On Wednesday, December 19, 2007, NASA will provide an informational telecon briefing on the International Space Station (ISS) external payload accommodation and integration capabilities. The capabilities for installing and operating payloads on the Express Logistics Carriers (ELC) mounted on the ISS truss structure, the Japanese Experiment Module ("Kibo") Exposed Facility (EF), the European Space Agency (ESA) Columbus External Payload Facility (EPF), the U.S. Laboratory's Window Research Observation Facility (WORF), and the Japanese HII Transfer Vehicle (HTV) (launch vehicle) will be described.

These ISS capabilities are relevant to the Small Explorer (SMEX) and Missions of Opportunity Announcement of Opportunity (AO), which solicits proposals for small Mission of Opportunity class experiments/payloads. The SMEX solicitation may be found on NSPIRES at http://nspires.nasaprs.com (select "Solicitations", then "Open Solicitations", and then "NNH07ZDA0030" -see Amendment 2 for ISS-based payloads). Proposals for ISS-based experiments are due on February 12, 2008. Technical interchange briefing charts and answers to questions provided at the telecon/meeting on December 19, 2007, will be posted later at the ISS Earth and Space Science site http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/nlab/platform.html, along with answers to other questions from potential proposers and previously posted material referred to in the SMEX AO Amendment 2.

Participation in the telecon briefing is not necessary in order to provide an ISS related proposal in response to the SMEX AO, but proposers may find the briefing beneficial. The telecon briefing will begin at 9 a.m. Central Time on December 19, 2007, and will end at 12:00 noon for the briefing portion. A question and answer period is scheduled from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM for those who are interested in further discussion. The meeting will be held at the Gilruth Center, near the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The telecon briefing will provide information on the capabilities and operations of various ISS elements which can be used to mount observational and other external payloads, and on the ISS launch capabilities in the post-Shuttle era.

There is no fee for participating in the technical interchange telecon, but all participants must pre-register by Tuesday, December 18, 1:00pm CST. To pre-register, please email your full name, affiliation, address, telephone number, fax number, email address, and U.S. citizenship information to: pdl.helpdesk@msfc.nasa.gov, and put "SMEX AO TIM Registration" in the Subject field of your email. The information being presented may be export controlled and ITAR sensitive; thus, all attendees must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents (hold green cards). Telecon access information and a meeting location map will be provided to pre-registered participants. Charts planned to be used at the telecon/meeting will be emailed to pre-registered participants by Tuesday, December 18, 5:00pm CST. Following the briefing, a version of the charts and notes from Q&As are planned to be posted at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/nlab/platform.html.

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