NASA Daily News Summary
For Release:  Mar. 3, 2000
Media Advisory m00-42


SUMMARY

NEWS RELEASES:

NEW LAB READY TO TEST SUDDEN IMPACTS



VIDEO:

Video File:

ITEM 1 - NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER'S BALLISTICS LAB - GRC

ITEM 2 - SEAWIFE IMAGE:  STORMS FLOOD MOZAMBIQUE - GSFC (replay)

ITEM 3 - CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY IMAGE OF GALAXY CLUSTER ABELL
         2142 - MSFC (replay)

ITEM 4 - CHANDRA X-RAY TELESCOPE OPERATIONS UPDATE - MSFC (replay)

ITEM 5 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE TAKES A CLOSE-UP VIEW
         OF A REFLECTION NEBULA IN ORION - STSCI (replay)

ITEM 6 - MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES "GIANT'S FOOTPRINT" - MSSS
         (replay)



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Live Television Events Next Week:

March 7, Tuesday

1:00 - 2:00 pm - Live From the Storm: The Who, What, Where, When,
and Why of Weather - GSFC (switch to NTV from TELSTAR 5, 97
degrees West Ku band, transponder 25. Downlink polarization:
Vertical. Frequency: 12144.0 MHz Audio 6.2 and 6.8 )

5:00 - 7:00 pm - KC-135 Student Campaign Live News Interviews -
JSC

March 9, Thursday

5:00 - 7:00 pm - KC-135 Student Campaign Live News Interviews -
JSC 1:00 pm - Backside of the Sun Space Science Update - HQ

March 10, Thursday

5:00 - 11:30 am - Latest Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA)
Images Live News Interviews - GSFC

March 11, Saturday

8:00 am - 5:00 pm - Kennedy Space Center Southeast Regional First
Robotics Competition - KSC



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NEWS RELEASES:

NEW LAB READY TO TEST SUDDEN IMPACTS

The last time government cannon boomed across the shores of Lake
Erie was during the War of 1812, but a new laboratory at NASA's
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH, is now experimenting with
ballistics of a different kind.  Building 49 houses Glenn's new
ballistic impact facility.  Its main features are a 40-foot-long
gas gun that can eject projectiles at speeds up to 1,500 feet per
second, or over 1,000 mph, and a high-speed camera that can
capture 2.5 million images per second.  One of the facility's main
tasks is testing materials for aircraft engine housings.  During
rare in-flight events, if the engine is hit by hail or birds, the
engine housing must contain any fragments and withstand the severe
loads, or forces, that otherwise could cause the engine to
separate from the wing of the airplane.  Current engine housing
materials, usually high-strength metal alloys and non-metal
ballistic fabrics, do this job very well but are very heavy.  The
new, lighter structures being considered for this duty must be
evaluated for their ability to withstand such catastrophic events.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC:  Michael Braukus
(Phone 202/358-1979).
Contact at NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH:  Pam Caswell
(Phone 216/433-5795).

For full text, see:
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-034.txt



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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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VIDEO:

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/



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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