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Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: NASA Embraces Space Day '98 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Renee N. Juhans Headquarters, Washington, DC May 19, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1712) NOTE TO EDITORS: N98-34 NASA EMBRACES SPACE DAY '98 NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin will "chat" with students around the world on May 21 between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. EDT via the Internet, as part of this year's Space Day celebration. Cyber Space Day, an interactive webcast devoted to space, will broadcast from the Mall in Washington, DC, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EDT. The webcast will allow students to conduct live interviews with prominent figures from the public and private sectors who have made significant contributions to space exploration. Other "chat" participants include: Senator John Glenn; Barbara Morgan, astronaut candidate/education mission specialist; David Levy, amateur astronomer, author and comet discoverer; and Dr. Mae Jemison, former astronaut and college professor. "I am pleased to see Space Day focus on education and embrace children as well as their parents and teachers," said Administrator Goldin. "NASA appreciates the role Space Day plays in helping to communicate the importance of science, mathematics and technology education. These efforts help lay the foundation for inspiring the children of the world to reach for the stars." Space Day is sponsored by the National Advisory Board co- chaired by Sen. Glenn and Norman Augustine, Chairman of the Board of Lockheed Martin, to stimulate interest in science, math and technology education through the excitement of space exploration. NASA along with more than 34 partner organizations in the educational, scientific, public and private sectors have joined to celebrate this national event. The global celebration of Space Day '98 will kick off at 9 a.m. EDT. In recognition of Space Day, NASA Centers around the country will host the following events: NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC - May 21st -- Senator John Glenn, Payload Specialist, STS-95, will serve as featured speaker at the NASA Research and Human Health Symposium at George Washington University in the Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre from 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. For more information please visit: http://www.gwu.edu/~spi Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA - May 21st -- 1,250 elementary school students and their teachers will participate in over twenty-five activities about the Moon and space exploration. Students will build a Lunar Prospector model, participate in a mission simulation, make their own craters, construct a lunar habitat, and meet astronauts. Additional information on this event can be found at: http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA - May 20-21st -- "A Day on Europa" will take place on May 20-21, since daylight on Europa lasts about two Earth days. Scheduled activities in numerous American cities will be transformed into global village events via the Internet. Highlights will include new imagery of Europa taken by the Galileo spacecraft and a free panel discussion entitled "Europa - Another Water World?" For more information go to: http://www.caltech.edu/~tickets/to.htm For other A Day on Europa events and activities go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov Kennedy Space Center, Cocoa Beach, FL - May 22-25 -- From May 22-25, the Visitor Complex will host Discover Magazine, Star Trek, Fox 35 Kids and Cool 105.9 Day. These events will feature exhibits and appearances by former astronauts including Capt. Alan Bean, Dr. Ed Gibson, Col. Mike Mullane, Col. Buzz Aldrin, Capt. Gene Cernan, Cdr. Scott Carpenter, Capt. Wally Schirra, and Dr. Story Musgrave; as well as special character appearances; a scavenger hunt; and promotional giveaways. For more information please call 407/494-4254. Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD - May 21 -- More than 100 fourth grade students will participate in variety of activities which include: Space Bingo; Send Your Name to Mars; Planet Garden; How to Calculate Your Age and Weight on Another Planet; Exploring Earth From Space; Cyber Space Day; 101 Reasons to Explore Space; and tours. For more details call 301/286-7031. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX - May 20 -- In anticipation of Space Day, the Challenger Center for Space Science Education will take fourth through eighth grade students on a special electronic field trip (EFT) that celebrates the human spirit of exploration. The event, will be broadcast via satellite, brings youngsters behind the scenes to witness first-hand how robotic, human and ground-based missions are used to unveil the mysteries of our universe. More information on Space Day '98 activities can be found at the following URL: www.spaceday.com -end- Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Scientists Report TRMM Data Exceeding Expectations Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... David E. Steitz Headquarters, Washington, DC May 19, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1730) Lynn Chandler Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (Phone: 301/286-9016) RELEASE: 98-83 SCIENTISTS REPORT TRMM DATA EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS The world's first spaceborne rain radar -- aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a joint U.S.-Japanese mission -- is exceeding expectations for accuracy and resolution, and the spacecraft is providing unprecedented insights into rainfall producing cloud systems over tropical land masses and oceans. "We're extremely excited about these new images and the quality and quantity of the data we're receiving. In several instances, the data resolution is much better than we had anticipated," said Dr. Christian Kummerow, TRMM Project Scientist, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. "Previously, it was not possible to gather radar precipitation data over the oceans and TRMM has changed all that." TRMM is NASA's first mission dedicated to observing and understanding tropical rainfall, which comprises more than two- thirds of all rainfall, and how it affects the global climate. Global rainfall is the primary distributor of heat through atmospheric circulation. The recent El Nino serves as a perfect example of the atmospheric circulation changes that can result from a displacement of the normal precipitation patterns in the central Pacific. More precise information about this rainfall and its variability is crucial to understanding and predicting global climate and climate change. The Precipitation Radar aboard TRMM is the first rain radar ever launched into space. It measures precipitation distribution over both land and sea areas. Some of the most dramatic Precipitation Radar data was received on March 9 over Melbourne, FL, during the passage of a line of very severe thunderstorms. In comparing the TRMM radar data of the storm with that taken by ground-based