Aug 23 1993
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
NASA said that satellite controllers had lost contact with the NOAA-13 satellite on August 21, and preliminary indications were that the spacecraft's power system was not working. NOAA was the newest in a series of polar-orbiting weather satellites. Designed to monitor the Earth's ocean and atmosphere, it collects meteorological and ocean data for direct transmission to users around the world and to central data processing centers. (NASA Release 93-151)
The 1993-94 season of NASA's Update for Teachers telecasts was scheduled to feature presentations on astronomy, life sciences, research, high-speed aeronautical research, and the environment and global change. The telecasts, a series of four, one-hour, live and interactive education television programs, were broadcast via satellite to schools in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico between 3-4 p.m. Eastern Time. (NASA Release 93-150)
Three days before the Mars Observer spacecraft was scheduled to begin orbiting the red planet, NASA engineers lost communications with the $1 billion probe. Radio contact broke off after engineers commanded the spacecraft to prepare for a crucial rocket firing on August 24 that was designed to send the spacecraft in orbit around the planet. Mars Observer was programmed to automatically fire its rockets, but NASA needed to hear from the spacecraft to be certain that had happened. If the commands were not received, the ship could fly past Mars completely. NASA officials expressed grave concern over the problem but said that communications could be restored at any moment. (UPI, Aug 22/93; AP/Aug 23/93; RTW, Aug 23/93; WSJ, Aug 23/93; P Inq, Aug 23/93; B Sun, Aug 23/93; USA Today, Aug 23/93; W Post, Aug 23/93; NY Times, Aug 23/93; C Trib, Aug 23/93; LA Times, Aug 23/93; RT, Aug 23/93)
Vigyan Corporation, Hampton, Virginia, last week asked the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals to overturn what was thought to be the largest minority-set-aside contract ever, a $180 million pact with Nyma Corporation, Greenbelt, Maryland, for engineering support services at NASA’s Lewis Research Center. Vigyan specifically charged both Nyna and NASA with conflict of interest, saying the company's winning proposal listed a current NASA employee "who possesses both proprietary and source-selection information" relevant to Vigyan's bid. (Federal Computing Week, Aug 23/93)
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