NEAR Descent to Eros:
Schedule of Events and Satellite, Live Web Information
NASA attempts something never before done Monday, Feb. 12, when,
starting at 10:31 a.m. EST, mission controllers at The Johns Hopkins
University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, MD, will
initiate a series of engine burns over a 4-hour period designed to
bring NASA's NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft down to the surface of asteroid
Eros.
Due to the STS-98 mission of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, NASA
Television will not be available to provide coverage of NEAR's descent
and the post-mission briefing, now scheduled for Feb. 14.
These events will be broadcast live on a separate Ku Band
satellite, Telstar K5, 97 degrees West Longitude, Transponder 12,
Downlink Frequency 11936 MHz Horizontal Polarity, Audio 6.2 & 6.8.
NASA will also provide an Internet video stream of the
activities originating from APL. Members of the media who wish to
follow the NEAR encounter activities on the Internet can contact
either the NASA HQ or APL Public Affairs offices for access
instructions and passwords.
General public access will be available on a first-come,
first-served basis on NASA's home page at http://www.nasa.gov/ and the
NEAR page at http:://near.jhuapl.edu/.
The satellite and web feed schedule is as follows (all times EST):
Monday, Feb. 12:
7 a.m. to 8 a.m. - Live shots from the NEAR Mission Operations
enter (MOC) - APL broadcast on Telstar K5
Noon - Breaking news to report results of scheduled 10:31 a.m. engine
firing, followed by NEAR Video File - APL broadcast on Telstar K5
1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. - Descent Activities from NEAR MOC. Broadcast
live via Telstar K5 with simultaneous Web cast
4 p.m. to 8 p.m. - Live shots from the NEAR MOC broadcast on Telstar
K5
Wednesday, Feb. 14:
Noon - NEAR Video File - APL broadcast on Telstar K5
1 p.m. - NEAR Post-Landing Press Briefing in APL's Kossiakoff Center
broadcast on Telstar K5 and live Web cast
Panelists for the post-mission briefing will be:
Dr. Jay Bergstralh, Acting Director, Solar System Exploration,
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Robert Farquhar, NEAR Mission Director, APL
Bobby Williams, Navigation, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, CA
Joseph Veverka, Imaging Team Leader, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Thomas Coughlin, NEAR Project Manager, APL
To receive NASA's video stream you will need the latest version of
RealPlayer installed on your computer and an active Internet
connection. The latest version of the software is available at:
http://www.real.com/R/RC.HP0207t2.buttons2.txt..R/www.real.com/player/index.html
Media interested in covering the descent activities from APL
should contact Helen Worth or Mike Buckley of the APL Public Affairs
Office, at (240) 228-5113 or (240) 228-7536. Registration is also
available through the NEAR mission Web site at http://near.jhuapl.edu/media/current_press_events.html.
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