Mineralogical biosignatures and the search for life on Mars

If life ever existed, or still exists, on Mars, its record is likely to be found in minerals formed by, or in association with, microorganisms. An important concept regarding interpretation of the mineralogical record for evidence of life is that, broadly defined, life perturbs disequilibria that arise due to kinetic barriers and can impart unexpected structure to an abiotic system. Many features of minerals and mineral assemblages may serve as biosignatures even if life does not have a familiar terrestrial chemical basis. Biological impacts on minerals and mineral assemblages may be direct or indirect. Crystalline or amorphous biominerals, an important category of mineralogical biosignatures, precipitate under direct cellular control as part of the life cycle of the organism (shells, tests, phytoliths) or indirectly when cell surface layers provide sites for heterogeneous nucleation. Biominerals also form indirectly as by-products of metabolism due to changing mineral solubility. Mineralogical biosignatures include distinctive mineral surface structures or chemistry that arise when dissolution and/or crystal growth kinetics are influenced by metabolic by-products. Mineral assemblages themselves may be diagnostic of the prior activity of organisms where barriers to precipitation or dissolution of specific phases have been overcome. Critical to resolving the question of whether life exists, or existed, on Mars is knowing how to distinguish biologically induced structure and organization patterns from inorganic phenomena and inorganic self-organization. This task assumes special significance when it is acknowledged that the majority of, and perhaps the only, material to be returned from Mars will be mineralogical.     

Economy of modular low-technology launch vehicles

The paper comprises an assessment of the design and the economics of so-called “low-cost” simple modular launch vehicles. It is shown that the performance is very marginal and that the cost per launch cannot compete with technically more advanced fully reusable vehicles. Especially a private-funded development cannot be amortized economically in case of an expendable launch vehicle.     

Production of neutrons from interactions of GCR-like particles

In order to help assess the risk to astronauts due to the long-term exposure to the natural radiation environment in space, an understanding of how the primary radiation field is changed when passing through shielding and tissue materials must be obtained. One important aspect of the change in the primary radiation field after passing through shielding materials is the production of secondary particles from the breakup of the primary. Neutrons are an important component of the secondary particle field due to their relatively high biological weighting factors, and due to their relative abundance, especially behind thick shielding scenarios. Because of the complexity of the problem, the estimation of the risk from exposure to the secondary neutron field must be handled using calculational techniques. However, those calculations will need an extensive set of neutron cross section and thicktarget neutron yield data in order to make an accurate assessment of the risk. In this paper we briefly survey the existing neutron-production data sets that are applicable to the space radiation transport problem, and we point out how neutron production from protons is different than neutron production from heavy ions. We also make comparisons of one the heavy-ion data sets with Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) calculations.     

Radial velocity search for low mass companions of nearby stars

The detection of substellar companions of nearby stars is very difficult, because these objects are very faint and are located close to their bright parent stars. One way to attack this problem is to look for small periodic motion of the bright star, induced by the gravitational attraction exerted by the unseen small companion. Over the past decade stellar spectroscopy has been used by a few teams to monitor the radial velocities of several samples of stars, with a threshold for detection of companions well below the substellar limit of about 0.08 M. So far, only a few possible spectroscopic binaries have been identified where the unseen companions might be substellar.Recently, radio observers discovered that the millisecond pulsar PSR B1257+12 displays periodic variations in the pulse arrival times, indicating the existence of at least three unseen companions in circular orbits around the pulsar. This is the first convincing case for an extra-solar planetary system. This discovery suggests that planetary systems can form in very different situations, and therefore may prove to be common.     

Future spacelift projections

In 1996 the NASA Advisory Council asked for a comprehensive look at future launch projections out to the year 2030 and beyond. In response to this request NASA sponsored a study at The Aerospace Corporation to develop long-range space transportation models for future commercial and government applications, and to analyze the design considerations and desired characteristics for future space transportation systems. Follow-ons to present space missions as well as a wide array of potential new space applications are considered in the study. This paper summarizes the space transportation system characteristics required to enable various classes of future missions. High reliability and the ability to achieve high flight rates per vehicle are shown to be key attributes for achieving more economical launch systems. Technical, economic and policy implications are also discussed.     

