With the formal approval of the new graduate degree programs in space and planetary science last semester, the graduate school began enrolling students in the programs and the registrar began registering students for classes for the spring 2005 semester.

The first two of the five area core courses to be offered are planetary geology, which is being offered by the geosciences department, and biochemical evolution which is being offered by the chemistry and biochemistry department.  Research and seminar courses are being offered by the space center.

Professor Dan Davis has been interested in the process of photosynthesis and the earliest photosynthetic lifeforms for most of his 25 years at Arkansas.  He has also had a long interest in the origin and history of life on Earth and how this was affected by and affected the evolution of the planet.  The space and planetary sciences programs core course in astrobiology offered by Professor Davis this semester is an outgrowth of a special topics course in biochemical evolution he has taught several times in the chemistry and biochemistry department.  Topics covered include abiotic synthesis of biomolecules on Earth, the origin of cells, genetic information, origin of life on earth and elsewhere, evolution and diversity, ecological niches, bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes, novel metabolic reshaping of the environment, life being reshaped by the environment, molecular data, and evolution.

Professor Mattioli joined the University of Arkansas after many years at the University of Puerto Rico where he was interested in the tectonics of the Caribbean and in particular the volcanism it produces.  He is a part of a six-member consortium to study the geophysics of Soufriere Hills Volcano on Montserrat.  In fact, just a couple of years ago he was in the field with two space center REU students when the volcano erupted.  He is also interested in the laboratory simulation of the famous gullies on Mars that are thought to be indicative of recent water flow on the surface.  The planetary geology course he is offering deals with the exploration of the solar system, geology and stratigraphy, meteorite impacts, planetary surfaces, planetary crusts, basaltic volcanism, chemical composition of the planets, and the origin and evolution of the moon and planets.

Melissa Franzen is a chemistry graduate from Loras College in Iowa whose first contact with the University of Arkansas was as a summer REU student working on microgravity experiments with Professor Sears.  A few months later she flew on NASA's KC-135, as part of a University of Arkansas/SpaceWorks Inc. team test -flying a sample collector for the Hera near Earth asteroid sample return mission.  She is a member of the chemistry and biochemistry department (just as faculty are members of departments, so are the students).  She is now working on her doctorate on the design of the Hera sample collector and the nature of the surfaces of asteroids.

Henry Turner is in the geosciences department working on a doctorate with Professor Pam Jansma.  His research concerns the subduction zone dynamics of Nicaragua which he determines using precise satellite positioning of monitoring posts.  Henry obtained his batchelor's degree in geology at Oregon and recently completed a master's in geology at Arkansas.  He is a Walton Distinguished Doctoral Fellow.

Melissa was in the chemistry program and Henry was in the environmental dynamics program prior to joining the SPAC program, and we are very grateful to Steve Boss and Bill Durham, who are responsible for those programs, for being so helpful during this start-up phase for SPAC.

As of the middle of December 2004, four other students are in the process of transfering to or joining the SPAC program and we will highlight them in this newsletter as their transfer becomes official.

In the last few months of 2004, the University of Arkansas has published three press releases concerning activities of the space center. "Searching for ET: UA Professor explores possibility of life on Mars", describes Professor Tim Kral's work on methanogens as models for possible life on Mars in the light of recent discoveries of methane in the Mars atmosphere.

"Students and researchers eye the heavens as project nears completion" describes a new telescope being constructed in New Mexico by Professors Claud Lacy and Al Grauer (UALR) that can be used remotely over the internet.

"UA Researcher traces origins of meteorites in a new book" describes the release, by Cambridge University Press, of a book on meteorites and solar system origins by Professor Derek Sears.

Below are some recent papers that we are aware of published by space center researchers and their collaborators:

Akridge, D. G.; Akridge, J. M. C.; Batchelor, J. D.; Benoit, P. H.; Brewer, J.; DeHart, J. M.; Keck, B. D.; Jie, Lu; Meier, A.; Penrose, M.; Schneider, D. M.; Sears, D. W. G.; Symes, S. J. K.; Yanhong, Zhang (2004) Photomosaics of the cathodoluminescence of 60 sections of meteorites and lunar samples. Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 109, Issue E7, CiteID E07S03.

Sears, D. W. G.; Allen, C. C.; Bell, M. S.; Bogard, D.; Britt, D.; Brownlee, D. E.; Chapman, C.; Clark, B. C.; Dissley, R.; Franzen, M. A.; Goldstein, J.; Nishiizumi, K.; Nyquist, L.; Pieters, C. M.; Scheeres, D.; Scott, E. R. D.; Treiman, A. (2004) The Hera near-Earth asteroid sample return mission: science requirements of the sample collector. Advances in Space Research, Volume 34, Issue 11, p. 2276-2280.

Sears, Derek; Allen, Carl; Britt, Dan; Brownlee, Don; Franzen, Melissa; Gefert, Leon; Gorovan, Stephen; Pieters, Carle; Preble, Jeffrey; Scheeres, Dan; Scott, Ed (2004) The Hera mission: multiple near-earth asteroid sample return. Advances in Space Research, Volume 34, Issue 11, p. 2270-2275.