OFFICIAL NASA HEADQUARTERS PRESS RELEASE

Barbara Selby
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                    
           
August 8, 1994
(Phone:  202/358-1983)

RELEASE:  94-131

NASA STIMULATES USE OF SCIENCE DATA OVER THE INTERNET

     NASA today selected BDM Federal, Inc., McLean, Va., to form
a Remote Sensing Public Access Center (RSPAC) for demonstrating,
testing and transferring technology to help provide public use of
Earth and space science data over the Internet.

     The intent of the new center is to stimulate broad public
use, via the Internet, of the very large remote sensing databases
-- maintained by NASA and other agencies -- to stimulate U.S.
economic growth, improve the quality of life and contribute to
the implementation of a National Information Infrastructure.

     "We are looking forward to working with BDM to assist the
public in accessing and using NASA data," said Lee B. Holcomb,
NASA's Director for High Performance Computing and
Communications.  "We envision that this center will play a key
role in developing universal access to the products of NASA's 
Earth and space science research."

     BDM will receive $12.8 million under a cooperative agreement
to establish the RSPAC, which will demonstrate, test and
facilitate remote sensing database applications and new digital
library technologies.  BDM will be supported by West Virginia
University Research Corp., Morgantown, and Jardon and Howard
Technologies in Winter Park, Fla.  The West Virginia University/
NASA Independent Verification and Validation Facility in
Fairmont, W.Va., will be the central site for RSPAC activities.

     The center will extend access to remote sensing data beyond
the usual scientific community.  By providing Internet access and
user help, remote sensing data now will be available to the
educational community (from K-12 to the university level),
television and print media, libraries and hobbyists.  
Because the data will be available over the Internet,
non-traditional users will have much greater ease of access than
in the past.


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