PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet 31/2001, 27 February 2001
-------------------------------
"Plans to tackle the threat of asteroids that could strike
Earth
have been announced by the UK science minister. But they fall far
short
of recommendations made last year by the government's Near Earth
Object task force."
--Emma Young, New Scientist, 26 February 2001
"The bottom line is that, with the noble few exceptions
known to us
all, I see an amazing lack of support from the astronomical
community for
a project that has, unlike most, a direct relevance and appeal to
the
general public who, after all, pay the wages. I wonder why? It
can't be
ignorance, I sincerely hope it isn't a case of "I want that
money for my
pet project", so what can it be? Without more support
from the likes of
PPARC and the BNSC, the Spaceguard project will end up dead in
the water,
killed by endless tittle- tattle. That would be a case of gross
negligence of the highest order."
--Jay Tate, 26 February 2001
"I think the Government's response to the Task Force
response,
although short on actual commitments, nevertheless, when taken
also
with the establishment of a centre for Astrobiology, represents
probably
unintentionally a major crossing of the Rubicon - the
"giggle factor" is
now definitely behind us; in commissioning the Task Force at all,
and in
accepting its findings, albeit only intellectually, they will
have to engage
with the findings of scientists who will continue to study the
issues. The other dimension - winning the hearts and minds of an
articulate section of the public - is now more important than
ever, and
the Government's response can be taken in evidence of the
validity of our
concerns - since they have NOT laughed them of."
--Michael Martin-Smith, 26 February 2001
(1) SHALLOW IMPACT
New Scientist, 26 February 2001
(2) BRITAIN SAYS IT IS TAKING ASTEROID IMPACT THREAT SERIOUSLY
Space.com, 26 February 2001
(3) BRITISH NEO COMMUNITY IN BETTER POSITION THAN TWO YEARS AGO -
BUT IS IT
IN A BETTER POSITION THAN IT WAS SIX MONTHS AGO?
Jay Tate <fr77@dial.pipex.com>
(4) CROSSING THE RUBICON UNINTENTIONALLY
Michael Martin-Smith <alex@miff.demon.co.uk>
(5) FORSCHER RECHNET MIT 20 MILLIONEN TOTEN
Der Spiegel, 26 February 2001
(6) KAMIKAZE COMET CAUGHT ON FILM
Scientific American, 26 February 2001
(7) SCIENTISTS FIND EVIDENCE OF ANCIENT MICROBIAL LIFE ON MARS
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(8) CASE FOR LIFE ON MARS WITHSTANDS CRITICISM, GAINS SCIENTIFIC
SUPPORT
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(9) A CONVERSATION WITH BOBBY WILLIAMS, NEAR NAVIGATION CHIEF
Ron Baalke <baalke@jpl.nasa.gov>
(10) NAKED-EYE COMET POSSIBLE FOR CHRISTMAS 2001
Ron Baalke <baalke@jpl.nasa.gov>
(11) AND FINALLY: WHERE IS THE NEXT EINSTEIN?
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
==========
(1) SHALLOW IMPACT
From New Scientist, 26 February 2001
http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999464
Plans to tackle the threat of near-Earth asteroids, announced by
the UK
science minister, are "very disappointing"
Plans to tackle the threat of asteroids that could strike Earth
have been
announced by the UK science minister. But they fall far short of
recommendations made last year by the government's Near Earth
Object task
force.
The task force called for the UK to take the world lead in
monitoring Near
Earth Objects and to develop plans to defend the planet. It
called for a new
three-metre telescope in the southern hemisphere, a centre in the
UK to
co-ordinate Near Earth Object research and for asteroid
detectors to be added to a space-based telescope set for launch
by 2012.
The new government announcement of a series of feasibility
studies into some
of the proposals, rather than a commitment to action, is
"very
disappointing", says Jonathan Tate of Spaceguard UK. "A
golden opportunity
for the UK to take a world lead is in danger of being lost."
The Science Minister Lord Sainsbury has pledged that the Particle
Physics
and Astronomy Research Council will analyse the "most
effective" ways of
using new or existing telescopes to broaden the search for Near
Earth
Objects.
He also announced the establishment of a centre to provide
information to
the public about NEOs, but not to co-ordinate research. The
stellar survey
telescope GAIA will search for moving objects "if it is
feasible".
But Lord Sainsbury has defended his announcement. "The
potential threat of
asteroids and other Near Earth Objects to our planet is an
international
problem requiring international action," he says. "The
UK through the
measures announced today can play an important part in how the
international
community tackles this potential problem."
"Target Earth", a feature article in the 3 March issue
of New Scientist
magazine, will explore in detail the dangers we face from
asteroid
collisions.
Correspondence about this story should be directed to
latestnews@newscientist.com
1234 GMT, 26 February 2001
Emma Young
Copyright 2001, New Scientist
==========
(2) BRITAIN SAYS IT IS TAKING ASTEROID IMPACT THREAT SERIOUSLY
From Space.com, 26 February 2001
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/neo_uk_010226_wg.html
By the Associated Press
posted: 03:16 pm ET
26 February 2001
LONDON (AP) -- It sounds like the stuff of science fiction -- an
asteroid
smashing into Earth, with devastating effect. But the British
government on
Saturday announced plans to watch and prepare for just such a
threat.
