NASA Daily News Summary For Release: June 25, 1999 Media Advisory m99-129 Summary: -- News Release: X-34 Rocket Plane Takes to the Sky as Part of Safety Check -- News Release: Investigation Finds Design Errors Caused WIRE Spacecraft Failure -- Video File for June 25: From Mars With Love ****** X-34 ROCKET PLANE TAKES TO THE SKY AS PART OF SAFETY CHECK Locked to the belly of its newly modified L-1011 carrier aircraft, a test version of NASA's X-34 rocket plane is scheduled to make its first flight next week. The prototype of the robotic spacecraft will test new technologies and methods of operations needed to develop low-cost reusable space vehicles. The first flight will begin at approximately 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 29, from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA. This captive-carry flight, in which the aircraft and test vehicle remain combined, will check for potentially hazardous conditions that may have resulted from modifications made to the L-1011 to enable it to carry the X-34. Contact at NASA Headquarters: Jim Cast, 202/358-1779; Contact at NASA Dryden: Leslie A. Mathews, 661/258-3893; Contact at NASA Marshall: Dominic Amatore, 256/544-0031; Contact at Orbital Sciences Corp.: Barron Beneski, 703/406-5000. ***** INVESTIGATION FINDS DESIGN ERRORS CAUSED WIRE SPACECRAFT FAILURE NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) failed because of an incorrectly designed electronics box that prematurely fired explosive devices, causing early ejection of the instrument's telescope cover, a NASA board has found. With the premature loss of the telescope's cover, the frozen hydrogen used to cool the telescope's sensitive infrared detectors was exposed to the Sun. As the telescope warmed, the hydrogen converted into a gas and vented entirely into space within 48 hours of launch. Without the frozen hydrogen, the instrument could not conduct its scientific mission. Contact at NASA Headquarters: Douglas Isbell, 202/358-1547; Contact at NASA Goddard: Lynn Jenner, 301/286-8982. The full text of the executive summary of the report is available on the World Wide Web at: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/1999/wire_summary.pdf Full text of the release: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1999/99-074.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 June 25, 1999 ITEM 1 NEW MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES: FROM MARS WITH LOVE ITEM 2 STS-93 CREW ARRIVAL AT KENNEDY (TRT 04:42) (REPLAY) ITEM 3 FUSE SPACECRAFT LAUNCH REPLAY ***** ITEM 1 NEW MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES ITEM 1A FROM MARS WITH LOVE This valentine from Mars is a pit formed when a straight-walled trough collapsed. It is known in geological terms as a graben. Graben are formed along fault lines by expansion of the bedrock terrain. The heart-shaped pit is about 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) at its widest. The image was targeted by the camera team in order to examine the relationship between a lava flow and the graben and pits that disrupted and cut across the flow. The graben, pit and lava flow are located on the east flank of the Alba Patera volcano in northern Tharsis. ITEM 1B THARSIS VOLCANOES The volcanoes of the Tharsis region are highlighted by this color image mosaic obtained on a single Martian afternoon. Olympus Mons dominates the upper left corner -- it is one of the largest known volcanoes and is nearly 550 kilometers (340 miles) wide. The white or bluish-white features are clouds. Clouds are common over the larger Tharsis volcanoes in mid-afternoon. The four largest volcanoes are more than 15 kilometers (9 miles) high. Pavonis Mons lies on the Martian equator. North is up, and sunlight is illuminating the scene from the left. The picture is a mosaic of red and blue filter images taken on three consecutive orbits. The slightly blurred appearance of the left side of Arsia Mons results from distortion toward the edges of the images used to make the mosaic. Mosaics like this one are used to monitor changes in Martian weather and to plan future observations. ITEM 1C DUST DUNES Mars is home to some very large, windblown dunes. The dunes shown here rise to almost 100 meters (275 feet) at their crests. Unlike dunes on Earth, the larger dunes of Mars are composed of dark, rather than light grains. This is probably related to the sand's composition. The dunes in this picture are located on the floor of an old, 72-kilometers- (45-mile)-diameter crater located northeast of Syrtis Major. The sand is being blown from the upper right toward the lower left. The surface that the dunes have been travelling across is pitted and cratered. The dark streaks on the dune surfaces are a puzzle and are likely the result of passing dust devils or wind gusts that disturb the sand surface just enough to leave a streak. The image shown here covers an area approximately 2.6 kilometers (1.6 miles) wide and is illuminated from the lower right. ITEM 1D MONUMENT VALLEY Like the world-famous Monument Valley located in the Navajo Nation on the border of Arizona and Utah, this "Martian Monument Valley" consists of a series of mesas and buttes that were formed by the erosion of layered bedrock. The uneroded rock forms a flat upland at the top of the image. The number of mesas and buttes decreases toward the bottom of the image, but their presence indicates that the rock in which they formed was once more extensive and covered the entire scene. Small dunes form parallel ridges on the lowland between many of the mesas near the top of the image. The dunes occur on the Elysium Plains, approximately 300 kilometers (185 miles) south of the Cerberus region in the Martian eastern hemisphere. The image covers an area that is 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) wide and is illuminated from left. Contact at NASA Headquarters: Doug Isbell, 202/358-1547; Contact at Jet Propulsion Lab: Mary Hardin, 818/354-0344. ITEM 2 STS-93 CREW ARRIVAL AT KENNEDY (TRT 04:42) (REPLAY) ITEM 2A CREW ARRIVAL (TRT 02:34) Footage shows the arrival of the STS-93 Crew members for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test Kennedy Space Center beginning June 21, 1999. The flight crew is comprised of Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Mission specialists Steve Hawley, Catherine Coleman and French Astronaut Michel Tognini. A countdown test is held prior to each Space Shuttle flight. The launch day dress rehearsal, scheduled for Thursday, follows three days of emergency egress training exercises, flights in the Shuttle Training Aircraft and an inspection of the Chandra X-ray Observatory payload inside Shuttle Columbia's payload bay. ITEM 2B STS-93 M-113 TANK TRAINING (TRT 02:08) Footage shows the STS-93 crew engaged in orientation training in M- 113 armored vehicles on June 22, 1999. The M-113 armored vehicle is used for crew emergency egress from the launch pad perimeter in the event of an emergency. Contact at Kennedy Space Center: Joel Wells, 407/867-2468. ***** ITEM 3 FUSE SPACECRAFT LAUNCH REPLAY Footage includes replay of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer spacecraft (FUSE) launch and mission animation. The FUSE mission seeks to answer long-standing questions about the origins of the universe. FUSE will investigate the origin and evolution of the lightest elements in the universe. FUSE will also examine the forces and processes involved in the evolution of galaxies, stars and planetary systems. Contact at NASA Goddard: Donna Drelick, 301/286-7995; Contact at NASA Headquarters: Doug Isbell, 202/358-1547. ****************************************************** The NASA Video File generally airs at noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and midnight Eastern Time, but may be pre-empted by mission coverage or breaking news. 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