Work on the "next generation" of surveys to detect near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) is underway, according to Alan Harris, asteroid expert and senior research scientist at the Space Science Institute. Both NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) -- through the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona -- have commissioned study teams to define surveys that would spot smaller NEAs.

Harris told SPACE.com that NASA is considering space-based as well as ground-based surveys, weighing the cost-benefit of searches that scan for smaller-sized NEAs.

The other work supported by NSF is defining the capabilities and requirements for NEA surveying using a proposed ground-based Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the LSST. Building of this instrument -- also called the Dark Matter Telescope -- is being supported in various astronomy, astrophysics, and planetary science circles.

The last thing a parachutist wants to see is his chute rip into shreds as it opens. Yet this is what members of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Entry, Landing and Descent team have been seeing for months.

Prototype chutes were put into a big wind tunnel at NASA's Ames Research Center. They would deploy fine but failed once they filled with air. A torn parachute would be very bad news for the twin MER rovers slated to land on Mars in 2004.

Scientists have trapped hydrogen gas in ice cages. It's great news for businesses that might want to store the gas, but it might also help biologists understrand the origin of life, and it implies that some icy places in our solar system -- planets, moons, or comets -- could contain hydrogen we don't know about.

Hydrogen is the most abundant gas in the universe and the race has been on to find a cost-efficient, practical way to store it for fuel use. In the new work, which will be detailed tomorrow in the journal Science, a hydrogen and water mix was pressurized, then cooled to -11° Fahrenheit (249 K). Hydrogen remained trapped in the mix even when warmed to 45° F (280K).

"Many microorganisms that appear to be ancient 'breathe' hydrogen," says Wesley Huntress, of the Carnegie Intitution of Washington, which led the work. "The ability of water to trap hydrogen may also be significant for biology on the early Earth, providing a potential mechanism to supply this gas to the atmosphere at a time when life was just beginning on this planet."

From Mr. Box: I assume that if the Earth is passing through the debris of comets that our Moon is also passing through the debris with us. Since there is no atmosphere to burn up the meteoroids, logic says they would impact the surface of the Moon at high speed, which should kick up clouds of Moon dust. A study of these impacts would tell us a great deal of the Moon and perhaps the comet too.

Joe Rao, SPACE.com's backyard astronomy columnist, replies: You are correct about meteoroid impacts with the Moon. In fact, during the last few years, observers have kept a close watch on the Moon during the Leonid Meteor Shower, in hopes of catching sight of a bright flash of light on the dark (unilluminated) portion of the Moon's disk.

Quite possibly, such flashes could be traced back to meteoric impacts on the lunar surface. The Leonids are ideal to check this out, since during meteor storms, the intensity or rate of fall of the meteors are unusually high (1,000 per hour or more). In 1999, several observers actually such flashes on the Moon . . . even getting videos of these flashes as well.

Venus is hot as ... well, it's surface is thought to be too toasty for life as we know it. But high in the sky is a region where it's more moderate, the atmospheric pressure is similar to Earth, and there are some precious water droplets.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch from the University of Texas at El Paso and colleague Louis Irwin examined existing Venusian data and found certain chemicals that should be in the atmosphere are missing, as if something is removing them. An organic chemical, carbonyl sulfide, should not be there but is, they told New Scientist magazine. Microbes, they say, are the most efficient way to produce the chemical. Bugs could be living off UV rays from the Sun, they claim.

"I am reluctant to believe this result," said André Brack from the Center for Molecular Biophysics in Orleans, France. "For life, you need a volume of water, not just tiny droplets."

Laser surgery isn't cheap, so some physicists are turning to the Sun for a less expensive alternative. And we're not talking about some hyped-up solar panels here. The scientists simply focus sunlight, transport it to an optical fiber, and go to work. They say the beam has comparable "power density" to a laser.

Just one cloud to this potential silver lining in surgery: So far the technique has been successful on chicken breasts and chicken livers (both removed from their hosts and looking decidedly store bought). Next up: Live mice, of course.

Ultimately, the scientists at the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research in Israel hope to use sunlight to kill cancer in minimally invasive procedures. One has to wonder if it will work some irony on melanoma, the dreaded skin cancer caused by exposure to the Sun.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Velcro is a spin off of the space program after all. It just wasn't planet Earth's space program.

