[meteorite-list] NASA to Discuss Science Findings of Oct. 19 Comet Flyby of Mars

[Ron Baalke]

November 5, 2014
     
NASA to Discuss Science Findings of Oct. 19 Comet Flyby of Mars

NASA will host a media teleconference at noon EST on Friday, Nov. 7, to 
provide initial science observations of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring's 
close flyby of Mars and the impact on the Martian atmosphere.

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, Mars 
Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and a radar instrument aboard the European 
Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft provided the first close-up studies 
of the comet that originated from the distant outer reaches of our solar 
system.

Briefing participants include:

- Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, 
Washington

- Nick Schneider, instrument lead for MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet 
Spectrograph, University of Colorado, Boulder

- Mehdi Benna, instrument scientist for MAVEN's Neutral Gas and Ion Mass 
Spectrometer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt. Maryland

- Don Gurnett, co-investigator on the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and 
Ionosphere Sounding instrument on Mars Express, University of Iowa, Iowa City

- Alan Delamere, co-investigator for MRO's HiRISE instrument, Delamere 
Support Services, Boulder, Colorado

For dial-in information, media representatives should e-mail their name, 
affiliation and telephone number to Dwayne Brown at dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 
by 11 a.m. Friday.

Visuals will be posted at the start of the event at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mars/telecon 

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

The event will also be streamed, with visuals used by the participants at:

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 

For more information about Comet Siding Spring, visit:

http://mars.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring

-end-

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

Preston Dyches/Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-7013/818-354-5011
preston.dyches at jpl.nasa.gov /guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov 

Nancy Neal Jones/Elizabeth Zubritsky
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0039/301-614-5438
nancy.n.jones at nasa.gov /elizabeth.a.zubritsky at nasa.gov