[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 3 - 11:20:53 ]
We have LOTS of questions in our chat queue today. So we will MODERATE today's chat, and post a few questions in the chat room at a time. This will help Ken keep up with us.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 4 - 11:21:51 ]
DON'T WORRY if you don't see your questions in the chat room right away. We'll post new questions as soon as Ken answers those in the chat room.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 6 - 11:22:47 ]
Be sure to share your thoughts about today's chat with us, at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats. We look forward to looking from you!

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 9 - 12:06:01 ]
Hello everyone, I am here!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 10 - 12:06:20 ]
Hello and welcome to today's Space Scientists Online chat with Ken Edgett from Malin Space Science Systems! A geologist by training, Ken Edgett targets the sites on Mars that are photographed by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) camera. He also analyzes data from the MGS Thermal Emission Spectrometer.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 11 - 12:06:37 ]
And now, here is Ken Edgett to answer your questions.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 15 - 12:07:36 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] And now, here is Ken Edgett to answer your questions.
Hi everyone! Today is very exciting. Less than 24 hrs from now, Mars Polar Lander and the microprobes, Scott and Amundsen, will touch down in the south polar region of Mars!

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 16 - 12:08:15 ]
RE: [Christopherjohn] Is there any update information on the mars probe
The Mars Polar Lander and Microprobes are all in good shape and ready for the landing! Mars Global Survyeor continues to be healthy and sending back data every day!

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 18 - 12:09:29 ]
RE: [william] can you tell me what the core of mars is made of and how deep you have to go before you would reach it?
Honestly, I would have to look this up in a book. The core should be mostly Nickel and Iron, like on Earth, but perhaps more Sulfur than on Earth. The depth to the core and the composition of the core, of course, are subjects people are still studying so we don't really know the answers, just ideas based on what we know.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 19 - 12:10:44 ]
RE: [Richard] Dear Ken, I am a high school student in Australia and I was wondering what the tower, that is used to launch the space shutle, is called and does it sustain much damage when the shuttle takes off?
I think it is called the launch tower... but I wouldn't quote me on that...NASA probably has an acronym for it. As for damage, I am the wrong person to ask, we'd need to get someone on the web chat that works at the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 22 - 12:11:13 ]
RE: [william] what was the first thing on mars
The first human artifact on Mars was a lander that crashed in 1971. It was sent by the USSR (Soviet Union).

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 23 - 12:13:14 ]
RE: [Noah] Hello, my name is Noah and I'm doing a project on Mars at school. I figured you knew a lot about Mars. I was wandering if you could tell me what Mars's soil is made up of and what the atmosphere of Mars is made up of. it would really help if you answer this simple questions.Thank you.
Hi Noah! The atmosphere of Mars is mostly (95%) Carbon Dioxide. The rest is made mostly of Nitrogen and Argon. There is very small amounts of other things like oxygen, water vapor, etc. The soils are similar to soils on Earth made of weathered, iron and magnesium-rich rocks like the black ones found in Hawaii--called "basalt". The Viking landers also detected some Chlorine in the soil--a key indicator of "salt" (like the kind you eat).

