WASHINGTON — NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 15, to discuss the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.
NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging, or MESSENGER, will enter orbit at approximately 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 17. The spacecraft has conducted more than a dozen laps through the inner solar system for the past 6.6 years.
Media teleconference participants are:
— Andy Calloway, MESSENGER mission operations manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md.
— Carl Engelbrecht, MESSENGER propulsion subsystem lead, APL
— Sean Solomon, MESSENGER principal investigator, Carnegie Institution of Washington
To participate and to receive dial-in instructions, reporters must contact Steve Cole at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov or 202-358-0918.
During the briefing, related images will be available at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/media/MOITelecon.html
Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on NASA’s website at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio
At 10 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 16, NASA experts will hold a one-hour, live Web chat to answer questions about MESSENGER’s orbital insertion. The chat window will open at 9:30 a.m. To participate, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/messenger_chat.html
For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/messenger
