Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter Volume 11, Number 22, 25 May 2004 Editor/Publisher: David J. Thomas, Ph.D., Science Division, Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas 72503-2317, USA. [email protected] Marsbugs is published on a weekly to monthly basis as warranted by the number of articles and announcements. Copyright of this compilation exists with the editor, except for specific articles, in which instance copyright exists with the author/authors. Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by the editor or by Lyon College. E-mail subscriptions are free, and may be obtained by contacting the editor. Information concerning the scope of this newsletter, subscription formats and availability of back-issues is available at http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs. The editor does not condone "spamming" of subscribers. Readers would appreciate it if others would not send unsolicited e-mail using the Marsbugs mailing lists. Persons who have information that may be of interest to subscribers of Marsbugs should send that information to the editor. Articles and News Announcements Page 1 ROUND-TRIP SURVIVOR, ANOTHER REALITY SHOW Edited from the testimony of Mary Frey Page 5 SPACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE TAKES AIM AT HEALTH CHALLENGES OF EXPLORATION National Space Biomedical Research Institute release Page 2 RESEARCHERS TAKE FRUITFUL LOOK AT SPACE RADIATION HAZARDS TO BRAIN By Tariq Malik Page 5 NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas Page 2 BATTLING PERSONALITY IN OUTER SPACE Australian National University release Page 2 ASTEROID EATERS: ROBOTS TO HUNT SPACE ROCKS, PROTECT EARTH By Tariq Malik Page 3 DEAD OR ALIVE? By Jenny Hogan Page 3 THEORY PROPOSES NEW VIEW OF SUN AND EARTH'S CREATION Arizona State University release ROUND-TRIP SURVIVOR, ANOTHER REALITY SHOW Edited from the testimony of Mary Frey Mission Reports Page 5 CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release Page 6 MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES NASA/JPL/ASU release more about this radiation, about its effects on humans, including cancers and genetic problems and cataracts and how to provide effective shielding and other protective countermeasures. 18 May 2004 To the Presidential Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond, Dr. Marianne Frey, Professor Emeritus School of Aerospace Medicine, Wright State University, presented her views about the challenges to long-duration human exploration of the moon and Mars. Our vision to send men and women to the moon and Mars can be an inspiration and a unifier for the people of the United States of America and for the world. However, exploration has risks. And ethically before these brave pioneers embark, we must be able to minimize their risks. And maximize their well-being, their ability to perform successfully in space, and their chances to return to a normal life on earth. The risks come from at least four sources. First, the reduced gravity environment—from almost zero to about 1/3 earth's gravity, which will cause fluid shifts in the body, loss of normal stress on the bones and muscles, and changes in stimuli to the nervous system. Second, the environment inside the vehicle or habitat poses threats from floating particles, which might be inspired, toxic wastes, poor illumination, loud noise and poor thermal control. Third, the environment outside the vehicle or habitat poses threats, including radiation and meteorites or other debris. And fourth, the psychological and psychosocial stresses will be extreme. Two risk factors that will rise to major importance for long distance, longduration journeys are, first, the psychological and psychosocial challenges of these missions will be huge. Crewmembers will be isolated at great distances from earth with long lag times in communication. They'll be crowded into close quarters they will be in danger. And their sleep will be degraded. Interpersonal and group dynamics for intercultural and intergender groups must be understood and appropriate countermeasures developed. The cosmic and solar radiation encountered outside of earth's protective magnetic field is unlike anything that we have here on earth. We must learn Other risks of space flight, which were concerned in the short-duration missions of the past and the present will be much greater threats in the exploratory missions of the future. First the loss of bone mineral in space flight—about 1% per month. That's 10 times what people lose as they're aging. Cardiovascular changes, including arrhythmias and loss of exercise capacity and tendency to faint when hitting gravity on the moon, Mars, or on Earth. Muscle and strength loss. Neurological changes, including spatial disorientation, space motion sickness and neuromuscular changes. The immune system's reduced effectiveness in space and allergic responses. Inadequate nutrition and food supply. And the requirement for extensive extra vehicular activity, including risk of decompression sickness. A related daunting challenge that is critical to astronaut health on a mission to Mars is the necessity for advanced life support capability. This includes a closed system for oxygen, water and food. And effective waste management system. Accurate environmental monitoring, and user-friendly space suits and gloves to protect the astronauts and to Enable them to do protective work and to do productive work on the surface of the moon and on mars. I've not addressed the very important challenge of providing medical care on exploration missions. Potential countermeasures include exercise programs, both aerobic