Newsletter #15 - January 29, 2007

The 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 answer 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 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).

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.   LI'L BIT OF SOL - Team Member News

WATCH THIS SPACE

THANK A TEACHER WITH A SPOT ON OUR SATELLITE

Is there a teacher who fired your passion for science and technology? Tell us how you were inspired, and you could win that special teacher a spot on the Mars Gravity Biosatellite! In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the Challenger accident and Christa McAuliffe's vision of space as the ultimate classroom, we're launching a contest to honor teachers by giving them a place on the side of our spacecraft. Nominations may be submitted in the form of an essay, video, song, painting, or other creative media. Winning teachers will receive a total of $16,000 worth of prime space on the satellite to display images or messages of their choice. The customized pieces of flight hardware will be returned to them after the mission flies.

To find out more, visit: www.YourNameIntoSpace.org/teacher

SUMMER OPENINGS

Mars Gravity is once again excited to open its doors to visiting engineers, scientists, marketing and public relations experts, and educators for our summer workshop. Students and professionals alike are invited to apply for this annual program hosted in both Boston and Atlanta. Dates for participants are flexible, but typically run from 6 to 12 weeks between June and September. See http://marsgravity.org/main/getinvolved.html for an application. All applications must be submitted by March 1st.

GIVING TO MARS GRAVITY

For as little as $35 dollars, donors can place a photo, logo or message of their choice on the side of America's most ambitious student satellite. A sampling of current content includes aerospace firms, web hosting companies, declarations of love, sign makers, jewelers, family photos, and messages to the world. Come join us! Add your own image or words to our high tech canvas, or recognize someone special this Valentine's Day.

All contributions are tax-deductible and support student efforts at MIT and Georgia Tech. http://YourNameIntoSpace.org

Did You Know?

NASA recently confirmed that when it returns to the moon in the next decade, it will be setting up a semi-permanent outpost near the southern lunar pole. This moonbase will host crews for a week at a time by 2020, building up to 6 month stays by 2024 in preparation for future trips to Mars.

EVENT HORIZON

THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Just after Halloween, Mars Gravity announced a huge ground-breaking venture in massively parallel fundraising with the http://YourNameIntoSpace.org website, designed by Payload Lead Thaddeus Fulford-Jones. Since that time we've generated quite a buzz! From the front page Boston Globe article featuring Y*N*I*S to recent interviews on NPR and The Space Show, to blogs around the world - people are talking.

Yesterday Dr. David Livingston of The Space Show chatted about Mars Gravity and Y*N*I*S with Erika Wagner, Thaddeus Fulford-Jones and Rosie Combs-Bachmann - check out the archived interview at http://www.thespaceshow.com/

And be sure to listen to Sean Cole's NPR interview with Thaddeus Fulford-Jones at http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/01/17/AM200701172.html

Jenn Abelson's Boston Globe article can be found at http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/11/03/prime_ad_space_in_space/

STAND AND DELIVER

A big Mars Gravity congratulations goes out to our Science and Payload teams who took home two of the top student awards at November's conference of the American Society of Gravitational and Space Biology (ASGSB)! Third place in the undergraduate animal research division went to Erin Koksal and her team, while Erika Wagner and Nic Granzella brought home a first place award in the graduate division. Congratulations to both groups!

"Engineering Design and Scientific Evaluation of a Novel Animal Support Module for the Mars Gravity Biosatellite." E.S. Koksal, E.C. Guerra, A.M. Heafitz, J.A. Hoffman, E.B. Wagner, P.L. Yang and T.R.F. Fulford-Jones.

"The Musculoskeletal Effects of Partial Weightbearing in Mice." E.B. Wagner, N.P. Granzella.

DOWN IN HOTLANTA

The Georgia Tech team hosted a group of Boston MG visitors in November for a 3-day Systems Engineering and Management review. The group was quite pleased with the current level of technical progress across the program, especially in the huge strides made this fall by the Entry, Descent and Landing team! The Bostonians were also excited to have an opportunity to walk outside without coats and to visit the amazing new Georgia Aquarium. Next integrated review is planned for February.

REACHING OUT

Mars Gravity continues to reach out across the community to share our enthusiasm with the next "next generation" of dreamers and doers. December saw the Boston team return to work with one of its favorite local Cub Scout troops. Topics included bone loss (as demonstrated with M&M, centripetal acceleration (with a rather full bucket of water), and Mars entry and landing (with raw egg "rover" payloads).

Did You Know?