"The potential threat of asteroids and other Near Earth
Objects to our
planet is an international problem requiring international
action," said the
Science Minister, Lord Sainsbury.
The government said it would review Britain's telescope
facilities to
improve monitoring of space objects, set up a facility to provide
information on Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and prepare emergency
evacuation
plans.
"Clearly, if it is not a large [object], there is always a
possibility of
moving people from the area it is going to hit on the Earth, and
we do
potentially have the opportunity to deflect it," Lord
Sainsbury told the
British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC).
Near Earth Objects are asteroids and comets, traveling through
space at
between 10 and 20 miles (16 and 32 kilometers) per second, whose
orbit
brings them close to our planet. While objects less than 50 yards
(meters)
in diameter burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, bigger ones strike
the
planet's surface about once a century.
Experts estimate that large asteroids capable of devastating a
region, or
even the planet, strike Earth about once every 100,000 years.
One impact off the coast of what is now Mexico 65 million years
ago is
thought to have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Another
impact in
1908 in Siberia set of shock waves that leveled trees over
hundreds of
square miles (kilometers).
A report last year by a government commissioned panel of
scientists called
for Britain to contribute to an international effort to counter
asteroid
risk.
Sainsbury said Britain would consult with the Organization for
Economic
Cooperation and Development, as well as the European Space Agency
on ways to
combat the menace.
Liberal Democrat lawmaker Lembit Opik, who has waged a long
campaign for the
asteroid threat to be taken seriously, said he was encouraged by
the
announcement.
"I thank Lord Sainsbury for his willingness to take this
project forward.
Because he has listened to our campaign for action on cosmic
impact, the end
of the world might not be nigh after all," Opik told the
BBC.
Copyright 2001, AP
=============
(3) BRITISH NEO COMMUNITY IN BETTER POSITION THAN TWO YEARS AGO -
BUT IS IT
IN A BETTER POSITION THAN IT WAS SIX MONTHS AGO?
From Jay Tate <fr77@dial.pipex.com>
Dear Benny,
Having read Alan Fitzsimmons letter of yesterday I find much
contained
therein with which to agree, but this would be the first time
that I have
been accused of pessimism!
The government has certainly undertaken to raise the issue with
other
European governments through various routes, but where do those
routes lead?
The past six months of government consideration seem to have
produced little
European or international enthusiasm, so what has been going on?
I also agree that it is hardly surprising that the government
would not be
willing to announce a big pot of cash for telescopes on Saturday
without
careful consideration. Well, they had a Task Force to look at the
problem,
and then six months to look at what to do about it. Even
the Army can make
decisions in that time! PPARC could have been tasked with
providing costings
and done so in half a year.
The question of the NEO Centre is quite baffling. Costings were
provided to
the DTI and the BNSC over a year ago, and were minimal in the
great scheme
of things. Again, how long does the government need to make a
decision? In
the absence of government action, as you know, the little people
are going
to do it themselves.
I totally agree with Alan that we are much better off now than we
were 2
years ago. Heck, we didn't have Lembit Opik on board then! The
future, in
the long term, may well be rosy, but the short and medium term
are to be
filled with more committees and "discussions". Talking
never discovered an
asteroid.
The bottom line is that, with the noble few exceptions known to
us all, I
see an amazing lack of support from the astronomical community
for a project
that has, unlike most, a direct relevance and appeal to the
general public
who, after all, pay the wages. I wonder why? It can't be
ignorance, I
sincerely hope it isn't a case of "I want that money for my
pet project", so
what can it be? Without more support from the likes of
PPARC and the BNSC,
the Spaceguard project will end up dead in the water, killed by
endless
tittle-tattle. That would be a case of gross negligence of the
highest
order.
All in all we are better off now than 2 years ago, but I do not
believe that
we are better off than we were six months ago. Then, with a
recently
published report that gripped the world, it looked like the UK
was going to
make a giant leap to lead the world in NEO studies while the rest
of the
globe watched and wondered. Now the momentum is in danger of
being lost, the
public will get bored (over my dead body!) and the whole thing
could easily
sink into a morass of bureaucracy (or so, it appears, some wish.)
So, am I disappointed? You bet. It seemed for a moment that we
had a
government willing to make a simple decision. Ha. Am I
pessimistic? No. In
the long term, the government will have to do something.
Hopefully we won't
have to wait for the next "Tunguska". The Spaceguard
Centre will continue
the work of Spaceguard UK, but much more! The public is going to
be told
about the impact hazard - not exaggerated or sensationalised, but
in the
context of other astronomical research, other hazards and the
great scheme
of things. My experience is that once informed, Joe Public gets
quite
excited about dinosaurs, big explosions, craters and things. And
Joe Public
pays taxes that fund research, the government and academia; and
Joe Public
votes.