radars, the three dimensional TRMM radar showed better vertical resolution of the storm structure. The vertical structure is critical for determining a storm's overall intensity as well as determining the height at which the heat release associated with precipitation is occurring. Another image released today shows TRMM's radar-derived view of a severe thunderstorm over Houston, TX. The TRMM radar demonstrated significantly better capability to define ambiguities, or occasional "false readings," associated with ground-based radars. The TRMM spacecraft fills an enormous void in the ability to calculate world-wide precipitation because so little of the planet is covered by ground-based radars. Presently, only two percent of the area covered by TRMM is covered by ground-based radars. "Since rainfall represents energy conversion, hurricane researchers are eager to use the rainfall data as input to hurricane forecast models," notes Jerry Jarrell, director, National Hurricane Center. Also aboard TRMM is the Microwave Imager, providing exceptional resolution of storm systems. TRMM's Microwave Imager has better spatial resolution and a new lower frequency channel than previous instruments, according to Kummerow. An interesting preliminary finding from the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS), another instrument on the TRMM satellite, is that its data indicate little lightning over the oceans and 90 percent of lightning occurring over land. Researchers believe that the greater lightning activity over land is primarily due to a larger convection -- or heat -- effect associated with land. This results in greater ice production and, consequently, more lightning. "The beauty of TRMM is that with the Precipitation Radar and the microwave imager, we can test this hypothesis time and again," said LIS Principal Investigator Hugh Christian, at the Global Hydrology and Climate Center at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL. "TRMM will enable us to gain fundamental insights into the properties of these convective storms and thus better estimate the effects on global weather patterns." The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument aboard the spacecraft measures how much sunlight the planet's atmosphere, surface and clouds reflect and how much energy it radiates to space from its store of heat energy. "CERES achieved new levels of calibration that we've never reached before in looking at the Earth," said Dr. Bruce Barkstrom, a scientist at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, which manages CERES. "Those new levels will help us reduce the uncertainty of how the Earth uses the energy from the Sun to drive the climate system." By studying rainfall regionally and globally, and the difference in ocean and land-based storms, TRMM is providing scientists the most detailed information to date on the processes of these powerful storms, leading to new insights on how they affect global climate patterns. TRMM's complement of state-of-the- art instruments will provide extremely accurate measurements of the distribution and variability of tropical rain and lightning, and the balance of solar radiation absorbed and reflected by Earth's atmosphere. -end- Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Hughes To Send HGS-1 Satellite On 2nd Lunar Flyby Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... HUGHES GLOBAL SERVICES, INC. Communications and Customer Relations P.O. Box 92919 (S10/S323) Los Angeles, CA 90009 Media Relations (310) 364-6363 Investor Relations (310) 662-9688 www.hughesglobal.com HUGHES TO SEND HGS-1 SATELLITE ON 2ND LUNAR FLYBY LOS ANGELES, May 18, 1998 -- Hughes Global Services, Inc., (HGS), which successfully sent a stranded communications satellite around the moon last week in an unprecedented salvage mission, is mounting a second lunar flyby to further improve the orbit. The satellite, known as HGS-1, passed behind the moon at noon PDT May 13 and returned to Earth, making its closest approach about 8 p.m. PDT Saturday. Instead of doing the planned retro burn at that time, Hughes' mission controllers fired the satellite's motor for a shorter period of time, allowing the satellite to glide into a looping 15-day orbit. An additional small burn on June 1 will send the satellite toward its second lunar encounter. "While the first pass by the moon was completely successful and accomplished all of our objectives, we always said we were going for the best obtainable orbit," said HGS President Ronald V. Swanson. "A second lunar flyby will make the orbit even better and will increase the satellite's attractiveness to potential customers. We do not plan any additional lunar maneuvers since additional passes will result in diminishing improvements." When the satellite was sent into space last Christmas, the launch vehicle malfunctioned and left the spacecraft in an unusable, highly elliptical orbit. Most communications satellites operate from a circular orbit around the equator. By sending the satellite around the moon, Hughes used lunar gravity to improve the resulting orbit once the satellite returned to Earth. When HGS obtained title to the satellite last month, it agreed to try to find revenue-producing uses for the satellite and to share profits with the insurers. A consortium of 27 insurers had owned the satellite after the original mission was declared a total loss. HGS' primary business is packaging satellite communications services for governmental entities, although it is actively seeking commercial interest in the entire satellite as well. "Our orbital analysts have done a fantastic job of planning this mission and predicting the satellite's trajectory thus far," Swanson said. "So we challenged them to evaluate whether we could improve the orbit further. "They said one more loop around the moon would improve the orbit, with little impact on the satellite's operational life -- so we're going for it," Swanson said. The new mission plan involves the same number of post-lunar motor firings, four. Only the times and durations have changed. The first burn successfully occurred Saturday night, as scheduled. That burn reduced the satellite's speed by roughly one-half of what was originally planned. Saturday night's burn placed HGS-1 into a 15-day orbit with an apogee -- the farthest distance from the Earth -- of about 293,000 miles (488,000 km). A second, smaller burn, scheduled for June 1, will nudge the satellite into position for its second lunar encounter on June 6. The spacecraft will pass the moon's surface from a distance of 27,000 miles (43,000 km), which is about seven times farther than the initial lunar encounter on May 13. An additional motor firing is planned for June 12, to further position the satellite for its final orbit. The final burn, currently scheduled for June 13, will place the HGS-1 spacecraft into geosynchronous orbit. Hughes Global Services is a subsidiary of Hughes Space and Communications Company (HSC), the world's leading manufacturer of geostationary commercial communications satellites. Scientists and engineers from both HGS and HSC are taking part in the mission. Both companies are units of Hughes Electronics