NASA Daily News Summary For Release: Nov. 10, 1999 Media Advisory m99-234 SUMMARY: MARS CLIMATE ORBITER FAILURE BOARD RELEASES REPORT, NUMEROUS NASA ACTIONS UNDERWAY IN RESPONSE Video File for Nov. 10, 1999 ITEM 1 - PRECISION FARMING ITEM 2 - MARS CLIMATE ORBITER ANIMATION - HQ (replay) ITEM 3 - STS-103 - THIRD HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SERVICING MISSION (replay) ITEM 4 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGE OF THE TRIFID (replay) ITEM 5 - HAWAIIAN-STYLE VOLCANIC FEATURES ON JOVIAN MOON, IO (replay) LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS THIS WEEK: NOVEMBER 10, WEDNESDAY 6:00 - 10:00 am - Precision Farming Live News Interviews - MSFC 2:00 - 3:00 pm - Mars Climate Orbiter Failure Investigation Board Briefing - HQ ***************************** MARS CLIMATE ORBITER FAILURE BOARD RELEASES REPORT, NUMEROUS NASA ACTIONS UNDERWAY IN RESPONSE Wide-ranging managerial and technical actions are underway at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, in response to the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter and the initial findings of the mission failure investigation board, whose first report was released today. Focused on the upcoming landing of NASA's Mars Polar Lander, these actions include: a newly assigned senior management leader, freshly reviewed and augmented work plans, detailed fault tree analyses for pending mission events, daily telecons to evaluate technical progress and plan work yet to be done, increased availability of the Deep Space Network for communications with the spacecraft, and independent peer review of all operational and contingency procedures. The board recognizes that mistakes occur on spacecraft projects, the report said. However, sufficient processes are usually in place on projects to catch these mistakes before they become critical to mission success. Unfortunately for MCO, the root cause was not caught by the processes in place in the MCO project. Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Doug Isbell/Don Savage (Phone 202/358-1547). The Board's report is available on-line at: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/1999/MCO_report.pdf Charts used in the briefing today are available on-line at: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/1999/MCO_charts.pdf For full text, see: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1999/99-134.txt ----------------------------- 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 Nov. 10, 1999 ITEM 1 - PRECISION FARMING Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: David E. Steitz (Phone 202/358-1730). Contact at Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL: Steve Roy (Phone 205/544-0034). ITEM 1a - NASA HELPS NEW APPROACH TO FARMING---------------TRT :18 NASAšs remote sensing technology may help farmers improve crop management and improve their harvest. The end result could cut costs and improve productivity. ITEM 1b- B-ROLL-------------------------------------------TRT 3:23 Footage shows a NASA airplane taking off and landing. It shows precision farming technology at use in the field. A farmer shows us the databox in his tractor. We also see soybeans transferred from the combine into a truck and a close-up of a soybean. Other footage includes the farmeršs office showing his farming software. ITEM 1c - INTERVIEW EXCERPTS------------------------------TRT 1:18 Doug Rickman, Lead Researcher, Global Hydrology and Climate Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL Item 1d - Interview excerpts-------------------------------TRT :58 Don Glenn, Farmer, Glenn Acres Farm, Decatur, AL ITEM 2 - MARS CLIMATE ORBITER ANIMATION (replay)----------TRT 3:23 Animation shows launch, rocket separation, establishment of orbit, and mapping of mars. Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Diane Ainsworth (Phone 818/354-5011). Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Doug Isbell (Phone 202/358-1753). ITEM 3 - STS-103 - THIRD HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SERVICING MISSION (replay) NASA officials decided to move up part of the servicing mission that had been scheduled for June 2000 after three of the telescope's six gyroscopes failed. Having fewer than three working gyroscopes would preclude science observations, although the telescope would remain safely in orbit until a servicing crew arrived. In addition to replacing all six gyroscopes on the November flight, the crew will replace a guidance sensor and the spacecraft's computer. The new computer will reduce the burden of flight software maintenance and significantly lower costs. A voltage/temperature kit will be installed to protect spacecraft batteries from overcharging and overheating when the spacecraft goes into safe mode. A new transmitter will replace a failed spare currently aboard the spacecraft, and a spare missions will replace telescope insulation that has degraded. The insulation is necessary to control the internal temperature on spacecraft. Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Nancy Neal (Phone 301/286-0039). Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage (Phone 202/358-1547). ITEM 3a - HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FIRST TWO HUBBLE SPACE--------TRT 2:07 TELESCOPE SERVICING MISSIONS, STS-61 AND STS-82 HST First Servicing Mission Highlights - In June, 1990 scientists and engineers discovered that the HST's primary mirror was flawed. Images of starlight were spread out in a fuzzy halo rather than being focused into a sharp point. This defect was caused by a manufacturing error in the polishing of the primary mirror which rendered it too flat. The HST was designed to allow new instruments to be easily installed as old ones become obsolete. This was demonstrated during the first servicing mission in December 1993, when, during an 11-day mission that included a record five EVAs, astronauts successfully installed a new camera called the Wide Field/Planetary Camera II (WF/PC-II) which had its corrective optics built right in, and a special instrument, called the COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement) that would properly refocus light from the flawed main mirror to the other instruments. HST Second Servicing Mission Highlights - Every few years, the telescope is visited by a Space Shuttle to allow astronauts to switch old instruments for new. During HST's second servicing mission, in February 1997, the seven-member crew conducted spacewalks to remove two older instruments and install two new astronomy instruments, as well as other servicing tasks. The two older instruments that were replaced were the Goddard High Resolution Spectrometer and the Faint Object Spectrograph. Replacing these instruments were the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). ITEM 3b - ANIMATION OF STS-103, THIRD HST SERVICING-------TRT 8:48 MISISON Sequences show how description of spacecraft components, arrival and departure of Space Shuttle, and how astronauts will accomplish servicing work during several EVAs (extravehicular activity). ITEM 3c - GYROSCOPE ANIMATION-----------------------------TRT 1:01 Astronauts will replace all six of the Telescope's gyroscopes during STS-103. Currently three of Hubble's six gyros are not working, leaving only the minimum number needed to continue its mission. The gyroscopes are needed for pointing the telescope. The pointing system is comprised of reaction wheels that actually move the telescope, gyros that report its position, star trackers that provide reference points, and the onboard computer that controls the pointing process. Based on nearly one and a half years of intensive chemical, mechanical and electrical investigations, the HST team believes that the thin wires are being corroded by the fluid in which they are immersed and ultimately this corrosion causes them to break. ITEM 3d - THERMAL BLANKET LAYER ANIMATION------------------TRT :33 During the mission astronauts will cover Hubble's electronic bay doors with seven permanent coated-stainless steel foil sheets called the New Outer Blanket Layer (NOBL). The crew will also carry seven rolls of special fabric, called the Shell/Shield Replacement Fabric (SSRF) which will be installed on Hubble's forward shell and light shield if time is available. The NOBL covers and SSRF pieces are designed to protect Hubble's external blankets and prevent its insulation from further degradation. Animation shows how these "thermal blankets" are replaced. Blankets are attached with "bottle-stopper" fasteners and then are unrolled like "wallpaper". This multi-layer insulation protects the Telescope from the severe and rapid temperature changes as it moves through its 90-minute orbit from very hot sun to very cold night. ITEM 3e - TECHNICIANS "QUILT" SSRF B-ROLL------------------TRT :56 B-roll of technicians at the Goddard Space Flight Center "quilting" the Shell/Shield Replacement Fabric (SSRF). The fabric pieces are stored in rolls for their trip to orbit. The fabric is composed of flexible, aluminized Teflon with rip-stop material bonded to the back side. Seven pieces up to 22 feet (7 meters) long will cover 80 percent of the sun-side light shield and forward shell. This special fabric was designed and tested to ensure that it can withstand exposure to charged particles, X- rays, ultraviolet radiation, and thermal cycling