NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: Jan. 26, 1999

Media Advisory m99-016

TODAY'S SUMMARY:

FIVE EXPLORER MISSION PROPOSALS DESIGNED TO STUDY BIG SPACE

SCIENCE QUESTIONS PICKED FOR FEASIBILITY STUDIES

NASA TO BRIEF FY 2000 BUDGET NEXT WEEK

VIDEO FILE FOR JAN. 26, 1999

No New Video Files today

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FIVE EXPLORER MISSION PROPOSALS DESIGNED TO STUDY BIG SPACE

SCIENCE QUESTIONS PICKED FOR FEASIBILITY STUDIES

NASA has awarded $350,000 to each of five groups of

scientists who want to answer some of the biggest questions
in space science. Groups in Maryland; Washington, DC;
California; and Massachusetts will have four months to
convince NASA that their spacecraft will best meet the goal
of the Explorer Program: to provide frequent, low-cost
access to space for physics and astronomy missions with small
to mid-sized spacecraft. NASA judged the selected proposals
as having the best science value among 35 proposals received.
The scientific groups propose to build spacecraft that will:
observe the largest explosions and brightest galaxies in the
Universe; study the link between the Earth's aurora and the
solar wind; search for planetary systems around 40 million
stars; and investigate magnetic eruptions in the Sun's
corona. NASA will select two of the missions for flight
under the MIDEX Program, designed to foster lower-cost,
highly focused, rapidly developed scientific spacecraft.
NASA has also selected instruments from two proposed
MIDEX missions for technology development from scientists
in California and Illinois. Both researchers will receive
$700,000 from NASA over the next two years.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Don Savage

202/358-1727.
For full text, see:
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1999/99-007.txt

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NASA TO BRIEF FY 2000 BUDGET NEXT WEEK

NASA will hold a briefing on its fiscal year 2000 budget

request on Monday, Feb. 1, 1999, at 2 p.m. EST in the NASA
Headquarters auditorium, 300 E St., SW, Washington, DC.

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and NASA Comptroller

Malcolm Peterson will participate in the briefing and answer
questions. NASA TV will carry the briefing with two-way
question and answer capability for reporters covering the
event from participating NASA centers. NASA will distribute
a summary of the budget request beginning of the press
conference; the budget request also will be available on the
NASA homepage: www.nasa.gov.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Beth Schmid

202/358-1760.

For full text, see:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/1999/n99-005.txt

^^^^^

If NASA issues additional news releases later today, we will

e-mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 1998 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1998/index.html

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html

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NASA VIDEO FILE FOR JAN. 26, 1999

No New Video Files today

^^^^^
NASA normally airs the Video File at noon, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00
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.

Ray Castillo
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: 202/358-4555.

For the most recent NASA Video File Advisory, see:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/tv-advisory/nasa-tv.txt

For general information on NASA Television, see:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

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CONTRACT AWARDS

NASA posts contract awards to:

http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html

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Eastern Time on business days when we issue news releases,
new Video File material or schedule live events. Members of
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this list should send an e-mail message to:

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END OF DAILY NEWS SUMMARY