From: yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee)
Newsgroups: sci.space.news
Subject: NASA Headline News for 04/09/92 (Forwarded)
Date: 13 Apr 92 22:22:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Apr13.222246.28565
Followup-To: sci.space
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Apparently-To: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov


             Headline News
Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters

  Thursday, April 9, 1992  Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, April 9, 1992 . . .

Office of Space Flight management, following a final review of 
Endeavour's flight readiness firing results, has opted to replace 
all three of the space shuttle main engines with three 
previously-flown engines.  Irregularities were identified in the data 
from two of Endeavour's three engines.  Neither irregularity would 
have been a safety concern had Endeavour launched.  Nevertheless, in 
the interest of prudence and because the work will have little impact 
on Endeavour's launch processing schedule, Kennedy Space Center 
technicians will replace the engines.  The data analysis indicated that 
engine number one had a buildup of pressure in the liquid oxygen 
preburner following the auto-shutdown sequence at the conclusion of 
the 22-second test firing.  This condition has been seen previously in 
main engines when they are shutdown in sea-level pressures.  
However, the pressure buildup requires that the preburner face plate 
be inspected for possible deflections.  The other irregularity was a 
slightly elevated frequency in the vibrations of ball bearings in the 
high pressure oxidizer turbopump on engine number two, suggesting 
the beginnings of bearing wear.

The work to remove Endeavour's engines, inspect hydrogen and oxygen 
feed lines and reinstall three different engines is already underway.  
Shuttle flight management is expecting no more than a couple 
of days impact to the launch schedule and is still anticipating a 
launch of Endeavour for the STS-49 mission in the first week of May.  
The formal Flight Readiness Review is set for April 21.  Shuttle 
management will announce an official launch date then.

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

Astronomers and astrophysicists yesterday reported they have made 
the first detection of high-energy gamma rays from a class of 
active galaxies which exhibit similar properties to quasars.  The 
findings, based on data from the orbiting Compton Gamma Ray 
Observatory, found three active galaxies -- MK 421, 0537-441 and 
0716+714 -- were emitting the gamma ray energy.  These galaxies are 
members of a group called BL Lacertae objects (named after the first 
one of its kind, which was found in the Constellation Lacertae -- the 
Lizard).  These quasar-like objects emit prodigious amounts of 
radiation from radio wavelengths through ultra-short X-rays, and now, 
with the Compton data, gamma rays as well.  The engine for these 
objects, as is the case with the quasars, is also theorized to be a 
supermassive black hole.  

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

Flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory report that 
Magellan and Galileo both continue to perform well.  In its orbit 
about Venus, Magellan is continuing to carry out Phase III of its 
planetary radar mapping, acquiring complementary data to that it 
acquired two years ago in support of the stereo mapping project.  To 
date, some 14 percent of the planet has been covered sufficiently to be 
stereo-mapped.  The alignment of the Earth, Sun and Venus is 
approaching superior conjunction again, and as happened before, 
communications between Magellan and the Deep Space Network 
stations will get spottier as Venus moves closer to the Sun.  Superior 
conjunction occurs on June 14.

Galileo controllers report their spacecraft is now 262 million miles 
from Earth and closing toward its December home-planet flyby at 
slightly more than six million miles a week.  The spacecraft is in a 
one-week pre-cooling period and will enter its sixth cooling 
maneuver next Monday, April 13.

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

The Lewis Research Center yesterday selected General Electric Co., 
Cincinnati, and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, East Hartford, as 
contractors for a five-year, $84 million aeropropulsion technology 
support program.  The two companies will develop,  build and test 
aircraft propulsion systems and components to be used in those 
systems.  This contract is one element of the Office of Aeronautics and 
Space Technology's Large Engine Technology Program, a  long-term, 
innovative research and technology initiative which is looking for 
solutions to some of the development issues facing future 
generations of large, high-thrust engines.

  
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.    
indicates a program is transmitted live.

Thursday, April 9, 1992
    12:00 pm  NASA Today news program, today featuring a 
                   report on the upcoming STS-49 satellite rescue mission; 
                   a report on students who have built a mock-up of the 
                   National Aero-Space Plane; a report on science discoveries 
                   being made by astronomers using orbiting telescopes; and 
                   a view of some new facilities along the Florida Space Coast.
   12:15 pm  Aeronautics & Space Report.
   12:30 pm  Behind the Scenes at National Air & Space Museum.
    1:00 pm  Time of Apollo.
    1:30 pm  Opportunities in Zero G.
    2:00 pm  Starfinder program #1.
    2:15 pm  Space Basics.
    2:30 pm  Life in the Universe.
    3:00 pm  Total Quality Management #54 (Univ. of New Mexico series).
    4:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
    8:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
   12:00 am  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
Friday, April 10, 1992
   12:00 pm  NASA Today news program followed by historical 
                   and educational programs.
    4:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
    8:00 pm  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
   12:00 am  NASA Today and subsequent programming repeats.
Monday, April 13, 1992
    3:30 pm  STS-45 flight crew post-mission press conference from 
                   Johnson Space Center.
  
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.
Newsgroups: sci.space.news