NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: Nov. 9, 1999

Media Advisory m99-233

SUMMARY:

No News Releases Today

Video File for Nov. 9, 1999

ITEM 1 - STS-103 - THIRD HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SERVICING

MISSION
ITEM 2 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGE OF THE TRIFID NEBULA
ITEM 3 - AIRBORNE INFORMATION FOR LATERAL SPACING (replay)
ITEM 4 - NASA TESTS CONCEPT FOR A ULTRA LONG DURATION
BALLOON (replay)
ITEM 5 - MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES OF SOLAR ECLIPSE ON
MARS
(replay)

NOTE: Today's The STS-103 Mission Overview Briefing will rerun

throughout the day, beginning at 1:00 pm.

LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS THIS WEEK:

NOVEMBER 9, TUESDAY
STS-103 Mission Briefing
9:00 am - 11:00 am - Mission Overview and EVA Briefing - JSC
11:00 am - noon - STS-103 Hubble Space Telescope Payload Briefing
- HQ

2:00 - 3:00 pm - STS-103 Crew News Conference - JSC

NOVEMBER 10, WEDNESDAY

6:00 - 10:00 am - Precision Farming Live News Interviews - MSFC
2:00 - 3:00 pm - Mars Climate Orbiter Failure Investigation Board
Briefing - HQ
*****************************

If NASA issues any 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

*****************************

Video File for Nov. 9, 1999

ITEM 1 - STS-103 - THIRD HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SERVICING

MISSION

NASA officials decided to move up part of the servicing mission

that had been scheduled for June 2000 after three of the
telescope's six gyroscopes failed. Having fewer than three
working gyroscopes would preclude science observations, although
the telescope would remain safely in orbit until a servicing crew
arrived. In addition to replacing all six gyroscopes on the
November flight, the crew will replace a guidance sensor and the
spacecraft's computer. The new computer will reduce the burden of
flight software maintenance and significantly lower costs. A
voltage/temperature kit will be installed to protect spacecraft
batteries from overcharging and overheating when the spacecraft
goes into safe mode. A new transmitter will replace a failed
spare currently aboard the spacecraft, and a spare missions will
replace telescope insulation that has degraded. The insulation is
necessary to control the internal temperature on spacecraft.

Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Nancy

Neal (Phone 301/286-0039).
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage
(Phone 202/358-1547).

ITEM 1a - HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FIRST TWO HUBBLE SPACE--------TRT

2:07
TELESCOPE SERVICING MISSIONS, STS-61 AND STS-82

HST First Servicing Mission Highlights - In June, 1990 scientists

and engineers discovered that the HST's primary mirror was flawed.
Images of starlight were spread out in a fuzzy halo rather than
being focused into a sharp point. This defect was caused by a
manufacturing error in the polishing of the primary mirror which
rendered it too flat. The HST was designed to allow new
instruments to be easily installed as old ones become obsolete.
This was demonstrated during the first servicing mission in
December 1993, when, during an 11-day mission that included a
record five EVAs, astronauts successfully installed a new camera
called the Wide Field/Planetary Camera II (WF/PC-II) which had its
corrective optics built right in, and a special instrument, called
the COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement)
that would properly refocus light from the flawed main mirror to
the other instruments.

HST Second Servicing Mission Highlights - Every few years, the

telescope is visited by a Space Shuttle to allow astronauts to
switch old instruments for new. During HST's second servicing
mission, in February 1997, the seven-member crew conducted
spacewalks to remove two older instruments and install two new
astronomy instruments, as well as other servicing tasks. The two
older instruments that were replaced were the Goddard High
Resolution Spectrometer and the Faint Object Spectrograph.
Replacing these instruments were the Space Telescope Imaging
Spectrograph (STIS) and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object
Spectrometer (NICMOS).

ITEM 1b - ANIMATION OF STS-103, THIRD HST SERVICING-------TRT 8:48

MISISON

Sequences show how description of spacecraft components, arrival

and departure of Space Shuttle, and how astronauts will accomplish
servicing work during several EVAs (extravehicular activity).

ITEM 1c - GYROSCOPE ANIMATION-----------------------------TRT 1:01

Astronauts will replace all six of the Telescope's gyroscopes

during STS-103. Currently three of Hubble's six gyros are not
working, leaving only the minimum number needed to continue its
mission. The gyroscopes are needed for pointing the telescope.
The pointing system is comprised of reaction wheels that actually
move the telescope, gyros that report its position, star trackers
that provide reference points, and the onboard computer that
controls the pointing process. Based on nearly one and a half
years of intensive chemical, mechanical and electrical
investigations, the HST team believes that the thin wires are
being corroded by the fluid in which they are immersed and
ultimately this corrosion causes them to break.

