Exosemiotics: an inter-disciplinary approach

Over the past several hundred years, many ideas have been expressed as to how human beings might communicate with extraterrestrials. These ideas have been put forth by experts from a diverse range of fields including physical scientists, mathematicians, behavioral scientists, philosophers and creative writers who have widely differing views on how to express ourselves coherently with civilizations from other worlds.This paper will look at some of these differing viewpoints and stress the need for an inter-disciplinary approach to the challenges of sending and, perhaps most important, receiving messages. Could we decipher a message if we got one? Who is doing the listening and what advantages could an inter-disciplinary approach bring to these efforts? What are some inter-disciplinary approaches to sending messages to extraterrestrials?     

Spatial Thinking in Undergraduate Science Education

Spatial thinking is central to many scientific domains and professions spatial ability predicts success and participation in science. However spatial thinking is not is not emphasized in our educational system. This paper presents a selective review of four types of studies regarding spatial thinking in undergraduate science curricula; (1) correlational studies examining the relations between measures of spatial ability and performance in science disciplines, (2) studies that attempt to train aspects of spatial thinking, (3) studies of how students understand specific spatial representations in sciences (4) studies that use dynamic spatial representations to promote scientific understanding. For each type of study, the evidence is critically evaluated and conclusions are drawn about how to nurture spatial thinking in science.     

Spatial Thinking Across the College Curriculum: A Report on a Specialist Meeting

This report presents findings from a specialist meeting of spatially-minded researchers and administrators from education and industry to consider prospects for introducing courses and curricula on spatial thinking in higher education. More than 40 participants explored the rationale for expanding student exposure to concepts, tools, and applications of spatial reasoning across a range of science, engineering, and humanities disciplines. The focus was on what we know and what we need to know to make the case for space, underscoring basic research on what is meant by spatial thinking and on variations in the spatial reasoning skills required in different domains of knowledge. The need for rigorous assessments of learning outcomes associated with different approaches to teaching spatial thinking was emphasized.     

Experimental support for an immunological approach to the search for life on other planets

We propose a three-phase approach to test for evidence of life in extraterrestrial samples. The approach capitalizes on the flexibility, sensitivity, and specificity of antibody-antigen interactions. Data are presented to support the first phase, in which various extraction protocols are compared for efficiency, and in which a preliminary suite of antibodies are tested against various antigens. The antigens and antibodies were chosen on the basis of criteria designed to optimize the detection of extraterrestrial biomarkers unique to living or once-living organisms.     

Low ionization lines in high luminosity quasars: The calcium triplet

In order to investigate where and how low ionization lines are emitted in quasars we are studying a new collection of spectra of the CaII triplet at λ8498, λ8542, λ8662 observed with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) using the Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera (ISAAC). Our sample involves luminous quasars at intermediate redshift for which CaII observations are almost nonexistent. We fit the CaII triplet and the OI λ8446 line using the Hβ profile as a model. We derive constraints on the line emitting region from the relative strength of the CaII triplet, OI λ8446 and Hβ.     

Retrieval of aerosol size distribution from extinction measurements and verification with observations at a tropical station

Aerosol size distributions were retrieved by computing aerosol extinction parameters using extensive measurements of direct solar radiation made in the 0.4 and 0.6 μm wavelengths at Pune with Volz type sunphotometer during winter (November–February), pre-monsoon (March–May), monsoon (June–August) and post-monsoon (September–October) of 1980–1981. The computer aerosol size distributions are compared with the direct measurements made using Anderson eight-stage cascade impactor. There is agreement between the retrieved and measured size distributions. The retrieval method is simple and useful for intensive aerosol measurement programmes.     

