NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: April 29, 1999

Media Advisory m99-086

Summary:

-- Video File for April 29, 1999

-- Upcoming Live Event: X-34 Press Conference and Rollout, April 30
-- Upcoming Media Opportunity: Winning Students Take the Prize in
Washington, May 1
-- Upcoming Live Event: STS-96 Preflight Briefings, May 4

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No news releases have been issued today.

If NASA issues any news releases later today, we will

e-mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:

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

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Video File for April 29, 1999

ITEM 1 MAGNETIC STRIPES PRESERVE RECORD OF ANCIENT MARS

(TRT 00:09:56)
ITEM 2 X-34 TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR
ITEM 3 FIDO MARS ROVER (TRT 00:09:51)
ITEM 4 STS-96 CREW AT THE CAPE
ITEM 5 ROBOTIC COMPETITION (REPLAY) (TRT 00:05:03)

NOTE: Due to audio difficulties, the "Shuttle's Glass Cockpit" item will
not air for the rest of the day, but will air on tomorrow's feed.

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ITEM 1 Magnetic Stripes Preserve Record Of Ancient Mars
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission has collected more
evidence that ancient Mars was a more dynamic, Earth-like
planet than it is today. Scientists using the spacecraft's magnetometer
instrument have discovered surprising evidence for past movement of the
Martian crust in the form of banded patterns of magnetic fields on the
Martian surface.

Item 1A Magnetic Stripes on Mars

Item 1B Oldest Mars Crust
Item 1C Observing the Magnetic Stripes
Item 1D Evidence for Movement of the Martian Crust
Item 1E Violent Impacts Erase the Magnetism
Item 1F Magnetic Field Flip Creates "Stripes"
Item 1G Serendipity from Extended Aerobraking
Item 1H Interview Excerpts: Dr. Mario Acuno, Astrophysicist,
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Item 1I Interview Excerpts: Dr. Jack Connerney, Astrophysicist, NASA
Goddard

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Douglas Isbell, 202/358-1547;

Contact at NASA Goddard: Bill Steigerwald, 301/286-5017;
Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Mary Hardin, 818/354-5011.

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Item 2 X-34 Technology Demonstrator
NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and Orbital Sciences Corp.
President and CEO David Thompson will help unveil the X-34 technology
demonstrator on April 30 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center,
Edwards, CA. The X-34 -- a hypersonic, robotic technology testbed --
will be the first in a series of experimental vehicles leading the way
to a low cost, fully reusable, commercially developed and operated space
fleet after the turn of the century.
Item 2A X-34 Animation
Item 2B B-roll: X-34 and L-1011 Mating shots
Item 2C Interview: Mike Allen, X-34 Project Manager, Marshall Space
Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
Item 2D Interview: Bob Lindberg, Vice President and X-34 Program
Manager, Orbital Sciences Corporation
Item 2E Interview: Dave Bushman, X-34 Project Manager, Dryden Flight
Research Center

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Jim Cast, 202/358-1779;

Contact at NASA Dryden: Leslie A. Mathews, 805/258-3893;
Contact at NASA Marshall: Dom Amatore, 256/544-0031;
Contact at Orbital Sciences: Barron Beneski, 703/406-5000.

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Item 3 FIDO Mars Rover
ITEM 3A Rover Testing in the Mojave Desert, CA
Field Integrated Design and Operation (FIDO), the next generation
Mars rover, is helping engineers figure out how to use the kinds of
instruments the next Mars rovers will need to fetch and retrieve rocks.
FIDO is designed to test the advanced technology of the Athena Flight
Rover and science payload that will be launched as part of NASA's Mars
Sample Return Missions in 2003 and 2005.
ITEM 3B Interview: Dr. Raymond Arvidson, Geologist, Washington
University, St. Louis, MO.
ITEM 3C Interview: Dr. Eric Baumgartner, Robotics Engineer, Mission
Engineer for Desert Field Tests, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, CA

Contact at the Jet Propulsion Lab: Mary Hardin, 818/354-5011.

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Item 4 STS-96 CREW AT THE CAPE
The crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-96 arrived at
Kennedy Space Center, FL, this week for the Terminal
Countdown Demonstration Test. The Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test
is held at Kennedy prior to each Space Shuttle flight, providing the
crew of each mission an opportunity to participate in
simulated countdown activities. The crew took questions from reporters
at the launch pad yesterday.

Contact at NASA Kennedy: Joel Wells, 407/867-2468.

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Item 5 1999 ROBOTICS COMPETITION (REPLAY)
Footage shows 1999 First Robotics Competition
National Championship held at Epcot Center, Walt Disney
World, FL, April 22 to April 24, 1999. NASA Administrator
Daniel S. Goldin attended the event and received the
Founders' Award.

Contact at NASA Kennedy: Bill Johnson, 407/867-7819.

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UPCOMING LIVE EVENT: X-34 PRESS CONFERNCE AND ROLLOUT,
APRIL 30
NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and Orbital Sciences Corp.
President and CEO David Thompson will help unveil the X-34 technology
demonstrator on April 30 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center,
Edwards, CA. The press conference begins at 1 p.m. EDT, followed by the
unveiling at 2 p.m. EDT. Both will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Jim Cast, 202/358-1779;

Contact at NASA Dryden: Leslie A. Mathews, 805/258-3893;
Contact at NASA Marshall: Dom Amatore, 256/544-0031;
Contact at Orbital Sciences: Barron Beneski, 703/406-5000.
*****
UPCOMING MEDIA OPPORTUNITY: WINNING STUDENTS TAKE THE
PRIZE IN
WASHINGTON, MAY 1

Forty high school students and their teachers from around the
country have earned all-expense-paid trips to Washington, DC, this week
for winning the NASA Student Involvement Program's academic competition.
The students will present their winning projects on Saturday, May 1, at
the Hotel Washington, 515 15th St. NW, Washington, DC. All events will
be open to the press. From 10:15 a.m. to noon EDT and 1 p.m. to 2:15
p.m. EDT, seven regional high school winners in each of the three
categories -- "Designing a Mission to Mars," "Watching Earth Change"
and "Aeronautics and Space Science Journalism" -- will present their
proposals. Immediately afterward, there will be an informal poster
session, allowing the press to have one-on-one discussions with the
students.

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Beth Schmid, 202/358-1760.

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UPCOMING LIVE EVENT: STS-96 PREFLIGHT BRIEFINGS, MAY 4
NASA will brief reporters next week on upcoming Space Shuttle
mission STS-96, which will bring visitors and supplies to the
International Space Station. The briefings will begin at 9 a.m. EDT on
Tuesday, May 4, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, and will be
carried live on NASA TV.

Contact at NASA Headquarters: Dwayne Brown, 202/358-1726;

Contact at NASA Johnson: Eileen Hawley, 281/483-5111;

For a full schedule of the briefings:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/1999/n99-023.txt

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

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Refer general questions about the video file to NASA

Headquarters, Washington, DC: Ray Castillo, 202/358-4555, or
Pam Poe, 202/358-0373.

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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end of daily news summary