NASA Hosting Science Update About Jupiter's Icy Moon Europa

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Rosemary Sullivant 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif
Rosemary.sullivant@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Advisory: 2011-353b Nov. 15, 2011

NASA Hosting Science Update About Jupiter's Icy Moon Europa

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-353b&cid=release_2011-353b

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host a Science Update at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST) on Wednesday,
Nov. 16, to discuss new theories concerning Jupiter's icy moon Europa. The event will be held at NASA
Headquarters in Washington.

NASA Television and the agency's website will broadcast the event live. For NASA TV streaming
video, scheduling and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .

The event will also be streamed live, with a moderated chat, at: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

Europa, which is slightly smaller than Earth's moon, is thought to have an iron core, a rocky mantle and
an ocean of salty water beneath its frozen surface.

Briefing participants are:
- Britney Schmidt, postdoctoral fellow, Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin
- Tori Hoehler, astrobiologist and senior research scientist, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
- Louise Prockter, planetary scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
- Tom Wagner, program scientist, cryospheric sciences, Earth Science Division, NASA Headquarters

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .

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NASA Releases Updated Radar Movie of Asteroid 2005 YU55

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Video advisory: 2011-351 Nov. 11, 2011

NASA Releases Updated Radar Movie of Asteroid 2005 YU55

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-351&cid=release_2011-351

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA Scientists working with the 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space
Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., have released a second, longer, and more refined, movie
clip of asteroid 2005 YU55. The images were generated from data collected at Goldstone on
Nov. 7, 2011, between 11:24 a.m. and 1:35 p.m. PST (2:24 p.m. and 4:35 p.m. EST).

The movie clip can be found at: http://1.usa.gov/YU55 .

Each of the 28 frames required 20 minutes of data collection by the Goldstone radar. At the time
of the observations, 2005 YU55 was approximately 860,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) from
Earth. The resolution is about 13 feet (4 meters) per pixel. 2005 YU55 takes approximately 18
hours to complete one rotation, so the rotation in the movie appears much more rapid than the
actual asteroid rotation speed.

The Goldstone observations utilized a new system to obtain images with a resolution of 4 meters,
which is five times finer than the highest resolution previously possible at Goldstone.

"The encounter with 2005 YU55 has produced an enormous amount of data that is still being
processed." said radar astronomer Lance Benner, the principal investigator for the 2005 YU55
Goldstone observations, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The
sequence of images we obtained shows unprecedented fine-scale detail on this asteroid, which is
comparable in size to the Empire State Building. The Goldstone images show evidence for
concavities, a ridge near the asteroid's equator, and numerous features that may be large
boulders."

The trajectory of asteroid 2005 YU55 is well understood. Although the asteroid is in an orbit that
regularly brings it to the vicinity of Earth, (and Venus and Mars), 2005 YU55's 2011 encounter
with Earth was the closest for at least the last 200 years.

NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both
ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly
called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and plots their
orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch and via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/asteroidwatch
. More information about asteroid radar research is at: http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/ . More
information about the Deep Space Network is at: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn .

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NASA Sets Mars Science Laboratory Launch Coverage

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.w.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

George H. Diller 321-867-2468
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
george.h.diller@nasa.gov

ADVISORY: 2011-349b Nov. 10, 2011

NASA Sets Mars Science Laboratory Launch Coverage

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-349b&cid=release_2011-349b

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft with the Curiosity rover is set to
launch to the planet Mars aboard an Atlas V rocket on Nov. 25, 2011 from Space Launch Complex
41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window extends from 10:25 a.m. to
12:08 p.m. EST (7:25 a.m. to 9:08 a.m. PST). The launch period for the mission extends through Dec.
18.

The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in August 2012. Curiosity has 10 science instruments to search for
evidence about whether Mars had environments favorable for microbial life, including the chemical
ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release their gasses so
that a spectrometer can analyze them and send the data back to Earth.

Briefings about the mission are scheduled throughout the week leading to launch and will be held at
the Kennedy Space Center's Press Site.

Science Briefings and Prelaunch News Conference

Monday, Nov. 21, 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST): "What Do We Know About Mars?"
Participants will be:

Michael Meyer, lead scientist, Mars Exploration Program
NASA Headquarters, Washington

John Grotzinger, project scientist, Mars Science Laboratory
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.

