Hey , Xanthos -
Yes, I recognize the handle. Glad to see you here.
"Close to my daily work" is right. I have a team of people downstairs who built MOLA (Mars Observer Laser Altimeter) I and II. When Mars Observer was lost a couple years back, we had a bunch of severly bummed folks down there. We're hoping for better results later this year with MGS(Mars Global Surveyor) and Mars Pathfinder ... Me, I'm with Mission To Planet Earth ("boldly going where everyone's been before" per the Washington Post), so I'm not *that* close to the Mars stuff.
Per your suggestion, I'll work with Zachary. I need to read the archives; I need to find out what "metal/not metal" refers to and get a bit more grounding in what's happened so far.