NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: March 26, 1999

Media Advisory m99-060

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Summary

-- Upcoming Media Event: Landsat 7 Briefing

-- Video File for March 26

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Upcoming Media Event: Landsat 7 Briefing

Reviewing 27 years of environmental discovery and previewing

new ways of looking at our world, NASA and the U.S. Geological
Survey will brief reporters March 31 on the April launch of
Landsat 7. Landsat 7 will gather data from Earth's land surface and
surrounding coastal regions. Analysis of the data will provide
scientists with new information on deforestation, receding
glaciers and crop monitoring. The spacecraft is scheduled for launch on
April 15 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. The briefing will be held
at 1 p.m. EST March 31 in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA
Headquarters, 300 E St., SW, Washington, DC. The briefing will be
carried live on NASA TV with two-way question-and-answer capability for
reporters at NASA centers.

Contact at Headquarters: David E. Steitz, 202/358-1730;

Contact at Goddard Space Flight Center: Lynn Chandler, 301/614-5562;
Contact at U.S. Geological Survey: Catherine Watson, 703/648-4732.

Full text of the release:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/1999/n99-016.txt

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

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VIDEO FILE FOR MARCH 26, 1999

ITEM 1 OXYGEN FOR MARS
ITEM 2 PROPULSION BY WIRE
ITEM 3 SPRINGTIME ON URANUS
ITEM 4 NASA AT LAKOTA SIOUX GATHERING (replay)

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ITEM 1 Oxygen for Mars
NASA engineers have laid the groundwork for 'living off
the land' on Mars by extracting oxygen from a simulated
Martian atmosphere. Producing oxygen using materials readily
available on Mars could reduce the amount of materials that
would need to accompany a human mission to the Red Planet.
The synthesized oxygen could be used for breathing air or as
propellant to send samples and astronauts back to Earth. This
week's experiment is an initial test of technology that will
be aboard the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander, scheduled to launch
April 10, 2001.

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Jennifer McCarter, 202/358-

1639;
Contact at Johnson Space Center: Kelly Humphries, 281/483-
5111;
Contact at Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Mary Hardin, 818/354-
0344.

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ITEM 2 Propulsion by Wire
Imagine driving your car and never having to stop for
gas. That's what a tether, a long, thin wire, can do for a spacecraft.
In Earth orbit, a moving tether creates an electrical current that could
be used to power space vehicles. This type of power would
be completely reusable and environmentally clean, as well as
low cost compared to vehicles that must carry their own fuel.
In August 2000, NASA will sponsor the first flight
demonstration of tether propulsion as part of the Future-X
program.

Contact at Marshall Space Flight Center: June Malone,

256/544-7061.

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ITEM 3 Springtime on Uranus
If springtime on Earth were anything like it is now on
Uranus, we would have numerous massive storm systems, each
one covering the country from Kansas to New York and
temperatures plunging to 300 degrees below zero. A dramatic
new time-lapse movie by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows
for the first time seasonal changes on the planet. No one has
ever seen this view in the modern era of astronomy because of
the long year of Uranus -- more than 84 Earth years. Uranus
is now revealed as a dynamic world with the brightest clouds
in the outer Solar System and a fragile ring system that
wobbles like an unbalanced wagon wheel.

Contact at Headquarters: Donald Savage, 202/358-1727;

Contact at Goddard Space Flight Center: Nancy Neal, 301/286-
0039;
Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute: Ray Villard,
410/338-4514.

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ITEM 4 NASA at Lakota Sioux Gathering (replay)
In a unique marriage of high-tech science and
traditional Native American teachings, NASA science educators
and the Lakota Nation welcomed the arrival of spring and
exchanged knowledge of the stars in the Black Hills of South
Dakota on March 19-21. NASA educators' purpose was to excite
the Lakota youth about NASA space science. During the event,
Lakota elders shared their traditional star teachings through
talking circles, singing and dancing, while the NASA science
educators hosted a star-watching session and hands-on,
interactive astronomy lessons.

Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Jane Platt

818/354-5011.

The NASA Video File airs at noon, 3, 6, 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
at 6.8 megahertz. The full text of the most recent NASA
Video File Advisory can be found at:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/tv-advisory/nasa-tv.txt

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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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end of daily news summary