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Newsletter #11 - September 21st, 2005

Mars Gravity Biosatellite will provide the first data on the adaptation of the mammalian body to the partial gravity of 0.38g found on the surface of Mars. It will help provide answers to one of the critical outstanding questions in the planning of future human expeditions to the Red Planet. Mars Gravity is led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Queensland (UQ).

In this edition:

1.WATCH THIS SPACE – Mars Gravity Notices
2.EVENT HORIZON – News and Views on Events
3.TECH LIFE – Science and Engineering Updates
4.LIL’ BIT OF SOL – Team Member News

1. WATCH THIS SPACE
Mars Gravity Notices

THE 200K NASA GRANT CHECK HAS LANDED....IN THE MARS GRAVITY ACCOUNT!!
The Mars Gravity team is delighted to announce the receipt of a $200,000 NASA advanced projects development grant. The grant will support development of a full Payload engineering model, as well as a number of broad tasks in systems analysis and integration. A special thank you to our colleagues at NASA who kept pushing to see that this support came through!
The Mars Gravity team would also like to thank its members, Erika Wagner, Paul Wooster, John Keesee, Jason Hoogland, Audrey Schaffer, Rachel Lee, and Marcus Holzinger; as well as research partners, PSI and CSR, for their extraordinary efforts in securing these funds for the team. Good Job!!

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED
   Come take a tour of our new site! Summer intern Daniel Blustein has updated www.marsgravity.org , now with new information on our current projects, team members, management and a children's section. Along with that, it's still the best place to find out about our mission, our internship program and how to support the team with donations and participation.

MARS GRAVITY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
This summer was year two of the popular Mars Gravity Internship Program at MIT. In an exciting expansion, the team welcomed a total of twenty student participants from MIT and universities across the globe. Slightly over half were returning team members who had previously contributed to the program, while the remainder joined Mars Gravity for the first time. Students worked with the Payload Engineering, Systems Engineering and Science teams, led by Thaddeus Fulford-Jones, Rachel Lee and Erika Wagner respectively.

   Many thanks to all participants for their hard work!
Burak Akbulut, Kay Aull, Daniel Blustein, Jose Bustamante, Tewfik Cassis, Walker Chan, Patrick El-Hage, Jordan French, Stephen Kearney, George Kittos, Esther Lofgren, Andrew Macrae, Amrit Misra, Tomasz Mloduchowski, David Newell, Ian Nichols, Vanessa Quinlivan, Aaron Roth, Noelle Steber and John Sticklen.

Interested in interning with Mars Gravity in the future? Visit http://www.marsgravity.org/team for applications and more information. To receive periodic updates and reminders about the Mars Gravity internship program, please subscribe to the Mars Gravity internship program mailing list by sending a blank e-mail to mg-intern-subscribe@lists.marsgravity.org.

GIVING TO MARS GRAVITY
Mars Gravity relies on both public and private support. Hundreds of students and professional advisors from across the globe have helped bring this program to fruition, and your support can help it take flight. Please donate generously online at:
http://www.marsgravity.org/sponsors/donation.php

or by mail to:
Mars Gravity Program Office
MIT Room 41-116
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA

or email us at info@marsgravity.org to discuss how you might help promote the program in your local area.

Did you know?
NASA's recent STS-114 shuttle mission marked the 31st mission for Discovery. This twenty-one year old orbiter has flown more times than any of the other shuttles in NASA's fleet, including both high-profile returns to flight in 1988 and 2005.

2. EVENT HORIZON
News and Views on Events

IN A WORLD OF PUBLISH OR PERISH...
Congratulations to members of the Science and Payload teams for having two abstracts accepted by the American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology! The urinalysis team will be presenting their work with urine preservation and analytic chemistry, while the animal support module team will be detailing their experiments with extending NASA rodent food bar shelf life to last for the 5-week mission. Both groups will be delivering posters at the 2005 ASGSB conference in Reno this November.
Kudos also to the authors of our 2004 ICES paper. "Mars Gravity Biosatellite: International Student Training and Public Outreach" was deemed "among the most outstanding SAE technical papers of 2004" and will be republished in SAE 2004 Transactions. Way to go team!