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 26 - 12:15:35 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] Hello Ken, I always enjoy seeing your name scheduled for chats, unfortunately I teach a class at the time this chat is scheduled so I am unable to attend the event live but look forward to reading the archive. I have been following Mars Global Surveyor since it went into orbit and have found its progress fascinating. How long is MGS expected to continue operating? Has it met or surpassed expectations? What information surprised or excited you the most?
The primary mission for MGS is to observe the planet for 1 mars year, or 687 earth days. This period started in March 1999 when we got into the circular, polar orbit, and continues through January 2001. After that, there had always been hope of extending the mission another year or so. With the terrible loss of the Climate Orbiter in September, it now looks like MGS will be kept operational at least through the end of the Mars Surveyor 2001 lander mission-- which arrives January 2002 and ends sometime like May or June 2002.... MGS will have to be used as a backup to the Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter to relay data from the lander.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 28 - 12:16:01 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] Hello Ken, I always enjoy seeing your name scheduled for chats, unfortunately I teach a class at the time this chat is scheduled so I am unable to attend the event live but look forward to reading the archive. I have been following Mars Global Surveyor since it went into orbit and have found its progress fascinating. How long is MGS expected to continue operating? Has it met or surpassed expectations? What information surprised or excited you the most?
Oh, and, yes, MGS has far exceeded all expectations and is revolutionizing our view of Mars.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 30 - 12:16:26 ]
RE: [KristieAlex] How much gravity is on mars?
Gravity there is about 40% of our gravity. So, if you weigh 100 lbs on Earth, you weigh only 40 lbs on Mars.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 31 - 12:18:18 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] Do you have any specific involvement with Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)? If you are not part of the MARDI team or otherwise directly involved with MPL, what will you be doing when the lander begins its descent?
I am not on the MPL or MARDI teams, but because I work at Malin Space Science Systems, I am helping with the MARDI web pages. During the MPL mission, my main job will be to keep focused on the MGS MOC. We need to, for example, take pictures of the MPL landing site to see what's going on and perhaps FIND the lander sitting there (that would be NEAT). When the lander goes down on Friday, I will be watching on a big TV screen in our building, as will the entire MARDI team. We won't see MARDI data until at least midnight Fri/Sat at the earliest.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 32 - 12:19:33 ]
RE: [Gus] Greetings from Oregon Ken! I know your specialty is in dunes, but what do you know about lava tubes on Mars? I noticed quite a few identified in the 1994 USGS publication "Atlas of Volcanic Landforms of Mars." I was wondering if any one has been exploring this with the higher res MGS images?
I love Oregon. The dune field in Christmas Lake Valley is my personal most favorite place on Earth. I did some research there. Lava tubes-- there are plenty of lava channels on the flows on the volcanoes--- esp. Olympus Mons and Ascreaus Mons. These channels in part are collapsed lava tubes.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 35 - 12:20:38 ]
RE: [Gus] The reason I ask is because we (The Oregon Public Education Network & Mars Society; Oregon Chapter) are sposoring a state-wide Mars Millennium Project focusing around a Martian lava tube cave colony.
Martian lava tube colony isn't a bad idea. There might also be other types of caves formed by water... there is an especially intriguing collapsed area that connects between Ganges Chasma and Shalbatana Vallis that might imply a substantial underground "cave" system.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 36 - 12:22:54 ]
RE: [Sherri] I was wondering if you could answer a very simple question. How does Physics relate to Space Travel?
Your question is so simple that it is actually pretty hard. One thing to think about is the navigation of spacecraft. Laws of Motion are key here-- getting out of the gravity well of one planet and trying to get to another, using the 3 dimensions of space, using planets and moons to 'slingshot' a spacecraft to change its velocity, etc. Also the electromagnetic physics--how do we communicate with spacecraft, how do we collect data? And of course spacecraft use the stars for navigation.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 39 - 12:25:38 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] Can you describe the cameras on MGS and MPL in a way students can understand the differences between the way they operate, return data, an purpose of each?
MGS camera (MOC) is a big telescope. It can see objects the size of a car from space looking down on the planet. The advantage is that we can see any place on the planet. A lander is different, it can only see the place that surrounds it. Polar Lander has several cameras---the descent imager that will operate during landing, the SSI, which will take the 3-d and color panoramas of the whole site, and the RAC, or Robot Arm Camera, that will take close-ups of the soils in the scoop and in the trenches. The RAC is most fascinating because it is like a microscope and can see down to 40 microns in size (about half the size of a typical grain of sand on a beach). Obviously there is much more I could say to answer your question, but there are more questions...

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 40 - 12:26:01 ]
RE: [Gus] One other question, if you have the figure handy: What is the orbital altitude for a "Mars Synchronous<sic> Satellite," where the orbital speed of a satellite matches that of Mars, so that orbiting above the equator, it will stay in the "same spot" relative to the surface. Like Cable TV satellites 22,000 miles above the earth.
I don't know this one, I'd have to look it up (sorry)

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 43 - 12:26:42 ]
RE: [Katey] Do you know much about the Mars 2030 project?
Is this the project to design a human colony on Mars for 2030? I haven't had much connection with this, except via these web chats

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 45 - 12:29:28 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] How does your job at Malin differ from what you did at ASU? At the time you wrote your bio you hadn't been on the job long enough to establish a *routine typical work day*, what is a routine day like now ... or is work in your field ever *routine* or *typical*?
Very different. At ASU I spent 60% of my time doing education outreach...teacher workshops, classroom visits, writing, etc., and 40% of my time doing research (studying Mars photos). At MSSS, I spend nearly 90% of my time selecting targets for the MGS MOC and reviewing the data as they come in. About 10% of my time (of an 60-80 hr work week) is spent doing research with the data, web page updates, and other things. There is no such thing as a typical work day or work week. Some days I might work 17 hours, others only 8. I might work weekends (usually I do). It is REALLY hard for me to go home because there are so many cool new pictures of Mars to see and there is always more to do. It is wonderful

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 47 - 12:30:44 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] Does MGS map Mars only one time or does it go over the same areas repeatedly?
MGS does a little of both. There are some places near the equator that we still haven't passed over, and because the orbit is inclined at 87 degrees instead of 90, the polar regions between 87 and 90 degrees have almost no coverage.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 49 - 12:31:39 ]
RE: [Gus] Another though is that if volcanic periods coincided with periods of "wet mars" due to the increased green house gases thrown up by the eruptions, one *might* expect to find water at the ends of the lava tubes. This is often the case here in lava tubes around Mt. St. Helens as well as in Central Oregon.
I would not expect the water to be there today, though. Maybe in the past, when the lava had just cooled. but-- one thing we don't know about mars is just HOW WET was it, ever?