Bethany Ehlmann, scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Assistant professor, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.

Tuesday, Nov. 22, 11 a.m. EST (8 a.m. PST): "Looking for Signs of Life in the Universe"
Participants will be:

Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program
NASA Headquarters, Washington

Jamie Foster, professor, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science
University of Florida, Gainesville

Pan Conrad, deputy principal investigator, Sample Analysis at Mars, Mars Science Laboratory
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Steven Benner, director, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution
Gainesville, Fla.

Catharine Conley, planetary protection officer
NASA Headquarters, Washington

Tuesday, Nov. 22, 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST): Prelaunch News Conference
Participants will be:

Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate
NASA Headquarters, Washington

Omar Baez, NASA launch director
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Vernon Thorp, program manager, NASA Missions
United Launch Alliance, Denver

Peter Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory project manager
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Clay Flinn, launch weather officer
45th Weather Squadron, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

Curiosity Mission Science Briefing: This briefing will immediately follow the prelaunch news
conference. Participants will be:

Michael Meyer, lead scientist for Mars Exploration Program
NASA Headquarters, Washington

John Grotzinger, project scientist for Mars Science Laboratory
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.

Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator for Sample Analysis at Mars investigation on Curiosity
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

David Blake, principal investigator for Chemistry and Mineralogy investigation on Curiosity
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mast Camera and Mars Descent Imager investigations
on Curiosity
Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego

Roger Wiens, principal investigator for Chemistry and Camera investigation on Curiosity
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M.

Wednesday, Nov. 23, 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST): "Why Mars Excites and Inspires Us"
Participants will be:

Leland Melvin, associate administrator for Education
NASA Headquarters, Washington

Scott Anderson, teacher and science department chairman
Da Vinci School for Science & the Arts, El Paso, Texas

Clara Ma, student, NASA contest winner for naming Curiosity
Shawnee Mission East High School, Prairie Village, Kansas

Veronica McGregor, manager, Media Relations Office
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST): "Missions to Mars: Robotics and Humans
Together"
(Originating from NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston)

Doug Ming, manager, Human Exploration Science Office; Mars Science Laboratory Co-Investigator
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston

Bret Drake, deputy chief architect, Human Spaceflight Architecture Team
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston

Matt Ondler, assistant director, Advanced Project Development
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston

Mike Gernhardt, NASA astronaut
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston

John Charles, program scientist, Human Research Program
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston

A post-launch news conference will be held at the NASA News Center approximately 2 ½ hours
after launch.

NASA Television Launch Coverage
On Friday, Nov. 25, NASA Television coverage of the launch will begin at 8 a.m. EST (5 a.m. PST)
and conclude after spacecraft separation from the Atlas V occurs 53 minutes, 49 seconds after launch.
Live launch coverage will be carried on all NASA Television channels.

A post-launch news conference will be held at the Kennedy press site approximately 2 ½ hours after
launch.

For NASA Television downlink information, schedule information and streaming video, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .

Launch coverage also will be available on local amateur VHF radio frequency 146.940 MHz
broadcast within Brevard County.

Ustream Coverage
The Mars Science Laboratory news conferences, briefings and launch will be streamed live on
Ustream at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl .

NASA Web Coverage
Extensive prelaunch and launch day coverage of the liftoff of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft
aboard an Atlas V rocket will be available on NASA's home page on the Internet at:
http://www.nasa.gov .

A prelaunch webcast for the mission will be streamed on the Web on Wednesday, Nov. 22, at noon
EST (9 a.m. PST). Live countdown coverage through NASA's Launch Blog begins at 8 a.m. EST (5
a.m. PST) on Friday, Nov. 25. Coverage features live updates as countdown milestones occur, as well
as streaming video clips highlighting launch preparations and liftoff.

To view the webcast and the blog or to learn more about Mars Science Laboratory, visit the mission
home page at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .

Twitter
The NASA News Twitter feed will be updated throughout the launch countdown. You can follow the
updates at: http://www.twitter.com/nasa and http://www.twitter.com/nasakennedy and
http://www.twitter.com/nasajpl .

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of
Technology, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission. Launch management is the
responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The
Atlas V launch service is provided by United Launch Alliance, Denver.

