For Release: March 29, 1996
Catherine Watson
(804) 864-6122
Release No. 96-023
NOTE TO EDITORS:
Russian Scientists Visit Hampton Roads to Plan Joint
Atmospheric Mission
NASA and Russian researchers will meet in Hampton Roads next
week to discuss plans to launch a U.S. atmospheric instrument on a
Russian weather satellite. The NASA Langley Stratospheric Aerosol
and Gas Experiment III
(SAGE III) instrument will return valuable data about
ozone in the Earth's upper atmosphere.
During the week of April 1, U.S. and Russian engineers and
scientists will meet at the Chamberlin Hotel, Hampton, to discuss
details of the SAGE III instrument/spacecraft interface. The
U.S./Russian instrument interface team will discuss how the SAGE
III instrument will communicate with the Russian meteorological
spacecraft while in Earth orbit. The SAGE III instrument is
scheduled to be launched aboard the Russian Meteor-3M spacecraft in
August 1998.
SAGE III will be the successor to the SAGE II instrument, which
has been giving researchers invaluable information about the
Earth's upper atmosphere since October 1984. The SAGE III project
is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, a global effort to
better understand our environment by using instruments in Earth
orbit to study the land, sea and air.
During their week-long visit, the Russians will also take time
to sample the culture of Hampton Roads, including a trip to Busch
Gardens on Sunday, March 31 and a NASCAR race at Langley Speedway
on Saturday, April 6.
For more information on SAGE III interface team meeting times
and locations, or the itinerary of the Russian visitors, please
contact Catherine Watson at (757) 864-6122.
- end -
text-only version of this release | 
