David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington, DC                November 3, 2000
(Phone:  202/358-1730)

Lynn Chandler (EO-1 spacecraft)
Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD
(Phone:  301/614-5562)

Nancy Neal
Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD
(Phone:  301/286-0039)

RELEASE NO: 00-174

UNIQUE SATELLITE DUO ON TARGET FOR NOV. 18  LAUNCH

     NASA is set to embark on a mission that could change the way 
we look at satellite technology, as well as change the way we look 
at the Earth. Launch for this important satellite duo is scheduled 
Nov. 18 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. 

The Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) satellite and SAC-C, an international 
cooperative mission between NASA and the Argentine Commission on 
Space Activities (CONAE) are scheduled to soar into orbit at 1:24 
p.m. EST.

In 1996, NASA started the New Millennium Program (NMP), designed 
to identify, develop and flight validate key instrument and 
spacecraft technologies that can enable new or more cost-effective 
approaches to conducting science missions in the 21st century. The 
first of three New Millennium Program Earth-orbiting missions is 
EO-1, an advanced land-imaging mission that will demonstrate new 
instruments and spacecraft systems. 

EO-1's primary focus is to develop and test a set of advanced 
technology land imaging instruments. However, many other key 
instruments and technologies that will have wide ranging 
applications for future satellite development are also part of the 
mission.

Future NASA spacecraft are expected to be smaller, lighter and 
less expensive than current versions, and the EO-1 mission will 
provide the on-orbit demonstration and validation of several 
subsystem technologies to enable this transition. 

EO-1 will be inserted into an orbit flying in formation with the 
Landsat 7 satellite taking a series of the same images. Comparison 
of these "paired scene" images will be used to evaluate EO-1's 
land imaging instruments.

Swales Aerospace, Beltsville, MD built the EO-1 spacecraft bus 
under a NASA contract. Litton Amecom, College Park, Md. is the key 
avionics subcontractor. The three primary instruments on the EO-1 
observatory are the Advanced Land Imager, the Hyperion and the 
Linear Imaging Spectrometer Array (LEISA) Atmospheric Corrector 
(AC).

Joining EO-1 aboard the Delta rocket is the SAC-C spacecraft, an 
international mission to study the structure and dynamics of the 
Earth's atmosphere, ionosphere and geomagnetic field. SAC-C also 
will seek to measure the space radiation in the environment and 
its influence on advanced electronic components and determine the 
migration route of the Franca whale. Another objective of the 
payload is to verify autonomous methods of attitude and orbit 
determination.

The SAC-C mission is a collaboration between the United States, 
Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, France and Italy.

SAC-C has an instrument payload of 11 different instruments. Eight 
of those instruments are dedicated to better understanding the 
Earth's environment and ecology. SAC-C will carry three GPS 
instruments to test new technology in spacecraft development and 
environmental monitoring.

The Commission on Space Activities (CONAE) is responsible for 
development of the spacecraft and several instruments. The 
Brazilian Space Agency provided the testing facilities for SAC-C. 
The Italian Space Agency has partnered with CONAE to supply both 
solar panels and two GPS receivers. The Danish Space Research 
Institute provided the Magnetic Mapping Payload which carries a 
NASA Supplied Helium Magnetometer, and the French Space Agency is 
contributing an experiment to test the response of electronic 
circuitry to space radiation. 

The launch vehicle and some science instruments aboard SAC-C are 
provided by NASA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, 
MD, is responsible for overall project management, on behalf of 
NASA's Earth Sciences Enterprise, Washington, DC. The Earth 
Science Enterprise is a long-term research program dedicated to 
understanding how human-induced and natural changes affect our 
global environment.

To learn more about EO-1 on the Internet, visit:

      http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/earth/eo1/eo.html

To learn more about SAC-C on the Internet, visit:

               http://www.conae.gov.ar/sac-c

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