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Summary:

NASA'S 1999 SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR MAKES CARS SAFER AND SPACECRAFT CHEAPER

ASTEROID MYSTERY IN DEEP SPACE: SIBLINGS, OR PARENT AND CHILD?

Video File for August 5, 1999

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NASA'S 1999 SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR MAKES CARS SAFER AND SPACECRAFT CHEAPER

NASA has chosen as its 1999 NASA Software of the Year two innovative programs developed at NASA centers. One program applies technology developed for space to everyday life here on Earth by helping to make our cars, airplanes, bridges and other structures safer. The other program makes spacecraft cheaper and transforms science fiction into science fact by allowing spacecraft to operate themselves.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Elvia H. Thompson 202/358-1696.

Contact at NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, Cleveland, OH: Barbara L. Kakiris 216/433-2513.

Contact at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA: John Bluck 650/604-5026 or 650/604-9000.

Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: John G. Watson 818/354-5011.

For full text, see: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1999/99-090.txt

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ASTEROID MYSTERY IN DEEP SPACE: SIBLINGS, OR PARENT AND CHILD?

NASA's novel Deep Space 1 spacecraft not only passed a technology milestone when it successful flew itself past an asteroid last week, it gave scientists a deep-space "family tree" mystery to ponder. Deep Space 1 flew within an estimated 16 miles (26 kilometers) of asteroid 9969 Braille on July 29. The spacecraft's infrared sensor confirmed that the small asteroid is similar to Vesta, a rare type of asteroid and one of the largest bodies in the main asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists are now wrestling with a thorny question: Is the near-Earth asteroid Braille a chip off Vesta's old block, or are the two asteroids siblings which originated elsewhere, perhaps thrown off a larger body that has long since been destroyed?

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Doug Isbell 202/358-1753.

Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: John G. Watson 818/354-5011.

For full text, see: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1999/99-088.txt

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If NASA issues additional news releases later today, we will e-mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html

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Video File for August 5, 1999

Item 1 - Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) Satellite Works to Unravel Solar Mystery

Item 2 - Hubble Space Telescope Heritage Image: Ancient Storm in the Atmosphere of Jupiter

Item 3 - Software of the Year Winning Programs Apply Space Technology to Make Cars, Bridges and Airplanes Safer, Spacecraft Cheaper

Item 4 - Solar Eclipse Preview (replay) TRT 19:20

NOTE: Live Television Event today, August 5, 1999 3:30 - 6:00 pm - Eileen Collins Live News Interviews - JSC

NOTE: Regarding the Upcoming Solar Eclipse NASA will NOT run the eclipse live on NASA TV throughout its duration on Aug. 11. Any media wishing to pick-up a live feed of the eclipse can go to Telstar 5, Ku transponder 11, 97 west, vertical polarity 11929 MHz downlink frequency. Audio 6.2 / 6.8. Credit MUST be given: "Courtesy Exploratorium/NASA"

However, solar researchers Steve Maran and Craig DeForest will be available via NASA TV on August 11 from 6:00 to 11:00 am EDT to provide commentary over a live feed of the eclipse from Amasya, Turkey. To book an interview, contact Deanna Corridon 301/286-0045 or Wade Sisler 301/286-6256.

More information about the eclipse is available at: http://eclipse99.nasa.gov/

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Video File for August 5, 1999

Item 1 - Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) Satellite Works to Unravel Solar Mystery

Stiff Solar Atmosphere May Explain Heating Mystery. Dramatic new images from TRACE satellite are helping unravel a perplexing mystery: How can the atmosphere of the Sun be hotter than the star's surface?

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage 202/358-1527. Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Bill Steigerwald 301/286-5017.

Item 1a - Vibrating Coronal Loops

Huge loops and coils of heated coronal gas vibrate like a piano string hit by its hammer following the blast wave from a solar flare. It is those vibrations which heat the corona to intense temperatures, often many times hotter than the surface of the sun itself. Recent observations the TRACE spacecraft indicate that the corona may be millions of times more viscous than previously expected, thus explaining why the medium of solar plasma has a higher than expected level of molecular friction.

Item 1b - TRACE Animation

TRACE is one of NASA's Small Explorer spacecraft. Launched aboard a Pegasus rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, in April 1998, TRACE studies the magnetic field of the solar atmosphere. Working in conjunction with the SOHO spacecraft, TRACE is tasked with the primary mission of unraveling some of the mysteries surrounding the solar corona.

Item 1c - Interview Excerpts Dr. Leon Ofman, TRACE Project Scientist, talks about the latest images.

Item 2 - Hubble Space Telescope Heritage Image: Ancient Storm in the Atmosphere of Jupiter

Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD: Ray Villard 410/338-4707. Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage 202/358-1547.

Additional information about Hubble images is available at: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html

Item 3 - Software of the Year Winning Programs Apply Space Technology to Make Cars, Bridges and Airplanes Safer, Spacecraft Cheaper

NASA has chosen as its 1999 NASA Software of the Year two innovative programs developed at NASA centers. One program applies technology developed for space to everyday life here on Earth by helping to make our cars, airplanes, bridges and other structures safer. The other program makes spacecraft cheaper and transforms science fiction into science fact by allowing spacecraft to operate themselves.

Local angles: NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, Cleveland, OH; NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA; NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Elvia H. Thompson 202/358-1696. Contact at NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, Cleveland, OH: Barbara L. Kakiris 216/433-2513. Contact at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA: John Bluck 650/604-5026 or 650/604-9000. Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: John G. Watson 818/354-5011.

