NASA Daily News Summary
For Release:  March. 29, 2000
Media Advisory m00-62


SUMMARY


NEWS RELEASES:

PLANET HUNTERS ON TRAIL OF WORLDS SMALLER THAN SATURN

PLANET HUNTING AT 1 PM, GOLDIN JPL SPEECH AT 2 PM TODAY ON NASA TV



-----


VIDEO


VIDEO FILE:

ITEM 1 - DISCOVERY OF NEW PLANETS - STSCI
ITEM 2 - X-38 DROP TEST - JSC/DFRC (replay)
ITEM 3 - SATELLITES MONITOR CHANGES IN ARCTIC SEA ICE (replay) -
         GSFC


LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS THIS WEEK:


SPECIAL NOTE TO ASSIGNMENT EDITORS & PRODUCERS:
     ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE?



*****************************


NEWS RELEASES


PLANET HUNTERS ON TRAIL OF WORLDS SMALLER THAN SATURN

     Planet-hunting astronomers have crossed an important
threshold in planet detection, with the discovery of two planets
that may be smaller in mass than Saturn.

     Of the 30 extrasolar planets around Sun-like stars detected
previously, all have been the size of Jupiter or larger.  The
existence of these Saturn-sized candidates suggests that many
stars harbor smaller planets, in addition to the Jupiter-sized
ones.

     Finding Saturn-sized planets reinforces the theory that
planets form by a snowball effect of growth from small ones to
large, in a star-encircling dust disk. The 20-year-old theory
predicts there should be more smaller planets than large planets,
and this is a trend the researchers are beginning to see in their
data.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC:  Donald Savage
(Phone: 202/358-1547).
Contact at University of California, Berkeley:  Robert Sanders
(Phone: 510/643-6998).

Contact at W.H. Keck Observatory, Kamuela, HI:  Andrew Perala
(Phone: 808/885-7887).

For full text see:
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/00-047.txt



-----------------------------


PLANET HUNTING AT 1 PM, GOLDIN JPL SPEECH AT 2 PM TODAY ON NASA TV

     A Space Science Update to announce a breakthrough in
detecting planets outside our Solar System will be carried live
today at 1 pm EST from NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, on NASA
Television.  NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin's speech to
employees at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, will air
at 2 pm EST on a tape-delayed basis from its 1pm EST delivery.

    NASA Television is broadcast on the GE2 satellite, transponder
9C, at 85 degrees West longitude, frequency 3880.0 MHz, audio 6.8
MHz.  Audio only will be available on the voice circuit at the
Kennedy Space Center, FL, on 321/867-1220, -1240, -1260, -7135, -
4003, -4920.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC:  Sarah Keegan
(Phone:  202/358-1600).

For full text see:
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/00-013.txt



-----------------------------


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



*****************************


VIDEO

LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS THIS WEEK:

March 29, Wednesday
- 1:00 p.m. - New Planets Space Science Update - HQ
- *2:00 pm - Administrator Goldin Addresses Employees (recorded at
   1:00 pm 3/29/00) - JPL

March 30, Thursday
- *9:00 - 11:00 - Computer Security Hearing before the House
  Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and
  Technology; Government Reform Committee (recorded on 3/29/00) -
  HQ
- *12:30 p.m. - X-38 Drop Test - DFRC (Note:  test time subject to
   change depending on weather conditions)

March 31, Friday
- 9:00 a.m. - Noon - FY 2001 Budget Posture Hearing before the
  House Subcommittee on VA-HUD-Independent Agencies;
  Appropriations Committee (recorded 3/30/00) - HQ
- 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. - FY 2001 Budget Posture Hearing before the
  House Subcommittee on VA-HUD-Independent Agencies;
  Appropriations Committee (recorded 3/30/00 continued) - HQ
- 5:30 - 10:00 p.m. - "Planet Hunting Mission" Live News
  Interviews - JPL

April 1, Saturday
- 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Ames Research Center Western Regional
  FIRST Robotics Competition - San Jose State University Event
  Center, San Jose, CA (direct uplink to NTV)



-----------------------------


SPECIAL NOTE TO ASSIGNMENT EDITORS & PRODUCERS

FROM:  Jack Dawson, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, (818) 354-0040
       Michelle Viotti, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
       (818) 354-8774

ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE?

     Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered which
stars might have planets around them?  Is life out there in the
Universe, abundant on some distant world?  What is that planet
like, and could we recognize life there if we found it?
Creative sparks are flying as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory awards
contracts to four industry-academic teams, which will take the
first steps toward answering these far-reaching questions.  Over
the next eighteen months, the teams will set out to create the
most innovative designs for Terrestrial Planet Finder, an
ambitious mission in NASA's Origins Program that will look for
life-sustaining Earth -like planets around other stars.

     Astronomers have already found far more planets outside of
our solar system than within it, but so far we've only been able
to detect really large, gaseous bodies that wouldn't likely
support life.  We're on the verge of having the technology that
will enable us to look for much tinier, Earth-like planets that
orbit closer to their parent stars. Terrestrial Planet Finder will
have the potential to give us the first "family portraits" of
planetary systems like our own--and it might even find another
planet where life can thrive.

     Live satellite interview opportunities are available with
JPL1s Dr. Firouz Naderi from 6 to 10 p.m. EST on Friday, March 31.
Animation, B-roll and interviews will be carried 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.  Emergency telephone numbers are 818-354-0246 and 818-
354-2113.

     Dr. Firouz Naderi is the Program Manager for Origins and the
Project Manager for the Terrestrial Planet Finder. With JPL for
the past 20 years, Dr. Naderi has also served as Program Manager
for the Space Science Flight Experiments Program and Project
Manager for the NASA Scatterometer and SeaWinds missions, among
others.  He received his B.S. from Iowa State in 1969 and a
Masters and Ph.D. from USC in 1972 and 1976, all in electrical
engineering.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS:

- How likely is it that life exists elsewhere in the Universe?
- How will Terrestrial Planet Finder look for Earth-like planets?
- How hard is it to detect life-bearing planets around other
  stars?
- Would a planet have to be like Earth to support life?
- What is the lasting value of Terrestrial Planet Finder to our
  civilization?


To book time for this interview call, Jack Dawson at 818-354-0040
or e-mail Jack at jack.b.dawson@jpl.nasa.gov

For more information on this subject, see:
http://tpf.jpl.nasa.gov/



-----------------------------


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/



*****************************


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