah, DAAAAH.....
And for those who want to see what it looks like: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1098000/1098419.stm http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SeattleTimes.woa/wa/gotoArticle?zsection_id=268466359text_only=0slug=mono02mdocument_id=134257598 So did people start gathering around it then throw a bone into the air and have it turn into a spaceship? :^) At 01:08 PM 01/03/2001 -0800, Bruce Moomaw wrote: > > > >As God is my witness, a mysterious 9-foot-tall black monolith appeared last >night in a Seattle city park (surrounded by several bottle caps, suggesting >that it was thirsty work for the aliens), and some of the city's inhabitants >have already started to paw and stroke it ecstatically. One of them >reports, "I feel my intelligence growing by the moment." Maybe we could get >Bush to approach the thing... >www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/01/02/monolithmystery.ap/index.html > >Bruce Moomaw > > > >== >You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ > == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Hera: Asteroid Sample Return Mission
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 14:06:37 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Asteroid Sample Return Mission Proposed By Univ of Arkansas Reseacher Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; University Relations University of Arkansas CONTACT: Derek Sears, professor, chemistry Director, Arkansas-Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences (501) 575-5204, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Melissa Blouin, science and research communications manager (501) 575-, [EMAIL PROTECTED] FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2000 ASTEROID SAMPLE RETURN OBJECT OF SPACE MISSION PROPOSED BY UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS RESEARCHER FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- In the wake of NASA's successful Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous space mission, a University of Arkansas researcher is putting together a team of scientists to take asteroid research to the next level -- bringing asteroid samples back to Earth. Derek Sears, professor of chemistry and director of the Arkansas- Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, has proposed a mission called Hera that will visit three near-Earth asteroids, obtain samples from them and return the samples to Earth. The project is named for Hera, a Greek goddess and mother of the three graces, joyfulness, bloom and brightness. The Arkansas-Oklahoma center will provide the infrastructure and support required to produce the mission. Such a mission has only recently become possible, according to Sears. But with the advent of new engines for driving interplanetary spacecraft, the NEAR spacecraft completing a successful mission, and the discovery of 1,000 or more near-Earth asteroids in the past two years, the mission has become feasible. "We have the right engines, another space craft doing a dry run, and we have plenty of targets," Sears said. According to current plans, the spacecraft will feature a touch-and-go sampler designed by Steven Gorevan and Shaheed Rafeek of Honeybee Robotics, Inc. The sampler will hover above the asteroids and extend a high-speed drill into the surface. The probe will capture fragments from the drilling and store them in containers aboard the spacecraft. The craft will also contain cameras, spectrometers and other scientific equipment that will record information about the asteroids. Sears and his colleagues recently gathered at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston to discuss various aspects of the mission. They talked about the scientific case for sample return, spacecraft maneuvers in the vicinity of small asteroids, sample collection devices and planetary protection issues, and the implications for resource utilization, impact hazard mitigation and human exploration and development of space. The mission will address some of the most fundamental questions in science as defined by NASA's Space Science Enterprise Plan in 1997. Hera addresses seven of the 11 goals set by NASA in the plan, including: * Information on the formation of the solar system * Stellar evolution and the relationship between stars and planet formation * The origin of molecules necessary for life on Earth * The possibilities of life on other planets. * A record of solar activity * Prediction and possible deflection of Earth-bound objects * A precursor to human exploration and colonization of space Researchers at NASA's Glenn Research Center determined the mission trajectory. Hera would launch in January 2006, reaching the first asteroid, 1999 AO10, after eight months. It would spend about 99 days at the first two asteroids, AO10 and 2000AG6, and 205 days at the third, 1989 UQ, returning to earth in November 2010. The current team of researchers planning project Hera includes: Sears, Don Brownlee of the University of Washington, Carle Pieters of Brown University, M. Lindstrom of the University of Tennessee, D. Britt of Johnson Space Center, B.C. Clark of Lockheed Martin Astronautics, L. Gefert of Glenn Research Center, S. Gorevan of Honeybee Robotics and J.C. Preble of SpaceWorks, Inc. For more information see: http://www.uark.edu/hera == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
THE NASA EXOBIOLOGY PROGRAM: FUNDING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH, 1962-1982
X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.2 Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 20:49:31 -0500 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Roger Launius [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NASM Seminar Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear Colleague: Readers of this list located in the Washington, D.C., area may be interested in the enclosed announcement of a seminar scheduled for January 18, 2001 at the National Air and Space Museum. If you wish to attend please contact Mike Neufeld at the address listed below. Sincerely, Roger D. Launius [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ HISTORICAL SEMINAR ON CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 2000-2001 The next session of this year's seminar will take place on Thursday, January 18, 2001, at 5:30 PM in the Director's Conference Room of the National Air and Space Museum. The speaker is: JAMES STRICK Arizona State University and GWU Center for the History of Recent Science the topic THE NASA EXOBIOLOGY PROGRAM: FUNDING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH, 1962-1982 Information: Michael Neufeld, 202/633-9706; [EMAIL PROTECTED] To reach the Director's Conference Room, enter the Museum from Independence Avenue and proceed to the Security Desk just inside the door. You will be given a pass and directed to the DCR, which is on the third floor. Next Thursday seminar: Feb. 15, David Onkst on Grumman aerospace workers in the Apollo era. ** Roger D. Launius, Ph.D NASA Chief Historian NASA History Office NASA Headquarters Code ZH Washington, DC, 20546 Voice 202-358-0383 Fax 202-358-2866 Cellular 202-329-5515 Pager 1-800-759- pin 123-5656 Home Page: http://history.nasa.gov * == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
The Case of the Missing Mars Water
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 13:01:07 -0600 Subject: The Case of the Missing Mars Water To: "NASA Science News" [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: NASA Science News [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: "NASA Science News" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] NASA Science News for January 5, 2001 Plenty of clues suggest that liquid water once flowed on Mars --raising hopes that life could have arisen there-- but the evidence remains inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast05jan_1.htm?list86654 --- This is a free service. If you need to get in touch with us directly, please go to http://science.nasa.gov/comments Home page: http://science.nasa.gov == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
When Stephen Hawking speaks...
British physicist predicts design of improved human race January 15, 2001 Web posted at: 10:59 a.m. HKT (0259 GMT) BOMBAY, India (AP) -- Physicist Stephen Hawking predicted that people would colonize other planets in 100 years and successfully design an improved human race by the next millennium. http://www.cnn.com/2001/ASIANOW/south/01/14/india.stephenhawking.ap/index.html == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
What happens when scientists overextend themselves
Posted with permission from the author. Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 09:22:43 -0800 (PST) From: "Robert J. Bradbury" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Larry Klaes [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Stephen Hawking does not buy into advanced ETI On Tue, 16 Jan 2001, Larry Klaes wrote: http://www.cnn.com/2001/ASIANOW/south/01/14/india.stephenhawking.ap/index.html Hello all. As this article puts Hawking into the Tipler camp, I thought it would be useful to provide an alternate perspective. The following is a very condensed explanation for the lack of obvious ETs that has heretofore been insufficiently explored. It is the implicit assumption in all discussions of colonization by humans or machines (von Neumann probes) that I have seen, that there is some motivation for this. Humans colonize to have access to greater resources (to gain economic advantage). If that is not the case then the argument falls apart. If a civilization (and its individuals) recognize that there is nothing to be gained by this strategy then they will not exercise it as an option. That is the case when civilizations have reached the limit of what can be constructed as "thought machines" at the limits of the laws of physics (e.g. solar system sized nested Dyson shell supercomputers, a.k.a. Matrioshka Brains). If you have one of these, there is virtually no point to constructing a second one, or a 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. because the return-on-investement is minimal (essentially zero). This is because the propagation delays that exist between such entities relative to their large information storage and thought capacities make it impossible to do collaborative thinking in a way that justifies the investment of resources in the construction effort. Evolution at this point wants to decrease its size scale, not increase it. I.e. to gain more resources (for "thought") one wants to get smaller, not larger. "Colonization", so to speak wants to occur in sub-atomic space, not outer-space. Advanced civilizations would recognize Feynman's statement, "There is plenty of room at the bottom," should be modified to "There is *more* room at the bottom"! Our need to "explore" and/or "sample" is (seen in the space program) would be counterbalanced by their massive observation and simulation capacities which provide a greater return for less investment. You also don't "explore" things when you can dissassemble them and turn them into something more useful (its kind of like playing with your food). But if you turned "everything" into computronium, the universe would be a pretty boring place with no natural phenomena to observe. I suspect that the universe is exactly the way we observe because the optimum "computation" of the phase space of things that can exist is balanced between "consciously" constructed thought machines (thinking about whatever they want to think about) and that which results from the "natural" (chaotic) computation derived from atomic and molecular interactions based on the fundamental laws of physics. Another way of thinking about this is that a computer cannot run a *completely* accurate simulation of a galaxy, faster than the galaxy itself can. Explanations such as Hawkings, always treat the "aliens" as collections of individuals like us with our drives and motivations. Rapid self-driven evolution of civilizations to the limits of physical laws makes those assumptions fundamentally doubtful. It is also worth noting from my perspective as a computer scientist and molecular biologist that his development time line is way too conservative. I think the moral of the story is that we should always beware the statements of scientists when they step outside of their field of expertise. I'll give you another example you can add so it doesn't seem like I'm picking on Hawking alone. Frank Drake, a radio astronomer, has a number of interesting discoveries to his credit. He made early maps of the rings of ionized gas at the center of our galaxy, commonly referred to in Russian literature as Drake Rings. He and George Helou discovered that free electrons in interstellar space have a Doppler effect on radio signals passing through them placing a lower limit on the narrowness of the bandwidth of any interstellar signals. This is known as the Drake-Helou Limit. He is also the author of the infamous Drake Equation that attempts to provide a framework for thinking about the parameters that have an impact on the abundance of communicating civilizations in the galaxy. However, he too can find himself in error when stepping outside of his field of expertise. In his book "Is Anyone Out There?" with Dava Sobel (Delacorte, 1992), he discusses the possibility of "immortal extraterrestrials": "I suspect that immortality may be quite common among extraterrestrials. By immortality I
Application of a three-dimensional numerical model to Lake Vostok
Application of a three-dimensional numerical model to Lake Vostok: An Antarctic subglacial lake, Geophysical Research letters "The circulation in two water column thickness scenarios for Lake Vostok, a subglacial lake in central East Antarctica, is investigated using a three-dimensional numerical model. In a scenario with a constant water column thickness (the distance between the sloping ice sheet which caps the lake and the lake bed) the circulation is barotropic, but with a more realistic water column thickness the flow is baroclinic. The different circulations result from the geothermal heat flux warming shallow regions of the realistic lake more efficiently, thus forming a different horizontal density structure. The differences and uncertainties between the two scenarios highlight the importance that the largely unknown water column thickness and geothermal heat flux have in determining the circulation in the lake." http://earth.agu.org/GRL/articles/2000GL012107/GL11207W01.html == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
E.T. or Alien? The Character of Other Intelligence
http://www.setileague.org/editor/et_alien.htm E.T. or Alien? The Character of Other Intelligence by David Darling, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Science fiction has envisaged the possibility of everything from kind, wise, and even cute extraterrestrials, like E.T., to utterly malicious, scheming monsters, like Giger's Alien. http://www.cyberspace-creations.com/phonehome/ http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~naflande/ On balance, ever since H. G. Wells unleashed his marauding Martians, the fictional creatures from "out there" have tended to be of the usurping, death-ray variety - not surprisingly, since this makes for a more compelling plot. http://www.literature.org/authors/wells-herbert-george/the-war-of-the-worlds/ But if we do encounter other intelligences among the stars, will they in reality prove to be friendly or hostile? A poll conducted by the Marist Institute in 1998 suggested that 86% of Americans who think there is life on other planets believe it will be friendly. Similar optimism has been expressed by many prominent figures in SETI, including Frank Drake, Philip Morrison, and Carl Sagan. An argument in favor of alien beneficence is that any race which has managed to survive the kind of global crises currently facing humanity (and which presumably confront all technological species at some stage in their development) is likely to have resolved the sources of conflict we still have on Earth. Morrison, for instance, doubted that advanced societies "crush out any competitive form of intelligence, especially when there is clearly no danger." Similarly, Arthur C. Clarke has stated that: "As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying." However, there can be no assurance on this point. After all, human beings appear to have made little progress, over the past two millennia or so, toward eliminating or controlling their aggressive tendencies. And there is no reason to suppose we shall change much in this respect over the next few centuries, during which time we may well develop the means of reaching the stars. Those who are pessimistic about the general nature of extraterrestrials argue that Darwinism, and its fundamental tenet "survival of the fittest", virtually guarantees that any advanced species will be potentially dangerous. Michael Archer, professor of biology at the University of New South Wales, Australia, has put it this way: "Any creature we contact will also have had to claw its way up the evolutionary ladder and will be every bit as nasty as we are. It will likely be an extremely adaptable, extremely aggressive super-predator." Perhaps the most reasonable assumption, in the absence of any data, is that, just as in our own case, the potential for good and evil will exist in every intelligent extraterrestrial race. Civilization is unthinkable without some measure of compassion, and yet how could a species that had emerged successfully after several billion years of live-and-let-die biological competition not also possess a ruthless streak? The question is surely not whether any advanced race we may meet among the stars is capable of aggression - it certainly will be unless it has genetically or otherwise altered itself to be purely pacific - but whether it has learned to override its more basic instincts. Bear in mind, too, the variation in character that can exist between individuals within a species. Will the first representative of an alien race that we encounter be a Hitler or a Gandhi? More on such matters in my new book "The Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia" (Three Rivers Press, New York) and my Web site at this URL: www.angelfire.com/on2/daviddarling == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Cassini Fails To Find Evidence Of Lightning On Venus
From: Ron Baalke [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Cassini Fails To Find Evidence Of Lightning On Venus To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Astronomy List) Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 09:20:25 -0800 (PST) http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Eournews/2001/january/0117venus-lightning.html CONTACT: GARY GALLUZZO 100 Old Public Library Iowa City IA 52242 (319) 384-0009; fax (319) 384-0024 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Release: Jan. 17, 2001 UI space physicist fails to find evidence of lightning on Venus IOWA CITY, Iowa -- In an article published in the Jan. 18 issue of the journal Nature, University of Iowa space physicist Donald Gurnett says that a search for lightning on Venus in 1998 and 1999 using the Cassini spacecraft failed to detect high-frequency radio waves commonly associated with lightning. Gurnett's paper is certain to be of interest to other space physicists for whom the possible existence of lightning at Venus has long been controversial. "If lightning exists in the Venusian atmosphere, it is either extremely rare, or very different from terrestrial lightning," Gurnett says. "If terrestrial-like lightning were occurring in the atmosphere of Venus within the region viewed by Cassini, it would have been easily detectable." The Cassini spacecraft, which made its closest encounter with Jupiter on Dec. 30 and is scheduled to arrive at Saturn in July 2004, made two gravity-assisted fly-bys of Venus, the first on April 26, 1998 and the second on June 24, 1999. During the fly-bys the Radio and Plasma Wave Science Instrument (RPWS), with its three, 30-foot-long antennas, searched for impulsive high-frequency (0.125 to 16 MHz) radio signals. Gurnett, who serves as RPWS principal investigator, says that these signals, called "spherics," are always produced by lightning on Earth and are commonly heard as static on AM radios during thunderstorms. As a test of the RPWS ability to detect Earth-generated lightning, a search was conducted for spherics as Cassini made a close fly-by of the Earth on August 18, 1999. Not surprisingly, the instrument detected lightning continuously at rates up to 70 impulses per second while Cassini was located closer than 14 Earth radii. Despite the Cassini results, Gurnett cannot rule out the possibility that some type of low-frequency electrical activity may yet exist at Venus because radio signals cannot penetrate the ionosphere at frequencies below about 1 MHz. Therefore, no definitive statement can be made about the lightning spectrum at frequencies below about 1 MHz. "Since the atmosphere of Venus is very different from that of Earth, it is perhaps not surprising that electrical activity on Venus might be very different from lightning in the Earth's atmosphere," says Gurnett, who notes that lightning generally can be divided into two types, cloud-to-ground and the weaker cloud-to-cloud variety. "Because clouds over Venus are at very high altitudes of 40 kilometers or more, it is likely that lightning at Venus, if it exists, is primarily cloud-to-cloud. Terrestrial cloud-to-ground lightning is generally more intense than cloud-to-cloud so it is possible that the absence of impulsive high-frequency radio signals during the Venus fly-bys could be owing to the dominance of very weak cloud-to-cloud lightning at Venus." Gurnett says that electrical activity at Venus could also be cloud-to-ionosphere discharges. "At the Earth, there is a type of electrical discharge called a "sprite" that travels up from a cloud to the ionosphere. A sprite is not like lightning as we usually think of it," Gurnett says. "Sprites have a slow electrical discharge, meaning that they also have a low frequency and are very difficult to detect." Serious discussions over whether lightning exists at Venus began in 1978 when Venera, Russia's Venus lander, found low-frequency signals that some scientists called lightning, but others doubted for a variety of reasons. Later, physicist William Taylor, a former UI student of Gurnett's, in 1979 found what he considered to be evidence for lightning using the NASA Pioneer-Venus spacecraft. In 1990, using a Galileo spacecraft instrument similar to the one he designed for Cassini, Gurnett detected several small impulses that were interpreted at the time as being indicative of lightning. However, Galileo was some 60 times more distant from Venus than was Cassini, making the results much less significant than those of Cassini. Meanwhile, the Cassini spacecraft, launched in 1997, is continuing its journey to Saturn, where it is scheduled to begin a four-year exploration of Saturn, its rings, atmosphere and moons on July 1,
NASA Astrobiology Institute Update for 1/29/2001
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NAI Update: Terrestrial Powerhouses Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 15:42:04 -0800 X-Mailer: Allaire ColdFusion Application Server NASA Astrobiology Institute Update for 1/29/2001 Today's Feature: Terrestrial Powerhouses A remarkable protein called bacteriorhodopsin converts light into metabolic energy. After 30 years of investigations, this protein has finally revealed some of its secrets. Other Features: Kepler Planet-finding Mission Selected for Discovery Program NASA has selected the Kepler space telescope one of three candidates for NASA's next Discovery Program mission. Kepler will search for habitable Earth-size planets around stars beyond our solar system. Martian Micromagnets The Allan Hills meteorite from Mars is peppered with tiny magnetic crystals that on our planet are made only by bacteria. --- If you are unable to follow the links in this message please visit the NAI Website at http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
NASA Researcher Validates Discovery of Exoplanets' Gravitational Dance
From: Ron Baalke [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NASA Researcher Validates Discovery of Planets' Gravitational 'Dance' To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Astronomy List) Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 13:46:37 -0800 (PST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] Kathleen Burton Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (Phone: 650/604-1731 or 650/604-9000) [EMAIL PROTECTED] News Release: 01-02AR NASA Researcher Validates Discovery of Planets' Gravitational "Dance" January 9, 2001 A team of planet hunters today announced a discovery that will help researchers better understand planet migration and how planets' gravitational pulls influence each other. The discovery was announced at the American Astronomical Society meeting in San Diego. The planet sleuths from the University of California at Berkeley, NASA and other institutions discovered the planetary pair locked in what appears to be "resonant" orbits, moving in synch around the star with orbital periods of 60 and 30 days. Because of the 2-to-1 ratio, the inner planet goes around the star twice for each orbit of the outer one. They gravitationally tug on each other to maintain this synchronicity. "The resonance between the two orbiting planets is among the most exciting planet detection discoveries to date," said Dr. Jack Lissauer, a NASA Ames Research Center scientist based in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. A "resonance" is similar to the harmonic vibration produced by plucking two notes on a stringed instrument. This gravitational pas de deux between the two planets is common among moons and asteroids, but not planets. The axes of the two newly detected planets' elliptical orbits also appear to be nearly perfectly aligned. Lissauer and State University of New York at Stony Brook graduate student Eugenio Rivera used a numerical model to demonstrate the stability of the nearly twin orbits around the star known as Gliese 876, a dim red dwarf 15 light years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. "Questions about planetary migration and gravitational influence are still very much unsolved," Lissauer said. "This discovery is significant for several reasons," said Lissauer. "This is the first extra-solar planetary system to show a strong resonance. It also is the smallest star known to have any orbiting planets, much less two," he said. The two gravitationally linked planets have masses of at least 0.5 and 1.8 times the mass of Jupiter, he said. The inner planetary companion was not recognized at first because the orbital resonance allowed the pair of planets to masquerade as a single planet with an elongated orbit. The two orbiting planets are located relatively close to each other, within 0.08 Astronomical Units (the distance between the Earth and the sun) of each other, less than one-third the distance from the Earth to its nearest neighbor, Venus. In our solar system, the only known resonances between a pair of planets is Pluto, which orbits the sun twice for every three times Neptune circles the sun. Besides Lissauer, the planet-hunting team that discovered the system includes Drs. Geoff Marcy and Debra Fischer of the University of California at Berkeley; Dr. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington; and Dr. Steve Vogt of the University of California at Santa Cruz. Though significant and unusual, the discovery will require more modeling before researchers can determine what the resonance they discovered actually means. The team based both sets of its conclusions on 6 years of precise Doppler measurements and observations made at the Keck I telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii and the Lick Observatory telescope in California. The research is part of a multi-year project to look for planets among 1,100 stars within 300 light years of Earth. The project is supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation and Sun Microsystems. More information about these discoveries is available at http://www.exoplanets.org -end- == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
