RELEASE NO: 00-174

UNIQUE SATELLITE DUO ON TARGET FOR NOV. 18 LAUNCH

NASA is set to embark on a mission that could change the way  we look at satellite technology, as well as change the way we look  at the Earth. Launch for this important satellite duo is scheduled  Nov. 18 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. 

The Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) satellite and SAC-C, an international  cooperative mission between NASA and the Argentine Commission on  Space Activities (CONAE) are scheduled to soar into orbit at 1:24  p.m. EST.

In 1996, NASA started the New Millennium Program (NMP), designed  to identify, develop and flight validate key instrument and  spacecraft technologies that can enable new or more cost-effective  approaches to conducting science missions in the 21st century. The  first of three New Millennium Program Earth-orbiting missions is  EO-1, an advanced land-imaging mission that will demonstrate new  instruments and spacecraft systems. 

EO-1's primary focus is to develop and test a set of advanced  technology land imaging instruments. However, many other key  instruments and technologies that will have wide ranging  applications for future satellite development are also part of the  mission.

Future NASA spacecraft are expected to be smaller, lighter and  less expensive than current versions, and the EO-1 mission will  provide the on-orbit demonstration and validation of several  subsystem technologies to enable this transition. 

EO-1 will be inserted into an orbit flying in formation with the  Landsat 7 satellite taking a series of the same images. Comparison  of these "paired scene" images will be used to evaluate EO-1's  land imaging instruments.

Swales Aerospace, Beltsville, MD built the EO-1 spacecraft bus  under a NASA contract. Litton Amecom, College Park, Md. is the key  avionics subcontractor. The three primary instruments on the EO-1  observatory are the Advanced Land Imager, the Hyperion and the  Linear Imaging Spectrometer Array (LEISA) Atmospheric Corrector  (AC).

Joining EO-1 aboard the Delta rocket is the SAC-C spacecraft, an  international mission to study the structure and dynamics of the  Earth's atmosphere, ionosphere and geomagnetic field. SAC-C also  will seek to measure the space radiation in the environment and  its influence on advanced electronic components and determine the  migration route of the Franca whale. Another objective of the  payload is to verify autonomous methods of attitude and orbit  determination.

The SAC-C mission is a collaboration between the United States,  Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, France and Italy.

SAC-C has an instrument payload of 11 different instruments. Eight  of those instruments are dedicated to better understanding the  Earth's environment and ecology. SAC-C will carry three GPS  instruments to test new technology in spacecraft development and  environmental monitoring.

The Commission on Space Activities (CONAE) is responsible for  development of the spacecraft and several instruments. The  Brazilian Space Agency provided the testing facilities for SAC-C.  The Italian Space Agency has partnered with CONAE to supply both  solar panels and two GPS receivers. The Danish Space Research  Institute provided the Magnetic Mapping Payload which carries a  NASA Supplied Helium Magnetometer, and the French Space Agency is  contributing an experiment to test the response of electronic  circuitry to space radiation. 

The launch vehicle and some science instruments aboard SAC-C are  provided by NASA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,  MD, is responsible for overall project management, on behalf of  NASA's Earth Sciences Enterprise, Washington, DC. The Earth  Science Enterprise is a long-term research program dedicated to  understanding how human-induced and natural changes affect our  global environment.

To learn more about EO-1 on the Internet, visit: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/earth/eo1/eo.html 

To learn more about SAC-C on the Internet, visit: http://www.conae.gov.ar/sac-c