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 51 - 12:33:21 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] What happens to formal education after you receive a PHd? Do you continue taking classes? If so, what types of things interest you academically? Having been in an educational setting such as ASU for so long, how does working in the private sector differ?
Ha ha! After my Ph.D. I said I would never take another class AGAIN! I said this mostly because I don't like the last minute scramble to cram for a test. BUT, I must say that I probably will take more classes in the future, and I often contemplate getting another degree, perhaps in Business or perhaps in Foreign Policy. The LEARNING never ends, but thus far--5 years after my Ph.D.--I have not taken another class nor had another exam.

[ MichelleMock/CoronaCA - 52 - 12:33:47 ]
If you ever think you have the time to answer questions for Mars Team OnLine (NASA Quest)it would be great to see your name on the expert list. I volunteer as a Smart Filter and every once in awhile I get a question that I would just love to see your response to.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 53 - 12:35:46 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] Do you do any educational outreach now? Do you ever speak at Teacher Conferences or School Assemblies? Your enthusiasm when you talk about Mars is truly contagious!
I do some. My "outreach" focus has shifted somewhat. I am writing childrens' books (the first, TOUCHDOWN MARS will be out from GP Putnams next summer 2000...you can already find it on Amazon.com). I also work with a TV station in Phx. AZ on science segments for a childrens show that they do. And I still sometimes speak at teacher conferences (e.g., NSTA). I also have a few students (high school, college age) that write me occasionally for advise or just to share what cool things they are working on vis a vis Mars.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 55 - 12:38:07 ]
RE: [Gus] Regarding the "AreSync" ComSats, this seems like a no brainer. Throw up three comsats spaced 120 degrees apart to serve as a semi-permanent comlink for future landers. Would make piggy-backing on existing droids unnecessary, and would provide a good vantage point for weather observations. After all, we've been doing this here with weather & TV satellites for 30 years!
You're right, and JPL has been talking about this very idea for sometime in the next decade. It is a matter of time, and of money. Right now, the Mars Surveyor Program gets $100 Million a year--this sounds like a lot, but it is barely enough to do as many missions as we are doing. Everyone involved is incredibly busy. A more luxurious Mars program, with say $200M a year, might make it easier, ensure more successes, and allow for this cool communication system.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 57 - 12:39:34 ]
RE: [Gus] > I would not expect the water to be there today, though. Hmm. Why not? If they find water in dark craters on the moon, why not in dark caves on mars? Subliming easier with an (albeit thin) atmosphere?
Oh, down IN the caves, underground? Sure I suppose that is conceivable. I was thinking about water at the surface.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 61 - 12:45:02 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] Ken, while we await more questions, perhaps you can share your feelings with us about the upcoming Mars polar landing, and what the "atmosphere" is like around NASA JPL today.
Well, since I am not at JPL today, I can't really speak to what the "atmosphere" is like there. I can say that yesterday I spoke to a colleague with the RAC camera, working with the MVACS team up at UCLA, and he said they are all very excited and feel very confident that the MPL landing will be a success (i.e., not crash). Everyone here at MSSS is certainly excited and on the edge of their seats. We all hope to get a good nights sleep tonight because Friday will be a long day, one way or another. At MSSS, we will be helping to relay the Deep Space 2 data through the MGS MOC... the ONLY way we will hear if these 2 probes were successful is for the data to be relayed through MGS/MOC/MSSS... so people will be busy here on Friday Dec. 3rd. Also, I will be busy targeting the MOC, amid all the other excitement going on.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 62 - 12:46:38 ]
RE: [Gus] Is there anythiong on the JPL Web site about the "AreSync" concept? Do you know who at JPL would be working on this?
I don't know if there is anything on the web. There was a report last year that talked about the future of the Mars Surveyor program, and it described a "Mars Internet" that included a set of 3 communication relay satellites in orbit around Mars that could relay from a variety of surface and atmosphere landers/probes/airplanes/balloons, etc. This is a vision for beyond the 2003 timeframe.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 64 - 12:49:25 ]
Tomorrow will be an exciting day. The US will DOUBLE the number of spacecraft it has landed on Mars in just a single day. First there were the 2 Vikings in 1976, then Mars Pathfinder in 1997, now there will be Mars Polar Lander, and probes Scott and Amundsen all in 1999. The first picture that will come back from the Polar Lander, I am told, will be like the first pictures from the Vikings-- a picture showing one of the footpads firmly on the surface. We will be BACK on Mars. COOL!

