Landsat 7 Spacecraft to Join Earth Science Fleet
March 31 — NASA will deploy the first major satellite in an unprecedented program to check the health of Planet Earth and understand the complex interactions that drive global change with the April 15 launch of Landsat 7, the latest mission in the Landsat series, which has been documenting the Earth?s surface for more than a quarter century. More

Atlanta "Heat Island" Influences Its Own Weather
March 24 — Atlanta?s urban expansion and its heating effects actually can influence the area?s weather, according to a study led by scientists at NASA?s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The three-year analysis of Atlanta?s land-use, temperature, and air-quality found that large urban areas like Atlanta are warmed to create their own "heat islands." More

Space-Age Technology Peeks at American History
March 17 — A team of NASA scientists working at the request of the National Archives has proved the the containers preserving several pages of the U.S. Constitution are still safely sealed. The team from Langley Research Center adapted a laser system from an atmospheric research program to peer into the encasements. More

New Earth-Imaging Radar Satellite Planned
March 15 — NASA is seeking proposals for a low-cost, long-duration advanced Earth-imaging radar satellite planned for launch in late 2002. The Lightweight Synthetic Aperture (LightSAR) mission is part of the agency?s long-term interest in development of imaging radar science and technology. More

New Lease on Life for TOPEX/Poseidon
March 8 — Engineers have given the TOPEX/Poseidon oceanographic satellite a new lease on life by successfully switching to a backup radar altimeter. The change will extend the spacecraft’s lifetime of monitoring ocean circulation patterns worldwide, which began in 1992.

Greenland’s Glaciers Are Shrinking
March 4 — Greenland?s southeastern glaciers are rapidly thinning and their low elevations may be particularly sensitive to potential climate changes, a NASA study suggests. This could ?represent the first indication of an increase in the speed of outlet glaciers,? said Bill Krabill of Goddard Space Flight Center?s Wallops Flight Facility. More

New Ideas to Transform Earth Observations
March 2 — NASA’s New Millennium program has selected four concepts for further study for its Earth Observing 3 mission, technologies that could revolutionize space-based Earth observations. Each concept is designed to test innovative approaches from positions outside low-Earth orbit.

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