All the best
Jay Tate
=============
(4) CROSSING THE RUBICON UNINTENTIONALLY
From Michael Martin-Smith <alex@miff.demon.co.uk>
Dear Benny,
I think the Government's response to the Task Force response,
although short
on actual commitments, nevertheless, when taken also with the
establishment
of a centre for Astrobiology, represents probably unintentionally
a major
crossing of the Rubicon - the "giggle factor" is
now definitely behind us;
in commissioning the Task Force at all, and in accepting its
findings,
albeit only intellectually, they will have to engage with the
findings of
scientists who will continue to study the issues. The other
dimension -
winning the hearts and minds of an articulate section of the
public - is now
more important than ever, and the Government's response can be
taken in
evidence of the validity of our concerns - since they have NOT
laughed them
off.
I believe , in time, that the viewpoints I have propounded below
will gain
ground - not least since I have now gained some publicity in, of
all places
The Journal of the Institute of Humanistic Judaism, the British
Medical
Journal (albeit the website version only,) and the Nursing Times
- inter
alia. There is much to be done, but the book I allude to below
offers a
great opportunity to take our campaign out to much wider circles.
Two letters sent to various publications follow
Eros and Destiny
There have been many "invasions" from Space , by
meteorites and comets. We
know that these invasions can be spectacularly deadly;
indeed, for all our
guilt-ridden concern about the Environment, the ultimate
threat is waiting
out in Space to fall upon us on some future day. Earth's animal
inhabitants
have perished in many such invasions. On Feb 12. 2001 the tables
were
turned. The NEAR spacecraft landed on Asteroid Eros 433. The
intention is to
learn its consistency - is it a solid object or loose
debris?
This is not academic - many schemes for deflecting an
asteroid are proposed
- for example a nuclear bomb sent to nudge it off course.
If potential
"visitors" are spongy - only futuristic space
based deflection will
suffice; the bonus is that these will be easier to mine for the
exploitation
of space industries; Japan has proposed building
solar power stations in
Space bringing us non-polluting renewable energy.
A second step was the addition of the "Destiny"
lab to the International
Space Station; providing research and living facilities in
orbit, Destiny
is a next step towards the ultimate dream of building
a dispersed human
civilization in Space. We are the only terrestrial species
capable of
deliberately avoiding extinction - Earthbound suicide is now
becoming
unnecessary, and so unethical.
A Discovery Anticipated?
On Thursday 22nd the discovery was announced that the
Permian Mass
Extinction Event, like the Cretaceous catastrophe 150 million
years later,
was after all due to an impact by a 7 miles diameter comet; in
addition it
was pointed out that this impact, in triggering the Siberian
Traps volcanic
eruptions, would have inflicted a double whammy on the
unfortunate Permian
life-forms. Many geologists for their part have held to the view
that the
Siberian Traps were the true culprit, that the Deccan Traps in
Southern
India were likewise the true exterminators of the dinosaurs and
that the
impact at Chixculub was a "red herring" in the absence
of evidence for a
Permian impact event.
Last year in May/June's issues of the UK Journal "Geology
Today" I proposed
that the astronomers and geologists could be reconciled by a new
syncretic
view in which cosmic impacts result if subsurface Earth waves
which are
focussed at the antipodal site, and that if the circumstances
were right in
the magma layer, volcanic upwellings and traps would result. I
expressed the
hope that evidence would be found for a Permian impact
event, despite the
fact that the antipodal site to the Siberian Traps would be under
present-day oceans.
I named this the "Bullet Theory" by analogy with the
wellknown finding of
pathologists and forensic ballistics that a high velocity bullet
hitting a
human head leaves its greatest devastation at the site directly
opposite to
the point of entry.
My conclusions from all this, that if Humanity is to earn its
name Homo
Sapiens it must take steps to be well dispersed long before such
an event
threatens to ruin our day, is described clearly for the layman in
my book
"Man Medicine and Space" at www.iuniverse.com.
It is always nice to have been ahead of one's time - but this
will only have
real value if the appropriate lessons are learned and are
translated into
action!
Yours sincerely
Dr Michael Martin-Smith, physician, amateur astronomer, and
author
===========
(5) FORSCHER RECHNET MIT 20 MILLIONEN TOTEN
From Der Spiegel, 26 February 2001
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/0,1518,119826,00.html
[Researcher expects 20 million deaths from asteroid impacts in
the next
10,000 years]
"If we don't plan ahead and develop technologies to defend
our civilisation
against large impacts, cosmic disasters will be inevitable and
will lead to
massive destruction, Peiser said. He called upon the German
Government to
support the British initiative for a European asteroid and
planetary defence
strategy."
Ein britischer Katastrophenforscher prognostiziert eine
alarmierende Häufung
von Asteroideneinschlägen für die nächsten 10.000 Jahre. Schon
ein einziger
Absturz könnte hunderttausende Menschenleben fordern.
Hamburg - Benny Peiser ist Kulturanthropologe, Historiker und
lehrt an der
John Moores University in Liverpool. Wie SPIEGEL TV am Montag
vorab
berichtete, erwartet der Katastrophenforscher für die nächsten
10.000 Jahre
vier massive Einschläge größerer Himmelskörper an Land und
zwölf im Meer.