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 66 - 12:51:08 ]
Meanwhile, MGS continues to take pictures. Between our narrow angle (high resolution) and wide angle (lower resolution) cameras, we have now gathered nearly 40,000 new pictures of Mars--this is compared with the total 55,000 taken by BOTH Viking orbiters in the 1970s. Many more new pictures to come, showing Mars at a level of detail comparable to aerial photos used by geologists to study the Earth. neato!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 67 - 12:51:14 ]
For those of you of you still with us, we once again remind you to share your thoughts about today chat with us at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats.

[ Gus - 69 - 12:52:11 ]
And will this include the MOLA data?

[ Gus - 70 - 12:52:48 ]
(Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter)

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 71 - 12:54:13 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Hi Ken! What do you hope to learn from the descent images?
Stephanie! Congratulations on your essay! From Descent images, we hope to bridge the gap between what can be learned from the orbiter images (which range in resolution from 20 down to 1.5 meters) and the lander cameras (which can see centimeter resolution near the lander, and 40 microns with the RAC). The descent images provide context.. they show where we landed, and they show what the landing site looks like in 3 dimensions. For example, from the lander cameras we cant see the backs of rocks (what does the OTHER side of the boulder, Yogi, at Pathfinder look like? we don't know! but a descent imager would have told us). We have on our http://www.msss.com web site a great illustration of what Descent images can tell us...using a series of descent pictures from Antartica. Check it out.

[ Stephanie/Edmonton - 72 - 12:54:21 ]
Gus, to answer your question about geosynchronous orbit: ANSWER from Bruce Jakosky on November 14, 1999: A mars geosynchronous orbit would be one in which a spacecraft would orbit Mars once every 24.6 hours, the length of a martian day. This would be an orbit that has an orbital radius of about 20,600 km as measured from the center of the planet. That is, it would be about 17,200 km above the martian surface.

[ Gus - 74 - 12:56:41 ]
Thanks Stephanie!

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 75 - 12:57:22 ]
RE: [Gus] When will the MGS complete the mapping phase, and when will the data set be available to researchers and(or) the public?
MGS data are released continuously on a rolling basis. The first year's worth of data (1997-98) are almost all released now (except maybe the Magnetometer data). The MOC data are being released at 6 month intervals-- the first was the 1997-98 data released in March 99. The next was the first month of Mapping data, released in Oct 99 but the NASA PDS has yet to distribute these to the science community or put them on the web. The next MOC release is either March or April of 2000, and will include the next 5 months of MOC images (from April-August 99). In Oct 2000, the next 6 months worth are released. I think that is how it works. These are raw data...not processed, no captions. etc. For public release, MOC puts out at least 1 a week or 4-6 a month that are fully processed with captions etc. to explain them.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 76 - 12:57:36 ]
RE: [Gus] When will the MGS complete the mapping phase, and when will the data set be available to researchers and(or) the public?
Mapping Phase ends around the end of Jan. 2001.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 77 - 12:57:37 ]
We have just a few minutes left with Ken Edgett online today. Be sure to send your comments about today's chat to http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 78 - 12:58:22 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Thanks, Ken! If you want to read it, my expanded version of my essay is here: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~wongtong/writing/marssounds.htm
Cool! I will read it!

[ Gus - 79 - 12:59:26 ]
Thanks Ken and everyone!

[ Stephanie/Edmonton - 80 - 12:59:38 ]
Good luck to all the Mars teams there!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 81 - 13:00:01 ]
At this time, we would like to thank everyone for joining us for today's chat with Ken Edgett from Malin Space Science Systems.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 82 - 13:00:44 ]
Well, looks like no more questions. The landing takes place around noon PST tomorrow (Dec 3). If all goes well, we will all know within an hour if the lander was successful (the MPL...for the DS2 we will have to wait until later in the evening). This is going to be GREAT! And, it's going to WORK!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 83 - 13:01:00 ]
Our very special thanks to Ken Edgett for sharing his career experience and thoughts about Friday's exciting Mars polar landing with us today. Thank you Ken!

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 84 - 13:01:03 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Good luck to all the Mars teams there!
Thanks!

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 85 - 13:01:11 ]
RE: [Gus] Thanks Ken and everyone!
Thanks!

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 86 - 13:01:35 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] Our very special thanks to Ken Edgett for sharing his career experience and thoughts about Friday's exciting Mars polar landing with us today. Thank you Ken!
You're very welcome! I've enjoyed "typing at you!"

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 87 - 13:01:41 ]
A final reminder to provide your comments about today's chat to us at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats.

[ KenEdgett/MarsGlobalSurveyor - 88 - 13:02:29 ]
Ok. Over and out! TO MARS!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 89 - 13:02:39 ]
On behalf of Sandy Dueck, Mars Millennium chat moderator, thank you for joining us, and have a great day!