and resistive. Pharmacological interventions, nutrition and diet, light. Human factors design. Psychological testing and interventions. Selection criteria, including genetic screening and training. And probably a short-arm human centrifuge to provide artificial gravity. The platforms for research and testing to allow us to meet these challenges will include the following. The international space station will be of major importance for testing countermeasures and for some of the research required to understand the threats and to develop countermeasures. However, the ISS will not be a useful platform unless it has a crew of at least seven, allowing at least four to five crewmembers to be researchers and subjects. It must also have necessary laboratory facilities. The moon could be a valuable laboratory Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 22, 25 May 2004 for some research, and for some countermeasure testing for Mars. Knowledge can be gained in living in less than one g [gravity] environment the effects of transitions between g levels and radiation. And finally appropriate analogs on earth, such as human studies in bed rest or in the Antarctic, and animal research to learn about mechanisms of some of the medical and physiological stresses. A much greater level of commitment and of funding for biomedical research and countermeasure research and development must be made than has ever existed before. After all, we're talking about sending people to Mars, human beings to Mars. Read the original article at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article975.html. RESEARCHERS TAKE FRUITFUL LOOK AT SPACE RADIATION HAZARDS TO BRAIN By Tariq Malik From Space.com In addition to packing their space suits for a long trip through space, future astronauts may want to toss in some strawberries to take along for the ride. Fruits and vegetables, researchers said Monday, could help protect spacefaring humans from suffering severe neurological damage from radiation once they leave the protection of the Earth's magnetic field, which shields the Earth from harmful high-energy particles. "[Radiation] may impair astronauts' ability to function, and may also continue to affect them once they come back home," said James Joseph, lead scientist for the Neuroscience Laboratory at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. "Maybe what we need out there is also a bit of nutritional shielding." Read the full article at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/radiation_fruit_040518.html. BATTLING PERSONALITY IN OUTER SPACE Australian National University release 19 May 2004 Defiance, detachment, disagreement—harmful emotions in any small group situation, but in Outer Space these feelings are particularly damaging and possibly life endangering. ANU psychologists are preparing to gather unique insights into the duress of space travel as part of a "Mars expedition" to be staged in the Australian desert later this year. The way that small groups of astronauts interact in the extreme, unfamiliar and isolating conditions of space travel will be closely scrutinized by Dr. Rachael Eggins, Dr. Kate Reynolds and Ph.D. student Mr. Phill Krins, from the Psychology Department in the ANU Faculty of Science. The researchers are set to record the interactions of participants of an expedition into the South Australian outback in August organized by the Mars Society of Australia. This follows on from an initial study of participants in a planetary simulation in the United States last year. "The rigorous personality testing astronauts undergo in their relatively cozy, comfortable labs can not measure how their personality might change in a confined, socially stifling and unfamiliar space," Dr Eggins says. "In everyday life we are very socially dynamic and belong to a number of groups, such as family, work and friends. There are a number of psychological advantages to having such a dynamic social environment, which will be absent when people spend long periods of time in isolation." Mr. Krins and Dr. Steve Dawson, a research psychologist with the Mars Society of Australia, will travel into the desert with the expedition and ask participants—who try and replicate as closely as possible what it would be like living and working on Mars—to complete questionnaires designed to monitor social dynamics. Participants will undergo a daily cortisol (a hormone produced by the body in reaction to stress) measurement test and cognitive testing to gauge stress and performance levels. Mr. Krins will also keep a daily journal to record important social events, 2 such as leadership changes, likely to affect the social dynamics of the expedition. "One thing we are interested in is the question of whether or not groups are good or bad for your health," Dr Eggins says. "We know that in cohesive groups people perform better, work harder and are more cooperative than in loose-knit groups. But do cohesive groups make us work too hard and what does that do to our stress levels?" There are also other issues relating to the wrong sort of cohesion in a group, and small sub-groups forming within larger groups. "There is a danger groups may become too cohesive," Mr. Krins says. "When this occurs there may be intense pressure for individual crew members to behave in accordance with 'group norms'. For example, if there is a group norm to not report safety breaches, this could put the entire crew in danger." Also, past research on groups (whether isolated or not) has shown that it is common for the larger group to splinter into smaller subgroups. "A number of problems can occur when large groups split off into these smaller groups," Dr. Eggins