Durch solche Einschläge von Asteroiden und Klein-Kometen würden
insgesamt
etwa 20 Millionen Menschen ums Leben kommen. Peiser beruft sich
bei seiner
Schätzung auf eine Analyse von rund 500 Einschlägen
außerirdischen Materials
in den letzten 10.000 Jahren auf der Erde. Voraussetzung der
Prognose sei
die Fortsetzung der kosmischen Aktivität auf gleichbleibendem
Niveau bei
einer Erdbevölkerung von rund fünf Milliarden Menschen.
Und nicht nur die großen Einschläge würden Flutwellen
auslösen und schwerste
Zerstörungen anrichten - Peiser erwartet mindestens 300 weitere
Einschläge
des "Tunguska-Typs". Am 30. Juni 1908 war über der
sibirischen
Tunguska-Region ein rund 50 Meter großer Asteroid in die
Erdatmosphäre
eingedrungen und mit der Kraft von über 2000
Hiroshima-Atombomben
explodiert. Er verwüstete über 2000 Quadratkilometer Land.
"Wenn wir nicht im voraus planen und Technologien zur Abwehr
der Bedrohung
unserer Zivilisation durch große Einschläge entwickeln, werden
kosmische
Katastrophen unausweichlich sein und zu ungeahnten Zerstörungen
führen",
meinte Peiser und forderte die Bundesregierung auf, die
Initiative
Großbritanniens zur Etablierung einer europäischen Asteroiden-
und
Abwehrstrategie zu unterstützen.
Der so apokalyptisch mahnende Katastrophenforscher ist Mitglied
der
Königlichen Astronomischen Gesellschaft und Sprecher von
Spaceguard UK. Die
Internationale Astronomische Union ehrte ihn kürzlich mit der
Benennung
eines zehn Kilometer großen Asteroiden, Minor Planet (7107)
Peiser.
Copyright 2001, Der Spiegel
See also German press agency story at:
http://de.news.yahoo.com/010226/3/1dpea.html
===========
(6) KAMIKAZE COMET CAUGHT ON FILM
From Scientific American, 26 February 2001
http://www.sciam.com/news/022601/4.html
Hurtling toward the sun at nearly a million kilometers an hour,
Comet C/2001
C2 (SOHO) met with a fiery death in February-but not before
instruments on
NASA's SOHO spacecraft captured the kamikaze streaker on film.
Spotted
earlier this month by comet hunters in Germany and China who
accessed the
images via the Internet, C/2001 C2 (SOHO) is one of nearly 300
comets SOHO
has discovered since 1996. Like most of the others, this latest
comet
belonged to a family of "sungrazers" that scientists
believe were once part
of a large comet that fragmented long ago.
Both SOHO's visible light coronagraph, LASCO, and its ultraviolet
coronagraph, UVCS, observed the comet. In the picture at the
right, two of
the UVCS images are shown superimposed on a LASCO image. The
first UVCS
image, taken when the comet's head was 2.7 million kilometers
from the sun's
surface, shows the comet's broad, well-defined gas tail, reaching
more than
half a million kilometers in length. In the second UVCS image,
taken an hour
later, the comet's head is 1.6 million kilometers from the sun,
and the
comet appears to be flying in a region of significantly higher
solar wind
density.
The ultraviolet light in these pictures comes from hydrogen atoms
formed
during the breakup of water vapor released from the comet by the
heat of the
sun. Estimates based on these pictures indicate that C-201 C2
(SOHO) was
giving off steam at about 100 kilograms per second and that its
nucleus was
only 10 to 20 meters across. Larger objects, such as Halley's
Comet, in
contrast, feature nuclei measured in kilometers. -Kate Wong
Copyright 2001, Scientific American
==============
(7) SCIENTISTS FIND EVIDENCE OF ANCIENT MICROBIAL LIFE ON MARS
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
Kathleen Burton
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
CA Feb. 26,
2001
(Phone: 650/604-1371)
kburton@mail.arc.nasa.gov
RELEASE: 01-11AR
SCIENTISTS FIND EVIDENCE OF ANCIENT MICROBIAL LIFE ON MARS
An international team of researchers has discovered compelling
evidence that
the magnetite crystals in the martian meteorite ALH84001 are of
biological
origin.
The researchers found that the magnetite crystals embedded in the
meteorite
are arranged in long chains, which they say could have been
formed only by
once-living organisms. Their results are reported in the Feb. 27
Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The chains we discovered are of biological origin,"
said Dr. Imre
Friedmann, an NRC senior research fellow at NASA's Ames Research
Center in
California's Silicon Valley and leader of the research team.
"Such a chain
of magnets outside an organism would immediately collapse into a
clump due
to magnetic forces," he said.
The chains were formed inside organic material whose structure
held the
crystals together. "The end result looks somewhat like a
string of pearls,"
Friedmann noted. Each magnetite crystal in the chain is a tiny
magnet,
approximately one-millionth of an inch in diameter. Magnetite is
an iron
oxide, similar to iron rust.