RE: 11 New Moons For Jupiter
I too am tired of the discrimination against the smallest members of our Sol system just because they are too small to stand on. Even this sounds oppressive! I say we write to the IAU and DEMAND that our tiny in size but giant in spirit space bretheren receive the proper respect that they have lacked since the days of Galileo! Who's with me?! At 09:28 AM 01/22/2001 +1100, Clements, Robert wrote: The minor planet people have a smaller ( simpler) definition already: if you can stand on it, its an asteroid (effectively, this works out at about 10m; a bit larger than the object the AsterAnts proposal would attempt to collect). A ring object is in a different class simply because it's a part of a ring. Not that your definition isn't a bad cutoff; but does it really matter that Jupiter has 172 nonring moons? Only to cataloguers, i venture All the best, Robert Clements [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From:Pam Eastlick [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent:Monday, January 22, 2001 9:38 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: 11 New Moons For Jupiter I am in TOTAL agreement with this. If the criterion for 'moon' is 'orbits a planet' then Saturn has MILLIONS of moons. Is something the size of a football field a 'moon'? a school bus? a basketball? I really feel that someone (the IAU?) needs to set a lower limit on 'moon' size. I personally vote for 'moon' being something that has at least one axis that's over 1 km long. That's big enough to land a spaceship on. Anything smaller could be a 'moonlet' or 'Big Rock or Big Ice Ball'. How does everyone else feel? I'm getting tired of no longer knowing the answer when kids ask "How many moons are there?" Pam == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
New Cassini Images Available
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 14:44:27 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: New Cassini Images Available Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; New Cassini Images http://ciclops.LPL.Arizona.EDU/ciclops/images_jupiter.html January 22, 2001 Himalia http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ciclops/Graphics/himalia.jpg The brightest of Jupiter's outer satellites, Himalia, was captured and resolved, for the first time, in a series of narrow angle images taken on December 19, 2000 from a distance of 4.4 million kilometers during the brief period when Cassini's attitude was stabilized by thrusters instead of reaction wheels. This particular 1.0 second exposure was one of the sharpest, with a resolution of ~ 27 km/pixel, and was taken through a near-infrared spectral filter at 1:07 UTC (spacecraft time). The arrow indicates Himalia. North is up. The inset shows the satellite magnified by a factor of 10 and a graphic indicating Himalia's size and phase (the sunlight is coming from the left). It is likely that Himalia is not spherical: it is believed to be a body captured into orbit around Jupiter and as such, is likely to be an irregularly shaped asteroid. At the time this image was acquired, the dimensions of the side of Himalia facing the cameras is roughly 160 km in the up/down direction. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Released: January 22, 2001 Io Transit http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ciclops/Graphics/bigjupionofilt.jpg The Galilean satellite Io floats above the cloudtops of Jupiter in this image captured on the dawn of the new millennium, January 1, 2001 10:00 UTC (spacecraft time), two days after Cassini's closest approach. The image is deceiving: there are 350,000 kilometers -- roughly 2.5 Jupiters -- between Io and Jupiter's clouds. Io is the size of our Moon, and Jupiter is very big. True/False Color http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ciclops/Graphics/juptruefalse.jpg These color composite frames of the mid-section of Jupiter were of narrow angle images acquired on December 31, 2000, a day after Cassini's closest approach to the planet. The smallest features in these frames are roughly ~ 60 kilometers. The left is natural color, composited to yield the color that Jupiter would have if seen by the naked eye. The right frame is composed of 3 images: two were taken through narrow band filters centered on regions of the spectrum where the gaseous methane in Jupiter's atmosphere absorbs light, and the third was taken in a red continuum region of the spectrum, where Jupiter has no absorptions. The combination yields an image whose colors denote the height of the clouds. Red regions are deep water clouds, bright blue regions are high haze (like the blue covering the Great Red Spot). Small, intensely bright white spots are energetic lightning storms which have penetrated high into the atmosphere where there is no opportunity for absorption of light: these high cloud systems reflect all light equally. The darkest blue regions -- for example, the long linear regions which border the northern part of the equatorial zone, are the very deep `hot spots', seen in earlier images, from which Jovian thermal emission is free to escape to space. This is the first time that global images of Jupiter in all the methane and attendant continuum filters have been acquired by a spacecraft. From images like these, the stratigraphy of Jupiter's dynamic atmosphere will be determined. Lightning http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ciclops/Graphics/light1357.jpg Day and night side narrow angle images taken on January 1, 2001 illustrating storms visible on the day side which are the sources of visible lightning when viewed on the night side. The images have been enhanced in contrast. Note the two day-side occurrences of high clouds, in the upper and lower parts of the image, are coincident with lightning storms seen on the dark side. The storms occur at 34.5 degrees and 23.5 degrees North latitude, within one degree of the latitudes at which similar lightning features were detected by the Galileo spacecraft. The images were taken at different times. The storms' longitudinal separation changes from one image to the next because the winds carrying them blow at different speeds at the two latitudes. Methane polarization http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ciclops/Graphics/mtpolar.jpg These images taken through the wide angle camera near closest approach in the deep near-infrared methane band, combined with filters which sense electromagnetic radiation of orthogonal polarization, show that the light from the poles is polarized. That is, the poles appear bright in one image, and dark in the other. Polarized light is most readily scattered by aerosols. These images indicate that the aerosol particles at Jupiter's poles are small and likely consist of aggregates of even smaller particles, whereas the particles at the equator and covering the Great Red Spot are larger. Images like these will allow scientists to ascertain the
Re: Merging The Mail Lists
Larry has been out dealing with a terrestrial flu virus but I am back. I feel like quoting Han Solo from Return of the Jedi when he says he's out of it for a few days and everybody gets dellusions of grandeur. :^) If you want to merge the Icepick Europa Ocean Explorer list with the other lists you mention, feel free as far as I am concerned. But note that Jeff Foust is the list owner and maintainer and he has the final say on what happens with this list. If Jason Perry wants to run the one list, that is fine with me. I guess since it seems that more than just Europa may have a subsurface ocean of liquid water (and perhaps on some of the Saturnian moon as well?) it is only right to expand the plan to explore these worlds with hydrobots and such. I hope the folks on this list will continue discussing these plans so that they become a reality someday, as I always hope with Icepick. Larry At 03:06 PM 01/24/2001 -0600, Jason Perry wrote: I have received no message to tell what Larry thinks of this but I will make this proposal anyway. I agree, one list would be a very good idea. But before we go along with this, I think we must briefly discuss the pros and cons. As Simon said, one list would cut down on the cross posting and thus would lower the amount of mail someone subscribed to all three lists would receive. A consolidated list would be much more popular and thus would encourage discussion than one which was broken up. Then there are cons. The reason I made ISSDG in August, seperate from Jupiter List was to give those who were only interested in the outer solar system a list without the clutter of information on the inner solar system and vice versa. The Europa List is a strange list. The list is for the discussion of Europa and the exploartion of said object yet only some of the discussions pertain to Europa. A lot of it is more astrobiological in nature or of the Jupiter system. Thats why it might make more sense to combine the Jupiter List and the Europa List and to keep this list and ISSDG seperate. With that said, I believe that we should combine. That is my opinion and I think it is the best thing for people on all three lists. I come this conclusion on the basis that those subscribed to all three lists would get only one message on one topic and to allow a discussion to reach a larger audience. Who would run a merged list? Pending Larry's belief on this topic, I believe that he should run it, meaning he should "own" the list and be the "founder" and have Alex Blackwell and I be moderators. Alex and I are the moderators of Jupiter List and ISSDG. how would members of the three current lists join this new list? My thinking is that what is now Jupiter List will become the new list. Those not on Jupiter List would be subscribed by Larry, Alex, or myself. Another reason for having what is now Jupiter List be the new list is that it has almost 3000 messages in its archives that can be referenced back to if need be. ISSDG would not be "killed" so that people can go back to the ISSDG archives if need be. Larry's website can become a website for this new list and will help him if and when he needs it. A website for the list would be a good idea to host the list's files when its nears its 20 MB limit. I've gone over administration, subscribing, and what not. What have I left out? Oh, if we are going to do this, a majority of you are going to need to sign on to this. So I am going to publish a poll on the Jupiter List and ISSDG website. If you are subscribed to both lists, please respond to both polls. I will send Larry a copy of the poll results in a few days. If you have any comments, please make them known, either by posting them on the list or by sending them either to Larry or to me. It is better to work out the fine details now than to encounter them and panic later. Jason Perry [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.fortunecity.com/volcanopele - Original Message - From: "Bruce Moomaw" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Icepick Europa Mailing List" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 9:12 AM Subject: Re: Merging The Mail Lists I support this enthusiastically (although it still leaves the problem of whether Larry or Jason will be managing the unified list). Bruce Moomaw Shop online without a credit card http://www.rocketcash.com RocketCash, a NetZero subsidiary == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Articles on exoplanets and exolife from New Scientist for 1-13-2001
NEW SCIENTIST WEEKLY NEWSLETTER No 67, 13 January 2001 DRILLING FOR MARTIANS Meanwhile, there's more engineering excitement at NASA's Center for Mars Exploration at the Ames Research Center in California. If life ever existed on Mars, the only remaining traces may be buried more than a kilometre down. But Martian soil is a mixture of sand, dust and rocks cemented together with mineral salts. Trying to drill into it is about as easy as "digging in a sandpit". Geoff Briggs and his colleagues, however, have developed a metre-long spear which could solve the problem. This new tool has a tip which heats up to 1500 degrees Celsius and "melts pretty much any type of rock". The molten rock then turns to glass, holds the surrounding soil in place, and produces a self-supporting hole which should make it much easier to "get to the bottom" of the Red Planet. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns227323 OUT OF THIS WORLD When a star wobbles Geoffrey Marcy wants to be the first to know about it. The professor of astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley is a leading authority on planets outside our Solar System and a fierce competitor in the race to find and announce new worlds. Planet hunting is now an intensely competitive business, a bit like Formula 1 racing. We talk to the "Michael Schumacher" of extrasolar exploration, a passionate astronomer who says that to discover how our Solar System fits into the grand scheme of planetary systems would "bring tears" to his eyes. http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinion.jsp?id=ns227345 TERRESTRIAL TOT Marcy may be excited by the prospect of learning something about our position in the Galaxy, but Charles Lineweaver has information which indicates that the discovery could be somewhat humbling. By cleverly combining a host of factors that determine the formation and destruction of terrestrial planets, the researcher at the University of New South Wales in Sydney estimates that three-quarters of all Earth-like planets will be on average about 1.8 billion years older than Earth. "This analysis gives us an age distribution for life on such planets and a rare clue about how we compare to other life which may inhabit the Universe," says Lineweaver. In other words, intelligent life on these "older" planets may be so highly advanced that to them we seem little better than bacteria. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns227327 == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Mercury, the Rodney Dangerfield of planets, is finally getting respect
Headline: Mercury Byline: Peter N. Spotts Date: 01/18/2001 Mercury, the Rodney Dangerfield of planets, is finally getting respect. For some 25 years, the tiny planet could light a fire under only a handful of solar-system scientists. After Mariner 10's three fly-bys in the mid-1970s, many astronomers dismissed the planet as too boring - too much like Earth's moon to be worth the price of an orbiter. Now, however, Mercury's stock is rising. Last fall, the European Space Agency approved an ambitious 2009 mission - a pair of orbiters and a surface probe - to study the first rock from the Sun. The United States is building a Mercury orbiter for launch in 2004. And Japan hopes to launch its own Mercury mission in 2005. Click here to email this story to a friend: http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/send-story?2001/01/18/text/p15s1.txt Click here to read this story online: http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/01/18/fp15s1-csm.shtml == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Fifteenth Anniversary of Voyager 2 flyby of Uranus in 1986
The first unmanned space probe flyby in history of the planet Uranus by Voyager 2 on January 24, 1986 should have been an exciting one in the history of planetary exploration: * Uranus was the first planet discovered by humans not thousands of years before written history and civilization, but in relatively moderns times - on March 13, 1781 by German musician turned English astronomer William Herschel, to be exact. I know others may have viewed Uranus telescopically before Herschel, be he was the first one to figure out that it was a planet and not a comet or star. Theoretically one could see Uranus with unaided vision from Earth, but it would have been too dim for our ancestors to really notice it, even in their non-light polluted night skies (at least none ever said they did that made it to our time). * Uranus was later found to be a world tipped on its side compared to the rest of the known planets in the Sol system. Only later did astronomers learn that Pluto was tipped even moreso on its side and Venus was knocked all the way around from our perspective. With an axial tilt of almost 98 degrees (compare this to Earth's 23.5 degree tilt), Uranus' poles spend roughly half their time in the planet's 84-year solar orbit either in constant darkness or light. * The discovery of a ring system around Uranus in 1977 gave the first real evidence that, rather than being unique to Saturn, ring systems around Jovian worlds are probably common. Indeed, the next few years - thanks to the Voyager probes - would show that these rings were indeed standard features for all of the gas giant planets of our Sol system. * The five known moons of Uranus were virtually unknown little worlds, but after the Voyager probes' experiences with the exciting satellites of Jupiter and Saturn from 1979 through 1981, it was assumed they too would hold exciting new surprises for us. * Voyager 2 was not meant to visit Uranus after Saturn, having already come from a scaled-down version of the Grand Tour of the outer planets. However, since Voyager 1 did make it to Saturn and perform a close examination of its largest moon Titan, Voyager 2 was given the go-ahead to Uranus and eventually Neptune in 1989 (it should be noted that Voyager 2 also survived being shut off in 1981 to allegedly save some bucks by the Reagan Administration, I kid you not). So with this rare bonus in hand, scientists were most eager to get their first close-up views of this bizarre alien world way out in the outer Sol system. But fate likes to play games with human expectations, and the Universe itself certainly does not cater to our wants and desires. The Voyager 2 mission to Uranus did go off as planned, but its two main problems had nothing to do with the space probe itself: * Uranus itself did not turn out to be as "exciting" as the other two previously explored Jovian worlds, Jupiter and Saturn. The clouds were a bland and featureless shade of blue. The rings were dark and thin. The moons did not look much different from the other icy satellites of Jupiter and especially Saturn. Miranda was the only real exception, looking like a world that had been literally torn apart and smashed back together, complete with 20-kilometer high sheer ice cliffs. One would think that exploring any new world for the first time in what was (and still is) the early days of our testing the waters of deep space would be exciting enough, but somehow the public and press had gotten spoiled by the amazing wonders at Jupiter and Saturn (not to mention many space-based science fiction flicks), and Uranus was just not cutting the bill, even if it was tipped on its side. * The other deflecting event took place just four days after Voyager 2's closest flyby: The Space Shuttle Challenger 51-L mission ended tragically before it could even get into Earth orbit, where a leak in a solid rocket booster acted like a torch on the external fuel tank and caused it to explode, turning the shuttle into scrap metal and killing the seven astronauts onboard - one of whom was going to be the first teacher in space. This flight alone killed more astronauts than all previous manned space tragedies combined: The lone cosmonaut of Soyuz 1 in 1967 and the three cosmonauts of Soyuz 11 who had just returned from a thirty-day stay on the Soviet Salyut 1 space station in June of 1971 (the three astronauts of the Apollo 1 crew were killed in a fire during a ground test in 1967). Needless to say, the press attention almost immediately evaporated from the lone space robot and the dull world it had been monitoring over two billion kilometers away to Cape Canaveral and NASA and did not come back. Despite all this negativity from the general human perspective towards the Voyager 2 Uranus encounter, many new and important items were learned about this new world. Among them was the discovery of ten new moons circling the planet, a powerful magnetic field tipped sixty
Mars Presentations at MIT and NH from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 2001
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 22:35:20 -0500 From: Donald L Doughty [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NSS/Bos Thur. [Mars Society Events This Week!] (2nd fwd) Here the time and place MS meeting (use the whereis link ). ...DLD Mars - 2020 Vision Presentation Thursday, February 1, 2001, 7 pm, MIT Room 4-231 http://whereis.mit.edu/bin/map?locate=bldg_4 A presentation of the MIT Mars team's entry to the NASA Means Business 2001 competition and NASA's current robotic mission plan. This promises to be an interesting and lively event, as the team discusses their educational outreach plans. For more information, see this Web site: http://web.mit.edu/mars/2020vision/ -- Forwarded message -- Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 13:55:28 -0500 From: Stephen Glenfield [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Mars Society Events This Week! The New England Mars Society has three events this week, the first two at MIT and the third in New Hampshire, which are described briefly below. For more information about these and other events, check out our web pages at http://web.mit.edu/mars/ and http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/ma/ Mars Society Chapter Meeting Wednesday, January 31, 2001, 7 pm, MIT Room 4-270 http://whereis.mit.edu/bin/map?locate=bldg_4 Our first meeting of the year, this will start off with an introduction to our chapter and the Mars Society for new members, and then will carry into a discussion of events and projects for the coming term. All are welcome; this would be a great meeting to bring a friend who is interested in Mars, plus don't forget to bring plenty of ideas. --cut-- Living on Mars, First Human Missions and Permanent Base Friday, February 2, 2001, 8 PM, Christa McAuliffe Planetarium, Concord, NH If you are going to be around Concord, NH on Friday evening, be sure to check out Mars Society member Bruce Mackenzie's presentation covering such topics as the reasons for exploring and settling Mars, including the opportunities, psychological reasons, and security of expanding civilization beyond our single home planet, plus the benefits to future Earth residents, as well as the technologies behind both the exploration and settlement of Mars. This presentation is open to the general public and has an admission fee of $4. For further information, contact Bruce Mackenzie [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Note: New Hampshire members should have already received a separate announcement concerning this event. If you're interested in NH events, but did not receive the announcement, please let us know so we can add you to our NH member list.] Further down the road, we have New England officer elections coming up during the second week in February, which will take place at MIT. More information to follow. If at any time you have comments or questions regarding, you can reach the officers by e-mailing [EMAIL PROTECTED] Also, be sure to visit: http://web.mit.edu/mars/lists.shtml for a listing of local mailing lists you can become a member of. Thank you. We look forward to seeing you at these events. Paul Wooster, Vice President Mars Society New England http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/ma/ http://web.mit.edu/mars/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Re: A planet orbiting two stars
This news item is from 1999. Has there been some new information on this system since, or have other binary star systems been discovered? Larry At 03:11 PM 01/30/2001 -0200, Fabricio Mota wrote: Astronomers discovered evidences that shows a planet (as big as Jupiter) which orbits two stars simultaneosly http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/stories/planet_binary_0899.html>http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/stories/planet_binary_0899.html == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Ancient Rock May Alter Theories of Earth History
