Conference 7.286::space

746.0. "Argentina's Space Efforts" by MTWAIN::KLAES (All the Universe, or nothing!) Fri Aug 09 1991 13:11

Article        34272
From: [email protected] (Peter E. Yee)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: U.S. and Argentina sign space cooperation agreements (Forwarded)
Date: 9 Aug 91 00:48:29 GMT
Sender: [email protected] (USENET Administration)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
 
Debra J. Rahn
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                              August 8, 1991
(Phone:  202/453-8455)
  
RELEASE:  91-126
 
U.S. AND ARGENTINA SIGN SPACE COOPERATION AGREEMENTS
 
	In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Vice President Dan Quayle and
Argentine President Carlos Menem today signed an agreement for
cooperation in the civil uses of space, with special emphasis on Earth
and space sciences.  This agreement establishes a framework for future
cooperative space projects between NASA and the newly formed Argentine
National Commission on Space Activities (CONAE). 
 
	During the same ceremony, U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Terence
A. Todman and Raul F. Matera, the Argentine Secretary of State for
Science and Technology, signed an agreement to cooperate in a solar
physics and astrophysics satellite mission, Satelite de Aplicaciones
Cientificas-B (SAC-B). SAC-B will be the first joint spacecraft
mission undertaken by NASA and a Latin American country. 
 
	The SAC-B mission will advance the study of solar physics and
astrophysics through the examination of high energy, hard X-ray
emissions from solar flares and cosmic gamma-ray burst sources and the
examination of the spectrum and intensity of the diffuse, low energy,
soft X-ray cosmic background radiation. 
 
	By studying x-rays from solar flares, U.S. and Argentine
scientists expect to learn about the explosive acceleration of
particles that occurs during solar flares.  The diffuse x-ray cosmic
background comes from the million-degree gas that can be found in the
space between stars, and SAC-B data will be used to investigate the
nature of the gas. 
 
	By obtaining the precise time of arrival of cosmic gamma-ray
bursts at SAC-B and comparing it to times measured on interplanetary
spacecraft, scientists can precisely locate sources of gamma-ray
bursts.  The nature of the sources of cosmic gamma-ray bursts remains
a mystery until the source is identified with an object seen at other
wavelengths. 
 
	Under the SAC-B agreement, CONAE will build the spacecraft,
and the Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics will provide a solar
X-ray instrument.  NASA will provide an X-ray cosmic background
instrument built by Penn State University and X-ray spectrometers
provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.  SAC-B
will be scheduled for launch on a U.S. expendable launch vehicle.