Douglas Isbell

Headquarters, Washington, DC April 1, 1999

(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Franklin O'Donnell
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-5011)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N99-17

BRIEFING: PERFORMANCE
OF DEEP SPACE 1 ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES

NASA's Deep Space 1 team will report next week on the

mission's revolutionary technologies, including an exotic ion
propulsion system and a robotic navigator that will guide the
spacecraft to an asteroid rendezvous this summer.

The team will brief reporters at NASA's first Space

Technology Update at 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 6, in the James E.
Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. SW, Washington,
DC.

Launched in October 1998, Deep Space 1 is the first mission

in NASA's New Millennium Program, which tests advanced
technologies in flight so they can be used with confidence on
scientific spacecraft in the 21st century. Two of Deep Space 1's
technologies are advanced science instruments that will be
featured during the mission's close flyby of the asteroid 1992 KD
in July. This encounter, which will be guided by an autonomous
navigation system aboard Deep Space 1, will be previewed at the
briefing.

Briefing topics will include:

* a program overview, by Dr. Peter Ulrich, director of the

Advanced Technology and Mission Studies Division in the Office of
Space Science at NASA Headquarters;
* an overview of mission results, by Dr. Marc Rayman, the
Deep Space 1 deputy mission manager and chief mission engineer at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA;
* testing of the ion engine, by Tom Bond, program manager at
Hughes Electron Dynamics Division, Torrance, CA;
* mission technologies designed to make spacecraft more
autonomous, by Dr. Guy Man, chair of the New Millennium Program's
integrated product development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory;

* potential uses of Deep Space 1 technologies on future

science missions, by Dr. Faith Vilas, space scientist at NASA's
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX.

Deep Space 1 project engineers will staff exhibits of

hardware and technology related to the mission in the west lobby
of NASA Headquarters.

Extensive information on Deep Space 1, including a 37-page

press kit, is available on the Internet at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1news/

The briefing will be carried live on NASA Television, which

is available on transponder 9C of the GE-2 satellite at 85 degrees
West longitude, vertical polarization, frequency 3880 MHz, audio
of 6.8 MHz. Two-way question and answer capability will be
available for news media at NASA centers.

-end-