Item 3a - Remote Agent Software on Deep Space 1

Remote Agent took control of Deep Space 1 for three days in May and operated the spacecraft autonomously.

Item 3b - Genoa Software Animation

Animation shows Genoa software simulation of spreading of damage to an aircraft fuselage. Information can be used to build stronger structures and to predict failure in existing ones.

Item 3c - Interviews About Uses of Genoa Software

Pappu L. Murthy, PhD, Aerospace Engineer, NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, Cleveland OH Christos Chamis, PhD, Senior Aerospace Scientist, NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, Cleveland OH

Both discuss how the Genoa software is used in various industries and how it saves time and money in design, manufacture, and analysis, and maintenance.

Item 4: Solar Eclipse Preview (replay)

Sneak preview of upcoming solar eclipse on August 11. The package contains animation showing the path of the eclipse through Europe, some eclipse viewing tips, and examples of how NASA uses artificial eclipses to enhance its understanding of the Sun's corona.

NASA scientists will be providing spectacular pictures of the August 11 total solar eclipse - the last in the millennium - from both Earth and a million miles out in space.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage 202/358-1547. Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Wade Sisler 301/286-6256.

Item 4a - The Great Eclipse of 1999 - animation

Shows the path of the Moon's shadow on the Earth during the August 11th solar eclipse.

Item 4b - The Aruba Eclipse of 1998

Footage of the last total solar eclipse as seen from the Caribbean island of Aruba on February 26, 1998. This footage was produced and distributed as part of a live webcast by the San Francisco Exploratorium and NASA's Sun-Earth Connection. Courtesy Exploratorium/NASA

Item 4c - Eclipse on Parade

Eclipse highlights. Courtesy of Dr. Jay Pasachoff, Williams College

Item 4d - Moon Shadow

The time-lapse sequence shows the shadow of the moon as it first touches the Earth in the Pacific Ocean, about 2,000 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands, and follows its race across the Pacific, over northern South America and across the Caribbean Sea before exiting in the Atlantic about 600 miles west of Morocco.

The time-lapse image sequence was taken from the NOAA/National Weather Services' Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-10. The sequence was enhanced and rendered at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Atmospheres. Super: NASA/NOAA

Item 4e - The Longest Eclipse - Images from SOHO

NASA uses artificial eclipses to continuously monitor the Sun's corona. Time-lapse sequences from the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO) instrument on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft (SOHO). Courtesy NASA/ESA (European Space Agency)

Item 4f - The Active Sun

Two sequences from SOHO's Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) illustrate the increase in solar activity from January 1996 (first sequence) to July, 1999 (second sequence). The sun is nearing the peak of its period 11-year solar cycle. Courtesy NASA/ESA (European Space Agency)

Item 4g - The Speedy Solar 'Wind' - animation

The solar 'wind' can travel at speeds up to two million miles per hour. As it flows past Earth, the solar wind changes the shape and structure of the Earth's magnetic field, which can damage satellites and disrupt communications and power systems. Courtesy NASA/ESA (European Space Agency)

Item 4h - Source of the Solar 'Wind'

These combined images display UV light emitted by the solar corona over one full solar rotation (27 days) in August 1996. The inner images of the solar disk were taken by the EIT instrument aboard SOHO. The outer diffuse emission was observed by the UVCS instrument aboard SOHO, which creates an 'artificial eclipse' in ultraviolet light to observe the dim extended solar corona. The dark regions at the north and south poles are called "coronal holes," and they are thought to be the primary source regions of the high-speed solar 'wind.' Courtesy Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)

Item 4i - Earth Gets Blasted

This computer visualization shows the impacts of a coronal mass ejection on the Earth's magnetosphere. This discovery of a way to provide early warning of approaching solar storms could prove useful to power companies, the communications industry and organizations that operate spacecraft. The data were collected by the NASA's Wind satellite.

Item 4j - SOHO Animation

Animation of the SOHO Spacecraft Courtesy NASA/ESA (European Space Agency)

Item 4k - An Interactive Event

B-Roll from the San Francisco Exploratorium's interactive webcast of the February, 1998 eclipse. The Exploratorium will bring this year's total eclipse to viewers around the world via a live interactive webcast made possible with support from NASA's Sun- Earth Connection Education Forum. Courtesy Exploratorium / NASA

Item 4l - Solar Researcher B-Roll

Images of scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's SOHO Operations Facility.

Item 4m - Eclipse Viewing Tips

Eclipse viewing tips with NASA Astronomer Dr. Fred Espanek. Never attempt to observe the partial phases of any eclipse with the naked eye. Includes B-roll from viewing tips.

Item 4n - Interview Excerpt - Craig Deforest

Craig DeForest explains why scientists are interested in studying eclipses. Craig DeForest is a solar physicist working for Stanford University at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

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The NASA Video File normally airs at noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and midnight Eastern Time. NASA Television is available on GE-2, transponder 9C at 85 degrees West longitude, with vertical polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0 megahertz, with audio on 6.8 megahertz.

Refer general questions about the video file to NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Ray Castillo, 202/358-4555, Pam Poe, 202/358-0373, or Elvia Thompson, 202/358-1696.

During Space Shuttle missions, you can access the full NASA TV schedule from:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html

For general information about NASA TV see:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/

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Contract Awards

Contract awards are posted to the NASA Acquisition information Service Web site:

http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html

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The NASA Daily News Summary is issued each business day at approximately 2 p.m. Eastern time. Members of the media who wish to subscribe or unsubscribe from this list, please send e-mail message to:

Brian.Dunbar@hq.nasa.gov

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end of daily news summary

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