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Melissa Motichek
Headquarters, Washington           January 29, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1141)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N03-010

SHUTTLE'S DESERT DUST EXPERIMENT DELIVERS

     An experiment aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS- 107) has 
uncovered a new phenomenon. Researchers made the discovery studying 
the role of aerosol particles in global climate changes.

The Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX) is gathering data 
about aerosol plumes emitted from deserts. MEIDEX builds on previous 
studies that showed aerosol particles might be one of the primary 
agents that can offset warming.

Professor Joachim Joseph of Israel's Tel Aviv University will announce 
the MEIDEX findings at approximately 2:30 p.m., Thursday, January 30, 
at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He will premier a video about 
MEIDEX findings.

Interested media should arrive at the NASA Headquarters' west entrance 
at 300 E Street, S.W., Washington, by 2:00 p.m. EST. The briefing is 
in the NASA newsroom. The announcement will be broadcast live on NASA 
TV. NASA Television is available on GE-2, Transponder 9C, at 85 
degrees west longitude, vertical polarization; with a frequency of 
3880 MHz and audio of 6.8 MHz.

The web cast is available on the Internet at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/ntvweb.html

MEIDEX is a joint project of the Israel Space Agency and NASA. 
Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, is a member of the STS-107 crew.

For more information, contact Melissa Motichek at: 202/359- 1141. More 
information about MEIDEX is available on the Internet at:

http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/sts-107/107_MEIDEX.pdf

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