PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet, 14/2000 - 2 February 2000
--------------------------------
QUOTES OF THE DAY
"During its yearlong orbital
mission, NEAR is expected to take
images from as close as nine miles away
— and even attempt a
landing. Eventually, data from NEAR
could help scientists learn
how to divert an asteroid from colliding
with Earth if such a
situation ever arose."
-- Alan
Boyle, MSNBC
"The story goes that only about 10
people survived, with two of
them -- a young woman and her infant son
-- completing an epic
trek to begin the process of rebuilding
their culture sometime
soon before the arrival of permanent
European settlers. In an
unusual effort of multidisciplinary
synthesis, a team led by
tree-ring scientist Gordon Jacoby of the
Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory has demonstrated that this
mythic disaster did in fact
take place in 1783, most likely as the
result of a massive
volcanic eruption that occurred
thousands of miles away in
Iceland."
-- Kurt Sternlof,
UniSci
(1) TREE-RINGS SHOW MYTHIC DISASTER DID TAKE PLACE
Juan Zapata-Arauco <juanwisdomquest@yahoo.com>
(2) NEW VIEWS ON EROS
MSNBC, 1 February 2000
(3) SPACEDEV & BOING TEAM UP ON SPACE & ASTEROID MISSIONS
Jim Benson <jim@spacedev.com>
(4) SPACE CHEMISTRY
European Space Agency <sciweb@estec.esa.nl>
(5) MURCHISON AND BOVINE BACTERIA?
Matthew Genge <M.Genge@nhm.ac.uk>
(6) PREEMPTIVE STRIKE
Rolf Sinclair <rolf@santafe.edu>
============
(1) TREE-RINGS SHOW MYTHIC DISASTER DID TAKE PLACE
From Juan Zapata-Arauco <juanwisdomquest@yahoo.com>
Dear Benny:
CCNet readers may be interested in the following:
Tree-Rings Show Mythic Disaster Did Take Place
From UniSci, Daily University Science News,
http://unisci.com/stories/20001/0128004.htm
The oral traditions of the Kauwerak people of extreme northwest
Alaska
describe a great disaster of cold known as "The Time that
Summertime
Did Not Come." The resulting famine and hardship decimated
their
population at this fragile northernmost fringe of human
habitation.
The story goes that only about 10 people survived, with two of
them -- a
young woman and her infant son -- completing an epic trek to
begin the
process of rebuilding their culture sometime soon before the
arrival of
permanent European settlers.
In an unusual effort of multidisciplinary synthesis, a team led
by
tree-ring scientist Gordon Jacoby of the Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory has demonstrated that this mythic disaster did in
fact take
place in 1783, most likely as the result of a massive volcanic
eruption
that occurred thousands of miles away in Iceland.
Their work, funded by the National Science Foundation and
published
recently in Quaternary Science Reviews, combined elements of
dendroclimatology with volcanology, history and anthropology to
solve
the chilling mystery.
"The whole thing is somewhat like a dime novel detective
story," Jacoby
said. "There are a lot of different clues from various
fields of
inquiry that weave together into a remarkable story."
Dendroclimatology is the science of deciphering evidence of past
climate as recorded by trees in their annual growth rings. In
general,
the better the growing season, the wider the ring and the denser
the
wood added in late summer.
By carefully analyzing tree-ring records, researchers can not
only
infer temperature, rainfall and other elements of past climate,
but
also date backward to determine the exact year, and sometimes the
season being studied.
Whether or not the trek of the Kauwerak woman called Napauruhk
occurred
exactly as chronicled, the eruption of the volcano at Laki,
Iceland on
June 8, 1783 fits with the oral tradition of a normal spring and
early
summer that turned suddenly frigid, snowy and barren. The
journals of
European explorers in the region around that time also speak of
deserted villages and a notable decline in the apparent native
population.
Independent corroboration comes from tree-ring data, which show
1783 to
have been the coldest growing season in that area for over 900
years.
