Houston-area Conference to Feature Planetary Science Results

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Mar 13, 2015, 05:18 ET

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA researchers and other scientists will present early science results from the agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission, ESA's (European Space Agency's) Rosetta mission, and an exploration of the evolution of Mars' climate and atmosphere during the 46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 16-20.

The conference will take place at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center at 1601 Lake Robbins Drive in The Woodlands, Texas, near Houston.

MAVEN successfully entered Martian orbit in September to study the planet's upper atmosphere. Rosetta, after a three-year deep space hibernation, awoke in 2014 to carefully approach and map a comet. In November, the Rosetta probe deployed a lander, Philae, which made a historic landing on the comet. The conference also will feature presentations on other planetary science missions and projects, including a discussion on the evolution of the solar system.

The conference is presented by the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. LPI is managed by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a national, nonprofit consortium of 105 leading research universities chartered in 1969 by the National Academy of Sciences at the request of NASA. USRA operates programs and institutes focused on research and education in most of the disciplines engaged in space-related science and engineering.

Media may register to attend. For information including links to the program, media advisories and contact information, visit:

http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2015

More information about the agenda and other activities is available online at:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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SOURCE NASA