In 2007, Vintage was selected as a NASA Explorer School. Explorer Schools develop and implement three-year action plans to address local challenges in science, technology, and mathematics education. The goal is to bring educators, administrators, students, and families together in sustained involvement with NASA's education programs.

Students have been preparing for the event by participating in NASA Digital Learning Network events and hosting a NASA Community Night. Students also participated in an "Ask an Astronaut" contest to develop the best questions to ask during the event, presenting their suggestions to a panel of students, scientists and administrators who helped choose the winning questions. Following the event, students will construct a space station model that will be displayed in the auditorium to commemorate the event.

The event is part of a series with educational organizations in the U.S. and abroad to improve teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is an integral component of Teaching From Space Project. The project promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the kindergarten through 12th grade education community using the unique environment of human spaceflight.

NASA Television will air video of Williams, Creamer and Noguchi during the downlink. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:

Journalists will be able to observe and photograph tests of prototype rovers designed to prospect for ice in craters and systems to manufacture oxygen from soil. Engineers involved in the systems' development will be available for interviews.

Reporters should contact Kimberly Land at 757-746-4749 (kimberly.w.land@nasa.gov), or Ashley Edwards at 202-358-1756 (ashley.edwards-1@nasa.gov) by Friday, Jan.22, to attend. Access to the test site requires an escort and a letter of assignment on company letterhead for credentials.

This second round of Hawaii field tests highlights international collaboration. U.S., Canadian, and German scientists and engineers will test concepts for survival, transportation, communication, fuel production, and construction on other planetary bodies. The Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, or PISCES, at the University of Hawaii, Hilo, hosts the collaborative mission.

NASA's In Situ Resource Utilization project develops methods for explorers to take advantage of resources at potential landing sites. For more information about NASA's exploration plans, visit:

From left are: Mission Specialist Kathryn Hire, Commander George Zamka, Mission Specialist Nicolas Patrick and Pilot Terry Virts.

Each winning proposal team initially will receive approximately $3.3 million in 2010 to conduct a 12-month mission concept study that focuses on implementation feasibility, cost, management and technical plans. Studies also will include plans for educational outreach and small business opportunities. The studies will begin this year, and the selected mission must be ready for launch no later than Dec. 30, 2018. Mission cost, excluding the launch vehicle, is limited to $650 million.

"These are projects that inspire and excite young scientists, engineers and the public," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "These three proposals provide the best science value among eight submitted to NASA."

The Surface and Atmosphere Geochemical Explorer, or SAGE, mission to Venus would release a probe to descend through the planet's atmosphere. During descent, instruments would conduct extensive measurements of the atmosphere's composition and obtain meteorological data. The probe then would land on the surface of Venus, where its abrading tool would expose both a weathered and a pristine surface area to measure its composition and mineralogy. Scientists hope to understand the origin of Venus and why it is so different from Earth. Larry Esposito of the University of Colorado, Boulder, is the principal investigator.

Tony Colaprete and Kevin Zahnle, both research scientists at NASA Ames, are SAGE science team co-investigators. Colaprete also is the principal investigator of the SAGE Atmospheric Structure Investigation (ASI) and instrument package. The ASI instrument package will measure pressure, temperature and wind as the probe descends from the top of its atmosphere, approximately 93 miles high, to the surface. NASA Ames also is responsible for the SAGE Instrument Control Module, which interfaces with each module and the lander. The instrument package will determine Venus's atmospheric structure, stability and composition, using sensors, including an Inertial Measurement Unit. The unit includes accelerometers and gyroscopes; a temperature and pressure measuring assembly, to measure temperature, dynamic and static pressure and determine the spacecraft's descent speed; and an anemometer to measure surface wind speed.

“We can build a coherent picture of Venus's atmospheric profile by taking direct measurements in unprecedented accuracy and resolution with a unique set of sensors as SAGE flies through the atmosphere,” Colaprete said. “Wind speed, direction and the rate at which the atmosphere overturns are critical to understanding the chemistry of the atmosphere and how it interacts with the surface.”

Zahnle is part of a team that will interpret the abundances of gases in Venus's atmosphere measured by SAGE as it descends to the planet's surface. Zahnle will focus on the presence of noble gases, such as helium and neon, but particularly xenon.

"Noble gases are both rare on planets like Earth and Venus and chemically inert, but they accumulate in the atmosphere," Zahnle said. "This makes them accessible to a probe like SAGE."

