From: yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Daily News for 09/30/92 (Forwarded)
Apparently-To: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Followup-To: sci.space
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 20:05:09 GMT

Daily                 News
Wednesday, September 30, 1992  24-hour audio service at 202/755-1788

 % STS-52 flight crew arrives at Kennedy for launch dress rehearsal;
 % Goddard scientists report Antarctic ozone hole is largest yet observed;
 % Jet Propulsion Laboratory controllers report Mars Observer doing fine;
 % Transfer Orbit Stage telemetry data remain a mystery.

The six-member STS-52 flight crew, led by mission commander James
Wetherbee and mission pilot Michael Baker, arrived at Kennedy Space
Center late this morning for the two-day Terminal Countdown
Demonstration Test.  Five of the six crewmembers on this flight are
experienced shuttle astronauts with mission specialist William Shepherd
making his third flight and mission specialists Charles Veach and Tammy
Jernigan making their second flights.  Steve MacLean, the Canadian
Space Agency payload specialist, will be making his first flight,
although it will be the second shuttle mission for a CSA astronaut -
the first having been STS-41G in October 1984 with payload specialist
Marc Garneau.  This mission features a number of CSA experiments in
support of Space Station Freedom development.

The countdown dress rehearsal ends tomorrow with a simulated launch at
11:00 am EDT.  The STS-52 mission is a nine-day, multiple payload
flight.  Columbia will be making its 13th voyage on this mission.
Columbia will be outfitted for this mission with the newly-tested
orbiter regenerative carbon dioxide removal system.  The formal Flight
Readiness Review for the mission will be held at KSC on October 6.
That review will conclude with an announcement of a target launch date,
although presently KSC reports the launch is being targeted for the
third week in October.

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

Goddard Space Flight Center scientists report that preliminary results
from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer aboard the Nimbus-7 weather
satellite show this year's Antarctic ozone hole is the largest yet
recorded.  The area covered by the depleted ozone layer is more than
8.9 million square miles (2.3 trillion hectares), about 15 percent
larger than the depleted area observed last year.

Most of the scientific community believes that chlorine from man-made
chlorofluorocarbon compounds is the primary cause for ozone hole
formation.  This year's hole also may have been affected by the
continued presence of sulfuric acid droplets in the upper atmosphere
created by the eruption of the Mount Pinatubo volcano 15 months ago.
Goddard scientists also noted that middle stratospheric temperatures
have been colder than normal this year which would contribute
indirectly to larger ozone losses.  The Nimbus-7 instrument is
complemented by another NASA ozone spectrometer launched aboard the
Russian Meteor-3 weather satellite last year.

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

Jet Propulsion Laboratory flight controllers report that Mars Observer,
now about 1.3 million kilometers (820,000 miles) from Earth, is
performing nominally and all of the earlier minor glitches have been
cleared.  The spacecraft's two instrument booms have been partially
deployed to allow for magnetic field and gamma ray measurements to be
taken during the 11-month cruise phase to Mars.  This past Sunday,
Goddard controllers commanded the Mars Observer's onboard data recorder
to play back that portion which recorded performance data from the
Transfer Orbit Stage.  During the TOS booster's burn last Friday, no
telemetry was received by mission tracking aircraft or ground
stations.  The Goddard playback also showed no record of TOS
performance data being recorded onboard the spacecraft.  Flight team
members will re-play that portion of the onboard data tape again to
verify there is no TOS data, but it appears that a possible radio
transmission problem prevented the TOS from sending its telemetry
either to the Mars Observer or to the tracking stations during its
firing.


  
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.

Wednesday, September 30, 1992
Live   12:00 pm  Hispanic Employee Program with Dr. 
                 Santiago Rodrigues, who will discuss "Business Rationale 
                 for Diversity of Programs."
        2:00 pm  Starfinder program #18.
        2:15 pm  Aeronautics & Space Report.
        2:30 pm  Four Rooms with an Earth View.
        3:00 pm  Total Quality Management program #37 
                 (University of New Mexico series).
        4:00 pm  8:00 pm and 12:00 midnight P NASA Today 
                 and subsequent programming repeat.
Thursday, October 1, 1992
Live   12:00 pm  NASA Today news program.
       12:15 pm  Flight without Wings.
       12:30 pm  Second Science Harvest.
        1:00 pm  Apollo 7.
        1:30 pm  Behind the Scenes at the Air & Space Museum.
        2:00 pm  Starfinder program #19.
        2:15 pm  Aeronautics & Space Report.
        2:30 pm  Adapting to Space.
        3:00 pm  Total Quality Management program #38 
                 (University of New Mexico series).
        4:00 pm  8:00 pm and 12:00 midnight P NASA Today 
                 and subsequent programming repeat.
Friday, October 2, 1992
Live   12:00 pm  NASA Today news program
       12:15 pm  Adventures in Research.
       12:30 pm  Regenerative Processes.
        1:00 pm  Flight of Apollo 8.
        1:30 pm  Progress in Aeronautics.
        2:00 pm  Starfinder program #20.
        2:15 pm  Aeronautics & Space Report.
        2:30 pm  Skylab P First 40 Days.
        3:00 pm  Total Quality Management program #39 
                 (University of New Mexico series).
        4:00 pm  8:00 pm and 12:00 midnight P NASA Today 
                 and subsequent programming repeat.
  
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