NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: Mar. 22, 2000

Media Advisory m00-56

SUMMARY

NEWS RELEASES:

NASA'S RESPONSE TO UPI'S MARCH 21 MARS POLAR LANDER STORY

NEW CLASS OF GAMMA RAY OBJECTS DISCOVERED IN MILKY WAY

VIDEO:

VIDEO FILE:

ITEM 1- GAMMA RAY OBSERVATORY -GSFC

ITEM 2- STUDENTS TEST ISS COMPUTER SYSTEM -MSFC

LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS THIS WEEK

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LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS THIS WEEK

March 22, Wednesday

- 1:00 pm - Gamma Ray Space Science Update - HQ

March 23, Thursday

- 6:00 - 10:00 am - Students Help NASA Test International Space
Station Science Communications Live News Interviews - MSFC
- 10:00 am - Noon - IMAGE Validation Testing - Vandenberg Air
Force Base, CA
- 1:00 - 4:00 pm - NASA Management Hearing before the Senate
Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space; Commerce, Science
and Transportation Committee (recorded 3/22/00) - HQ
- 4:00 - 6:00 pm - Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications
FY 2001 Budget Hearing before the House Subcommittee on Space
and Aeronautics; Committee on Science - HQ
March 24, Friday
- 6:00 - 10:00 am - Students Help NASA Test International Space
Station Science Communications Live News Interviews - MSFC
- 1:00 pm - Gamma Ray Observatory Press Conference - HQ
- 2:00 pm - IMAGE L-1 Prelaunch Press Conference - Vandenberg Air
Force Base, CA

March 25, Saturday

- 2:00 pm - Live Coverage and Commentary of the IMAGE Launch -
Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
- 3:35 pm - IMAGE Launch - Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA

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NEWS RELEASES:

NASA'S RESPONSE TO UPI'S MARCH 21 MARS POLAR LANDER STORY

James Oberg of UPI claims that NASA knew there was a problem
with the Mars Polar Lander propulsion system prior to the Dec. 3
landing attempt and "withheld this conclusion from the public."
NASA categorically denies this charge. Propulsion system issues
were addressed in the Nov. 10, 1999 press conference that released
the Mars Climate Orbiter Mishap Investigation Board's Phase 1
report (known as the Stephenson report). Independent Mars Program
review teams looking into this issue have conducted intensive
reviews related to Mars Polar Lander, and their teams have
surfaced no evidence relating to thruster acceptance testing
irregularities as alleged by UPI. In fact, members of the review
teams are using words like "bunk," "complete nonsense," and
"wacko" to describe their reactions to UPI's charge.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Peggy Wilhide

(Phone 202/358-1898).
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Brian Welch (Phone
202/358-1600).
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage
(Phone 202/358-1547).

For full text, see:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-043.txt

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NEW CLASS OF GAMMA RAY OBJECTS DISCOVERED IN MILKY WAY

The exotic world of gamma-ray astronomy has taken yet another

surprising turn with the revelation that half the previously
unidentified high-energy gamma ray sources in our own galaxy, the
Milky Way, actually comprise a new class of mysterious objects.
The discovery of this new class and speculation regarding its
qualities appear in the March 22 issue of Nature.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Dolores Beasley

(Phone 202/358-1753).
Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Nancy
Neal (Phone 301/286-0039).

For full text, see:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-042.txt

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If NASA issues any news releases later today, we will e-

mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 2000 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/2000/index.html

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html

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VIDEO:

Unless otherwise noted, ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN.

ANY CHANGES TO THE VIDEO 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 Fred Brown,
202/358-0713, fred.brown@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/

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Contract Awards

Contract awards are posted to the NASA Acquisition information

Service Web site: http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html

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Brian.Dunbar@hq.nasa.gov

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end of daily news summary