Daily                 News
Friday, September 25, 1992      24-hour audio service at 202/755-1788

 % Administrator Goldin outlines contracting goals to Congressional Black
   Caucus;
 % Replay of Goldin's remarks to Black Caucus to air on NASA Select about
   3:00 pm;
 % Mars Observer set for launch at 12:27 pm EDT, post-launch briefing at
   2:30 pm.

NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin this morning addressed members of the
Congressional Black Caucus and told them NASA has established new
minority contract goals and is forming a NASA Minority Business
Resource Advisory Committee.  Goldin said that by the end of fiscal
year 1994 NASA would offer one billion dollars worth of prime and
subcontracting opportunities to minority and woman- owned businesses.

Goldin said that NASA would establish firm percentages of prime
contracts that will go to small and disadvantaged businesses and that
the agency would make use of these smaller firms as an evaluation
factor in every contract source evaluation.  NASA will also reward
prime contractors with special award fees when they exceed their
subcontracting goals by certain percentages.  A videotape replay of
Goldin's remarks to the Black Caucus members will show on NASA Select
television today following the 2:30 pm EDT Mars Observer post-launch
briefing.

Goldin leaves this afternoon for Indianapolis where he will address a
meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.  * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * *

The Mars Observer will be launched today at 12:27 pm EDT from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40.  The 5,672-pound
spacecraft will be the first American craft to head for Mars since the
Viking 1 and 2 missions of 1975.  There were two Soviet Union missions
to Mars in 1988 P Phobos 1 and 2.  Phobos 1 was lost soon after launch
because of ground control transmission errors.  Phobos 2 was
successfully inserted into Mars orbit but experienced a communications
or command failure three months later and was subsequently lost.

The Mars Observer will be boosted on its 11-month journey to Mars by
the Titan 3 launcher P a 20-year American veteran space vehicle P and
by Orbital Sciences Corp.'s new Transfer Orbital Stage upper stage
booster, which will be getting its first use on this launch.  The
launch will be covered live on NASA Select television.

Assuming an ontime launch and nominal staging events, the Mars Observer
will separate from its upper stage at 1:20 pm EDT and deploy four of
its six solar panels four minutes later.  At that time the Mars
Observer will be traveling at 25,700 miles per hour with respect to the
Earth and will be on its way to Mars, continuing NASA's nearly
three-decade-long exploration of the Red Planet.

When Mars Observer arrives at Mars, in August 1993, it will be placed
into an elliptical orbit over the Martian poles.  The science
investigations will occur during the succeeding 687-day period of the
Martian year P the first mapping cycle.  The spacecraft has seven
science instruments and an international team of nearly a hundred
investigators.

The spacecraft will give scientists a vast amount of geological and
atmospheric information.  David Evans, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
project manager, said that Mars Observer will tell us far more about
Mars than we've learned from all previous missions.  Science team
members will be able to access all science instrument data produced by
Mars Observer without leaving their home institutions.  JPL will
maintain a complete science database at the laboratory, which can then
be remotely accessed through computers at the investigators' own
universities.  The mission is expected to produce about 120 million
data words a day once the mapping mission begins in Martian orbit.  The
687-day-long primary mission is expected to produce a Martian database
of nearly 90 billion data words.

Since the Soviets first attempted to launch a Sputnik to Mars in
October 1962, there have been a total of 22 attempts to launch Soviet
or US spacecraft to the planet.  The first successful mission was the
U.S. Mariner 4 Mars flyby in July 1965 which confirmed the existence of
Martian craters.  Of the 22 spacecraft, 13 were Soviet, 7 of which were
successful to some degree.  Of the 9 US missions, 7 have been
completely successful, the most recent being the Viking 1 and 2
orbiters and landers.

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

The House of Representatives is expected to receive NASA's
appropriations bill this afternoon.  A House vote could occur today,
after which the bill will be sent to the Senate - which could also vote
on the bill today.

Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select
TV.  Note that all events and times may change without notice, and that
all times listed are Eastern.  Live indicates a program is transmitted
live.,

Friday, September 25, 1992
Live    11:00 am Coverage of Mars Observer launch processing begins.
Live    12:27 pm Scheduled launch of Mars Observer aboard a Titan III launcher
                 from Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Live     2:30 pm (approx.) Post-launch press conference for Mars Observer.
         3:00 pm (approx.) Replay of Administrator Daniel Goldin's remarks to
	         members of the Congressional Black Caucus (taped 9/25/92).
        
This report is filed daily at noon, Monday through Friday.  It is a
service of NASA's Office of Public Affairs.  The editor is Charles
Redmond, 202/453-8425 or CREDMOND on NASAmail.  NASA Select TV is
carried on GE Satcom F2R, transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees West
Longitude, transponder frequency is 3960 MegaHertz, audio subcarrier is
6.8 MHz, polarization is vertical.