Some of the noble gases are made by radioactive decay of rock-forming elements like potassium and uranium, which enter the atmosphere through volcanic eruptions.

"Some noble gases can be used to determine the geologic history of Venus because radioactive decay acts as a kind of clock," Zahnle explained. "Other noble gases are primordial, in the sense that they formed before the planets, and can be used to determine the origin and earliest evolution of planets and their atmospheres."

The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer spacecraft, called OSIRIS-REx, would rendezvous and orbit a primitive asteroid. After extensive measurements, instruments would collect more than two ounces of material from the asteroid's surface for analysis on Earth. The returned samples would help scientists better understand and answer long-held questions about the formation of our solar system and the origin of complex molecules necessary for life. Michael Drake of the University of Arizona in Tucson, is the principal investigator.

Scott Sandford, research scientist at NASA Ames, an OSIRIS-REx science team co-investigator, will assess and control spacecraft contamination, particularly for organic particles that may appear during the design, construction, flight or recovery of the spacecraft.

While at the asteroid, the OSIRIS-REx will study the asteroid's shape, rotation and other features. Scientists then will analyze the sample to identify the minerals and organics that comprise the asteroid.

"We are hoping to find out what the true composition of organic-rich asteroids are and find out what sort of impact hazards and potential space resources they represent," said Sandford.

Sandford also will help organize and lead a portion of the Preliminary Examination Team that will study and analyze the organic particles present in the returned samples, as well as assess the cleanliness of the sample return capsule (SRC).

"When the SRC re-enters Earth's atmosphere, the spacecraft lets atmospheric air into the capsule," explained Sandford. "However, we don't want that air to also suck in contamination that will ruin the samples."

To prevent contamination, the SRC will be equipped with an air filter to protect the sample. Sandford brings his experience testing filter designs from his work on NASA's Stardust mission to collect comet dust and NASA's Genesis mission to collect solar wind particles.

Sandford also is part of another science team that will study a force that acts on rotating bodies in space, known as the Yarkovsky effect, which can cause asteroids to change their orbits. Data from the mission science instruments can also be compared with data from Earth-based telescopes. These comparisons will help scientists understand the nature of asteroids in our solar system.

"This is a key issue for being able to predict the orbits of asteroids and determine their dangers as impact hazards," said Sandford. "The science instruments also will measure the composition of the asteroid even before we get samples back."

After the samples have been analyzed, Sandford will work with the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, to organize their distribution to various organizations and researchers.

In addition to science team support, the Human-Computer Interaction Group at NASA Ames is developing software for the science processing and operations center at the University of Arizona, Tuscon.

If OSIRIS-REx is selected as a mission, NASA Ames also will provide thermal protection systems support by completing heat shield and design testing and verification in the NASA Ames arc jet facilities.

The proposals were submitted to NASA on July 31, 2009, in response to the New Frontiers Program 2009 Announcement of Opportunity. New Frontiers seeks to explore the solar system with frequent, medium-class spacecraft missions that will conduct high-quality, focused scientific investigations designed to enhance our understanding of the solar system. The New Frontiers Program is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., for NASA Headquarters.

The final selection will become the third mission in the program. New Horizons, NASA’s first New Frontiers mission, launched in 2006, will fly by the Pluto-Charon system in 2015, then target another Kuiper Belt object for study. The second mission, called Juno, is designed to orbit Jupiter from pole to pole for the first time, conducting an in-depth study of the giant planet's atmosphere and interior. It is slated for launch in August 2011.

For more information about the New Frontiers Program, visit the New Frontiers program site.

NASA partnered with the General Services Administration to provide a first-of-its-kind, Web-based, electronic artifacts prescreening capability last year. On Oct. 1, 2009, the GSA launched a Web initiative for screening and requesting NASA's space shuttle artifacts. The first round ended Nov. 30, and all 913 artifacts were allocated.

