For Release: Immediately
Release No. 96-174
NASA Langley Story Opportunities - November
NASA Teams Finds Urban-Like Pollution Over Tropical South
Atlantic. A NASA research team has found high concentrations of
ozone, comparable to urban pollution levels, in a region of
traditionally clean air. This pollution in the tropical South
Atlantic has been linked to intense, seasonal biomass burning in
South America and Africa, providing convincing evidence that human
activities are extending their impact further, and in more diverse
ways. The new research findings were reported in a special issue of
the Journal of Geophysical Research Oct. 30. Interviews and photos
are available, and on the Internet at
Lidar.
Public Affairs Contact: Catherine E. Watson (757)
864-6122
"Kidsat" Program Puts Shuttle Camera In Students' Hands.
Two Hampton Roads middle schools will take part in a NASA mission
in which students using the Internet can call down photos shot by
the Space Shuttle Atlantis as it orbits Earth in a flight planned
for January 1997 (STS-81). The students will choose a subject they
want to study, such as rain forest burning or river pollution, and
analyze shuttle photos of that region as part of their research.
KidSat's primary objective is to give middle school students a
chance to observe Earth from space while conducting scientific
inquiries based on their classroom studies. The
KidSat program involves 15 schools around the country that
are near NASA field centers. Interviews, photos and a fact sheet
are available.
NASA Public Affairs Contact: Michael Finneran (757)
864-6121
York County Schools Contact: Betsy Overkamp-Smith (757)
898-0391
Newport News Schools Contact: Rosalynne Whitaker-Heck (757)
591-4507
Flight Experiment Smoothes Flow Over Supersonic Wings.
Supersonic laminar flow control has been called the "holy grail" of
aerodynamics, because it's the last frontier that can offer
significant drag reductions and save airlines and, eventually, the
flying public, a great amount of money. In a series of flight
tests, NASA engineers have achieved laminar, or smooth, flow over
the surface of an F-16XL wing flying at
supersonic speeds (faster than sound), bringing to a successful
conclusion a historic achievement in high-speed aerodynamics.
Interviews, photos, illustration and video are available.
NASA Langley Public Affairs Contact: Catherine Watson (757)
864-6122
NASA Dryden Public Affairs Contact: Fred Brown (805)
258-2663
"Hyper-X" Program Gaining Speed. NASA is poised to begin
a multi-year hypersonic flight-test program by requesting proposals
from industry for the fabrication of four unpiloted research
aircraft that will fly up to ten times the speed of sound. Hyper-X
program managers hope to demonstrate technology that could
ultimately be applied in vehicle types from hypersonic aircraft to
reusable space launchers. Hypersonic speed is defined as above Mach
5, which is equivalent to about one mile-per-second, or
approximately 3,600 miles per hour at sea level. The Hyper-X Phase I program
is a NASA Aeronautics Enterprise Program conducted jointly by the
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. and the Dryden Flight
Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Interviews and photos are
available.
NASA Langley Public Affairs Contact: Keith Henry (757)
864-6120
NASA Dryden Public Affairs Contact: Fred Brown (805)
258-2663
Mir Is Valuable Testbed For NASA Langley Researchers.
Three NASA Langley-sponsored experiments are aboard the Russian
space station Mir.
Interviews, photos, illustrations and video are available.
-> The Materials In Devices As Superconductors
(MIDAS) experiment is measuring the electrical
properties of high temperature superconductor materials during a
six-month spaceflight aboard Mir.
-> The Enhanced Dynamic Load Sensors (EDLS) measures the
forces imposed on the Mir space station by the movements of the
crew.
EDLS-Mir is being used by U.S. astronauts to hold their
positions while they do experiments at a Mir science station.
-> The Mir Environmental Effects Payload
(MEEP), made up of four separate experiments attached to
the outside of Mir, will be used to study the occurrence and
effects of both human-made and natural debris impacts on the
Russian space station. MEEP will capture micrometeoroid particles
for later study, and also is testing materials similar to those
that will be used aboard the International Space Station.
Public Affairs Contact: Catherine E. Watson (757)
864-6122
LoFlyte
Named "Best Of What's New." An experimental aircraft flight
control system that learns as it flies has been honored as one of
the best technology developments of 1996. Developed for NASA and
the U.S. Air Force, the computerized flight control system is
installed on an 8-foot-4-inch unpiloted aircraft called "LoFlyte"
being prepared for flight demonstrations this month. The "LoFlyte
hypersonic waverider aircraft" was named one of the 100 "Best of
What's New" in the annual Popular Science magazine competition
announced Nov. 12. The jet-powered aircraft was developed by
Accurate Automation Corp., Chattanooga, Tenn., under the NASA Small
Business Innovation Research program.
NASA Public Affairs Contact: Keith Henry (757) 864-6120
Accurate Automation Contact: Bob Pap (423) 894-4646
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