According to popular legend, Velcro was invented by NASA rocket scientists to keep things from floating around in microgravity. Unfortunately -- like Tang and Teflon -- the space agency had nothing to do with its origin but only helped popularize the miracle product.

But according to Wednesday night's episode of "Enterprise," Velcro came from the planet Vulcan, introduced on Earth in the late 1950s by stranded aliens looking for money. The fictional 22nd century Star Trek crew couldn't believe the story they were hearing from their Vulcan first officer.

"This is like finding out Neil Armstrong wasn't the first man to walk on the Moon," the chief engineer said. "Perhaps he wasn't," came the cool reply from the Vulcan.

TOKYO -- Japan’s Institute for Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) has been forced to delay the launch of the Muses-C asteroid sample return mission from December to May 2003 because of a problem with the probe’s attitude control system.

The Ryoanji Temple garden in Kyoto, Japan, has been a place of mysterious Zen appeal for centuries. A new analysis reveals that the empty space of the garden reflects the hidden image of a tree, perhaps sensed by the subconscious mind.

Gert Van Tonder of Kyoto University and colleagues calculated the symmetry lines of the minimalist garden, a simple gravel rectangle containing five rock clusters. The lines form an image of a branched tree, whose 'trunk' leads to the prime viewing spot in the ancient temple that once overlooked the garden. Such symmetry lines may help the brain to process shapes at a subconscious level, the researchers write in tomorrow's issue of the journal Nature.

The authors suggest that the unknown Zen-landscape gardener planned the rock clusters around the tree image. This may explain why visitors often describe the renowned garden -- a seemingly random assortment of rocks -- as pleasing to the eye.

Any close follower of space tourism gossip might have guessed there are two major deals in the works. Today, AdAge.com appears to have cleared this up a bit.

One deal would put pop star Lance Bass on a Soyuz rocket in 2004 and be televised by MTV or possibly another network. The limited series' tentative name: Celebrity Mission, Lance Bass. A separate deal, purportedly involving Pepsi, would generate a TV reality show with the prize being a Soyuz trip. At least two networks are talking with Pepsi about this one, AdAge.com says. Again, the target for liftoff is 2004.

A court ruling has allowed the Florida Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care to take over a facility in New Mexico that houses 266 chimpanzees, including 16 Air Force chimps descended from the first of their kind that went into space. Conditions at the primate testing facility, called Coulston Foundation, were said to be less than stellar, according to an article in Discovery online. Animal rights groups had accused the facility of mistreating the primates.

"They had hit the bottom of the barrel," Carole Noon of the Florida center told Discovery. "Their entire existence was just sitting in cages, staring straight away, eating monkey chow. It's very sad."

Noon's center has sought custody of the chimps for five years. Noon hopes the animals can eventually join 20 other Air Force chimps in Florida that have been "rehabilitated" from a lab-rat lifestyle and now live in a cage-free colony.

Mini-Astronote: Mars Observer launched 10 years ago today. The mission failed.

An attempt to set the world record for the highest crewed balloon flight has been postponed until next year because this year's weather window has closed.

Andy Elson and Colin Prescot of Britain were to fly the QinetiQ 1, bigger than the Empire State Building, 25 miles into the sky. The pair have been watching the skies every day since July. A QinetiQ spokesperson said the high flyers would try again in 2003 and would begin looking for the right conditions (good ground-level weather, proper winds up in the stratosphere, and even low levels of solar activity) earlier, in the spring.

Administrator Sean O'Keefe today announced Dr. Adena Williams Loston, President of San Jacinto College South in Houston, as the Senior Advisor for Education at NASA Headquarters in Washington, effective next month. Loston is President of San Jacinto College South. She will be responsible for guiding NASA's efforts to organize and enhance its education program.

Based on satellite data from the European Space Agency, researchers predicted today that the Antarctic ozone hole will break apart this week -- a first step toward going away -- about two months earlier than usual.

Upper atmospheric ozone protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays, so this is good news.

The bad news is that even though ozone-destroying chemicals have been reduced a bit by global treaties, changes in production probably aren't the cause of the early closing of the hole. Instead, normal year-to-year variability of atmospheric circulation is likely responsible for this year's early exit, says Henk Eskes, a senior scientist at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.

Skydiver, Michel Fournier, has called off his "Big Jump" through the stratosphere. Two attempts to launch the mission were unsuccessful. Key problems were bad weather and a technical hitch in inflating a balloon that would take the aeronaut to jump altitude.