Conference 7.286::space

803.0. "NASA and Russians complete Antarctic exploration" by PRAGMA::GRIFFIN (Dave Griffin) Wed May 27 1992 08:55

Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                              May 27, 1992

Michael Mewhinney
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.

RELEASE:  92-73


        Three U.S. scientists, including one from NASA's Ames Research
Center, Mountain View, Calif., recently completed the first joint
U.S./Russian Antarctic expedition since the breakup of the former Soviet
Union.

        The purpose of the expedition was to investigate the physical,
chemical and biological properties of ice-covered lakes in the Bunger Hills
Oasis of East Antarctica.  This was the first time U.S. scientists have
explored these lakes near a Russian research station.

        The scientists participated in the 37th Russian Antarctic Expedition.
The U.S. participation in the expedition was sponsored by the Exobiology
Implementation Team of the U.S.-Russian Joint Working Group for Space
Biology and Medicine under the 1987 U.S.-U.S.S.R. Civil Space Agreement.

        "This effort is part of a broader research program at Ames that
includes research on microbes living in extreme environments.  It also uses
telepresence to explore these same environments," said Dr. Donald
DeVincenzi of Ames, a team Co-chair.  "Research in the Antarctic using
telepresence is helping to define the technologies we will use during future
missions to Mars."

        Telepresence allows a remotely operated robotic vehicle to become a
researcher's eyes and hands.  Wearing a video headset, the researcher's
senses can be extended to remote locations through a camera mounted on a
remotely-operated robotic vehicle.  The researcher points the camera with
head movement and steers the vehicle with a pair of joysticks or with body
motion.

        "We developed a very successful working relationship with the
Russians," said Dale Andersen, a Lockheed Engineering and Science Co.
employee and U.S. Field Team Leader.  "We showed that we can work
together in very remote and hostile environments while collecting a high
degree of good science," added Andersen, who works at Ames.

        The scientists traveled to and from Antarctica aboard the Russian ship
Akademik Fedorov, a 16,200-ton icebreaker designed for research in polar
latitudes.  The team left Montevideo, Uruguay in November 1991 and
returned to the United States this month.

        Although NASA scientists have conducted research in the dry valleys
near the main American base in Antarctica for more than 20 years, this is
the first time they have had an opportunity for an in-depth look at these ice-
covered lakes in the Bunger Hills Oasis.  Anderson said robots and tethered
human divers conducted underwater studies during the expedition.

        Previous studies of ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys on
Ross Island south of New Zealand have shown the lakes' similarity to lakes
that may have existed on Mars in the past.  While at Bunger Hills, scientists
also mapped the location of lakes that have long since dried up and studied
the role of ice in the formation of shoreline features.  Similar features will
provide clues to the location of ancient lakes on Mars.

        Scientists studied the temperature, chemical composition and gas
content of the water in the lakes.  Andersen said the data collected is useful
in the study of factors controlling lake formation and ice-cover development,
gas dynamics within the water column and sediments, sediment formation
and the preservation of biological samples in sediments.

        During the expedition, scientists continuously collected
meteorological data and sent it by satellite to Ames using a solar battery-
powered transmitter.  The transmitter will continue sending data for the
indefinite future, providing the first long-term, year-round data base for this
region of the world.  "We also had a direct electronic mail link between
Antarctica and our colleagues at Ames," Andersen said.

        The Principal Investigator for the expedition was Dr. Robert Wharton
of the Desert Research Institute at the University of Nevada.  Dr. Christopher
McKay of Ames is a Co-investigator.  Joining Andersen on the expedition
were graduate students Jim Rice from Arizona State University and Peter
Doran from the Desert Research Institute at the University of Nevada.

        Three Russian exobiology researchers -- Dr. Valeri Galchenko and Dr.
Nikolai Chernekh of the Institute of Microbiology at the Russian Academy of
Science and Dr. Dimitri Bolshiyanov of the Arctic and Antarctic Research
Institute in St. Petersberg -- also were part of the expedition.

        A team will travel to Antarctica again this fall to continue the
research begun at Bunger Hills Oasis. U.S. participation in the expedition was
funded by the Exobiology Program of NASA's Office of Space Science and
Applications, Washington, D.C. Additional funding was provided by the Institute
of Microbiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.