NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: Sept. 3, 1999

Media Advisory m99-181

Summary:

NEW NASA OCEAN RADAR WATCHES FOR BREAKUP OF GIANT

ICEBERG

Video File for Sept. 3, 1999

Summary:

ITEM 1 - NASA'S ICEBERG WATCH

ITEM 2 - FOUR DAYS OF TROPICAL STORM DENNIS

ITEM 3 - AIRBORNE IMAGES OF FIRE IN CALIFORNIA'S SAN

BERNARDINO
COUNTY

ITEM 4 - SEAWIFS MAP OF THE WORLD (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view

Sensor) PULSE OF THE PLANET (replay)

ITEM 5 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE HERITAGE PHOTO OF THE MONTH:

A MINUET OF GALAXIES (replay)

ITEM 6 - IMAGES OF THE MOON TAKEN DURING CASSINI SPACECRAFT

FLY-BY
(replay)

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.

**********

NEW NASA OCEAN RADAR WATCHES FOR BREAKUP OF GIANT

ICEBERG

A NASA satellite instrument is keeping an eye on an iceberg

the size of Rhode Island, the first time this space technology has
been used to track a potential threat to international shipping.
NASA's new orbiting SeaWinds radar instrument, flying aboard
the QuikScat satellite, will monitor Iceberg B10A, which snapped
off Antarctica seven years ago and has since drifted into a
shipping lane. Iceberg B10A, which measures about 24 miles by 48
miles, was spotted by the instrument during its first pass over
Antarctica, demonstrating SeaWinds' all-weather and day-night
observational capabilities. The massive iceberg extends about 300
feet above water and may reach as deep as 1,000 feet below the
ocean's surface. It is breaking up into smaller pieces that could
pose a threat to commercial, cruise and fishing ships if the
pieces are blown back into the shipping lane by high winds.

Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Diane

Ainsworth 818/354-5011.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: David E. Steitz

202/358-1730.

For full text, see:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1999/99-102.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 Sept. 3, 1999

ITEM 1 - NASA'S ICEBERG WATCH TRT - :51

For the first time, an iceberg the size of Rhode Island that
snapped off Antarctica and drifted into a shipping lane will be
monitored from space as it begins to break up. Monitoring is
being done using NASA¹s new orbiting SeaWinds radar instrument
aboard the QuikScat satellite. Includes file footage of icebergs
and interview with Dr. David Long, SeaWinds, Sr. Investigator,
Brigham Young University.

Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Diane

Ainsworth 818/354-5011.
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: David E. Steitz
202/358-1730.

ITEM 2 - FOUR DAYS OF TROPICAL STORM DENNIS

Satellite images of Tropical Storm Dennis from Monday, August 30,

1999 to Thursday, September 2, 1999. These images were taken by
the NOAA/National Weather Services Geostationary Operational
Environmental Satellite (GOES)-8.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Gary Caruso

202/358-1705.
Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD:
Deanna Corridon 301/286-0041.

ITEM 3 - AIRBORNE IMAGES OF FIRE IN CALIFORNIA'S SAN

BERNARDINO
COUNTY

Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Diane

Ainsworth 818/354-5011.
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: David E. Steitz
202/358-1730.
For additional information see:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/earth/aviris.html

Item 3a - Six frames of Willow fire, starting with TRT - :15

color photo

A color image of the Willow fire in California's San Bernardino

County shows the blaze as it was seen from aircraft on Sept. 1,
1999. Moving right, a set of five infrared images of the fire,
taken by NASA's Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer,
reveals progressively clearer images of the fire itself, without
smoke and atmospheric haze. At wavelengths not visible to the
human eye, NASA's airborne infrared camera can track and closely
monitor fires threatening wilderness areas and communities.

Item 3b - Cube of Willow fire TRT - :15

All 224 spectral images of NASA's Airborne Visible/Infrared

Imaging Spectrometer are represented in this color cube of the
blaze, which had consumed more than 62,000 acres of wilderness in
California's San Bernardino County on Sept. 3. Red depicts
healthy vegetation and black is burned vegetation. Spectroscopic
or color analysis enables scientists to determine temperature
variations, vegetation type and biomass, and the water content of
leaves in the vegetation.

ITEM 4 - SEAWIFS MAP OF THE WORLD (Sea-viewing Wide TRT - :47

Field-of-view Sensor) PULSE OF THE PLANET
(replay)

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 5 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE HERITAGE PHOTO OF THE TRT -

:15
MONTH: A MINUET OF GALAXIES (replay)

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 6 - IMAGES OF THE MOON TAKEN DURING CASSINI SPACECRAFT

FLY-BY
(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 6a - Wide-Angle Moving Image of Moon Taken from TRT - :08
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 6b - Narrow-Angle Moving Image of Moon Taken from TRT :12

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 6c - Still Image (single frame) of the Moon Taken TRT :15
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 6d - Saturn-Bound Cassini Prepares for August 17

Fly By of Earth - Trajectory Annimation

Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Mary

Beth Murrill 818/354-5011.
Item 6d-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 6d-ii - Animation comparing attitude of Cassini TRT - :24

flyby with Space Shuttle, International Space
Station, Hubble Space Telescope.

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 6d-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 6d-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 6d-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 6d-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 6d-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 6d-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.

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p.m. and midnight Eastern Time. NASA Television is available on
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Refer general questions about the video file to NASA

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end of daily news summary