Corporation. PanAmSat Corporation, of which Hughes Electronics is the majority owner, has been providing critical command and tracking support for the mission through its ground station in Fillmore, Calif. The earnings of Hughes Electronics are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to GMH (NYSE symbol) common stock. ### Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: New Mars Global Surveyor Image Available Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... NEW MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGE A new image taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft is now available on the MGS home page: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/5_15_98_ascraeus_release/index .html The image caption is appended below. Ron Baalke Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) High Resolution Images: Lava Flows On Ascraeus Mons Volcano Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera Release: MOC2-47a, -47b Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera Image ID: 578204600.26705 P267-05 (A) [Image] (A) Portion of U.S. Geological Survey Mars Digital Mosaic. Volcano is about 400 km (250 miles) across at its center. Sun illumination over most of mosaic is from upper right. Arrow points to location of MOC image shown in (B). (B) [Image] (B) MOC image 26705 (subframe) reproduced at full resolution, about 4.1 meters/pixel (13.4 feet/pixel). Picture shows an area approximately 3.3 x 3.3 km (2.1 x 2.1 miles) in size. Sun illumination is from the lower right. CAPTION Ascraeus Mons Volcano: Like Earth, Mars has many volcanoes and volcanic features. This high-resolution view shows some of the lava flows near the summit of Ascraeus Mons, one of the three giant shield volcanoes known as the "Tharsis Montes". Volcanoes form when magma (molten rock) erupts out onto the surface of a planet. Based on Viking-era observations, Ascraeus Mons is considered to be one of the tallest volcanoes on Mars... its summit is more than 11 km (6.8 miles) above the surrounding plain. The summit is more than 23 km (14 miles) higher in elevation than the place where Mars Pathfinder landed in July 1997. Description of MOC Image: This picture shows an area that is about 20 km (12 miles) higher in elevation than the Mars Pathfinder landing site. The picture shows three main features: (1) a crater at the center-right, (2) a sinuous, discontinuous channel across the upper half, and (3) a rough and pitted, elevated surface across the lower half of the image. (1) Crater at center right. Distinguishing meteor craters from volcanic craters can sometimes be a challenge on Mars. This particular crater was most likely formed by meteor impact because it has a raised rim and a faint radial ejecta pattern around the outside of it. This crater is 600 m (2000 feet) across, about 3/4 the size of the famous "Meteor Crater" near Winslow, Arizona. (2) Sinuous channel. The type of discontinuous channel running across the upper half of the image is sometimes refered to as a "sinuous rille". These are common on the volcanic plains of the Moon and among volcanoes and volcanic plains on Earth. Such a channel was once a lava tube. It is running down the middle of an old lava flow. The "tube" looks like a "channel" because its roof has collapsed. The discontinuous nature of this channel is the result of the collapse, or "cave-in" of what was once the roof of the lava tube. It is common for certain types of relatively fluid lavas to form lava tubes. As it is being emplaced, the outer margins of the lava flow cool and harden, but the interior remains hot and and continues to flow down- hill. Eventually, the eruption stops and the lava inside the tube cools, contracts, and hardens, leaving behind a tube (basically, a long narrow cave). (3) Rough elevated surface. The rough, pitted, and elevated surface across the bottom half of the image is a lava flow. The margins of this feature are somewhat lobate in form, and the entire feature is elevated above its surroundings, indicating that it was the last lava flow to pour through this region. Putting it All Together: Aa and Pahoehoe Lava Flows: Shield volcanoes such as Ascraeus Mons form from relatively fluid lavas. Shield volcanoes on Earth include the well-known Islands of Hawai'i. The kind of lava that is fluid enough to make shield volcanoes is called basalt. This is an iron- and magnesium- rich silicate lava that, when cooled, is usually black or very dark brown. Basalt lava flows come in two main varieties: Aa and Pahoehoe. These are Hawai'ian names. "Aa" (pronounced "ah-ah") lava flows have very rough, jumbly surfaces, and they usually lack lava tubes. "Aa" lava flow surfaces are very rough to walk on-- thus the term "aa" probably refers to the sound a person might make when walking on a cooled/solidified aa flow in bare feet! "Pahoehoe" (pronounced "pa-hoy-hoy") is a term that means "ropey". The surfaces of pahoehoe lava flows are generally very smooth and billowy. Sometimes they have a ropy texture like melted taffy or caramel. Pahoehoe flows very commonly contain lava tubes. The rough-surfaced flow across the lower half of the MOC image is interpreted to be an "aa" lava flow, and the smoother surface with a sinuous channel running down its center is interpreted to be a "pahoehoe" lava flow. Both would indicate that the lavas on Ascraeus Mons, at least at this location, are probably composed of basalt. More Picture Information: The MOC picture (B) is a subframe of image #26705, centered approximately at 11.5њN latitude, 103.5њW longitude. It was taken on April 28, 1998, at 4:23 AM Universal Time, on Mars Global Surveyor's 267th orbit around Mars. Orbit 267 was the second-to-last orbit on which observations were obtained before Mars and the spacecraft passed behind the Sun for several weeks known as "Solar Conjunction". The context frame (A) is from a U.S. Geological Survey photomosaic of Viking Orbiter images obtained in the late 1970s. The bright, wispy feature on the west (left) side of the volcano is a plume of dust being lofted by wind. This plume casts a shadow that can be seen below it. