NASA Daily News Summary
For Release:  June 6, 2000
Media Advisory m00-111


SUMMARY


NEWS RELEASES

  SPECTACULAR X-RAY JET POINTS TOWARD COSMIC ENERGY BOOSTER

  NASA ROBONAUT DEMONSTRATION SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 8 AT JSC



VIDEO

  ***ALL TIMES EASTERN***


  VIDEO FILE FOR JUNE 6, 2000

  ITEM 1 - ROBONAUT - JSC
  ITEM 2 - BLACK HOLE SHEDS LIGHT ON GALAXY FORMATION - STI
  ITEM 3 - ELECTRONIC NOSE - JPL
  ITEM 4 - BLUE MARBLE 2000 (REPLAY FROM 4/17/00) - GSFC


UPCOMING TELEVISION EVENTS



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


NEWS RELEASES


SPECTACULAR X-RAY JET POINTS TOWARD COSMIC ENERGY BOOSTER

     NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed a spectacular
luminous spike of X-rays that emanates from the vicinity of a
giant black hole in the center of the radio galaxy Pictor A. The
spike, or jet, is due to a beam of particles streaking across
hundreds of thousands of light-years of intergalactic space toward
a brilliant X-ray hot spot that marks its end point.

     The hot spot is at least 800 thousand light-years (eight
times the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy) away from where the
jet originates. It is thought to represent the advancing head of
the jet, which brightens conspicuously where it plows into the
tenuous gas of intergalactic space. The jet, powered by the giant
black hole, originates from a region of space no bigger than the
solar system.

For full text, see:
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-089.txt

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC:  Dolores Beasley
(Phone: 202/358-1753).
Contact at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL:
Steve Roy (Phone: 256/544-6535).
Contact at University of Maryland, College Park, MD:  Leon J. Tune
(Phone: 301/405-4679).
Contact at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge,
MA:  Dr. Wallace Tucker (Phone: 617/496-7998).



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


NASA ROBONAUT DEMONSTRATION SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 8 AT JSC

     Robonaut, a robotic system that may perform future space-
walking tasks using an advanced mechanical hand, will be
demonstrated for news media representatives at 1 p.m. CDT
Thursday, June 8, at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX.
With a hand much like a human1s, Robonaut is capable of actions as
delicate as lifting small objects with tweezers.  It is powerful
enough to lift a 21-pound weight on the Earth1s surface -- giving
it considerable capabilities in the weightless environment of
space.  The robotic system is designed to use the same tools used
by astronauts in spacesuits.  The technology is expected to have
numerous uses on Earth as well as in space.

     In addition to demonstrating the Robonaut, which could be
used in assembly of the International Space Station, members of
the robotics team will be available for interviews.

For full text, see:
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/2000/n00-025.txt

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC:  Michael Braukus
(Phone: 202/358-1979).
Contact at Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX:  John Ira Petty
(Phone: 281/483-5111).



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


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



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


UPCOMING TELEVISION EVENTS

June 7, Wednesday
- 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. - Urban Heat Island Live News Interviews with
   Jeff Luvall - MSFC

June 8, Thursday
- 6:00 - 10:00 a.m. - Lightning Research Live News Interviews -
  MSFC
- 4:30 - 9:00 p.m. - Electronic Nose Live News Interview - JPL


For a complete list of upcoming live television events, see
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/breaking.html



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


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