Beth Schmid

Headquarters, Washington, DC April 1, 1997

(Phone: 202/358-1760)

Donna Drelick
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone: 301/286-7995)

Sally Harrington
Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH
(Phone: 216/433-2037)

John Watson
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-0474)

RELEASE: 97-61

NASA TECHNOLOGY TO BE INDUCTED INTO

THE SPACE TECHNOLOGY HALL OF FAME

The U.S. Space Foundation, Colorado Springs, CO,

has selected two NASA technologies to be inducted into
its Space Technology Hall of Fame in a ceremony to
take place there on April 3 as part of the
Foundation's 1997 National Space Symposium.

NASA's Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH,

along with NASA Headquarters and a number of
contractors, conceived and produced the Advanced
Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS), which is
being recognized for its contributions in both space
technology and spinoff developments. Lewis has
implemented a partnership program with industry,
government and academia, in which ACTS technologies
have demonstrated numerous applications in
telemedicine and long-distance education, and in
commercial fields such as the banking and petroleum
industries.

In addition, ACTS' onboard switching and other

technologies have been incorporated into the systems
of several major telecommunications firms. The Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, is a significant
partner in ACTS, having responsibility for pioneering
its mobile uses and for studying and publishing the
propagation effects at Ka band (30GHz/20GHz)
frequencies.

The Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD,

and a contractor, Scientific Imaging Technologies,
Inc., developed new charge coupled devices (silicon
chips that convert light directly into electronic or
digital images) for the stringent requirements of the
Hubble Space Telescope. It was determined that this
technology also would be ideal for breast cancer
detection because of the common requirements between
space and medical imaging: high resolution to see
fine details, wide dynamic range, and low light
sensitivity to shorten exposure time.

Commercialization of this NASA technology

resulted in the development of the StereoGuide Breast
Biopsy System, manufactured by the LORAD subsidiary of
Trex Medical Corp. Radiologists using this system
predict it will reduce national health care costs by
approximately one billion dollars annually. It is a
minimally invasive procedure that exposes the patient
to about half the radiation of conventional X-rays.
It saves women time, reduces pain, and eliminates
scarring.

NASA's Lewis Research Center and Goddard Space

Flight Center, NASA Headquarters and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory and many of their employees are
being recognized by the Space Technology Hall of Fame
for their part in these two winning technologies.

-end-