09 22 06

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468

MEDIA ADVISORY: 61-06

NASA TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETINGS FOR PROPOSED MARS MISSION

NASA officials will be available on Sept 27, 2006, from 1 p m to 4 p m and 6 p m to 9 p m at the Florida Solar Energy Center, 1679 Clearlake Road, Cocoa, Fla , to exchange information and receive public comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) recently released for the proposed Mars Science Laboratory that would launch in 2009

The public meetings will also feature exhibits and other material explaining all aspects of the proposed mission Under the Proposed Action, NASA would build a rover powered by a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG An alternative mission would be powered by solar arrays

Briefing participants will be:

-Mark Dahl, Mars Science Laboratory program executive, NASA Headquarters -Richard Cook, project manager, Mars Science Laboratory, JPL -Dr Aswhin Vasavada, deputy project scientist, Mars Science Laboratory, JPL -Kenneth Kumor, NASA Environmental Management Division, NASA Headquarters

The mobile, robotic science laboratory would launch on a Lockheed Martin Atlas V expendable launch vehicle from Complex 41 between mid-September and early November of 2009 on a mission to determine if Mars had, or now has, an environment that could support microbial life The project is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif

The official notice about the DEIS and public meeting is available online at:

http://www epa gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2006/September/Day-05/i14649 htm

The Mars Science Laboratory DEIS is available at:

http://spacescience nasa gov/admin/pubs/msl/index htm

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: BULK_EMAIL

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/[list]/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/list/[list]

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:list
admin@aus-city
com>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

http://www aus-city com