While the ring-widths for 1783 were not unusual, the density of
the
wood from the second half of the growing season was uniquely low,
which
also suggests an abrupt end to summer. Their analysis indicated
that
temperatures in July and August hovered at or below freezing,
Jacoby said.
That unusual cooling events often follow on the heels of volcanic
eruptions is well documented, Jacoby said. The sulfurous gases
released
into the upper atmosphere combine with water to form crystals of
acid
that reflect solar radiation back into space. The resulting loss
of
incoming heat leads to lower temperatures. But the degree and
distribution of cooling tends to be uneven.
In fact, there have been three unusually cold summers in North
America
during the past 400 years of tree-ring history, all of them
immediately
following major volcanic eruptions and none of them affecting the
entire
continent. The year 1641 was cold in north central Canada, 1783
was cold
in northern Alaska, and 1816 was cold in eastern North America.
The Laki eruption produced the largest lava flow in recorded
history
and is estimated to have released up to 280 million tons of
sulfurous
gases into the upper atmosphere. The acid haze from the eruption
was
noted as far away as China, and is known to have lowered
temperatures
throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In Japan, 1783 is also known
as the
"year without a summer."
Just why the effect was so severe in northwest Alaska remains a
mystery. Perhaps a temporary oddity of atmospheric circulation
concentrated the unseasonably cold air over the region. Whatever
the
exact mechanism, though, the important lesson is that the event
was
catastrophic for the Kauwerak, but of little consequence
elsewhere in
North America, Jacoby said.
"This demonstrates that major volcanic eruptions can lead to
important,
even devastating localized cooling events," he said.
"We can’t assume
that volcanic eruptions always yield globally averaged effects,
or even
that they’re distributed smoothly at the continental scale.
"We need to understand more about these kinds of extreme
climatic events
-- their frequency, ferocity, distribution and causes. This type
of
multidisciplinary research can really extend our knowledge and
expand our
awareness of the potential for future events."
"The fact is they’re probably far more common than we’d
like to think,"
Jacoby said. "We need to realize that these events can
happen, have
happened in the past, and will certainly happen again. The world
isn’t
always the consistent, predictable place we might wish it to
be." - By
Kurt Sternlof
=====================
(2) NEW VIEWS ON EROS
From MSNBC, 1 February 2000
http://msnbc.com/news/204520.asp?cp1=1
Lovely new images of an asteroid
NEAR spacecraft heads for Valentine’s Day rendezvous
By Alan Boyle
MSNBC
Feb. 1 — From millions of miles away, the Near Earth
Asteroid
Rendezvous spacecraft is beaming back images and movies, leading
up to
its close encounter with the asteroid Eros this month. Right now
Eros
looks like a pebble slowly rolling in the blackness of space, but
scientists expect it to grow to a screen-filling extravaganza.
AFTER ALMOST exactly four years of space flight, NEAR is due to
go into
orbit around the micro-world Feb. 14. The Valentine’s Day
arrival time
is strangely fitting, since Eros is named after the Greek god of
love
(also known by his Roman sobriquet, Cupid).
In preparation for the rendezvous, the 18.3-foot-wide
(5.6-meter-wide)
spacecraft started taking pictures of the asteroid in
mid-January, when
Eros was still 27,200 miles (35,300 kilometers) away. As of
Tuesday,
NEAR had closed to within 6,800 miles (11,000 kilometers) of
Eros.
The spacecraft and the asteroid are both roughly 165 million
miles (265
million kilometers) from Earth — and experts emphasize that
there’s
absolutely no danger that Eros will collide with our planet, at
least
for the next few million years or so.
NEAR was originally scheduled to start swinging around the
asteroid a
year ago. Engine problems forced a course change, however,
meaning that
the spacecraft could come no closer than 2,375 miles (3,830
kilometers)
to Eros during its December 1998 flyby.
Despite the disappointment, scientists learned a great deal about
the
rock from that earlier pass. They determined that the asteroid
was
slightly smaller than previously thought — about 21 by 8 by
8 miles (33
by 13 by 13 kilometers). And they saw variations in surface color
and
reflectivity indicating that the asteroid has a diverse surface
makeup.