Electrostatic Instability and Plasma Irregularities in the Topside Ionosphere above the South-Atlantic Geomagnetic Anomaly

The data of measuring the plasma density in the topside ionosphere for the South-Atlantic geomagnetic anomaly region are presented. It is shown that irregular plasma structures with a wide spectrum of irregularity scale (including large-scale structures with a dimension of order of some hundred kilometers) can be generated in the fields of electrostatic turbulence in inhomogeneous plasma.     

Convective Motions in Near-Critical Fluids under Real Zero-Gravity Conditions

The results of processing and interpreting the data of joint Russian–French experiments for studying the heat and mass transfer in near-critical fluids are presented. The experiments were carried out with the ALICE-1 instrument during an orbital flight of the Mirstation from September 30 to October 2, 1995 [1]. For such fluids with a point-like source of heat, when they are placed in the field of uncontrolled inertial accelerations of the spacecraft, the influence of thermovibrational and thermogravitational mechanisms of convection on the propagation of the region of optical irregularity is investigated. It is shown that, near the thermodynamic critical point, local heating of the medium leads to generation of either intense thermogravitational convection or averaged vibroconvective flow, depending on the frequency of variations of the microaccelerations. The structure and characteristics of discovered motions are studied. The results of numerical simulations are presented that confirm the conclusion about a possibility of generation of an averaged convective flow of a vibrational type by the high-frequency component of microaccelerations.     

Cave biosignature suites: microbes,minerals, and Mars

Earth's subsurface offers one of the best possible sites to search for microbial life and the characteristic lithologies that life leaves behind. The subterrain may be equally valuable for astrobiology. Where surface conditions are particularly hostile, like on Mars, the subsurface may offer the only habitat for extant lifeforms and access to recognizable biosignatures. We have identified numerous unequivocally biogenic macroscopic, microscopic, and chemical/geochemical cave biosignatures. However, to be especially useful for astrobiology, we are looking for suites of characteristics. Ideally, "biosignature suites" should be both macroscopically and microscopically detectable, independently verifiable by nonmorphological means, and as independent as possible of specific details of life chemistries--demanding (and sometimes conflicting) criteria. Working in fragile, legally protected environments, we developed noninvasive and minimal impact techniques for life and biosignature detection/characterization analogous to Planetary Protection Protocols. Our difficult field conditions have shared limitations common to extraterrestrial robotic and human missions. Thus, the cave/subsurface astrobiology model addresses the most important goals from both scientific and operational points of view. We present details of cave biosignature suites involving manganese and iron oxides, calcite, and sulfur minerals. Suites include morphological fossils, mineral-coated filaments, living microbial mats and preserved biofabrics, 13C and 34S values consistent with microbial metabolism, genetic data, unusual elemental abundances and ratios, and crystallographic mineral forms.     

Main medical results of extended flights on space station Mir in 1986-1990

During 1986-1990 seven prime spacecrews (16 cosmonauts) have flown on-board the Mir orbital complex. The longest space mission duration was 366 days The principal objectives of the medical tasks were the maintenance of good health and performance of the spacecrews and conducting medical research programs which included study of the cardiovascular, motor, endocrine, blood, immune, and metabolic systems. Results obtained point to the ability of humans to readily adapt to a year-long stay in space and maintain good health and performance. Readaptation had a similar course as after other previous long-term space flights of up to 8 months in duration. Primary body system changes were not qualitatively different from findings after flights aboard the Salyut 6 and 7 space stations. In this case, during and after an 11-12 month flight, body system alterations were even less severe which was a result of adequate countermeasure use, their systematic and creative employment and maintenance of required environments to support life and work in space.