The chains may have served as 'compasses' for the host
magnetotactic
bacteria, so named because they navigate with the help of the
magnetic
crystal chains inside their bodies. The chains were preserved in
the
meteorite long after the bacteria themselves decayed.
The researchers say the magnetite chains probably were flushed
into
microscopic cracks inside the martian rock after it was shattered
by an
asteroid impact approximately 3.9 billion years ago. This
cataclysmic event
on Mars' surface also may have killed the bacteria. The same, or
a later,
asteroid impact ejected the rock, now a meteorite, into space.
Another NASA research group, led by Kathie Thomas-Keprta of
NASA's Johnson
Space Center, report in the same issue of PNAS that the magnetite
crystals
inside the meteorite are similar to those formed by 'modern'
magnetotactic
bacteria now living on Earth. The team studied only single
crystals,
however, not the elusive chain-like structures.
Friedmann's team discovered the crystal chains using a technique
that
enabled them to 'see' the tiny chains inside the meteorite
without
destroying them. Besides the chain-like formation, the team
discovered that
individual crystals are of similar size and shape, do not touch
each other
and that the chains themselves are flexible, further evidence of
biological
origin.
"Until now, studying life has been like trying to draw a
curve using only
one data point -- life on Earth," said Friedmann. "Now
we have two data
points to draw life's curve." The next step is to find
the remains of the
bacteria themselves, he said.
The fact that a small (about 4-pound) meteorite from a planet
contains large
numbers of bacteria suggests that such bacteria were widespread
on the
surface of Mars, the researchers say. A stone of similar size
from Earth
would contain many bacteria.
In addition, since magnetotactic bacteria require low levels of
oxygen, this
finding indicates that photosynthetic organisms, the source of
oxygen in the
atmosphere, must have been present and active on Mars 3.9 billion
years ago.
"Finding evidence of life on Mars is one of the central
problems in
astrobiology research today," said Dr. Michael Meyer, head
of NASA's
astrobiology program, which funded the research.
In addition to his fellowship at NASA Ames, Friedmann, who is
best known for
discovering microorganisms living inside desert rocks, is
professor emeritus
of biological science at Florida State University. Members of the
research
team include Dr. Jacek Wierzchos (University of Lleida, Spain),
Dr. Carmen
Ascaso (CSIC, Madrid, Spain), and Dr. Michael Winkelhofer
(University of
Munich, Germany).
The meteorite ALH84001 was found in the Allen Hills region of
Antarctica in
1984 by researchers supported by the National Science
Foundation's Antarctic
Search for Meteorites Program, a joint effort by the NSF, the
Smithsonian
Instituttion and NASA. The Case Western Reserve University
in Cleveland
manages the program.
Full text of the research paper is available at
http://www.pnas.org
Images of the magnetite chains inside the ALH84001 meteorite and,
for
comparison, inside a modern magnetotactic bacterium are at
http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2001/01images/magneticbacteria/bacteria.html
Ames Research Center is NASA's lead center for astrobiology, the
study of
the origin, evolution, dissemination and future of life in the
universe.
NASA Ames is the location of the central offices of the NASA
Astrobiology
Institute, an international research consortium.
=========
(8) CASE FOR LIFE ON MARS WITHSTANDS CRITICISM, GAINS SCIENTIFIC
SUPPORT
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
Catherine E. Watson
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX February 26, 2001
(Phone: 281/483-5111)
Release: J01-20
CASE FOR LIFE ON MARS WITHSTANDS CRITICISM, GAINS SCIENTIFIC
SUPPORT
Researchers who stunned the world in 1996 with the announcement
that a
Martian meteorite contained evidence of ancient life on the red
planet have
released new evidence that strengthens their original hypothesis
and allays
many of the criticisms leveled at the first paper.
In this latest paper, published in the scientific journal
Precambrian
Research Feb. 17, two additional Martian meteorites were examined
-- Nakhla
and Shergotty, 1.3 billion and 165 to 175 million years old,
respectively.
Both younger meteorites showed the same evidence of microfossils
and other
remnants of early life as the original meteorite, the
4.5-billion-year-old
ALH84001. "If the features observed in the two younger
Martian meteorites
are confirmed to have a biogenic origin, life may have existed on
Mars from
3.9 billion years ago to as recently as 165 to 175 million years
ago," said
Everett K. Gibson, a geochemist at the NASA Johnson Space Center
in Houston
and the senior author on the paper.
Clusters of very small spheres found in the two younger
meteorites are very
similar to those seen in bacteria-containing samples from deep
beneath the
Earth's surface in the Columbia River Basalts in eastern
Washington. Whether
or not these sphere-like structures are true biomarkers has yet
to be
determined, but the fact that they are embedded in or coated by
clays that
are clearly of Martian origin suggests that they too were formed
on Mars.
Studies using a transmission electron microscope have provided
further
evidence of fossils in the original Martian meteorite, ALH84001.