Ancient Rock May Alter Theories of Earth History http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/11/science/11CRYS.html January 11, 2001 By KENNETH CHANG In a grain-size crystal from western Australia, geologists have identified the oldest piece of Earth yet discovered. The find may lead scientists to reconsider theories about when life first appeared on the planet, as well as the origin of the Moon. The geologists, who describe their discovery in today's issue of the journal Nature, said the crystal a transparent pink speck of zircon only about as wide as a strand of human hair crystallized 4.4 billion years ago, when Earth was a mere 150 million years old. The oldest known rocks on Earth are about 4 billion years old, and another Australian zircon crystal had previously been dated at 4.28 billion years old. The newly analyzed zircon sample, the international team of researchers say, provides evidence that the Earth was considerably less hot at that early stage of its development than previously thought and even possessed oceans and continents much like those today. "This gives our first glimpses of what the Earth was like shortly after it formed," said Dr. John W. Valley, a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an author of the Nature paper. "This is, by a large margin, the oldest piece of the Earth that has ever been found." The crystal was culled from rocks taken from the Australian site, about 400 miles north of Perth, in 1984 and identified as 3 billion years old. In the rocks, the scientists found zircon crystals as old as 4.28 billion years. More recently, Dr. Valley developed new techniques to analyze the oxygen within zircon crystals. "We said, wouldn't it be wonderful to analyze the oldest oxygen from the Earth?" he recalled. Dr. Valley met one of the geologists who originally dug up the rocks, Dr. Simon A. Wilde at the Curtin University of Technology in Perth. In 1999, Dr. Wilde extracted more zircons from the 1984 rocks. One was the 4.4-billion-year-old crystal. A second team of scientists dated other zircon crystals taken from the same site in 1999, finding one crystal 4.3 billion years old. Their report also appears in today's Nature. Zircons are formed at high temperatures, from melted rocks. The ages of the crystals were determined, within a few million years, by measurements of the levels of uranium and lead trapped in the zircon. Over time, uranium decays into lead; the older a crystal is, the greater the fraction of lead it contains. From analysis of oxygen atoms in the crystals, both groups also concluded that even during this early epoch, Earth's surface was cool enough for liquid water to condense. That finding may force a revision of ideas about how the Moon formed and how early life arose on Earth. The most widely accepted theory about the Moon's origin is that about 4.5 billion years ago, an object the size of Mars slammed into Earth; the Moon, it is believed, formed from material that was thrown into space. An impact of that size would have melted the outer shell of the Earth, creating an ocean of molten magma hundreds of miles deep. But if the scientists' analysis of the crystal's age is correct, "it does challenge the view there was widespread magma ocean on the surface" at the time the crystal was formed, said Dr. T. Mark Harrison, a professor of geochemistry at the University of California at Los Angeles and an author of the second Nature paper. The presence of water hinted by the crystal would mean that by 4.4 billion years ago, about 100 million years after the impact, temperatures had fallen from more than a thousand degrees Fahrenheit to less than the boiling point. Some scientists wonder whether Earth could have cooled that quickly, and whether alternate theories for the Moon's origin may have to be revisited. But Dr. H. Jay Melosh, a professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona, said that the zircon crystal's age did not pose a problem for the collision theory. With magma welling from Earth's interior to its surface, the planet could cool in a few tens of thousands of years, almost like a stirred cup of coffee, he said. Others are not sure. "How fast is the Earth's mantle convecting?" asked Dr. John H. Jones, a planetary scientist at NASA. "Can it really get to the surface? Is there a thin crust that keeps the heat from getting out as quick? These are all things we don't know." The crystals also suggest that the Earth's crust at that time was much like it is today. Some scientists have speculated that the planet's early surface might have resembled the Moon's crust or the present sea floor. The possibility of oceans 4.4 billion years ago also puts a wrinkle into studies on the origin of life on Earth. Current theories hold that the oceans formed less than 4 billion years ago, and that life on Earth started not long after that, perhaps 3.85 billion years ago. The
Quote of the Day for February 2, 2001
"Man wants to know; and when man no longer wants to know, he will no longer be man." - Fridtjof Nansen http://www.mnc.net/norway/Nansen.htm http://www.fni.no/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Remote Pioneer 10 Remains Silent
Remote Pioneer 10 Remains Silent Though the mission team would like to think the glass is half full, hope is fading that they ever will communicate again with Pioneer 10, the most remote object ever made by humans. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/pioneer10_010201.html?Enews=y == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
SETI 2020: A New Action Plan for the Search for Life
SETI 2020: A New Action Plan for the Search for Life The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has always been a long shot in the dark. A new action plan is being pursued that could hasten the day when Earth is on the receiving end of signals from civilizations circling distant stars. http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_roadmap_010202.html?Enews=y == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Stars and Planets by Ian Ridpath - Illustrated by Wil Tirion
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 08:23:50 -0500 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: New from Princeton University Press For Members of Princeton University Press's E-mail List for Physics and Astroscience We are pleased to send you the following information about this newly published book: New Paperback Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath Illustrated by Wil Tirion For sample pages, visit: http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/7028.html In this new edition of their classic guide, Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion bring the night sky down to earth with brand new sky charts, diagrams, and photos that enrich the clear, engaging text. Stars and Planets will delight both latent astronomers who have yet to touch a telescope and the more star-savvy who have spent many a night outside craning their necks behind a lens. The introduction presents the basics of astronomical observation while answering such questions as: How did constellations come to be? Do the stars within them have anything to do with one another? Do stars really flicker? Next comes the book's centerpiece: an excellent series of maps of the night sky from hemisphere to hemisphere, month to month and, above all, charts showing all 88 constellations, including some 5,000 stars. The text vividly relates the human history behind each constellation and notes their most prominent stars while offering sundry stimulating facts. The second section focuses on the astrophysics behind stars, galaxies, the sun, the planets, comets and meteors, and more. Striking full-color photos, maps, and illustrations appear on almost every page. The guide concludes with helpful tips on the optical tools of the trade and on astrophotography. Astrophysicists and amateur skywatchers agree that Stars and Planets is simply the most user- friendly, compact source of celestial information available. No one should leave home at night without it. Up-to-date full-color photos and data, including recent planetary images. Monthly maps of the night sky as seen from latitudes throughout the world. Charts of all 88 constellations, with data and notes on bright stars and other objects of interest. Illustrated introduction to stars, nebulae, galaxies, and the solar system. Advice on choosing and using binoculars and telescopes. Ian Ridpath, an amateur astronomer, is an author and broadcaster on stars and planets for a general audience. He is the editor of, among other titles, Norton's Star Atlas, The Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy, and The Monthly Sky Guide. Wil Tirion is among the world's foremost celestial photographers and illustrators. Princeton Field Guides 0-691-08913-2 Paper $19.95 U.S. and L12.95 UK 0-691-08912-4 Cloth $49.50 U.S. and L33.50 UK 408 pages, 142 charts, 95 color photos, 45 figures, 4.5 x 7.5 inches. For sale only in North America and the Philippines We're very interested in your comments and suggestions on this new service. Feel free to e-mail us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
New Map of Pluto Released
NEW MAP OF PLUTO RELEASED - Astronomers from the Southwest Research Institute have produced a new map of the surface of Pluto that shows a mysterious dark streak just above the equator. The map was produced by watching the shadow of Pluto's moon Charon as it passed across the surface of the planet. Each time Charon passed in front, the astronomers were able to measure the variations in light on the planet's surface. We won't know if the map is accurate until Pluto is visited by spacecraft - this isn't expected to happen any earlier than 2015. Original Source: http://www.boulder.swri.edu/recent/pluto_map.html Internet Coverage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_115/1150197.stm http://www.cosmiverse.com/space02050102.html Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/pluto.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/astronomy.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/pluto.html == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
PHASE-CHANGE MICRO-THRUSTERS
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "J. R. Molloy" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailing-List: list [EMAIL PROTECTED]; contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 10:03:56 -0800 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Htech] MICRO-THRUSTERS PHASE-CHANGE MICRO-THRUSTERS http://sec353.jpl.nasa.gov/apc/Micropropulsion/01.html MEMS (Micro-Electromechanical Systems) based phase change thruster concepts are currently under investigation matching Class I and II microspacecraft requirements. Among the concepts considered are subliming solid micro-thrusters and vaporizing liquid micro-thrusters, currently under development at JPL. Fabrication of both thruster types relies on micro-machining methods similar to those used in the micro-electronics industry in order to obtain nozzle throat sizes small enough to obtain the required low thrust and impulse bit performances. Both thruster types also use non-gaseous propellants in order to reduce leakage problems. Currently, no suitable flight qualifiable microvalve concept exists to reduce leakage rates. In the case of the subliming solid microthruster, a solid propellant (ammonia salts) is sublimated by heating the tank until a suitable tank pressure is reached. Then a microvalve is opened (due to solid propellant storage the leak rate requirements for this valve are not very stringent) and the gaseous phase of the propellant is vented to produce thrust. In the case of the vaporizing liquid thruster, a suitable liquid propellant (e.g. water, ammonia, hydrazine) is fed into a micro-thin film heater assembly that vaporizes the propellant just prior to exiting the nozzle. Both concepts are in the early development stage at JPL. Hardware fabrication has begun and thrust stand tests are expected to be performed in 1997. Many feasibility issues, however, remain with these and other potential micro-thruster concepts. **Article includes excellent graphics** Stay hungry, --J. R. 3M TA3 Useless hypotheses: consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will -BEGIN TRANSHUMANTECH SIGNATURE- Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List home:http://www.egroups.com/community/transhumantech/ Alt archive: http://www.planetx.com/majordomo/transhumantech/ Old archive: http://www.planetx.com/transhumantech/threads.html -END TRANSHUMANTECH SIGNATURE- (u are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Vacuum powered micro-machines
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "J. R. Molloy" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailing-List: list [EMAIL PROTECTED]; contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 10:20:27 -0800 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Htech] Vacuum powered micro-machines Quantum Fields LLC Quantum Vacuum Forces Project http://www.quantumfields.com/projects.htm Quantum electrodynamics (QED) is probably the best verified theory in physics. It makes some startling predictions about the importance of quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field in empty space. It predicts a near infinite vacuum energy density. Quantum fluctuations have been linked to particle mass, to spontaneous emission, to the speed of light, and to the topology of the universe. The presence of surfaces changes the energy density in the vacuum fluctuations. The ability to alter these parameters could be of significant benefit to the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) objectives. We will perform a theoretical investigation of the use of surfaces and cavity structures in order to alter vacuum energy. A Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) interferometer structure is planned to measure the index of refraction in a cavity, which will serve as a test of QED predictions. The variations in vacuum energy produced by surfaces can also result in vacuum forces, such as the recently verified Casimir force between two parallel conducting plates. Very few other geometrical structures have been investigated, and our understanding of the role of surfaces in altering vacuum energy and generating vacuum forces rudimentary. For rectangular cavities, forces are predicted on the walls that may be inward, outward or zero depending on the ratios of the sides. Such forces may be of use in operating MEMS devices, including resonant cavities. We propose to model and build a MEMS cavity structure, to verify the QED prediction of repulsive forces, and to study the properties of these cavities and the energy balance in a static and in a vibrating mode. When we have gained a greater understanding of cavities and vibrating structures, a second generation MEMS structure will be designed, modeled, fabricated and tested. We will investigate the possibility of fluctuation driven engines that operate between two regions of different energy density, in a similar manner to which heat engines operate at different temperature. Two types of engines will be considered: one in which one set of surfaces moves relative to another, akin to an electric motor, and a second type in which a working fluid, perhaps consisting of atoms or electrons, passes between the two regions of different vacuum energy. We will develop several candidate structures for fluctuation engines and fabricate the most promising. In all theoretical and experimental work, care will be taken to understand energy balance requirements and conservation laws, and to determine what is possible and what is not. QED computations will be used as the guide. This effort will answer many of the basic questions about the role of vacuum fluctuations, and lay a solid foundation of knowledge about vacuum energy, vacuum stress and how to control them using surfaces and what their limitations are. Researchers will be able to build upon this knowledge to build more complex ideas and structures involving vacuum fluctuations. The program represents a unique collaborative effort involving strong QED theorists, experts in propulsion, gravitation, and other relevant technologies, coupled with highly qualified and experienced developers of MEMS devices. The Principle Investigator, an experienced researcher who is trained in QED and Casimir phenomena, and who has worked for over 15 years in microfabrication technology and experimental measurements, is uniquely qualified to lead this effort. The effort will answer questions about the energy in the vacuum and if and how we might be able to utilize it in the BPP mission. -BEGIN TRANSHUMANTECH SIGNATURE- Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List home:http://www.egroups.com/community/transhumantech/ Alt archive: http://www.planetx.com/majordomo/transhumantech/ Old archive: http://www.planetx.com/transhumantech/threads.html -END TRANSHUMANTECH SIGNATURE- == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
New Space Technology Guide Omits Nuclear Power
NEW SPACE TECHNOLOGY GUIDE OMITS NUCLEAR POWER The Department of Defense has published a new "Space Technology Guide" that responds to a legislative requirement "to identify the technologies needed ... to take full advantage of use of space for national security purposes." The Guide covers the familiar gamut of "enabling technologies" for national security space activities from propulsion to communications to materials, and so forth. With one exception. Unlike practically every other survey of military space technologies over the past few decades, the new Guide conspicuously omits any mention of space nuclear power. Space nuclear reactors have long been on the military's wish list because they would offer an exceptionally high power to mass ratio in a compact, survivable form. Just what you need to drive your orbital weapons platform. But for that reason, they have also been a lightning rod for public concern and criticism. In 1988, a proposal for a ban on nuclear reactors in Earth orbit was developed by the Los Angeles-based Committee to Bridge the Gap and advanced as an arms control measure by U.S. and Russian scientists, including the Federation of American Scientists. Other forms of nuclear power for civilian space exploration have also been opposed by anti-nuclear activists. A Pentagon spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for an explanation of the omission of space nuclear power from the latest planning documents. The U.S. launched one 500 Watt space nuclear reactor in 1965. Dozens of reactors were deployed in orbit by the former Soviet Union between 1967 and 1988. The last major U.S. space nuclear reactor development program, known as the SP-100, was canceled nearly a decade ago. The new DoD Space Technology Guide is posted here: http://www.fas.org/spp/military/stg.htm == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
CCNet 9/2001 - 17 January 2001
From: Peiser Benny [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: cambridge-conference [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: CCNet, 17 January 2001 Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 12:49:04 - CCNet 9/2001 - 17 January 2001 -- "The project also aims to see if scientists can alter the orbit of a comet to protect theEarth from falling matter. The impact would alter the comet's orbit by a "just barely measurable" 62 to 620 miles (100 to 1,000 km), [Mike] A'Hearn said." --The New York Times, 17 January 2001 "My research has been one disaster after another. [...] You need to have one interestingidea every day. Just like James Bond has a license to kill, I had a license to depart from the normal path of a scientist." --Richard A. Muller, 16 January 2001 (1) NASA AIMS TO BLAST COMET TO STUDY SOLAR SYSTEM Oliver Morton [EMAIL PROTECTED] (2) ONE DISASTER AFTER ANOTHER Scientific American, 17 January 2001 (3) LUSTING AFTER A LANDING ON EROS Weired Magazine, 16 January 2001 (4) ICE CHANNELS ON MARS Harvey Leifert[EMAIL PROTECTED] (5) SYNCHRONOUS PLANETARY ORBITS FOUND IN NEW SOLAR SYSTEM UniSci, 16 January 2001 (6) DISASTER DIPLOMACY Ilan Kelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] (7) WHERE DID SOLAR-SYSTEM LIFE BEGIN? Oliver Morton [EMAIL PROTECTED] (8) WHERE DID SOLAR-SYSTEM LIFE BEGIN? Steve Drury [EMAIL PROTECTED] == (1) NASA AIMS TO BLAST COMET TO STUDY SOLAR SYSTEM From Oliver Morton [EMAIL PROTECTED] Benny -- this is the first time I've seen Deep Impact talked of -- albeit in passing -- as having some implications for planetary defence. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention. oliver morton [EMAIL PROTECTED] NASA Aims to Blast Comet to Study Solar System http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/17/science/science-space-chile-d.html January 17, 2001 By REUTERS SANTIAGO, Chile - NASA scientists aim to blast a comet with a copper projectile to learn about the formation of the solar system as part of a $270 million project funded by NASA, the head of the project said on Tuesday. The project, called Deep Impact and which will cause an explosion capable of destroying a small town, would be the first space mission to probe inside a comet, whose primitive core could reveal clues about evolution of the solar system. "All our studies of comets look only at the surface layer. Our theoretical models tell us the surface has changed, and only the interior has the original composition. So our main goal is to compare the interior with the surface," the project's director, Michael A'Hearn, told reporters. Scientists chose copper, Chile's No. 1 export, because it is less likely to interfere with the materials inside the crater. In January 2004, a rocket would launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, a spacecraft that would orbit the sun. In July 2005 the spacecraft would separate from a battery-powered, copper projectile that would collide with the comet 24 hours later at a velocity of 6 miles (10 km) per second. It would produce a crater the width of a football field and up to 100 feet (30 meters) deep. The spacecraft would observe the composition of the crater's interior, while telescopes on Earth would monitor the impact. The project also aims to see if scientists can alter the orbit of a comet to protect the Earth from falling matter. The impact would alter the comet's orbit by a "just barely measurable" 62 to 620 miles (100 to 1,000 km), A'Hearn said. The project would blast the Comet Tempel 1, which was discovered in 1867 and is a little less than Earth's distance from the sun, he said. It was chosen because its size, rotation and trajectory favor the project and because the collision would be observable from Earth. In February, NASA will carry out a preliminary design review to see if the project can succeed. Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company == (2) ONE DISASTER AFTER ANOTHER From Scientific American, 17 January 2001 http://www.sciam.com/2001/0201issue/0201profile.html The father of the idea that a sibling of the sun periodically wreaks havoc on Earth finds inspiration in catastrophes BERKELEY, CALIF.--I first meet Richard A. Muller during a record-breaking heat wave. The astrophysicist is on his way to get a refreshment. Bottles of his favorite cold dairy drink--mocha milk--are stacked in a nearby vending machine. Through the clear front, the scientist notices something out of place: a juice can trapped obliquely against the glass. "I'll get either two drinks or none," he predicts playfully, inserting his change and selecting the beverage he thinks is most likely to knock the can free. Muller is unconcerned (or perhaps oblivious) that this selection is vanilla, not the flavor he came for. His purchase grazes the target but fails to knock the bottle down. Gambles like this one typify the life of Richard Muller--although usually the stakes are higher. The restless researcher loves to
Martian Ice Puts Arizona Scientist In The Groove
X-Recipient: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 09:44:26 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Martian Ice Puts Arizona Scientist In The Groove Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-water-science-01b.html Martian Ice Puts Arizona Scientist In The Groove SpaceDaily Flagstaff - Jan. 17, 2001 Some channels visible on the surface of Mars may have been gouged by ice, rather than by catastrophic flooding, as is generally believed. That is the view of Dr. Baerbel K. Lucchitta of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona, who compared the Martian features with strikingly similar ones on the Antarctic sea floor. Her findings are reported in the February 1 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union. Full story here: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-water-science-01b.html == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
New Scientist article on Solar Probe
When Icarus tried it, he came down to Earth with a bump. In fact, not so long ago scientists at NASA described the very idea of a mission to the Sun as "far out" and "probably impossible". But that didn't stop them trying. At the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, engineer Jim Randolph is putting the finishing touches to a very special spacecraft. In six years' time, Randolph's Solar Probe will begin a long, hot journey which will take it to just a few million kilometres from the Sun. There it will watch waves of searing gas slosh across the solar surface, witness fiery tornadoes the size of Earth, and perhaps even snatch a sample of star. NASA has high hopes for its "Sun chaser", which could reveal where the solar wind comes from and help us predict the magnetic storms that can wreck communications satellites and bring down power grids. As Randolph says, it's "just so different from anything ever done before". http://www.newscientist.com/features/features.jsp?id=ns22741 == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Russian Voyager and Ulysses: the missions that weren't
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 10:37:49 -0500 From: Anatoly Zak [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: New on RussianSpaceWeb.com: Russian Voyager To: undisclosed-recipients:; Russian Voyager and Ulysses: the missions that weren't http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_planetary_plans.html Jupiter and Saturn, Sun and Mercury were all among the targets of the unmanned planetary spacecraft proposed by the Soviet scientists. However, for years these ambitious plans were buried in the secret archives. Mir's last orbit visualized: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mir_chronology_2001.html -- Anatoly Zak RussianSpaceWeb.com == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
1st Convention of Lunar Explorers
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 17:29:14 GMT Subject: 1st Convention of Lunar Explorers The 1st Convention of Lunar Explorers, organised by LUNEX, ILEWG and ESA, will be held Palais de la Decouverte, Paris, on 8-10 March 2001. ESA's SMART-1 mission to the Moon will be presented to the public and the press. The Lunar Explorers Society (LUNEX) is an international organisation created in July 2000, which aims to promote the exploration of the Moon for the benefit of humanity. LUNEX wants to bridge the gap between space agencies and the general public to promote planetary exploration and space. The 1st Convention will allow the discussion of the science of the Moon, technology, future utilisation of the Moon, lunar bases, public outreach and education, lunar and planetary exploration, and the recommendations of Young Lunar Explorers. More at: http://sci.esa.int/content/news/index.cfm?aid=1cid=1oid=25910 == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Is Europa a Wet Io?
