Conference 7.286::space

Article         1614
From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.hot.ussr
Subject: Soviet-American ozone satellite launched
Date: 15 Aug 91 17:38:18 GMT
 
	MOSCOW (UPI) -- A Soviet Cyclone rocket Thursday launched a
satellite carrying U.S. equipment in a joint Soviet-American project
to monitor damage to Earth's ozone. 

	The Meteor-3 satellite launched from the Soviet Union's
northern Plesetsk space port carries weather forecasting equipment in
addition to the American Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, or TOMS. 

	The first TOMS was launched on a NASA Nimbus-7 satellite in
1978, enabling scientists to keep tabs on ozone levels in the atmosphere.  
The new joint project launched Thursday will allow Soviet and American 
scientists to use the Meteor to ``view'' the hole in the ozone over 
Antarctica during September and October, peak months for ozone destruction. 

	The joint project is a result of a 1987 agreement for
cooperation in space and was planned before presidents Bush and
Mikhail Gorbachev signed a treaty for even more joint work in space 
at the Moscow summit last month. 

	The satellite project will be controlled by commands from
teams of Soviet scientists at the flight control center in Moscow and
American scientists at the Goddard spaceflight center in Greenbelt,
Md.  Data will be monitored at NASA's Wallops Island facility and by
Soviet scientists in Obninsk. 

	The United States will launch a $500 million upper atmosphere
research satellite from the Space Shuttle Discovery next month to
conduct more comprehensive studies of Earth's ozone deterioration over
both poles during two winters. 

Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

Dolores Beasley
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

RELEASE: 91-165 (10/08/91)

     Preliminary data from NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
(TOMS) suggest that 1991 will be the third consecutive year that
severe ozone depletion has developed over the Antarctic.

     Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,
Md., report that ozone amounts declined steadily from mid-August
when, minimum polar values were observed to be near 200 Dobson
units, through Oct. 1, when ozone values of 127 Dobson units were
reached.

     Ozone, a molecule made up of three atoms of oxygen, acts as a
shield against solar ultraviolet radiation that increase risks of
cancer in humans and threaten food crops.  The ozone hole is a
large area of intense ozone depletion over the Antarctic continent
that occurs typically from late-August through early-October and
breaks up in mid-November.

     This year's ozone hole occupies an area of about 8 million
square miles covering the Antarctic continent.  This area is
nearly the same as previous years, making this the fourth severe
ozone hole since 1986.  The exception is 1988, when a weaker ozone
hole was observed because of unusual stratospheric weather
conditions.  The ozone hole shows no clear sign of expansion
compared to previous severe ozone hole years.

     This is the 13th year that the ozone hole has been monitored
using the TOMS, an instrument on board the Goddard-managed
Nimbus-7 spacecraft.  On Aug. 15, a refurbished engineering model
of TOMS was launched aboard a Soviet Meteor-3 spacecraft.  This
new instrument began gathering data soon after launch and also has
observed this year's ozone hole.

     NASA's commitment to environmental research continues with
the Goddard-managed Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS),
launched Sept 12, 1991.  UARS will focus on the chemical, dynamic
and energy processes that lead to ozone depletion, complementing
and amplifying the measurements of total ozone made by the TOMS
instruments.

    Beginning this month, NASA scientists will take part in the
second Arctic Airborne Stratospheric Expedition. This program,
sponsored by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, the National Science Foundation and the chemical
industry, will use high-altitude aircraft to study ozone depletion
in the Arctic.
 

Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                       October 9, 1991

Dolores Beasley
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

RELEASE:  91-168

     Ozone levels in the Antarctic have reached the lowest values
ever observed, according to preliminary data obtained by officials at
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

     The preliminary data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
(TOMS) on NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite indicate that ozone values of
less than 120 Dobson units have been measured.  Values as low as 110
(plus or minus 6) were observed on Oct. 6, however, validation of
these numbers is dependent on final calibration.

     "The minimum ozone on Oct. 6, 1991, is the lowest we have ever
seen with the TOMS instrument in its 13-year record of data," said
Goddard scientist Arlin Krueger. "Although the data are preliminary,
we expect that the final results will confirm this conclusion."

     This is the fourth severe ozone hole since 1986 and the third
consecutive year that severe ozone depletion has developed over the
Antarctic. The implications of a single-day minimum are uncertain.
The severity of each year's ozone hole also is measured by the
persistence of the depletion through the southern spring and its
geographical extent across Antarctica.

     Though research has linked man-made chlorine compounds and other
chemicals to ozone depletion, the extreme magnitude 1991 minimum
cannot necessarily be attributed solely to chemical processes, said
Dr. Jack A. Kaye, head of NASA Headquarters' Atmospheric Chemistry
Modelling and Analysis Program. Meteorological processes can cause
temporary small fluctuations inside a chemically produced ozone hole.

     Ozone, a molecule made up of three atoms of oxygen, comprises a
thin layer of the upper atmosphere that absorbs harmful ultraviolet
radiation from the Sun. The ozone hole is a large area of intense
ozone depletion over the Antarctic continent that occurs typically
during late-August through early-October and breaks up in mid-
November.

