Media Advisory: NASA update on Curiosity science results – June 7, 2018

Self-portrait of Curiosity on Vera Rubin Ridge. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

There will be a NASA live event on Thursday, June 7 discussing new science results from the Mars Curiosity rover. The details are still embargoed by the journal Science until then. There has been some speculation it may have to do with the previous methane detections or past habitability, given the speakers listed, but we won’t know for sure until Thursday. In particular, Jennifer Eigenbrode, a biogeochemist, specializes in organic and isotope biogeochemistry. Paul Mahaffy specializes in the chemical and isotopic composition of planetary atmospheres, and is the Principal Investigator (PI) for the Sample Analysis at Mars Instrument (SAM) on Curiosity. From the media advisory:

The media and public are invited to ask questions during a live discussion at 2 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 7, on new science results from NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover. The results are embargoed by the journal Science until then.

The event will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Michelle Thaller, assistant director of science for communications, in NASA’s Planetary Science Division will host the chat. Participants include:

  • Paul Mahaffy, director of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
  • Jen Eigenbrode, research scientist at Goddard
  • Chris Webster, senior research fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
  • Ashwin Vasavada, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist, JPL

Media who would like to participate by phone must email their name, media affiliation and phone number to Nancy Jones at nancy.n.jones@nasa.gov by 1 p.m. on June 7.

The public can send questions on social media by using #askNASA. The event can also be watched on Facebook Live, Twitch TV, Ustream, YouTube and Twitter/Periscope.

For information about NASA’s Curiorsity rover, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/msl

-end-

 

Thoughts? Leave a Reply!