[Hallicrafters] Some Comet Fun With NASA

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

For Those Who Care -     
    
Feb. 8, 2011

Dwayne Brown 

Headquarters, Washington 

202-358-1726 

dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

DC Agle 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 

818-354-0474 

agle at jpl.nasa.gov 

Blaine Friedlander 

Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 

607-254-6235 

bpf2 at cornell.edu 

MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-026

NASA HOSTING EVENTS FOR VALENTINE'S NIGHT COMET ENCOUNTER

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host several live media activities for 

the Stardust-NExT mission's close encounter with comet Tempel 1. The 

closest approach is expected at approximately 8:37 p.m. PST, with 

confirmation received on Earth at about 8:56 p.m. PST on Monday, Feb. 

14. 

Live coverage of the Tempel 1 encounter will begin at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 

14 on NASA Television and the agency's website. The coverage will 

include live commentary from mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and video from Lockheed Martin 

Space System's mission support area in Denver. 

A news briefing is planned for 10 a.m. on Feb. 15. Scheduled 

participants are: 

-Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator, Science Mission 

Directorate 

-Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator, Cornell University 

-Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager, JPL 

-Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, University of 

Washington, Seattle 

To cover the Tempel 1 flyby at JPL, journalists must contact the JPL 

Media Relations Office at 818-354-5011. Valid media credentials are 

required. Non-U.S. citizens must bring passports. 

Starting Feb. 14 at 8 p.m., news media representatives can watch live 

coverage of the control room via a feed to JPL's von Karman 

Auditorium. The auditorium will remain open through the evening for 

media. Reporters who will not travel to JPL may call the Media 

Relations Office to make arrangements to ask questions during the 

Feb. 15 briefing. 

Mission coverage schedule (all times PST and subject to change): 

8:30 to 10 p.m., Feb. 14: Live NASA TV commentary begins from mission 

control; includes coverage of closest approach and the 

re-establishment of contact with the spacecraft following the 

encounter. 

Midnight to 1:30 a.m., Feb. 15: NASA TV commentary will chronicle the 

arrival and processing of the first five of 72 close-approach images 

expected to be down linked after the encounter. The images are 

expected to include a close-up view of the comet's surface. 

10 a.m., Feb. 15: News briefing 

Starting on Feb. 9, NASA TV will air Stardust-NExT mission animation 

and b-roll during its Video File segments. For NASA TV streaming 

video, scheduling and downlink information, visit: 





http://www.nasa.gov/ntv 



Live commentary and the news conference also will be carried live on 

one of JPL's Ustream channels. Viewers during events can engage in a 

real-time chat and submit questions to the Stardust-NExT team at: 





http://www.ustream.tv/user/NASAJPL2 



The public can watch a real-time animation of the Stardust-NExT comet 

flyby using NASA's new "Eyes on the Solar System" Web tool. JPL 

created this 3-D environment, which allows people to explore the 

solar system directly from their computers. It is available at: 





http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes 



This flyby of Tempel 1 will give scientists an opportunity to look for 

changes on the comet's surface since it was visited by NASA's Deep 

Impact spacecraft in July 2005. Since then, Tempel 1 has completed 

one orbit of the sun, and scientists are looking forward to 

monitoring any differences in the comet. 

During its 12 years in space, Stardust became the first spacecraft to 

collect samples of a comet (Wild 2) in 2004, which were sent in 2006 

to Earth for study. The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science 

Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in 

Denver built the spacecraft and manages day-to-day mission 

operations. 



 
Duane Fischer, W8DBF - WPE8CXO
E-Mail: dfischer at usol.com
Hallicrafters web site: www.w9wze.net
HHRP web site: hhrp.w9wze.net