MENLO PARK, Calif. - May 7, 2002 - SRI International, a leading independent research institute based in Silicon Valley, today announced that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Office of Space Science's Applied Information Systems Research (NASA OSS AISR) program has awarded SRI funds to develop the basis of a "National Virtual Aeronomical Observatory" (NVAO). The estimated funding is $381,000 over two years.

The NVAO would collect high-resolution survey spectra of optical emissions from excited atoms and molecules in Earth's night atmosphere. Astronomers' echelle spectrographs are already recording these sky spectra during every hour of every night at numerous locations. These data would be made available to atmospheric scientists and astronomers through the World Wide Web, in standardized formats, with appropriate access and inquiry tools. Students and researchers would be able to perform "observations" on the "real atmosphere" from their desktops, either as educational exercises, as publishable research, or as "dry run" experiments before taking to the field.

The NVAO concept is founded on research performed by scientists in SRI's Molecular Physics Laboratory, who since 1997 have been finding atmospheric surprises in a small subset of the potentially available sky spectra, collected from a few collaborating astronomers using Keck telescopes. Even this limited collection provides the best available survey spectra of optical emissions from the Earth's night atmosphere, with an unparalleled combination of sensitivity, dynamic range, spectral coverage, and resolution. SRI's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation's Atmospheric Sciences Division.

The NVAO concept builds on the broader theme of a National Virtual Observatory (NVO), ranked by a recent National Academy of Science report, Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium, as the most important small initiative in astronomy for the 2001-2010 timeframe. The NVO would provide a seamless "digital sky" in all wavelengths, based on the massive data sets being created now, and the even more massive data sets yet to come with future surveys and observatories. New tools would be developed to explore the data.

SRI solicits the participation of researchers in the NVAO project as postdoctoral fellows, visiting graduate students, or as summer students in its Research Experience for Undergraduate Students program (www.sri.com/psd/reu/). The institute also solicits participation by senior atmospheric science and astronomy researchers as collaborators, users, data donors, or members of the NVAO Scientific Advisory Group. International collaborations are especially welcome. Interested parties should contact David L. Huestis, Ph.D., director of the NVAO at SRI, at david.huestis@sri.com.

SRI's Molecular Physics Laboratory (www.sri.com/psd/physics/) provides government and commercial clients with fundamental and applied research in areas such as laser sensors and diagnostics, mass spectroscopy, and atmospheric processes.

For more information on the NVAO project, visit www.nvao.org/NVAO/docs/flyer.html.

About SRI International
Silicon Valley-based SRI International (http://www.sri.com) is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. Founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of clients for more than 55 years. The nonprofit research institute performs contract research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses and private foundations. SRI is well known for its innovations in information technology, telecommunications, engineering, pharmaceuticals, chemistry, physics, and the public policy areas of education, health, and economic development. In addition to conducting contract R&D, SRI licenses its technologies, forms strategic partnerships and creates spin-off companies.