Dec. 28, 2007 J.D. Harrington Headquarters, Washington 202-358-5241 j.d.harrington@nasa.gov MEDIA ADVISORY: M07-191 NASA MEDIA BRIEFING TO DISCUSS RELEASE OF AVIATION SAFETY DATA WASHINGTON - NASA will hold a media teleconference on Monday, Dec. 31 at 1 p.m. EST, to discuss its release of the National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (NAOMS) data. The data will be posted on the Web at the start of the teleconference at: http://www.nasa.gov Briefing participants will be NASA Administrator Michael Griffin ...Continue Reading

The following sections were updated since 26 December 2007. -- FIRE (1 updated events, 1 new images) -- KANGAROO ISLAND BUSHFIRES Fires have been burning in and near several parks and conservation areas on South Australia's Kangaroo Island for nearly a week in mid-December 2007. * http://naturalhazards.nasa.gov/shownh.php3?img_id=14666 *** MODIS(Aqua) image from Dec 26 2007 (Posted on Dec 27 2007 1:57PM) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Natural Hazards is a service of NASA's Eart ...Continue Reading

Dec. 21, 2007 John Yembrick Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0602 john.yembrick-1@nasa.gov Steve Roy Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034 steven.e.roy@nasa.gov CONTRACT RELEASE: C07-065 NASA EXTENDS SPACE SHUTTLE EXTERNAL TANK CONTRACT WASHINGTON - NASA has signed a $465.7 million contract modification with Lockheed Martin, New Orleans, for space shuttle external tanks. The modification aligns and extends all activities associated with the production contract for the tanks to the launch s ...Continue Reading

Dec. 21, 2007 Grey Hautaluoma Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0668 grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov D.C. Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-9011 agle@jpl.nasa.gov RELEASE: 07-284 ASTRONOMERS MONITOR ASTEROID TO PASS NEAR MARS WASHINGTON - Astronomers funded by NASA are monitoring the trajectory of an asteroid estimated to be 164-feet wide that is expected to cross Mars' orbital path early next year. Observations provided by the astronomers and analyzed by NASA's Near-Earth Object Office at the ...Continue Reading

The following sections were updated since 20 December 2007. -- DUST AND SMOKE (2 updated events, 2 new images) -- BODELE DEPRESSION DUST STORM Dust-storm activity picked up in the Bodele Depression in mid-December 2007. * http://naturalhazards.nasa.gov/shownh.php3?img_id=14664 *** MODIS(Aqua) image from Dec 20 2007 (Posted on Dec 21 2007 1:59PM) DUST STORM OVER TURKEY, SYRIA, AND IRAQ A dust storm formed over the borders of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq on December 20, 2007. * http://naturalhazards.nasa.gov/shownh.php3? ...Continue Reading

Dec. 21, 2007 David E. Steitz Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1730 david.steitz@nasa.gov RELEASE: 07-285 NASA SPINOFF 2007 HIGHLIGHTS SPACE INNOVATION IN EVERYDAY LIFE WASHINGTON - NASA's Spinoff 2007, an annual online and print publication featuring NASA space technologies that provide practical, tangible benefits to society, is now available. Spinoff 2007 highlights 39 new examples of how NASA innovation can be transferred to the commercial market place and applied to areas such as health and medicine, tran ...Continue Reading

Dec. 21, 2007 David E. Steitz Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1730 david.steitz@nasa.gov Chris Rink Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. 757-864-6786/344-7711 christopher.p.rink@nasa.gov RELEASE: 07-287 NASA NAMES NEW COMPOSITE GOVERNMENT INVENTION OF THE YEAR HAMPTON, Va. - A device that can act like muscle and nerves to expand and contract surfaces is the 2006 NASA Government Invention of the Year. NASA's Macro-Fiber Composite, or MFC, can be attached to a structure to bend it, reduce vibrations and monito ...Continue Reading

Dec. 21, 2007 John Yembrick Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0602 john.yembrick-1@nasa.gov Nicole Cloutier-Lemaster Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 nicole.cloutier-1@nasa.gov RELEASE: 07-286 ASTRONAUT DAN TANI'S STATEMENT ON THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER WASHINGTON - The following statement is from Daniel Tani, NASA astronaut and Expedition 16 flight engineer on the International Space Station, regarding the death of his mother. "I would like to thank everyone who has expressed their condolences du ...Continue Reading

Dec. 21, 2007 Grey Hautaluoma Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0668 grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov RELEASE: 07-283 NASA DELAYS MARS SCOUT MISSION TO 2013 WASHINGTON - NASA announced today that the next mission in the Mars Scout program, originally planned for launch in 2011, is now targeted for launch in 2013. The schedule slip is because of an organizational conflict of interest that was discovered in one of the mission proposal team's Phase A Concept Study. This was the shortest delay for the mission possible ...Continue Reading

Dec. 20, 2007 Michael Curie Headquarters, Washington 202-358-4715 michael.curie@nasa.gov Cynthia M. O'Carroll Goddard Space Flight Center, Md. 301-286-4647 cynthia.m.ocarroll@nasa.gov CONTRACT RELEASE: C07-064 NASA AWARDS TRACKING AND DATA RELAY SATELLITE CONTRACT WASHINGTON - NASA has awarded a contract to Boeing Satellite Systems, Inc. in El Segundo, Calif., for two satellites that will replenish the NASA communication relay network that provides telecommunications links between low Earth orbiting spacecraft ...Continue Reading