Douglas Isbell

Headquarters, Washington, DC August 9, 1999

(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Mary Hardin/Frank O'Donnell

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-5011)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N99-044

MARS: AN ACTIVE PLANET TODAY? BRIEFING SET FOR AUGUST 10

The camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission has revealed
surprising new aspects of cloud fronts, dust devils and sand dunes on
the red planet with major implications for understanding how the weather
on Mars varies from season to season and from year to year.

New still images and related video products that are helping
scientists study these dynamic features in greater detail than ever
before will be the subject of a press briefing on Tuesday, Aug. 10. The
Space Science Update will be held at 1 p.m. EDT in the James E. Webb
Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. SW, Washington, DC.

Briefing presenters will include:

- Dr. Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mars Orbiter Camera
instrument on Mars Global Surveyor, from Malin Space Science Systems,
San Diego
- Dr. Peter Thomas, a member of the Mars Global Surveyor camera team
from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- Dr. Jim Zimbelman, planetary geologist in the Center for Earth and
Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian Institution's Air & Space Museum,
Washington, DC
- Moderator Dr. Michael Meyer, Mars Surveyor 2001 program scientist in
the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters

Mars Global Surveyor carries five science instruments designed to

generate a complete global portrait of Mars and its seasonal changes
during a full Martian year, the equivalent of two Earth years. The
spacecraft entered its primary circular mapping orbit in February, and
is just beginning its second full Martian year in orbit around the red
planet.

Global Surveyor is the first mission in a long-term program of Mars

exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program, which is managed by the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of
Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed
Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO, which developed and operates the Global
Surveyor spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, CA.

The briefing will be carried live on NASA Television, which is

available on transponder 9C of the GE-2 satellite at 85 degrees West
longitude, vertical polarization, frequency 3880 MHz, audio of 6.8 MHz.
Two-way question and answer capability will be available for news media
at NASA centers.

-end-