Acetylene as fast food: implications for development of life on anoxic primordial Earth and in the outer solar system

Acetylene occurs, by photolysis of methane, in the atmospheres of jovian planets and Titan. In contrast, acetylene is only a trace component of Earth's current atmosphere. Nonetheless, a methane-rich atmosphere has been hypothesized for early Earth; this atmosphere would also have been rich in acetylene. This poses a paradox, because acetylene is a potent inhibitor of many key anaerobic microbial processes, including methanogenesis, anaerobic methane oxidation, nitrogen fixation, and hydrogen oxidation. Fermentation of acetylene was discovered approximately 25 years ago, and Pelobacter acetylenicus was shown to grow on acetylene by virtue of acetylene hydratase, which results in the formation of acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde subsequently dismutates to ethanol and acetate (plus some hydrogen). However, acetylene hydratase is specific for acetylene and does not react with any analogous compounds. We hypothesize that microbes with acetylene hydratase played a key role in the evolution of Earth's early biosphere by exploiting an available source of carbon from the atmosphere and in so doing formed protective niches that allowed for other microbial processes to flourish. Furthermore, the presence of acetylene in the atmosphere of a planet or planetoid could possibly represent evidence for an extraterrestrial anaerobic ecosystem.     

The MESSENGER Spacecraft

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft was designed and constructed to withstand the harsh environments associated with achieving and operating in Mercury orbit. The system can be divided into eight subsystems: structures and mechanisms (e.g., the composite core structure, aluminum launch vehicle adapter, and deployables), propulsion (e.g., the state-of-the-art titanium fuel tanks, thruster modules, and associated plumbing), thermal (e.g., the ceramic-cloth sunshade, heaters, and radiators), power (e.g., solar arrays, battery, and controlling electronics), avionics (e.g., the processors, solid-state recorder, and data handling electronics), software (e.g., processor-supported code that performs commanding, data handling, and spacecraft control), guidance and control (e.g., attitude sensors including star cameras and Sun sensors integrated with controllers including reaction wheels), radio frequency telecommunications (e.g., the spacecraft antenna suites and supporting electronics), and payload (e.g., the science instruments and supporting processors). This system architecture went through an extensive (nearly four-year) development and testing effort that provided the team with confidence that all mission goals will be achieved. Larry E. Mosher passed away during the preparation of this paper.     

ISTP science data systems and products

The International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program will provide simultaneous coordinated scientific measurements from most of the major areas of geospace including specific locations on the Earth's surface. This paper describes the comprehensive ISTP ground science data handling system which has been developed to promote optimal mission planning and efficient data processing, analysis and distribution. The essential components of this ground system are the ISTP Central Data Handling Facility (CDHF), the Information Processing Division's Data Distribution Facility (DDF), the ISTP/Global Geospace Science (GGS) Science Planning and Operations Facility (SPOF) and the NASA Data Archive and Distribution Service (NDADS).The ISTP CDHF is the one place in the program where measurements from this wide variety of geospace and ground-based instrumentation and theoretical studies are brought together. Subsequently, these data will be distributed, along with ancillary data, in a unified fashion to the ISTP Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-Investigator (CoI) teams for analysis on their local systems. The CDHF ingests the telemetry streams, orbit, attitude, and command history from the GEOTAIL, WIND, POLAR, SOHO, and IMP-8 Spacecraft; computes summary data sets, called Key Parameters (KPs), for each scientific instrument; ingests pre-computed KPs from other spacecraft and ground basel investigations; provides a computational platform for parameterized modeling; and provides a number of data services for the ISTP community of investigators. The DDF organizes the KPs, decommutated telemetry, and associated ancillary data into products for duistribution to the ISTP community on CD-ROMs. The SPOF is the component of the GGS program responsible for the development and coordination of ISTP science planning operations. The SPOF operates under the direction of the ISTP Project Scientist and is responsible for the development and coordination of the science plan for ISTP spacecraft. Instrument command requests for the WIND and POLAR investigations are submitted by the PIs to the SPOF where they are checked for science conflicts, forwarded to the GSFC Command Management Syntem/Payload Operations Control Center (CMS/POCC) for engineering conflict validation, and finally incorporated into the conflict-free science operations plan. Conflict resolution is accomplished through iteration between the PIs, SPOF and CMS and in consultation with the Project Scientist when necessary. The long term archival of ISTP KP and level-zero data will be undertaken by NASA's National Space Science Data Center using the NASA Data Archive and Distribution Service (NDADS). This on-line archive facility will provide rapid access to archived KPs and event data and includes security features to restrict access to the data during the time they are proprietary.