Oct 21 1999
From The Space Library
British astronomers Martin J. Ward of the University of Leicester and Keith Mason of Mullard Space Laboratory at University College, London, announced that NASA had selected them to participate in its Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer mission. NASA's mission called for the two scientists to use a pair of specialized telescopes, one measuring ultraviolet and visible light and the other measuring x-ray light, to study GRBs, the "unpredictable powerful explosions in space that sometimes last less than one second." A collaboration of Italian, British, and U.S. scientists, the Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer was one of NASA's medium-class explorer missions, scheduled for launch in 2003.
Brazilian space officials, having lost contact with their country's Saci-1 satellite days after its launch, asked NASA to help them rescue the US$4.6 million satellite. Saci-1 had launched on 14 October from China along with another satellite, the CBERS-1, which the two countries had built jointly. Brazil asked NASA to photograph the satellite, check its condition, and devise a plan for its recovery. President of the Brazilian Space Agency Luis Meira Filho remarked that Brazil had not given "the satellite up for lost," because space officials knew its location. The CBERS-1 satellite was functioning normally and had returned images of Brazil.
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