Mar 16 2016

From The Space Library

MEDIA ADVISORY M16-029 Planetary Conference to Feature Ceres, Mars, Pluto Science Results

Researchers from NASA and other institutions will present science results from the agency’s Mars missions, New Horizons flyby of Pluto, and Dawn mission observations of the dwarf planet Ceres during the 47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 21-25 near Houston.

The conference will take place at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center at 1601 Lake Robbins Drive in The Woodlands, Texas. Briefing times (all CDT) are as follows:

• Noon, Monday, March 21 -- New Horizons mission media briefing
• Noon, Tuesday, March 22 -- Dawn mission media briefing
• 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 22 -- Alan Stern, principal investigator for the New Horizons mission, will deliver a lecture, “The Exploration of Pluto.” This lecture is free and open to the public.

Media may register to attend. For information including links to the program, media advisories and contact information, visit:

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Briefings will be live streamed and/or archived online. The schedule is available at:

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In July 2015, NASA’s New Horizons became the first spacecraft to fly past Pluto, observing a wide range of surface expressions and geology that raise fundamental questions about how small planets can have active processes billions of years after they formed.

Results from the first year of Dawn’s exploration of Ceres mission will be presented, including new insights about the dwarf planet’s surface and composition.

The science presentations at the conference will include what researchers have learned from recent investigation by NASA's Curiosity rover of an active Martian sand dune and diverse findings from other NASA missions to Mars.

The conference is presented by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston. LPI is managed by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a national, nonprofit consortium of 105 leading research universities chartered in 1969 by the National Academy of Sciences at the request of NASA. USRA operates programs and institutes focused on research and education in several disciplines engaged in space-related science and engineering.