This
evidence is in the form of tiny magnetite crystals, identical to
those used
by aqueous bacteria on Earth as compasses to find food and
energy.
Magnetite (Fe3O4) is produced inorganically on Earth, but the
magnetite
crystals produced by magnetotactic bacteria are different -- they
are
chemically pure and defect-free, with a distinct size and shape.
Magnetotactic bacteria arrange these magnetite crystals in chains
within
their cells.
Additional studies showed that a substantial portion of the
hydrocarbons
found in the meteorites were in them when they left Mars and are
not the
result of terrestrial contamination. There is also strong
evidence that most
of the carbonates in all three meteorites was formed at a time
when Mars was
warmer and wetter -- an environment much more conducive to life
than the
current surface of Mars.
Terrestrial contamination of extraterrestrial samples is an issue
not only
with these meteorites, according to the authors, but one that is
being
studied in relation to the future return of Martian samples to
Earth. "It's
clear that we need to better understand the biosignatures
of terrestrial and extraterrestrial samples so that when Martian
samples are
eventually brought back to Earth, we can determine the presences
or absence
of life with certainty," Gibson said. "However, if
water exists beneath the
Martian surface, why shouldn't life be present today on
Mars?"
The other authors of this work, which was funded by NASA's
Exobiology
Program and NASA's Astrobiology Institute, are David S. McKay of
JSC; Kathie
L. Thomas-Keprta, Susan J. Wentworth, and Mary Sue Bell of
Lockheed Martin
at JSC; Frances Westall, a National Research Council Fellow at
the Lunar &
Planetary Institute in Houston; Andrew Steele and Jan Toporski of
the
University of Portsmouth, England; and Christopher S. Romanek of
the
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Of these, Gibson, McKay,
Thomas-Keprta
and Romanek were authors of the original paper on the subject.
For a more technical discussion of this paper please see the
following Web
site:
http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/astrobiology/biomarkers/recentnews.html
===========
(9) A CONVERSATION WITH BOBBY WILLIAMS, NEAR NAVIGATION CHIEF
From Ron Baalke <baalke@jpl.nasa.gov>
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/conversation/williams/
A Conversation With Bobby Williams, NEAR Navigation Chief
Space history was made on February 12, 2001 when NASA's NEAR
spacecraft
became the first craft to land on an asteroid. What makes this
landing even
more exceptional is that NEAR, managed by the Applied Physics Lab
at Johns
Hopkins University, was not built to withstand a landing; its
mission was to
orbit asteroid Eros and study the slow-moving rock from a
distance. However,
with its main mission successfully completed, scientists thought
they could
attempt an asteroid landing.
It fell to NEAR's navigation team, based at JPL, to bring the
craft in for a
semi-smooth landing. As the rendezvous drew closer, the JPL team
had to
quickly crunch numbers to calculate the craft's path as it
plunged toward
Eros and relay commands back to NEAR to give it the best landing
possible.
Bobby Williams, the head of the navigation team, talks about the
pressure on
that eventful Monday morning.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What was the asteroid landing like?
A: The days leading up to it were pretty chaotic. On Monday we
got a really
early start at 2 am. Al Hewitt, the network operations person for
the Deep
Space Network (the telecommunications system which talks to
spacecraft),
called to say that the predictions for NEAR's arrival at Eros we
had sent
weren't working. So we had an immediate panic attack
Pete Antreasian and Steve Chesley were waiting at their keyboards
when the
numbers were made available, they then started processing. We
were on a very
tight time schedule to get the number "how much earlier or
later are we?" We
did that with a couple minutes to spare.
We found that it was 17 seconds late. We bumped the spacecraft's
clock back
to correct for the change and the spacecraft got to live 17
seconds over
again. We believe that made the difference - that if we hadn't
adjusted it,
it may have mapped a much bigger error on the ground. So that was
the big
push-up for the morning.
We had to have pictures taken that were immediately downlinked
which not
only required us to be on our toes, the spacecraft had to be
officially set
up to do that. So it all worked -- the pictures got down and a
few moments
after they were taken, downlinked.
Q: How did the team feel?
A: The day before we touched down there was a lot of fatigue:
we'd been
working pretty hard for the past month. Monday morning, all the
fatigue
drained away. Everybody was pretty excited. It was the
culmination of all
that hard work. It was like going in for your final exam, and you
know
you'll get an A and you feel really good when you come out.
Q: What makes a good team, especially in the face of doing an
unprecedented
maneuver like the landing?
A: We didn't over-train; we didn't have a lot of blow-by blow
simulation.
That makes everybody tired. My approach is always: lay it all
out, simulate
little parts of it so that everybody knows what they have to do.
They're
smart people! We rely on their own innate abilities and their
training, and
I think people respond to that.
Q: What will the first small body landing on an asteroid teach us
about
future landings?
A: The fact that NEAR was able to land with no landing apparatus
on the
spacecraft means that now they don't have to over-design any kind
of landing
apparatus on one that's actually designed to land. We were
extremely lucky
not to hit a rock or boulder and knock a solar array off. You
wouldn't want
that on a planned landing, where you have to take off again, or
drop off a
rover. But now we know that we can survive an impact. In that
sense we've
set the boundary; we know what the design constraints would be
for a real
lander on an asteroid or comet.