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: STARDUST Update - May 15, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... STARDUST Status Report May 15, 1998 Ken Atkins STARDUST Project Manager Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO) activities: ATLO this past week involved harness modifications to achieve a compatible timing interface and grounding for the Navigation Camera scan-mirror motor, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU #2) installation, Attitude Control System interface testing and spacecraft functional testing. The formal ATLO Pre-Environmental Test Review was conducted. The Board concluded that STARDUST is ready to proceed to its environmental test. Aerogel: The ATLO Test Unit (ATU) aerogel trays were installed in the Sample Return Capsule (SRC). The installation procedure was practiced in the SRC Structural/Thermal Model. JPL aerogel team members participated in the aerogel collector inspection and installation. Outreach: After the film "Deep Impact" opening and the announcement of the new round of name collections, the STARDUST home page jumped to a peak of 64,239 hits on May 11, and has been averaging 51,600 hits per day for the week. About 86,000 names have already been collected. There is a link to the Stardust name collection form from the Deep Impact homepage at: http://www.deepimpactmovie.com STARDUST was also the highlighted feature on the Space Day home page at: http://www.spaceday.com/thisweek/index.htm For more information on the STARDUST mission - the first ever comet sample return mission, please visit the STARDUST home page: http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: NASA Selects Initial Members Of New Virtual Astrobiology Institute Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Douglas Isbell/Don Savage Headquarters, Washington, DC May 19, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1547) RELEASE: 98-84 NASA SELECTS INITIAL MEMBERS OF NEW VIRTUAL ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE NASA has selected 11 academic and research institutions as the initial members of the agency's new Astrobiology Institute, thus launching a major component of NASA's Origins Program. The selected institutions represent the best of 53 uniformly first-class proposals submitted, according to NASA officials. Given that the institute members will remain at their home organizations, the partnership among the members and NASA will be carried out primarily via the Internet. This electronic 'virtual' Institute will bring together astrophysicists, biologists, chemists, physicists, planetologists and geologists to conduct interdisciplinary research on the multifaceted issue of life in the Universe and its cosmic implications. It will also help to train young scientists in this emerging field. "These initial members of NASA's Astrobiology Institute will be at the forefront of the increasingly important link between astronomy and biology, which has been a fundamental interest of mine for the past several years," said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. "The 'office hallways' of this virtual institute will be the fiber optic cables of the Next Generation Internet, and the groundbreaking research that this group generates will help guide our space exploration priorities well into the 21st century." The selected initial members of the Institute are: *Universities Harvard University, Cambridge, MA University of California, Los Angeles University of Colorado, Boulder Arizona State University, Tempe Pennsylvania State University, University Park *Research Institutions Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA *NASA Centers Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA NASA has developed the Origins Program with its Office of Space Science to search for signs of life in the Universe, both in our Solar System and beyond. The Astrobiology Institute will foster the interdisciplinary research and training necessary for future exploration of this theme. Funding for the Institute will begin with $9 million in 1999 and $20 million in 2000. This total is expected to grow as research directions are developed and the capabilities of the Next Generation Internet are expanded and fully utilized. The Astrobiology Institute members will conduct a broad range of interdisciplinary and synergistic research on topics including: the formation of organic compounds important to the origins of life, such as from meteorites; the formation and characteristics of habitable planets; the emergence of self-replicating systems and possible pre-biotic worlds; how the Earth and life have influenced each other over time, including the evolution of ancient metabolism and the interplay of evolved oxygen; the evolution of multicellular organisms and the evolution of complex systems in simple animals; organisms in extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents; and the identification and development of biomarkers to determine terrestrial and extraterrestrial biosignatures. The selection of the members, encompassing academic institutions and government labs, was based on a competitive evaluation process that began with the release of a Cooperative Agreement Announcement in October 1997. The next solicitation opportunity for new members will take place in about a year. For further information on the Institute and the field of astrobiology, see the following Internet site: http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/ The Institute's director and staff will reside at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. NASA Ames will manage the Institute's operations for NASA's offices of Space Science, Earth Science, and Human Exploration and Development of Space at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. - end - Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: YOUR TICKET TO SPACE (sm) webchat discusses space tourism Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 19, 1998 Contacts: Karen Rugg, National Space Society, 202-543-1900 Jennifer Hwang, Yahoo!, 408-731-336 Steven A. Werner, X PRIZE Foundation, 314-533-2002 "YOUR TICKET TO SPACE" WEBCHAT DISCUSSES FUTURE OF SPACE TOURISM National Space Society hosts Yahoo! Chat with X PRIZE Foundation chairman, X PRIZE competitor and NASA Associate Administrator (Washington, DC) -- May 19 -- This Wednesday, May 20, the National Space Society will host a Yahoo! Chat with X PRIZE Foundation chairman, Peter Diamandis, X PRIZE competitor, Michael Kelly, and NASA Associate Administrator, Alan Ladwig, following an announcement made earlier that day by the Foundation regarding a space-related sweepstakes. Webchat guests will discuss the announcement, the X PRIZE competition, and the future of space tourism. The webchat will take place on Wednesday from 9:00 - 10:00 pm ET (6:00 - 7:00 pm PT) at <http://chat.yahoo.com>. "This webchat will give the public almost immediate access to several people who will be among the day's newsmakers," said Robert Pearlman, NSS Online Programs Director. "The Society, which represents 23,000 space enthusiasts, is proud to present this webchat as a service to our members and the general public. The chat will help answer their questions and raise excitement about the morning's announcement." More information about the chat, including biographies and photographs of the guests, is available at the National Space Society's website at <http://www.nss.org/xprize>. The site will also include a transcript of the May 20 chat within 48 hours following the event. The X PRIZE Foundation will award a $10 Million prize to the first pioneer who privately finances and builds a spaceship that can carry three adults on a 62-mile sub-orbital space flight. Patterned after the Orteig International Prize, which was won 70 years ago by Charles Lindbergh in his solo flight from New York to Paris, the X PRIZE is to challenge the best engineers and innovators to build a spacecraft that eventually could be used to develop a commercial space transportation and tourism industry. The National Space Society, founded in 1974, is an independent, nonprofit space advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC. Its 23,000 members and 90 chapters around the world actively promote a spacefaring civilization. Information on NSS and space exploration is available at <http://www.nss.org/>. ### NOTE: The next issue of NSS's magazine, Ad Astra, will be a special report on space tourism, including an update on the X PRIZE competition. Reporters interested in receiving a copy should contact Karen Rugg at 202-543-1900 or <krugg@nss.org>. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Discovery Launch To Mir On Mission STS-91 Set For June 2 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Jennifer McCarter May 20, 1998 Headquarters, Washington, DC (Phone: 202/358-1638) Joel Wells Kennedy Space Center, FL (Phone: 407/867-2468) Ed Campion Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (Phone: 281/483-5111) RELEASE: 98-85 DISCOVERY LAUNCH TO MIR ON MISSION STS-91 SET FOR JUNE 2 Space Shuttle managers selected June 2 as the official date for the launch of Shuttle Discovery on the ninth planned docking mission with the Russian Space Station Mir. The flight, designated STS-91, will deliver logistics and supplies to Mir and bring home NASA Astronaut Andrew Thomas, the seventh and final NASA astronaut to serve as a Mir crew member. Thomas has been on the orbiting station since late January. Discovery will launch from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A. The current launch time of 6:10 p.m. EDT may vary slightly because of calculations of Mir's precise location in space at the time of lift-off due to Shuttle rendezvous phasing requirements. The STS-91 mission is scheduled to last 9 days, 19 hours, 53 minutes. An on-time launch and nominal mission duration would have Discovery landing back at Kennedy on June 12 at 2:03 p.m. EDT "The nine joint Shuttle-Mir docking missions and the seven astronauts who served as station crew members have provided us with a wealth of insight and experience to be used as we begin construction of the International Space Station later this year," said George Abbey, Director of the Johnson Space Center, who chaired the review. The launch team is evaluating a minor overboard water leak from the fuel cell No. 3 relief valve to determine its acceptability for flight. The leak was first seen during Monday's super lightweight tank test when the fuel cell was brought on line to support tanking test operations. The launch date decision follows completion of the Flight Readiness Review at Kennedy by Shuttle managers from NASA and prime contractor United Space Alliance. STS-91 will be Discovery's 24th mission into space and the 91st Space Shuttle flight in the program's history. -end- Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: NASA Selects Teams For Research Agreements - A "Weather Channel" In Ev Subject: NASA Selects Teams For Research Agreements - A "Weather Channel" In Ev Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington, DC May 20, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1726) Kathy Barnstorff Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (Phone: 757/864-9886) RELEASE 98-86 NASA SELECTS TEAMS FOR RESEARCH AGREEMENTS -- A "WEATHER CHANNEL" IN EVERY COCKPIT? Airlines and smaller airplanes are one step closer to having up-to-the-minute, graphical weather displays in their cockpits, thanks in part to a new NASA aviation safety initiative. NASA has selected research proposals from eight industry teams to develop Aviation Weather Information (AWIN) systems for commercial airliners and general aviation aircraft. "Pilots tell us their number one priority is graphical weather information. We want to make it as easy to get a weather channel in the cockpit as it is in your living room. Technologies already exist that could help make that happen," said Michael Lewis, Director, NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP), based at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. AvSP is a partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the aviation industry (manufacturers and operators) and the Department of Defense (DOD). This partnership supports the national goal announced by President Clinton last year to reduce the fatal aircraft accident rate by 80 percent in 10 years and by 90 percent over two decades. The weather information selections are one of NASA's new investments in that ambitious challenge. NASA asked U.S. companies to submit proposals for research, development, prototyping and implementation of AWIN systems and components. Industry teams submitted more than 40 proposals in three weather information categories: a national and worldwide system, a general aviation system and topical areas or specific components. NASA, FAA and DOD researchers evaluated the proposals based on technical merit, cost and feasibility. NASA has set aside more than $8 million that will be matched by industry to fund AWIN projects over the next eighteen months. More money is expected to be designated later to accelerate commercialization and make some systems available within five years. For the first phase of the program, teams led by Honeywell and Boeing/McDonnell Douglas Corp. will receive up to $2.4 million apiece to develop a national and worldwide AWIN solution. Over the same 18-month period, the NavRadio group will be awarded up to $1.2 million and the ARNAV team, up to $400,000, for a general aviation weather information system. Other teams led by Rockwell International, Honeywell and NavRadio will split $1.6 million to develop specific components for AWIN. NASA envisions a futuristic system that would allow aircraft to be both a source and user of weather information. Airborne sensors would provide data for weather systems on board the plane, on the ground and in other aircraft. In the cockpit would be easy-to-read, real-time displays that can show weather across the country, not just a limited number of miles ahead. That way pilots could more easily monitor possible trouble spots and make better, more cost-efficient routing decisions. That weather information would get to and from aircraft by satellite and ground transceivers using broadcast datalink and two way communications systems. Many industry teams also propose to incorporate decision aids into their AWIN designs. Those could include, among other tools, alarm systems or displays of suggested routes to help pilots better avoid potentially hazardous weather situations. The aviation safety initiative was created in the summer of 1997 by NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin in response to a report from the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, chaired by Vice President Al Gore. NASA has designated about $500 million over five years for aviation safety, with more funding expected to follow. Researchers at four NASA field installations are working with the FAA and industry to develop affordable, implementable technologies to make flying safer: Langley; Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA; Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, CA; and Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, OH. Because of advances in the last 40 years commercial airliners are already the safest of all major modes of transportation. But with an accident rate that has remained relatively