Scientists said Eros appeared to be about as dense as Earth’s
crust,
and twice as dense as asteroid Mathilde, which NEAR flew past in
June
1997. It also has two medium-size craters and a prominent ridge
that
extends as far as 12 miles (20 kilometers).
All this suggests that Eros is a rocky object rather than a
floating
rubble pile, as scientists believe Mathilde to be. Images taken
during
an earlier flyby in December 1998 (top row) were used to develop
computerized renditions of Eros' contorted shape (bottom row).
Eros'
shape has been compared to that of a shoe, a battered boat or a
cosmic
peanut.
This month’s encounter with Eros is sure to be more
intimate, so to
speak. That’s the reason why mission managers are interested
in the
approach pictures: They help confirm Eros’ position and rate
of
rotation, and would also eventually show whether there were any
mini-moons or other material floating around the asteroid. In the
past,
satellites have been detected orbiting other asteroids, such as
Ida and
Eugenia.
“If Eros has a moon, we surely wish to know about it before
we go into
orbit,” NEAR mission managers explained in a status report.
Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory is
overseeing the
$211 million NEAR mission on NASA’s behalf.
During its yearlong orbital mission, NEAR is expected to take
images
from as close as nine miles away — and even attempt a
landing.
Eventually, data from NEAR could help scientists learn how to
divert an
asteroid from colliding with Earth if such a situation ever
arose.
Earthlings won’t have to worry about Eros specifically for a
long time,
said project scientist Andy Cheng.
“Eros is in a chaotically changing orbit that will within
the next few
million years most likely become an Earth-crossing orbit,”
he told
MSNBC. He estimated that the asteroid might have a 5 percent
chance of
hitting Earth at some point in the next 100 million years or so.
But if such a collision ever occurred, it would pack a
catastrophic
wallop, Cheng said. “Eros is actually bigger than the
asteroid that
ended the age of the dinosaurs,” he said.
Copyright 2000, MSNBC
================
(3) SPACEDEV & BOING TEAM UP ON SPACE & ASTEROID MISSIONS
From Jim Benson <jim@spacedev.com>
Greetings,
This may be SpaceDev's most important announcement to-date.
Please read
it carefully.
SpaceDev trades on the NASD Over the Counter (OTC) market under
the
trading symbol of SPDV.
Our web site is: www.spacedev.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPACEDEV AND BOEING TEAM ON COMMERCIAL DEEP-SPACE MISSIONS
Lunar, Mars and Asteroid Missions to be Assessed
Poway, Calif., and Huntington Beach, Calif., February 1,
2000 --
SpaceDev, Inc. (OTCBB: SPDV), the world's first commercial space
exploration and development company, and The Boeing Company
(NYSE: BA),
the world's largest aerospace company, announced today that they
have
teamed together to investigate opportunities of mutual strategic
interest in the commercial deep-space arena.
Under terms of an agreement recently approved by the companies,
the
Boeing Space and Communications Group will team with SpaceDev's
Space
Missions Division to investigate a variety of small, low-cost,
deep-space mission initiatives formulated by SpaceDev.
In coming months, technical and corporate staff from each company
will
further refine and advance SpaceDev's concept of commercial
missions to
the Moon, Mars and near-Earth asteroids, involving
micro-spacecraft of
250 kg mass. The effort also includes a global assessment
of the
market potential for such missions, and a technical and
programmatic
assessment of launch-vehicle options for such missions.
"I believe that the next major 'New New Thing' will be the
no-holds
barred, explosive opening of space by the private sector and the
convergence of space with the Internet, providing huge amounts of
unique content and the largest Internet audience delivery
mechanism to
date," said Jim Benson, SpaceDev Chairman and CEO.
"We are very
pleased that Boeing has decided to join us in looking at the
business
case for trailblazing missions to commercially and scientifically
explore the territory of the inner solar system. We look forward
to
working with the experienced Boeing team to help get these unique
and
historic missions off the ground," Benson said.
