[meteorite-list] NASA to Celebrate MESSENGER Mission Prior to Surface Impact of Mercury

[Ron Baalke]

April 13, 2015
     
NASA to Celebrate MESSENGER Mission Prior to Surface Impact of Mercury

NASA will hold a media and public event at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 
16, to share scientific findings and technical accomplishments of the 
agency's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging 
(MESSENGER) spacecraft.

After more than 10 years in space, the highly successful mission will come to 
an end when it is expected to collide into Mercury at a speed of more than 
8,750 miles per hour (3.91 km/sec) near the end of this month.

The event will take place in the NASA Headquarters' James E. Webb Auditorium, 
300 E Street, S.W., Washington, and will be carried live on NASA Television 
and the agency's website.

Launched in August 2004, MESSENGER traveled 4.9 billion miles (7.9 billion 
kilometers) - a journey that included 15 trips around the sun and flybys of 
Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury three times - before it was inserted 
into orbit around its target planet in March 2011. The spacecraft's cameras 
and other sophisticated, high-technology instruments have collected 
unprecedented images and made other observations. Mission managers are 
preparing to impact Mercury's surface in the next couple weeks.

Participants will include:

 * James Green, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters,
   Washington
 * Sean Solomon, MESSENGER principal investigator; director, Columbia
   University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, New York
 * Helene Winters, MESSENGER project manager, Johns Hopkins University
   Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland
 * Daniel O'Shaughnessy, MESSENGER systems engineer, Johns Hopkins
   University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland

To participate by phone, reporters must contact Dwayne Brown at 202-358-1726 
or dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov and provide their media affiliation no later 
than noon Thursday April 16. Media and the public also may ask questions 
during the event via Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv 

For more information about the mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/messenger 

-end-

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

Paulette Campbell
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
240-228-6792
paulette.campbell at jhuapl.edu