May 10, 2000
Ann Hutchison
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

Release: J00-28


OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS SUCCESSFUL RADAR MAPPING MISSION


Officials from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will present findings
from the recent Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) next Wednesday,
May 17, in a program at the Johnson Space Centerís Teague Auditorium.
The presentation, which is open to NASA employees, contractors and the
public, will begin at 2 p.m. CDT. SRTM Chief Scientist Dr. Michael
Kobrick and the missionís Chief Engineer, Ed Caro, will discuss the
11-day flight during the STS-99 mission aboard Endeavour, including the
flightís highlights, results to date, lessons learned for future flights
and the overall importance of the mission. There will be a
question-and-answer session at the conclusion of the presentation. The
session is expected to last about an hour. During the mission,
Endeavourís radar systems mapped more than 47.6 million square miles of
the area between 60 degrees north latitude and 56 degrees south latitude
at least once. This represents 99.98 percent of the planned mapping
area. About 94.6 percent of it was covered twice. Only about 80,000
square miles in scattered areas remained unimaged, most of them in North
America and most already well mapped by other methods. The data brought
home by the seven SRTM astronauts -- collected during more than 222
hours of around-the-clock radar mapping operations -- is enough to fill
more than 20,000 CDs. This information is being used to produce global
maps more accurate than any available today. Scientists expect analysis
of the data to take about 2 years. News media representatives who plan
to attend the presentation should contact the JSC newsroom at
281-483-5111 as soon as possible to arrange for badging. -END-