NASA Hosting Events For Valentine's Night Comet Encounter
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host several live media activities for the Stardust-NExT mission's close encounter with comet Tempel 1. The closest approach is expected at approximately 8:37 p.m. PST, with confirmation received on Earth at about 8:56 p.m. PST on Monday, Feb. 14.Live coverage of the Tempel 1 encounter will begin at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 14 on NASA Television and the agency's website. The coverage will include live commentary from mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and video from Lockheed Martin Space System's mission support area in Denver.
A news briefing is planned for 10 a.m. on Feb. 15. Scheduled
participants are:
-Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator, Science Mission
Directorate
-Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator, Cornell University
-Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager, JPL
-Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, University of
Washington, Seattle
To cover the Tempel 1 flyby at JPL, journalists must contact the JPL
Media Relations Office at 818-354-5011. Valid media credentials are
required. Non-U.S. citizens must bring passports.
Starting Feb. 14 at 8 p.m., news media representatives can watch live
coverage of the control room via a feed to JPL's von Karman
Auditorium. The auditorium will remain open through the evening for
media. Reporters who will not travel to JPL may call the Media
Relations Office to make arrangements to ask questions during the
Feb. 15 briefing.
Mission coverage schedule (all times PST and subject to change):
8:30 to 10 p.m., Feb. 14: Live NASA TV commentary begins from mission
control; includes coverage of closest approach and the
re-establishment of contact with the spacecraft following the encounter.
Midnight to 1:30 a.m., Feb. 15: NASA TV commentary will chronicle the
arrival and processing of the first five of 72 close-approach images
expected to be down linked after the encounter. The images are
expected to include a close-up view of the comet's surface.
10 a.m., Feb. 15: News briefing
Starting on Feb. 9, NASA TV will air Stardust-NExT mission animation
and b-roll during its Video File segments. For NASA TV streaming
video, scheduling and downlink information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Live commentary and the news conference also will be carried live on
one of JPL's Ustream channels. Viewers during events can engage in a
real-time chat and submit questions to the Stardust-NExT team at:
http://www.ustream.tv/user/
The public can watch a real-time animation of the Stardust-NExT comet
flyby using NASA's new "Eyes on the Solar System" Web tool. JPL
created this 3-D environment, which allows people to explore the
solar system directly from their computers. It is available at:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/
This flyby of Tempel 1 will give scientists an opportunity to look for
changes on the comet's surface since it was visited by NASA's Deep
Impact spacecraft in July 2005. Since then, Tempel 1 has completed
one orbit of the sun, and scientists are looking forward to
monitoring any differences in the comet.
During its 12 years in space, Stardust became the first spacecraft to
collect samples of a comet (Wild 2) in 2004, which were sent in 2006
to Earth for study. The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in
Denver built the spacecraft and manages day-to-day mission operations.
A press kit and other detailed information about Stardust-NExT is
available at:
http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.
Source: NASA