Q: From the navigation point of view, what are the problems of
landing on a
small body and how do you solve them?
A: For asteroids we know now that the key to landing is the
models, like the
gravity fields and the solar pressure on the spacecraft. Because
we had
those models fairly well-estimated, landing was a matter of
planning and
using those models.
We found you can't just arrive and land immediately, like we do
at Mars. For
a small body that's impractical, because you need to know the
gravity, you
need to know the mass, and you can't estimate those things until
you get
close.
Q: What is the NEAR navigation team's future?
A: One important element is that we do navigation for many
different
missions. Almost all of my group has only worked part-time on
NEAR. We're
used to working more than one mission. We have a couple people
going to
other Discovery missions for the Applied Physics Lab, the CONTOUR
mission,
which flies by at least two comets, and the Messenger mission,
which goes to
Mercury.
You can email your questions to Bobby Williams at
bobby.williams@jpl.nasa.gov.
=========
(10) NAKED-EYE COMET POSSIBLE FOR CHRISTMAS 2001
From Ron Baalke <baalke@jpl.nasa.gov>
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/xmas_comet_010223.html
Naked-Eye Comet Possible for Christmas 2001
By Robert Roy Britt
space.com
26 February 2001
A comet detected three months ago is ambling toward the inner
solar system
and could be visible to the naked eye late this year, possibly
providing the
best comet show since Hale-Bopp in 1997. Tickets to the show
should be
popular, as the comet threatens to make its apparition a one-time
engagement.
The comet was first thought to be an asteroid when it was spotted
Nov. 16,
2000 by researchers at the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid
Research
project (LINEAR). It was later identified as a comet and given
the official
designation of 2000 WM1. Scientists are referring to it as Comet
LINEAR, but
it is different from the comet 1999 S4, also called Comet LINEAR,
which
broke apart late in the summer of 2000.
"Although no comet can be relied upon completely, there is a
very good
chance that [this comet] will be a naked-eye Christmas comet for
2001," says
astronomer Mark Kidger.
Full story here:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/xmas_comet_010223.html
==========
(11) AND FINALLY: WHERE IS THE NEXT EINSTEIN?
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
Hi Benny,
Here's an interesting article in today's TIMES OF LONDON.
But there is a
mystery: the person cited in the first paragraph, "Donald
Braben", cannot be
found in the University College London's physics dept.
directory! A search
through the UCL website also failed to find this person.
If this person doesn't exist, I can see why NATURE and SCIENCE
won't publish
the letter since its authenticity cannot be verified. Does
it mean that
this is sloppy journalism on the part of the TIMES OF LONDON?
*****
[addendum: He be here mit pic @ http://www.dialspace.dial.pipex.com/sbs/about/exec.html
bobk]
*****
[From Monday, February 26, 2001 Times of London,
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,74-90352,00.html]
Where is the next Einstein?
A band of influential scientists is warning that genius is being
stifled by
populism. Nobody seems to be listening.
BY ANJANA AHUJA
What has happened to the lone genius making genuine scientific
breakthroughs? He has been squeezed out in the fashion for
blockbuster
projects such as sequencing the human genome. That is the verdict
of Donald
Braben, a physics professor at University College London and a
former ideas
scout for BP, who has submitted a warning letter to the two top
international research journals, Nature and Science.
Despite boasting a score of signatures from respected academics,
including
the Nobel laureates Sir Harry Kroto, a chemist at Sussex
University, and
Dudley Herschbach, a chemist at Harvard University, the letter
has been
rejected by both weeklies. Refusal to publish may have left
Braben annoyed
but he should not find it surprising. After all, the letter takes
aim at
peer review, the method by which new research is assessed,
absorbed and
disseminated within the scientific community. While peer review
works most
of the time, Braben says, it militates against those harbouring
original,
even revolutionary, ideas. Yet it is these ideas -- lonely
furrows ploughed
by brilliant individuals against the mainstream -- that change
science, spur
new technologies and create wealth. Examples include the laser,
the
transistor and the deduction of the structure of DNA.
Braben and others with similar concerns, including Save British
Science
[ http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/sbs/
], want to set up a forum to encourage and
fund radical scientists. About $50 billion (£35 billion) is
spent on basic
research worldwide; they suggest setting aside $20 million, or
0.04 per cent
of the total, to fund promising radicals.
The letter states: "All too often today, the academic
research environment
favours objectives selected by consensus ... pioneers and
consensus can be
poor bedfellows initially, and so peer review often fails."
The signatories
give a warning: "This is one of the most serious problems
sfacing
civilisation."
Braben maintains that without such a provocative stand the next
Einstein may
languish in obscurity. "We need people like the Einsteins,
the Newtons, who
can stand back and ask how everything fits together," Braben
says. "These
are the people who lift our eyes above the horizon, who open up
new vistas,
create new types of understanding. When was the last time we had
a real
scientific breakthrough?" The vogue for expensive
collaborative projects,
Braben says, leaves no space or money for alternative thinkers
whose
research appears initially irrelevant but who may come up with
stunning
work. As a result, advances in the past two or three decades have
been
increments rather than leaps.