A recent study of 450 American youth by Dittmar & Associates found that 27% of 18-24 year olds surveyed doubt that the US ever landed on the moon! The Mars Gravity team encourages you to reach out in your community and give a talk to a local Scout troop or classroom!

TECH LIFE

PAYLOAD

This month the Payload team has been moving forward with thermal modeling, atmospherics system verification and microcrontroller architecture design. We've been making good use of our new high-fidelity engineering mock-up to model temperature gradients across the payload. Work has also focused on running tests to verify ammonia compliance in the payload environment.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank departing Payload Engineer Andrew Heafitz for all his amazing work. Andrew has been an integral member of the team since 2004, and has contributed immensely to our progress. So thank you Andrew - and best of luck in future endeavors. Don't be a stranger!

SCIENCE

The Science team is finishing data analysis on the world's first study of skeletal changes under chronic Martian weightbearing conditions, and is quite excited about the preliminary results. The initial data gathered accolades at this year's ASGSB conference in Virginia and suggests that the model will be a very useful ground control for the MG flight. Spring plans call for a lunar-g study to further expand what we know about partial weightbearing effects on bone and muscle physiology. Meanwhile, our novel biomarker preservation and analysis techniques are undergoing modern ELISA testing. The team is hoping to confirm that we will indeed be able to track the timecourse of flight adaptation using these postflight analysis methods.

ENTRY DESCENT AND LANDING

The design of the Entry, Descent, and Landing system has been the responsibility of the Space Systems Design Lab (SSDL) at Georgia Tech for the past year. We are designing the entry vehicle, entry trajectory, thermal protection system (TPS), parachutes, and recovery of the Mars Gravity payload. Parachute sizing and a preliminary entry trajectory have been determined and we're currently focused on sizing the TPS, reducing our landing footprint, and selecting between a soft ground landing or air snatch recovery. We have also finished verifying work done by the previous EDL team at the University of Queensland, Australia. Like the other subsystem teams, we are working towards a late spring/early summer PDR.

BUS

The Bus team is in charge of keeping the satellite in orbit while maintaining the necessary position, communications connection, thermal environment, and much more. This term, we have a set of students making great progress on Command and Data Handling and Communications, working on tasks such as subsystem architecture, hardware selection, and requirements definition. We are also performing analysis of the thermal and propulsion systems while pushing toward the Preliminary Design Review.

SYSTEMS

After a productive Systems Review last fall, the Systems team continues to manage communications between MIT and Georgia Tech. We've been moving forward on tasks such as interface control, finite element analysis, and on-orbit operations. The team has also been working on systems-level trade studies that require coordination of all the teams and universities involved.

Did You Know?

Images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor over a number of years are providing the most compelling evidence to date that liquid water may still flow on the Red Planet. Bright new deposits in previously dry areas suggest that subsurface water may occasionally surface and rush briefly down hills and through gullies.

LI'L BIT OF SOL

A MINUTE WITH ASHLEY KORZUN

Age: 21

Education (prior and/or current):

B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park (May 2006) Current: Georgia Tech Space Systems Design Lab (SSDL) graduate student

What do you do on the Mars Gravity team?

I'm the Entry, Descent, and Landing team lead and the main Georgia Tech student contact. We're focusing on the design of the entry vehicle, entry trajectory, thermal protection system (TPS), parachutes, and landing and recovery of the spacecraft. I joined the Mars Gravity program in September 2006.

What's the most important thing you've gotten out of Mars Gravity so far?

Insight into the design process at the systems level and understanding the importance of communication in a program built between two institutions. Working with my team of undergrads at Tech has also been a great learning process.

What would your dream job be?

Astronaut, hands down. I'll be happy settling for research in EDL though :-) Any opportunity I have to share my interest in space and engineering education.

What are you most looking forward to about 2007?

Seeing Mars Gravity reach (and pass!) PDR. And getting more acclimated to living in Atlanta.

Any New Year's Resolutions?

Minimize procrastination and maximize productivity.

What do you like to do with your free time?

In my free time, I enjoy playing and watching sports (I'm addicted to college basketball) and reading. I also spend time coordinating Katrina relief work for college students and promoting math and science through engineering outreach.

What's your favorite band?

Toss up between Journey, Led Zepplin, and the Foo Fighters. I'm currently listening to Fooled by April though.

Favorite book?

Currently anything by Dennis Lehane.

Favorite quote?

Another toss up:

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized if you do, and damned if you don't." - Eleanor Roosevelt

and

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing." - Wernher von Braun

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