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New Study Shows Very First Stars Not Monstrous

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

News release: 2011-348 Nov. 10, 2011

New Study Shows Very First Stars Not Monstrous

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-348&cid=release_2011-348

PASADENA, Calif. -- The very first stars in our universe were not the behemoths scientists had
once thought, according to new simulations performed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif.

Astronomers "grew" stars in their computers, mimicking the conditions of our primordial
universe. The simulations took weeks. When the scientists' concoctions were finally done, they
were shocked by the results -- the full-grown stars were much smaller than expected.

Until now, it was widely believed that the first stars were the biggest of all, with masses
hundreds of times that of our sun. The new research shows they are only tens of times the mass
of sun; for example, the simulations produced one star that was as little as 43 solar masses.

"The first stars were definitely massive, but not to the extreme we thought before," said Takashi
Hosokawa, an astronomer at JPL and lead author of the new study, appearing online Friday,
Nov. 11 in the journal Science. "Our simulations reveal that the growth of these stars is stunted
earlier than expected, resulting in smaller final sizes."

The early universe consisted of nothing more than thin clouds of hydrogen and helium atoms. A
few hundred million years after its birth, the first stars began to ignite. How these first stars
formed is still a mystery.

Astronomers know that all stars form out of collapsing clouds of gas. Gravity from a growing
"seed" at the center of the cloud attracts more and more matter. For so-called normal stars like
our sun, this process is aided by heavier elements such as carbon, which help to keep the gas
falling onto the budding star cool enough to collapse. If the cloud gets too hot, the gas expands
and escapes.

But, in the early universe, stars hadn't yet produced heavy elements. The very first stars had to
form out of nothing but hydrogen and helium. Scientists had theorized that such stars would
require even more mass to form, to compensate for the lack of heavy elements and their cooling
power. At first, it was thought the stars might be as big as one thousand times the mass of our
sun. Later, the models were refined and the first stars were estimated to be hundreds of solar
masses.

"These stars keep getting smaller and smaller over time," said Takashi. "Now we think they are
even less massive, only tens of solar masses."

The team's simulations reveal that matter in the vicinity of the forming stars heats up to higher
temperatures than previously believed, as high as 50,000 Kelvin (90,000 degrees Fahrenheit), or
8.5 times the surface temperature of the sun. Gas this hot expands and escapes the gravity of the
developing star, instead of falling back down onto it. This means the stars stop growing earlier
than predicted, reaching smaller final sizes.

"This is definitely going to surprise some folks," said Harold Yorke, an astronomer at JPL and
co-author of the study. "It was standard knowledge until now that the first stars had to be
extremely massive."

The results also answer an enigma regarding the first stellar explosions, called supernovae. When
massive stars blow up at the end of their lives, they spew ashes made of heavier elements into
space. If the very first stars were the monsters once thought, they should have left a specific
pattern of these elements imprinted on the material of the following generation of stars. But, as
much as astronomers searched the oldest stars for this signature, they couldn't find it. The
answer, it seems, is that it simply is not there. Because the first stars weren't as massive as
previously thought, they would have blown up in a manner akin to the types of stellar explosions
that we see today.

"I am sure there are more surprises in store for us regarding this exciting period of the universe,"
said Yorke. "NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will be a valuable tool to observe
this epoch of early star and galaxy formation."

The California Institute of Technology manages JPL for NASA. More information about JPL is
online at www.jpl.nasa.gov .

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NASA Ready for November Launch of Car-Size Mars Rover

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

News release: 2011-347 Nov. 10, 2011

NASA Ready for November Launch of Car-Size Mars Rover

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-347&cid=release_2011-347

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's most advanced mobile robotic laboratory, which will examine one of
the most intriguing areas on Mars, is in final preparations for a launch from Florida's Space Coast at
10:25 a.m. EST (7:25 a.m. PST) on Nov. 25.

The Mars Science Laboratory mission will carry Curiosity, a rover with more scientific capability
than any ever sent to another planet. The rover is now sitting atop an Atlas V rocket awaiting liftoff
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

"Preparations are on track for launching at our first opportunity," said Pete Theisinger, Mars Science
Laboratory project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "If weather or
other factors prevent launching then, we have more opportunities through Dec. 18."