ITEM 1d - THERMAL BLANKET LAYER ANIMATION------------------TRT

:33

During the mission astronauts will cover Hubble's electronic bay

doors with seven permanent coated-stainless steel foil sheets
called the New Outer Blanket Layer (NOBL). The crew will also
carry seven rolls of special fabric, called the Shell/Shield
Replacement Fabric (SSRF) which will be installed on Hubble's
forward shell and light shield if time is available. The NOBL
covers and SSRF pieces are designed to protect Hubble's external
blankets and prevent its insulation from further degradation.
Animation shows how these "thermal blankets" are replaced.
Blankets are attached with "bottle-stopper" fasteners and then are
unrolled like "wallpaper". This multi-layer insulation protects
the Telescope from the severe and rapid temperature changes as it
moves through its 90-minute orbit from very hot sun to very cold
night.

ITEM 1e - TECHNICIANS "QUILT" SSRF B-ROLL------------------TRT :56

B-roll of technicians at the Goddard Space Flight Center

"quilting" the Shell/Shield Replacement Fabric (SSRF). The fabric
pieces are stored in rolls for their trip to orbit. The fabric is
composed of flexible, aluminized Teflon with rip-stop material
bonded to the back side. Seven pieces up to 22 feet (7 meters)
long will cover 80 percent of the sun-side light shield and
forward shell. This special fabric was designed and tested to
ensure that it can withstand exposure to charged particles, X-
rays, ultraviolet radiation, and thermal cycling for at least ten
years.

ITEM 1f - STS-103 CLEANROOM B-ROLL------------------------TRT 2:12

Astronauts training for the Hubble Space Telescope Third Servicing

Mission in the cleanroom at the Goddard Space Flight Center.
Footage includes astronauts working with gyroscopes and applying
thermal blankets to a full-sized mock-up of the Hubble Space
Telescope. The seven-member crew will rendezvous with the
Telescope, capture it with the Space Shuttle Discovery's robotic
arm and dock it in the Shuttle bay. Working in teams of two, four
astronauts will outfit the Hubble with new equipment, including
six gyroscopes, a Fine Guidance Sensor, Solid State Recorder, new
Main Computer, New Outer Blanket Layers (NOBL), and a transmitter.
The astronauts will take more than 150 crew aids and tools on this
service call.

ITEM 1g - ACTIVITY IN STOCC---------------------------------TRT:26

Activity in Space Telescope Operations Control Center (STOCC) at

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, during the
mission. Working 24 hours a day, ground controllers command and
control the Hubble Space Telescope. Commands are sent to the
Telescope to direct the observation of astronomical targets all
across the sky. Hubble operators monitor the Telescope's health
and safety while they control flight operations and science
activities.

ITEM 1h - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ANIMATION------------------TRT:22

(5 glamour shot sequences)

ITEM 1i - THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM (animation)----------TRT:15

Animations of the electromagnetic spectrum, the communication

path, and the Hubble Telescope.

ITEM 1j - HUBBLE TRACKING/SATELLITE RELAY ANIMATIONS

Cut 1: Animation of HST Communication----------------------TRT 17

Communications through the Tracking & Data Relay Satellite System

(TDRSS), White Sands, NM, and DOMSAT, to the Goddard Space Flight
Center (GSFC).

Cut 2: TDRSS Animation-------------------------------------TRT:22

Animation of the Tracking & Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS)

Communications Satellite depicting the data flow from TDRSS to
Earth, equivalent to a set of encyclopedias every second.
ITEM 1k - INTERVIEW EXCERPTS------------------------------TRT 2:02

Dr. David Leckrone, Sr. Project Sicentst Hubble Space Telescope

ITEM 1l - INTERVIEW EXCERPTS------------------------------TRT 3:38

Dr. John Campbell, Associate Director, Hubble Space Telescope

ITEM 2 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGE----------------------TRT :23

OF STAR FORMATION IN THE TRIFID NEBULA

This NASA Hubble Telescope image of the Trifid Nebula reveals a

stellar nursery being torn apart by radiation from a nearby,
massive star. It also provides a peek at embryonic stars forming
within an ill-fated cloud of dust and gas. Sequence opens on
ground-based image of the Trifid Nebula and then zooms in to the
remarkable images captured by Hubble..

Images and other information available at

http://hubble.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Credits: NASA and Jeff Hester (Arizona State University), Paul

Scowen (Arizona State University), Karl Stapelfeldt (Jet
Propulsion Laboratory), John Krist (STScI) and the HST WFPC2
Investigation Definition Team

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage

(Phone 202/358-1547).
Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD: Ray
Villard (Phone 410/338-4707).

ITEM 3 - AIRBORNE INFORMATION FOR LATERAL SPACING (replay)-TRT

:55

NASA is developing a technology that would decrease air traffic

delays by enabling airports with closely spaced parallel runways
to keep both runways open in bad weather. Animation shows a
normal runway approach in good visibility and how an Airborne
Information for Lateral Spacing alert would warn of an incorrect
approach.

Contact at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA: Judi Tull

(Phone 757/864-3189).
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Michael Braukus
(Phone 202/358-1979).

