NASA Daily News Summary For Release: Sept. 2, 1999 Media Advisory m99-180 Summary: No News Releases Today. Video File for Sept. 2, 1999 ********** 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 ********** Video File for Sept. 2, 1999 Summary: ITEM 1 - SEAWIFS MAP OF THE WORLD (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) ITEM 2 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE HERITAGE PHOTO OF THE MONTH: A MINUET OF GALAXIES ITEM 3 - IMAGES OF THE MOON TAKEN DURING CASSINI SPACECRAFT FLY-BY (replay) LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS COMING UP THIS WEEK: September 3, Friday 6:00 - 10:00 am - Urban Heat Islands Live News Interviews - MSFC For information see: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/breaking.html NOTE: GLOBAL BIOSPHERE IMAGES TO BE RELEASED NEXT WEEK Today's first video file item is an early release of the global biosphere as seen by NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor onboard the SeaStar satellite. The complete global biosphere package is scheduled for release September 9. This is what the package will show: Seen from space the oceans color the Earth like a big blue marble. But with the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) aboard the SeaStar satellite, sea colors bloom into an artist's palate of rich scientific information. Sent into orbit two years ago, SeaWiFS is approaching its second operational anniversary and researchers continue to get back significant results from this small, inexpensive research device. By observing something as apparently simple as ocean color, scientists working with SeaWiFS data are beginning to understand the complex rhythms of life in the oceans, the pulse of the global biosphere, and human effects on the environment. ---------- Video File for Sept. 2, 1999 ITEM 1 - SEAWIFS MAP OF THE WORLD (Sea-viewing Wide TRT - :40 Field-of-view Sensor) The Global Biosphere--The Pulse of the Planet (Early Release): NASA's SeaWiFS instrument has continuously taken the pulse of the world's biosphere since the instrument came on-line two years ago. In this image, note the cyclical changes in colors across the Pacific equatorial region, the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe, and various coastal zones around the world. Dark blues indicate low concentrations of chlorophyll and, therefore, high concentrations of green plants called phytoplankton. On land, heavily vegetated areas are dark green and areas with little or no live vegetation are colored brown. The complete global biosphere package is scheduled for release September 9. Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Wade Sisler 301/286-6256. Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: David E. Steitz 202/358-1730. ITEM 2 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE HERITAGE PHOTO OF TRT - :15 THE MONTH: A MINUET OF GALAXIES As seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, this troupe of four galaxies, known as Hickson Compact Group 87 (HCG 87), is performing an intricate dance orchestrated by the mutual gravitational forces acting among them. The dance is a slow, graceful minuet, occurring over a time span of hundreds of millions of years. The image was taken by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on NASA's Hubble Space. More information is available on the Web at: http://www.stsci.edu/ Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD: Ray Villard 410/338-4514. Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage 202/358-1547. ITEM 3 - IMAGES OF THE MOON TAKEN FROM CASSINI SPACECRAFT (replay) Instruments aboard the Saturn-bound Cassini took these images of the moon during its closest fly-by of the Earth on August 17, 1999. Cassini, launched in 1997, is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and Italian Space Agency. Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Doug Isbell 202/358-1753. Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Mary Beth Murrill 818/354-6478. Images available on the Web at http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ciclops/images.html Item 3a - Wide-Angle Moving Image of Moon Taken from Cassini Spacecraft This brief movie illustrates the passage of the Moon through the field of view of the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft's camera as Cassini passed by the Moon on the way to its closest approach with Earth on August 17. 1999. The movie uses 25 wide-angle images from the violet to the infrared. The dark, circular region in the upper right is the Crisium basin. Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/University of Arizona/JPL/NASA Item 3b - Narrow-Angle Moving Image of Moon Taken from Cassini Spacecraft This brief three-frame movie of the Moon was made from three narrow-angle images from Cassini's camera system as the Saturn- bound spacecraft passed by on the way to its closest approach with Earth on August 17. 1999. The purpose of this particular set of images was to calibrate the spectral response of the narrow-angle camera and to test its image data compression techniques in flight. Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/University of Arizona/JPL/NASA Item 3c - Still Image (single frame) of the Moon Taken From Cassini Spacecraft This image of the Moon taken by the Cassini camera system is one of the best of a sequence of narrow-angle frames taken of the Moon as the Saturn-bound spacecraft passed by on the way to its closest approach with Earth on August 17. 1999. The 80 millisecond exposure shows features as small as about 1.4 miles across (about 2.3 kilometers). Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/University of Arizona/JPL/NASA Item 3d - Saturn-Bound Cassini Prepares for August 17 Fly By of Earth Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Mary Beth Murrill 818/354-5011. Item 3d-i - Cassini Trajectory Assistance TRT - :35 Launched in October 1997, Cassini flies past Venus twice, then once past Earth and Jupiter. Each planetary flyby increases Cassini's speed, allowing it to reach distant Saturn. Item 3d-ii - Animation comparing attitude of Cassini TRT - :24 flyby with Space Shuttle, Hubble, Space Station. Cassini will fly about twice as high as the orbit of the International Space Station, and higher than most of the hundreds of satellites in orbit around Earth. Item 3d-iii - Earth Fly By Animation TRT - :21 The flyby of Earth on Aug. 17, 1999 (11:28 pm EDT) will be at an altitude of about 725 miles. Item 3d-iv - Venus Animation TRT - :52 To reach Saturn, Cassini must fly a nearly 7-year course past Venus twice, and Earth and Jupiter once. Cassini's first flyby of Venus in April 1998 was perfect, coming less than 200 miles from the surface and had accelerated in its speed. The second flyby in June 1999 accelerated the spacecraft's speed even further. Item 3d-v - Jupiter FlyBy Animation TRT - :30 The Earth flyby directs Cassini on to its next planetary gravity-assist, this time at Jupiter on Dec. 30, 2000. Cassini will have an opportunity to train its instruments on the giant planet, its moons, its magnetic and radiation environment. Item 3d-vi - Animation of Cassini rocket firing over TRT - :30 Saturn's ring plane The Cassini spacecraft will reach Saturn in July 2004. Cassini's onboard rocket will fire, braking the spacecraft's speed and allowing it to be captured into orbit around Saturn. Item 3d-vii - Hyugens Animation showing Detachment of TRT - 3:19 Probe, Parachute Drop, Titan Surface The Hyugens Probe, provided by the European Space Agency, will detach from the Cassini spacecraft and parachute to the Titan surface to study its atmosphere and surface characteristics. Item 3d-viii - Cassini Launch footage TRT - :59 The Cassini mission to Saturn was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, FLA, on Oct. 15, 1997. The Cassini program is a cooperative effort of NASA, the Eurpean Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. ----- Unless otherwise noted, ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN. ANY CHANGES TO THE LINE-UP WILL APPEAR ON THE NASA VIDEO FILE ADVISORY ON THE WEB AT ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/tv-advisory/nasa-tv.txt WE UPDATE THE ADVISORY THROUGHOUT THE DAY. The NASA Video File normally airs at noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 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 on 6.8 megahertz. Refer general questions about the video file to NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Ray Castillo, 202/358-4555, or Elvia Thompson, 202/358-1696, elvia.thompson@hq.nasa.gov During Space Shuttle missions, the full NASA TV schedule will continue to be posted at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html For general information about NASA TV see: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/ ********** Contract Awards Contract awards are posted to the NASA Acquisition information Service Web site: http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html ********** The NASA Daily News Summary is issued each business day at approximately 2 p.m. Eastern time. Members of the media who wish to subscribe or unsubscribe from this list, please send e-mail message to: Brian.Dunbar@hq.nasa.gov ********** end of daily news summary