Is Europa a Wet Io? Its radiation-saturated surface is frozen, cratered, cracked and craggy. But Jupiter's moon Europa may be living proof that life can thrive in a bizarre blend of environments. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/europa_wet_io_010208.html? Enews=y == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Re: Sagan: Astronomers Listen for What Could Be 'Alien' Signal
A more detailed report on the VLA scan of the Wow! signal sky area can be found on The Planetary Society Web site here: http://www.planetary.org/html/news/articlearchive/headlines/2001/Wow.htm Larry At 11:55 AM 01/18/2001 CST6CDT,4,1, Mario Di Maggio. wrote: Still no sense in signal By BBC News Online science editor Dr David Whitehouse A detailed look at the point in space from where an intelligent signal might have come has revealed nothing unusual. The observations, using the multiple radio dishes of the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, US, add to the mystery of what has been called the "Wow" event. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1122000/1122413.stm == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
NEAR Shoemaker's Descent
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 09:03:36 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NEAR Shoemaker Image Of The Day - February 9, 2001 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; NEAR image of the day for 2001 Feb 09 http://near.jhuapl.edu/iod/20010209/ NEAR Shoemaker's Descent QuickTime: Small (2.3 MB) Large (6.6 MB) This 6-scene animated sequence shows the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft as might look when it descends from orbit above Eros to the surface of the asteroid on Feb. 12. Hydrazine engine bursts slow the spacecraft so it can descend gently. NEAR Shoemaker will de-orbit with an engine burn at 10:31 a.m. EST, about 4 hours before it's scheduled to reach the surface. The final leg of the controlled descent begins with the spacecraft about 5 kilometers (3 miles) above the surface; it will then execute an unprecedented series of four engine burns designed to slow its descent from about 20 mph to about 5 mph. NEAR Shoemaker is expected to touch down in an area just outsideHimeros, theasteroid'sdistinctive saddle-shapeddepression,after providingthe highest-resolution imagesever taken of Eros' boulder-strewn, cratered terrain. Built and managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, NEAR-Shoemaker was the first spacecraft launched in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale planetary missions. See the NEAR web site for more details (http://near.jhuapl.edu) . (u are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Webcast On Gravity Assists On February 13, 2001
Subject: Webcast On Gravity Assists On February 13 Date: 9 Feb 2001 18:33 UT From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ron Baalke) Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov Contact: Guy Webster, (818) 354-6278 INTERNET ADVISORY February 9, 2001 During a live webcast on Tuesday, Feb. 13, an experienced mission planner for interplanetary spacecraft will explain how to choose the best routes for getting to destinations such as Mercury, Mars and Saturn. Charley Kohlhase, who has led trip-planning efforts for NASA missions to most of the planets in the solar system, will also describe how spacecraft can use the gravity of one planet to gain a "slingshot" boost toward a more distant destination. The 90-minute live webcast, "From Ellipses to Gravity Assist," from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will begin at 4:30 p.m. PST (7:30 p.m. EST) at http://www.liveonthenet.com/show.cgi?/2001/nasa/show104/ . Tuning in requires free pre-registration with LiveOnTheNet at http://www.liveonthenet.com . Questions for Kohlhase may be submitted to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Additional information about the webcast is available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiterflyby . Kohlhase will begin with the simple notion of an ellipse, easily created by young viewers, then move on to Kepler's laws and curves such as parabolas and hyperbolas to slowly build a framework for understanding how mission designers at JPL work out their special flight paths to planets. The gravity-assist strategy was first used in 1973 to send NASA's Mariner spacecraft to Mercury by way of Venus. Six weeks ago, NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew near Jupiter for a gravity assist necessary for getting Cassini to Saturn. Kohlhase designed spacecraft missions at JPL, including Mariner, Viking, Voyager and Cassini missions, from the 1960s through the 1990s, twice receiving NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal, and he continues to consult for JPL. He is also an active artist, author and environmentalist, and has innovated numerous projects and products to communicate space science to the public. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. # == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Probing for ETI's Probes in the Solar System
The SETI League Guest Editorial http://www.setileague.org/editor/stride2.htm Probing for ETI's Probes in the Solar System by Scot Stride [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.interstellar-probes.org/ Working at JPL for many years and subscribing to its charter tends to affect a person's worldview. Many of the scientists and engineers at this NASA center don't see our robotic probes as just machines, but as extensions of our senses, intellect and being. Indeed, Matt Golombeck used to humorously call the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner rover a "mini-geologist" version of himself. My views are similar. This has indirectly resulted in a personal interest in how advanced ETI might carry out galactic exploration and the construction of interstellar robotic probes. It turns out that a great deal of research and writing on the subject of ETI probes has been done (Freitas, et. al), most of it within the context of complementing radio SETI. Presently, the scientific community, news media and general public associate the term SETI with large radio telescopes and the search for weak signals from far away. Most people know there is a possibility of radio communication (CETI), but many don't realize the unfavorable odds of it working in practice over vast distances and multi-generations of human participants. Professional SETI scientists and engineers know full well the potential of microwave/mm-wave for both radio astronomy and for deep space telecommunications. The SETI focus so far has been on the detection of narrow-band beacons or leakage from ETI civilizations, complemented by radio astronomy observations and mappings to better understand the origins of ET life. However, the SETI lenses that focus so clearly on the task of searching for far away signals are philosophically out of focus when it comes to searching for ETI telecommunications signals that may originate within our solar system. Some time beginning in the early 1970's LDE's (Long-Delayed-Echoes) were a hot topic of discussion. First recorded in the 1920's by Burrows and later advocated by Lunan in the 1970's, these signals were first thought to be radio returns from ETI robotic probes residing in the solar system. It was later showed by Lawton et. al. that these echoes were likely caused by plasma and dust the Earth's upper ionosphere. LDE's are a surprising and unusual natural phenomena that is not fully understood, but they are far too ambiguous to be from ETI robotic probes. Russian scientists have tried some limited searches for probe radio signals within the solar system. Freitas and Valdes did an optical search for probe artifacts (SETA) at the five earth-moon-sun libration points. These searches, also done within the SETI context, were primarily negative and inconclusive. This fleeting, yet serious, research was not embraced by mainstream SETI scientists and for the most part ignored. It's chilling to think what the reaction would have been if Freitas and Valdes had detected and verified a robotic probe stationed at L5. Aside from these few studies, nothing else has been done within the SETI context to actively search for radio signals from possible ETI probes in the solar system, but there is room for hope. Presently at least one SETI telescope is periodically observing robotic probe transmissions emanating just beyond 75 AU. These are not ETI, but from NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft. Pioneer 6 has been observed occasionally, as is Galileo when it's Jovian orbit is suitable. Detection of these S-band signals demonstrates that both radio and optical SETI have the capability to search the solar system for signals that could be considered ETI in origin. ETI probe radio transmissions would be clearly distinguishable from those of our own deep space robotic probes, because we know the locations, frequencies and Doppler of our spacecraft. It might be argued that if an ETI probe were within our solar system and transmitting a signal toward Earth, intended for us or not, that we would detect it with the current SETI effort. No one with a working knowledge of the current SETI effort would accept this allegation for any frequencies other than the 1 to 3 GHz band (particularly the 18 and 21 cm lines). Millimeter-wave or optical signals from an ETI probe may be illuminating Earth right now, and we would never know it. Why not? Because a wideband, all-sky survey is not actively underway. This kind of effort, which I term Solar System SETI (S3ETI), was briefly carried out at the JPL Deep Space Tracking Network during 1992-93, as a part of the NASA HRMS (High Resolution Microwave Survey) effort. At the time, the intent was not to search for ETI probe microwave transmissions within the solar system, but it certainly could have found them if they were there and between 1 and 10 GHz. Nothing was detected, but one year is not very long to find much of anything.
Controlled Descent By NEAR Underway
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 08:59:17 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Controlled Descent By NEAR Underway Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; http://near.jhuapl.edu/news/flash/01feb12_1.html Controlled Descent Underway February 12, 2001 The first controlled descent to an asteroid is underway! NEAR Shoemaker successfully moved out of its circular orbit today at 10:32 a.m. (EST), firing its thrusters and heading toward the surface of Eros. "This was the critical opening maneuver," says NEAR Mission Operations Manager Robert Nelson, monitoring the spacecraft from the NEAR Mission Operations Center at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "Now we'll work with the NEAR navigation team [at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory] to examine the pictures and ranging data taken after the engine burn, and establish the spacecraft's location. Then we'll send one more set of commands to NEAR Shoemaker's computer, setting the timing for the final descent and imaging sequences later today." The spacecraft was about 16 miles (26 kilometers) from Eros when the maneuver started. NEAR Shoemaker will essentially drift toward the rotating asteroid for the next three hours, until starting the series of four "braking" maneuvers that will slow it from 20 mph to about 5 mph. The first of these engine bursts will occur when NEAR Shoemaker reaches a point 3 miles (5 kilometers) above Eros. After taking close-up images of the surface during the last leg of its journey, the craft is expected to touch down in an area outside Eros' saddle-shaped depression, Himeros, at approximately 3:05 p.m. EST. == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Pioneer 10 Status Report for February 9, 2001
http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat.html STATUS UPDATED: 09 February 2001 PIONEER MISSIONS Pioneer 10 distance from Sun: 77.12 AU Speed relative to the Sun: 12.24 km/sec (27,380 mph) Distance from Earth: 11.47 billion kilometers (7.13 billion miles) Round-trip Light Time: 21 hours 16 minutes We have now successfully processed tracks, previously thought null. The scientific data on the 5 and 6 August 2000 passes of Pioneer 10 were sent to Dr. Van Allen, who reports clean data. The cosmic ray intensity was identical within statistics to that on DOY 190 (7/9/00), the date of the last maneuver. There was no further decrease, indicating that the Solar wind boundaries have yet to be reached. Larry Lasher, Pioneer Project Manager The latest Pioneer 10 attempt on January 16, to acquire the downlink unfortunately was unsuccessful. Currently, we are attempting to get tracks on the busy DSN schedule that would allow an uplink and downlink support (competition for time includes Galileo, Cassini and Ulysses). This will let the DSN send up a strong stable signal and try to lock up with a coherent downlink signal. The effort is further complicated by the 21 hour round-trip light time. It looks like we will have to wait until March. However, there may be another downlink-only attempt in a few weeks. Project Phoenix is observing Pioneer 10 at Arecibo in Puerto Rico through the auspices of the SETI Institute. Their observation dates are from Feb 26 to March 5 and from March 8 through 18 about an hour each night. == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
2001: A Space Odyssey reviewed on Florida Today
The 'Odyssey' continues It is the only film about space travel that is regularly chosen by critics as one of the 10 best films ever made, a film that continues to fascinate audiences and provoke lengthy discussions more than 30 years after its initial release in 1968. And, even though Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" has now become officially outdated as an accurate prediction of humanity's future, it remains a film with much to say about what humans are and where we are going. http://www.floridatoday.com/news/editorial/stories/2001/feb/edit021101a.htm == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
NEAR Touchdown on Eros!
From: Peiser Benny [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: cambridge-conference [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Touchdown! Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 20:17:45 - From Ron Baalke The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft has successfully touched down on the surface of Eros. Transmissions from the spacecraft are still being received from the surface of the asteroid. Preliminary data indicates the spacecraft has fallen on its side. Ron Baalke http://near-mirror.boulder.swri.edu/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Shuttle EVA trumps NEAR landing attempt
Shuttle EVA trumps NEAR landing attempt Posted: Mon, Feb 12 2001 11:34 AM ET (1634 GMT) It appears that NASA believes that a relatively routine Space Shuttle EVA is more important that the first attempt to land a spacecraft on the surface on a planetoid: http://www.spacetoday.net/getsummary.php?id=77 == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
NEAR might be launched from Eros!
