Daily News Friday, September 25, 1992 24-hour audio service at 202/755-1788 % Administrator Goldin outlines contracting goals to Congressional Black Caucus; % Replay of Goldin's remarks to Black Caucus to air on NASA Select about 3:00 pm; % Mars Observer set for launch at 12:27 pm EDT, post-launch briefing at 2:30 pm. NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin this morning addressed members of the Congressional Black Caucus and told them NASA has established new minority contract goals and is forming a NASA Minority Business Resource Advisory Committee. Goldin said that by the end of fiscal year 1994 NASA would offer one billion dollars worth of prime and subcontracting opportunities to minority and woman- owned businesses. Goldin said that NASA would establish firm percentages of prime contracts that will go to small and disadvantaged businesses and that the agency would make use of these smaller firms as an evaluation factor in every contract source evaluation. NASA will also reward prime contractors with special award fees when they exceed their subcontracting goals by certain percentages. A videotape replay of Goldin's remarks to the Black Caucus members will show on NASA Select television today following the 2:30 pm EDT Mars Observer post-launch briefing. Goldin leaves this afternoon for Indianapolis where he will address a meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Mars Observer will be launched today at 12:27 pm EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40. The 5,672-pound spacecraft will be the first American craft to head for Mars since the Viking 1 and 2 missions of 1975. There were two Soviet Union missions to Mars in 1988 P Phobos 1 and 2. Phobos 1 was lost soon after launch because of ground control transmission errors. Phobos 2 was successfully inserted into Mars orbit but experienced a communications or command failure three months later and was subsequently lost. The Mars Observer will be boosted on its 11-month journey to Mars by the Titan 3 launcher P a 20-year American veteran space vehicle P and by Orbital Sciences Corp.'s new Transfer Orbital Stage upper stage booster, which will be getting its first use on this launch. The launch will be covered live on NASA Select television. Assuming an ontime launch and nominal staging events, the Mars Observer will separate from its upper stage at 1:20 pm EDT and deploy four of its six solar panels four minutes later. At that time the Mars Observer will be traveling at 25,700 miles per hour with respect to the Earth and will be on its way to Mars, continuing NASA's nearly three-decade-long exploration of the Red Planet. When Mars Observer arrives at Mars, in August 1993, it will be placed into an elliptical orbit over the Martian poles. The science investigations will occur during the succeeding 687-day period of the Martian year P the first mapping cycle. The spacecraft has seven science instruments and an international team of nearly a hundred investigators. The spacecraft will give scientists a vast amount of geological and atmospheric information. David Evans, Jet Propulsion Laboratory project manager, said that Mars Observer will tell us far more about Mars than we've learned from all previous missions. Science team members will be able to access all science instrument data produced by Mars Observer without leaving their home institutions. JPL will maintain a complete science database at the laboratory, which can then be remotely accessed through computers at the investigators' own universities. The mission is expected to produce about 120 million data words a day once the mapping mission begins in Martian orbit. The 687-day-long primary mission is expected to produce a Martian database of nearly 90 billion data words. Since the Soviets first attempted to launch a Sputnik to Mars in October 1962, there have been a total of 22 attempts to launch Soviet or US spacecraft to the planet. The first successful mission was the U.S. Mariner 4 Mars flyby in July 1965 which confirmed the existence of Martian craters. Of the 22 spacecraft, 13 were Soviet, 7 of which were successful to some degree. Of the 9 US missions, 7 have been completely successful, the most recent being the Viking 1 and 2 orbiters and landers. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The House of Representatives is expected to receive NASA's appropriations bill this afternoon. A House vote could occur today, after which the bill will be sent to the Senate - which could also vote on the bill today. Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV. Note that all events and times may change without notice, and that all times listed are Eastern. Live indicates a program is transmitted live., Friday, September 25, 1992 Live 11:00 am Coverage of Mars Observer launch processing begins. Live 12:27 pm Scheduled launch of Mars Observer aboard a Titan III launcher from Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Live 2:30 pm (approx.) Post-launch press conference for Mars Observer. 3:00 pm (approx.) Replay of Administrator Daniel Goldin's remarks to members of the Congressional Black Caucus (taped 9/25/92). This report is filed daily at noon, Monday through Friday. It is a service of NASA's Office of Public Affairs. The editor is Charles Redmond, 202/453-8425 or CREDMOND on NASAmail. NASA Select TV is carried on GE Satcom F2R, transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees West Longitude, transponder frequency is 3960 MegaHertz, audio subcarrier is 6.8 MHz, polarization is vertical.