says. "Polarization can lead to infighting and poor decision-making. But there are advantages—subgroups can become an important source of creative new ideas benefiting the larger group. Subgroups are also an important source of identity and pride for people. They then work hard to achieve its goals, improving the mission as a whole." With unmanned Mars missions underway and intensifying research interest in the red planet, the ANU researchers believe the human element of space exploration should be taken just as seriously as the technological or scientific. The team's research will focus on developing guiding principles to avoid problems associated with groups in such stressful circumstances. "It is important that group differences are managed properly and don't become a source of conflict or feelings of disenfranchisement," Dr. Eggins says. "These principles will ensure that individuals maintain commitment to the whole, have avenues for input into decision making and follow leadership guidelines." Contact: Amanda Morgan Media Liaison, Marketing and Communications Phone: 02 6125 5575 E-mail: [email protected] Read the original news release at http://info.anu.edu.au/mac/Media/Media_Releases/_2004/May/_190504Group s.asp. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/avoid_space_madness.html. ASTEROID EATERS: ROBOTS TO HUNT SPACE ROCKS, PROTECT EARTH By Tariq Malik From Space.com 19 May 2004 At the movies, the best way to stop an asteroid from wiping out Earth is to lob a few nuclear missiles at the rocky beast or blow it apart from the inside with megaton bombs. While those methods promise some fantastic explosions— and maybe a blockbuster hit—a team of engineers are looking at a more patient approach. Their weapon: a swarm of nuclear-powered robots that could drill into an asteroid and hurl chunks of it into space with enough force to gradually push it into a non-Earth impacting course. "We're aiming to examine the whole idea of these robots," said Matthew Graham, design project manager for the study at SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. (SEI), an engineering consulting and concept analysis firm in Atlanta, Georgia. Read the full article at http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/madmen_techwed_040 519.html. Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 22, 25 May 2004 3 DEAD OR ALIVE? By Jenny Hogan From New Scientist 20 May 2004 Doctors in the U.S. have come up with the best evidence yet for the existence of nanobacteria, potentially a new form of life. Most scientists are sceptical because many of the structures claimed to be nanobacteria are simply too small to be alive—one biologist describes nanobacteria as "the cold fusion of microbiology". But the latest research suggests that nanobacteria taken from diseased arteries are not only capable of self-replication, but also contain DNA and RNA. The work could have important implications, because some claim nanobacteria cause a wide range of diseases in humans. Left: nanobes can be as much as 10 times smaller than the smallest of these bacteria. Image credit: Connecticut Food Protection Program. Right: closeup of a Mars meteorite, showing what some have argued appears to be fossilized evidence of ancient microbial life. Image Credit: NASA Read the full article at http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99995009. Annotated photo of the Trifid Nebula showing the formation of low-mass stars (YSO's—Young Solar Objects). Image credit: NASA/Hubble Space Telescope/Jeff Hester. An additional article on this subject is available at http://www.astrobio.net/news/article983.html. THEORY PROPOSES NEW VIEW OF SUN AND EARTH'S CREATION Arizona State University release 21 May 2004 Like most creation stories, this one is dramatic: we began, not as a mere glimmer buried in an obscure cloud, but instead amidst the glare and turmoil of restless giants. Or so says a new theory, supported by stunning astronomical images and hard chemical analysis. For years most astronomers have imagined that the Sun and Solar System formed in relative isolation, buried in a quiet, dark corner of a less-than-imposing interstellar cloud. The new theory challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing instead that the Sun formed in a violent nebular environment—a byproduct of the chaos wrought by intense ultraviolet radiation and powerful explosions that accompany the short but spectacular lives of massive, luminous stars. The new theory is described in a "Perspectives" article appearing in the May 21 issue of Science. The article was written by a group of Arizona State University astronomers and meteorite researchers who cite recently discovered isotopic evidence and accumulated astronomical observations to argue for a history of development of the Sun, the Earth and our Solar System that is significantly different from the traditionally accepted scenario. If borne out by future work, this vision of our cosmic birth could have profound implications for understanding everything from the size and shape of our solar system to the physical makeup of the Earth and the development of the chemistry of life. "There are two different sorts of environment where low-mass stars like the Sun form," explained ASU astronomer Jeff Hester, the essay's lead author. "In one kind of star-forming environment, you have a fairly quiescent process in which an undisturbed molecular cloud slowly collapses, forming a star here, a star there. The other type of environment in which Sun-like stars form is radically different. These are more massive regions that form not only lowmass stars, but luminous high-mass stars, as well." More massive regions are very different because once a high-mass star forms, it begins pumping out huge amounts of energy that in turn completely changes the way Sun-like stars form in the surrounding environment. Illustration showing a high-mass star's effect on a nearby molecular cloud, resulting in the formation of a low-mass star like our Sun. Image credit: Jeff Hester. "People have long imagined that the Sun formed in the first, more quiescent type of environment," Hester noted, "but we believe that we have compelling evidence that this is not the case." Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 22, 25 May 2004 4 Critical to the team's argument is the recent discovery in meteorites of patterns of isotopes that can only have been caused by the radioactive decay of iron60, an unstable isotope that has a half life of only a million and a half years. Iron-60 can only be formed in the heart of a massive star and thus the presence of live iron-60 in the young Solar System provides strong evidence that when the Sun formed (4.5 billion years ago) a massive star was nearby. Hester's coauthors on the Science essay include Steve Desch, Kevin Healy, and Laurie Leshin. Leshin is a cosmochemist and director of Arizona State University's Center for Meteorite Studies. The Trifid Nebula. Image credit: NASA/HST/Jeff Hester. "Once we understood what we were looking at, we realized that we had a number of images of EGGs caught just as they were turning into proplyds," said Hester. "The evolutionary tie between these two classes of objects is clear." The Eagle Nebula, as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. This famous photo, often known as "The Pillars of Creation," shows giant nebular clouds being evaporated by the ferocious energy of massive stars, exposing emerging solar systems, much like our own. Image credit: NASA/HST/Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen. "One of the exciting things about the research is that it is truly transdisciplinary, drawing from both astrophysics and the study of meteorites—rocks that you can pick up and hold in your hand—to arrive at a new understanding of our origins," noted Leshin. When a massive star is born, its intense ultraviolet radiation forms an "HII region"—a region of hot, ionized gas that pushes outward through interstellar space. The Eagle Nebula, the Orion Nebula, and the Trifid Nebula are all well-known examples of HII regions. A shock wave is driven in advance of the expanding HII region, compressing surrounding gas and triggering the formation of new low-mass stars. "We see triggered low-mass star formation going on in HII regions today," said Healy, who recently completed a study of radio observations of this process at work. The star does not have much time to get its act together, though. Within 100,000 years or so, the star and what is left of its small natal cloud will be uncovered by the advancing boundary of the HII region and exposed directly to the harsh ultraviolet radiation from the massive star. "We see such objects emerging from the boundaries of HII regions," Hester said. "These are the 'evaporating gaseous globules' or 'EGGs' seen in the famous Hubble image of the Eagle Nebula." EGGs do not live forever either. Within about ten thousand years an EGG evaporates, leaving behind only the low-mass star and its now-unprotected protoplanetary disk to face the brunt of the massive star's wrath. Like a chip of dry ice on a hot day, the disk itself now begins to evaporate, forming a characteristic tear-drop-shaped structure like the "proplyds" seen in Hubble images of the Orion Nebula. Within another ten thousand years or so the proplyd, too, is eroded away. All that remains is the star itself, surrounded by the inner part of the disk (comparable in size to our Solar System), which is able to withstand the continuing onslaught of radiation. It is from this disk and in this environment that planets may form. The process leaves a Sun-like star and its surrounding disk sitting in the interior of a low density cavity with a massive star close at hand. Massive stars die young, exploding in violent events called "supernovas." When a supernova explodes it peppers surrounding infant planetary systems with newly synthesized chemical elements—including short-lived radioactive isotopes such as iron-60. "This is where the meteorite data come in," said Hester. "When we look at HII regions we see that they are filled with young, Sun-like stars, many of which are known to be surrounded by protoplanetary disks. Once you ask the question, 'what is going to happen when those massive stars go supernova?' the answer is pretty obvious. Those young disks are going to get enriched with a lot of freshly-made elements." "When you then pick up a meteorite and find a mix of materials that can only be easily explained by a nearby supernova, you realize that you are looking at the answer to a very longstanding question in astronomy and planetary science," Desch added. "So from this we now know that if you could go back 4.5 billion years and watch the Sun and Solar System forming, you would see the kind of environment that you see today in the Eagle or Trifid nebulas," said Hester. "There are many aspects of our Solar System that seem to make sense in light of the new scenario," notes Leshin. "For example, this might be why the outer part of the Solar System—the Kuiper Belt—seems to end abruptly. Ultraviolet radiation would also have played a role in the organic chemistry of the young solar system, and could explain other peculiar effects such as anomalies in the abundances of isotopes of oxygen in meteorites." One of the most intriguing