constant in the last decade and air traffic expected to triple over the next 20 years, the U.S. government wants to prevent a projected rise in the number of aircraft accidents. For more information on the NASA Aviation Safety Program please check the Internet at: www.hq.nasa.gov/office/aero/oastthp/programs/avsaf/avsafpro.htm For a list of AWIN industry teams, please see: http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/news_rels/1998/May98/98_23.html - end - Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Strongest Stellar Magnetic Field Yet Observed Confirms Existence of Ma Subject: Strongest Stellar Magnetic Field Yet Observed Confirms Existence of Ma Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Douglas Isbell Headquarters, Washington, DC May 20, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1753) Tim Tyson Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL (Phone: 256/544-0034) RELEASE: 98-87 STRONGEST STELLAR MAGNETIC FIELD YET OBSERVED CONFIRMS EXISTENCE OF MAGNETARS A neutron star, located 40,000 light years from Earth, is generating the most intense magnetic field yet observed in the Universe, according to an international team of astronomers led by scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. The discovery confirms the existence of a special class of neutron stars dubbed "magnetars." Magnetars have a magnetic field estimated to be one thousand trillion times the strength of Earth's magnetic field. A neutron star is a burned-out star roughly equal in mass to the Sun that has collapsed through gravitational forces to be only about 10 miles across. Magnetars have a magnetic field that is about 100 times stronger than the typical neutron star. The discovery, to be published in the May 21 issue of the journal Nature, was made by a team of astronomers at the Marshall Space Flight Center led by Dr. Chryssa Kouveliotou of the Universities Space Research Association, working with Dr. Stefan Dieters of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), Professor Jan van Paradijs of UAH and the University of Amsterdam, and Dr. Tod Strohmayer of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. "This finding should help us better calculate the rate at which stars die and create the heavier elements that later become planets and other stars," Kouveliotou said. Kouveliotou and her team determined the strength of the magnetic field by combining data gathered by NASA's Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer satellite with data from the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics, a collaborative mission between Japan and the United States. "The magnetic field generated by this star is truly incredible," Kouveliotou said. "It is so intense that it heats the surface to 18 million degrees Fahrenheit. Periodically, the field drifts through the crust of the neutron star, exerting such colossal forces that it causes a 'starquake.' The 'starquake' energy is then released as an intense burst of low-energy gamma rays." Since these bursts happen quite often and the bulk of their energy is in low-energy (soft) gamma rays, the objects associated with them had been named Soft Gamma Repeaters. When bursting, Soft Gamma Repeaters are among the brightest objects in the sky, giving off as much energy in a single second as the Sun does in an entire year. The magnetar in question, called SGR 1806-20 by astronomers, was first discovered when it emitted soft gamma ray bursts. Astronomers have debated the origin of Soft Gamma Repeaters since they were first observed in 1979. With this discovery, however, researchers believe the origin of Soft Gamma Repeaters lies in the 'starquake' phenomena of magnetars. The magnetar theory was first proposed in 1992 by astrophysicists Dr. Robert Duncan of the University of Texas at Austin and Dr. Christopher Thompson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Astronomers believe that at least 10 percent of neutron stars are born with magnetic fields that are strong enough to be considered magnetars. Neutron stars are created in supernovae explosions and they spin rapidly, at rates up to hundreds of revolutions per second. The magnetar SGR 1806-20 is observed to be spinning once every 7.5 seconds and is slowing down roughly three milliseconds per year. Superstrong magnetic fields cause a neutron star to 'brake' and 'cool down,' making it practically impossible to observe them in radio waves or X-rays. This means there could be thousands or even millions of these dark relics scattered throughout our Milky Way galaxy. This could account for the large number of observed supernovae remnants without detectable neutron stars at their centers. For more information on magnetars and this discovery, visit NASA Marshall's Space Sciences Laboratory website at: http://science.msfc.nasa.gov -end- Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Latest Computers Will Boost Asteroid Tracking Efforts Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov Contact: Diane Ainsworth FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 20, 1998 LATEST COMPUTERS WILL BOOST ASTEROID TRACKING EFFORTS NASA astronomers conducting a monthly sweep of the night sky to identify previously unknown asteroids and comets will be able to double their coverage and the number of discoveries they make, thanks to new, state-of-the-art computer and data analysis hardware. The new equipment was purchased with funds from NASA, which recently doubled its resources for near-Earth object research. The new real-time analysis system, which serves a fully automated charged-couple device (CCD) camera and telescope atop Mt. Haleakala, Maui, HI, is part of the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) project, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. The new system features four 300- megahertz processors that will be devoted solely to the enormous amount of data coming back from the NEAT telescope on a nightly basis. "This new system will speed up the processing of data and allow us to analyze up to 40 gigabytes of data each night, or the equivalent of nearly 70 CD-ROMs," said Dr. Steven Pravdo, NEAT project manager at JPL. "We will be able to double the amount of sky we search each night, which is currently 500 square degrees, as well as the number of new asteroids and comets we find during each monthly observation cycle." Installed in 1995, the NEAT camera uses a very large, very sensitive 4,096- by 4,096-pixel CCD chip. The camera is located on a 1-meter-diameter (39-inch) telescope operated by the U.S. Air Force and located at an elevation of 3,000 meters (nearly 2 miles) above the Pacific Ocean. With stable climate, clear, dry air and little light pollution, the NEAT tracking system has been highly successful and continues to operate six days out of each month. With additional support, the project hopes to increase this six-day observational run to 18 nights of observations each month. Asteroids are considered relics of the formation of the early solar system. Most of them are rocky materials, with some composed of nickel and iron. Most range in size from boulders up to the largest main belt asteroid, Ceres, which is