May 23, 2007

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726

RELEASE: 07-121

NASA FUNDS UNIVERSITIES' NEW EXPERIMENTS FOR SUBORBITAL

FLIGHTS

WASHINGTON - NASA has selected four universities to conduct suborbital

scientific research that is a new step in reinvigorating the agency's
sounding rocket science program.

Managed out of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.,

the sounding rocket program offers a low-cost test bed for new
scientific studies and techniques, scientific instrumentation and
spacecraft technology. Launches take place world-wide, including from
Wallops, the White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and Poker Flat Research
Range, Alaska.

"NASA's sounding rocket program also is one of the most cost effective
ways to train future orbital science mission team members and
principle investigators, giving them hands-on space flight
experience," said Alan Stern, associate administrator for the Science
Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington. "I hope this
effort will be a catalyst for more suborbital work conducted for
space science and Earth science research."

NASA's Science Mission Directorate funded approximately $4.2 million

in grants. Two are university-led science investigations from
proposals selected by the directorate's heliophysics division, and
the directorate's astrophysics division selected two others. These
four payloads supplement the existing astrophysics and heliophysics
rocket programs.

Proposals, evaluated by a NASA scientific panel and external

reviewers, were selected based on scientific and technical merits,
costs and relevance to NASA programs. Grants will be funded from
between two to five years with research launches planned to occur
between 2008 and 2010.

The newly selected university payloads are:

University of Wisconsin, Madison/Kenneth Nordsieck, Principle
Investigator (PI)
"Exploring New Astrophysical Diagnostics with the Far-Ultraviolet
SpectroPolarimeter." The payload will make astronomical polarization
measurements in the far ultraviolet and explore new diagnostics of
the geometry and magnetic fields in stellar envelopes and
interstellar medium.

Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H./Kristina Lynch (PI). Partnering

universities: University of Alaska, Fairbanks; University of New
Hampshire, Durham; Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
"The Changing Aurora: in Situ and Camera Analysis of Dynamic Electron
Precipitation Structures." The payload will perform multi camera
investigations of substorm auroras and their variations.

University of Colorado, Boulder/James Green (PI)

"Imaging and Spectroscopy in the Far Ultraviolet." The payload will
perform investigations of the ratio of molecular hydrogen to carbon
monoxide found in gas clouds of other galaxies to accurately
determine the masses of those galaxies.

University of Southern California, Los Angeles/Darrell Judge (PI)

"A New Advanced Extreme Ultraviolet Optics Free Spectrometer." The
payload will test a new photoelectron focusing system that may be
used for future solar observations for calibration for space
research.

NASA sounding rockets provide brief flights into space for payloads
that include atmospheric probes, astronomy telescopes, detectors and
other technology and science investigations. Users include
corporations, universities and a host of government agencies and
other institutions.

Numerous high profile NASA satellite missions have been enabled or

enhanced by technology and techniques developed using sounding
rockets. Many NASA instrument and mission principal investigators
received their start in space experimentation participating in
sounding rocket missions.

For more information on NASA's science programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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