MISSION TEAM CONSIDER RELAUNCHING NEAR SHOEMAKER FROM EROS From Space.com, 12 February 2001 http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/nearlanding_preview_010212.html By Leonard David Senior Space Writer LAUREL, MARYLAND - What goes down, may come back up again. Engineers at APL are looking at the prospects for relaunching the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft from the surface of asteroid Eros. A command is already built into the probe as it rests upon the space rock's surface. The liftoff from the asteroid is on tap for this Wednesday, roughly 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, according to David Dunham, NEAR's mission designer at APL. The launch from Eros would be after nine rotations of the asteroid following today's NEAR Shoemaker landing, Dunham said. "Since we've got a lock on the signal, it's got to be pretty much in the right position" for the liftoff, said Dunham. Dunham said the probe may rise upwards well over 1,300 feet (400 meters) above Eros. "It could sit in the dirt and wiggle a little bit before liftoff. These are weaker thrusters on the spacecraft," he said. Some thought has been given to sequencing a double boost of thrust from the asteroid, hurtling it perhaps as high as a kilometer above the asteroid. Dunham said that if the camera has not been damaged in the first landing, more images above the asteroid could be taken. However, pictures of the first landing spot on Eros are not likely to come into view, he said. The spacecraft would then settle down to a new landing spot. "The whole thing is just more icing on the cake," Dunham said. The NASA probe had already happily surprised scientists earlier today, when it made space history with a successful landing atop an asteroid more than 196 million miles (316 million kilometers) from Earth. "I'm happy to report the near spacecraft has touched down on the surface of Eros. We're still getting some signals, so evidently it's still transmitting from the surface itself. This is the first time that any spacecraft has landed on a small body," said Robert Farquhar, NEAR mission director at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics (APL) Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin was among the first to congratulate the team. "I'm just overwhelmed with the courage and talent it took to get to this point," Goldin said shortly after the landing. The car-sized NEAR Shoemaker probe has been orbiting Eros since February 14, 2000. Since it began looping the tumbling space rock almost a year ago -- at a range of high and low-altitudes over Eros -- the craft has amassed an asteroid photo gallery made up of 150,000 snapshots. Touchdown took place shortly after 3:05 p.m. Eastern time. The spacecraft fell onto the dust-laden, cratered, and rock-piled surface of Eros. While the vehicle is a fully equipped science spacecraft, NEAR Shoemaker is without landing legs or airbag. "We're right on the money," cried out mission controllers as the craft drifted closer and closer to Eros. Images relayed on the way down to the surface showed what appears to be ancient craters buried below the thick, dusty face of Eros. "We're seeing things really well," said Joseph Veverka, NEAR's imaging team leader from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. "The pictures are absolutely fantastic. This is a great experience to just sit here and accompany a spacecraft down to the surface." In one image, a giant boulder could be clearly seen fractured in at least six pieces. As one image after another reached Earth, the spacecraft appeared to be headed toward a smooth landing surface. For over four-and-a-half hours, as engineers and scientists here at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) cheered close-up images the probe sent back during its descent, the probe drifted down toward the rock of ages. APL built and managed the NEAR mission for NASA, one of the Discovery-class of probes that signals a cheaper, better, faster approach to space exploration. Price tag for this long-term survey of an asteroid by the econo-class spacecraft: $223 million. NEAR's mission control at The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory reported the craft blasted its hydrazine-fueled motors for 20 second starting at 10:31 a.m. Eastern time. The burst of rocket thrust moved the NASA probe out of its current orbit 22-miles (35-kilometers) above Eros. The spacecraft immediately began dropping toward Eros. In the next four-and-a-half hours, a series of braking maneuvers led to the spacecraft making contact with Eros. Small body, big hopes The craft has relayed a bounty of scientific data about the asteroid, including some 160,000 images that covered all of the 21-mile-long (34-kilometers) asteroid's surface. Eros is moving in a clockwise direction as it spins on its axis. NEAR Shoemaker drifted onto the surface of Eros, softly touching down in an area bordering Himeros - a distinctive saddle-shaped depression. On the way down to
CCNet 25/2001 - 13 February 2001: NEAR-SHOEMAKER SPECIAL III
From: Peiser Benny [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: cambridge-conference [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: CCNet, 13 February 2001: RELAUNCH OF NEAR SHOEMAKER TOMORROW? Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 10:49:15 - CCNet 25/2001 - 13 February 2001: NEAR-SHOEMAKER SPECIAL III "I am happy to report that the NEAR has touched down. We are still getting signals. It is still transmitting from the surface." --Robert Farquhar, NEAR Mission Director, 12 February 2001 "Engineers at APL are looking at the prospects for relaunching the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft from the surface of asteroid Eros. A command is already built into the probe as it rests upon the space rock's surface. The liftoff from the asteroid is on tap for this Wednesday, roughly 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, according to David Dunham, NEAR's mission designer at APL. The launch from Eros would be after nine rotations of the asteroid following today's NEAR Shoemaker landing, Dunham said." --Leonard David, Space.com, 12 February 2001 (1) MISSION TEAM CONSIDER RELAUNCHING NEAR SHOEMAKER FROM EROS Space.com, 12 February 2001 (2) NEAR SHOEMAKER MAKES HISTORIC TOUCHDOWN ON ASTEROID EROS Ron Baalke [EMAIL PROTECTED] (3) AMERICAN CRAFT LANDS ON ASTEROID Spaceprogramme News, 13 February 2001 (4) NEAR SHOEMAKER SURVIVES ASTEROID LANDING Spaceflight Now [EMAIL PROTECTED]] (5) SPACECRAFT MAKES IMPROBABLE LANDING ON ASTEROID CNN, 12 February 2001 (6) METEORITES HARDER TO TRACE THAN FAMILY TREES Ron Baalke [EMAIL PROTECTED] (7) CATASTOPHE/APOCALYPSE COURSE AT BARD COLLEGE Benny J Peiser [EMAIL PROTECTED] (8) NEO DEFLECTION BY NEO COLLISION/FLY-BY Christian Gritzner [EMAIL PROTECTED] = (1) MISSION TEAM CONSIDER RELAUNCHING NEAR SHOEMAKER FROM EROS From Space.com, 12 February 2001 http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/nearlanding_preview_010212.htm l By Leonard David Senior Space Writer LAUREL, MARYLAND - What goes down, may come back up again. Engineers at APL are looking at the prospects for relaunching the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft from the surface of asteroid Eros. A command is already built into the probe as it rests upon the space rock's surface. The liftoff from the asteroid is on tap for this Wednesday, roughly 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, according to David Dunham, NEAR's mission designer at APL. The launch from Eros would be after nine rotations of the asteroid following today's NEAR Shoemaker landing, Dunham said. "Since we've got a lock on the signal, it's got to be pretty much in the right position" for the liftoff, said Dunham. Dunham said the probe may rise upwards well over 1,300 feet (400 meters) above Eros. "It could sit in the dirt and wiggle a little bit before liftoff. These are weaker thrusters on the spacecraft," he said. Some thought has been given to sequencing a double boost of thrust from the asteroid, hurtling it perhaps as high as a kilometer above the asteroid. Dunham said that if the camera has not been damaged in the first landing, more images above the asteroid could be taken. However, pictures of the first landing spot on Eros are not likely to come into view, he said. The spacecraft would then settle down to a new landing spot. "The whole thing is just more icing on the cake," Dunham said. The NASA probe had already happily surprised scientists earlier today, when it made space history with a successful landing atop an asteroid more than 196 million miles (316 million kilometers) from Earth. "I'm happy to report the near spacecraft has touched down on the surface of Eros. We're still getting some signals, so evidently it's still transmitting from the surface itself. This is the first time that any spacecraft has landed on a small body," said Robert Farquhar, NEAR mission director at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics (APL) Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin was among the first to congratulate the team. "I'm just overwhelmed with the courage and talent it took to get to this point," Goldin said shortly after the landing. The car-sized NEAR Shoemaker probe has been orbiting Eros since February 14, 2000. Since it began looping the tumbling space rock almost a year ago -- at a range of high and low-altitudes over Eros -- the craft has amassed an asteroid photo gallery made up of 150,000 snapshots. Touchdown took place shortly after 3:05 p.m. Eastern time. The spacecraft fell onto the dust-laden, cratered, and rock-piled surface of Eros. While the vehicle is a fully equipped science spacecraft, NEAR Shoemaker is without landing legs or airbag. "We're right on the money," cried out mission controllers as the craft drifted closer and closer to Eros. Images relayed on the way down to the surface showed what appears to be ancient craters buried below the thick, dusty face of Eros. "We're seeing things really well," said Joseph
Icy Pluto's Fall From the Planetary Ranks: A Conversation
If you can access the NYT Web page itself, there is a very amusing photo of a guy who opposes Tyson's views on Pluto attempting to strangle him. Trust me, it is funnier than it sounds. I mean, Tyson is smiling. Icy Pluto's Fall From the Planetary Ranks: A Conversation February 13, 2001 By THE NEW YORK TIMES News that astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History do not consider Pluto a planet spurred more than 100 e-mail messages, some critical, some supportive, to Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson, director of the museum's Hayden Planetarium. The museum is now considering changing its exhibits slightly to explain its views to confused visitors. One e-mail correspondent was Dr. Mark Sykes, chairman of the Division of Planetary Sciences at the American Astronomical Society and an astronomer at the Steward Observatory in Arizona. The division's executive committee was considering drafting a statement criticizing the museum's exhibits. Dr. Tyson told Dr. Sykes to be "wary" of drawing conclusions based on what he had heard in the news. Two weeks ago, Dr. Sykes visited the museum to view the exhibits. Following are excerpts from a conversation between Dr. Sykes and Dr. Tyson afterward: DR. NEIL de GRASSE TYSON People are wondering, what do astronomers call planets, and of course, as we know, the definition of planets has changed over time. The Sun and Moon used to be planets. We're trying to teach the public about our subject, so we said, What's the best way to convey the most amount of information? What we decided was rather than count planets, which we don't do out there, rather than saying who is a planet and who isn't, we say that the solar system has families of objects, and when we organize the information, organize the members of the solar system, in families. Then the very mention of a family conveys information. So we have the terrestrial planets, and any time we talk about Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, we mention the grouping. And then we talk about the asteroid belt, and then the Jovian planets and then the Kuiper Belt of comets, including Pluto that's orbiting out there. DR. MARK SYKES The consensus exists. Unanimity may not, but I think consensus does, and the consensus is that people feel Pluto should not it's fine to call it a Kuiper Belt object but we should not remove its designation as a planet. People are thinking not families, not groups, not cousins. They're thinking planets. When you make visual representations of planets that exclude Pluto, you are being incomplete. When people come in, they are expecting to see what astronomers think. What you've got up here is not what astronomers think. DR. TYSON It's what some astronomers think. DR. SYKES Some astronomers that I can think of, that I can put on one hand. DR. TYSON The point is, if we say, this is a planet, there's no information in it. There's no educational information. DR. SYKES Yes, there is educational information. DR. TYSON What does it say? If I say, it's a planet, what does that tell you? DR. SYKES It says it's got properties that make it distinct from other objects. DR. TYSON And so does Ganymede and so does Io. Europa. [Ganymede, Io and Europa are three large moons of Jupiter.] You can't get more distinct than that. DR. SYKES You're an educator. What do you tell about Pluto here? All you say in your entire exhibit is that it's an icy world. This is just like all these other guys so we shouldn't distinguish it and hints there is a justification for what you're doing, but you arrive at that by not saying things about what we know about the object which make it distinct from all the other guys. I would say were Pluto discovered today and known to have a moon and an atmosphere, I think that it would be designated a planet and not just given a minor planet designation. DR. TYSON Aren't there your contemporaries who would say that differently? DR. SYKES Well, yes. DR. TYSON Not a few, but many. Because there's some legacy thing going, because of course we've lived with it for 60 years, and there's a dog named after it. It's in our culture. It's there. DR. SYKES There are noncultural things as I've listed its properties. It's got nitrogen ice caps. It's got seasons. It's got a moon. It's got an atmosphere. It's got a whole suite of properties which distinguishes it from what we know about any other Kuiper Belt object, and just to blithely say, Well, we're just not going to tell you about this and we're just going to lump it in with these other guys, is, from an educational standpoint, irresponsible. DR. TYSON I would submit to you that, regardless of what the I.A.U. [International Astronomical Union] says about how the word "planet" is applied, the word "planet" does not convey enough information for it to teach people about the stuff in the solar system. . . . DR. SYKES If Pluto were 10 times its size, how would you treat it? DR. TYSON I think if it were still ice, we'd still
The Future of SETI in April, 2001 Sky Telescope
Coming in the April 2001 Issue: The Future of SETI Searches for extraterrestrial intelligence are about to expand into new realms, thanks to recent advances in technology -- and new thinking. http://www.skypub.com/skytel/next.html == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
I hope no one has bought Europa (yet)!
WASHINGTON -- The soft-landing by NEAR Shoemaker on asteroid 433 Eros has caught the attention of a group claiming they own the giant space rock. Orbital Development of San Diego, California said they welcome NASAs NEAR spacecraft to Eros, but also want to inform NASA that the group has owned the property since March 3 of last year. "Its the wild frontier up there," says Gregory Nemitz, founder of Orbital Development. "Since there are no laws governing private property claims in outer space, the first claimant gets ownership of it," he said in a statement. http://space.com/missionlaunches/missions/near_claim_010214.html == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
The Real Story Behind Mysterious Space Photos
The Real Story Behind Mysterious Space Photos We humans love to remake space to fit our imaginations, our hopes, our fears. Scatter some stars, and we'll organize them into gods, animals, heroes and what have you. Give us a telescope, and we'll spot irrigation ditches on Mars. Show us a mountain, we'll call it a face. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/strange_images_010213.html?Enews=y == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
More details on the NEAR Eros surface mission plans
From: SpaceRef Mailer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 18:58:27 "GMT" Subject: SpaceRef Newsletter - NEAR Mission on Eros Extended for 10 Days At a press conference held at 1:00 PM EST today at Johns Hopkins University, NEAR mission managers announced that they would be extending NEAR's mission on the surface of Eros for at least 10 days. The spacecraft is sitting on the surface of Eros in a more or less optimal orientation for communication with Earth using the spacecraft's forward low gain antenna which provides a 10 bit per second data rate (which limits what can be accomplished). The imager has been activated and, although it is not currently taking images, the system is operational. Over the coming days the spacecraft's gamma ray spectrometer will be used to do an ultra-precise analysis of the surface composition of the minerals that comprise Eros. Researchers may be able to determine whether the dust that covers Eros is similar to - or different from what lies underneath. The magnetometer will not be activated. One additional option being considered is re-launching NEAR from the surface of Eros and then obtaining additional ultra-close images as the spacecraft moves across the face of the asteroid. ___ SpaceRef is a privately held company based out of Reston, Virginia, U.S.A. Copyright SpaceRef Interactive Inc., 2001 (u are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
NASA To Host 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference At Johnson Space Center
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 09:42:23 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NASA To Host 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference At Johnson Space Center Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; February 13, 2001 Catherine E. Watson Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (Phone: 281/483-5111) Release: J01-14 NASA TO HOST 32nd LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE AT JOHNSON SPACE CENTER Ancient life on Mars, oceans on Europa, a rendezvous with an asteroid - these are just a few of the many fascinating topics that will be covered at the 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 12-16, 2001, at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. More than 450 scientists will present their research at JSC's Gilruth Center beginning at 8:30 a.m. Monday, March 12. Oral presentations will continue through Friday morning, March 16. Some scientists will also present their results on posters from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, in the Bayou Building at the University of Houston - Clear Lake. The media are invited to attend both the oral and poster sessions. One session on Monday morning will be devoted to the Tagish Lake meteorite, which fell to Earth in northern British Columbia on Jan. 18, 2000. Early analyses suggest that the Tagish Lake meteorite may contain the most primitive solar system materials yet found. Researchers have also determined that the meteroid weighed 200,000 kilograms (441,000 lbs) before it entered the atmosphere, and was four to six meters (approximately 13 to 20 feet) in diameter. Several hundred meteorite samples have been recovered from the site, which is strewn along an area 16 kilometers (10 miles) long and five kilometers (three miles) wide. The analyses of these unique samples will be discussed in detail at the conference. The conference, which is chaired by Carl B. Agee of JSC and David C. Black of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, will also include presentations on water, glaciers and volcanoes on Mars; earthquakes on Venus; and the effects of past asteroid impacts on the Earth. News media can register for the conference, at no charge, via the Web at: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/htbin/meetings/lpsc2001.elec.regfrm.pl Under "registration status" select "Working Press $0.00". News media with additional questions, or those who wish to schedule interviews with participants, should contact Pam Thompson at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Thompson can be reached by phone at 281/486-2175 or by e-mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Additional information about conference events, including the texts of abstracts, can be found at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference website: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2001/ -END- == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
The NEAR asteroid mission is not over yet!
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 14:54:48 -0600 Subject: The NEAR asteroid mission is not over yet! To: "NASA Science News" [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: NASA Science News [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: "NASA Science News" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] NASA Science News for February 14, 2001 Following one of the softest planetary landings in history --the touchdown of NASA's NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft on asteroid Eros-- ground controllers have decided to extend NEAR's mission a little longer. Scientists hope to gather unique data transmitted from the very surface of the asteroid itself. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast14feb_1.htm?list86654 --- This is a free service. Habla espaol? If you do, check out our new Spanish-language web site at http://ciencia.msfc.nasa.gov. If you need to get in touch with us directly, please go to http://science.nasa.gov/comments Home page: http://science.nasa.gov (u are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
NASA scientists claim possible discovery of negative mass
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Robert J. Bradbury" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailing-List: list [EMAIL PROTECTED]; contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 15:21:26 -0800 (PST) Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Htech] NASA scientists claim possible discovery of negative mass According to CNN reports, NASA scientists have yet another 1st for the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft. They claim: "We have no fuel on board, plus or minus 8 kilograms," said one NEAR scientist. By my arithmetic, if its -8 kg, then this is the first known discovery of negative mass in the Universe. If I recall correctly, negative mass allows faster than light travel. If that is accurate, we ought to be able to be able to bring NEAR back to Earth a lot faster than it took to get to the asteroid. Also, of note: "Some suggest unknown forces breaking up boulders, moving debris into flat crater pools and creating unidentifiable depressions the size of hand and footprints." Is Eros haunted? Robert From: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/02/14/near.landing.03/index.html -BEGIN TRANSHUMANTECH SIGNATURE- Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List home:http://www.egroups.com/community/transhumantech/ Alt archive: http://www.planetx.com/majordomo/transhumantech/ Old archive: http://www.planetx.com/transhumantech/threads.html -END TRANSHUMANTECH SIGNATURE- == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Budding young scientists set their sights on Martian soil
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 18:33:18 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Budding young scientists set their sights on Martian soil Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov Contact: JPL/Gia Scafidi (818) 354-0372 Planetary Society/Susan Lendroth (626) 793-5100 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2001 BUDDING YOUNG SCIENTISTS SET THEIR SIGHTS ON MARTIAN SOIL For the first-time ever, student scientists will direct a camera on board NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, currently orbiting the red planet, and image interesting sites on the Martian terrain. Nine students, ranging in age from 10 to 15, were selected from more than 10,000 entrants worldwide to serve on the Planetary Society's weeklong Red Rover Goes to Mars Training Mission. As mission members, the group works with imaging data from the Global Surveyor spacecraft, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., to choose a candidate landing site for a possible future Martian sample return mission. (The chosen site will be imaged once the spacecraft reaches that particular region of the planet.) In addition, under the supervision of Drs. Michael Malin and Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, Calif., the students will image three interesting Martian sites with Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera. The students' achievements and findings will be announced at a student press conference at LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, Calif. on Feb. 16. "We're really beginning to expand opportunities for the public -- and for students in particular -- to participate directly in Mars exploration," said Michelle Viotti, lead for the Mars Public Engagement Program at JPL. "It's all about sharing the adventure, and it's exciting, because some of these students might even end up playing major roles in NASA missions one day." The students, representing Brazil, Hungary, India, Poland, Taiwan and the United States, were chosen through an essay contest from a group of 80 semi-finalists. Information about the students and their training mission is available at http://planetary.org . The Planetary Society's Red Rover Goes to Mars project is conducted in cooperation with NASA and JPL. JPL manages NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C., and Malin Space Science Systems built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. # 2/14/01 GNS 2001-034 --- Please do not reply to this e-mail. For help, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
SETI EDUCATION E-NEWS 2
SETI EDUCATION E-NEWS 2 == E-Newsletter Contents: Upcoming Public Events: Science Talks Opportunities for Educators: Field Test Teachers Needed Education Workshops Student Summer Opportunity Education Who's Who: Ly Ly Contact Information == UPCOMING PUBLIC EVENTS For more information, link to http://www.seti.org/general/cal.html Seth Shostak March 2-4, 2001 CONTACT 2001 Conference Friday: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Saturday-Sunday: Biltmore Hotel, Santa Clara, CA For more information, visit http://www.softwaremanagement.com/contact/ Pascal Lee March 7, 2001 at 7:00 pm "Finding Mars on Earth" Smithwick Theater, Foothill College 12345 El Monte Road Los Altos Hills, CA Call (650) 949-7888 for more information Seth Shostak and Doug Vakoch March 18, 2001 at 3:00 pm A panel discussion: "SETI and the Social Implications of Contact" Morrison Auditorium, California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA For more information, visit http://www.seti.org/general/cal_announce/seti_contact.html == OPPORTUNITIES FOR EDUCATORS FIELD TEST TEACHERS NEEDED! APPLY BY FEBRUARY 28. The Voyages Through Time (VTT) curriculum development project is now recruiting nationally for high school science teachers to field test VTT during academic year 2001-02. VTT is an integrated course in six modules around the theme of evolution. You can learn more about the project and obtain an application to join us as a field test teacher by connecting to the education pages on the SETI Institute web site and following the links to Voyages Through Time: http://www.seti.org/education/Welcome.html == EDUCATION WORKSHOPS The SETI Institute staff presents workshops at a variety of science and education conferences. An education calendar appears at our Web site: http://www.seti.org/education/cal-ed.html SAN DIEGO SCIENCE EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION 17TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE MARCH 9-10 Web site http://www.sdsea.org/ "Why are Humans Different Colors?" Pamela Harman and Edna DeVore March 9, 8:00 am "Life in the Universe: The Search for Life in the Galaxy" Edna DeVore and Pamela Harman March 9, 9:30 am "Explore the Invisible Universe with NASA" Edna DeVore and Pamela Harman March 9, 11:00 am NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CONVENTION March 22-25, 2001 St. Louis, MO Web site http://www.nsta.org/conv/ Visit us in the exhibit hall March 22-25 Voyages Through Time: Everything Evolves "Why are Humans Different Colors?" March 22, 12:30 pm Life in the Universe: The Search for Life in the Galaxy March 22, 9:30 am Earth Science Shar-a-thon March 23, 8:00 am Astronomy Shar-a-thon March 23, 9:30 am SETI Workshop "Bring SETI to your Classroom" March 23, 4:30 pm Earth Science Shar-a-thon March 24, 8:00 am "Explore the Invisible Universe with NASA" March 24, 3:30 pm == PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES San Diego Science Educators Association 17th Annual Conference 2001: A Science Odyssey Friday-Saturday, March 9-10, 2001, The San Diego Concourse Web site http://www.sdsea.org/ Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Educators Day Technology-Based K-12 Teaching-Learning Issues Strategies Saturday, March 10, 2001, San Jose Convention Center Web site: http://www.acm.org/acm1/educators/index.html National Science Teachers Association National Convention Thursday-Sunday, March 22-25, 2001 Cervantes Convention Center, St. Louis, MO Web site http://www.nsta.org/conv/ Andrew Fraknoi "The Violent Universe: Crashing Asteroids, Exploding Stars, and Cannibal Galaxies" Saturday, March 24, 2001, 9:00 am to 5:30 pm 155 Dwinelle Hall University of California, Berkeley For more information, visit http://www.learningsphere.org/astronomy.htm "An Education Odyssey" Spring 2001 CUE Conference Hosted by Computer-Using Educators, Inc. Thursday-Saturday, May 17-19, 2001 Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA Mail-in registration deadline is April 20 Online registration April 27 Please visit http://www.cue.org/ or call the CUE office at (510) 814-6630 "Portals to Learning" Fall 2001 CUE Conference Hosted by Computer-Using Educators, Inc. Thursday-Saturday, October 11-13, 2001 Sacramento Convention Center, Sacramento, CA Mail-in registration deadline is October 1 Online registration October 7 Please visit http://www.cue.org/ or call the CUE office at (510) 814-6630 == STUDENT SUMMER OPPORTUNITY Three UC campuses (Davis, Irvine, and Santa Cruz) will be enrolling high achieving high school students who excel in mathematics and science in the 4-week residential programs for this summer. UC is accepting
Quote of the Day for February 16, 2001
"If a man walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen." - Henry David Thoreau, "Life without Principle", 1863 http://eserver.org/thoreau/lifewout.html == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Astronomers mock Fox show about Moon fakery
The last paragraphs are especially incriminating: Astronomers mock Fox show about Moon fakery http://usatoday.com/usatonline/20010215/3069311s.htm One sad part of the show for astronomers involves the production's use of Brian Welch, a well-liked NASA spokesman, who died unexpectedly in November at age 42. Welch rebuts some of the coverup allegations. Show producers confessed total ignorance of his death. ''Don't hate us. We're just entertainers,'' Tipley says. == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
New MIT Press books on AI and Evolutionary Robotics
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: new books from MIT Press Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 15:29:17 GMT NEW BOOKS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE FROM THE MIT PRESS Featured in this e-mail: Introduction to AI Robotics, by Robin R. Murphy Evolutionary Robotics, by Stefano Nolfi and Dario Floreano *If you would like to receive a free hard copy of our Computer Science catalog, please send an email including your name and mailing address to [EMAIL PROTECTED], with "Computer Science catalog" in the subject line. Please follow the URLs below for more information. Introduction to AI Robotics Robin R. Murphy http://mitpress.mit.edu/promotions/books/MURIHF00 This text covers all the material needed to understand the principles behind the AI approach to robotics and to program an artificially intelligent robot for applications involving sensing, navigation, planning, and uncertainty. Robin Murphy is extremely effective at combining theoretical and practical rigor with a light narrative touch. In the overview, for example, she touches upon anthropomorphic robots from classic films and science fiction stories before delving into the nuts and bolts of organizing intelligence in robots. Following the overview, Murphy contrasts AI and engineering approaches and discusses what she calls the three paradigms of AI robotics: hierarchical, reactive, and hybrid deliberative/reactive. Later chapters explore multiagent scenarios, navigation and path-planning for mobile robots, and the basics of computer vision and range sensing. Each chapter includes objectives, review questions, and exercises. Many chapters contain one or more case studies showing how the concepts were implemented on real robots. Murphy, who is well known for her classroom teaching, conveys the intellectual adventure of mastering complex theoretical and technical material. Robin R. Murphy is Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and in the Department of Psychology, at the University of South Florida, Tampa. 8 x 9, 400 pp., 100 illus., cloth ISBN 0-262-13383-0 Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents series A Bradford Book Evolutionary Robotics The Biology, Intelligence, and Technology of Self-Organizing Machines Stefano Nolfi and Dario Floreano http://mitpress.mit.edu/promotions/books/NOLEHF00 Evolutionary robotics is a new technique for the automatic creation of autonomous robots. Inspired by the Darwinian principle of selective reproduction of the fittest, it views robots as autonomous artificial organisms that develop their own skills in close interaction with the environment and without human intervention. Drawing heavily on biology and ethology, it uses the tools of neural networks, genetic algorithms, dynamic systems, and biomorphic engineering. The resulting robots share with simple biological systems the characteristics of robustness, simplicity, small size, flexibility, and modularity. In evolutionary robotics, an initial population of artificial chromosomes, each encoding the control system of a robot, is randomly created and put into the environment. Each robot is then free to act (move, look around, manipulate) according to its genetically specified controller while its performance on various tasks is automatically evaluated. The fittest robots then "reproduce" by swapping parts of their genetic material with small random mutations. The process is repeated until the "birth" of a robot that satisfies the performance criteria. This book describes the basic concepts and methodologies of evolutionary robotics and the results achieved so far. An important feature is the clear presentation of a set of empirical experiments of increasing complexity. Software with a graphic interface, freely available on a Web page, will allow the reader to replicate and vary (in simulation and on real robots) most of the experiments. Stefano Nolfi is Coordinator of the Division of Neural Systems and Artificial Life, Institute of Psychology, National Research Council, Rome. Dario Floreano is Assistant Professor of Biorobotics and Adaptive Systems, Institute of Robotics, Department of Microengineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne. 7 x 9, 384 pp., 157 illus., cloth ISBN 0-262-14070-5 Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents series A Bradford Book "An excellent book providing a thorough coverage of the subject. Clearly and insightfully written, this is a must for researchers and postgraduate students interested in new approaches to intelligent robotics." --Phil Husbands, School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex "This is an exciting new area that has implications and ramifications ranging from psychology to artificial life; can we create robots with intelligent or adaptive behavior using techniques comparable to the Darwinian evolution that created the animals and ourselves? Here is an authoritative, clearly written survey written by two of the researchers who helped to pioneer the
Re: OK, OK, OK, Enough!