Scheduled to land on the Red Planet in August 2012, the one-ton rover will examine Gale Crater
during a nearly two-year prime mission. Curiosity will land near the base of a layered mountain 3
miles (5 kilometers) high inside the crater. The rover will investigate whether environmental
conditions ever have been favorable for development of microbial life and preserved evidence of
those conditions.

"Gale gives us a superb opportunity to test multiple potentially habitable environments and the
context to understand a very long record of early environmental evolution of the planet," said John
Grotzinger, project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena. "The portion of the crater where Curiosity will land has an alluvial fan likely formed by
water-carried sediments. Layers at the base of the mountain contain clays and sulfates, both known to
form in water."

Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as earlier Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The
rover will carry a set of 10 science instruments weighing 15 times as much as its predecessors'
science payloads.

A mast extending to 7 feet (2.1 meters) above ground provides height for cameras and a laser-firing
instrument to study targets from a distance. Instruments on a 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) arm will
study targets up close. Analytical instruments inside the rover will determine the composition of rock
and soil samples acquired with the arm's powdering drill and scoop. Other instruments will
characterize the environment, including the weather and natural radiation that will affect future
human missions.

"Mars Science Laboratory builds upon the improved understanding about Mars gained from current
and recent missions," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. "This mission advances technologies and science that will move us
toward missions to return samples from, and eventually send humans to, Mars."

The mission is challenging and risky. Because Curiosity is too heavy to use an air-bag cushioned
touchdown, the mission will use a new landing method, with a rocket-powered descent stage
lowering the rover on a tether like a kind of sky-crane.

The mission will pioneer precision landing methods during the spacecraft's crucial dive through Mars'
atmosphere next August to place the rover onto a smaller landing target than any previously for a
Mars mission. The target inside Gale Crater is 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) by 15.5 miles (25
kilometers). Rough terrain just outside that area would have disqualified the landing site without the
improved precision.

No mission to Mars since the Viking landers in the 1970s has sought a direct answer to the question
of whether life has existed on Mars. Curiosity is not designed to answer that question by itself, but its
investigations for evidence about prerequisites for life will steer potential future missions toward
answers.

The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Curiosity
was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. Launch management for the mission is the
responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA's
Space Network, managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will provide space
communications services for the rocket. NASA's international Deep Space Network will provide
MSL spacecraft acquisition and communication throughout the mission.

For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl . You can also
follow the mission on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at
http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

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NASA Releases Radar Movie of Asteroid 2005 YU55

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Image/Video advisory: 2011-346 Nov. 8, 2011

NASA Releases Radar Movie of Asteroid 2005 YU55

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-346&cid=release_2011-346

PASADENA, Calif. -- Scientists working with the 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space
Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., have generated a short movie clip of asteroid 2005 YU55.
The images were generated from data collected at Goldstone on Nov. 7, 2011, between 11:24
a.m. and 1:35 p.m. PST (2:24 p.m. and 4:35 p.m. EST). They are the highest-resolution images
ever generated by radar of a near-Earth object.

The short movie clip can be found at: http://1.usa.gov/uVJvmS .

Each of the six frames required 20 minutes of data collection by the Goldstone radar. At the
time, 2005 YU55 was approximately 860,000 miles (1.38 million kilometers) away from Earth.
Resolution is 4 meters per pixel.

"The movie shows the small subset of images obtained at Goldstone on November 7 that have
finished processing. By animating a sequence of radar images, we can see more surface detail
than is visible otherwise," said radar astronomer Lance Benner, the principal investigator for the
2005 YU55 observations, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The
animation reveals a number of puzzling structures on the surface that we don't yet understand.
To date, we've seen less than one half of the surface, so we expect more surprises."

The trajectory of asteroid 2005 YU55 is well understood. At the point of closest approach today
at 3:28 p.m. PST (6:28 p.m. EST/2328 UTC), it was no closer than 201,700 miles (324,600
kilometers), as measured from the center of Earth. The gravitational influence of the asteroid will
have no detectable effect on anything here on Earth, including our planet's tides or tectonic
plates. Although 2005 YU55 is in an orbit that regularly brings it to the vicinity of Earth (and
Venus and Mars), the 2011 encounter with Earth is the closest this space rock has come for at
least the last 200 years.