for at least ten years. ITEM 3f - STS-103 CLEANROOM B-ROLL------------------------TRT 2:12 Astronauts training for the Hubble Space Telescope Third Servicing Mission in the cleanroom at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Footage includes astronauts working with gyroscopes and applying thermal blankets to a full-sized mock-up of the Hubble Space Telescope. The seven-member crew will rendezvous with the Telescope, capture it with the Space Shuttle Discovery's robotic arm and dock it in the Shuttle bay. Working in teams of two, four astronauts will outfit the Hubble with new equipment, including six gyroscopes, a Fine Guidance Sensor, Solid State Recorder, new Main Computer, New Outer Blanket Layers (NOBL), and a transmitter. The astronauts will take more than 150 crew aids and tools on this service call. ITEM 3g - ACTIVITY IN STOCC---------------------------------TRT:26 Activity in Space Telescope Operations Control Center (STOCC) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, during the mission. Working 24 hours a day, ground controllers command and control the Hubble Space Telescope. Commands are sent to the Telescope to direct the observation of astronomical targets all across the sky. Hubble operators monitor the Telescope's health and safety while they control flight operations and science activities. ITEM 3h - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ANIMATION------------------TRT:22 (5 glamour shot sequences) ITEM 3i - THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM (animation)----------TRT:15 Animations of the electromagnetic spectrum, the communication path, and the Hubble Telescope. ITEM 3j - HUBBLE TRACKING/SATELLITE RELAY ANIMATIONS Cut 1: Animation of HST Communication----------------------TRT 17 Communications through the Tracking & Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), White Sands, NM, and DOMSAT, to the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Cut 2: TDRSS Animation-------------------------------------TRT:22 Animation of the Tracking & Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Communications Satellite depicting the data flow from TDRSS to Earth, equivalent to a set of encyclopedias every second. ITEM 3k - INTERVIEW EXCERPTS------------------------------TRT 2:02 Dr. David Leckrone, Sr. Project Sicentst Hubble Space Telescope ITEM 3l - INTERVIEW EXCERPTS------------------------------TRT 3:38 Dr. John Campbell, Associate Director, Hubble Space Telescope ITEM 4 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGE-(replay)-------------TRT :23 OF STAR FORMATION IN THE TRIFID NEBULA This NASA Hubble Telescope image of the Trifid Nebula reveals a stellar nursery being torn apart by radiation from a nearby, massive star. It also provides a peek at embryonic stars forming within an ill-fated cloud of dust and gas. Sequence opens on ground-based image of the Trifid Nebula and then zooms in to the remarkable images captured by Hubble.. Images and other information available at http://hubble.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Credits: NASA and Jeff Hester (Arizona State University), Paul Scowen (Arizona State University), Karl Stapelfeldt (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), John Krist (STScI) and the HST WFPC2 Investigation Definition Team Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage (Phone 202/358-1547). Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD: Ray Villard (Phone 410/338-4707). ITEM 5 - HAWAIIAN-STYLE VOLCANIC FEATURES ON JOVIAN MOON, IO (replay) For digital images and more information see: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/ Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Jane Platt (Phone 818/354-0880). Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Doug Isbell (Phone 202/358-1753) ITEM 5a - TWO HOT SPOTS AND A CALDERA TRT :39 New images of the Prometheus volcano on Jupiter's moon, Io, reveal two hot spots and a volcanic caldera, or crater, seven times larger than Hawaii's Kilauea caldera. Scientists previously believed Prometheus was a single lava flow, but the caldera discovery makes them rethink the volcano's history. The visible light and infrared images were taken during a close flyby of Io on October 10 by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. ITEM 5b - ACTIVE VOLCANO TRT :10 The active volcano Prometheus on Jupiter's moon Io was imaged by the near-infrared mapping spectrometer instrument onboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft during the close flyby of Io on Oct. 10, 1999. The images were taken at a distance of about 9,400 miles (15,000 km). ---------- 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