I'm curious - what is being mined on Europa in your SF story? Larry At 10:16 AM 02/20/2001 -0800, Gail Roberta wrote: Well, I guess that's the price of getting to the show after the curtain goes up. Sorry if I sounded like such a dunce, but I really did just get caught up in what's really being done. I am trying to start a sci fi story series based on the moons of Jupiter, and the idea of mining Europa for whatever is there intrigued me. To gain some semblance of credibility, I started searching the web for info, and found this site, plus the NASA site and several others. Got lots of interesting info, and hope to get more. These discussions show me how much I have to learn--as someone said long ago: "The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know." Please be patient with my ignorance--that can be cured! :-) - Original Message - From: Bruce Moomaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Icepick Europa Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 11:58 PM Subject: Re: OK, OK, OK, Enough! -Original Message- From: Gail Roberta [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Monday, February 19, 2001 8:49 PM Subject: OK, OK, OK, Enough! Haven't we milked this one dry already? What does all this have to do with the possible exploration of one of Jupiter's moons anyhow? So Fox came up with a stupid, but apparently entertaining show that no one in their right minds would believe? Isn't sci-fi by it's very nature the same thing? OK, forget I said that. I love sci-fi, I love to watch reruns of Star Trek in all its permutations, even Babylon 5 is entertaining. But science? Naw, and I don't even pretend it is. So let's get back to discussing Europa. When we land there, will we need flotation devices to float on the possibly slushy ice? If we land on an ice island and want to drill through, will the island drift so much that we'll lose our probes? Is there an atmosphere? How hot is the core? Lots more interesting stuff to speculate about than some crap served up on TV, don't you think? The trouble is that this group has already long since chewed all that over extremely thoroughly, throughout 1999 and 2000 (apparently before you got here) -- and we're simply running out of specifically Europa-related stuff to discuss. (Hopefully there will soon be some more of it, as I recently noted.) That's precisely why many of us have moved over to Jason Perry's "ISSDG" and "Jupiter List" chat groups, which deal with Solar System exploration in general. Regarding your questions: Europa's crust is solid ice and anywhere from several to several dozen km thick -- so we certainly don't need to worry about floating on the surface or drifting on ice floes. It has an extremely faint trace of atmosphere -- only a few hundred-millionths as dense as Earth's -- and we have a good idea of most of the gases making it up. The core may or may not be hot enough to provide any volcanic vents at all on the floor of the subsurface ocean, but most of that floor is certainly near 0 deg C, just like most of Earth's ocean floor. (Europa's tidal heating from Jupiter is only about 1/10 of Io's.) This still leaves a tremendous number of interesting questions about the place, of course -- with one of the most lively recent subjects being an increased feeling among scientists that Jupiter's radiation may produce a disproportionate concentration of nutrients and other biologically useful chemicals in the TOP few meters of Europa's ice, and that these may both be slowly transported down into the underground ocean, or nourish microbes in local pockets of near-surface water within the ice. (This, in turn, would mean that a productive search for Europan life may not have to dig nearly as far down into the ice as the originaly Cryobot would have -- but then, there was some feeling along those lines anyway, since it's always seemed likely that long-dead but extremely well-preserved Europan microbes may be preserved in the ice even near its top.) Bruce Moomaw == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
New Group of Microorganisms Discovered in the Open Sea
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 00:32:52 -0500 (EST) From: NSF Custom News Service [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: CNS Subscribers [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [pr0105] - News Releases The following document (pr0105) is now available from the NSF Online Document System Title: New Group of Microorganisms Discovered in the Open Sea Type: News Releases Subtype: Geosciences It may be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?pr0105 Full text follows. CUT HERE Title: New Group of Microorganisms Discovered in the Open Sea Embargoed until 2 p.m. EST News - January 24, 2001 NSF PR 01-05 Media contact: Cheryl Dybas (703) 292-8070 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Program contacts: Phil Taylor (703) 292-8580 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Don Rice (703) 292-8580 [EMAIL PROTECTED] New Group of Microorganisms Discovered in the Open Sea Archaea, one of three separate domains of life on our planet, were undiscovered until 1970. Since then, they had been found mostly in extreme environments such as high-temperature volcanic vents on the ocean floor, continental hot springs and fumeroles, and highly salty or acidic waters. Now, scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) have found unexpected, astounding numbers of archaea living in Earth's largest biome, the open sea. The researchers--David Karl and Markus Karner of the University of Hawaii, and Edward DeLong of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute--have published a paper in this week's issue of the journal Nature on their discovery: "Archaeal dominance in the mesopelagic zone of the Pacific Ocean." The concentration of archaea in their study leads the scientists to conclude that archaea are "a large percentage of the biomass of the open ocean," says Karl. "These organisms could make up 50 percent of life in the open sea." The research is the first to note their numerical abundance. "This remarkable new insight will have a major impact on our view of how the oceans function ecologically, "says Phil Taylor, director of NSF's biological oceanography program, which, along with NSF's chemical oceanography program, funded the research. "We are compelled by this discovery to increase our efforts to understand the diversity of life in the oceans, and the specific roles that important species and groups play in the sea." The research is part of the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) project, an NSF-sponsored study of the north Pacific Ocean. Monthly sampling was conducted throughout the water column, from the surface to 4,750 meters deep. Two specific archaeal groups--pelagic euryarchaeota and pelagic crenarchaeota--were found in high numbers in the samples. In the past, archaea were known as archaebacteria, but it has since been found that they are fundamentally distinct from true bacteria. Very little is known about these life forms. According to Karl, they were only discovered because of "their unusual genetic and molecular structures." Marine scientists have yet to understand how archaea take in nutrients, multiply, or what ecological role they play. The habitat range for these archaea, the Nature paper authors note, is unusually broad. "As a dominant component of the ocean, archaea are thus far from confined to extreme niche habitats," they write. "Rather, the distribution of these archaea suggests that a common adaptive strategy has allowed them to radiate throughout nearly the entire water column." The discovery of these numbers of a group of microorganisms living in a previously unsampled area "points out the basic ignorance we have of the planet we live on," maintains Karl. This research, he says, further reveals the need for a reclassification of the characteristics of the archaea kingdom. -NSF- CUT HERE -- NSF Custom News Service http://www.nsf.gov/home/cns/start.htm Please send questions and comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Galileo Millennium Mission status - camera problem
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 14:35:34 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Galileo Millennium Mission status Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov GALILEO MILLENNIUM MISSION STATUS February 21, 2001 Engineers are narrowing down possible causes for an intermittent problem with the camera on NASA's Galileo spacecraft that may be related to effects of Jupiter's radiation belts. The spacecraft signaled an alarm from the camera system three times while Galileo passed close to Jupiter from Dec. 28, 2000, to Jan. 1, 2001. Each time, the camera either restored itself to normal functioning or was restored by commands from the ground. The incidents appear to be related to a single similar event five months earlier, and the underlying cause may be cumulative exposure of electronic components to the intensely radioactive environment near Jupiter, said Dr. Eilene Theilig, Galileo project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Galileo, now in its sixth year of what was originally planned as a two-year mission orbiting Jupiter, has weathered more than three times the radiation dose it was designed to withstand. "We are able to clear the fault by power-cycling the instrument -- turning the power off and on -- and reloading its memory. The fact that the camera can fix itself without our intervention is puzzling but provides valuable information to analyze what is happening," Theilig said. Engineers have examined a small sampling of the camera data recorded while Galileo passed through the inner portion of the Jupiter system in late December. The sampling indicates that more than half of the 120 pictures taken during that encounter period were captured properly, including all the ones taken Dec. 28 as the spacecraft flew by the moon Ganymede during an eclipse. In pictures taken while the camera fault was present, however, images are blank, as if entirely saturated with light. The first transmissions of complete images from the encounter will come later this month. Experiments at JPL with an engineering model of the camera system are aiding analysis of events on the spacecraft. The main suspect is an amplifier in the circuitry that processes signals from the camera's CCD (charge-coupled device), a light-sensor grid akin to the ones in video cameras. "The investigation is continuing," Theilig said. "When we get a better understanding of the fault and what triggers it, we should be able to identify some workarounds, such as planning ahead to power-cycle the camera at appropriate times, so we can minimize the impact to our imaging objectives." Galileo's next encounter will be a flyby of Jupiter's moon Callisto on May 25. Additional information about the mission is available at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov . Galileo was launched in 1989 and began orbiting Jupiter in 1995. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. # 2/21/01 GW 2001-040 --- Please do not reply to this e-mail. For help, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
AN ECONOMIC RATIONALE FOR BECOMING A SPACEFARING CIVILIZATION
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 12:44:01 -0800 (PST) From: Elaine Walker [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Space Meeting March 3, NYC ! To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The NYC Chapter of the National Space Society would like to invite you to our next public lecture, Saturday, March 3, 2001 at New York University, 32 Waverly Place, Room 712. Please join us... http://www.ziaspace.com/nssnyc Saturday, March 3, 2001, 4:00-5:30 pm (Reception and refreshments 3:30-4:00pm) Location: NYU, 32 Waverly Place, Room 712, NYC Guest Speaker: Paul Roseman "AN ECONOMIC RATIONALE FOR BECOMING A SPACEFARING CIVILIZATION" By looking at the cost of money, as well as the costs of doing business in space, we can figure out a cost effective way to increase the pace of becoming a space faring civilization. It is only through the development of cost-effective infrastructure in low earth orbit that we can speed up the process. We hope to see you there! -Elaine Walker NSS/NYC, President [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ziaspace.com/nssnyc == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Cosmos 1 - The first solar sail space mission
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~diedrich/solarsails/news/Cosmos_1_Press_Release .html For Immediate Release: February 26, 2001 Contact: Susan Lendroth 626-793-5100 ext 237 Warren Betts 626-836-2080 THE PLANETARY SOCIETY AND COSMOS STUDIOS ANNOUNCE COSMOS 1 THE FIRST SOLAR SAIL SPACE MISSION TEST FLIGHT WILL LAUNCH IN APRIL WITH ORBITAL MISSION TO LAUNCH LATER THIS YEAR Cosmos 1: The First Solar Sail is a project of The Planetary Society and is solely sponsored by Cosmos Studios THIS MISSION IS ONE GIANT LEAP FOR HUMANKIND - THE FIRST FLIGHT OF A TECHNOLOGY DESTINED TO TAKE HUMANKIND THROUGHOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND TO THE STARS For News and Updates on this mission, visit http://www.planetary.org/solarsail/ Pasadena, CA. - February 26, 2001: The Planetary Society's Cosmos 1: The First Solar Sail mission, sponsored by Cosmos Studios, is set to test in April with the prime mission scheduled to launch between October - December this year. The deployment test flight will launch from a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea and will be lifted into a thirty-minute sub-orbital flight from a Russian Volna rocket, a converted ICBM. The main mission, with the goal of first solar sail flight, will launch into Earth orbit later this year, also from a Volna rocket. Once in orbit, the solar sail spacecraft will be as bright as the full Moon (although only a point in the sky) and will be visible from places on Earth with the naked eye. Images of the sail in flight will be sent to Earth from two different cameras on-board the spacecraft. The mission represents the first private mission of space exploration technology and the first mission by a private space interest organization. It will explore and develop technology that could open the door to future flights throughout the solar system and beyond. The mission will be carried out by a unique, privately funded Russian-American space venture. "This could be a pivotal moment for space exploration, said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society and Project Director of Cosmos 1. "Solar Sailing is a grand adventure as well as an important leap in technological innovation." Space sailing is done not with wind ,but with reflected light pressure -- pushing on giant sails, changing the orbital energy and spacecraft velocity continuously. The sunlight pressure is powerful enough to push spacecraft between the planets from Mercury out to Jupiter. Beyond Jupiter, and out to the stars, space sailing can be done using powerful lasers focused over long distances in space. "The lasers themselves will be powered by solar energy - keeping the spirit of solar sailing alive to other stars," added Friedman. "The many special aspects of this first attempted solar sail flight -- Russian-American collaboration; use of weapons of war for launching peaceful technologies for humankind's future; attempting a very low cost, privately funded space initiative in a one-year time schedule; realizing one of Carl Sagan's dreams; working with Ann Druyan, Sagan's wife and long-time collaborator, who, together with Joe Firmage, had the courage to fund this project - make us extremely proud of what we have accomplished before we've even launched," said Friedman. "We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars," wrote Sagan and Druyan in their television series, Cosmos. "This is a Kitty Hawk moment to us. We feel as if we've been given the chance to outfit the Wright Brothers' Bicycle Shop," said Ann Druyan, CEO of Cosmos Studios, Inc. "We at Cosmos Studios are honored to work with the brilliant scientists and engineers of many countries brought together by The Planetary Society for one great purpose. We are proud to be part of this historic mission, which is a critical baby step to the stars. It's also emblematic of Cosmos Studios' philosophy: to support good science, clean high technology and bold exploration, and to engage the widest possible audience in the romance of the adventure." The low cost of this mission is made possible due to the Russian ability to "piggy-back" on a successful program in developing an inflatable re-entry vehicle. Once injected into Earth's orbit, the sail will be deployed by inflatable tubes, pulling out the sail material and then rigidizing the structure. The sail is constructed into eight "blades" or "petals" - roughly triangular in shape. They can be turned (pitched) like helicopter blades, and depending on how they are turned, the sunlight will reflect in different directions. This is how the attitude of the spacecraft is controlled and how the sail can "tack." Low cost is also made possible by use of the Volna rocket, manufactured by the Makeev Rocket Bureau in Russia. The Babakin Space Center is the prime contractor for the project - the company is a spin-off organization of NPO Lavochkin, the largest
The Dish to Premiere in the U.S. on 14 March 2001
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=294 "The Dish" to Premiere in the U.S. on 14 March 2001 Keith Cowing Monday, February 26, 2001 "Pulling the wool over NASA's eyes took guts. Pulling it out of the sheep dip was an international triumph." A note from a reader down under: Hi Keith, Hope things are going well. I'm not sure if you are aware of a film that is about to be released in the United States known as The Dish. It is a movie that was made here in Australia, and is based upon how the pictures of Apollo 11's moonwalk was received by the radio telescope built in Parkes, New South Wales. The film is a comedy that sees how three local scientists, and a NASA engineer have to cope with problems in getting the first live pictures broadcast to the worldproblems such as power outages, loss of computer information and high winds that threaten to collaspe the enourmous Dish. When the film opened here in Australia, it broke all box office records, and became one of the most popular is our history of Motion Picture Arts. I am a huge fan of the film (I saw it 5 times), because of its accuracy, comedy and direction in giving the viewer a feel of the extraordinary event that took place in July 1969. It opens in the US on March 14th (Nationwide on April 25th), and I am eagerly awaiting to find out what the reaction will be from the US. There is a web site open for the film, which is distributed by Warner Bros, which is: http://thedishmovie.warnerbros.com I am hoping this will be of some interest to you and your readers. Best Wishes, Shane Cathcart == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Mars Magmas Once Contained A Lot Of Water
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 12:26:14 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Mars Magmas Once Contained A Lot Of Water, Researchers Report Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; News Office Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts CONTACT: Deborah Halber, MIT News Office (617) 258-9276, [EMAIL PROTECTED] JANUARY 24, 2001 Mars magmas once contained a lot of water, researchers from MIT and U. of Tennessee report Finding suggests that volcanos helped bring water to the planet's surface millions of years ago CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Evidence from a Martian volcanic rock indicates that Mars magmas contained significant amounts of water before eruption on the planet's surface, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Tennessee and other institutions report in the Jan. 25 issue of Nature. Scientists say that channels on Mars's surface may have been carved by flowing water and an ancient ocean may have existed there, but little is known about the source of the water. One possible source is volcanic degassing, in which water vapor is produced by magma spewing from volcanos, but the Martian rocks that have reached Earth as meteorites have notoriously low water content. This study shows that before the molten rock that crystallized to form Martian meteorites was erupted on the surface of the planet, it contained as much as 2 percent dissolved water. When magma reaches the planet's surface, the solubility of water in the molten liquid decreases and the water forms vapor bubbles and escapes as gas. The process is similar to the release of gas bubbles that occurs when you open a can of soda. Although this doesn't explain how water got into Mars in the first place, it does show that water on the red planet once cycled through the deep interior as well as existed on the surface, as similar processes have cycled water through the Earth's interior throughout geologic history. A VISITOR FROM MARS Timothy L. Grove, professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT, and University of Tennessee geologist Harry Y. McSween Jr. analyzed the Mars meteorite Shergotty to provide an estimate of the water that was present in Mars magmas prior to their eruption on the surface. Shergotty, a meteorite weighing around 5 kilograms was discovered in India in 1865. It is one of a handful of proven Mars meteorites that landed on Earth. It is relatively young -- around 175 million years old -- and may have originated in the volcanic Tharsis region of the red planet. Its measured water content is only around 130-350 parts per million. But by exploring the amount of water that would be necessary for its pyroxenes -- its earliest crystallizing minerals -- to form, the researchers have determined that at one time, Shergotty magma contained around 2 percent water. They also have detected the presence of elements that indicate the growth of the pyroxenes at high water contents. This has important implications for the origin of the water that was present on the surface of the planet during the past. This new information points to erupting volcanos as a possible mechanism for getting water to Mars's surface. SQUEEZING HYDROGEN INTO ROCKS In the interior of Mars, hot magma is generated at great depth. It then ascends into the shallower, colder outer portions of the Martian interior, where it encounters cooler rock that contains hydrogen-bearing minerals. These minerals decompose when heated by the magma and the hydrogen is released and dissolves in the magma. The magma continues its ascent to the surface of the planet. When it reaches very shallow, near-surface conditions in the crust, the magma erupts and its water is released in the form of vapor. The magma holds the water-creating hydrogen as the rock circulates underneath the crust. It undergoes changes as it moves from areas of enormous heat and pressure to cooler areas nearer the surface. When it finally erupts through a volcano, the magma releases its water in the form of vapor. Grove recreates Mars and moon rocks in his laboratory for these studies. By subjecting synthetic rocks to conditions of high temperature and pressure, he can tell how much water was contained in magma at the time that its crystals were formed. "What my experiment can do is estimate how much water was involved in the process that led to the formation of Mars meteorites. The only way you can reproduce the unique chemical composition of these minerals is to have water present," he said. Other authors on the Nature paper include McSween's graduate student, Rachel C. F. Lentz; Lee R. Riciputi of the chemical and analytical sciences division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Jeffrey G. Ryan, a geologist at the University of South Florida; and Jesse C. Dann and Astrid H. Holzheid of MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. This work was partly supported by NASA. == You are
