JSC News Release Log 1990/90-021
Note to Science Editors: NASA Johnson Space Center Hosts 21st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 12-16, 1990.
Scientists from around the world will converge on Houston's Johnson Space Center March 12-16 to discuss the latest research on lunar and planetary science, including preliminary findings from the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) retrieved on STS-32 in January.
About 750 scientists are expected to attend the 21st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference which will feature sessions on Mars, the Voyager 2 mission, LDEF, and various lunar topics.
There will be two public sessions: a discussion March 12 of President Bush's Moon/Mars exploration initiative featuring JSC Director Aaron Cohen; and a special Voyager 2 session March 14 featuring the California Institute of Technology's Andrew Ingersoll. The Voyager 2 spacecraft in August 1989 sent back data and images of Neptune. Both programs will begin at 8 p.m. in Teague auditorium in Bldg. 2 and are free of charge.
Concurrent sessions are scheduled each day at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. On the conference's final day - March 16 - sessions are scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. The sessions will take place in the Gilruth Center at JSC.
Scientists and scholars will present about 375 papers during the conference. Technical sessions will cover such subjects as: a Venus overview prior to Magellan; lunar meteorites, geology and resource utilization; cosmic rays; comets and orbital dust collection; the outer solar system; Martian geophysical and tectonic evolution, volcanic evolution, climate histories and craters; solar nebula and planetary origins; heavy metal meteorites; Triton and Phobos; and planetary geological processes.
An 8:30 a.m. March 14 technical session will feature discussions on interplanetary dust and LDEF findings. The STS-32 shuttle crew retrieved LDEF, a bus-sized satellite stranded in space for nearly six years, from space Jan. 12.
Media interested in covering the conference should register in the Gilruth Center's Room 216 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 12-15 or in the morning of March 16. Conference abstract volumes containing condensed versions of several scientists' papers will be available at the Gilruth Center or on request from JSC's newsroom.