NASA Daily News Summary For Release: May 4, 1999 Media Advisory m99-089 Summary: -- NASA Working to Improve Crime-Scene Technologies -- Video File for May 4, 1999 ***** NASA WORKING TO IMPROVE CRIME-SCENE TECHNOLOGIES Watch out, America's most wanted. NASA scientists are developing promising new software technologies and instruments to help law enforcement agencies catch criminals by improving the analysis of crime-scene evidence. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, has demonstrated software that enhances and improves dark, blurry videotape -- technology used by law enforcement to study video of the bombing at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. And NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, is working with the National Institute of Justice to develop remote crime-scene analysis. Contact at NASA Headquarters: Michael Braukus, 202/358-1979; Contact at NASA Marshall: Ed Medal, 256/544-0034; Contact at NASA Goddard: Lynn Jenner, 301/286-0045; Contact at Department of Justice: Doug Johnson, 202/307-0703. Full text of the release: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1999/99-054.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 May 4, 1999 ITEM 1 STS-96 B-ROLL (TRT 15:09) ITEM 2 STARSHINE: STS-96 STUDENT PROJECT ITEM 3 NASA FIGHTS CRIME ITEM 4 TELEMEDICINE: IMPROVING HEALTH FROM A DISTANCE (REPLAY) (TRT 7:52) ITEM 5 NASA STUDENT INVOLVEMENT PROGRAM WINNERS (REPLAY) Item 1 STS-96 B-Roll STS-96, a 10-day flight, will take four men, three women and more than 5,000 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station. While docked with the station, the astronauts will conduct a spacewalk to attach a crane to the station for future assembly missions. The crew also will install equipment needed before the arrival of the crew living quarters, to be launched by Russia later this year. Footage includes International Space Station animation, STS-96 crew training and EVA preparation, STS-96 mission animation and Starshine animation. Contact at NASA Headquarters: Dwayne Brown, 202/358-1726; Contact at NASA Johnson: Eileen Hawley, 281/483-5111. ***** Item 2 Starshine: STS-96 Student Project Item 2A Starshine Animation Starshine is an international, educational satellite that will be launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery during upcoming STS-96 mission. This twinkling spacecraft will be visible to the naked eye during morning and evening twilight periods, giving students around the world an opportunity to make measurements and perform experiments by tracking the satellite. Item 2B A World Class Project: Student B-roll Students have voluntarily machined, sanded, polished and inspected 878 tiny aluminum mirrors that comprise the surface of Starshine. B-roll shows careful processing of the pieces by students from Edgar Allen Poe Middle School. Item 2C Entering the Clean Room at Goddard Students from St. Michael the Arc Angel School in Baltimore, MD don "bunny suits" and enter the clean room at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where Starshine is prepared for shipment. B-roll includes a view of the Starshine spacecraft spinning. Item 2D Integration of Starshine Starshine is placed into its canister before being shipped to Kennedy Space Center, FL. Close inspection reveals the ejection system that will send Starshine into space. Item 2E Interview: Gil Moore, Director of Project Starshine, NASA Goddard Item 2F Interview: Patrick Kilroy, Implementation and Test Manager for Project Starshine, NASA Goddard Contact at NASA Goddard: Nancy Neal, 301/286-0039. ***** Item 3 NASA Fights Crime NASA scientists at the Marshall and Goddard Space Flight Centers are providing new software technology and instruments that may help law enforcement agencies catch criminals by improving the quality of crime scene evidence. Item 3A Crime Scene Investigation B-roll B-roll from the Forensic Investigation Center Crime Laboratory in Albany, NY. Video courtesy NASA and New York State Police Item 3B Interview: Dr. Jacob Trombkam, Astrophysicist Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics, NASA Goddard Item 3C Interview: Dr. Timothy McClanahan, Mathematician Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics, NASA Goddard Item 3D Lab B-roll Dr. Sam Floyd, Applied physicist in the Lab for Extraterrestrial Physics, explains the steps for identifying gunpowder and primer residue at a crime scene test site. A study will use portable x-ray fluorescence analysis and fluoroscopy systems to aid scientists in remote detection. Contact at NASA Headquarters: Michael Braukus, 202/358-1979; Contact at NASA Goddard: Lynn Jenner 301/286-0045. Item 3E Video Enhancing Video Image Stabilization and Registration technology developed by NASA researchers helps police identify moving objects by stabilizing a videotaped image through a post production process. B-roll shows a side- by-side view of the original and enhanced images, as well as brightening a scene with VISAR stabilization. Item 3F Inventors at Work Two NASA scientists have invented new computer software technology that may help law enforcement agencies catch criminals by improving the quality of video recorded at crime scenes. B-roll shows the two Marshall Space Flight Center scientists at work. Item 3G Interview: Dr. David Hathaway, NASA researcher, NASA Marshall Dr. Hathaway discusses the origins of the VISAR technology and how the computer software works. Item 3H Interview: Dr. Paul Meyer, NASA researcher, NASA Marshall Dr. Meyer discusses the use and capabilities of VISAR technology. Contact at NASA Headquarters: Michael Braukus 202/358-1979; Contact at NASA Marshall: Ed Medal 256/544-0034. ***** Item 4 Telemedicine: Improving Health From a Distance (replay) Doctors at five distant sites in the United States today will demonstrate how to use NASA telemedicine to diagnose patients, practice operations and train, using 3-D medical images carried by a high- capacity computer network. This technology has application for spacecraft crews traveling to the International Space Station, Mars or other planets, where specialists may not be available. Item 4A Telemedicine Demonstration Footage from Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital shows (a) patient whose case will be presented during a Virtual Collaborative Clinic demonstration and (b) a general cardiac unit sequence. Item 4B Rotating 3-D images: Heart and Jaw Animation shows rotating 3-D reconstruction of patient's heart and demonstration of cyber scalpel cutting 3-D reconstruction of a patient's jaw. Item 4C Interview: Dr. Muriel Ross, Manager, Center for Bioinformatics, NASA Ames Research Center Item 4D Virtual Collaborative Clinic Sites Map shows the clinics involved in the virtual testing. B-roll shows footage of the various participants: NASA Ames Research Center, Stanford University Medical Center, Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, the University of California/Santa Cruz, NASA Glenn Research Center, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Item 4E Virtual Clinic site animation Animation shows the flow of information among the participants involved in the Virtual Collaborative Clinics. Contact at NASA Headquarters: Renee Juhans, 202/358-1712; Contact at Ames Research Center: John Bluck, 650/604-5026; Contact at Glenn Research Center: Kathleen A. Zona/Lori J. Rachul , 216/433-2901. ***** Item 5 NASA Student Involvement Program (replay) Forty high school students and their teachers from around the country earned all-expense-paid trips to Washington, DC, last week for winning the NASA Student Involvement Program's academic competition. The students presented their winning projects on Saturday, May 1, at the Hotel Washington, Washington, DC. Seven regional high school winners in each of the three categories -- "Designing a Mission to Mars," "Watching Earth Change" and "Aeronautics and Space Science Journalism" -- presented their proposals. The competition is designed to increase student literacy in science, critical and creative thinking, mathematics and technology. Contact at NASA Headquarters: Beth Schmid, 202/358-1760. *********************************************************** The NASA Video File 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 Pam Poe, 202/358-0373. 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