Re: Europa submersible hypothetical
John, In a way that is what I have always hoped for the Icepick Web site, as it does contain a list of related Europa sites and list members. I know it has not been updated in a while. Jeff Foust is the Web Master for Icepick and would be the one to enhance the site, so let's talk to him: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I appreciate the support you and everyone is giving Icepick. I no longer regard it as just a thought experiment but now as a real possibility someday. Larry At 07:29 PM 02/27/2001 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Larry: Are there any plans to make a one-stop-shopping Europa website? Clearly, we all could use a website that: 1) had various demonstrated and hypothetical data lists / pictures, etc, about Europa (and Io, if possible). 2) had prospective pictures of any Europan submersible, crew parameters (if manned) and updates on JPLs work. 3) had a past-email list of some of the better, more informative emails posted here. 4) Oh, and an email / address list of various members. At this point, I have no idea how many people around the world are part of this little discussion circle, but there's some phenomenally bright and knowledgeable people out there. -- John Harlow Byrne == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Planetary exploration in the time of astrobiology: Protecting against biological contamination
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/98/5/2128 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 98, Issue 5, 2128-2131, February 27, 2001 Special Feature Perspective Planetary exploration in the time of astrobiology: Protecting against biological contamination John D. Rummel* National Aeronautics and Space Administration Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546 These are intriguing times in the exploration of other solar-system bodies. Continuing discoveries about life on Earth and the return of data suggesting the presence of liquid water environments on or under the surfaces of other planets and moons have combined to suggest the significant possibility that extraterrestrial life may exist in this solar system. Similarly, not since the Viking missions of the mid-1970s has there been as great an appreciation for the potential for Earth life to contaminate other worlds. Current plans for the exploration of the solar system include constraints intended to prevent biological contamination from being spread by solar system exploration missions. * E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.061021398 == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
ISS Cost Overruns May Stop Manned Mars Mission Plans
Feb. 28, 2001 Proposal scraps Mars mission plan Former JSC chief's cuts would try to recoup station overrun By Steven Siceloff FLORIDA TODAY CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Planning for manned missions to Mars will be put on hold, training may be curtailed, and the astronaut corps could shrink later this year under a plan former Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey detailed the day he was reassigned. Abbey, who directed JSC since 1995, ordered all research on manned Mars exploration halted, as well as some biological research while managers comb the agency's budget for ways to trim some $4 billion over the next few years. http://www.flatoday.com/news/space/stories/2001a/feb/spa022801b.htm == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
SETI Education Special Opportunities Update
GREETINGS SETI EDUCATION NEWS SUBSCRIBERS! == SETI INSTITUTE CURRICULUM FIELD TEST CONTACT JANE FISHER [EMAIL PROTECTED] Grades 9-10: Our "Voyages Through Time" project is seeking field test teachers and schools across the USA. This project receives major funding from the National Science Foundation. The field test application deadline is February 28, 2001. For more information, please link to our online application at https://www.seti.org/cgi-bin/vtt_cgi/vtt.cgi == ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM FIELD TEST CONTACT RICHARD SATCHWELL Grade 6: The Integrated Mathematics, Science, and Technology (IMaST) project is currently seeking educators to field test a sixth grade integrated curriculum in the United States in the 2001-2002 school year. If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please visit the IMaST Web site at http://www.ilstu.edu/depts/cemast/application.htm or call (309) 438-3089. The application deadline is March 30, 2001. == STUDENT DESIGN CONTESTS High school: An industry simulation for student teams to design a space settlement to orbit Earth. Finalist teams will be flown to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Enter and register to receive competition materials at the International Space Station Design site at http://space.bsdi.com/ Hard copy design submittal due April 11, 2001. Grades 6-12: Students may participate in the NASA Ames Space Settlement Design Contest. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mention prizewinners in six categories will be invited to NASA Ames in June for a tour. For information, guidelines, and entry forms visit http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Services/Education/SpaceSettlement/Contest/ Entry deadline is March 31, 2001 == NEED TO MAKE CONTACT? We can be reached via phone, fax, particle mail, or e-mail. SETI Institute 2035 Landings Drive Mountain View, CA 94043 (650) 961-6633 main number (650) 961-7099 fax Subscribe or unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Water eruptions on Ganymede?
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010228/sc/space_ganymede_dc_1.html Wednesday February 28 3:35 PM ET Galileo Images Show Slushy Surface on Jupiter's Moon LONDON (Reuters) - Digital images of Jupiter's largest moon show a bright flat surface that scientists said on Wednesday was probably caused by eruptions of icy volcanic material. Using stereo images from the Galileo and Voyager space missions, scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and researchers in California and Texas have identified variations on the surface of Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system. ``What we think we're seeing is evidence of an eruption of water on the surface of Ganymede,'' said William McKinnon, a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University. ``They're very much like rift valleys on the Earth and they're paved with something pretty smooth. The material in the troughs is more like terrestrial lava in terms of its fluidity,'' he added in a statement. The research published in the science journal Nature adds more evidence about the formation of Ganymede's unusual features which scientists have been hotly debating. Understanding what caused parts of Ganymede's surface to be ripped apart while other areas were left untouched will help scientists understand how Jupiter's moons evolved. The stereo images show bright flat terrain that McKinnon and his colleagues believe is evidence of water or slush that emerged one billion years ago. ``We can see this material is banked up against edges of the walls of the trough and appears to have been pretty fluid, much more so than solid, albeit warm, ice. These features directly support the idea that they were created by volcanism,'' said McKinnon. In a commentary on the research, Louise Prockter of the Applied Physics Laboratory at The Johns Hopkins University in Maryland said the research improves scientific knowledge about the giant moon. As more images of Ganymede taken by Galileo are analyzed its secrets will be revealed. ``They should tell us more about the relative effects of volcanic and tectonic activity on this giant among moons, and so about the evolution of both its surface and its interior,'' she said. Galileo was launched aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on October 18, 1989. The Voyager images are from 1979. == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Magnetic Chains from Mars
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 14:30:41 -0600 Subject: Magnetic Chains from Mars To: "NASA Science News" [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: NASA Science News [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Owner: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: "NASA Science News" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] NASA Science News for February 28, 2001 Curious chains of magnetic crystals have turned up in a meteorite from Mars. Why didn't the single-file crystals collapse long ago into a magnetized clump? Scientists say ancient martian microbes may have kept them in line. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast28feb_1.htm?list86654 --- This is a free service. Habla espaol? If you do, check out our new Spanish-language web site at http://ciencia.msfc.nasa.gov. If you need to get in touch with us directly, please go to http://science.nasa.gov/comments Home page: http://science.nasa.gov (u are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
AN ECONOMIC RATIONALE FOR BECOMING A SPACEFARING CIVILIZATION
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 12:51:43 -0800 (PST) From: Elaine Walker [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NSS/NYC Update! To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello all! Please join us for this Saturday's lecture/celebration! It's our one year anniversary! Ad Astra! *** MONTHLY LECTURE SERIES *** Saturday, March 3, 2001, 4:00-5:30 pm (Reception and FREE refreshments 3:30-4:00pm) Location: NYU, 32 Waverly Place, Room 712, NYC Guest Speaker: Paul Roseman "AN ECONOMIC RATIONALE FOR BECOMING A SPACEFARING CIVILIZATION" By looking at the cost of money, as well as the costs of doing business in space, we can figure out a cost effective way to increase the pace of becoming a space faring civilization. It is only through the development of cost- effective infrastructure in low earth orbit that we can speed up the process. *** FREE MOVIE SCREENING *** RSVP you and all of your friends for a free screening of "The Dish"!! Monday, March 12 in NYC! (exact location and time will be announced by Friday, hopefully...sorry, we're waiting on Warner Brothers to give headquarters the info) See the movie synopsis at the end of this message. RSVP (as many friends as you want) to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** NEW NEWSLETTER / CHAPTER DUES ** After a year of fun space-lectures, dinners at MARS2112, and various events and meetings, NSS/NYC is going to be celebrating our 1 year anniversary this March! In 2002 we managed to almost break even, but did loose a little bit of money. Why? Because we had decided to not to collect any chapter member dues for a year. Starting this March we encourage our monthly meeting attendees to contribute a $20 chapter yearly member donation ($10 Student and senior membership), and in turn you will get our new newsletter in PDF format. Also, with a slightly fatter budget we will be able to do more aggressive outreach projects, arrange more school talks for kids, gala events, field trips, and much more! We would like to be able to give something back to our lecturers as well, and bring people in from out of state, helping with travel and accommodation fees. We appreciate your donation very much, and it is more than just a magazine subscription - your $20 will go farther than you can imagine to further the day when humans can live and work and play in Earth orbit and beyond! ** SAMPLE OF EVENTS PLANNED FOR 2001 ** Free Movie Screening of "The Dish" - RSVP [EMAIL PROTECTED] with cooperation from NSS headquarters in DC and Warner Brothers Pictures (see movie synopsis below) Yuri's Night-World Space Party (April 2001) and World Space Party 2002/DC -- (NSS IS MAIN SPONSOR) UNDER CONSTRUCTION -- http://www.ziaspace.com/wsp With cooperation from ISU students' Yuri's night, we are cross-promoting our two parties a year apart. Our WSP 2002/DC will be a huge outdoors event near the Washington monument with guest speakers, live music and comedy, and raves movie screenings and stuff for kids and adults, around the perimeters. Eatontown, NJ Scout Jamboree, Model rocket launching! Volunteers from NSS/NYC are organizing the model rocket launching activity for their jamboree, and helping boy and girl scouts earn their Space Exploration Merit Badges on June 9! World Space Week, 2001 NSS headquarters is offering some funding for NSS chapters around the world to organize outreach events for World Space Week. We'll keep you posted on our plans. It will be something exciting! Monthly lecture series Of course we will continue to have our monthly lecture series. It will always be FREE and open to the public. Donations and membership dues are welcomed but not required. Free refreshments! Ad Astra! -Elaine Walker NSS/NYC, President [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ziaspace.com/nssnyc THE DISH It is arguably the most remarkable achievement in our history-- man walking on the moon. Neil Armstrong's first steps on the lunar surface and his words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" are imprinted in our collective minds forever. But some events leading up to the broadcast on that unforgettable day have not been told. until now. Warner Brothers presents The Dish, a funny, warm, uplifting and inspiring movie bound to make you feel good to be a human being. The film opens in the U.S. in mid March. Based on a true story, The Dish follows the emotions, drama and laughter leading up to July 20, 1969, when 600 million people around the globe watched the most incredible triumph the world had ever seen. What's not so well known is how those live television pictures were beamed to the
NSF Invites Media to Report on U.S.-Sponsored Antarctic Research (2001-2002 Season)
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 23:18:49 -0500 (EST) From: NSF Custom News Service [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: CNS Subscribers [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [ma0106] - News Releases The following document (ma0106) is now available from the NSF Online Document System Title: NSF Invites Media to Report on U.S.-Sponsored Antarctic Research (2001-2002 Season) Type: News Releases Subtype: Media Tipsheets / Media Advisories It may be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?ma0106 Full text follows. CUT HERE NSF Invites Media to Report on U.S.-Sponsored Antarctic Research (2001-2002 Season) Application Deadline: Friday, May 4, 2001 The National Science Foundation (NSF), which runs the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), is accepting written requests from professional journalists to visit Antarctica during the 2001-2002 research season (early November through mid-January). NSF annually selects a very small group of journalists, representing diverse audiences, to make individual visits to one or more of the three U.S. Antarctic research stations -- McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott South Pole, and Palmer -- to report on NSF sponsored scientific research. Applicants must submit no more than two typed pages -- no emails, please -- detailing specifically what they plan to cover while in Antarctica. NSF public affairs officers can help applicants to craft a proposed reporting plan. Competition is intense for a very limited number of slots and spoace on aircraft is severely constrained. Applicants must be aware that logistical limitations make it practically impossible to modify their reporting plans once journalists are in Antarctica. A key selection criterion is USAP's ability to provide the logistical support needed to carry out a specific reporting plan. Reporters should be aware that unusually bad weather during the 2000-2001 research season, which affected the construction schedule of the new South Pole Station, coupled with the need to give scientists and construction cargo priority on a limited number of flights, may prevent any media visits to the South Pole this season. A selection committee of USAP science and logistics personnel and media officers from NSF's Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA) reviews all proposals and selects finalists. The committee looks for proposals that indicate an understanding of the nature and challenges of NSF's scientific enterprise in Antarctica and the desire to communicate that understanding to the public. Applicants should focus on visiting a very limited number of projects because transportation is highly dependent on weather and delays are common. Proposals from print, television, and radio journalists as well as from online news operations are welcome. U.S. mass media that serve primarily language-minority audiences also are encouraged to apply. NSF's Office of Polar Programs has a separate program to support artists and writers in Antarctica whose primary form of expression is not journalistic. For information see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/aawr.htm, or contact: Guy Guthridge, (703) [EMAIL PROTECTED] Application: Focused applications with thorough reporting plans that indicate solid working knowledge of the U.S. Antarctic Program and its science goals stand the best chance of selection. Feature film proposals and general reporting about the Antarctic, travel, or logistics are not given priority. U.S. media receive preference. Expenses: Reporters or their employers pay for round-trip transportation to -- and accommodation in -- Christchurch, New Zealand (if travelling to McMurdo or South Pole Stations) or Punta Arenas, Chile (if travelling to Palmer Station). Reporters must visit NSF headquarters in Arlington, Va., at their own expense, for pre-trip planning. NSF furnishes coldweather clothing solely for use in the field as well as housing, transportation and food in Antarctica, at no cost to reporters. Medical: Finalists must pass a comprehensive physical exam conducted at their own expense by their personal physicians and subject to screening by the U.S. Antarctic Program. Certain medical conditions may disqualify a candidate from visiting Antarctica, even if selected as a media visitor. How To Apply: Contact NSF (by phone or by e-mail) as soon as possible to express interest and to obtain background materials. Freelancers must supply evidence of a firm commitment to publish or air their work on their prospective employer's letterhead. Send the letter and any supporting materials (such as a limited number of clips or videotaped segments) to: National Science Foundation, Office of Legislative and Public Affairs 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1245 Arlington, VA 22230 Attn: Peter West or Amber Jones, (703) [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] CUT HERE -- NSF
Pioneer 10 Status Report for March 2, 2001
http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov:80/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat.html STATUS UPDATED: 2 March 2001 PIONEER MISSIONS Pioneer 10 distance from Sun: 77.26 AU Speed relative to the Sun: 12.24 km/sec (27,380 mph) Distance from Earth: 11.54 billion kilometers (7.17 billion miles) Round-trip Light Time: 21 hours 23 minutes Today marks the 29th anniversary of the launch of Pioneer 10. Designed to complete its mission to Jupiter in 21 months, it has lasted over a order of magnitude longer than that as a testament to the brilliant management by the late Charlie Hall and the meticulous workmanship of the prime contractor TRW Space and Technology Group and a variety of subcontrators. Pioneer is fighting to maintain contact with Earth. Its fate should unfold in the next several months. Larry Lasher, Pioneer Project Manager == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
SETI@home back online
This article is also available on the web at: http://www.spacetoday.net/getsummary.php?id=117 SETI@home back online Posted: Sat, Mar 3 3:59 PM ET (2059 GMT) The SETI@home project's connection to the Internet was restored Saturday afternoon after an outage of more than four days. The SETI@home servers were cut off early Tuesday morning when vandals severed a fiber that provided voice and data service for the building at the University of California Berkeley where the servers are housed. After several days of work a new fiber was installed and the connection restored early Saturday afternoon. The project has nearly three million users worldwide who download chunks of data collected as part of a search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) project, process the data when their computers would normally be idle, and transmit the results back to the Berkeley servers. Project officials caution on the SETI@home web site that it may take up to 48 hours before the data servers can accept all the connections from users eager to start processing data again. Related Links: -- SETI@home web site: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ Visit http://www.spacetoday.net/ to get the latest space news summaries and links to space news articles published throughout the web. If you have any questions about this service, please contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
A Science, Not a Search