approximately 965 kilometers (600 miles) in diameter. Comets, on the other hand, are bodies of ice with embedded rock and organic materials which heat up and become active, spewing gases and dust as they approach the Sun. The NEAT telescope detects these small bodies by observing the same part of the sky three times during an interval of about one hour and comparing the three images to determine the location of objects moving across the sky. Since its inception, this fully automated system has detected more than 25,000 objects, including 30 near-Earth asteroids, two long-period comets and the unique 1996 PW, which has the most eccentric orbit of all objects discovered to date. More information about NEAT discoveries, along with black-and-white images of the objects, is available at http://huey.jpl.nasa.gov/~spravdo/neat.html . Most recently, the NEAT team has discovered two new Earth- crossing asteroids. One, designated 1998 HT31, is a relatively small Apollo-type asteroid 270 meters (800 feet) in diameter; the other, 1998HD14, is the 30th Aten to be discovered since JPL astronomer Eleanor Helin first identified this class of asteroid 22 years ago, and the fifth discovered with the NEAT tracking system. Both are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids because their orbits come within 5 million kilometers (3 million miles) of Earth, or about 20 times the distance of the Moon. However, neither currently poses a threat to Earth. "Atens are a rare class of asteroid because of their small orbits, which are smaller than that of Earth's, and which never allow them to wander far from our planet," said Helin, who is the principal investigator of the NEAT program. "1998 HD14 passed within 5 million kilometers (3 million miles of Earth) just a week after we discovered it on April 29. This is relatively close but poses no threat in the foreseeable future. Atens are of particular interest to us because they stay so close to Earth's orbit." Along with near-Earth asteroids, astronomers are also interested in tracking long-period comets, which travel vast distances from the Oort Cloud, a region far beyond Pluto's orbit, which is believed to house trillions of incipient comets. These objects travel in very long paths through the solar system, and can appear unannounced, with no calling cards. "We are particularly interested in these comets because they give us little time before appearing in Earth's vicinity," Helin said. Astronomers dedicated to discovering and tracking near-Earth objects are eager to find all of the potentially dangerous asteroids and comets long before they are likely to approach Earth. For instance, the NEAT team at JPL is developing two new CCD cameras and hopes to install them at Mt. Haleakala or other facilities. "With additional telescopes, longer observational runs and our new operating system, we will be able to detect 90 percent of the Earth-crossing asteroids that are larger than 1 kilometer (6/10ths of a mile) in diameter in the next 10 years," Pravdo said. "As our knowledge about these objects grows, we will be able to provide better information which can be used in studies of ways to divert Earth-crossers on threatening orbits toward Earth." NEAT was built and is being managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. ##### Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: New Galileo Images Of Europa Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... NEW GALILEO IMAGES OF EUROPA May 21, 1998 The following images of Europa taken by the Galileo spacecraft are now available on the Galileo home page: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo o Europa's Scrambled Ice o Inside Europa's Mannann'an Crater o A Closer Look At Chaos On Europa o Small Craters on Europa o A Dark Spot on Europa o Topography Within Europa's Mannann'an Crater o Europa Imaging Highlights During GEM ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ Pasadena, CA | The truth always turns out /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| | to be simpler than you |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | thought. Richard Feynman Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 22 мая 1998 (1998-05-22) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Neural nets in space research Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Session: Space Applications Session chair: Clark Lindsey 16.00-17.30 Keynote Talk: Sven Grahn (Swedish Space Corporation) "Spacecraft design in the modern world" Spaceflight does no longer push technology, but is rather pulled by other, more financially stronger industries such as the telecom business. This, and other trends set the stage for spacecraft design in the modern world: The demise of MIL-STD EEE parts, the appearance of production batches of satellites similar to those of airplanes, modern methods of software engineering. Basic technologies such as solar cells and electrical storage batteries are also pulled by non-space industry. So, one may say that space technology has left the experimental age and finally, staggeringly, entered the industrial age, primarily driven by commercial pressures. Talks: U. Brandstrom (IRF, Kiruna), "ALIS, a multi station imaging facility in Northern Sweden" Urban Brandstrom, Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Peter Rydesater, Mitthogskolan, Institutionen for IT, Ake Steen, IRF, Bjorn Gustavsson, IRF, ALIS (Auroral Large Imaging System) is an imaging facility in Northern Sweden. The system consist of six unmanned, fully remote controlled stations. Each station has a high performance CCD imager, and some stations also have other scientific instrumentation (e.g pulsation magnetometers). ALIS is capable of producing large amounts of data in a short time. For that reason, novel (AI) techniques for data analysis, are of high priority in order to be able to handle the large data sets. In this paper we will try to address the questions of how to interface such (AI) applications to an existing multi station research facility, in terms of real-time experiment control, selective imaging (SIT), real-time data analysis, etc. We will also discuss the scientific objectives for ALIS, the current implementation, plans for the future, and present an overview of recent results. P. Rydesater(Ostersund), "Classifying Auroras using Artificial Neural Networks" Peter Rydesater, Mitthogskolan, Institutionen for informationsteknologi, Urban Brandstrom, Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Ake Steen, IRF, Bjorn Gustavsson, IRF, In ALIS (Auroral Large Imaging System) there is need of stable methods for analysis and classification of auroral images and images with for example mother of pearl clouds. This part of ALIS is called SIT (Selective Imaging Techniques) and is intended to sort out images of scientific interest. It's also used to find out what and where in the images there is for example different auroral phenomena . This work is concentrated on how to find auroral arcs and how they are placed in images. Special care have been taken to make the algorithm robust since it's going to be implemented in a SIT unit which will work automatic and unsupervised and some extends