He cites the Human Genome Project as an example. "Sequencing
the human
genome is by no means the most important challenge in
biology," Braben
asserts. "It was done because it was possible to do it. I'm
not saying it
was a waste of money, but we don't understand the context of the
genome. We
don't know how those genes express (make proteins). People say
there is
'junk DNA', which means they don't understand what it's
for." In other
words, decoding DNA was an expensive information-collecting
exercise with
little direct impact on either science or healthcare.
Professor Lee Smolin, a visiting professor of physics at Imperial
College in
London, agrees that young people find it difficult to explore
fresh topics
because of the expectation that they will join a large
collaborative effort.
"It's true that most of the really original work is done by
individual
scientists," Smolin says. "But young people feel
pressure to work on topics
that are popular because it will help their career. It's very
pervasive. But
many have a strong character and do survive, although they maybe
don't have
as prestigious a career as their peers. That's a terrible shame.
It's hard
to imagine someone following the footsteps of people such as
Roger Penrose,
who has done pretty much what he wanted to."
Smolin has noted an intriguing trend -- some hard-up creative
minds are
relying on private patronage from, for example, wealthy
science-minded
entrepreneurs. It is a good match -- entrepreneurs who have taken
risks
themselves have the cash and inclination to encourage kindred
spirits. An
example is the Perimeter Institute (PI)
[ http://www.perimeterinstitute.com/
], a C$100 million (£43 million)
theoretical physics institute being set up near Toronto, funded
by the
Canadian businessman Mike Lazaridis. The entrepreneur is
recruiting
physicists known for their daring ideas.
Sir Robert May, the president of the Royal Society and former
chief science
adviser to the Government, says he would have published the
letter. Not
because he necessarily agrees with it, but because the debate it
provokes is
important.
"In short, I thoroughly agree that in trying to manage
creativity, we can
lapse into the hands of bureaucrats and squeeze out the
risk-takers," he
says. "But if you look at the facts, this hasn't happened.
Britain comes top
of the league in measures of performance such as citations of
scientific
papers and patents."
Sir Robert points out that the Royal Society awards fellowships
to hundreds
of brilliant minds to allow them to pursue whatever research they
want to
do, at whichever institute they choose. The money frees them from
all but
the most minimal teaching duties. Sir Robert adds: "I
believe the best
people should be free to set their own agenda but that some
people should
work within broadly directed research." Otherwise, he says,
they spend their
lives "elaborating on their PhDs".
Like most people, Sir Robert wants the best of both worlds -- to
have
research that bears commerical fruit while toiling at the
frontiers. The
problem with funding what Braben calls "credible
heretics" at the frontier
is that results can be unpredictable. Braben, however, believes
from his
experience as an ideas scout that truly original thought will out
itself.
Between 1980 and 1990 he ran Venture Research, a BP-funded effort
to
identify big ideas that merited funding but could not attract it
from
conventional sources, such as the research
councils. Ten thousand applications were whittled down to 26,
with the
scientists themselves asked to judge the originality of ideas.
"We rarely
had complaints from people we turned down, because they could see
what we
were looking for," says Braben. "It became a process of
self-selection. As a
result, the proposals that did get through were
electrifying."
An example was a project to discover the structure of the cell
nucleus in
plants. Even though the petroleum company was not looking for
returns,
Braben estimates that BP's total investment of about £25 million
has
generated some £300 million: Braben, once a government science
adviser, now
runs his own outfit called Venture Research International, based
in Essex.
Sadly, the company has struggled to win money to fund daring
research.
"Investors want to see what their money is being used for.
But although we
can promise research of the highest quality, it is difficult to
say what is
going to come out of it.
"The problem is that scientists doing these kinds of
projects are entering
intellectual greenfield sites. If really clever scientists are
asking
questions that nobody has asked before, they can't avoid making
big
discoveries. They simply can't fail."
Braben adds that it is not necessarily money that is at issue,
but time.
Innovation does not have to be costly. "Before the Sixties
and Seventies and
the rigid application of peer review, scientists could do
anything they
wanted with the little money they could get hold of," he
reminisces. "That's
the way it should be."
Donald Braben can be contacted at DonBraben@compuserve.com
.
Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CAMBRIDGE-CONFERENCE NETWORK (CCNet)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The CCNet is a scholarly electronic network. To
subscribe/unsubscribe,
please contact the moderator Benny J Peiser <b.j.peiser@livjm.ac.uk>.
Information circulated on this network is for scholarly and
educational
use only. The attached information may not be copied or
reproduced for
any other purposes without prior permission of the copyright
holders.
The fully indexed archive of the CCNet, from February 1997 on,
can be
found at http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/cccmenu.html
DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the
articles and texts and in other CCNet contributions do not
necessarily
reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the moderator of
this
network.