The last time a space rock as big came as close to Earth was in 1976, although astronomers did
not know about the flyby at the time. The next known approach of an asteroid this large will be
in 2028.

NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both
ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly
called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and plots their
orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch . More information about asteroid radar research is at:
http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/ . More information about the Deep Space Network is at:
http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn .

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NASA to Hold Media Briefing About Mars Rover Launch

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne C. Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Advisory: 2011-344b Nov. 8, 2011

NASA to Hold Media Briefing About Mars Rover Launch

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-344b&cid=release_2011-344b

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST), Thursday,
Nov. 10, to discuss the upcoming launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, with the largest and most
capable rover going to another planet. The televised event will take place at NASA Headquarters in
Washington and will be carried live on NASA TV and Ustream.

The Mars Science Laboratory mission is scheduled to launch at 7:25 a.m. PST (10:25 a.m. EST), on
Nov. 25. The launch period extends to Dec. 18. The spacecraft will deliver a car-size rover named
Curiosity to the surface of Mars in August 2012.

News conference participants are:
-- Doug McCuistion, director, Mars Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- Ashwin Vasavada, Mars Science Laboratory deputy project scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
-- Pete Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory project manager, JPL

NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information is at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .
The news conference will also be carried on JPL's Ustream channel, with a moderated chat, at
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl .

For more information about the new rover, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science
Laboratory mission for NASA.

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Upcoming Workshops at NASA/JPL's Educator Resource Center

Upcoming Educator Workshops Nov. 08, 2011

This is a feature from the NASA/JPL Education Office.

Robotics

Date: Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Target audience: K-12 educators

Location: NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center, Pomona, Calif.

Overview:Did you know that at JPL we talk to Mars robots every day? Discover how engineers use animals to design robots. Come see the exciting extent that we use robotics today and look into the future for space and medicine. Make and take inexpensive classroom activities and bring technology into your classroom! This workshop is being offered at the NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center located in Pomona, please call 909-397-4420 to reserve your spot.

For more information and directions, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=115

Go For Flight!

Date: Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Target audience: K-12 educators

Location: NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center, Pomona, Calif.

Overview: Math and science come alive as you construct aircraft models (kite, helicopter and glider), and launch rockets! Use questioning strategies and redesign to make these activities educationally challenging! This workshop is being offered at the NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center located in Pomona, please call 909-397-4420 to reserve your spot.

For more information and directions, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=115

Toys In Space ll

Date:Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Target audience: K-12 educators

Location:NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center, Pomona, Calif.

Overview: View the educational video "Toys in Space II," which was taped during the flight of STS-54. The video shows astronauts on the space shuttle and students back on Earth co-investigating the behavior of toys in space. Video program segments show the toys' behavior in 1G (Earth's gravity) and then their behavior in the microgravity environment of space! This workshop is being offered at the NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center located in Pomona, please call 909-397-4420 to reserve your spot.

For more information and directions, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=115

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NASA Captures New Images of Large Asteroid Passing Earth

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
News release: 2011-343 Nov. 7, 2011

NASA Captures New Images of Large Asteroid Passing Earth

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-343&cid=release_2011-343

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif. has captured new
radar images of Asteroid 2005 YU55 passing close to Earth.

The asteroid safely will safely fly past our planet slightly closer than the moon's orbit on Nov. 8. The
last time a space rock this large came as close to Earth was in 1976, although astronomers did not
know about the flyby at the time. The next known approach of an asteroid this size will be in 2028.

The image was taken on Nov. 7 at 11:45 a.m. PST (2:45 p.m. EST/1945 UTC), when the asteroid was
approximately 860,000 miles (1.38 million kilometers) away from Earth. Tracking of the aircraft
carrier-sized asteroid began at Goldstone at 9:30 a.m. PDT on Nov. 4 with the 230-foot-wide (70-
meter) antenna and lasted about two hours, with an additional four hours of tracking planned each
day from Nov. 6 - 10.

Radar observations from the Arecibo Planetary Radar Facility in Puerto Rico will begin Nov. 8, the
same day the asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at 3:28 p.m. PST (6:28 p.m. EST/1128
UTC).

