Charles Redmond

Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

October 29, 1993
(Phone: 202/358-1757)

Michael Mewhinney
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
(Phone: 415/604-9000)

RELEASE: 93-196

U.S./RUSSIAN SPACE AGENCIES HOOKING SCIENCE NETWORKS

U.S. and Russian scientists soon will be able to communicate

with each other directly over an international computer network
now being set up by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View,
Calif.

Starting in January 1994, the NASA Science Internet (NSI)

will connect research sites in the United States with Russia's
Space Research Institute (IKI) in Moscow. Nine additional Russian
space-related institutions, including the Astronomical Institute,
the Institute of Biomedical Problems, the Gagarin Cosmonaut
Training Center and NPO (Scientific Production Association)
Energia, will be connected through what is called the Russian
Space Science Internet (RSSI).

The NSI link to Russia will support 15 collaborative science

programs in the first phase of the project, such as research in
life sciences, solar system exploration, astrophysics, space
physics and Earth sciences.

The NSI is the electronic backbone of NASA's scientific

computing network and connects to 150 sites and more than 40,000
NASA researchers and scientists throughout the world.

Members of Ames' NSI staff worked closely with IKI to design

the Russian Space Science Internet. "NSI's policy is to have a
presence at one site within a country," said Sheli Jones-Meylor,
NSI Requirements Manager for life and microgravity sciences at
Ames. "That site provides internet connectivity to other NASA
requirement sites."

Jones-Meylor said NSI will provide a satellite link to IKI,

which will serve as the hub of the new computer network. "IKI
will provide links to the other sites using existing Russian
telecommunications capabilities," she added.

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As part of the arrangement, NSI will loan computer networking

equipment to Russia. It will loan 11 specialized communications
routers to sites required by NASA programs. Routers are
electronic gateways which direct computer traffic among various
networks. NSI also will loan telephone modems and a computer
terminal server which will connect user terminals to the network.

"NSI will manage the new science computer network in

cooperation with RSSI," said James Hart, Chief of the Wide Area
Networking Services Branch at Ames. "RSSI will connect to the NSI
Network Operations Center at Ames which will provide continuous
monitoring and support."

"Russian scientists will be able to use information search

tools in addition to standard computer networking applications,"
said NSI Engineer Lee Wade, who has made several trips to Russia
to develop the network.

"We're not going in there and building their network," said

Christine Falsetti, Ames' NSI Project Manager. "We're teaching
them how to build their own network. Our scientists are very
enthusiastic about the start of this service. Together with our
Russian counterparts, we will install and service the networking
equipment."

Three Russian networking specialists will visit Ames later

this year for a 3-week conference on computer networking and the
Internet. When they return to Russia, they will operate and
monitor RSSI in cooperation with NSI.
 During the next few years, NSI and the U.S. Department of
Energy hope to expand the computer network to other sites in
Russia.

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