NASA Celebrates Martian New Year in Mars, Pennsylvania

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Jun 15, 2015, 08:48 ET

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will land in Mars, Pennsylvania Friday, June 19 to celebrate Mars' New Year with Red Planet enthusiasts of the Keystone State for three days of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) activities. The goal is to encourage young people to pursue careers in in these critical fields of study that will enable NASA's journey to Mars.

At the invitation of the borough of Mars, NASA will provide exhibits, booths and outreach activities at the celebration. Mars expert Jim Green, NASA's director of Planetary Science at the agency's headquarters in Washington, will deliver a keynote talk Friday evening and again Saturday, June 20 about NASA's journey to Mars. Green served as a technical consultant on the upcoming Fox Entertainment movie "The Martian."

The Martian New Year occurs about every two Earth-years and is timed to the Northern Hemisphere Spring Equinox on Mars. That equinox occurs this month on Earth.

To kick off the three-day, Red Planet extravaganza, NASA will participate in a media briefing at 3 p.m. EDT on Friday in front of the town's flying saucer sculpture, located at 16046 Pittsburgh Street.

Participants in the briefing will be:

Honorable Gregg Hartung, mayor of Mars
Jim Green
Mike Harvey, honorary chairman and meteorologist for WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh

After brief opening remarks and a question-and-answer session, media and social media will be given a preview walking tour of activities planned for the rest of the weekend celebration.

Green will be available for 10-minute interviews 4 to 5 p.m. on Friday, and again 11 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. To reserve a one-on-one interview, media should contact Dave Steitz at 202-358-1730 or [email protected].

For a complete listing of activities planned for the Mars New Year celebration in Pennsylvania, visit;

http://www.marsnewyear.com

For more information about NASA's #JourneyToMars, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO

SOURCE NASA