     This is the 13th year that the ozone hole has been monitored
using the TOMS on the Nimbus-7 spacecraft.  Both are managed by the
Goddard Space Flight Center. On Aug. 15, a refurbished engineering
model of TOMS was launched aboard a Soviet Meteor-3 spacecraft.  This
new instrument began gathering data soon after launch and also has
observed this year's ozone hole.
  

Dolores Beasley
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
                               Aug. 17, 1992

Release: 92-123

                  METEOR-3/TOMS: ONE YEAR LATER

     NASA'S Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), the first
NASA instrument integrated and flown on a Soviet satellite, was
successfully launched one year ago on August 15, 1991. TOMS is on
a Russian Meteor meteorological satellite and was lifted into
orbit on a Cyclone rocket from the Plesetsk launch site in the
former Soviet Union.

     The data returned from the Meteor-3/TOMS mission is yielding
scientifically useful results, said Charles Cote, Meteor-3/TOMS
project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,
Md. "These results are increasing our understanding of
atmospheric ozone, radiative transfer, aerosol detection and
improving scientists' abilities to analyze remote sensing data
for future missions," he added.

     An unexpected side benefit of the Meteor-3/TOMS is the
development of a method to determine stratospheric aerosol
properties after major volcanic events from the cross orbital
track ozone measurements.

     Scientists from both countries report they continue to
receive good data from the instrument and that it is in agreement
with the data received from the first TOMS, launched aboard
NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite in 1978.

     "Recent calculations show that the Meteor-3/TOMS data can be
used to accurately extend the 13-year record of ozone trend
determination," said Dr. Jay Herman, Goddard Meteor-3/TOMS data
scientist. "This is especially important because Nimbus-7/TOMS
will lose solar calibration early in 1993," he added.

     "This project's success points to the need for continued
cooperation," said Goddard's Dr. Arlin Krueger, Meteor-3/TOMS
project scientist.


     The TOMS instruments are managed by Goddard for NASA's
Office of Space Science and Applications, Washington, D.C. The
Russian State Committee for Hydrometeorlogy (Hydromet) provides
mission operations and TOMS housekeeping data. A Moscow team
controls the commands to the spacecraft and every two weeks
personnel from Goddard send command sequences for TOMS operations
to Russia. Data is downlinked to receiving stations at Goddard's
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va., and Obninsk,
Russia.

     More than 99.98 percent of the TOMS data taken during this
first year has been received on the ground successfully.  The 13
year-old NIMBUS-7 TOMS instrument is still collecting data
allowing comparison of results between the two instruments.  With
two instruments in different orbits the motion of volcanic
sulpher dioxide clouds can be determined more accurately.

     Meteor-3/TOMS data is archived at the National Space Science
Data Center (NSSDC) at Goddard and the Central Aerological
Observatory of Hydromet, located at Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region.
The first six months of Meteor-3/TOMS data will be available to
the public in late September.

     "The integration and launch of the Meteor-3/TOMS mission
represented a major forward in cooperative space projects with
the former Soviet Union," Cote said. "The lessons learned, in
both a technical and cultural sense, will prove invaluable for
both countries [United States and Russia] in the years to come."
The Meteor-3/TOMS is part of a 1987 US-USSR civil space
agreement.

     To ensure that ozone data will be available throughout the
next decade, NASA will continue the TOMS program using U.S. and
foreign launches.  A third TOMS is planned for launch in early
1994 and the Japanese Advanced Earth Observations Satellite
(ADEOS) will carry a fourth TOMS when it launches in 1996.
 

Article: 6053
From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.tw.science,clari.news.hot.east_europe
Subject: U.S. lab sends satellite instrument to Russia
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 15:44:52 PST
 
	LIVERMORE, Calif. (UPI) -- Having pronounced it sound,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have sent an
instrument to Russia that will be part of a major orbiting observatory. 

	The $9-million engineering model X-ray polarimeter -- a joint
development effort funded by NASA -- passed all the tests, and
physicists said the program is on schedule. 

	Scientists from throughout the world are collaborating to
launch the advanced, orbital X-ray observatory, expected to yield a
unique picture of the Universe. 

	X-rays, emitted from many celestial objects, cannot be observed 
from Earth's surface because they are absorbed by the atmosphere. 

	Livermore Lab physicist and co-investigator Eric Silver said,
``This observatory will enable us to do the basic physics necessary to
understand what is happening at the X-ray sources in the Universe.'' 

	The observatory, to be launched in late 1995 or early 1996
aboard a Russian Proton rocket, will fly in a higly elliptical orbit
that will give astronomers an unusually long, unobstucted look at
interesting X-ray sources. 

	Silver said the sensitive X-ray-detecting instruments aboard
will detect a wider spectrum of wavelengths of X-ray radiation than
any previously launched. 

	Astronomers hope to determine whether an X-ray-emitting region
of space contains a black hole, learn how a pulsar emits X-rays and
understand the underlying processes behind many other energetic
objects such as the very distant quasars.