The trajectory of asteroid 2005 YU55 is well understood. At the point of closest approach, it will be
no closer than 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers) as measured from the center of Earth, or about
0.85 times the distance from the moon to Earth. The gravitational influence of the asteroid will have
no detectable effect on Earth, including tides and tectonic plates. Although the asteroid is in an orbit
that regularly brings it to the vicinity of Earth, Venus and Mars, the 2011 encounter with Earth is the
closest it has come for at least the last 200 years.

NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both
ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects,
characterizes some of them, and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous
to our planet. JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate in Washington.

The new radar images are online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/multimedia/yu55-20111107.html .

For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch .

More information about asteroid radar research is available online at: http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/ .

For more information about NASA's Deep Space Network, visit: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn
.

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NASA Study of Clays Suggests Watery Mars Underground

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

News release: 2011-337 Nov. 2, 2011

NASA Study of Clays Suggests Watery Mars Underground

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-337&cid=release_2011-337

PASADENA, Calif. -- A new NASA study suggests if life ever existed on Mars, the longest lasting
habitats were most likely below the Red Planet's surface.

A new interpretation of years of mineral-mapping data, from more than 350 sites on Mars examined
by European and NASA orbiters, suggests Martian environments with abundant liquid water on the
surface existed only during short episodes. These episodes occurred toward the end of a period of
hundreds of millions of years during which warm water interacted with subsurface rocks. This has
implications about whether life existed on Mars and how the Martian atmosphere has changed.

"The types of clay minerals that formed in the shallow subsurface are all over Mars," said John
Mustard, professor at Brown University in Providence, R.I. Mustard is a co-author of the study in the
journal Nature. "The types that formed on the surface are found at very limited locations and are quite
rare."

Discovery of clay minerals on Mars in 2005 indicated the planet once hosted warm, wet conditions. If
those conditions existed on the surface for a long era, the planet would have needed a much thicker
atmosphere than it has now to keep the water from evaporating or freezing. Researchers have sought
evidence of processes that could cause a thick atmosphere to be lost over time.

This new study supports an alternative hypothesis that persistent warm water was confined to the
subsurface and many erosional features were carved during brief periods when liquid water was
stable at the surface.

"If surface habitats were short-term, that doesn't mean we should be glum about prospects for life on
Mars, but it says something about what type of environment we might want to look in," said the
report's lead author, Bethany Ehlmann, assistant professor at the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, and scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also in Pasadena. "The most stable
Mars habitats over long durations appear to have been in the subsurface. On Earth, underground
geothermal environments have active ecosystems."

The discovery of clay minerals by the OMEGA spectrometer on the European Space Agency's Mars
Express orbiter added to earlier evidence of liquid Martian water. Clays form from the interaction of
water with rock. Different types of clay minerals result from different types of wet conditions.

During the past five years, researchers used OMEGA and NASA's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging
Spectrometer, or CRISM, instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to identify clay minerals at
thousands of locations on Mars. Clay minerals that form where the ratio of water interacting with
rock is small generally retain the same chemical elements as those found in the original volcanic
rocks later altered by the water.

The study interprets this to be the case for most terrains on Mars with iron and magnesium clays. In
contrast, surface environments with higher ratios of water to rock can alter rocks further. Soluble
elements are carried off by water, and different aluminum-rich clays form.

Another clue is detection of a mineral called prehnite. It forms at temperatures above about 400
degrees Fahrenheit (about 200 degrees Celsius). These temperatures are typical of underground
hydrothermal environments rather than surface waters.

"Our interpretation is a shift from thinking that the warm, wet environment was mostly at the surface
to thinking it was mostly in the subsurface, with limited exceptions," said Scott Murchie of Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., a co-author of the report and
principal investigator for CRISM.

One of the exceptions may be Gale Crater, the site targeted by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory
mission. Launching this year, the mission's Curiosity rover will land and investigate layers that
contain clay and sulfate minerals.

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, or MAVEN, in development for a 2013
launch, may provide evidence for or against this new interpretation of the Red Planet's environmental
history. The report predicts MAVEN findings consistent with the atmosphere not having been thick
enough to provide warm, wet surface conditions for a prolonged period.

JPL, a division of Caltech, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate in Washington. APL provided and operates CRISM. For more information about the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro .

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