Mar 19 2018

From The Space Library

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Current revision

MEDIA ADVISORY M18-046 Media Invited to View NASA's Mission to Study Mars Interior

Media are invited to view NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander Friday, April 6, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where it’s currently undergoing final tests for its May launch.

Media attending the event will have an opportunity to interview members of the InSight team and go into the cleanroom at Astrotech Space Operations to view the lander.

This event is open only to U.S. citizens who possess a government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license, and proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate. Two forms of government-issued identification are required for access on the day of the event, including one with a photograph.

Media planning to attend this event must send their driver's license number and state of issue, date of birth, and name of their media outlet and editor's contact information, to 2nd Lt. Amy Rasmussen at amy.rasmussen@us.af.mil no later than noon PDT, Friday, March 30.

Due to space restrictions, only two representatives from each media outlet will be allowed to participate. More information will be provided to registered media regarding access, arrival and event times as details are finalized.

InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes. It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will help us better understand how other rocky planets, including Earth, are created.

InSight also will be the first planetary spacecraft to take off from the West Coast, launching aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg. Currently scheduled for May 5, the two-hour launch window opens at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT).

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver. Several European partners, including France's space agency, the Centre National d'Étude Spatiales, and the German Aerospace Center, are supporting the mission. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at its Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.

MEDIA ADVISORY M18-045 NASA to Discuss Upcoming Launch of Next Planet Hunter

Join NASA at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, March 28, as astrophysics experts discuss the upcoming launch of NASA’s next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Reporters can attend the event in person at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington or participate by phone.

The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

The news briefing participants will be:

• Paul Hertz, director, Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
• George Ricker, TESS principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Sara Seager, TESS deputy director of science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Jeff Volosin, TESS project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

A question-and-answer session will take place during the event with reporters on-site and by phone. Members of the public can also ask questions during the briefing by participating in person, or using #AskNASA.