Donald Savage

Headquarters, Washington, DC February 3, 1998

(Phone: 202/358-1727)

Susan Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone: 301/286-7745)

RELEASE: 98-20

STUDENT SATELLITE TO STUDY THE SUN AND EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE

The first in a new class of inexpensive, student-built

space missions funded by NASA is scheduled for launch Feb. 5
from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. The mission, the Student
Nitric Oxide Explorer (SNOE), will investigate the effects of
energy from both the Sun and the magnetosphere on nitric oxide
densities in the Earth's upper atmosphere.

"This new class of missions allows universities and

graduate students to plan, build and fly science satellites for
low Earth orbit applications," said Dr. Wesley T. Huntress,
Jr., NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, DC. "As NASA looks for more
innovative ways to provide lower-cost access to space for
scientists, we're also committed to providing first-rate
opportunities for the next generation of scientists, now in
graduate school, to get involved in flying their investigations
in space. The three missions under this program are a
precursor to our University Explorer program of student-built
missions, the first of which will be selected later this year."

The Student Nitric Oxide Explorer spacecraft was

designed, built, and will be operated by the University of
Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in
Boulder. SNOE is the first of three student satellite projects
selected to be built under the Student Explorer Demonstration
Initiative (STEDI) program.

The spacecraft will be launched into orbit by a Pegasus

XL rocket built by Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, VA. A
Lockheed L-1011 aircraft will carry the Pegasus to an altitude
of 39,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean prior to its release.
The Pegasus XL then will free-fall in a horizontal position for
five seconds before igniting its first stage rocket motor. The
aircraft is scheduled to depart from Vandenberg at 1 a.m. EST,
with the drop planned for approximately 2:04 a.m. EST.

The 254-pound SNOE spacecraft will carry three

instruments: an ultraviolet spectrometer to measure nitric
oxide altitude profiles; a five-channel solar soft X-ray
photometer; and a two-channel auroral photometer that will
measure auroral emissions beneath the spacecraft.

Funded by NASA and managed by the Universities Space

Research Association's (USRA) Lunar and Planetary Institute in
Houston, TX, STEDI is a pilot program designed to assess the
effectiveness of small, low-cost space flight missions. The
SNOE project was selected in response to an Announcement of
Opportunity issued by USRA. Total cost of the mission is $12
million, including launch costs.

"The SNOE team has done a marvelous piece of work in

reaching this milestone on the road to their scientific payoff
in orbit," said Dr. Paul Coleman, president of the USRA. "We
at USRA could not be more grateful to NASA for the opportunity
to demonstrate that teams like Professor Barth's (the
University of Colorado principal investigator) can design,
fabricate, and assemble a sophisticated scientific satellite on
schedule and on budget, while providing outstanding educational
opportunities for young engineers and scientists."

Under the Cooperative Agreement signed in 1994, which

established the STEDI program, NASA is responsible for
selecting and procuring the launch vehicle, tracking and data
acquisition activities, technical assistance in support of the
selection process as needed, and approval of the final
selection. The Universities Space Research Association is
responsible for general oversight of the program, evaluation of
space flight proposals, conducting critical design and mission
readiness reviews, and final program review reports to NASA
upon conclusion of the missions.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD,

manages the agency's responsibilities under the STEDI program
for the Office of Space Science.

Information pertaining to SNOE is available on the

Internet at the following URL:

http://lasp.colorado.edu/snoe/

Information from USRA on the STEDI program is available

at:

http://www.usra.edu/ under "programs"

-end-