David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1730)
Allen Kenitzer
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone: 301/286-2806)
NOTE TO EDITORS: N99-59
PRELAUNCH BRIEFING ON PREMIER
EARTH SCIENCE SPACECRAFT TO BE HELD NOV. 23
A prelaunch briefing to discuss the scientific goals of the
upcoming Terra mission, a U.S.-Japanese-Canadian Earth Observing
System spacecraft that will study the planet’s lands, oceans,
clouds and atmosphere, will be held at 1 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Nov.
23, 1999, in the James E. Webb auditorium at NASA Headquarters,
300 E St., SW, Washington, DC.
With a complement of five major scientific instruments, the
polar-orbiting spacecraft will provide long-term observations
about Earth’s global climate — sound science that can be used by
leaders when making global environmental decisions.
The launch of Terra aboard an Atlas IIAS rocket from
Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, is scheduled for December.
Both the science briefing and the launch will be carried live
on NASA Television. The briefing will have question-and-answer
capability for media from participating NASA centers. NASA TV is
available on GE-2, transponder 9C (C-Band), located at 85 degrees
West longitude, vertical polarization with a frequency of 3880 MHz
and audio of 6.8 MHz.
The Terra project is part of NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise,
a long-term, coordinated research effort to study the total Earth
system and the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the
global environment.
Detailed information on Terra is available via the Internet
at:
