NASA Daily News Summary
For Release: Feb. 18, 2000
Media Advisory m00-33


SUMMARY

NEWS RELEASES:

Crews Names to Continue Space Station Assembly

Newfound Quasar Wins Title of "Most Distant in the Universe"

VIDEO:

Due to Live Coverage of Space Shuttle Mission STS-99,
VIDEO FILE WILL ONLY RUN AT NOON TODAY.

Video Heads Up for noon EST, Monday, Feb. 21:

NASA REMOTE SENSORS TRACK URBAN SPRAWL, LOCAL CLIMATE CHANGE


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Crews Names to Continue Space Station Assembly

     Veteran Shuttle commanders James Halsell (Col., USAF) and
Terrence Wilcutt (Lt. Col., USMC) will lead the next two Space
Shuttle missions to continue on-orbit assembly of the
International Space Station NASA managers announced today, as they
officially added Shuttle mission STS-106 to the manifest.


Full text:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-029.txt

NASA Headquarters contact: Kirsten Williams (Phone:  202/358-0243)

Johnson Space Center contact: Doug Peterson (Phone:  281/483-5111)

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Newfound Quasar Wins Title of "Most Distant in the Universe"

     If Guinness had a Book of Cosmic Records, a newly discovered
quasar in the constellation Cetus would make the front page.  This
distant quasar easily skates past the previous record-holder, placing
it among the earliest known structures ever to form in the Universe.
"As soon as we saw the spectrum, we knew we had something special,"
said Dr. Daniel Stern of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
CA. " . . . This quasar told us that it was 'An Ancient' -- one of
the Universe's first structures."

Full text:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-030.txt

NASA Headquarters contact: Donald Savage (Phone:  202/358-1547)

National Science Foundation contact: Amber Jones (Phone:  703/306-
1070)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory contact: Michelle Viotti (Phone:  818/354-
8774)

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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



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For the up-to-date NTV Schedule during Space Shuttle mission STS-
99 see:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html

Video File for noon EST, Feb. 21

NASA REMOTE SENSORS TRACK URBAN SPRAWL, LOCAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Title:  New Views of Effects of Exploding Urban Growth

Release Date:February 22, 2000

Contact:  Wade Sisler   (301) 286-6256
   David Steitz (202) 358-1730

TRT:  ~ 15 minutes

Library #:      G00-015

URLs:  http://www.svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagewall/aaas

SYNOPSIS:       Ask anyone who lives in D.C. or New York or Phoenix: urban
growth is booming and it's having profound effects on people's lives.
Now research data confirms it. Using sophisticated remote sensing
systems, scientists have evidence of significant changes to regional
geography. This Video File contains data visualizations illustrating
wide ranging effects of urban sprawl.

Item 1  ATLANTA SPREADS OUT AND HEATS UP

This narrated composite sequence begins with thermal imagery showing
how Atlanta has actually become a "heat island."  The second part of
the sequence shows growth of Atlanta over the past 17 years.  The
final portion of the sequence shows how the large heat island is
actually beginning to change the weather.

Item 2  3-D HEAT SIGNATURE

Using a specially outfitted Lear Jet, NASA researchers collected
thermal data about the Atlanta metro area.  White and red colors
indicate highest temperatures, respectively, and blues indicating
cooler temperatures. As the city rotates, the data fades to a
nighttime reading. Using the same color scale, you can see how much
heat remains locked in the developed areas of the city, a phenomena
which becomes instantly apparent as the picture zooms out again to
show the long stripe of data draped across the terrain.

ITEM 3  PATTERNS OF URBAN GROWTH

In this visualization, red and orange points indicate areas of
highest urban growth. Researchers assembled data from Landsat
satellites in the early 70's to the late 90's and created plots of
growth over time, providing valuable context for more detailed
studies of air quality, climate changes, and urban planning.

ITEM 4  HEAT ISLANDS CHANGE THE WEATHER

Atlanta's strong urban may be affecting the region's climate. As
observed by one of the Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite (GOES), clouds begin forming over the city and pick up
strength and size as they develop, moving east.  Research suggests
that as the city holds onto heat at night, it creates a low pressure
system, with hot air rising and cooler surrounding air rushing in to
replace it. That cooler air condenses and forms thunderclouds.

ITEM 5  CITY ZONING AND URBAN GROWTH-A COMPARISON

Urbanization is as much a function of planning as it is of economic
vitality. From space, two large U.S. metro areas show dramatically
different signals of urban sprawl and growth, largely the result of
different zoning strategies. Portland, Oregon and the Washington,
D.C. metro have both benefited from the robust economy, with growth
propelling construction and development in both areas.

ITEM 7  LANDSAT ANIMATION

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Unless otherwise noted, ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN.

ANY CHANGES TO THE 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/

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Contract Awards

Contract awards are posted to the NASA Acquisition information
Service Web site: http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html

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end of daily news summary