Your Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) team is investigating the possiblity of life on other planets in our Solar System. MGS became the first successful mission to the "Red Planet" in two decades when it launched November 7, 1996, and entered orbit on September 12, 1997. After a year and a half of trimming its orbit from a looping ellipse to a circular track around the planet, the spacecraft began its prime mapping mission in March 1999. It has observed the planet from a low-altitude, nearly polar orbit over the course of one complete Martian year, the equivalent of nearly two Earth years. Mars Global Surveyor recently completed its primary mission on January 31, 2001, and is now in an extended mission phase.

The mission has studied the entire Martian surface, atmosphere, and interior, and has returned more data about the red planet than all other Mars missions combined. Among key science findings so far, Global Surveyor has taken pictures of gullies and debris flow features that suggest there may be current sources of liquid water, similar to an aquifer, at or near the surface of the planet. Magnetometer readings show that the planet's magnetic field is not globally generated in the planet's core, but is localized in particular areas of the crust.

New temperature data and closeup images of the Martian moon Phobos show its surface is composed of powdery material at least 1 meter (3 feet) thick, caused by millions of years of meteoroid impacts. Data from the spacecraft's laser altimeter have given scientists their first 3-D views of Mars' north polar ice cap.

The Surveyor robot has been orbiting Mars in order to photograph the surface features of the "Red Planet". The orbiting probe contains the high resolution MOC (Mars Observer Camera) camera capable of taking pictures of objects as small as a mouse or rat from its orbit, 150 miles above the surface.

As Mars was approached, a successful retroburn inserted the satellite into its appropriate orbit. The MOC cameras have been scanning the surface as MGS orbits the planet. Pictures are being transmitted back to earth and our computers are configuring the images of the surface from the digital data. We have seen much of this terrain before from previous orbitor missions, but not at this resolution.

Gamma Ray Spectrometer. The gamma ray spectrometer is able to measure the abundance and distribution of water on Mars and about 20 primary elements of the periodic table, including silicon, oxygen, iron, magnesium,potassium, aluminum, calcium, sulfur, and carbon. Knowing what elements are at or near the surface will give detailed information about how Mars has changed over time. To determine the elemental makeup of the Martian surface, the experiment uses gamma ray spectrometer and two neutron detectors.

THEMIS:The Thermal Emission Imaging System, also on board the orbitor, is increasing our knowledge of Mars. By looking at the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum, THEMIS will determine the distribution of minerals on the surface of Mars and help understand how the mineralogy of the planet relates to the landforms.

Finally, MARIE: The Martian Radiation Environment Experiment is measuring the levels of cosmic radiation from the earth to Mars and collecting data as it orbits the planet.

The second type of graphics are from the life-probes on the solar panels. The data from these probes is superimposed over the MOC images as a matrix. We recognize that this is not the best of all systems, but as a prototype it will give us data for our research on Distant Life Scanning (DLS). The probes are designed to activate as the camera makes close-up images of the Martian surface. They are hypersensitive nuclear and thermal scanners that can detect pockets of gas, or heat. Though our biologists feel certain that any life on Mars would be prokaryotic and would not produce any heat as a waste product, other members of our team wanted to include a thermal scan in case there was someting larger on the planet. The cost was not prohibitive, so as you know that idea was incorporated into the DLS unit.

If the unit senses any activity as the MOC scans the terrain , then the onboard computers will place a labeled matrix on the camera's image as the data is being configured on our screens in Mission Control. We didn't really expect this feature of the mission to be too important, since the Viking mission data indicated that life is not a good bet on Mars, but it appears that we were a bit premature in our predictions.

The DLS probe has apparently either detected some "life-like" thing on the planet, or we have some sort of clitch in the system. We feel that the data should tell us whether the probe is malfunctioning, or that something more meaningful has occurred.

The data screens appear as you see them below. The sensors in the DLS convert the data source into the _* icon and place it in the matrix of a grid system. The system has numbered files across the top with lettered ranks down the side. Each of the icons has a rank and file coordinate such as B3, B4, C3, or C5 which allows us to follow any change in position of these data points from one day to the next. It is evident to us that this is a logical system, as in chess, to examine any strategies that these objects might display. The position of these data points from one day to the next should reveal whether these icons actually represent life-forms or are merely malfunctions within the DLS.

As you know, while making a pass over the Valley of the Mariners the sensors returned data that may be life-forms. This data is suspect as we did not see this area as a potential spot for supporting any life. It was our hypothesis that if life does exist on Mars, then it would be found somewhere near the polar ice caps as they are the locations for the greatest amounts of water on the planet. Viking data has hinted at the distinct possibility that liquid water in very small amounts is clinging to the soil particles and may be in sufficient quantity to support small anaerobic prokaryotic life-forms. However, as is often the case something has unexpectedly appeared in a rather unlikely spot; hence our scepticism as to its meaning.

