Don Savage

Headquarters, Washington DC July 2, 1997

(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Allen Kenitzer
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone: 301/286-2806)

Mary Hardin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-0344)

RELEASE: 97-149

NASA�S EARTH SCIENCE PROGRAM ADJUSTS TO LOSS

OF DATA FROM JAPANESE ADEOS SATELLITE

"The failure of Japan's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite

(ADEOS or Midori) spacecraft with the two NASA instruments aboard
it is a real blow to NASA�s science program," said Mike Mann,
Deputy Associate Administrator, NASA�s Mission to Planet Earth
Strategic Enterprise, Washington, DC.

"Fortunately, much of the ozone data provided by the Total

Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) science instruments aboard ADEOS
can be provided by instruments on another spacecraft. However,
the sea-surface winds data provided by the NASA Scatterometer
(NSCAT) will be harder to replace and were opening essentially new
opportunities for research and operational users worldwide," Mann
said.

The two NASA instruments were aboard the ADEOS spacecraft,

which on June 30 was declared lost by the National Space
Development Agency of Japan (NASDA).

"The collaboration between NASDA and NASA on this mission has

been outstanding and is reflective of the great partnership that
exists between Japan and the U.S in the area of global change
research," Mann said.

"NASDA has performed in an exemplary and open manner in the

development of the spacecraft and in dealing with us. However,
space operations is a risky business; those of us involved in the
business strive to limit the risk but sometimes mishaps do occur,"
Mann said.

"The data we have obtained to date are extremely valuable,"

said Jim Graf, NSCAT project manager at NASA�s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. "If we knew we were limited to just
nine months of data, we would have chosen the period we actually
got. We obtained coverage over the summer and winter monsoon
seasons and what may be the onset of an El Nino. Perhaps the
largest loss is the discontinuity of the long-term data set, which
is being used to understand interannual and decadal variations in
our climate."

The scatterometer measured wind speed and direction over the

world�s oceans. The data set is extremely valuable and versatile
and is being used by climate change researchers, operational
weather forecasters, and commercial ship routing firms. During
its flight, the instrument gathered 42 weeks' worth of data.

Within a very few short months after launch, the value of

ADEOS data was seen in U.S. weather forecasting. "NOAA had begun
using ocean surface wind products, derived from NSCAT, in weather
forecasting," said Helen Wood, Director, Office of Satellite Data
Processing and Distribution, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. "Ocean surface wind measurements are used in
numerical weather prediction models and help forecasters more
accurately determine the path and intensity of tropical storms and
hurricanes."

Because this instrument provided measurements that will be

needed over the long term, NASA was already developing a second
scatterometer instrument to continue this vital data set. That
instrument, called "SeaWinds," will be delivered to NASDA for
integration on the spacecraft next April and is scheduled for
launch in 1999 on ADEOS II.

The launch of a Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer sensor

aboard ADEOS was helping to extend the unique data set of global
total column ozone measurements begun by a similar instrument
carried aboard NASA�s Nimbus-7 satellite in 1978 and extended
until December 1994 with the Meteor-3 TOMS.

"The ADEOS spectrometer, along with the TOMS Earth Probe (EP)
instruments also observed the unusual loss of Arctic polar ozone
reported earlier this year," said
Dr. Arlin J. Krueger, Principal Investigator and Instrument
Scientist for TOMS/ADEOS at NASA�s Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD.

Although it also provided ozone coverage, NASA�s Total Ozone

Mapping Spectrometer/Earth Probe instrument had also been
providing high ground resolution research data to complement the
global data of the spectrometer on ADEOS. As a result, its orbit
is different than TOMS/ADEOS. The EP satellite has adequate fuel
to raise its present 500 km orbit to an orbit near the 800 km
ADEOS orbit, where contiguous Earth coverage is possible for
monitoring of ozone and volcanic eruption clouds. NASA is
considering raising TOMS/EP to a higher orbit.

With this adjustment, much more complete global coverage of

total ozone measurements previously provided by TOMS/ADEOS could
be received. However, some of the unique smaller-scale aerosols
and ozone research being done by TOMS/EP would be lost. The next
Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer mission is planned for launch on
a Russian Meteor-3M spacecraft in 2000.

The loss of the ADEOS platform has a particularly serious

impact on oceanographic research since two instruments, the Ocean
Color and Temperature Sensor and the Polarization and
Directionality of the Earth�s Reflectance, both capable of
providing routine global estimates of phytoplankton pigment
concentrations, were lost. These instruments were providing the
first routine global observations of ocean color and were
initiating the much-needed, long-term time series of such
measurements for global change studies.

Future routine global ocean-color information will be

provided by SeaWIFS, a commercial mission from which NASA will
purchase data, currently scheduled for launch July 18.

The NASA Scatterometer and Total Ozone Mapping

Spectrometer/ADEOS were developed under NASA�s strategic
enterprise called Mission to Planet Earth, a comprehensive
research effort to study Earth�s land, oceans, atmosphere, ice and
life as an interrelated system.

NASA is cooperating with NASDA to identify the cause of the

ADEOS failure and recommend a solution for future missions.

-end-