[meteorite-list] Genesis, Cassini, Mars Missions Focus of Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Mar 21 13:24:56 2005
Message-ID: <200503140638.j2E6c7g26986_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

March 10, 2005

William Jeffs
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281/483-5111

Mary Cloud
Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston
281/486-2143

Report #J05-009

GENESIS, CASSINI, MARS MISSIONS FOCUS OF SCIENCE CONFERENCE

New discoveries from Titan and Saturn, the status of ongoing studies of
solar ions returned last year on the Genesis spacecraft and ongoing studies
of Mars Exploration Rover results highlight the 36th Lunar and Planetary
Science Conference.

Hundreds of leading scientists from around the world will meet next week in
Houston to discuss these and other topics. The conference will be held March
14-18 at the South Shore Harbour Resort & Conference Center in League City,
Texas.

"With initial studies of Genesis solar science samples now beginning and
with the Huygens probe, transported to Saturn aboard the Cassini spacecraft,
sending back incredible imagery and data on Saturn and its moon, Titan, this
is an exciting time for space scientists," said Eileen Stansbery, Deputy
Director, Office of Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science at
NASA's Johnson Space Center. "These missions, together with the continuing
discoveries returned by the Mars Rover Exploration Missions and the nation's
new vision of returning humans to the Moon and traveling on to Mars and
beyond, make this year's conference especially timely."

As part of the conference, a special session on the Genesis mission will be
held at 2:15 p.m. March 14. The session will include presentations on the
condition and assessment of the solar wind collector materials, results from
contamination studies and preliminary science.

&quot;It brings a great deal of satisfaction, with the papers to be
presented at this conference showing that our sample collectors do contain
pieces of the sun, that the hard efforts and work of the Genesis Team have
paid off,&quot; said Don Sweetnam, Genesis project manager at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. &quot;I am excited for the solar scientists around
the world who will now have an unprecedented opportunity to unlock the
secrets of the Sun.&quot;

Special sessions on Cassini at Saturn will be held March 16 and 17. A
preliminary program and abstracts are available on the Internet at:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/program.pdf

More information about conference events and registration forms can be found
at:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/lpsc2005.3rd.html

The 2005 conference is sponsored by NASA, Johnson Space Center and the Lunar
and Planetary Institute.
Received on Mon 14 Mar 2005 01:38:06 AM PST