The sensors indicate that these objects are producing heat and gaseous waste products similar to the waste products of earth-based prokaryotic methanogens (releasing methane gas as a waste product). However, the sensors also indicate that the data sources are around the size of a small rodent (mouse/rat), which obviously puts them into a different category as a life-form. The Star Trek enthusiasts on our staff have suggested that these things be dubbed TRIBBLES after the fuzzy critters that overran the Enterprise in one of its early adventures. So be it!

We can only get a picture of the floor of the Mariner Valley, where the DLS has found activity, once every 24 hours. Therefore, your team will have to draw all of its conclusions from the changes that you see from one day to the next. Our Imaging Group is currently kicking itself for not having better defined the software, so that a truer image could be resolved as opposed to an icon, but that can't be helped now.

The problem is a knotty one considering the form that our data takes. It must be solved logically by determining if these Tribbles display any pattern of behavior from one day to the next that would indicate either rules or randomness. Life reproduces here on earth in a nonrandom fashion and we have established rules governing birth, death and survival of organisms. Preliminary data has hinted at the same sort of nonrandom patterns being present in our DLS information.

The Mission Control Team has concluded that in order for NASA to announce to the world that it has found large life-forms on Mars, the following information must be documented and confirmed. First, you must answer the following three questions from the available data:

1. What are the rules that govern the survival of the Tribbles (?). In other words, determine the rule, or rules, that allows you to predict the rank and file position of the "survivor Tribbles" from one day to the next.

2. Do the Tribbles appear to follow any rules that determine when they will die? Do they disappear from the screen from one day to the next, and not return? Be able to predict at specific rank and file coordinate locations where death will occur.

3. Do the Tribbles reproduce? If they do, what are the rules that govern when another Tribble will be born? Predict in which rank and file newborns will appear.

Once your team has satisfied itself that these icons do, or do not, represent life-forms, you must demonstrate your conclusions by predicting from one day to the next what the grid patterns will be. In other words, if these icons are life-forms, then they will follow rules for birth, death, and survival. Those rules should allow you to predict from one day to the next where the Tribbles will be located on the grid system. If the icons simply appear on the grids in random locations, being unpredicatable from one day to the next, then it would seem that these icons represent some atmospheric or geological phenomenon, not life-forms.

We can only spare one member of our Mission Control Team to assist your Tribble Teams. Mr. Renkwitz will act as a technical advisor to your teams and will take a skeptical role in moving each of you to a final conclusion. It is of ultimate importance that each team NOT exchange any information during this evaluation process. It is essential for our success that each group work independently of the others as a Control measure. If each of the teams draw the same conclusions working independently of each other, and each can complete the Confirmation Tasks designed by Mission Control, then we feel that NASA can report to the world that life has been discovered on Mars.

Mission Control has been observing the Tribbles for years now and has come to the following conclusions about these data points. Your team must first evaluate these conclusions to see if they are valid. If you feel that these are viable conclusions about the data, then use them to help direct your tasks.

1. If the matrix display shows the disappearance of a tribble from its grid location from one day to the next, then that signifies that it has died. The sensors have measured some of the same post-death metabolic residues at specific tribble rank and file coordinates, that are found after death in earth-based lifeforms. Therefore, it is assumed that these waste products represent the same fundamental actions on Mars as they do on earth. Death.

2. If a new tribble appears in a grid from one day to the next, it is apparent from the sensors that a rapid, new metabolic process is underway. Therefore, this means a birth has occurred at that specific rank and file coordinate.

3. If a tribble has stayed in the same location from one day to the next, the sensors indicate the metabolic rate to be the same as the previous day's recording. Therefore, this verifies survival from one day to the next at that specific coordinate.

Develop your rules as "If...,then" statements, correcting the wording of the statement as each investigation of your hypothesis is completed. Continue this process until your predictions are consistently accurate. The consistent confirmation should justify your hypothesis as a rule. Give it your best effort!

There will be Assurance Testing done by Mr. Renkwitz to check the rules that you hypothesize and investigate. Each member of your team will be expected to be able to determine the rank and file position of the Tribbles from one day to the next. Mr. Renkwitz will create three different screen displays using actual Tribble position data and each of you should be able to predict the next day's coordinate pattern. It is critical that each team member not communicate any of their findings to any other team member. This will make the experiments single blinded and help us confirm the life hypothesis.You will be rated by your success at determining the location of the Tribbles. Each member of the Team will be given a specific Assurance Rating based on the following criteria;

Because of the importance of this project, NASA will not report any of this data to the press unless the overall Team Assurance Average is at least 85% . The significance of this data is too important to be left to chance.

Remember, the rule of thumb with all working hypotheses is that they will accurately, and consistently, predict the outcome of the observed phenomenon. The report of your investigations may change history for all time.