For release: 08/21/03
Release #: 03-173

Next space research update unveils new glass developed with help of facility at NASA's Marshall Center, Huntsville, Ala.

Media are invited to learn about a new glass with medical, military and communications applications at a Space Research Update on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. NASA Television will carry the briefing live at 12 noon CDT, and reporters can ask questions from the Marshall Center. A company created the glass with the help of a unique Marshall Center facility — the Electrostatic Levitator — where researchers process materials without using contaminating containers.

A new glass with medical, military and communications applications was developed with the aid of a NASA research grant. Applications and new product development is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation. The glass may soon find its way into your home and doctor's office.

To invent the new glass, researchers conducted experiments in the Electrostatic Levitator at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and worked closely with Marshall materials scientist, Dr. Jan Rogers.

Learn how this new family of glasses was invented and its many applications, including use as a power laser for cutting metal and as a medical laser for surgery, at a Space Research Update, Tuesday, Oct. 7 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA Television will carry the briefing live at 12 p.m. CDT, and reporters can ask questions from the Marshall Center.

Update participants:
— Dr. Richard (Rick) Weber, director of the Glass Products Division, Containerless Research Inc., the small company in Evanston, Ill., that invented and produces the glass
— Dr. Michael Wargo, enterprise scientist for materials science, NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research, Washington
— Dr. Winslow Sargeant, program manager, National Science Foundation Small Business Innovative Research Program
— Dr. Jacob Khurgin, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

NASA TV is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz.

News media interested in viewing the briefing at the Marshall Center should contact the Marshall Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034 no later than Friday, Oct. 3. Media must report to Gate 9, Rideout Road, Redstone Arsenal exit at I-565. Vehicles are subject to security search at the gate. News media will need two photo identifications and proof of car insurance. Visitor parking is available in front of Bldg. 4200 on the southwest side.

For supporting materials for this news release — such as photographs, fact sheets, video and audio files and more — please visit the NASA Marshall Center Newsroom Web site at http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news

The briefing will be webcast live via links at:

http://www.nasa.gov

For more information:
News release
Photos