SpaceDev has been refining the design of its commercial Near
Earth
Asteroid Prospector (NEAP) mission since 1997 and started
offering
commercial, fixed-price Mars probe-carrier and Moon orbiter
missions
with real-time streaming video last year. In November 1999 the
company
competitively won a contract from University of California,
Berkeley to
design, build, integrate, test and operate the CHIPSat astronomy
micro-spacecraft, NASA's first University-Class Explorer (UNEX)
mission
to proceed into the implementation phase.
Commenting on the agreement with SpaceDev, Rick Stephens, Boeing
vice
president and general manager for Reusable Space Systems,
said,
"Boeing recognizes the potential for the commercial
exploration of
space and we applaud SpaceDev's entrepreneurial efforts in paving
new
inroads in this emerging market area. This collaborative
effort will
allow us to substantiate the projected market demand for
commercial
deep space missions and jointly develop future market-driven
solutions
to meet this demand." [...]
For more information:
James Benson
Chief Executive Officer
(858) 375-2020
================
(4) SPACE CHEMISTRY
From the European Space Agency <sciweb@estec.esa.nl>
The stars are the chemical factories of the Universe: they
synthesise
in their cores new chemical elements that combine in the stellar
outskirts to produce new molecules, and these will become part of
the
raw material out of which more stars, planets, and maybe even
living
organisms will form. ESA's infrared space telescope, ISO, has
identified many of these compounds in space.
About 150 astronomers, including many experts in space-chemistry,
will
present and discuss results in the field at ESA's Villafranca
station,
in Madrid, Spain, from 2 to 4 February.
Full story: http://sci.esa.int/missions/newsitem.cfm?TypeID=18&ContentID=9071
==========================
*LETTERS TO THE MODERATOR*
==========================
(5) MURCHISON AND BOVINE BACTERIA?
From Matthew Genge <M.Genge@nhm.ac.uk>
Dear Benny,
The discovery of fossilised bacteria in carbonaceous chondrites
by
Zhmur and Gerasimenko (CCNET, 31st Jan) is hardly surprising
since
these materials are easily contaminated by terrestrial
micro-organisms
which thrive on the abundant carbonaceous components. Most
meteorites
have had more than enough opportunity to pick up terrestrial
passengers
simply through their years of repeated handling by loving museum
curators. Murchison is even more likely than most to have
experienced
contamination since it fell in a farmyard and at least some of
the
stones had to be recovered from a ditch filled with manure. For
Murchison therefore the presence of bugs from space seems less
likely
than those of bovine origin.
Regards,
Matt Genge
=============
(6) PREEMPTIVE STRIKE
From Rolf Sinclair <rolf@santafe.edu>
Jan. 31, 2000
Hi Benny --
Some natural disasters that were once inevitable can now be
prevented.
Here is one example of how understanding a disaster can show how
to
avoid it. An article in today's "Washington Post"
("Pipes Will Help
Volatile 'Killer Lakes' Vent", p. A9) describes the
"killer lakes" of
Africa, and how they can "erupt" periodically and
smother humans and
animals within some miles with an asphyxiating cloud of CO2. It
also
describes a simple cure, saying:
"(This) project is a rare preemptive strike at natural
disaster. With
hurricanes, tidal waves and earthquakes, we are essentially
limited to
going in after and picking up the pieces. With this [method of
draining
off the CO2 slowly and harmlessly] we have the opportunity to
mitigate
the hazard before there is a loss of life."
The article is at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/feed/a52586-2000jan31.htm
We can learn a lesson from this regarding potential impactors.
Cheers,
Rolf
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*
CCNET-ESSAY, 2 February 2000
----------------------------
PLAUSIBILITY, SIGNIFICANCE & THE
PANSPERMIA EPIDEMIC
By Jon Richfield <jonr@iafrica.com>
Panspermia is not intrinsically implausible, but in science it
has
played a minor, inglorious role, not far removed from that of
cold
fusion. The scientific establishment is not especially blind,
hidebound or malicious, but even plain common sense makes its
demands
and a hypothesis must meet certain standards to be taken
seriously,
never mind accepted as a leader among viable alternatives.
...