A second Web-based screening opportunity begins Tuesday. It includes approximately 2,500 potential artifacts from NASA programs that include the space shuttle, Hubble Space Telescope, Apollo, Mercury, and Gemini. It is available at:

Live status updates, including the start time for the news conference, will be provided via the NASA News Twitter feed during the meeting. To access the feed, go to the NASA.gov homepage or visit:

The briefing participants are:
- Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations
- Mike Suffredini, manager, Space Station Program
- Mike Moses, space shuttle launch integration manager, Space Shuttle Program
- Mike Leinbach, space shuttle launch director

NASA Television and the agency's Web site will carry the live briefing. Reporters may ask questions from participating NASA locations and should contact their preferred NASA center to confirm participation.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

The briefing participants are:
- Richard Fisher, Heliophysics division director, NASA Headquarters in Washington
- Madhulika Guhathakurta, SDO program scientist, NASA Headquarters
- Dean Pesnell, SDO project scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
- Elizabeth Citrin, SDO project manager, Goddard

The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's Web site. To watch the briefing on the Web, visit:

j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

For more information about the SDO mission, visit:

Dowdell will conduct the interviews from Launch Pad 39A, just outside space shuttle Endeavour's payload bay. Tranquility, the next pressurized element bound for the station, will be placed inside Endeavour on 39A for its targeted launch on Sunday, Feb. 7.

Dowdell has worked for NASA since 1989, beginning his career in the Space Shuttle Program as an agency and orbiter test director. He is NASA's manager responsible for giving the "go" to launch the station payload and the readiness of the orbiting laboratory to receive and carry out its installation. Dowdell holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Fairmont State College in Fairmont, W.Va., and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from West Virginia University in Morgantown.

To schedule interviews, reporters should contact Tracy Young at 321-867-9284 or by e-mail to tracy.g.young@nasa.gov by noon Thursday, Jan. 21.

The NASA Live Interview Media Outlet channel will be used for the interviews. The channel is a digital satellite C-band downlink by uplink provider Americom. It is on satellite AMC 3, Transponder 9C, orbital position 87 Degrees West, transmission format is DVB-S, 4:2:0, downlink frequency 3865.5 Mhz, downlink polarity is horizontal, FEC is 3/4, data rate is 6.0 Mbps, symbol rate is 4.3404 Msps.

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

Analysis of NASA satellite images showing areas of landslide risk have been shared with regional and international humanitarian assistance groups to assist those agencies with pinpointing their disaster relief efforts and anticipating further damages due to landslides.

The NASA satellite image analysis (see below) was produced by CATHALAC, the Spanish acronym for the Water Center for Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean. From its regional headquarters in Panama City, Panama, CATHALAC is one of the main implementing agencies for SERVIR, the Regional Visualization & Monitoring System for Mesoamerica and the Dominican Republic. SERVIR is supported by NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Since SERVIR’s establishment in Mesoamerica in 2005, the system has served as a virtual observatory of the region’s atmosphere and terrestrial and marine environment. For more information, visit http://www.servir.net.

Endeavour's STS-130 Mission
Commander George Zamka will lead the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour. Terry Virts will serve as the pilot. Mission Specialists are Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire. Virts will be making his first trip to space.

Shuttle Endeavour and its crew will deliver to the space station a third connecting module, the Italian-built Tranquility node and the seven-windowed cupola, which will be used as a control room for robotics. The mission will feature three spacewalks.

Liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is targeted for February 7, 2010, at 4:39 a.m. EST

Additional Resources
› STS-130 Mission Summary (448 Kb PDF)
› Reusable Solid Rocket Motor and Solid Rocket Boosters
› Fact Sheet: Remaining Shuttle Missions (1.3 Mb PDF)

Orbiter Status
› About the Orbiters

Following the 2003 space shuttle Columbia accident, Congress directed the ASAP to submit an annual report to Congress and the NASA administrator documenting the panel’s observations and recommendations. This year’s report advises NASA on issues that have potential to directly or indirectly impact the safety of astronauts, NASA personnel, contractors, programs and missions.

"The panel’s report provides a summary of key safety-related issues the agency confronts at this time,” ASAP Chairman Joseph W. Dyer said. "The most important relate to the future of the nation's human spaceflight program. Critical safety issues the panel reviewed include human rating requirements for potential commercial and international entities, extension of the shuttle beyond the current manifest, the workforce transition from the shuttle to the follow-on program, the need for candid public communications about the risks of human spaceflight, and more aggressive use of robots to reduce the risk of human exploration."

Some of the panel's critical safety findings in the 18-page report include:

- No manufacturer of Commercial Orbital Transportation Services is currently qualified for human-rating requirements, despite some claims and beliefs to the contrary.

-To abandon the program of record as a baseline for an alternative without demonstrated capability or proven superiority is unwise and probably not cost-effective.

-Extension of the shuttle program significantly beyond the current manifest would be ill-advised. The panel is concerned about discussions regarding possible extension of shuttle operations.

For more information about the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel and to view the 2009 report, visit: