Date: January 8th 2008

Jan 7, 2008

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

Paulette Campbell Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md 240-228-6792 paulette campbell@jhuapl edu

MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-03

NASA TELECONFERENCE TO PREVIEW MESSENGER'S FLYBY OF MERCURY

WASHINGTON - NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p m EST on Thursday, Jan 10, to preview the historic Jan 14 spacecraft flight past Mercury that will explore some of the last major never-seen-before terrain in the inner solar system

NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) is the first mission sent to orbit the planet closest to the sun It will use Mercury's gravity for a critical assist needed to keep the spacecraft on track for its orbit insertion around the planet three years from now During this month's Mercury pass the probe's cameras and other sophisticated, high-technology instruments will take unprecedented images and make the first up-close measurements of the planet since Mariner 10's third and final flyby on March 16, 1975 The flyby also will gather essential data for planning the overall mission MESSENGER was launched on Aug 3, 2004 After flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury, it will start a year-long orbital study of Mercury in March 2011

Briefing participants: - Marilyn Lindstrom, MESSENGER program scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington - Sean Solomon, MESSENGER principal investigator, Carnegie Institution of Washington - Eric Finnegan, MESSENGER mission systems engineer, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md - Faith Vilas, MESSENGER participating scientist and director, MMT Observatory at Mt Hopkins, Ariz

To participate in the teleconference, reporters should call 1-888-398-6118 and use the pass code "Mercury " International journalists should call 1-210-234-0013 Audio of the teleconference also will be streamed live at:

http://www nasa gov/newsaudio

Related images about the MESSENGER mission and flyby will be available on the Web at:

http://www nasa gov/messenger

-end-

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