NEWS | November 5, 2014
NASA to Discuss Science Findings of Oct. 19 Comet Flyby of Mars
NASA will host a media teleconference at 9 a.m. PST (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, lead 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
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:
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
2014-381b
Preston Dyches/Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-7013/818-354-5011
preston.dyches@jpl.nasa.gov/guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov
Dwayne Brown
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
Nancy Neal Jones/Elizabeth Zubritsky
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0039/301-614-5438
nancy.n.jones@nasa.gov/elizabeth.a.zubritsky@nasa.gov