HIGH IN THE SKY WITH BOSTON-AREA GIRL SCOUTS
The MIT team is once again hosting our "High In The Sky" Girl Scout merit badge workshop this fall and welcomes participants from across New England . On Saturday, October 22nd from 10am - 4:30pm on the MIT campus, Mars Gravity students, faculty, and friends invite Juniors to come fulfill a number of requirements from the Aerospace and Sky Search badges. Join us as we ask the age-old questions: How do planes fly? What makes rockets climb? When will the first woman set foot on Mars? For registration details, contact Erika Wagner at erika[at]mit[dot]edu.

EVEN THE NEW YORK TIMES AGREES
From an August 14th editorial on ISS in the New York Times:
"In low Earth orbit the astronauts are subjected to zero gravity, whereas on the Moon they would face one-sixth Earth's gravity, and on Mars one-third. The important question is how those low levels of gravity will affect their health. Incredibly, the one scientific instrument that could shed light on the issue - a centrifuge that would subject test animals to a range of different gravities - seems likely to be eliminated from the station. Zero gravity would be relevant on a trip to Mars, but that journey can be made in less time than astronauts have already spent in weightless environments in orbit."

Article

Did You Know?
   Standard communications frequencies for deep space probes have been in the microwave portion of the radio frequency spectrum (S-band, 2-4 GHz and X-band, 8-12 GHz). Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched on 12 August 2005 , will test the use of a portion of the K band (18-40 GHz, or Ka band). The standard bands have limitations -- for example, rain at a receiving station can degrade X-band signals. It is hoped that use of higher frequencies will allow much higher rates of digital communication with far flung spacecraft, and some day, with people on Mars.

3. TECH LIFE
Science and Engineering Updates

PAYLOAD
   Payload work has been moving forward strongly during recent months, with exciting developments in life support electronics, atmospheric control, video analysis and thermal systems design. The 2005 ICES conference in Rome saw the presentation of our ground-breaking paper "Innovations in Murine Motion Analysis and Life Support" which generated much interest among attendees specializing in biological hardware design.

EDLS
   This September marks the start of the next round of airbag tests scheduled as part of the EDLS PDR preparation. New systems for active venting have been created and are currently undergoing rigorous testing ahead of their integration with the test airbags. Fabrication of the new drop test apparatus is in its final stages and is estimated to be complete by mid-September.

SCIENCE
   The Science team invested a lot of energy over the past few months in testing the form and function of our urine preservation and analysis system, including the completion of a major five week test in conjunction with Industrial Partner Payload Systems, Inc. Work on the Partial Weight Suspension rig instrumentation and software continues, with our first data collection expected during MIT's fall semester.

SYSTEMS
   This summer students from around the world joined the Systems team, advancing work on a number of projects. We've made particular progress on the development of a configuration control system, on the CAD modeling of the full-system, and on a CAD control Database - and this fall semester we'll be putting the CAD model to use as we begin full-system modeling and documenting interfaces.   Over the summer work also continued on a list of requirements for the Spacecraft Bus, and this semester we should be ready to meet with leaders in the aerospace industry as we investigate potential Spacecraft Bus providers.   Currently we also have a full-time intern working on requirements flow-down, as well as students working on Risk Analysis and Operation Plans.

Did You Know?
   Astronauts traveling in microgravity experience significant skeletal degradation in the weight-bearing bones of their legs and lower spine. These losses of up to 2% a month are 10 TIMES worse than that experienced by an average 80-year old woman with osteoporosis!

4. LIL’ BIT OF SOL
Team Member News

A MINUTE WITH: ADRIAAN WINDOW (UQ)

Age : 24

Current academic/employment status : Masters Research for the Center for Hypersonics, UQ

What do you do in Mars Gravity? My role is the engineering manager for the EDLS system.

How long have you been involved in Mars Gravity? I joined the program in March 2002 through my studies.

Where would you like your career to head? I guess I would have to say that I see myself aiding human space exploration after my studies, in some form or another. Working on the Apollo Program of the 3rd Millennia would sure be something...

What have you already got out of Mars Gravity? Fantastic experiences and a network of friends and colleagues.

Favorite TV Show: Blackadder

How would your friends describe you? I really couldn't give you an impartial description of myself.

What really bugs you about other people? Closed mindedness. I am always up for an intellectual debate but it annoys me when others won't listen to your side of the argument.

Favorite Book: Most recently it would have to be 'Angels and Demons' by Dan Brown

Favorite travel destination: Surely it would have to be America

--- For more information about the Mars Gravity Biosatellite program, please
visit http://www.marsgravity.org