control the data taking of ALIS. The method for finding auroral arcs is based on a pattern matching algorithm as preprocessing which then is feed to a Neural network classifier. We will discuss the results and the possibilities to use this algorithm in the selective image system, and possible further improvements to do even better results. B. Denby, (France) "Measuring Raindrops with a Neural Network" B. Denby1,2,*, P. Gole1, J. Tarniewicz2 1Centre dЃEtudes des Environnements Terrestre et Planetaires, 10-12 avenue de lЃEurope, 78140 Velizy, France 2Universite de Versailles St. Quentin-en-Yvelines, 45 avenue des Etats Unis, 78035 Versailles Cedex, France *corresponding author: tel. +33 1.39.25.48.59; fax. +33 1 39.25.47.78; email: denby@cetp.ipsl.fr We describe a structured neural network solution to a signal processing problem in the meteorological and telecommunications domains. Optical disdrometers measure raindrop sizes and velocites by registering changes in photodiode current as the droplets pass through a collimated light beam. In an improved dual-beam device being built at CETP, feature extraction MLPЃs applied to 20-sample windows of photodiode current provide input to a higher-level network which reconstructs droplet velocities and diameters in real time. In tests on simulated data, measurement precision is quite good for droplets as small as 05 mm radius. The algorithm can be executed either directly on the acquisition PC, or on a neural net coprocessor, such as the Univ. of Trento TOTEM, for additional speedup. Olle Norberg (IRF, Kiruna) "The Munin nanosatellite and future applications for AI in microspacecraft" Olle Norberg and Rickard Lundin Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 812, SE-981 28 Kiruna, Sweden The Munin satellite is a new type of monitoring spacecraft which can cost-effectively provide global monitoring of the space environment. Usingmodern technology, this very small satellite (<6 kg) has all the necessary functions needed to support its specific mission: monitoring of the auroral activity on both the northern and southern hemispheres. This paper will present the Munin satellite and instrument miniaturization effort, which can provide a precursor for future missions with several very small, dedicated and intelligent spacecraft. Future enhancements to the "intelligent nanosatellite" concept will include AI applications such as 3-axis stabilization and attitude determination using neural networks, on-board data classification and categorization, and autonomous operation. The Munin satellite has a 1.7 kg payload consisting of three scientific instruments: - A combined electron and ion spectrometer with simultaneous coverage of all pitch angles, covering the energy range 10 eV -- 18 keV - Two detectors for high-energy ions and neutral particles with pitch angles 0 degrees and 90 degrees, covering the energy range 30 -- 1200 keV - A CCD camera for imaging of the Aurora Borealis at visible and infrared wavelengths. The camera has a field-of-view of 50 degrees, and a resolution of 340 x 240 pixels L. Andersson (IRF, Kiruna) "Prediction of Spacecraft Anomalies Using Local Environmental Data" Andersson, L., O. Norberg, L. Eliasson, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna J. Waldemark, Royal Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics L. Liszka Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Umea Spacecraft are affected by the space environment. One can consider this environment as "space weather" just as on the Earth with quiet times, storm times, and different environmental regions. A spacecraft will experience changes of the weather and move in the environment regions with time scales from a few seconds to the length of the solar cycle. Due to space weather, spacecraft can experience anomalies, ranging from a bit flip to a total loss of the spacecraft. The anomalies depend on the spacecraft design and the severity of the conditions the spacecraft is exposed too. A loss of a commercial satellite is very costly and therefore space weather prediction has become more and more of interest to satellite owners. In order to be able to predict the space weather for geostationary (GEO) satellites an investigation of a GEO satellite and the onboard electron monitor instrument has been made. The natural variance of the electrons are larger than the difference between times with anomaly and no anomaly. The largest variance of the electron fluxes is due to the spacecraft motion in the orbit (24 hour period). A principal component analysis (PCA) of the electron fluxes was first made. The PCA resulted in a possibility to easily separate the anomalies into two groups. One category predicts with 70% certainty that an "anomaly will occur", further improvement seems to be impossible probably due to that the direct cause is not monitored. The second category can easily be predicted, i.e. wether or not an anomaly will occur or will not occur within 24 hours. The result from an ordinary back propagation net is that the "no anomaly will occur" is predicted with more than 90% certainty, and the "anomaly will occur" is also predicted with over 90% certainty. A description of the method and the data set will be presented in this paper. Michail Pudovkin (St. Petersburg) "Auroral Form Recognition" Michail Pudovkin Institute of Physics, University of St. Petersburg, Ake Steen, Urban Brndstrm, Bjrn Gustavsson Swedish Institute of Space Physics Peter Rydester Mid Sweden University, Ostersund, Sweden A method of recognition of the geometrical shape of auroras is proposed. The method is based on the analysis of the characteristics of isolines of the auroral luminosity (isophotes) which represent outlines of the object and reflects all the peculiarities of its shape. The basic variable in this analysis is the angle, F(S/L), between the tangent of the contour and the X-axis of an arbitrary coordinate system given as a function of the distance, S, along the contour normalised to the entire length, L, of that contour. The differential, dF(S/L), is a function periodic in the length, L, and is invariant to any linear transformation such as e.g. shift, rotation, and change of scale. The procedure allows for the representation of any flat 2D image as a set of one-dimensional periodic functions, which greatly simplifies the recognition problem. The further analysis includes Fourier transformation of experimental functions, dF(S/L), and comparison of corresponding spectra with those obtained for a series of model contours, such as ellipse, spiral, folds and others. The method is applied to some experimental auroral data from the ALIS multi-station imaging experiment. Thomas Lindblad phone (office) +468 16 11 09 Dept. Physics - Frescati phone (secr) +468 16 10 01 Royal Institute of Technology fax (office) +468 15 86 74 24, Frescativagen fax (home) +468 792 1543 S-104 05 STOCKHOLM Sweden cellular phone: +46707677493 email: lindblad@particle.kth.se http://msia02.msi.se/~lindblad/lindblad.html My office phone has a voice mail service, just let it ring until you reach it. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

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