speculations is that the amount of radioactive material injected into the young solar system by a supernova might have profoundly influenced the habitability of Earth itself. Heat released by the decay of this material may have been responsible for "baking out" the Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 22, 25 May 2004 planetesimals from which the earth formed, and in the process determining how much water is on Earth today. "It is kind of exciting to think that life on Earth may owe its existence to exactly what sort of massive star triggered the formation of the Sun in the first place, and exactly how close we happened to be to that star when it went supernova," mused Hester. "One thing that is clear is that the traditional boundaries between fields such as astrophysics, meteoritics, planetary science, and astrobiology just got less clear-cut. This new scenario has a lot of implications, and makes a lot of new predictions that we can test." 5 School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Rice University, Texas A&M University, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Health System and University of Washington. Nearly half of the projects are slated for universities and laboratories outside the consortium. Contact: Kathy Major National Space Biomedical Research Institute Phone: 713-798-5893 E-mail: [email protected] If it is accepted, the new theory may also be of use in looking for life in the universe beyond. "We want to know how common Earth-like planets are. The problem with answering that question is that if you don't know how Earth-like planets are formed—if you don't understand their connection with astrophysical environments—then all you can do is speculate," Hester said. NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY INDEX By David J. Thomas http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/ "We think that we're starting to see a very specific causal connection between astrophysical environments and the things that have to be in place to make a planet like ours." Terrestrial extreme environments articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles2.html Contacts: James Hathaway Phone: 480-965-6375 E-mail: [email protected] Jeff Hester Phone: 480-965-0741 E-mail: [email protected] Laurie Leshin Phone: 480-965-0796 E-mail: [email protected] Read the original news release at http://www.asu.edu/asunews/research/sun_earth_creation.htm. Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/sun_birth_040520.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/new_theory_solar_system_formati on.html SPACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE TAKES AIM AT HEALTH CHALLENGES OF EXPLORATION National Space Biomedical Research Institute release 20 May 2004 The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) selected 48 research projects to continue its mission to resolve the health and medical challenges related to long-duration space missions. "As our nation looks toward longer space missions and exploration of the moon and Mars, these projects tightly focus on the health issues, technologies, and medical assessment and care needed for such missions," said Dr. Jeffrey P. Sutton, NSBRI director. The 48 projects, funded for three-to-four years, will be led by investigators at 30 institutions. A list of all selected projects by state is available at http://www.nsbri.org/NewsPublicOut/bystate0504.html. Selected from a group of 111 research proposals, each project underwent peer review by panels of scientists not affiliated with the Institute and were evaluated for relevance to the NSBRI program. The proposals were in response to a joint NASA and NSBRI research announcement (NRA 03OBPR-04). The projects address critical issues such as bone and muscle loss, cardiovascular changes, remote medical care, sleep and human performance, immunology and infection, balance and orientation, neurobehavioral and psychosocial issues, nutrition and physical fitness. Research findings will also impact the understanding and treatment of similar medical conditions experienced on Earth. Established in 1997 through a NASA competition, the NSBRI is a consortium of leading biomedical institutions including Baylor College of Medicine, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, The Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Morehouse 25 May 2004 R. Buchanan, 2004. Utah microbes point to Mars. BBC News. J. Hogan, 2004. Nanobes: a new form of life? Astrobiology Magazine. Human space flight articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles3.html Australian National University, 2004. Universe Today. How to avoid space madness. M. Frey, 2004. Round-trip survivor, another reality show. Magazine. Astrobiology T. Malik, 2004. Researchers take fruitful look at space radiation hazards to brain. Space.com. Evolution (biological, chemical and cosmological) articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles5.html Arizona State University, 2004. formation. Universe Today. New theory proposed for Solar System Arizona State University, 2004. Earth's creation. SpaceDaily. Theory proposes new view of Sun and R. R. Britt, 2004. Space.com. Origins revealed: Sun and Earth born amid chaos. J. J. Hester, S. J. Desch, K. R. Healy and L. A. Leshin, 2004. The cradle of the Solar System. Science, 304(5674):1116-1117. Planetary protection articles http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/astrobiology/online_articles6.html T. Malik, 2004. Asteroid eaters: robots to hunt space rocks, protect Earth. Space.com. CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS NASA/JPL release 13-19 May 2004 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, May 19. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" web page located at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/presentposition.cfm. After activating, loading instrument expanded blocks, and initializing various instruments, S01, the first tour sequence, began data collection activities. Unique activities in S01 include trajectory correction maneuvers 20 and 21, the first Inertial Vector Propagator (IVP) live update, and the only Phoebe encounter in the tour. Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 22, 25 May 2004 6 actions being accepted, but the consensus of both was that the Project is well postured for the upcoming SOI. Members of the flight team traveled to the DSN complex at Goldstone, California, to perform an Emergency Control Center (ECC) demonstration. These demos occur periodically to confirm that emergency command capability is still active and available should the need arise. Unfortunately, a reoccurrence of a 2-way acquisition failure at DSS-25 invalidated the demo. The team is currently looking at options for rescheduling the test. A new version of the Multi-Mission Image Processing Laboratory software set was accepted for operations at a Delivery Review. Four approved additions were made to enhance robustness and eliminate some uplink workarounds. Additional reviews were held for Spacecraft Operations Office tools Telemetry Input Gap Analyzer and Reporter V1.0, Kinematic Prediction Tool 10.3.5, and IVP 10.3.3. On-board activities this week included the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) Titan movie, which searches for evidence of cloud motion to measure winds. ISS also continued to study the orbits of the known satellites to improve understanding of short- and long-term dynamical evolution. The Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) continues to map the Saturn magnetosphere in neutral and ion photon emissions to derive the distribution and density of atomic and molecular species. The Composite and Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) collected the first in a series of long integrations of Saturn for temperature data. The ISS continued with some standard searches for satellites embedded in the outer part of the rings and outside the main rings. On Saturday, May 15th, the first Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) activity during tour took place. This consisted of a 4-hour long Ultra Stable Oscillator (USO) characterization, and was also an opportunity to continue with the Ka-band Translator recovery attempts. In the last week, 684 ISS images arrived and were distributed along with 77 Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) cubes. The total number of ISS images acquired since the start of Approach Science is now 6655, and the number of VIMS cubes is 843. In support of the Phoebe encounter, the flight team is holding an Operations Readiness Test (ORT) for the Phoebe Live Update Process. This week an ORT walk-through was held along with a Live Update ORT Go/No-Go meeting, and a Phoebe ORT Command approval meeting. Once complete, the files generated during this test will be run through the Integrated Test Laboratory for validation. Approximately 40,000 guests visited JPL and the Cassini display last weekend for the laboratory's annual open house. The Cassini display included a halfscale model of the spacecraft, and screened the planetarium show "Ring World." Members from the flight team volunteered time at the different Cassini exhibits throughout the weekend. This week's image is a single filter narrow angle camera view of Titan. This and previous images can be accessed at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Additional articles on this subject are available at: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04g.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_another_look_titan.html MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES NASA/JPL/ASU release 17-21 May 2004 Nili Fossae Crater (Released 17 May 2004) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040517a.html Syrtis Major (Released 18 May 2004) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040518a.html Tinjar Vallis (Released 19 May 2004) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040519a.html Sequence development of S02 continued this week with release for review of the S02 Preliminary Sequence Integration and Validation 2 (PSIV) stripped subsequence products. Ten sequence change requests (SCR) were dispositioned at the S02 PSIV SCR approval meeting. A kick-off meeting was held for the S03 Science and Sequence Update Process. Rampart Crater (Released 20 May 2004) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040520a.html The Science Operations Plan (SOP) Implementation process for tour sequences S31 and S32 began this week. Sequences S27 and S28 wrapped up, and S29 and S30 were merged for official port #1 and are currently being reviewed. All of the THEMIS images are archived at http://themis.la.asu.edu/latest.html. An updated Cassini reference trajectory was released on 13 May 2004. The new trajectory results from improvements in satellite ephemeris knowledge, and enables the navigation team to maintain key science objectives while controlling propellant expenditure within acceptable limits. SOI readiness reviews this week included a presentation to the Tom Young committee and an internal Project review. Both reviews resulted in some Crater Ejecta (Released 21 May 2004) http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20040521a.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. End Marsbugs, Volume 11, Number 22.