Monthly Newsletter

and science data expectations. Gary Rottman and Greg Kopp attended the COSPAR Meeting in Houston, Texas, October 10-14. Tom Woods will be presenting 3 papers just after the SORCE launch at the Fall AGU conference in San Francisco.

NASA Public Affairs Officer, Lynn Chandler, visited LASP for two days recently to review the SORCE Public Affairs Plan. This includes all planned media events and press releases, beginning with the first news release when SORCE arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, October 26. Two weeks prior to launch many more press-related activities commence, and they continue for 48 hours after the launch. Several special promotional media pieces are being prepared to go with these events.

LASP Integration and Test Engineer David Gathright and Orbital Mechanical Technician Corky Philyaw are shown preparing SORCE for mass properties testing.

Two additional NASA public relations staff accompanied Lynn to Colorado. NASA’s television producer, Rachel Weintraub, spent much of the day shooting film around LASP, including the Mission Operations Center activity (Rehearsal #1) and orchestrating special interviews that will go out to the news media before the launch and will be used as a resource when needed following the launch.

Film-maker Chris Chrissotimos is producing a SORCE CD-ROM for NASA. He will incorporate Rachel’s television interviews, as well as individual interviews he conducted with SORCE scientists during his visit. He also videotaped a special session for the education and outreach section of the CD-ROM. Ten children and their parents attended a taping of the SORCE Sun Kit Demonstration, which was led by the CU Science Discovery Program and Greg Kopp from LASP. Children from Boulder’s Crest View Elementary 5th grade participated, along with children of LASP employees.

Additional promotional pieces in progress are animated videos to present the SORCE science concepts and data, education pieces for different level audiences, and a complete press kit (with video file). The SORCE public relations package

will also include a 4-page NASA Fact Sheet with a brief overview of the mission and instrument photos. A lithograph, which is a front-to-back glossy handout, is distributed at the launch. It provides the mission overview and educational outreach activities. NASA personnel are working on a full education and outreach package for professional educators, and a Science Writer’s Guide is in the works to assist professional science writers tackling the SORCE mission. The SORCE brochure is heading to the printer and will be ready for distribution prior to launch.

The lobby area outside the LASP Mission Operations Center will have a new look prior to the SORCE launch. A large display panel will feature the spacecraft, instruments, and a very brief science overview of the SORCE mission and goals.

The new SORCE web page is very close to being activated and you will be able to find it in same place as always – http://lasp.colorado.edu/sorce. It has a whole new exciting look and much more information. It is easy to read and has information to meet the needs of the solar expert, non-technical person, and public educators teaching at many levels. After launch, the data collection and science will be a prominent feature on the site. If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact the SORCE web developer, Ann Windnagel (ann.windnagel@lasp.colorado.edu).

Close up of the two SORCE star trackers.