Professor Mattioli (Geosciences) has recently been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to work with international institutions on SEA-CALIPSO:  An Offshore/Onshore Tomography and Magma-Chamber Seismic Imaging Experiment on the island of Montserrat.  The aim of this study is to investigate the dynamics of the entire magmatic system of Soufriere Hills Volcano, and to improve our understanding of magma dynamics for andesite volcanoes that make up most of the Earth's Ring of Fire.  The SEA-CALIPSO experiment will involve seismic experiments with an airgun-source.  This is an 'onshore/offshore' seismic experiment to image the magma chamber and deep crust of Soufriere Hills Volcano.  The project entails circling Montserrat with a UK research vessel setting off airgun shocks, and recording the seismic wave arrivals, and natural earthquakes, by seismic recorders.  The research will reveal important internal features of a currently erupting andesitic volcano, which is of significant value to the studies of volcanology, petrology and geochemistry, and geophysics.

The investigators expect major advances in understanding magma genesis and transport, and 'how volcanoes work'.  The importance of understanding such magma systems is clear, as this type of volcanism presents serious hazards and causes significant societal and economic damage.

Professor Rick Ulrich (Chemical engineering) is known as an astronomical photographer and he edits a journal on the topic. On a recent clear evening, he took these images.  These pictures were taken through an f/10 Newtonian with a Cannon Elph digital camera.  The colors are real, but artificially saturated for better visibility.  Resolution varies from 6 km/pixel to about 2 km/pixel.  The limit of atmospheric seeing is around 1.5 km at the moon's distance.

The first image is the 10-day-old moon, 5 days away from being full.  Shown with the actual colors, but stretched to make them more obvious.  Note the "bluer" lava in the Sea of Tranquility, right of center, compared to its neighboring mare.  Sinus Iridium is catching the first rays of sunrise in the upper left, and 50-mile diameter Copernicus is just below.

The second image shows Copernicus crater, 50 miles wide across the inside rim, 60 on the outside, but was made by the collision of an object about 1/10 that size.  At 800 million years of age, this is the next-to-last big crater formed on the moon.  Since it impacted on a broad lava plane, the ejecta blanket is clearly visible.  Material thrown farthest from the crater comes from deepest beneath the surface.

The third image is of the southern highlands, which date back to the moon's formation, around 3.5 billion years ago.  The high flux of bombard-ment from then to about 2.8 billion years has saturated the area with craters.  The crisp crater near the bottom is Tycho (50 miles across), the last large crater formed on the moon.  Clavius, just above Tycho is much older.  Eons of meteors have worn it down to a shallow walled plain containing many craters of its own.

Since finishing my MS in geology at the University of Nevada, Reno, in 2003 I have been working on the Mars Exploration Rover at JPL.  I followed my advisor Dr. Wendy Calvin to participate on the science working group and I work for one of the instruments on board, the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.  I support the instrument on a daily basis, building sequences that command the instrument and monitoring the returned data.  I am also responsible for executing the daily plans for Opportunity and Sprit.  Dr. Walter Manger (UArk, Geosciences) was a true inspiration for me during my undergraduate years. He was teacher, mentor and friend.

Alicia Fallacaro, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The following papers and posters will be presented by faculty and students associated with the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences at the 36th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas this month.  Among the authors and presenters are 3 graduate students and 7 undergraduate students who participated in the space center's summer 2004 REU program.

Iron Isotope Geochemistry of Metal Grains in Ordinary Chondrites. K.J. Gildea, R. Burgess, I.C. Lyon, D.W.G. Sears.

Albedo Study of the Depositional Fans Associated with Martian Gullies. J. Craig, D.W.G. Sears.

Simulation of the Recovery Impacts for the Prototype Hera Asteroid Sample Collector. S. Azouggagh-McBride, L.A. Roe, M.A. Franzen, J.A. Buffington, D.W.G. Sears.

Space Weathering: A Proposed Laboratory Approach to Explaining the Sulfur Depletion on Eros. M.A. Franzen, A. Kracher, D.W.G. Sears, W. Cassidy, B. Hapke.

Sample Collection from Small Airless Bodies: Examination Of Temperature Constraints for the TGIP Collector for the Hera Near-Earth Asteroid Sample Return Mission. M.A. Franzen, L.A. Roe, J.A. Buffington, D.W.G. Sears.

Stability of Water and Gully Formation on Mars. D.W.G. Sears, L.A. Roe, S. Moore.

Simulation of Extraterrestrial Sample Acquisition. J.A. Buffington, M.A. Franzen, S. Azouggagh-McBride, L.A. Roe, D.W.G. Sears.

Radiation Resistance of a Silicone Polymer Grease Based Regolith Collector for the Hera Near-Earth Asteroid Sample Return Mission. E.M. Venechuk, M.A. Franzen, D.W.G. Sears.

Ground Penetrating Radar in Sedimentary Rocks. J.B. Lee, S.K. Sahai, S.T. Paxton, S. Hadaway.

A Further Analysis of Potential Photosynthetic Life on Mars. J.J. Sakon, R.L. Burnap.

CFD Modeling of NASA's Ares Platform. J.J. Coltrane, A.S. Arena.

The Space Center registers two more graduate students in the SPAC doctoral degree program.  Katherine Gietzen and Sammy Grimes are studying for Ph.D. degrees in space and planetary sciences.

	Katherine Gietzen, a member of the physics department, will be studying extrasolar planets with Professor Claude Lacy.  Katherine obtained her bachelors degree in physics and mathematics from Southwest Baptist University.
	Sammy Grimes is a physics graduate of Hendrix College, and will have Professor Tim Kral of biological sciences as his mentor; he will study the effects of low pressure on methanogens.  Sammy will be a member of the biological sciences department.