Item 3a - PILOT TESTING AILS IN SIMULATOR-----------------TRT 3:48

Pilots tested the AILS system in a NASA simulator. AILS would

give pilots a cockpit display to detect, warn, and avoid possible
encroaching traffic. They confirmed those results on board NASA
757 and a Honeywell Gulfstream.

Video Courtesy Discovery Channel

Item 3b - INTERVIEW EXCERPTS-------------------------------TRT :57

Brad Perry, AILS Project Manger, NASA Langley Research Center,

Hampton, VA

Item 3c - INTERVIEW EXCERPTS-------------------------------TRT :19

Bob Puley, 757 Pilot, Northwest Airlines

Item 3d - INTERVIEW EXCERPTS-------------------------------TRT :35

Bill Cowin, Senior Research Program Manager, Honeywell, Inc.

ITEM 4 - NASA TESTS CONCEPT FOR A ULTRA LONG DURATION

BALLOON (replay)

A test flight was successfully conducted recently from Ft. Sumner,

NM, of a pumpkin-shaped balloon half the size of a football field
and approximately one-tenth the volume of NASA's Ultra Long
Duration Balloon (ULDB). The ULDB will stay aloft at altitudes of
up to 115,000 feet (35 kilometers) for as long as 100 days with
more than a ton of scientific instruments.

Scientists are excited about the new balloons because they can
carry huge payloads to the very edges of the Earth's atmosphere at
a fraction of the cost of launching them on rockets.

Contact at NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA:

Betty Flowers (Phone 757/824-1584).
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage
(Phone 202/358-1547).

More ULDB program information can be found at:

http://www.wff.nasa.gov/~uldb/index.html

Item 4a - NASA'S ULTRA LONG DURATION BALLOON--------------TRT 5:07

A test flight was successfully conducted recently from Ft. Sumner,

N.M. of a pumpkin-shaped balloon half the size of a football field
and approximately one-tenth the volume of what NASA calls its
Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB). The ULDB will stay aloft at
altitudes of up to 115,000 feet (35 kilometers) for as long as 100
days with more than a ton of scientific instruments.

FILE FOOTAGE:---------------------------------------------TRT 8:12

Item 4b - LAUNCH ANIMATION SEQUENCE

Ultra Long Duration Balloons (ULDB) are being designed to stay

afloat for several months with over a ton of astronomy or remote
sensing equipment. This new balloon technology will enable a
science payload to stay aloft for up to 100 days, at a constant
altitude of approximately 120,000 feet. That is about 15 miles
higher than typical passenger planes fly and above 99.9 percent of
the Earth's atmosphere. This represents an enormous advance over
current long-duration balloons that stay aloft for about 10 days
and cannot maintain a constant altitude. A ULDB platform can be
used to perform many types of research effectively, inexpensively
and the payload can be recovered for reuse.

Item 4c - ALTITUDE COMPARISON ANIMATION

Day and night temperature differences, along with barometric

pressure differences affect the altitude of current long duration
balloons because they are open systems. The Ultra Long Duration
Balloon is a closed system enabling it to maintain a more constant
altitude.

Item 4d - SIZE COMPARISON

Height comparison of ULDB at launch and at altitude with the

Washington Monument. The ULDB balloon consists of 20 acres of a
special polyethylene composite material (.08 mil thick) and 20
miles of seams.

Item 4e - ANIMATION OF POTENTIAL ULDB SCIENCE PAYLOADS

Scientists will be able to command the instrument and receive

science data on a home computer via the Internet.

Cut 1: Atmospheric payloads such as cosmic ray detection, and

anti-matter detectors.
Cut 2: Earth Observation payloads

Item 4f - ULDB MATERIAL TESTING B-ROLL

New composite materials were developed to accomplish ULDB's

mission. This new material must withstand the environmental
stresses the balloon will encounter at 120,000 feet for 100 days.
These stresses include temperature variations, pressure, and
ultraviolet radiation.

Item 4g - MANUFACTURING METHODS TESTING B-ROLL

Inflating a 30 foot diameter ULDB "model" to its bursting point

gives engineers insight into the durability and strength of
balloon manufacturing methods.

Item 4h - SOUNDBITE

Steve Raque, Aerospace Engineer, NASA Balloon Program Office

ITEM 5 - MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES OF SOLAR ECLIPSE------
TRT :42
ON MARS (replay)

The shadow of the martian moon, Phobos, has been captured in many
recent wide angle camera views of the red planet obtained by the
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC). Designed to
monitor changes in weather and surface conditions, the wide angle
cameras are also proving to be a good way to spot the frequent
solar eclipses caused by the passage of Phobos between Mars and
the Sun. Image shows Phobos, the inner and larger of the two moons
of Mars. Imaged on Aug. 19, 1998, by the Mars global
Surveyor/Mars Orbiter Camera.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Doug Isbell (Phone

202/358-1753).
Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Mary
Hardin (Phone 818/354-5011).

----------

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