http://www.setileague.org/editor/setisci.htm A Science, Not A Search by Dr. H. Paul Shuch, Executive Director [EMAIL PROTECTED] Recently, the notion that we share our universe with countless sentient species has emerged out of the realm of fiction, into the scientific mainstream. Over the past forty years, dozens of organizations have conducted scores of experiments in the emerging discipline of SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. As executive director of the grass-roots nonprofit SETI League, I am privileged to head up one of those searches. But I do not speak for SETI! Perhaps the most highly visible of the various scientific organizations seeking our cosmic companions is the prestigious SETI Institute in California. Spun off from a onetime NASA SETI effort, SETI Institute scientists conduct numerous Life in the Universe studies, as well as one of the most comprehensive surveys ever for artificial radio emissions from space. It was their expertise that informed the technical content of the popular film Contact, and their efforts that keep SETI high in the public consciousness. They are among the most highly respected of my colleagues, and I am proud to practice SETI in such august company. But SETI is a science, not a single search. I frequently read glowing press accounts of my colleagues' accomplishments, which are invariably attributed to some monolithic organization referred to as 'SETI.' "SETI has received a grant..." I read in the paper, or "SETI's chief scientist is lecturing at..." or "the director of SETI says that..." Certainly, this generalization of SETI Institute into simply SETI is not the doing of my modest Institute colleagues, but rather represents a tendency of the media to lump together all related efforts under a common banner. But to call the SETI Institute (or any one organization) 'SETI' is equivalent to referring to the National Science Foundation as simply 'science', or to NASA as 'space.' It implies a level of homogeneity which, if it indeed existed, would rob our discipline of its broad diversity, and stifle creative science. Each of the various SETI organizations around the world tackles a complex problem from a unique perspective. Since we cannot yet say which approach is the right one, we certainly cannot say that any is wrong. The efforts of hundreds of scientists now working on several independent searches may some day gain us entry into the cosmic community. Collectively, one might call them SETI. Individually, each is but a piece of the puzzle. The other day I was preaching SETI to a group of students, one of whom said, "we already know all about it. We use your screen-saver." She was referring to SETI@home, a highly successful initiative out of the University of California, Berkeley. That famous experiment in distributed computer processing is also a piece of the puzzle. But shouldn't we, educators and media alike, try to show the world the big picture? Dr. Shuch, executive director of the nonprofit, membership-supported SETI League, Inc., does not speak for SETI. == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Yuri's Night
The Web site for all the celebrations of the fortieth anniversary of the first human to orbit Earth on April 12, 1961 - Yuri Gagarin in the Vostok 1 spacecraft. http://216.246.64.159/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Cosmos 1 solar sail mission artwork and films
These Web sites contain artwork, diagrams, animations, and films of the Cosmos 1 solar sail mission, set for a suborbital test from a Russian nuclear submarine next month and the first orbital flight this October. http://carlsagan.com/solarsail/index.html http://www.planetary.org/html/news/articlearchive/headlines/2001/solarsailhd ln.html http://www.planetary.org/solarsail/ Larry == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY ONLINE EXHIBIT UPDATE
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 22:16:00 -0800 (PST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY ONLINE EXHIBIT UPDATE 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY ONLINE EXHIBIT UPDATE UPDATE - March 5, 2001: Greetings from Dennis Gonzales 33 years later... Last email, I forgotten to mention one more 2001 collector that is well known in the 2001 fandom world, who did not attend the Tech Museum's 2001:DESTINATION SPACE party, Phil Vendy (a.k.a. "Underman") from www.underview.com/2001.html. We would not have done this exhibit without his support. Entertainment Weekly's "Cyber Digest: Astro - Surf" article, (#578, January 19, 2001) said, "Phil Vendy of Sidney proves himself the Big Man on Campus." And gave him the tag, Ph.D. in Kubrick Studies. I totally agree. Stay tune to pictures of Scott Alexander's famous award winning kit ARIES 1B next week in our model section. And a new radio-Internet program about the celebration of 2001 in the spring by yours truly. -Dennis Gonzales *** 2001 Exhibition - Museum of Oxford - March-June 2001: Featuring Harry Lange's (2001 designer) original works http://www.harry-lange.org.uk Posted by, Howard Hill, Webmaster Note from Dennis: Are you kidding? Yes - I do plan to see the exhibit. *** Artist Spotlight, Simon Atkinson. We're honor to host Simon's 2001 works and about his career in the Gallery section. Artwork for sale: http://www.2001exhibit.org/atkinson.html Posted by, Dennis Gonzales All artwork is copyright, 2001. Simon Atkinson. For further works from Simon, visit Underman's 2001, http://www.underview.com/2001/artwork/artwork.html *** Modeler, Vince Hoffman is now selling his ARIES 1-B cockpit for Scott Alexanders' kit. Visit Federation Models, and click on Models Kits and Planet V. http://www.federationmodels.com/model_kits/default.htm Posted by, Vince Hoffman. Note from Dennis Gonzales: Vince just finished the Lunar Models HAL 9000 kit tonight. LM sent me a model to build for our website and I choose Vince to do the job. With all our of our combined resources about HAL, from Mike Jackson to the real HAL 9000 prop, Vince did a beautiful job on the resin kit being its grossly inaccurate. HAL will be displayed at the Union City's Science, Earth Health Festival on March 10th along with some of my "2001" collections. *** 2001: A Space Odyssey Link page updated. Is your website missing? http://www.2001exhibit.org/links.html Posted by, Dennis Gonzales *** The Pope into "2001", from salon.com: http://www.salon.com/people/col/reit/2001/03/05/npmon/index.html Posted by, Jeff Grote And from Mike Jackson (posted in AMK by Katharina Kubrick): http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-92277,00.html Note from Dennis Gonzales: I do plan to send the Vatican information about my website so the Pope can bless it. *** More salon.com about Kier Dullea: http://www.salon.com/people/feature/1999/05/29/dullea/index.html And about the movie: http://www.salon.com/march97/rosenberg970321.html Posted by, Dennis Gonzales *** Hans L.D.G. Starlife reflects on 2001 in BACK TO THE SPACE ODYSSEY: http://starlife.org/2001 Posted by, Dennis Gonzales PS - This site is one of the best in the world for space colonization and exploration. I highly recommend this site. *** Seattle Times locks in The 2001: A Space Odyssey Collectibles Exhibit: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SeattleTimes.woa/wa/goto Article?zsection_id=268466359text_only=0slug=mono02mdocument_id=134257598 Posted by, Dennis Gonzales *** USA Today featured "2001" on the front page on Jan. 1/2, 2001 http://www.usatoday.com/life/enter/movies/flick003.htm Posted by, Dennis Gonzales *** Another recent "2001" feature we forgot to post from the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/01/01 /MN104308.DTLtype=science Speaking of news, I guess we've arrived to the year 2061 a bit early as far as Clarke's book is concern: http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/010214/d.html Posted by, Dennis Gonzales *** Russel Brown jumps on the 2001 band wagon. If you like HAL, you have to see this website. Its very cool:
Lecture on Mars - March 22, 2001
Subject: Lecture on Mars March 22 Date: 6 Mar 2001 22:36:37 GMT From: "Geoffrey A. Landis" " geoffrey.landis"@sff.net Organization: www.sff.net/people/geoffrey.landis To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Author and scientist Geoffrey A. Landis will be presenting a lecture at the Berea Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library on Thursday, March 22, at 7pm. Dr. Landis will discuss the NASA Pathfinder mission to Mars and present NASA's future missions for Mars exploration. The lecture will be followed by a book signing where he will autograph copies of his recent novel MARS CROSSING. Landis was one of the scientists on the Mars Pathfinder mission, where he had an experiment on the Sojourner rover, and is now involved in developing instruments for future missions to Mars. His SF novel MARS CROSSING makes extensive use of the geology and landscape of Mars as imaged by the Pathfinder mission. The next Mars mission, the Mars 2001 "Odyssey" spacecraft, is scheduled to be launched on April 7. More information about Dr. Landis can be found on his web page, http://www.sff.net/people/geoffrey.landis. Reviews and information about MARS CROSSING can be found at http://www.sff.net/people/Geoffrey.Landis/marsreview.html -- Geoffrey A. Landis http://www.sff.net/people/geoffrey.landis == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
SETI at Arecibo: Scientists Will Be Slow to Celebrate Any Contact
SETI at Arecibo: Scientists Will Be Slow to Celebrate Any Contact On Tuesday, March 6, Seth Shostak will return to Arecibo, Puerto Rico, to continue SETI's observations. It's a 10-day mission this year and SPACE.com will be home to Seth's Arecibo Diaries. http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_surety_010301.html?Enews=y == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
IJW Satellite Newsletter -- 2001 # 3
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 11:34:07 -0700 From: "Robert R. Howell" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: IJW Newsletter -- 2001 #3 To: IJW Satellite List: ; IJW Satellite Newsletter -- 2001 # 3 Two items of recent news (well at least one news, and one the lack thereof): Here is a message from John Spencer regarding recent Galileo and Cassini observations of Io: Galileo images during the "G29" Io flyby on December 30 2000 show a new large (Pele-sized) pyroclastic deposit around Tvashtar, presumably related to the bright infrared event reported by Franck Marchis et al. on December 16th. In addition, the Cassini spacecraft saw a large plume over Tvashtar during its late December / early January Jupiter flyby. This is faintly visible in emission as a "topknot" in the Cassini movie of Io in eclipse available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiterflyby/gallery/gl_pages/pia02882.html There have not been any further reports of observations of the outburst initially detected by Imke de Pater and coworkers on Feb. 22 and described in the last newsletter. (I'm calling this event 0102A.) If you did get further observations, please let me know. == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Howdy Fellow Icepickers!
How goes the designing of our probe? Where do we stand regarding the graphics? Thanks! Larry == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Life in a poisonous cave in May, 2001 National Geographic
The online version at this URL: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0105/feature4/index.html
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: The Webcast
NASA Science News for April 25, 2001Astrobiologists are visiting the Indian Ocean to explore a bizarreundersea ecosystem that doesn't need sunlight to flourish. You can jointhem via a live webcast on April 26th!FULL STORY athttp://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast25apr_1.htm?list522292---This is a free service.¿Habla español? If you do, check out our new Spanish-language web site at http://ciencia.msfc.nasa.gov.If you need to get in touch with us directly, please go tohttp://science.nasa.gov/commentsHome page: http://science.nasa.gov
New SETI book - Beyond Contact Web site
This is the publisher's Web site for the new SETI book: Beyond Contact A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations By Brian McConnell March 20010-596-000375, Order Number: 0375424 pages, $24.95 http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/alien/index.html Larry
Two new online articles about SETI from ST
The Future of SETI *NEW!* By Seth Shostak Searches for extraterrestrial intelligence are about to expand into new realms, thanks to new advances in technology and new thinking. Adapted from Sky Telescope, April 2001. http://www.skypub.com/news/special/seti_future.html A Newer, Smarter SETI Strategy *NEW!* By Nathan Cohen and Robert Hohlfeld Why the worlds biggest search should rethink its strategy and why the first signal we hear will come from an extremely powerful civilization extremely far away. Adapted from Sky Telescope, April 2001 http://www.skypub.com/news/special/seti_strategy.html
Exploring life at a hydrothermal vent in the Indian Ocean
A special LIFTOFF Explorers Right now scientists are studying a hydrothermal vent at thebottom of the Indian Ocean. What's so special about that? Well, how aboutthat it's so deep that there is no sunlight to maintain plant life, butthere are lots of creatures living there, anyway! Scientists are excitedabout these creatures that can exist in such a bizarre and hostileenvironment. Come read more at - Liftoff to Space Exploration http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2001/news-thermalvent.asp?list17422-82Teachers:Explorers by Liftoff to Space Exploration
Re: Two new online articles about SETI from ST
Please read this for further edification on the subject: http://www.aeiveos.com/~bradbury/MatrioshkaBrains/index.html Larry - Original Message - From: Reeve, Jack W. [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 10:21 PM Subject: RE: Two new online articles about SETI from ST Hello Gail and Roberta, A couple of my thoughts which you may find worthy of a peek. As a technical civilization, we Earthlings are utter newborns. Consider: we have been capable of talking across the void (radio) for about a hundred years. This represents a miniscule portion of Earth's life presence; 100/+- 2, 000, 000, 000. If a civilization has technology, it is unlikely that we'll find them at the very time where their capability winks into existence. Instead, we are likely to find them well along down the technology road. Ergo, the probability is that any technologically advanced race in the heavens would, in all probability, be perhaps 100's of thousands or, more likely, millions of years into technology. A big part of any technology is the movement knowledge; communication. A civilization on this scale would likely be moving a lot of information around over significant distances, spanning their empire. It should give off a pretty significant glow, over a fairly wide spectrum. One point though. Sending information around by spherical or radial transmission is not particularly efficient. In truth, transmitting outwardly in the shape of a ball is the best possible way to cause a signal to weaken as quickly as possible. It is reasonable to assume that a good part of an advanced civilization's long distance transmission technology would be aimed. Why light up the entire sky just to illuminate a few selected points? As a result, I think there is a good chance that we will see these occasional flashes as we pass through these concentrated beams of communication. I am a bit troubled by the possibility that these advanced technical civilizations may be transmitting their communiqués in media with which we are utterly unaware. It may be that they are sending out our equivalent of radio, and we are listening in our equivalent of sound waves. Ships in the night, if you will. Regards, Jack -Original Message- From: Gail Roberta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 1:21 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Two new online articles about SETI from ST Very interesting, if a little deep for my shallow thinking. I signed up for SETI@home, and participated for a while. I just don't have the computing power or the time for the persistence necessary to make it worthwhile for me. However, in all the discussions, I don't see one question being asked. The assumption seems to be that other civilizations on other worlds will be doing the same thing we are doing, i.e., sending out beacons to see if there is anyone else out there. Has anyone challenged this assumption? What if there are such civs. out there, but they're not as curious as we are? Or they know we're here, but just don't care? Maybe they're out there, but just have their transmitters pointed in the opposite direction? What if they're not even transmitting anything? One possibility is that our signals have been going out, they have been received, and the others are replying. Given the distances and times involved, maybe it will be another hundred years or so before the first signals get here. This, of course, has been discussed, but still doesn't get to my original question. Any thoughts on this? Watch the skies, or listen, as the case may be! Gail Leatherwood = You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
An Ocean in Space
16 April 2001: An Ocean in Space, SpaceRef Recent research has heightened interest in "worlds that may be rich in liquid water below the surface," said Chris Chyba, associate professor of geological and environmental sciences at Stanford University and director of the Center for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute. Mars is one such world. Another, in some ways even more tantalizing, is Europa. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=321
Is Anybody Out There?
Is Anybody Out There? [30 April 2001] Once it was asked in whispers, or with winks. The timid among us, though undeniably curious, feared raised eyebrows. Jokes about little green men. Who could take such a question seriously, yank it from the misty realms of science fiction and drop it under the searchlight of science? Well, our national space agency, for one. What's more, NASA seems pretty confident these days about the answer: Astrobiology, as defined on an official agency website, is "the study of the living universe." http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=334
STUDENTS FROM ACROSS NATION TO PRESENT JUPITER RESULTS TO JPL
MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICEJET PROPULSION LABORATORYCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYNATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATIONPASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011http://www.jpl.nasa.govContacts: JPL/Guy Webster (818) 354-6278 Lewis Center for Educational Research/Craig Campbell (760) 946-5414 x216 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 30, 2001STUDENTS FROM ACROSS NATION TO PRESENT JUPITER RESULTS TO JPL A few of the 2,300 students from 13 states who have used a huge remote-control radio telescope to measure energy from Jupiter's radiation belts during the past six months will present their results May 4 to scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The students' measurements span the period when NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew near Jupiter four months ago, so they are useful in the interpretation of radio measurements that Cassini made to map the invisible belts, said Dr. Michael Klein, a JPL radio astronomer and science adviser to the Cassini-Jupiter Microwave Observation Program. Tracy Sibbaluca, a 14-year-old eighth grader from Detroit, looks forward to meeting the scientists, but even more to seeing the big radio-antenna dish in the Mojave Desert that she helped to run from a classroom computer at Detroit's University Public School. "It gave me a lot of confidence because they trust kids like us with such a valuable telescope," said Arkira Jordan, 14, an eighth grader from Opelika, Ala. "I didn't like science so much before, but now I like it better." Those two and 10 other students representing the larger group from 26 middle schools and high schools will tour the Goldstone Complex of JPL's Deep Space Network near Barstow while they are in California this week. The students used a dish antenna at Goldstone that is 34 meters (112 feet) in diameter. That dish, the Goldstone-Apple Valley Radio Telescope, served in Goldstone's main function of communicating with spacecraft for three decades, but was given a new role three years ago for student use coordinated by the Lewis Center for Educational Research, in Apple Valley, Calif. One of Jordan's classmates at Opelika Middle School, 13-year-old Chase Cox, said, "When I think about what we're doing, it's amazing, because we were collecting data that scientists will be using years from now." Opelika science teacher Farrell Seymore said the project has helped his students understand that science is a process of learning, not a set of facts to memorize. "When you are studying something real and it's not simulated, things don't always go the way you expect," he said. "That encourages the kids to use critical thinking skills and try to figure out what the problem is. It's a great experience for them." The Jupiter studies also played into lessons in mathematics, language skills and history, Seymore said. Matthew Dillard, 14, a Detroit eighth-grader, said that the chance to be personally involved in research related to Cassini raised his interest in what the spacecraft discovers in coming years. Cassini will begin orbiting Saturn in 2004. The spacecraft will also release the Huygens probe to drop through the thick atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Cassini flew past Jupiter on Dec. 30, 2000, to gain a gravitational boost toward Saturn, and used that opportunity to take pictures and measurements of Jupiter and its surroundings. Cassini's radar instrument, which shares the main antenna used for communications and is one of 18 science instruments on the orbiter and probe, was used in listen-only mode to measure radio emissions from high-energy electrons in radiation belts out past Jupiter's atmosphere. Those measurements allow mapping of the radiation sources in greater detail than possible from Earth-based observations. The belts are known to vary over time. Using the Goldstone-Apple Valley Radio Telescope, the students monitored the radiation belts from November to March to determine whether the belts were at a normal or unusual state of activity when Cassini mapped them. The results indicate the belts' activity was at a normal level when Cassini passed, but that some changes could be measured shortly afterwards, said JPL physicist Dr. Scott Bolton. "These measurements will be useful to help scientists learn more about Jupiter's radiation belts," he said. The students will present their findings to Dr. Charles Elachi, team leader for the Cassini radar instrument, along with Klein, Bolton, Dr. Steve Levin, Dr. Michael Janssen and other JPL scientists. As of May 1, Elachi also will be JPL's new director. The students' visit is sponsored by the Lewis Center for Educational Research. "These students represent thousands who have collected valuable scientific information while gaining an exciting educational experience," said Jim Roller, the center's vice president for science and technology. Additional information about the Lewis Center and the Goldstone-Apple
