NASA announced late Wednesday that the official launch time for shuttle mission STS-111 would be Thursday at 7:44 pm EDT (2344 GMT), in the middle of a ten-minute launch window. Weather continues to be the major concern, with only a 40 percent chance of acceptable weather for launch. No technical issues or other problems with the shuttle Endeavour have been reported.
Twenty-eight scientists have been selected by NASA to participate on the two Mars Exploration Rover missions scheduled for launch next year. The scientists and their proposed research were selected from among 84 proposals submitted to NASA. The scientists will join the existing mission science team. The rovers are scheduled for launch in mid-2003 to arrive on the surface in early 2004.
ESA has selected three proposed earth science missions for additional study. The selected missions are ACE+, a mission to study global temperature and water vapor distributions; EGPM, a spacecraft that will provide global rainfall observations; and SWARM, a constellation of four spacecraft to study the Earth’s magnetic field. ESA plans to eventually select two of the missions for development, with the first to be launched in 2008.
