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Lectures Highlights JPL's Next Solar System Mission: Deep Space 1

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact: John G. Watson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                          August 10, 1998

LECTURES HIGHLIGHT JPL'S NEXT SOLAR SYSTEM MISSION: DEEP SPACE 1

     NASA's Deep Space 1, the next solar system mission to be 
managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is the focus of two 
free public lectures this month. The first takes place on 
Thursday, August 20, at 7 p.m. in JPL's von Karman Auditorium, 
and the second follows on Friday, August 21, at 7 p.m. in the 
Forum at Pasadena City College. Reservations are not necessary, 
and parking is free.

     Deep Space 1 is the first flight of NASA's New Millennium 
Program, all of whose deep space and Earth-orbiting missions are 
designed to test new technologies so that they can be confidently 
used on science missions of the 21st century.     

     The low-cost, high-risk Deep Space 1 mission will validate 
such new technologies as an ion propulsion engine similar to 
those described in futuristic science fiction works. The engine 
is one of 12 innovative technologies to be tested during the 
mission, scheduled to be launched October 15 from Cape Canaveral, 
Florida. 

     Most of the validation of Deep Space 1's technologies occurs 
within two months of launch. After that the diminutive 
spacecraft, reaching just 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in height, will 
continue testing its two new science instruments while flying by 
a near-Earth asteroid, 1992 KD, in July 1999.  The instruments 
will send back visible images and infrared and ultraviolet 
spectral images while the spacecraft flies closer to an asteroid 
than has ever been attempted before, perhaps as low as 5 
kilometers (three miles). 

     Deep Space 1 Chief Mission Engineer Dr. Marc Rayman will 
present the illustrated talk. Rayman, whose doctorate in physics 
is from the University of Colorado, combined his technical 
training with his lifelong study of space exploration by joining 
the JPL staff in 1986. In 1994, he helped initiate the New 
Millennium Program; he has served in his current Deep Space 1 
role since 1995 and will assume the title of deputy mission 
manager after launch. 

     An overview of the Deep Space 1 mission is available on the 
Internet at http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/ .  Rayman's entertaining 
New Millennium Program facts can be found at 
http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/facts.htm , an educational site 
for children developed by JPL in collaboration with the 
International Technology Education Association. 

     JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. 
This lecture is part of the monthly von Karman Lecture Series, 
sponsored by the JPL Media Relations Office. A web site about the 
series is located at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/lecture/ .  
Information is also available by calling (818) 354-5011.

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