From: baalke@zagami.jpl.nasa.gov   
      
   Caltech News Release   
   For Immediate Release   
   July 14, 2003   
      
   Contact: Mark Wheeler   
            (626) 395-8733   
            wheel@caltech.edu   
      
   Sixth International Mars Conference will Include Public Event   
      
   PASADENA, Calif. - Next year, if all goes well, NASA's two Mars   
   rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, along with the British rover Beagle   
   2, will begin streaming back reams of data about the Red Planet, much   
   to the delight of Mars researchers everywhere.   
      
   That data won't be available in time for scientists attending the   
   Sixth International Conference on Mars at the California Institute of   
   Technology, July 20-25, but small matter. Data from two earlier   
   orbiter missions, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), launched in 1996,   
   and the Odyssey, launched in 2001, will give those attending the   
   conference an opportunity to review and debate some of the key   
   questions and controversies that have matured as a result of this   
   flood of information. "It's time for another review," says Arden   
   Albee, a professor of geology and planetary science, emeritus, at   
   Caltech. "Never before have scientists had such a comprehensive   
   record of the processes that operated on the surface of Mars and in   
   its atmosphere."   
      
   The conference will also include a free public event. On Wednesday   
   evening, July 23, the conference will sponsor "A Mars Picture   
   Gallery--Every Picture Tells a Story," from 8 to 10 p.m. in Caltech's   
   Beckman Auditorium. Featured will be Michael Malin, principal   
   investigator of MGS's Mars Orbiter Camera, and Philip Christensen,   
   principal investigator of Odyssey's THEMIS camera.   
      
   Malin, a 1976 Caltech graduate and an experienced planetary   
   geologist, is currently president and chief scientist of Malin Space   
   Science Systems, which operates the MGS camera. The camera has   
   returned more than 20,000 new images from Mars, showing the planet's   
   enigmatic features in great detail and tracking changes in its   
   atmosphere. Recently Malin has been able to obtain images at an   
   unprecedented resolution of 1.5 meters per pixel. This past spring,   
   Malin received a Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award for his work.   
      
   Christensen, a planetary geologist at Arizona State University, will   
   display recent images and results from the THEMIS (thermal emission   
   imaging system) camera, on the newest mission to Mars. "THEMIS   
   provides a unique new view of Mars in thermal infrared images that is   
   providing details on the physical properties of its surface, and the   
   processes that have acted over time," says Christensen. "These views   
   provide a broad perspective of Martian processes, and a context from   
   which to understand the history and evolution of the planet."   
      
   Both cameras, for example, have observed sites where water--and   
   therefore life--may have existed in ancient times.   
      
   The role of water and the possibility of life on Mars will attract   
   much attention at the sixth conference, says Albee, just as it did at   
   the earlier conferences. "Now we can focus questions in three   
   specific areas. The role of water in the climate of early Mars; the   
   current extent and location of water ice; and the tantalizing   
   evidence for the existence of very recent liquid water on its   
   surface."   
      
   Investigators using the new data argue that precipitation, either   
   rain or snow, and flowing water eroded the surface of Mars in its   
   first billion years despite the planet's frigid climate, says Albee.   
   Precise digital topography from MGS's laser altimeter now also makes   
   it possible to analytically compare valley networks on Earth and   
   Mars.  "Unlike Earth," he says, "Mars has preserved much of its   
   ancient landscape, which may yield clues to the climatic conditions   
   under which it formed."   
      
   Instruments on Odyssey have mapped the presence of water ice in the   
   immediate subsurface of Mars and have shown that it is less abundant   
   toward the equator. Images show the presence of soil flowage and   
   other features found in permafrost regions on Earth.   
      
   The discovery of young gullies in photos of Mars has changed the   
   conception that it has been a dry and frigid planet in the recent   
   past, says Albee, noting that new theories abound. One suggests these   
   recent gullies were formed by debris flows that involved liquid water   
   of subsurface origin. Others have proposed flows driven by carbon   
   dioxide, while still others have proposed localized surface heating   
   under certain conditions.   
      
   The arguments over water are simply a sample of the many viewpoints   
   that will be argued during the conference, says Albee, including a   
   session on Tuesday afternoon entitled "Future Missions." In all, some   
   400 scientists from a number of countries are expected to attend.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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